I am now going to read a verse out of our Father's Letter. It is a sad story. After I read it, I am going to tell it to you in my way; and after I have told it to you, I am going to ask you, to see if you can tell me all about it. Then I am going to tell you the meaning; then the lesson—three things: the story, the meaning, the lesson. Can you give them to me? First, the—story, next, the—meaning, and last, the—lesson, [the children say.] Once more, give them to me.—Story, meaning, lesson.

I will read it first out of the Bible, for I always want to give you God's word first; then I will tell it to you. It is in the twelfth chapter of the Book of Exodus. "Exodus" means the "going out." When you leave this room you "go out" of it—it is your "Exodus" of the room. So, in the Bible story, God's people went out. Let me read to you:

"Then Moses called for all the elders of Israel, and said unto them, Draw out and take you a lamb according to your families, and kill the passover. And ye shall take a bunch of hyssop, and dip it in the blood that is in the basin, and strike the lintel and the two side-posts with the blood that is in the basin; and none of you shall go out at the door of his house until the morning. For the Lord will pass through to smite the Egyptians; and when he seeth the blood upon the lintel, and on the two side-posts, the Lord will pass over the door, and will not suffer the destroyer to come in unto your houses to smite you."

And it happened just as God said. Now, I do not want to tell you anything that you can tell me. In the first place, we want to find out where this took place. Can any of you tell me the name of the country? [Egypt! shout three or four little voices—to the surprise even of the teacher, who, as well as the audience, was repeatedly astonished at the accuracy, promptness, and clearness of the children's answers.]

The Israelites, or God's people, are spoken of in the lesson. They are now in Egypt. Let me mark it on the board. Here is Egypt, [drawing a rough outline of the Red Sea, river Nile, and the Mediterranean; and, proceeding northerly, of Palestine.] Pointing to the latter, the teacher said, Here is—Canaan, one child replied. Yes! that little girl has it. And what city is this? [making a dot near the corner of the Dead Sea.] Je-rusalem! Joseph. Yes. There was no corn in the land. What do you call it when there is nothing to eat? Famine! a bright boy replies. Very well, indeed. Who, then, went first to buy corn? Joseph. And who followed him? His brethren. What did they go for?—to keep them from—Starving! That is it, exactly. I like to hear children answer so well. Can any of you tell me how many Israelites or Jews there were in Egypt? How many is that? [Writing the figures 2,000,000 on the board.] Two million! [eagerly responded a little fellow, who certainly did credit to his week-day instructors.] Yes, there were probably two million—men, women, and children. What was the name of the king of Egypt? It begins with P.—Pharaoh. Yes, God said to him, "Let my people—go." but Pharaoh said, "I—won't!" Then God said, "I will show him what I will do. My people shall go, that they may serve me." So God told his people to get ready that night, when our lesson begins.

What should you think this was? [Drawing a rough figure of the face of a clock.] A clock. Yes. What hour is the hand pointing to? Twelve o'clock. What time of night do you call that? Midnight. Yes, at midnight God said he would go from house to house in the land of Egypt, and every house where he did not see something on the door he would go in and kill the first-born. Let us make a door, now. [Drawing the outline of a door.] We won't take time to draw it very nicely. "Every house where I see something on the door," God said. What was it he must see on the door? Blood! blood! [Taking the red crayon, spots of red are dotted here and there over the white door-posts, representing blood.] Yes; wherever I see the blood of a little killed lamb on the door, I will not go in and slay the first-born.

This blood must first be in a—[Drawing an outline of a bowl or basin,]—Basin, the children reply. Yes; and how are you to get the blood on the door? [Taking the green chalk, and drawing a bush.] Here is a little bush, called hyssop, something like a huckleberry bush, and the people were to take that and dip it in the basin, into the blood, and do what? Sprinkle it on the door! Yes. What part of the door? (A pause.) L-i-n-t-e-l; what does that spell? Lintel.

Then, "when I see the—blood—on the—lintel—and on the two—side-posts—I will not go in and—kill the first-born!" Yes. That was what God said.

I have sometimes thought I could see an Egyptian soldier that night with his armor on, going up to one of the Israelites and asking, "What is that you are putting on the door?" "It is some lamb's blood." "What are you putting it on for?" "Because my God has told me to." Then with a strut he has turned on his heel and walked away, muttering to himself, "What a big fool that Jew is!"

But see! the hands on the clock begin to get around. It is now pointing to—midnight. Yes, pretty soon it strikes one—two—three, up to—twelve. And then! Oh! the angel of death went from one house to another, and in every one that didn't have—the blood—on it, the first-born was—killed. Yes! And one wail of woe went up from Egypt that night. Fathers and mothers, from Pharaoh in his beautiful palace, to his poorest servant, were weeping and wailing and lamenting their first-born, slain by the hand of the angel of God.