One day a message came from Rebecca and Levi. They wished all the children to come and visit them. Rebecca wrote: "We have a new pet, and I know you will be fond of it. It is a beautiful Syrian sheep. Its wool is a soft brown and yellow. Its tail is very broad and flat. It is so tame, it follows me wherever I go. "Besides," the letter went on, "we have quantities of fresh figs now, and I know you children are very fond of them." "May we go, mother? Please say 'yes,'" asked Esther. "If your father is willing," was the answer. "I shall be very lonesome, but it will do you all good to leave the city for awhile and visit our kind friends." That evening, Esther and Miriam ran to meet their father. "I wish father had a little farm," said Esther, as the two girls walked arm in arm down the street. "I should think it would be ever so much easier than being a trader." "I spoke about that once to my other father," said thoughtful little Miriam. "He said that in the good old times our people were generally shepherds or farmers. But nowadays they are almost all traders. "It is because those who do not believe as we do have treated us so cruelly. They have made it hard for us to hold land. We have been forced to become traders. Our people are scattered all over the world. Father said there is hardly a country without some of them." "Let us ask papa to tell us stories of old times to-night," said Esther. "There, I see his scarlet robe away down the street now." CHAPTER V. THE JEWS OF LONG AGO "MAY we go to Levi's, papa dear?" asked Esther, when the evening meal was over and the children were gathered with their parents on the housetop. "Mamma said she was willing, but we must ask you." "I think it would be very pleasant for you, and I know Levi and Rebecca like to have you there. Yes, you may go." "I knew you would say yes. And now we want to ask you something else. Will you tell us some stories of long ago, before our city was destroyed?" "I suppose you would like best to hear about the children, Esther?" "Of course, papa." "They were very happy. Their parents were as wise and tender in caring for them as they are to-day. "When they were yet quite young, they began to study the books of wisdom of our people. They went to school every day. There was one saying they heard over and over again. It was this, 'Be not forgetful to entertain strangers.' "'Our houses are not for us alone,' their parents said, and taught them this beautiful saying, 'Let thy house be wide open, and let the poor be the children of the house.' "There were many pilgrim feasts in those days. People came to Jerusalem to worship in the temple and to take part in the sacred festivals. Yet it is said that not one of these pilgrims ever felt the need of entertainment. The houses were open for all.