Page:Ritual of the Order eastern star (1921).djvu/55

Rh forth to battle, the victory was gained and the victorious warrior returned to Mizpeh. The door of his house opened and, "behold! his daughter came out to meet him with timbrels and with dances" and she was his only child. Jephthah, when he saw her, rent his clothes and in the anguish of his heart, cried aloud:

"Alas, my daughter! thou hast brought me very low, for I have opened my mouth unto the Lord and I cannot go back." Adah replied: "My father, if thou hast opened thy mouth unto the Lord, do to me according to that which has proceeded out of thy mouth." She asked that she might go among the mountains for two months and there prepare her mind for the solemn surrender of her life to preserve her father's honor.

When the two months had expired she was seen, followed by her friends, winding her way down the mountain's side to the altar where her father, with an almost broken heart, was prepared to fulfil his vow.

She approached her father with a kiss of affection and bade him farewell. Taking hold of the veil she wore, he threw it over her face and drew his sword. But she unveiled herself and said she need not have her face Covered for she was not