olboys' dormitory,
in servants' bed-chamber,--Christians who speak out strongly for Jesus.

Again, brethren, be strong in _self-sacrifice for Jesus_. We must not
forget our cross. The surest mark of a Christian is a willingness to
deny ourselves for the sake of others. Let me tell you the stories of
two simple servant maids who, under very different circumstances, gave
up their life for the life of little children. The scene of the first
story was in America, nearly five and twenty years ago; that of the
second story was in London, only a few weeks since. A young English
girl had taken service in a family going to America, and her special
duty was the charge of the three motherless children of her widowed
master. One cold day in December they all embarked in a great
Mississippi steamboat bound for the far North West. Day after day they
steamed through the swollen river, where pieces of ice were already
showing, past dark and gloomy shores, lined with lonely forest. One
night, near the end of their voyage, the girl had seen her charges, two
girls and a boy, safely asleep, and now, when all the other passengers
had retired, she was reading in the saloon. Suddenly the silence was
broken by a terrible cry, which told the frightened passengers that the
steamboat was on fire. The captain instantly ran the vessel for the
shore, and ordered the people to escape as best they could, without
waiting to dress. The faithful servant had called her master, and then
carried the children from their beds to the crowded deck. Quickly the
blazing vessel touched the muddy bank, and the father placed the
shivering children and the servant on one of the huge branches which
overhung the river. A few other passengers, fifteen in all, reached
other branches, the rest went down with the burning steamer. But what
hope could there be for the children, just snatched from their warm
beds, and now exposed unclad to the bitter December night? Their
father had no clothing to cover them, and, as he spoke of another
steamer which would pass by in the morning, he had little hope of his
children holding out. Then the servant maid declared that if possible
she would keep the little ones alive. Clinging in the darkness to the
icy branches, she stripped off her own clothing, all but the thin
garment next her body, and wrapped up the shivering children. Thus
they passed the long, dark hours of that terrible night. I know not
what prayers were