Belmont chronicle. [volume] (St. Clairsville, Ohio) 1855-1973, 1877-12-13

|uknf N01o9 90 every e1o0-
I now made no Effort to conceal my
interest. and every one looked on with
brenthless suspenre and curioelty.
Suddenly All Kin seized hold of fhe
mantle, whisked It OF, and there in
the center Of the mound, was as per-
feet = Or tree In miniature ss the mind
could conceive OF.
Itstiny branches were thickIy hung
with little hugg.ts of virgin gold,
y hich sparkled in the Sunshine, and a
little envelope was sticking from the
upper brsDrhes, like billet doux frum
from fairy land.
An exclamation Of delighted sur
prise ran through the assembly.
Ah Kin grsvely s+ixs d the tree by
| It's slender trunk-is was not much
more than twelve inches high, end ex
| Iquisiteiy proporfi07ed-raised II gent
ly from the ground, and thus exptr.ed
the genuine roots and then placed 1t In
small flower pot that chauced to be
lying Desr, presented 1t TO my vile
with the injunction that che should
take exceeding good care Of II, end
| picking up the silk mantle, took his
departure without word.
sWonderfull' exclaimed Mr.. Came
ron. The nuggets are genuine, too.
There's two hundred d0llars' worth OF
gold on it,
1T beats our Christnas tree all hol-
low ssid one OF the Cameron Of
springs. g hose mother thereup0n sent
her home by peculiarly spiteful
shove.
When they had plenty of time to ad-
| 70. tho fpoc in
to the Cottage and Inspected it at our
leisure, and in the privicy of our fam
lily.
OF course the children were wild
with delight AZ / shock the solid mug
gets from the magic branches. and col
lected them in glittering heap uIon
the table.
Read this miasive,' said my wife,
snatching of the small envelope. IT'S
directed to you, In Ah Kin's best pig
con English
have not the contents of that mo-
ment0us nIissive before me just DOW
and shall not undertake to give its
phraseology from memory. Suffice II
70 say that 1t gave me such minute di
rectiOns to teke out q clsim In the
mountains not more than twenty
miles from Red GrIch, which had
never been pFospected over before, ,spe.
cifying the place in the most careful
msnner, that lost no time In institu.
ting the claim in sloss accordance " ith
the directions receiued, and the mines
which I opened made me independent
i ~ rich.
But our house was broken into that
very Christmas night, and the wender-
4 ful tree, which the grateful Chinaman
had lat least apparently caused to
|spring from the earth for our special
benefit, disappeared and was never
seen again. But, inasmuch as ] had
taken care to secrete its precious fruits.
add the burglars were frighreDed from
completing their plunder, IL was nc
msterial loss, though 1 should like to
have kept the tree for exhibition.
II the reader can offer an explanation
OF this strange production, should be
happy to know it, "a I have long since
given 1t up as an inexplicsble myste
~.
\ All Kin died shortly after I opened
the Charity Mine'-ss l call the mag
nificent property which his informa
tiOn placed Dse in possession Of-ahd
after steadfastly refusing any cOmpen-
sAtion for the fnvOrs he had c0nferrs.' ,
but leaving request that would EN-.
balm his rensins and haye them sent
back to his friends In China, which Il
course did.
My children are all grown now, and
we seldom spend the holidays together
without recalling to mind the grati-
t0ate Of the poor Chinaman as evinced
in Ah Kin's wonderful Christmas tree.