Litchfield enquirer. [volume] (Litchfield, Conn.) 1829-current, 1860-01-12
THE MERCHANTS HEART.


ward, in travelling for the sake Of gain, tc
the East and to the West, and to the islands
of the South Seas. He had returned to his
native place, Tarsus, in the full vigor OF
manhood, and was reported to have amassed
great wealth.. His first step was to make a
prudent call upon the governor, and to pre-.
sent him with q purse and string of pearls,
in order to bespeak his goodwill He then
built himself 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 mereh,
ants but those who were introduced to his
intimacy knew that his constant companions
were thought and sadness. When be had
departed in his youth, be had left his father,
and bis mother, and his brothers, and bis
sisters in health, although poor but, when
he returned in hopes to gid the remainder
of their days. he found that the hand of
death had fallen upon every one, and that
there was no one to share his prosperity
and blight came over his heart.
The gossips in the bazaars soon began to
talk of his case, and was that Hanna the
Christian tailor one day said in loud voice
to his opposite neighbor the Jewish money
changer, II will lay the value of my stock
that the merchant Matthias will find conso-
lation in marriage that he will choose the
most beautiful of our maidens and that he
will found family which shall be celebrated
in this city as long as its pro: perity endures y
To this the Jew replied What is the val
ne of thy stock? Three jackets returned
upon thy hands, rusty pair of scissors, an
old stool, and some bundles of thread ? Ver-
lily the risk is not great" The Christian
said prayer or two to himself, that he
might not curse Lis neighbor, and then an
swered ~ will throw in Zarifeh, the ebo-
ny-black girl whom bought last spring to
follow my wife when she goes out with the
little Gorges to the gardens. What sayest
thou now?
The Jew pondered awhile, leaning his
grey beard upon the breast of his caftan-
He remembered that forty years before he,
too had returned from travel with his mo-
ney-bags, and had found his house desolate :;
and that he had devoted himself ever since
to moody reflection, and to the heaping of
mahboub upon mahboub The thought had
therefore become fixed in his mind that when
the middle time Of life comes, there can re-
main no affection in the heart, either of
Christian, or of Jew, or of Mahommadan,
but for gold. So he said, Let the odds
be equal. I will venture five hurried pieces
against thy Eve hundred pieces, that within
five years the merchant Matthias does not
take to his bosom wife," Agreed r.
cried the Christian. The neighbors were
called 10 as witnesses and every one laugh
ed at the absurdity of the dispute.
Matthias was not long ia icurning that
wager he'd been laid upon his future life
and in passing through the bazaar, he stop
ped one day aud said sternly to the Christian
tailor, Son of rashness, why hast thou
rsked more than the whole of thy havings
upon matter which is only known to Hea-
ven ? / have looked upon all the maidens
of my people, and no emotion has stirred
within me Verify thou wilt become prey
to this Jew"
My lord" replied the tailor, smiling, ''it
is impossible for a good man to remain all
his life alone. If thou wilt come to my
house and see my wife and my little Gorges
dancing in the arms of the ebony black girl,
Zarlfeh, thou wilt surely relent and seek at
once to be as am. Perhaps thou hast not
well locked around thee. There is Miriam,
the daughter of our baker, who is of ma
jestic presence, being as big as myself She
will suit thee to hair and, if thou desir-
est, my wife shall make proposals for thee
this afternoon" Matthias laughed, and
frowned, and went on, and the Jew chuck
ling in his beard, said : 90 Hanna, for how
much wilt thou free thyself from thy wa
ger? Wilt thou pay hundred pieces and
let all be said ?" But the Christian repli-
ed O. In five years St. Philotea wore away
stone as big as this stool with her kisses
and her tears-in five years the heart of this
man may melt"
Matthias went not on his way unmoved
after his conversation with the Christian tai
lor. He began to think that perhaps, in
deed, he was wearing away his life uselessly
in solitude. There was certainly no beauty
and no satisfaction in that manner of being.
1t was better to take to himself compan-
ion. But where find her? Amongst all
the frivolous daughters of Tarsus was there
one with whom he would not be more lonely
than with himself? Their mothers had
taught them nothing but love of dress, and
love of themselves. How could their capri
cious and selfish natures find pleasure in
communion with a man whom this world had
sore tried, and who wished to wait in meek
ness and in patience for the world to come
| These medtations disturbed Matthias, but
they did not render him more unhappy. They
occupied his mind; they relieved the monot-
ony of his existence they prevented him
from always turning his eyes inward upon
himself; they forced him to look abroad. He
went to the houses of his friends and once
more studied the projections or imperfections
of their daughters. His object was SO man
ifest,. that the joke went round that he wish
ed to save the Christian tailor from ruin.
People tested with the Jew as they brought
in their money to change. But although
Matthias saw many beautiful girls who threw
the glances of their almond-shaped eyes
encouragiugly towards him, he saw none that
pleased his heart; aud suddenly retiring from
society, shut himself up for whole year in
his palace, seeing nobody, and taking melan-
choly and discomfort for his only companions
At length Matthias began to feel the de
sire of change, and made it a practice every
morning to have his mule saddled and to ride
out to the base of the mountains and, then
putting foot to ground to wander until eve
ming amidst the rocks and valleys. On one
occasion he went so far that he could not re.