The violent grinding of brakes and the harsh skidding of tires gradually died away as the big car came to a stop. Eddie quickly pulled himself up from the dusty pavement where he had been thrown, and looked wildly around. Agnus - where was the little sister he had been holding by the hand as they started to cross the street? The next moment he saw her . . . under the big car that had run them down. Her eyes were closed and a dark stain slowly spread over her little white face. With a bound the boy was under the car trying to move the girl. "you'd better not try, son", said a man gently. "someone has gone to call an ambulance." She's not dead . . . Is she mister" he begged in a husky voice? The man stooped and felt the limp little pulse. "no", he said slowly. A policeman came and dispersed the crowd and carried the unconscious girl into a nearby drugstore. Eddie's folded coat made a pillow for her head until the ambulance arrived. He was allowed to ride in the ambulance with her to the hospital. There was something about the mysterious shabbily-dressed boy who couldn't be more than ten years old and his devotion to his little sister strangely touched the hearts of the hardened hospital staff. "we must operate at once", said the surgeon after a brief preliminary examination. "she has been injured internally and has lost a great deal of blood." He turned to Eddie, who articulate with grief, stood dumbly by. "where do you live?" Eddie told him their father was dead and their mother did day work, but he didn't know where. "we can't wait to find her . . . For by then . . It might be too late. Eddie waited in the sitting room while the surgeon worked over Agnus. After what seemed like an eternity, a nurse appeared. "Eddie", she said kindly, "your sister is bad - the doctor wants to make a transfusion. Do you know what that is?"- Eddie shook his head. "she's lost so much blood, that she won't live unless someone gives her his. Will you do it for her?" Eddie's long face grew paler and he gripped the knobs of the chair so tight his knuckles grew white. For a moment he hesitated. Then gulping back his tears, he nodded his head and stood up. "that's a good lad", said the nurse. She patted his head and led the way to the elevator which whisked them to the operating room. No one spoke to Eddie except the nurse who directed him in a low voice on how to prepare for the ordeal. He listened to her with lower lip quivering and silently obeyed. "are you ready", asked a man swathed in white from head to foot, turning from the table over which he had been bending. For the first time Eddie noticed who was lying there so still. Little Agnus. And he was going to make her well. He stepped forward quickly. Two hours later, the surgeon looked up with a smile into the faces of the interns and nurses, who were engrossed in watching a great man's work. "fine", he said. "I think she'll pull through". After the transfusion, Eddie had been told to lie quietly on a cot in a corner of the room. In the excitement of the delicate operation, he had been entirely forgotten. "it was wonderful, doctor", exclaimed one of the interns, "a miracle", nothing in his education could equal the miracles and marvels of surgery, he didn't believe anything could be greater than science. "I am well satisfied", said the surgeon with conscious pride. Then there was a tug at his sleeve, which he did not notice. In a little while, there was another tug, this time more convincing. The great surgeon looked down to see a ragged pale-faced boy looking steadily up into his face. "a, see ... Doctor, . . . " said a husky voice, "when do I die?"?. . . . The interns laughed and the surgeon smiled, "why, what do you mean?, I thought when you took a guy's blood, he died," , . , the smiles quickly faded from the doctors and nurses. The young intern who thought there was nothing greater than the marvels of science caught his breath suddenly.

We are told about many pairs of friends in history and in stories, like David and Jonathan in the Old Testament, who were famous for their love and devotion to each other, but when we want to say that two men are the finest and truest of friends, we say they are like Damon and Pythias. These two boys grew up in the city of Syracuse at a time when it was ruled by the Tyrant Dionysius. He was a very able man who had gained his power by leading the army of Syracuse to victory. At first, Dionysius had ruled well and justly, but gradually he became more and more tyrannical. The people murmured so much against him and his harsh laws that he began to be afraid some of them would try to kill him. He lived in constant fear of this, and he did not trust anybody. At that time Damon and Pythias were about twenty years old. They were both brave and fearless, and Damon had dared to speak openly against one of the tyrant's laws. Dionysius therefore had him shut up in prison and declared he would have his head cut off on a certain day. When Damon knew he was to be killed, he asked Dionysius to let him be free for a month first, so that he could go and say goodbye to his father and mother who lived in another town far away from Syracuse. He promised faithfully that if Dionysius would let him do this, he would come back at the end of the month and have his head cut off. Dionysius laughed loud and long at this request. "You would never come back," he said to Damon. "What pledge could you possible give me that would make me feel sure that you would return here to be killed? No, you will have to stay in prison till the day you are to die." When Pythias heard of this he did not wait a moment. He went straight to Dionysius and said to him, "I will stay in prison in place of Damon if you will let him go. I know he will come back on the day he says. If he does not return then you can kill me instead." Dionysius was filled with astonishment and at first he thought that Pythias was not in earnest. When he was convinced that Pythias meant exactly what he said and was ready to stay in prison while Damon was away, he declared that Damon could go free for the month on the condition that he would return and be killed on the day fixed for his execution. So Pythias went into the prison and waited there patiently while Damon took a ship and sailed away to see his father and mother once more before he died. The time passed by until it came to the last day before that fixed for Damon's execution. There was no sign of Damon, but Pythias still had perfect confidence in him and felt sure that he would come back as he had promised. "The winds have been against him," he said, "or he has been held back for some other reason which he could not help. He will keep his word." The day of the execution dawned. The jailer came to the prison cell to lead Pythias out to die in the place of Damon. Just as they reached the prison door, Damon came running up. His ship had been held up by a storm, and he had only reached the harbor of Syracuse that morning, just in time. Dionysius was so struck by the trust of these two friends and their love for each other that he pardoned Damon, and let them both go free. "I would give all my power," he said, "to know that I had one friend who cared for me as Damon does for Pythias and Pythias for Damon."

A dog went with his master every day to the bus stop. The man went to work in a powder factory and the dog went home. At four o'clock the dog would meet the man at the bus and they would walk home together. One day an explosion at work killed the man. The dog went to the bus stop, but didn't find his master. For the next five years he went to the bus stop to meet his master, but didn't find him. One day the dog died on his way to the bus stop.

Miser had never given anyone anything is his life. One day he fell in a river and couldn't get out. He was in great danger. A young man saw him and reaching out his hand, said, "Give me your hand." The miser would rather drown than give anything. The young man thought quickly and said, "Here, take my hand". The man took it and was saved.

Thirst for the living water. A ship was partially wrecked in a storm and it drifted for days. The people were dying of thirst. They saw another ship and signaled for water. It replied, let down your buckets where you are. Again they asked. Again the same reply. They had drifted into the mouth of a large river. They were dying from lack of knowledge.

Auction of motor bikes in Sweden. A little boy really wanted a bike, but only had one dollar. Each time he bid one dollar, but he price always went higher. Finally the last bike was being auctioned and the little boy bid one dollar, but the bidding went higher. The auctioneer bought the bike and gave it to the little boy. The little boy hugged him and cried.

A young boy was assigned by his father to move a large rock. He tugged, pulled, pushed and struggled to no avail. Some friends came to his aid, but together they couldn't move it. Reluctantly, the boy reported to his father that he couldn't move it. "Have you done all you could do," the father asked the boy. "Yes, I've tried everything" the boy replied. "Everything". "Yes, everything". "No, my son, you haven't. You haven't asked me."