that Abraham rushed out to his herd and caught a calf to make a meal for
the strangers, and that while he asked Sarah to make the cakes, he
turned over the calf to a man servant to prepare for the table. Thus the
labor of securing the food fell upon the male sex, while the labor of
preparing it was divided between both.

The one supreme virtue among the patriarchs was hospitality, and no
matter how many servants a person had it must be the royal service of
his own hands that he performed for a guest. In harmony with this
spirit Rebekah volunteered to water the thirsty camels of the tired and
way-worn travellers. It is not at all likely that, as Mr. Scott
suggests, Eliezer waited simply to test Rebekah's amiability. The test
which he had asked for was sufficiently answered by her offering the
service in the first place, and doubtless it would have been a churlish
and ungracious; breach of courtesy to have refused the proffered
kindness.

That the Jewish women were treated with greater politeness than the
daughters of neighboring peoples we may learn from the incident
narrated of the daughters of Jethro who, even though their father was
high priest of the country were driven away by the shepherds from the
wells where they came to water their flocks. Of all outdoor occupations
that of watering thirsty animals is, perhaps, the most fascinating, and
if the work was harder for Rebekah than for our country maidens who
water their animals from the trough well filled by the windmill she had
the strength and the will for it, else she would have entrusted the
task to some of the damsels of whom we read as her especial
servants and who, as such, accompanied her to the land of Canaan.

The whole narrative shows Rebekah's personal freedom and dignity. She