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A Christmas Star by Katherine Pyle.
Come now, my little dear stars,

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said Mother Moon, and I will
tell you the Christmas Story. Every morning

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for a week before Christmas, Mother
Moon used to call all the little stars

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around her and tell them a story. It was always the same story,

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but the stars never wearied of it. It was the story of the Christmas

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Star, the Star of Bethlehem.
When Mother Moon had finished the story,

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the little stars always said, and
the star is shining still, isn't it,

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Mother Moon, even if we can't
see it. And Mother Moon would

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answer, yes, my DearS,
only now it shines from men's hearts instead

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of their eyes. Then the stars
would bid the Mother Moon good night and

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put on their little blue night caps
and go to bed in the sky chamber.

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For the stars, bedtime is when
people down on earth are beginning to

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waken and see that it is morning. But that particular morning, when the

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little stars said good night and went
quietly away, one golden star still lingered

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beside Mother Moon. What is the
matter, my little star, asked the

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Mother Moon. Why don't you go
with your little sisters, Oh, Mother

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Moon, said the golden star.
I am so sad. I wish I

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could shine for some one's heart,
like that star of wonder that you tell

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us about. Why aren't you happy
up here in the sky country, asked

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Mother Moon. Yes I have been
very happy, said the star. But

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to night it seems just as if
I must find some heart to shine for.

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Then if that is so, said
mother Moon, the time has come,

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my little star, for you to
go through the wonder entry, the

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wonder entry. What is that,
asked the star, But the mother Moon

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made no answer. Rising she took
the little Star by the hand and led

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it to a door that it had
never seen before. The Mother Moon opened

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the door, and there was a
long, dark entry. At the far

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end was shining a little speck of
light. What is this, asked the

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star. It is the wonder Entry, and it is through this that you

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must go to find the heart where
you belong, said the mother Moon.

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Then the little Star was afraid.
It longed to go through the entry,

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as it had never longed for anything
before. And yet it was afraid and

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clung to the Mother Moon. But
very gently, almost sadly, the Mother

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Moon drew her hand away, Go, my child, she said. Then,

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wondering and trembling, the little Star
stepped into the wonder entry, and

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the door of the sky house closed
behind it. The next thing the star

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knew it was hanging in a toy
shop with a whole row of other stars,

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blue and red and silver. It
itself was gold. The shop smelled

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of evergreen and was full of Christmas
shoppers, men and women and children.

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But of all of them, the
star looked at no one but a little

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boy standing in front of the counter. For as soon as the star saw

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the child, it knew that he
was the one to whom it belonged.

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The little boy was standing beside a
sweet faced woman in a long black veil,

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and he was not looking at anything
in particular. The star shook and

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trembled on the string that held it, because it was afraid lest the child

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should not see it, or lest
if he did, he would not know

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it as his star. The lady
had a number of toys on the counter

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before her, and she was saying, now, I think we have presents

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for every one. There's the doll
for Loo, and the game for Ned,

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and the music box for May,
and then the rocking horse and the

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sled. Suddenly the little boy caught
her by the arm. Oh mother.

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He said he had seen the star. Well, what is it, darling,

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asked the lady. Oh, mother, just see that star up there.

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Oh I wish I do, wish
I had it. Oh, my

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dear, we have so many things
for the Christmas tree, said the mother.

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Yes, I know, but I
do want this star, said the

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child. Very well, said the
mother, smiling. Then we'll take that

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too. So the star was taken
down from the place where it hung and

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wrapped up in a piece of paper, and all the while it thrilled with

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joy. For now it belonged to
the little boy. It was not until

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the afternoon before Christmas, when the
tree was being decorated, that the golden

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star was unwrapped and taken out from
the paper. Here is something else,

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said the sweet faced lady. We
must hang this on the tree. Paul

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took such a fancy to it that
I had to get it for him.

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He will never be satisfied unless we
hang it on too. Oh yes,

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said some one else who was helping
to decorate the tree. We will hang

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it here on the very top.
So the little star hung on the highest

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branch of the Christmas tree. That
evening, all the candles were lighted on

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the Christmas tree, and there were
so many that they fairly dazzled the eyes,

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and the gold and silver balls,
the fair and the glass fruits shone

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and twinkled in the light, and
high above them all shone the golden Star.

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At seven o'clock a bell was rung, and then the folding doors of

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the room where the Christmas trees stood
were thrown open, and a crowd of

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children came trooping in. They laughed
and shouted and pointed, and all talked

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together, and after a while there
was music, and presents were taken from

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the tree and given to the children. How different it was from the great,

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wide, still sky house. But
the star had never been so happy

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in all its life. For the
little boy was there. He stood apart

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from the other children, looking up
at the star, with his hands clasped

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behind him, and he did not
seem to care for the toys and the

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games. At last it was all
over. The lights were put out,

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the children went home, and the
house grew still. Then the ornaments on

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the tree began to talk among themselves. So that is all over, said

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the sober ball. It was very
gay this evening, the gayest Christmas I

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remember, Yes, said a bunch
of grapes the best of it is over.

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Of course, people will come to
look at us for several days yet,

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but it won't be like this evening. And then I suppose we'll be

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laid away for another year, said
a paper fairy. Really, it seems

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hardly worth the while such a few
days of the year, and then to

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be shut up in the dark box
again. I almost wish I were a

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paper doll. The bunch of grapes
was wrong in saying that people would come

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to look at the Christmas tree the
next few days, for it stood neglected

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in the library, and nobody came
near it. Everybody in the house went

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about very quietly with anxious faces,
for the little boy was ill. At

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last, one evening a woman came
into the room with a servant. The

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woman wore the cap and apron of
a nurse. That is it, she

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said, pointing to the golden star. The servant climbed up on some step

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and took down the star and put
it in the nurse's hand, and she

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carried it out into the hall and
upstairs to the room where the little boy

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lay. This sweet faced lady was
sitting by the bed, and as the

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nurse came in, she held out
her hand for the star. Is this

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what you wanted, my darling,
she asked, bending over the little boy.

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The child nodded and held out his
hands for the star, and as

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he clasped it, a wonderful,
shining smile came over his face. The

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next morning, the little boy's room
was very still and dark. The golden

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piece of paper that had been the
star lay on a table beside the bed,

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its five points very sharp and bright. But it was not the real

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star any more than a person's body
as the real person. The real star

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was living and shining now in the
little boy's heart, and it had gone

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out with him into a new and
more beautiful sky country than it had ever

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known before, the sky country where
the little child angels live, each one

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carrying in its heart its own particular
star. And of a Christmas Star by Katherine Pyle