The Kendrick gazette. [volume] (Kendrick, Idaho) 1892-1968, 1913-03-21
BATTLE OF PEACHES
Note in Jar of Preserves Brings
Lover of Old Back to
Sweetheart.
BY II. M. EGBERT.

BY II. NJ. EGBERT.
Copyright. 1872. by W. G. Chapman.)
People said that old Rogers was q
miser, but that statement was incor-
rect. Rogers had been a miser. He
had scraped and boarded during thirty
years of labor, SO that now, though
he al barely fifty years Of age, he
looked older. But Rogers had retired
three months before, thanks to some
wisely made investments, and now.
with fifteen thousand dollars at his
disposal, he was still living or in his
little two-room fiat on the East Side
Of New York, and trying to stretch
his cramped imagination and plan his
life anew.
Bitterly he regretted that he was
wife, sweetheart or child. His few
acquaintances were men whom he had
known casually in business, and the
district tradesmen and sundry old
fellows whom he net twice a week
at his chess club over the delicates-
sen store on Thirteenth street. But
Rogers had lived his life exactly as
he had planned it, and that Is an in
credible misfortune which deserves
the utmost sympathy.
When Rogers was twenty, a young
man newly arrived in the city from
the little %up-country village, where he
had been born, he had made his reso-
luton.
II shall a v every penny l a
put BY" he said to himself. II shall
say for seven years. And then 1
shall go home and marry some sweet
girl"
But the seven years crept by and
found Rogers with the fixed habit Of
his W creation, which he could not
shake OF. And long before the w
years we're ended Rogers had made a
second resolution.
II shall work years longer"
he said. Then 1 shall go home to
Egan. I shall be thirty-four then.
That will not be too old to marry
Until I am rich I will not tie any
woman down to the hardships Ct mar
ried life on a tiny salary"
The second seven years heightened
into fifteen. twenty, then thirty. And
long before they were ended Rogers
had forgotten his dream.
But of late, with his fifteen thou
sand dollars safely stored away in the
bank. the dreams had revived. And
then something happened-a little, in
| cinrifpor thirr- uyhioh hrNI1oht pn10r
and new interest into his life.
Rogers had gone. to the d~elicatessen
store of his acquaintance. Holzapfel,
to buy something for supper. He
cooked his W supper upon a tiny
stove in his apartment.
II think" he said, after he had
made his purchases, that I'll take
some preserved fruit"
why, Rogers, you're becoming a
spendthrift, a regular spendthrift.'
said Holzapfel jestingly.
Rogers patronized the old German
from long habit. Holzapfel had fal,
len as sadly behind the times as he,
His trade had dwindled and dwindled
his stock was incredibly old. Holzap'
fel nodded for hours in his store while
not a single customer entered the
dingy little place.
"Well I've got some preserved
peaches" said the old fellow. But
they wasn't put up yesterday. Rogers
I can't say how fresh they was. III
let you have them for a dime. They're
homegrown, and they're worth TWEEN
ty-fve-if they was fresh"
Rogers took the peaches and walked
out of the store. The utensil was one
Of those glass jars with a ring round
the stopper. such as are used by
countrywomen in preserving. They
are not seen so much in large cities
in these days Of canning factories.
The peaches were bad. But tina
fact had nothing to do with the case
For inside the jar was a little folded
square of oiled paper. And in this
perfectly good, was a folded piece o
paper, on which was written:
Lucy Morrell. Egan. N. Y"
That compensated old Rogers TO
the loss Of the peaches. 1t was on
of those little harmless pranks playe'
by country girls who put their name
into bottles Of fruit preserved by then
and destined to go long distances an
fall into strangers hands. Often the,
had led to correspondence and some
, times to romance.
Old Rogers racked his brains. H
could not remember anyone in Egal
named Morrell. But then he had no
known everyone even in Egan.
: But that evening the loneliness Q
his fiat, the squalor of his surround
ings, to which he had been Oblivion
before, oppressed his spirit; and tn
very word Egan, written out on tn
paper. made him homesick for the Ii
I tie town. In the end he sat down an
wrote:
Lucy Morrell: I found your not