<h2> "GOD BLESS THE STAR!" </h2>
<p>"Darling, I am feeling so tired this evening,
won't you sit beside my bed and hold my hand
in yours while you tell me about the stars?"</p>
<p>His sister Mary suggested lighting the lamp
and reading a story, but he held her hand with
gentle force, saying:</p>
<p>"Do not light the lamp. Leave the curtain up
so that I can see the stars from my window, and
tell me in your own words that story you told me
of a star the other day—Dickens' story of a star.
Don't you remember, sister?"</p>
<p>Still holding his little hand in hers, and giving
it a loving pressure, she rested her head on the
pillow beside his, and began, in low soft tones:</p>
<p>"There was once a beautiful bright star that
shone down upon the home of a little boy and
girl who wondered at its light. They learned to
<span class='pagenum'><SPAN id='Page_182' name='Page_182'>[182]</SPAN></span>
know it so well that every evening the one who
saw it first would say, 'I see the star,' and before
they went to sleep at night they would say
'Good-night' to the star, and, 'God bless the
star!'</p>
<p>"But the little girl, while she was still very
young, became very weak and feeble, so that she
was unable to go to the window and look at the
star, so the brother would stand there alone and
watch for it. As soon as he saw it he would
turn round to his sister, and say, 'I see the star,'
and the little sister would answer gently, 'God
bless my brother and the star!' One evening the
brother looked at the star alone, for his little sister
had passed away to her home among the stars.
That was a sad and lonely evening for the brother,
and at night he dreamed of his sister. Her face
seemed to be looking at him from the bright star,
and he could see a pathway of light reaching from
it to his room.</p>
<p>"Along the pathway were people passing from
this earth to the stars. Angels waited to receive
them, and as they reached the star people came
<span class='pagenum'><SPAN id='Page_183' name='Page_183'>[183]</SPAN></span>
out to welcome them. Kissing their friends tenderly,
they went away together down avenues of
light. But there was one who waited patiently
near the entrance of the star and asked the guide
who led the people thither if her brother had not
yet come.</p>
<p>"'Not yet,' he replied kindly, and as she turned
sadly away the little brother reached out his arms
toward her, and said, 'Here I am sister; I am
coming to you.'</p>
<p>"As she turned her beaming eyes on him, the
star was shining into the room, and he could see
its rays of light through his tears. From that
hour the child looked on that star as his future
home, where he would some day meet his angel
sister again.</p>
<p>"And he waited, oh! so patiently, and the
years rolled slowly by. He grew to manhood,
and still the star shone down upon him at night.
Then he grew to be an old man with gray hair
and wrinkled face, and his steps were slow and
feeble. Others had gone before him to the star.
A little brother who died while he was young—his
<span class='pagenum'><SPAN id='Page_184' name='Page_184'>[184]</SPAN></span>
mother—his daughter—and now surely his
own time had come.</p>
<p>"One night he lay upon a bed of sickness, and
as his children gathered around him he suddenly
cried out, as he had long ago, 'I see the star.'
Then they whispered to each other, 'He is dying,'
and he heard them, and said: 'I am. My age is
falling from me like a mantle, and I move toward
the star as a child. And, O my Father, now I
thank thee that the star has so often opened to
receive those dear ones who await me!'</p>
<p>"And next day the star was shining, and it
still shines, upon his grave."</p>
<p class="p2">
Harry had been lulled to sleep by the sound of
his sister's voice, and in the dim light Mary could
see that he was smiling in his dreams. Were his
dreams, she wondered, about Stories of Starland?
<span class='pagenum'><SPAN id='Page_185' name='Page_185'>[185]</SPAN></span>
<SPAN id='P185' name='P185'></SPAN></p>
<h3> CROSSING THE BAR. </h3>
<div class='poetry-container'>
<div class="poem">
<div class="stanza">
<p>Sunset and evening star,</p>
<p class="i1">And one clear call for me!</p>
<p>And may there be no moaning of the bar,</p>
<p class="i1">When I put off to sea.</p>
</div>
<div class="stanza">
<p>But such a tide, as, moving, seems asleep,</p>
<p class="i1">Too full for sound and foam,</p>
<p>When that which drew from out the boundless deep</p>
<p class="i1">Turns again home.</p>
</div>
<div class="stanza">
<p>Twilight and evening bell,</p>
<p class="i1">And after that the dark!</p>
<p>And may there be no sadness of farewell,</p>
<p class="i1">When I embark.</p>
</div>
<div class="stanza">
<p>For tho' from out our bourne of Time and Place</p>
<p class="i1">The flood may bear me far,</p>
<p>I hope to see my Pilot face to face</p>
<p class="i1">When I have cros't the bar.</p>
</div>
<div class="stanza">
<p><span class="flright">—<span class='smcap'>Tennyson.</span></span></p>
</div>
</div>
<SPAN id='P185b' name='P185b'></SPAN></div>
<h3> YE GOLDEN LAMPS OF HEAVEN. </h3>
<div class='poetry-container'>
<div class="poem">
<div class="stanza">
<p>Ye golden lamps of heaven, farewell,</p>
<p class="i1">With all your feeble light;</p>
<p>Farewell, thou ever-changing Moon,</p>
<p class="i1">Pale empress of the Night.</p>
<span class='pagenum'><SPAN id='Page_186' name='Page_186'>[186]</SPAN></span></div>
<div class="stanza">
<p>And thou, refulgent Orb of Day,</p>
<p class="i1">In brighter flames arrayed;</p>
<p>My soul, that springs beyond thy sphere,</p>
<p class="i1">No more demands thine aid.</p>
</div>
<div class="stanza">
<p>Ye stars are but the shining dust</p>
<p class="i1">Of my divine abode,</p>
<p>The pavement of those heavenly courts</p>
<p class="i1">Where I shall reign with God.</p>
</div>
<div class="stanza">
<p>Father of eternal light</p>
<p class="i1">Shall there his beams display,</p>
<p>Nor shall one moment's darkness blend</p>
<p class="i1">With that unvaried day.</p>
</div>
<div class="stanza">
<p><span class="flright">—<span class='smcap'>Philip Doddridge.</span></span></p>
</div>
</div>
</div>
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