There was a great crowd there, and friends to meet and talk with, and it must have been a hard task to keep track of the young folks, who found so much to see and to hear that was new and strange. When the days of the feast were at an end, Jo-seph and Ma-ry set out for their home in Naz-a-reth. They had gone out with a band of friends and folks from the same town, and were to come back in the same way. It was not safe for them to go by them-selves, for there were waste lands to cross where bands of thieves lay in wait for a chance to rob and to kill those who came their way. [Illustration: NAZ-A-RETH.] Some rode on mules, some on horse-back, and some had to walk all the way. Je-sus was not with Jo-seph and Ma-ry, but they thought he must be with some of the friends or kins-folk. But when at the end of a day's ride he came not near them, they sought for him in the groups of friends and kins-folk, where there were lads of his own age. [Illustration: JE-SUS WITH THE DOC-TORS IN THE TEM-PLE.] And when they found him not, they went back to Je-ru-sa-lem, and sought for him with hearts full of grief, for they knew not what harm might have come to him. For three days they went from house to house, and through the lanes and streets, but could see no signs of the boy they had lost. At the end of that time they went in-to the house of God, it may have been to pray that their child might be found, and there a strange sight met their gaze. Je-sus sat in the midst of the wise men, whose place it was to teach and to preach to those who came up to the feasts, and the old men bent their heads to hear what the young lad had to say. For it was the first time they had met with one so young in years who was so wise in speech, and they felt in their hearts that he must have been taught of God. When Jo-seph and Ma-ry saw Je-sus they were struck dumb, and could do naught but stare, as if it was a scene in a dream. Then Ma-ry said, My son, why didst thou vex us thus? we have sought for thee with sad hearts. Je-sus said, Why did ye look for me? Do ye not know that I must do the work that my fa-ther has set me to do? Jo-seph and Ma-ry did not know what he meant by these words, or that God had sent Je-sus on earth to teach men how to read the word of God a-right, and how to save their souls from death. Je-sus went back to Naz-a-reth with Jo-seph and Ma-ry, and was a good son to them. And he grew wise and tall, and was blest of God, and won the hearts of all who were near him, for they saw in him much to love. It was not known that he was the Son of God, and he made friends by his own sweet ways, for he was a poor boy.