The Topeka state journal., 1913-07-12

suggested.
mot necessarily"
"And lye. We should have to have
leech to get our lye, and 1 haven't
saved any soap grease
That's the old way" said Mr.. Bow
ser. Here in this box is all we want
| to make soap with. 1 got the stuff at
a hardware store. You fill your ket-
tie with water, put in the ingredients
and start the fire, and when the soap
is made you send chunks of it around
to your friends, tied with fancy rib
bons."
Perhaps it will work." she said, in
doubtful tones.
Its got to work The man war
ranted it to make soap in one hour.
There's an old kettle down in the barn
and I'll get it up and start a fire.
"Just-just what object would it be
to make soft soap?" asked Mrs. Bow
ser, as he got up.
What object? What's the object of
living? You talk mighty queer for a
| woman who is sent out in the country
for the benefit of her health. In the
first place, it will remind us of a
gypsy campfire, and weave a sort of
/ halo about our position. In the sec
| ond place, we want soft soap for fam
lily use and to grease the tools and
| cows heels with
''I never heard of soft soap for a
cows heels"
Didn't you? There's lots of things
| in this cold and cruel world you've
never heard of. Before I was 10 years
old I had learned that soft soaping a
| cows feet helped her to increase her
| gait by so per cent. You hake some
chips together and I'll bring up the
| kettle"
But there's no COW here, and We
haven't got one at home" she protest
| ed.
| "But we may have some day"
You'll have no luck with your soap,
and then you'll blame me-
'I'n make a batch of soap almost
good enough to eat, and there will be
no reason to blame anybody. We are
out here for the romance of the thing
as well as for our health. Don't be
a mule about things
Mrs. Bowser wasn't at all enthusias-
tic, knowing that consequences were
sure to follow, but she helped to hoist
the kettle up on some stones and start
a fire. Mr.. Bowser brought the water
| from the well, shook in his ingredients,
and presently the twilight fell and his
gypsy campfire was lighting up the
back yard like a beacon.
"Now, this is what I call romanticr'
exclaimed Mr. Bowser as he sat down
on the ground near the fire and looked
around with a smile. Mrs. Bowser,
think of the hot and crowded city-the
bricks and cobbleStoneS-the SufferingS
of the people who can't get away"'
Mrs. Bowser withdrew, and for an
hour Mr.. Bowser attended the fire in
the most faithful manner. The man had
warranted soap in go minutes. but at
the end of that time the stuff in the
Mrs. Bowser strolled around to have a
look and to say:
"I don't believe you will make soap
out of that stuff %
What you don't believe would fill
big book"' sulkily answered Mr.. Bow
ser IT think it needs salt"
'Who ever heard of salt in soft
soap?"
"I have, and I'm going to put some
in. We always used salt to solidify
it,
Mr.. Bowser got a bowl of salt and
threw it in, but the only effect was to
make more foam. He went back to the
house for more. but changed his mind
and brought out a box of ginger, a cup
of white sugar and a package of corn
starch and chucked them in one after
another
THAT will be a curious brand of
soapr' said Mrs. Bowser, as she watch
ed the proceedings.
Mr.. Bowser turned on her and point |
ed to the doorsteps. He had got his
mad up and was dangerous. She re-
tired, and he brought another pail of |
water and increased the fire. He sud |
denly remembered reading that old |
boots were good things in making sort
soap, and having noticed a barrel of
them in the woodshed he went after |
and brought out three pairs and drop |
ped them into the kettle. When the |
contents had been boiling for an hour, |
Mrs. Bowser suggested that it was
bedtime. and that he had all the next |
day to experiment in, but he drew. him. |
self up sifflv and replied:
'If it's bedtime, then go to bed. I
Set out to make soft soap and I'll make |
it if 1 have to stay awake two weeks!'
When she had gone in he bethought |
safras stick in stirring the contents of
the soap kettle. He didn't know sas- |
safras from rosewood, but, taking an i
other trip to the kitchen and pantry |
he carried out a bath-brick, a box of
stove polish a loaf of bread and three |
and these things went into |
the kettle to keep old boots company. |
Ten minutes later he added dozen |
potatoes and a little later he chucked |
in an old straw hat from the stock in
the woodshed. He was no nearer soap |
than when the fire was first lighted, |
and as he realized this he flung an old
paint keg in on top of all and NUT |
tered to himself:
'sBy the beard of my father, but I'll
have soap or death, If she doesn't
come in Is minutes more"
She didn't The smell had got to
be like the odors of three glue fac
tories condensed and put up in original
packages, and Mr.. Bowser had worked
smoke and heat. All of a sudden he
rushed in and kicked the kettle off the
fire and overturned it, and then seizing
an ak he hammered away until the