The farmer and mechanic., 1907-03-12

The statement vas that, on the 2Gth
az February. fire destroyed school
nuiEling IN Montreal Quebec. and that
the teacher Miss Maxwell, ana sixteen
of her pupils lost their lives.
Miss Maxwell could have escaped,
but 50 intent was she upon saving lh@
children. she seemed TO lose all concern
Tor hers elf The account OF the matte
Was thus stated
Thc captain Of the fire company en-
dcaVored TO induce Miss Maxwell 70
lo down the ladder but she refused
end cvading the attempt to det&sn neT,
she rushed to the back part OF the
building. in search Of other children,
and was seen no more.
rat when at last the Ireinen We're
able to make their way through the
building after the flames had been
snbdued. Miss Maxwell was found lying
On the floor with a little child BESIDE
her
She had given her life to save the
children. Such incidents are are
nevertheless they occur. now and then
Naturally self preservation IS the f1rSt
impulse: but there do come times
when men and women, in their great
anxiety to save others, seem 70 lose
all fear of consequences. thinking only
Of the rescue Of those in great peril
In history are to be found many
instances of unselfish heroism which
serve to illuminate those darker pages.
so replete with accounts of hafdheafl-
cdncss, crucltieS tortureS ana murders.
and to assure us, that. while man
iahumaritv' to man makes countless
thousands mourn, there is golden
thread Of Christliness which, now ana
then. shows itself in our human nature.
/ used 10 delight in reading the
golden deeds of the anclents, and /
often wondered if, in our times, tney
could be paralleled. The Christian
q I'M "a
Yielded up their lives rather than re-
nounce their faith, accentuated the fact
that they were as dauntless spirits as
any former age had developed.
We are all familiar with the history
OF the sacrliciaI death of Telcmachus,
in the midst Of the Coliseum 1T
Eumc and doubtless ii has seemed to
many that it was fool hardy act on
his part to put himself between those
GladtatcrS and be cut down Is he was
Iiut when we remember what was ac-
complished by his death it must be
admitted that, iN that death he blessed
Rome and the world.
It was in the year 4O3. while Hon
orus was Roman Emperor, Christian
ity had worked its way upward even
to the throne. and persecution and
martyrdom had well nigh ceased. But
the Coliseum was still furnishing
amusement and excitement to the
thousands who went there to see the
races, the killing of beasts, and the
death struggle of the gladiators. on
this occasion. just as the gladiatOrs
had taken their positions to begin
the conflict, which was to end in the
death of one or both, for the people
went there to see Il deatG.) Il rude
roughly robed man, bare-he2ded and
harcfootcd Sprang into the arena, and
motioning back the gladiators he be-
gan to beg the people to cease from the
Il; IL,
him." cried the people, this is nu
place for preaching; cut him down.
The gladiatorS who were about to
engage in deadly strife obeyed the
voice of the people and slew the old
man who stood between them. There
he lay. The people had seen what they
bad gone to see and were not only
satisfied but shocked.
The dress of the slain man showed
that he was one of the hermits of holy
life and prayer, Who by all We're
greatly reVerenced. Some who had seen
him previously, said that he had come
from the wilds of Asia to visit the
shrnes and keep his Christmas at
Rome. They knew him to be a holy
man whose name was Alymachus, or
TeIemachus. His spirit had been
stirred by the thousands docking to see
men slaughter each other, and in
simple hearted zeal. he had resolved
to stop the cruelty or die. His death
was not in vain. The shock of such
death, before their eyes, turned the
hearts of the people, and from the
day when the hermit lay bleeding in
the ColiSocum. there was never another
fight OF the gladiators. Not only iii
Rome but in every province Of the
empire the custom was ubolished; and
one great crime at least was wiped
from the earth by an humble, obscure
and almost namclesS man.
y-n<, 40 tl,n \ nil
bl the announcement that the helms
man on burning steamer, with the
tire raging all around him, kept his
hands upon the wheel. and SteereI the
burning boat to the shore. that the
lives Of the passengers might be saved:
thus giving his own life to save others.
1t is not the valor which meets a
thousand foemen upon the battlefield,
or scales the walls in a forlorn hope,
that constitutes a golden deed; but. it
is the spirit that gives itself for others
the temper that. for the sake of re
ligion. of country of duty,
Of kindred, nay of pity eevn to a
stranger. as in the case of the man
who fell among thieves. that will risk,
endure and even die for others, truly
says 4 historian.
When Claudius was the Emperor,
he condemned a Roman to death. who
was to be his own eXecutioner by
thrustng q dagger through his own
heart. His wife seeing him wayer,
and wishing to restore his courage,
took the dagger and plunged it
through her own heart saying, as with
Il dying gasp she handed the da gger
back to him: 1T is not painful huS-
nd"
one of the most pathetic STORIES of
ancient or modern times, is that of the
cruel torture of Rudolph Won der
Wart. q Swabian nobleman. who was
charged with entering into con-
spiracy against the Emperor, Albrecht
l. the son of the great and good Ru-
dolph of Hapsburg. This nobleman.
Rudolph Won der Wart. took no part
i'm the murder of the Emperor but
being present when the murder occur
red he was included among those
who were put to death, though per
siSting 10 tho last that he WAS inno-
cent The sentence was that he
should he bound upon a wheel and
beaten until all the bones III his body
were broken; and then, by WAY Of
nlaxir hts death more terrible. Queen
Agnes the wife Of the King Of IIun-
gary and = daughter Of the murdered
Emperor, gave command that the
lnang.ed body Of Rudolph should be
taken from the wheel on which X had
been broken. and fastened OF another
wheel set upon a post. there to re-
main lntil life Was extinct