ter in their town. Do the dikes ever
give way?"

"Very seldom. The people watch them very faithfully, and whenever a break
is discovered it is instantly repaired. There is a very interesting story
connected with the dikes of Holland, which I will tell you, to show you
what great service a little boy did his country.

"The little hero, Peter Daik, was on his way home, one night, from a
village to which he had been sent by his father on an errand, when he
noticed the water trickling through a narrow opening in the dike, built up
to keep out the sea.

"He stopped, and thought of what would happen if the hole were not
closed.

"He knew--for he had often heard his father tell of the sad disasters
which had come from small beginnings--how, in a few hours, the opening
would become bigger, and let in the mighty mass of water pressing on the
dike, until, the whole defence being washed away, the rolling, dashing,
angry sea would sweep on to the next village, destroying life and
property, and everything in its way. Should he run home and alarm the
villagers? It would be dark before they could arrive; and the hole, even
then, might be so large as to defy all attempts to close it. What could he
do to prevent such terrible ruin--he, only a little boy?

"I will tell what he did. He sat down on the bank of the canal, stopped
the opening with his hand, and patiently awaited the passing of a
villager. But no one came.

"Hour after hour rolled slowly by; yet there sat the heroic boy in the
cold and darkness, shivering, wet, and tired, but stoutly pressing his
hand against the water that tried to pass the dangerous breach.

"All night he staid at his post. At last morning broke, when a clergyman,
walking up the canal, heard a groan, and looking around to see where it
came from, seeing the boy, and surprised at his strange position,
exclaimed with astonishment,--

"'Why are you there, my child?'

"'I am keeping back the water, sir, and saving the village from being
drowned,' answered little Peter, with lips so benumbed with cold that he
could hardly speak.

"The astonished minister at once relieved him of his hard duty, and the
poor little fellow had but just strength enough left to alarm the
villagers, who flocked to the dike, and repaired the breach.

"Heroic boy! What a noble spirit of self-devotion he had shown! resolving
to brave all the fatigue, the danger, the cold and darkness, rather than
permit the ruin which would c