Green-Mountain freeman. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1844-1884, 1855-09-13
THE DUCAT AND THE FARTHING.
BY MARY HoWITT.

A ducat and a tarthing had just been coined
in the great mint where all the gold, silver,
and copper pieces are made. The two lay
close, side by side, clean and beautiful, and
the clear sun light glittered upon them.
"Thou rag a-muffin J" cried the ducat, =" of
with you! Thou art only made of vulgar
copper, and art not worthy to be shone upon
by the sun. Thou wilt soon be black and
dirty, and no one will think it worth while to
pick thee up from the ground. 1. on the con-
trary, am Of costly gold. shall travel
through the world to the end, to princes and
kings; I shall do great things, and even, at
length, perhaps, become part of the kings
crown
At the same moment great white cat,
lying near the fire, arose up, and turning
around on her side remarked -
"The under must be uppermost to make all
even.
And the fate of these two coins was some.
what the same.
The gold piece came into the possession Of
rich miser, who locked it up in chest
among great number of other gold pieces
The miser, fearing that he should soon die,
buried all his gold in the earth, SO that no one
should possess it after him; and there lies the
proud ducat uutil this present time, and it has
grown so black and dirty that no one would
pick it up if they saw it.
The farthing, however, travelled far through
the earth, and came to high honor and this
is how it occurred -
A lad from the mint received the farthing
in his wages, and the lads little sister admir-.
ing the bright little coin, he gave it her. The
child ran into the garden to show her mother
the farthing; an old lame beggar came limp.
ing along, and begged piece Of bread. i
have none," said the little girl. "Give me
then farthing that I may buy myself bill
of bread" said the beggar The child gave
him the farthing. The beggar limped away
to the bakers. Whilst he stood in the shop
an old acquaintance, dressed as a pilgrim
with his cloak, staff, and bag came up the
street, and gave the children pretty pictures
of saints and holy men, and the children
dropped pence into the box which the pilgrim
held in his hand. The beggar asked, "Wher'
are you going?" The pilgrim replied, Man.
hundred miles, to the city of Jerusalem, wher
the Lord Jesus was born, and lived, and died
| am going to pray at his holy grave, and buy
the release of my brother, who has been take
prisoner by the Turks. But first 1 am col
ecting money in my box" $50 take m
mite" said the beggar, and gave the pilgrir
the farthing.
The beggar was walking away, hungry q
he came, but the baker, who had looked or
gave the poor old man the bread he was abou
to have bought.
Now the igrim travelled through man
lands, sailed over the sea in little ship, an
at length reached the city Of Jerusalem
When the pilgrim arrived, he first prayed O
the sepulchre, then presented himself bofor
the Sultan, who held his brother captive. II
offered the Turk great sum of money, if h
would on y set his brother free. But tn
Turk required more. 81 have nothing NOR
to offer thee spake the pilgrim, than thi
common farthing, which hungry beggar gay
me out Of compassion. Be thou also CON
passionate, and the iarthing will reward thee
The Sultan put the farthiug in his pocket
and soon forgot all about it. The Emperc
Of Germany came to Jerusalem, and wage
war against the Sultan. The Sultan fougt
bravcly, and was never wounded. Once &
arrow was shot straigh at his breast, it stru,
him, but fell back again without havil
. wounded him. The Sultan was much 81
Is prised at this, and after the battle his cloth
Z were examined, and in the vest pocket Il
u "a larthiug was found, against which, the arrt
T. had struck. The Turk held the farthing
l. great honor, and had it hung with gold
u chain to the handle of his cimeter. Later
.. the war the Sultan was taken prisoner by
~ Emperor and was forced to yield up his swc
!, r. to him. And thus the farthing came with
IL sword into the Emperors possession.
10 Whilst the Emperor sat at the table wit
er beaker Of wine in his hand, the Empress 81
a. she should like to see the Sultans sword, Q
a; it was brought. As.the Emperor exhib
! it to the Empress, the farthing fell from
1 golden chain into the beaker of wine. I
NJ Emperor perceived this, and before he pla,
~ the beaker to his lips, he took out the farthi
We But the farthing was grown quite gre
ut Then every one saw that the wine was pois
We A wicked attendant had poisoned the VIM
ne order to destroy the Emperor. The attend
ut was condemned to death; but the fartt
ID was placed in the imperial crown.
u, Thus the iarthiug had delighted Oh
VA had procured beggar bread, had release
"a prisoner, had saved the life of Sultan,
~ of an Emperor. Therefore it was set in
imperial crown, and is there to.day-if
could only SEQ the crown.
int