Ellsworth American. [volume] (Ellsworth, Me.) 1855-current, 1910-03-02
A SLEEPY
HEADED MAN
By NJ QUAD
Copyright. 1910. by Associated LII
erary Press.

| ognized oil fields. was the center Of
another basin and SO reported to the
Sunshine Crude OIL Producing COM
pany. capital 100000. That CON-
pany had gobbled up all the best wells
In large district and was rapidly
controlling production.
Moses Perkins was a young man OF
twenty-six. He was a farmers son
and a farmer himself. and he was not
yet married. He had left his farm for
q few months to help drill oil wells
for the Sunshine company. Moses
was hard working and honest he
would put in a long days work. but
he wasn't smart From the day he
began work at $3.50 a day until the
day he was discharged. period Of
twenty days, the foreman over him
applied to him such terms as sleepy.
head. idiot, blunderbuss. born fool.
and so forth.
One day Perkins was sent for can
of nitroglycerin. On his return he was
seen coming along tossing it in the
air and catching 1t when it came down.
This was too much Perkins was dis
charged.
1t was a geologist who differed from
all the other biologists that found a
new dip" on the Widow Carsons
farm. Her farm was the center OF
the basin. 1t was stony. sterile old
farm Of 160 acres, and the widow her
self was almost as dilapidated as the
farm. She was forty years old and
gaunt and homely, and she had three
gaunt and homely children. The geol.
ogist staked his reputation that there
was oil beneath her land. and the Sun.
shine company took him in on pro-
viso. The first thing was to get the
legal privilege of sinking a well. and
this was to carry with 1t lease in
case oil was discovered. There must
be more or less beating about the bush
to prevent the widow from taking the
alarm. The preliminaries were in.
trusted to lawyer disguised as ped.
dler.
When Moses Perkins had got 1t into
his head that there was Widow Car
| son somewhere on earth who was Of
interest to the Sunshine company be
figured that II could mean only one
thing. Then he began to inquire
| around, and after a week he lighted
on man who could tell him. Then
he put a 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
[ xr-i1 II, har hor nh
dren as above described. 1t was next
door to poverty. Moses had often
dreamed of the wife he was to marry.
and he was taken aback. He might
| have given up his project and retreat
ed in good order had not peddler ar
| rived the same evening. He was the
disguised lawyer Of the Sunshine COM
pany He seized on Moses Perkins for
dunderhead and went ahead and
/ talked. The widow didn't catch on.
but Moses did. A company wanted her
farm for quarry, and she was ready
enough to sign any sort Of paper the
next day
Moses had been asked to stay over
night. The peddler must go farther.
This left the coast clear for few
hours Moses had never made love to
a woman, but be began while yet the
peddler's coattails were futtering
through the gate He told Of his own
farm, his prospects, his good health
how he looked In vain for years for
the woman Of his dreams, but had
found her at last. He needn't have
done half as much talking. The wild
ow was ready to lease her farm. and
she was also ready to marry again.
Before midnight she was the promised
bride Of Moses Perkins. At 10 o'clock
the next forenoon she was his wife
and her 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
groom's knee. He intimated that the
papers were all ready to sign and that
he had certain sum Of money to
pass over. but fool Moses had some
thing to say. He was the husband
and the man of the house now. As
soon as the wedding trip was over
he was going to take off his coat and
| vest and make those 160 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
to even sign a lease
For six weeks longer Moses was tax.
en- for chap with sawdust In his
head The lawyers and spectators
and rings tried in every way to get the
best of him. but what they cursed as
his stupidity helped him to hold his
own. Then he woke up one morning
with his head all right. He had found
oil exuding from a spring, and he an
nounced 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.