Martinsburg herald. [volume] (Martinsburg, W. Va.) 1881-1920, 1893-06-24
MOLER'S AVENUE.
ALL TOP AND No PoTATo:

ALL Tor AND No PoTATo:
81 wouldn't plant potatoes to-
day if | were you. 1t is in the
virgin and they'll go to tops and
flowers and have no potatoes"
said one gardener to the other
(early in March,. / do not be-
lieve in signs replied the other.
"The ground is rich and in fine
order and / mean to plant them
now. Come over the Is, of June
and take dinner with me. shall
have Early Rose potatoes to con-
vince you that good ground, good
seed and proper culture are
worth more than all the signs.
The time slipped by on noiseless
wings. The potato tops grew
and spread like green bay trees;
the fowls of the air might even
have lodged in their branches
and Gardener No. l laughed in
his sleeve. On the morning of
the 18th June as with hoe and
pan he meant to get mess of
potatoes to grace the feast for
Gardener No. 2,-whose potato
patch planted in the sign of
Scales in poor ground, were
scarcely foot high and looked
sickly enough. No. l pulled ON
a great stalk and behold, not
one potato chung to to the roots
the hoe was then applied vigor-
ously wider and deeper into the
rich, mellow earth descended
that expectant hoe, but not a
shadow of a potato appeared
hill after hill was searched, but
all in vain.
He gave up at last and sat
down amid the wreck of the for
est of green leaves and stalks to
reflect but Gardener No. 2, lift
ing a pan of fine potatoes over the
fence interrupted him in his rev.
erie with, 81 have brought these
from my patch, will you accept
them and think more of a quiet
friends counsel when he is kind
enough to advise 81 will.
Thank you," said No. l with q
smile. You have been success
full when outward appearance
promised nothing. | have been
deceived where every outward
was prom Using much,
but l am wiser from my exper-
fence. The failure of my potato
crop has turned the whole cur
rent of my life into a different
channel.
/ am IS years old and ought to
be a married man, but | have
loved two women almost equally
well. One a fair creature with
blue eyes and golden hair who
dresses like a queen and possesses
the charms of syren, dignified,
commanding and brilliant in So
ciety. How proud l would be
of her as my wife. The other
one, near my own age, is as
plain and seemingly unattrac-
tive as a little brown wren but
her company inspires me with
nobleness, her depth of love and
childlike trust, make me more
restful and happy than my beau
ty could ever do, and / knew
this woman | should call wife
but pride decided for me and /
had made up my mind to marry
the beauty but | see a home
ly comparison between the two
women and the two potato
patches. The beauty all top and
and blossom, (but no potato, |
will demand a luxurious life of |
ease, that will keep my pocket
and my nose on a grind
stone. | have changed my |
mind. I'm going to marry the |
plain woman if she has freckles
and is thin; she is a perfect
little house-keeper and is not |
afraid of work. / am going to
ask her tonight to be my wife. |
All top and no potato some
Weather man may take.
I'll have a pair of scales in my |
front window instead of the |
fashionable stuffed cat-and
gilded potato too as emblems of |
what changed the whole current |
If my life and made me a happy |
man IN,