Oxford Democrat. [volume] (Paris, Me.) 1833-1933, 1886-01-26
BUYING A SILVER MINE.
rur Rry. rArL SrrkSoRr, pRrAS.

80. ye,-.niin Yes. ye,-i believe
in dreams" ..id old sil.. Taf,on. lie
took another Whit a, hi, pipe sni then
added: "One Of the creates, spseula-
,ions ever wen, inio came Of q dream.
q wonderful dream. III tell ye abou,
IT,"
And we listened TO the oil man, story
q. follows;
"You remember. some OF you. abou,
the grsa, land speculation here In Maine
some thirty years ago. Poor men
very few Of ihem-were made suddenly
rieh and rich men we're made suddenly
poor. va, living then Ia Gray. one
day old sam Whitney Of Oxford. stopped
a, our place. and showed Us map Of q
new town which had been laid on, in
s.sadahOc. Ga the map |, looked beau.
,ifal. There were brooks and lakes. and
broad plains Of pine and oak. With streets
all laid out. and spots Tor churches and
.ehoolhouses all marked of IA proper ar.
ray. bad q cousin living down ,ha,
way and | concluded TO ~ do-n and
take look. found the town Of Ellen.
vile. which old Whitney had shown me
on his map. TO be worthless tract. all
rock. and swamp; bu, on the edge OF
,hi. tract. in another township. my eou'.
in Owned piece Of good land. aud |
bough, hundrcd and hfly terrs OF u.
and /, made an excellent farm, and for
,hA, purchase | never was sony.
meanwhile Ellsnville wi' nearly all
.old in hundred acre lots. The excite.
men, va, at fever heat. and people bough,
without once thinking 10 come and look
a, the land they were purchasing. but
by and by the new owners came TO look
up their property, aud you can res, as
.ursd they were q blue 's, when they
assembled on the territory. Within All
the limit. Of the mapP,d.ou, township
there was no, an acre that coald be eal-
,iyaisd. On the eide that bofdefed on
my farm /, was a ersggy ledge Of rocks ;
and beyond ,h., 10 the eastward The land
settled away under the mud and water OF
a .anken slough. S1me OF these lots
bad been ,old =, high as five dollars an
acre aud few Of them even higher than
that. One poor fellow named John
Twist. from vermon,, bad paid five dol
lar. an Acre for 10, that eofnered on my
lard. oa the map I, had been set down
a. a me- gnihseni plne forest, with beau
,ifal river upon il, borders. on which
there was superb water power John
Twist bought and paid for i,; and when
he came TO look a, !, he found !, TO be a
mass Of barren rock. with here and there
a elamp Of ,erub.oak and few ',unied
Norway pines; aud for river be found
a water course ths, iumbled melted snow
over the erag. in spring, bat which was
dry most OF the time. did no, see the
poor fellow when he came TO survey bis
property. ba, could imagine how he
felt.
after a while. however. the excite
men, passed off aud the sufferers OF El-
lenyille TUNED their backs upon the
graves Of their speculative hopes On
my farm pro,pered. My land was OF
the bss, quality; my wife W. true
kelpma,e; my crops were abundant; my
stock ,hrived. and | found myself At
length with q gOodly pile Of silver dol.
lars tied up in my stocking.
zone evening Ia early autumn. after
our crop. had been gathered. man. rid.
ing a .Ory.lOoking nag, pulled up before
our door. lie was q well.looking man.
with a seda,e and solemn face, aad
dressed In black. |, was safe enough TO
conclude ;ha, he WAS . minister; and 80
he announced himself. lie said be was
the Rev. Paul Meekmore. lie was a
missionary on a home circuit. and asked
shelter for himself aud beas, for the night.
OF course we welcomed him eheehally,
and were pleased with him. He had
travelled extensively. and his converse.
ton was interesting and instructive. Be-
fore be went to bed he read chapter In
the Bible and made prayer; and Betsy
said TO me after be had retired. tha, she
had never heard such beautiful prayer
in her life.
"The next morning at the breakfas,
table Mr.. Meekmore was very ssdaie.
He asked a blessing. and then only an
swered such questions as were asked bin
Finally Betsy told him she Was afraid be
had no, slept well. lie smiled and said
he had slept very well. saving the spell
Of q curious dream which had visited him
three separate times during the night.
Betsy asked him II he would tell what |
was about.
"'It was the old dream Of hidden
wealth., he said with solemn look. Il
haven't dreamed such . dream before
since by = wonderful dream In southern
Africa / was led to the discovery Of .
diamond mine worth millions Of dollars |;
and I, never prof,ed me penny. Bat
such wealth 10 not for me. need IL not.
My calling hath higher and holier aims
And yet this poor Aesh is some times weak
enough to lust after the d'oss OF gold and
silver
"By degrees we got from him that be
had dreamed Of silver mine among the
erags Of our hills. Tho mine seemed Il
his vision utterly sxhsu,,lsss in the pre-.
eious metal, bet he could not locate II
Betsy. whose curiosity was aroused.
would have pushed the matter; but Mr..