Knoxville journal. [volume] (Knoxville, Iowa) 1874-1986, 1875-11-11
Beauty and the Beast.

You have heard Of Mrs. Beast, she that
was Miss Beauty. All, there was a
daughter for youl There are not many
such dutiiul daughters nowadays M she
was. II IA a touching story Of a wealthy
family's decline from afliuence 10 poverty,
Of fathers strange fatality, Of q
daughters GiiaI devotion and her sisters
sclishness and cruelty. In the absence Of
any particular social sensation this week
we are constrained 10 tell the story Of
I" Beauty and the Beast" although the In.
cidents related took place great while
ago.
Beauty was the youngest ofthree daugh.
tiers, children OF u very rich merchant
Like all merchants daughters they were
reared In luxury, and allowed 10 do pretty
much M they pleased. They could go
into the store and help Themselves at the
rasin.box whenever they wanted W. AS
we said before, Bcauty's sisters were jeal.
Gus of her. Everybody called her Little
Beauty, and, knowing how little beauty
they had themselves, the sisters got mad.
They went 10 parties and balls, and made
all sorts Of fun of Beauty because she pre-
fcrred 10 stay at home and improve her
mind by reading dime novels and playing
Don Pedro. Ofcourse they had beans-
there are no rich merchants daughters too
homcly for that--but they had set their
mark high. Nothing less than Duke or
"A Centennial Commissioner would answer
for them Beauty had good offers, too, but
she always said she had rather stay NJ
home and take care OF her father than "a.
sumo the risk Of looking out for hus-
band.
But rcyerses came. yhe merchant In.
zf.1 III "A H.. n
and lost II NIL. Nothing was left save a
small cottage In the country, so much
out Of repair that he couldn't rent II.
Thither he proposed 10 repair, though he
couldn't repair the cottage. To this Beauty
readily assentcd, but her proud sisters said
no, they would stay in town aud marry one
Of the rich young men who had 30 often
proposed matrimony To them. But they
found that, however inclined these gag
young men mighthave been 10 matrimony
when there was money In IL, matrimony
without money they would not consider.
80 they had 10 Join their father in that
cottage by the sea, he having taken that
cottage by the season. Beauty had 10 do
all the honsework, ofcoursc, for her sisters
laid abed until ten o'clock, but she was
far happier than they We have always
noticed, where there IN n family OF girls,
the one who has all the drudgery 10 do
while the others lie around IL always
the happiest. Singular, too.
AT length the merchant heard that a
ship Of his, which he had given up for
lost, had arrived safely In port, and he
started to ascertain II Il was true. When
he got there he found that one Of his cred.
iton was ahead of him, and had attached
the ship Ind cargo, besides running up a
big bill against the merchant for expenses.
SO he started for home very hurriedly,
tie got lost In deep forest and, all Of a
SUDDEN, came upon asplondid palace ,brill.
iantly illuminated Everything was mag
nificent, though not soul could be- found.
lie determined TO stay until morning and
went 10 stable his horse; but tho stable
was so splendid, too, that he hesitated for
aminute whether he shouldn't put his
horse In The parlor and sleep In ono Of the
stalls himself. But he went TO bed In a
snmpiuous bedroom, after partaking Of a
bountiful lunch which ho found ready
spread. After good sleep he awoke, In
the morning, astonishcd tn find new suit
Of clothes In place Of his old ones. III Is
&c Unusual thing Tor men who get into
other peoples houses to find themselves
provided with suit of clothes, but they
generally have stripes running around
thom) Bcanty's father found warm
breakfast awaiting him, too, and after
doing full justice TO II he started home.
Passing through the garden, he stopped TO
pluck some roses for Beauty, when a
frightiul beast came toward him, with a
loud roar. The merchant was greatly
frightened. His first thought was that he
was In the ncighborbood OF the Cincin-
natl Geological Garden, and that another
animal had escaped but the beast proved
10 be the owner Of the place, Il being Gus.
tomary for beasts TO support magnificent
establishments at the period OF which we
write.
The beast threatened 10 kill him in a
quarter OF an hour for stealing his roses.
The merchant fell ON his knees and begged