The spirit of democracy. [volume] (Woodsfield, Ohio) 1844-1994, 1874-04-28
WisrfAanr.
The uucat and the Farshing.


A ducat and farthing 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 beautiful, and the clear sunshine.
glittered upon them
Thou ragamuffin p cried the ducat,
soft with thee! Thou art only made
out of vulgar copper, and art not wor-
thy to be shone upon by the sun Thou
wilt soon be black and dirty, and no
one will think il worth while to pick
thee up from the ground l, on the
contrary. am of costly gold; I shalt
travel through the world to the great
people of the earth-to princes and
kings-I shall do great things, and at
length perhaps, become part of the.
kings crown"
At the same moment, a great white
cat, lying near the fire, rose up, and,
turning round on her side, remarked:
"The under must be uppermost, to
make all even"
And the fate of these two coins was
somewhat the same
The gold piece came into the pos
session of rich miser, who locked it
up in chest among a great number of
other gold pieces. The miser, fearing
that he should soon die, buried all his
gold in the earth, so that no one should
possess it after him: and there lies the
proud ducat till the present time, and it
has grown so black and dirty that no
one would pick it up if he saw it.
The falthing, however, travelled far
through the earth, and came to high
honor; and this is how it occurred:
A lad from the mint received the far
thing 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 far
thing; an old lame beggar came limping
up, and begged piece of bread. 81
have none," said the little girl. "Give-
me then farthing, that l may buy my
self a bit of bread.' said the beggar.-
And the child gave him the farthing.-
The beegar limped away to the bakers.
Whilst he stood in the shop, an old ac-
quaintance, dressed as a pilgrim, with
his cloak, staff, and bag, came up the
street, and gave the children pretty pic
lures o: 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 going 2"
The Pilgrim 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
Iprisoner bv the Turks. But first / am
collecting m ,ney in my box"
$50 take my mite!' said the beggar,
and gave the pilgrim the farthing. The
beggar was walking away hungry as he
came, but the baker, who had been look
ing on, gave The poor old man the bread
he was about to have bought Now the
pilgrim travelled through many lands,
sailed over the sea in little ship, and at
length reached the city of Jerusalem -
When the pilgrim arrived, he 6rst prayed
at the sepulchre, then presented himself
before the Sultan, who held his brother
captive. He offered the Turk a great
sum of money if he would set his broth
er Free But the Turk required more -
II have nothing more to offer thee ,
spake the pilgrim, "lhan this copper far.
thing, which hungry beggar gave me
out of compassion. Be thou also COM
passionate, and the farthlng will reward
Il thee" The Sultan put the farthing in
his pocket, and soon forgot all about it
The Emperor of Germany came to Je
\ rusalem and waged war against the Sui
J tan. The Sultan fought bravely and was
never wounded. Once an arrow was
t shot straight at his breast, struck him
but fell back again without having woun
ded him. The Sultan was much sur
, Iprised at this, and, after the battle, hi:
clothes were examined, and in the breas
+, pocket the farthing was found, agains
5 which the arrow hal struck The Turl
5 held the farthing in great honor,and haC
A it hung with golden chain in the han
| die of his scimitar. Later on in the war
the Sultan was taken prisoner by th'
Emperor, and was forced to yield up hi
sword to him And thus the farthins
came with the sword into the Emperor.
; possession. II q, eea so G.
Whilst the Emperor sat at the table
with beaker of wine in his hand, tht
= Empress said she should like to see th
Sultan's sword; and it was brought A.
the Emperor exhibited it ito the EN-
press, the farthing fell from the godel
chain into the beaker of wine The EN-
: peror perceived this, and before he PLACED
the beaker to his lips, he took out tn
iarthing But the copper was gone,an
it was quite green Then every one saw
that there was poison in the wine 4
wicked attendant had poisoned the wins
,, in order to destroy the Emperor Ths
attendant was condemned to death; bu
! the farthing was placed in the lmperia
. crown
Thus the farthing had delighted
? child, had procured beggar bread, hat
releaseda prisoner, had saved the life o
a Sultan, and of an Emperor There
: !, fore it was set in the Imperial crown,an'
. is there to this dav. II one could onl
; see that clown!- Woods Household
Magazine.
/