The daily dispatch. [volume] (Richmond [Va.]) 1850-1884, 1852-02-23
THE DAILY DISPATCH
the GOLD sovRREIGN.T

me by Judge Ms q gentleman of wealth and
influence In Western; New York, is well worth
repeating; not for artificial interest, which it
does not contain, but for the admirable lesson
II conveys TO young persons commencing life.
regret thatl am unable TO reproduce the
spirit and humor with which the inimtable
Judge graced his simple story; but will do
my best to remember his own words,
when ! was only eight years old" said
Judge NJ, my father and my mother being
poor, with half dozen children better than
myself TO take care Of was given to far
mer IN the town of F., who designed making
pioughboy of me, and keeping me in his
service until was of age. ',,'-.e
''Well, had not a yery CAV time in Deacon
Webb's service for although he was an homes,
deacon, and tolerably kind man in his
Ian,iiy, ne believed in making boys work, and
diligence.
$50 had plenty of work TO do. and an abun.
dant lack Of indulgences to enjoy. It was
consequently great treat for me to get the
enormous sum OF one or two pennies into my
possession by any sort of good fortunes cir
cumstance OF such rare occurrence. that at the
age OF eleven, had learned TO regard money
as blessing bestowed by Providence only
well, | had lived with Deacon Webb three
years before knew the color of anv coin ex.
cept vile copper. By an accident / learned
me color ofgold. That is the story am going
"One Saturday night, MIR. Webb sent me
10 the village store on some errand; and, on
returning home, just about dusk, nv attention
was attracted by little brown package, living
on the road side.
picked 1t up to examine its contents,
without the least suspicion of the treasure
within. Indeed, it was so light, and the vol.
OF brown paper appeared so large, thatI un.
doubtedly suspected that was the victim Of
an April fool, although it was the month of
June. tore open the folds of the paper, how
ever and, discerning nothing, was on the
point of throwing it into the ditch, when some-
thing dropped out of it, and fell with ring
ing sound upon stone.
81 looked at it in astonishment. 1t was
yellow, round, glittering, too bright and too
small for penny, felt of it, squeezed it in
my fingers, IspelIed out the inscriptions; then
something whispered me that it was a gold
coin of inealculable value, and that, if 1 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 it out and
look at it.. But, whenever l met somebody,
was careful to put it out Of sight. Some
ho"s fCit uiCdu Vi uuuIlg al owner
to the coin. Provided found none, thought
it was honestly mine, by right of discovery;
and comforted myself with the sophistry
that il was not my Business to 60 about the
streets, crying, Who's lost?'
81 went home with the gold in my pocket
l'would not have had the deacon's folks know
what had found, for the world. was sorely
troubled with the fear of losing my vast and
incalculable treasure. This was not all. II
seemed to me that my face betrayed my secret.
could not look at anybody with an honest
eye.
"These troubles kept me awake half the
night, and projects for securing my treasure
by safe investment, Of the other half. On
the following morning, / was feverish and
nervous. When Deacon Webb, at the break
fast table, said.
"'William!
"'I started and trembled, thinking the next
words would be
'.'Where is that piece of gold you have found
and wickedly concealed, to keep il from the
rightful ownerr
But he only said,
II want you to 60 to Mr.. Baldwin's this
morning, and ask him if he can come and work
for me today and Tomorrow
81 felt immensely relieved. l left the house,
and got out of sight as soon as possible
Then once more | took the coin out of nv
pocket, and feasted on its beauty. Yet | was
unhappy. Consciousness of.wrong troubled
me, and almost wished had not found the
sovereign. Would not be called thief, il
discovered asked myself Was il not as
wrong to conceal what had found, as to take
the same amount originally from the owners
pocket? Was not he defrauded the same?
"But then said to myself
"Why, if don't know who the loser is, how
can give him his money? Ii is only because
| am afraid Deacon Webb will take il away
from me, that conceal it that's all. would
not steal gold and if the loser should ask me
Tor 1t, woud give it to him. | apologized
thus to myself all the way to Nj. Baldwin s
horse; but after all, it wouldn't do. The
gold was, like heavy stone, bound to my
heart 1t was sort OF unhappy charm.
which gave an evil spirit power TO torment
me. And | could not help thinking that
was not half so well pleased with my imme nse
riches as L had been with a RUSTY conner.
which had found someEw eeks before. Nobody
claimed the penny, although kept my good
fortune no secret; and had been as happy
as klng-or as kIng is commonly suppos-
ed to be.
"Mr. Baldwin was not at home; and I re
turned to the deacons house. saw Mr..
Wardly's horse standing at the gate, and was
terribly frightened. Mr.. Wardly was a consta-
die; and knew he had come TO take me TO
Jail. So hid in The garden until he went
away. By that time reason began to prevail
over cowardice, and mademy appearance at
the house. The deacon looked angrily at me,
s.Now, thought |, feeling faint, he's going to
accuse me Of finding the gold.
'But he only scolded me for being so long
about my errand. / never received repri-
mand SO willingly. His severe words sounded
sweet, had expected something SO much
more rreriible.
Il worked all day with the gold in my pock-
ct. wonder Deacon Webb did not suspect
somthin &, l stopped SO often to see if the gold
was really there, for, much as the possession
oft troubled me, the fear of losing II troubled
me scarcely less. was miserable. wished
q hundred times ! had not found the gold.
fell that i would be a relief TO lay il down
on the road, d,sids again wrapped ii in brown
paper, jast as had found il. ! wondered If
iil-got wealth made everybody so miserable.
"At night was sent again TO Mr.. Baidwins