The semi-weekly messenger. [volume] (Wilmington, N.C.) 1897-1908, 1907-09-24

doubtful Ii / could control myself. ] /,
wouldn't try 1t If I were you" !
Then Mrs. Bowser and the cook be- |
am alarmed. They watched against |
cats and dogs and boys and tramps. |
They did not dare to approach the r-e- I
cious foyer within ten feet. Tired az ,
she might be, uthe cook would get IN at
midnight and look out Of her window
10 see that no tomcat was climbing
q stalk Or no dog digging at the
roots under the idea that a rabbit was
lurking there. There were times when
Mrs. Bowser wanted to go shopping,
Blu fear kept her at home and made
her miss bargaining.
The day came at last when even a
street gamin could have made ne mis-
take Il called that h~ollyhock a fence
post. 1t grew up and waved in the
breeze, and q pink flower came out.
It wouldn't have amounted to shucks
in a farmers front yard, but in MI.
Bowers back garden 1t was different.
He had conquered the soil and the rain
n the snO and ice and caused some
thing TO gov. 1t was something that
reminded him of his boyhOod days. 1t
was something to soften his heart to-
ward his fellow men. The butcher
vas brought over to look at it, and lie
pronounced it a winner. The plumber
was coaxed into the back yard and
shown the flower all of a sudden, and
he was agreeably startled. Mr.. Bow
. ser Dragged of it at the drug store,
and the druggist had no cynical re-
M - rl-c TO Vonl-n Enlu NTn man showed
disregard for the feelings of the owner
of the hollyhock and thereby won his
eternal enmity. Strangely enough, it
was the minister of Mrs. BOwser's
church. Mr.. Bowser came home and
found him seated III the parlor and at
once invited him out to see the sacred
treasure.
rs it simply a hollyhock?" asked the
good a
It's only a hoIlyhock, but 1 grew it,
you know
. Begged to Be Excused.
yes. If it's only a hOllyhOck I will
t ask to be excused, as l must attend a
! meeting for the benefit of the heath
en-
That was enough. The iron entered
Mr.. BOWser's soil. The idea that a
! man thought more of the heather than
Of his hOllyhOck smOte him to the
! quick, and not another Of his nickels
should enter the contribution box Of
his church. He told Mrs. Bowser in
plain language what he thought of
such a man and would have made a
quarrel had she not been polite enough
to preserve silence.
At length he day came-the fatal
day. Mr.. BOwser had come home at
noon Saturday to take half a day off.
. He wasn't going a-fshing or strolling.
After lunch he took a chair and an
umbrella and seated himself in the
! back yard to observe and visit with
his ~hollyhock. He wanted to see it
grow with his own eyes. He wanted
it to understand that, although it stood
alone and Mrs. BOWser and the cook
were down on it, it had a friend in
. him. He had been sitting there for an
hour wondering over the mighty hand
jwork of nature when there was a
row down the alley. Out on the street
a big dog without any grit, but plenty
of bluff, had threatened a little dog
with lots of sand. The little dog had
pitched in, and the big dog had run.
He turned into the alley, and as he
came to the half open gate he turned
into Bowser's back yard. He was look
ing for q hacker.
Mr.. Bowser rose up and yelled, "Git
out,'
The big dog understood him to say,
"Come on"
Next minute the man and the big
dog and the little dog We're mixed up
in 81 three ccrnered fight. Mr.. BOwser
started for a prop. but staggered and
fell. and as he went down he crashed
against the fence and the hollyhock,
and the Iced was done. He got up INC
jumped up and down and used Ian
guage. He leaned against the fence
and saw red. He struck one Of the
cIothesline posts a mighty whack
with the prop and yelled out as the
splinters few. but his summer dream
was over, and Bowser & HOllyhock
had permanently dissolved partner
ship, NJ. QUAD.