18 HOW THE DA IS WERE SPENT

and the high mountains were covered, and every living
thing outside the ark was drowned.
 After forty days and nights the rain ceased, but it
was one hundred and fifty days before the waters began
to be less and less. Then the ark, which had floated on
the sea, gently settled between two high points of a
mountain, and rested safe and firm until all the water had
dried from the earth.
 What were they doing all those months in the ark?
The dear old Book which gives us all these pictures,
paints them so plainly that we can see how real all the
people were, and know just what they did. Let us look
into the ark and think what the eight people did, and how
long they stayed there. Don't you think they found a
great deal to do ? Who kept their great house clean and
in order? How many animals did they have to feed?
 There is a little girl who has some canary-birds and
gold fishes, some pigeons and chickens, and how busy she
is every morning caring for her pets. But think of all
those animals in one house. There was the grain to
measure and give out, fresh water to bring for those great
thirsty beasts, the right kind of food to give to each living
thing. Do n't you think the sons' wives had some pleas-
ant work, and each loved some one of the animals better
than the rest? Did the pet lambs know the voice that
called them to come for a drink? Did the chickens and
birds come hopping to the hands that fed them every day?