Fayetteville observer. [volume] (Fayetteville, Tenn.) 1850-1966, 1852-04-01
Tho Gold SUyerei en-

related to ME by Judge N a gentle
man Of veal th and influence in Yves.
! tern New-Yyrk, is well worth repeat
iug; not Tor artificial interest, which
. it does not contain, but for tile ad.
nl:rable lesson it conveys to young
persons commencing life.
! l regret that l am unable to re-
produce the spirit and humor witt
which the inimitable Judge graced
/ his simple story; but l Will do my
best to rem4mber his own words.
When / Was only eight years old
sa il Judge .N,. by fatner and my
mother being poor, with half a dozen
I. c.illren Let er than myself to take
care Of, l wJs given to a farmer in
tie town Of F., who designed making
i Iloughboy pf me, and keeping me
.in MS seryice until I was Of age.
. We'll, l ha II not very gay time
|ia Deacon Webs service; for al
though he whs an honest deacon, and
/. .aelsrably Kind man in bis family,
Ils 5elicyedih making boys work,
how to avoid spelling
IlAJnl Igy ind ulgence.
S. | had plenty Of work to do,
Ianl an abundant lack Of indulgences
10 eaidy. II was CONSEQUENTLY a
Igreat treat + II me to get the enor-
nous sum of one or twopennieS into
Env possession by any sort Of good
Ifor, uue- circumstance Of such rare
Ioccur ence, tlat at the age Of eleven,
| had learned to regard money as a
iblessi! g besto owedby Providence on
Ily on i tavorG a few.
Well, l Had lived with Deacon
Webb three J ears before | knew the
color Of any coin except vile copper
gs an accident | learned the color OF
goId. That is the story am going
to tell you.
One Saturday night, Mr.. Webb
sent me to the village Store on some
orrand; and q returning home, just
about dusk, my attention W IS attract
ed by ittle brown package, lying
On tha road Sitle
| picked it up to examine its CON
tents, without the least suspicion OF
the treasure within. Indeed, it was
50 light, and the volume Of brown
paper appeated so large, that | un-
doubtcdl} 4us pected that | was the
victim of All April fool, although it
WIS the month of june. IItore open
tao.folds Iof the paper, how ever; and,
discerning nothing, | was on the
point Of }hr9wihg it into the ditch,
mllen solhetliing' dropped out of it,
and fell Will i ringing sound upon a
Stone.
I Iool led at it in astonishment-
1t was ydIlok, round, glittenng, too
small for a penny; l ipit of if, |
squeezed it in my fingers, | spelled
out the il Inscriptions; then something
whispered me that it was a gold coin
of incalc hlable value, and that, if |
DID not wish to lose it, ] had better
pocket itI as soop as possible.
Trcmbl ling with excitement, | put
the coin Il my pocket. But it would
not stay there, Every two minutes
/ | had to take it out and look at it.
| But, whenever I met somebody, !
was careful to put it out of sight
Somehow, felt a guilty dread dl
finding an owner to the coin. Pro
videdI | 70 ound none, thought it was
honestly mine, by right of discovery;
and / comlorted myself with the
sopbistry that it was not my busi-
ness to go about the SSsreetS, cIylhS;
I'Who's lost?'
Invent home with the gold IN my
nocket. would not have the dea-
cons folks know what ] had 70 lnd,
for the,wolld. j was sorely troup pled
with the fear Of losing my vast and
I1ncaleulable treasure. Ihis was not
al. 1t seemed to me that my lace
betrayed my secret. could not
look at anybody with an honest eye.
These troubles kept me awake hall
the night, and projects for secui ring
nv treasure by safe ifvestm ent,
the other half On the following
morning. was feverlsh ana nerV ous.
When Deacon Webb, at the prf PAX
fast table said,
'WiIliamp
I started an d trembled, thinking
the next words would BET
| ,y,y, al ,,;ao,I of oold won