6 WORSHIP OF THE WISE MEN.

shone down on the strange sight, as with earnest eyes the
men gazed on the sleeping face, and gave thanks for such
a gift to the world.
 A new and strange star was in the sky. Far off, in
an eastern land were men who had studied the stars
for years, called wise men, because they understood many
strange things. When they saw the star they started on
a long journey, and the star moved before them.
 They crossed many a mile of desert and mountain, in
hot sunny days, and star-lit nights and dewy mornings,
before they found what they came to seek. What was it ?
 They came to worship the same Child the angels
told of, and that the shepherds found in the manger.
The star guided them to the place, then it rested and
poured its silver rays on the very house where they found
the child and its mother. Perhaps the people joined
them when they saw that they were strangers with their
long pilgrim robes, their worn, dusty sandals, and each
with a traveller's staff in his hand.
 They looked at the Child with wonder and love, then
they bowed before him as if he were a King, and opened
the treasures they had brought; they gave him more gold
than his little hands could hold or play with, and spices
and gums which were very costly. That was the way
that visitors came to kings: why did they so worship the
little one? The wise men believed he had come to be a
king to rule the earth; but they did not fully know that