The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1913-05-17
MIR. BoWsER's TWO NIGHTS.
He Sits Up to See a Century Plant
Blossom.

When Mr.. Bowser came home the
other evening he was accompanied by
a boy carrying a potted plant.
1t was a plant that looked like
cabbage head that had been kicked by
a mule, or an old burdock that had
had tuberculosis until its last hour was
at hand.
Careful, bub-careful!" warned
Mr.. Bowser as the plant was placed
on a chair.
cit can't be an old turnip,'' said Mrs.
Bowser, as she peered at it.
Mop
And I don't think it is an old
beet
"Oh, you don't!"
MAY have been a tulip bulb that
got run over by street car"
that climbed a telegraph pole and got
a fall" tartly replied Mr.. Bowser.
"Rut really, what is it?''
81 thought you were up on botany"
81 know something about it, but this
Mrs. Bowser,'' he said in voice of
a lecturer, there is a plant called a
century plant. You observe one be-
fore you"
as it called the century plant be-
cause it looks like a cabbage-head a
hundred years Old?"
t'You change your attitude at once
or you get no information from me!
This is a matter of the utmost scien-
tific interest, and there is no room for
sarcasm"
"Well, please go on"
''It is called the century plant be-
cause it blossoms only once in a hun
dred, years. The hundred years are
up on this plan with SO hours. 1t will
blossom either tonight or tomorrow
night between 10 o'clock in the even
ing and in the morning..
'And where did you get it?''
Say, it was the oldest thing. L
stepped into a carpenter shop down
the street to get a shelf made for you
and I saw the plant there. After ask
ing a question or two discovered that
the carpenter hadn't the least idea
what the plant was. A woman had
given it to him when she moved"
But you knew it was century
| plant as soon as you set eyes on it?''
| queried Mrs. Bowser.
Instantly, madam. have been
studying them for years.
| "Why, I didn't know that. You
never told me anything about it,
| "Humph! Mrs. Bowser there's many
thing a husband doesn't tell his
wife"
"And how much did you pay for the
pIant?"
s'Five dollars only. I'd have got it
| if had had to pay hundred. AS l
! told you the carpenter didn't know
what he was selling. There are men
| in this town who'd have given $500.
Five dollars, Mrs. Bowser-only a
measly $5!'
But that measly SIS would have
bought me hosiery and gloves"
| my heavens, but what a woman!
What a sordid soul! What nature!
Hosiery and gloves against the great
est scientific fact on the globe"
! But what is the good of the old
plant ?" she protested.
Its a century plant"
s'Well p"
"A century means a hundred years. -
| Yes
And the plant is going to bloom"
"Well?'
And I am going to see it bloom and
write an article about it. I'll be the
! only man living who ever saw one
| bloom. The name of Bowser will be
! heralded all over the world. I can sell
my articles for thousands of dollars
shall have a dozen offers of profess
sorships from the universities. I shall
| get gold medals and other honors
| Kings and emperors will write me. AND
you cry out hosiery and gloves Great
Scott!'
well, I'm going upstairs and you
can sit here and watch your old plant
Nothing will come of it, and 1 don't
| want to be held to blame for the fail.
ure''
Very we'll, madam-very wen,' re.
piled Mr.. Bowser as he started for the
library to get writing materials.
Ten o'clock found him ready ant
waiting. The plant hadn't jumped ou
of it's pot, and the pot hadn't jumped
/ off the table under the gaslight
where it had been placed that the
slightest change might be detected and
recorded. AS the clock struck Mr.
Bowser started off with.
| 10 o'clock begin my vigil with su
preme confidence that I am on TIL
brink of a great discovery and tina
the name of Bowser (not Mrs. Bowser
will be found in the archives of thu
world a thousand years hence.