She probably belonged to a respectable class, reduced to poverty by the famine, and her keen intelligence recognized at once in the hungry and needy stranger a superior person,—­even as the humble friar of Palos saw in Columbus a nobleman by nature, when, wearied and disappointed, he sought food and shelter.  She took the prophet by the hand, conducted him to her home, gave him the best chamber in her house, and in a strange devotion of generosity divided with him the last remnant of her meal and oil.

It is probable that a lasting friendship sprang up between the pagan woman and the solemn man of God, such as bound together the no less austere Jerome and his disciple Paula.  For two or three years the prophet dwelt in peace and safety in the heathen town, protected by an admiring woman,—­for his soul was great, if his body was emaciated and his dress repulsive.  In return for her hospitality he miraculously caused her meal and oil to be daily renewed; and more than this, he restored her only son to life, when he had succumbed to a dangerous illness,—­the first recorded instance of such a miracle.

The German critics would probably say that the boy was only seemingly dead, even as they would deny the miracle of the meal and oil.  It is not my purpose to discuss this matter, but to narrate the recorded incidents that filled the soul of the woman of Sarepta with gratitude, with wonder, and with boundless devotion.  “Verily, I say unto you,” said a greater than Elijah, “whosoever shall give a cup of cold water in the name of a prophet, shall in no way lose his reward.”  Her reward was immeasurably greater than she had dared to hope.  She received both spiritual and temporal blessings, and doubtless became a convert to the true faith.  Tradition asserts that her boy, whom Elijah saved,—­whether by natural or supernatural means, it is alike indifferent,—­became in after years the prophet Jonah, who was sent to Nineveh.  In all great friendships the favors are reciprocal.  A noble-hearted woman was saved from starvation, and the life of a great man was preserved for future usefulness.  Austerity and tenderness met together and became a cord of love; and when the land was perishing from famine, the favored members of a retired household were shielded from harm, and had all that was necessary for comfort.

Meanwhile the abnormal drought and consequent famine continued.  The northern kingdom was reduced to despair.  So dried up were the wells and exhausted the cisterns and reservoirs that even the king’s household began to suffer, and it was feared that the horses of the royal stables would perish.  In this dire extremity the king himself set forth from his palace to seek patches of vegetation and pools of water in the valleys, while his prime minister Obadiah—­a secret worshipper of Jehovah—­was sent in an opposite direction for a like purpose.  On his way, in the almost hopeless search for grass and water, Obadiah met Elijah, who had been sent from