○  russell conwell : acres of diamonds  ○

wretchedness, starvation, and death by suicide in a strange land, he would have had ‘acres of diamonds.’ for every acre of that old farm, yes, every shovelful, afterward revealed gems which since have decorated the crowns of monarchs.”

when he had added the moral of his story i saw why he reserved it for “his particular friends.” but i did not tell him that i could see it. it was that mean old arab’s way of going around a thing like a lawyer, to say indirectly what he did not dare say directly, that “in his private opinion there was a certain young man then traveling down the tigris river that might better be at home in america.” i did not tell him i could see that, but i told it to him quick, and i think i will tell it to you.

i told him of a man out in california in 1847, who owned a ranch. he heard they had discovered gold in southern california, and so with a passion for gold he sold his ranch to colonel sutter, and away he went, never to come back. colonel sutter put a mill upon a stream that ran through that ranch, and one day his little girl brought some wet sand from the raceway into their home and sifted it through her fingers before the fire, and in that falling sand a visitor saw the first shining scales of real gold that were ever discovered in california. the man who had owned that ranch wanted gold, and he could have secured it for the mere taking. indeed, thirty-eight millions of dollars has been taken out of a very few acres since then.

about eight years ago i delivered this lecture in a city that stands on that farm, and they told me that a one-third owner for years and years had been getting one hundred and twenty dollars in gold every fifteen minutes, sleeping or waking, without taxation. you and i would enjoy an income like that -- if we didn’t have to pay an income tax.

but a better illustration really than that occurred here in our town of pennsylvania. if there is anything i enjoy above another on the platform, it is t

上一页  [1] [2] [3] [4] [5] [6] [7] [8] [9] [10]  ... 下一页  >>