The Lakeland evening telegram. (Lakeland, Fla.) 1911-1922, 1915-12-29
Two
Siirnpletons

TeleTTluS W HSi DIS du Olu uldiu' Aooiiy
Aldridge didn't care, however. She
had farm left to her by her parents,
and by hiring some help and doing
considerable work herself got along
all right and kept her young sister
Mamie in school.
Miss Sally invested in six hives of
bees and waited. She likewise got
stung "a times and waited She care
fully followed instructions and at the
end of the first season there wasn't
enough honey in the hives to feed the
bees on through the winter. She sold
them for dollar hive and tailed
it up to experience.
1t was at this time that Mr.. Wei
come came along to buy potatoes. He
was an old bachelor living 10 miles
away He also had commercial
dreams and ambitions. He also had
decided to experiment. Sally AL
bridge had no potatoes to sell. Her
bees had taken precedence of the tu-
bers She and Mr.. Welcome had a
talk, however. He was pretty blunt
man, and before going away he asked
permission to call and get better &C
quainted.
"Oh. yes, but it won't do you any
good" was the reply.
but should our friendship ripen in
to love?' he asked
But it won't"
but if it should | should certainly
ask you to be my wife"
IAN | should just as certainly say
no to it
Il simply shan't marry until | have
| found a bigger fool than | am"
He laughed and went his way, and
| Miss Sally went in to read up on poul-
try raising for market. Nothing in
| Shakespeare compares in interest to
| a poultry book. The reader feels like
growing with the roosters, clucking
with the hens and piping with the
chickens.
She took 500 head of poultry. three
incubators and several barrels of
dope. The dope wasn't needed for
the chickens-they were never sick
an hour-but for the buyer. There
were grounds to be laid out-houses
| to bui.d-wire fences to put up. No
! trouble at all, as the books say, Any
child 10 years old can run the ma
chine after five minutes.
Miss Sally was no child. Neither
was she chicken. For. 10 long
months she was a hen. She was with
them all day and part of many
nights. She got to know what PHI
and gapes are. There were Il hun
dred motherly old hens that did moth
ing but sit around and have chills
soft corns, backaches and fits of va
rious kinds. They must be doctoreC
by day and sympathized with during
the long hours of night. Some OF the
incubators roasted the chicks, ant
some froze them to death.
The chickens didn't last as long a'
the bees. There were few eggs. ant
few brolers. The hospitals and no
tells that had contracted had to turf
| to mutton to fill up their guests
There ought to have been profit o
$4,000 the first year, according to thu
seller but there was loss of hun
/, dreds the other way
Miss Sally had dead horse to sell
and she sold it, and a few weeks late
tried her third commercial expert
ment 1t was ginseng this time. Tn
little roots came from Persia and cos
dollars and dollars per pound, bu
two acres of Persian ginseng woul
net the grower about $4,000 clea
profit,
The ginseng roots from far-off Persi
, turned out to be burdock roots fror
!, nearby Michigan.
Meanwhile, Mr. Welcome had mad
excuses to drop in now and then II
drove up one day with look of dc
l termination on his face. Many
S woman has seen that look and rea
s lied that the crisis was at hand. TIL
. old bachelor had hardly entered tn
:, house when he was greeted with:
: gave you my answer long ago.
:, Exactly, Miss Aldridge. | hav
u come to claim the fulfillment of you
Il promise.
S Il am bigger fool than you ar,
L Sit down while prove it to you. 70
a knew nothing whatever about bee
$ and yet you went into .honey-raising
Il you had 20 old hens around you
!, farm, and you figured that you coul
:. manage a thousand"
You didn't know ginseng root frol
burdock"
!. NO. | didn't, and that's where
IL am safe. Where is a bigger fool?"
x Right here, my dear | was let
s. on the ground floor on blue roses;
IS invested in a banana orchard in Oh
that was to be run by steam: | bougl
!. mahogany trees to set out in n
| farm: | bought mushroom seeds thi
70 turned out to be turnips; | raised ar
~ sold squads for IA cents each that co
lie me % My last experiment was tr
id ing TO grow celery on sandy sid
r hill | am here to claim your hand
"a Well. | said"
"A bigger fool than YOU wer
y Those were your words. Sally, sha
u come courtin three nights wee
Id and in three months we are to be ma
Mt ried.'
es And matrimony proved a SUGGEST
experiment. for beth of them
at -----------
be His Business.