The Man Who Bowed to Children.
THERE once lived, in a small village of Germany, a school-master named Frebonius. It was about the year 1492, just when America was on the point of being discovered. So, then, the children would soon be obliged to study a larger geography, and bend down to lessons all about land and water of two hemispheres instead of one. Frebonius was, I suppose, as tall and large as any man; but he had not grown above being very respectful toward small boys and girls—much more respectful, I think, than people in general at that time or any time. He bowed to them as if they were the size of men and women. Perhaps some of them would increase with years till they turned out to be famous. Who could tell? The good man who bowed used to think of such possibilities. Frebonius, no doubt, knew people who carried high heads, and passed the very young folks in the street with no more notice than if they had been so many sheep on their way from the fold to the pasture. He watched such persons while they regarded the little ones in company as little as if they had been pigs or chickens. I dare say, that years before, when he was only two or three feet high, he had been one of the rudely neglected. He, little Johnny Frebonius, had perhaps at some time been going along the road, and had met the doctor, and further on the minister; and when they arrived home, neither of these great men could tell whether he had met Johnny or not. One was thinking of his sermon, and the other of his physic. Mr. Frebonius often gave a kind word and a pleasant nod to two children, belonging to two neighbors, as he went by the door of one of them. One, astride his grandpa's cane, was playing horse—a very frisky steed; the other was making mud pies. "Ah!" said the master, "here will be a gentleman and a lady by-and-by." And he met them with a bow so respectful that they felt better than if he had given them a piece of gold. And the good man lived to see them grow up, the one to be a burgomaster and the other his smart wife. You see there was something very proper in the salutation given years before, to the pastry-cook and the horseman. And I can easily believe that, when any of the boys and girls met Mr. Frebonius, their eyes were very bright and their manners very polite, and that every time they saw him, they felt very respectful and happy. Frebonius was a school-master, and it was his habit to bow to his pupils when he entered his school-room. When some one expressed astonishment, he said: "There are among these boys men of whom God will one day make burgomasters, chancellors, doctors, and magistrates. It is right we should treat them with respect." One of those boys was a certain Martin Luther.—Christian Register.