The Reign of Archelaus.



Herod's massacre had, after all, a certain mercy in it: there were no
lingering tortures. The slayers of children went about with naked and
bloody swords, which mothers could see, and might at least make effort to
flee from. Into Rachel's refusal to be comforted there need enter no
bitter agonies of remorse. But Herod's death, it seems, did not make Judea
a safe place for babies. When Joseph "heard that Archelaus did reign in
the room of his father, Herod, he was afraid to return thither with the
infant Jesus," and only after repeated commands and warnings from God
would he venture as far as Nazareth. The reign of Archelaus is not yet
over; he has had many names, and ruled over more and more countries, but
the spirit of his father, Herod, is still in him. To-day his power is at
its zenith. He is called Education; and the safest place for the dear,
holy children is still Egypt, or some other of the fortunate countries
called unenlightened.

Some years ago there were symptoms of a strong rebellion against his
tyranny. Horace Mann lifted up his strong hands and voice against it;
physicians and physiologists came out gravely and earnestly, and fortified
their positions with statistics from which there was no appeal. Thomas
Wentworth Higginson, whose words have with the light, graceful beauty of
the Damascus blade its swift sureness in cleaving to the heart of things,
wrote an article for the "Atlantic Monthly" called "The Murder of the