Centre Democrat

WHO IS THE GREATEST?

My young cousin Henry has been reading Abbott's History of Napoleon Bonaparte.—

One evening, as we sat together, he laid down his book, and with glowing cheeks and sparkling eyes, exclaimed:

"Wasn't he the most splendid man that ever lived? I'd give anything to be half so great."

Mr. Abbott's portrait so carefully conceals the blemishes of his hero, and it is set in so dazzling a frame, that I could not wonder at a boy's enthusiasm in contemplating it. But I said:

"Your chance of being half so great as Bonaparte is very good, I think. That is not always great that consists in brilliant achievements. The highest greatness is moral, and seeks the good of others rather than its own glory. I could tell you of a more noble hero than Napoleon, who lived in his own time."

"Should like to hear of one," said Henry, with an air that said he was not to be convinced. But he still loved a story, so I told him the following:

"Years ago, in the deep heart of a mountain in Belgium, a hundred men were working in a coal mine. Grim-visaged and dusky, moving about by the red light of their safety lamps, they might have been taken for the demons of the mountains, once supposed by the peasants to dwell in its caves. Their work was hard, and surrounded by dangers, but their wives and children were in the hamlet above, and long habit made them forget their perils. So they might be contented and even happy.

"The creaking windlass raised and lowered a huge bucket through the deep and narrow shaft, from morning till night carrying men to and fro. This was their only doorway.

"It was noonday and the sun shone down one side of the shaft, and brought a glimmer of daylight to a part of the mines, when Hubert Goffin, the master miner, took his place in the great kibble, and was let down to the mine many feet below. When he reached the bottom he commenced handing some tools and stores to Victor, a blind miner, who was waiting there. Victor had left a sick child in one of the cottages, and it was to enquire after him that he stood waiting at the bottom of the shaft.

"The bucket was soon emptied, and Hubert was just stepping out, when hark! What sound was that which made his cheek pale?

It was the rushing of water. The next moment he caught sight of a stream forcing itself through the fissure in the mountain close to the shaft! Hubert's long experience instantly showed them their full danger.

It was not a feeble oozing stream, but a mighty pressure of water that had found its outlet here. They would be overwhelmed—lost!

"One foot was yet in the bucket—a jerk at the rope would save him. But though death stared him in the face, he could not sacrifice others to save himself! Quickly jumping out he seized blind Victor, and placed him in the bucket, saying quickly, as he jerked the rope:

"'Tell them the water has burst in, and we are probably lost; but we will seek refuge at the farther end of the right gallery— Say farewell to our poor friends.' In a moment he was gone, and with him Hubert's only certainty of escape from a terrible death.

The mine consisted of a long narrow passage, on all sides deep caves from which the coal had been dug. The men were all at the end of the mine, hewing out the solid mountain, unconscious of danger. Hubert quickly made his way along the dark passage, followed by the swift spreading water, and reached his fellow-workmen with a dreadful intelligence. It was a moment for panic, when each would have rushed to certain death in a vain effort to save himself. But looking firmly into their ghastly faces, the master spoke a few encouraging sentences:

"Follow my words, lads, and be quick— our picks may save us.

"Then came a few steady, quick commands, to hollow a new chamber above the level the water would probably reach.— The men obeyed in silence, though each knew not but that he might be digging his own grave. A hundred pairs of hands soon finished the work, and into the cave a hundred men crowded to await their death or an almost impossible chance of relief. The water gradually filled the old avenues and chambers, and then seemed stayed. Never was a situation more dreadful. No more than a day's provisions had been saved, and already two or three of their number had been killed by the falling rocks, while hastily digging their own chamber. The long dismal hours, with no change to mark them, brought only the advance of almost certain death.

"Courage, brave Hubert! God, who saw thy noble sacrifice, will help thee!

." The terrified friends and townsmen, on bearing Victor's dreadful news, ran wildly about in hopeless panic. But soon guided by the message Hubert had sent, they commenced working a new shaft as near as possible to the spot where the hopeless men might be. Five days and nights they toiled, digging deeper and deeper into the side of the mountain,

"It is a vain task," said the men. But
the women cried, Do not cease. God will help us.

"At length, on the morning of the sixth day the muffled sound of blows from within met the ears of the workmen in the shaft.— A signal ran along the rope, and told the news to the waiting multitude above, who rent the air with joyful shouts. Soon a communication was made. They were saved—at least some were saved.

"Who can imagine the feelings of the unfortunate men, buried five days and nights, without food, when first the day gleamed in upon them, revealing a human face!

Of a hundred who had been imprisoned over seventy survived, and with them Hubert. Without him, indeed, probably no one would have been spared to tell the story.

"This noble act, done in a place and at a moment when no praise of men could have been looked for, echoed throughout Europe, and obtained the praise and gratitude of the world. The ten thousand miners of Liege hailed their fellow laborer with delight and pride. Napoleon heard and admired in his palace at Paris, and sent a reward to the peasant nobleman. He sent him his Cross of Honor, the mark which all the high and great coveted, and, better still, offered him a pension which raised him above want for the rest of his life."

When God unfolds in heaven the secret charity of men, many such heroes shall stand revealed, whom the earth and the wave have covered, sending no testimony to the world.

Their Father who seeth in secret shall reward them openly.