Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1906-04-28
Uncle Toms Business Venture
BY r. NJ. CRANE.

.sWhy don't you go down town to business
every day, Uncle Tom?" asked Jessie, max
| ing herself comfortable on one of her
uncle's knees. Papa goes and 1 should
| think you would, too"
SHOULD your" said Uncle Tom, pulling
| one of her curls. ut is my business to be
| idle Just at present. I was never in what
you would call real business but once, and
| that here Uncle Tom paused to examine
his watch chain.
''That7" limited Tommy, when he found
+, his uncle had relapsed into revery, a way
he had of doing, the children strongly sus-
pected to gain time to remember his mar
velous exploits.
You should always finish sentence once
commenced, Tommy" said bis uncle severe
ly. perhaps If you put head and tail to
1t we may understand what you mean.
That hasn't much meaning to my mind
You had no tall" commenced Tommy In
a grieved voice.
."That is an unnecessary remark,
Thomas" said his uncle sternfy, while Jes-
| sic burst into peals OF laughter II never
expect to have. though. to be sure; 1t is
by the merest chance l have not.
"GracIous!" exclaimed Jessie AREN'T
you fooling, Uncle Tom?" And then at a
sign from Tommy, who was afraid the story
might be frightened away, she turned the
| conversation back you said you were
In business once uncle. When was thatg'
''You children are always in such a
hurry" complained their uncle. Here I'm
| just telling you about 1t and You take the
words out of my mouth. 1t was then that
I came very near coming home with a
| tail-when I came back from South Africa
! always was smart as young man ana
came off when / was twenty-one. Uncle
Tom went on complacently, while Alice and
Jessie looked at each other in an amused
way, land l decided to go to South Africa
to raise telegraph poles."s
did you use derrlckf Vehturea
Tommy.
IF you don't stop your Interruptions"
growled Uncle Tom, "I'll start right off on
| that fifty-miIe walk / was talking about,
and of course leave you behind. Did you
! think I'm a brickiayer or a horse car driver
| that / would use derrick? l went out 10
start grove of telegraph po'es, as said
before. There is a fortune Ii, the business
| If one meets with success. Hired an ocean
| steamer large enough to carry some seed.
or bulbs, or whatever you call EN-, and
| started off. That was my first journey on
| the water and / thought 1t would be the
| last Then I was worried by fear lest
| the poles should grow on the vessel and
swamp us before we reached shore, and
| that is exactly what happened. We must
| have been somewhere near the Aleutian
You can't mean the Aleurian islands.
| Uncle Tom" began Tommy
| 81 can't, cant TT snapped Uncle Tom
What can mean # you know srs SO nluch9
| You should never talk about things you
Il do not know continued Uncle Tom with
a superior air I'VE must have been some
where near there when the poles grew too
/ heavy for the boat and we. capsized. You
never saw such queer looking vessel It
looked as ii 1t had been stealing the masts
from every other boat in the world Well,
I was a pretty fair swimmer then, and
managed to tow one OF the poles to the
] shore We landed in Terra del Euego, and I
can tell YOU Africa is q fine place. Il
wasn't very thickly populated, except with
apes. and although you may think II
strange, found them very companionable.
and We had q great many amusing CONVEX
Stations together"
do they" commenced Jack and
Alice
s'of course they do. resumed Uncle Tom