2C0 
RURAL HOURS. 
*'lier hap was, to light upon a part of the field belonging to Boaz." 
An obsolete word that, " her hap," for she happened. Presently 
we see the owner of the field coming from Bethlehem, and we 
hear his salutation to the reapers : " The Lord be with you ; and 
they answered him, The Lord bless thee." 
Doubtless, in those ancient times, the people all lived together 
in towns and villages for mutual protection, as they did in Europe 
during the middle ages — as they still do, indeed, to the present 
hour, in many countries where isolated cottages and farm-houses 
are rarely seen, the people going out every morning to the fields 
to work, and returning to the villages at night. While looking 
over his reapers, Boaz remarks a gleaner, a young woman whom 
he had not yet seen ; the other faces were probably familiar to 
the benevolent man, the poor of his native town, but this was a 
stranger. Now, it is nowhere said that Ruth was beautiful ; very 
possibly she was not so ; we have always been rather disposed to 
believe that of the two Orpah may have been the handsome one. 
The beauty of many women of the Old Testament is mentioned 
with commendation by the different writers of the sacred books, 
as that of Sarah, Rebecca, Rachel, and a number moi* ; but we 
are nowhere told that Ruth was " well favored." We read of 
her devotion to Naomi ; of her gentleness, her humility ; of her 
modesty, for she did not ''follow young men," and all the peo- 
ple knew she was " a virtuous woman ;" but not a word is 
uttered as to her being fair to look at. The omission is the more 
marked, for she is the principal character in a narrative of four 
chapters. "With the exception of Sarah and Esther, no other 
woman of the Old Testament fills so large a space ; and it will be 
remembered that the beauty of both Sarah and Esther is distinctly 
