The midland journal. (Rising Sun, Md.) 1885-1947, 1898-04-22
PAULO DURANTI.

Lately l met clergyman just re-
turning from Europe. In the course Of
his wanderings he had visited Corsica;
naturally we had G. long conversation
on the subject. AS I asked him what
impressed him the most during his
travels through my native land he re-
piled: Its forests of pine-trees and
the extreme cleanliness of the farm
houses" Il cannot account for the
pine-trees" said I, 'but if you are will
ing to listen to a heterodox story, l
will tell you why they are so clean
now"
GO on," answered he; 81 am all
ear"
Long, long ago when Genoa (that the
Italians call ''the Superb" probably be-
cause she is superbly dirty had her
| foot on the neck of Corsica, in the viii
| lage of OreZza lived Paulo Duranti, a
farmer, his wife, Maria, and their two
| children. At that time the Corsican
| farmers thought that the more filthy
| their villages were the better they
| looked, therefore the houses were nev-
| er painted nor the streets ever swept;
| heaps of manure were left standing be-
| fore the principal entrances of the
houses. You may imagine what hav-
| DC fevers of every description were
making among the Corsican peasantry.
When sickness enters in a house pow
srty follows it; sometimes sickness de-
parts, but poverty remains. Then one
day Paulo got the fever, Giuseppe, the
boy, got the smallpox, and Julia, the
little pet, got the measles.
Poor Maria had not a moment of
.est; night and day she was up nursing
her husband and children. She cried;
she prayed; she made dozen VOWS to
the Santa Madonna Santo Rocco;
but Heaven was too high and the Holy
Virgin and st. Rock were deaf. Ev-
| erything in this world has an end, and
there is not cloud, so black as it
might be, that is not lined with silver;
so Paulo and the children became we'll
| again. In order to furnish those whom
she loved so dearly with the most nee
sssary things, she had sold everything
| lu luc uOuSc Uul ldUlcClOlu anu lu0
furniture indispensable to a family Of
| four persons; so that nothing was left
in the house but filth, and outside the
heap of manure, on which rolled itself
an old mule, blind of an eye, short
sighted of the other, and so thin that
the street arabs of the village often
asked Maria if she fed the animals on
barrels, as hoops were distinctly seen
under the skin of the wretched hy-
brid.
One evening poor Maria said to her
husband; "Paulo, we are without mon
sy and We possess nothing but the old
mule; you ought to sell it," Saying
so, she burst into tears. After her
husband and children, what she loved
the best was this same old mule. "Ah,
Nerra, my dear Nerra, we must part
with you," and the good woman filled
the house with her sobs, re-echoed by
he children. Finally. it was agreed that
Paulo would take Nerra to the market
The next day. What night the family
passed! Morning came, and with it
more sorrows. At last the time to
start arrived for Paulo and the mule.
kiss-a warm kiss, too, was given by
the family to the animal that had been
good, faithful and laborious servant
TO them all, and the sad journey began.
Paulo dragging the mule behind Kim
had marched about six miles on a
desolate road, under a scorching sun,
when suddenly Nerra refused to walk
any more, the rope that bound her to
her master violently stretched By the
quick stopping of the animal threw
him on his back. What is the matter,
Nerra?" asked he, picking himself up
Then voice sounding like French
hunting cor answered the query ad-
dressed to the mule.
"Ah All! Signor Paulo Duranti,
great good-for-nothing, where are you
going?"
Paulo turned pale, when he saw
standing by the side of the road, lit
tie man two feet high with beard so
long that it reached his feet; he had
his arms crossed over his breast and
was laughing; the Corsican recognized
In him the King OF the Goblins.
Trembling as leaf, he replied:
Il am going to the market, as we are
SO poor that we must sell the only
friend that we have in this world"
rs that so?" sardonically inquired
|, the king. Then, in this case, l will
J buy your mule. How much do you ask
for it?"
What it may please your majesty to
give me-"
'All right. Pass me the mule and
, take that bottle. Now go home. After
your arrival you will remove the ma
, nure from your door, paint, whitewash
and repair your house; the children will
! clean the windows and polish the
, spoons, forks and knives; Maria will
patch your breeches and jacket, darn
ycur stockings, scrub the floor, comb
the children's hair. wash their faces
and clothes and set that nothing dirty