kes men of them. I read the constitution of the clubs, and
Tony tells me it is carried out to the fullest extent."

"No doubt of it. There are boys among them, who, under other
circumstances, would be bad boys. I am satisfied the club keeps them
true to themselves and their duty."

"That's just my idea; and these noble-hearted little fellows have
bestowed the money I gave them in such a commendable manner, I mean to
give them as much more."

"That was my own feeling about the matter; but I do not think it is a
good plan to make good all they sacrifice. This fleet scheme was a
cherished project, and it was noble in them to give it up that they
might do a good deed."

"Noble! It was heroic--I was just going to use a stronger word."

"It is good for them to practise self-denial. That is all that makes the
deed a worthy one."

"Exactly so."

"Therefore, my friend, we will not say anything more about the fleet at
present."

"But if they bear it well, if they don't repent what they have done,
why, I should not value one or two thousand dollars. Besides, it might
be the means of bringing a large number of boys within the pale of good
influences."

"That is my own view; and by and by we will talk more of the matter."

Captain Sedley then introduced Mr. Walker to the company, and the
benevolent gentleman took a great deal of pains to inform himself in
relation to the influence of the boat clubs upon the boys. He asked a
great many questions of their parents, and of Mr. Hyde, the teacher.
They all agreed that the young men were the better for the associations;
that the discipline was very useful, and the physical exercise very
healthy; but some of them were afraid their sons would acquire such a
taste for the water as to create a desire to follow the seas. But few of
them considered boating, under the discipline of the clubs, a dangerous
recreation; so that the only real objection was the tendency to produce
longings for

"A life on the ocean wave,
A home on the rolling deep."

Mr. Walker tried to make the sceptical ones believe that Wood Lake was
so entirely different from the "rolling deep" as scarcely to suggest the
idea of a ship, or of the ocean. But the disadvantages were trivial
compared with the benefits which all acknowledged to have derived from
the associations, even independently of the libraries, the lectures, and
the debating societies at the halls.

Tony and his companions soon returned with t