The Central Nevadan. [volume] (Battle Mountain, Nev.) 1885-1907, 1901-08-29

By the time the country was reached
Mr.. Bowser's temperature was 21O.
and as he looked around him 1t jumped
another 20 degrees. There were a sa-
loon, a stable and an electric power
house. There were a few feeble look
ing apple trees and two or three fields
| filed with weeds. 1t was a mile TO the
nearest wood. and the highway was
ankle deep with dust. and the day was
a scorcher, but hat one man picnic
was bound to come OF at any cost and
at all hazards. Mr.. Bowser looked for
gambolIng lambs as he trudged along,
but the butchers had bought them all
up for chops In the spring. He looked
for babbling brooks. but they all turn
ed out to be frog ponds. Half way to
the wood he met a tramp. and Weary
accosted him with:
Say, Gully. what misfortune caused
We to take to de hoof? Sit down n
tell me de yarn"
"SIr! Do you know who you are adj
d~ressing?" demanded Mr.. Bowser in
reply.
no.. but I'd like to. Are ye calm
yerself Rube de Rusher or Lie de
Limper? Sit down and work yer chin
and git some p'lnters from an old vet"
Mr.. Bowser passed on. but his tenn
p~erature went still higher as the tramp
hurled cuss words at his back and the
dust In the road grew deeper. When
he reached the wood at last. he sank
down under a gnarled oak which was
throwing Its grateful shade over an
empty beer bottle some bicyclist had
left behind, and for ten long minutes
he gave himself up to the cheerful
thoughts of how he would murder the
family cat II he ever lived to get home.
The hot sun had developed a headache.
and the rough walk had brought out
two soft corns. IN addition, he hadn't
found anything that babbled or gam
boiled and had been sassed by a tramp
and insulted by a fat man. That n
man picnic would have been declared
of by most men. but Mr.. Bowser was
made of sterner stuff. He got up after
awhile and went looking for q shady
dell. He had just found a cheap n
horse dell which he thought might do
at a pinch when n wandering bumble-
bee pumped against his neck and lift
ed him clear off the ground with a
yell. 1t took him a quarter Of an hour
to get over the pain of the sting, and
the swelling was so big that he had to
carry his head on his left shoulder. but
he didn't give up his picnic on thai ac-
count.
IL told Mrs. Bowser I'd have a picnic.
and I'll have one or die" muttered Mr..
Bowser as he got out of the dell and
went looking for a babbling brook.
He found a ditch which drained a
swamp. but II didn't babble. 1t was
simply working nine hours per day for
ten hours wages. He fell into a hole
as he looked around for the bluebells
of the woodland. and he fell Owe a log
as be listened for the tap of the wood
pecker and the squeal of the squirrel.
He had to realize at last that there was
nothing In the greenwood for him, and
her he softly swore by the dust of the
dead Bowsers that he'd never go home
till he had culled the daisy. 1t was
bis oath that took him put of the wood
into a meadow. 1t was a meadow UNI
der a Z per cent mortgage. and the
grass grew seant. and the milkweeds
and mulleins fourished galore. While
Mr.. Bowser looked for daisies an old
bull looked for him. The bull got
through looking and got down to bust.
ness first. As he figured out that he
had IN easy mark. his head went down
and his tail rel up. and he tried to
get up a gait of a mile a minute as he
charged. Mr.. Bowser had no electric
motor under his vest. but the way he
travelled 40 rods and fell over a fence