Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1904-09-24
CHAPTER XV-Continued.


blood. 1t flew away. but left its Internal
tincture behind. with the inevitable result
that Miss Pendleton mot with malice afore-
Thought however, released her hand from
the grasp of John Lorimer and, applying
the tips of the fingers of her other hand 10
the spot began to rub it with violence
"Oh!' she exclaimed after the manner
of young womankind, these terrible mos
quitoes
John Lorimer realizing that if the mos
quito was permitted to interfere with his
possession of Miss Peggy's hand that the
mosquito was an insufferaDle pest. at once
drew from his pocket a small phial. and
once more holding Miss Peggys hand
firmly with his own, dabbed small por-
ton of the liquid in the phial upon the
spot Miss Peggy sighed with relief.
Dear me-" she said, why. that takes
all the sting away" There being no fur
Their necessity for Withdrawing her hand,
she left 1t accordingly where it was. It's
all gone" she reiterated. She took the
phial.
What is it?" she demanded John Lori
mer smiled.
That" he said lis the Balm of the
Isle of Swat.
Where did You get it?" she asked.
Made it" he replied. Then he told her
the whole story
A week later all Monroe rose as one man
and slapped Itself. Summer was on; the
Jersey mosquito had come with it. The
people howled. Mosquitoes were every
where. Monroe was unprepared for them.
Hitherto it had hecn reasonably immune
But the situation was terrible. Men could
not work. could not eat-more than all,
could not sleep. Half of Monroe had no
wire screens. Monroe suffered accord
ingly.
In the midst of this as upon the occa-
sion of every great crisis, man arose.
This man was John Lorimer.
He put upon the Monroe market the ar
tlcle that furnished the relief. He adver-
tised this article And this article bore the
euphonious name of ''Lorimer's Balm of
the Isle of Swat
II, He placed it in every drug store in town.
He sent to the Isle of Swat for more of the
raw material. The Isle of Swat was not
so very far away, and he kept the Sarah
Margaret" under the directions of the
Akoond OF Swat, plying to and fro; and lat
Ell, faster vessels. In the hold of the Sarah
Margaret" all this time were kept impris-
oned Captain jerks and his mate. They
may be there to this day; at any rate, there
they will remain until the Akoond of Swat
gives the word to his faithful crew
Well, Lorimer had to sell his article at a
small price, and it cost considerable to
make, and the profit necessarily was small
The people of Monroe bought 1t because
they needed 1T and because it was good
thing. Lorimer never knew, nor did any
one else except Ellington O'Keefe and Con-
sttutional Smith, the cause of the scourge
of mosquitoes
Lorimer kept on making the stuff; it
SOLD well, and he was adding something to
his small income.
But though Lorimer did not know it.
TINS was but the thin edge of the wedge
for suddenly the UNEXPECTED hammered
Monroes early summer was pretty well
along when summer opened up in the east
eIn states. The entire east had suffered
all the spring from heavy rains 1t had
rained forty days and forty nights. IT was
Impossible to plant crops Such crops as
We're planted rotted in the ground The rain
developed into genuine calamity. But
mere was more to come. The excessive
moisture upon the surface of the eastern
states brought something with it.
The city of Monroe smitten as II was nv
sCourge or mosquitoes, bred by the in
geEuity of Constitutional Smith. had risen
In Its sufferings and walled.
Now all the eastern states srnittan nv,
millions upon millions of mosquitoes bred
OF the superabundance of surface water
writhed and rose in genuine agony and
cried aloud for help.
Mosquitoes" was the cry "noscuitoac "
BABES cry day and night; small bows
scratched and scratched in vain: women
gloaned; men swore. The east was as
Egypt under the seven plaques of Jehovah.
Help help" it cried. Peace. peacer'
and there was no peace. For a time there
was no relief Men screened their houses
to no purpose. The MOSQUITOES were too
sn all; either they were too young or they
were an improved variety, Matched with a
view to circumventing the ingenuity of
man. They crept through the wire screens
as might feas. They penetrated the sacred
precinct inside the fishnet bedroom canopy
They flew where they listed. They were
anywhere and everywhere Houses which
heretofore. protected by it's screens, had
never known mosquitoes, now found their
inside walls black with them. They filled
offices, skyscrapers, churches, restaurants,
theaters. banks, factories; they were legion
and all prevalent; they were inevitable.
Trey were devilish and Internal; they were
ulbearable. they were unspeakably mad
deping.
1t did not take John Lorimer long to find
this out. In two weeks the eastern drug
stores were holding their hands out to him
for relief; he had sent his samples to the
east A few days later the pharmacists in
New York blOssomed like the rose with
the signs: "Lorimer's Balm of the Isle of
Swat"
Lorimer had patented his compound; and
beside. he had the corner on the COM
modify
His remedy sold all over under differ
ent names. He did not care under what
name II was sold long as It sold Some
times II called by mistake lie of
Swat" Sometimes Swat lie" Sometimes
something else. But the name by which it
was generally known was simply Swat"
and nothing else.
of suffering public. Some drug stores at
first hired man to stand in front of the
stores his face anointed with the COM
pound-a living example of its efficacy He
was left urtouched by the pests
The com-O nd was harmless; 1t was color
less and out fer a slightly pungent odor
II had no smell. 1t did not stain 1t left
no greasy mark But it did the work
USE SWAT.
But DON'T DO IT
DON'T SWAT
BUT USE 1T.
read the signs.
This eastern epidemic was indeed a bit of
luck. But Ii was the kind of luck that did
not usually follow John Lorimer. II was
Constitutional Smiths luck-his regular
kind. But il was luck Before long the
name of the Isle.of Swat and the name of
John Lorimer became "A household word.
Constitutional Smith had indeed builded
better than he knew.
Smith had done well but he had not done
as we'll as had John Lorimer Smith with
out Lorimer would have been a cipher in
this mosquito crisis. Smith had made "a
discovery; Lorimer had developed II. Smith
had the idea; Lorimer had the genius He
Within a very short time Lorimer had
placed upon the market the following
commodities:
'Lorimer's Balm of the Isle of Swat"
"Lorimers Eau de Cologne OF Swat"
Lorimers Perfumes of the Isle of Swat"
''Lorimer's Wire Screen Paint OF Swat"