Page:Scenes in my Native Land.pdf/311

Rh his childhood grew. Here are no fond eyes to welcome him, no kind voice to bid him to the hospitable repast.

Send thou, and gather him as a sheaf into thy garner. Make glad his soul with the incense of thy fireside charities. So shall his smile of gratitude strike to the depths of thine own spirit, and dry its secret tears.

Oh, at this festival, and at that still more sacred one, of our dear Lord's nativity, forget not the forgotten, nor the forsaken, nor the poor. For if thou hast sent portions unto the needy, and if the stranger or the orphan sitteth beside thee at thy board, thine own feast shall be the sweeter, and be remembered at the banquet on high.