The St. Mary banner. (Franklin, Parish of St. Mary, La.) 1889-1931, 1906-07-14


was what the neishbors said, and they
thought they knew, but the Captain
was equal to the emergency. He had
seen enough OF inventions and ma
chinery to know what wonderful
things could be accomplished in that
way, and he decided that the work
Of plucking geese must be done by ma
chinery.
He tried to devise some mechanical
fingers at the end Of flexible trans
mitter, which should work at Ugh
speed and pluck the feathers as he
guided it with his hand, but the de-
vice was not satisfactory.
He studied and thought, and CROPPED
in the darkness, but it seemed as if
| there was no solution to the problem
One day when the mail came, he
| picked up New York paper and
glancing over the headlines he read
these words:
GREAT CYCLONE IN IOWA.
Scores Of Lives Lost-One Million
Dollars Worth Of Property
Destroyed.
Then as he went on through the
details he read that the wind blew
the feathers off of chickens. He for
got the destruction of property. He
was sorry for the destruction of life.
but he did not know anyone in Iowa.
hence he let the fact drop from his
mind, but the one fact written large
on the tablets of his brain-the fact
more important to him than anything
else was the fact that the wind blew
the feathers off of the chickens,
He threw the paper on the floor.
sazed steadfastly into space for a
moment, then rose to his feet and
shouted. "Eureka!" just as Archi-
medes exclaimed 1000 years ago.
He had the right principle, and he
knew he could work out the details.
His mind worked fast and there |
quickly passed before his mental WIS.,
ion the hillside stream that flowed |
past his door, a water wheel and all |,
the rest OF the paraphernalia.
Next morning he started work on a
dam; then he put in a water wheel
and caused it to drive blower" at
very high speed, and forced air out
OF the end Of nozzle at pressure Of |
100 pounds to the square inch Then
he brought goose and laid it on a
table and turned on the stream of air
and wherever the stream inpinged on
me gooseS body the feathers flew az
Il they had been shot out of a gun.
The Captain was intoxicated with
excitement and rushed in to his wife
Is fast as his wooden leg would per-
nit, to tell her of his great success.
ohe had insisted that it would not
work and had scolded him for wasting
lis time on it, but now the Captain
vas triumphant and his wife was glad.
5ut there was one difficulty yet. The
Gathers flew everywhere and would
lot be confined Then the Captain
ullt room with mosquito screens for ,
falis on enc side he placed a re- +,
diving fan which blew the air into the .
DOM from the outside and then plac- ;
lg the goose on the table he directed ,
ne stream OF feathers toward the fan :
aSIC luCy we're uTGWu lUlO the room | 4
the forced draught.
Ihe Captain had solved the labor G
uestion and the business drew apace,
le died later, but not until he num-
cred his geese by the tens of thous.
nds.
He developed the quill tooth-pick q
ldustry as a side line and his geese -
nd feathers set the standard of ex- y
ellence for the market The last time y
lie Captain spoke OF goose farming he !,
5ed these words: 1T is the coming =.
lsiness. Geese multiply faster than :
gs, need no shelter in winter, live on .,
Ass like the cattle of the field. have :,
ore dollars or their backs than
leep, are not subject to attack from
&c aNd mites, and when they are q
'operly cooked make dinner fit for y
king" X
Long live the memory of Captain .
utmeg, Goose King of the world, and
ventor of the Windy Feather Pluck
q Machine Farm and Ranch a