A FOURTEENTH CENTURY CAROL.

Otautau Standard and Wallace County Chronicle, Volume XI, Issue 521, 11 May 1915, Page 7

A FOURTEENTH CENTURY CAROL.

•When God came down on Earth to dwell Great cold befell; ' Yet Mary on the road hath seen A fig tree gretin. Said Joseph : " O Mary, let the fruit hang, Por thirty good mile we have still T to gang, Lest we be late !" When Mary unto a village door At last did win, She thus bespake the cottager: "Sir, take us in! Since for this young Child's tender sake A pitying heart must surely ache, The night's so cold." "You're welcopie all to my ox-stall!" The good man cried. But in the middle of, the night He rose and sighed : • •"Where are ye now, poor hapless onesP ■ That ye 're not frozen to the bones, I marvel much." Then back into his house he runs From forth the byre — " Rouse up, rouse up, my dearest wife, And light a fire, As fine as ever sent up smoke, Whereat these poor and perishing folk May comfort them." Mary with joy into the house The Babe has brought; Joseph, her just and faithful spouse, . His wallet sought. ' Therefrom he took a kettle small ; Some snow the Child therein let fall, And lo 'tis flour! Thereto the Babe has added ice: ' s, 'Tis sugar straight! Now waterdrops, and, in a trite, 'Tis milk most sweet! The kettle, fast as you could look, They hung upon the kitchen hook, A meal to cook..' The godly Joseph carved a spoon From out a brand; To ivory it changed full soon And adamant. When Mary gave the Babe the food. He beoame Jesus, Son of God, Before their eyes. — By A. P. Graves, from the German,