The Evansville daily journal. [volume] (Evansville, Ia. [i.e. Ind.]) 1848-1862, 1855-11-10
THE DUcAT AND THE FARTHING


A ducat and farthing had just been coined in
a great mint where all the gold, silver and cop
per pieces are made The two lay close, side
by side, clean and beautiful, and the clear
sunlight glittered upon them.
''Thou rag-a- muffin!' cried the ducat, "offl
with thee! Thou art only made for vulgar cop
per, and art not worthy to be shone upon by
the sun. Thou wilt soon be black and dirty,
and TO one will think it worth while to pick
thee up from the ground. l on the contrary,
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, per-
haps, become part of the kings crown"
At the same momenta great white cat, ly-
ing near the fire, rose up and turning round
on her side remarked: fssif .ssss
"The under must be uppermest to make all
eyen'
And the fate of those two coins was some
what the same. ala s ssE ofal i9gg9
The gold piece came into the possession of
a rich miser, who locked it up in chest among
a great number of other gold pieces. The mi
SER fearing that he should soon die, buried all
his gold in the earth, so that no one could pos
sess, it after him, and there lies the proud du-
cat till this present time, and it has grown so
black and dirty that no one would pick itupI
if they saw it. 63 q. hslievuxf aed Estd
The farthing, however, travelled far through
the Garth, and came to high honor and this is
how it occurred: st
A lad in the mint received the farthing in
his wages, and the lads little sister admiring
the bright little coin, he gave it to her. The
child ran into the gardento show her mother the
farthing: an old lame beggar came limping up
and begged piece ofbread. II have none"
said the little girl. ''Give me- then, farthing
that / may buy myself bit of bread, . said the
beggar. The child gave him the iarthing.
The beggar limped away to the bakers. Whilst
he stood in the shop an old acquaintance,
dressed as 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, "Where are you going2' The pilgrim
replied, ''Many hundred miles, to the city ofI
Jerusalem, where the Lord Jesus was born,
and lived, and died; l am going to pray at his
holy grave, and to buy the release of my broth
er, who has been taken prisoner by the Turks.
But first, | am collecting money in my box"
$50 take my mite,' said the beggar, and he gave
the pilgrim the farthing.
The beggar was walking away, hungry as he
came, but the baker, who had looked on, gave
the poor old man the bread he was about to
have bought. A ~ lA u
Now, the pilgrim Travelled through many
lands, sailed over sea in a little ship, and at
length reached the city of Jerusalem. When
the pilgrim arrived, he first prayed at the
sepulchre, and then presented himself before
the Sultan, who held his brother captive. He
offered the Turk great sum of money if he
would only set his brotherfrce But the Turk
required more Il have nothing more to offer
thee spake the pilgrim bat this common farth-
ing. which a hungry beggar gave me out Of
compassion Be thou also compassionate, and
the farthing will reward thee"
The Sultan put the farthing in his pocket,
and soon forgot all about 1T. The Emperor OF
Germany came to Jerusalem, and waged war
against the Sultan. The Sultan fought bravely
and was never wounded. Once an arrow was
shot straight at his breast-it struck him, but
fell back again without having wounded MN
Phe Sultan was much surprised at this, and,
after the battle, his clothes were examined,
land in the breast pocket the farthing was
found against which the arrow had struck.
The Turk held the farthing in great honor, and
had it hung with golden chain to the handle
i of his sciTnetar. Later on in the war, the Sui
tan was taken prisoner liy the Emperor and
was forced to weld up his sword to him. And
.lthus the farthing came with his sword into the
IEmperor's possession. ..s..
Whist the Emperor sat at the table with a
lbeaker of wine in his hand, the Empress said
lshe should like TO see the Sultan's sword, and
lit was brought AS the Emperor exhibited it
to the Empress, the farthing fell from the
Golden chain into the beaker ofwine. The
Emperor perceived this, and before he placed
the beaker to his lips, he took out the farthinga
] But the farthing was grown quite green. Then
every one saw the wine was poison. A wicked
attendant had poisoned the wine in order to
DESTROY the Emperor. The attendant was
condemned to death; but the farthing was
placed in the imperial crown.
Thus the farthing had delighted child, had
lprocured beggar bread, had released prison
Ter, had saved the life of a Sultan, ana ol an
! Emperor. Therefore it was set IN the lmpelial
tcrown and isthere to-day--if one o0uio V'''y