As reported in the " Services of the Life-boats," the motor life-boat at Stornoway, on the Island of Lewis, in the Hebrides, was called out shortly before midnight on 14th February, to the help of two fishing boats off Tolsta Head, twenty-two miles away.

One of them succeeded in getting into North Tolsta without help. The other, with her mast and oars broken, was towed in by the' life-boat. The little village of North Tolsta, which has a population of under a thousand people, at once collected over ten pounds for the Institution in admira- tion for this rescue; and a crofter fisherman of the village, Mr. Kenneth MacDonald, wrote two sets of verses, one describing the service and the other, called " The Life-boat Fund," making an appeal to the public to help the service. By his kind permission, and that of the editor of the Stornoway Gazette, we quote the following verses from the appeal: Few fisherfolk e'er wind their way To banks to cash their cheques, And fewer still be they who'll see Friends perishing in wrecks.

* * * * Brown pennies help to swell the fund.

A shilling for a drink ! Before you spend another such, Will you not stop to think ? A boat is helpless off the coast, And death looms very near, Minutes drag as long as hours.

" Is there a life-boat here ? " Times are bad, yes, so are you, If you refuse a bob, To help the boat to rush out there, With Crockett on the job.

A life-boat I shall never need—• Ah, do not be so sure, For many who are really rich Are numbered with the poor.

Not long ago I read of one Whose handmarks simply " read ": " By drowning you will meet your end "— The sea was now his dread.

Far from the sea he did remove, To counteract the " spell." He met his fate by drowning : note— By slipping down a well! Show sympathy and common sense And money from your purse ; Indifference and callousness May bring an orphan's curse.

True charity will never fail; Be careful sowing seed : The reapers may of you declare : " A Christian in deed.".