Watauga Democrat. [volume] (Boone, Watauga County, N.C.) 1888-current, 1914-11-19
ACRES OF DIAMONDS.
[BY GRANT H.. DoNNELLY.]

On the banks of the Indus riv-
or there once lived a very veal;
thy and contented Persian farm.
RI, named al wealthy be.
cause he was contented and con.
tented because he was wealthy.
One day there visited this farm.
er an aged Buddhist Priest, who
told him how the world and the
things on it were created. The
priest told him about diamonds,
saying: "With q single haDd full
Of these you could buy a whole
country, and with a mine you
could place yourself and your
children upon thrones"
That night AL Hated went to
bed a poorer man-not that he
had lost anything, but poorer
because he was discontented and
discontented because he thought
he was poor. He lay awake all
night long studying about. dia-
monds, and very early next NOR
ming he went to the priest and
asked him where they might be
found. Upon receiving the desir-
ed information, he sold his farm,
collected the money, and, plac-
ing his wife in the care of a aneigh-
Dor, started on his hunt. After
travelling over Palestine, he: went
to Europe, and, at last, when his
money was all spent, and he was
in gs,>poverty and wretched-
ness, he stood on the shores OF
that bay in Barcelona, Spain,
when a great tidal wave cane
rolling in between the pillars OF
Hercules, and thepoor, suffering,
afflicted man could not resist the
awful temptation to to casthim-
self into the incoming tide, and
he sank beneath it's crest, never
to rise in this life again. ~.
Meanwhile, AL Hafed's success.
or had taken possession OF the
farm. He led his camel into the
garden to drink, and as the ami
NAL put it's nose into the water,
AlHafed's successor saw q curl
Gus fash in the sands of the shall
low stream, and reaching down
he piced up a stone which had an
eye Of light showing all the col
ors of the rainbow. He took the
pebble into the house and laid it
on the mantle, then went away
and forgot all about the incident.
A few days later, the same o. d
priest who had told al Hated a.
bout the dian Binds, came to visit
his successor. He saw the flash
from the mantle, and, springing
forward, he exclaimed: "This is
a diamond! Has AL Hofed return
ed?" No, Al Hated has not re-
turned, and that is not a dia-
mond; we found it in our gar
den." "But it is a diamond, said
he, II know a diamond when /
see it," So> together, they rush
ed into the garden and there, in
the white sands, they found ma
nv gems more precious than the
first. Thus were discovered th e
great Golconda diamond mines,
the greatest in the world. Had
AL Hated stayed athome and ddg
in his own cellar or garden in.
stead of wretchedness, poverty,
starvation and death, he would
have had acres Of diamonds.
Just for a few moments let US
apply this little story to our own
dear Watauga and her sis te r
couuass. Our people are fdissat-
isAed, just as AL Hated was.
They want riches and are sur
prised when told that the pros
perity for which they are looking
lies ,undeveloped at their door
steps. Not willing to stay at
home and help developtheir own
county, they sell out, 60 west or
somewhere else, and what is the
result2-penniless AL Hafeds. On
the other hand, those who stay
at home are too busy doingnoth-