People's Pilot, Volume 5, Number 27-25, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 2 January 1896 — The Christmas Tree. [ARTICLE]

The Christmas Tree.

Only a star! a shining star!/ More glorious than our planets are, But watched by wistful eyes and bright; And longing hearts, that wondrous night. Only a manger, shadow-thronged, / That to some public inn belonged, / , Where sweet breathed cattle For midnight slumber bent the knee. Only the light of tapers small, That on two tender faces fall, Two tender faces —one divine— That still through all the centuries shined ! From palace walls, from thrones of gold, From churches, shrines, cathedrals old, W’here the grand masters of their art Wrought faithfully with hand and heart. Jt Only a babe! in whose small hand Is seen no sceptre of command, But at whose name, with Freedom’s sword, Move the great armies of the Lord. Only a cross! but oh, what light , Shines from God’s throne on Calvary's height! His birth, His, life, the angels see, Written on every Christmas tree. —M. A. Denison,