The Sun.
London, England, 1851-09-22 00:00:00

THE CHILD AND THE TIGER.

In the far east, " on a stern and rock-bound coast,"
the encroaching waters of the ever-restless ocean have
formed an estuary, separating from the mainland a
bold and beautiful promontory, called from its singu-
lar appearance, " The Dolphin's Nose," o❑ whose green
and richly-wooded summit man, with good taste, has
erected a castellated building, with turrets and towers
overlooking the sea. A covered way leads from the
house to a detached building, surrounded by a very
high wall, by way of protection from beasts of prey.
This formed the sleeping apartment of the widowed
master of the mansion, and in an inner room was the
little bed on which reposed his son and heir, a lovely
boy. A tamp was burning, and the light fell on a
mirror which stood opposite the door, the only article
of furniture to mark that woman once " had part and
portion there." It was midnight—the infant slept
"calm as a child's repose ;" but the father could not
sleep—fast thronging memories of byg ne days, the
thoughts of that dear partner separated from him by
the hand of death, anxieties regarding the welfare of
his child, and official duties, stole over him and com-
bined to keep him watchful. The weather was op.
presaive, though every door and window stood open
to woo each passing breeze. His child awakes and
cries, and the attention of the lonely watcher is at
once arrested; suddenly he observes a dim and
shadowy form creep by him, with stealthy
step, into the room that held his child. Is
it a dream or phantom conjured up by the me-
mories of the past? The light of a solitary lamp
swung from above, and glanced upon the glossy coat
of a huge royal tiger, which, impelled by hunger,
and attracted by the cries of the child, had sprung
over the protecting wall. Oh! the intense, the breath-
less agony of that moment, which allows scarce time
for thought, none for action. The royal brute
sees his own image reflected in the 'mirror, to him
as the image of an enemy; scowl reflects scowl, and
as he crouches for a spring, his silent enemy is pre-
pared also; one wave of his snakelike tail, one indig-
nant growl, one bound, and the mirror falls clashing
around him in countless glittering fragments Scarce
two more bounds, the first through the suite of cham-
iaers, the second over the wall, and he had sped far
av,7ay to his solitary lair, far away in the deep forest,
whore the still night echoes the deep throbbing of his
panting heart; and the father kneels with clasped
hands over the bed of his child ; and when the anima-
tion had returned, when the mantling blood fled back
through his veins, his gratitude to the Almighty
hand which had willed that his child should be
spared, was not loud but deep. He soon followed
his beloved partner to the tomb, and they both lay
buried in a shady spot side by side, unheeding the
"6 summer sun's most piercing rays, and the vexed
ocean at the topmost swell." The infant, thus pre-
served, has since been amidst the roar of cannon and
the clang of war ; he bears a charmed life. The hand
of the God of mercy is upon him, and has not suffered
that one heir of his head should perish.—Colonial
Magazine.

MODEL PARENTS.--An interesting child of ten
years was yesterday taken before the Tribunal of Correc-
tional Police, on the charge of vagabondage.
Ills father,
a man named Berg, presented himself.. "
Do you claim
your child?" said the I'resident. No." "Why ?"
" Because his mother has left me, and I will have
nothing further to do with him." " Was she your
wife ?" "No." "Your conduct is shameful !" cried the
President. The mother, a little, hard-featured woman, then
stepped forward. "Do you claim your child ?" asked the
President. " No." .‘ Why ?" " Because he has been a har-
den to me long enough already. His father may take him if
he will— I have had enough of him !" Indignant murmurs
arose from the auditory, and the Public Prosecutor, after de-
nouncing the scandalous conduct of the parents, demanded
that the case should be put off for the week, in the hope that
some charitable person would in the meantime undertake the
ore of the child, in order to prevent hitu from falling into
Iniavry and parhapa Ga/ignani,
NE W S k lIE

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