Green-Mountain freeman. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1844-1884, 1872-08-07
The family Circle.
The History of a Penny,

follow from small causes. The following
fable from the German, taken from the
Children'S Hour, may prompt our young
readers still TO give their pennies to send
blessings to the heather children, and
never to lose any opportunity, however
small, to do good
In the mint where all our pounds,
shillsngs, and pence are made, there once
were a gold ducat and a penny, just coin
ed. There they lay, shining and clean,
close together on table and the bright
rays of the sun danced and sparkled on
them.
Then said the sovereign to the penny
" You jump, get away from me. You are
only made Of common copper, and are not
worthy of the sunlight that shines on you.
You will soon be lying all black and dirty
on the ground, and no one will take the
trouble of picking you up l am made OF
costly gold. l shall travel about the worl d
with great lords and princes l shall do
many things, and perhaps some day shine
in the Emperor's crown"
In the same room there lay by the fire
an old gray cat. When he heard this, he
licked his paws thoughtfully, turned him
self around on the other side, and said,
/" Some things 60 by the rule Of contrary"
And so 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 it lay idle and useless with hundreds
of 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 find it.
But the penny travelled far about in the
world, and it came to high honor. And
this is how it happened
First, one Of the poor boys at the mint
received it in his wages. He carried it
home, and as his little sister was 50 delight
ed 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 a poor,
lame beggar passing by, who begged for a
piece of bread.
+" l have not got any, said the child.
" Then give me penny TO buy some,
said the beggar; and the child gave him
her new penny.
The beggar limped off to the bakers.
Just as he came to the shop, an old friend
Of his passed by dressed as a pilgrim,
with mantle, staff, and scrip. He gave to
some children, 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, Where
are you travelling to -
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 a prisoner in
the hands of the Turks. 1t Is for this
purpose that l beg for money
Then take mite toward it from me. 90
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 wished to buy.
And now She pilgrim wandered through
many lands, and went in a ship far over
the sea to the holy city of Jerusalem.
When he arrived there, he first offered up
his prayers at the sepulcher of the Holy
Christ, and then went to the Turkish Sui
tan who kept his brother prisoner He
I offered the Turk a large sum of money if
he would set his brother free But the
Sultan wanted more.
The pilgrim said, " l have nothing more
to offer you but this copper penny, which
was given to me by 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 re-
ceived the penny from the pilgrim.
The Sultan put the copper penny in his
pocket, and after a little while forgot ali
about it. Now it happened that after a
time the Emperor of Germany came TO
Jerusalem to fight against the Sultan. So
the Sultan fought bravely at the head OF
his army, and was never wounded but
one day an arrow was aimed at his right
breast it struck him, indeed, but glanced
I off from his clothes without wounding him
The Sultan was very much surprised, and
1 when his clothes were examined after the
battle, the penny was found in the pocket,
and this had caused the 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
afterward the Sultan was made prisoner
by the Emperor, and had to yield up his
sword to his conqueror. So the penny
came into the possession of the Emperor.
One day when the Emperor was sitting
at the table, and was just in the act Of
raising his goblet to his lips, the Empress
said She was anxious to see the curved
Turkish sword. So it was brought in, and
as the Emperor was showing it to the En-
press the penny became unfastened and
fell into the goblet Of wine. The Emperor
saw it. and before drinking the wine be
took out the penny. But when he looked
at it he perceived that the penny had turn
ed quite green. This showed everybody
that there was poison in the goblet A
wicked servant had mixed the poison.
hoping to kill the Emperor. The servant
was ordered to execution, but the penny
was set in the Emperor's crown. So til :
penny made child happy, gave bread to
beggar, delivered a prisoner, saved a
Sultan from being wounded, and preserved
the life of an Emperor. 1t deserved to
be set in an Empcror's crown. Perhaps
it is there to this day, if we could only
see the crown.