They were removed from their office, and it was decreed that henceforth any gifts made to the child must be offered to her by the committee as a whole, and not by a single individual, and handed over in their name by Ithiel, her uncle.
Once, when she was seven years old, and the idol of every brother among the Essenes, Miriam fell ill with a kind of fever which often strikes children in the neighbourhood of Jericho and the Dead Sea.

Among the brethren were several skilful and famous physicians, who attended her night and day.

But still the fever could not be abated, and at last, with tears, they announced that they feared for the child's life.

Then indeed there was lamentation among the Essenes.

For three days and three nights did they wrestle in constant prayer to God that she might be spared, many of them touching nothing but water during all that time.
Moreover, they sat about at a distance from her house, praying and seeking tidings.