fellow as he lay across the chair. She raised the lamp high, and its
light shone far out across the water. Holding it first with one hand,
then with the other, to rest her little arms, she called down to her
brother, "Does it hurt you, Willie?" "Of course it hurts," he called
back, "but keep the light burning."

The boy was wise beyond his years. He would do the important thing, no
matter how it hurt. Here the thing of chief importance was looking out
for the men at sea. To put them first took real courage. But what of it?
That is the attitude toward life of the worker worth while; he does not
stop to ask, "Is this easy?" Instead he asks, "Is this necessary? Will
it be helpful?" Having answered the question he proceeds to do his best.
It may hurt at first, but the time will come when it will hurt so much
to leave the service undone that the inconvenience involved in doing it
is lost sight of.

I

IMPARTING COURAGE

A young man won local fame as a bicycle long-distance rider. But
over-fatigue, possibly coupled with neglect, caused contraction of
certain muscles. He was unable to stand erect. He walked with bent back,
like an old man. "What useful work can he do, handicapped as he is?"
his friends asked.

But he did not lose courage. He continued to smile and make cheer for
others. Finally he secured work in the office of the supervisor of a
National Forest. And he made good. Most of his activities were at the
desk; when he sat there his back was normal.

According to the idea of many, it would have been enough for the
crippled man to look out for himself. What could he do for others? But
he had not been trained in such a school; the cheerfulness that enabled
him to be useful made it impossible for him to see another in need and
not plan to do something for him.

The man who needed him was at hand--a cripple, whose feet were clumsy,
misshapen. No one else thought that anything could be done for him but
to speak dolefully and to assure him that he was fortunate in having
parents and brothers who would look out for him.

But the man in the Forestry Service urged the cripple to apply for a
summer appointment on the rocky, windy summit of a mountain nine
thousand feet high. There it would be his duty to keep a vigilant eye on
the forest stretching far away below his lofty eyrie, and to report the
start of a forest fire. At first he laughed at the idea; had he not
been told that he could never hope to do anything