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Show Hmmwmmmmmmmmmmm HIS EYES OPEN Why There Art No Mail Order Catalogues in One Home. FARMER WILLIAMS' LESSON In Time of Adversity He Got to Understand Un-derstand Who Were His Real Friends Prosperity In Standing Stand-ing Together. (Copyright IH by Alfred C Clark) "What y' got thero, 81s?" Inquired Farmer Williams, as ha kicked oft his felt boots and set them carefully behind be-hind thn stove to dry "That's what I thought it looked like, one of them thero Chicago catylogs, though I hain't seen ono rlost fer quite n few years back. Me an' your mn tut to buy mighty nigh everthlng wo used out of them e.itlogs when we first como to Kansas l.aiid sales. I havo to laugh now sometimes when I think of thn wny we would git kelched onct In awhile They's some cheap things In them catylogs an' then agin they's n lot 't ain't so cheap V never klr toll tilt they come, an' then It's too lata to send 'em back Hut as I wal a sayln', we hain't bought nothln' out of a catytog fer a right smart n' years now, an' tho way It come about I had aa well tell y', cause I don't think y" really remember much about II "When we come to Kansas long In tho flrst of thu 'IO'm wo got along right well. We was ahlo to pay cash fer what we got, and wo got thu money fer everything we sold Wo waa pay In' out on the place right along, crops was purty good an' wa was a feelln' llko the Lord was a smllln' on our efforts, nnd tho happy homo wa dreamed about when wo first got married mar-ried was In sight. Hut they come a change In Kansas long In the last half of tho '80's. Times got hard and kep a glttln' tighter. Four straight years It was so dry y' had to soak tho hogs afore they'd hold swill though I will say they was sotno extry reason on account ac-count of tho swill beln' so thin wheat Jest died In tho ground fer want of rain, and tho hot winds blled tho ever Isitln' sap nut of tho corn. Thoy wasn't no pasture, no nothing You can know- wo waa a feelln' purty bluo about that tlmo, but wo was young and strong, nnd thought with tho chickens an' hogs wo could git through anyway. 'Then ono day you got to complain-In' complain-In' and lookln' so thin It worried ui. Your ma Is a mlddlln' good doctor, taka It all around, but nothing sho could think of done you any good. Well, you kep' a glttln' plndllor and plndller, till you got ao'at y' wouldn't do nothln' but act In a chair by the kitchen store, wrapped In your ma's old show), an' you looked so pitiful that wo mailo up our mtnds to havo tho doctor, oven It It took th' last chicken on tho place. Well, ho como, and after bo'd looked at you awhllo an' felt your pujsc, ha shct his watch up with a snap, an' says, quiet llko: Hotter fix up a warm ptaco fer her In tho front room, don't havo too much light nor any drafts to strlko hor Then wo knowed It wan't no small sickness wo had to fight, an' when wo got you fixed up In bed I follorcd Doc. out on tho lorih an' I says; 'Well, Doc,' sex I, 'what's tho matter with our llttlo girl?' "'I don't want to skcer ye, Mr. Williams,' Wil-liams,' so) a he, 'but I'm afraid sho's In for a slcgo of typhoid faver.' "Well, after ba was gono I went out In tho kitchen an' told your ma, but sho says, bravo as kin be 'Well, Kirn, It tha I-ord has seen fit to put that much mora on our load wo must bear up an' tight It out doln' our duty tho best wo kin, leavln' tho rest to him.' An' I thought so loo. So wo Jest kep' our hearts bravo an' dono what aeemed right t' do "Tho hardest thing was to figure out whero I' git thu medicine, an' fruit, an' dainty thlnga your sickness called "Why Cert'nlee, Mr. Williams, Jest Let Us Know Whst You Want." (or. We hadn't been trad in' much with tho stores In Huston, buyln' mostly from tho catylog folks y' know, an' so wo didn't havo any credit thero to speak of, Hut I went t' Poster, th' druggist, an' I told him how things wis, I didn't havo no money t' pay fer th' medlelno an' things, an' the prospects fur the nest yejai ix as poor or poorer than th' last Why cert nleo, Mr Williams,1 ho ssys, 'Jest let us know what you want an' well carry you along till times como better fer you We're all In a tight plnih now, but If wo hang t'gelh-er t'gelh-er things Is all goln' to como nut light RHBPJpetVa!&'wssjsaasjsaHBjg In the end. I 1,l,rr ',l,h ' th country, coun-try, nn' In tho rl'le " He hern. an" nobody's sick lMby is a goln' to suffer If I kin help any "Well, It was the am thing at Harlow's grocery. & th' coal yard, everywhere In W town 'Cert'nlee, Mr Williams, well see y' through on this' It mado mo feel mean an' small some way, though I don t know why. An' often when they'd put In a few oranges or somethhV like trat, sayln' In a 'ixilogliln' rt of wsy, 'little somcthln' fer th '"ek baby, Williams,' why somehow It made a hard lump come up In my throat an' I hid a uucer feelln' In "'J ejes. kinder aehy like, y' know. "Well, to be short about It. fer eight wecka joti kef1' a Klttln weaker an' weaker, nn' wo kep' a feelln' moro V morn ImpelcH. H was a sad Christ mas In our home that year Your ma was Jost wore out with watchln' an' tryln' to do her work lielween times, an' I was so nigh sick with trouble an' discouragement 't I t to go around by tho barn an' Jost cry llko a baby Hut I never let on to vour ma though, ner she t me. We tried f encourage each other though we snowed In out hearts 't all our cheerful words was lies, an' each on knowed tho other knowed It loo. "Well, Jest th night before New Yeara Doc calhd us outside your I Set: Lei Burn It room, Oh, how my heart sunk thenl 'I don't want to bold out any (also hopes to you people,' ho says, 'but I think with proper caro from now on, your little girl li goln' I' git well.' Ulslo, It seemed Jest llko n ton of hay had been Ilfledff my cheit right there. As fer your ma, why sho Jest busted down an' cried aa hard aa sho could, After Doc. was gono wo went out to tho kitchen an' kneeled down right thero an' thanked Uod fer tho most glorious Now Year's gltt ho over glvo l' sntbody In th" world the i health trfcjjir baby girl You know i your pa ain't no ranter er ahoutor; or ms beln' n Uaptlst has furnished most of th' r'llglon fer our housb, but Jest then I seen how It waa that they cornea time In people's lives when thoy've Jest got to liao somcthln' btggor aa' greater than anything hu man I' turn to wjth a great Joy er great sorter. "Well, It was a long tlmo jot before you was itrong enough I' play out doors, an' It .was a hard wlntar I burned every poit of tho fenco around tho south eighty far firewood afore It was over Hut It seemed llko wo had so much t' bo thankful fer that wo was strong t' caro fer any any of th' smaller troubles that wo como acrost. "It really hain't so bad to look back at It now sttcr th' troublo is over, but them bard roars It. Kansas droro nearly all oar neighbors f glvo up their land an' move away, broko In hopoi an' pockelbook.' Them of in as staved Is purty well flxod now, but wo fit fer everything wo got, an' fit hard, too. An', O, yes, about Hi' caty logs Well after you waa well an' things begun t' tako a turn fer, th' better, one night ma biought out that Chicago book an' laid It on tho kltch en tablo an' saya 'Kiry, what do you want t' do with this?' An' I set: 'Los burn It ' An' your ma sex: 'Jest what I was thlnkln', too.' An' so wo did burn It, an' what's moro, wo ain't never had one In th' houso since, an' wo novcr send away for anything wo I can git at any of tho atoroa In Huston, 'cause we wist to deal with them ah has an Inl'reit In the country n llva In, an' In us people that live clnst bj "Why, you needn't of put yours In th' stove, too, Klilo, I didn't mesn yes, I don't kaow but what It's Jest as well y' done It after all." |