The Lake County star. [volume] (Chase, Mich.) 1873-current, 1873-06-05
A Capital Maxim.


day as an ancient king OF Tartary
was riding with his officers ofstate
they met a dervise crying aloud
TO him that will give me a hun
dred dinars (small pieces of mon
ey), ! will give a piece Of good
advice" The king, attracted by
this strange declaration, stopped
and said to the dervise, 'What
advice is this that you offer for 9
hundred dinarsl' Sire replied
the dervise, Il shall be moot thank
ful to tell You as soon rs you order
the money t" be paid me- Tho
king, expecting to hear something
extraordinary, ordered tho dinars
to be given to tho dervisc at once;
on receiving which, he said, Sire,
my advice ia, begin nothing with
out considering what the end may
be-
THE officers Of state, smiling
at what they thought ridiculous
advice, looked at the king, who
they expected would be so enrag.
ed at this insult as to order the
dcrvise to DO severely punished.
The king, seeing their amusrmen,
and surprise, said, Il see nothing
to laugh at in tho advice of this
dervise; but on the contrary, l am
persuaded that If it wsre more
frequently practiced, men would
escape many ca!amities. Indeed,
30 convinced am I of the wisdom
of this maxim, that l shall have
it engraved on my plate and writ.
ten on the walls Of my palace,
SO that it may be ever before me.
The king having thanked the der
wise, proceeded towards his pal.
ace; and on his arrival he ordered
the chief hey to see that the max
i'm was engraved on his plate aud
on the walls OF bic palace.
'Some time after this occur
renee, one the MOBILES Of the court
q proud, ambitious man, resolved
to destroy the king and place him.
self on the throne. In order to
accomplish hls bad purpose, lie
secured the confidence of one oil
the kings surgeons, to whom he
gave a poisoned lancet saying, If
You will bleed the king with this
lancet l will give you ten thou
sand pieces of gold, and when l
ascend tho throne you shall 10
my vizier.' This base surgeon,
dazzled by such brilliant prospect,
wickedly assentod to the proposal.
Gan opportunity Of efecting
his evil design soon occurred.
The king sent for this man to bleed
him. lie put the poisoned lancet
into a side pocket, and fastened
into the kings presence. The arm
was tied, and the fatal lancet was
about to be plunged into the vein,
when suddenly the surgeons eye
read this maxim at the bottom Of
the basin, Begin nothing without
considering what the end may be-.
lie Immediately paused, a. he
thought within himself, 1T l bleed
the king with this lancet he will
die, and l shall be seized and
put to a cruel death. Then Of
what use will all the gold in the
world be to meg Then, returning
the lancet to his pocket, he drew
forth another. The king, observ-
ing this, and perceiving that he
was much embarrassed, asked why
he changed his lancet so suddenly.
He stated that the point was brok.
On; but tho king, do"hting HE
statement, commanded him to
show it. This so agitated him,
that the king felt assured all was
not right. lie said, There is
treachcry in this! Tell me instant.
~ what it means, or your head
shall be severed from your body!'
The surgeon trembling with fear
promised to relate all to the king,
il he would only pardon his gnilt
The king consented, and tho sur
geon related tho whole matter
acknowledging that had it moi
been for the words in the basin
he should have used the fata
lancet.
"The king summoned his court
and ordered the traitor to be ex
ecuted. Then, turning to his Of
ficers ofstate, he said, You now
see that the advice Of the dervise
at which you laughed, is most valu
able: it has saved my life. Searcl
out this dervise, that l may am
= $1,000 L., g.. Lie ,ysso ,,,o -