1.During the war between France and Germany，in 1870and 1871，a company of Prussiansoldiers was marching through a village in the north of France，when some of the villagers fired on them and killed six of them.
2.The Prussians were，of course，very angry，and the captainmade up his mind that his men should not be treated in that way at the next village they came to.He therefore ordered that six of the villagers should be shot.Six of the chief men were accordingly seized，bound，and locked up in a room in the mayor’shouse.
3.The Prussian captain allowed the village pastorto go and visit them，as they were to be shot on the following day.The pastor found the poor men in a state of great terror，and some of them seemed quite unable to listen to him.
4.Among the six was a widower，with five young，helpless children.The poor man wept bitterly over thehard fateof his children.He wished that they too hadbeen seized by the Prussians，so that they might have escaped by death from a life of beggary.
5.The pastor tried in vain to comfort this man.At last he left the poor man，and walked slowly to the house where the Prussian captain was staying for the night，and asked leave to speak to him.
6.“Captain，”said the pastor，“six men have been given up to you in return for the death of six of your soldiers.None of these men fired on your troops .
7.It cannot matter to you who the men are whom you shoot；the better known your victimsbetter warning will their death be to others.
8.“I have come，therefore，to ask you to let me take the place of one of the six men，whose death will leave his five children in great want.We are both equally innocent，and my death will serve your purpose better than his.”
9.The officer gave his consent in a careless way，and the pastor was bound and locked up along with the other five，while the poor widower was set free.
10.Happily the story of this noble act was told to the Prussian general the same evening，and he was so pleased with it that he ordered the captain to set free，not only the pastor，but the other prisoners as well.