Rensselaer Semi-Weekly Republican, Volume 35, Number 31, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 19 December 1902 — THERE SHONE A STAR. [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

THERE SHONE A STAR.

H, stars by the mll- , lion-fold abovel In the wide blue spaces ws watch i and love; [Stars like graine of sand by the sea. Th rough wheeling dusters of worlds they be; But once through the gates of heaven ajar, When a Child was born, there shone a Star. Children they come to the palace hall; Children they eome to the cabin small; TO the tent, to the ship, to the poor man's cot—

Drear is the home where God sends them not; But once, Just once, through the gates ajar, God’s own Child came, and there shone a Star. Over desert places Its golden light Blamed like a torch the livelong night| Bowing low to the wonderful East. In stately procession, king and priest, AM a marvelous, moving caravan Bought* for the gift that had guerdoned pun, When, banners of glory waving far. Once, for hie people, God kindled a Star. The Emperor sat In his purple robe, Bolding the scepter that swayed the globe; Bent the slave to the laboring oar— Uttle to him was a groan the more; Wreathed with laurel the conqueror strode, Trampling hearts on bls haughty road; The cry of the anguished quivered far, ▲M 10l in the darkness there shone a Star. Out from a cave tn the riven rock ▲ candle flickered; who will may mock; That thread of flame was the answer sent From Earth to the Star In the firmament. Oa the silence trembled a Babe's first breath, ~ 7 —-- Child to be Lord of Life and Death; Safe as a bird In the tiny nest, In the mother's arms, on the mother’s breast; . . While the lowing klne stood wondering near, AM the angels sang on the midnight clear, AM the midnight waned, and the dawn’s great car Swept In where brightly there shone a Star. —Margaret E. Sangster, In Woman's Home Companion.