Year: 1874

upon the waves not quite thre,


miles from shore, and towed j


slowly home; landing it on tn,


beach Just where the fisherman:


scn stood waiting and watching fol


lis fathers signal. None of then


can tell how Owen Vaughan-thC


ablest and most fearless sailor OF


the cost-met his death upon the


Sc ret sea but they will tell how


the boy, through all the night thai


followed, sat alone upon the cliffs


and how, when he came home al


last, he had look upon his face as


if he had borne the sorrow Of q
mans life-a look which they tel


you he can never lose again. And
then they add, turning from your
face to look beyond the very sea


itself, to where the sky spreads


wide and bright above. though such
things may be like ofttold tales in
lives like theirs, yet that the shock
they bring never is the less keen
for that, nor the bereavement the
less deep and sore. This is how in
Owen Vaughan's cottage there fell
the great hush of a sudden grief,
which the boy-who had loved his
father with that strength and ten
derness of devotion which it is Civ
en- us sometimes to see in boy-na-
ture- battled with in a strange,
unboyish silence, while the mother
let her sorrow overwhelm her, and
the baby-girl-herself and uncon-
scious comforter-cIied wonder
ingly in the gloom Of the darllened
cottage.


But this grief grew less as years
went on. The mother earned q
scanty livelihood by her washing,
and little Duddgha-in spite of the
weight of her Welsh name-grcw
from babyhood to girlhood, tall and
1.-the and active, ever ready with
her nimble feet or fingers to tighten
her mothers toll !; while Owen won
his way so rapidly in the village
school, that the lame schoolmaster
began most painfully to feel the
narrowness of his own erudition
under he boys wide questioning.
He was even right, too, when he
muttered suggestively among the
villagers "that Owen was an old
child, and would not associate with
his schoolfellows."


At last the village schoolmastcr,
seeing he could take the boy no
farther on the path he trod SO rap
idly, mentioned generally the adj
visibility Of his leaving school now,
and mentioned it particularly to
Sir Bulkley Gwynne, the rich &C.
centric bachelor who owned all
Ferrybank, and lived in the great
house upon the wooded bank above
Llanvriar. Sir Bulkley, always
qnicll TO see the help which it was
wise to give, and always proud and
glad when he found unexpected
gifts and powers among his people,
examined the boy himself--startled
without puzzling him, frightened
without bewildeling him-and then
dismissed him with n few curt words
Of advice, but no encouragement.
Yet only few days afterward he
appeared again in the village school,
and, walking through the rows of
standing boys to where Owen wait
ed with his head raised from his
open book, he told him he bad
chosen another school for him, and
that the master had promised, on
condition of the boys progress be-
ing satisfactory-here the squire's
hand, which was upon Owens
shoulder now, grew little heavier,
and his voice little more emphatic
to retain him as tutor, and pay
him according to his services.


Sir Bulkley, making nothing of
his own share in this, and saying
nothing of his great hope he enter
tanned for the lad, felt that he had
given him just the start in life
which, by his own industry and
talent, might lead him safely to the
end; but he never guessed the
depth of his protege's gratitude
when Owen found that this school
to which he was sent was one of
the first private schools in Wales,
nor with what intense carnestncss
the lad pursued this new path
which his generous patron had op-
ened for him, and which it was
such happiness to walk in.


One day a new light broke upon
his path for Owen, showing him the
track for which he had been un-
consciously longing. A friend of
Sir Bulkley Gwynne's, who was
going abroad, and wanted secre-
tary aud interpreter, heard of
Ovens wonderful facility in acquir-
ing languages, and offered to take
him. The baronet, always ready
and kind Travelled himself to the
inland Welsh town, and started
Owen off to London, handing him
a note for e100, with n few words
of encouragement, which Owen
never forgot through all his life,
and telling him that when his en-
gacement was over, il he would
like to stay abroad and study, this
would give him the power to do so.


Through France and Germany
and Italy went Owen with his pa
trou, perfecting himself in each
lnnrnnnn with that nxtranrlinnrX