BELL CALL by Sylvia Ashton-Warner. 317 pages. Simon & Schuster. $5. Feed a husky three-year-old at the breast? Keep an intelligent seven-year-old illegally out of school on the tendentious grounds ...

The book of Judges in the Old Testament is filled with frightening stories about how Israel descended into anarchy. In that state they were easy prey for their enemies to successfully attack.