The Democratic press. [volume] (Ravenna, O. [Ohio]) 1868-1901, 1872-05-02
The Forty Thieves.
BIZ Girls, THE FAT CONTRIBUTOR.

By Girls, THE FAT CONTRIBUTOR.
The forty thieves lived a great many
yeara ago, when thieves were scare D.
hence they are embalmed in story
Had they lived in our day, when
thieves are SO numerous, they would
have been totally ,disregarded on ac.
count of the insiguificance of theii
| number. lnsusssseg y afl5- -isa -
The storysis simple. Cassim and
Ali Baba were brothers. Cassim is
rich and Ali is poor. While the for
mer leads a life ofluxury and ease, the
latter hauls wood fora living, and Oh
Item bemoans his fate, forgetful of the
| fact that Grant once followed that
honorable occupation. Wood-haulers
should not despair, for they may be-
come President for what they know,
or W hat they don't know; it's hard to
| tell which nowadays. fHh 1efuifi
One day when Ali Baba went to the
forest to get jag of wood, he saw
horsemen approaching. Fearing evil
he climbed into tree and concealed
himself. The troop halted under that
identical tree, dismounted and took
from their horses several heaYily-load-
ed carpet-bags, which led him to infer
that they were carpet-baggers return
ed from the South, gorged with the
spoiIs of office. He found, however,
they were regular professional thieves
and then he had more respect for
them. sf7f eef .ss1,s-5,
The captain of the band-there were
Just forty of them-approached rock
hard by and said these words: "Open
Sesame 7" when, IS Ali afterward ex-
pressed it to his wife, "you'd orter
ssee Sammy OPEN" 'IDstantly on the
word, a door concealed in the rock
opened as if by magic,and the captain
entered, followed by his band, who
marched in upon order by the left
flank double rat-taiI file, centering on
the left wing, the extreme right rest.
ing on the door-sili, at shoulder
arms, muskets reversed. Military
readers may understand this. 1 don't,
F. G. rHit
When they were all in the captain
shouted, "Shut, Sesame I" when Sam
my Immediately shut, that being ap-
parently what Sammy was for. Short
ly after, the robbers having stored
away their plunder, re-appeared; the
door closed after them at the word of
command, and mounting their horses
they rode away. When they were
gone, Ali Baba, getting down from the
tree, tried the magic word himself,
when open flew the door, and after a
little hesitation he entered the robbers
cave, q
+ Great was his establishment at what
he beheld. He found splendid apart
ments, suitable for married or single
gentlemen, handsomely furnished and
lighted with gas, with or without
board, aud within five minutes walk
of the post-office. On every hand
were heaps of diamonds, bags of gold,
and dead loads OF greenbacks. Here,
then, was where the robbers lived
when they were at home, and stored
their plunder. He determined to
have his whack at it. So loading his
mule with all the gold it could carry,
he started for home.
Imagine the delight of Mrs. Bahia
when her husband arrived. (She had
been very much concerned over his
prolonged absence, because he was
Ali Baba she had.) She helped him
unload the gold and store it away in
the cellar with an alacrity she seldom
displayed in doing her housework. 4
She was anxious to know just how
much there was OF it, so as to make
out correct income return to the
Government. Accordingly, while her
husband was gone to put up the mule,
she tried to coont it. Naturally wea-
rying of this employment, after she
had got up among the millions, she
concluded to measure it, and for that
purpose ran across the street to her
sister-in-law's, Mira, Cassim's, land bor-
rowed her half-bushel measure, pre-
tending that she wanted to measure
some potatoes. AS it was so unusual
a thing tor Ali Baba's family to have
half bushel of potatoes at one time,
Mrs. Cassim's curiosity was excited,
so she put some of Spaulding's glue on
the bottom OF the measure to see what
kind Of potatoes they were, which
was mighty small potatoes on the
part of Mrs. Cassim. f7rf
When the measure was returned
Mrs. c., found five cent nickle adj
herring to the bottom. This was very
suspicious circumstance indeed.
WWhen,n said she to Cassim, in rela-
ting the circumstance and showing
the nickle, "when did your brother
ever have five cents in the house all
at once ? OF sudden he seems to have
bushels of money" Cassim walked
over to his brothers house and guess
toned him on the subject, when Ali,
being o generous hearted-fellow, told
him all about the cavern. Next day
Cassim went up there to get some of
it himself, but after loading himself
dewn with wealth he forgot the mag
ic words which opened the door, and |
so couldn't get out. He tried various
words; cried, "Open See.Tommy,' y
"Opon See- -Rillyp and eOpen See-
Poliy-Ann ?" but all to ne purpose, be-
cause his memory cou;dn't come and
see Sammy. The result was the rob- |
bers came and killed him, and being |
always ready to make quarter when