Democratic Northwest. [volume] (Napoleon, Ohio) 1869-1894, 1889-06-06

DNtI lllC WHITE
tWhere are you taking me to?n IN
qulred the young man OF the three
mysterious looking bOatmen, but they
did not take the slightest notice Of the
question. They continued rowing as II
they had not heard anything.
"If you do not tell me where we are
going will jump into the water and
drown myselfw shouted Robert, and
he got up to get ready for a leap into
the river, but before he could accom-
plish anything one of the oarsmen
caught him by the neck, threw him in
to the bottom Of the boat and tied him
to one of the seats. He realized now
that he had better keep quiet and re-
sign himself to his fate. About half an
hour elapsed, when suddenly the boat
stopped. The three men pulled their
oars into the boat. One Of them un-
loosened Robert, then the three took
hold of him and lifted him out of the
boat on to shore. The next minute
they pushed off again and Robert was
left alone.
He looked around and found that he
was standing on solid gold. At first he
could hardly believe his eyes. He
stopped down and examined the
ground. "True enough"' he exelaim-
ed. "All pure gold"
Then he went along to see whether
It was everywhere the same. The re-
suit of his investigation proved this:
Robert was on an island about two
miles square, composed Of solid gold.
The surface was as smooth as table.
Not tree grew anywhere. In fact he
saw nothing but the sky above him,
and gold beneath him. He walked
somewhat farther into the island when
he came to a house, which was built OF
golden coins of all the countries Of the
world. He noticed the corner beams
were all made of $50 gold peices. The
walls were made of English sOveriegns,
the window sills of German 20 mark
pieces and the Sashes of 10 and 20
francs. The roof consisted OF golden
shingles and the panes in the windows
were of transparent gold. Robert was
amazed. He opened the door OF the
house. In the first room he found a
table, chairs and sofa, all made of gold
EN- coins from Russia, Spain and Italy.
Then he walked into another room.
Here was table of gold again, covered
with the most delicious viands, veni-
sons, vegetables, in fact anything to
please the most dainty palate. Wines
and other liquors of various kinds and
brands were there, from ginger ale to
the best champagne. All these things
were real. There was no gold on them
although they were on golden dishes.
"Well, row, ;" cried Robert, "this Is
not 80 bad. / guess 1 will try these
things.n EH.r. r' nH' - .
Then he sat down and enjoyed him
self in true epicurean style. When he
was thoughourly satisfied he got up and
examined the rest of the house. He
found gold everywhere: in every room
and cupboard nothing but gold. Even
the bed was golden, and he found 1t
pretty hard to lie on.
: Robert, for a day or two, thought he
was In paradise. He had plenty to eat
and good things to eat--and he had
loads of money. What else did he
want? n.E zGlYa .gH In
After week, however, he became AZ
ready tired of his life. He had nobody
to talk to. He had nothing to spend
the time with, and eating he could not
always be at. To occupy himself he be-
gan one day to walk around the island
and see how many steps 1t would take.
But that soon became monotonOus,
too. Then they remained in his house.
He now counted the many gold coins
there were in each corner beam of the
house. But tn t did not take him long,
and again he had nothing to do. He
racked his brains to think of something
to occupy himself with. AT night,
while lying on the hard bed, he could
not sleep because he had eaten too
much. In the morning he got up
wretched and miserable. After month
he was almost crazy, and he resolved
to lump into the water which surroun-
ded the island. So he did. But as
soon as he made a jump into the water
the waves receded, and Robert lit with
his back on the hard bottom of the sea.
He hurt himself awfully, and as he
could not drown himself he went limp
ing back to his golden house.
HOh, that were back home again. "
he cried one day. II would work with
nv father on the farm as hard as any
laboring man." a'
No sooner had he said this than the
boatman of the lake stood before him.
"Well, how do you like life of ease
with lots of money? suppose you are
happy now?". A.,
dNo; not at ALL" replied Robert. II
wish had something to do to spend
nv time. do not care fig for all the
gold In the world"
"AIl right my fine man; come along
with me and will give you u job.'
He took the young man back to the
river, where boat awaited them. They
rowed back to the county where the
boatman lived. Arriving there he said
to Robert: tvaF..,a.. vet
"Now, I will see whether you are
really fond of work. If you are l will
reward you we'll. Come along. We
have had a battle here, and there are
/ 900 bodies lying near here on a battle
field. # you will promise me to bury
them all, ! will make you not only a
rich but also a happy man.
Robert promised, and he went at once
to work on the battlefield to dig graves
for the fallen warriors. II took isnlI n
long time to do 1t, and it was hard
work, but still he was more satisfied
with himself now than he was when he
lived on the golden island.
When his task was accomplished,
the old boatman shook him joyfully by
the hand. "All right, my boy, now
come with me and receive your re-
ward" He led him to the boat In which
they first rowed together on the lake,
and in few seconds they were back
aOain oy, the smOOth waters, Robert