Morning journal and courier., 1882-07-26
The MI an With The Golden Brain.

Pathetic Story of Gtlded Youth by AL phonse Daudet. There was once man who had brain of gold-yes, madame, brain of solid gold. When he came into the world the doctors thought the child could not live, his head was so heavy and his skull so inordinately large He lived, nevertheless and grew up in the sun like beautiful olive plant; only his great head always dragged him down and it was pitiful to see him knock himself against the furniture when he was trying to walk He often fell down. One day he rolled down flight of steps and struck his forehead on marble projection, against which his skull rang like an ingot- They thought he was dead but on picking him up they found he had only slight wound. whence two or three 1 little drops of clotted gold oozed out among { his blonde hair This was how the parents first learned that their child had 8 golden brain.
 They kept the thing secret; the poor little fellow himself never suspected any 1 they would not let him out before the door and play with other little boys in the street.
 ''somebody would steal you, my sweet ! treasure" " the mother always answered. The 1 little fellow was very much afraid of being | stolen he went back to play all by himself, without word. and went stumbling heavily | from one room to another.
 l It was only when he IS that his par ents revealed to him the monstrous gift fate had bestowed upon him and they had brought him up and nourished him until that time they asked him in return for little of l his gold. The lad never hsstated imnsdi | atsly-the tradition does not say how or by what means-he tore from his skull 8 piece I of massive gold, piece as big as 8 nut, l which he proudly flung into his mot ht x's lap. Then, dazzled with the idea of the riches he ! carried in his head, mad with desires. intoxi- 1 cated with the knowledge of his power, he ! left the paternal mansion to wander through the world, dissipating his treasure on the 1 way.
 One would have thought, from the rate he lived at, royalty fiinging his gold about him ! without reckoning, that his brain was abso lutely inexhaustible. It was becoming ex l hausted, nevertheless and meanwhile one might have seen that his eyes were becoming dinner and his cheeks hollow At last one morning. after night of mad debauch, the 1 unfortunate man, finding himself alone among the pa!ing lights and the wrecks of the banquet became terrified at the enormous l breach he had already made in his ingot-it was high time to stop.
 l From this hour he entered upon a new life. The man with the golden brain with drew from fashionable gayety to live by the work of his hands-suspicious and timid as ! miser-deeing mptation-seeking to for get the very existence of those fatal riches ] which he wished never to touch again but unfortunately friend had followed him in to his solitude, and this friend knew his SC. cret.
 One night the poor man was suddenly | awakened by great pain frightful pain in his head he started up in bewiderment and by the light of the moon he saw his friend running away, hiding something under his mantle.
 It was moro of his brain that had been talk 1 en away from him
 ffnrx or1 tho will f1a brain fell in love; then it all up with him. He loved with all his soul little blonde l woman, who also loved him well, but who preferred pretty tassels, and white feath- ers and the pretty dead gold acorns which quiver against the supple leather of pretty shoes.
 In the hands of this dainty little creature half bird, half doll-the little morsels of gold melt with delightful rapidity. She had every caprice imaginable ; and he never could say "No;" indeed, through fear of paining her, he kept the sad secret of his wealth from her to the last.
 "Why, we must be very rich !' she used to say. The poor man would answer, 70,
 yes; very rich !" And he would smile love l ingly at the little bluebird that was eating his
 brain unconsciously Nevertheless fear would come upon him sometimes; he had sudden 1 desires to become miser but at such mo
 ments the little woman would trip lightly
 toward him and say:
 l l
 want you to buy me something very, very
 dear" And then he would buy her something
 that was awfully dear.
 This lasted about two years then, one
 morning, very suddenly, the little wife died no one could tell why-iust like a bird
 The treasure was almost exhausted, but with
 what was left of it the bereaved husband gave
 the dear little dead woman 8 magnificent | funeral.
 Full peals of chimes, ponderous mourning
 coaches hung with black, plumed horses, sil
 yer tears in the velvet-nothing seemed tC
 him too dear too beautiful. What did he
 care now for his gold /? He gave it to the
 church, to the sextons, to the porters, to the
 dealers in immortelles- gave it here and
 there and everywhere, without bargaining
 So it came to pass that on leaving the ceme tery he had nothing of that wonderful brair
 left except perhaps a few specks clinging tc
 the sides of his skull
 The people saw him wandering through tho
 streets with wild look in his eyes, holding , his hands out before him. and stumbling like @ drunken man. In the evening, just at the hour when all the great bazaars lighted up he paused before a large plate glass win dow, where there quite wilderness o1 dress stuffs and beautiful garments displaye and he remained there a long time looking al , two little shoes of blue satin edged with , swans down. ''I know somebody who vii
 be so delighted with these shoes" he said tc
 himself, and then, forgetting that his little
 wife was dead, he went in to buy them.
 All of a sudden the shopkeoper, sitting in her little back room, heard Q terrible cry
 she into the shop. and recoiled as quick
 ly with horror on beholding man who was
 leaning upon the counter and gazing upon
 her painfully with stupeted look In one
 hand he held the little blue satin shoes bor.
 dered with swans down, and held out the
 other hand, all blood, with scraps of gold
 like filings, clinging to his finger nails.