BOYS OF THE BIBLE. 65

For thirteen or fourteen years Ishmael had been‘a greater
‘worry to Sarah than ever “Topsy” was to ‘Miss Ophelia”
in “Uncle Tom’s Cabin.” But now there is a great stir in
the household—a baby boy is born—and so great is the joy
of Sarah over her son Isaac, that she almost forgets the mis-
chievous young Ishmael. The new-born Isaac had few charms
for Ishmael. Girls have a way of being wonderfully enthusi-
astic over babies, but boys, especially when they get to be
fourteen or fifteen, have very little interest in the helpless
tenants of the cradle.

The coming of Isaac furnished Ishmael new opportuni-
ties for mischief. From the first, Ishmael’s hand was against
him, the end of which was, that Ishmael and his mother
~vere driven forth into the desert to iive or die, as the case
might be. When Isaac was between two and three years
old Abraham and Sarah made a great feast in honor of
Isaac, and all the people of that countryside were invited.
‘At this feast Ishmael was caught making fun of the baby.
Of course Sarah thought that Isaac was the most wonderful
baby that had ever been born. What Ishmael thought, we
don’t know; what he said, we don’t know; but we know
that he mocked and made fun of Isaac, and Sarah caught
him in the act. Ishmael had gone too far. No mother in
the world will have her first-born son made fun of, and
especially before people, without getting angry. And Sarah

 

was very angry. She had borne too much; she was resolved
she would bear no more; there must be an end to this
thing once for all. And so she demanded of Abraham that
Hagar—who had lived in her house almost half a lifetime—
and her: insolent son should be banished from the home.
Sarah was a woman of strong mind and will; she was
not a little to blame that things had come to the pass they