In the month of May, 1887, the following touching incident appeared in a Vienna paper. Not far from Vienna, Austria there lived an aged couple who depended upon their only daughter for their welfare. The girl held a position as book keeper in a stationer’s shop in the town. Then, quite unexpectedly, the shop went out of business. For a long time after that, the poor young woman could find no other job. Being deprived of the means of supporting her old parents, she thought of selling her hair to a hair dresser. Her hair was wonderfully long and thick, but her need was great, and the girl didn't think twice before sacrificing her hair. But the money she gained from this was eventually spent, and the young lady searched earnestly for some other way of earning bread for her parents.

Soon after, someone told her that a dentist, who had a large practice in the town, was offering 10 gulden (about $5) for every sound front tooth which he himself extracted. Now the girl had beautiful teeth, and she immediately resolved to sell them. On going to the dentist, he asked the young lady the reason why she wished to part with her teeth. When he heard her motives, he was so struck with admiration at her self-sacrifice that he refused to take out her teeth. Instead, he gave her a present of 100 gulden.

Shortly after this, the girls' parents were surprised by a visit from the dentist. He had come to make a proposal of a higher, and yet deeper, nature. He asked their permission to be a suitor for their daughter’s hand, for he had never met anyone with such self-sacrificing affection. Need it be said that the permission was readily granted, and in the end, the dentist and the young woman were happily married.