BOAZ REWARDING RUTH.

EACH day did the gentle Ruth go to glean in the fields of Boaz, and each day did Boaz speak more kindly to her, and make his reapers throw handfuls of corn in her way. At the end of the harvest there was a rural feast, probably resembling our English harvest-home. To this feast Ruth went by the advice of Naomi, who gave her directions how to act.

When Boaz had eaten and drank, he became very merry, and at length went to sleep in a barn by a heap of corn; then came Ruth and uncovered his feet, and laid her down softly and watched him. About midnight he awoke, and seeing a stranger near him, was frightened, and cried out, "Who art thou?". Then she answered, "I am Ruth, thy handmaid; spread therefore thy skirt over me, for thou art a near kinsman." And he said, "Blessed be thou of the Lord, my daughter; for thou hast showed more kindness in the latter end than at the beginning, in as much as thou followedst not young men, whether rich or poor."

And Ruth lay at the feet of Boaz until the morning, when he told her to bring her vail, and he poured into it six measures of barley, and dismissed her to Naomi, assuring her that he would act like a kinsman, for he knew her to be an amiable and virtuous woman. And Ruth went home with a heavy burden but a light heart, for she knew how welcome the corn would be to the distressed Naomi, and Boaz vainly tried to dismiss from his mind the graceful-form and winning manners of Ruth. All that day he thought upon her gentleness and her kindness to Naomi, and of her dark braided hair, and her timid but lustrous eyes, and of what a dear affectionate wife she would make.

BOAZ MARRIES RUTH.

It was a custom in Israel that when a man died, his brother, or his next relation, should marry the widow of the deceased. Now, Boaz wished to marry Ruth, but there was living a nearer kinsman to the family of Naomi than himself, and it was necessary that this man should have the choice of marrying Ruth if he wished to do so. And Naomi had a little piece of land that had belonged to her husband, and this land she desired to sell to her kinsman. And Boaz said to the kinsman, "What day thou buyest the field of the hand of Naomi, thou must buy it also of Ruth the Moabitess, the wife of the dead, to raise up the name of the dead upon his inheritance."

The kinsman answered; Redeem thou my right to thyself, for I cannot redeem it." And he took off his shoe and gave it to Boaz as a testimony, for this was a custom in Israel, and of the same force as a written contract in the present time. And Boaz called the elders and the people to be witnesses that he had purchased the land, and with it the right of his kinsman, to be the husband of Ruth. The elders wished Boaz happiness in his choice, and said; "The Lord make the woman that is come into thine house like Rachel and like Leah, which two did build the house of Israel." Then was Boaz married to Ruth, and the aged Naomi lived with them for the rest of her days in peace and happiness. In the course of time Ruth had a son, named Obed, who became the grandfather of David. Thus, affection and humility led her to become the mother of a race of kings.