The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1908-10-17
BowsER's SURPRISE.
Mrs. Bowser Develops a Scheme of
Her Own.

of a rush.
Yes. all ready to the minute" re-
piled Mrs. Bowser, but l hope you
are not going out this evening"
I've got to. I've got a dozen
things to see to. Tomorrow 1 go snipe
hunting. It's my annual hunt. you
know I've got to borrow a shotgun,
game bag and lot of other things.
I shall be of at daylight and make a
long day of 1t. 1 stopped and saw the
butcher as 1 came along. and he says
he'll take six dozen snipe. and 1 can
probably dispose of six dozen more to
other butchers in the neighborhood.
We won't want over two dozen for our
own use"
Then you calculate on at least
fourteen dozen birds?" asked Mrs.
Bowser.
'AIl of that. and perhaps two or
three dozen extra. Something will de-
pend on the weather, of course. Tell
the cook that ! want breakfast at
O'Clock in the morning"
Very we'll"
And you can get out my hunting
suit this evening"
II won't need no lunch. I'll take
dinner with some farmer"
IT see"
Mr.. Bowser was busy with his beef
B steak and potatoes. Had he looked
across at Mrs. Bowser he would have
f
She had always vigorously opposed all
his snipe hunts, and the fact that she
had nothing to say on this occasion
should have been warning to him.
1t was not, however. He was in such
a hurry that he gorged his food and cut
himself short by fifteen minutes. but
when he showed back from the table
with the remark that he would run
over to Green's and see about borrow
! ing his shotgun he was met by the OBJ
servation:
mr.. Bowser. 1 would like to see
you in the sitting room for few
minutes before you co.
See me? See me? Eth? Eh?" he
replied in surprise.
Eyes; have a few words to say to
YOU"
He looked at her in a puzzled way
and noticed that her jaw was set, and
there was bit of wonder in his mind
as he followed her upstairs.
mr. Bowser," she begun as she
turned on him, there was a lady here
today who has been raising rabbits
for market for the last three years,
and is making money hand over hand.
She has offered me a chance to go
into the business and get rich at it,
and I have accepted"
Rabbits for market?" he queried.
Just so. She sells ten thousand a
year to the butchers, and she also
sells as many pelts. 1t is all profit af-
Tel 1Ou OnCt 66l oldi bCO- Ou HAAON
the wonderful fecundity of the rab-
bit. Every pair will increase twenty
times over in two years. 1 have fig
ured 1t out, and"
But stop right there, Mrs. Bowser!
How does it come that you take this
thing up without consulting me?"
Just the way 1t comes that you
have taken up a score of things with
out consulting me. You are anxious
to make money. So am I. You didn't
say anything to me when you wanted
to go into the dairy business, the bal
loon business and twenty other things.
/ am talking to you now, however. 1
am telling you that 1 have figured
It all out. and after two years we shall
have an income of ten thousand a
year" sffr aa
Look here, woman"
Don't interrupt me, please. We
must have ten acres of ground and a
hundred pairs of rabbits to start with.
can get the rabbits any day of the
woman. You rise at daylight to go
and shoot the festive snipe. 1 rise at
daylight with you to go and look for
the ten acres of land. 1 want ten
acres"
You don't do anything of the
kind" shouted Mr.. Bowser, as the
purple came to his face.
"I want ten acres of hillside, you
know. The rabbits furnish their own
burrows. This saves us a clean thou
sand dollars n year. We throw them
a sweet apple now and then, but for
the most part they live on sorrel, bur-
docks, pigweeds and what else they
can pick up in the enclosure. The
only money to pay out is for the land
and tho wire fencing. After that
everything that comes in is velvet. 1
have made a most conservative esti-
mate, and according to my figures we
shall have an income Of"
IAN income of not a burned cent?"
shouted the snipe hunter as he
jumped up and down. Mrs. Bow
one blamed dollar in any such non
sensical enterprise"
But mother will give me the
money, and you can have nothing to
say about it. 1t is for our mutual
benefit. anyhow. You will share in
what 1 make. 1 must have a rabbit
boss, and the woman says I can afford
to pay salary of one hundred dol
lars a month. You simply walk about
the ten acres with a stick in your
hand and keep the big rabbits from
annoying and retarding the growth of
the little ones. You are out in the
air all the time, and it will be good
for your consumption, and then, too
you will learn a great deal about nat
ural history"
"Woman-!" he managed to ejac-
ulate as he stood before her with face
changing color every moment.
II will attend to all sales and COL
1ections. and you will simply see that
the rabbits have a happy time of IT
The woman says that ten acres of land
will grow half a million rabbits
Dressed rabbits will sell at the war
rem for fifteen cents each. The pets