falling all night.

Nils appeared early at school; but the tidy mistress had already cleared
away all traces of her modest breakfast, and was ready to bid him
welcome more as a visitor than a scholar. They had some pleasant chat
together, and then the teacher said seriously, as she laid her hand on
the boy's shoulder, "You must try as hard as you can, Nils, to do well,
or I am afraid you will not 'go up' this year."

"I do try--I try as hard as I can!" he said. Tears suddenly filled his
large eyes as he added, "I am not like other boys, and I know it."

"God knows what you can do, Nils," she said tenderly; "and He will not
judge you for what is not your fault. It may be, 'Well done, good and
faithful servant!' for you at the last, if you cannot be a great
scholar."

Some merry voices at the door put an end to the conversation, and the
school was soon going on in its usual routine.

Many weather-wise mothers had kept their children at home, and only
eight scholars were in their places, not counting Nils, who occupied in
many practical things a middle ground between the little ones and the
teacher.

A heavy rain soon began to fall, and pattered cheerily on the roof, to
the great delight of the small pupils. Towards noon the schoolmistress
was hearing the class read aloud. She sat with her back to the windows,
with the light falling on the book she held in her hand; but she did not
see a letter. Suddenly she looked up and said, "Nils, please open the
right-hand shutter in my room."

The boy obeyed instantly; but in another moment he said quickly, "Please
come in here a moment, teacher."

She disappeared immediately, closing the door behind her. Nils pointed
to the window with wide-open eyes, and said, "The meadow is all afloat!"

"I know it!" she answered calmly. "I saw it while the children were
getting their books for the class. If the pond above breaks over the
banks, we may be all swept away in a moment. There is no time to be
lost. The children must not be frightened. I have thought just what to
do. You can swim, Nils?"

"Yes," was his only answer.

"I can swim too," she said. "If anything goes wrong, we must do what we
can for the children." She looked into the clear, calm eyes of the boy,
and she knew she could trust him. They returned quietly to the
schoolroom. The teacher had hardly taken her seat and closed the book
she had held in her hand, when there was a loud crashing sound without,
and a heavy