A TRUMPETER, bravely leading on the soldiers, was captured by the enemy. —
He cried out to his captors, “Pray spare me, and do not take my life without cause or without inquiry. —
I have not slain a single man of your troop. —
I have no arms, and carry nothing but this one brass trumpet. —
” “That is the very reason for which you should be put to death,” they said; —
“for, while you do not fight yourself, your trumpet stirs all the others to battle.”