INCIDENTS OF THE GREAT FLOOD.

If we could gather together the records of the mighty flood that lately laid waste the great valleys of the Ohio and Mississippi rivers, we should have a wonderfully terrible yet glorious picture of peril, suffering, and heroism. Scarcely a town but has its own sad tale of bridges carried away, railroad tracks washed out, houses flooded, and whole families forced to flee before the advancing waters, and in many cases to flee in vain. In Arkansas and Mississippi the mighty "Father of Waters" burst through the great levees which the labor of generations has built up to confine him within bounds, and rushed over the low-lying country beyond, carrying death and desolation with him. In Arkansas City every house was flooded, and families retreated to the upper stories of their homes. Many families whose houses were but of one story were forced to abandon their homes, and trust themselves to small boats or rafts hastily put together.

A sad fate befell one such family. They were a gentleman and his wife and six children, four of whom were between the ages of six and fourteen. The floods had risen around them until not even the roof afforded a safe refuge. Their only hope was a small boat—a "dug-out"—and in it they all embarked. But what chance had they in such a tiny craft and in such a storm? The story is short. The boat capsized, and the father saved his wife, only to realize that they two were left childless.

In another place two brothers were alone in their father's house on the bank of a creek. The water rose so rapidly that before they could realize it the house was surrounded, and they saw no hope but to trust themselves to the water, and endeavor to reach higher ground, where they would be safe. They were brave, strong lads, but all too weak to battle against the raging torrent into which they plunged. One of them was not seen more. The other reached a haven of refuge in a tree, and had help been at hand he might have lived to tell the fearful tale. But no aid was near. It was twenty-four hours before he was found, and then cold and exposure had done their work. The two brothers had perished within a few hours of one another.

Many of you will remember the story of Rupert of Ware, which was told in these pages last Halloween. It is such noble acts as that of his that light up the gloomy narratives of great calamities. This story also has its bright side. Doubtless it has many heroes. We can tell of only one.

It was at Paducah, a river-side town in Kentucky, that a young hero, a boy named "Dad" Little, pushed off in his skiff to rescue some men in a flat-bottomed boat, whom the fierce river was hurrying to destruction on its angry tide. As soon as the boy reached them, they seized his boat and scrambled into it, so that it capsized. Two of them were drowned, and the others, with "Dad" Little, saved themselves by holding on to the overturned boat. As the boat floated near the shore, the brave boy swam to a tree, and climbed up into it, and was not rescued from his cruel position until six hours later.