The marriage of Juliet to Romeo had made one young man supremely happy,
and another intensely miserable. At a distance of about three miles from
the residence of the fair Juliet dwelt Farmer Lovegood, having an only
son, who, as he grew up, looked so like a picture of the leader of the
Israelites in the farmer's old family Bible, that he was called Moses by
common consent, and was soon known by no other name. This
unsophisticated youth had always been remarkable for bashfulness in the
presence of the opposite sex. So vividly had his imagination depicted
the horrors of a captivity in the hands of these merciless foes of the
masculine gender that, at the first glimpse of a petticoat, he would
frequently glide away as if he had beheld "the devil in disguise." But
on a certain Sabbath he saw the beautiful Juliet, seated in her father's
pew, and was cruelly enamored. He became a regular attendant at the
church; but instead of joining in the devotions of the congregation, he
sat in a corner and silently worshiped the lovely owner of the pair of
blue eyes and golden tresses. During the week he profoundly meditated on
the beauty of Juliet, and on each successive Sunday repaired to the
church, and devoutly adored her in the seclusion of his corner.
At length Moses manfully resolves on a pilgrimage to the hallowed spot
which holds the object of his adoration. Accordingly he starts from his
rural home, and, with infinite toil, wends his way in solitude beneath
the silvery light of the twinkling stars, through tangled thickets and
thorny fields; floundering through bogs and briers, and tumbling over
snake-fences, with thoughts so delicious that, could they have escaped
from his bosom and taken a beautiful embodiment, they would have planted
his pathway with flowers as sweet as if steeped in the honeyed dews of
Hymettus. And now he comes in view of the mansion in which dwells the
lovely idol of his worship. He stands beneath the spreading boughs of
the trees which shade the sacred spot. He sees the lights within the
neatly-furnished parlor. He even hears the siren song of the
enchantress, giving utterance to the sweet emotions of her soul, as if
magnetically informed of his approach and inviting him to enter. But he
pauses. His faculties are seized with a sudden panic, like raw recruits
when first brought into action. His heart palpitates, and, with a
pit-a-pat motion, comes mounting up to his mouth. His joints tremble. He
walks to and fro under the trees, like a fellow sent upon a fool's
errand, who has forgotten his message. Finally the lights disappear, and
the fair Juliet has retired to rest, while the toil-worn swain proceeds
homeward, breathless, and faint, and leaning upon his hickory cudgel.
Moses made many nightly pilgrimages in the same manner, and with similar
results; until, one morning, he accidentally heard that Juliet was
married to Romeo.
The unfortunate Moses now became intimately acquainted with misery.
Sleep forsook his pillow, and after several nights of wakefulness, he
began to meditate upon the various methods of putting one's self to
death; but for a number of days his conclusions were unsatisfactory. He
put the muzzle of a pistol in his mouth, but there was a mutiny among
his fingers, and they rebelliously refused to obey his will, and pull
the trigger. He seated himself on a beam in his father's barn, with one
end of a rope around his neck and the other securely fastened to the
beam, when he suddenly recollected that a man who is hanged usually
turns black in the face and presents a hideous appearance. He stood on a
brow of a precipice, overhanging a deep and turbid stream, and was about
to leap into the water below, when he recoiled with horror at the
prospect of being eaten by the fishes, and thus deprived of decent
sepulture.
Moses now wisely determined to pass away without any unnecessary
suffering. He supposed that on the shelves of the apothecary, in
Mapleton, were potent drugs which would put him in a condition of
somnolency, during which he could easily glide out of this sublunary
state of existence. So he proceeded to the town, and having procured the
proper material for his purpose, was hurrying homeward with deadly
intent, when he inadvertently ran against a man who was standing in the
street reading a newspaper to a crowd of people. The rapidity with which
Moses was walking caused him to collide with great force, and nearly
overthrew the reader of the paper. The man turned round, and, grasping
Moses by the collar, shook him fiercely.
"I beg pardon!" exclaimed Moses, aroused, by the rude shaking he had
received, to a consciousness of his surroundings,--"I beg pardon! I did
not see."
"Did not see!" said the man. "Where are your eyes that you can't see a
whole crowd of people?"
"I beg pardon!" reiterated Moses, meekly.
"It is granted; but mind how you walk next time!" And with this
admonition, the man resumed the reading of the paper, as follows:
"Immense discoveries in the placers! Captain M. reported to have already
fifteen barrels buried!"
"Fifteen barrels of what?" asked Moses of a man standing near him, and
who happened to be M. T. Pate.
"Fifteen barrels of gold!" said Pate.
"Of what?"
"Of gold."
"Have they discovered gold near Mapleton?"
"No--no--not here."
"Where, then?"
"In California. Have you not heard the news? The papers have been full
of the accounts for the last three weeks. Where have you been living?"
"At home."
"And not heard of the gold discoveries! People are digging out gold-dust
by the barrel. In a week a man can become as rich as John Jacob Astor.
We have formed a company and are going to California as soon as the ship
is ready to sail."
"I would like to go," said Moses.
"You can join our company."
"I will go," said Moses.
"Come along with me," said Pate. And he conducted his recruit to a room
where several members of his company were assembled. Here Moses was
introduced to Wiggins, Love, and Dove, and a long and earnest
conversation ensued; after which Moses signed a paper purporting to be
the constitution of a mining association; to which were already
subscribed the names of the persons present, and also of Messrs Botts,
Perch, and Bliss.
"When does the ship sail?" asked Moses.
"In about a week," said Wiggins.
"We leave Mapleton to-morrow," said Pate. "We must be in the city to
make arrangements for the voyage."
"I wish we were off," said Moses. "I will go home and bid my father
farewell, and come here to-night."
Moses hurried home, and on the way threw the deadly drug, which he had
purchased of the apothecary, into a stream of water to poison the
fishes. He thought no more of suicide. Avarice had entered his soul, and
expelled another powerful passion, which had been impelling him to the
commission of _felo de se_. Love, like a cruel leopard, had clutched the
heart of Moses, when Avarice, like a mighty lion, appeared and
compelled the leopard to abandon its prey.
The father of Moses had already heard of the wonderful discoveries of
gold on the Pacific coast, and was willing that his son should go
thither and secure his fortune. The parent was a pious man, and he bade
Moses kneel before him, while he laid his hands on his head and gave him
his blessing. He then proceeded to his barn, and procuring two sacks
made of stout canvas and each capable of containing a couple of bushels,
he presented them to Moses, saying,--
"My son, be not greedy of gold. Moderate your desires; and when you have
filled these two sacks return again to your father's house."
Moses dutifully vowed obedience to the injunctions of his venerable
sire. He received the sacks with a light heart, for he felt that light
was the task imposed upon him. He departed with the pleasing
anticipation of a brief sojourn in the distant land and a speedy return
to the halls of his ancestors.