The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1907-04-20

| that it didn't differ from the ordinary
| tulip bulb.
'I ought to have had that s25 to get
me dress with she finally said, as
| she returned the bulb.
| ITO get a dress with! Great Heavens
| You compare dress to tulip with
| seventeen different colors-to tulip
| that will make our name famous in a
! month-to a tulip that may bring us in
| tens of thousands of dollars within a
few weeks! Stop and think of the SUI
preme selfishness of it. BY John, but 1
wouldn't have believed that such hui
man nature existedl In your envy and
jealousy and selfshness you would
have the thing a failure. but it won't
be. / have the bed prepared and / will
now set out the tulip. 1t will grow. 1t
viii flourish. 1t will throw out it's sew
enteen different colors. You can. go on. -
Mrs. BowSer entered the house and
the bulb was placed in the middle of
the bed. 1t was an hour to. dinner, and
during the interval Mr.. BowseF sat
down on the steps to watch and guard.
A dog came along and jumped the
fence and would have pulled the bulb
from the ground by one of the shoots
had not the watcher yelled at him.
A hcod1um came along and looked
over the gate and asked Mr.. BowSer If
he was going into turnip-growing. The
cold stare he received made his scalp
tingle. So -,
A tramp came along and recognized
to discuss the rise and fall of the vege-
ia BILE. but he was ordered to move on
in such tones that he was reminded of
lunatics and mad dogs.
During the dinner hour Mrs. Bowser
asked no questions and the tulip was
not referred to-. Acting under inStTuc-
ticp from Mr.. Bowser the cook took
frequent peeps frcm the basement win
GoWs to see that no one entered the
yard. AS he rose from the table he
said to Mrs. Bowser:
Madam, I shall pass the evening on
the front steps. If you are planning to
wise destroy it you will meet with dis
appointment"
but why should I wish to destroy
your tulip?" she protested.
why have you made IL different at
tempts to assassinate me since we were
married?" ssh
1t was an hour or more before dark
ness came. Mr.. Bowser kept his eye
on that tulip and thought of wealth
and fame and pictured rush of re-
porters to secure his photograph. When
darkness settled down Mrs. Bowser
came to the door and asked him II he
was going to sit up all night, but in
reply he gave her glare that made
her SILVER.
He was there when the bells struck
eight So was his tulip.
He was there at nine. and the tulip
was nesting down in its earthy bed
and preparing to grow.
At ten o'clock Mrs. Bowser came to
the door again and found him nod
ding The boy on the opposite side
of the street who was just getting
ready to hurl a potato stayed his
hand, and after standing for a mo-
ment. she re-entered the house and
went to bed.
Eleven O'Clock came. Mr.. Bowser
was asleep and dreaming when a
shadowy form stole up the street. 1t
at his gate and peered be-
tween the. pickets. It made sure that
the man on the steps Slumbered, and
then it leaped the fence and advanced
upon the flower bed. The seventeen
colored tulip was there and defence
and he was after bones. With a |
gurgle in his throat he made a sudden |
spring, tore at the dirt for second |
and as Mr.. Bowser awoke with yell |
the canine seized the bulb in his |
mouth and leaped back into the street. |
The yell brought Mrs. Bowser to the /
window She looked down to see Mr.. |
Bowser roll down the steps and make |
off after the f1eeting dog. There was
no one else on the street There were
f1ickers from the electric light; there
were ghostly shadows dancing here
and there; the spirits of departed dogs
and tulips frolicked UP and down.
And as she looked, the forms of Mr..
Bowser and the pursued vanished in
the darkness down the street, and the
just and the unjust who had been mo-
mentarily disturbed turned over in
their beds and slumbered again.
Copyrighted. 1907. by M. NJ Cum
ningham.)
Bryan in Rhode Island.
Providence. R. l., April 20.-William