The Manitowoc tribune. [volume] (Manitowoc, Wis.) 1866-1878, 1875-11-04
A KNIGHT OF LOW DEGREE.
BY CHARLES PORTER SUMNER.

All Of us have heard or read of the
'tknights of high degree" who, in the
olden times, assumed the vows of chi
valry, and devoted their lives to valorous
deeds for the rescue of the victims of
tyranny, and the succoring of the poor
and distressed.
Many people believe land with good
reason, considering how great the power
of the demon of selfshness has become)
that the days of chiyalry have ended long
ago, and that they never will return.
Sometimes, however, we see deed done
or hear it related, which seems to prove
that the spirit of the sstrue knights of
old still fingers in the world though
such deeds are now, it would appear,
oftenest performed by the humble and
the lowly rather than by the high-born
sons of mobiles and kings.
Let me tell you the story of Knight
of Low Degree, who lived in these sell
fish modern days of ours, and had no
claim whatever to rank or coat-armor,
yet who was fit to couch 4 lance by the
side of Bayard, sswithout fear and with
out reproach," or to aid, in the killing
of the Dragon, the good st. George
himself
The title of our Knight of Low De-
gree was simply Ben, the Bootblack,
and he lived in the mighty city of Lon
don-a mere speck of dust, and of no
more consequence, at the bottom of that
seething sea of humanity. He was not
Benjamin Rogers, or Benjamin Jones
not even Benjamin, in full at all. No
thing more than plain Ben-that was all
the name he ever had, and he not even
know how he came possessed of that.
Ihave added the title of the ssBootblack''
to give our knight the dignity of the
trade, by which he kept himself from
starvation /; for labor is dignity, and
there is no road by which any man can
attain to true honor.
The mystery of his want of longer
name is easily seen through when tell
you that he was one of that strange class
in London life who have never known
their parents, never knew home, who
have rarely slept under roof, and who
never know, through all their child-life,
what it is to have enough to eat. There
are many hundreds of such children in
that city, and the only one thing, in
which Ben differed from the mass OF
them was, that he really had within him
the spirit of the ancient chivalry. Not
that he knew it or would have under
stood anything about it if any one had
told him.
Born under a hedge, perhaps, and
certainly deserted in the streets, by
mother who might not have done so if
she could have helped it, at the earliest
moment of lis life, when it could be
done with safety to her, he had subsist
ed on the charity of the poorest of the
poor until he was old enough to under
stand that he must get food for himself.
After that his life had been continuous
fight for bread sufficient to keep that
life within him, and you certainly could
not expect that he should know anything
about knight errantry, or, indeed, about
anything except read-getting.
In short, Ben, the Bootblack, was one
of the poorest and most ignorant among
the poorest and most ignorant children
of the great city; and if it had not been
for the two incidents in his wretched
life of which I am going to tell you, he
might have lived, and died, and b4en
buried in the Potter's Field, and no one
could ever have known that he was ac-
tually hero, even as some of the
knight-errants were whose names will
live in history to the end of time.
''Thunder and lightning is he killed?
What in all Jerusalem did he git in the
way for2
'tGently, Sam, gently. Lift him up
carefully to the seat here"
Out of a sudden crash and roar, sharp
per and shriller than the usual, all day
long crash and roar of a busy London
street, these two brief speeches made
themselves heard with power that al
most stilled the tumult-the first because
of the manifest sorrow that mingled
with its angry tone, and the second be-
cause il was uttered in woman's voice,
full of tender pity and grief.
The singular ordinations used by the
first speaker that is, in a
London atmosphere-told the crowd
about them that he was an American,
and the promptness with which he obey
ed the second speakers mild command
Though it involved the certain ruin of
the splendid carriage cushi ons) inform
ed the said crowd with an equal certain
| ty that she was his wife.