When I got down to the school on Christmas morning at half-past seven
I found the boys already at breakfast. They were casting anxious eyes
in the direction of the room with the closed door, and like other boys
I have known they did not take long to eat their Christmas-morning
breakfast. When they were all ready they filed into the room. I am not
going to tell you how those stockings were filled. You may decide for
yourselves how, and by whom it was done. I don’t think the boys stopped
to think anything about “how.” They were too much interested in the
sight of twelve white Chinese socks in a row, all bulging out in a knobby
fashion, with things sticking out of them, and a flat, red parcel behind
every sock. On the blackboard was written in Chinese, “Jesus’ Holy
Birthday.” After they had looked for a minute I suggested that they take
down their socks and see what was in them. Then for the first time in
their lives they had the joy of exploring the mysteries of a Christmas
stocking. Their presents were not very much, you would say, perhaps. Each
boy found a story-book and a photograph of the school, and then down in
the sock were nuts and candies, and right in the toe an orange. The two
teachers each got a New Testament with the Chinese and English on the
same page.
They did not say much, and I wondered if they were disappointed, until
one of the teachers, Mr. Jang, came up to me with tears in his eyes,
saying, “You say we must not thank you, so I think we ought to thank God.
Can’t we do it just now?” It touched me deeply. “Yes,” I said, and we all
went up to the study-room and, standing there about the long table, one
after another of the boys made a short, simple prayer of thanks to God,
not only for the gifts of the morning, but especially for the greatest
Gift of all, Jesus Christ.
At nine o’clock we had our regular morning prayers, and then I gave to
the day-boys their presents, a New Testament and a bag of nuts and candy
to each one. We had a nice little service in the church for all the
church people, but our real Christmas service was held the next Sunday.
On that day we had a special musical service, led by the boys, who had
been practising for months under Mr. and Mrs. McAmmond. It would have
done you good to hear them open the service with “Come, Thou Almighty
King,” with Georgie Bond singing one verse as a solo. The anthem was
“Hark, the Herald Angels Sing,” and our Chinese angels sang splendidly.
On Christmas morning the church members gave away free rice to five
hundred poor people. So that altogether the boys, even if their Christmas
was quieter than usual, have had something to remind them of the joy of
this beautiful season.
God Wants Them All
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account