his bed he wept for joy.
But, there were many angels who did not go with them, and among
them one he knew. The patient face that once had lain upon the bed
was glorified and radiant, but his heart found out his sister among
all the host.
His sister’s angel lingered near the entrance of the star, and said
to the leader among those who had brought the people thither:
‘Is my brother come?’
And he said ‘No.’
She was turning hopefully away, when the child stretched out his
arms, and cried, ‘O, sister, I am here! Take me!’ and then she
turned her beaming eyes upon him, and it was night; and the star
was shining into the room, making long rays down towards him as he
saw it through his tears.
From that hour forth, the child looked out upon the star as on the
home he was to go to, when his time should come; and he thought
that he did not belong to the earth alone, but to the star too,
because of his sister’s angel gone before.
There was a baby born to be a brother to the child; and while he
was so little that he never yet had spoken word, he stretched his
tiny form out on his bed, and died.
Again the child dreamed of the open star, and of the company of
angels, and the train of people, and the rows of angels with their
beaming eyes all turned upon those people’s faces.
Said his sister’s angel to the leader:
‘Is my brother come?’
And he said, ‘Not that one, but another.’
As the child beheld his brother’s angel in her arms, he cried, ‘O,
sister, I am here! Take me!’ And she turned and smiled upon him,
and the star was shining.
He grew to be a young man, and was busy at his books when an old
servant came to him and said:
‘Thy mother is no more. I bring her blessing on her darling son!’
Again at night he saw the star, and all that former company. Said
his sister’s angel to the leader.
‘Is my brother come?’
And he said, ‘Thy mother!’
Page 13
Dickens, Charles – Reprinted Pieces
A mighty cry of joy went forth through all the star, because the
mother was re-united to her two children. And he stretched out his
arms and cried, ‘O, mother, sister, and brother, I am here! Take
me!’ And they answered him, ‘Not yet,’ and the star was shining.
He grew to be a man, whose hair was turning grey, and he was
sitting in his chair by the fireside, heavy with grief, and with
his face bedewed with tears, when the star opened once again.
Said his sister’s angel to the leader: ‘Is my brother come?’
And he said, ‘Nay, but his maiden daughter.’
And the man who had been the child saw his daughter, newly lost to
him, a celestial creature among those three, and he said, ‘My
daughter’s head is on my sister’s bosom, and her arm is around my
mother’s neck, and at her feet there is the baby of old time, and I
can bear the parting from her, GOD be praised!’
And the star was shining.
Thus the child came to be an old man, and his once smooth face was
wrinkled, and his steps were slow and feeble, and his back was
bent. And one night as he lay upon his bed, his children standing
round, he cried, as he had cried so long ago:
‘I see the star!’
They whispered one another, ‘He is dying.’
And he said, ‘I am. My age is falling from me like a garment, and
I move towards the star as a child. And O, my Father, now I thank
thee that it has so often opened, to receive those dear ones who
await me!’
And the star was shining; and it shines upon his grave.
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