chool; but she
had to be excluded from one lesson, for she was not allowed to take
part in the scripture-lesson, for it was a Christian school.

In that hour the girl was allowed to open the geography book, or to do
her sum for the next day; but that was soon done; and when she had
mastered her lesson in geography, the book indeed remained open before
her, but the little one read no more in it; she listened silently to
the words of the Christian teacher, who soon became aware that she was
listening more intently than almost any of the other children.

"Read your book, Sara," the teacher said, in mild reproof; but her
dark beaming eye remained fixed upon him; and once when he addressed a
question to her, she knew how to answer better than any of the others
could have done. She had heard and understood, and had kept his words
in her heart.

When her father, a poor honest man, first brought the girl to the
school, he had stipulated that she should be excluded from the lessons
on the Christian faith. But it would have caused disturbance, and
perhaps might have awakened discontent in the minds of the others, if
she had been sent from the room during the hours in question, and
consequently she stayed; but this could not go on any longer.

The teacher betook himself to the father, and exhorted him either to
remove his daughter from the school, or to consent that Sara should
become a Christian.

"I can no longer be a silent spectator of the gleaming eyes of the
child, and of her deep and earnest longing for the words of the
Gospel," said the teacher.

Then the father burst into tears.

"I know but little of the commandment given to my fathers," he said;
"but Sara's mother was steadfast in the faith, a true daughter of
Israel, and I vowed to her as she lay dying that our child should
never be baptized. I must keep my vow, for it is even as a covenant
with God Himself."

And accordingly the little Jewish maiden quitted the Christian
school.

Years have rolled on.

In one of the smallest provincial towns there dwelt, as a servant in a
humble household, a maiden who held the Mosaic faith. Her hair was
black as ebony, her eye dark as night, and yet full of splendour and
light, as is usual with the daughters of Israel. It was Sara. The
expression in the countenance of the now grown-up maiden was still
that of the child sitting upon the school-room bench and listening
with thoughtful eyes to the words of the Christian te