ke real ones when I am a man, if I
don't die."

Ruth could not tell what to make of herself that day, or for many days
after, she was so drawn toward that little face. "Now if it had been
Agnes, it would have been quite natural."

But the truth was, wherever there was suffering or weakness of any kind,
her heart threw off its casing, and she felt that she could do anything
to shield or comfort. When the call came for strength or sympathy, she
could give it unhesitatingly, but when there was only ordinary occasion,
she made no response.

[Illustration: Decoration]

CHAPTER V.

WHAT HAPPENED ONE DAY.

AT the beginning of the year, Agnes had resolved not to let a day pass
without having benefitted some one. "It may only be perhaps by looking
pleasantly, or speaking tenderly, yet if done in the right spirit, the
Lord will accept it and make it result in some good," she argued. And in
the spirit of this mission she started for school one morning.

"What a wonderful thing it is to know that while there are millions of
people on the earth, there is something for each one to do, that no one
else can do. A work the Lord has laid out for each one of us," were her
thoughts as she walked. But another thought followed: "How do you know
your own work? you may be doing the wrong thing after all."

This was not the first time such a suggestion had been made. Once it
troubled and bewildered her, but now her mind was clear on that point.

"For," she reasoned, "my work must be to do everything that comes in my
way, as well as I can, without waiting for special calls. And if I do
this faithfully, and the Lord sees that I can do a different work, he
will turn my mind in the direction of it, and bring it near to me."

Her reflections were disturbed by the loud, eager voices of several of
her scholars, who announced in one breath, "O, Miss Agnes, you ought to
have seen Martha Nelson's father. He had his leg cut off, and they took
him on a settee to the hospital, and Martha's mother is nearly crazy."

"How was it?" inquired Agnes, turning from one to another of the eager,
frightened faces.

"Why, he drives a dray, you know, and he fell off when the horse was
going fast, and the dray ran over him. Everybody says he was drunk."

"Hush, hush, we must never speak of another girl's father, as we would
not like to have our own spoken of. Poor Martha, she will need to-day
something that each of us can give her. What is it?"