Saint Mary's beacon., 1903-05-07
ON THE UPLANDS

suppose that the only way for us
to find out the men among US who
dwell In the uplands of life, aud
breathe habitually purer air thar
that of the market place, is to note
those. who. when the chance comes
for a noble deed great or small do
it, simply and naturally without
any preparation. 1t is real king s
bGsiness to be kingly, and when the
chance comes to him for bis own
work, he does it and goes or bis
way and says nothing about N
The lion, old FalstaH tells us,
knows the true prince, Butwe hu-
man beings are duller Of sight than
the lion Ia this thing. I'VE think
that we recognize kings among our
great political leaders or money
makers bowing and smiling 70 won
dering, shouting crowds. And pres.
emily some grimy engineer or negro
porter in the crowd does some great
deed for his fellowmen gives his
life for them, perhaps, and we find
out that he was the man Of kingly
birth too late.
For example, there was lean,
freekled boy who o year two ago
ran the elevator up and down IN an
old shaky Office building 10 Pbila-
delphia. often went up In IL, but
certainly never suspected Billy"
of any noble quality which raised
him above other boys. high as was
Saul among bis brethren
But one day the old house begun
to shudder aud groan to It's founda.
iions. aud then one outer wall after
another fell amid shouts Of dismay
from the crowds 10 the streets. And
Billy, as these walls came crashing
down, ran his old If, up 70 the top
most story aud back again crowded
with terrified men and women. lie
did this nine times Only one side
Of the building was now standing
The shaft Of the elevator was left
bare, and swayed 10 and fro. The
police tried TO drag the boy out Of IL,
aud the mass Of spectators yelled
with horror as he pulled tho chain
and began to rise again above their
heads.
Fhere'stwo womeh upthere yet,
said Billy stolidly. and went up 70
the top facing horrible death each
minute and knowing that he faced
il. Presently through the cloud Of
dust the iiit was seen coming iorkily
down with three figures on It. As
it touched she ground the whole
building fell with a crash. The
women and boy came ou; on the
street unhurt and q roar of triumph
rose from the mob.
But 1t was SIX clock and Billy
slipped quietly away In the dusk
and went home to his supper. For
your real hero does not cars for the
shouts and clapping Of hands.
One Of the most real heroes was a
poor Swiss laborer whose name no.
body knows He was standing one
day at noon in a crowd who were
looking down at the bears In the
great pit Ut Berne. There we're
two savage fellows there, freshly
caught. a nursumaid, leaning over,
held the child she carried loosely Ia
her arms. II gave asudden wrench
and fell. The huge beasts clutched
il. In an instant the workman hung
himself down, and catching the baby
in one hand, struck OF the bears
with small knife he carried ia the
other. Twice he was clawed down
by them, IL was desperate fight,
But at last ropes were lowered aud
he was drawn up, bleeding, but
holding the child high and safe.
In the confusion be escaped
through the crowd and could not be
found. He never has been found TO
this day. The father OF the child,
a wealthy Englishman, offered large
reward for any one who could find
him, The humane Society voted
him a gold medal. But the medal
and the money are waiting still un-
, claimed. suppose that workman
is going up and down the streets
of Berne today in his blue overalls,
nobody suspecting his royal blood
But how warm his secret must have
kept his heart in all these years.
| remember q queer little incident
that once happened on one Of the
great liners bound to an English
port. 1t seems to have bearing on
this subject.
Our stewardess was Scotch