Ruth's father was the hotel-keeper--the Bible
says the "inn keeper." This inn was not at all like our hotels,
either. There was a great open yard, which was called the courtyard.
All about this yard were little rooms and each traveler who came to
the hotel rented one. The inn stood near the great stone wall of the
city, so that as Ruth stood, one night, looking out of the tower
window, she looked directly into the courtyard. It was truly a strange
sight that met her eyes. So many people were coming to the inn, for
the King had made a law that every man should come back to the city
where his father used to live to be counted and to pay his taxes. Some
of the people came on the backs of camels, with great rolls of bedding
and their dishes for cooking upon the back of the beast. Some of them
came on little donkeys, and on their backs too were the bedding and
the dishes. Some of the people came walking--slowly; they were so
tired. Many miles some of them had come. As Ruth looked down into the
courtyard, she saw the camels being led to their places by their
masters, she heard the snap of the whips, she saw the sparks shoot up
from the fires that were kindled in the courtyard, where each person
was preparing his own supper; she heard the cries of the tired, hungry
little children.
Presently her mother, who was cooking supper, came over to the window
and said, "Ruthie, thou shalt hide in the house until all those people
are gone.
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