Dear Children:—

This little book has been prepared for you as a Christmas gift. May it help to remind you of the Christ-child, whose returning birth-day lights up your homes with mutual love and innocent joy. And though the Christmas tree is not hung with pretty toys and sugar plums, to delight the eye and please the taste, it is yet adorned with beautiful pictures and sparkling gems from the life of the great Reformer, no less attractive to the mind and heart. May this gift, or little book, add something to the innocent pleasures of your Christmas homes, while—

"Rich and poor in grateful chanting

For the joy that visits earth,

Join to bless the dear Redeemer

On the morn that gave him birth."