He loved little children like you very much, and often used to take
them up in His arms and talk to them.

And this is the reason we love Christmas Day so much, and try to make
everybody happy when it comes around each year. This is the reason;
because Christ, who was born on Christmas Day, has helped us all to be
good so many, many times, and because He was the best Christmas
present the world ever had!

[*] From "The Story Hour," by Kate Douglas Wiggins and Nora A.
Smith. Used by permission of the authors and also of the
publishers--Houghton, Mifflin and Company.




THE LEGEND OF THE CHRISTMAS TREE[*]

By Lucy Wheelock


Two little children were sitting by the fire one cold winter's night.
All at once they heard a timid knock at the door, and one ran to
open it.

There, outside in the cold and the darkness, stood a child with no
shoes upon his feet and clad in thin, ragged garments. He was
shivering with cold, and he asked to come in and warm himself.

"Yes, come," cried both the children; "you shall have our place by the