gross medium through which it passes; and thus this unhappy land, so awfully chastised by the justice of God, so graciously received back to favor by his mercy, is deprived of the bliss which Providence designed for it. Who could have believed," he continued, "when a few weeks ago I approached Jerusalem, when I saw for the first time the temple and the priests, and all my wish was to be enrolled among them and to dwell on the hill which Jehovah has chosen for his peculiar presence, who could have believed that so short a time would have made everything appear to me so tame and common? Is the fault my own, that I pass too easily from the one extreme to the other; or am I disappointed, that, instead of a perpetual ministration before Jehovah, I am only called at long intervals and for a short time to minister in his temple? Yet surely even this might be sufficient to keep alive my zeal, were it not that the moment he quits the temple the dreams of Pharisees, Sadducees, and Essenes again take possession of the mind of a priest, and seduce him into transgressions of the law. What hope, then, under such circumstances, of becoming a Chasidean? There was another priesthood of which Elisama spoke, as we stood together at the foot of that pointed hill. Oh that I could but be assured that I was not mistaken in the meaning of his often-repeated hints!" As he spoke, his face turned involuntarily toward the Armon. Some one came behind him and touched him on the shoulder; it was Elisama. He started, as if it were possible that he might have heard his soliloquy, and could scarcely return his uncle's salutation.

"I am glad," said Elisama, with a serious look, “to find

you here alone; for some days past I have wished for an opportunity of speaking to you alone on important matters. Let us go into the Alija; we shall be most secure there from the danger of interruption.

"When we left Egypt it was all thy wish to see the land of thy fathers; thy mother had another wish. Thou art of that age when the youth of Israel take to themselves wives. Doubtless we are all agreed in this, that thy wife should not come from any Hellenistic family. Among the Aramaan Jews of Alexandria, there was none with whom so near a connection would have been honorable for us. Besides, it is thy mother's wish that her daughter-in-law should be, as she herself was, a native of the Holy Land. I have been occupied in looking round for a wife for thee. What sayest thou to Sulamith the daughter of Selumiel?"

Helon fell at his uncle's feet, and, embracing his knees, exclaimed: "Is it possible? Ah! give me Sulamith !" "Rise," said Elisama.

"May Jehovah bless you both!

I have already settled the conditions with Selumiel in Jerusalem, and we kept silence, only that we might see whether Sulamith would please you. He wished to have a priest for a son-in-law, and one who should not come emptyhanded."

"Oh give my whole fortune, if he demands it," said Helon.

"At this moment he is speaking with Sulamith." Looking through the lattice of the Alija, he saw Selumiel passing along the court, and called to him to come up to them. He came, and Helon fell before him on his face.

30

"I know enough," said he; "I will call my wife and daughter; follow me to the large saloon of the Armon."

He led them from the Alija through the outer and inner court to the Armon, which no foot of a male stranger had ever trodden before. He left them standing in the richly-adorned saloon, and went to call Sulamith and her mother.

They came with him, and the brother also made his appearance. The mother was in tears; Sulamith stood with her face completely veiled. Elisama then came forward and said: "If ye will deal kindly and truly with my nephew Helon, tell me, and give him this your daughter Sulamith to wife; and if not, tell me, that I may turn to the right hand or to the left."*

Then Selumiel and Abisuab answered: "The thing proceedeth from the Lord, therefore we cannot speak unto thee bad or good. Behold, Sulamith is before thee; take her and go thy way, that she may be the wife of thy nephew Helon."

Elisama and Helon bowed themselves to the earth; and Elisama said: "I will pay thee for thy daughter ten thousand shekels."

"I give them to her for her dowry," said Selumiel, "and add to them ten thousand more."

Then Selumiel, turning to Sulamith, said: "Wilt thou go with this man into the land of Egypt, or remain with him in Jericho, as Jehovah shall appoint?"

Sulamith, sobbing, answered "Yes."

Then the mother led her daughter to Helon, whose joy

* Gen. xxiv. 49.

was without bounds; she bowed down before him, and he took her by the hand and raised her up. The father, the mother, and the brother of the bride, along with Elisama, then drew near to them, and blessed them both, and said : "May ye grow and multiply a thousand times, and may your seed possess the gate of your enemies !"

The company which had assembled on the preceding day was again invited, and Selumiel said to his astonished guests: "Rejoice with me, my friends, and bless the God of our fathers. I have received from Jehovah two children, a grandson and a son-in-law."

Elisama remained in Selumiel's house.

Helon, so pro

Every

priety required, took up his abode in a neighboring house; but through the day he was chiefly in the Armon of his Sulamith. The more intimately he became acquainted with her, the higher his love and admiration rose. day discovered to him some new excellence, her deep piety, her gentle temper, her quick sensibility, her sound understanding, and playful, harmless wit. He looked on with delight, when, in the course of her daily occupations, she prepared the meal for bread, kneaded it in flat, round cakes, and baked it in the deep oven. He stood beside her when, as became a female, she wove cloth for the garments of the men. He lent his aid when she prepared the perfumed ointments, and rubbed upon a smooth marble stone the sandal-wood, the juice of the date-palm, the kernel of the Behen-nut from Egypt, oil of sesame, fragrant reed from Lebanon, oil of myrtle, cypress, and mastix, and the juice of the pomegranate-rind. In whatever occupation he had seen her, whatever had been the subject.

of their conversation, he always returned home at evening more grateful to God. The Sabbath and the new moon, all the solemnities of religion, had become more interesting to him, and his confidence revived that with such a daughter of Israel by his side, he should be able to keep the whole law, and perhaps even become a Chasidean.

THE feast of Pentecost drew near. It derived this name, which is Greek, and its Jewish name of the Feast of Weeks, from the circumstance that seven weeks or fifty days elapsed between it and the day after the Passover, on which the first fruits of barley were offered, so that it was the fiftieth day from that time. It fell on the sixth day of the third month Sivan, and the days between the offering of the sheaf and it were solemnly reckoned every evening, at the time of supper. rising up with the rest of the company, said: "Blessed be thou, O Lord our God, King of the world, who hast sanctified us with thy precepts, and commanded us to count the days of harvest," adding; this is the fifth day, or one week, and the third day, and so on. In this way they thought that they were fulfilling the command of the law: "Seven weeks shall ye reckon; begin to reckon the seven weeks from the time when thou beginnest to put the sickle

The master of the house,

*Exod. xxxiv. 22.