the temple, and offered up burnt offerings on it every day,—a lamb in the morning, and a lamb in the evening, as the children of Israel used to do before they were carried away into Babylon.

Then they made ready to rebuild the temple. They hired men of Tyre, as Solomon had done, to cut down cedar trees on mount Lebanon, and make rafts of them, and float them by sea to Jerusalem. They gave these men meat, and drink, and oil, while they worked; and they paid money to carpenters and masons, who began to build the house. When the first stones of it were laid, the priests and Levites played on trumpets and cymbals, and sang songs of praise to the Lord. And the people were glad and shouted with a great shout, because the building of the temple was

begun. But many of the old of the old men, who remembered the temple which stood there before, wept with a loud voice. So that the sounds of shouting and the sounds of weeping went up together and were heard afar off.

STORY OF ESTHER.

But the Jews had not all come back to Jerusalem. Many of them still lived in the land of Persia, under Ahasuerus. In the third year of his reign, this king made a great feast for his servants in the court, or garden, of his palace. Around the court were hung curtains of white and green and blue, which were fastened by cords and silver rings to pillars of marble. The beds in the palace were made of gold and silver, and the pavement was of red and blue and white and black marble. The persons at the feast drank from vessels of gold, and the king's wine poured freely.

Vashti, the queen, also made a feast for

the women in the palace. And on the seventh day of the king's feast, after he had drunk wine and was merry, he sent to bring Vashti before him, with the crown upon her head, that the princes and people might see her beauty. Now, in Persia, the women lived in a separate part of the house by themselves, and never came out before men unless they wore veils, So, when King Ahasuerus sent for Vashti, the queen, to come before all the princes and people, that they might see her face unveiled, she refused to obey the king's command.

At this the king was angry. "What shall we do to Queen Vashti, and how shall she be punished, because she has not obeyed the command of the king?" he cried.

One of the wise men answered, “Vashti has done wrong, not only to the king, but also