down, over the deep well. I was hanging by one arm to a decayed timber that might give way, or my hold break, with the least jar down I would go to certain death. There was no time to send for help, and the boys did not know what to do. I called to them to take hold of my feet and pull, by a pull all together I got out. I was a wiser boy, but I doubt that I was much better. I knocked several young swallows into the well and we could not get them out. We could hear their pitiful cry, and see the distress of the mothers, as they darted in and out of the well, trying to rescue their babies. I repented in deep sorrow, for causing the death of the little swallows To make matters worse, it was Sunday, a day I was taught to observe with reverence and godly fear. Now I not only caused the death of the innocent little swallows but had broken the Sabbath; this made me very unhappy. That I did not intend to commit either of these sins did not give me peace of mind, or relieve my sense of guilt. I loved the swallows, that was whyI wanted to get them, and I respected the Sabbath day but that did not clear my conscience. I was my own judge and jury, and prisoner condemned. My danger and narrow es- capes were, for the time, overshadowed by the thought of my badness. I tried to do better after that but I soon got into mischief again. Re~ forms started by dangers are not usually lasting.

A Leap in the Dar/e

Some years after my narrow escape from the well I had another narrow escape from severe injury or death. Father and the older boys had built a large barn, the upper loft in it was about fourteen feet Above the floor; there was a lower loft at each end; the upper one ex- tended only about halfway across the barn, leaving the other part Open; the upper one was filled with hay, making it higher. One dark night I went out to feed the horses. I climbed up on a low-er loft and from it to the higher one. When I threw down enough hay, I made a jump toward, where I supposed, the lower loft was; but I had turned round while pitching the hay, and did not know it. I had jumped to- ward the open space. I would have gone down on the hard floor, prob- ably sixteen feet below, but my guardian angel protected me again. When I jumped I did like the flying squirrel, I reached out my arms

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