The Marion daily mirror. (Marion, Ohio) 1892-1912, 1907-07-13


500 Of them in his garden, and as he |
walked among them at eventide with |
his hands behind his back he would be
at peace with all mankind.
Refused to Buy.
During the month of spading, shovel. |
ing, hoeing raking and sowing and |
planting Mr. Bowser was called on by |
men who wanted to sell him new milk |
cows and who had hogs and hens to |
dispose Of, but he turned them away. |
Parties wanted to sell him automobiles
and balloons, but he shook his head and |
planted more sunhower seeds He was
offered stock in oil wells and copper |
mines at rldculously low figures, but |
he waved them aside. Members of the |
Gay Old Boys club called to ask him |
to deliver an address. but the address |
/ he delivered made their hair stand up. |
1t was only when the month of May
was ten days old that Mr.. Bowser fin.
shed his work and waited for results. |
He had done his share, and now nature
must do the rest. There came frosts
and thunder showers. Boys invaded
the yard and galloped over the beds.
Dogs got in and dug for bones and
cats scratched up the soil i'm search Of
treasure, but he was not discouraged
1t was when he began TO call out in
his sleep nightly and talk about flowers
| and vegetables that Mrs Bowscr felt
that she ought to call the doctor in.
He was sent for. He declared that Mr..
Bowser had lost fifty pounds of flesh
| in six weeks and that II he did not
cease working he would not be long
! for this world. He found one shoulder
| Topped down four inches and one leg
| contracted six, and he estimated that
| the spine was six inches out of plumb.
He said all this and much more, and
| Mr. Bowser listened in grim silence
and then answered:
Doctor, I'll have a garden II I have
TO walk around in It after I'm dead"
Green Shoots Appear.
One evening in the latter days OF
May there were some green shoots TO
be observed on one of the beds. Mrs
Bowser and the cook were brought out
TO view them, and Mr.. Bowser turned
/ his head away to conceal his tears.
| The garden was coming on Nature
was reaching out her hand for a shake
| That night he got out Of bed five diff
ferent times to go to the back window
and see that the green shoots were all
right, and in his sleep he called out
that he would murder the human hy-
ena who dared TO rob him of them.
Alas, when morning came those green
shoots We're no more! Two or three
dogs in search of prime beef bones
had entered the yard between times
and dug and scratched and paved un.
| I'll nothing was left. Mrs. BowSer
| looked for an outbreak, but none fol-
| lowed. Mr.. Bowsers face simply took
on new grlmness, and he made and
replanted the beds.
A week later there were other green
things showing up all over the garden.
A warm rain had popped everything
out of the ground like rapid transit.
That evening Mr.. Bowser smiled and
laughed for the first time in many
days He had fought the fight and felt
that he had won. He could even iden-
tify the hollyhocks from the sunflow-
ers. He went to bed like a man who
has done a good deed and sees his
reward in view, and the cook made up
her mind that If he was a paranolac he
was not dangerous.
Garden Was Ruined.
That night came a thundershower,
but Mr. Bowser slept and rocked not.
The thunderbolts spared his garden,
but still when he arose in the morning
he looked upon a scene Of devastation.
A prowling dog had discovered a cat
in the alley at midnight and run her
into the Bowser garden and across
and around It. Other cats had come
to her assistance; other dogs had
mixed In. Amid the flashes and the
reverberations a great battle had been
fought. No matter which side won, all
had escaped with their lives 1t was
the garden that had been ground be-
tween two millstones. Not green
thing remained. Sunhowers, holly
hooks, lettuce, tomatoes, cucumbers-
all had been squashed to squash and
trampled into the mud to he seen never
again. Mr.. Bowser looked from a back
window and turned away. Mrs. Bow
ser patted him softly on the back, and
he lay down on the lounge and closed
his eyes. He was a walloped man.
NJ. QUAD.