The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1910-02-12

So she CLEANED in the field until even
and beat out that she had cleaned; and
II IT.
These words of the text tell of the
laborious endeavors of Ruth to gain
living for herself and her mother-in-
law, Naomi, with whom she had cast
her lot for a no more compelling reason
than that Naomi was an aged woman
who was sorely in need of help. Naomi
had no claim on Ruth's assistance. The
latter was only her daughter-in-law
and might well have gone to her own
family and friends without subjecting
herself to any unfavorable criticism,
just as the other widowed daughter-in-
law, Orpah, had done. But Ruth was
made of greater stuff. She Travelled
with Naomi back into a land that was
strange to her, and took the first work
at hand to earn them a livelihood 1t
was the hardest kind of work, too, and
humiliating because it denoted the
direst of poverty. She followed the
reapers in the fields and by patient and
minute labor she gathered the kernels
OF grain they dropped. Working from
early morning until late at night she
managed to pick up an ephah of bar
ley, measure containing a trifle more
than three of the pecks of today-not
an exceedingly large return for such
a hard days work but one which show
ed that the worker had been tirelessly
diligent. It was enough. though. to
keep Ruth and Naomi beyond the
days was frugal and the actual neces-
stiles of life were meager.
Naturally, a girl who displayed such
kindness of heart, such a willingness
to bend her back in toll for the aid of
another, attracted considerable atten-
ton, even among the personages of high
estate. One of these. and the wealth.
lest of them all happened to be the
man, Boaz, by name, in whose field
Ruth had CLEANED. He was also a dis
tant relative of Naomi but had turned
no. hand to help her in her distress I'M
til the doings of Ruth came to his OBJ
servation. When Boaz learned Of Ruth's
behavior and had demonstrated to him
that she, also, was a woman of virtue,
he sought her in marriage and she be-
came his wife. That was the highest
honor that could be conferred on a
woman in those days, and the occa-
sions were rare. indeed, when a man
of property and position would deign
to look with honorable eyes on a wo-
man who was so humble and poor that
she had to exc out her living by pick
ing up the crumbs of the fields.
So. Ruth's reward for her tenderness
of heart, for her generosity and willing
ness to help and comfort another who
was unable to help her, for her tenacity
to high moral ideals. was great. Hers
was romance of romances. The story
describing it is one of the greatest
idylls of family life that has ever been
written. And the lesson it conveys is
rot applicable only to girls and wo-
men. 1t can be applied quite as
pertinently to boys and men. To do
ones duty voluntarily as it presents it
self; to work earnestly at whatever the
hands may find to do; to share the re-
suits of ones labor with those who are
needy; to maintain the highest possible
standards of life no matter how mod
est the portions may be or how lowly
the urroundings-these are the char
acteristics that will attract the atten-
ton of. those who are in position to
make the eventual rewards of life worth
while.