The Penn's Grove record., 1915-09-17

~ulaDOllcal intelligence, caught at the
arms and legs of those who ventured
near them. ALI New York presented
the appearance of a speckled, scarlet
jungle, and the flags Of flowers waved
triumphantly above the highest build
ings.
Everybody was fleeing from the
city. Panic was nearly universal.
Only one man kept his head. That
was Professor Sears of the weather
bureau.
within seven days the country will
be clear of the weed" he prophesied.
Can you clear it," he was asked.
Not personally he answered. He
refused to say more than this. He
had once been scolded by the news
papers 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 $40 a week,
was engaged to be married. He knew
Sears slightly, as the weather man
was a cousin of his 1ancee. 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, 81 won't tell you
the secret, but l will tell you some
thing. Can you scrape together S..
000?"
Maud has $4,000" answered Hol.
land, but of course I can't touch"
Certainly you can touch it," an.
swered Sears. 81 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, will shoot up like a
rocket2 / can't invest in it myself
out of a sense of p%ropriety. but with
$4,000 1 can tell you of a company
that will issue you five shares, and
these will go up from a 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 OF the
following day all business of any kind
was suspended. The weed had spread
up 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
4 been rendered uninhabitable. Kansas
City had already had a 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 fourishing 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. 1t seemed only a
question of time before the whole
country would have to be abandoned.
The fatal seventh day after the
prophesy arrived. The hot sun had
begun to cool. The weather man, Mr..
Sears, was just as firm in his convic'
ton, and he had so impressed the au-
thorities with his belief that a small
party. in a captive balloon, waited
above what had once been the Singer
building, but was now only a 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, y
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, 4 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 were only the build
ings of Manhattan. A few dry, droop-