XVII.

LAZARUS AND THE SISTERS OF BETHANY.

* Now Jesus loved Martha, and her sister, and Lazarus.” — ohn x2., 5.

“ Her eyes are homes of silent prayer,
Nor other thoughts her mind admits,
But he was dead, and there he sits,

And he who brought him back is Thee.

Thrice blest, whose lives are faithful prayers,
Whose loves in higher‘love endure; ©
What souls possess themselves so pure,
Or is there blessedness like theirs?”
—Alfred Tennyson.

They sat in sorrow, side by side,
For Lazarus was dead;

Not many words the sisters spake,
And few the tears they shed.

The quiet home of Bethany
Was hallowed as a shrine;
The shadows of the sepulchre

Had made that home divine.

And Mary’s look, and Martha’s sigh
And the hushed stillness there,
Bespoke the anguish of a grief,
No language could declare.

They sat in sorrow, side by side,
And few the words they said;
The house was very desolate,
For Lazarus was dead.
—Thomas W. Handford.

It is very wonderful what strange diversities of character
have been manifested in children who were born in the same
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