"Father, I have been a good daughter. Do not make me leave you."
"You have been good, and you will be good always. What is the command?"
"Honor thy father and thy mother."
"And the promise?"
"Then long shall be thy days on the earth."
"And the vow you made, Miriam?"
"That I would never disobey or deceive you."
"Who have you vowed to?"
"The God of Israel."
"Will you lie unto Him?"
"I would give my life first."
"Now is the time to fulfil your vow. Put from your heart or fancy any
other young man. Have you not thought of our neighbour, Bram Van
Heemskirk?"
"He is good; he is handsome. I fear he loves me."
"You know not anything. If you choose a husband, or even a shoe, by
their appearance, both may pinch you, my dear. Judah is of good stock.
Of a good tree you may expect good fruit."
"Bram Van Heemskirk is also the son of a good father. Many times you
have said it."
"Yes, I have said it. But Bram is not of our people. And if our law
forbid us to sow different seeds at the same time in the same ground, or
to graft one kind of fruit-tree on the stock of another, shall we dare
to mingle ourselves with people alien in race and faith, and speech and
customs? My dear, will you take your own way, or will you obey the word
of the Lord?"
"My way cannot stand before His way."
"It is a hard thing for you, my dear. Your way is sweet to you. Offer it
as a sacrifice; bind the sacrifice, even with cords, to the altar, if
it be necessary. I mean, say to Bram Van Heemskirk words that you cannot
unsay. Then there will be only one sorrow. It is hope and fear, and fear
and hope, that make the heart sick. Be kind, and slay hope at once, my
dear."
"If Judah had been my own choice, father"-"Choice? My dear, when did you get wisdom? Do not parents choose for
their children their food, dress, friends, and teachers? What folly to
do these things, and then leave them in the most serious question of
life to their own wisdom, or want of wisdom! Choice! Remember Van
Heemskirk's daughter, and the sin and suffering her own choice caused."
"I think it was not her fault if two men quarrelled and fought about
her."