The Washington herald. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1906-1939, 1915-05-11
YOUR FIRST NAME
ITS ORIGIN AND THE FAMOUS FOLK
WHO HAVE BORNE 1T

! who became the great grandmother Of
| King David. is one of the best known
and most romantic stories of the Ole
! Testament
Ruth marries one of the sons OF
Naomi. who. with her husband, has
come to Moab from Judah. Naomi's
| husband and two sons die, and Naomi
decides to return to her native land
I She advises her two daughters-in-law
! Ruth and Orpah. to stay in Moab and
marry again. and Orpah does as Noami
suggests. Ruth refuses to listen to her
mother-in-law. and decides to follow
! her back to Judah. to the little town
of Bethlehem. and there she meets
and marries Boaz and their son be-
comes the grandfather Of David
II is not the romantic interest of the
! story of Ruth or the interesting his
torical and theological discussions
which it suggests which have given it
its age-long appeal; It is the lovely de-
votion of Ruth to the stricken Naomi
that makes her one of the bestowed
characters in the Old Testament Her
words TO Natomi express affection and
devotion as no one since the day she
spoke them. thousands of years ago,
has done. Ruth said:
Entreat me not to leave thee, nor to
return from following thee: for whittier
thou goest. l will so: and where thou
| lodgest | will lodge; thy people shall be
my people and thy God my God
Where thou diest will die. and there
will be buried. The Lord do so to me-
and more also, if ought but death part
thee and me-
A long. long time after this daughter
of the Moabites journeyed to strange
Judea there lived a Ruth in England
whose sad story shows that England. as
well as America. once had a foolish and
ignorant belief in witches
One day in the year 1145 a poor old
woman named Ruth Osborn walked I'D
to a farmer and begged for a drink of
milk. He curtly refused her. and as she
went down the road she muttered inn
precautions against him and wished that
the Pretender would carry Off his cattle
This was all the bewitchinS poor Ruth
did. Unfortunately. Butterfield. the
farmer. a little later fell i'll and he laid
his trouble to Ruth. SO he sent to Not
tinghamshire for a wise man to tell him
what to do to break the SPELL She sent
six men with pitchforks to guard But
terfeld's house day and night. Each of
the men wore charms about his neck to
keep him from the witch's power.
Butterfield was not content with these
precautions. and So he decided on speedy
punishment for poor old Ruth Osborne
and her husband. John. He caused
notice to he read in the towns nearby
on market day that ION Monday next a
man and woman arc to be publicly
ducked at Tring for their wicked
crimes"
When the parish oversecr of Tring
learned that Ruth and her husband
were the man and woman mentioned
he put them in the workhouse. that he
might protect them from their prose-
cutors. and on Saturday night the mas
ter of the workhouse took them to the
vestry of the parish church. thinking
its sacred character would shield the
helpless old people-for they were past
seventy.
On Monday the crowd. half Of them
well enough to do to ride good horses.
went to the workhouse. battered down
the doors. and looked for the witch
and her husband. They looked in
drawers and trunks and even in the
for il she was a witch, they i
she might change her shape |
and size. Under threat of murder from
the crowd the master told them that
the Osbornes were at the church, and !
a little later Ruth and her husband |
were dragged from their hiding place |
and killed
1t does not take away from the sad !
ness of poor Ruth Osborne's story to |
know that one of her murderers was |
executed.
Ruth Hoskins was the name of the |
mother of Ralph Waldo Emerson. a |
of strong character. and Ruth |
Stuart is the name of one of |
he popular American short story writ
RS of today.