LESSON 21“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 on 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 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.”
STUDY GUIDE
A. Word Definition
1.emigrate:leave one's own country or state to settle in another.
2.miraculously:as if by miracle,wonderfully.
3.ability:power,capability.
4.predicament:condition,plight.
5.predominate:prevail,rule.
6.locate:to place.
7.destitute:needy,poor.
8.destination:end of a journey.
9.thriving:prosperous through industry,economy and good management.
B. Comprehension Questions
1. How many children did the poor family have?
2. What kinds of American public transportation were there in the nineteenth century?
3. Label these statements true or false.
a. Horses can swim. _____
b. New York is the largest state in the U.S.A. _____
c. It is always sunny on the American prairies. _____
4. Did the American government help poor people in the nineteenth century?
5. How much was a nineteenth century American dollar worth compared to one today?
6. How did the poor family's horse die?
7. Did poor American people always have enough to eat in the nineteenth century?
8. Which of these places are American states?
a. Yemen
b. Utah
c. Germany
d. Ohio
C. Writing Work
Write a short newspaper article about homelessness.