The Dupuyer acantha. [volume] (Dupuyer, Mont.) 1894-1904, 1900-02-15
THE LITTLE HEROES.
HEROIC DEEDS OF CHILDREN
I'M VARIOUS LANDS.
Germany Owns the Most Precocious
Hero on Record-A Russian Boy Who
Tackled A Hungry Wolf to Save a
Sleeping Babe. 81

Probably the most precocious hero
On record is a tiny boy called Leonard
Weber, aged 5 years, who several
days ago received a certificate of honor
from the Royal Humane Society of
Germany for saving from drowning the
life of his little brother, aged g.. The
children were playing with some other
boys on the edge of a pond, when the
youngest Weber fell into the water.
The others, frightened by the incident,
took to their heels, but Leonard, with
out the slightest hesitation, plunged in
and rescued his brother from a watery
death. The youthful hero, who is a
bright, intelligent youngster, seemed
to think nothing of his brave feat.
Quite as remarkable was the case
which comes from a remote corner of
Russia, where a boy of 9 years actual
ly possessed the temerity to tackle a
great, gaunt wolf that had assailed a
tiny playmate as the latter lay asleep.
The rescuer seized an ak that CHANGED
to be lying on the ground, where it
had been left by a woodman, and gave
battle to the wolf, who, finding him
self thus attacked, promptly aban-
doned his m%urderous intentions and
trotted off into the wood. So silently
was the splendid deed performed that
the sleeper slept on through it's per-
Torrance, and it was only when he
awoke soon afterwards that he heard
how narrow an escape he had had
from a terrible death.
Russia has, indeed, been the scene
of much youthful heroism. Some
years ago, when a peasant was
sitting with her little daughter, aged
about s years, at supper, the curtains
which divided the living room in
which they sat from the adjoining bed
room, caught fire, through the explo-
sion of an oil lamp. The mother sat
~dumbfounded, not knowing what to do,
but her daughter, child as she was,
possessed more presence of mind, for,
Selling a knife, she climbed upon a
chair, cut down the blazing curtains
the hearth rug. In two minutes time
the fire, which might have developed
into a veritable coniagration, was ex-
tinguished, and the whole business was
carried out by the unaided pluck of a
mite of 8. Fortunately she escaped
with nothing worse than several trivi-
al burns, and her brave conduct was
the. talk of the village for a long time
afterwards.
Even burglars have found them
selves worsted by children little more
than babies, and in Nottingham not so
very long ago a burly disciple of Bill
Sykes was subdued and captured by
the action of a schoolboy of II. The
boy slept in a tiny room adjoining his
fathers apartment, and was awakened
December night by sounds of a
, struggle from the latter chamber.
Without an instant's hesitation the
child seized a poker and gliding on
tiptoe into the room found his rela-
tive in the grip of a massive burglar,
who was gradually choking him.
Quick as thought the boy hit the ruff
fan, once, twice and thrice upon the
head, with the result that he loosened
his grasp on the fathers throat and
fell to the floor stunned and helpless.
Ten minutes later he was on his way
to the police station under the guar
dianship of two stalwart constables
and it afterwards transpired that he
was a malefactor long wanted by the
police for a series of daring burglaries.
Sort of Up-to-Date Mazeppa.