The Carbon advocate. [volume] (Lehighton, Pa.) 1872-1924, 1880-07-17

answer. "Let me see said the possessor
of three. quarters of a million, "that will be
ninepence; too much; too mu1hl I have
determined to go cheaper way to work.
take the whole twenty.iour ounces at once,
and that win save me sixpcroe." The bar
Der demonstrated, but the miser was firm;
he was certain, he said that the barber was
only desirous 10 extort an extra sxpence,
and he would not submit Is such scandalous
imposition. His vein was opened, and four
and-twenty ounces Of blood were taken from
him. In few days, Vandille the miser
was no more. The savings Of his life, the
wages Of his vice and avarce, he left to the
King Of France.
A similar anecdote is related Of Sir Will
liam smYthe, Of Bedfordshre. lie was i'm p
mensely rich, but most parsimonious and
miserly in his habits At seventy years Of
age he was entirely deprived of his sight,
unable to gloat over his boarded heaps Of
gold; this was a terrible affection. Ho was
persuaded by Taylor, the celebrated oculist,
to be couchedj who was by agreement, to
pay 60 guineas if he restored bis patient to
any degree of sight. Taylor succeeded in
his operation, and Sir William was enabled
to read and write, without the aid Of spec
tacles, during the rest of HE life. But no
sooner was his sight restored than the bar
onet began TO regret that his agreement had
fgp 10 bn talt a low ue
others would have felt, but gricved and
sighed over the loss Of his sixty guineas
His thoughts were now how to cheat the
oculist; he pretended that he had only n
glimmeriug, ard could see nothing distinct
ly; for which reason the bandage on his
eyes was continued month longer than
the usual time: Taylor was deceived by
these Misrepresentation, and agreed to
compound the bargain, and accepted twenty
guineas instead of sixty. Yet Sir william
was an old bachelor, and had no ono to care
or provide for. At the time Taylor attend
ed him, he had large estate, an immense
sum of money in stocks, and six thousand
pounds in the house.
Many years ago, there lived in large,
cherries and dilapdated old house in st.
Petersburg, wretched miser. He confined
himself to one room, and left the rest of the
rambling edifice to moulder into ruin he
cared for no comfort, and deprived himself
even of those things which the poorest re-
gard as the necessaries of life; he seldom lit
fire to repel the dampness, which hung on
the walls of his solitary chamber, and few
worthless objects of furniture was all that
the room contained. Yet to this singular
being the Empress Catharine the Second
owed million of rubles. His cellar, it was
said, contained casks full of gold, and pack
ages of silver were stoSad away in the dis
NAL corners of his runous mansion. He was
one of the richest men in Russia. He re
lied for the safety Of his boards Upon the
exertions of huge mastif, which he had
trained to bark and howl throughout the
night, to strike terror into the hearts Of
thieves. The miser outlived the dog but
he disliked to part with any of his treasure
in the purchase of another cur, and he re-
solved to save his money by officiating as
his own Watchdog Every morning and
evening would that insane old man wander
about his dismal habitation, barking and
bowling in imitation of his recent sentinel.
A miser of the name of Foscue, who had
amassed enormous wealth, by the most sor-
did pGrsmony and the most discreditable
extorton, was requested by the government
to advance sum of money as a loan. The
miser, TO whom fair interest was not in
ducement sufficiently strong to enable him
to part with his treasured gold, declared his
incapacity to meet this demand he pleaded
severe losses and the utmost poverty. Fear
ing, however, that some of his neighbors,
among whom he was very unpopular, would
report his immense wealth to the govern
ment, he applied his ingenuity to discover
some eifectual way of hiding his gold, should
they attempt to institute search to ascer-
tain the truth or falsehood of his plea. With
great care and secresy he dug deep cave in
his cellarj to this receptacle for his treasure
he descended by ladder, ard to the trap
door he attached a spring-lock, so that, on
shutting, it would fasten itself By-and-by
the miser disaPpcaredi inquiries were madei
the house was searched, woods were explor-
ed and the ponds we're dragged, but no Fos-
cue could they find; and gcssips began to
conclude that the miser had fed with his
gold to some part where, by living incosnito,
he could be free from the hands Of the gov
ernment. Some time passed onj the house
in which be had lived was sold, and work
men were busily employed in its repair. In
the progress of their work they met with
the door of the secret cave, with the key in
the lock outside. They threw back the door
and descended with a light. The first OBJ
ject upon which the lamp was reflected was
the ghostly body o! Foscue, the miser, and
scattered around him were heavy bags Of
gold and ponderous chests Of untold treas
ure, candlestck lying beside him on the
floor. The worshipper Of Mammon had
gone into his cave to pay his devoirs TO lis
golden god, and became a sacrifice to his
devotionl