The pressure of the geologists,
all eager to inspect the object that had created so much curiosity, could
hardly be restrained, and the president was thrown, with great violence,
into the hole that had been dug, from which he was pulled with
extraordinary strength of body, and presence of mind, by the honorary
treasurer.
The hard substance was found to consist of a piece of iron, of which it
appeared a vein, or rather an artery, ran both backwards and forwards from
the spot where it was first discovered. The confusion was at its height,
for it was supposed a mine had been discovered, and a long altercation
ensued; the town-clerk claiming it in the name of the lord of the manor,
while the beadle, with a confused idea about mines being royal property,
leaped into the hole, and, in the Queen's name, took possession of
everything. A desperate struggle ensued, in which several geologists were
laid straight upon the _strata_, and were converted into secondary
deposits on the surface of the earth; when the lamplighter, coming by,
recognised the hard iron substance as the large main of the Equitable
Company. It became therefore necessary to relinquish any further
investigation on the spot originally chosen, and the matter was postponed
to another day, so that the great crustaceous and carboniferous question
remains exactly where it did, to the great injury of the harmony and good
feeling that has never yet prevailed, though it is hoped it some time or
other may prevail, among the inhabitants.
Pages:
28
29
30
31
32
33
34
35
36
37
38
39
40
41
42
43
44
45
46
47
48
49
50
51
52