Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1895-08-03
A REAT FIN D
A STORY FOB BOYS BY JOHN HABBERTON.
Copyright, 1859

Copyright, 1859
Charley Grateson and Jack Whyde were
two lively twelve-year-old boys who lived
out west many years ago, and they were
also the closest of friends. When I say
that either would trust the other so fully
that he would lend his entire store of mar
bles, even when he was sure that the Dor
rover would lose them all while playing
''for keeps" any great-hearted boy will
know that they would also take each 9TH
er's punishments at school, although teach
ers in those days were so cruel that bad
boys had sometimes to choose between be-
ing logged with thick hickory stick and
being compelled to SIT with the girls.
OF course neither would go fishing unless
accompanied by the other. One day, when
Jack called for Charley to go to the river
with him in search of a big bass which
another boy said had got away from him,
Charley's face became almost as long as his
own fishpole, as he explained that he would
have to remain at home until he had pick
ed over dollars worth Of coffee. At that
time the people of the newer parts of the
country could not go to a grocer and pur-
chase coffee ground and Drowned, a pound
at a time with lot of chickory in 1t to
spoil the flavor; 1t was western custom to
buy dollars worth of green" coffee at a
time, and brown it over the kitchen stove,
first picking out the BITS of husk, wood,
stone and clay that seemed to have been
put into the coffee bags for the sole pur-
pose of making tiresome work for boys
who had to go fishing or had some other
important business of their own on hand.
Jack offered to help Charley and let the
bass wait. for the job was a big one; the
local storeHeeper sold SIX pounds Of coffee
for 81. and Mrs. Grateson. although a
model mother, which means that she liked
to see boys enjoy themselves when there
was nothing else for them to do, was so
particular that she insisted upon the coffee
being spread so thinly on the kitchen table
that no grain should lie upon another so
that no bit of wood or clay should escape
the eye, nor would any tiny pebble reach
the coffee mill to make a horrid noise and
do lot of damage.
Twas a long job; the bass upon whom
the boys had set their hearts would have
twitched his tail in heartless glee had he
known how the boys were being delayed
STILL Jack and Charley were philosophical
when they couldn't do anything better;
they had studied together and read the
same books. so they began talking of the
various parts of the world that produced
coffee, and, as all of these lands were far
away, and strange. and produced much
besides coffee, the boys soon found them
selves talking about monkeys, and serpents
and birds of Paradise. and pirates and
precious stones. Then they wondered what
sort of people gathered the coffee at which
they were working, and why they didn't
PICK 1t over before packing it, and Charley
TOOK short rest and Strengthened his back
by going to ask his mother whether her
own coffee came from Arabia, or Java or
Brazil; he came back with the informa ton
that he was a dreadfully lazy boy, who
could always find excuses for stopping
work Still the coffee came from Rio,
which was in Brazil. and if the colored
boys who gathered 1t had been as slow as
the white boys who were picking it over
Charley's mother wondered how it ever was
gathered and shipped.
This was scarcely complimentary. sim
the bass would get tired of waiting If
something wasn't done, so the boys worked
hard for fully ten minutes. Some of the
PEBBLES they picked cut were as ,arg., as
TIE coffee grains, and there wasn't
single stone of any size in the clay and
loan of the part of the west which the
boys infested these bits from far-away
Some looked if they would be as clear
as glass were the dirt washed from them
so they were carefully placed aside from
,he general refuse to be shown TO other
boys and perhaps traded for other worth
less things In which boys take great de-
light.
Pretty soon Charley took another rest,
and as he turned from the sunny window
toward the table he exclaimed
'Oh, Jack! See those stones sparkle and
flash! Come here where you can get a
Soou Eght on them"
Perhaps boys who live in states where
there is mica, or granite, or quartz, OF
other crystalline stones may think Charley
and Jack couple OF Scatterbrans to stand
there several minutes staring in real de.
light at the play of sunlight upon some
pebbles: but, I have said. there were
no stones of any kind in their part of the
country; besides, looking at the pebbles
a while
Its as pretty said Jack, finally, las
the sun on broken icicles in winter"
It's prettier than that" Charley re-
piled. "1t reminds me of the bosom hin of
the captain of the Trusty'
This was the highest compliment that
could be paid to the beauty of anything in
that part of the country, from pretty
Trusty was the fastest steamboat on the
river, and her captain was a greater man.
In the estimation of boys who knew all
about men, than the President of the United
every day of the week, and in the middle
of his shirt front there always sparkled a
diamond pin, which was the wonder and
admiration of every enc along the river
whenever the Trusty'S landing whistle was
heard lot of boys and men were sure to
piod through deep dust or mud, or over
frozen clods. to the river. with the one
thought and desire of gazing at Capt
Sam and his diamond pin, and all hoys who
were not going to be presidents or mis-
sionaries or circus riders when they grew
up resolved to become steamboat captains,
so as to get rich enough to wear a dia-
mond like Capt. Sans.
AS Jack continued to gaze at the flashing
pebbles there came to his mind a thought
so startling that he actually reeled and
had to clutch at Charley's arm for support.
Then he gasped, after some effort:
''Oh, Charley! Diamonds come from
Brazil. This coffee came from there May
be these stones are diamonds!
"Jack!" exclaimed Charley opening his
eyes so wide that it took him long time
to close them again Then each boy took
some of the pebbles TO the window and
looked at them carefully. Jack dropped
one. but in an instant he was on his hands
and knees and feeling about the old rag
carpet for the possible treasure. AS he
arose he asked:
How can we find out about them?"
There were no je welers in the town, and
the boys didn't think to consult a CYCLIC
pedia or a book on mineralogy. for they
had never heard of such literature, al
though they had seen every book that was
in the vicinity. Charley thought that per-
haps the minister's dictionary would tell
something about the tests for diamonds,
but suddenly he shouted:
II have it! I once read a story about
somebody in prison who wrote his name on
a window with his diamond ring, and
never heard of anything else that would
write on glass. Here goes"'
So saying he selected pebble with