ce, by practical faith which made him not afraid, and did not
paralyse but stimulate his energies.

When the mother could no longer hide the child, she devised the plan
which has made her for ever famous. She placed him in a covered ark, or
casket,[3] plaited (after what we know to have been the Egyptian
fashion) of the papyrus reed, and rendered watertight with bitumen, and
this she laid among the rushes--a lower vegetation, which would not,
like the tall papyrus, hide her treasure--in the well-known and secluded
place where the daughter of Pharaoh used to bathe. Something in the
known character of the princess may have inspired this ingenious device
to move her pity; but it is more likely that the woman's heart, in her
extremity, prompted a simple appeal to the woman who could help her if
she would. For an Egyptian princess was an important personage, with an
establishment of her own, and often possessed of much political
influence. The most sanguinary agent of a tyrant would be likely to
respect the client of such a patron.

The heart of every woman was in a plot against the cruelty of Pharaoh.
Once already the midwives had defeated him; and now, when his own
daughter[4] unexpectedly found, in the water at her very feet, a
beautiful child sobbing silently (for she knew not what was there until
the ark was opened), her indignation is audible enough in the words,
"This is one of the Hebrews' children." She means to say "This is only
one specimen of the outrages that are going on."

This was the chance for his sister, who had been set in ambush, not
prepared with the exquisite device which follows, but simply "to know
what would be done to him." Clearly the mother had reckoned upon his
being found, and neglected nothing, although unable herself to endure
the agony of watching, or less easily hidden in that guarded spot. And
her prudence had a rich reward. Hitherto Miriam's duty had been to
remain passive--that hard task so often imposed upon the affection,
especially of women, by sick-beds, and also in many a more stirring
hazard, and many a spiritual crisis, where none can fight his brother's
battle. It is a trying time, when love can only hold its breath, and
pray. But let not love suppose that to watch is to do nothing. Often
there comes a moment when its word, made wise by the teaching of the
heart, is the all-important consideration in deciding mighty issues.

This girl sees the princess at once pitiful and emba