THE BABY HID IN A BASKET
| Flags | Plants which grow in the water at the edges of ponds and rivers. |
| Bulrushes | Plants which were used for the weaving of baskets. |
| Ark | A woven basket. |
| Pitch | A sticky substance daubed on the basket to keep out the water. |
| Handmaid | A servant. |
Once upon a time a little boy was born to some poor Hebrew people who were slaves in Egypt. The pharaoh, or king of that country, did not like the Hebrew people, and he said that all the little boy babies born to them must be killed. But the mother of this little boy wanted to save her pretty baby if she could. So she hid him three months. And when she could no longer hide him, she took for him an ark of bulrushes, and daubed it with pitch; and she put the child therein, and laid it in the flags by the river's brink. And his sister stood afar off, to know what would be done with him. And the daughter of Pharaoh came down to bathe at the river; and her maidens walked [{118}] along by the river side; and she saw the ark among the flags, and sent her handmaid to fetch it. And she opened it, and saw the child: and, behold, the babe wept. And she had compassion on him, and said, "This is one of the Hebrews' children."
Then said his sister to Pharaoh's daughter, "Shall I call thee a nurse of the Hebrew women, that she may nurse the child for thee?"
And Pharaoh's daughter said to her, "Go."
And the maid went and called the child's mother. And Pharaoh's daughter said unto 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. And the child grew, and she brought him unto Pharaoh's daughter, and he became her son. And she called his name Moses.
THE RIVER NILE
From an old photograph in the possession of the Springfield Public Library, and used by kind permission.
The great river Nile was the very life of the country of Egypt which lies along its banks. A little way back from the river the desert begins. On the little green strip of the banks lived the proud and powerful people who enslaved the Israelites. A fleet of dahabiyehs is being loaded by the shore.
