The Wyandot pioneer. (Upper Sandusky, Ohio) 1853-1868, 1853-11-03
-li a CHARMING STORY.
THE B OND-M AIDE !,
Or, The Merchants Heart.

Matthias, the Levantine merchant, had
spent his whole life, from his boy y-time
upward, in travelling for the sake of gain
to the East and to the West; and to the
islands of the South Seas. He had re-
turned to his native place, Tarsus, in the
full vigor of manhood, and was reported
toihave amassed great wealth. His first
step was to make prudent call upon the
governor, and to present him with purse
and a string of pearls, in order to be-
speak his goodwill. He then built him
self spacious palace in the midst of
garden ON the borders of stream, and
began to lead quiet life, resting after
the fatigues of his many voyages. Most
persons considered him to be the happiest
of merchants, but those who were intro
duced to his intimacy knew that his con-
slant companions were thought and sad
ness. When he had departed in his youth
he had left his father and his mother,
his brothers and sisters, in health, although
poor; but, when he returned in hopes to
gild the remainder of their days, he found
that the hand of death had fallen upon
them every one, and that there was no
one to share his prosperity, and a blight
came over his heart.
The gossipsin the bazsars soon began
to talk of his case, and it was then that
Hanna, the Christian tailor, one day said
in a loud voice to his opposite neighbor,
the Jewish money-changer, 81 will lay
the value of my stock that the merchant
Matthias will find consolation in marriage;
that he will choose the most beautiful OF
our maidens; and that he will found a
family which shall be celebrated in this
city as long as its posterity endures. p
Tothis the Jew replied: "What is the
value of thy stock? Three jackets re-
turned upon thy hands, rusty pair Of
scissors, an old stool and some bundles Of
thread? Verify, the risk. is not great"
The Christian said a prayer or two tc
himself, that he might not curse his nei
ghbor, and then answered: II willthroN
in Zarifeh, the ebony black girl whom
bought last spring to follow my wife whcl
she goes out with the little Gorges to th'
gardens. 'Whatsayest thou now?"
The Jew pondered awhile, leaning hi
gray beard on the breast of his caftan.-
He remembered that forty years befor
! he, too, had returned from travel witt
his money-bags, and had found his hous
desolate; and that he had devoted himsel
ever since to moody reflection; and to tn
heaping of mahboub upon mahboub.-
The thought had therefore become fxe
IN his mind that when the middle time {
life comes, there can remain no affection
in the heart, either of Christian, or c
Jew, orof Mahommadan, but for golc
So he said: "Let the odds be equal.
viii venture five hundred pieces againi
thy FIVE hundred pieces, that within fis
years the merchant Matthias does not tax
to his bosom, WIFE" "Agreed!' erie
the Christian. The neighbors were ca
led in as witnesses, and every one laugl
ed at the absurdity of the dispute
Matthias was not long in learning tn
awager had been laid upon his futu
life, and, in passing through the bazsa
he stopped one day and said sternly
the Christian tailor: ''Son of rashnes
why hast thou risked more than Il
whole Of thy havings upon amatter Viii,
is only known to Heaven? I have look,
upon all the maidens of my people, al
no emotion has stirred within me. We
ly thou wilt become a prey to this Jew
"My lord, "replied the tailor, smilin
'sit is impossible for a good man to rems
all his life alone. If thou wilt come
my house and see my wife and my lit
Gorges dancing in the arms of the ebon
black girl, Darifeh, thou wilt surely rele
and seek atonce to be as l am. Perha
thou hast not looked well around thee.
There is Miriam, the daughter of {