The Somerset press. [volume] (Somerset, Ohio) 1873-1977, 1879-03-20

he said nothing; and sat with his eyes
fixed dreamily on the fire. Presently
he arose and went into the o1ter room.
Then he wrapped himself in bis warm
coat, and lit his fathers lantern. He
was leaving the house, when his mother,
who had followed him silently, laid her
hand on his shoulder.
"Where are you going, child?" she
asked.
"To look at my dyke, mother" he re-
piled.
"On such a night as this %
al could not sleep. mother, unless I
did so. 1 must do nv little work for
"home and fatherland.'"
The mother could not refuse him; so
she laid her hand on his head, and said,
tenderly;
"May heaven bless thee and keep
thee, child"
Then little Hans went out into the
storm. He soon reached what he called
his post; and found everything safe and
| secure.
Something, he knew not what, urged
him to go beyond his usual walk, and he
kept on toward the north, flashing his
lantern along the side of the dyke and
examining the earth-wail with anxious
eyes. He was very cold, but he could
not turn back. Something kept urging
him onward-onward.
He had been walking for more than
an hour, when he suddenly paused and
bent down toward the ground with cry
of alarm. The water was flowing in
through small opening, scarce half an
inch in diameter, but as the child
watched he could see that it was gradu-
ally growing larger.
His first impulse was to return home,
and give the alarm; but he reflected
that the opening in the dyke would
grow larger every moment, and that il
might De too late to check the water
when his father arrived. Something
must he done at once, and he must do it.
He put down his lantern, and with
his little hands tried to scrape together
earth enough to stop the leak. The cold
was so intense, and the ground SO hard
that he made little or no progress; and
the terrible opening in the dyke grew
larger every moment.
Little Hans shuddered, and theI
paused in perpiexity and distress
Then, without hesitating longer, ht
tore off his warm coat, and, rolling
up like a wad, pressed it against th'
, crevice. The water forced it away
hewever, and the boy found that in or
der to stop the current he must hold i
there with all his strength.
E He had a brave heart, but it sanl
] when he saw this; for he knew that i
the sea broke through, his parents an'
. his brothers and sisters would b
: drowned, and ali the country roure
, about destroyed.
So the child seated himself on til
, ground, and pressed with all his nigh
. against the opening with his thick coat
{ Soon he felt that the water ceased t
flow through. Yet it took all hi
. strength of will and body, all his coul
. age, to sustain him, for he was grow
q ing numb with the cold, and sutierin
. greatly.
i His pain increased every moment, an
: then it ceased, and he felt dreamy
a pleasant languor steal over him. II
; seemed to hear strains of sweet musi,
y and voices crying:
!, Blessed chiidl God has blesse
!, thee, little Hansr
1t was very sweet, and he wondere
). what had become of the cold and storm
6 but he never relaxed his grasp on th
= opening.
: When the morning dawned it foun
Is Dirk Dauneker and his wife searchin
L wearily for their child along the DYKE
j. for the storm was dying away, and Il
n sun was coming out again.
= Z "Alasp' sobbed the mother, !" he h!
perished in the storm; and when he lie
10 me, asked heaven to bless him!'
v The father paused, and great CT
n escaped his lips.
nia n Look, wifel" he cried. "Has n
,e Heaven blessed our boy? See! He h
"a made him the savior of our country
fe Yes, there lay little Hans, his for
=. stiff and rigid, and his face pinched al
], pale, but with his hands pressed tight
against his coat, which was now frozt
p. to the dyke. Even in death the Chi
II had not relaxed his grasp upon the Goa
" and, as he had fallen upon it in dyin
y " his weight had kept it pressed again
q the opening until it froze there.
II Heaven had indeed blessed him, for
had made the child the means of savil
IN the province from destruction.