or
effect. But there are garden hand-pumps in every seedsman's shop with
which a man could deluge his property with the greatest ease.

Do you know how to tie two blankets or sheets together, so that the knot
shall not slip? Your life may one day depend on such a simple piece of
knowledge.

Still further, do you know that in retreating from room to room before a
fire you should shut doors and windows behind you to prevent the supply
of air which feeds the flames? Are you aware that by creeping on your
hands and knees, and keeping your head close to the ground, you can
manage to breathe in a room where the smoke would suffocate you if you
stood up?--also, that a wet sponge or handkerchief held over the mouth
and nose will enable you to breathe with less difficulty in the midst of
smoke?--Do you know that many persons, especially children, lose their
lives by being forgotten by the inmates of a house in cases of fire, and
that, if a fire came to you, you ought to see to it that every member of
your household is present to take advantage of any means of escape that
may be sent to you?

These subjects deserve to be considered thoughtfully by every one,
especially by heads of families--not only for their own sakes, but for
the sake of those whom God has committed to their care. For suppose
that, (despite the improbability of such an event), your dwelling really
_did_ catch fire, how inconceivable would be the bitterness added to
your despair, if, in the midst of gathering smoke and flames--with death
staring you in the face, and rescue all but hopeless--you were compelled
to feel that you and yours might have escaped the impending danger if
you had only bestowed on fire-prevention, fire-extinction, and
fire-escape a very little forethought and consideration.

CHAPTER FOUR.

A WAR OF MERCY.

There is a great war in which the British Nation is at all times
engaged.

No bright seasons of peace mark the course of this war. Year by year it
is waged unceasingly, though not at all times with the same fury, nor
always with the same results.

Sometimes, as in ordinary warfare, there are minor skirmishes in which
many a deed of heroism is done, though not recorded, and there are
pitched battles in which all our resources are called into action, and
the papers teem with the news of the defeats, disasters, and victories
of the great fight.

This war costs us hundreds of lives, thousands of ships, and millions of
mo