"
"It is a name that we shall all have cause to remember. Gentlemen,"
continued the merchant, turning to the group around him, "you see before
you the preserver of your lives. Shall his act go unrewarded?"
"No, no!" was the general exclamation.
"I don't want any reward," said Robert, modestly. "Any boy would have
done as much."
"I don't know about that, my young friend. There are not many boys, or
men, I think, that would have had the courage to act as you did. You may
not ask or want any reward, but we should be forever disgraced if we
failed to acknowledge our great indebtedness to you. I contribute one
hundred dollars as my share of the testimonial to our young friend."
"I follow with fifty!" said his next neighbor, "and shall ask for the
privilege of taking him by the hand."
Robert had won honors at school, but he had never before been in a
position so trying to his modesty. The passengers, following the example
of the last speaker, crowded around him, and took him by the hand,
expressing their individual acknowledgments for the service he had
rendered them. Our hero, whom we now designate thus appropriately, bore
the ordeal with a self-possession which won the favor of all.
While this was going on, the collection was rapidly being made by the
merchant who had proposed it. The amounts contributed varied widely, but
no one refused to give.
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