Rensselaer Republican, Volume 12, Number 7, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 30 October 1879 — BEGINNINGS. [ARTICLE]

BEGINNINGS.

Thebe, was a bov once who saved a whole town from death, by finding out the danger when it was only a vefV small one, and stopping it then. Thu was how it happened: the town was the little seaport of Haarlem, on the coast of Holland. Like the other places along this coast, Haarlem lies very Jow, and if it were not protected by strong-ly-made barriers, called dykes, it would be in danger of being altogether overflowed by the sea. As it u, the waves dash themselves against the dyke and fall back harmlessly; but let there be ever so small a hole and the water will find its way through. At first only slowly trickling through drop by drop, but gradually increasing in force until it breaks down the barriers and rushes in a mighty flood over all the land, carrying away property, overthrowing houses, and drowning man and beast.

Once in the history of Haarlem such a flood took place, destroying farms and villages as it rose higher and Higher; and after this you may think how carefully the townspeople would look to their dykes. A man was chosen whose business it was to take care of the dykes and to see that they were always in good order. At the time of which I write, more than two hundred years ago, the dykes were under the charge of a man named Dreken, who lived with his fatherless nephew, a boy of eight years old, close to the seashore. It happened one October evening that little Joseph had been sent by his uncle to the docks to fetch a pailful of pitch. It was late when he started homeward, and the moon was already rising. He had gone some way when he heard a low rushing sound. He listened, and felt sure that it came from the dyke above him; at least he would go and see if anything was wrong. With some difficulty the little barefooted lad climbed up the wet slippery boards and got on to the outer ayke. There the cause of the noise was plainly to be seen in a small round hole, through which a steady stream of water was making its way. Joseph knew enough about dykes to understand fully what would happen if the hole were not quickly stopped up; but what had he to stop it up with? The hole was only a small one, it was true, but the water was already pouring through so violently that he was wet to the skin. AThought struck him —he put in his forefinger and found that it exactly filled up toe hole! But now he durst not withdraw it, for he knew that if he were to do so now the danger would be greater than ever—not to himself alone but to all the town. He stood listening, and caught in the distance the sound of the rising tide, and he knew that soon the waves wonld be beating against this weakest part of the dyke. He shouted and shouted, comforting himself with the hope that before then some one would come to his help, but no one heard him. There he stayed, half dead with cold and wet, and his hand aching so much from the cramped position in which he was obliged to keep it that he hardly knew how to bear the pain. Now ana then he murmured one short prayer, “ Lord, help me to keep this water ont;

save this country and my poor mother;* 1 but by-and-by he became top tired to think of anything, beyond just holding out till help came. And at last, as morning was beginning to dawn, the help came. As tne cleigyman was returning from the house of a sick man with whom he had been spending the night, he heard a faint, moaning sound 1 from the dyke, and clambering up he found little Joseph standing by the hole, so weak and tired that he could hardly ask him to send for his uncle. And now the town was quickly reused; peoSle came running to the dyke, and tuner tee care of Joseph's uncle the hole was properly stopped up and the weak boards strengthened before any harm was done. And so by the bravery of one boy the danger was checked in the very mid a whole city saved from rain. The wise man in tee Book pf Proverbs says that the beginning of a quarrel is like the letting out oi water. One angry word provokes another, till at last they come ponring out in a torrent that is very difficult to stop; and so King Solomon's advice is to “ leave ofl contention before it be meddled with." There is an Eastern fable which tells of a man lying in his hut and seeing a shadow fail across the floor. On looking up he saw a great camel standing at the door, and begging to be allowed to put his head into the shady room. The man refused, but the camel promised to put in nothing but his head, so he let him have his way. By-and-by the man saw that the camel had placed one foot ever the threshold. . He grumbled much at this, but he was too lacy to get up and shut the door, so he lay stiff. Again he looked, and this time the camel was half in the house. '; Then the man was frightened and sprang up and tried to push him back, but it was too late, for now he bad come so far that he copld not drive him out, and thus tee camel got the house for his nurn _ ? ,li . '* *' * *

So it is with temptations and bad habits. They seem very little at first, but if, instead of driving them back, we let them have their, way they get stronger and stronger, until at last they become quite too strong for us. And, therefore, an old writer has said, “ Withstand the beginnings”- struggle against the beginnings of wrong habits, s— Sunday Magazine,