The Cairo bulletin. (Cairo, Ill.) 1???-1928, 1906-06-01
A Serpent in Eden.

!
\ ance never again to dabble In Q,
> plosives that consented to becom
reconciled to Jipson. No one cal
Justly accuse me of an unforgiving o
Misunderstanding disposition. but reall
, that fog-signal affair 80 shattered m,
, nerves and faith In the inventor
actual sanity that 1t took all the tao
and persuasions of our RESPECTIVE
wives to reestablish amicable rela
tons between us. The two ladies
have long been on affectionately In
innate terms. but with Jipson and MT
at loggerheads the customary FIRE
quent exchange of Inequalities neces
sarily received check; in fact,
don't mind admitting that was moi
Of the regrettable squabble Jipson's
wines are really unexceptlonable. and
his cook treasure.
For some time after the restora.
ton Of peace, was, OF course. very
much on my guard; but as the weeks
heightened into months, and Jipson
never even mentioned the word in.
vention was gradually lulled into
a feeling OF pleasing security, and
actually began TO congratulate myself
that he had taken the last severe
lesson TO heart, and perhaps altogether
abandoned his foolish, expensive and
fruitless experiments.
| was strengthened In this belief
by the keen interest he appeared to
have suddenly developed in garden,
ing. Now | am not little proud of
my own knowledge of this subject,
and the modest acre of graund at The
Willows" is my pet hobby, my lawn
and flowers the delight of my heart,
and the envy and admiration of the
| whole neighborhood. | therefore re.
| joiced greatly at Jipsons newly-awak.
ened interest in matters horticultural,
for therein, | hoped to lay the way
to his salvation. .~-s - s.Ssasn g.
For some years, II has been my Gus
tom to give garden party in mid
June, when the majority of my flow.
ers are at their best. Usually, too, |
take a brief holiday just before tho
event In order to help my man put
everything into appie-pie order Great
was my annoyance therefore at the
unexpected protraction of a business
visit to Scotland, which detained me
In the north until couple of days
before the date of what had promised
to prove the most successful of our
enjoyable al fresco gatherings.
1t was too dark to see how the gar
den looked when | finally returned
home, but my wife's replies to my
anxious inquiries were far from reas
surfing. Everything. it appeared, had
gone well up to that very morning
when quite suddenly the lawn had
begun to look rather poorly and the |
roses and plants in the herbaceous
borders to droop in a manner for
which our man, Jobson, was puzzled
to account, except on the suppositioB
that the recent thundery weather had
affected them. >>~ss<. ~-.---
was up soon after dawn, scrambled
into few clothes and hurried dowr
into the garden. Never, never shall
| forget the scene of utter ruin and
destruction that met my Mortified
gaze. The lawn. that once beautiful
expanse of close cropped emerald
sward, was covered with hideous
brown patches of rapidly rotting
grass; the rose trees, my rare ana
glorious rose trees, had not a bloom
upon them that was not hopelessly
~ithered or showing active symptoms
OF decay, and the same awful havoc
was plainly manifest in the flower
beds, where ANIMALS, perennias, and
even hardy shrubs, were stricken WITH
the same mysterious sickness The
whole garden was, in fact irretriev
ably bllghted and soon fed tn,
heartrending spectacle in a state OF
mind verging very near to insanity
1t was hours before was calm enough
to choke down some breakfast. Civ,
orders 10 put off the garden party anc
rush off to the city, half-closing my
eyes as | went down the path to avoid
the painful sight of my ruined Eden
never even saw Jipson on tho
platform until he clapped me on the
shol.ldsr. Under the circumstances
Z
his rather boisterous: We'll. old
chap. how does the garden grow" (
naturally added fuel TO my fury. hu.
there was a subtle something In tho
tone Of the inquiry that awakened
sudden indehnable suspicion, and
prompted me to dlssemble.
Never better" lied as cheerfully
as | could; impossible to look more
booming Everythings come on
most surprisingly the last few days" |
His face flushed with excitement as
7 answered; the old well-remembered
look OF triumphant self-confidence and ,
vanity III his eyes. in that case" he ,
said. "Ill let You into a secret I'd In. ,
tended to keep TIL the day of the
party; you owe whatever improvement
has taken place in your garden 10
mel"
ITO your" ! queried. with a des. ,
perate effort to control my emotion.
yes, TO me-" he repeated. tri. ,
For several months pas, ,
I have devoted myself patiently to an
exhaustive research into the subject ,
OF artificial manures. snd-well-no, ,
10 trouble you with details. the result