Iron County register. [volume] (Ironton, Iron County, Mo.) 1867-1965, 1889-12-12
The History of a Ring.

| Well, first 1 will tell you what kind of a
| ring l am, 1 am very large ring, and L
| know [ must have been made on purpose
| for pretty ladies to wear, for in all my life
l have never been worn by any one else.
1 was worn by young gentleman for some
time-But 1 am anticipating. l am just one
| hundred years old, and think / am very
| beautiful; 1 know YOU would think me so,
| too, if you could see me. Perhaps you may,
some ofyou, wonder how | come TO De living
| in this world. Well, if you do, Will try to
tell you as nearly as possible my past histo-
nv. l don't think l can remember all, but
! as am only ring, l suppose you will not
expect as much of me as if were anything
else. Neither do think you should expect
me Gan insignificant ringl to tell my story
| in first class order. OF course, 1 am nice,
and perfectly capable of performing "my du-
| ty." l suppose 1 had better tell you what
l call "my duty" Think it my duty to re-
main on ones finger just as long as they
want to keep me there. That is if am not
so very loose, that am compelled to drop
off. II one puts me in box never get out
unless they take me out. This is what call
| "my duty" and if any one ever expects
more OF me, am afraid they will be disap-
pointed am only ring. Well, at first
1 was in the ground and some miners dug
me out, and 1 was sent to place where
| they clean metals. The reason was sent
there is simply this: l had whole lot Of
other kinds of metal mixed up with me,
which was not nearly so valuable as l. l
had to go through several different processes
to become thoroughly separated from them.
| Oh my! had an amount Of trouble before
J assumed my present shape. was taken
| from the last place mentioned, to pace
where was made into ring. You must
remember / am not all one kind of metal,
but l am called gold. Well l must tell you,
they pounded me q great deal before they
they finished me. Then,I was put in a
shop for sale. There were great many
people who admired my rare beauty, while
was there. But alas! [ was not to have
quite as easy a time as this, all my life. /
was soon purchased by very nice young
man, who said he thought 1 would be the
very ring for "May." l was put in a box,
and did not see daylight any more for Oh!
so very, very long; l can't remember the
| exact period of time; but, lat last, L was TAX
en- out, one fine morning, and was examined
and re-examined by ever so many different
pc ople, until began to think they never
would tire of looking at me. But after all
| was replaced in the box; to my chagrln
| and great displeasure. During the same
day l was again taken outfits time by
| very grave old man, who proved to be
the preacher" He placed me on the fin
ger of young lady. You know that was
the day "May" was married.
Well, "May" and l were constant COM
panions for a long, long time. But when
her chestnut hair began to turn white she
died, and on her dying bed she placed me OF
the finger of her son, with these words:
"Here, my noble boy, take this, and if you
ever wish to use it you may" He did not
wear me long until he gave me to his sweet
heart, a very careless young lady too. She
did not care anything for me at adjust
threw ME around on tables and old boxes
and hardly ever wore me. Well, one day
when she had me on she was going up the
stone steps and l saw small crev!ce. and
awaiting an opportunity to escape from her
finger l jumped off into the hiding place.
But ali! soon had cause to regret my folly!
She did not try to get me out; and soon
became covered with dirt. l lay there for
some time mourning my sad fate, but after
all some men were making new steps and /
was discovered. A very sweet little girl
wore me for long time before she lost me,
but suppose was not made to stay on the
outside of this earth always. Lo. one day
she dropped me in a well, where ] suppose
am doomed to spend the remainder of my
days. do not know how long :ha. will be
as have never heard any one say how long
real gold ring will last. But do know
one thing, am not nearly SO large as once