The Project Gutenberg eBook, A Farmer's Wife, by J. H. Willard

Title: A Farmer's Wife

The Story of Ruth

Author: J. H. Willard

Release Date: January 19, 2010 [eBook #31018]

Language: English

Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1

***START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK A FARMER'S WIFE***

A FARMER'S WIFE

A FARMER'S WIFE

THE STORY OF RUTH.

IN the district called Ephrath, belonging to the tribe of Judah, stood the city of Bethlehem, or "house of bread." It was a city with walls and gates, and lay between fruitful hills and well-watered valleys. There among pleasant cornfields and pasture lands lived a man named Elimelech, which means "my God is my King." He was descended from one of the princes of Judah, and was a man of means and consequence.

A FERTILE REGION IN PALESTINE.

Elimelech's wife was named Naomi, meaning "pleasant," and they had two sons whose names were Mahlon and Chilion. This old and noble family lived in this fertile region, amid pleasant surroundings, and with happy prospects, until one of the frequent famines that were brought on by want of rain visited their district.

"THE PARCHED AND STERILE FIELDS."

Leaving the parched and sterile fields around Bethlehem, Elimelech, his family and his flocks, left their home and settled in the rich and well-watered lands of the Moabites, beyond the Jordan. As a wealthy foreigner, he probably was well received by the people of Moab, and secured good pasturage for his sheep and cattle.

public@vhost@g@gutenberg@html@files@31018@31018-h@images@5.jpg" alt="SEEKING PASTURAGE FOR HIS SHEEP."