The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1904-03-27
AS WE PASS ALONG

to come out and see my
good luck orchard" said suburban gen.
tleman to a friend Several years ago.
on a business trip. 1 encountered, at small
town, an old schoolmate who was travel
ing for a nursery. He was in a rather
detected mood; said he hadn't had good
sales. and had about a thousand frost
bitten apple trees on his hands. That was
only his wild way of talking. however, for
all he had in sight was about fifty trees.
mostly apple trees. He said they were all
frozen and of no account; he couldn't de-
liver them, and would have to wait for a
good consignment-time, money and tenn
per all going TO waste.
I'VE walked out to look at the trees.
and / said L didn't believe they were dead.
lie scofed at me and said | didn't dare
offer him nickel a piece for them. The
offer was promptly made. Then he told me
10 take all / wanted for nothing. OF the
forty apples trees | picked out and shipped
home. all lived but one. Old Dave said
he felt pretty tolerable foolish when l wrote
him about my good luck orchard. but |
made him nice present and assured him
that the little orchard was doubly valua-
bic 10 me on account of its unique origin.
Another bit of luck attended me in this
deal. too. There wasn't Ben Davis among
them; all first-class New York Baldwins.
Curiously enough, fate sometimes seems
even the exit of character.
You know that Dick
Dicks Same died away out West
Old Way. somewhere, and
brought home for bur-
ial." meditative young man remarked.
Dick was a vastly entertaining fellow,
hearty friend and clever in a thousand
ways, but he never could make a good
lixyino he I'M m he IN
time. never. In his palmy days, although
he was in every sense social ornament,
he could not be asked to take any part in
weddings functions of any Importance,
for it was widely known that he would not
appear on time. Quick flash in all other
ways Dick was. but slow as a snail in get
well. Dick came home to be buried at
| his little home town; there is nothing more
| touching, is there, than the way in which
world-worn men at the last come home to
| be buried in their little old home towns!
| Several of us went over TO the burial, ana
| don't you think we had to stay whole
| day and night. Dick didn't get there. The
| express company sent him by longer route
than was expected. so, as usual we an al.
| all night in the little home church, and
those of us who went over were glad to
keep him company. 1t was precisely IKE
| Dick not to be on time, wasn't II!
Now and then, in the old book-shops here
and there, is encountered small, thin vol
ume in prim black binding, which testifies
| ably to Robert Dale
Robert Dale Owen Owens devotion to
| and Good Roads. Indiana and ener-
| getic interest in
the betterment for her property conditions
and residence inducements. The little book
| in oil N
Plank Roads," and bears this legend on its
| title page: "A brief, practical treatise on
the construction and management of plank
roads, by Robert Dale Owen. New Albany.
Kent & Norman, publishers. 1850" An
architects drawing of plan OF tcll-gate
house for a plank road faces the title
page, and a fiyleaf is stamped John r.
| Nunemache CITY Bookbindery, New AL
| bany." Mr. OWENS brief introduction,
| written at New Harmony March l, 1850.
| explains that company had been organ
] lied in September, under the general plank
| road law of Indiana. to construct plank
| road i'm Posey county, from New Harmony,
| OH the Wabash to Mount Vernon, on the
| Ohio, a distance of fifteen miles AS the
| Plank Road Company was uniformed con-
! corning the practical details of plank road
| construction and management-a novel
species of Improvement In the State>Mr
| Owen was authorized to visit western New
| York where plank roads were nrSt lntro-
! duced in this country, and procure an
| necessary information. This he ola with
| great thoroughnesS, and upon his return
| found himself so besieged with eager cor
respondence bearing on good solid roads to
| supersede the muddy roads ana prluie-
| paths of pioneer Indiana, that ne Ielt unuer
| pressure to give his material on plank roads
| to the public in print. The mud roads OF
| those early periods were called horse.klli-
| ers" as four horse wagons often sunk 10
| the eirths in mud, and country people in
| the winter were cut off from all groceries
| supplies by the dreadful condition OF the
only means of reaching nearby towns.
| The improved road question. naturally,
| in the era of the incoming plank ROAD;
| had to combat the usual preJudiceS ana
ignorant opposition. but owen on P,anK
| Roads" in twelve brief chapters, is a clear,
| concise and masterful argument FOR mt
ing country roads above the mud. me
topics presented are E d Cts ron Rad Im
"Origin of Plank Roads" Laying Out,
| Grades" Construction. Excavation and
| Entertainment" "Superstructure CA stout
OK cart and three or four good yoke OF
oxen are reouisite'), Tolls and Toll-gates,
Capabilities of Plank Roads" Cost,
Durability and Repairs. FRONTS OF Plank
nendix gives the New York plank road act
| of 1S47 and the Indiana plank road act or
1919. which comfortably bears witness that
early Indiana was not iagga roe an emf FOIL
charges of that thinly populated period.
| now ancient roads history, are given by
| Mr. Owen uDQer the laws VI as
| 'shorse and rider. cent per mile; one-norse
| vehicle ~ cents; two-horse vehicle,
cents. three-horse vehicle 21a cents; four
borse vehicle. cents score of cattle. mules
| or asses cents; score of sheep or hogs,
| cents The plank road specifications called
for "white oak or post oak, or burr oak,
or chinkapin oak, black walnut, or red
elm or mulberry; to be good and sound
timber. free from sap, bad Knots, SNAKES,
wanes and other imperfections.
Some druggists claim that as the days
go by they come in contact with more
varieties of human stupidity than all men
in all other walks of
| Druggists business life.
Hard Luck. Look at this now,
exclaimed a prosperous
druggist: IAN apparently sensible man. a
| LAWYER mind you. came in here half an
hour ago. bringing in a doctor s prescrip-
ton which had filled for him. 1t was a
| paste and the directions were written
clearly on the label
".How's this, he said; this prescription
saws "gargle," and can't gargle with such
thick stuff as this-it's paste
Read the directions" l remarked In a
| decidedly rritated tone. oh, said the
| LAWYER dilute one teaspoonful in water and
| gargle: that's very different. "Of he went
ish stupidity
| Dozens of tines continued the disgust
ed druggist, Il have vowed not to prescribe
for neonle never TO give any human being