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The Little Patriot Of Padua.
少年愛國者
(The Monthly Story.)
（每月例話）
Saturday, 29th. I will not be a cowardly soldier, no; but I should be much more willing to go to school if the master would tell us a story every day, like the one he told us this morning. "Every month," said he, "I shall tell you one; I shall give it to you in writing, and it will always be the tale of a fine and noble deed performed by a boy. This one is called The Little Patriot of Padua. Here it is.
做卑怯的兵士嗎？決不做！可是，先生如果每日把像今日那種有趣的故事講給我們聽，我還要更加歡喜這學校呢。先生說，以后每月要講一次像今天這樣的高尚的少年故事給我們聽。并且叫我們用筆記下來。下面就是今天講的《少年愛國者》：
A French steamer set out from Barcelona, a city in Spain, for Genoa; there were on board Frenchmen, Italians, Spaniards, and Swiss. Among the rest was a lad of eleven, poorly clad, and alone, who always held himself aloof, like a wild animal, and stared at all with gloomy eyes. He had good reasons for looking at every one with forbidding eyes. Two years previous to this time his parents, peasants in the neighborhood of Padua, had sold him to a company of mountebanks, who, after they had taught him how to perform tricks, by dint of blows and kicks and starving, had carried him all over France and Spain, beating him continually and never giving him enough to eat. On his arrival in Barcelona, being no longer able to endure ill treatment and hunger, and being reduced to a pitiable condition, he had fled from his slave-master and had betaken himself for protection to the Italian consul, who, moved with compassion, had placed him on board of this steamer, and had given him a letter to the treasurer of Genoa, who was to send the boy back to his parents—to the parents who had sold him like a beast. The poor lad was lacerated and weak. He had been assigned to the second-class cabin. Every one stared at him; some questioned him, but he made no reply, and seemed to hate and despise every one, to such an extent had privation and affliction saddened and irritated him.
一只法蘭西輪船從西班牙的巴塞羅那開到意大利的熱那亞來。艙里乘客有法蘭西人、意大利人、西班牙人還有瑞士人。其中有個十一歲的少年，服裝襤褸，避開了人們，像野獸似的用白眼看著人家。他的用這種眼色看人也不是沒有原因的。原來在兩年前他被在鄉間種田的父母賣給了戲法班子，戲法班子里的人打他，罵他，叫他受餓，強迫他學會把戲，帶他到法蘭西、西班牙到處跑，一味虐待他，連食物都不充分供給他。戲法班子到了巴塞羅那的時候，他受不起虐待與饑餓，終于逃了出來，到意大利領事館去求保護。領事可憐他，叫他乘上這只船，還給他一封到熱那亞的出納官那里的介紹書，要送他回到殘忍的父母那里去。少年遍體是傷，非常衰弱，因為住的是二等艙，人家都很奇怪，對著他看。和他講話，他也不回答，好像憎惡一切的人。他的心已變到這步田地了。
Nevertheless, three travellers, by dint of persisting in their questions, succeeded in making him unloose his tongue; and in a few rough words, a mixture of Venetian, French, and Spanish, he related his story.
有三個乘客從各方面探問他，他才開了口。他用夾雜法蘭西語和西班牙語的意大利語，大略地講了自己的經歷。
