Pure Merit Rewarded.

Otago Witness, Issue 181, 6 August 1886, Page 35

Pure Merit Rewarded.

One day as George Oswald was going to his tasks, and while passing through the woods, he spied a tall man approaching in an opposite direction along the highway. " Ah !" thought George, in a low mellow tone of voice, " whom have we here ?"

" Good morning, my fine fellow," exclaimed the stranger, pleasantly. "Do you reside in this locality 2"

" Indeed I do," retorted George cheerily, dropping his cap. "In yonder cottage, near the glen, my widowed mother and her thirteen children dwell with me."

" And is your father dead ?" exclaimed the man, with a rising inflection.

" Extremely so," murmured the lad, and, oh, sir, that is why my poor mother is a widow."

" And how did your papa die ?" asked the man, as he thoughtfully stood on the other foot for a while.

"Alas, sir," said George, as a great hot tear stole down his pale cheek and fell with a loud report on the warty surface of his bare foot, "he was lost; at sea in a bitter gale. The good ship foundered two years ago last Christmastide, and father was foundered at the same time. No one knew of the loss of the ship, and that the crew was drowned, until the next spring, and it was then too late."

" And what is your age, my fine f ellowj" quoth the stranger.

"If I live until next October," said the boy, in a declamatory tone of voice suitable for a Second Eeader, " I will be seven years of age."

" And who provides for your mother and her large family of children ?" queried the man.

" Indeed, I do, sir," replied George, in a shrill tone. " I toil, oh ! so hard, sir ;, for we are very, very poor, and since, my elder sister, Ann, was married and brought her husband home to live with us, I have to toil more assiduously than heretofore."

" And by what means do you obtain a livelihood 1" exclaimed the man in slowlymeasured and grammatical words.

"By digging wells, kind sir," replied George, picking up a tired ant as he spoke and stroking it on the back. "I have a good education, and I am enabled to dig wells as well as a man. I do this daytimes and take in washing at night. In this way I am enabled to barely maintain our family in a precarious manner ; but, oh ! sir, should my other sisters marry, I fear that some of my brothers-in-law would have to suffer."

" You are indeed a brave lad," exclaimed the stranger as he repressed a smile. " And do you not at times become very weary, and wish for other ways of passing your time." " Indeed I do, sir," said the lad. " I would fain run, and romp, and be gay, like other boys, but I must engage in constant manual exercise, or we will have no bread to eat, and I have not seen a pie since papa perished in the moist and moaning sea."

" And what if I were to tell you that your papa did not perish at sea, but was saved from a hurried grave ?" asked the stranger, in pleasing tones.

" Ah, sir," exclaimed George, in a genteel manner, again doffing his cap, " lam too polite fco tell you what I would say, and, besides, sir, you are much larger than I am."

"But my brave lad," said the man in low musical tones, "do you nat know me, Georgie 1 Oh, George !"

" I must say," replied George, " that you have the advantage of me. Whilst I may have met you before, I cannot at this moment place you, sir."

"My son! oh, my son!" murmured the man, at the same time taking a large strawberry mark out of his valise and showing it $o the lad, "Do you nob recognise your

parent on your father's side? When our good ship went to the bottom all perished save me. I swam several miles through the billows, and at last, utterly exhausted, gave up all hope of life. Suddenly a bright idea came to me, and I walked out of the sea and rested myself,

" And now, my brave boy," exclaimed the man with great glee, " see what I have brought for you." It was but the work of a moment to unclasp from a shawl-strap which he hold in his hand, and present to George's astonished gaze, a large 40-oent water-melon, which he had brought with him from the Orient.

"Ah," said George, "this is indeed a glad surprise. Albeit, how can I ever repay you?"