The weekly times-record. (Valley City, N.D.) 1912-1922, 1913-05-01
A PUMPKIN
EPISODE
By NJ. QUAD
Copyright, 1918. by Associated Lit
erary Press. ~.

Won had arrived in the village Of Graf
ton in certain middle state you would
have found restful. peaceful place.
No one rushed about. No one talked
notifies. No one argued over Jonah
and the whale. There were no quar-
rels among men or dogs. II you had
asked Deacon Somers. what thrilling
event had happened In Grafton In the
last twenty years he would have taken
Ave minutes to reflect and then slowly
answered:
"Waal, ( can't think Of :nawthln'
cent the Baptist church being struck
by lightnin'!' .
! In that same year man Travelled
over good part OF Indiana and Illinois
buying pumpkin seeds Of farmers. he
offered Is cents. a pound for all they
would send him in the fall to a certain
address in Chicago, and II a farmer
wanted some money in advance to pro-
tect himself he got it. o.' 60 :
i It was the same man that had bought
the seeds several hundred miles away
that appeared in Grafton early in JAM
uary OF the next year. He had come
to herald the fact that great medical
discovery had been made by accident.
as most great things are. 1t was that
the seeds Of a certain pumpkin grown
nowhere else except along the Lybian
/ desert were a sure cure for Indigestion.
liver troubles. kidney ailments, nerv-
BUSINESS and a dozen other things.
They would positively prevent con-
sumption and cancer and all sorts OF
! feVers. r .a.. ..a ....
i Mr.. White had few of the seeds
with him. They were chocolate color
ed instead Of a yellow white. They
could be had only in Chicago, and no
order exceeding peck would be filed.
Just hold a seed in the mouth for five
minutes and then chew it down.
Grafton woke up Bell county woke
up. Other counties woke up. A full
page ad. IN the local papers woke the
editors up. Talk about booms and
raise Of 20 per cent in real estate!
Why, here was gold mine; and every
body owning an acre Of ground was
going to become a millionaire inside Of
two years. g.. .. y
Did the confiding public send, away
to Chicago for the Lybian seeds? You
bet they did! They got 'em by the hun.
dred, the pint, the quart and the peck.
Some men made the trip there and
back that they might plead in person
for larger quantity than the circular
) allotted. The letters going west aver
aged thirty per day for months.
The editors said that Mr.. White was
an honest man and the crying need OF
the country was more like him.
! Mr.. White himself didn't say much.
He was too busy signing contracts to
do much Cabling. What he did say,
and with much feeling. was that he
hoped the people would not forget him
after he had departed.
They haven't yet and probably never
will. ,ES
The village Of Grafton had four pref.
ty fair doctors. At the beginning Of
things they called Mr.. White liar. a
faker and a fraud. His reply was that
when Harvey discovered the circula.
ton Of the blood men wanted to mob
, him for 4 charlatan: The. doctors de.
MED the curative properties Of his Lyb-
, ian pumpkin seeds. He replied that
for years and years the medical fra
tsrnity had fought shy of quinins.
, No. they didn't get anything on Mr..
White to scare him out Of town BE-
tween two days. He was right on the
job all the time, and the doctors suffer
cd in prestige instead of gaining. II
: was probably one of the four that
: wrote u letter to Washington that
brought an inspector to Grafton to see
' If the postal laws were being broken.
:, He came and saw and went away. He
said that somebody had to get the
money OF the Uncle Rubes Of the coun.
try and he could see no difference be.
tween Mr. White and the brokers Of
/ Wall street
J. As spring approached and the snow
o began to go and the people to get ready
for pumpkin seed planting there came
D. to Grafton one day professor from
the State Agricultural college. He had
: heard Of the seeds and wanted to SEE
y them. They were shown him. and ht
s promptly identified them as the seeds
Of American pumpkins.
"But they are not yellow-white.'
was protested.
. "That's because they have all beer
u dyed!'
e "But these surely came from des
# ert" #
o "How do you make that outT'
= "They feel sandy ,,.. ia.
Couldn't sand be sifted over them?'
-. "Sir." said Mr.. White to the profes
: sor in quiet and even voice, ''are 20,
prepared to substantiate your allesa
lions In court Of law?"
10 Eyes, I say they are American pump
D. kin seeds"
If you must prove them to be such .
: pay me heavy damages"
:. The professor wilted, and when b.