{"collection":"scripture-revelation","full_text_available":true,"graph_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/v2/api/page/gutenberg_27615/graph","html_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/v2/page/gutenberg_27615","id":"gutenberg_27615","license":"Public Domain (US)","rights_basis":"gutenberg_metadata_copyright_false","source":"gutenberg","source_url":"https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/27615","summary":null,"tags":["Category: Children & Young Adult Reading","Category: Historical Novels","Category: Novels","Category: Religion/Spirituality","Christmas stories"],"text":"Produced by Chris Curnow, Greg Bergquist and the Online\nDistributed Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net (This\nfile was produced from images generously made available\nby The Internet Archive)\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nChristmas Light\n\n[Illustration]\n\n  Christmas Light\n\n  BY\n  ETHEL CALVERT PHILLIPS\n\n  _With Illustrations_\n\n  [Illustration]\n\n  BOSTON AND NEW YORK\n  HOUGHTON MIFFLIN COMPANY\n  The Riverside Press Cambridge\n  1922\n\n  COPYRIGHT, 1922, BY ETHEL CALVERT PHILLIPS\n\n  ALL RIGHTS RESERVED\n\n\n  The Riverside Press\n  CAMBRIDGE MASSACHUSETTS\n  PRINTED IN THE U.S.A.\n\n  TO\n\n  MY MOTHER\n\n  Light of the world, the world is dark about Thee;\n    Far out on Judah's hills the night is deep.\n  Not yet the day is come when men shall doubt Thee,\n    Not yet the hour when Thou must wake and weep;\n    O little one, O Lord of Glory, sleep!\n\n  Love of all heaven, love's arms are folded round Thee,\n    Love's heart shall be the pillow for Thy cheek.\n  Not yet the hour has come when hate shall wound Thee,\n    Not yet for shelter vainly must Thou seek.\n    Rest, little one, so mighty and so weak.\n\n  Lie still and rest, Thou Rest of earth and heaven;\n    Rest, little hands--our Hope of bliss ye keep;\n  Rest, little heart--one day shalt Thou be riven;\n    O newborn Life, O Life eternal, sleep!\n    Far out on Judah's hills the night is deep.\n\n[Illustration]\n\n[Illustration]\n\n\n\n\nContents\n\n\n     I. Naomi's Garden                     1\n\n    II. One Sabbath                       20\n\n   III. The Trip to Jerusalem             37\n\n    IV. In the Dark                       60\n\n     V. All the World Comes Visiting      73\n\n    VI. The Shepherds                     88\n\n   VII. In a Manger                      101\n\n  VIII. The Light of the World           116\n\n[Illustration]\n\n\n\n\nChristmas Light\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER I\n\nNAOMI'S GARDEN\n\n\nIt was in a little garden in the village of Bethlehem, many and many a\nyear ago, that four scarlet poppies stood side by side and swayed gently\nback and forth upon their slim green stalks in the soft afternoon wind.\n\nA little girl came running over the grass and halted before the\npoppies.\n\n\"How beautiful you are!\" said the little girl, whose name was Naomi, and\nwho was eight years old.\n\nShe clasped her hands before her in delight, and stood smiling down upon\nthe flowers that seemed to nod courteously in reply.\n\nThis little Jewish girl had dark curling hair and gentle brown eyes. Her\ncheeks were as rosy as the poppies, and she wore a gay little robe of\nscarlet and yellow striped stuff, while upon her bare brown feet were\ntied soft leather sandals.\n\n\"How beautiful you are!\" said Naomi again to the poppies. \"You are mine,\nfor I made you grow, and you are the most beautiful flowers in all our\nlovely garden.\"\n\nAnd she looked as proudly round the tiny garden plot as if it were as\nspacious and as wonderful as the famous gardens of the wicked King\nHerod, or even those of the Temple High Priest himself.\n\nIn the center of the grass plot stood an orange-tree, and under it, in\nthe shade of its glossy leaves, had been placed a light wooden bench. A\ntall hedge of prickly thorns prevented passers-by on the narrow village\nstreet from peeping in. At one end a heavy grapevine clambered over a\ntrellis, while at the other there were several rich clumps of myrtle\nthat showed dark against the surrounding grass. Below the thorn hedge\nstood a row of bold flaunting tulips, and there were two flower-beds,\none of white, the other of tall red lilies.\n\nThe garden was indeed a pleasant place, and Naomi's happiest hours were\nspent here, whether playing peacefully alone, or amusing baby Jonas, or\nwhen the family gathered together under the orange-tree, Father and\nMother, brother Ezra, baby Jonas, and herself.\n\nTo be sure there were vines and flowers growing on the roof of Naomi's\nhouse, which was often used as a place to sit in the cool of the day and\neven to sleep when the house grew unbearably warm. For Naomi's dwelling\nlooked like nothing so much as a square box turned upside down with only\na door cut in the front and not a window to break the smooth white\nsides.\n\nWithin, there was a single room, round which ran a bench where were kept\nthe gay quilts, tightly rolled, which made the only beds Naomi knew.\nHere, too, lay the cushions upon which the family sat when at meals\nround the table, which was then pulled out from the wall. There was a\ngreat carved chest in which were kept the Sabbath clothes, the crescent\nof coins which belonged to Naomi's mother and which she wore upon her\nhead as an ornament on festive occasions, and the long parchment rolls\nof Scripture in which Naomi's father took the keenest pride. At the\ndoor stood a tall water-jar with herbs floating on the top to keep the\nwater cool.\n\nIn a niche in the doorpost hung a small roll of parchment in a case.\nNaomi was used to seeing her father and his friends touch it reverently\nwhen passing in or out, and then kiss the fingers that had touched the\nName of the Most High. She could even recite as well as Ezra the verses\nshe knew were written there, beginning, \"Hear, O Israel: Jehovah our God\nis one Jehovah,\" and ending \"and thou shalt write them upon the\ndoorposts of thy house and upon thy gates.\"\n\nIn a small building near by stood the oven where Naomi's mother did her\nbaking and which she used in common with several other families. It was\noften a meeting-place for the children, who hung about the door on\nbaking-days hoping for hot crumbs--stout Solomon from across the road;\nRachel and Rebekah, Naomi's particular friends; little Enoch, who walked\nwith a limp and who would never grow any taller, though he might live to\nbe ever so old.\n\n\"I would that my Aunt Miriam used our oven,\" Naomi often thought, \"for\nshe bakes every day, and, oh, such good things as she makes.\"\n\nNaomi's aunt kept the village inn or khan that stood just outside the\ncity gates on one of the little hills upon which Bethlehem was built.\nMany travelers stopped the night at the khan and even longer, for the\nvillage lay only one mile to the right of the great road which led from\nJerusalem, six miles away, to the old town of Hebron, and then down into\nthe far-away, mysterious land of Egypt itself. Where the road from\nBethlehem joined the Jerusalem highway stood the tomb of Rachel, and\nmany a time had Naomi, loitering in the courtyard of the inn, heard\npious pilgrims, fresh from the spot, tell the stories of Rachel and\nJacob, and their sons Joseph and Benjamin.\n\nNaomi's little head was packed full of the stories of the great people\nof her race. Ezra, eleven years old, went to school in the synagogue\nevery day with the other boys of the village, and diligently studied the\nLaw and the Prophets. At home, Naomi was taught by her mother, not only\nthe care of the house, but the history of the Hebrew people, their\nsongs, their prayers, and their hopes.\n\n\"I know ten hymns without a mistake,\" Naomi would boast, and by hymns\nshe meant what we call psalms. \"I can recite the Song of Deborah and the\nSong of Hannah. I can tell all the story about them, too, and, oh, ever\nso many more.\"\n\nHer favorite story was that of the Naomi for whom she had been named.\nBut this summer afternoon she was thinking of nothing save of the pretty\nblossoms that now swung before her after so many days of patient toil\nand care.\n\nShe caught sight of her mother in the doorway and eagerly called her to\ncome and see the sight.\n\n\"Come, Mother, come,\" she called. \"My poppies are all out, every one.\nFour of them in a row! See--even the smallest one that I feared would\nnot bloom at all. There is one for each of thee: Father, Mother, Ezra,\nJonas. The smallest one is for Jonas, and verily it is the prettiest one\nof all.\"\n\nNaomi's mother came smiling down the path. She carried a water-pitcher\nor urn, and astride her left shoulder sat baby Jonas, steadying himself\nby clutching his mother's thick dark hair.\n\n\"The flowers are beautiful, Naomi,\" said she pleasantly. \"They well\nrepay thee for all thy patience and care. I go now to the fountain for\nwater. It lacks but half an hour to sundown. Watch thy little brother\nJonas well and keep him happy until I return.\"\n\nAnd slipping Jonas from her shoulder to the grass, and pulling her white\nlinen veil into place, she stepped quickly out into the village street,\nher urn securely balanced upon her head.\n\nJonas had already crept over to the bench, and, dragging himself up upon\nhis unsteady legs, he looked into his sister's face with a smile.\n\n\"The smallest poppy is thine, Jonas,\" Naomi told him, \"but thou must\ntouch it not. Come now with me and see the pigeons.\"\n\nBehind the house, a step out of the garden, stood a dove-cote made of\nmud. Inside were two wide-mouthed earthen jars that served as\nnesting-boxes. The pigeons were stepping majestically about on the\nground, the sun touching their soft gray feathers with blue and green\nand rose. Jonas made several lunges at them in the hope of capturing a\nnew plaything, but he succeeded only in stubbing his toe and sitting\ndown hard upon the ground.\n\n\"No, neither must thou touch them,\" said Naomi, helping him tenderly to\nhis feet and brushing off the dirt. \"It seems to me that there are a\ngreat many things that thou must not touch. But I know something that\nthou canst do. It is my secret, but I do not mind telling thee because\nthou canst not talk. Thou mayst help me dig a well!\"\n\nNaomi's voice sank mysteriously as she guided the tottering Jonas back\ninto the garden and over to a bare spot of ground behind the largest of\nthe myrtle bushes.\n\n\"Sit ye down, Jonas,\" said Naomi, sinking cross-legged to the ground.\n\"I mean to dig the well here, it will be so handy for Mother. Then never\nwill she have to walk down to the fountain unless she likes. You take\nthat stick and I will use this one.\"\n\nFor a few moments the little girl worked industriously, loosening the\ndry sun-baked soil, while Jonas scratched vigorously with his\nsharp-pointed stick.\n\n\"It is hard work, Jonas,\" sighed Naomi, pausing to shake back her curls.\n\"But it will be worth it when once the well is made. It will be called\n'Naomi's well' for me, and years and years from now my\ngreat-great-grandchildren will be proud of me because I made it. And\nwhen I am an old woman, all thin and brown and dried-up like lame\nEnoch's grandmother, I will say to my grandchildren, all standing round\nand listening to every word I say--I will say, 'Grandchildren, I well\nremember the day thy dear uncle--that is thou, Jonas--and I dug\nthis'--Oh! Oh!\" And Naomi screamed aloud and jumped to her feet.\n\nSomething cold and wet had been placed against the back of her neck, and\nlittle shivers were running over her as she turned and saw her brother\nEzra behind her, smiling at her fright. In his arms he held a small\nwhite lamb, and it was this little animal's nose that had been pressed\nto Naomi's neck, and that had brought her day-dreaming to such an abrupt\nclose.\n\n\"Wilt thou not tell the grandchildren anything about their dear Uncle\nEzra?\" inquired Ezra with a comical look. \"Who sharpened those sticks\nfor thee, I would fain know, and thou didst not even tell me what use\nthey were for. How dost thou think the grandchildren would like to hear\nthat?\"\n\n\"How unkind thou art to listen and then laugh at me,\" said Naomi,\nputting out her under lip. \"I would have told thee, Ezra, about the well\nonly it was a secret. Do not tell Mother, wilt thou? I would fain\nsurprise her. Promise thou wilt not tell, Ezra! Promise!\" And Naomi laid\nan imploring hand upon her brother's arm.\n\nEzra's only answer was to laugh and shake his head. Though he had no\nintention of telling, he wanted to tease Naomi a little before making\nany promises. He was fond of his little sister, and was far more gentle\nand kindly than many another brother would have been in those days in\nold Palestine.\n\nFor in the Jewish family, girls were not valued so highly as boys, and\nwere made to feel their unimportance in many ways that would be highly\ndispleasing to little sisters of to-day. Girls were taught to wait upon\ntheir brothers and to treat them with respect. It was impressed upon\nthem that the duty of a girl was to be useful and modest and quiet, and\nthat her chief pleasure should lie in making home happy and comfortable\nfor her father and brothers.\n\nBut in the household of Samuel the weaver, Naomi's lot had not been\nquite that of the ordinary Jewish girl. Her father was proud of his\nbright, lovable little daughter and had made her his special pet. Her\nmother, who had been well taught by her own mother, a \"wise woman\" of\nher day, was careful that Naomi seldom missed the daily lesson that kept\nthe little girl, to her great delight, only a short way behind Ezra on\nthe hard road of knowledge.\n\nSo Ezra, though he felt his superiority as a boy and the first-born of\nhis family, could not long resist Naomi's pleading glance nor the\npressure of her little brown hand.\n\n\"What wilt thou give me if I do not tell?\" asked Ezra, not wishing to\nseem to relent too quickly.\n\n\"The first bright shekel I find in the highway,\" answered Naomi saucily.\n\nShe was smiling now, and her hand was gently stroking the little lamb's\nnose.\n\n\"What lamb is this, Ezra?\" she asked. \"And why hast thou brought it\nhome? It seems sleepy, poor little creature. Look, its eyes are half\nshut.\"\n\n\"It is one of the Temple flock,\" answered Ezra, looking down at the\nquiet little animal in his arms. \"But it has a blemish. It runs on three\nlegs, and it does not see very well. They will not keep it in the\nflock--it is not fit for Temple use--and shepherd Eli gave it to me this\nafternoon for my own. I helped him find an old ewe that had caught her\nfoot between two stones, and when I was leaving he gave me the lamb.\"\n\nBy the \"Temple flock\" Ezra meant the sheep that were destined to be used\nas sacrifices in the great Temple at Jerusalem, and which were encamped\nall the year round on the hills outside the city. The shepherds of the\nflock were friendly to the boy, who declared he meant when a man to be a\nTemple shepherd himself. Ezra spent most of his spare time with them,\nhelping them in their work and listening with delight to their thrilling\nstories of encounters with wolves and jackals. Many of the shepherds\nwere friends of his father, for both were connected with the Temple,\nsince Samuel the weaver spent his days, in common with a number of\nothers in Bethlehem, in making the gorgeous curtains and veils that were\nused in the sacred building.\n\n\"Stand up, Three Legs,\" said Ezra, putting his lamb on the ground and\nshowing Naomi its pitifully shrunken limb. In naming it \"Three Legs\"\nEzra was following the custom of the shepherds who called their charges\nby any peculiarity they might possess, such as \"Black Ear\" or \"Long\nTail.\" \"I mean to make a little wagon and teach Three Legs to draw it.\nAnd if he is not able to do that, I shall sell him for whatever I can\nget.\"\n\n\"Oh, no, Ezra,\" said Naomi whose tender heart was touched by the forlorn\nlittle animal. \"He is sick, he is not able to draw a wagon. Give him to\nme and let me take care of him.\"\n\nEzra shook his head.\n\n\"I will sell him first,\" said he with determination. \"I will not give\nhim away.\"\n\n\"Sell him to me!\" cried Naomi; \"sell him to me!\"\n\nThe lamb had toppled over in a little heap and was looking patiently and\nwith half-closed eyes into Naomi's face bent above him. It seemed to\nthe little girl that she would gladly give her dearest possession if she\nmight have the lamb for her own to nurse and care for.\n\n\"Sell him to me, Ezra. I will give thee anything thou mayst ask.\"\n\n\"What hast thou to give?\" asked Ezra shrewdly. He felt sure the lamb\ncould never draw a wagon, and the prospect of selling a sick animal was\nsmall.\n\n\"Anything thou mayst ask,\" was Naomi's reckless answer. The lamb had put\nout a limp pink tongue and was licking her fingers.\n\n\"Thy poppies?\"\n\nEzra had heard his aunt say that very day, \"I need poppies sorely for my\nbrew for the palsy, and not a single one has bloomed in the khan garden\nthis year.\"\n\nSurely four poppies would be worth a rich cake or two, or perhaps even\na piece of money.\n\n\"My poppies?\" Naomi looked aghast. \"My poppies? All four? Why, there is\njust one apiece! Father and Mother, thou and Jonas! My poppies?\"\n\nThe lamb stirred and with a little sigh of content snuggled his nose\ninto the palm of Naomi's hand.\n\n\"Take them!\" Naomi stood up and gathered the lamb in her arms. \"Take\nthem, only let me not see thee.\"\n\nShe turned her back upon Ezra and shut her eyes.\n\nQuickly he gathered the flowers and ran out of the garden.\n\nNaomi opened her eyes. She gave one look at her despoiled flower-bed and\nbent again over the lamb.\n\n\"I am glad, Three Legs,\" said she warmly. \"Thou art much better than\nmany poppies, thou poor little creature, and I am glad I did it. I am\nglad!\"\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER II\n\nONE SABBATH\n\n\nIt was Sabbath morning, and Naomi and her mother and Ezra were on their\nway to the synagogue.\n\nThey chose back streets as they went, and they met only women and\nchildren on their way, for the front roads on the Sabbath day were given\nup to the men.\n\nNaomi was happy as she walked quietly along holding fast to her mother's\nhand, for she wore her new hyacinth-blue robe that her mother had spun\nand her father had woven for her.\n\nEzra had other thoughts, and presently he whispered in Naomi's ear:\n\n\"In two years' time I shall be a Son of the Law, and then I shall sit on\nthe men's side in the synagogue, and walk on the front streets on\nSabbath. Thou and Mother will have to come alone.\"\n\nNaomi shook her head.\n\n\"Jonas will walk with us then,\" she whispered back. \"Boaster!\"\n\nShe did not really blame Ezra for his lordly words and air, for she knew\nhow every Jewish boy looked forward to what was called his Day of\nFreedom, when by a priest in the synagogue he was made a Son of the Law.\nThen he would be no longer a child, but a young man. His school days\nwould be over. He would choose a trade and begin to earn his own living.\n\nBut it was a comfort to Naomi to think that, with Ezra gone, little\nJonas would trot along by her side, and she was thinking of baby Jonas,\nleft every Sabbath morning in the care of lame Enoch's old grandmother,\nnow grown too feeble to climb the hill to the synagogue, when Aunt\nMiriam overtook them.\n\nAunt Miriam's husband, Simon, was a wealthy man in the village of\nBethlehem. He was the owner of the guest-house or khan that stood a\nlittle below the town on the way leading down into Egypt, and which was\nbelieved to have been the dwelling of Boaz and Ruth, and the birth-place\nof King David himself.\n\nTo-day Aunt Miriam wore a robe of fine linen, covered with a wide cloak\nof black and white stripes, and her earrings and bracelets tinkled at\nevery step. On week-days the children knew her to be bustling and chatty\nand fond of a jest. But the Sabbath saw her a different woman. Stately\nand dignified she walked beside them now, her brown eyes gazing far away\nand full of holy thought.\n\nThe children felt awed and shy with her as they might with a stranger.\nEzra stopped his whispering. Naomi glanced timidly up, her head held\nsideways like a little bird.\n\n\"How good Aunt Miriam is!\" she mused.\n\nBut her aunt's thoughts wandered for a moment from their pious\nmeditations. Suddenly she loosened the veil that was pulled across her\nface and spoke briefly to Naomi's mother.\n\n\"I shall come to see thee to-night after sundown. I go to Jerusalem\nto-morrow, and there may be room in the cart for a certain good little\nmaid.\"\n\nNaomi's heart leaped. Did Aunt Miriam mean her? What other little girl\nmight she take with her? But she had said \"a good little maid,\" and\nNaomi remembered with a pang of regret how she and Ezra had quarreled\nyesterday, and had not ceased their bickering until at sunset the three\nblasts of the silver trumpet, blown by the priest on the synagogue roof,\nhad reminded them that Sabbath eve had come.\n\nShe longed to ask outright: \"Dost thou mean to take me to Jerusalem\nwith thee, Aunt Miriam?\"\n\nBut they had reached the flat-roofed little synagogue, and once inside\nthe gate the children silently followed their mother and aunt into the\nwomen's court and seated themselves on the mats that covered the stone\nfloor.\n\nNaomi's mind was so occupied by the thought of a possible trip to\nJerusalem that she forgot to peep, according to her wont, through the\nlattice that separated the men's court from that of the women, in the\nhope of seeing her father. She usually watched with interest while the\nsacred Rolls were taken from their curtained shrine, before which burned\nthe holy lamp, and their outer cover of gold-embroidered silk and inner\ncover of linen removed.\n\nBut this morning she scarcely heard the voice of the visiting rabbi who\nread the lesson for the day, and her mother was obliged to twitch her\nvigorously when, during the prayers, the congregation rose to their feet\nand turned toward the Holy City.\n\nThe Sabbath day seemed endless to the eager little girl. All work and\nplay were forbidden. No fire might be lighted, no bed made. Naomi had\nbeen well taught in the Law. She knew that it would be sinful for her\neven to carry a handkerchief tucked in her belt. And so surely not until\nSabbath was over would the trip to Jerusalem be discussed.\n\nShe sat alone in the shade of the fig-tree that grew beside their door,\nand wished that she might see her friends Rachel and Rebekah to tell\nthem the good news. She watched the great sun flame through the bright\nSyrian sky until her eyes burned and ached, but still it was not\nsundown. At last she curled herself up on the floor of the house with\nheavy-eyed Three Legs at her side and fell asleep.\n\nWhen she woke it was the First Watch of the Evening, six o'clock, and\nthe crimson sun was sinking out of sight behind the Judean hills. Naomi\nsprang up and ran into the garden. There on the bench under the\norange-tree sat her father and mother and Aunt Miriam.\n\nAunt Miriam was talking.\n\n\"And so, since Simon is still sick with a heavy summer cold, nothing\nwill do but I must ride to Jerusalem to-morrow with the load of grapes,\"\nshe was saying. Simon had large vineyards and owned many olive-trees,\nbeside being host at the inn. \"To be sure, Jacob is a good serving-lad\nand manages well without his master. But there is no one, after himself,\nwho makes a better bargain than I, Simon says, and so I must ride with\nthe fruit to see that justice is done my lord Simon in the trade.\"\n\nHere Aunt Miriam laughed so heartily that Samuel and his wife were\nforced to smile in sympathy. But Samuel was not altogether pleased with\nAunt Miriam's little joke about her husband, who was in truth her lord\nand master and worthy of her deepest respect. He changed the subject by\nasking:\n\n\"And what does the physician say of Simon?\"\n\n\"He recommended that he kiss the nose of a mule,\" Aunt Miriam answered\ngravely.\n\nTo her and to her audience there was nothing amusing about this\nprescription. Stranger remedies than that had been ordered by the wise\ndoctors of the day: a broth of beetle's legs, crab's eyes, the heads of\nmice, bruised flies to cure the sting of a hornet!\n\n\"But in spite of this,\" she continued, \"he is still flat on his back,\ngroaning with aches and pains. So, to-morrow, Jacob and I start at\nsunrise with the bullock cart, and no doubt there will be room among the\nbaskets of grapes for Naomi, if thou wilt permit her to go.\"\n\nNaomi, at her father's elbow, glanced imploringly into his face, but she\ndid not speak a word. Her mother, from the end of the bench, smiled\nhopefully at the little girl, but she, too, waited in deferent silence\nuntil, to Naomi's great relief, her father gave a nod of consent.\n\n\"It is kind of thee, sister Miriam,\" said he, putting his arm about\nNaomi and drawing her to his side, \"to think of giving our little\ndaughter this pleasure.\"\n\n\"Naomi must be good and obedient and not make herself troublesome in any\nway,\" said her mother warningly, leaning forward to pull Naomi's little\nrobe straight. \"Thy aunt will be occupied with her business, Naomi, and\nthou must be as quiet as a mouse so that she will not regret that thou\nart with her.\"\n\n\"Never fear that,\" said Aunt Miriam heartily, \"Naomi is as dear to me as\nmy own. I shall not be so busy that she will have to play mouse all day.\nShe shall see something of the city, and eat a good dinner at the house\nof Simon's sister Anna, and make friends, perhaps, with Anna's little\nMartha who is just her age.\"\n\n\"I will be quiet,\" promised Naomi, her face bright with smiles. \"I will\nbe good. I will not speak a word nor stir all day long.\"\n\n\"Great are thy promises, Naomi,\" answered Aunt Miriam, rising to go and\nlaying a kindly hand upon the curly head of her niece. \"I will give thee\na hot breakfast at the khan to stay thee on thy journey, so be not late.\nWe start at sunrise!\"\n\n\"Oh, Father,\" cried Naomi, throwing her arms about her father's neck,\n\"how good I mean to be always after this! Dost think I shall see the\nTemple? And, Mother, which am I to wear--my new blue robe or my yellow\nand red striped one? I am really to go to Jerusalem! Oh, what will Ezra\nsay when he hears the good news I have to tell!\"\n\nThe next morning at daybreak, when the purple shadows lay heavily in the\neast and the sky was still gray overhead, Naomi, wearing a gay little\ncloak of scarlet over her best blue robe, ran hastily down the stony\nroad that led to the Bethlehem khan.\n\nThe drowsy gate-keeper had already unlocked the heavy town gates, for\nday begins early in hot countries, and at sight of Naomi, whom he knew\nwell, he uttered a sleepy \"Peace be with thee!\" as a morning greeting.\n\n\"With thee be peace!\" piped Naomi in return. \"Oh, Nathan, I go to-day\nto Jerusalem with my Aunt Miriam. This very day I go!\"\n\nOld Nathan nodded his head solemnly and muttered in his beard.\n\n\"Beautiful for situation, the joy of the whole earth is Mount Zion,\"\nresponded the pious old Jew. But Naomi was half-way down the hill and\ndid not hear one word.\n\nThere before her at the crossroads stood the old khan, with its great\nwall of stone and its stout gate behind which all night long sat a\nwatchman on the alert. Below the inn lay the very fields among which\nRuth, long, long ago, had gleaned the golden corn, and where later King\nDavid as a shepherd lad had tended his flock.\n\nNaomi slipped through the open gate into the courtyard of the khan and\nstood for a moment watching the bustle and confusion of the scene\nbefore her. In the center of the court was the fountain, and round it\nnow crowded the pilgrims and travelers, drawing water for the morning\nmeal or in which to wash before eating. The archways which lined the\nwall formed the rooms of the ancient inn, for the building at the end of\nthe court in which Simon the host and Aunt Miriam lived was not open to\nstrangers. Shelter and food were not provided within. Each man in his\nlittle archway must spread his own carpet, light his own brazier, cook\nhis own food, and eat from his own dish. A Syrian khan of that period\nwas not at all like the inns of our day. It was expected to supply\nnothing but water and straw for a bed. It was a refuge from thieves and\nwild animals, a shelter from heat and dust, a spot where a trader might\nsell his wares.\n\nNaomi looked with interest at the patient camels already kneeling to\nreceive their load, perhaps of precious ointment or sweet spices. Here\nwere the merchants spreading their wares: gold work from Cairo; shawls\nof Tyrian dye, royal purple or scarlet; rich perfumes in their vases of\nalabaster, large and small. In one corner a group of dogs, snapping and\nsnarling, quarreled over a bone.\n\nA caravan was starting for Egypt, and as the Bethlehem khan was the\nfirst night's rest after leaving Zion, many friends of the travelers had\ncome with them from Jerusalem and were now sorrowfully saying their last\nfarewells. Naomi stood watching an old father tenderly kiss his\ndeparting son upon either cheek and then lay his hand upon the boy's\nhead in blessing. A little lad, carrying his pet monkey, was lifted to\nthe back of a camel, and Naomi was staring so intently that she did not\nsee the serving-lad Jacob until he was close upon her.\n\n\"Thy aunt calls for thee,\" said he to Naomi. \"The cart stands ready\nloaded and we start as soon as thou hast eaten.\"\n\n\"I would that we were going down into Egypt, Jacob,\" said Naomi,\nskipping toward the house as she spoke. \"To ride to Jerusalem is\nnothing. We shall be back to-morrow in this very spot.\"\n\n\"Aye, if the robbers do not catch us,\" answered Jacob, wagging his head\nwisely. It was the first time he had been trusted to ride to Jerusalem\nwith a load, and the responsibility weighed heavily upon him.\n\n\"Robbers? Aunt Miriam, will there be robbers on the way to-day, think\nyou?\"\n\nAunt Miriam paused in her brisk stepping about the room.\n\n\"Here is a bowl of hot pottage and a warm cake for thee, Naomi. Eat all\nof it,\" she commanded. \"And talk not to me of robbers. In truth, there\nare as many robbers in the khan at Bethlehem as upon the length of\nJerusalem highway. The caravan to Egypt will pay for straw for six\ncamels and ten mules, will they, when I myself counted no less than\ntwenty animals in their train? Jacob, bring hither the leader of the\ncaravan that I may talk with him. Robbers, indeed! Robbers!\"\n\nAunt Miriam's red cheeks and flashing eyes boded ill for the leader of\nthe caravan for Egypt.\n\nNaomi ate her lentil pottage and munched her cake leisurely in a quiet\ncorner, but she had long finished her meal when Aunt Miriam was at last\nsatisfied and ready to start.\n\nThe bullock cart stood loaded with baskets piled high with great bunches\nof purple grapes. Over them were spread the dewy green leaves of the\nvine to protect the fruit from the sun and to keep it fresh and moist.\n\nAunt Miriam, with a sigh of relief, settled herself in place in the\nfront of the cart. Naomi was tucked into a comfortable corner between\ntwo great brown baskets of woven rushes. Jacob, standing at the cattle's\nhead, cracked his long whip, the animals strained forward, the cart\nwheels creaked and turned, and they were off for Jerusalem.\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER III\n\nTHE TRIP TO JERUSALEM\n\n\nThe road to Jerusalem stretched white and hot in the blazing sunshine.\nThe deep blue sky was without a cloud, and the insects, hidden in the\nroadside grass, hummed in the heat.\n\nA cloud of dust in the distance told that the three Roman soldiers who,\nonly a moment ago, it seemed, had galloped past the slowly moving ox\ncart, were nearing their destination, the Holy City. Naomi had watched\nthe glitter of their helmets and the flashing of their bright lances\nwith the same interest she had given to a string of melancholy gray\ncamels led along the road by a country lad in his cool white tunic and\nbroad red leather belt.\n\nEverything was interesting this morning to Naomi. She stared at the\ndusty gray olive-trees, the shabby scrub oaks, the low-branched\nsycamores as if she had not been familiar with them all her life. To-day\nthe birds seemed to dart about more swiftly and to utter sweeter songs\nas they flew. The few sheep she spied nibbling the sparse grass on the\nrocky hillsides were surely whiter than those at home. The field\nflowers, with faces upturned to the bright sun, glowed with splendid\ncolor. The whole world was glad to-day.\n\n\"They are all happy because I am happy,\" mused Naomi, smiling at her own\nthought.\n\nShe glanced at Jacob plodding contentedly along beside his beasts, at\nAunt Miriam who sat silent, her usually busy hands folded in her lap,\nenjoying this little rest from her many household cares.\n\nTap, tap, tap!\n\nNaomi peered about, and Aunt Miriam sat up straight at this sound upon\nthe road.\n\nTap, tap, tap!\n\nNow the shuffling of cautious feet was to be heard, too.\n\nDown the Jerusalem highway came six men walking in single file, each\nwith a staff in hand and the other hand resting upon the shoulder of the\nman before him. They were all blind! Even their guide, who tapped the\nground as he walked, was sightless, \"the blind leading the blind.\"\n\nNaomi stared curiously. She had often seen as many as a dozen blind men\nwalking in such a row, and they were always to be found by the wayside\nor near the village gates at home, in company with the lame and the\nhelpless, holding out a little bowl for money or food.\n\n\"Jacob!\" called Aunt Miriam.\n\nShe took a piece of money from her purse, securely fastened in her belt,\nand Jacob, without being told, dropped it in the bowl of the blind\nleader. He was accustomed to the charity of his good master and\nmistress. Had not Moses the Lawgiver bade those who fear their God have\nsympathy for the blind?\n\nThe blind men at sound of the cart had drawn up by the side of the road,\nand now they leaned upon their staffs and turned their sightless faces\ntoward their unseen benefactress. They were glad of an excuse to rest\nand also to talk, for time meant little to them, and they liked nothing\nbetter than to recount, each one, the detailed history of his\nmisfortune.\n\nBut Aunt Miriam did not mean to spend several hours this morning in idle\ntalk upon the highway. She motioned Jacob to move on, and in response to\nthe thanks and blessings showered upon her for her gift, she called:\n\n\"Peace be unto thee, friends! We hasten on to Jerusalem before the sun\nmounts high. May all good things await thee in Bethlehem!\"\n\nUp the steep hill climbed the bullock cart, and once round the curve in\nthe road Aunt Miriam pointed.\n\n\"Naomi--the City!\" she said. \"See the Temple! How it gleams!\"\n\nHigh above the flat roofs and massive walls of Jerusalem shone the great\ngold and white Temple of the Hebrews. The little party halted at the\nsight. Aunt Miriam's lips moved in prayer. Naomi was silent as she\ngazed. She recalled the lines in one of the hymns her mother had taught\nher:\n\n\"We have thought on thy lovingkindness, O God, in the midst of thy\ntemple.\"\n\nTo the pious little Jewish girl there could be no more beautiful nor\ninspiring sight than that of the sacred Temple set in the midst of the\nHoly City. She kept a reverent silence until they reached the Bethlehem\ngate where entered all the trade and travel from Egypt and the sea.\n\nBut once Naomi was lifted down from the cart, and placed in the shade of\nthe huge gateway to wait with Aunt Miriam while Jacob justified their\npresence in the city to the haughty Roman guard, her tongue wagged on as\nmerrily as before.\n\n\"We have no watch-tower like this one on our gateway at home, Aunt\nMiriam,\" she observed, glancing up and down and roundabout. \"I suppose\nthat ten soldiers could stand in this one at once if they liked.\"\n\nHer aunt nodded absently. Her thoughts were with Jacob, still talking\nwith the Roman guard. She hoped there would be no trouble on this day of\nall days when Simon was not with them.\n\n\"Wilt thou buy me a drink, Aunt Miriam?\" Naomi asked next. \"Not of\nwater, but of honey of wine.\"\n\nThe water-carriers were rough-looking bearded men who ran about in short\nfrocks, shouting and rattling their brass cups, with dingy goatskin\nbottles lashed upon their backs. Naomi was afraid of them. She liked far\nbetter the row of peasant women with grape juice to sell, who sat\nagainst the wall and called out:\n\n\"Honey of wine! Who will buy? Honey of wine! Ho, every one that is\nathirst, come! Buy and drink! Honey of wine!\"\n\nA moment later she had forgotten that she was thirsty and was watching\ntwo poor women who sat in a corner on the ground grinding at a stone\nmill. Near by stood a man selling the cakes new made from the meal the\nwomen had ground. It was hard work turning the handles that pressed the\nmeal between the upper and nether millstones, and the women worked\nwearily.\n\n\"How slow they are!\" said Naomi scornfully. \"I could work much faster\nthan they, could I not, Aunt Miriam? Could I not grind fast if I tried?\"\n\nNaomi's aunt did not answer. With a gentle hand she pushed the little\ngirl back against the wall.\n\n\"Stand there, thou chattering sparrow,\" said she with a smile, \"and hold\nthy peace. Here comes one Solomon the goldbeater, thy Uncle Simon's\nfriend. The load of grapes was brought here at his order, and it is my\ntask to-day to see that he offers a fair price for them. Peace!\"\n\nIt seemed a long time to Naomi that Solomon the goldbeater and Jacob the\nserving-lad, standing at a little distance from the wall, haggled over\nthe load of grapes. But at last Jacob came to report to his mistress the\nsum offered, and since she was satisfied the bargain was soon made.\n\nThen up they went through the narrow dingy streets with their\noverhanging houses that made a pleasant shade, past the quarters of the\ntinsmiths and the jewelers, the tailors and the sandal-makers. Naomi\nlooked eagerly in at the gay bazaars piled high with fine linens and\nembroideries, rich scarves and veils, spices and coffee, dried fruits\nand nuts. On they went, past the street of the potters where anything\nmight be bought, from water-jars as tall as Naomi herself to the tiny\ncup-shaped Virgin's lamps which, filled with sweet oil, were carried by\nthe Jewish girls.\n\n\"Look well about thee, child,\" instructed Aunt Miriam from behind her\nveil. \"We shall not come this way again.\"\n\n\"I can tell it all now to Ezra,\" answered Naomi confidently. \"I have\nnot forgotten a single sight. So far I liked it best of all when the\ngreat Pharisee gave alms to the poor in the market-place just now, when\nwe were waiting there for Jacob. I liked it when his servant blew upon\nthe trumpet, and the poor came hurrying, and every one turned to look.\nAnd next best I liked the cages of sparrows for sale. We have them in\nthe market-place at home, but not so many nor so fat. And next--\"\n\n\"And next,\" interrupted her aunt with a smile, \"thou wouldst like thy\ndinner, perhaps. Here is the home of Simon's sister Anna, and verily I\nbelieve her little Martha is watching for us through the wicket in the\ngate.\"\n\nLittle Martha, with the help of the porter, threw open the gate before\nAunt Miriam could say another word, and Naomi stepped through a\npassageway under the house into a courtyard with a tiny fountain\nplaying in the center and a palm growing on either side of it.\n\nLittle Martha was as fair as Naomi was dark. She had light reddish hair\nand blue eyes, and well pleased was her mother that it should be so, for\nthis was called \"King David's coloring\" and was supposed to have been\nthat of the great King himself. She wore a soft little robe of white and\na fine gold chain about her neck. She joyfully led the visitors to her\nmother who was waiting for them at the end of the court.\n\n\"Come in, thou blessed of the Lord,\" was the gracious greeting Anna gave\nthem, and she ushered them up the stairs and into a room that actually\nhad two windows cut in the side. They were the first windows Naomi had\never looked from, and she held tight to the sill for fear of falling\ninto the street below.\n\n\"I would that I had windows in my house,\" thought Naomi ruefully. \"I\nwould be so proud if I were Martha. But then she has no brother Ezra nor\nbaby Jonas to play with her.\"\n\nIn spite of the windows little Martha did not seem at all proud. She\nhelped her mother bring bowls of water for the guests to wash in, and\nwhen the meal was ready she patted the plump cushions into shape on the\ndivans placed before the gayly painted table.\n\n\"Sit by me,\" she whispered to Naomi, breaking off a neat three-cornered\npiece of barley cake which was to serve Naomi as knife and fork and\nspoon.\n\nFor dinner there was a dish of young kid stewed with olives, hot barley\ncakes, fresh and dried fruit--apricots, figs, pomegranates--and a bowl\nof amber honey.\n\nNot an easy thing is it to serve one's self with neatness and dispatch\nwithout knife or fork, and only one's fingers and a bit of bread to\nrely upon. But Naomi and Martha were able to dip their food from the\ncommon dish with a bit of barley cake quite as nicely as the grown\npeople did, and they sat quiet and respectful while Aunt Miriam told of\nSimon's illness and the reason for this trip to Jerusalem.\n\nWhen the meal was over, Martha ran for fresh bowls of water, for the\nJews were careful to wash both before and after eating, and as Naomi\ndabbled her fingers daintily Martha whispered to her:\n\n\"Mother says we are all to go about the twelfth hour, in the cool of the\nday, to show thee the Temple and to see King Herod's garden. Oh! Oh!\"\n\nAnd she squeezed her new friend's arm with such fervor that the pretty\nbowl was barely saved from falling to the floor.\n\nLater in the day when the first evening breezes were drifting down the\ndark ravines that swept round the city, the little party of sight-seers\nslowly climbed the steep lanes that led toward Mount Moriah on which the\nTemple stood. Built of white marble and glittering with gold, it dazzled\nthe eyes of little village-bred Naomi and made her heart thrill as she\ngazed up the flights of steps at the very House of God.\n\nIt was a flat-roofed, oblong building, this Temple of the Hebrews,\ndivided within by a curtain of the finest work into two great rooms, the\nHoly of Holies and the Holy Place.\n\nThe Holy of Holies was the dwelling-place of the Most High, never to be\ntrodden, never to be seen, except upon the rarest occasions, by mortal\nman. It was now bare and empty, since the loss years before, in the war\nwith Babylon, of the Ark with its Mercy Seat and two golden cherubim.\n\nIn the outer chamber, the Holy Place, lying to the east, stood the\ngolden candlestick bearing seven lamps, the golden table of shew bread\nwith its twelve loaves arranged in two rows, and the golden Altar of\nIncense, having thirteen spices burning night and day to signify that\nall the produce of the earth belongs to God. In the huge doorway of this\nroom, where only the priests might enter, and facing the sunrise, hung a\nsecond curtain or veil of fine linen richly embroidered in blue and\nscarlet, purple and flax. These colors were meant to be an image of the\nworld. The scarlet represented fire, the flax earth, the blue sky, and\nthe purple sea. Along the wall ran golden vines and clusters of the\ngrape, the typical plant of Israel.\n\nAll this Naomi could picture perfectly so often had she heard it\ndescribed, but she saw it with the eye of her mind only, for the women\nof Israel had a court set apart for them many flights below the Temple\nbuilding itself and at the east of the men's Court of the Israelites, as\nit was called.\n\nMartha stood at the little girl's elbow, gazing about, too, but not with\nthe same eager interest that Naomi showed, since a visit to the Temple\nwas no great rarity to her.\n\n\"Thou shouldst see the Temple at Passover, Naomi,\" she murmured; \"the\ncrowds of people, and the priests at sunrise upon the walls blowing a\nthousand silver trumpets, and the long procession in the streets\ncarrying the lambs for the offering.\"\n\n\"Father hath promised to bring us all next Passover,\" Naomi answered\nhappily. \"But now I long mightily to see the great Altar of Burnt\nOffering in the Court of the Priests. It is made of unhewn stone, Ezra\nsays, and there, too, stands the bronze basin where the priests wash\nhands and feet before entering the Holy Place. Ezra has learned all\nabout it at school. I long to see it.\"\n\nLittle Martha shook her head.\n\n\"Nay,\" she murmured reprovingly, \"that is not a sight for me and thee. I\nhave seen the smoke rising--that is all.\"\n\nNaomi stared up at the great group of buildings--courts, halls,\ncloisters, terraces, and walls, topped by the splendid golden front of\nthe Holy Place, in silent awe.\n\n\"If once I should lose sight of Aunt Miriam,\" she thought, \"I might\nwander about here for days and days and never find her again.\"\n\nAnd she took such a firm hold upon her aunt's cloak that she, feeling\nthe tug, thought the little girl was impatient to move on.\n\n\"Yes, child, yes,\" said she. \"We go down now into the Court of the\nGentiles. Do thou and little Martha walk on ahead. Pick thy way\ncarefully, for this flight of steps is steep.\"\n\nThe Court of the Gentiles was open to the men of all nations, since it\nwas not strictly a part of the Temple. It was a sort of sacred\nmarket-place, and Naomi and little Martha, as they walked about, held\ntight to one another when they passed the pens of sheep and oxen\ndestined to be burnt offerings, and which were restlessly shouldering\none another and lowing and bleating as if in some way they sensed their\napproaching doom. Here the seller of doves and pigeons kept his cotes,\nfor many a worshiper could not afford to buy a kid or a lamb. Here, too,\nwere the booths and stalls of the moneychangers who did a brisk trade,\nsince no coin might be offered in the Temple save the sacred shekel.\n\n\"Art thou ready at last to leave the Temple, child?\" asked Aunt Miriam,\ncoming up behind Naomi as she stood gazing in at a penful of young\nlambs. \"Wilt thou be able to tell all this to Ezra, think you?\"\n\nNaomi nodded slowly. She was not listening to what her aunt said. She\nwas wondering why at times the sheep looked so strangely blurred, and\nwhy little black specks seemed to dance before her eyes.\n\n\"Over there is a little lamb that looks like my Three Legs, Aunt\nMiriam,\" said she. \"I am glad he is not here, shut up in one of these\ngreat pens, and to die, perhaps, before another day.\"\n\nShe moved listlessly along, and when her aunt took her hand she clung to\nher so heavily that good Aunt Miriam stopped short on the side of the\nhill.\n\n\"What ails thee, child?\" said she, bending over Naomi. \"Thou art not\nlike thyself. Thine eyes look strangely heavy, even like those of\nlittle Three Legs. Art thou ill?\"\n\n\"Nay,\" said Naomi crossly. Surely to have sudden pains shoot through\none's eyes was not to be ill. \"I would see the gardens of King Herod.\nThat is what I want.\"\n\n\"The child is weary,\" said little Martha's mother kindly. \"She has had a\nlong journey to-day besides this visit to the Temple. The gardens of\nKing Herod will wait for thee, Naomi, until another time when thou art\nrested. They will not run away.\"\n\nBut Naomi would not smile at this little joke. She pulled pettishly away\nwhen good friend Anna placed her hand upon her forehead to see if she\nwere feverish.\n\n\"I would see the gardens of King Herod,\" she repeated plaintively,\nrubbing her eyes as she spoke. \"Ezra saw them, with rivers and flowers\nand fountains. He saw doves and pigeons flying through the air. He saw a\ngreat beast that spouted water from its mouth, and I would fain see it,\ntoo.\"\n\nThe magnificent gardens of the King of Judea were open all day long to\nany one who wished to enter and enjoy their beauty, their coolness, and\ntheir shade. Canals flowed between green banks, flowers bloomed and\ntrees rustled, fountains played in the sunlight, and tiny fish darted\nhither and thither in the artificial pools. But there, too, bright\nagainst the green, was to be seen the white marble of statues--nymphs,\nand dryads, figures symbolizing grace and beauty--and for this reason,\nsince to him all statues were idols, no Jew would set foot within King\nHerod's garden.\n\nAll that Naomi could hope to do, beside gazing at the three famous\ncastles of white marble, with their battlements and turrets, built by\nHerod the Great, and at his own splendid palace with its massive walls\nand towers, was to peep at the garden through the open gateways or\nperhaps from the top of the wall, as Ezra had done.\n\nBut Aunt Miriam, with sturdy common sense, had no intention of taking\nthe weary and ailing little girl on the long trip across Cheesemonger's\nValley from the Mount of the Temple to Mount Zion where the palaces\nstood. She beckoned to Jacob who had walked near them all the way, and\nwhen he came forward she said:\n\n\"Carry the little maid home, Jacob. She is exceedingly weary and needs a\nnight's rest.\"\n\nNaomi, without a protest, turned to Jacob and gladly hid her heavy,\naching eyes upon his broad shoulder.\n\n\"I am like Three Legs,\" thought Naomi, as the procession moved\nhomeward. \"But then Three Legs has been sick a long, long time, and I\nshall be well in the morning.\"\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER IV\n\nIN THE DARK\n\n\n\"Mother, is it sunrise yet?\"\n\n\"No, Naomi, it but nears the end of the Third Watch.\"\n\n\"Mother, does the lamp still burn?\"\n\n\"Yes, child, as always, on the table. Lie still, Naomi, and try to\nsleep. Thou hast a journey before thee to-day.\"\n\n\"Aye,\" said the little girl, turning restlessly on her quilt. \"I know,\nto the Pool of Bethesda. Perhaps I shall come home with opened eyes,\nMother. Perhaps I shall see when I come home to-day. Dost thou believe\nthat the Angel of the Pool will open mine eyes?\"\n\n\"Yea, child, I do believe,\" answered her mother earnestly. \"Thou shalt\nsee again. I hope it with all my heart.\"\n\n\"And then I shall help thee once more about the house,\" said Naomi\nhopefully, \"and learn my lesson every day, and care for baby Jonas when\nthou art busy. Then I shall run and wait upon my father as of old, and\nhe will place his hand upon my head and say, 'Naomi, thou art as quick\nand light upon thy feet as a young hart or doe.' That he cannot say now\nand speak the truth. But this very day it may be I shall have my sight\nagain.\"\n\nAnd with this hope to comfort her, Naomi lay quietly down upon her bed\nand let her thoughts go back to her last trip to Jerusalem and its sad\nhomecoming.\n\nShe remembered the long ride in the jolting bullock cart, which Jacob\nguided as carefully as he knew how in order to spare Naomi's aching head\nand throbbing eyeballs.\n\nFor the night's rest had not cured Naomi. She had awakened with swollen\neyelids that were so heavy she could not hold them up, and sharp little\nstabs of pain had caused her to moan and twist in the arms of kind Aunt\nMiriam who held her tenderly on the long homeward ride.\n\nThen came days and nights of pain, and a visit from one of the great\ndoctors of Palestine who ordered poultices of earth mixed with the\nsaliva of one who had been long fasting. And when Naomi could no longer\nbear the heavy weight of this remedy upon her tortured eyes, he kindly\nchanged the poultice to one of owl's brains, as being not only more\ncomfortable but a trifle quicker in its action.\n\nAt last the day arrived when Naomi was free from pain, but when also,\nalas! as she raised her head weakly and looked about, she did not see\nthe familiar room with its carved chest and gay cushions and little\ntable pushed against the wall, she did not see the loving anxious faces\nof her father and mother and Ezra, but only a black curtain dotted with\nblacker stars that danced and winked and danced again.\n\n\"I cannot see thee! Where art thou, Mother? Is it night? How black it\nis! Oh, am I blind?\"\n\nAnd Naomi clung fast to her father and mother as if they must save her\nfrom this dreadful fate.\n\n\"Blind!\" thought her mother, remembering with a shudder the numberless\nfigures that stretched pitiful hands by the Bethlehem roadside. \"My\nlittle Naomi, blind?\"\n\n\"An amulet will cure her,\" said worried Samuel stoutly. \"Be not\ndownhearted, my little maid. Thy father will buy for thee an amulet that\nwill open those brown eyes of thine wider than ever before.\"\n\nSo Naomi wore about her neck for weeks a small three-cornered bag, in\nwhich was sewn a scrap of parchment taken from a religious book, written\nafter certain rules and with a diagram so mysterious that not even\nSamuel could understand it.\n\nAnd how were the contents of this little three-cornered bag to restore\nNaomi's eyesight? Why, by charming away the wicked spirit who had cast\nan evil eye upon her. Or perhaps Naomi had chanced to rub her eyes upon\nwaking before she had washed her hands. Being unclean, the devil present\nhad slipped from her fingers into her eyes, and now must be charmed out\nagain by the holy words about her neck.\n\nNot a thought that Naomi, daily handling sick little Three Legs, might\nhave caught the malady that first darkened the vision of the poor little\nanimal, and then caused the frail life to flicker out altogether.\n\nNaomi missed her pet sorely, but its death was only one more grief added\nto the burden that overshadowed all her days.\n\nShe could no longer play in the garden. Her well, begun so happily, was\nneglected, though not forgotten, and little Jonas was the leader now,\nguiding her faltering steps with such good-will that Naomi forgave him\nwhen he led her straight into the orange-tree or neglected to warn her\nthat the myrtle bush was in her path.\n\nHer friends Rachel and Rebekah had deserted her, for at the first\nmention of the evil eye they had looked askance, and now they never came\nto play nor to entertain her with their talk.\n\nLittle lame Enoch proved a faithful friend, and Naomi felt comfortable\nwith him as a playmate, for he, too, suffered from a handicap and yet\nwas cheerful and gay notwithstanding. He knew a host of stories told him\nby his old grandmother, and the long hours slipped away quickly while\ntheir little tongues chattered, though their hands and feet were\npathetically still.\n\nBut of all the comfort Naomi knew, apart from the love of her father and\nmother, the companionship of Ezra was the greatest. He amused her, he\nwaited upon her, he revived her drooping spirits with his own high hopes\nand plans for her.\n\n\"Thou shalt see again, Naomi,\" he would declare confidently. \"All the\ncures have not been tried yet. Thou art _not_ like the beggars by the\nroadside. Say not that again, or I will dip thee some day in the well\nbehind the myrtle bush that thou wilt be digging ere long. Most of the\nwayside beggars are old men with not an eyeball left, whilst thou,\nNaomi, art young, and thine eyes from without look as clear and strong\nas mine. Wait until my father has taken thee to the Pool of Bethesda!\nHave patience, Naomi! Thou shalt see again!\"\n\nThe Bethesda Pool lay in Jerusalem on the Temple mount, a stone's throw\nfrom the Sheep Gate of the Court of the Gentiles, where Naomi had\nlingered before the sheep-pens on the afternoon that now seemed so far\naway.\n\nPerhaps in these days we should say that the great pool contained a\nmineral spring, but in Naomi's time it was not doubted that an angel had\nwrought the cures that were told far and wide of this \"well of healing.\"\nAbout it were always clustered the sick, the lame, the halt, and the\nblind, in the belief that when the angel troubled the waters the first\nto dip himself therein would be healed.\n\nSo Samuel the weaver purposed to take Naomi thither, and, even while\nthe little girl lay thinking long, long thoughts and wishing for\ndaybreak, the moments slipped by, the Fourth Watch or Morning came, and\nNaomi's mother rose to prepare the meal so the travelers might have an\nearly start.\n\nA stout little donkey, borrowed from the khan stable, carried Naomi and\nher father briskly over the familiar Jerusalem highway. The little girl\nremembered how happy she had been on her journey with Aunt Miriam and\nhow all the world had seemed gay that morning. Then she recalled the\n\"tap, tap, tap\" of the blind men on the road, and she hid her face in\nher father's cloak and trembled.\n\n\"O that the Angel of the Pool may open my eyes!\" prayed Naomi. \"O that\nthe Angel of the Pool may open my eyes!\"\n\nThe Pool of Bethesda was a pretty spot. About it had been built five\nporches, and in their shelter lay the sick and the withered, the lame\nand the blind, waiting for a chance to push their way in the moment the\nwaters began to move.\n\nWhen Naomi and her father arrived, the pool lay still in the sunlight,\nso Samuel established himself close to the edge with his arm about\nNaomi, and fell into conversation with a professional letter-writer who\nsat, bearded and grave, with ink-horn fastened at his side.\n\n\"Thy little maid has felt the hand of the Lord?\" queried the\nletter-writer, looking compassionately at Naomi who stood picking with\nnervous fingers at her father's sleeve.\n\nSamuel nodded sadly. In a few words he told the story of Naomi's\ntrouble.\n\n\"She is indeed grievously afflicted,\" observed the letter-writer,\nshaking his gray head and uttering a sigh. \"And my friend here, whom I\ncome to lift into the pool, has lain helpless upon his bed for eight and\ntwenty years. O that the Messiah would come! 'Then the eyes of the blind\nshall be opened and the ears of the deaf shall be unstopped. Then shall\nthe lame man leap as a hart and the tongue of the dumb shall sing.'\"\n\n\"Think you the Messiah will come shortly?\" inquired Samuel.\n\nThis was a burning question of the day. The desire for the coming of the\nKingdom of God was a flame that was consuming the Jewish nation.\n\nThe letter-writer tapped his forehead thoughtfully with a brown\nforefinger.\n\n\"Thou knowest the saying of the Pharisees, that if all Israel could keep\nthe Law perfectly for a single day, Messiah would come. As for me, I\nlong with a mighty longing to see Israel restored, to be delivered from\nour enemies, and to have our sins forgiven.\"\n\nNaomi stirred restlessly. What did all this talk of a Messiah mean to\nher? Well enough for the grown folk to look forward to the coming of a\nSaviour. As for her, all she asked of all the world was that the Angel\nof the Bethesda Pool might come with healing in his wings and lay his\ncool fingers upon her closed eyes and open them again.\n\n\"Perhaps I shall see Mother's face to-night,\" she thought. \"And Ezra\nwill be at the village gate waiting for me. He promised. And I am to\nwave my girdle at the first turn in the road if my eyes are opened. O\nAngel of the Pool, remember me, Naomi! Remember me here in the dark!\"\n\nNaomi's father, who had never taken his eyes from the pool, leaned\nforward.\n\n\"It moves, Naomi,\" he whispered. \"The Angel comes, although we see him\nnot. Be ready, for I must act quickly.\"\n\nThe surface of the pool began to heave and swell, and at the precise\nmoment that the water boiled up, Samuel bent over with Naomi in his arms\nand dipped her head under the water once, twice, three times!\n\nDripping, sputtering, and crying, Naomi was placed upon her feet, while\nher father endeavored to wipe away the water that ran down into her neck\nand stained her little robe.\n\n\"Dost thou see, Naomi?\" asked Samuel with a tremble in his voice. \"Open\nthine eyes and look! Dost thou see, my little pomegranate?\"\n\nIf the Angel of the Pool failed them, where should he turn for help?\n\nNaomi obediently opened her brown eyes and stared, sightless as ever,\ninto her father's face.\n\nThe Angel of the Pool had failed them!\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER V\n\nALL THE WORLD COMES VISITING\n\n\nIt was the winter season in Palestine.\n\nIn the darkness and despair that followed her trip to the Pool of\nBethesda, Naomi had not cared what the weather might be. She had\nlistened with indifference to the whistling, roaring wind-storm that had\ncome suddenly one night in October telling the weather-wise that summer\nwas over and the rainy season at hand.\n\nHuddled over the brazier of charcoal that smouldered under a rug in a\nshallow hole in the middle of the floor, Naomi had not heeded the wild\ndash of rain against the house nor its melancholy dripping in the\ndeserted garden. Even the excitement of Ezra and Jonas over a slight\nfall of snow, the first either one had ever seen, had failed to rouse\nher.\n\nSamuel and his wife were troubled beyond words at this calamity that\nhad come upon their child. Aunt Miriam and Simon were sympathetic, but\ncould offer no advice. Ezra was at his wits' ends, for all his schemes\nand devices to amuse failed, and the hollow words of encouragement died\nupon his honest lips.\n\nSamuel, too, had a fresh worry of which Naomi knew nothing, and which,\nslight though it was in comparison with the little girl's misfortune,\ndid not tend to make the daily life of the family more pleasant.\n\n\"Aye, Samuel the weaver's child is blind,\" said the neighbors, wagging\ntheir heads in knowing fashion. \"What sin hath he committed, think you,\nthat this calamity befalls him? Truly the way of the transgressor is\nhard.\"\n\n\"It may be that his wife is the sinner,\" was whispered about. \"Or\nperhaps both.\"\n\nAnd little by little the village people turned aside when they saw\nSamuel coming, and fewer and fewer were the friendly words said to\nNaomi's mother when she went patiently down to the fountain for her\nsupply of water.\n\nEzra felt himself more fortunate than the grown people, for at the first\nunkind word from his former friend, fat Solomon across the road, he had\nflown at him in a fury, and had shortly enjoyed the satisfaction of\nseeing his blubbering enemy lick the dust.\n\n\"Mole, indeed!\" shouted Ezra, doubling up his fists. \"Thou wilt call my\nsister a blind mole, wilt thou? Thou serpent, feeding upon the dust!\nThou snake! Rise not up or I will rub thy nose in the dirt again.\"\n\nSo cautious Solomon, having learned his lesson well, was forced to\ncontent himself with calling names from behind the wall, which Ezra was\nprompt to answer with sticks and stones.\n\nNo one was happy in the little household, and faces were sober and\nvoices hushed as they went about their tasks, until one day Aunt Miriam\ncalled Ezra and whispered in his ear. His eyes opened wide and his face\nbrightened, and for more than a week he neglected his friends, the\nshepherds, and spent all his spare time at the khan.\n\nThen, one afternoon, when the rain had ceased and the little olive\nleaves glistened in the cold bright light, Naomi's mother approached the\nforlorn little figure crouched in a corner and raised her to her feet.\n\n\"Here is thy warm cloak, beloved,\" said she, coaxingly, laying her hand\non the soft brown curls that seemed to hang limply now that Naomi never\ntossed them back with a proud little shake of the head. \"Before the door\nstand thy aunt, thy father, and thy brother. They wait for thee. And,\nlittle Naomi, there waits a surprise for thee also. Come and listen by\nthe doorway.\"\n\nFrom behind the door Naomi heard an unfamiliar stamping, a running\nabout, and Ezra's excited voice.\n\n\"Be careful, Jonas,\" called Ezra sharply. \"Wilt thou be stepped on?\nStand from under. Naomi, where art thou? Mother! Oh, she comes! Aunt\nMiriam, Father, she comes!\"\n\nNaomi's mother led out the white-faced little girl and Samuel took her\ngently by the hand.\n\n\"A gift for thee, little Naomi,\" said he, smiling more happily than in\nmany a long day, \"from thy good Aunt Miriam. Put out thy hand and\nguess.\"\n\nNaomi stretched out a timid hand and touched a soft furry nose.\n\n\"A donkey!\" said Naomi. \"To take me for a ride!\"\n\n\"Aye,\" burst out Ezra, his face shining with unselfish joy; \"to take\nthee for a ride every day and everywhere. Up and down the hills and\nroundabout. We shall go everywhere together, thou and I.\"\n\n\"Speak more plainly, Ezra,\" said Aunt Miriam, seeing the puzzled look\nupon his sister's face. \"The donkey is thine, Naomi. Thy Uncle Simon and\nI have given it to thee. Ezra means that he will take thee riding upon\nit whenever and wherever thou wilt. No longer shalt thou lurk in the\nhouse with white cheeks from sunrise to sunrise. We shall have thee as\nrosy as a poppy again ere long.\"\n\nAnd her tender-hearted aunt first wiped her brimming eyes upon the\ncorner of her veil, and then caught back Jonas by his leather pinafore\nfrom under the donkey's heels, where he seemed determined to meet with a\nspeedy death.\n\n\"Now the trick!\" cried Ezra, who had been hopping from foot to foot\nduring his aunt's long speech. \"Have I not been teaching him for more\nthan a week? Say thy lesson well, little donkey! Stand here before him,\nNaomi!\"\n\nSamuel placed Naomi in position.\n\n\"Thy donkey's name, Naomi,\" went on Ezra, \"is Michmash, because he comes\nfrom the town of that name. Now place thy hands upon the tips of his\nears. Do not pinch or he will kick. I know.\"\n\nSamuel guided the little girl's hands until they rested upon the tips of\nthe long gray ears.\n\n\"Now say his name slowly,\" instructed Ezra, his face aglow.\n\n\"Mich,\" said Naomi, and down came a furry ear, \"mash,\" and down came the\nother.\n\nThen the little donkey winked both ears violently, and turned a patient\neye upon his young teacher as if asking praise.\n\n\"He did it! He did it!\" cried the teacher. \"He did not forget his\nlesson and he will do it every time. Michmash!\" And as the long ears\nfell again, Ezra threw his arms about Naomi and hugged her close.\n\n\"Wilt thou come for a ride with me now?\" he whispered. \"The sun shines\nand the wind blows and it will be pleasant out upon the hills.\"\n\nSo seated upon the back of Michmash, Naomi rode off, with such a bright\nlook upon her wan face that her father and mother could not help\nthinking that better days were in store for them all.\n\nEvery pleasant day Ezra, leading Michmash, took Naomi, wrapped in her\nlittle scarlet cloak, out riding, and as they moved along in the crisp,\nbracing air they talked--long, long talks of what they were passing, of\nEzra's day at school, or of the thoughts and fancies that filled Naomi's\nactive little mind.\n\n\"Ezra,\" said she one day, as Michmash felt his way securely up the side\nof one of the stony little Judean hills, \"Ezra, dost thou remember what\nwas told thee that the letter-writer said that day by the Pool of\nBethesda?\"\n\nHer lip trembled as she spoke, but Ezra answered her instantly.\n\n\"Yea,\" said he, \"I do, indeed. He spoke of the Messiah.\"\n\n\"And what think you of the Messiah?\" asked Naomi timidly. \"What think\nyou he will do when he cometh, Ezra? Dost think that he will open the\neyes of the blind?\"\n\nEzra, in order to speak more earnestly, halted Michmash, who gladly fell\nto cropping the coarse grass.\n\n\"The Messiah, Naomi,\" said Ezra slowly, \"will do what the prophet Isaiah\npromised of him. Never fear. He will open the eyes of the blind and\nunstop the ears of the deaf. He will make the lame man leap and the\ndumb man sing for joy. When he cometh, we shall all see the salvation of\nthe Lord and our sins shall be forgiven us. All Israel shall rejoice.\nAye, even stout Solomon also,\" added Ezra grimly. \"The Kingdom of God\nwill come, and the Messiah will rule in righteousness, and he shall put\nour enemies to flight. No longer then will we pay tribute to the Emperor\nCaesar Augustus at Rome. No longer will we tolerate the wicked King Herod\nin our city of Jerusalem. And the Roman eagle that hangs above our\nTemple gates will be torn down and trampled under foot.\"\n\nEzra spoke warmly. He had been well taught in school and synagogue, and\nhad listened carefully to his father and his friends as they talked in\nthe market-place and elsewhere.\n\n\"Oh, I would that the Messiah would come quickly,\" said Naomi\nwistfully. \"And if he can make me see, he can make lame Enoch straight.\nI would that Enoch's old grandmother had not died and that he had not\ngone so far away to live as Jericho. I miss him.\"\n\n\"Think now of this new numbering of all the world,\" went on Ezra, whose\nheart burned within him at the wrongs of his nation. \"Every man must\ntravel to the town whence his family sprang, whether he live near or far\nand whether or no he be rich enough to stand a journey. And why? Because\nthe Emperor at Rome has ordered so. I stood in the market-place when the\nRoman heralds with their trumpets summoned all Bethlehem thither, and\ntold of this new enrollment and of the taxing to follow. I saw the black\nlooks and heard the muttering, but did any man speak out? Nay--afeard of\nthe short sword the Roman soldier carries. Oh, aye, I am afeard of it\nmyself,\" admitted Ezra indulgently; \"but when the Messiah cometh things\nwill not be so.\"\n\n\"Mother says that many have already traveled to Bethlehem to be\nenrolled,\" said Naomi, \"and that we shall have a houseful when the\ncaravan from Nazareth comes in. I would fain be a help to her just now\nand not a trouble, but I can do nothing at all, nothing, only keep out\nof the way.\" And the tears rolled down poor Naomi's cheeks.\n\n\"Do not cry,\" said Ezra pitifully, and with a patience wonderful in a\nboy of his years. \"We all love thee, Naomi, better than if thou hadst\nthe sharp sight of an eagle. Come, greedy one,\" he went on, pulling at\nMichmash's bridle. \"Wilt thou eat all night? Come!\"\n\nThey stood upon a hill that looked toward the north, and as Ezra waited\nfor lazy little Michmash to finish his mouthful, his eye caught a line\nof tiny black figures perhaps a mile away from Bethlehem village.\n\n\"The caravan from Nazareth, I verily believe!\" he exclaimed. \"Hold fast,\nNaomi, and I will take thee down to the gate. There I will tell thee all\nthe sights as they come in.\"\n\nRattling over the stones and down the steep paths in reckless fashion,\nthe little brother and sister were soon established in a spot where Ezra\ncould see all that was needful, and whisper what he saw in Naomi's ear.\n\n\"It is the caravan from Nazareth,\" he announced, \"and they ride on\nhorses, camels, mules, but some walk. There are great numbers of them\nand more are still to come. Some have fallen behind, they say, and are\nfar back upon the road. They are very weary and they smile but little.\nWho would want to take the long journey in winter only to part with\nmoney in the end?\"\n\nWhen Ezra and Naomi reached home, they found that, as their mother had\nsaid, their house was full to overflowing with company from the Nazareth\ncaravan.\n\nAbner and Joel, merchants of Nazareth, were there with Joel's son Amos\nand his wife Elisabeth. Samuel's cousin, Daniel, who owned a large farm\nin fruitful Galilee, had come, bringing with him as a matter of course\nhis friends, David and Phineas, neighboring farmers. All these people\nhad originally sprung from this city of David, and now back they came to\nit, some in good, some in ill humor, but to a man obeying the command of\nthe Emperor at Rome.\n\nEvery inch of floor space in Samuel's little house was occupied that\nnight when the soft quilts were spread out, and the family and their\nguests lay down to rest. Naomi and Jonas were cuddled in a corner next\ntheir mother. But when Ezra came in late from feeding Michmash, the dim\nlight of the little oil lamp, that burned each night in all but the\npoorest of Jewish homes, showed him a floor so crowded with soundly\nsleeping guests that he knew not how to reach his own bed spread at his\nfather's right hand.\n\n\"Father!\" whispered Ezra.\n\n\"My son,\" answered Samuel in a cautious voice.\n\n\"Father, it is so crowded here I would fain spend the night with old Eli\nin the fields with the sheep. They are encamped below the khan in the\nFields of David. May I go? Old Eli said but yesterday that I had\nneglected him of late.\"\n\n\"Go, my son. Give greetings to old Eli, and God's peace attend thee.\"\n\nSo Ezra slipped out under the dark starry sky to join the shepherds\nabiding in the field, keeping watch over their flock by night.\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER VI\n\nTHE SHEPHERDS\n\n\nEzra picked his way carefully down the dark Bethlehem lanes until he\nreached the town gate, swung shut and locked hours before at sunset.\n\n\"Nathan! Nathan!\" he called, until the old gate-keeper peered out from\nhis little booth and muttered a friendly greeting to the lad.\n\n\"Nathan, I would go down into the fields with shepherd Eli to-night,\"\nexplained Ezra politely. \"Wilt thou not let me pass through the strait\ngate? Just this once! I will never ask thee again. Old Eli is thy friend\nand mine. Do the favor for him, I beg of thee, and I will bless thee all\nmy days.\"\n\nNathan could not help laughing at the old-fashioned speech of the boy.\n\n\"Whether I do it for thee or for shepherd Eli, the deed is done,\" he\ncackled, and threw open the small gate standing beside the large one and\nknown as the \"strait\" gate. \"Ask me not again, I warn thee; ask me not\nagain.\"\n\nPast the Bethlehem khan Ezra hurried, and down through the piece of\nfertile land that lay to the east, where the reapers of Boaz had swung\ntheir rude sickles and where Ruth had gleaned the golden sheaves. A walk\nof two miles brought him to the pasture land where the shepherd lad\nDavid had watched his father's sheep, battling with lion and bear when\nthe need arose, and where, too, many of his sweetest songs had been\nwritten.\n\nThe boy scurried along at a good pace, for on these dark and lonely\nroads to meet with wolf or jackal or, still more terrifying, with\nrobbers, singly or in bands, was not unknown.\n\nAt the end of the road Ezra peered about in the starlight until he\ncould distinguish a number of dark forms huddled before one of the caves\nin the hillside. Within the shallow cave lay the flock asleep, and\nbefore it, on his rough bed of brushwood and rushes, sat shepherd Eli,\nwith only a dog or two to keep him company. Beside him lay his\nshepherd's crook, his club tipped with iron the better to protect his\ncharges, and his sling with which he was wont to throw stones just\nbeyond his sheep to bring them back when they were going astray.\n\nEzra chose to leap over the rude stone wall that enclosed this sheepfold\ninstead of passing through the narrow gateway. The two great sheep dogs,\ngaunt and rough, who had spied him on the edge of the pasture land long\nbefore he had seen them, leaped fawning upon him with sharp yelps of\naffection.\n\n\"Down! Down!\" cried Ezra, half laughing, half impatient. \"Eli, my\nfather sends thee greeting. As for me, I would fain spend the night with\nthee here in the fields. I am crowded out of my father's house by\nvisitors from Nazareth who come to be listed for the census. I will make\nmyself useful, Eli. Perhaps thou canst steal a nap while I keep watch of\nthe sheep. But why art thou alone to-night? Where are the other\nshepherds? And the dogs?\"\n\n\"Aye, aye,\" responded shepherd Eli, slowly wagging his head and drawing\nhis sheepskin cloak about him. \"Thou art always welcome, lad. As for\nsleep, never at cockcrow was I more wakeful than at this moment\nto-night. For there is something strange in the air, lad. The very dogs\nfeel it. They lie quiet and still; they neither twist nor turn. Whether\nit be that friend or foe approaches, I know not. Something beyond our\nken is a-wing to-night.\"\n\n\"But, Eli,\" said Ezra, \"if it were wolves or jackals, the dogs would be\nbarking. And where are the other shepherds? Wilt thou battle alone if\nthe wild beasts come?\"\n\n\"Nay, child, nay,\" said Eli patiently. \"I look not for wild beasts\nto-night, nor do the dogs expect their ancient enemy. Thou sayest truly,\nlike a wise little shepherd, that they behave not thus when wolf or\njackal is abroad. The other shepherds read not the signs as do I.\nThieves lurk near at hand, say they, and with the dogs they go to rout\nthem out.\"\n\n\"What dost thou expect, Eli?\" asked Ezra timidly. He was thrilled and\nfrightened and thrilled in turn at this talk.\n\nThe old man sat with his face turned to the brilliant Oriental sky\npowdered thick with stars.\n\n\"'He numbereth the stars, He calleth them all by name,'\" said Eli\nsoftly. \"Expect? Child, I know not what I expect except that He who hath\npromised us salvation from our enemies and remission of our sins shall\nkeep His holy word. And there are signs that the time draws near. Surely\nthou hast heard of the priest Zacharias, who was smitten dumb as he\nserved in the Temple, and of the birth of his son John who, it is\npromised, is to go before the face of the Lord to make ready His ways.\nWho made the promise? Who but the Angel of the Lord, Gabriel, who stands\nin the presence of God. Think you his word shall fail? Nay, I tell thee\nthe times are ripe.\"\n\n\"But Eli--\" Ezra began in his shrill little voice, when the old shepherd\ncut him short with a sudden gesture.\n\n\"The men return,\" muttered Eli. \"Once already to-night they have heard\nwhat they term 'an old man's babbling.' Let us listen to their story\nnow.\"\n\n\"How many thieves caught ye, friends?\" he called out. \"Did ye surprise\nthe enemy in his lair?\"\n\nThe shepherds filed in through the narrow opening and threw themselves\nheavily on the ground beside Eli and the lad. The dogs crouched low,\nwith nose between paws, and closed their eyes.\n\n\"Thieves? Nay,\" said one of the shepherds brusquely. \"We saw naught\namiss, and had but the walk for our pains.\"\n\nThe shepherds wrapped their heavy woolen mantles about them and talked\ntogether in low voices. No one seemed disposed to sleep, though the\nday's work had been hard and all needed a night's rest. Ezra sat silent,\nthinking of old Eli's words and scarce hearing the conversation that\nwent on about him.\n\nSuddenly the old shepherd grasped Ezra's arm. One of the younger men\nwas speaking.\n\n\"The night has grown so still,\" said he. \"Note ye that the wind dies\ndown and that a hush falls o'er all?\"\n\nHis voice ended on a trembling note. He covered his face with his mantle\nand fell forward among his prostrate companions. Only old Eli, with his\narm about shaking little Ezra, held his white head erect--joyous,\nconfident, trustful.\n\nFor an angel of the Lord stood by them, and the glory of the Lord shone\nround about them: and they were sore afraid.\n\nAnd the angel said unto them:\n\n\"Be not afraid; for behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy which\nshall be to all the people: for there is born to you this day in the\ncity of David a Saviour, who is Christ the Lord. And this is the sign\nunto you: Ye shall find a babe wrapped in swaddling clothes, and lying\nin a manger.\"\n\nAnd suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host\npraising God, and saying:\n\n  \"Glory to God in the highest,\n  On earth peace, good will toward men.\"\n\nEzra, strengthened by Eli's arm which did not waver, ventured to open\nhis eyes.\n\nHe saw a brilliant whiteness, clear as crystal, that seemed to light the\nworld from end to end. High above, the sky was filled with clouds of\nrose and amber and amethyst. All the glories of sunrise and of sunset\nwere mingled there.\n\nDid he catch a flutter of white pinions? Did he glimpse a Leader,\nmajestic, terrible, yet radiant with gracious love?\n\nEven as he stared, unable to move, the song grew fainter, the colors\nfaded and vanished.\n\nThe echo of the angels' song rang in his ears. To his dying day it\nwould haunt his memory.\n\nThe muffled figures on the ground stirred and stood erect.\n\nOverhead burned the stars in the frosty sky.\n\nThe silence was broken by old Eli.\n\n\"Let us now go even unto Bethlehem, and see this thing that is come to\npass, which the Lord hath made known unto us.\"\n\nOver the rough, uneven ground hastened the shepherds. Their flocks for\nonce were left uncared for, save by the dogs. They pressed on across the\nfamiliar pasture land, up and over the cornfields, and then took the\nsharp rise that would lead them past the Bethlehem inn.\n\nClinging to the hillside and facing the cornfields was the stable of the\ninn, a rough cave in the limestone rock. On a rope stretched across the\nwide entrance swung a lantern, whose dim light twinkled and flickered\nbefore the eyes of the shepherds as they came up the hill.\n\nOld Eli quickened his pace, Ezra at his heels.\n\n\"And this is the sign unto you: Ye shall find a babe wrapped in\nswaddling clothes, and lying in a manger.\"\n\nThe boy knew that the inn was crowded to overflowing, as was his own and\nevery house in Bethlehem that night. Was it possible that this familiar\nmanger was the resting-place to-night of a Heavenly Guest? Were\nstrangers lodged in the stable? Was this the only shelter that could be\noffered the latest arrivals of the Nazareth caravan because there was no\nroom at the inn?\n\nAt the stable entrance Ezra hung back. He saw a man come forward out of\nthe shadows and talk with Eli. With a single gesture the old shepherd\nmotioned his companions to join him. Lost for a moment in the gloom,\nEzra saw them again speaking, bending forward, then falling upon their\nknees.\n\nThe stars had faded and an early morning wind was blowing chill when at\nlast the shepherds made their way out of the stable. The lamp, still\nswinging, burned pale in the dawn, but its faint light fell across the\nwhite face of a little boy who lurked in the doorway and whose cold hand\nclutched old Eli as he came exulting forth.\n\n\"Praise God! Praise God for His mercy, justice, and truth! Praise--\"\n\nOld Eli started at the cold touch, and looked down with eyes that glowed\nwith an inward light.\n\n\"Child, what doest thou here? Hinder me not. I go now to spread the\ngood tidings--to praise and to glorify God.\"\n\nEzra opened his dry lips.\n\n\"Hast found Him?\" he asked. \"Is it the Messiah? Is it the Christ?\"\n\n\"Aye, child, 'tis as the angel said,\" answered Eli happily; \"a babe\nwrapped in swaddling clothes, lying in a manger. Come to bring peace on\nearth, our Saviour who is Christ the Lord, our long-looked-for Messiah!\nGlory to God in the highest! Glory!\"\n\nEzra heard no more. He had turned, and with the speed of an arrow from\nits bow was running up the steep road toward home.\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER VII\n\nIN A MANGER\n\n\nThe rising sun pushed through a bank of purple cloud and touched with\nlong rosy beams the roof of Samuel the weaver's house. On the narrow\nparapet that bordered the roof walked a number of snowy pigeons,\nstepping delicately with heads raised and thrown back as if to enjoy the\nsplendor and freshness of the early morning.\n\nIn one corner of the roof lay a dark heap, heedless of sunlight, morning\nbreeze, or bird, conscious only of the blackest misery, the deepest\nhopelessness that an eight-year-old heart can know.\n\nIt was Naomi, who lay with hands clenched and face pressed against the\ncold stone, too heartsick for tears, wishing only in her wretchedness\nto creep away where she might be alone.\n\nPresently she stirred and lifted her head.\n\nQuite a different Naomi was this from the happy, generous child who had\nsacrificed her flower garden for the sake of an ailing lamb; not at all\nlike the little girl who had set forth so joyfully for a day's pleasure\nin Jerusalem. Her little robe was wrinkled, her curls were tangled and\nrough, her face was pinched and pitiful. With her soft little fist she\nbeat upon the roof in time with the rhythm of her words.\n\n\"Did they think I could not hear?\" she asked, speaking aloud in her\nfullness of heart. \"Did Elisabeth, the wife of Amos, think that I was\ndeaf as well as blind that she should say aloud, 'The child Naomi will\nnever see again. There is no hope.'\"\n\n\"No hope! No hope! And perhaps I shall live to be as old as lame\nEnoch's grandmother lived to be. Who will care for me then? Who will\ngive me shelter and food? Amos of Nazareth thought of that, too. I heard\nhim, though he whispered low. 'She will be always a burden. It were\nbetter that she should die.' I heard him. He said those words. 'She will\nbe always a burden. It were better that she should die.'\"\n\n\"Die? Die? I cannot die. I am well and strong. I shall live and live and\nlive. My mother and father will die and leave me, and Ezra and Jonas\nwill weary of me. I shall be a beggar by the roadside. No hope! No\nhope!\"\n\nNaomi sank down again in a little heap and rocked to and fro. Her\nmisfortune seemed too dreadful to be borne. It was incredible that such\na fate should overtake her. It might happen to Rachel, or Rebekah, or\nto stout Solomon across the road, but not to Naomi, the daughter of\nSamuel the weaver.\n\nAs she swayed back and forth, torn by her misery, there came to her,\nlike balm upon a wound, the familiar, comforting words that her mother\nand father had used over and over of late, to soothe the little girl's\npain and to encourage hope in the sad hearts of them all.\n\n  \"I had fainted unless I had believed to see the goodness of Jehovah\n  In the land of the living.\n  Wait for Jehovah:\n  Be strong, and let thy heart take courage;\n  Yea, wait thou for Jehovah.\"\n\nNaomi rose to her feet. The startled pigeons withdrew a short way and\nstood watching her curiously with their hard, bright eyes. About her was\nthe soft sunlight, over her head the deep blue sky.\n\nShe turned her sightless face toward Jerusalem and spoke as if to a\nfriend present.\n\n\"Yea, Lord,\" said the little Jewish girl in simple faith, \"I will wait\nfor Thee, and for Thy Messiah who will open the eyes of the blind.\nSurely when Messiah cometh I shall see. And until then, I will wait and\npray for His coming. I will wait.\"\n\nOn the outer stairway that led from the ground to the roof stood Ezra,\nbreathless, his hand pressed against his side. He had run all the way,\nwithout stopping, up the steep lanes from the Bethlehem stable, and now,\npausing to rest an instant before speaking to Naomi, he could not help\noverhearing the last words she said.\n\n\"So thou wilt wait?\" he whispered, his breath coming in gasps. \"Thou\nwilt wait for His coming? Nay, my little sister, thy time of waiting is\nover. The Messiah is here! The Christ is born! O that I might shout it\nfrom the housetop, that my father and mother and all the world may know\nthat the Lord hath kept His promise and the Messiah hath come!\"\n\nEzra's whole heart and soul were full of a great new hope, and the sight\nof Naomi's tear-stained face and groping, outstretched hands made him\nlong to tell her the good tidings at once.\n\nBut the boy's love for his unhappy little sister made him wise beyond\nhis years.\n\n\"If I tell her, and it does not come to pass as she wishes, it will\nbreak her heart,\" he argued. \"The Messiah is but a tiny Baby now, weak\nand helpless. It may be He must grow to manhood before He can heal the\nblind, the deaf, and the sick. Who knows? Not I. I will not tell her\nyet.\"\n\nSo Ezra clattered noisily up the remaining steps of the stairway,\ncalling out:\n\n\"Naomi! Naomi! Where art thou? Oh, here thou art! Are thy sandals well\ntied? For I have come to take thee down to the inn stable to show thee\nsomething there. And what it is, thou couldst never guess if thou didst\nguess a hundred years.\"\n\nNaomi shook her head.\n\n\"Show me? What could I see? Nay, I will go nowhere, Ezra,\" she answered\nsadly. \"If I went, I could not see thy wondrous sight. I would far\nrather stay at home.\"\n\n\"But this is something to feel,\" said Ezra coaxingly, putting his arm\nabout Naomi and leading her gently toward the stairway. \"Tell me, dost\nthou remember when young Deborah, the vine-dresser's wife, laid\nsomething soft and warm in thine arms?\"\n\n\"A baby, Ezra?\" asked Naomi, stopping short. \"A baby at the inn stable?\"\n\n\"Aye,\" said Ezra firmly, \"a Baby! A Baby born in a stable and lying in\na manger because there was no room last night at the inn.\"\n\n\"But I cannot see it, Ezra,\" said Naomi mournfully. \"Why should I go? I\ncannot see.\"\n\n\"Dost thou remember, too, how Deborah's baby clung to thy finger?\" said\nthe crafty Ezra, guiding her tenderly down the steps as he talked. \"And\ndid ye not find it pleasant to hold? You rocked it to and fro all day\nlong, Naomi. You said that you wished that Jonas might be put back in\nswaddling clothes again.\"\n\n\"Aye, it was pleasant,\" admitted Naomi. \"But Deborah brought the baby to\nme. I will not go to the khan, Ezra. I do not wish to meet any one. My\nheart is heavy. There will be people to stare at me and to talk in the\nlanes and at the stable. I will not go.\"\n\n\"Naomi,\" said Ezra desperately, \"dost thou love me?\"\n\n\"Aye, thou knowest that I love thee,\" answered Naomi in surprise.\n\n\"Then, to please me, come to the inn stable,\" was Ezra's quick response.\n\"Ask me no questions and delay not, but come. It is early, Naomi. We\nwill meet no one, I hope and trust. Give me thy hand and come.\"\n\nNaomi instantly slipped a thin little hand into her brother's\noutstretched palm.\n\n\"For love of thee, Ezra,\" said she sweetly. \"For love of thee.\"\n\nDown the quiet road, deserted in the winter season at this early hour,\nEzra led Naomi, carefully guiding her over the stones and ruts in the\nrough highway. Unobserved, they slipped quietly through the town gate,\nand when a turn in the road brought the khan into view Ezra threw his\narm about his sister and quickened their steps.\n\nHe spoke but once.\n\n\"One of thy pigeons flies before us, Naomi,\" said he, \"as if to lead us\non. It glistens in the sun like silver.\"\n\nNaomi only nodded and clung the tighter to Ezra's arm.\n\nPast the inn and round to the stable door he led her, and there they\nhalted.\n\n\"Naomi,\" said Ezra, his voice trembling with hope and fear, \"thou\nknowest the stable well. Enter, and walk forward until thy feet touch\nthe straw before the manger. There lies the Babe!\"\n\nWith a gentle push Ezra started Naomi toward the Mother and Child, whose\nfigures he could dimly see on a heap of straw at the back of the cave.\nThen in the shadow of the doorway Ezra fell upon his knees.\n\n\"O Lord,\" he prayed, \"I know that this is Thy Messiah. I believe that\nThou hast sent Him. Thou hast promised of old that when Messiah cometh\nHe shall open the eyes of the blind. I would that He might open my\nsister Naomi's eyes. If Thou wilt answer this prayer, Lord, I will\npromise Thee anything. I will be Thy faithful servant, I will be an\nobedient son, I will learn my lessons well at school and never shirk. I\nwill no more throw stones at stout Solomon nor even call him names. I\nwill promise anything Thou mayst ask of me, if Thy Messiah will only\nopen my sister Naomi's eyes. Hear my prayer, O Lord, hear my prayer.\"\n\nWithin the stable Naomi crept cautiously forward. Her footsteps lagged,\nfor she had no heart in this undertaking.\n\nWhat pleasure could there be for her in visiting a stranger's baby which\nshe could not even see? A short time ago, to hold the soft little body\nclose and to feel the tiny clinging hands might have given her a\nmoment's happiness; but to-day her heart was so full of misery that\nthere was no room in it for joy to enter. She longed to sink down on the\nstable floor. Only her love for Ezra kept her moving.\n\nShe felt the straw before the manger beneath her feet, and she dropped\nto her knees and stretched out a timid hand.\n\nYes, the Mother and Child were before her.\n\nShe fingered the hem of the cloak wrapped about the young Mother, but\nshe could not bring herself to touch the little Child.\n\n\"I care not! I care not!\" thought Naomi hopelessly. \"What to me is this\nBaby? Why should Ezra wish me to visit this Child?\"\n\nAs if in answer to her unspoken question, with a sudden lovely gesture,\nthe Child leaned forward. His tiny fingers touched Naomi's forehead and\nHis hands rested for an instant upon her darkened eyes.\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\nNaomi opened and closed her eyes rapidly. She rose to her feet and\nstared about her. Was it a dream, the same kind of a dream with which\nshe had so often lightened the weary hours of darkness, the long watches\nof the night, when she had called to mind some old familiar scene--her\nmother at the well, the country road, Ezra hastening home from school?\nNow the inn stable rose before her. Did she really see the nose of an ox\nthrusting itself over the stall? Or did she only dream the mound of hay,\nand on it the young Mother wrapped in a wide blue cloak and in her arms\na Child, at the velvet touch of Whose tiny hands the black curtain had\ndropped from before her eyes?\n\nNaomi rubbed her hands together and looked down at them. Yes, they were\nher own hands. There was the familiar little brown spot on the inside of\nher third finger. Her dress? Yes, that was an old friend, the yellow and\nred striped robe. She had worn it the day in the garden that she had\ngiven her four scarlet poppies in exchange for little Three Legs.\n\nThen it was true! She did see. But how had it happened? Why at the touch\nof this Baby hand had her sight been restored?\n\n\"Ezra!\" she called, not daring to stir. \"Ezra!\"\n\nEzra's face, white under the tan, showed itself round the stable door.\n\n\"Ezra,\" cried Naomi, \"I can see! I can see! I know not how it is, but I\nwas blind and now I see! O Ezra, the Baby touched me and I can see!\"\n\nEzra came swiftly forward. His eyes were full of tears, but his face was\nradiant. He knelt before the Mother, who was watching the scene with\nwondering eyes, and the Child, Who slept now in His Mother's arms. He\npulled Naomi down beside him.\n\n\"Naomi, it is the Christ Child,\" he whispered. \"The Messiah has come!\nOur Saviour lies before us! O Naomi, the Messiah hath opened the eyes of\nthe blind! The Lord hath heard my prayer!\"\n\nAnd bending low before Him, they worshiped at the Christ Child's feet.\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER VIII\n\nTHE LIGHT OF THE WORLD\n\n\nThe household of Samuel the weaver lay sleeping soundly. The dim light\nof the small oil lamp revealed the figures of Samuel and his wife\nwrapped in heavy slumber, with Jonas, rolled into a plump little ball,\nat his mother's feet. Naomi lay close by with arms outstretched. Her\ndreams were pleasant, for her lips were parted in a smile. Ezra was\nmissing. He was again spending the night in the fields with shepherd\nEli. The friendship between the old man and the lad had grown more deep\nand strong since the night of the Angels' Visit, and they never wearied\nof discussing the wonderful event and all the marvels that had followed\nin its train.\n\nThese happenings had roused all the village of Bethlehem, and had now\ntouched even the city of Jerusalem since the appearance of the Wise Men\nfrom the East, who, following His star, had come to worship the King of\nthe Jews.\n\nThat very evening Ezra and Naomi, caught on a lonely hillside by the\nsudden fall of night, had with one accord pointed to the dusky road\nbelow, along which rocked noiselessly three tall camels bearing the Magi\nrapidly in the direction of Arabia.\n\n\"They brought gold and frankincense and myrrh,\" murmured Ezra, \"the\nofferings to a king.\"\n\n\"Aye, to my King, to my Messiah,\" answered Naomi happily. \"Oh, Ezra, I\nwould that I had all the gold and frankincense and myrrh in all the\nworld that I might lay it at His feet. How can the neighbors doubt when\nthey see what He has done for me? Who but the true Messiah could open my\neyes and give me sight again?\"\n\nEzra shook his head.\n\n\"Many do believe, Naomi,\" he answered. \"And all thy life now thou canst\nbe a living witness to God's mercy and love. How happy He has made us\nall! Father and Mother, thou and I!\"\n\n\"And Jonas, too,\" said Naomi quickly. \"He laughs and plays with me now\nas never before. He knew that something was wrong, though he could not\nput it into words. We are to begin again to dig our well to-morrow, he\nand I. I promised him.\"\n\nIt may be that Naomi's dreams that night were of this pleasant task that\nawaited her; it may be that in her sleep, as in her waking hours, her\nthoughts were filled with visions of the Christ Child even as her heart\nwas full of love for Him. Her smile deepened, and she did not stir as\nthe night wore on.\n\nThe stars were growing pale, though morning was still far off, when the\ndeep silence of the village was broken by the sound of feet running\nlightly, cautiously, up the lane.\n\nNearer and nearer came the footsteps until they halted before the door\nof Samuel's house, and a little figure, panting and breathless, stepped\nquickly within.\n\nNaomi sat upright and peered sleepily through the gloom.\n\n\"Ezra, is it thou?\" she asked in surprise. \"Is it morning yet? What\nbrings thee here?\"\n\n\"I have news, Naomi, bad news, I fear,\" the boy answered. \"I must waken\nmy father and mother. Whatever is done must be done quickly. There is no\ntime to lose.\"\n\n\"I hear thee, son,\" said Samuel's voice unexpectedly. \"What is thy\ntale?\"\n\n\"And my mother?\" questioned Ezra. \"It concerns Jonas.\"\n\n\"I sleep not,\" said Jonas's mother, broad awake in an instant, and\ndrawing the drowsy little ball into her arms in swift alarm. \"Tell thy\nstory quickly.\"\n\n\"As ye know,\" began the boy hurriedly, \"I went down to the Fields of\nDavid at sunset to spend the night with shepherd Eli. And as I passed\nthrough the gate old Nathan hailed me. He told me that one of the\nshepherds had borrowed his warm cloak and had not yet returned it, and\nthat he was now full of aches and pains and sorrows because of the lack\nof it. He charged me straitly to tell the shepherd to return it at once\nor he would have him haled before the magistrate at daybreak, and that\nhe would not cease his watch for it nor sleep that night until the cloak\nwas round his shoulders once again.\n\n\"When I reached the Fields, I gave his message, but the shepherd who\nhad taken his cloak was not there; he had gone in search of a lost\nlamb. And when, less than an hour ago, he returned, he asked me to keep\nhim company to the gateway, and help him make his peace with angry\nNathan. They know that Nathan is friendly to me,\" added the boy in\nexplanation.\n\n\"And I know that some night, wandering about as thou dost, thou wilt be\ncaught by beast or robber,\" growled Samuel. \"Resume thy story.\"\n\n\"The shepherd and I,\" continued Ezra hastily, \"were passing the inn when\nI saw a figure by the roadside beckoning me to come to him. It was\nJoseph of Nazareth, and behind him in the shadow was his wife, Mary,\nbearing the Christ Child in her arms. He spoke low so that the shepherd\nshould not hear. He told me that an angel of the Lord had appeared to\nhim in a dream, saying, 'Arise and take the young child and his mother\nand flee into Egypt, and be thou there until I tell thee: for Herod will\nseek the young child to destroy him.'\n\n\"He spoke no more,\" Ezra went on, \"but I said unto him, 'My little\nbrother, think you there is danger for him?' He nodded in reply, and\nthen I asked, 'Start you at once?' He nodded again and stepped back into\nthe shadow.\n\n\"At the gateway old Nathan, glad to see his cloak again, let me through,\nand I hastened home to tell the tale to thee.\"\n\nEzra's mother had already arisen and, opening the great carved chest,\nhad taken from it warm wrappings in which she was bundling the still\nsleeping Jonas.\n\n\"Deborah, the vine-dresser's wife, leaves at sunrise in the caravan for\nJoppa.\" As she spoke, she worked busily gathering Jonas's little\ngarments into a bundle. \"For friendship's sake she will take Jonas with\nher. We have, in her, at least one true friend in Bethlehem. Her mother\nlies at Joppa sore stricken with a fever, and it may be that our boy\nwill take the sickness and perchance will die. But rather would I see\nhim in his baby grave than in the clutch of cruel King Herod.\"\n\n\"I will go with thee, wife, to carry the child,\" said Samuel gravely,\nseeing that her simple preparations were now finished. \"Give thy brother\na kiss in farewell, children. It may be thou wilt never see him more.\"\n\nAs Naomi stood on tiptoe and pressed a tender kiss upon Jonas's plump\ncheek, he suddenly opened his dark eyes and, at sight of his sister,\nbroke into a broad smile.\n\n\"Farewell, Jonas, farewell,\" whispered Naomi, her eyes full of tears.\n\"When thou returnest we will dig the well behind the myrtle bush, thou\nand I. Farewell!\"\n\nThen she laid her hand upon her father's arm.\n\n\"Father,\" said she in a low voice, \"the little Messiah also traveleth\nfar to-night. I owe to Him my sight and the happiness of us all. I would\nfain give unto Him a gift. I would that I might give unto Him my little\nMichmash, that He may be borne swiftly and surely on the long road that\nHe must go.\"\n\nSamuel looked for an instant into the brown eyes upturned to his own. He\nremembered the darkness, the suffering, the vain hope, the despair,\nthen--blessed be Jehovah! the Light that had appeared and that had so\nwondrously shone into the life of his little maid.\n\n\"Yea, child,\" said he warmly. \"No gift that thou couldst give would be\ntoo great.\"\n\n\"Ezra,\" cried Naomi, \"canst thou overtake them, think you?\"\n\nBut Ezra had already left the room, and could be heard in the shed\nbehind the house fitting the bridle over the astonished Michmash's head.\n\nNaomi caught up her little scarlet cloak from out the carven chest, and\nas Ezra came past the door, leading the little gray donkey, she flung it\nacross her brother's arm.\n\n\"The journey down into Egypt is far, and the night winds are cold. It\nmay be my scarlet cloak will keep the little Messiah warm.\"\n\nShe threw her arms about her donkey's neck and laid her cheek against\nhis soft furry nose.\n\n\"Fare thee well, little Michmash,\" she whispered. \"Stumble not nor\nfalter on the way. Thou carriest the Light of all the world, the Hope of\nevery heart upon thy back. Farewell, farewell!\"\n\nSunrise--and again Naomi stood alone upon the housetop. Her night of\ndarkness behind her, she turned her happy gaze upon the morning sky,\nblue and rose and violet, whose clouds touched to misty purple the\nhilltops and the peaks that surrounded Bethlehem village. Below her lay\nthe white stone houses, a few steep fields of dark ruddy loam, the\nsloping gardens with their vines, their fig and olive trees.\n\nFrom where Naomi stood the road that led to the Holy City was hidden\nfrom view by the mountain peak Mar Elias, and as she looked toward it\nher face lighted and she clasped her hands before her. For on the\nmountain-top rested two great clouds like angels' wings, and with a\nheart full of awe and reverence and love little Naomi felt that she\nstood in the very presence of Jehovah God.\n\nWhat though the promised Messiah was fleeing secretly and in dread from\nHis own country? The Lord was mindful of His own, and was even now\nkeeping watch over His people. \"Behold, He that keepeth Israel will\nneither slumber nor sleep.\"\n\nShe had no words. She could only stand and let the tide of love she felt\nsweep over her again and again, until softly and almost imperceptibly\nthe Heavenly Pinions faded away into the blue.\n\nWhen Ezra came he found Naomi looking toward the road that wound\nribbon-like past the Bethlehem inn down into the land of the Pharaohs,\nthe country of the Sphinx and the Pyramids.\n\nHe nodded at the question in her eyes and silently pointed out to her a\nlittle group that moved steadily forward upon the dusty road below.\n\n\"Dost see them?\" asked Ezra softly. \"Joseph, staff in hand, leads little\nMichmash who bears the Mother and the Child upon his back. He steps\nforth bravely, the little beast. Ah! now they take the turn that hides\nthem from our sight. Our little Messiah! Gone from us after so short a\ntime!\"\n\n\"Aye, but to come again,\" said Naomi confidently. \"I know it, Ezra. I\nwas blind and now I see. As a tiny Babe He brought the light to me\nalone. But when He comes again, He will be the Light of all the world,\nEzra, the Light of all the world.\"\n\n  THE END","title":"Christmas Light","tradition":"scripture-revelation","translated_text":null,"word_count":18623}