after you got this, and I don't think I shall want to go to sea
again for one while. My love to father and the boys, and to Julia,
and Helen, and the cat, and all inquiring friends. Glad enough I
shall be to be with you all again. I never knew before, dear Mother,
how much I loved you all. Your affectionate son, Jemmy."

"P.S. After my fall I could not stand for a fortnight, but they all
took the kindest care of me, and I am now as well as possible."

It were vain to attempt to describe what passed in the hearts of
these parents at hearing of the safety of their son after such a
peril. The letter was read over and over again, and each one
expressed his happiness in his own way; little Helen wondered he
should have thought of Puss, but said it was just like Jemmy. "I
would not believe such a story if I had it from any other but James
himself," said his father. "Nothing, so uncommon as to save a person
that falls overboard in such a way; and at night I never knew of it,
and I have been many years at sea. Nothing but James's presence of
mind and courage saved his life; he did the only thing that would
have been of any avail; had he attempted to swim after the ship, he
would have been lost. It seems now as if the story could not be
true. His presence of mind, and his courage, and his knowledge of
swimming would, however, have been of little use to him, if the love
of the sailors for him had not been stronger than the love of their
own lives, which they put in the greatest peril to save this poor
boy who, a few weeks before, was an utter stranger to them. How
noble! how beautiful! The glory of the wise and so-called great of
this world fades away as we look at this simple act of self-devoted
love. In the hearts of each of these men we see the angel that God
has placed within us all, ever declaring, if we would listen, that