The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1917-09-11
EVENING STORY
Beginning Over Again.
(By Andrew Phelps.D

That was surely a love match be-
tween Ned Richards and Dorothy
White. Ned was a bookkeeper and
20 years old, and Dorothy was % and
Just a. gill living at home. Once
year Ned had a vacation, but he gem
orally spent it at the seashore. What
he didn't know about the country and
agriculture would have filled, a big
book. What. he knew about book
keeping would have filled another
AS for Miss Dorothy, she knew that
hay came from grass. and that milk
came from cows. but those facts had
never interested her much and she
had never gone beyond them.
They loved. 1t doesn't make any
difference whether they fell in love
at first sight, or waited for three
months, and when Miss Dorothy had
| promised to be Ned's wife, they
. talk, but very few of them talk as
Ned and Dorothy did. There should,
be a lawn in front of the cottage.
There should be room for a big gar
den behind it They should keep
hens; they should keep at least two
pigs; they should raise their own veg
etableS, and~-you know what else -
needed to complete the happy plans.
! They went over them again and again,
and every mortal thing was provided
/ for.
1 BY and by, Ned and Dorothy were
married and after a brief wedding
tour, they returned home to look fo1.
the cottage They found it, 1t was
just>th cottage they had pictured a
thousand times over. They had We
3 pairs made and moved in.
That lawn IL WIS a lawn, or their
( landlord said it was but the grass
was a foot high and was matted to-
Z 1nf
moved, however, and ii was in this
moving that the first shadow fell
Ned knew how to buy a lawnmover
and TO ride homie proudly in the wagon
with it, but he did not Know how the
| thing worked. He was dragging it aft
ter him instead of pushing it in front
when. Dorothy came to the door and
laughed. to his humiliation He re-
sented this, and his bride left it to the
first passerby to give him his lesson =
They We're to keep chickens Ned
got half day off and went to see IA
farmer to buy fifty of the fowls. The
farmer thanked heaven that he had
such a chance to get rid of his old hens
with lumber and nails and made
chicken hoHSe
They had planned to keep pigs, and
/ Ned bought couple. The carpenter
came again and spen was built and
the grunts of the pigs sounded home
like.
1t was in July. and far past planting
time. but Ned arose with daylight and
planted corn and potatoes and the
seeds of many vegeta bles. He limped
around with lame back as a conse-
quence. but he looked forward to
bountiful harvest. Half a dozen doves
came and sat on the roof tree and
cooed, and all would have been hap
piness had either of the couple known
as much about agriculture as they did
about moving pictures Everything the
wife undertook brought protest from
her husband, and vice versa When
the hens were brought home there was
no food and water for them, and they
began to die off 1t was only when a
neighbor told them that fowls must be
fed and watered that they gave them
care.
You ought to haze known better"
reproachfully said the wife
SO had you" was the reply
And when the pigs had been<bhrec
days without care and We're irving
vent TO their disgust ar such ca rs-less-
ness the bride suddenly remembered
that pigs wanted care the Same as
fowls. and she hurried to heat some
I water and to carry out some fish
bones. When Ned was told of this
incident he replied that anybody
Z would have known better
The potatoes did not spfout and
.ithe corn showed nSEer a stalk and
( each said the other ought to have
known better tran to plant two
months too late. A few cucumber
seeds sprouted and few vines wan
! dered over the ground. but 'hev died
| from despair after few weeks.