The Manchester journal. [volume] (Manchester, Vt.) 1861-current, 1861-06-18
The Yankee Aladdin.

The Yankee Aladdin.
Aladdin began by swapping jack-kniyes
and getting the best, and bartering halves
Of marble stuck together for whole ones.
Wien he grew older, and sold berries
~fieh he picked On the hill pasture j
creased the quart pot, SO that little e,ri
tai was carried forward to The next meas.
ure. lie hayed bard all summer, aud
went TO evening school in the winter, aud
leaned the golden rule Of aritlmetio-
dition to himself, subtraction for his neigh
bor; and in all the games he held strictly
TO the rule of Tumabout: 4" You tickle
me, and I'll tickle you - if can; but at
all events, you tickle me-
At an carly age Aladdin was consider
ed to be good at a bargain, which means
that he always succeeded in exchanging
the worse for the better. always keeping
the blind eye of horse to the wall when
when he wanted TO sell him, and always
looking straight at il when he wanted to
buy him and the approving village shook
its head, and said, Let Aladdin alone TO
succeed
lie grew up and left the village for the
world. He'll be rich said the village,
with more enthusiasm and envy than any
village says Of departing boy, He'll be
honest, faithful, generous. To Aladdin
\ the whole world was but a market in
which to buy cheap and sell dear. For
him there was no beauty, no heroism, no
4 piety, no history. To him all lands and
waters are alike. No Homer sings for
him along the Hlgean; he only curses the
wind that will not blow him to Odessa
I No sirens call to him from the sunny
shore he loves the sharp oath of brutal
/ boatswain.
| With bible in his hand and a quid in
his mouth, he squirts about the holy places
of Jerusalem, and calculates the cost of
the sepulchre. He scratches his name
with jack-kiile upon Egyptian obelisks,
by the side Of the hieroglyphed names Of
Rameses and Toihcms names that shook
early history with their grandeur; and the
reverend oehaae of Tia ihyau desort. that
have slept since they heard the shout or
Alcxandria's army marching TO find the
oracle Ammon, are awakened by the shrill
whistling of Yankee Doodle and Old
/ Dan Tucker.
Then Aladdin comes home. He has
turned his goods and his opportunities
over and over again and they are all
turned into piles Of money. The wise VII
lage welcomes him, and younger genera
tions, as the shining example Of the sue
cessful man. For, my dear son, just
think of it! He began with nothing, aud
now look
My dear son does look, and he secs Al
addin owning millions Of dollars, and Of
all the doing-eood Societies lie is clief di-
rector. His name is as good as gold--
lie has bought pictures, and books, and
statues. He is housed in luxury, and he
pricks his mouth with a silver fork. He
goes to church twice on Sundays, and only
wakes up when the preacher reyiles and
4 denounces the sinners Of Sodom, and those
tough old Jews Of Jerusalem. He goes
home thanking God that he is not as other
men are; and after dinner lights cigar,
/ sits before t,e 6na IA an easy chair, and
tells children that honesty is the best poll
cy.
BY and by old Aladdin dies. The papers
regret that they are summoned TO deplore
the loss of the reverend parent, generous
friend, public spirited citizen, and pious
man. Then the precious snapper OF
iack-knives, and model for the rising
generation, is left under the sod. And
the men who are TO be formed upon that
model and pursue similar success, care
iessIy ask as they stir their toddies, So,
old Aladdin is gone at last; will be cut Up
wellY The sculptor caryes cherub upon
his tombstone, and graves the motto, BY
their works We shall know them, while
some quiet Charles Lamb with insanity
in his family, asks as he reals Aladdln's
epitaph, 'Where be all the bad people
buried PC. ". Curtis.