ngth, "we might
have saved them."

"So we might, so we might, Tommy; who knows? Some one should have been
here anyhow. It seems to me that things ain't well managed in these
days. They haven't half enough of appliances to save life, that's a
fact."

Bax said this somewhat sternly.

"Whose fault is it, Bax?" said Tommy, looking up in his friend's face.

"Ha, Tommy," replied the other with a smile, "it don't become the like
o' you or me to say who's to blame. You're too young to understand the
outs and ins o' such matters, and I'm too ignorant."

The boy smiled incredulously. The idea of Bax being "ignorant" was too
gross and absurd to be entertained for a moment, even although stated by
himself.

"Well, but," urged Tommy stoutly, "if things _are_ wrong, it's clear
that they ain't right, and surely I've a right to say so."

"True, lad, true," returned Bax, with an approving nod; "that's just the
point which I'd like you and me to stick to: when we see things to be
wrong don't let's shirk sayin' so as flat as we can; but don't let us
go, like too many shallow-pates, and say that we know _who's_ wrong and
_why_ they're wrong, and offer to put them all right on the shortest
notice. Mayhap" (here Bax spoke in a soft meditative tone, as if he had
forgotten his young friend, and were only thinking aloud) "mayhap we may
come to understand the matter one of these days, and have a better right
to speak out--who knows?"

"That I'm certain of!" cried Tommy, in a tone and with an air that made
Bax smile despite the sad sight before him.

"Come, lad," he said, with sudden energy, "we must get 'em removed.
Away! and fetch a couple of men. I'll arrange them."

Tommy was off in a moment, and Bax proceeded with gentle care to arrange
the dress and limbs of the old man and the child. Two men soon arrived,
and assisted to carry them away. Who they were no one knew and few
cared. They were only two of the many who are thus cast annually, and
by no means _unavoidably_, on our stormy shores.

Do not misunderstand us, good reader. Compared with what is done by
other lands in this matter, Britain does her duty well; but, compared
with what is required by God at the hands of those who call themselves
Christians, we still fall far short of our duty, both as a nation and as
individuals.

CHAPTER FIFTEEN.

RELATES TO LOVE, CROSS PURPOSES AND MISTAKES, ETCETERA.

Storms may rage, orphans and widows may weep, but the w