SILVER
SPOONS IN
THE FLOUR
By ANNA S. FIELDER
{® by Short Story Pub. Co.)
A WILSON regarded the sack
of flour with silent contempt,
Pa Wilson shuffled un-
oaslily.
“Well, ma,” he sald, “I tried to git
Kingsbury's Rocky Mountain Best, but
Jed wuz clean out, and knowin’ as
how you hed to hev flour, Jed says as
this is jest as good.”
“Jest as good! Powerful lot Jed
Summers knows about flour! It's a
purty howdy-do! Me with them cakes
to bake fer the Ladies’ Ald, an’ not a
tencupful of decent flour in the house!
No, "tain't no fer you to try to
change it now, them cakes oughter be
in this minute! I'll hev ter it.
Like as not they'll fail an’ I ain't had
a failure with my bakin' in twenty
year. Lucindy! Come here an’ empty
this sack of flour while 1
an’ milk.”
Lucindy, a shambling
in the
use
use
git the eges
girl,
ma's ample
country
door as
pantryward.
excited accents
in the
in
“look
1a!" came
later, what's
" ejaculated ma, dropping an
the spotless floor. “A silver
Pa,
don't
look here!
that
object
beat all!™
}
“Jed
1 Zz 1 ims In
the sacks, but I low he didn't know
it wuz anything like er
never sold
“Dan’t
ma. “I'm
cut’n these
Is
this ne'd
him,
goin’ ter make a
Qf
fiat
you tell
nbkeg go's they
how else that flour.
ter git all of these
I wonder how often
“3h. i
huy
got
once In so oiten
Won't Billy's eves stick
sees this’
ip
the
them
dozen of
wanted
to half a
'y e
an
tnke na
SHOONS
p 1
some real
always
chance,
fall out’n them
ginges with their silver
that the platin's all wearin' off.
That night, Instead of her
ars knitting. Ma Wilson got
scraps of flannel made a
this is my
stuck-up
butter dish
custom
out some
and ong
CRse
ontaining six pockets.
’
what
would you
he Inquired of
sounds a heap
ma objected is mis
Knives an’ silver;
Higginses' butter
think
was when
night
that
two months Howing
cont: to four sacks of
ived
and wus
nse
rewarded with two
and
ward as she slipped
into its and realized
ecgse was half full. Her
not permit her to
flour and she was
more
her heaven
third
that
Spoons, oul 2oared
the spoon
priv ket
thrifty
would waste th
distrac
it fast
family lived on cakes
flour
. Mua
that
f
™
Hour
driy
en
Fase to
to
3 : ti of ae
rked
his
the fourth begin
to de Her
sleep came to be mere cat-naps, from
which frequently
and =zend him
fastened the col
spoon. With it
fear of bu
ma
velop a relars
che aroused to call
na down to
see If he
hae ar door. A night
of unbroken rest was an unknown lux
ury to the long-suffering family
The fifth spoon only served to make
nuitters Ma's old hand trem
bled as slipped it inte
the shining row,
“Seems like she
Pilly growled.
“Never mind!" consoled pa. “Praise
Be! ‘They ain't but one more!
And it wor this thought that goaded
ma on. She doubled her efforts and
tripled her vigilance, but the sixth
spoon” came not,
Weeks passed, leaden weeks of
flour puddings and thickened gravies,
gnd nights of sleepless anxiety. Pa
grew sullen and ma's rotund figure
shrunk to gaunt proportions. Bhe
gazed at pa bLollow-eyed across the
breakfast table. Flour, flour every.
where! Flour every imaginable
shape and form.
The climax eame when she faltited
one afternoon, opening a sack of
flour
The doctor enme, and tapped and
sounded in vain,
“As near as I can make out” he
sild to Lucindy, “It's a kind of nervy.
ous prostiation. las your ma been
under any great strain lately?”
Lucindy shook her head, She didn't
want to tell about the spoons and the
doctor went away mystified. As the
weeks passed and ma grew weaker
hls mystification mereased. Sie com-
manded each new gack of flour to he
brought to her bed and opened, and
nt each new disappoln she sank
back in a condition of “vllapse. Dur.
Ing the Intervals she lay weak and
gilent ; on her plilow, slipping the
gpoony 0 and out of thelr pockets,
amd veganiiog sadly the one empty
spaced
SIL" sald pa, one day. “Some
tuing’s got ter be dose er your wma ‘ll
worse,
piteously she
gits worse'n worse.”
in
genie
dle. I'm goin’ ter hitch up an’ drive
over to Grayson City an’ buy one of
them spoons at the Jewelry store”
That night he drove back trium-
phant and handed a spoon to Lucindy,
saving :
“Now, you sew that up In a sack of
flour an’ praise be we'll be shed er
this spoon business forever!™
“Why, pa!” Lucindy exclaimed
“this ain't like the other!”
Pa's face fell, “Well, it looked like
it In the Jewelry store. Well—" he
gazed around helplessly.
“Ours has got little curly-cues here,”
Lucindy explained, “an' this one
ain't,”
“ID you suppose she'll notice
inquired, hopefully.
“Notice? Ain't she looked
spoons enough to know ‘em
dark? No, it ain't no use,
ter git It out’'n the flour er not at all”
Meanwhile ma had spent the day
making her will, one clause of which
afforded her honest pride
“And the famlly sllver consisting
— goons I bequeath to my
Lucindy, for a wedding
™ pa
at them
in the
We got
of
daughter,
gift.”
She
blank
sald,
had Insisted on leaving the
space, “For somehow,” she
“T feel 's if I couldn't dle till 1
see them six spoons all together there
in a row, an’ the number can be writ.
ten in at the last minute”
When pa read It he set his jaw firm.
ly and strode out to the barn. “Bill”
he ordered “hitch up. I'm goin’ down
an’ buy every sack of that
flour Jed Summers
An hour
yard with
. or
got
the
sacks.
and
contents unceremoniously
the dust from the
'
them gradually t a
into
of
opening
later they drove
the full
they worked
wagon
pouring the
the barn floor,
turning
gray In the In
the last
on
same
' ter torn M
ghastly ntern ii
til they seized «nck,
5.1 s
seit} .
other oiang
de
air.
At last Bill broke the sllence.
od
£1.19
he eyed
flour we'
“I'm g«
Wilson snid,
y sacks
ite ¥
solitary
“You
moment, od at
1rd
gian
old face, drew n
is hand
and brought
It wa
that
s a gasping athless
dashed
little
en A
room
Wilson
ited,
other
then slipping it i the sol y of
ty pocket she fall
and
with
conter finished
row satisfactl
words,
The
man's plac id
sesembled family from
and
another, limp
with voiceless gratitude.
gazed
face to the sag
OT
poons
the spoons to one
silent
At Inst ma spoke
“You
dy.” she to live it
¥. a3 3 iis fo git
a dozen of these here spoons !™
can tear up that
will,
a 1 TV int
said, “I'm goin
How Artificial Pearls
Anyone can test a pearl for himself
Many artificial pearls are hollow glass
beads, with a sort of fishacale lining,
a product of a smell Mediterranean
fish. These can be detected by rubbing
lower teeth.
If it is a glass pearl It will feel por
fectly smooth. If It Is a real pearl It
will be slightly rough and grating.
A Japanese cultured pear! cannot be
detected In this way, for its outer
structure ig exactly like that of a real
pearl.” It Is a pearl formed. by an
oyster about a core of mother-of-pearl
that has been slipped in the shell, One
way of distinguishing Japanese cul
tured pearis from real ones Is examin.
ing them under a lucidoscope. By
means of this machine one ean look
through the pearl and distinguish the
core~~Popular Science Monthly.
Might Have Satisfi
Most Hungry of Diners
In Diana Patrick's novel, “The Man.
uscript of Youth” Is this account of
the dinner that welcomed the Chap.
delenes to Garth yat:
“The meal, called by what name
may he, was terrific, A great
York ham, which she learned was
cooked with honey and spices In
some rapturous way; a cold game ple
and a joint of sirloin before Uncle
Fletcher, sauces and chutntes in front
# Clara and Lily; huge fruit cakes
und apple pastries served with jugs of
cream ; with It all, unlimited cups of
tea passed down each side of the table
from secariet-and black Aunt Deborah
hy two fresh-faced servant girls whose
speech was difficult to understand.”
A precise narrative reckoning of the
detalls through which a dinner be
comes un danger. And yet, it sounds
well worth the rigk.—Chicago Journal,
<
i —
DRS
DROMEDARY’'S TEMPER
OT In all the Great Desert is there
i worse disposition than Don
Dromedary’s. He Just can't help
snarling and scolding.
He is the most valuable beast of bhur-
den in the world, because he can travel
across the hot dry desert for days
without anything to eat or
There are no trains In the Desert and
even horses can't go very far, because
spots called Oases, and they are many
miles apart. The Dromedary, who is
i very fast traveler, snd his slower
Don Dromedary Knew It,
»
‘ousin, the Camel, are useful
iso to the
He
ml y :
aha Tugs of
in other
Ways g Arab who lives in the
thelr milk,
their skins
fine sliky
:
drinks
makes
tents and
veaves clothes of thelr hair
Oh, yes, Don Dromedary
bot It didn't
Knew
was
happy.
“1 am
make
to break loose if 1 can”
one
caravan had
¢
he to himself WArn starry
the stopped
to rest. “I'm going to find
everyone Is
his
bes x
gaara
that
talking about
u If he doesn’t think mine
lot.
being
nsk
and
is a very
without noticed ;
sleep.”
The Jungle many
id Don Dromedary knew it
miles are nothing to the Ship
Desert,” mu
mn long
“Well,
was miles away,
ttered he to himself,
with strides
Don,
way
here
Maybe I'd
and get my bearings. Let
ere's the tall palm tree and
fruit what In
is that?
I say, too,
swinging
it,” sald
% windie
the winding
here's for
down
as
30 well acquainted
' out in the open
better stop
$1
ne See, 3
% nin anes rd ; .
the Great Bread tree, but
“That's what
“I was Just having my first forty winks,
“Oh, Mr. Cheerups, Is that
eried Don Dromedary.
really
“I have
yout
For once in my life I am
fncky I"
“Once mam-
aren't
Son
the
in your life, you say?®™
“Well
Don Dromedary?
the luckiest in all
.
ashamed,
one of
tirent Desert.”
“But 1 am not
you
satisfied,” snarled
“I'm not satisfied”
“What Is the trouble?” asked Cheer
ups kindly.
“Everything
grumbled Don,
"
is the trouble, sir,
“Nothing Is right. In
when I am on a long
Journey ncross the Desert, I rarely get
anything to eat. Sometimes my master
“But there's your splendid fat hump
cried Cheerups. “A
I should
say
reach your destination be
all been used, but a few
“Of course, that Is true” admirted
“but 1
the
seldom ha
"
on
lonrney
“Now, Don Dromedary, h
| those deep cell
witer You
your stomach.
on, enough
for five or six days.”
» right the water,
“hut
over a gal to quen
“You Mr
would
about
said Don; how
to tramp along, da)
wt, In soft sand?”
“Just
Cheerups,
little impatient
plainer, “They
spreading ou
into the sand at all A
small hard hoofs
heavy
look at your feet” cris
who was beginning to be
with
are
ions
this fussy com
made with bros
80 you don't s
horse with
would be tired
two | osert
Dromedary,
Cheerups, smill
Why
’ vv h
{ © je
} Keen ig
absurd |
ur nos
£1 nd | wy
triis sang fami yout
eyelushes protect your eyes
you
I'm
the
long thick
I'm ashamed of
“Well, anyw: cross and un
at black
gre
Dromedary,
“That's the whole truth cried
“it'g a Vig
It's a GiRDO
, Bad tor tus 1
Your bad ten per 3s
Cheerups gleefully new
sit
tion you need!
TERETE
FREE
Millie Impolito
PERI TT PETE TRE CIRO
T the
“vampish”
across the
added
number of exotic greatures,
and otherwise, whe flit
celluloid sheet, may be
the name of Millie Impolite,
recently sailed from Spain for
this country to play “vamp” parts in
the “movies.” Miss Impolito is of the
typical Spanish type, with petulant
mouth, flaghing black eyes and vivid
¥ Lvs ran
ho kn
#8 real y ashamed
He knew so well that all
trie that he
In a
his head hang:
ound, he said,
Mr.
He
look him i the
Ena:
eye
Yyoive,
slimost to the
try
Thank
1 will be good
"Then
turned about and dashed back into the
Desert,
Ton
five
wn &
By H. IRVING
KING
MULLEN-STALKS
NXIOUS
tric
mullen-staik
it for the
in the rural dis
country twist =a
pearly sfter naming
4
one If the mullen
lovers
ta of this
off
loved
If it dies they are not. In some sec
the marriage
mullen
from
ancient
dren will result
From most
been regarded having =a
finity with the and being
fore, a powerful plant to conjur with
flowers,
has
nf
there
times
as close
sun
yellow
the long, conical head of
?
ucky jewel
RUBY
HERE seetns to be no reference of
early history shows evidence of this
tendency to name women after gems,
Indeed etymologists do not recognize
Ruby and her sister names ss names
at all and they are not listed In the
fists of cognomen,
Ruby has many equivalents In Sans.
krit und among the Hindus, who re.
garded the gem as the king of precious
stones, but none of them are capable
of usage as a proper name. Undoubt-
edly, Ruby was first bestowed upon a
child with the idea of lkening It
the pulsing, glowing, flame-hearted
wtitious mother believed that she
The name made {tz first appearance
in-England, where it was a favorite
with music-hiall actresses. Its advent
in this country was less spectacular
but it has never ceased to be a popular
stage name. The regal gem, for which
it stands, must have given it popular:
ity, for there is nothing striking in
either its history or its prevalence,
Ruby's tallsmanic stone Is, of course,
the one which she personifies, If old
legend be correct, she will be bleased
among women in possessing all the
material benefits of this world and
will, furthermore, be protected from
disense and accidents, Thursday is
her lucky day and 1 her lucky number,
(® by Wheslor Syndicate, Inc.)
abimssncsasl Pim
A LINE OO’ CHEER
By John Kendrick Bangs .
APES SECs ey
THE PLAN
Ss
WELLING on good
times
That's the plan for me.
Driving dark and rude times
Out of memory.
Thinking of the glad things
And the sunny hours,
Losing all the sad things
There among the flowers,
the
a candle glowing with yel
sun; and
bY 8 circuits
from
the
us
Atin word connecting
with
In En
sey
hi
inllen is still called
“King's
sun is
of the
peasants of bending down a
dark
point where the sun will arise, praying
at the same time for the
gh in Germany
eet ”
angie % dation to the
i~th custom
i wer shown by the
‘russian
0
nulien-stalk
alter toward the
r
recovery of
dig up mullen.root at
night pn midsummer eve—the sun's
especial time of power—with a golden
colin (a miniature sun) and wear It
nid-
peasant girls pick mullen-
stalks at midsummer and hang them
over thelr beds as a charm, and their
mulien-gtalks over the
their cattle sheds to keep off disease
and witches,
{© by McClure Newspaper Syndicate )
N
BBREVIATED
STORY
QUININE SPONSON
ay moody,
fd v 80
WwW Quinine Sponson asked his wife
a8 he looked up from the morning pa-
per. ‘You haven't addressed so much
ns a comma to me all during hreak-
fast. You're not mad, are you?
“Yes,” snapped Peroxide flishilly.
“Is It because I put that block of
lee cream between your sheets before
you went to bed last night?”
“No. 1 didn't mind that so much.”
“Are you angry because I brought
those six chorus girls home for dinner
yesterday ¥”
“No. Men will pe men.”
“Can It be that you resent my cut.
ting your allowance in half because of
the increase in the cost of cigars?
“No, 1 regarded that as a mere
whim."
“Well, then, what can it he?”
With one pull of the talilecloth,
Mrs, Sponson sent ail the breakfast
things flying to the {our walls,
“It's your miserable habit of stick.
ing your wet spoon in the sugar bowl,
that's what It is! You've done if five
times in five minutes, and pow Um
througn with you l=through! through:
through 1”
Soon afterwards the divorce was
granted and they Hved happily ever
after,
(® by George Matthew Adame)
i
Probably one (mati
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Fresh and full.flavored
always in its wax-wrapped
A Diffferent Matter
nt b re 8 : ] iE
OM
When this unusual quality
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second cup naturally follows,
1a 8 pound
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