amongst his people; for he thought that if any other nation should make war upon them, the Hebrews would join their enemies, and fight against them. He, therefore, considered in what way he could destroy them or rid the land of them. He said to his people, "Behold, the people of the children of Israel are more and mightier than we."

،، Come on, let us deal wisely with them : lest they multiply, and it come to pass, that when there falleth out any war, they join also unto our enemies, and fight against us, and so get them out of the land."

He therefore set severe taskmasters over them, and made them work very hard, giving them hardly any time to rest and refresh themselves. He made them build new cities, and make bricks, and do all kinds of laborious work: but the more severe he was, and the more cruelly he used them, the more they seemed to increase and multiply.

Then the king of Egypt thought he must try some other way of lessening the number of the Hebrews.

In those days, women performed most of the offices for the sick, which are now performed by

men; and the women who attended upon the Hebrew mothers, when the children were born, were called midwives. Pharaoh gave orders to these midwives, that when any boys were born, they should kill them, but that they should let the girls live. The midwives, however, feared God: they knew that it would be displeasing to a merciful God, to do any thing so cruel: they therefore did not kill the little Hebrew boys, but preserved them alive. "Therefore God dealt well with the midwives."

This king of Egypt was called Pharaoh; indeed Pharaoh was a name given commonly to all the kings of Egypt. When Pharaoh found out that the midwives had disobeyed his orders, he was very angry, and ordered that all the boys should be thrown into the river. He gave orders to his people, saying, "Every son that is born, ye shall cast into the river, and every daughter ye shall save."

Now, a Hebrew woman of the tribe called Levi,* had a son: he was a very strong, fine child,

The twelve tribes of Israel were the descendants of the twelve sons of Jacob or Israel (for he was called by both names)

and she hid him for three months, and let no one see him. At last, however, she felt obliged to obey the king's orders, because she knew that if her son was discovered, she would not only lose him, but her own life also.

The poor mother was overwhelmed with grief: she went to the river side and gathered a number of bulrushes; these she wove closely together, and made a kind of cradle for her poor baby: she smeared the inside with slime and pitch to prevent the water from getting in between the rushes, and then placing her son in it, she carried it down to the water, and laid it on the river's brink. The poor woman returned home in deep sorrow, but the little boy's sister hid herself, and watched to see what would happen.

Just at this time the king's daughter, came down to the river whilst she was bathing, her maidens walked along the bank of the river; she soon saw the little ark, and sent one of her maids to bring it to her. They opened it, and there lay this sweet

the father of Joseph. Levi was the name of one of the sons of Jacob, and therefore his descendants were called the Tribe of Levi, from his name.

child! The poor little thing began to cry, and Pharaoh's daughter took compassion on it, and said, "This is one of the Hebrews' children." She said she would save the little boy and bring him up for her own son. Then his sister came forward, and asked if she should go and fetch a Hebrew woman to nurse the child for her. Pharaoh's daughter said, "Go." Then she went and fetched the child's own mother and Pharaoh's daughter said to her, "Take this child away, and nurse it for me, and I will give thee thy wages. And the woman took the child and nursed it."

You may suppose what delight the Hebrew woman felt, when her son was saved in such a miraculous manner and how happy she felt at being chosen for his nurse.

her until he was old enough to

She kept him with

take care of himself,

and then she carried him and gave him up to Pha

raoh's daughter.

"And the child grew, and she brought him unto Pharaoh's daughter, and he became her son. And she called his name Moses."

C. WHITTINGHAM, CHISWICK.