husband, Joseph, which had come to the city of David for to be taxed. And their babe was lying in a manger.

"And when we had seen the child, we told abroad all those things which the angel had declared unto us. And all that heard did marvel greatly. We returned therefore, glorifying and praising God for all the things that we had heard and seen, as it was told unto us.

"And lo! on another day there came wise men from the East, which were guided by a star, and which had passed by the way of Jerusalem. And seeing the young child with His mother, they fell down and worshipped Him: and when they had opened their treasures, they presented unto Him gifts, gold, and frankincense and myrrh."

Simon of Cyrene, pondering these matters, thought: "Shall I see thee yet, Adonai, and in the flesh?" After a time: "Nay, little babe, thou wast too humble, I fear." He recalled his own rejection at the hands of Annas, the High Priest. "The High Priest said," quoth Simon, as he recollected, "I am indeed glad of this for an excuse that thou has lost thy genealogy. For thou art humble, humble and very unknown."

Then said Simon to Gheburah, "Thinkest thou truly that this could have been Messiah?”

Gheburah answered and said unto him, "I sometimes believe and sometimes not. For that was many, many years ago, and, as yet, I have seen no sword."

And Amahnah and Simon went, each Sabbath, with phylacteries on their arms and foreheads, unto the little synagogue in Bethlehem. It stood in the highest quarter of the town, where two ways met, and, rising from its roof, a golden pole. Round the building was a porch of slender Ionic columns, to show (together with the pole) that the place was a house of teaching and of prayer.

Over the door of the entrance were a seven-branched candlestick and a pot of manna, lightly cut in the lintel-stone. And the proselytes might not go in, but hung about the door within the porch.

And when they twain had entered into the synagogue, then were Simon and his "Covenant" made separate and apart, each from each. For behold! Amahnah was constrained to enter the court for women, which was boarded off and set to itself with lattices, but into the court of the men went Simon. And the heads of all the men were covered. But both the women and the men, as they sate, did face Jerusalem. And the floor was strewn with mint for a purification and a sweet smell.

Now at the opposite end of the room was a platform, or bima, and at the edge thereof which was nearest to the congregation, a

reading desk, or migdal ez. Behind this desk the reader stood and read, while the preacher ever sate beside him.

At the back part of the bima hung the veil, above it, the everburning lamp. Nearby was the eight-branched candlestick, and, back of the veil, the ark, wherefrom the Chazzan, at the proper time, got out the great rolls of the Law, presenting them to the readers.

Betwixt the bima and the common portion of the congregation were "the chief seats" of the synagogue, whereon the rulers of the synagogue—rabbis, Pharisees, men of might and majesty—sate, facing, with sternness and appropriate repose, the am-ha-arets, or commoner portion of the people.

How often did Simon of Cyrene sit in that commoner portion of the congregation, wailing his own deep ignorance of the Law-wholly resolving that, come what might, he would, on a day, get him a place among the Pharisees, a "chief seat in the synagogue!" But first of all, a knowledge of the Law! Why should he try to remain a Sadducee? His priesthood was a jibe, a jest. Yet he stayed for long, at heart, a Sadducee and a priest. His soul was more in the Temple than in the synagogue.

But how were the synagogue services not impressed and stamped on the mind of Simon of Cyrene, so that, in after years, when they were for him only things of the long gone past, the Sabbath program of that village house of prayer would come up into his mind, would not be wholly neglected!

First arose from among "the chief seats" some important reader, and went up on the bima. There, standing behind the migdal ez, he pronounced an opening prayer. Then he recited the Shema, and having gone and stood before the ark, he led in prayers a while (pronouncing the eighteen eulogies, the "tephillah"). Then the Chazzan pulled aside the veil, and, lifting the lid of the ark and taking up one of the parchments of the Law, delivered it to the reader for to read.

And the reader, whenas he had returned to the lectern, read the lesson of the day. And the lesson was in Hebrew. Therefore, beside him stood the meturgeman, the interpreter, turning the Hebrew into Aramaic, either phrase by phrase or sentence by sentence. And often as many as seven of them that had sate in "the chief seats of the synagogue" would go up behind the lectern, and, in turn, read.

Then the preacher, the "darshan," sitting, prosed away for hours, and "taught" the people.

And sometimes did Simon listen eagerly, and again he slipt down

into his bench and peacefully slept in the sight of all men, including the rulers of the synagogue.

So was it twice on every Sabbath, and once on Monday and on Wednesday. And Simon and Amahnah went back, each time, together, unto their own dear home.

O little home at Bethlehem, happy Bethlehem! Little nest of love and joy and peace, where season after season, for a time, brought only well-loved changes! Yet Simon longed for greater and ever greater learning in the Law-though yet, in his heart, he remained a priest and Sadducee.

CHAPTER XXIV

A PUPIL OF PARUSH, THE PECULIAR

AMAHNAH bore unto Simon twins.

On a day, said Simon to his wife: "I will name these children 'Rufus' and 'Alexander.'"

"But those names be Latin and Greek," said she.

"What, then, am I?" he answered, "Pharisee or Sadducee?" (Whereby it would appear that Simon was still a Sadducee-for the Sadducees were friendly unto the Greeks, also, in a way, to the Latins-though not unto Roman rule.)

"Thou shouldst be of spiritual Israel, dear husband, neither officialist nor formalist. Take, therefore, the names of thy children out of the old Hebrew, the language of Jehovah. Let the names be 'Simkah' and 'Gheel,' 'Cheerfulness' and 'Joy.' For behold have I not brought unto thee both Joy and Cheerfulness?"

"Thou hast indeed," said Simon, and kissed her tenderly. "Yet, O Amahnah, my heart is set on this thing. I will name my children Rufus and Alexander."

Amahnah wept. But she said, at length: "In any case, I should be, in part, satisfied. For 'Rufus' is 'Red.' And red is the color, not only of sin and of blood, but also of self-sacrifice and joy. And 'Alexander,' it meaneth 'A Helper of Men.' And what is cheerfulness indeed but man's greatest helper here on earth?”

So the children were called, as the husband would, "Rufus" and "Alexander."

But ever, in the secret heart of Amahnah, they were "Joy" and "Cheerfulness."

Now, as Rufus and Alexander the children throve mightily with all the months and years. And Simon's heart was full of gladness

and gratitude unto God for his two sweet sons. He sang the whole day long among the sheep at Migdal Eder. Then, by night, pillowed in the bosom of his family, he slept, and, like Jacob-Israel of old, dreamed often of angels and God. But Amahnah was sometimes gently sorrowful (being more prophetic in her nature than even her God-filled husband was), and, when Simon saith unto her, "Why dost thou grieve, my little Rose of Sharon?" then saith she, "O my Lion and my Strength, I grieve over naught, being fond and foolish, and thou wilt be sore angry with me. But ever I have a feeling of unspeakable disaster that is yet to come upon us. I am much afeard, O Husband, I am much afeard."

He kissed away her dim forebodings, and, taking his shepherd's pipe in hand, played. Then danced Amahnah, and both her children with her.

And when he had finished, said Simon: "I am glad that thou dost wear thy raiment ever in blue."

"And why, O my Tower?"

"Is not blue the color of the covenant? And thou, art thou not my covenant? even as thy name doth signify!"

And she, seeing the look upon his face, ran unto him, and kissed him yet again, and was very glad because of all these simple things.

And they put their children to the village school in the synagogue, under the guidance of the gray-beard Chazzan of Bethlehem.

And Simon said unto the Chazzan, "Teach my boys, I pray thee, all the little rules thou knowest about the Law. Show unto them the hedge which is round the Scripture." But Amahnah said unto him, "Teach our boys at least the love of the Lord and of justice and truth."

And the children grew not merely in stature, but also in understanding, so that, on a day, Amahnah said unto her husband: "Our sons, are they not far more like unto me than unto thee? Are they not of my bone much more than of thine, and also of my blood? Have not I suckled them hourly, the which thou hast never done and couldst not?" Yet, at another time, said she: "Our sons, are they not of thee alone, and show they not thy two great sides--both commerce and the Law?"

He laughed at her foolish thought. "I have," saith he, "no side for bartering, but am wholly of the Temple and the synagogue-the priesthood and the Law, and also" (here he kissed her) "wholly thy husband and my dear children's father."

But she would not have it thus. "I have seen thy trading in thee these several years," saith she, "though thou dost ever seek to cloak

that part of thee down out of sight both of me and of all men. Each time, when thou dost return from Jerusalem, hast thou (tell me) more or less than thou didst go with hence? And have we not our home and yet three other homes?-But the children! Rufus-the Lord be merciful unto him-he is all for business, even as is the part of thee whereof I speak. And Alexander, he is altogether for the Law, even as is another part of one I know. Hast thou not heard the Chazzan declare he hath never beheld a child that seeth into the Law so deeply? And all that the child acquireth he remembereth. But Rufus, he learneth nothing at all, save only the computations. And I have noticed of a morning when he setteth out for school, that he hath, by way of custom, just one fig together with two clay camels. Yet see! When he returneth at the close of day, he hath two figs and a whole caravan. And he hath eaten several figs. Ah Simon! thy children do illuminate the several sides of thee."

And Amahnah, with her marble face and violet eyes and long silken lashes and her bright robe of deep sky blue, was more than ever as a priceless gem in the eyes of Simon of Cyrene.

At least until she saith, "O husband, Simon, hast thou never noticed also that thy children have thy night-black eyes, with all their unspeakable sadness both of things that are gone and things that are yet to come-and the latter by far the more numerous and more plain to be looked at?"

Whereat Simon would say, with a little anger: "Let be. We are happy; there shall come no changes. Wilt thou turn foolish, and become a melancholy prophetess?"

And he would call his children unto him, and question them fully, as about the Abodah Sarah, saying (for the ensample of a single afternoon):

"Thou, Rufus, answer me straight. How many be the Sedarim of the oral law?"

"It is true. Give me their names." "Nay, Father, that cannot I."

But Alexander gave them.

Then said Simon, "Thou, Rufus, once again. What are the titles of the Seder Moed?"

"Nay, I know them not, O Father.'

But Alexander gave them quickly, and modestly withal and in a low tone.

Then quoth the father, "Here is a blessed question, Rufus, which