Wilmington journal. [volume] (Wilmington, N.C.) 1844-1895, 1872-09-20
THE GOLDEN TOUCH.

Once upon time there lived a very rich
King, whose name was Midas, and he had
little daughter, named Marygold. This
King was fonder of gold than anything
else in the world, but he loved nearly as
well his little daughter, wEo was merry,
lovable child. But the more he loved his
child the more he desired wealth, for he
thought, foolish man, that the best thing
he could leave this dear child was the
biggest heap of yellow shining coin that
had ever been heaped together since the
world was made. So he gave all his
thoughts and all his time to this one pur-
pose. 1T he gazed at the gold-tinted clouds
of sunset, he wished they were real gold,
and could be squeezed into his strong box
If he stirred the fire, and the sparks flew
cracking up the chimney, he wished some
fairy y ould turn them into golden cola for
him, and, in fact, his whole thoughts ran
upon gold, gold, gold, till he almost ceased
to care for anything else.
In his earlier days, before this insane
desire for riches seized him, King Midas
had been fond of flowers, and had planted
garden in which grew the largest, sweet
est and most beautiful roses that any NOR
tai ever saw, but now, if he ever looked at
them, it was to calculate how much they
would be worth were all the roses turned
to gold.
At last Midas got so unreasonable in bis
passion for money, that he spent nearly all
bis time in a dark, strong room in the
vaults Of the palace, where he kept his
money. Here, after locking the door he
would take out his bags of coin and count
them over, or sift the gold dust through
his fingers, Or toss up the bars of gold and
catch them as they came down, and he
never was SO happy as when thus en-
ployed.
One day, as King Midas was in his
treasure room, he saw shadow fall upon
the heaps Of gold, and looking up, what
should he behold but the figure of
stranger standing i'll the bright and marrow
sunbeam that fell from the iron-barred
window. 1t was young man with
cheerful and llIddy face. AS King Midas
knew he had carefully locked the door, he
of course concluded at once that some
fairy had visited him. The stranger gazed
about the room, and when his lustrOus
smile had Slstened upon all the golden
O'.F'cts there, he turned. to Midas:
| You are Il wealthy man, friend Midas
| he observed; 'I doubt whether any other
| four walls on earth contain 50 much gold
as y0u have cuntriycd to pile UP in this
| room"
! Il have done pretty well, pretty WE'LL
| answered Midas, in a disconnected tone !;
I
! COnSi,lcr that it has taken me my whole
! life to get it tC 4ther. If one would live a
! thousand years he mi ght have time TO grow
! rich"
"Wllat! then are you not satisfied ~ ex-
claimed the stranger. Midas shook his
head.
g And pray what would satisfy you p
! Merely f'r the curiosity Of the thing, |
should like to know" said the stranger.
Midas paused and nleditated. lie fell;
confident that the stranger, with such d
golden lustre in his g0od-humoIed smile
had come hitler with both the power and
the will to CRAFTY his utmost wishes; that
now was the fortunate moment when he
had but 10 speak and get whatever he
chose TO ask, and SO he thought and
thought. AT last bright idea occurred to
him, and, raising lis head, he looked the
iustrous stranger in the face.
Well, Midas, L see that you have at
length bit upon something that will satisfy
you. Tell me your wish"
9 1t is only tbia,'' replied Midas; 20 aul
weary of collecting my treasures with SC
much trouble. | wish everything touch
could be changed to gold"
g The Golden Touch ~ exclaimed the
stranger; "you certainly deserve credit
friend Midas, for your ambitious wish
But you are quite sure this will satisfy
you ?" s
How could it fail 2" said Midas.
And will you never regret the posses.
sion Of it ?''
< Why should ?" asked Midas. {"
ask nothing else to render me perfectly
happy ?''
6 BE it as you wish, then,'' replied the
stranger, moving his hand in token of fare
well; ''tO-mOrrOw at sunrise you will find
| off Vvif bo Oh,
The figure of the stranger then became
exceedingly bright, and Midas, dazzled
shut his eyes. On opening them again, ht
beheld only the yellow sunshine in The
room. King Midas hardly closed his eyes
that night, in his anxiety for the morning
and the day-god had hardly peeped over thu
hills, when he was broad awake, ard be
gan to touch the objects within reach. HI
! was grieveOusly disappointed to see tha
they remained exactly as before, and ht
lay in very discoIllate mood, thinking
over the promise of the stranger, he now
feared would not come true, until bIigh
SUNBEAM shOne through and gilded the cell
lug overhead.
And he thought the sunbeam reflected
queerly on the white cOverlet of the bed
Looking closely at it, what was his aston
ishmept and delight to find that this liner
cloth had changed into what seemed a wo
ven texture Ct the purest and brightes
gold. Golden Touch had come to hin
. with the fist sunbeam.
Midas started up il kind ofjoyful frenzy
and ran about the room, grasping at every
thing. He seized ole ofthe bed-pOsts, ant
it immediately became column of fiuteC
gold. He took up Il book, and on rtInnin;
| his fingers through the leaves, behold
was bundle OF thin golden plates. IL
put on his clothes, and was enraptuIed t.
see himself in magnificent suit Of golC
cloth, which retained its 1lexibility. Mida
now took his spectacleS from his poke
and put Them on his nose, but discoveret
he could not see through them; takin;
them of, nc found the glass to he plates o
thin gold, and Of course worthless as spec
tacles. ! lis last annoyed Midas, but L'
said, "lt IS 10 great matter after all W.
cannot expect any great good withou
, some small Inconvenience with it,"
Wise King Midas was SO exalted will
his good fortune that the palace seemed
not spacious enough to hold him. IL
, therefore went down into the gartlen.-
, Here he found a great number Gf hcautiftl
flowers III full bloom and others in bud
Very delicious YVES their fragrance, bu
: Midas knew d way to make them NOR
precious, and SO he took great pains 20 &,
from bush to bush and touch each 1loWe
and bud, and soon every one them, all
even the little worms and insects on them
were changed to glitterinG metal.
Midas then Went in to breakfast, aud a
the morning air and his early walk laC
given him tTpetite, he was ready for
: hearty n''al. Little MarygoId bad not ye
: mnd- her app arance. so telling servan
t., call h~D. >,,I. down to the table to be
gin his own breakfast. 1t was not lonI
h..f. no hoard mic Eftlo 6a1I0bfpr (.6lnir.