Perrysburg journal. (Perrysburg, Wood Co., O. [Ohio]) 186?-1965, 1868-12-25

les, Salu valentine, : am listening.
Please tell the rest ..
~ will said the traveller. Il have re.
solved to tell the rest, and shall tell It.
-" You must know that, in the midst of
all the gay time, two of the mothers went
away to distant room, where the Tree
had been placed, to light 1t up and ar
range the presents Aud o, these were a
dazzling sight to behold; there were
bracelets, coronets, charms, watches, lock
cts, clasps, rings, vases, buckles, ell made
of gold, aud long golden chains
And after everything was ready, the
two mothers went up to the Grand Ban
quet Hall, to see that for the Golden We'd
ding Feast nothing was lacking; and left
the Tree with all its golden fruit, in care Of
a servant whom they fully trusted. For
he had been a long time their servant, and
they had been very kind TO him. and TO
his little girl that died. ..
"The traveller stopped In this part Of his
story, and bowed down his head, and did
not say more for quite long while. And
when he began again his voice sounded
lower and sadder than before
"'That servant said he that servant
whom they trusted, when he was left alona
there, thought to himself, "How many
fine clothes all these would buy How
many bottles of wine How many good
things to eat and coach and horses besides
If only had them for my own, and was
far away from here, then should be
happy,
d" Aud now, what do you Think He
took all those golden things ... ......
"And when the doors were thrown
open, and the people came in haste to see
the Golden Christmas Tree in all its glory,
whU thncn rnilac
among yonder mountains, and the base
robOer was seeking some place to bury
them in I
"'The wretch The mean villain : Val
entine cried out If 1 could but get hold
of him!
And if you could then the traveller
asked, what would you do with him?'
Throttle himI' cried Valentine.
Bind him hand aud foot. Tear him
limb from limb! Hand him over to the
officersl For he was trusted, and he de-
ceived them
"'It is pity said the traveller, that
you could not get hold Of hint"
"But Katie" said little Dick, 1--WE don't
get any Golden Christmas-Tree in our
story, after all. For the presents were
stolen away
"Now, Dick" said Katie "please be
quiet. After all has MT come yet. Wait
till my story g done, sir. was going to
tell that in this part of his story the tray
eler folded his arms, and began walking
backwards and forwards, and at every
tun he came little nearer Valentine.
AT last he came close up, and stopped
over, and whispered, I myself am that
wretch, that mean villainp
"Then he stepped back, and said, Now
do as you promised. Throttle me- Bind
me hand and foot Tear me limb from
limb. Hand me over to the officers. Fol-
they trusted me, and deceived them
"But Valentine started back, thinking
about his gold pieces, and put his hand up
to where they hung. This made the tra7
eler smile
"Don't be afraid said he Il know
you have something of value there, be
cause you raise your hand to it so often
Don't you know that is the very way t.
let your secret be known? But l don
want your gold, I'm sick of gold. I wan
you to hear the rest of my story, and thel
do me favor
"He then told Valentine how he burie,
the golden presents in low, secret valley
and then wandered about among tn
mountains, and never dared to show hi
face. AT last came furious snow-storn
and in that he almost died. But goo
shepherd carried him to his hut.
"' And when next could walk about
said the traveller, the flowers of sprin
were blooming. For l was sick a yer
long time-too sick to notice anything g
all. Yet 1 did see something, or SCENE
to see it-something very strange. Nov
what do you think? All through tbs
: long sickness l saw, or seemed to sec
Hand A busy, never weary Hand, whic
, wrote, wrote, wrote everywhere Th
letters it made were the color of brigl
red Goals, and when put together the
made the woTd-"Thief" Wherever
: looked, on the furniture, ON the walls, O
! the ceiling, on the floor, on the bedclothe
4 there was the Hand, steadily at wor1
writing, writing, writing, and always fas
as if not one moment could be lost.
D wrote on my flesh. And then the lette
: burned! o, you may believe that l su
fered
# "Now when 1 got well, do you SUI
G pose went to that low, secret valley, al
d dug up those golden things, and so
s them? o no, could not bear to see theT
Il And | stayed there with the shepherd, al
p helped him watch his fiocks by night
q "'And it happened that one day Il
Queen passed over the mountains with 6
her train. And she wanted to find lit
g blue flower, but none of them knew whe
u it grew. Now l had seen some grov
D ing far below, on the face of
steep rock, and let myself dow
there, and picked a good handfr
II She liked me very much for doing thi
;, and took me to her own city; and as
pleased her well she gave me first none
e next rich presents, and next fine hous
where l made grand parties, and we h,
l. music and dancing and very gay times
@ GO But what do you think9 The Han
y came back! Or seemed to come bac
@ And wrote that same word Wrote it
k the green Of the grass, wrote it on d
blue of the sky and on the darkness
d the night wrote it on my forehead, and
:, looked in the looking-glass very often
!. see if the word showed there. For
lr thought people could read it. Even in n
u dreams it was just the same. For tn
"a the good Baron himself would seem
i stand before me, and hold out pap
with that word written on 1t; or else Il
Is little girl that died would seem to hold
out to me, and look so mournfull
~ "And something else came. A VIII
D. pering. A low, whispering voice at Z
ear. Only one word, but it was that sal
=. word. seemed to hear it everywhe
oe In the streets heard it, and turned qui
= 4 to see who was whispering. But no o
n was there. In the midst Of the music a
. dancing, and in the still hours of {
/ night, heard it too, and could not sle,
But still would not take the things a
; carry them back to the Baron. ] sh
lee feel better soon, said. But | did not f
ID better.
re "And now what do you thinkP Sh
tell you what is in this basket? All the
he golden things are here. One night VIII
IT | could not sleep said to myself, l "
N set off by the early morning lig
d. and 1 viii go 10 that low, sec
G, valley, and 1 will dig up tho
re golden presents, and return them
their owner. And from the very'mo
a that said this to myself never saw I
Id hand nor heard the whispering
h. "'And now the castle stands before n
as But cannot, o, cannot meet the eye
g. that old man. Do you know why ha
ad brought Won here and told Won this stoI