The Plymouth pilot. (Plymouth, Marshall County, Ind.) 1851-1852, 1851-12-17
THE GOLD SOVEREIGN.
BY PAUL CREYTOy,

The story Of the gold sovereign. rela
ted to me bv Judge N, gen,lem1r
OF wealth and influence. in Western New
York, is well worth epeating-not fol
the artificial interest which i, does no,
contain. but for the admirable lesson i,
conveys to young persons commencing
life.
| regret that am unable To reproduce
The spirit and hunor with which the in
imiIah!e judge graced his simple story;
BIZ, | will do my bes, to remember his
own words.
When | was only eight years old. said
Jutise ". my father and mother he
ing poor. with half dozen children bet.
ter than myself. to take care Of. | was
given To d farmer. in tbe town Of F.
who designed making plough bny of
m, AMI keeping me in his service until
| was of age.
Well had not very gay TIM in pca
con Webbs service; for although he Was
an honest deacon, and tolcrabe kind
man in his family. he believed in making
boys work, AMI understood how 10 avoid
spoiiInS them by indulgence.
So had plenty Of work TO do. and an
abundant lack Of indulgence to enjoy. 1t
was consequently great treat for me 10
get the enormous sum of one or two pen
MES into my possession, by any sort of
good fortune-a circumstance of such
rare occurrence. that a: the a.e Of eleven.
| had learned to regard money as bles-
sing bestowed by providence only on
favored few.
Well. | had lived with Deacon Webb
three years, before knew the color Of :
ny coin except vile copper. By an acci-
dent. learned the color OF gold. That
is the story am going 70 tell You.
One Saturday night. Mr.. Webb sent
me 10 the village store, on some GRAND;
and on returning home, just about dusk.
M attention was attracted By little
orown package lying OH the roadside.
picked 1t up, To examine its contents
without the leas' suspicion of the treas
ure within. Indeed it was so light. aud
the volume # brown paper appeared SO
large. that | undoubtedly suspected that
| was ihc victim of an April fool; altho'
II was the month Of June tore open
the folds Of the paper, however, and dis
corning nothing. was on the point of
throwing it into the ditch, when some
thing droppe out of it. and fell with a
ringing sound upon stone.
| looked at ii in astouishnen;. 1t was
yellow--rJund-glittering - too bright
and too small for penny. felt Of it
i squeezed ii in my fngers--I spelled
out the riptions-then some thing
whispered to me that it was gold coin
OF lncalculable value and that if did not
wish to lose it. had better pocket it as
soon as possible.
Trembling with excitement, put the
coin in my pocket. But it would not
stay there. Every two minutes, had to
take 1t out and look at it. But. when
ever met somebody, | was careful to
put it out OF sight Somehow felt a
guilty dread Of finding an owner of the
coin. Provided | found none. | tho't
II was honestly mine. by right of discov-
cry; and | comiortcd myself with the
sophlstry. that II was not my business to
so about the streets, crying who's lost?'
Il went home with the gold in my
pocket. | would not have the d,acon's 5
folks TO know what had found for the
world was sorely troubled with the
fear of losing nv vast and lncalcu!a bic
TREASURED This was not all. Ii seemed
20 M that my face betrayed the secret
could not look at any body with an
honest eye.
These troubles kept me awake half the
night and projects for securing my treas
ure, by safe investment, the other half