American Lancaster gazette. [volume] (Lancaster, Ohio) 1855-1860, 1855-05-17
THE DUoAT AND THE FARTHINe.
By MARY HowIrr.

a ducat and 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 besu-
tiful, and the clear sunlight glittered upon
them.
"Thou ragsmuffn! cried the ducat, off
with thee! Thou art only made out Of
vulgar copper, and are not worthy to be
shone upon by the sun. Thou wilt soon be
black and dirty, and no one will think it
wortha while to pick thee up from the
ground. l, on the contrary, am of costly
gold; shall travel through the world to
the great people of the eartb--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,
laying near the fire, rose up and turning
round on her side, remarked:-
"rhe under mustbe uppermost to make
all even"
And the fate of these two coins was
somewhat the same. 3a
The gold piece came into the possession
of rich miser, woh locked it up in chest
among great number of other gold pieces,
The miser, fearing that he should soon die,
buried his gold in the earth, SO that no one
should possess it after him; and there lies
the proud ducat till this present time, and
it has grown so black and dirty, that no
one would pick it up if he saw it. t
The farthing, however, travelled through
the earth, and came to high honor; and
this is how it occurred:
A lad from the mint received the farth-
ing in his wages, and the lads little sister
admiring the bright little coin. he gave it
to her. The child ran into the garden to
show her mother the farthing; an old
lame beggarcame limping up, and begged
piece of bread. 81 have none," said the
little girl, "Give me then afarthing, that
| may buy myself bit of bread, said the
beggar. And the child gave him the far
thing. The beggar fmped 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 prettey pictures of
saints and holy men, and the children
dropped pence into the box which the pill
grim held in his hand. The beggar ask
ed, "Where are you goiug?" The pill.
grim replied. MANY hundred miles to the
city of Jerusalem, where the dear Lord
Jesus was born. and lived, and died; am
going to pray at his holy grave, and to
buy the release Of my brother, 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 Took
ed on, gave TIE poor old man tie bread he
was about to have bought d
Now, the pilgrim travelled through many
lands, said over sea in little ship, and at
length reached the city of Jerusalem
When the pilgrim arrived, he first prayed
at the sepulchre, then presented himself
before the Sultan, who held his brother
captive. He offered the Turk great sim
of money, if he would only sethis brother
free. But the Turk required more. II
have nothing more to offer thee," spake
the pilgrim, ethan this common farthing,
which beggar gave me out of compass
sion..' "Be thou also compassionate, and
the farthing reward thee" .a4E
The Sultan put the farthingin his pock
ct, and soon forgot all aboutit- The En-
peror of Germany came to Jerusalem, and
waged war against the Sultan. The Sui
tan fought bravelyj and was never wound
ed. Once an arrow, was shot straight at
his breast--it struck him but fell back a.
gain without having wounded him. The
Sultan was much surprised at this, and af
ter the battle, his clothes were examined,
and in the breast booklet, the farthing was
found against which the arrow had struck.
The Turk held the farthing in great honor,
and had it thung with golden chain to the
handle Of, his scimetar. Later on in the
war, the Sultan was taken prisoner by the
Emperor, and was forced to yield up his
sword into the Emperor's possession.
Whilst the Emperor sat at table with
beaker of wine in his hand, the Empress
SAID she should like to see the Sullans
sword; and it was brought. AS the EN-
peror exhibited it to the Empress, the far
thing fell from the golden chain into the
beaker of wine. The Emperor perceived
this, and before he placed the beaker to his
lips, he took out the farthing. But the
farthing was grown quite green. Then
every one saw that there was poison in the
wine. 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 Imperi-
al crown. '" ~
Th1s the farthing had delighted achild,
had procured beggar bread, had released |
aprisoner, had saved the life of Sultan,
and of an Emperor. Therefore it was set
in the Imperial crown, and is there to this
day-ifone could only see, that crownl
To SHAKE OFF TRoUB1E.-Set about
doing good to somebody; put on your hat
and 90 and visit the poor; inquire into
their wants and administer unto them; seek
out the desolate and oppressed. and tell
them ofithe consultations of religion. /
have often tried this method. and have al
ways found it the best medicine for a heavy
heart.--HoWdrd