二十八日
爱儿安利柯啊！你用功怕难起来了，像你母亲所说的样子。我还未曾看到你有高高兴兴勇敢地到学校里去的样子过。但是我告诉你：如果你不到学校里去，你每日要怎样地乏味，怎样地疲倦啊！只要这样过了一礼拜，你必定要合了手来恳求把你再送进学校去吧。因为游嬉虽好，每日游嬉就要厌倦的。 现在的世界中，无论何人，没有一个不学的。你想！职工们劳动了一日，夜里不是还要到学校里去吗？街上店里的妇人们、姑娘们劳动了一星期，星期日不是还要到学校里去吗？兵士们日里做了一天的勤务，回到营里不是还要读书吗？就是瞎子和哑子，也在那里学习种种的事情，监狱里的囚人，不是也同样地在那里学习读书写字等的功课吗？ 每晨上学去的时候，你要这样想想：此刻，这个市内，有和我同样的三万个小孩都正在上学去。又，同在这时候，世界各国有几千万的小孩也正在上学去。有的正三五成群地走过清静的田野吧，有的正走在热闹的街道上吧，也有沿了河边或湖边在那里走着的吧，在猛烈的太阳下走着的也有吧，在寒雾蓬勃的河上驶着短艇的也有吧，从雪上乘了橇走的，渡溪的，爬山的，穿过森林的，渡过了急流的，踯躅行着冷静的山路的，骑了马在莽莽的原野跑着的也有吧。也有一个人走着的，也有两个人并着走的，也有成了群排了队走着的。着了不同的服装，说着不同的语言，从被
see how he is forced to work, when you have every comfort, and yet study seems hard to you! Ah! Enrico, there is more merit in the work which he does in one day, than in your work for a year. It is to such that the first prizes should be given!”
The School
Friday,28th.
Yes, study comes hard to you, my dear Enrico, as your mother says: I do not yet see you set out for school with that resolute mind and that smiling face which I should like. You are still unwilling. But listen; reflect a little! How poor and pitiable your day would be if you did not go to school! At the end of a week you would beg with clasped hands that you might return there, for you would be eaten up with weariness and shame; disgusted with your sports and with your existence. Everybody, everybody studies now, my child. Think of the workmen who go to school in the evening after having toiled all the day; think of the women, of the girls of the people, who go to school on Sunday, after having worked all the week; of the soldiers who turn to their books and copy-books when they return exhausted from their drill! Think of the dumb and the blind who study, nevertheless; and last of all, think of the prisoners, who also learn to read and write. Reflect in the morning, when you set out, that at that very moment, in your own city, thirty thousund other boys are going like yourself, to shut themselves up in a room for three hours of study. Think of the army of boys who, at nearly this precise hour, are going to school in all countries. Behold them with your imagination, going, going, through the lanes of quiet villages; through the streets of the noisy towns, along the shores of rivers and lakes; here beneath a burning sun; there amid fogs, in boats, in countries which are cut with canals; on horseback on the farreaching plains; In sledges over the snow; through valleys and over hills; across forests and torrents, over the solitary paths of mountains; alone, in couples, in groups, in long files, all with their books under their arms, clad in a thousand ways, speaking a thousand tongues, from the most remote schools in Russia, almost lost in the ice, to the furthermost schools of Arabia, shaded by palm-trees, millions and millions, all going to learn the same things, in a hundred varied forms. Imagine this vast, vast throng of boys of a hundred races, this immense 第movement of which you form a part, and remember, if this movement were to cease, 一
humanity would fall back into barbarism; this movement is the progress, the hope, 十the glory of the world. 月
冰锁住的俄罗斯以至椰子树深深的阿拉伯，不是有几千万数都数不清楚的小孩，都夹了书学着同样的事情，同样地在学校里上学吗？你想象想象这无限数小孩所成的集体！又想象想象这样大的集体在那里做怎样大运动！你再试想：如果这运动一终止，人类就会退回野蛮的状态了。这运动才是世界的进步，才是希望，才是光荣。要奋发啊！你就是这大军队的兵士，你的书本是武器，你的一级是一分队，全世界是战场，胜利就是人类的文明。安利柯啊！不要做卑怯的兵士啊！
——父亲
少年爱国者（每月例话）
二十九日 做卑怯的兵士吗？决不做！可是，先生如果每日把像今日那种有趣的故事讲给我们听，我还要更加欢喜这学校呢。先生说，以后每月要讲一次像今天这样的高尚的少年故事给我们听。并且叫我们用笔记下来。下面就是今天讲的《少年爱国者》： 一只法兰西轮船从西班牙的巴塞罗那开到意大利的热那亚来。船里乘客有法兰西人、意大利人、西班牙人还有瑞士人。其中有个十一岁的少年，服装褴褛，避开了人们，像野兽似的用白眼看着人家。他的用这种眼色看人也不是没有原因的。原来在两年前他被在乡间种田的父母卖给了戏法班子，戏法班子里的人打他，蹴他，叫他受饿，强迫他学会把戏，带他到法兰西、西班牙到处跑，一味虐待他，连食物都不充分供给他。戏法班子到了巴塞罗那的时候，他受不起虐待与饥饿，终于逃了出来，到意大利领事馆去求保护。领事可怜他，叫他乘上这只船，还给他一封到热那亚的出纳宫那里的介绍书，要送他回到残忍的父母那里去。少年遍体是伤，非常衰弱，因为住的是二等舱，人家都很奇怪，对他看。和他讲话，他也不回答，好像憎恶一切的人。他的心已变到这步田地了。 有三个乘客从各方面探问他，他才开了口。他用夹杂法兰西语和西班
Courage, then, little soldier of the immense army! Your books are your arms, your class is your squadron, the field of battle is the whole earth, and the victory is human civilization. Be not a cowardly soldier, my Enrico.
YOUR FATHER
The Little Patriot of Padua (The Monthly Story)
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.
“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 guardsman 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 weak and ragged. He had been put in 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 suffering borne him down and saddened him. Nevertheless, three travellers, persisting 第in their questions, succeeded in making him unloose his tongue; and in a few rough 一
words, a mixture of Venetian, French, and Spanish, he related his story. These three 十travellers were not Italians, but they understood him; and partly out of compassion, 月
牙语的意大利语，大略地讲了自己的经历。这三个乘客虽不是意大利人，却听懂了他的话，一半因了怜悯，一半因了吃酒以后的高兴，给他少许的金钱，一面仍继续着和他谈说。这时有大批妇人从舱里走出来，她们听了少年的话，也就故意要人看见似的拿出若干钱来掷在桌上，说：“这给了你，这也拿了去！” 少年低声答谢，把钱收人袋里，苦郁的脸上到这时才现出喜欢的笑容。他回到自己的床位上，拉拢了床幕，卧着静静地沉思：有了这些钱，可以在船里买点好吃的东西，饱一饱两年来饥饿的肚子；到了热那亚，可以买件上衣换上；拿了钱回家，比空手回去也总可以多少好见于父母，多少可以得着像人的待遇。在他，这金钱竟是一注财产。他在床位上正沉思得高兴，这时那三个旅客围牢了二等舱的食桌在那里谈论着，他们一边饮酒，一边谈着旅行中所经过的地方情形。谈到意大利的时候，一个说意大利的旅馆不好，一个攻击火车。酒渐渐喝多了，他们的谈论也就渐渐地露骨了。一个说，如其到意大利，还是到北极去好，意大利住着的都是拐子土匪。后来又说意大利的官吏都是不识字的。 “愚笨的国民！”一个说。“下等的国民！”另一个说。“强盗……” 还有一个正在说出“强盗”的时候，忽然银币铜币就雹子一般落到他们的头上和肩上，同时在桌上地板上滚着，发出可怕的声音来。三个旅客愤怒了，举头看时，一把铜币又被飞掷到脸上来了。 “拿回去！”少年从床幕里探出头来怒叫。“我不要那说我国坏话的人的东西。”
partly because they were excited with wine, they gave him a few coins, jesting with him and urging him on to tell them other things; and as several ladies entered the salon at the moment, they gave him some more money for the purpose of making a show, and cried: ‘Take this! Take this, too!’ as they made the money rattle on the table.
“The boy pocketed it all, thanking them in a low voice, and with his sad face, but with a look that was for the first time smiling and affectionate. Then he climbed into his berth, drew the curtain, and lay quiet, thinking over his affairs. With this money he would be able to purchase some good food on board, after having suffered for lack of bread for two years; he could buy a jacket as soon as he landed in Genoa, after having gone about clad in rags for two years; and he could also, by carrying it home, insure for himself from his father and mother a kinder greeting than would fall to his lot if he arrived with empty pockets.This money was a little fortune for him; and he was taking comfort out of the thought behind the curtain of his berth, while the three travellers chatted away, as they set round the dining-table in the second-class salon.
“They were drinking and discussing their travels and the countries which they had seen; and from one topic to another they began to discuss Italy. One of them began to complain of the inns, another of the railways, and then, growing warmer, they all began to speak evil of everything. One would have preferred a trip in Lapland; another declared that he had found nothing but robbers and brigands in Italy; the third said that Italian officials do not know how to read.
“‘It’s an ignorant nation,’ continued the first.
“‘A filthy nation,’ added the second.
“‘Rob—’ exclaimed the third, meaning to say‘ robbers’; but he was not allowed to finish the word: a tempest of small coin came down upon their heads and shoulders, fell over the table and the floor with a great clatter. All three sprang up in a rage, looked up, and received another handful of coppers in their faces.
“‘Take back your money!’ said the lad, disdainfully, thrusting his head between the curtains of his berth; ‘I do not accept alms from those who insult my country!’”
