Des Moines courier. ([Ottumwa] Iowa) 1848-1854, 1851-05-09

/ terW exclaimed Hannah, snatching tn
. paper. 'what are you doingn - ..
TO Hannah's mind had come the quicl
! suggestion. that letter, containing mon
ey, might be enclosed. Hurriedly, sh,
+ unfolded it, but there was nothing be
| yond the large and well filled news paper
| THAT'S an insult which I'll never for
give said Petei. "Wai, little while
} Uncle Ben is incapable Of deliberately in
sul,ing any one. "He has clearly insul
f ted me; and he did it delibera,ely.-"No
} no. DON'T think so. Uncle Ben spoke
very kindly of you to me. He mean.
well but acts strangely sometimes!S
Strange enough! don't like such
well.meaning men, And so saying, he
left the room. As soon as he was gone
} Henry seized uron the newspaper, and
| opened it with feeling of delight. L
was the weekly Cincinnati Gazette
which he commenced reading to his no
,her and Ellen. About half an hour af-
forwards Peter returned. He saw the
paper open in Henry's hands, while his
wife and Ellen were listening with much
interest.
| Peter felt too great contempt for the
newspaper. to join his family. So he
went into the adjoining room. The
communicating door stood ajar, and as
Peter sat down, he heard Henry as he
read. At first he tried not TO listen; but
soon, in spite of himself, he became
deeply Interested. Henry was reading
a story of domestic trial, in which pro-
found trust in Providence sustained the
parties, even when their sky was far
darker than his had yet been; and when
he saw help come 10 them, in their most
painful extremity, and from point least
expected, he could not keep the tears
from his eyes. After the story was com
pleted Henry read for an hour longer, all
of which time Peter sat listening in.
tently.
All dinner time. Henry and Ellen
talked about what had been read in the
Gazette. They did no. know that their
iaiher had been so much interested. He
remained silent. During the afternoon,
he picked up the newspaper which lay
ltemptingly near him; he felt differently
towards it. since he had listened TO Hen
ry reading from its broad pages, and let
his eye glance over it, from column to
column. Gypsum! gypsum!" said he
at length. speaking half to himself, YET
looking towards Hannah. .'What is
uypcrn,2v ..I,p, s,ra- 4 Jo,,, l-nov, .,
replied Hannah. "Isn't there dic,ion-
AIRY up stairs!" al believe there is, but
I've not seen it these five years." "Let
me see." said Hannah, thoughlfully.
"where is it! Yes-yes; think |
know" And laying down her mending,
went up stairs. She returned with the
book. and as she entered, said, "Gyp-
SUN is plaster os Paris" . .s $50. u
'.Indeed D, well, that is simple en-
ough, them" E- .as ..a. - ,s ...
"Wha, is simple erough!" asked Han
nah. ...an... . ...
"You know that we lost nearly our
whole crop Of grapes las, year, by a
kind Of mildew or rot" said Peter. /
calculated certainly on getting $50 from
that acre Of vineyard; and got nothing
worth sending to market. Now, here
a man says that he lost his grapes, year
before last, in just the same way; and
that after studying about it, he thought
he would gather the leaves in autumn
and put them around the roots of the
vine, adding little gypsum. Last year
every vine thus treated had an abundance
Of healthy fruit; while on the others,
the grapes, just as they were about ripen-
ing, deuayed as before.
.ls i. possible! I'D do the same"
"lndeedI will. As soon as the snow
clears of, LII go through the enure vine
yard. If that will save hundred or
two dollars worth of grapes, it is well
worth the trying. If ] had only known
this last year" A week went by. and
another Gazette came. When Peter
brought it, Henry opened il with de
lighted eagerness which his father could
no, help observing. He commenced
reading aloud for his mother. Peter
listened, anG became interested. After
supper, Peter took up the paper, the ve-
ITf siSut VI pEouucing utsllc W
know more. He was reading to him
self, when he paused and said thought
fully. "Can that really be so!'' Z.
/ 'Can what be SO! asked Hannah.
i If what is said in this paper be true,
! can pay off my mortgage ii. two years.
I.What does il say! II says that swamp
muck, treated in certain way, makes a
fertilizer equal in value to the best stable
and barn-yard composts. II this really be
SO. ! can pay off my mortgage in two
years. For there are thousands Of cart
loads Of muck in that swamp across the
orchard. There is a lille book, il is
further stated here, to be had in Cincin-
natl, called 'rhe Muck MAMMAL" l,
really seems too good to be true The
Muck Manual was obtained and Peter
studied it for week. BY iha. time he
understood the matter thoroughly, and il
was to him light ahead Already the
pressure Of gloomy dependency was to
u great extent removed. II his vineyard
produced a good crop next season, il