Rock Island Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1893-1920, 1907-03-29
DAILY STORY
FOUR-COLORED APPLES.

lCopSrlBHI, 1870 by Il I. IarceiiS.J
Colonel Gresham, stockbroker, turn
ed gentleman farmer to produce new
varieties of fruits.
Nature grows some twO-colOred APP
pies, but when you ask her to add two
additional colors she wants time TO
think the matter over. Every expert
ment was failure, but that only made
the colonel and his gardener the more
determined. especially the gardener.
1t was his duty as an employee
to give his master all his ideas, but he
made an exception in this one case.
He chung to ii with logged Obstinacy,
but he kept it as secret as the grave.
He might have chung to 1t Il year or so
longer had not the colonel become i'm
patient. He said something one June
day about giving up the experiments,
and the gardener replied that he would
have some news for him next day. He
asked the broker to come home an
hour earlier than usual and to come
directly TO the large farm barn.
At the hour named the colonel was
there. He had scarcely entered the
barn when he received Il crack on the
head that made him unconscious for
the next quarter of an hour. When he
came to he had been stripped of coat,
vest and tie and was bound hand and
foot. He had not caught sight of his
assailant before being struck, but now
found the gardener lowering over him
with murderous look on his face.
will you tell me what this means,
Henry" asked the victim.
Yes. sir. | have finally found how
to grow four-colored apples. 1t has
been Il long time. but l lave struck
it at last. | hope to have fifty bushels
on the market this fall
"Well. lets hear about it,"
"All the apple trees are now in bios
som. The red ones are all right. and
the yellow ones are all right, and l
have found q way to make the blue
and green ones all right. l have sim
ply to sprinkle them with the blood of
a man wearing side whiskers. \ drop
| of blood to Il blossom will do the trick.
| and once the apples start to growing
| that way they viii continue"
Now, the colonel had Il growth of
side whiSkcrs that We're the envy of
| Wall street aud n matter Of joy to
| himself Whenever YOU saw the colo
mel You saw his whiskers. He might
! forget his Communication ticket now and
| then. but never his whiskers. The
| two were one and inSeparable. He
| didn't like the gardeners reference to
| those sacred objects. II SmaCkcd of
| familiarity. and there was covert
| threat behind the words. He was at
| first inclined to buster, but another
| look into the gardeners face satisfied
| him that the man had become crazy.
| He therefore changed his tactics and
| quietly said:
"All right. Henry. We will 80 up to
| the orchard and experiment. / am de
lighted to find that You have achieved
success at last"
But how can you go when I want
your bloOd?" asked the man. You
see. You are the only man around here
with side whiskcrs. If the coachman
or the butler had 'em, that would do.
but they haven't you know. They are
| fine ones. colonel-fine ones"
| And Chapman bent down and ten
| DERBY caressed the iron gray side
whiskcrs that foated away from each
cheek and were gently stirred now
and then by the June brceZcS blowing
| into the open door. Never had another
man on this earth except the barber
dared to lay his sacrilegious hands on
those reverenced objects of the money
| center of the world
Put we will look up some one else"
said the colonel as he felt sinking Of
the heart. Il know of several men
| with side whiSkerS, and | will coax one
of them home with me tomorrow"
But | must have the blood today,
colonel. Besides, for this first expert
ment we must have the incest sort of
whiSkers. There is nothing in the state
of New York to compare with yours
The papers have said so over and over
again. How soft they are, How lux
uriantly they grow. How the breeze
i toys with them! Your blood is all
right, and the first bushel of four-cOlor-
ed apples shall be deposited on your
grave"
But I want to see the trees you
have selected. l may decide to make
some changes
The trees are all right, colonel.
Here is a knife to open an artery, and
here is pan to catch the blood. What
shall 1 do with your whskers after