THE HOLY CHILD.


 DID you know that some of the best pictures in the
world are of a baby in his mother's arms? The greatest
artists have spent years in trying to paint the form of a
little child and the tender love in his mother's face look-
ing on the treasure in her arms. A lady once talking to
a roomful of children, said: Now, all of you that have
babes in your homes, hold up your hands." Nearly every
hand went up; then she said, "All who think your baby
the sweetest baby in the world, raise your hands." How
quickly the same hands went up again, like a flock of
white-winged doves rising in the air. Now is n't it a
happy thing that in every home the little one is so loved ?
 But the babe in this picture is truly the most pre-
cious child that ever lived. The night he came to earth
there were shepherds in the fields watching their sheep
and lambs in the fold; suddenly a light shone on them
and an angel told where they would find this babe; and
then there was music in the air, for hosts of angels were
singing and rejoicing.
 The shepherds went to the place where the babe was
lying in a manger where oxen were fed; and the stars