﻿LITTLE FRANK AND THE BOAT. 1G9 



the thick leaves, and cooled the heated brow of the restless boy 

 the thick, short grass looked fresh and soft and green, and the merry 

 crickets were chirping away in all directions - -the pond rolled its 

 blue waters at the foot of the hill, and ever and anon a fish would 

 leap up from its bosom, making a slight splash, and leaving the 

 water to circle and dimple, for a few moments before it returned to 

 its former tranquillity. All but the heart of the little boy, who lay 

 stretched beneath the tree, was peaceful and quiet. All at once he 

 jumped up, and walked quickly toward the house, saying to himself, 

 " Father will never know it, and there is nothing else for me to do." 

 He crept softly into the house, and taking the key from the nail, 

 ran off again as quickly as possible ; he easily unfastened the boat, 

 and pushed it off with one oar, and managed, after a good while, 

 and by dint of very hard work, to reach the place where the lilies 

 grew r ; but lo ! there were none to be seen; only, when he looked 

 very closely, he could see some little oval green pods, which he 

 perceived were the lilies, closed up and wrapped in their calyxes. 

 Frank was extremely disappointed, vexed, and surprised ; for he did 

 not know that these flowers always close up about noon, and do not 

 open until the n^xt morning. He paddled round for a while, and 

 then, as the sun was near the west, he turned his boat towards 

 home. When he was about twenty yards from the land he saw his 

 little spaniel, Ponto, standing at the edge of the water, and whining. 

 Frank called, out to him to come, and Ponto came swimming out, 

 and was soon at the side of the boat. Frank tried to help him in, 

 but in stooping over the edge he destroyed the equilibrium of the 

 boat, and over they all went into the water. Frank rose to the top 

 again, and tried to scream, but the water rushed into his mouth and 

 prevented his utterance. He sunk under the water with a dizzy 

 sensation, and a feeling that he was about to die. In a moment 

 everything he had ever done wrong flashed across his mind with 

 the rapidity of lightning; but in front of them all stood out his last 

 act of disobedience to his father, and his unkindness to the poor 

 boy. They filled his heart with keen anguish, and he felt that it 

 would be easy to die, if his spirit were free from sin. Although 

 these thoughts embraced the wrong actions of his whole life, they 

 lasted but a moment, and then he lost his senses, and sank to the 

 bottom. 



