



Produced by Juliet Sutherland, Paul Ereaut and the Online
Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net





[Illustration: TWO WAYS OF CARRYING THE MAIL. [See Letter-Box.]]




ST. NICHOLAS.

VOL. V.
JANUARY, 1878.
No. 3.

[Copyright, 1877, by Scribner & Co.]




THE RAVENS AND THE ANGELS.

(_A Story of the Middle Ages._)

BY THE AUTHOR OF "CHRONICLES OF THE SCHOeNBERG-COTTA FAMILY."


I.

In those old days, in that old city, they called the cathedral--and they
thought it--the house of God. The cathedral was the Father's house for
all, and therefore it was loved and honored, and enriched with lavish
treasures of wealth and work, beyond any other father's house.

The cathedral was the Father's house, and, therefore, close to its gates
might nestle the poor dwellings of the poor,--too poor to find a shelter
anywhere besides; because the central life and joy of the house of God
was the suffering, self-sacrificing Son of Man; and dearer to Him, now
and forever, as when He was o