Old-Fash ioned Tales The History of Little Jack HERE was once a poor lame old man that lived in the midst of a wide uncultivated moor in the North of England. He had formerly been a soldier, and had almost lost the use of one leg by a wound he had received in battle when he was fighting against the enemies of his country. This poor man, when he found himself thus disabled, built a little hut of clay, which he covered with turf dug from the common. He had a little bit of ground, which he made a shift to culti- vate with his own hands, and which supplied him w^tn potatoes and vegetables. Besides this, he sometimes gained a few halfpence by opening a gate for travellers, which stood near his house. He did not indeed get much, because few people passed that way. What he earned was, however, enough to purchase clothes and the few necessaries he wanted. But though poor, he was strictly honest, and never failed night and morning to address his prayers to God ; by which means he was respected by all who knew him, much more than many who were superior to him in rank and fortune.
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