THE GREAT STATUES OF MEMNON
From a photograph in the possession of the Springfield Public Library, and used by kind permission.

These great statues, carved out of the solid rock, were erected to the honor of two of the Pharaohs of Egypt. You may realize something of the immense size of these monuments by noticing how small the camel standing at the base seems in comparison.

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THE BOY WHO WAS RAISED FROM THE DEAD

Once upon a time there was a widow who lived, with her only son, in a city in the land of the Bible. She was very poor, and one year she found herself still poorer. Everybody was poor that year, for there was a famine in the land. How thin and hungry some of the children became! How glad they were to get even poor food! How carefully the poor widow watched her barrel of flour and her jar, or cruse, of oil, with which the flour was mixed for baking! How hard she worked to get more! At last she had only a little flour and a little oil left. She was almost starving. There was just enough left to make one more cake for herself and her boy, and after that was gone she did not know what they would do. Perhaps they must die. She went out to gather some sticks for a fire. While she was gathering them, a man came by. He was a prophet, named Elijah, but she did not know him. He called to [{194}] her, and said, "Fetch me, I pray thee, a little water in a vessel, that I may drink."

And as she was going to fetch it, he called to her, and said, "Bring me, I pray thee, a morsel of bread in thine hand."

And she said, "As the Lord thy God liveth, I have not a cake, but an handful of meal in a barrel, and a little oil in a cruse: and, behold, I am gathering two sticks, that I may go in and dress it for me and my son, that we may eat it, and die."

And Elijah said to her, "Fear not; go and do as thou hast said: but make me thereof a little cake first, and bring it to me, and after make for thee and for thy son.

"For thus saith the Lord God of Israel, 'The barrel of meal shall not waste, neither shall the cruse of oil fail, until the day that the Lord sendeth rain upon the earth.'"