, he is at liberty to have either
pulled down, provided he is rich enough to pay for the damage done.
About fifteen years ago, a donkey driver accidentally hit upon a
productive silver mine. He was driving several asses over the
mountain, when one of them ran away. He seized a stone, and was
about to throw it after the animal, but stumbled and fell to the
ground, while the stone escaped from his grasp, and rolled away.
Rising in a great passion, he snatched a second from the earth, and
had drawn his arm to throw the stone, when he was struck by its
uncommon weight. He looked at it more closely, and perceived that
it was streaked with rich veins of pure silver. He preserved the
stone as a treasure, marked the spot, drove his asses home, and then
communicated his important discovery to one of his friends, who was
a miner. Both of them then returned to the place, which the miner
examined, and pronounced the soil full of precious ore. Nothing was
now wanting save capital to carry on their operations. This they
procured by taking the miner's employer into partnership, and in a
few years all three were rich men.
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