Shall we come in and bathe your
feet? The water is warm, and every thing ready," their loving
service would not cease, till every thing was in its place, and they
had put out the light after she retired.
Woman, there, as in the days of our Saviour, still bathes the feet
of the guest whom she wishes to honor. And sometimes, when stooping
over them, she rubs them gently with her loosely-flowing hair--not
as a substitute for a towel, but as a token of kindly welcome. This
privilege belongs to the oldest daughter of the family; and the
custom once liable to perversion, now shines with new beauty, as the
expression of Christian love. He who once accepted the service in
his own person, will hereafter say, to many a daughter of Chaldea,
"Inasmuch as ye did it unto one of the least of these my brethren,
ye did it unto me."
Their tender sympathy with the afflicted was not confined to their
own household. In January, 1857, Miss Fiske was absent at Seir,
assisting in taking care of Mr. Stoddard in his last illness; and
from a number of letters written to her, at that time, by her
pupils, we select the following:--
JANUARY 1st, 1857.
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