A DISAPPOINTED FORTUNE SEEKER.

Globe, Volume II, Issue 187, 14 January 1875, Page 3

A DISAPPOINTED FORTUNE SEEKER.

Those who are anxious to make fortunes by some lucky stroke of business should be careful to avoid the practice too often indulged in by speculators of hastily jumping at the conclusion that favourable symptoms may be accepted as trustworthy evidence of the merits of any scheme which commends itself to their attention. It is only by a careful examination of the root that a correct estimate may be formed of the value of the blossoms which attract the eye of the wealth-seeker, who frequently finds too late that the fairest flower in appearance is in reality but a worthless weed. A gentleman in Oswego, Kansas, the other day fell into the snare. He discovered on his premises a well full of water, possessing, as ho thought, valuable medicinal properties. On being analysed It gave iodine, bicarbonate of potash, chloride of lime, compound essence of buchu, with a trace, slight but very distinct, of old Doctor Jacob Townsend’s sarsaparilla. The fortunate owner immediately devised a scheme for building an hotel for the accommodation of rheumatic and dyspeptic patients, who it was expected would flock to an establishment possessing such advantages as a “ Pool of Bethesda” bubbling under its very roof. There is, however, “ many a slip betwixt the cup and the lip,” and an inquisitive neighbour, on making a closer examination of that well, discovered at the bottom the remains of two dead cats and a rabbit. To these departed animals were due the powerful flavour and peculiar chemical composition of the water. The idea of building the hotel has been relinquished.