Not For Crown or Sceptre

A Story of Sweden in the 16th Century Pastor Sten Nilson, a tall, noble-looking man, stood up to welcome his brother, with a smile on his lips and a glad light in his frank blue eyes. But the next moment he drew back disappointed, and even a little annoyed; for “mine host” was ushering in a stranger, an elderly man in a fur coat, holding by the hand a little boy about seven . . . [The boy asked] with a half timid, half confiding air, “What book is that?”

Surprised at the question from so young a child, the Pastor answered, “It is the Red Book, my son.”

The boy looked up indignantly, all his shyness gone. ” ’Tis not red,” he said, ” ’tis brown, nearly black. I thought pastors always spoke the truth.”