ouraged, and, worst of
all, was over head and ears in debt. One day he was talking over
his troubles with his father-confessor, who was one of the few
who recognized his genius. The priest determined to assist him and
accordingly lent him six hundred guilders, advising him at the same time
to demand a better price for his pictures. Wouwerman did so, and in the
meantime paid his debts. Matters brightened with him at once. Everybody
appreciated the great artist who painted such costly pictures. He grew
rich. The six hundred guilders were returned, and in gratitude Wouwerman
sent also a work which he had painted, representing his benefactor as
Saint Hubert kneeling before his horse--the very picture, Ludwig, of
which we were speaking last night."

"So! so!" exclaimed Ludwig, with deep interest. "I must take another
look at the engraving as soon as we get home."

At that same hour, while Ben was skating with his companions beside the
Holland dike, Robby and Jenny stood in their pretty English schoolhouse,
ready to join in the duties of their reading class.

"Commence! Master Robert Dobbs," said the teacher, "page 242. Now, sir,
mind every stop."

And Robby, in a quick childish voice, roared forth at schoolroom pitch,
"Lesson 62. The Hero of Haarlem. Many years ago, there lived in Haarlem,
one of the principal cities of Holland, a sunny-haired boy of gentle
disposition. His father was a sluicer, that is, a man whose business it
was to open and close the sluices, or large oaken gates, that are placed
at regular distances across the entrances of the canals, to regulate the
amount of water that shall flow into them.

"The sluicer raises the gates more or less according to the quantity of
water required, and closes them carefully at night, in order to avoid
all possible danger of an oversupply running into the canal, or the
water would soon overflow it and inundate the surrounding country. As a
great portion of Holland is lower than the level of the sea, the waters
are kept from flooding the land only by means of strong dikes, or
barriers, and by means of these sluices, which are often strained to the
utmost by the pressure of the rising tides. Even the little children in
Holland know that constant watchfulness is required to keep the rivers
and ocean from overwhelming the country, and that a moment's neglect of
the sluicer's duty may bring ruin and death to all."

"Very good," said the teacher. "Now, Susan."

"One lov