Rollo on the Rhine

Purchase of this book includes free trial access to www.million-books.com where you can read more than a million books for free. This is an OCR edition with typos. Excerpt from book: A pertinacious beggar. and miserable, and. advancing to them, held out bis cap for alms. Mr. George, who thought it was not best to give to beggars in the streets, was going on without regarding him; but the Thb Beooab. man hobbled on by the side of the strangers, and Rcemed about to be as pertinacious as the commissioner. They went on so for a little distance, when at length, just as the man was about giving Sly charity. The beggar gone. up in despair, Rollo put his hand in his pocket, and feeling among the money there, happened to bring up a small copper coin, which he at once and instinctively dropped into the beggar's cap. He performed the movement a little slyly, so that Mr. George did not see him. This he was able to do from the fact that the beggar was on his fide, and not on Mr. George's, and, moreover, a little behind. As soon as the man received the coin, he took it, put the cap on his head, and fell back out of view. " I am glad he is gone," said Mr. George; " I was afraid he would follow us half through the town." Rollo laughed. "What is it?" said Mr. George. "What makes you laugh ? " " Why, the fact is," said Rollo, " I gave him u batz." " Ah ! " said Mr. George. " Yes," said Rollo, " or something like a batz, that I had in my pocket." A batz is a small Swiss coin, of the value of a fifth of a cent. Rollo had become familiar with this money in the course of his travels in Switzerland, but he did not yet know the names of the Prussian coins. The money which he gave Rollo's way. Another commissioner. Narrow streets. the beggar was really what they called a pfcn- -iige Rollo supposed that his uncle would not quite approve of his giving the beggar this money; but as he never liked to have any secrecy or concealment in wha...