NOBLEST OF ALL.

Waikato Times, Volume XLII, Issue 3391, 24 March 1894, Page 11

NOBLEST OF ALL.

J) own the track from the depot and about 500 feet away was a cut with,banks twenty feet high. On the right-hand bank three or four children were playing.. There were four or five of us walking the depot platform as we waited for the up train, when a iramp, who,had been travelling over the| itn anlsat.; down. Unkempt,""'dirty,' ragged, hungry'/ —a typical specimen of his class. By-and-bye he said, speaking to rioone in particular: " Of course, you know what I am, and of course you know what I want. I don't deny being a professional,, but I'm, human, for all that; Haven't struck' any grub since yesterday morning, and it was purty slim then." ,'-•. i''/..i >',': <'■)■ He wanted money to buy food, That was plaiu enough/but'np one'responded./ Whatever is given to a tramp encourages lazinese and vice. He was apparently strong and healthy; let him labour for his bread. >Tse gofiwpitif ulltorpr tell;* '/Bfi continiieS,jiptj df)iM ; f but yet foiving'aTl of us in hiTeyo. " I'm simply a tramp-an old hand in the.prov fession. Been trampin' far sUteeWyearta 1 prefer it to hard work. I'm human, though, as I said before. I can bunk away in a strawstack at night and wear old clothes, but when it comes to hunger I'm like the rest of humanity—can't stand the gnawin' ons about \W WU four gents would shake iu a niokel apiece I could get a regular Christmas dinner." I " Lpobhere,! jSsaid one j>f the men as, he stopped'short in bis walk and turned on the wandererj M don't' you kndw s that sach men as joujflurht -tOj-.bei i Mnt] i to; prison and madeio earu'your food?"' 1 is "If they; had jpnsous enough* to hold us that might solve the problem," quietly replied the tramp, as he looked down at the toes of bis old shoes. ■;•, -, t ( it '•You aw a lazy; shiftless,;viciousclass," continued the passenger,. " Kyery inau ougty to, have (the jlegaf /right (to hunt you down with a shotgun, There should be a law ito r the 'effect thnt any person' giving 'you even < a nickel should be sent to prison for vjfu.) J'tre often; wondered why you didn't become* so falsi' gusted witli TOWselvei'ae„to commit, •uicidefi tTeJllfft4wh«tJ«rtWy d&& you have for living." { ~,,,,. "Well," slowly replied'the' tt amp 1 as he' rose up and shook himself and surveyed hi9tragi,) "I/jcan't-sav as I hafeaiiyr v His face was; turned track towards the children. Dqwjfbeyond the curve, two miles away, >we heard • tti& i approaching locomotive ,wjiistle for # highway, crossing. [ ItwasXthe train for which we were waitiug; and while enter?; iugthe' depot, for, o ( ur- grips \we lost sighij ofthe:tramp.| When;we came out, 's& saw him runningjdown the tra«k; andthe; express had just come into view. But: there was something else. Right on the edge an overhang) of earth, stood one of the children—a little girl 3or 4, years ( old. She.,-was looking towards th| approaching train,! her baok tothe'uau who/realised her {peril and was running at thelop of his speed to save her. None of us moved,; {The tramp wan not more than half away to the spot when th| overhang broke off, carrying? the child with the mass of ciiiffc SoWou the track. The express just then blew foivthe l station,,but, i was fifty brakes* were ajpplied-wc felfthVroadbed" tremble-we heard the danger blasts' to warn-theitramp off the track.] Something! like a mist rose up before s.myiface to dim] my vision, and I could riot see what happened. , Fifty of us wentdown to the cut when the train \jppe3,'aiid this was what we saw: The child sitting against the bank, dazed "and trying, but unhurt, and the tramp lyinjr beside" th'e ! rails'with both legs ground off and one arm crushed to apnjp. He had reached tho child, aside, and theh'been struck by the pilot andjung against the bank, k roll back under the wheels, Detid? No. He had a few second's' ' We'were banding oyer him opened his 4yes,'smiledfaintly and, muttered V ! 1 " No, I can't B>y ; a's Ihave'the slight )Bt excuse. to' lire,', but I'm Human, 'you know, and—"" ;'• !/ ' ; " "','" ''T'^; : And he was dead.' ! : '":'\