Three Wise Men.

Waiapu Church Gazette, Volume XII, Issue 10, 1 April 1922, Page 265

Three Wise Men.

Sir Alastair McWeel, of Harley street, Professor Gaze, the. astronomer, and Lord Havering, of Havering and Co., the great iron house, foregathered every Januaiy, and had done so with, hardly a break for close on forty years. Those forty years had led them from lodgings m. the High at Oxford to the head of their professions.. Verily three kings: wise, aged, and well established m fame and experience.

They had dined at the Professor's sedate Queen. Anne, house iri Westminster, and had fared well at the hands of the Professor's cook. The fog into which they iioav emerged, for all its clinging and stinging bitterness, did not daunt them, and, guided by the Professor, they set off afoot, as they had decided, for Harley street. ...

It was certainly sordid, the road m Avhieh they were engulfed, and seemed empty, with the silent and mysterious emptiness of a London fog. Their perhaps simulated enjoyment had evaporated long since, when, a groan near at hand echoed dully through the- yellow air. A young wo-.' man, holding a baby 23recariously under her shawl, was clinging to a lamppost, and appeared about to fall. The three stopped, but impatiently. "H'm," said the Professor, peering, "now is this a genuine business, I wonder; or merely another appeal to our overworked miseri-cbrdia?" "Come along," said the iron king, putting his hand into his. pocket, ' ' I can supply an infallible cure"; and, Snagsby-like,' he proffered half-crowns. But proffering is useless when there is no harid capable of grasping. "Tut," said the Doctor, " 'tis vara provoking — but we canna leaA v e her here. Steady, my lass." He caught the woman m his arms as she was falling, with her 'child still tight clasped to her breast. "Where can we take her, I'm wondering." He looked around into the murky obscurity. "Wot'cher want?" asked a shrill, juvenile voice, and a small boy suddenly arrived out of emptiness. " 'Oo yer got there? — she 're • a swooned, am 't she ? " ( Looking more closely)/ "Whyj if it ain't Maggie 'Utchins, as ? d us to live dahn ahr street ! 'Er - Tom, as was aht o * work, 'c got run m for pinchin' bread, an' ..." "Yes, yes, vara quid. But can ye tell, me wliere I can take her? I'm a doctor." "Why, yes; .You come 'long o* me. I'll show yer;" And they followed. The' Doctor and the Professor supported the worriari, while the ironmaster kept the half-crowns ready.

'^'Ere!" The^bby. pushed open a sudden little door. "You come * : iii 'ere. It's oilers warm m 'ere, and the Farver, 'c don 't mind, bless yer. "

It was a '"'spacious" building, dimly lighted and not free of fog. One corner was more brilliant; there Avei'e many candles m a sort of stand, and close to this crowri of stars a little stable had been built. In it were this figures of a Woirian and her ChildV ; and before them knblt three IGngs— old, wise, arid full of experience. Inserted above was to be read: "A Little Child shall lead them!" ''O come, let us adore Him."

"Yon can lie 'er 'ere. I'll fetch some 'assocks"; arid m the corner of that chapel of St. Francis the three laid the woman and her babe, kneeling as they did so. The boy was sent to the chemist's— "jßootses; it's next the stytion; righto!" — and returned with amazing speed. Hayemij* thought the moment had comb fbr disposing of the half-crowns, but the boy, kneeling for a moment before the Crib, slipped silently into the cold and foggy world outside. The three old meri were left with the poor -woman arid her child;

Father Valentine ■" tells me; that when he came into the church thit evening through the clergyhouse door, he saw no boy and no woman or child; but there were three very respectable old geritlemeri kneeling before the Crib; and three ■'- fivepound notes were found m the poor-box^-("Church Times"). '. '■■* 7-- :