ain many of us."

And it came to pass, when their hearts were merry, that they said,
"Call for Samson, that he may make us sport." And they called for
Samson out of the prison house; and he made sport before them: and
they set him between the pillars.

And Samson said unto the lad that held him by the hand, "Suffer me
that I may feel the pillars whereupon the house resteth, that I may
lean upon them."

Now the house was full of men and women; and all the lords of the
Philistines were there; and there were upon the roof about three
thousand men and women, that {182} beheld while Samson made sport. And
Samson called unto the Lord, and said, "O Lord God, remember me, I
pray thee, and strengthen me, I pray thee, only this once, O God, that
I may be at once avenged of the Philistines for my two eyes."

And Samson took hold of the two middle pillars upon which the house
rested, and leaned upon them, the one with his right hand, and the
other with his left.

And Samson said, "Let me die with the Philistines." And he bowed
himself with all his might; and the house fell upon the lords, and
upon all the people that were therein.

So the dead which he slew at his death were more than they which he
slew in his life.

{183}

DANIEL.

STORIES OF THE MAN WHO WOULD RATHER DIE THAN DO WRONG.

Daniel is the great Jewish hero of that long period of exile
when the nation was captive in a strange land. This was the
gloomiest and most distressful time in the nation's history, and
afterward in other dark days these stories were told to cheer the
people and give them courage.

_How Daniel and His Three Friends Refused to Eat the Food of Princes_.

In the third year of the reign of Jehoiakim king of Judah came
Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon to Jerusalem, and besieged it. And the
Lord gave Jehoiakim king of Judah into his hand, with part of the
vessels of the house of God. And the king spoke to Ashpenaz, that he
should bring in certain of the children of Israel, even of the royal
family and of the nobles; youths in whom was no blemish, but well
favored, and skillful in all wisdom, and cunning in knowledge, and
such as had ability to stand in the king's palace; and that he should
teach them the learning and the tongue of the Chaldeans.

And the king appointed for them a daily portion of the king's food,
and of the wine which he drank, and that {184} they should be
nourished three years; that at the end thereof they might stand