There was once a child, and he strolled about a good deal, and thought
of a number of things. He had a sister, who was a child too, and
his constant companion. These two used to wonder all day long. They
wondered at the beauty of the flowers; they wondered at the height and
blueness of the sky; they wondered at the goodness and the power of
God, who made the lovely world.
They used to say to one another sometimes, “Supposing all the children
upon earth were to die, would the flowers, and the water, and the sky
be sorry?” They believed they would be sorry. “For,” said they, “the
buds are the children of the flowers, and the little playful streams
that gambol down the hillsides are the children of the water; and the
smallest bright specks, playing at hide-and-seek in the sky all night,
must surely be the children of the stars; and they would always be
grieved to see their playmates, the children of men, no more.”
There was one clear-shining star that used to come out in the sky
before the rest, near the church spire, above the graves. It was larger
and more beautiful, they thought, than all the others, and every night
they watched for it, standing hand-in-hand at a window. Whoever saw
it first cried out, “I see the star!” And often they cried out both
together, knowing so well when it would rise, and where. So they grew
to be such friends with it, that before lying down on their beds, they
always looked out once again, to bid it good-night; and when they were
turning round to sleep they used to say, “God bless the star!”
But while she was still very young,--oh, very, very young,--the sister
drooped, and came to be so weak, that she could no longer stand at the
window at night; and then the child looked sadly out by himself, and
when he saw the star, turned round and said to the patient, pale face
on the bed, “I see the star!” and then a smile would come upon the
face, and a little, weak voice used to say, “God bless my brother and
the star!”
And so the time came, all too soon! when the child looked out alone,
and when there was no face on the bed; and when there was a little
grave among the graves, not there before; and when the star made long
rays down towards him, as he saw it through his tears.
Now, these rays were so bright, and they seemed to make such a shining
way from earth to heaven, that when the child went to his solitary bed,
he dreamed about the star; and dreamed that, lying where he was, he saw
a train of people taken up that sparkling road by angels. And the star,
opening, showed him a great world of light, where many more such angels
waited to receive him.
All these angels, who were waiting, turned their beaming eyes upon the
people who were carried up into the star; and some came out from the
long rows in which they stood, and fell upon the people’s necks, and
kissed them tenderly, and went away with them down avenues of light,
and were so happy in their company, that, lying in his bed, he wept for
joy.
But there were many angels who did not go with them, and among them one
he knew. The patient face that once had lain upon the bed was glorified
and radiant, but his heart found out his sister among all the host. His
sister’s angel lingered near the entrance of the star, and said to the
leader among those who had brought the people thither, “Is my brother
come?” And he said, “No.” She was turning hopefully away, when the
child stretched out his arms, and cried, “O sister, I am here! Take
me!” And then she turned her beaming eyes upon him, and it was night;
and the star was shining into the room, making long rays down towards
him, as he saw it through his tears. From that hour forth, the child
looked out upon the star as on the Home he was to go to when his time
should come; and he thought that he did not belong to the earth alone,
but to the star too, because of his sister’s angel gone before. There
was a baby born to be a brother to the child; and whilst he was so
little that he never yet had spoken a word, he stretched his tiny form
out on the bed, and died.
Again the child dreamed of the open star, and of the company of angels,
and the train of people, and the rows of angels, with their beaming
eyes all turned upon those people’s faces. Said his sister’s angel
to the leader, “Is my brother come?” And he said, “Not that one, but
another.” As the child beheld his brother’s angel in her arms, he
cried, “O sister, I am here! Take me!” And she turned and smiled upon
him, and the star was shining.
He grew to be a young man, and was busy at his books, when an old
servant came to him, and said, “Thy mother is no more. I bring her
blessing on her darling son!” Again at night he saw the star, and all
the former company. Said his sister’s angel to the leader, “Is my
brother come?” And he said, “Thy mother!” A mighty cry of joy went
forth through all the star, because the mother was reunited to her two
children. And he cried, “O mother, sister, and brother, I am here! Take
me!” And they answered him, “Not yet,” and the star was shining.
He grew to be a man whose hair was turning gray, and he was sitting in
his chair by the fireside, heavy with grief, and with his face bedewed
with tears, when the star opened once again. Said his sister’s angel
to the leader, “Is my brother come?” And he said, “Nay, but his maiden
daughter.” And the man who had been the child saw his daughter newly
lost to him, a celestial creature among those three, and he said,
“My daughter’s head is on my sister’s bosom, and her arm is round my
mother’s neck, and at her feet there is the baby of old time, and I can
bear the parting from her--God be praised!” And the star was shining.
Thus the child came to be an old man, and his face was wrinkled, and
his steps were slow, and his back was bent. One night, as he lay upon
his bed, his children standing around, he cried, as he had cried so
long ago, “I see the star!” They whispered to one another, “He is
dying.” And he said, “I am. My age is falling from me like a garment,
and I move towards the star as a child. And, O my Father, now I thank
Thee that it has so often opened, to receive those dear ones who await
me!” And the star was shining; and it shines upon his grave.
--CHARLES DICKENS.