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FIFTH READER. 85
XXI. I PITY THEM
1. A POOR man once undertook to emigrate from Castine,
Me., to Illinois.
When he was attempting to cross a river in New York, his horse broke
through the rotten timbers of the bridge, and was drowned. He had but
this one animal to convey all his property and his family to his new
home.
2. His wife and children were almost miraculously
saved from sharing the
fate of the horse; but the loss of this poor animal was enough. By
its aid
the family, it may be said, had lived and moved; now they were left
helpless in a land of strangers, without the ability to go or return,
without money or a single friend to whom to appeal. The case was a
hard
one.
3. There were a great many who “passed by on the other
side." Some
even laughed at the predicament in which the man was placed; but by
degrees a group of people began to collect, all of whom pitied him.
4. Some pitied him a great deal, and some did not
pity him very much,
because, they said, he might have known better than to try to cross
an
unsafe bridge, and should have made his horse swim the river. Pity,
however, seemed rather to predominate. Some pitied the man, and some
the horse; all pitied the poor, sick mother and her six helpless children.
5. Among this pitying party was a rough son of the
West, who knew
what it was to migrate some hundreds of miles over new roads to locate
a
destitute family on a prairie. Seeing the man's forlorn situation,
and
looking around on the bystanders, he said, "All of you seem to pity
these
poor people very much, but I would beg leave to ask each of you how
much."
6. “There, stranger," continued he, holding up a ten
dollar bill, “there is
the amount of my pity ; and if others
86 ECLECTIC SERIES.
will do as I do, you may soon get another pony. God bless you." It is
needless to state the effect that this active charity produced. In
a short
time the happy emigrant arrived at his destination, and he is now a
thriving farmer, and a neighbor to him who was his "friend in need,
and
a friend indeed."
DEFINITIONS 1. Emi grate, to remove from one country or state to another
for the purpose of residence, to migrate. 2. Mirac'u lous ly, as if by
miracle,
wonderfully. A bil'ity, power, capability. 3. Pre dic'a ment, condition,
plight. 4. Pre dom'i nate,, to prevail, to rule. 5. Locate, to place.
Des'ti
tute, needy, poor. Des ti nation, end of a journey. Thriving, prosperous
through industry, economy and good management.
The text and graphics of this reader were scanned for this
site
by John Bradshaw in Sydney, Australia.
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