ew to him, and he did not know how to begin it. At length he tried
again:

"Mike," said he, "I struck you once--it was a good while ago--do you
remember it?"

"Yes," Mike said.

"Well, I am sorry I struck you," said Jacob, and burst into tears.

"I knew you were sorry," said Mike, "and I have forgiven you, long
ago."

"_Do_ you forgive me?" asked Jacob, earnestly.

"I do, from my heart," said Mike.

Then followed another flood of tears. This time it was a good while
before Jacob could speak, so as to be understood, and when he did
speak, it was only to say,

"Oh, Mike, you are _so_ kind! You seem like a brother to me."

Jacob's father came into the room just at this moment, and nothing
more was said by either of the boys on the subject which so deeply
affected Jacob. But Mike saw, plainly enough, that the heart of the
boy who had injured him was melted, and he was satisfied.

How warmly Jacob pressed Mike's hand, when he bade him "good bye," and
started for home.

Not long after that, Mike met one of the boys who had urged him so
strongly to return the blow that Jacob gave him.

"Well," said Mike, "I've done it."

"Done what?" asked the other boy.

"Paid him off," said Mike.

"What, Jake Grumble?"

"Yes."

"Good. Tell me all about it."

And Mike did tell him all about it.

"Well, I do say for it, Mike," said the other boy, after listening to
the whole story, "you are just the queerest fellow that I ever saw or
heard of."

"But don't you think that was about the best way to pay him off,
after all?" asked Mike.

"Well," said the other boy, after a moment's pause, "I declare I don't
know but it was, when I come to think of it."

And don't _you_ think it was the best way to pay him off, reader? I
do, and I should be glad if every body would learn to pay such debts
in very much the same way. It may be a very queer mode of taking
revenge. But it seems to me quite a sensible one; and I am sure it is
a thousand times better than the mode that people so often choose. If
I am not greatly mistaken, indeed, it is just the mode that is
recommended in the word of God, which says, "If thine enemy hunger,
feed him; if he thirst, give him to drink; for, in so doing, thou
shalt heap coals of fire on his head."

CHAP. VII.

MIKE'S CROTCHETS IN WAR-TIME.

You have heard a great deal about the Revolutionary War. You have
heard what hardships our forefathers went through, while they were
fighting