Rensselaer Semi-Weekly Republican, Volume 40, Number 34, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 3 January 1908 — An Odd Job. [ARTICLE]

An Odd Job.

„ Caruso, the great tenor. told at a dinner in New York how he once tried to write a grand opera: ' .' “It was in early youth that I made this ■trttempt,” he said. “I knew nothTng of harmony or counter-point. The work in consequence was as ludicrous and absurd as—as — The tenor laughed. “——as Roman’s effort to get - a' job," lie went 6n~ —; “A Roman peasant, you know, applied one day for work to a rich man. Tbe rich man said: “ ‘Have you a boat?” “ ‘Yes, sir,’ the peasant answered. “ ‘Well,’ said the rich man, ‘do you see that driftwood floating down the Tiber?’ “_‘Yes, sir,’ was the reply. “ ‘Well, take your boat, row out in tbe river, and catch that driftwood, and I’ll give you half of all you get.’ “The peasant jumped into his boat and worked hard for a while. Then suddenly he stopped and made for the shore. On being asked the reason for bis return be scowled and said: ’“That wood is just as much mine as it is his. I am not going to give him any, so here I am, out of work again.’ ”