| James and Mary Ford, eds. Every Day in the Year. 1902. | | | | October 24 | | Montefiore | | By Ambrose Bierce (1842–1913) |
| | | | An English-Jewish philanthropist, who was born on Oct. 24, 1784. He lived to be over a hundred years of age. |
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I SAW—’twas in a dream the other night— | |
| A man whose hair with age was thin and white; | |
| One hundred years had bettered by his birth, | |
| And still his step was firm, his eye was bright. | |
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| Before him and about him pressed a crowd. | 5 |
| Each head in reverence was bared and bowed, | |
| And Jews and Gentiles in a hundred tongues | |
| Extolled his deeds and spake his fame aloud. | |
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| I joined the throng and, pushing forward, cried | |
| “Montefiore!” with the rest, and vied | 10 |
| In efforts to caress the hand that ne’er | |
| To want and worth had charity denied. | |
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| So closely round him swarmed our shouting clan | |
| He scarce could breathe, and, taking from a pan | |
| A gleaming coin, he tossed it o’er our heads, | 15 |
| And in a moment was a lonely man! | | | |
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