The glow disappears
and a great hissing sound is heard, loud at first, then dying away, like
this_:
S--S--S--s--s--s--s--s--s--s--s--s--s--s
There! _says_ GRANDMOTHER. It is quite out, you see. And now, you
must hang up your stockings, quickly, and hurry into bed. _A shrill
whistle is heard outside_. What was that? GRANDMOTHER _asks_.
It sounded like a whistle out of doors, _answers_ MARGARET; _and
she goes to the window and looks out._ Why, Grandmother, _says
she_, it's beginning to snow.
Good! _says_ GRANDMOTHER. That will make it easier for Santa Claus
to get here in his sleigh. So make haste with your stockings, and then,
before you get into bed, we will read from the Good Book about what
happened on the first Christmas night so many, many years ago.
_They bring their stockings and hang them in a row over the
fire-place. Meantime Grandmother has taken the big Bible, and seated
herself in the low chair in the middle of the room. The children, when
the stockings are hung, group themselves beside her, standing, looking
over her shoulders, her arms around some of them. Then_ GRANDMOTHER
_reads_:
And there were shepherds in the same country abiding in the field, and
keeping watch by night over their flock.
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