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Show 154 TJlt; UBERTY DELL. particular drop of the vast Atlantic it is, which casts the great ship upon a coral reef at low tide ; tell me which especial drop it is which heaves quietly beneath that mighty keel at rising tide, and floats it off; tell me which precise gra.in of snnd it is, in the vast Egyptian desert, which is burying the great temple of Karnak, inch by inch, day by day, this day as for centuries back; and I will tell you your precise contribution to the great work of saving your brothers' souls. Your work is but a little drop, a. little grain ; yes, but tho vast universe is made up of such littlcs, and you are responsible for just your share, and no more and no less ; ox.cept that though you do not realize it, thoro is a power of cohesion between drops and between grains, and when one moves another moves too. Here, for instance, is some young man, an ac-quaintance of yours, who iB gradually improving in his character- growing braver, truer, kinder, purer in his thoughts nnil habits, likely to make' AiH I -'!\' llltOTIIEit'S KEEPER? 155 betrer and wiser m'a n · A re you doing anything to help him on, you ask, you have so little influ-ence, so. imperfect yourself? y es, you arc do.m g somcthmg to help him 011 ' if you 1m vc anything of those virtues yourself. Ho 6n d s sympathy m. you for his good impulses. He sees that you feel as he docs. llis voice is sustained by yours, as one singer's is sustained by anotlwr's. As a timid person in a lonely house feels protected by the weak presence of even a child, so oven your weak virtue is o. help to his, and you keep your brother up, imperceptibly, by the slight influence of your locks and words. On tho other hand~ here is another young man, a.lso. an .acq~aintanco of yours, who is gradually smkmg m hts character, going down in the scale of moral beings, becoming selfish, sensual, mean, quarrelsome. Are you helping him down ? You ar~ helping him, if you suffer anything of these tnuts to appear in you. Your little meanness mnk cs hI' m mean, your want of self~ontrol gives |