of his master, and
departed; for all the goods of his master were in his hand: and he
arose, and went to Mesopotamia, to the city of {212} Nahor. And he
made his camels to kneel down without the city by a well of water at
the time of the evening, even the time that women go out to draw
water," and Rebekah, a niece of Abraham, "came out with her pitcher
upon her shoulder. And the maiden was very fair to look upon: and she
went down to the well, and filled her pitcher, and came up. And the
servant ran to meet her, and said, 'Let me, I pray thee, drink a
little water of thy pitcher.'

"And she said, 'Drink, my lord': and she hasted, and let down her
pitcher upon her hand, and gave him to drink.

"And when she had done giving him drink, she said, 'I will draw water
for thy camels also, until they have done drinking.'

"And she hasted, and emptied her pitcher into the trough, and ran
again unto the well to draw water, and drew for all his camels."

Then she went home and told of him, and her brother ran and came out
to the servant and said, "'Come in, thou blessed of the Lord;
wherefore standest thou without? for I have prepared the house, and
room for the camels.'

"And the man came into the house: and he ungirded his camels, and gave
straw and {213} provender for the camels, and water to wash his feet
and the men's feet that were with him. And there was set food before
him to eat."

A few days later Rebekah, with her servant, mounted the camels, too,
and went back with Abraham's servant, the long desert journey, to be
the wife of Abraham's son Isaac.

{214}

HOUSES IN THE LANDS OF THE BIBLE

The people in Bible lands did not have houses like those we live in
to-day. You would not like to live in their houses. They were low, and
small, and dark. Some were built of stone, but many were built of a
sun-dried brick. They had flat roofs, where the people often went and
where they slept in warm weather. A stair led up to the roof from the
outside. Those that were made of the sun-dried brick were not very
durable. Thieves could easily "break through and steal." The house
which the man "built upon the sand" crumbled into mud and was swept
away when "the winds blew and the floods came" and "great was the fall
of it."

Of course the king lived in a beautiful palace and rich people had
fine houses, but the houses of the poor people were only huts.

{215}{216}

[Illustration]
CHILDREN OF NAZARETH

From a photogr