The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1903-09-03
A ROYAL FLUSH.

pinchbeck turns by the same subtle
alchemy into pure gold. The tricks
of trade are as necessary to the butch
er, the baker, the candlestick maker
as the market for his wares. and IL
he is benefited and no one hurt there
by, why should we condemn them?
As simple a method as luck in odd
numbers rules the world, and was in
vogue long before saucy Rory O'More
employed it. and a first glimpse of
the new moon decides many a bust
ness deal to-day When a man Is
down on his luck he Will resort to al
most any expedient to recoup his loss
es. and as long as his trick is a harm
by, he should escape blame. The Won
der is that Fate. ignoring our des-
perRte efforts. should allow US to ca
jole her with a trifie.
Jerome Bronson was a politician
without a job. Politics had given
him a sinecure for four years-poli-
tics had taken it away and left him
stranded. The emoluments Of office
ad been used to retain it, and now
Bronson found himself in actual want
with a family dependent upon him.
At this juncturs the unexpected hap
pened-a friend whom he had IA
vored in his brief hour of prosperity
came to the rescue with a PROPOSE
ton. Simon Green said:
Bronson, you know that bunch Of
houses and the acreage property I
own out at Malariaville, which I have
been trying TO sell for the lat ten
years? Now. If you will go out there
and take charge of that enterprise,
and stay there until you sell it out,
III give you a house and lot besides
a fair commission? What say. Bron-
SOM"
That swamp? Couldn't think of
it," answered the other despondently
'Td rather dig my grave some other
way. That low, sodden land is full
Of malaria and would kill us all off
inside Of year My wife and chill
dIen are delicate now"
Yes, living hived up in a steam
heated fat-small wonder. Take them
out of doors and let them run in the
sunshine and see what it will do for
there yet-the name killed the place.
1t has the same altitude as the ad-
joining villages, which are healthy
enough, but it never had a boom. II
you take up my offer I'll build side
walks and put in the new system of
draining, and with one family living
there the spell will be broken, and
lots will sell like hot cakes You look
healthy enough for a sanitary recon-
mendation yourself Bronson Think
It over"
Bronson thought it over and caught
at it as the proverbial straw. He
moved his family to the prairie, where
a cluster of unoccupied houses formed
the nucleus of a future town. and ST.
mon Green gave him one of the best
houses for his own, and he took hold
with will to make boom. 1t came,
but not until he had almost aban-
doned the project. the visitors who
came on his invitation always remark
ing on the extreme delicacy of his
wife and children and their want of
q vigorous constitution and a healthy
color. In vain Bronson assured them
that none Of them had ever been ILL
their appearance belied the truth Of
his assertion. At this point his fer
Sile brain developed an idea.
The result was astonishing. In a
week a delicate pink flush appeared
on their cheeks and they ate better
in month they had the appetites of
hyenas. and their red cheeks could
be seen from the railroad station.
Mrs. Green said she would give a hun.
dred dollars to get such beautiful
flush of health-in the spring she
should move to Malariaville, the name
Of which was now changed to
Roseland.
Meanwhile Mrs. Bronson was trying
to live up to the duty she had taken
upon herself. but it was hard work.
As people bought and moved out there
she and her rosy-cheeked family be-
came more and more popular from
the health point of view. The new.
Corners studied their mirrors to see
IL that splendid color was dawnine
IN their cheeks, and that gave them
a new interest in life that was fasci.
mating and distracting. Then Mrs.
Bronson said to her husband:
When you have sold the last house
and lot we must move away. II the
truth should come out we would be
mobbed. We have really improved in
health, and hope we can return some
day. am growing fond of Rose.
land, and we will keep our home
here"
It'll this blows over. hey? should
think you would turn pale at the
thought, Alice"
Don't. Jerome; 1t was a lark at
first. but it has grown to something
serious. And the worst is that the
question of health is not the consid.
GRAFTON. The whole thing now is a
question of beauty, and women are SO
Bhrewd dread detection. They would
absorb all the malaria in the county