The true northerner. [volume] (Paw Paw, Mich.) 1855-1920, 1877-03-02

perhaps no brothers OF sisters; so as sool
as she was large enough she began Il
help her mother take care of the house
and field. One day, when she was 1.
years old, she heard n man who was
gathering crowd about him in the
streets and talking to them. Drawn by
curiosity, she followed him, and heard
him tell of good man who had at one
time lived on the earth. She heard how
this good person had been kind and for.
giving to his enemies-how men had
cruelty treated him, and yet he returned
good for the evil he had received She
was Interested; it was the first time she
had heard of the Savior, and she eagerly
followed the missionary about and heard
him talk to the people, until at last, from
being heather, she became Christian
girl.
Some months after this, the incident
happened which l am about to relate.
At Morelos, in the province of Guantla,
about five miles from the home of Flor
encia, was cemetery. In that place an
old custom still prevails which was prac-
ticed among the Romans hundreds of
years ago-the offering of meats and
drinks to the dead. On the first of
November Cali Saints day., the people
go to the graves of their dead friends.
fruit, and wine. They have curious
belief that this, in some way, benefits
the dead. We know this to be a heather
custom, and consider it nonsensical
ceremony but in the country where
Florencia lived the ignorant and super
stitious people believe in tin truth, it
is part of their religion. On the first
of November, 1875, Florencia went to
the cemetery with all the other people
from her neighborhood, for a crowd had
collected there. While walking through
the cemetery, she saw her friend, the
missionary, addressing a little band of
his people, and she stopped to listen to
him. He was telling them that the dead
needed no offerings of meats and drinks,
and that Christians did not follow such
customs. 1t may not have been wise or
generous in him to talk against
their custom Just at that particu-
lar time, when the people were follow
ing it as solemn rite but he was sim
cere, and his spirit was friendly, and his
aim was to enlighten his hearers. The
crowd resented, however, and even as he
spoke man near by threw stone mt
him, which wounded him. Then others
laughed, and some bad men shouted,
4" Kill him kill him !'-and others threw
more stones, till he was beaten down to
the ground, wounded and bleeding. Five
times the poor man arose, and as often
was beaten down again. Just then
Florencia saw a man holding large flat
stone, running to throw it upon the mis-
sionarys head, which, had it struck him,
would really have killed him.
Poor little girl Her eyes filled with
tears. She saw her good friend being
stoned to death, and in a moment she
rushed through the mad crowd and
threw herself down upon the suffering,
bleeding man, covering his head with
her arms the big stones intended for
him fell upon her and wounded her, but
she chung courageously to her friend and
shielded him, unmindful of her own dan
ger, and caring only to save his life. In
vain did they try to pull her away she
held on with all her strength, and cried
for help. In few moments help came !;
lOT Iut gems u iIultS uuONc olic uoodildlitS
away, and took the missionary and little
Florencia, both bleeding and sore, to the
house of friends, where they were care
fully nursed. But for this noble act of
self-sacrifice, the man would have been
killed. The bravery of this little peas
ant girl alone saved him. She sympa-
thized with his suffering, and dared to
help him at the risk of her own life.
Noble impulses of the heart do not al
ways attend on fine faces and gentle liv-
ing. Many girl would have run,
screaming with fright, from such a scene
as that in the cemetery of Guantla-
Morelos. But such bravery in child
gives promise of greater things when she
becomes woman and in the noble
Florencia we look for kind-hearted,
generous, self-sacrifcing woman, who,
under proper influences, would do great
good among her country people. She is
now only IA, and is being educated in a
Protestant school in Mexico, away from
her wild home, and is growing daily in
favor with her teachers. -Ne,Oton Per-
kins, IN 81 Nicholas for March.