During the march there should be vocal or instrumental music, or the Worthy Patron may recite the following:
W. P. "And Jephthah came to Mizpeh unto his house, and behold, his daughter came out to meet him, with timbrels and with dances: and she was his only child; beside her he had neither son nor daughter."
"And it came to pass, when he saw her, that he rent his clothes, and said, Alas, my daughter! thou hast brought me very low, and thou art one of them that trouble me: for I have opened my mouth unto the Lord, and I cannot go back."
Cond. Sister Ruth.
Ruth rises and takes her position at the right of her chair.
Ruth. Sister Conductress.
Cond. I present this sister to be instructed in the duty of obedience to the demands of honor and justice in all conditions of life, as illustrated in the history of Ruth.
Ruth. About eleven hundred years before the Christian era, Elimeleck and his wife Naomi, with their two sons, were driven by famine from Bethlehem to the land of Moab. The sons married women of Moab named Ruth and Orphah. After a few years, Elimeleck and his sons died, leaving Naomi, Ruth and Orphah in mourning. Naomi, aged and dependent, resolved to return to the land of her nativity. She urged Ruth and Orphah to remain with their kindred and friends, rather than follow her in poverty to a land of strangers. But Ruth believed it to be her duty to remain with Naomi and assist in her maintenance, saying, "Entreat me not to leave thee, or to return from following after thee: for whither thou goest, I will go, and where thou lodgest I will lodge, thy people shall be my people, and thy God my God."
They arrived in Bethlehem, destitute, weary and worn, and Ruth was compelled to seek through menial labor the means of support for herself and the aged Naomi. Faithful to the duties which adverse fortune had thrown upon her, she became a gleaner in the fields of Boaz, who said to his servant that was set over his reapers, "Whose damsel is this?" Upon being informed of her history, her devotion to Naomi, and present circumstances, advanced to where she was resting and addressed to her kindly words of encouragement. Ruth raised her hands to show him how small were her gleanings, and that she had not taken from the sheaves; placed them meekly upon her breast as proof of her willingness to submit to whatever lot she might be called upon to endure, casting her eyes upward, as appealing to God.
He ordered his reapers to drop handfuls of barley that she might gather a supply, and invited her to eat and drink of the provisions he had supplied. Ruth was encouraged; and at evening, returned laden with the fruits of her toil to gladden the heart of Naomi. My sister, be faithful to the duties of your station; ever teaching that honor and justice which Ruth portrayed in the touching and beautiful incidents of her life.