"You are right not to be a wood-turner Jo," said Dan, when his friend related to him the substance of the family discussions. "If my legs were like yours, I wouldn't be."
Dan called his friend "Jo." It was not quite right for Joshua, he said, but it sounded pretty. And so it did, especially from his lips.
"I wish your legs _were_ like mine, Dan," said Joshua.
"It's of no use wishing," replied Dan. "You know what mother says; it takes all sorts to make a world."
"Yes," answered Dan merrily; "and long ones and short ones, and thick ones and thin ones. Besides, if I had the strongest and biggest legs in the world, I don't think I should be happier than I am."
"But wouldn't you like to be a hero--the same as I am going to be?" asked Joshua.
"We can't all be heroes. You go and fight with lions; I will stop and play with birds. I couldn't tame lions; but I _can_ tame birds." Which he could, and did.
Dan was fond of speaking about lions because his name was Daniel; and many and many a time had he and Joshua read the wonderful story of Daniel in the lions' den. Joshua did not know much of the Bible until Dan introduced it to him, and read to him in his thin sweet voice the marvellous romances in that Book of books.
"There was a hero for you!" exclaimed Joshua admiringly, referring to the biblical "I wonder what made him so brave."
"Because he was doing what he knew to be right," replied Dan.
"I dare say," was the acquiescent rejoinder.
"And because he was not afraid to speak the truth even to Belshazzar; and because, above all, he believed in God. So God delivered him."
"All because he was doing right," said Joshua.
"All because he was doing right," repeated Dan. "I'm not a bit brave; that is because I am lame, perhaps. If I was thrown into a lions' den I should die of fear--I am sure I should; but if I was thrown into a birds' cage, full of strange birds, I would soon make friends with them; they would come and eat out of my hand in no time."