The Laurens advertiser. (Laurens, S.C.) 1885-1973, 1901-11-13
AN OLIVE BRANCH FOREST.

When Quadrup1ets Came th
Father Fled and Is Still Flee
Ing.
| If Mr.. Ormsby, of Chicago, had r.
flected that it is dark ,C Just before th
dawn, he would not have taken to hi
heels and run away from his wife, hi
quadruplets, his twins and the othe
children with whom Providence ha,
blessed him. Seven years ago Mr.. ant
Mrs. Ormsby were married and wen
to housekeeping. In the course O
time the stork came, bringing an lufan
under each wing. When Zilpah pre-
sented Jacob with son, Leah callet
his name Cad, for he said troor
cometh. Cad would have been an an.
prOpfiate uame for the first of tic
yourg Ormsbys, for a troop came.
Twins followed twins in rapid success
sion and Mrs. Ormshy proved herself a
fruitful tree upon the walls of the
house, a perfect forest of olive branches
surrounded the table, and Mr.. and
Mrs. Ormsby became qualified to speak
with their enemies in the gate. Mr..
Ormsby knew that children are gift
that cometh of the Lord, but he was
afraid that he would share the fate of
the covetous rarpeia and be crushed
under the weights Of the gifts which
were showered upon him in exLrava-
CANT profusion. He knew that the
young children are like arrows in the
hands Of the giant, and that the man
is happy who has his quiver full of
them. But what was he to do after the
quiver became full to ovelhowiDg and
The arrows kept oa coming and no
quiver to put them inl One bright
October afternoon recently, when Lake
Michigan was coquetting with the sun
beams, and the birds were singing
their sweetest trcnodies and the golden
rod was blooming in the suburbs, Dir.
Otmsby came to his home, where he
lived and moved and had his beng,
and found that during his absence at
tie corner grocery, the scene of his
daily labors, whole flock of storks had
settled upon his dwelllng-four of them
each baby.
This overwhelming gift of the Lord
somewhat dazed Mr.. Ormsby. He
was taken hard aback as he entered
he door and there stopped to count up
The extent of his arrows or his olive
branches, whichever they may be
He found by careful COM
putation that the result of seven years
welded bliss was fourteen babies, the
oldest one 6 years of age. Such we'd
led life might be aptly termed cone
ong sweet song" What was Ormsby
20 do? The corner grocery did not
Yield enough to sustain this flock.
There were no prailies near Chicago
where the young ones could be lost like !
I1op-o'-Thumb and his brothers. And
what if this fruitful tree upon the
walls of his house should do as bravely
n each succeeding period of ven
1ears as in the fist lustrum of their |
wedded life? All these things entered
nto the dazed mind of Ormsby and he
urned and lled-put his fingers in his
ears and fled preclpitately like Christian
leeing from the City OF destruction.
Just here, as Uncle Remus would |
say, Ormsby i" drapped his watermil-
lon." He forgot that it is darkest
uSb DclOIc VIC uaWu. I1e laCKeQ 1altn |
md made the mistake of his life. But |
some allowance must be made for |
)rmsby. What would you have done
With fourteen babies in the house, the |
oldest just 6 years old, and all of them
,ryiDg for brcad-or milk, which is
the same time, and the fruit
ul tree still In commission? Would |
you, would any man have stopped to
the dime museum as sheet
Ormsby did not. He just
led, and according TO the latest advlces
le is running yet. Still, it was blum
ler, for the next day contributions to
4 sustcntation fund began to come in
and the fund became little fortune.
This was the beginning of that tide
which, taken at its flood, leads on TO
fortune. The next day dime muse
nm man came along and contracted
with the mother to exhibit her and the
forest of olive branches az $500 week.
And now Mrs. Ormsby is going to live
in case and aflluence at "swell
hotel" while Ormsby is
fleeing as if from the wrath TO come.
Ormsby had never contemplated quad
ruplets as paying Investment Bali-
more S,ua.