(continued from previous page) children, some as solos, some by the whole group.� In this very informal gathering he asked the children questions and they, by their answers, showed their listening parents their clear understanding of the Christmas story. They had even composed some poems which were read to the group. Then Bishop de Watteville spoke of the happiness their knowledge of Christ would mean and “of his kindling a blood-red flame in each believing heart thereby.� Now, making his lesson unforgettable, each child was given a burning candle, with a bit of red ribbon wrapped about the base. So stirring was this service that the following year one like it was held with the children in Herrnhut. Repetition did not dull it; it quickly became a memory to be cherished, an event to look forward to each Christmas; an established custom. Naturally the idea was carried to other Moravian centers. The first record in the New World of a candle service like this is in the diary of Bethlehem, Pa., where it was an important event of Christmas, 1756. These were years of peril. Christmas the year before had been darkened by the massacre of close friends and relatives at nearby Gnadenhuetten on the Mahoning. Then other outlying farms were burned, families captured, killed or scattered. Refugees had crowded into Bethlehem time and again. A constant watch for marauding Indians had to be maintained. The children from Nazareth and other schools had to be brought into the Bethlehem stockade for safety. Many of the youngsters had parents who were away on mission work. For many adults and children it must have been hard to raise their eyes from the immediate dangers
The Moravian