ou,' urged the despairing man; 'I have relays
of horses, and I will drive ten miles an hour.' Joel's importunity
prevailed. The distance was accomplished in a marvelously brief time.

It was a hot, sultry day, the second week of September, about noon, when
Joel, accompanied by the doctor, entered the sick-room.

'How is Sarah?'

'No better,' whispered Miss Barron, who had remained in the house. 'The
doctor left half an hour ago. He says he thinks she will go as her
mother went.'

'I am awake, father!' (He had approached the bed very carefully, so as
not to disturb her.) 'It seems a great while since you went away.'

'I have brought a doctor to cure you, my child,' said Joel. He knew the
value of hope and confidence.

Meanwhile the physician was glancing around the room. As I have said, it
was a close, sultry day; but the windows were all closed, so that not a
breath of air could circulate through the apartment. The doctor quietly
threw up every one of them. Perceiving a cot standing near, he ordered
it made up with fresh sheets. Going to the bedside of his little
patient: 'How do you feel, my child?' he asked.

'I don't know.'

'Bring me a bowl of water and a soft napkin.'

'Warm water, I suppose?' said the nurse.

'Cold.' He threw off the heavy blanket from the bed, and unbuttoning the
night-dress, which came close around her, he bathed the child's face and
neck with the grateful fluid.

'You feel better now?'

'Yes,' she whispered.

'Don't you want any thing, my dear?'

'I want some water.'

'Give her water, nurse,' said the doctor.

The woman stared in utter amazement. If she had been ordered to cut the
child's throat, she could not have been more astounded.

'I say, bring a tumbler of water.'

This was done, and the nurse offered the patient a few drops in a
tea-spoon.

'Give me the glass,' and he took it out of her hand. Tenderly he raised
the sick child to a comfortable position, and placed it to her lips.
'Take as much as you like, my dear. Water was made to drink.'

He now directed a complete and speedy change of garments, and then he
himself took Sarah in his arms and laid her on the other bed. In fifteen
minutes, she was sleeping, while a gentle perspiration showed the crisis
had passed. Joel Burns stood still, regarding the doctor as he would a
being from another world. When he saw him doing just what was invariably
prohibited, doing it with such an air of decision and self-confidenc