Green-Mountain freeman. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1844-1884, 1884-02-13

SOMETHING CURIOUS HAPPENED.-A
boy ten years old pulling heavy carl
loaded with pieces of boards and lath taken
from some demolished structure-an every
day sight in all our large cities. Tired
and exhausted he halted under q shade
tree. His feet were bruised and core, his
clothes in rags. his face pinched and
looking years older than it should. What
must be the thoughts of such child as he
looks out upon the world-the fine houses.
the rich dresses the rolling carriages-the
happy faces of those who have never
known what it was to be poor? Does it
harden the heart and make it wicked, or
does it bring a feeling of loneliness and
wretchedness-a wondering if The rich
mans Heaven is not SO far from the poor
mans Heaven that he will never catch
sight of their pinched facesp
The boy lay down on the grass, and in
five minutes was sound sleep. His bare
feet Just touched on the curbstone, and the
old hat fell from his head and rolled to
the walk. In the shadow of the tree his
face told story that every passer by
could read. 1t told of scanty food-ol
nights when the body shivered with cold
of home without sunshine-of a young
life confronted by mocking shadows.
Then something curious happened. A
laboring mana queer, old man with a
wood. saw on his arm-crossed the street
TO rest for a moment beneath the same
shade. He glanced at the boy and turned
away, but his look was drawn again, and
now he saw the picture and read the
story. He, too, was poor. He, too, knew
4 TO ehivor apl b1nuar Ha
tiptoed along until he could bend over the
10y, and then he took from his pocket a
piece of bread and meat-the dinner he
was to eat il he found work-and laid it
down beside the lad. Then he walked
carefully away, looking back every mo-
ment, but fastening out of sight as if he
wanted to escape thanks. Men, women
and children had seen it all, and what a
lever it was! The human heart is ever
kind and generous, but sometimes there
is need of a key to open it. A man
walked down from his steps and left half.
dollar beside the poor mans bread. A
woman walked down and left good hat
in place of the old one. A child came
with pair of shoes and Il boy brought a
coat and vest. Pedestrians halted and
whispered and dropped dimes and quar-
tiers beside the first silver piece.
Something curious had happened. The
charity of poor old man had unlocked
the hearts of a score of people. Then
something strange occurred. The pinch.
ed faced boy suddenly awoke and sprung
up as if it were a crime to sleep there.
He saw the bread, the clothing, the
money, the score of people waiting around
to see what he would do. He knew that
he had slept, and he realized that all
those things had come to him as he
dreamed. Then what did he dop Why,
he sat down and covered his face with his
hands and sobbed like a grieved child.
They had read him sermon greater than
all The sermons of the churches. They
had set his heart to swelling and jumping
until it choked him. Poor, ragged, and
wretched, and feeling that he was no more
10 the world than stick or stone, he had
awakened to find that the world regarded
him as a human being worthy of aid and
entitled to pity. y.-Detroit Free Press.