The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1913-06-28

tramp hurled cusS words at his back
and the dust in the road grew deeper.
.. When he reached the woods at last,
he sank down under a gnarled oak
which was throwing it's grateful shade
over an empty beer bottle some bicyc-
list had left behind, and for ten long
| minutes he gave himself up to the
cheerful thought of how he would
| murder the family cat if he ever lived
to get home.
The hot sun had developed a head
ache, and the rough walk had brought
out two soft corns. In addition, he
hadn't found anything that babbled
or gamboled, and had been sassed by
| a tramp and insulted by a fat man.
The one-man picnic would have been
declared off by most men, but Mr..
Bowser was made of sterner stuff He
got up after awhile and went looking
for a shady dell which he thought
might do at a pinch, when a wander
ing bumblebee pumped against his
neck and lifted him clear off the
ground with a yell. 1t took him
quarter of an hour to get over the
pain of the sting. and the swelling
was so big that he had to carry his
head on his left shoulder. but he
didn't give up his picnic on that &C
count.
"I told Mrs. Bowser I'd have a pic
mic, and I'll have one or die!'' he NUT
tered as he got out of the dell and
went looking for a babbling brook.
He found a ditch which drained
swamp, but it didn't babble. 1t was
simply working nine hours per day for
ten hours wages. He fell into the
hole as he looked around for the blue
bells of the woodland, and he fell over
a. log as he listened for the tap of the
woodpecker and the squeal of the
SO urrel.
He had to realize at last that there
was nothing in the greenwood for him,
and then he softly swore by the dust of
the dead Bowsers that he'd never go
home till he had culled the daisy. 1t
was his oath that took him out of the
wood into meadow. 1t was meadow
under per cent mortgage, and the
grass grew scant, and the milkweeds
and mulleins flourished galore. While
Mr.. Bowser looked for daisies an old
bull looked for him.
The bull got through looking and
got down to business first. AS he fig
ured out that he had an easy mark.
his head went down and his tail went
up, and he tried to get gait of a mile
a minutes as he charged. Mr.. Bowser
had no electric motor under his vest,
but the way he travelled 40 rods and
fell over fence into the highway
made the bovine behind him feel sick.
The basket had been left in the
bumblebee dell, and there was nothing
to detain the excursionists in that
particular locality any longer. As he
trudged back to the car terminal two
more soft corns showed up, three or
four limps wrung in on his legs. and
he discovered that his nose and ears
were peeling under the burn of the
sun.
The shades of evening were falling
with the usual crash when Mr. Bow
ser stood once more in his ancestral
hall. but there was still light for Mrs.
Bowser and the cat to look him over.
The cat looked and shiVered, and turn
ed away with an icy clutch at her
heart, but, as Mrs. Bowser gazed at
the wreck before her, she managed
to murmur:
tMr. Bowser always looks after the
traps who call, and you'll have to go
away and come again. He's out in the
country on picnic and won't be home
for an hour or two yet"-( Copyright
1918, by Mcclure Newspaper Syndi-
cate.)