Show I GET ALL MIXED UP Have First Quarrel When Turnips Turnips Turnips Tur Tur- nips Instead of Sweet Alyssum Alyssum Alyssum Alys- Alys sum Comes Up By FRANK FILSON Well be as happy as 38 birds bIrd In the their nest nest said Alice joyfully as she am and her husband returned return d from their honeymoon honeymoon hon han and surveyed the old colonIal farmhouse se standing In its two acres acre of ground It was the he Ideal of a country such home home hom such such sucha a home as Alice and Jim had always dreamed of now of-now f now come to fulfillment And well we'll grow our own vegetables vegetables I ables said Jim blithely I And flowers dear said Alice smiling But who'll take care of ot them Why that's easy Alice answered Ill take charge chargo of the flowers Jim and you can mind the vegetables es And And listen listen Jim Lets Let's each raise rais our own plots secretly and mind th the theother theother other Is not to come into that part o othe ot of the garden or look at it until everything everything everything every every- thing is blooming Then the one that tha has the tho finest display gets the prize Which is A kiss said Alice smiling Ill take mine now said Jim and Jim am he did They had only been Carried married a month and their experience of homemaking homemaking homemaking home- home making was delightful Their gardens were their pride and each ach rigorously observed the conditions Jim did indeed indeed in in- deed grumble a little at not being allowed to have any flowers in his bis part of the territory assigned and Alice relented so far as to permit him bim to grow just a few Only round the edges though dearest she said You know we must have as much space as possible for those old ables Just think next fall Im I'm going to put up tomatoes and nd onions and and- and well all sorts of things And all an sorts of things were planted and actually began to sprout Neither of them considered it anything but u t r ri i n i c r N l lAlice ll l Alice Had Hit Upon His Own Design magic when the first green sprouts appeared And after a while a tiny bloom made Its appearance in the flower garden Now Jim no looking said Alice Allee mischievously But hang But hang It Alice youre you're not going go go- goIng Ing to keep me out of the g garden the whole summer er are you he asked But Jim Jim- you can look from afar And you cad can nw walk on the lawn Only you must not ot come came up up to the flower flower beds Because I have a big surprise f for Jr you In preparation It must be confessed that Jim did look And ad as the flowers bloomed and the tho garden became one riotous mass masa ol oJ blossoms he began importuning ing Alice more and more frequently to be allowed to seo sea his surprise At last she Ue fixed upon the following Saturday Sat Sat- Meanwhile Jim had not been Idle He too had bad prepared a little surprise for tor OT Alice He had taken advantage of h her r permission to plant flowers and with great dexterity had placed a bed bedot of ot sweet alyssum as a compliment to her setting Retting it out in such a way that the arrangement of ot tho the flowers spell spelled d out the letters of her name When the green leaves appeared and actually grew true his delight was unbounded One of the hardest things ho he had to do was to remember the various vegetables He had hit upon an ingenIous ingenious ingenious in in- genious method of ot overcoming this difficulty he he he had planted them alpha alpha- Beginning at the tool shed were artichokes then came camo the as as- not not to bloom till tile second year beans beets Br Brussels Brussels' sprouts and cabbages ranging all the way down to turnips and watermelons There was no vegetable listed on the catalogue after watermelons BO so he concluded that that growth was alphabetically alphabetically al ale al- al the last that was wa known to science This method proved highly satisfactory satisfactory tory too for tor It would have hav been impossible Im Impossible um- um possible for him cIty city bred bred as he was to have distinguished the succulent turnip from the ra radish ish or peanut unless unless un un- less he could have pulled It out by bythe bythe bythe the roots and examine it Saturday came Jim was In hi a a. ferment ferment ferment fer fer- ment of ot excitement when his hla wife wire led him into tho the garden He sniffed tho the breeze laden with fragrant odors a and d dIt It smelled very good to him Alice led him to a n. corner where some delicately delicately deli dell cately tinted flowers Dowers were pricking their way up through the mud Jim looked and stared Alice Allee had had hit upon his own design The re were growing In a n. rather straggly but unmistakable letter lector J. J Sweet Williams whispered Alice I looking at him Yes Yes but but her hus hus- band a compliment to you dearest dear dear- dearest est she said You see there thero isn't any Sweet James Jamea so I pretended that thai your namo was William instead Arent Aren't you pleased 1 Pleased Im I'm delighted ho he cried But Alice Allee dear do you know I have thought of ot just the tho same samo thing for you For me met Yes You know you said that I could plant some flowers so I have bave planted some sweet alyssum alyssum alyssum-alys alys alyssum sum that sum that means Alice Allce you know Show me at once Jim commanded command command- ed his wife delightedly And so he led her through the tho little rustic rustle wicket wick wicket et gate and into the tho forbidden vegetable vegetable vegetable able garden where near the tool shed he triumphantly displayed his precious secret Alice looked at the growth in per per- I But Jim where are the flowers she asked Flowers 1 I 1 didn't know sweet alyssum had any flowers You are my flower he added diplomatically for forthe forthe forthe the expression on his wife's face had become quite curious She stooped over the growth and suddenly reached out her ber hand and pulled a handful from the ground And then she sat down upon the path and burst into tears Alice Dearest What's the matter matter matter mat mat- ter cried Jim hurt hurrying toward her ber pale with anxiety Dont you like them Why I planted them because I wanted them to remind me always of you Yes that's it it she sobbed I always always al al- al ways knew you didn't really love me but I never thought you would show it In such a cowardly mean way as this Its It's Its It's its it's turnip tops And you said they reminded you of me Jim stared In horror at the uprooted uproot uproot- ed plants plante Undoubtedly the roots had bad formed into the small but unmistakable ale able bl configuration n of the turnip And even even Jim knew that a turnip is nothing nothing noth noth- ing but a turnip Good heavens he ho exclaimed In horror Alice I planted them alphabetically alphabetically al ale al- al and I rl I-I I began at the wrong end Come over here Here Here- here bere they are Alice cast one glance at his bis new find and began weeping anew Brute she sobbed Those are cabbage heads beads They made up two minutes later but now now they have a hired man to tend the vegetable garden Jim helps Alice with the flowers and they have bave some real sweet alyssum blooming round the sweet Williams Copyright by W. W G. G Chapman |