Page 23 - 1931

er I remembered about the coins us- ed by the Romans from my ancient history. I then recalled a picture in my history of a coin with the image of a cow on it and I remembered also that it was known as the Roman bar and was used as money in the fourth century A.D. When we had talked to some ler.gth about our wonderful discovery we jumped into bed intend- ing to take the money to a bank iu the morning and ask its value. Next morning when breakfast was ovei·,
BO'b and I went to find a bank. We came to a building bearing the name Imperial Bank of Italy. We entered and asked to see the manager. We finally gained a hearing and told him our story. I showed him one of the pieces. of copper and asked him how much he thought it was worth. He looked at it for some time, all the while rubbing thus wearing the tar- nish off. He suddenly uttered a cry
of surprise. Both Bob and I were amazed at · these proceedings. He told us these coins were not copper but gold. We were greatly astonish- ed at this statement but the man- ager maintained that it was about 35% gold. When we asked him how much he thought the two bags would be worth. He sat down and began counting the coins. After he had fin- ished this he did .some rapid cal- culating on a pad and finally an- nounced that these gold b~rs were worth about one hundred thousand dollars. l asked him whether he would accept these coins in exchange for money. He gladly agreed. We 'went home feeling very happy, Mother and father were so surprised by the good news that for a few minutes they could say nothing.
Wh en they recovered their compo- sure they both congratulated us on having such a large fortune at such an early age.
As we talked the matter over that night Bob said that he thought the tunnel had been built by a wealthy trader who_ kept his money in this secret passage so that it would be safe from robbers or fire. Th.is would explain why the tunnel came
up in the mansion. The trader could take his earnings every day from his private room in the trading house and leave them in this tun- nel on his way home to the mansion. We all agreed with Bob on this and went to bed with light hearts, think- ing that if our visit to Rome had been nothing else, it had been a pro- fitable one.
LATIN DITTIES Mistvess Mary, Quite Contrary
0 Mea Maria, Tota contraria,
Quid tibi crescit in horto? Testae et crotali
Sunt mihi flosculi, Cum hyacinthino serto.
Little Bopeep
P.arva vagabundos Bopepia perdidit agnos,
Et sequitur frustra, · nee reperire potest:
Bellula, eant. abeant: ad pas cua nota rediliunt,
Et.reduces caudas post sua terga gerent.
- From Virginibus Puerisque.
"There was an old old woman who lived in a shoe"
Vetula in calceo quondam habitabat, Prolis multitudine fessa laborabat: Primo pane carneque eas reficiebat, Deinde castigatos bene cubitu!TI
agebat.
Johannubus Horner sedebat in angulo Scriblitam voraus magno in gaud.io, Druna extrahens pollice et interdurn
Eia, quam
-From Virginibus Puerisque.
IITHE GLEANER,, 21
V ociferans,
bonus
put:.r
sum."
Little Jack Horner