Hopkinsville Kentuckian. [volume] (Hopkinsville, Ky.) 1889-1918, 1911-03-30
Two
Sinpletons


Aldridge didn't care, however. She
had a farm left to her by her parents,
and by hiring some help and doing
considerable work herself got along
all right and kept her young sister
Mamie in school.
Miss Sally invested in six hives Of
bees and waited. She likewise got
stung 81 times and waited. She care
fully followed instructions, and at the
end OF the first season there wasn't
enough honey in the hives to feed the
bees on through the winter. She sold
them for a dollar a hive and Tailed
It up to experience.
II was at this time that Mr.. Wei
come came along to buy potatoes. He
was an old bachelor living 10 miles
away. He also had commercial
dreams and ambitions. He also had
decided to experiment. Sally Al
bridge had no potatoes to sell. Her
bees had taken precedence of the tu-
bers. She and Mr.. Welcome had a
talk, however He was pretty blunt
man. and before going away he asked
permission to call and get better &C
quainted.
oh. yes, but It won't do you any
good" was the reply.
But should our friendship ripen in
to lover" he asked.
But it won't"
But if it should | should certainly
ask you to be my wife"
IAN should just as certainly say
no to IT."
81 simply shan't marry until I have
found a bigger fool than | am"
He laughed and went his way, and
Miss Sally went in to read up on poul-
try raising for market Nothing in
Shakespeare compares in interest to
a poultry book. The reader feels like
growing with the roosters, clucking
with the hens and piping with the
chickens.
She took 500 head of poultry, three
incubators and several barrels of
dope. The dope wasn't needed for
the chickens-they were never sick
an hour-but for the buyer. There
were grounds to be laid out-houses
to build-wire fences to put up. No
trouble at all, as the books say Any
child 10 years old can run the ma
chine after five minutes.
Miss Sally was no child. Neither
was she a chicken. For To- long
months she was hen. She was with
them all day and a part Of many
nights. She got to know what pip
and gapes are. There were a hun
dred motherly old hens that did moth
ing but sit around and have chills,
soft corns, backaches and fits of va
rious kinds. They must be doctored
by day and sympathized with during
the long hours of night. Some of the
incubators roasted the chicks, and
some froze them to death.
The chickens didn't last as long as
the bees. There were few eggs, and
few broilers. The hospitals and ho-
tells that had contracted had to turn
to mutton to fill up their guests.
There ought to have been a profit of
$4,000 the first year, according to the
seller, but there was a loss of hun
dreds the other way.
Miss Sally had dead horse" to sell,
and she sold it, and few weeks later
tried her third commercial exrari-
ment 1t was ginseng this time. The
little roots came from Persia and cost
dollars and dollars per pound. but
two acres of Persian ginseng would
net the grower about $1,000 clear
profit.
The ginseng roots from far-off Persia
turned out to be burdock roots from
nearby Michigan.
Meanwhile, Mr.. Welcome had made
excuses to drop in now and then. He
drove up one day with look of de-
termination on his face. Many a
woman has seen that look and real
lied that the crisis was at hand. The
old bachelor had hardly entered the
house when he was greeted with: Il
gave you my answer long ago"
Exactly, Miss Aldridge. l have
come to claim the fulfillment of your
promise"
81 am a bigger fool than you are.
Sit down while prove 1t to you. You
knew nothing whatever about bees.
and yet you went into honey-raising."
you had 20 old hens around your
farm, and you figured that you could
manage a thousand"
"You didn't know ginseng root from
burdock."
mo, / didn't, and that's where
am safe. Where is a bigger fool?"
Right here, my dear. ! was let in
ON the ground floor on blue roses;
invested in a banana orchard in Ohio
that was to be run by steam; bought
mahogany trees to set out in my
farm; l bought mushroom seeds that
turned out TO be turnips; | raised and
sold SQUADS for IA cents each that cost
me 26. My last experiment was try
ing to grow celery on a sandy side