December 30
Companions of the Way (Morning)Eye hath not seen.
A S little children in a darkened hall At Christmas-tide await the opening door, Eager to tread the fairy-haunted floor About the tree with goodly gifts for all, And in the dark unto each other call— Trying to guess their happiness before, -- Or of their elders eagerly implore Hints of what fortune unto them may fall: So wait we in Time's dim and narrow room, And with strange fancies, or another's thought, Try to divine, before the curtain rise, The wondrous scene. Yet soon shall fly the gloom, And we shall see what patient ages sought, The Father's long-planned gift of Paradise.
CHARLES HENRY CRANDALL
THE HIDDEN JOY