The daily morning journal and courier., 1907-05-31
MATRrMoNY AND FARMING.
How an Ingenious Kansas Agricultural-
 list Combined the Two.

Kansas is a state of novelties in many lines and her farmers are not the, least behind the rest of the popu- lation in invention and initiative. The Kansas City Journal tells admiringly of one of the Sunf1ower. States agricul- turalists who combined the business of contracting advantageous marriages for his four daughters and at the same time enhancing the value of the broad heres which they grace. That he stumbled upon this, remarkable system quite by accident does not detract from its worth in the least, and his ex- perience is recounted that 1t may con- vey profitable hint to other fathers of girls who grace farms and who are not averse to contracting advantage ous matrimonial alliances.
 It seems that the farmer, whose name was Daniel Kindred, had strug- gled manfully for many years to rear his daughters in intelligence and thrift but when they had reached the age which suggests flight from the par ental roof they still fingered wistful ly, 1t is true, but consistently. One day Kindred-whose very name seemed a hoodoo--sent an advertisement to newspaper, stating that he wanted farm hands, and as an additional in- ducement specified that every man who applied would have a chance to woo a daughter, provided-and here was the critical clause-every claim ant to a daughter should do something of beneficial nature to improve the farm
 The first man who applied at the Kindred farm for work and a daugh ter was from the East, and claimed to be a graduate from an agricultural college. He was retained, and after he had looked upon the youngest daughter and found her exceeding fair he began to speculate on the farm irn- provement idea. Kindred wanted him 10 begin at the other end of the line of daughters, which is the usual par ental sentiment in family of girls, but this he firmly declined to do. Be- fore he had been on the farm a week he had installed an irrigation ditch and stone inclcsed fish pond, which he stocked with bass and pickerel, Kin dred looked upon this achievement and saw that 1t was good, The man got the daughter.
 The second applicant piped water from an artesian well into the house and put in a porcelain bathtub. In ad- dition to this he cured a disease in some of the Kindred cattle and won a prize. The third man was dreamy eyed, but enthusiastic. After choos- ing one of the remaining daughters he started out zealously to earn her. First he invented some sort of lightning rod to be fixed to each domestic animal, with spines along the back and head and the ground connection beside the hoofs. But Kindred was not impress ed and said 1t wouldn't do. The in- ventor tried again. This time he was successful. He built water wheel at the artesian we'll, rigged up an electric generator, which runs the churn, sew ing and washing machines, lights the house and barns and furnishes power for saw mills, etc. He was rewarded by Kindred in the promised way. There is only one daughter remaining, which is regretted exceedingly by Kin dred, who had formerly considered girls a burden. But he is hanging on to his one daughter for something really extraordinary in the way of in- ventions. It will be an exceedingly difficult thing to win this last rose. But if some young man is really crafty he will first find some way to secure a wife for the old man, who is a widow CT. This would be such an improve ment to the latter's wife as would mer- it the recognition of ever so exacting a father. Then the happy family would be complete.