A CHILD’S PRESENCE OF MIND.
Clara Mac Ewan, the twelve-year-old daughter of Mrs. William R. Mac Ewan, of Portland, is not very large nor very strong; but to her presence of mind and courage her little sister and Earnest Stryte, a boy of about her own age, owe their lives. July 5 the children were bathing in La Camas Lake, near the shores of which Mrs. Mac Ewan and her family are spending the summer. Other children were with them, and all were splashing about in high glee in the shallow water, when the little Stryte boy suddenly got beyond his depth, and began to sink, shouting lustily for help. Without a moment’s hesitation, little Helen Mac Ewan swam after him, and seized his arm; but the lad’s struggles proved too much for her slender strength, and to the horror of the other children, all but one of whom were paralyzed with fear, she sank from sight. Clara’s courage had not deserted her. She no sooner saw her sister disappear than she dived after her, but was unable to bring the two children, now locked in a despairing embrace, to the surface. There was no time to be lost, and she didn’t lose any. Coming to the surface, she made the other children understand that they must form a line by taking hold of hands. Then seizing the hand of the largest, she pulled the astonished children out up to their neck in water, and, still keeping her grasp on the tallest child, dived again, laid hold of her sister with her free hand, and the children waded ashore, dragging their half-drowned companions to safety. It was all done in the space of time that a man usually allots to thinking what to do in a case of that kind; and as an instance of courage and coolness it has probably never been surpassed.