"ON THE MORNING OF THE DAY BEFORE CHRISTMAS WHEN THE STARS WERE BRIGHT.' " we are about it, is n't there something else you would like to change? What do you say to having these stone pillars put to one side, so that they may be out of the way of the people when they come in? Or those great beams in the roofthey might be turned over, and perhaps we might find that the upper side would look fresher than this lower part, which is somewhat time-stained, as you see? Or, for the matter of that, what do you say to having our clock-tower taken down and set out there in the square before the church door? Then short-sighted people could see the time much better, don't you think? Now tell me, shall we do all these things together, wise little friend?" A tear or two came into Arla's eyes, but she made no answer. "Good-morning, sir," she said; and went sacristan. At last she saw him in a side chapel at the upper end of the church, engaged in dusting some old books. He was a large man, with a red face, and he turned around quickly, with a stern expression, as she entered. "Please, sir," said Arla, "I came to tell you that your church clock is wrong. It strikes from four to six minutes before it ought to; sometimes the one and sometimes the other. It should be changed so that it will be sure to strike at the right time." The face of the sacristan grew redder, and twitched visibly at her remark. you were a boy, so that I might take you by the collar and soundly cuff your ears for coming here to insult an officer of the church in the midst of his duties! But, as you are a girl, I can only tell you to go away from here as rapidly and as quietly as you can, or I shall have to put you in the hands of the ecclesiastical authorities!" Arla was truly frightened, and although she did not run, for she knew that would not be proper ONE OF THE CLOCKS. "I DON'T LIKE HIM AS MUCH AS I USED TO,' SAID ARLA." "to be employed in a church! It surely is not known what sort of person he is, or he would not be allowed to stay there a day!" Arla thought she would not go to any more churches at present, for she did not know what sort of sacristans she might find in them. "When the other clocks in the town all strike properly," she thought, "it is most likely they will see for themselves that their clocks are wrong, and they will have them changed." She now made her way to the great square of the town, and entered the building at the top of which stood the stone man with his hammer. She found the concierge, or door-keeper, in a little room by the side of the entrance. She knew where to go, for she had been there with her mother to ask permission to go up and see the stone man strike the hour with his hammer, and the stone woman strike the half-hour with her broom. The concierge was a grave middle-aged man with spectacles; and, remembering what had just happened, Arla thought she would be careful how she spoke to him. "If you please, sir," she said, with a courtesy, "I should like to say something to you. And I hope you will not be offended when I tell you that your clock is not quite right. Your stone man and your stone woman are both too slow; they sometimes strike as much as seven minutes after they ought to strike." The grave middle-aged man looked steadily at her through his spectacles. "I thought," continued Arla, "that if this should be made known to you, you would have the works of the stone man and the stone woman altered so that they might strike at the right time. They can be heard so far, you know, that it is very necessary they should not make mistakes." 66 Child," ," said the man, with his spectacles still steadily fixed on her, "for one hundred and fiftyseven years the open tower on this building has stood there. For one hundred and fifty-seven years the thunder and the lightning in time of storm have roared and flashed around it, and the sun in time of fair weather has shone upon it. In that century and a half and seven years men and THE HOUR WITH HIS HAM women have lived and have THE STONE MAN STRUCK died, and their children MER, AND THE STONE WOMAN and their grand-children in a church, she walked as fast as she could and their great-grandchildinto the outer air. STRUCK THE HALF HOUR WITII " HER BROOM. ren, and even the children of these, have lived "What a bad man," she then said to herself and died after them. Kings and queens have passed away, one after another; and all things living have grown old and died, one generation after another, many times. And yet, through all these years, that stone man and that stone woman have stood there, and in storm and in fair weather by daylight or in the darkness of night, they have struck the hours and the half-hours. Of all things that one hundred and fifty-seven years ago were able to lift an arm to strike, they alone are left. And now you, a child of thirteen, or perhaps fourteen years, come to me and ask me to change that which has not been changed for a century and a half and seven years!" Arla could answer nothing with those spectacles fixed upon her. They seemed to glare more and more as she looked at them. "Good-morning, sir," she said, dropping a courtesy as she moved backward toward the door. Reaching it, she turned and hurried into the street. "If those stone people," she thought, "have not been altered in all these years, it is likely they would now be striking two or three hours out of the way! But I don't know. If they kept on going slow for more than a century, they must have come around to the right hour sometimes. But they will have to strike ever and ever so much longer before they come around there again!" (To be concluded.) A DEAR LITTLE SCHEMER. By M. M. D. THERE was a little daughter once, whose feet were oh, so small! "I'll pin this big one here," she said, then sat before the fire, Watching the supple, dancing flames, and shadows darting by her, Till silently she drifted off to that queer land, you know, Of "Nowhere in particular," where sleepy children go. She never knew the tumult rare that came upon the roof! She never heard the patter of a single reindeer hoof; She never knew how Some One came and looked his shrewd surprise She only knew, when morning dawned, that she was safe in bed. "Mamma! Papa! Please come and look! a lovely doll, and all!" I borrowed this for Santa Claus. It is n't fair, you know, To make him wait forever for a little girl to grow." |