Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1915-09-16

had once been sc0lded by the news
papers~fo for predicting a hot spell on
the eve Of the famous blizzard. and it
had got on his nerves This was his
revenge.
Holland, on a salary Of $50 week
was engaged to be married. He knew
Sears slightly, as the weather man
was a cousin of his fancee. He went
to see Sears.
Tell me the secret he urged. land
it'll be worth a fortune to me-.
Sears took him by the arm Lis
ten, Will he said, Il won't tell you
the secret, but I viii tell you some
thing. Can you scrape together So
000?"
Maud has $5,00O," answered Hol-
land, but of course I can't touch"
Certainly you can touch il" an
swered Sears. Z give you my word
that within five days more the weed
will have vanished. Professor Long
knows why. Don't you see that real
estate, which has gone down to al
most nothing, viii shoot up like
rocket? l can't invest in it myself
out of a sense of propriety, but with
$4,000 I can tell you of company
that will issue you five shares, and
these will go up from thousand
apiece to ten times that sum the first
day. There are a lot of people in the
deal, buying up real estate
Holland was convinced. The up
shot was that he went to Miss Maud
Armstrong and got her to withdraw
her investment, which he handed to
the president Of the new company.
He was just in time, for on the
following day all business of any kind
was suspended. The weed had spread
I'D the banks of the Hudson and into
Long Island. The steady easterly wind
dissipated the seeds everywhere. BY
the end of the first week Chicago had
been rendered uninhabitable. Kansas
City had already had taste Of 1t.
The whole population was becoming
nomadic, seeking refuge from the
blue weed And the more it was cut
down the faster it spread. Whole
tracts of fiourishing country were jun
giles, above which waved the scarlet
speckled trumpets. Among these
were afterward found the skeletons
of deer and farm cattle
On the day before that which the
weather man had prophesied as the
last the weed had spread as far as
the great desert. Cities we're oblit-
Grated. buried far beneath the growth,
The country swarmed with refugees,
taking refuge in the woods and fields.
And even here blue patches were be-
ginning to spread. It seemed only a
question of time before the whole
country would have to be abandoned.
The fatal seventh day after the
Drophesy arrived. The hot sun had
begun to cool. The weather man, Mr..
Sears, was just as firm in his conVlc-
ton, and he had so impressed the au-
thorities with his belief that small
party in a captive balloon, waited
above what had once been the Singer
building. but was now only weed
grown projection above the forest.
A cloud appeared in the west and
began to grow rapidly. But the au'
thorities, their eyes fixed on the city
below, did not perceive it.
Dear mel" said the secretary OF
the treasury, at last, looking up, i
believe it's going to rain"
We've had none for three weeks.
said the secretary for agriculture
It'll do the crops"
Then he remembered. However, he
had only spoken from force of habit.
The whole of the sky grew black,
and suddenly a drenching downpour
sent the captive balloon skipping up
and down on its rope. The hammer
of the hail was the only thing THAT
could be heard Nothing was seen
but the cloudy recesses of space.
Then, as suddenly, the rain ceased
and the sun came out. The weather
man wore a smile.
This time he said, 81 think my
prediction of local thunderstorms will
be recognized as correct"
But the weed" gasped the head OF
the secret service, who had somehow
been included in the party.
They looked down, but where the
weed had been we're only the build
ings of Manhattan. A Jew dry, droop,
ing, shrivelled stalks attested to what
had been the world-conquering plant
The weed had practically disappeared
It was a Marian weed, and there
is no rain on Mars. It could grow
| only in perpetual sunshine, alternat'
| ing with dry nights. Long had sur
missed that, Sears had caught hint
| of it and had utilized the knowledge to
get his revenge.
Real estate went booming. The film
company reopened its Office, and Hol
land, going to draw his back pay, in,
formed Mr.. Jefton that he would be
leaving at the end of the week.
| Jefton looked at him sardonically.
Whats this, HolIand?" he demand,
ed angrily.
| And, starting from his nap, Holland
opened his eyes to receive the drench
ing stream of the film company's fire
hose.
| Copyright. 1915. by W. c. Chapman)
/
Tourists in Venice.
The great industry Of Venice is that
/ of meeting the demands of tourists
The movements of the foreigner, as
they are skil1fully guided and directed
| by a host of competent experts, are
not difficult to forecast. It is known
that if the foreigner arrives at the
railroad station he will take a gon
dola to his hotel He may travel in
the ferry boat or on foot all the rest