s son is strong for his
age." And later they said, "The carpenter's lad is doing well at
school."

But there were more interesting things to talk about in Nazareth than
the carpenter's family. There was the Messiah to talk about. "When
will he come?" the people asked each other.

Nobody in Nazareth had heard the angels sing.

[Illustration]

3. Growing

When boys in Nazareth were about six years old, it was time for them
to go to school. No girls were there, for the girls stayed home with
their mothers. But every day except the Sabbath, the boys went to the
school and sat on the floor with their legs crossed, and there the
teacher taught them many things that every Jewish boy would need to
know.

He taught them their A B C's in the Hebrew language. Instead of A, he
showed them how to make a mark like this: [Hebrew: a]. Instead of B,
they learned to make this letter: [Hebrew: b]; and so on, through all
the alphabet. Then when they knew their letters, they could learn to
read. And every Jewish boy had first of all to read the Scriptures.

The teacher taught them what was in the Scriptures. Over and over they
said their lessons aloud, talking all at once, until they knew
everything they were supposed to know by heart.

The teacher taught them psalms which had been sung for many years in
the Temple of Jerusalem.

He taught them also about the prophets. The prophets were preachers
whose words had long ago been written down in the sacred Scriptures.
These books were long pieces of skin, which were kept rolled up when
no one was reading them. There were many prophets--Isaiah, Jeremiah,
Ezekiel, Amos, Malachi, and many others. Little by little the boys
began to discover what these preachers had said.

[Illustration]

The teacher also made sure that they knew about that part of the
Scriptures called the Law. The Ten Commandments were in the Law, and
many other sayings which told people what they must do and what they
must not do in order to please God. The boys learned how God gave the
Commandments to Moses, while lightning flashed and thunder crashed,
at the far-off mountain of Sinai.

The teacher told them stories of all that had happened to the Jewish
people in the years gone by. But the most important was the story of
the Passover. This story explained why their parents went to Jerusalem
each spring.

Now this was what every Jewish boy had to learn about the Passover,
and remember always:

Once t