Daily Ohio statesman. [volume] (Columbus, Ohio) 1855-1870, 1862-09-21
HONESTY TRE BESp POLICY;
STORY OF THE NORTH or GERMANY

STORY OF TIE NORTH OF GERMANY.
Before tho oastle Of Gruningen upon the
Bode, one clear summer evening, the bishop
Henry Of HalberatRds was seated With foreign
prelate who had been his guest for month -
The posset drink stood before them In two
mighty fagons They had been disooursiug
from ten O'Clock In the morning, when they sat
down to dinner, about huge Wine-tun which q
bishop on the Rhine he'd juss got constructed, =,
and were agreed In the opinion that Ii became
every eccleslasIicsl prince, who would ccufer q
becoming splendor on his court, to possess
similar tun Tho affair was quite settled by
bota OF tnen' except az to it's execution; and
their conTers alton began now to be interrupted
by yswns' or to flag on in monosyllables.
lt chaneed, as good fortute would have 1t.
that the shepherd Conrad passed by, driving
his well washed aock across the castle yard
where Bishop Henry used to review them every
evening. ~ salute you my lord bishop
"Good evening, Conrad, but where 10 Harn7''
Conrad whiateled, and q beautiful large ram
bounded up fret to the shepherd and then to the
bishop, who caressed the animal and fed him
with some crumbs which he had kept fer him.
The bishop exchanged o few words with the
shepherd, and Inquired If his wedding day was
ut hand. Conrad shrugged his shoulders and
passed on,
Bishop Henry nov extolled the beautiful
ram, which he declared he would not part with
for anything in the world, and then he turned
his eulogium on the good Conrad, who, he said,
was honesty himself. The foreign bishop
laughed aloud, for travel in distant countries,
aud frequent stay In foreign courts, had filled
him With a universal dlstrust Of men. He
ayecred that it was impossible 70 hDd thor.
oughly honest servant. and least Of all at the
court of a bishop, They were ell, he said,
combined TO cheat their masters, ard oil more
or lees rogues.
Bishop Henry eagerly disputed this assertion;
and extoled the virtues of the good people
over whom be sWsyed the crozier, and above
all bis shepherd Conrad, who, he said, had
never told lie, or deceived any person in his
whole lifetime. "Neyer told lie! Never de-
ceived his master" repeated the stranger hish,
op In tone Of irony. "No!" answered Bishop
Henty, she never has, and never will!"--
"Never!" re-echosd the foreign ecolesiassic,
"what will you bet7"
After several propositions, the two bishops
agreed on these conditions first, that the stake
should be an immense tuD, capable of contain
ing one hundred and FIFTY barrels of wine, and,
secondly, that Conrad, without being made
aware of she wager, should be put to the trial
within three days. The two dignitariea then
parted for the night, right glad to have found
something to amuse them for two or three
days to come.
The foreign bishop, before ho went to bed,
held, as his custom was, consultation with
his confident, Peter, who Was nomlnally hls
servant, and occasionally his fool, but In fact
possessed a truer claim to the title OF his priYy
counselor than many others enjoying higher
titles and places, Peter had always shrewd
advice to give in every emergency, whether
temporal or spiritual. He was accustomed to
hear, TO see, and even sometimes to think for
his master without any one knowing 1t. He
had done so on this occasion; but he seemed
little disposed to talk this evening, for the word
rogue. which had escaped his master, during the
conversation just narrated, had put him in bad
humof, and II was only by the promise of q
new scarlet cap, In the event of the wager be.
ing won, that his master got him to open bic
lips. After some satisicsl remarks on the
enormous coat of o Wine.tun which ehould con.
tain one hundred and Atty barrels-.fft to exhaust
more than half the revenue of bishopric--he
undertook to find out how trap might be Get
for tho new ph@nix of honesty, Conrad.
Peter commenced bis operations with the
rising sun, aud before dinner hour was able to
report to his master that Conrad was in love
with the fair Elisabeth, and that she would not
lissen to his proposals. until he should possess
little cottage of his own, both being very
poor. The active Peter had already spoken to
Elisabeth, and found her quite ready to assist
In his enterprise; be therefore only requised q
handful of gltteriug silver pieces from bis
master to gain the bet. The bishop gave him
as much as he wished, and sat down TO dinner
with good hopes of the wlne-tun.
Meanwhile Peter had taken his way back
to the fair Elizabeth; he snowed her the shin
Ing coins which almost covered her little table,
and bargain is quickly atruck between them;
Peter agreeing to purchase for her cottage, II
che bought him what he wanted.
The following morning, Elizabeth, soon
after sunrise, went to cut erase at place
which she knew Conrad must pass with his
fock. As soon as the latter perceived her at Q
distance, he aew, accompanied BY Harm, 70
meet her, set down beside her, and repeated
all bis former vows and protestations Of love
But Elisabeth answered her lover coolly, remark.
ing that che had heard all that o thousand
times over, and If he had nothing to tell her o.
q little cottage Of bis own, he already knew bel
answer. Conrad was about TO take his leave
much detected, yhen half-smiling glance from
Elizabeth induced him TO Inquire why she Wal
10 cruel to him, and what lhe wished him to d,
for her. "Eof the joke's sake let us see whether