Des Moines courier. ([Ottumwa] Iowa) 1848-1854, 1851-02-14
VOL. 3.----NO. II.

touch of others will turn everything into
gold
you surprise me- said Jupiter, Il
was not aware OF these facts; and sho'd
they prove true, they shall be corrected.
| will tolerate no such inequalities
The mendicant started, thinking his
benevolent friend was g maniac, and be.
gan to be afraid, but Jupiter threw a
little poppy on the sick mans eyelids,
and they instantly closed in gentle
slumber.
Jupiter next entered superb mansion
in Union place. The owner was not at
home, but loquacions footman who
stood at the door gladly undertook for
the bribe of little nectar, 10 relate the
history of his master. He was rich
merchant of South street, who confined
himself to his counting house. Nothing
could exceed the prosperity with which
he was constantly attended. His ships
arrived in port at the times when they
were most needed, and bring cargoes
that always suit the market Prices
usually fall after he sells, and rise
whenever he has purchased, and moreo.
yer, his debtors never run away, nor his
friends become treacherous.
Il perceive said Jupiter, this is one
whose touch turns everything into gold.'
Exactly so,' said the footman.
.These differences in the formation
of man. .hought Jupiter, must be cor
rected.'
He strolled next into the City Hall,
where he found in session the Circuit
Court OF the United States. The Great
cause of John Jacob Astor against the
State of New York was on trial, and
one of the most celebrated jurists of the
country was then addressing the court.
The knowledge which the lawer DIS
played and the eloquence with which
he uttered it. excited the admiration of a
large crowd of auditors, who said that
the lawyer was 10 receive a fee oil five
thousand dollars for his effort and that
he well meritcd all he was to receive.
Al one end of the bar sat lawyer
who was doing. He was shabbily
dressed, and his apparent poverty and
lisilessness induced Jupiter TO arouse
him, and ascertain why he was not OBJ
| tanning FIVE thousand dollar fees. The
man scarcely knew whether to laugh or
TO be angry. At length his love of easy
conquered his irritability, and he laugh
ed.
sOd man., said he, where did you
come from 10 ask such question:! The
counsellor who is addressing the court
is great genius. We possess only one
such man in the State; but two or three
in the United States ".
why not?' SAID Jupiter, in manifest
surprise. # #
why not!' exclaimed the shabby
lawyer; because great talents are scarce.
| We do not make ourselves you know
guess you never studied phrenology.
The difference between him and me is
the work of heaven; hence he receives
large fees, and receive none.'
While Jupiter was rejecting on the
organic inequalities which were thus un-
expectedly proclaimed to him, he deter
mined TO execute an experiment. Sud-
denly, therefore, while The great lawyer
was in the mos, pathetic part of his ar
gument Jupiter, unseen by mortal eye,
seized the orator by the throat, and sent
his soul to Olympus. The court arose
! in the most intense confusion. All said
the great lawyer had overexerted himself,
and was dead of apoplexy. The same
day the sick beggar died, and the rich
merchant and the shabby lawyer. What
loss the world had sustained in the
great lawyer; and what loss the city
in the rich man! God help the poor;
what is to become of them now! How
inscrutable said every person, are the
ways of Providence!
The great lawyers body was borne
to Trinity Church, where a huge granite
monument was erected over him by his
admirers. The rich man was carefully
soldered up in lead, and placed within
his family vault; while the shabby law
yer was buried privately in cherry
coffin, and the medicant was with little
ceremony, screwed up in pine boards,
and carried to Potler's Field. After
these differences of an hour, all were a.
like left to the silent and indiscrimina-
ling processes of decay; while the world
closed up its ranks with new orators and
new merchants, and the losses that yes-
tcrday seemed irreparable were remedied
aud forgotten.
But not thus Jupiter. The expert
ment which he medilated was to remould
the four former men, so that they should
possess equal powers of mind and body.
Nothing should distinguish one from the
other, SO far as relates to their organiza-
ton moral, intellectual and physical,
.for,' thought Jove, Il shall be truly sorry
if the misery of man, or any portion of
it, arises from par,ialiiy in their organi-
zalion.' The four souls being thus
equalized and furnished with new bodies,
were sent back into the world, and in
due course of nature. were severally
born of poor parents in different parts OF
the Union. The children possessed no
consciousness of ever having been on
the earth before. They were seyerally
dosed with medicine as soon as they
were born, and after struggling for their
- M n