A poor man once undertook to emigrate from Castine, Me., to Illinois. When he was attempting to cross a river in New York, his horse broke through the rotten timbers of the bridge, and was drowned. He had but this one animal to convey all his property and his family to his new home.

His wife and children were almost miraculously saved from sharing the fate of the horse; but the loss of this poor animal was enough. By its aid the family, it may be said, had lived and moved; now they were left helpless in a land of strangers, without the ability to go on or return, without money or a single friend to whom to appeal. The case was a hard one.

There were a great many who "passed by on the other side." Some even laughed at the predicament in which the man was placed; but by degrees a group of people began to collect, all of whom pitied him.

Some pitied him a great deal, and some did not pity him very much, because, they said, he might have known better than to try to cross an unsafe bridge, and should have made his horse swim the river. Pity, however, seemed rather to predominate. Some pitied the man, and some the horse; all pitied the poor, sick mother and her six helpless children.

Among this pitying party was a rough son of the West, who knew what it was to migrate some hundreds of miles over new roads to locate a destitute family on a prairie. Seeing the man's forlorn situation, and looking around on the bystanders, he said, "All of you seem to pity these poor people very much, but I would beg leave to ask each of you how much."

"There, stranger," continued he, holding up a ten dollar bill, "there is the amount of my pity; and if others will do as I do, you may soon get another pony. God bless you." It is needless to state the effect that this active charity produced. In a short time the happy emigrant arrived at his destination, and he is now a thriving farmer, and a neighbor to him who was his "friend in need, and a friend indeed."

曾經(jīng)有一個窮人，他從緬因州遷移到伊利諾伊州。當(dāng)他試圖渡過紐約的一條河時，馬踩斷了已經(jīng)腐朽的木橋，掉進(jìn)河里淹死了；而他只有這么一頭牲口，馱著所有的財產(chǎn)還有家人到新家去。

然而幸運的是，妻子和孩子被救了下來，他們沒有像可憐的馬兒一樣失去性命。但失去馬匹就足夠讓他們煩惱的，它活著的時候幫這一家人運東運西，現(xiàn)在死了，只留下無助的一家人站在一片陌生的土地上。他們既不能返回又無法繼續(xù)前進(jìn)，此刻他們身無分文，在這兒又沒有可依靠的朋友，情況很糟糕。

有很多人從他們身邊經(jīng)過，一些人甚至嘲笑這一家人的處境。不過還是有同情他們的人，不一會兒便有許多人圍住了他們。

一些人非常同情這個窮人，也有一些人不怎么同情他，因為他們認(rèn)為他不該試圖穿越那條危險的木橋，并且應(yīng)該讓馬匹從河中游過去。然而，同情他的人還是較多。有些人同情那個窮人，也有一些人同情那匹馬，更多的人則是同情那個可憐、生著病的母親和六個無助的孩子。

人群中有一個人是西部人的兒子，他長得很強壯，深知辛辛苦苦地經(jīng)過千山萬水，來到草原上組建一個新家有多么難。看了看絕望的窮人，又看了看周圍的旁觀者，他說：“你們看起來非常同情他，那么請允許我問問你們每個人對他的同情到底有多少。”

“給你，陌生人，”他拿出一張十美元的鈔票，繼續(xù)說道，“這是我對你同情的數(shù)額，如果其他人也能像我一樣，那么你很快就能買一匹馬了。愿上帝保佑你。”無需多說，他這一施舍舉動很快就有了成效。就這樣，那位快樂的移民在很短的時間內(nèi)就到達(dá)了目的地。現(xiàn)在他經(jīng)營著一個興盛的農(nóng)場，而他的鄰居正是那位“患難之交”。