voyage from Boston, being becalmed off Block Island, our people set about catching cod, and hauled up a great many.

Hitherto I had stuck to my resolution of not eating animal food, and on this occasion I considered, with my master Tyron, the taking of every fish as a kind of unprovoked murder, since none of them had done or ever could do us any injury that might justify the slaughter.

All this seemed very reasonable. But I had formerly been a great lover of fish, and when this came hot out of the frying-pan it smelt admirably well. I hesitated some time between principle and inclination, till I recollected that when the fish were opened I saw smaller fish taken out of their stomachs; then thought I, “If you eat one another, I don't see why we may not eat you."

So I dined upon cod very heartily, and continued to eat with other people, returning only now and then occasionally to a vegetable diet. How convenient a thing it is to be a reasonable creature, since it enables one to find or make a reason for everything one has a mind to do.

He prayeth best who loveth best

All things both great and small;
For the dear God who loveth us,

He made and loveth all.

-Coleridge.

HEROIC DEEDS

“Every word, look, or thought of sympathy with heroic action helps to make heroism."

CAPTAIN D'ASSAS

On the 15th of October, in 1760, the French army, which was assisting Austria in the war against Prussia, was encamped near Klostercamp.

Captain d'Assas, of the Auvergne regiment, was sent out to reconnoiter, and he moved cautiously in the direction where they feared the enemy might be, until he was some distance from his regiment.

Suddenly he found himself surrounded by a number of soldiers, whose bayonets pricked his breast, and a low whisper in his ear said, "Make the slightest noise and you are a dead man."

In a moment he understood all. The enemy were near, were advancing silently so as to surprise the French. He had only to keep quiet and his own life would be spared, but many of his friends and countrymen would be slain.

Only a moment for prayer, not indecision, and he shouted, "Auvergne! Here are the enemy!"

By the time the cry reached the ears of his men, he was dead; but his death had saved an army. The enemy re treated, knowing they could not conquer when the surprise failed.

At one time Robert Bruce, of Scotland, and a small army were in full retreat, followed by soldiers about three times their own number. A poor woman, the wife of one of the soldiers, became sick because of great fatigue and hardship.

Bruce heard of the woman's illness and called a halt to have her cared for properly so that her life might be spared.

A GENTLE AND BRAVE HEART

Charles V., Emperor of Germany, was an able ruler, a brave soldier, and a loyal friend. He knew no fear when the enemy was at the gates, and he was the leader wherever the danger was greatest.

One day, when on the battlefield, an officer reported to him that a swallow was building her nest upon his tent. "Let her build it," he answered, "and see that no one disturbs her."

Soon the nest was finished, the inside made soft and warm and ready for the eggs. The building of a bird home had interested the Emperor, and each day he had watched the work. The time came for the army to march to another position. The mother-swallow was sitting on the eggs, out of which in a few days would come the little birdlings.

When the soldiers approached the Emperor's tent to remove it, Charles said: "Do not move my tent. These tender birds came to me for a home, and I shall not disturb them now when their brood will soon be with them."

The heart of the great Emperor was as gentle and tender as it was brave and true.

LIFT YOUR HATS, BOYS!

MARY SARSFIELD GILMORE

We deplore the “Age of Reason," that demands a human sign To affirm the faith that sees not, yet believes the Word Di

vine.

We denounce the world as godless, and bewail Christ's slighted love;

But I think the angels chide us, as they gaze from skies above. For a church has been my neighbor, and my outlook day by

day,

Has been teaching me the lesson that faith has not died away! And my proofs that modern Christians keep the fervent souls of yore,

Are the men whose hats are lifted, as they pass the church's door!

From the schoolboy with his satchel, to the old man with

his cane;

From the rich man in his carriage, to the tramp that all dis

dain;

From the coal-cart's smutty driver, to the youth in fashions

neat;

From the postman on his circuit, to the officer on beat;

From the child whose heart is spotless, to the man whom sins defile;