he was the
nursery maid, and that while that afternoon she was sitting at work
beneath one of the trees, with the children playing around her, one of
them--little Gertrude, a child about six years old--must have slipped
away from her brother and sisters unobserved; and when tea time came,
and the nurse rose to bring the children home, she was nowhere to be
found. The nurse had taken the other three little ones home, and had
now come in search of Gertrude, fearful lest she should fall into
danger of any kind.

Jack would not stop to eat his supper, after telling his own story and
hearing Maggie's, but announced his intention of at once carrying the
little truant lady back to her home.

So the kind-hearted youth took Gertrude in his arms, and soon conveyed
her safely to the landlord's house, where she astonished every one by
the childish recital of her own danger and Maggie's courage.

The next morning Gertrude's mother came down to the cottage to thank
Maggie for the preservation of her darling's life, and to bring a
message from her husband.

This message consisted of his grateful acknowledgments, and of the
promise that Jack should be promoted to the office of assistant
gardener as soon as that post was vacant (which would be in the course
of a few weeks). But, best of all, the promise included also this,
namely, that the widow and her grandchildren should hold the cottage
rent free for the remainder of their lives.

Thus was averted, by means wholly unforeseen, the trial of poverty and
want so dreaded by the old widow in her thoughts of the future; and
never again was she heard to repine, or even to express a fear for
herself or for those whom she loved.

DECLAMATION--FAITHFUL UNTO DEATH;

OR, THE SENTRY OF HERCULANEUM.[B]

"Dark's the night, dun's the sky with smoke;
Never more my guard they'll change;
Three hours ago I could crack my joke,
And now e'en the thought seems strange.

"Hark! the thunder bellows loud,
And the night's come down apace,
And the lava flame, through its sulphurous cloud,
Is ruddy on my face.

"With a crash did yon temple fall;
But ever, through all the din,
Shrill rose a death-wail o'er all,
The vestals' screams within.

"Men are running, away, away,
With tight zones up yonder street;
But a soldier of Rome must stay
At his post, as seems him meet.

"I remember my levying morn--