The Boy Patriot | Page 8

to drown yourself. It is easy--just as easy as any thing, if you only
know how. I'll come for you after school this evening, and we'll go up
the creek, where the boys wont be about. I shouldn't wonder if you
were to take to it like a fish."

The English boy looked into Blair's frank pleasant face, and the dogged
expression passed from his own. He took Blair's hand as he said, "I'll
try. You shall see what you can make out of me."
Before many weeks were over, Hal Hutchings was as good a swimmer
as half the boys in Fairport. Old Jock no longer waded into the deep
water to set his nets or push his boat ashore. He declared that Hal had
scared the rheumatism out of his bones, and it was not likely to make
bold to come back, if things went on as they seemed to promise.
CHAPTER V.
BLAIR'S COMPANY.
Blair Robertson had long had a famous military company of his own,
called the Fairport Guard. A guard against what had never been
publicly stated; and as they had no written constitution for their
association, posterity must ever remain in ignorance on this point. Up
and down the streets of Fairport it was their delight to parade on a
Saturday afternoon, to the infinite amusement of the small girls who ate
molasses candy and looked at the imposing array.
The breaking out of the war infused a new military spirit into all the
youngsters on the Atlantic coast, and the Fairport Guard came in for
their share of this growing enthusiasm. Cocks' tail feathers and
broomsticks were suddenly in great requisition for the increasing rank
and file, and the officers bore themselves with added dignity, and gave
out their orders with an earnestness which proved that they appreciated
the work they were imitating.
When it was rumored that Blair Robertson had become a communicant
in the church to which his mother belonged, there was a general groan
among his old followers and adherents. Here was an end, in their minds,
to the Fairport Guard, and every other species of fun in which Blair had
been so long a leader and abettor.
Blair was at first inclined to shrink from his old companions; but as the
right spirit grew and strengthened within him, he mingled among them

more freely, actuated by the desire to win new citizens for the kingdom
of heaven, and to guide his wild associates into such paths as would
make them a blessing to their native land.
Blair's heart had been like rich ground, in which his mother had been
sowing, sowing, sowing good seed, prayerfully waiting until it should
spring up and take root to his own salvation and the glory of God. That
happy time had come. All the words of counsel, all the pure teaching
that had been stored in his mind, seemed now warmed into life, and
ever rising up to prompt him to good and guard him from evil. Happy
are the boys who have such a mother.
A series of rainy Saturdays had postponed the question as to whether
the Fairport Guard should parade as usual under the command of their
long honored captain. A bright sunny holiday came at last, and Blair's
decision on this point must now be declared. Long and prayerfully the
boy had considered the subject, and his conclusion was fixed and
unalterable.
The change in Blair's principles and feelings had not alienated him
from his former companions. Each one of them had now for him a new
value. They were to him wandering children of his heavenly Father,
whom he longed to bring back to that Father's house. The wildest and
most erring among them called forth his most tender interest, as farthest
from the kingdom of heaven and in the most danger of utter
destruction.
Blair's love of his country too had been but deepened and increased by
his late realization of the allegiance he himself owed to the King of
kings. His native land was now to him a dear portion of the great
vineyard on which he desired the especial blessing of God. He more
deeply appreciated the fact that every true Christian man is indeed an
element of wholesome life and prosperity to the neighborhood and land
in which he dwells. The boys of the present day were soon to be the
men on whom the state must rely for power and permanency. With a
true patriot's zeal, Blair resolved to do all in his power to bring the boys
of Fairport to be such Christian men as would be a blessing in their day
and generation. These thoughts had gone far to fix his decision with

reference to the Fairport Guard.
It was with a burst of