Had she not smiled that smile, Saul might have thought,
'Infatuated child!' and thought aloud.
But that bright smile of almost humor sad
Showed him how sanely her true self she was,
And he was baffled, sudden-smitten dumb.
He could not answer her; much less could he
Bid bind those slender wrists with manacles
And send his sister to imprisonment!
So there Saul stood before her, marble-mute.
Not long—for Ruth soon now came back, more calm,
She having prayed beside her sleeping babes,
And trusted them again to the Most High
As Father, and from the Most High received
Grace to bear graciously her testimony,
Even by imprisonment, and children reft,
For Stephen's Lord and hers. The others marked
Ruth's placid changed demeanor, and gave thanks
Silent to God who thus their prayer had heard.
"I go," she said to Saul, "for Jesus' sake
Wherever thou mayst lead. My babes I trust,
As Stephen trusted them before he suffered,
Unto the Father of the fatherless.
Lo, I am ready—bind me—for His sake!"
Never so ruefully had those hard men
Bound any hands for prison as they bound hers;
And scarcely Saul found steady voice to say:
"Thy children shall be cared for tenderly,
Till thou return to them in sounder mind;
The fathers of our tribes will see to this."
Then Rachel said, and saying it wept at last:
"They would not bind me, Ruth, to take thy place,
Though I entreated them while thou wert gone.
I shall be left, unworthy to be left,
If ye, beloved, are worthy to be taken!
But, Ruth, if thou wilt let me, I shall stay
And myself be a mother to thy babes,
Nurturing them most lovingly, alike
For thine, their father's, and their own sweet sakes.
And I will daily bring thee word of them,
Treasuring for thee each little syllable
They lisp from day to day of loving speech
Concerning father or mother gone away.
They shall not lack whatever I can give
Of mother's tendance, so as yet to feel
That I am not their mother, only one
Less wise, less good, less loving, and less fair
Than she, who for their mother's sake loves them!
All this, I trust, will not last very long,
This motherlessness for them, this childlessness
For thee—thou wilt come back—but, O Ruth, pray"—
Thus Rachel softly for Ruth sole to hear—
"For surely now thou understandest well,
Too well! what then I meant when once I told thee,
'I too am widow as thou art, yet not
As thou, since me stroke heavier has bereaved!'—
O Ruth, pray thou and never cease to pray
For Saul, my brother!"
So they went away,
And, lodged in prison, those four captives sang,
A silent melody making in their hearts,
"With tribulation, peace!" until they slept.
But Rachel having followed at remove
Behind them, saw where they were put in hold,
Then, hedged about meanwhile with purity,
With convoy doubtless too of angels hedged,
Gladly on such an errand earthward come,
Invisible bright legion hovering round!—
Safely returned to sleep in Stephen's house.
There she abode, and thence, an angel she!
Went daily to and fro between Ruth's house
And Ruth in prison, bearing messages,
Refections often bearing, food or drink,
Her own housewifely skill and instinct nice,
With other comforts portable, sometimes,
Pillow or cushion, rug or robe or shawl,
Such as might serve to cheer the homesick heart
In any there imprisoned, with sweet sense
At least of loving thought from one for those
In bonds, as herself with them bound; the while
That for the orphaned children she made home.
Nor ever failed to Rachel full supply
Of all whatever need there was to her.
Month after month, her cruse was brim with oil,
With meal her measure, large replenishment.
God put it in the heart of Saul to send,
Diverted like an irrigating rill
Full all its season from the affluent Nile,
A secret stream of various providence
For Rachel and for Rachel's fosterlings
Fed from the fountain of his patrimony.