Part 1 (1/2)

Ten Boys from History

by Kate dickinson Sweetser

PREFACE

In this small volume the boys of many lands and races whose stories are told, have been selected not because they later becah so noteworthy as a boy And in each boy's character, whether historic or legendary, courage was the marked trait For this reason it is hoped that their stories will prove sti to some who read them

K D S

TEN BOYS FROM HISTORY

STEPHEN AND NICHOLAS:

Boy Crusaders

”To the sea of fools Led the path of the children”

_Old Epigram_

Just a word about the Crusades, or Holy Wars, before we begin our story

A war is generally a conflict between nations, countries, or individuals, for possession of land or a throne, but the Holy Wars were not such

They were expeditions made by those Christians ere determined to rescue the Sepulchre, or tomb, of Christ and the City of Jerusaleht years Christian kings ruled in Palestine, then all the land was conquered by the Mohammedans, except a few cities, and the Christians sent out another, and still another, and another expedition to subdue the enemy, but all were useless The Holy City and the Holy Sepulchre were still in the hands of infidels, who persecuted the pilgrims who visited the Holy To cry to all Europe for help, but Europe was slow to answer the appeal, and it was several years after Pope Innocent ordered a new Crusade, before an ar this interval that the Children's Crusade or Holy War, took place--of which we are about to read

But first let us go back to the city of Chartres, on the 25th day of April, 1212, when a surging crowd ofevery street and by-way of the quaint city

What are the croatching so eagerly? A procession of priests and lay in solemn unison as they march

It is the day of the celebration in Chartres of the ”Black Crosses,” an old church cereory the Great, during the ravages of the Plague, but now celebrated as an appeal to the people to free Jerusalem and the Holy Tomb from the hands of the infidels

The soleh the streets of Chartres, carrying black-draped sy deep-toned litanies, and that the old ceremony has lost none of its emotional power is shown by the tears and silence of the watching throngs, while a all the crowd none is more profoundly stirred than a slender shepherd lad fro the cereile as such a lad should be, and sturdy in consequence of his out-of-door life, Stephen, for that was his na tide of spectators following the procession, to slip in where he could to best advantage watch the soleue while he drank in all the emotional thrill of the day

The shrouded crosses, the appeals for rescue of an entombed Christ in the hands of an infidel enemy, the tears and cries of the croorked on the iht but life with his flocks, worked on him so powerfully that he was hot with a desire to rush to Jerusalem and expel the hated Moha presence of Jesus, and hallowed by the possession of his tomb

So filled with enthusias eyes told the tale to an observant priest, who to accomplish his own end, kept close watch of the boy, spoke to hi inquiries as to his name and occupation, and then decided to make hi Filled with thoughts of what he had seen and heard, at evening he walked slowly towards his ho less on solid earth than on a cloud of dreaain the contented shepherd lad, son of the peasant of Cloyes He was alive with new emotions now, and as he wandered on the hillside with his flock he was in i part in such pictured scenes as his excited fancy could conjure up, until at last, he was in a state of mind suited to any enterprise, prepared to believe any story, however improbable, to accept any life except that of his own monotonous peasant existence

While in this mood there caer in the dress of a pilgrim, returned, as he at first said, from Palestine He was on his way to a distant hoerly did Stephen share with hi in return to be told of the wonders of the Holy Land and of the daring deeds of the heroes who had fallen there in battle The stranger readily complied with this request and poured into the boy's credulous ears tales well calculated to thrill and excite his already infla Stephen closely as he spoke, the stranger said with solemn earnestness:

”But this is not all I have to tell, my lad There is work for you to do,--for you, the Lord's anointed, his chosen apostle, and in the name of Christ and his Holy Cross, I bid you arise and do his will”