Wauwatosa news. [volume] (Wauwatosa, Wis.) 1900-1948, 1904-04-02
THE PHILOS oPHER.

VI great diloitiOH ana SUM- Nui III. iAN
did not play the fool and vcN his teach
ers. lie was kind to cats. He did not
even annoy his papa and mamma. When
othtr boys were playing at Tournaments.
damaging their clothes, and sometimes
losing their telnpers, he never joined
them. He sat patiently at home study
ing the signs of the zodiac and the vir-
tues OF herbs and simples. lie was de-
voted to study. His brain developed
rapidly. At the age of IL he had fore
head like tine Albert Hail This made
other boys so Jealous that they threw
things at him, but he did not care. be.
cause ne knew he was doing right. lie
bad great IDEAS On the white washed
wall of his little bedroom he wrote in
large letters -"CONCENTRASHl'N."
may observe in passing that in the dark
ages spelling was more matter of i'm
iividual taste than it is aow. His father
saw what his little son had done and
took the necessary steps. but he crull
not help feeling he Was spanking 10y
with Il future.
The father was but 4 poor anporer.
ton of big cut-p price establishment that
had gust started III the same street But
he managed to scrape together enough
money TO apprentice his son to an
astrolocer and general alchcmist.
Inc astrologer said frequently and
emphatieally that he had never had 4
better or more studious apprentice.
Time passed and our young friend was
no longer a boy. He was n youth and
moreover, he was a youth whose roomy
Uranium and established character ior
steadiness attracted the attention of tile
mai1cns of the district. Girls then were
very much as they are now. They would
have nothing 10 say to youths with Il
certain amount of devil in them, how
ever handsome CT however wealthy they
might be. What they liked was moral
worth and plcaty of forehead. So they
threw shy 9lances at our young philoso-
pher and they asked him to tea Like
wise. they suggested that he should take
part in some amateur thcatriells. Fur.
thcr, they said papa would be 50 glad ii
he would come over and smoke Il pipe
with him one night. But the young man
wonld have none of it.
Other apprentices suggested that ne
should take part in games where, al
though skill may have been present,
chance largely preponderatcd. But he
remained firm. He would not make loves;
he would not play cards: he would not
come out and have drink; he was
wholly devoted to his work. He man
aged &c scrapc up enough money tscrap-
ing ran good deal in the family TO
take twelve lessons in the art of trans.
muting the bascr metals into gold. 1t
was true that the teacher had not yet
discovered the secret hims but there
was always Il possibility of some useful
hints. Nowadays the guides 10 success
in journalism, france and matIimony are
almost invariably written by t!,a people
who have not attained it. The world has
really changed very little
1t must not be supposed that the
young mans devotion to the study of the
great secret prevented him from close
attention to his ordinary business DIR.
Ing the whole time of his apprenticeship
he made only one mistake At the end
If his apprenticeship his master offered
him, and he accepted, the post of head
Of the horoscope department. and still
every moment of leisure was given TO
study. lie heard the music, he heard the
dance 90 on, but for him there was to be
no rest and no amusement until he had
found the secret which would transmute
the baser metals TO gold. His brain de-
velopmCnt had now progressed to such
an extent that his hats had TO be spe-
cially built for i'm.
Years passed away and his master
died. On his deathbcd he called the
studious head of the horoscope depart-
ment to him and impaired the great
secret. Our philosopher. now very mid
die aged, went straight of to the Kitchen
10 scst it and found that it did not
work. He countermanded the order for
a wreath OF cverlastlngs with ''AIizpai'
on il and refused to attend the funeral
After he had been middle aged for
long period he became old. REALLY in
some respects the world has not changed
one little bit.) He had never had any
love; he had never had any fun: and he
had not got the secret 1T was very dull
hut ono must admire his strength OF pll-
pose. He went on.
The secret came at last when he was
a toOthless dodderer. and it came bv ac-
cidcnt. He set before his furnace with 4
biscuit tin which he had Just converted
into 22-carat gold. With great care he
wrote out the long and elaborate formula.
Then he thought about it, If he had
never discovered the secret it would al
ways have been worth discovering. BIT
now what could it do for him: Pleasure
was closed book, and he had no wants
that he had not ample means to satisfy.
The discovery had merely stopped his
work and spoiled his life. He flung the
formula into the furnace and his secret
died with him.
If this simple story leads any reader
20 the conviction that the only thing
worth having are the things we have not