name for the kings of Egypt, and there was a Pharaoh on the throne, when Moses was born, of a very different spirit from the one who had shown favour to Joseph. This Pharaoh was afraid when he saw the Hebrews who lived in Egypt becoming a great nation; he thought they would be able to master the Egyptians, and so this cruel king gave orders to his officers that every babyboy born among the Hebrews should at once be killed.

At the very time when this cruel order was in force, Moses was born; and his father Amram and his mother Jochebed were grieved to think that he should be slain; so his mother hid him three months, and when she could not hide him any longer, she gathered some reeds and platted them into a basket, or little ark, and she put her child into it, and carried it to the river-side, and laid it among the tall sedges on the bank.

She was a woman who trusted in God, and knew that He could save her babe, and so, most likely, when she had kissed her little one to sleep, she would go home herself to weep and pray, leaving her daughter Miriam to watch and see what would become of her brother.

Soon Miriam saw some ladies coming along the river-side. It was the daughter of Pharaoh and her maidens who were going to bathe. They did not see Miriam as she sat among the reeds, but she could see them and hear what they said.

As they drew near the place where the baby's ark lay,