Grant County herald. [volume] (Lancaster, Wis.) 1850-1968, 1901-08-15


By tie time the country was reached
Mr.. Bowser's temperature was 90,
and as he looked around him it jumped
another 20 degrees. There were sa-
loon. q 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 mile TO the
nearest wood and the highway was
ankle deep with dust. and the day was
a scorcher, but that one Ean 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 10
the wood he met a tramp. and Weary"
accosted him with;
SAY, Gully, what misfortune caused
We 10 take to de hoof? Sit down and
tell me dc yarn"
Sir. 10 you know who you are ad-
dressing demanded Mr.. Bowser in
reply.
NO, + I'd like TO. Are We calm
yerself lbe de Rusher or Lie de
Limper Sit down and work yer chin
and cit some pinters from an old vet."
Mr.. Bowser passed on. but his tenn
perature 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 10 the cheerful
| thoughts of how he would murder the
| family cat If 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 tramp
and insulted by a fat man. That one
man picnic would have been declared
| off by most men, but Mr.. Bowser was
| made of sterner stuff. He got UP after
awhile and went looking for a shady
| dell. He had Just found a cheap one
horse dell which he thought might do
| at a pinch when a wandering humble
| bee pumped against his neck and lift
| ed him clear off the ground with a
| yell. Ii 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 that ac-
count.
u told Mrs. Bowser I'd have picnic,
and III have one or die" muttered Mr..
Bowser. as he got out of the dell and
went looking for babbling brook.
He found a ditch which drained q
swamp, but it didn't babble. 1t was
simply working nine hours per day for
/ ten hours wages He fell into hole
as he looked around for the bluebells
Of the woodland. and he fell over a log
as he 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
then he softly swore by the dust Of the
dead Bowsers that he'd never go home
till he had culled the daisy. 1t was
his oath that took him ont Of the wood
into a meadow. 1t was a meadow un
der a per cent mortgage, and the
grass grew scant. 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 an paSy mark his head went down
and his tail went up. and he tried tC
get up a git Of a mile a minute as he
charged. . Bowser had no electric
motor under his vest, but the way he
travelled ~ rods and fell over a fence