spectators to share their labors, even at the risk of sacrificing a
desirable matrimonial alliance. The virtue of self-sacrifice has its
wise limitations. Though it is most commendable to serve our fellow-
beings, yet woman's first duty is to herself, to develop all her own
powers and possibilities, that she may better guide and serve the next
generation.

It is refreshing to find in the fifty-eighth verse that Rebekah was
really supposed to have some personal interest and rights in the
betrothal.

The meeting of Isaac and Rebekah in the field at eventide is charming.
That sweet restful hour after the sun had gone down, at the end of a
long journey from a far-off country. Rebekah must have been in just the
mood to appreciate a strong right arm on which to rest, a loving heart
to trust, on the threshold of her conjugal life. To see her future
lord for the first time, must have been very embarrassing to Rebekah.
She no doubt concealed her blushes behind her veil, which Isaac
probably raised at the first opportunity, to behold the charms of the
bride whom the Lord had chosen for him. As Isaac was forty years old at
this time, he probably made a most judicious and affectionate husband.

The 67th verse would be more appropriate to the occasion if the words
"took Rebekah" had been omitted, leaving the text to read thus: "And
Isaac brought her into his mother's tent, and she became his wife, and
he loved her." This verse is remarkable as the first announcement of
love on the part of a husband at first sight. We may indulge the hope
that he confessed his love to Rebekah, and thus placed their conjugal
relations on a more spiritual plane than was usual in those days. The
Revising Committees by the infusion of a little sentiment into these