Decorating The Old Church.

Gray old gardener, what do you bring?          "Laurel and ivy and bay,         With palms for the crowning of a King -          The morrow is Christmas Day.         "Holly with thorns, and berries like blood          On its shiny greenness flung.         O the piercd side, and the thorny crown,          And the cross whereon He hung!         "The mistletoe, meaning All-healing,          Hangs close to the holly's thorn,         Lest we forget that on Christmas Day          The Healer of Souls was born.         "Ivy's for faith; on the altar rail          Let it creep where all may see;         It crept till it kissed a cheek so pale          That night in Gethsemane.         "Bay's for remembrance, full and sweet;          It speaks with its fragrant breath         Of manger and cross and a lowly tomb,          And a love that conquered death.         "And laurel leaves for the wreath I bring,          The laurel for victory,         And palms for the crowning of a King -          The morrow is Christmas Day."