Vermont watchman and State journal. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1836-1883, 1872-05-29
The P's;ory Of a Penny.

In the mint, where all pounds shillings
and pence are maze, there once were a gold
ducat and penny just coinel There they
lay shining and clear, close together on a ta-
Bile, aud the bright rays Of the sun danced
aud sparkled on them.
Then said the sovereign to the penny, " You
lump, get away from me You are only
made Of common copper, and are not worthy
the sunlight that shines on you. You will
soon be lying all black aud dirty on the
ground, and no one will take the trouble to
pick you up. | am made of costly gold. |
shall travel about in the world with great
lords and princes shall DO great things,
aud perhaps some day shine 10 the Emperor's
crown
10 the same room there lay by the fire an
old gray cat. When he heard this he licked
his paws thoughtfuly, turned himself round
on the other side, aud said, " Some things 60
by the rule Of contrary"
Aud 30 it proved with the pieces Of money.
1t turned out the very contrary Of what the
gold ducat expected.
1t fell into the possession of an old miser,
who locked it up in great chest, where 1t
lay idle and useless with hundreds oil others
like itself But when the old miser found
that he should not live much longer, he buried
all his money in the ground that no one might
get it and there lies the proud ducAt to this
day, dirty and black, and no one will ever
fnd it.
But the penny travelled far about in the
world, aud came to high honor. And this is
how it happened
First one of the poor boys at the mint re-
ceived it in his wages. He carried it home,
and as his little sister was so delighted with
the clean, shining penny, he gave it to her.
The child ran out into the garden to show
it to her mother, and saw poor lame beggar
passing by, who begged for bit of bread.
" have not got any" said the child.
Then give me penny tc buy some y
said the beggar, and the child gave him her
new penny.
The beggar limped off to the bakers.
his passed by dressed as pilgrim, with man
tie staff and scrip He gave to some chill
dren, who were standing round the bakers
door pictures of good and holy men, and the
children in return put some money into the
little box he had in his hand. The beggar
asked d" Where are you travelling to p
The pilgrim answered, " Many hundred
miles away to the city of Jerusalem, where
the Holy Christ dwelt and died. | wish to
offer up my prayers at his grave, and redeem
my brother, who is prisoner in the hands
of the Turks. 1t is for this purpose that |
beg for money
" Then take a mite towards it from me, p"
said the beggar and he gave his penny to the
pilgrim. and would have gone away as hungry
as he came, had not the baker, who saw all
that had passed, given him the loaf which he
had wished to buy.
Aud now the pilgrim wandered through
many lands, aud went in ship far over the sea
to the holy city Of Jerusalem. When he arriv-
ed there, he first offered up his prayers at the
Sepulchre Of the Holy Christ and then went
to the Turkish Sultan who kept his brother a
prisoner. He offered the Turk large sum
of money if he would set his brother free.
But the Sultan wanted more.
The pilgrim said II have nothing more
to offer you but this copper penny, which was
given to me by a poor hungry beggar, out OF
compassion May you also have pity as he
had, and this copper penny will secure you a
reward
Then the Sultan took compassion on him
and set his brother free, and he received the
penny from the pilgrim.
The Sultan put the copper penny in his
pocket, and after little while forgot all
about it, Now it happened that after time
the emperor Of Germany came to Jerusalem
to fight against the Sultan. So the Sultnr
fought bravely at the head of his army, and
was never wounded but one day an arrow
was aimed right at his breast; it struck him
indeed, but glanced off from his clothes with
out wounding him. The Sultan was very
much surprised, and when his clothes wer'
examined after the battle, the penny wa
found in the pocket, and this had caused tn,
arrow to glance off So the Sultan priced the
: penny very much, and had it fastened with
golden chain to the hilt of his curved sword
Some time afterwards, the Sultan was mad
prisoner by the emperor, and had to yield ul
his sword to his conqueror. 80 the penn.
came into the possession of the emperor
One day when the emperor was sitting a
table, and was just in the act Of raising hi
goblet to his lips, the empress said she wa
very anxious to see the curved Turkish sword
So il was brought iu, and as the emperor wa
showing it to the empress, the penny becam
unfasteued and fell into the goblet of wine
The emperor saw it, and before drinking til
j. wine, he took out the penny. But when b
looked at it he perceived that the penny ha
> become quite green. This showed everybod
} that there was poison in the goblet. A wick
!, !, ed servant had mixed the poison, hoping b
kill the emperor. The servant was ordere
to execution, but the penny was set in tn
emperor's crown.
= So this penny made child happy, CAV
bread to a begear, delivered prisoner, save
i a sultan from being wounded, aud preserve
the life OF an emperor 1t deserved to be Sc
h in an emperor's crown. Perhaps it is ther
4 to this day. il We could only see the crow
: The Children'S Hour,