The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1897-04-25

The Middle States are almost as bad az New
England. have personally secured most of the
country within 200 miles OF New York city,
sometimes going on my wheel. sometimes driv-
ing. sometimes walking. BY the way, my wife
and ! walked almost 400 miles in England one
summer collecting pepper boxes
YES" interrupted Mrs. True. land 1t is a
wonder that l lived through it! 1t wasn't the
walking. but you soc l was the key to all the
doors. 1t was through me that wc got admis-
sion to the houses: At every promising farm
house or cottage my husband would go to the
door and ask the inmates II they would be so good
as to give his wife a glass of water: or sometimes
he would buy milk. / was supposed to be in n
constant state Of thirst. or course, after the
people had got a drink for me I had to take 1t,
and. l assure you. I drank SO much water and
milk that sometimes l felt as IL i never wanted
to see either of them again"
1t was pretty hard on my wife," admitted
Mr.. True, but we had to get into some sort Of
fellowship with the people. You know you
wouldn't exactly like to go from door to door
saying. Have you any old pepper boxes = That
isn't the way to collect relics, any way. There's
no spice In 1t, or, at any rate, not often. l did
try that method down here in New Jersey one
time. and got some pretty warm replies. An old
Irishman had told mo that there was a wonder
full carved oak chest in a barn down In this
New Jersey village, and. OF course, as soon
as l found time I rushed down to hunt
1t up. 1 had forgotten the name of the
people who were said to have the chest,
but remembered that the place had been do.
scribcd as being near the station. l was in too
big a hurry to settle. down and try to discover
the chest without arousing attention, so I sim
ply started In on q house-to-house canvass. In
the course OF my search ! rang q bell loudly. but
nobody came TO the door. although I could
MAINLY HpR tWn wnnan Nyaahfnr In thu ha-l-
yard; Finally went around tho house and
ns aaa them politely h t q they S, had any onsiopes;
Want to buy usf
village. too. Tho chest seemed to be a myth.
That was only one Of the many wild-goose chascs
better luck sIn' a y few sc yoers ago n 1 went down q nai iS
quite a ,favorite with the landlord Of the little
h huis ! Mhs ap old ) s'"dh isSes | f6 got me- ni% and 1nf picFss I'm in
some worry good things. Among others 1 bought
among, the different branches OF a family. i set
SGT were. Sure enough, / found that this woman
mad two married sisters; each OF whom owned
one , Of the he, plhGttosi WhSn got time | drove oyer
sisters lived, and went to her house. knocked
and 3 M W9T I m. c Mns 70 m. the doPri ,,,os
les, said the woman. and took me into tho
dining room. She asked me to wait a few min
uNNo gu u bht Z III WHICH Oh ut
bug. Before had made up my mind the woman
lor,' which 1 promptly did. The room was dark.
and It took several seconds for my eyes to get
used to the dim light; When they did saw.to
room, and. as l soon learned. Mrs. Babcock in the
c coi5 ! had ia, asked g the woman g. tho door III
'' 5%e ahr I hs SfH'f sSo to ,Eis Si ' bay fsR china of a
the the day 'fb% before S SHssh Ba tSs lni was s' sSried!p , snS
sost f'sy pi %a,sf fr .hs t hSns sTo l i RHses sisisls Mrs Bah
" used to think that ! could buy anything II
bn Wq ! f %dllipg ct to t SiSs so good a enough PriGe for It,
theory was false. With the aid OF the landlord
discovered q certain plate in the possession of
She She p posed :, as ,n a F ssSSa'naE Zeal n Of ana ar IS 5ns toS Snt
s Sastb sola me tb tas R Ssr o al right; sna told me
maybe wasn't pioased! Thought, Of course.
at a fairly good offer. and when Went to 500
her in the miserable little hut she lived in / was
mare more than .na eyer sure Of 4; She brought out tho
lust what l offered her At first, but she shook
her head ard said she didn't want to sell them
s 81 her s75 for tho SIX 81 Plates. At That she
Boss, she said. I work f. 50 cents . day
g so%'s tG ssil d faSw p TR I 1t Ks Il to m be t hRanf RSEaa 0% 'sm
fret, Her old mistress gave 'em TO her an she
gave EN- TO me-, Money can't buy dem plates!'
And II couldn't, either. l found something
else on that same trip that money couldn't buy.
My landlord told me one day that there was a
man living n few miles away that had q funny
old pitcher. with names OF tho States and a pie
ture Of George Washington on II. / knew right
away what " was. 80 wo got q team and drove
fashioned one, with open hrcplnces and pro
jccting chimney breasts, In which there were
cupboards- Did you ever TASTE applejackl
We'll, i never had before that fishing trip and
I've never tasted any since that was rs good as
] got that day, When we asked our host about /