AMONG the other children in a charity school sat a little Jewish girl．She was a good，intelligent child，the quickest in all the school；but she had to be excluded from one lesson，for she was not allowed to take part in the Scripture lesson，for it was a Christian school．

In that hour the girl was allowed to open the geography book，or to do her sum for the next day；but that was soon done；and when she had mastered her lesson in geography，the book indeed remained oped before her，but the little one read no more in it：she sat and listened，and the teacher soon became aware that she was listening more intently than almost any of the other children．

“Read your book，”the teacher said，in mild re-proof；but her dark beaming eye remained fixed upon him；and once when he addressed a question to her，she knew how to answer better than any of the others could have done．She had heard，understood，and remembered．

When her father，a poor honest man，first brought the girl to the school，he had stipulated that she should be excluded from the lessons on the Christian faith．But it would have caused disturbance，and perhaps might have awakened discontent in the minds of the others，if she had been sent from the room during the hours in question，and consequently she stayed；but this could not go on any longer．

The teacher betook himself to her father， and exhorted him either to remove his daughter from the school，or to consent that Sara should become a Christian．

“I can no longer bear to see these gleaming eyes of the child，and her deep and earnest longing for the words of the Gospel”，said the teacher．

Then the father burst into tears．

“I know but little of our own religion，”he said；“but her mother was a daughter of Israel，firm and steadfast in the faith，and I vowed to her as she lay dying that our child should never be baptized．I must keep my vow，for it is even as a covenant with God Himself．”

And accordingly the little Jewish maiden quitted the Christian school．

Years have rolled on．

In one of the smallest provincial towns there dwelt，as a servant in a humble household，a maiden who held the Mosaic faith．Her hair was black as ebony，her eye so dark，and yet full of splendour and light，as is usual with the daughters of the East．It was Sara．The expression in the countenance of the now grown-up maiden was still that of the child sitting upon the schoolroom bench and listening with thoughtful eyes．

Every Sunday there pealed from the church the sounds of the organ and the song of the congregation．The strains penetrated into the house where the Jewish girl，industrious and faithful in all things，stood at her work．

“The shalt keep holy the Sabbath-day，”said a voice within her，the voice of the Law；but her Sabbath-day was a working day among the Christians，and she could keep it holy only in her heart，which she did not think was sufficient．But then the thought arose in her soul：“Doth God reckon by days and hours？”And on the Sundny of the Christians the hour of prayer remained undisturbed；and when the sound of the organ and the songs of the congregation sounded across to her as she stood in the kitchen at her work，then even that place seemed to become a sacred one to her．Then she would read in the Old Testament，the treasure and possession of her people，and it was only in this one she could read；for she kept faithfully in the depths of her heart the words her father had said to herself and the teacher when she was taken away from the school，and the promise given to her dying mother，that she should never receive Christian baptism，or desert the faith of her ancestors．The New Testament was to be a sealed book to her；and yet she knew much of it，and the Gospel echoed faintly among the recollections of her youth．