Then safe in the safe, snug, warm sheaf they dwelt, Till the long, cold night was gone, And softly and clear the sweet church bells Rang out on the Christmas dawn, When down from their covert, with fluttering wings, They flew to a resting-place, As the humble peasant passed slowly by, With a sorrowful, downcast face. "Homeless and friendless, alas! am I," They heard him sadly say, "For the sheriff," (he wept and wrung his hands) "Will come on New Year's day." The birdlings listened with mute surprise. "'Tis hard," they gently said; "He gave us a sheaf of grain for food, When he had but three for bread. We will pray to God, He will surely help This good man in distress;" And they lifted their voices on high, to crave His mercy and tenderness. Then again to the Christmas sheaf they flew, In the sunlight, clear and cold: "Joy! joy! each grain of wheat," they sang, "Is a shining coin of gold." "A thousand ducats of yellow gold, A thousand, if there be one; O master! the wonderful sight behold In the radiant light of the sun." The peasant lifted his tear-dimmed eyes To the shining sheaf o'erhead; "'Tis a gift from the loving hand of God, And a miracle wrought," he said. "For the Father of all, who reigneth o'er, His children will ne'er forsake, When they feed the birds from their scanty store, For the blessed Christ-child's sake." "The fields of kindness bear golden grain," Is a proverb true and tried; Then scatter thine alms, with lavish hand, To the waiting poor outside; And remember the birds, and the song they sang, When the year rolls round again: "The Christ-child came on earth to bless The birds as well as men." --_Mrs. A.M. Tomlinson._ CHAPTER V. [Illustration] YULE-TIDE IN RUSSIA "Light--in the heavens high, And snow flashing bright;-- Sledge in the distance In its lonely flight." --_Shenshin._ In this enormous kingdom which covers one-sixth of the land surface of the globe, and where upwards of fifteen million human beings celebrate in various ways the great winter festival of Yule-tide, it will be found that the people retain many traditions of the sun-worshipers, which shows that the season was once observed in honor of the renewal of the sun's power. With them, however, the sun was supposed to be a _female_, who, when the days began to lengthen, entered her sledge, adorned in her best robes and gorgeous head-dress, and speeded her horses summerward. Russian myths indicate a connection with the Aryans in the remote past; their songs of the wheel, the log, the pig or boar, all show a common origin in centuries long gone by.