19 JANUARY 1951, Page 4

A man I know has been baffling his friends with

what would appear to be the simplest of questions. What is the missing word in the quotation " There were in the same country shepherds abiding in the field, keeping watch over their — by night " ? I have tried it out fairly thoroughly in my own circle, lay and clerical, and no one has so far given the right answer—which can be found in