The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1907-08-19

at midnight and look out of her win
down to see that no Tom cat was
| elm ping the stalk. or no dog digging
! at the roots under the idea that a rab-
/ bit was lurking there. There were
| times when Mrs. Bowser wanted to go
shopping, but fear kept her at home
| and made her miss bargains.
| The day came at last when even a
street gamin could have made no mis-
take and called that hollyhock a
fence post. 1t grew up and waved in
the breeze, and one pink flower came
out 1t wouldn't have amounted to
| shucks in a farmers front yard, but
| in Mr.. Bowser's back garden it was
| different. He had conquered the soil
and the rain and the snow and ice and
caused something to grow. 1t was
something that reminded him of his
boyhood days. 1t was something to
soften his heart towards his fellow
men. The butcher was brought over
! to look at it. and he pronounced it a
winner. The plumber was coaxed into
the back yard and shown the flower all
of a sudden. and he was agreea bly,
startled. Mr.. Bowser Dragged of it at
the drug store, and the druggist had
man showed disregard for the feelings
of the owner of the hollyhock, and
thereby won his eternal enmity.
Strangely enough. it was the minister
of Mrs. Bowser's church. Mr.. Bowser
came home and found him seated in
the parlor and at once invited him
out to see the sacred treasure.
rs it simply a hollyhock?' asked
the good man.
It's only a hollyhock, but grew it,
you know
yes If it's only a hollyhock I
will ask to be excused, as I must at
tend a meeting for the benefit of
the heather"
That was enough The iron enter
ed Mr. Bowser's soul. The idea that
a man thought more of the heather
than of his hol1yhock smote him to
the quick, and not another of his
box of his church. He told Mrs. Bow
ser in plain language what he
thought of such a man, and would
have made a quarrel had she not
been polite enough to preserve 81
lence.
At length the day came-the fatal
day. Mr. Bowser had come home at
noon Saturday to take half a day off.
He wasn't going a-f1shing or strolling.
After lunch he took chair and an
umbrella and seated himself in the
back yard to observe and visit with
his hollyhock. He wanted to see it
grow with his own eyes. He wanted
it to understand that although it
stood alone and Mrs. Bowser and the
cook were down on 1t, it had a friend
in him. He had been sitting there for
an hour, wondering over the mighty
handiworI< of Nature, when there was
row down the alley. Out on the
street big dog without any grit but
plenty of bluff had threatened lit
tie dog with lots of sand The little
dog had pitched in and the big dog
had run He turned into the alley,
and as he came to the half-open gate
he turned into Bowser's back yard
He was looking for a hacker.
Mr. Bowser rose up and yelled:
"Git out!'
The big dog understood him to say:
"Come on
Next minute the man and the big
dog and the little dog were mixed
up in a three-cornered affair. Mr..
Bowser started for a prop, but stag
gered and fell, and as he went down
he crashed against the fence and the
hcllyhock and the deed was done. He
got up and jumped up and down and
used language. He leaned against
the fence and saw red. He struck
one Of the clothes line posts a mighty
whack with the prop and yelled out
as the sp1inters flew. but his summer
dream was over and Bowser & Holly
hook had permanently dissolved part
Copyrighted 1907. by
Homer Sprague.)