And Balthazar was confessing to himself that he had found something
more potent even than the righteous deed. For here they all beheld
how life was made sweet and blessed and holy by the power of love; and
by love for a little child, in whom was all weakness and helplessness,
whose only voice was a cry, but who was all strong and mighty with the
power of God, because he could transform roughness into tenderness,
and selfishness into loving care, and poverty itself into gifts of
gold and fragrant myrrh.

"Truly, my comrades," Balthazar said, "love is the greatest of all."

"And now I understand," said Gaspard, "how the weak things of the
world can confound the mighty."

"And I," added Melchoir, "see what it means for God to come to earth
in the form of a little child."

And so they turned away, and the radiance of the star was round about
them, and they were saying to each other: "Our search at last is
ended."

[*] Reprinted with the permission of "The Sketching Club,"
Indianapolis, Ind.




LITTLE GRETCHEN AND THE WOODEN SHOE[*]