A BEAUTIFUL INCIDENT.


YOUNG man recently ran away from the galleys of Toulouse. He was strong and vigorous, and arrived next morning before a cottage, and stopped to get something to eat, and get a refuge while he reposed a little. But he found the inmates of the cottage in the greatest distress. Four little children sat trembling in the corner their mother sat weeping and tearing her hair, and the father was walking the floor in agony.

The galley-slave asked what was the matter, and the father replied that they were that morning to be turned out of doors, because they could not pay their rent.

"You see me driven to despair," said the father, "my wife and my little children without food or shelter, and I without means to provide for them."

The convict listened to the tale, with tears of sympathy, and said:

"I will give you the means. I have just escaped from the galleys. Whosoever brings back an escaped prisoner is entitled to a reward of fifty francs. How much does the rent amount to?"

"Forty francs," answered the father. 

"Well," said the other, "put a cord around my body. I will follow you to the city, where you will get fifty francs for bringing me back."

"No, never!" exclaimed the father. 

"My children should starve before I would do so base a thing."

The generous man insisted, and declared that he would go and give himself up if the father would not take him, the latter yielded, and taking his preserver by the arm, led him to the city, and to the mayor's office. 

Everybody was surprised to see that a little man had been able to capture such a strong young fellow.

The fifty francs were paid, and the prisoner sent back to the galleys. But after he was gone, the father asked a private interview with the mayor, to whom he told the whole story. The mayor wag so much affected, that he not only added francs to the father's purse, but wrote immediately to the Minister of Justice, begging the noble young prisoner's release. The minister examined into the affair, and finding it was a comparatively small offense which condemned the young man to the galleys, and that he had already served out half of his term, ordered his release.

 



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LITTLE drops of rain brighten the meadows, and little acts of kindness brighten the world.