Georgies Present | Page 8

his eyes, he breathed an earnest
ejaculatory prayer, and supported by an invisible arm, and strengthened
with new vigour, he felt empowered to maintain his hold, and,
gradually advancing, reached the bottom in safety."

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"Oh, how glad you must have felt when you saw him home again, safe
and sound, dear granny."
"I did, indeed, my love, and with thankful heart acknowledged the
goodness of our heavenly Father. Nothing but the strong sense of duty
can sustain the heart under such anxiety as falls to the lot of the faithful
missionary and his family. Love divine is the constraining and blessed
principle that bears the fainting spirit up. 'We love Him because He
first loved us.' Let that, my own dear boy, be your motto; and then if
you lose your life in the service of your Lord, you will find it again in
eternal joy."

CHAPTER IV.
After a short pause, Mrs. Ward said, with a smile, "You will be wishing
to hear the story of Boxa's ancestor, a dog, as I have said, deserving of
renown. It chanced, in one of his official journeys, your grandfather
visited a part of the coast peculiarly fatal to European vessels,
especially to those outward bound to Quebec in the spring; the shore in
the neighbourhood being very low, and the ledges of rock extending far
out to sea. On one of the islands which he visited, he took up his abode
in a neat cabin belonging to a planter, where he found welcome shelter,
and a cheerful fire made from the wreckwood scattered abundantly
upon the shore. There was a family of children, a merry group of boys
and girls, who kept jingling in their hands some sort of playthings.
"What have you got there, my boys?' he asked. They showed him their
treasures, which proved to be bunches of small desk and cabinet keys,
that had been picked up from the wrecks--a melancholy kind of toy, he
could not help thinking. By-and-bye the good wife spread the
hospitable board, at which he was invited to take his seat. He looked
with surprise at the plates which she placed upon the deal table. They
were very beautiful old china ware, and several pieces of a modern
elegant breakfast set of dragon china, which had been ranged upon the

shelves of the cabin alongside of the most common earthen crockery.
These also had been cast ashore by the waves in boxes. When he asked
to wash his hands, a fine huckaback towel, neatly marked with initial
letters, was handed him. On inquiry, he learned that it had come from a
wreck in which there were several ladies.
"There was something inexpressibly painful to the sensitive heart of my
dear husband, in being thus surrounded by tokens of calamity. He
inquired, with a sigh, whether any efforts had been made to help the
sufferers?
"'Oh, yes!' said his host, a worthy man, though rough in his address and
appearance. 'Yes! we do our best, but it is very seldom our help comes
in time to be worth much. Once or twice we have saved a solitary
seaman by throwing a rope, or by sending in our dogs to drag others
ashore; and some years ago there were seven men wrecked in the night,
unknown to us. When the morning came, I was out early and
discovered footmarks along the shore, which told me a tale I could read
plain enough. I knew there had been a fearful gale some hours before,
and my mind misgave me that these poor creatures, whose footsteps I
saw, would perish of hunger in the interior, where they could find
nothing to eat, and where there was not a solitary cottage at which they
could get help.
"'Well; I determined to track them, and I called up my brother, who was
a strong, active young fellow; and we followed them, and found them
at last, just as they had given up all hope, and had laid down to die. For
three days and nights they had tasted neither food nor drink. When first
they caught sight of us, I shall never forget their faces. Haggard and
starved, as they looked, they cried for joy, and kissed our hands, and
bade God bless us!'"
"And would they really have died, do you think, grandmamma, if the
two men had not overtaken them?" said Georgie, eagerly.
"No doubt, my love, such would have been their fate. After hearing this
tale, your grandfather retired early to rest, being weary with the fatigues
of a long and exhausting day's journey. He slept soundly, and though

the wind, which had blown a strong gale when he landed, increased
during the night to a hurricane, his slumbers were undisturbed for
several hours. At length he