ld be unequal to keep above
water till they returned with help, would have been drowned. There
were other boys in the boat, but it was a little girl, of ten years
of age, who, immediately forgetting her weakness, became their
leader and guide. She insisted that the boat should be turned back
again, that the poor boy should not be left. I know not if she
seized the oar, but if she did not, she prevailed with others to
turn the boat round and come back again to the poor boy, who, seeing
himself left by his companions, was giving himself up for lost. As
soon as they came up to him again, the brave little girl asked the
boy of fourteen years to keep the boat as steady as he could. Then
she reached over the side of the boat, and told her companions to
hold her fast by the legs. Soon she was able to reach the drowning
boy. He was much bigger than she. She told him to put his arms round
her neck. She then put her arms under his, and pulled him safely
into the boat.

This girl was a small, delicate child. Now, dear Frank, who was the
strong and brave one, the girl or the boy? Which would you rather
be?"

"Of course, the girl, Mother. What a brave little soul she was!"

"So you see, Frank, that what is most truly desirable in your wish
is within your reach, even now."

"She was a first rate girl," said Harry, "and the boy was a real
coward for going away and leaving the poor fellow in the lake;" and
he breathed a long breath, as if he had himself just come out of the
water.

"Now, boys, to match that story of the little girl, I will tell you
one of a sailor boy who was even braver and nobler than she. As a
schooner was sailing near Montauk Point, Long Island, she was
suddenly struck by a heavy gust of wind, upset, and instantly sunk.
A vessel near by, which had seen the calamity, sent its boat to save
from sinking any that had not gone to the bottom. On coming near
where the schooner went down, they saw a little boy, twelve years
old, floating on some wood, and went to take him off. As they
approached him, he cried out, 'Never mind me; save the captain; he
has a wife and six children. Both, however, were saved. Can we make
any better resolution, my dear boys," said Mrs. Chilton, "to begin
the New Year with, than that we will try to be as brave and
self-forgetting as the little girl and boy I have been telling you
about? And now, good night."

"Good night, old year, for the last time," said Harry; and they were
soon asl