The Silver Shilling Page #2

								

medal. They hung me round the neck of a little child, and the child
laughed at me and kissed me, and I rested for one whole night on the
warm, innocent breast of a child.

"In the morning the child's mother took me between her fingers,
and had certain thoughts about me, which I very soon found out. First,
she looked for a pair of scissors, and cut the string.

"'Lucky shilling!' said she, 'certainly this is what I mean to
try.' Then she laid me in vinegar till I became quite green, and after
that she filled up the hole with cement, rubbed me a little to
brighten me up, and went out in the twilight hour to the lottery
collector, to buy herself a ticket, with a shilling that should
bring luck. How everything seemed to cause me trouble. The lottery
collector pressed me so hard that I thought I should crack. I had been
called false, I had been thrown away,--that I knew; and there were
many shillings and coins with inscriptions and stamps of all kinds
lying about. I well knew how proud they were, so I avoided them from
very shame. With the collector were several men who seemed to have a
great deal to do, so I fell unnoticed into a chest, among several
other coins.

"Whether the lottery ticket gained a prize, I know not; but this I
know, that in a very few days after, I was recognized as a bad
shilling, and laid aside. Everything that happened seemed always to
add to my sorrow. Even if a man has a good character, it is of no
use for him to deny what is said of him, for he is not considered an
impartial judge of himself.

"A year passed, and in this way I had been changed from hand to
hand; always abused, always looked at with displeasure, and trusted by
no one; but I trusted in myself, and had no confidence in the world.
Yes, that was a very dark time.

"At length one day I was passed to a traveller, a foreigner, the
very same who had brought me away from home; and he was simple and
true-hearted enough to take me for current coin. But would he also
attempt to pass me? and should I again hear the outcry, 'False!
good-for-nothing!' The traveller examined me attentively, 'I took thee
for good coin,' said he; then suddenly a smile spread all over his
face. I have never seen such a smile on any other face as on his. 'Now
this is singular,' said he, 'it is a coin from my own country; a good,
true, shilling from home. Some one has bored a hole through it, and
people have no doubt called it false. How curious that it should
come into my hands. I will take it home with me to my own house.'

"Joy thrilled through me when I heard this. I had been once more
called a good, honest shilling, and I was to go back to my own home,
where each and all would recognize me, and know that I was made of
good silver, and bore a true, genuine stamp. I should have been glad
in my joy to throw out sparks of fire, but it has never at any time
been my nature to sparkle. Steel can do so, but not silver. I was
wrapped up in fine, white paper, that I might not mix with the other
coins and be lost; and on special occasions, when people from my own
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