Mineral Point weekly tribune. (Mineral Point, Wis.) 1859-1868, 1865-11-01


which, for the first time since his youth.
he found real happiness. At length, one
! day he took courage, and told Cariue that
he Intended to take her away and marry
her and make her his mistress Of his
wealth. s'My lord, said she with simple
surprise, has madness stricken thee?
Dost thou not know that | am a bond
maiden, and that there is no power that
can free me p
Money can free thee, child" said Mat
thias.
Not So replied she; 'for i is an an
/ cient privilege of this monastery that
+ boRdsmen and bondswomen shall forever
appertain to it If any freeman casts his
I eyes upon one of US, and desires to marry
her, he must quit his state and become
slave, he and his descendants forever, to
the monastery. This Is why l was not
married last year, to Skandar, the porker,
who offered twenty pigs for my freedom,
but who refused to give up his liberty for
me"
Matthias internally thanked Heaven for
having given an Independent spirit to the
'porker, and replied, smiling
Believe me, Carine, that the fathers
love money-they all do-and shall pur-
chase lhee as my wife"
1T IS nonsense-they refused twenty
pigs"
Il will give twenty sacks ofgold, baby"
cried Matthias, enraged at her obstinacy
/ Carine replied that she was not worth
so much as that; and that If she were,
it was of no use talking of the matter, for
4 the fathers would not sell her.
BY Saint Maron = exclaimed Matthias,
Il can buy their whole monastery !"
He was mistaken The monastery Of
SeIafka was the richest in all the East,
and the head of it was the most self~willed
of men. lie cut short the propositions
Of the mcrehant-who went straight to
him that very day-by saying that on no
account could the liberty of Carine be
granted IF thou 7Touldst marry her"
said he, looking-as Matthias thought
give up AL thy wealth to US, and become
our bondsman"
! With this answer the lover went sadly
away, and returned to Tarsus, saying to
himself, ~It is impossible for me not only
to give up the gain of all my life, but even
my liberty, for the sake of this cowgirl
l must try to forget her"
So he went back among his friends, and
began again to walk in the bazaars-
When the Jew saw him he cried ont, Hail,
oh, wise man, that viii not burthen him
self with the society Of a woman But
. the merchant frowned black upon him
and turned away, and, to the surprise of
all the neighbors, went and sat down by
the side of the Christian tailor and, TAX
ing his hand, whispered to him: "Closa
thy shop, my friend, and lead me- that
may see as thou didst promise, thy wife
and the child"
s'Which child r. said the tailor / have
now three, Gorges, Lishet and Hanna"
aAII Of them said Matthias, "and al
so the ebony-black girl, Zarifeh."
OH said the tailor. Il have set her
free, and she is married to the pudding
seller round the corner"
1T seems thatit IS the law Of Heaven
that every one should marry" said Mat
thias to himself
The tailor shut up his shop, and took
the merchant home and showed him his
domestic wealth-that is to say, his pref
tv wife, his three stout children, and a
coal~black girl called Zara who was
knaading dough in the courtyard
" My friend said Matthias, "what
wouldst thou do if the powerful were to
say 10 thee, thou must be deprived of all
this, or else lose thy liberty and become a
slave"
Liberty is sweet, replied the tailor.
Struggling his shoulders; ''yet some live
without it, but none can live without love. -
Upon this the merchant went back to
his palace and mounted his mule and rode
to the monastery, where lie found the
count yard full Of peop'e, - am come,
said he to one Of the fathers whom he met
in the gateway, 'to give MP my liberty and
wealth for the sake of Carine"
"itis too late" was the reply; "9kau-
der, the rorker, has just driven in sll his
pigs. and they are putting the chain upon
his neck in the chapel, and all these pco-
PIE that thou seest collected are to be wit.
nesses of his marriage with Cariue"
Matthias smote his breast with his hands
and the sides of his mule with his heels,
and galIoped through the crowd shouting
out that nobody be made a slave that day
, buthe The chief Of the monastery on
learning what was the matter, smiled anu
said that the porker had previous claim.
= But the monks who perhaps, looked for
ward to the enjoyments which the mer-
chants wealth would afford them, ingen-
, iousIy suggested thathe had the bestclaim
who had hesitated least. Carine' opin-
; ion was asked; and She seeing both CT