dience to the mother-in-law from the day they enter her home. They are slaves, literally grinding at the mill and doing all sorts of work about the house that would be done by slaves if the family were able to own them. I spoke of the grinding at the mill. It is here as it was in Palestine in the days of our Lord — the women are grinding at the mill. Often when I have seen two of them grinding I have been reminded of that saying of his: "Two women shall be grinding at the mill; the one shall be taken, and the other left." Is it any wonder that these young wives often find their burdens greater than they can bear and end the matter by taking their own lives? They go on and on in the hopeless way that lies before them, till at last in their bondage and degradation the blackness of despair settles over them and all hope is forever lost. Then it is that in the quietness of the night many of them steal out to the village well and, standing there at its mouth, doubtless look up into the blue sky and gaze at the twinkling stars and wonder why the great spirits do not hear and answer prayer; they wonder why the days are so long and the nights so dark; why the burdens are so heavy and the way so long and ever without a change; then with a last glance at the bright stars reflected in the deep cold water below — and she is gone! Next morning somebody's daughter-in-law is fished out of the village well, wrapped in a bit of straw matting, and laid in a shallow grave on the hillside; and in less than ten days another daughter-in-law has been duly installed in her place.
