rs and thickets, among
rocks and sands, and he had always led them safely. The waves were
dashing and roaring on the rocks below, but they did not fear, for the
shepherd was going on before. Had one of those sheep turned aside, he
would have lost his footing and been destroyed and thrown the whole
flock into confusion.

You know why I have told you this story. You know that Jesus is the Good
Shepherd. He said, "My sheep hear my voice, and I know them and they
follow me." Wherever Jesus leads it is safe for us to go. How many boys
and girls there are who think they know a better path than the one Jesus
calls them to follow. There are "stranger" voices calling on every side,
and many a child leaves the path of the Good Shepherd, and turns aside
to hear what they would say. If they were truly lambs of Jesus' fold,
they would love Him, and follow Him in calm and storm, and never heed
the voice of strangers.

I was once travelling from Duma to Akura, high up on the range of
Lebanon. It was a hot summer's day, and at noon I stopped to rest by a
fountain. The waste water of the fountain ran into a square stone birkeh
or pool, and around the pool were several shepherds resting with their
flocks of sheep and goats. The shepherds came and talked with me, and
sat smoking for nearly an hour, when suddenly one of them arose and
walked away calling to his flock to follow him. The flocks were all
mixed together, but when he called, his sheep and goats began to raise
their heads and start along together behind him. He kept walking along
and calling, until all his flock had gone. The rest of the sheep and
goats remained quietly as though nothing had happened. Then another
"Rai," or shepherd, started up in another direction, calling out in a
shrill voice, and _his sheep_ followed him. They knew their shepherd's
voice. Our muleteers were talking all the time, but the sheep paid no
attention to them. They knew one voice, and would follow no other.

We will now hasten on to Beirut. You will wish to see the Female
Seminary, and the Sabbath School and the Steam Printing Press, and many
of the Beirut Schools, before we start to Abeih again.

Here is the Female Seminary. There are a hundred girls here, studying
Arabic reading and writing geography, arithmetic, grammar, botany,
physiology and astronomy, and a few study English, French and music. But
the great study is the _Bible_. I am afraid that very few schools in
America have as much ins