THE SCAR OF HONOUR; OR, A BRAVE LITTLE BOY. HILDREN are apt to think when they hear of a hero, that of necessity he must have been a man; but it is not so; and children may be, and have been, heroes; and of one such child I shall now tell you a true story. In the reign of Louis the XIV. of France, his Protestant subjects underwent great suffering and persecution because they loved their Bibles and the pure worship of God their Saviour, better than they loved this world and the favour of their king, when it had to be purchased by their giving ear to the lying fables and idolatry of the Church of Rome. They were hunted from their happy homes, separated from their children, and tortured, and many of them put to death. One of these godly families consisted of a father and mother, a daughter of fifteen or sixteen years of age, and two little sons, one of them seven years old, and the other five; the parents had by wonderful escapes, through the care of Providence, landed safely in our happy England. Of course they longed to have their dear children with them; but if the whole family had travelled together it would have attracted observation, and perhaps led to capture, as emigration was forbidden. They had therefore left their children under the care of a trusty Protestant man-servant, with directions to bide his time till he saw a safe opportunity for flight, giving him money to bring them over the sea when practicable. After some time the servant said to his young mistress: 'Mademoiselle, I think by care we might reach La Rochelle by the end of the week. We will set out to-morrow morning before daylight, and you must put on a peasant's dress and cap, and we shall load the donkey with two panniers of vege tables, and at the bottom of the baskets my young masters may be hidden, and you will appear as a market-girl on the road; and when we get to the outskirts of the little town we shall turn aside to the forest path, and hide until evening. I shall carry provisions, and keep a little ahead of you, so that I can see to your safety; and may the good God of our fathers give us journeying mercies, and be our Guide, Guard, and Keeper!' Rosalie was busy now: first of all she prepared her own disguise and that of her brothers, and in the pockets put little packages of food for the way; then she called her young brothers to her, and said that their good Antoine was going to take them to see their dear father and mother, but that they might meet with enemies on the road; perhaps the king's soldiers would assault them! She charged them above all things, no matter what happened, or how alarmed they might feel, not to make any sound whatever, either by speech or cry; they were both to be carried in baskets on the donkey, and they were to be covered up, with just space to sit and breathe. 'Remember,' she added, "if you speak or cry out, we may never see our dear father and mother again, and they are longing to embrace us once more, and when with them in happy England, we shall be safe.' She then gave the little boys a good supper, washed and undressed them, and put them early to bed, after having prayed with them to the God of their fathers for His protection and blessing. There remained a few quiet hours to arrange all with Antoine, and before daybreak the little party was on its perilous way; the boys covered up in the panniers with large lettuces, cabbages, peas, and herbs, and a bunch of roses at the top, just as the market-girls of the villages carry their garden stuff to market. 'OVER THE SEA AND FAR AWAY. For some time they got on very well, and escaped observation. Antoine kept his precious charge in sight, and when they reached a quiet, shady place, refreshed the children with bread, fruit, and milk, which they had in bottles in the panniers. As night drew on, he led them to the farmhouse of a relative of his, who took them in and lodged them for the night, and gave them early breakfast, and fresh milk in their bottles. After a few hours had passed an alarming sound was heard, the tramp of soldiers, and soon the dragoons came up to them; and their leader, an officer, thinking the peasant girl looked like a lady of rank under her disguise, thought he would test her before allowing her to pass on, and drawing his sword, he plunged it into the pannier next to his horse! but hearing no cry, rallied his men, and spurred on to some other deed of cruelty. Poor Rosalie felt her heart die within her with terror, not knowing but that her young brother might be killed, and dreading to hear a sound that would have been the signal for capturing the whole of their little party. However, through the Lord's blessing on them, the dragoons were soon out of sight, 35 and as soon as they reached a safe place Antoine examined the basket, and there found the boy, who was scarcely five years old, wounded in the arm. Poor Rosalie kissed and consoled her little brother, and bound up his wound with her handkerchief, and giving him a drink of milk, they covered him up again and went on their journey. Late in the evening, when it was quite dusk, they came to La Rochelle, and there a friend of the children's father received them for the night, and made arrangements for their sailing in the morning; and after some wild tossing on the sea, they landed in England, and were met by the happy father and mother, who rejoiced over them with much thanksgiving to God for their safe journey, and their little son's escape from a cruel death. This little boy lived to grow up to manhood, and to preach the Gospel of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ; but to the day of his death he carried his scar of honour. Was not this a brave little boy? Would any of my little readers have had the same courage? If you want to be firm and patient when great trials come, you must pray for grace to be patient in all the little troubles of life. R. R. T. 'OVER THE SEA AND FAR AWAY.' EY R. A. AND E. S. WATSON. PART III. - RESCUING CAPTIVES. NIGHT upon the sea. Out there, in the silence and dimness, two little boats are floating side by side. From one to the other comes a voice, 'Paul, are you sleeping?' 'No, Godfrey. All is so strange and still, I cannot sleep. I wonder where we shall find ourselves to-morrow?' 'We may not reach it to-morrow, but I am sure this current sets towards that great mountain range we saw from the island.' 'Are you not afraid there may be wild beasts or savage people-perhaps dreadful giants-in those mountains? or that we may be lost amongst them?' says Paul, who is inclined to repent-not that he set off with Godfrey, who is strong and brave, but that he did not persuade his companion to wait for other boats. Those mountains Godfrey talks of are very fine to look at from the island, when their blue peaks can only be dimly seen, but in this quiet dark night, in the midst of the lonely sea, Paul has fears of lions and bears, of savage men as wild as beasts, and of terrible precipices and deserts where there may be neither food nor water. 'You see, Paul, we were forced-to leave the island, if we did not want to be swept away by the tide as it rose; and we cannot tell what dangers there may be in any other direction. I have always felt that I must take the boat which seemed likely to be carried towards those mountains, and you 36 'OVER THE SEA AND FAR AWAY always said you would go with me. I am sure we shall find some adventures thereperhaps a captive princess to rescue from brigands.' 'O, I should like some adventures! but not horrid, dangerous ones. It would be nice to have an invisible cloak, so that the giants could not see me, and wings, so that I could fly over the mountains and the deserts.' 'Don't be afraid, Paul. The great God made us, and the island, and the sea with its currents, and the mountains, whatever they are like; and if we are His true knights, He will give us strength, and take care of us. His knights must not be afraid of giants, or anything else.' Paul was encouraged by these brave, trustful words, and soon both the lads were asleep. When they awoke next morning, they found themselves in the shadow of the great mountain range, which lifted its jagged, snow-covered peaks far into the clouds. The line of the bare heights, scarred by the storms of ages, seemed unbroken; there At last they found the coast sinking down into lower hills, and then they came to a break in it, where a creek went up. Here the current ceased, and the lads had to take to their oars. All the rest of that day they rowed hard between high banks of close jungle, which in places almost met overhead, and in the shadow of it the hot, moist air grew so heavy that the voyagers could scarcely breathe. In such lonely, stifling gloom they had to lie all night, and Paul longed to be back upon the happy island, or at least out under the starry sky and the fresh sea-breeze. * 'Courage, Paul! Here is a wider space -greensward beside the stream, some large trees, and grassy hills beyond. We will get out here and look for some fruit to eat with our bread.' But what are these strange figures lying or crouching at the mouth of a cave in the hill-side yonder? The lads go nearer, and see that they are negroes, in chains. They go close to them, and the poor creatures lift faint eyes to the strangers, but do not move or speak they seem to be dying of hunger. The boys divide some of their bread, soften it with water, and feed the men; but when some of them are so far revived as to be able to speak, it is in a language the lads cannot understand. 'Poor things!' says Paul. 'Some bad men must have brought them here and left them to die. Look at the chains on their hands and feet.' 'We have been sent here to help these people, Paul: this is our adventure,' replies Godfrey. Now let us find some fruit for |