SECTION VI.

SHE RISETH ALSO WHILE IT IS YET NIGHT, AND GIVETH MEAT TO HER HOUSEHOLD, AND A PORTION TO

HER MAIDENS.

Proverb in the preceding part of this book says that " every wise woman buildeth her house, while the foolish plucketh it down with her hands." The stability and comfort of the household are, indeed, so dependent on the domestic arrangements of her who presides, — punctuality and order in the wife are so necessary for the preservation of the property which may have been acquired, that the truth of the old Irish saying, "A man must ask his wife's leave to be rich," is very apparent. Early risers will not often be found among those whose habits are irregular and disorderly. The practice of beginning the work with the commencement of the day is almost always found in conjunction with punctual and diligent habits, and with the love of order and management as described in the text.

The learned Aben Ezra poetically interprets the expression of the former part of the verse, "She riseth before the ascent of day." Early rising in the East is different from that of our native land. To be up with the lark, or when the robin is first uttering his morning song,-to brush away the pearls from the grass, while the sun is just driving afar the gray mists of the morning,—this is, with us, to rise early. But the diligent man of eastern lands is up long before sunrise, long before

"Morn, her rosy steps

Advancing, sows the earth with orient pearls;"

and has begun his labor at an hour when the European is sleeping still, with the sound sleep of midnight. And when the dawn breaks over the vineyards of Palestine, and the sun sheds his red lustre on her ruddy hills, the vine-dresser has tended his vine, and the shepherd has led forth his flock from the fold. In the city, too, the merchant is busy in the shop; and the courtier and the king are occupied in the business of the court; and the women are spinning the web of industry. Among the Hebrews, it was also customary for the diligent

women to be up earlier than the men; for adding to the usual domestic employments of females in general the duty of manufacturing various fabrics of use or merchandise, the day was never too long for their busy skill, and they knew nothing of that weariness which belongs to the idle, and which deprives them of that freshness and energy of character which make existence a blessing.

We find continual reference in Scripture to the habit of beginning the business of the day at a very early hour in the morning. Thus, when Moses was sent to Pharaoh, by the Lord God of the Hebrews, and the haughty king was commanded to let the people of Israel go out from their cruel bondage, the Jewish lawgiver was commanded to rise up early in the morning, and to stand before Pharaoh as he cometh forth to the water." And when the vain and deceitful Absalom sought to win away the hearts of Israel from their allegiance to his father, "he rose up early, and stood beside the way of the gate" of the city; for he well knew, that, passing through its arches, he should meet those who were going out of the town to the daily labor of the fields, or find there assembled the concourse