The hermit's Christmas

THE HERMIT’S CHRISTMAS
DAVID de FOREST BURRELL
AMERICAN TRACT SOCIETY 150 Nassau Street, New York

Copyright, 1912, by American Tract Society

On Christmas Day the solitude of the hermit Theodore was broken in upon.
The hermit, a gaunt, austere figure of a man in a long robe of goat’s hair, stood before the door of his cave upon the heights, looking out over the wooded slopes and the shining waters at their feet, when the first intruder made his appearance. The sunlight glanced from his armor where he came out from the forest shadows on a bare shoulder of the mountain far below. The gleam caught the hermit’s eye, and, without moving, he watched while the man drew nearer. He climbed but slowly under the weight of his armor. About his head a white cloth was wrapped as security against the hot sun, while his helmet was slung at his back. His great sword he used for a staff.
At length, stumbling over the last stone in utter weariness, he reached the hermit’s side and threw himself upon the ground, calling hoarsely for water, in the name of all the saints. The hermit brought it, a gourd full, which the Crusader drank dry in great gulps. He wiped his face, red and shining from the exertion of his climb.