QUEEN ESTHER.

BY E. P.

THE decree had gone forth.

Letters had been

sent by posts into all the provinces, to kill all Jews, young and old, in one day. And with the decree had gone forth the gold and the silver of the king to carry it into execution.

Must the offended favorite of the rich court of Ahasuerus seek and find revenge, not only in the destruction of the offender, but wreak it forth on thousands of innocent people men, women, and children? So thought Mordecai; and he rent his clothes, put on sackcloth with ashes, and walked the streets of the rich city of Shusan, crying with a loud voice. He mourned as few ever mourn-bitter tears over the fate of a down-trodden nation. And in every province the Jews wept. They saw the day fast approaching when they should be destroyed, and all their riches given as a spoil to their murderers. Queen Esther was informed of the decree, and of the

affliction of her uncle. She remembered with woman's heart all the goodness Mordecai had bestowed upon her from earliest childhood. His wise counsels had guided her, and she forgot not how he had led her on, step by step, with all the care and solicitude of parental love; and she was also fully conscious that she owed her present affluent position mainly to his watchfulness in her behalf. Learning the rash command of the king, she sent rich raiment to Mordecai, with the request for him to put away his sackcloth. But he would not be comforted. The uplifted sword was not removed; and till that was done, nothing could stay the torrent of his grief.

The raiment returned, Esther sent Hatach, one of the king's chamberlains, to Mordecai to know more of the matter. By him, Mordecai sent a copy of the written decree to the queen. She read it, and at once saw her duty, and resolved to perform it.

She proclaimed a fast among the Jews of Shusan, and closed her reply with the noble declaration, “I will go in unto the king, which is not according to the law, and if I perish, I perish."

It required no small degree of courage to make such decision. It was no small danger she was to encounter. It might end in her banishment, and the fate of her predecessor, Vashti, - the beautiful, the strongly-virtuous Vashti,-might be her own; or death

might seal her devotion for her beloved people. To enter into the king's presence uncalled would be an offence of great magnitude against the customs, usages, and laws of the land. Should he extend his golden sceptre to her, all would be well; but should he be governed by some ill freak of the moment, some fancy leading him to consider her unsummoned appearance an infringement on his rights, evil might be the result.

Whatever the end might be, she determined to go and petition for her people, and if she perished, perish.

Had the king known that she herself was a Jewess, that the merciless command, in its execution, would bring death into his own household, he might not have granted Haman's request. Even so will all wickedness return to its originator, and the evil, man would throw upon another, fall upon himself.

On the third day, attired in her royal apparel, Queen Esther stood in the inner court, over against the king's house. How deeply must she have rejoiced as she felt the danger of her position past, and touched the golden sceptre, extended to her in token of the king's favor!

What illuminations of hope must have shone upon her path, as she heard the voice of Ahasuerus, saying to her, "What wilt thou, Queen Esther? and