rrassed, for how can
she dispose of her strange charge? Let the moment pass, and the movement
of her heart subside, and all may be lost; but Miriam is prompt and
bold, and asks "Shall I go and call to thee a nurse of the Hebrew women,
that she may nurse the child for thee?" It is a daring stroke, for the
princess must have understood the position thoroughly, the moment the
eager Hebrew girl stepped forward. The disguise was very thin. And at
least the heart which pitied the infant must have known the mother when
she saw her face, pale with longing. It is therefore only as a form,
exacted by circumstances, but well enough though tacitly understood upon
both sides, that she bids her nurse the child for her, and promises
wages. What reward could equal that of clasping her child to her own
agitated bosom in safety, while the destroyers were around?

This incident teaches us that good is never to be despaired of, since
this kindly woman grew up in the family of the persecutor.

And the promptitude and success of Miriam suggest a reflection. Men do
pity, when it is brought home to them, the privation, suffering, and
wrong, which lie around. Magnificent sums are contributed yearly for
their relief by the generous instincts of the world. The misfortune is
that sentiment is evoked only by visible and pathetic griefs, and that
it will not labour as readily as it will subscribe. It is a harder task
to investigate, to devise appeals, to invent and work the machinery by
which misery may be relieved. Mere compassion will accomplish little,
unless painstaking affection supplement it. Who supplies that? Who
enables common humanity to relieve itself by simply paying "wages," and
confiding the wretched to a painstaking, laborious, loving guardian? The
streets would never have known Hospital Saturday, but for Hospital
Sunday in the churches. The orphanage is wholly a Christian institution.
And so is the lady nurse. The old-fashioned phrase has almost sunk into
a party cry, but in a large and noble sense it will continue to be true
to nature as long as bereavement, pain or penitence requires a tender
bosom and soothing touch, which speaks of Mother Church.

Thus did God fulfil His mysterious plans. And according to a sad but
noble law, which operates widely, what was best in Egypt worked with Him
for the punishment of its own evil race. The daughter of Pharaoh adopted
the perilous foundling, and educated him in the wisdom of Egypt.

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