The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1907-11-23
BOWSER, THE SAVANT.
He Flies Kite in the Interest of
Science.

When Mr.. Bowser came home to din
. ner the other evening he was fifteen
minutes late and had that thoughtful
look on his face that comes to a man
who is given a lead nickel in change by
q street car conductor. When Mrs.
Bowser called attention to his lateness
he made an ambiguous reply, and 1t
was not until the meal was over that he
woke I'D and said:
Mrs Bowser this is a fine starlight
night with breeze of about six miles
an hour blowing. A more fitting night
for the experiment could not have been
made to ORDER
Mrs. Bowser looked at him and
groaned.
There was to be an experiment.
She had thought all the time that he
might have a headache.
What sort of an experiment? Was
he going to try patent fuel and melt
the top off the range, or some gas saw
ing patent and blow up the house? She
was wondering over it when he said:
For the last year there has been
hot dispute between the savants as to
the insects occupying the upper strata
of the atmosphere. We know that the
lower strata are teem1ng with house
flies, horse flies, mosquitoes, moths,
bugs and a hundred other things, and
for the last two hundred years saVants
have let it go at that. They have now
turned their attention to the upper
strata, however, and are anxious TO
ascertain the forms of life. What in
sects exist mile high? Do they have
legs? Do they have lungs? Do they
have fangs or teeth? Do they exist for
a day or a week or a month. Do they
have sight or are they blind? All these
are queries to be answered, and the
man who answers them hrst IS going TO
find himself famous"
But what have you got to do with
it?' asked Mrs. Bowser-
Nothing, except that I may be the
man to solve the mysteries. I rather
expect to be-.
Are you going up in a balloon?"
mo. ma'am. People have been going
I'D in a balloon for the last hundred
years, and they have not brought down
the information sought for. Indeed,
they have rather muddled things up.
"If you don't go up in balloon ID
don't see how
'4Of course you don't. A woman sell
dom sees anything except another wo-
mans hat. 1t is not expected of them.
The solution is dead easy, however, to
a man-to me. 1t is so easy that 1 am
amazed that there should be any rea-
son for dispute I hope to settle the
thing in an hour"
ct hope you WILL she demurely re-
Piled. Now that come to think of it,
I have often wondered what sort of
creatures were roaming around up
there. 1 have wondered whether they
were longtailed or bob-tailed;
whether they We're cross-eyed or not;
whether they were lop-eared and
cock-eyed or as handsome as angels.
You Will catch me three or four,
won't you?
"By the seventeen bulls of Bulls
Run, but are you talking such nom
sense to mel" shouted Mr.. Bowser as
his face grew as purple as an old
plum.
II didn't mean it for nonsense"
horn
might have known better than to sit
down and talk on any serious subject
with you. How could I expect you to
understand and appreciate? This ends
It, Not another word. I make my
discoveries alone. When my name is
heralded all over the country, as will
be the case inside week, 1 will even
deny that there is a Mrs. Bowser.