The semi-weekly messenger. [volume] (Wilmington, N.C.) 1897-1908, 1907-07-02


course. Passenger descend in e!e-
vators, step into cages furnished in
the most elegant manner, and at a sig
nal they are SEM flying at the rate OF
500 miles an hour. They feel No mo-
tion. They play poker or e their pa
pers or magazines. and the hrst they
know they are across the continent
The carrier pigeon isn't In 1t. The
thunderbolt has got to bump itself rs
keep ahead. Two hours from New
York to CbiragoI Can you End guy
fault with that;"
Not a tit" replied Mrs. Bowser,
I'VE charge the same SIS rhe rail-
roads. hat reduce the time more than
oue-bslf. Five hundred millioa pas
sengers carried every year. aud acci-
tents utterly impossible. We take
away every pouud Of freight from the
-aiirends. Receipts amount 10 billions
and billions Of collars. Ans fault to
fin& with that
None at al Whose idea rs it,"
Sir. Bouscr drew himself up and
ss0wly lifted 'his hand and pointed q
fnler ut his forehead and whispered:
"MinA-alt mine! II suddenly came
~ u,c two or three days ago when I
was eating luncheon, ans the vastness
If il took gIie ike a blow in the solar
p!ryuS team hardly grasp 1t yet, but
! realize that the pyramids Of Egypt
are not III it. Columbus was not in
il when nc discovered America It's
my idea-it's Bowser'e idea-the same
Bowser you have sneered at. Am / a
fool, Mrs. Bowser, or ave i got a
brain or two in my headT"
''But you haven't paid out any mon.
ey YETI she asked.
only a trife. ! have paid a drafts
man $50 to draw me q section Of the
tubes to be used. Fifty dollars against
a billion. Ha, Ha! Ha! Well, where
dc your arguments come in? Got any
facts and figures to prove that l ought
to be in an idiot asylum"
mo. You seem TO have struck it al
last"
Then I'll u over and state the
case to the butcher. He has always in
timated that l hadn't brains enough to
take care of a fifty cent piece. l want
him to gaze at Billion Dollar Bowser
for a minute. by George, Mrs. Bow
SER
But he was too excited to finish, and
Mrs. Bowser did not seek to detafn
him. On the contrary, she was glad he
was going to the butcher, even though
she knew wbat'would happen when he
returned.
MI. Bowser reached his family
butcher shop 'treading On air. The
butcher was having an easy time of it
as be waited for customers and be
g~rudgingly cut out and threw aside a
beginning to end without comment and
then looked up and dryly asked:
"Mr. Bowser, how many million dol
lars have you got on hand?"
"Why. whattbas that got to do with
it,"
Where Was the Money TO Come Front
who Is going TO pay for the tubes.
the land, the cars. the stations. the
;machinery?"
"Why-Why"-
"You can figure on at least half a
million dollars per mile. and 1t will
take cold cash. If you have got $500.
OG0.OGG handy, you a start your line
to Chicago. IF You haven't, you'd bet
ter go home and play Mrs. Bowser q
few games of euchre and then soak
your Tread ana go to bed"
'This to me. ,sfr-this tt me!' ex-
claimed Mr.. Bowser as he turned
whittier than the dead.
Yes, you might come off the perch
Sir. you are an Infamous s%coundreL.
and I can lick you in two minutes"
Then Mr.. Bowser left the shop to
walk up and down the streets. He
scented the budding foliage; he heard
the beetles Whiz by his ears; the notes
of some night bird came plaintively to
his soul, but be needed not these
things. He knew that Mrs. Bowsai
had played it low down on him, and
he wanted to fall on her like a brick
house mud crush her all at once Then
along came a young man who had RI
appointment to meet some ones hired
girl at the gate. He was whistiilg
and feeling at peace with all the world
when there was a war whoop in his
ear, somebody grabbed him. and then
a woman looking out of the window
saw two human figures locked in a
deadly struggle. One of them was
Billion Dollar Bowser. He wanted
gore. NJ. QUAD.