the oars kept time, and the boat went smoothly through the
water.

"How well we pull together, don't we?" said Amy, who
objected to silence just then.

"So well that I wish we might always pull in the same boat.
Will you, Amy?" very tenderly.

"Yes, Laurie," very low.

Then they both stopped rowing, and unconsciously added a
pretty little tableau of human love and happiness to the dissolv-
ing views reflected in the lake.

IT was easy to promise self-abnegation when self was
wrapped up in another, and heart and soul were purified by a
sweet example; but when the helpful voice was silent, the daily
lesson over, the beloved presence gone, and nothing remained
but loneliness and grief, then Jo found her promise very hard
to keep. How could she "comfort father and mother," when
her own heart ached with a ceaseless longing for her sister;
how could she "make the house cheerful," when all its light
and warmth and beauty seemed to have deserted it when Beth
left the old home for the new; and where in all the world could
she "find some useful, happy work to do," that would take the
place of the loving service which had been its own reward?
She tried in a blind, hopeless way to do her duty, secretly
rebelling against it all the while, for it seemed unjust that
her few joys should be lessened, her burdens made heavier, and
life get harder and harder as she toiled along. Some people
seemed to get all sunshine, and some all shadow; it was not fair,
for she tried more than Amy to be good, but never got any
reward, only disappointment, trouble, and hard work.

Poor Jo, these were dark days to her, for something like

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