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About The Expositor. (Waynesboro, GA.) 1870-187? | View Entire Issue (Feb. 22, 1873)
THE WISHING KING. HOW IT BROUGHT GOOD LUCK TO ITS OWNERS. A young farmer, whoso farm did not prosper particularly well, was sitting resting on his plow for a moment as ho wiped his brow, when au old witch crept up to him and said, “Why do you toil so hard, and all for nothing? Walk straight before you for two days and you will come to a largo fir tree, which stands alone, towering over all other trees of the forest. If you can but fell it your fortuno is made.” The farmer did not wait to be told twice, but taking his axe on his shoulder started on his way. After walking two days he came to the fir tree, and imme diatcly set to work to fell it. Soon it toppled and fell crashing to the earth, when from the top branches dropped a nest containing two eggs. The eggs rolled on the ground and, as they broke, forth came a young eaglet from one and a small golden ring from the other. The eaglet grew visibly, till it reached half the height of a man, shook its wings, as if to try them, raised itself from the ground, and’then cried : “You have released me! Asa token of my gratitude, take the ring the other egg contained—it it is a wishing ring. Turn it on your finger, speak your wish aloud, and it will be immediately granted. But the ring has only one wish; when that is accomplished it will lose all power and become no more than any other ring. Therefore reflect well on what you wish for, so that you may not have to repent afterward.” Having so spoken, the eagle rose high into the air, swept for some time in wide circles over the farmer’s head, and then, like an arrow from a bow, shot swiftly toward the. east. The farmer took the ring, put it on his finger and started homeward. Toward oveuing he reached a town. At the door of his shop a gentleman stood who had many valuable rings for sale. The farmer showed him his ring, and asked him about the value of it." “Mere trumpery,” answered the gold smith. The farmer laughed heartily, telling the man it was a wishing ring, and of more value than all the rings in his shop put together. No-w, the goldsmith was a false, de signing man, so he invited the farmer to stay all night at his house, saying : “It must bring oi c good, luck to en tertain a man who is the possessor of such a precious jewel, so pray remain with me.” lie accordingly entertained him well with plenty of wluc and civil words', but when he went to sleep at night he drew his ring stealthily from his finger and put on it instead a common ring, quite like it iu appearance. The next morning the goldsmith could hardly wait, with any degree of patience, till the farmer had taken his departure.— lie awoke him in. the early dawn, saying: ‘■You have so far to go you had better start early.” As soon as the farmer was safe on his journey the goldsmith went into his room, and having closed the shutters, that no one might see, he bolted himself in and, standing in the middle of the room, and turning the ring on his finger, exclaimed : “I wish to have a hundred thousand silver crowns immediately.” Hardly were the words spoken when bright five-shilling pieces began to rain down from the ceiling. Shining silver crowns poured down so fast and hard that at last they began to beat him un mercifully about the head and shoulders and arms. Calling piteously for help, ho tried to rush to the door, but before he could reach and unbolt it, be fell bleeding to the floor. Still tbo raiu of silver crowns did not cease, and soon, under the weight of them, the flooring gave way, and the unfortunate gold smith and bis money fell down into a deep cellar. And still it rained on, till the hundred thousand silver crowns were completed, and then the goldsmith lay dead in his cellar, with the mass of money upon him. Attracted at last by the noise, the neighbors rushed to the spot and, on finding the goldsmith dead under his money, exclaimed : ‘lt is really a great misfortune when bless ings rain down like cudgels.” Then the heirs Came and divided the spoil. Meantime, the farmer went happily home ami showed tho ring to bis wife, • By James K. Frost. II VOL. 111. i “We shall never want for anything, dear wife,” he said; “our fortune is made. But wc must consider well what we must wish for.” The wife had a bright idea ready at hand. “Let us wish ourselves some more land,” said she; “we have so little.— There is just a nice strip which stretch es into our field. Let u| wish for that.” “That would never be worth while,” replied the husband; we have only to work well for a year, and have a mode rate share of good luck, and we can buy it for ourselves.” And the man and his wife worked hard for a whole year, and the harvest had never been so plentiful as tnat autumn; so they were not only able to buy that strip of land, but bad money to spare. “You see,” said the husband, “the land is curs and the wish, too.” Then the good woman thought it would be a capital thing to wish them selves a cowhand a horse. “Wife,” answered the husband, again clinking the surplus money in his pocket, it would bo.folly tcrsacrifice our wish for such a trumpery tiling; we can get the horse and cow without that.” And sure enough, in another year’s time, the horse and cow had been well earned; so the man rubbed his hands cheerfully and said : “Another year has passed, and still the wish is ours, and yet we have all we want; what good luck we have P The wife, however, began to grow impatient, and tried seriously to induce her husband to wish for something. “You arc not like your old self,” she said, one day, crossly; “formerly, you were always grumbling and complain ing, and wishing for all sorts of thiugs; and now, when you might have what ever you want, you toil and work like a slave; are pleased with everything, and let your best years slip by. You might be king, emperor, duke, a great rich f-irmcr, with loads of money, but uo—you can’t make up jonr mind what to choose.” “Pray do cease continually worrying and teasing me,” cried the farmer; “we are both of us young, and life is long The ring contains but one wish, and that must not ho squandered. Who knows what may happen to us, when we might really need the ring? Do you want for anything now? Since the ring has been ours, have we not so risen in the world that all men marvel at us? So do be sensible, and amuse yourself, if you like, by thinking what we shall wish for.” And so the matter was allowed to rest for the present. It really seemed as if the ring brought blessings on the house, for barns and graneries grew fuller from year to year, aud, in the course of time, the poor farmer became a rich and prosperous one. He worked all day with his men, as if the whole world depended upon it; hut in the evening, when the vesper bell sounded, lie was always to be seen sitting, and well-to-do. at the threshold, to be wished “Good evening,” by the passers by.— Now and tlicu, when they were quite alone and no one near to hear, the woman still reminded her husband of .the ring, aud made all sorts of proposi tions to him. lie always answered, there was time enough to think about it,, and that the besi ideas always oc curred to one last. So she gradually fell into the way of mentioning it less often, and at last it rarely happened that the ring was ever alluded to at all. Tho farmer, it is true, turned the ring ou his fiuger twenty times a day and examined it closely, but took great care never to express the slightest wish at tho time. And so thirty and forty years went by, and the farmer and his wife grew old, and their hair snow white, and still the wish remained unspoken. At last it pleased God to show them a great meroy, and He took them to Him “3AI.US 3?Or>TJ3LX SUPREMA ESTO.” WAYNESBORO’, GA., SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 22, 1873: self both in one night. Children and grand-children stood weeping around the coffins, and as one of them tried to withdraw the ring from the dead man’s finger, his eldest son said : “Let our father take his ring to the grave. There was some mystery about it. Probably it was some love token, for our mother often looked at the ring, too; perhaps she gave it to him when they were both young.” So the old farmer was buried with the ring which should have been a wishing ring, but was not one, and yet had brought as much good luck to the house as man could desire. For it is strange, as regards the true and false, that a bad tiling can be turned to better account in good hands, than a good thing in bad. t F rom the Louisville Courier-Journal.] An Uiicui'tlied Aiimlolf of Foote and Jeff* Davis. Foote and Davis were in Congress in 1848 (while Taylor and Cass were can didates for the Presidency) and occupied a room together at the Willard Hotel. One evening, seated by the same fire side, Mr. Davis read aloud from a politi cal letter of Gen. Taylor, and made run ning comments for Mr. Foote’s dvlecta t:on,which the latter thought were rather too friendly for a Democratic Senator to give expression to in the of a canvass. In fact, he intimated quite strongly that lie thought Mr. Davis, at heart, ftas a Taylor man ; that spite of his professed support of the Democratic nominee he would secretly rejoice over Gou. Taylor’s election. Mr. Davis had married a daughter of 'Gen. Taylor, and this little circum stance, Mr. Foote suggested, was at the bottom of his colleague’s compliment of the letter, adding, iu his impetuous way, that it would doubtless boa very nice thing, after all, to be a son-iu law of the President —even a Whig President. Mr. Davis could not brook this sarcas tic intimation of treachery on his part, and retorted in severe language, one word bringing on another, until the “grave and reverend” came to blows. The noise of the fisticuff aroused other Congressmen, who rushed into the room and separated the combatants, admon i.-hing them of the .shame which would attach to two distinguished Senators from the same State indulging in a dis graceful knoclc-dowu. This view of the matter Daturally brought the two to terms. Like the nun and wife who “argued” the question of “rat or mouse,” they shook hands and made friends. “Really,”said Mr. Foote, after a smile all around ; “really, I should not have thought of such a thing as striking Mr. Davis if heliadn’t passed the first blow.” “Are you not mistaken about that?” urged Mr. Davis apologetically. “Indeed, I am not,” retorted the im- petuous. “It is my impression you struck first,” pleaded Mr. 1). “Oh no, it was you.” “Hut I’ll sivear was you.” “And I would swear it wasn’t.” “You did strike me first.” “I did not strike first.” “You did.” “I didn’t.” “You did.” “I didn’t.” “Well,” said Foote at last, rising hastily from his seat, “there shan’t be any dispute as to who struck first this time”—aud as he spoke dealt Mr. Davis a stringing blow on tho cheek, which resulted in another rencontre that, hut for the interference of mutual friends, might have been going on until now. for both are “game” all over. Tho ques tion as to who struck first being settled nothing serious grew out of the matter, especially as cither party preferred to have the matter hushed up as speedily as possible; Why is the letter Y like a young i lady ? Because it makes pa pay. [>OR*TIIB EXPOSITOR] OLD MAM’S DAKLIMO. BT N. BRUM CLARK. A good matured, pretty, and heart-melting thing, A tease, an enigma, a torment, a prize, She blooms the chief flower of rosy-wreathed spring, And her eyes are as fair as the hue of the skies. Her complexion excelling the tint of the rose, Her voice sweeter far than the tones of the harp, This pretty and good-natured creature — who knows 7 The joy of my life and the pride of my heart. If gloomy or saddened, depressed or in If ascetic, splenetic—if groaning or sighing, Tliis sweet, pretty creature, just sixteen in years,' Will groan when I smile and laugh when I’m crying. The dear darling dear, I am free to confess, One lay when an old fellow stood by her side. With a toss of her curly head, sweetly said “yes," And.became in an instant the old fellow’s bride. When the old fellow suffers with gout in liis toes, * And roars like a bull in his big rocking chair, She wraps liinv so nice in her soft woolen clothes That he wishes sometimes he’d the gout for a year! One day the dear tease did solicit a shawl, But the old fellow told her he hadn’t the “pewter,” Then she trod on his toes, aud the terrible bawl Which he uttered she said did most suitably suit her. Next morning she went and she came, and that’s all, Except she spotted a newly bought locket, And, odds hobs, she had on a beautiful shawl, . .. And the old fellow had—not a cent iu his pocket. He shouted, “I’m plundered, I’m murdered” —“my dear, Be silent, and don’t take the robbery amiss. I'll pay you with interest the end of the year, Aud surely add one'to your minutes of bliss.” And the dear little, sweet little torment and tease Kissed the grumbling old fellow a hundred times o’er. That’s the way with ihe woman, they do as they please,— Asleep when you watch them, —awake when you snore! The dear little, sweet little, darling young wife, This morning, quite early, said: “dear, when you’re able, I want you to buy me”—“what, dear, a penkuife 1” “No, no, you old goose, you must buy me a cradle!” Iley, diddle, diddle, the cat’s in the tiddle, The old man’s locked in his room, The little wife laughs when I rock the cradle, And the baby, it cries till noon. To tiie Boys.— Someone has written beautifully to the boys in the following manner. Here is a whole scrmoD in a few sentences: “Of all the love affairs in the world, none can surpass the true love of a big boy for his mother. It iS pure and noble, honorable in the hjghest degree to both. Ido not mean merely a dutiful affect ion. I mean a love which makes a boy gallant and courteous to his mother, saying to every body plainly that ho is fairly in love with her. Next to the love of her hus band, nothing so crowns a woman’s life with honor as this second love, this devo tionof a son to her. And I never yet knew a boy to 'turn out’ had who began by falling in love with his mother. Auy man may fall in love with a fresh-faced girl, aud the man who is gallant with the girl may cruelly negleot the worn and weary wife. But the boy who is a lover tQ his mother in her middle ago is a true knight, who will love his wife as much in the sere-leaved autumn as he did in the daisied spriug-time,” . “Do you believe, sir, that the dead ever walk after death'/” “No doubt of it, madam. I have beard the Dead March.” II $2 a year, in advance, LITEKAL, AWSWLKS. A lady noticed a boy sprinkling gait on the sidewalk <o take off the ice, ant remarked toa friend, pointing to the salt: “Now, that’s beuevolencc.” “No it ain’t,” said the bqy somewhat indiguantly, “it’s salt.” So, when a lady asked her servant girl if the hired man cleaned the snow off with alacrity, she replied : “No. rna’m, he used a shovel.” The same little turn of mind which we have been illustrating is sometimes used intentionally, and perhaps a little maliciously, and thus becoi cs the pro perty of wit instead of blunder. Thus we hear of a very polito and impressive gentleman who said to a youth in the street: “Boy may I inquire where Robinson’s drug store is ?” . “Certainly, sir,” replied the boy, very respectfully. “Well, sir,” said the gentleman after waiting awhile, “where is it ?” “I have not the least idea, yer honor,” Baid the urchin. There was another boy who was ac costed by an ascetic middle aged lady with: “Boy, I want to go to Dover street.” “Well, ma’m,” said the boy,” why don’t you go, then One day, at Lake George, a party ot gentlemen strolling among the beautiful islands on the lake, with bad luck, es pied a little fellow with a red shirt and a straw hat, dangling a line over the side of a boat. “Hallo, boy,” said one of them, what are you doing ?” “Fishing,” came the answer. “Well of course,” said the gentleman; “but what do you catch ?’* “Fish you fool! What you s’pose ?’ “Did any of you ever see an elephant’s skin T' inquired a teaohor of an infant class. “I have,” exclaimed one. “Where?” asked the teacher. “On the elephant,” said tho boy, laughing. Sometimes this sort of wit degenerates or rises, as the case may be, into pun ning, as when Flora pointed pensively to the heavy masses of clouds in the sky, saying: * “I wonder where those clouds are go ing ?” and her brother replied. “I thank they are going to thunder.” Also the following diologue : “Hallo, there | how do you sell your wood?” “By the cord.” “How long has it been cut ?” “Four feet.” “I mean how long has it been since you cut it?” “No longer than it is now.” And also when Patrick O’Flynn was seen with his collar and bosom sadly begrimmed, and was indignantly asked by his officer: “Patrick O’Flynn ! how long do you wear a shirt ? “Twenty-eight incites sir.” This reminds one of an instance which is said to have occurred recently in Chat ham street, New York, where a country man was clamorously besieged by a shopkeeper : “Have you any tine shirts?” said the countryman. “A splendid assortment Stop in, sir. Every price and every style. The cheap est in the market, sir.” “Are they clean ?” “To be sure, sir.” “Then,” said countryman, with great gravity, “you had better put on one, for you need it.” “Do you think lam a fool ?” a vio lent man asked the late Rev. Dr. Bu thunt*. “Really,” replied the doctor, “T would not have veutured the assertion, but now that you ask my opinion. I must say that I am not prepared to deny it.” Guilt frames— Prison windows. Iu tents excitement—Pauio in a oir cus. Pics thit suit the Celestials—Pup pies. People who sell hay do business on a “largo scale.” A kangaroo is a curious chap, when, it’s awako its leaping. The worst kind of education—To be brought up by a policcn an. The Poenix was raised in a hot bed, and that’s what made him soar. A blacksmith cc.n not only shoe a horse himself, but he can make a horse shoe. 5N0.25. “The Pacific Slopo”—The Quaker Peace Commissioners ruuning from the Indians. In what case is it absolutely impos sible to be slow and sure ? In the case of a watch. If you let the cat out of the bag, never try to cram it back again; it only makes matters worse. There is a religious sect at Bristol, Vt., who wash each other’s feet. There is also a sect at Washington who white wash each other’s reputations—but it isn’t a very Religious sect. . A female clerk in a candy store In Kansas City heard she had fallen heir ess to a fortune in England,and im- V* mediately refused to attend customers, but perched herself on the counter and chewed gum drops the rest of the day. A Lucky lowa editor won a very nice bet on the presidential election. A young lady presumed to be pretty— agreed to kiss him once a month for four years if Grant was elected, and is keep ing her word like a man. We hope for the sake of the editor’s peace of mind that he is not a married man. A. G. WHITEHEAD, M. D., WAYNESBORO, GA., . Office at old stand of Buroell & Whitehead,, Residence, corner Whitaker and Myric sts.) ; Special attention given to Accouchement and Surgery. I Thanking the public for past patronage, solicits a continuance of the same. janl3—ly DENTISTRY. GEORGE PATERSON, D. D. S., OFFICE NEXT TO PLANTERS' HOTEL, WAYNESBORO’, GA. FAMILIES desiring his services at their homes, iti Burke, or adjoining counties, can address him at this place. dec23-ly R. O. LOVETT, ATTORNEY AT LAW , WAYNESBORO’, GA. W 11 practice in the Superior Court of the Augusta, Middle, and Eastern Circuits.— Special attention given to Justice Court practice. febls-ly A. M. RODGERS, ATTORNEY AT LAW , WAYNESBORO, GA, • OFFICE A T THE COURT HOUSE. PERRY BERRIEN, ATTORNEYS AT LAW , WAYNESBORO, GEORGIA. Office in Court House basement—northeast room JAMES s. HOOIC. | JA'IES GARDNER HOOK Sc C3-A.H3D3STBR, ATTORNEYS AT LAW, AUGUSTA GEORGIA Will practice in the Augusta Circuit and in tho United States District and Circuit Court* far tho State of Georgia. Cases attended to in other countios and in South Carolina by special con tract. janl3-6m JOHN D, ASHTON | HOMER 0. GUBgOg. ASHTON <fc GLISBON, ATTORNEYS AT LAW , WAYNESBORO’ GEORGIA Will practice in the Superior Courts cf the Augusta, Eastern, and Middle Circuits, the Supreme Court of the State, apd in the District and Circuit Courts of the United Statist, at Savannah. Claims collected and ens enforced. novl6-ly mat7bpe rkins, PROF. OF SCIENCE AND LITERATURE OF MUSIC WILL TEACH CLASS-SINGING, CONDUCT MUSICAL SOCIETIES, AND l ■ Organize and Drill Choirs, with special reference to th wants of the Church. Address, MAT B. PERKINS, jy22* Lawtonville, Burke co., Ga. JETHRO THOMAS, DEALER'IN • 5 FAMILY GROCERIES, LJryGroods and. Olothing (.Opposite Planters' Hotel ), WAYNESBORO, GA. ~ W. A. WILKINS, DEALER IN DRY GOODS, GROCERIES, DRUGS AND MEDICINES, TOILET ARTICLES, ETC., ETC. WA YNEBB OR 0\ GA . 11. BARR, ; DEALER IN GROCERIES, LIQUORS, DRY GOODS, CLOTHING, ETC., ETC., WAYNESBORO, GA.
