The Birmingham age-herald. [volume] (Birmingham, Ala.) 1902-1950, 1907-01-27

| the old man was no financier and sold off
| the place bit by bit until all that was left
| was forty-acre swamp-"Skunl1
! Swamp" they called 1t, because of the
rank water-and when the old man died
| the son came to Chicago to earn a living.
! He brought along a flask of the swamp
! water so that when he got homesick he
could take out the cork, smell it, and be
| glad he was in Chicago instead of on the
| old place. Up in one corner of the
! swamp a spring welled up, and that
! spring spouted Onotowatishka water day
, and night gallons and barrels and floods
/ of 1t. But it needed Perkins the Great
| to know its value. Perkins smeled its
value the first Whit he got. He had a
rough map of Glaubus with the Skunk
| Swamp off about a mile to the west.
We patched up the deal the next day.
The young fellow was to have quarter
! interest because he put in the forty acres,
and Perkins put in his time and talent
| for half the balance, and l got the re-
mainder for my time and money. We
] wanted the young fellow to take a third
! interest and put in his time, too, but he
| said that rather than go back to the old
| place he would take smaller share and
! get job in some nice, sweet spot, like
the stock yards or a fertilizer factory So
| Perkins and l packed up and went out
! to Glaubus
| did not wonder. when the train pulled
| up at the Glaubus station, that the place
was small, dilapldated village, nor that
! the inhabitants wore a careworn, hopeless
| expression. There was too much Onoto.
watshika water in the air. But Perkins
| glowed with joy.
. Smell it," he asked, eagerly. Great
! adj. You can't get away from it. You
can't forget it. And look at this town.
! Look at the bare walls. Not a sign on
| any of them! Not "A billboard in the
place! Not an adj of any kind in sight!
Perkins, my boy, this is heaven for you!
| This Is pie and nuts!'
| | must confess that | was not so joyous
! over the prospect. | began to tire OF
Onotowatishika water already. l suggest
ed to Perkins that we ought to have an
agency In Chicago, and limited that |
| knew all about running agencies proper
| ly. but he said | would get used to the
| odor presently and in time come to love
| 1t and to long for it when | was away
1 from it, | told him that doubtless he
| was right, but that I thought it would do
me good to go away before my love got
| too violent. But perkins never could see
joke and it was wasted on him He
| walked me right out to the Swamp and
! stood there an hour Just watching the
| water bubble up 1t seemed to do him
| good.
There was no shanty in the village good
| enough for our office. so that afternoon
| we bought the vacant lot next to the
| postoffice for s. and arranged to have a
building put up for our use, and then.
as there was nothing else for us to do
until the next train came along. Perkins
sat around thinking. And something al
ways happened when Perkins thought.
In less than an hour Perkins set off to
find the mayor and the councilmen and
notary public. He had great idea.
They had a park in Glaubus-a full
block of weeds and rank growth-and
Perkins showed the mayor what a dis
grace that park was to a town of the
size and beauty of Glaubus. He aid
| there ought to be a fountain and walks
and benches where people could sit in
the evenings. The mayor allowed that
was So but didn't see where the cash
was to come from.
Perkins told him. Here we are, he said,
two public-spirited men come over from
Chicago to bottle up the old skunk spring
and make Glaubus famous. Glaubus was
to be our home, and already we had cou-
tracted for beautiful one-story build
ing with a dashboard front to make il
| look like two stories. If Glaubus treated
us right. we would treat Glaubus right.
Didn't the mayor want to help along
his city?
The mayor certainly did. If he didn't
have to pay out nothin'.
All right then, Perkins said. there was
that old Skunk swamp. We were going
to bottle up lot OF the water that came
out of the spring and ship it away, and
that would help to clean the air, for
the less water the less smell All Perk-
ins wanted was to have those forty acres
of swamp that we owned plotted as town
lots and taken in as the Glaubus Land
and Improvement company's addition to
the town of Glaubus. 1t would cost the
Village nothing, and as fast as Perkins
got rid of the lots the village could as