THE BISHOP AND THE BIRDS.

Temuka Leader, Issue 1984, 19 December 1889, Page 3

THE BISHOP AND THE BIRDS.

A bishop who had for his arms two birds, with the motto : “Are not two sparrows sold for a farthing P” thus explained the matter to an intimate friend Fifty or sixty years ago a little boy resided at a village near Dillengen, on the banks of the Danube. His parents were very poor, and almost as soon as the boy could walk he was sent into the woods to pick up some sticks for fuel. When he grew older his father taught him to pick the juniper berries, and carry them to a neighboring distiller, who wanted them for making Hollands* Day by day the poor boy went to bis task. On the road he passed the open windows of the village school, where he saw the schoolmaster teaching a number of boys of about the same age as himself. He looked at these boys with feelings of envy, so earnestly did he long to be among them: He was quite aware it was in vain to ask his father to send him to school, for he knew that his parents had no money to pay the schoolmaster, and he often spent the whole day thinking while he was gathering the juniper berries what he could possibly do to please the schoolmaster, in the hope of getting some lessens. One day, when be was walking sadly along, he saw two of the boys trying to set a bird trap, and he asked one what it was for. The boys told him that the schoolmaster was very fond of fieldfares, and that thay were setting a trap to catch some. The next day the little boy borrowed an old basket of his mother, and when ha went to the wood he had the great delight to catch two fieldfares. He then put them in the basket, and, tying an old handkerchief over it, took them to the schoolmaster’s house and presented them to him. “ A present, my good boy! ” cried the schoolmaster, “you do not look as if you could make presents. Tell me your price and I will pay it to you, and thank you besides ? ” “I would rather give them to you, sir, if you please,” said the boy. “ You are a very singular boy,” said ha; “ but if you will not take money you must tell me what I can do for you.” “ You can do for me what I should like better than anything else.” “ What is that ? ” asked the master. “ Teach me to read,” replied the boy, falling on bis knees. The schoolmaster complied, and the boy learned so rapidly that he recommended him to a nobleman residing in the neighborhood. The boy profited by his opportunities, and when he rose, as soon he did, to wealth and honors, he adopted two fieldfares as his arms. “ What do you mean ? ” said the bishop’s friend. “ I mean,” returned the bishop with a smile, “ that poor boy was myself.”