Springfield globe-republic. (Springfield, Ohio) 1884-1887, 1886-05-28

mouth the something was heavy tor the
mouse appeared To support it with diff
Guilty; it was round, toe, and glittercd
slightly when the mUOubcams fell upon IL
/ Up tO the side of the basin, remote from
I Salih. advanced the mouse with its bur
den, which il deposited on the floor and
/ then retrcatcd a short distance. Hating
a yard or two of, il sat up and looked in
/ tently AT the boy.
! Salh reached ont his hand and picked
up the object which the mouse had
! brought II was YES there could he no
doubt. il was IA piece Of gold, an ancient
! coin, a diuar of the old Sultans of Egypt
/ who had reigned before the Turks were
heard of The mouse intended it as "A ran
| som for its imprisoned friend.
There is belief very prevalent among
Orientals. that any extraordinary bold
ness on the part of mice is a sure sign of
! their possessing a treasure of some sort
Capital is supposed to confer upon them
/ the same Independence of demeanOr which
it does upon human beings The mice had
! displayed extraordinary impudence in
their approach of him. there
| fore Salh was quite sure there
must be more money in their hoard than
the single dinar which had been pro
duced. He therefore replaced the coin
where the mouse had laid il. and shook
his head in order to convey To the expect
ant animal that more must be fOrthCOm
| ing before a release could he granted to
the captive.
After waiting a little, the mouse retired
with a disappointed air. but reappeared
quickly with another dinar, similar To the
! first; i'll its mouth This il deposited on
the floor be the other. and sat up i'll a sup
! plant attitude as though asking for pity
and consideration The boys cupidity and
| hope now began to rise together. and he
| had no thought of liberating his very
profitable prisoner until perfectly sure
| that he had eNacted the uttermost farth-
! ing which the pair could command. so he
continued to maintain stern and un
| yielding countenanCe, on which the pc
titiOner could perceive no sign Of cumpas
sion.
A third journey ts the hole now took
place, and third coin was produced. The
same dumb show was presented, and the
piece proceeded as before between the two
actors. Sometimes the mouse would sit
for a longer space than at others, in the
hope. apparently, that the eXtortionate
youth would either pity, or become
wearied with lUng waiting; but find
ing these expectations disappointed.
it would again return to the treasure
house for another dinar. SalIh, when tell
ing the story afterwards, asserted that its
visage heightened pcrceptibly with each
Journey it took. The floor was soon
strewed with gold pieces, the original gilt
tering hue of which had been dImmed by
long neglect, and the deposits of centuries
of mould; here and there though, brilliant
flashes came from those parts of then
which had been clawrd by the mice wher
they turned over, and doubtless counted
their hoard.
When twenty five separate juurneyh
had been made Ia the treasury a1n
twenty five dInHrs exhibited TO the de
lighted gaze OF Salih. the mouse depaJ ted
and re-appeared with-no coin, hut al old
leather bag or purse. Bringing this to II
part of the the floor where the mOunbcams
>hune brightest, it carefully turned the re
ceptacle inside out. There was nothing
within. The bag was evidently the orig
nal house of the dInars strcwed around
and il was also clear that no more werr
forthcoming; the poor mouse was bank
rupt; and with a touching air of resigna
ton, it seated itself by the empty purse,
and looked bescechingly at the master OF
the situation.
That young gentleman saw that the
bottom of the poor creature pocket. 80 10
SPEAK. was reached Ii had given its all
for its companions freedom. The sex OF
he animal was not distinguishanle: it
night he a bridegroom, imploring for the
release of his captive bride-it might be a
wife, begging for her husbands liberty
In any case. it had deserved well of Salih
and fully sensible of this fact, he raised
the brazeu basin, and set free the
palpitating little prisoner, which
He'd Immediately, with the utmost
precipitancy, rattIing the coins i'll it,
flight To join its partner Both lost no
time in disappearing into the hole.
When all was quiet again, the boy sat n
one entranced Could the scene he had
witnessed and taken part in be reality,
Was it not one Of those deluding dreams
which, he had heard. often came to tor
ment the longing and mock the desirOus:
But there lay the gold on the floor Yes
but perhaps he was still dreaming. He
pinched himself once or twice To make
sure that this WAS not the case. No, he
was wide awake, there could be no doubt
about that; 80 he got up and ClutChed the
dinars with a feverish hand. He had
never seen - many gold pieces together
before: and indeed had seldom seen any at
all Many times did he pick up each and
turn it over. with its mysterious legend
and royal Cypher; and when he was at last
convinced that he WAS bona tide master of
twenty-five good, solid. heavy dinarS, he
could keep his own counsel no longer, and
called to his mother.
The rest Of that night and most of the
succeeding day was spent in considering
what should be done with this miracul-
ously obtained windfal. At last it was
settled that half of it should be spent in
improving the external appearance of the
internal comforts of their abode; and the
other half should be devoted to the com
mencement Of Salih's long longed for
education. Two days afterwards he took
his place among the lowest class of that
school into which his admiring eyes had SO
often glanced.
Time has passed since then and Salih is
a man. He is well taught i'll all the wis
dom which the modern Egyptians possess,
and may, perhaps, be n pasha some day.
And if you can find him in the the bazaar
of Suez, he will perhaps give You in his
own words this story of the mouse's ran
sOm.-LondOn Society.
He Wanted "A Car to Himself
When the Duke of sutherland left his
l,0O0-tOn yacht at Fortress Monroe and ran
up through here TO New York TO catch a
steamer for Europe his grace was very
much bothered by the curiosity Of his
fellow passengers in the Pullman, who
stared at him as if he were an escaped
lunatic. This wasn't the worst, though.
somehow the news Of his passage had got
ahead Of the train, and at every station
the doors and windows had as many eyes
rs Argus all centcred on him. Finally he
called the conductor and whispered to
him, The functionary shook his head in
reply and walked away muttering 10 him
self Some folks want the earth for 8
quarter" he said, when he got out o
earshOt of the duke. Why" "Oh, hi
nObs there, says L can't travel with thi,
mob. Can't you give me u car to my
selft'"
By the way, his grace was the worst