The Worthington advance. [volume] (Worthington, Minn.) 1874-1908, 1886-11-18

THE LEGEND
The Man With the Golden Brain.
Upon reading your letter, madam, /
experienced . feeling of remorse. I
acknowledge that my short stories are
usually too deeply tinged with sadness
10 be pleasing and hoped to-day to
oner you something joyous, entirely
1ree from errors canksring touch. Why
should I be sad after all? live a
thousand leagues from the smoky mists
OF Paris, upon a breezy hill, in the
country Of tamborines and muscat wine.
My homo is surrounded by light and
music; I have orchostras of white tails,
concerts of tomtits; in the morning the
curlew's merry song. "courelt!
co"re|i!' at noon, tho grasshopper's
monotonous cry; then, as afternoon
shadows steel athwart the earth. the
shepertls softly awaken the mountain
echoes with their swect-toned flies,
while the joyous, silvery laughter of
the beautiful brown girls of fair Prov
ence, floats through the evening air to
my charmed Oar from the vineyards.
In truth, the place seems badly cho-
sen for inspiring aught Of sombre hues.
ought rather to dispatch from hence
to you rose-colored poems and baskets
full Of lively tales. All, we'll, no! l
am still too near Paris. Every day its
waves of misery surging high, dash
even into tho midst of my lofty pines
their murky spray of gloom. Even as
write, the sad tidings have reached
me of the miserable death of poor
Charles Barbara, and my mill is all in
mourning.
Farewell to the merry curlews, and
tho grasshoppers! have no more
heart for anything gay. This is why,
madam, instead of tho pretty sportive
tale which l hoped to send you, YOU
will receive from me but a melancho-
~ legend.
lherc was once man who had
golden brain. Yes. madam, brain
entirely of gold. When he came into
the world the physicians thought it i'm
possible for this child 10 live, his head
was SO very heavy, aud his skull so
huge. Hc lived nevertheless, thriving
in tho sunshine as Il beautiful olive
plant; still, his head continuing dis
proportionately large, always cncum-
bered him with its weight. 1t was pitt
f"l to behold him stumbling and falling
as he walked. bruising himself against
the furniture.
One day he rolled from the ton of a
staircase, striking his forehead against
marble step below, where his skull
sounded like an ingot. His parents be-
lleved him dead, but upon raising him
there was found only slight wound,
with two or three drops of gold gath
cred in his light hair. 1t was thus that
tho discovery was made that the Oh Id
possessed golden brain.
This secret was carefully preserved,
The poor little one himself was entirely
ignorant OF it. From time to time he
inquired why he was not at liberty to
play with boys in the street. ..rhey
would rob you. my beautiful treasure
his mother always replied.
Thus the little fellow, acquiring a
great fear Of being robbed, became &C.
customed to play Ill alone, never speak
ing to any one. and skipping heavily
iroH ono parlor to the other.
Not until he was eighteen years old
did his parents reveal to him the mon
strous gift bestowed upon him by dcs-
tiny and in return for having nour-
'shcd and educated him thus far, thew
demanded of him little of his gold.
The boy did not hesitate. Immedi-
ately Chow, by what means. the legend
does not telD he p]ucked away from
MS skull II fragment of massive gold as
large as = walnut, which he proudly
threw upon the knees of his mother.
Then. dazzled by the riches that he car
RED In his head, maddened by desire,
Intoxicated by power. be Quilted the
home OF his childhood. and, departed
into the world, squandering his treas
ure.
Judging from the wild extravaganza
OF his life, clothed with the splendor of
royalty. lavishing the gold like water,
his brain appeared to be an inexhausti-
bic mine.
On the contrary, however, its con-
tents We're already diminished to the
extent that his eyes had perccptibly
s"nken. his cheek had become more
hollow.
At last, one morning after mad de-
bauch, alone amid the debris of the
least where the dying lights shone
with sckly pallor upon tho deserted
scene Of tho carousal. the unhappy M an
for the first time experienced alarm.
at the enormous breach which he had
already made in his treasure. Truly it
was ClMe TO refrain. From thence he
led new existence. The man with
the golden brain withdrawing from the
gay world. lived in retirement, subsist-
ing by lard labor, suspicious and tim
orous as miscr; endeavor;ng to for
get even the existence of those fatal
riches which he wished never to touch
again.
But "nhappily a friend had followed
him into his solitude, and this friend
was acquainted with his secret. One
night the poor man was started out of
his sleep by pain in his head, alright
1nl pain; springing up in dismay, he
saw by the rays of the moon his friend,
who fed, concealing something under
his cloak