FOR THE CHILDREN'

Gisborne Times, Volume XXVIII, Issue 2734, 12 February 1910, Page 4 (Supplement)

FOR THE CHILDREN'

GOLDEN DEEDS

THE PEASANT AT THE FLOOD

More than a century ago terrible Hoods were experienced in the neighborhood of Verona, owing to heavy falls of snow in the Italian Alps, followed by a rapid thaw. The rivers came dashing and roaring down from the mountain-sides, overnowing tlieir banks and. carrying everything before them. Among other disasters a bridge oyer tlie River Adege was carried away, all except the middle part, on which was built the house of the toll-gatherer, and lie and his family were thus left on a kind of timber island that might at any moment be swept away by the raging torrent. 'J'he man with his wife and children appeared at the windows of their house, waving their arms frantically for help, and screaming to the on-look-ers in the distance to rescue them from their peril. But although there were men on the banks anxious to help the stranded family, none dared to venture upon the surging waters. The Count of Pulverini, a nobleman of the district, came upon the scene and offered a reward of fifty pounds to anyone who would try to rescue the family, but no one would undertake the dangerous task. At this moment a peasant, travelling from another part of the country, come to the spot, and, seeing the very great danger of the toll-keeper and his family, he immediately jumped into a boat, and, taking the oars in bis hands, began to pull out towards the bridgehouse. But the current was terrmc, and it was only by almost superhuman strength and effort that he was able, after a long time, to bring the i oat alongside the broken piers of the bridge on which the house stood.

“Courage, my friends!” he shouted to the endangered family, in order to inspire them with confidence; and at last everyone was safely in the boat.

Then came the return journey, which was even more dangerous than t hen the peasant first set out, for now he had a boat-load of passengers; but his strength was great, and his courage and determination were greater still, and at last he landed all safely on the banks. The crowd broke out into a loud cheer, and the count came forward, holding out his purse by way of recompense; but the peasant, whose name has not come down to us, although his bravery and .pure-hearted sacrifice will ever live in the annals of heroism, declined the reward, saying:

“I should certainly not expose mv life for money. I can work for all I need to meet the wants of my wife and children. Give the money to those poor people who have lost all.” And so tlie brave man not only rescued he family, but by his generosity was able to supply them with sufficient money to buy a new home.

THE BOY WHO TOOK A MAX’S PLACE.

About 150 years ago a young boy, who was ready to make a start m lire, was apprenticed by his friends to the captain of a Scottish coasting vessel, and although in those days the seaman’s life was a very hard and perilous one, the boy had sufficient liking for the sea to throw himself with all his heart into his duties.

But storms and tempests were not the only risks to which the sea me a of those days were subjected. There was the press-gang, which might seize on a man and put him on a ship that was leaving England perhaps for years. Life in the Navy was so full of brutalities and hardships that it was most unattractive, and sufficient men could not lie obtained by ordinary recruiting to man the vessels of war. The pressgang was therefore set to work, and bands of ruffians used to raid a vessel or a town, seize any likely mail, and carry him off to a warship, quite regardless of the fact that he might have a wife and children or an aged mother dependent upon him. The coasting vessel on which the young apprentice sailed was visited by the press-gang in this way, and every man on board, with the exception or himself and the captain, was seized for war service. The mate had a wife and 3’oung family, and his distress at being dragged away, perhaps never again to see them, was so pathetic that the apprentice felt the greatest sympathy for him, and offered his own services if the mate could be released.

The head of the press-gang, ail officer of the king, readily fell in with the suggestion, saying: “Ay my lad. I would sooner, any day,' have a likely boy with some spirit in him than a blubbery man. Come along with me.’-* The boy went, and the circumstances in which liis services had been obtained were related to the commander of the warship, who was so pleased with the spirit and kindness of the lad that lie promoted him to be a midshipman at once. The lad did his work splendidly, and took the greatest pains to learn hi s duties, so that promotion followed promotion in rapid succession. At last lie obtained command of a small vessel of his own, and was soon promoted to a larger one, and at last that ambition of every keen midshipman —to be an admiral of the British Navy—was fulfilled, and the voimg apprentice, who had sacrificed' his "own interests and comfort for tho sake of the mate and his family, became ViceAdmiral Campbell, a name greatly honored in the annals of the British Navy. He died in the year 1790.

A BAND OF NOBLE MEN. When Napoleon was forced to retreat from Moscow because the city was in flames, he fled across tho bleak, snow-covered plains of Russia, with the enemy’s army in pursuit. That was in the severe winter of 1812. It was a terrible march. Tli© hungry, sleepy, frost-bitten men—French, Italians, Germans, _ and Polos, soldiers from tho countries subjugated by the ambitious Napoleon—wore scarcely able to crawl

along; yet they were urged forward in dread of the Cossacks m pursuit. Amon" the Germans uas Inncc Emilius°of Hesse Darmstadt heading his little band of ten, all that remained of the thousand men lie had led eastwards a few weeks before. As night came on, they stumbled upon a burnt hut standing out in Hie dark. Then the Prince EmiJius, turning to his men, said: , , . “Dear brothers, we must rest here, trusting to Heaven that, whether w«> wake again on earth or not, all is veil if we have faithfully borne our part, .< the toil and suffering.” And so they laid down m the rmns of* the hut, and Prince Emilnis was-T soon dreaming happy dreams in which lie saw kind laces bending over him. At last he woke with a start, warm and rested, wondering where he was. Then Jie remembered the dreary inarch, the snow, the hunger and the misery. He looked about the burnt hut, bub no one was there. Then be discovered that he had been sleeping beneath a pile of garments which he recognised as those" of his soldiers. And as the daylight increased, he saw that the doorway was blocked up with the bodies of his f noUe men, who had sacrificed their lives to save his.

INTERESTING. “ I suffered for about two years with severe pains across my back. .My work is very hard, usually amongst wool. I found I had contracted kidney complaint. through getting over-heated, and then cooling oft" Ii I stooped, it was painful for me to straighten myself. I took, altogether, fuui bottles of Warner’s Safe Cure. The first one gave me relief, and when I had finished the fourth I was completely cured. _My wife, also, was cured cl weakness ox the bladder bv the same remedy.”

The above is extracted from a pamplilet recently issued, a copy of which, containing many such letters, with names and addresses of the writers, will be sent to an cone, post free, on application, by K. H. Warner and Co., Limited, Vie.

The reason that Warner’s Safe Cure is so efficacious in overcoming rheumatism, gout, neuralgia, lumbago, backache. sciatica, blood disorders, anaemia, indigestion, biliousness, jaundice, sick headache, general debility, gravel, stone, and bladder troubles, is that tt exercises a powerful specific healing acting upon the kidneys and liver : and it is disease, or inactivity of the kidneys and liver, .vhich causes us to suffer from the disorders named. Restore the kidneys and fiver to health and vigour, and the suffering ceases, oecause the retained uric and "biliary poisons which produce the disorders arc then duly removed from the system in a natural manner. Warner’s cafe Cure can be obtained from any chemist or storekeeper, both in the original form and in the cheaper “Concentrated, ’ non-alcoholic torm, each containing the same number of doses.