Rensselaer Republican, Volume 14, Number 48, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 17 August 1882 — A Heroic Boy. [ARTICLE]

A Heroic Boy.

Every year on the occasion of the national fetes tho Belgian Government makes a public distribution of rewards to persons who have performed remarkable acts of courage in good causes. Among those who were rewarded the other day was a little boy of 9, named G juin, whose exploit may be contrasted with the behavior of the people who recently allowed a littjp girl to be drowned at Kensington Gardens. Genin, playing in a field a few months ago, saw a little girl fall into the Sambre. Without knowing who the child was, he plunged into the river, and after some trouble saved her. The child turned out to be his own sister. .Not content with having rescued her from death, Genin, like a good hearted little boy, wanted to shield her from the punishment she had deserved by playing too near the river, contrary to her parrents’ orders. So he took the blame of her disobedience on himself and received a beating from his father. The Jittle girl, however, could not bear to see him suffer in this way, apd afterward told the whole truth, which was corroborated by the evidence of an eyewitness. The facts then became public, and young Genin was summoned to Brussels ft the fetes to receive a national recompense. He was, of course, loudly cheered as he stepped up to the platform, and M. Rolljn-Jacquemyns, the Home Minister, in pinhing a medal to his breast, called him a little hero.St. James' Gazette.

Bret Harte is dilatory to the last deSree. A Paris paper offered him sl,00 for a story, out he took life easy, failed to have his copy on time, au i was curtly told to keep it for gunwadding. Lord Lyons, British Ambassador in Paris, when recently solicited for his autograph, declined on the ground that he was not a “public character.”