am now, with his hundreds of
thousands. I mean to lay up good principles----"

"Little by little," interpolated John.

"Little by little, if you please; but even a little every day will make
a good man one of these days. A good thought every day will make a man
rich in good principles; at any rate, my book says so."

"How can a fellow help thinking of the boat, if it is Sunday?"

"We must try to think of our lesson, and when we go to church, of what
the minister says. I am going to try and not think of the Fawn again
till I wake up to-morrow morning."

"I am willing to try, but it's no use. I wish Sunday was over, and
Monday had come."

How many boys and girls have thought the same thing! That Sunday, whose
moments seemed so heavy, was a golden opportunity which may have passed
never to be recalled. We are indebted to the still hours of the quiet
Sabbath, to the leisure moments of our daily life, nay, to the sleepless
couch of pain and suffering, and to the bitter time of woe and
bereavement, for some of the best and truest thoughts which illuminate
our mortal pilgrimage, and which give birth to our good resolutions. A
single instant may produce an impression upon the heart which shall last
to the end of life.

The words of the Scripture which Paul had read and heard read a hundred
times, without feeling the tremendous truth they contain, were now full
of meaning. They seemed to connect themselves with his individual
future, and to have produced an impression which the excitement of
possessing the new boat could not overcome. He was in the right frame
of mind to receive such an impression, and it had an important influence
on all his subsequent career.

As the family seated themselves at the breakfast table, Mrs. Duncan
improved the opportunity to enlarge upon the duties we owe to ourselves
and to others, in connection with the Sabbath day. It is true that
John's levity occasionally detracted from the effect of the lessons; but
it was not wholly lost, even upon that wayward youth.

Paul struggled hard with his thoughts during the day, and he was
surprised, when night came, to find how successful he had been. It had
been a good day to him, and he had profited by the instruction it
afforded him; for the first step towards moral or spiritual improvement
is to fasten the mind earnestly upon some moral or religious topic.

Long before the sun rose the next morning, Paul and John were on the
beach. And when Mrs.