Dodgeville chronicle. [volume] (Dodgeville, Wis.) 1862-current, 1869-04-30
A Brave and Noble Boy.

The New York Sun gives brief chap
ter on the "Heroism of Humble Life,
and appends the following touching illus
tration:
Perhaps the finest of these modern in
stances occurred two weeks ago on boar
an English steamer. A little ragged
boy, aged about nine years, was discovered
on the fourth day of the outward voyage
from Liverpool to New York, and car
ried before the first mate, whose duty was
to deal with such cases. When cues
toned as to the object of his being slowed
away, and who brought him on board,
the boy, who had a beautiful sunny face,
and eyes that looked like the very mir
rors of truth, replied that his step-father
did it, because he could not afford to keep
him, nor to pay his passage out to Halifax,
where he had an aunt who was well off, and
to whose house he was going. The mate
did not believe the story, in spite of the
winning face and truthful accents of the
boy. He had seen too much of stow
Always to be easily deceived by them, he
said; and it was his firm conviction that
the boy had been brought on board, and
provided with food by the sailors. The
little fellow was very roughly handled
in consequence. Day by day he was
questioned and requestioned, but always
with the same result. He did not know
a sailor on board, and his father alone
had secreted him and given him Ire food
which he ate.
At last the mate wearied by the boy, per-
sistence in the same story and perhaps \ lit
tie anxious to inculpate the sailors, seized
him one day by the collar, and dragging
him to the fore, told him that unless he
confessed the truth in ten minutes from
that time he would hang him on the yard
arm. He then made him sit down under
it on the deck. ALI around him were the
passengers and sailors of the midday
watch, and in front of him stood the mex
orable mate, with his chronometer in his
hand, and the other officers of the ship by
his side. 1t was the finest sight, said our
informant, that we ever beheld, to see the
pale, proud, sorrowful face of that noble
boy-his head erect, his beautiful eyes
bright through the tears that suffused
them. When eight minutes had fed, the
mate told him he had but two minutes to
live, and advised him to speak the truth
and save his life, but he replied with the
utmost simplicity and sincerity, by asking
the mate if he might pray.
The mate said nothing, but nodded his
neau, ana turned as pale as ghOSt, and
shook with trembling like reed with the
wind. And there, all eyes turned on him,
this brave and noble little fellow, this poor
waif whom society owned not, and whose
own step-father could not care for him
there he knelt with clasped hands and
eyes uplifted to heaven, while he repeated
audibly the Lords Prayer, and prayed the
dear Lord Jesus to take him to heaven.
Our informant adds that there then oc-
CURED scene as of Pentecost. Sobs
broke from strong, hard hearts, as the
mate sprang forward to the boy and
clasped him to his bosom, and kissed him
and blessed him, and told him how sin
cerely he believed his story, and how glad
he was that he had been brave enough to
face death and be willing to sacrifice his
own life for the truth of his own word.