Warren sheaf. [volume] (Warren, Marshall County, Minn.) 1880-current, 1906-01-11
How They COurted Three Thou.
sand Years Ago.


sand Years Ago.
( The Book of Ruth is the Oldest
love story ever embodied in the form
of literary narrative. Though writ
ten about the time of the return
from the Babylonish captivity, the
scene is laid in the age of the judges,
a period antedating by many centu-
ries the actual publication. Like SO
many other of the Old Testament
books, the authorship is wholly I'M
known, nor is it by any means GER
tain that it deals with historical per
sonages. Most probably, it is what
we now call historical novel or
story with a purpose: However this
! may be, we have before US in Ruth
one of the tenderest and most affect
ing love stories ever told among men.
All the characters are farmers, or
the wives and daughters of farmer s
From it we may learn how they
courted and married, how they car
ried on agricultural operations and
something Of the social customs pre-
vailing. about the twelfth century
before the Christian era. Altogether,
by a perusal of this bucolic narrative,
we get an idyllic glimpse into the do
nestle affairs and HON. life of an
Gent Israel. ~-s.
A farmer and h is wife, who lived
at Bethlehem, discouraged by a pre-
vailing famine, determined to seek a
better fortune in the Land of Moab.
This country lay southwest of Pales-
tine and was inhabited by people
speaking a somewhat different Ian
uage and protesting religion en-
tirely distinct from that Of the He
brews. They worshipped god call
ed Chesosh and their relations to-
wards the people north of them were
unfriendly and not infreQuently war
like. The migrating Bethlehemites,
however, soon managed to ingratiate
themselves with their new nelghbors
and in course Of time their two sons
married an equal number of Moabite
girls. Eventually, the old farmer
and his two sons died, leaving his
wife and the daughters-in- law with
but scanty means Of support. Naomi,
the bereaved widow, determined tc
return to her old home but advised
the girls to remain in their native
land and seek new husbands among
their own people. The elder accepted
this advice, but Ruth, the youngest
declared that she would follow he1
mother-in-law ''until death do III
part" So they journeyed together
to the land across the Jordan where
Naomi hoped to rehabilitate hersel
among the people where her husband
and herself had spent their earle
and happier years.
Naomi was evidently what in thes'
days would be called "a managing
MAMMAL and she kept sharp look
out for good matrimonial catch TO
her faithful daughter-in-law. Sh
e had her eye especially on distan
relative of her husband, named Boaz
a prosperous farmer, who had extern
sive land holdings in the neighbor
hood of Bethlehem. The method
used by Ruth to capture the heart o
Boaz we're hardly such as to be com
n e lded in twentieth century dam
sci, but they seem to have been il
l keeping with the customs then pre-
3 vailing. At any rate, under tn
S astute guidance of Naomi, she land
ed her man," and in time the poo
: Moabite girl became the wife of tn
richest farmer in the community
: Curious were the marriage custom
. previling in those distant days an
e somewhat indicate the manner il
, which they carried on their court
e ships. Strange, too, the privileg
, granted the poor to CLEAN after tn
harvesters and thus procure susten
| ance which often warded off starva
s ton. There is one thing, however
: which has not changed, but was tn
1 same as now; that which makes thi
: story fascinating after the lapse O
s twenty-five hundred centuries. Is
0 necessary to say that this is tn
: ''grand passion that which make
the whole race akin, that whicl
makes the world 60 round? Tha
deathless devotion of Ruth, her fide
lily, her simplicity, her singleness O
purpose, her self-sacricfce, these ar
the qualities which confer immol
tality upon the unknown writer e
this simple but touching narrative
1t teaches that what we so muc
prize now was just the same anon
strange people, in strange land, an,
: in a. Semi-barbarrOllS ape before th