The Barre daily times. (Barre, Vt.) 1897-1959, 1903-07-09
ANECDOTES or LEO XIII.
Incidents Of the Famous Pom
tiff S Boyhood.
FOND oFDAREa FBATsIN HUNTING

I A Companion Of His Youth says the
Pope Used to Jump Chasms and
scale Precipices None Others Dar-
ed Attenpt-Ho,v lie Arrested
Band of smuggIers-His Kindness
10 an American Girl.
Pope Leo XIII. was at one time one
Of the most stout limbed and daring
hunters in italy, says Tit-Bits.
A companion Of those days, now
known as Father selvagni, the aged
priest Of Carpineto, referring to the
friend of his boyhood, once said
''What hunts we had togetherl We
were up bright and early, securing the
forest; but Sir Nino was ever more
fearless than |. He climbed to the
very top Of Melaina and the Fageta,
jumping chasms and scaling precipiees
none others dared attempt
1t was just midway between Traf-
algar and Waterloo that "Nino" first
opened his eyes on The hills Of Carpi-
neto, the eighth child OF Ludoyico
Pecci, colonel in the italian army
1t was through his mother, however
that he derived bis strength Of charac
ter and brain, aud she in turn was a
/ true daughter Of Cola di RienN. the
| Tgreat tribune, whose dream 1t was to
give new birth TO the Roman re
public.
HE rnattar al4sagS ratrnr,lad MINI "a
special gift from heaven. and even
when he was in his cradle she used to
prophesy that one day he would sit on
the throne Of ST Peter Her letters
are full of the wonders Of this new
child, whom she named after her hero
Yincenzo Ferrer, and when his age
was measured by months she wrote:
'Aiy little Yincenzo walks alone al
ready and goes everywhere. He Is pas
sionately fond Of horses. Although he
Is so small that you can hardly see him
he jumps up and rides all the furniture
without waiting for help from any
one. You may well imagine that this
child is not the cause Of much melan-
choly Titta, an older brother, does
nothing but make affairs. The church
has a great attraction for him. And
yet how strange it Is, Titta was the
only one Of the family of nine children
to marry. and Nino, who had all the
early instincts Of a soldier, was to be-
come pope
An interesting story is told of these
very early days One day a peasant
woman brought a basket of cheeses to
the Pecci home, and the little Nino,
STOPPING in curiosity to look at the
cheeses, fell into the basket
what do you want, brother?" the
peasant asked laughingly.
Il am not 4 brotherF' the child an
swered, with pout-
what then, a cardinalfn
Mo- answered the child's mother,
taking him up proudly III her arms,
he is my little pope" And so it was
to be, more than sixty years later
AS boy Nino was the ringleader In
everything that was misehieyous or
risky, and if there was bully to cow
or a daring feat to be done it was al
ways Nino Pecci who was in demand.
And vet, through all these bovish
FRANKS, the boys great future might
have been seen by d discerning eye At
school his beautiful face earned for
him the nickname Of the little angel
and mother Of piety," and if there
was an act of kindness to be done he
was always the first to think Of and to
do it.
One day on his way home he found
peasant boy lying hurt by the roadside,
He had been Knocked down BY cart
and feared that his leg was broken
Nino ran to a neighborlng spring, filed
hts cap with water gave the boy some
to drink and with the rest bathed his
les When he was sufficiently reeov-
cred he raised the boy and, half sup
porting, half carrying him, started OH
the long journey home.
At this point Ninos tutor overlook
him and gave him a lecture on his Inn
prudence.
What will your parents say the
teacher asked, when You take this
dirty ragamufin homer
49, Val Htt9 tAAlA AAhE 1h4f
right" Nino proudly answered rs IL |
so unusual. then, to help a hurt child? |
Wouldn't every one do as | am trying
to do?"
The Rome correspondent of the Pail |
Mall Gazette relates this experience Of |
the pope with some smugglers
Leo XIII. remembered with interest
the mission given him by Pope Gregory
XVI. when he was only twenty eight
and only few weeks after he had I
celebrated his first mass. at that time |
the province Of Benevento, which be-
longed to the papal States but was
almost surrounded by the territory Of I
the kingdom Of Naples, was, iii d
much worse degree than Switzerland I
now is, nest of smugelers, brigands
and revolutionists. To put an end to /
this state Of things the then Mgr Pecci /
was sent there as papal delegate that I
is to say, with full powers. He acted
with extreme energy. once sure of the
troops at his disposal, attacking the
leaders Of the malefactors, dispensing
fhnitt hn ffla and ma limo s3ac4 IA 4f.ny,,