A FEW years ago there was great distress in Ireland, and all through the winter many a family was brought near to starvation. In one district where the pinch of poverty was felt, lived a small farmer with his wife and two little boys. He and his wife had often talked over the difficulty in which they were placed, while sharing the few potatoes that too often formed the family dinner.
As the little boys (one of whom was eleven years of age and the other fourteen) saw the anxious faces of their parents, they thought of a way of helping them; that was to walk all the way to Dublin, where a kind-hearted duchess lived, and ask her for the two pounds which was needed just at that time.
They talked the matter over a good many times, and the next day they started on their long journey of two hundred miles. After a few weeks they reached the great city, and when their story, was told to the kind lady, she gave the boys the money they were longing for. What joy was theirs as they commenced the homeward journey, and carried the glittering coins to their father!