The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1904-10-01
FABLES OF THE DAY.
With Morals Attached without Extra
Cost to the Reader.
THE HONEST PEAsANT.

4
One evening as he was returning
from the village a Peasant found a
wallet on the highway, and upon in
vestigating its contents he discovered
that 1T contaiped only a dime in cash.
ut is but a dime,'' he said to him.
self, land yet it belongs to some one
| else. and my conscience would prick
me did [, appropriate it to my own
sordid uses. 1t would buy me two
beers when next 1 go to town, or it
IS Just the price of plug of tobacco,
but could 1 look a neighbor in the
face after branding myself as. an en-
bezzler %
his wife, of his find, and she at once
exclaimed:
.'Most truly, but the gods are kind
to us in our distress l was just won-
dering where the next pound of sugar
was coming FROM
But it is not ours to squander," re-
piled the husband. Here is the card
of the villager who lost it, and after a.
bite to eat will HE me back to town
and place it in his hands. Know We
that / am honest, if poor
81 shall know we for fool if you
do any such thing as that" retorted
the wife, but neither her sneers nor
arguments could prevail.
The Peasant set off at o'clock in
the evening for four-mile walk, and
all the long way his conscience whis-
pered to him that it was better to be
honest than to be the owner of three
goats. Having arrived at the house
of the loser of the wealth and finding
him in bed, the honest Peasant pro-
ceeded to pound on the door until he
had aroused the house.
What in blazeS is up now" de-
manded the master, as he finally APP
peared at the door with his ears
twitching.
my friend you lost your wallet to-
n 1-eT fn6 In Mt have
come to restore it to you. Here it is,
and you will find your 10 cents all Q.
K. Know We that L am an honest
What! You wake me out of nay
sleep to restore this old wallet and a
dime with a hole in it?"
But my conscience
Hang your conscience! Here is
one for your conscience and two for
your honesty, and if you don't canter
off I'll break you in two!"
Thereupon he turned the Honest
Peasant about and gave him three
hearty Kicks and a push and returned
to his bed.
Moral A good deal of it is con-
tanned in what the Peasants wife said
when he returned home, but aside
from that you can write it down that
there are times when too much hon
esty is as inconvenient and inappro-
pirate as too much knavery.
A PHILANTHROPIC WAYFARER
his fellowmen happy when it could
be done without detriment to his own
interests, stopped at the cottage of a
Peasant one day and said to his wife,
who fastened to offer him glass of
buttermilk:
MY dear woman, I find you here in
the midst of toll and poverty, but do
not despair. You are a handsome
woman. and you deserve and will soon
have better fate than this. pre-
dict that you will be called to the
Queens court and made much of with
in a year
The wife was greatly fattered and
pleased, and seeing the good he had
accomplished the Wayfarer went out
to the husband and said:
t'Uncle Reuben, I know your knees
are webbing and your back aching
with hard work. but do not get dis
couraged. The time is coming when
you will be appreciated. for your ster-
ling merits and called to come up
higher" 711 SSc