By the time Joseph had finished his tale, the table had been cleared; and then the widow opened the large Bible, and after fervently blessing God for His mercy in permitting them all to see the close of another week in health and peace, read aloud a chapter and psalm. Varied as were the characters and wishes of all present, every heart united in reverence and love towards this weekly service—in, if possible, increased devotion towards that beloved parent, who so faithfully endeavoured to support not alone her own duties towards her offspring, but those of their departed father. She had not lost those hours and days, aye, and sometimes long weeks of suffering, with which it had pleased God to afflict her. When confined to her bed, the Bible had been her sole companion, and she so communed with it and her own heart, that many passages, which had before been veiled, were now made clear and light, and her constant prayer for wisdom and religion to lead her offspring in its paths of pleasantness and peace granted to the full. Yet Rachel was no great scholar. Let it not be imagined amongst those who read this little tale, that she was unusually gifted. She was indeed so far gifted that she had a trusting spirit and a most humble and child-like mind, and of worldly ways was most entirely ignorant; and it was these feelings which kept her so persevering in the path of duty, and, leading her to the footstool of her God, gave her the strength of wisdom that she needed; and to every mother in Israel these powers are given.
“Well, my dear children, to whom must I look for the text which is to occupy us this evening?” said the widow, glancing affectionately round as she ceased to read.
“To me and Ruth, mother; for you know we always think together,” answered Joseph, eagerly. “And you don’t know how we have both been longing for this evening, for the verse we have chosen has made us think so much, and with all our thinking, we cannot quite satisfy ourselves.”
“But what is it, my boy?”
“It is the one our dear father repeated on his death-bed, mother. I have often thought of it since, but feared it would make you sorrowful, if we spoke of it for the first year or two; but as I found Ruth had thought of it and wished it explained also, we said we would ask you to talk about it to-night. You repeat it, Ruth; you pronounce the Hebrew so prettily!”
And timidly, but sweetly, Ruth said, first in Hebrew and then in English, “‘Commit your ways unto the Lord; trust also in him, and he will bring it to pass.’ Ways,” continued the child, “was the word which first puzzled us, but Sarah has explained it to me so plainly, I understand it better now.”
“Tell us then, Sarah dear,” said her aunt.
“It seems to me,” she said, “that the word ways has many meanings. In the verse, ‘Show me thy ways, O Lord,’ I think it means actions. In another verse, ‘The Lord made known his ways unto Moses, his acts unto the children of Israel,’ I think ways mean thoughts!”
“And there are several in Proverbs,” interposed Simeon, “which would make us regard ways as the path we are to tread; as for instance, ‘Who leaveth the path of righteousness, to walk in the ways of darkness.’”
“But Ruth and I want to know in which of these ways we are to regard it in our verse,” persisted Joseph.