This was the kind of courage that made Rome the greatest city in the
world.
CORNELIA'S JEWELS.
It was a bright morning in the old city of Rome many hundred years
ago. In a vine-covered summer-house in a beautiful garden, two boys
were standing. They were looking at their mother and her friend, who
were walking among the flowers and trees.
"Did you ever see so handsome a lady as our mother's friend?" asked
the younger boy, holding his tall brother's hand. "She looks like a
queen."
"Yet she is not so beautiful as our mother," said the elder boy. "She
has a fine dress, it is true; but her face is not noble and kind. It
is our mother who is like a queen."
"That is true," said the other. "There is no woman in Rome so much
like a queen as our own dear mother."
Soon Cor-ne'li-a, their mother, came down the walk to speak with them.
She was simply dressed in a plain white robe. Her arms and feet were
bare, as was the custom in those days; and no rings nor chains
glit-tered about her hands and neck. For her only crown, long braids
of soft brown hair were coiled about her head; and a tender smile lit
up her noble face as she looked into her sons' proud eyes.
"Boys," she said, "I have something to tell you.
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