The Barre daily times. (Barre, Vt.) 1897-1959, 1910-06-29
A SLEEPY
HEADED MAN
BY NJ QUAD
Copyright, ioio. By Associated Lit
erary Press

~" p A"A W. A3AA9 HAiNo AAVAa Auc ANNr
ognized oil fields, was the center Of
another basin and so reported to the
Sunshine Crude oil Producing com
pany. capital 100000. Chat COM
pany had gobbled up al the best wells
~ a large district and was rapidly
controlling production.
Moses Perkins was a young man Of
twenty-six He was farmers sou
and a farmer himself. and be was not
vet married He had left bis farm for
q few months 70 help drill OIL wells
for the Sunshine company. Noses
was hard working and honest he
would put Ia a long days work. but
be wasn't smart From the day he
began work at $3.50 day until the
day he was discharged. q period OF
twenty days, the foreman over him
applied to him such terms as sleepy.
bend. idiot. hlunderbuss, born fool.
and 10 forth
One day Perkins was sent for a can
OF nitroglyearin. On his return be was
seen coming along tossing It fl the
air and catching it when it came down.
This was too much. Perkins was dis
charged.
II was a geologist who differed from
all the other biologists that found a
new "dip" on the Widow Carson's
farm. Her farm was the center Of
the basin. 1t was a stony, sterile old
farm Of 100 acres, and the widow her.
self was almost as dilapidated as the
farm. She was forty years old and
gaunt and homely, and she bad three
gaunt and homely children The geoI
oglst staked his reputation that there
was Of beneath her land. and the sun.
shine company took him ID on pro.
viso. The first thing was to set the
legal privilege Of sinking a well, and
this was to carry with It a lease ii
case of was discovered. There must
be more or less heating about the bush
70 prevent the widow from taking the
alarm The preliminaries we're IN.
trusted to a lawyer disguised as ped,
dler.
When Moses Perkins had got II into
his head that there was a Widow Car
son somewhere on earth who was Of
interest to the Sunshine company he
figured that it could mean only one
thing. Then he began to inquire
around, and after q week he lighted
on man who could tell him. Then
be put shirt collar and a pair Of
socks into an old satchel and set out
for the forty mile walk. In the even
ing Of the second day he arrived at the
widows. He found her and her chill
dren as above described It was next
door to poverty. Moses had often
dreamed Of the wife be was to marry,
and he was taken aback He might
have given up his project and retreat.
ed III good order had not a peddler ar
rived the same evening. lie was the
disguised lawyer Of the Sunshine com
pany. He seized on Moses Perkins for
a dunderhead and went ahead and
talked. Tho widow didn't catch on,
but Moses did. A company wanted her
fasm Tor a quarry. and she was ready
enough TO sign any sort OF paper the
next day.
Hoses had been asked to stay over.
night. The peddler must 60 farther.
Ttis left the coast clear for a few
hours. Moses had never made love ia
q Woman. but be began while yet the
0eddiar's coattails were 1uttering
through the gate. He told Of bis own
farm, his prospects, his good health
how be looked Id vain for years for
TIE woman Of bis dpeams, but had
found her at last He needn't hays
done half as much taking The wild
ON was ready to lease her farm. and
she was also ready to marry again.
Before ra5anlgft she was the promised
bride Of Moses Perkins. AT 10 o'clock
the nett forenoon she was hts wife
AID beg children were calling him pop.
At II O'clock the peddler arrived with
certain documents and a witness. He
found the bride sitting on the bride.
gEoom's knee. Tie iDtlmated that the
pbpops were all ready to sign and that
Bic had q certain sum of money to
pass over, but fool Moses had some
tbing to say. He was the husband
and the man Of the house now. AS
soon as the wedding trip was over
be was going 70 take OF his coat and
vest and make those 100 acres hump
and hustle. The big powders lying
around would take a roll. and the
stony ground would blossom as the
rose. Mrs. Carson would have been
willing to sell the old place for most
anything. but Mrs. Perkins didn't care
10 even sign lease.
For six weeks longer Moses was tax.
en- for a chap with sawdust ID bis
head The lawyers and spectators
and rings tried II every way to set the
best Of him. but what they cursed as
his stupidity helped BIN to hold his
own. Then be woke up one morning
with his head all right He had found
oil cxuding from spring, and he an
nouuced the fact to the world at large;
also that the farm was for lease or sale. /
The Sunshine people were not the only
ones to rush. Three leases were made,
and three companies pledged them
selves to pay royalties, and inside Of q
year Moses Perkins was a millionaire
and the Perkins family were eating
square mems. The Carson basin turned
out TO be the greatest End 10 the state.
ITO think that ] should have taken
you for a lunkhead!1 sighed the ped
dlerlawyer one day when handing Mo-
SOS a check for 10000
"0h, mebbe wasF was the good
natured reply "3ut you see. got
anar II Ihafs what snma lnnl.haaan !