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Show RADIUM THE MODERN CUREALL CHE woman boarded a street car carrying in her hands a small package which looked as If It might be two strawberry baskets bas-kets piled one upon Iho other and wrapped In paper. She handled it Willi tender care, however, and as she sat down beside a friend sho heaved a sigh of relief. The friend looked at tho parcel cu-' cu-' riously. Something precious?" she Inquired mockingly. "(inly radium," answered the woman. "Radium," shrieked the friend In a A ff aee am I 'SonietJtlns I'rcciorts?" she Inquired I voice which awoke the conductor on i ' the back platform from a sweet dream. "Ten million dollars worth of radium?" "No. only fifty dollars worth," replied re-plied the other. "You sec it is radium water, radium in solution. There are LB this package twelve two-ounce bottles bot-tles containing two micrograms of radium ra-dium each" 'Micrograms," echoed the friend feebly. 'Yes, I haven't an Idea what that Is, have you ?" The friend wagged her head In a wobbling negative. "Not the ghost of I .. t. h, , ' .-, r. von , . nir to i a. iiunuii, uui c " do with it or them, whichever It Is?' "Give 'em to my husband." returned the woman. "Haven't you heard about radium? Why it Is the modern curtail. curt-ail. My husband has the rheumatism, and whereas in olden times you cured rheumatism by not eating tomatoes and red meats, now you cure it by arge and expensive draughts of radium, ra-dium, alio if rou have the toothache Instead uf having the norve killed you Just expose it to twehe hundred dollars dol-lars worth of radium and the pain leases instantly. It's splendid for headache, too. and indigestion Why even as I nit hero I can feel myself l,i in- slowly but surely rejuvenated." "It has got so now that only rich people I Ml be ur.-d t their ills," pro-teeted pro-teeted the fnend. Will, we've mortgaged our home to get rid of our rheumatism." answered an-swered the woman. and having reached her corner she arose stealthily and carried her parcel out. unite as if , ...i.talned dynamite bombs warranted war-ranted to go off at the slightest tno- "Just the thing. Ruthvln!" put In Mrs. Townbred in a tone of mingled surprise and enthusiasm not entirely genuine, since she was well aware of 1 that strip and Its condition. "And It's b ared of stumps and and. why It's just splendid for but what do you Intend to plant there. Ruthvln?" "Corn, my dear. They tell me that the farmers around here, last November Novem-ber and December, were getting $3.50 and A 00 per barrel for their corn i on tho cob And we'll have to pay that for corn this winter for Bob unless un-less we raise it ourselves. So I say, let's plough up that strip some land thoro I tell you and plant It in corn Watching John as ho performed his slow and arduous task. I How does that strike you, Frieda?" "Fine. Ruthvln, fine!" declared Mrs. Townbred with an enthusiasm that quite met her husband's expectations ! "I am so glad you aro Interested. And I Just know you'll hu'-e the finest crop j of corn anywhere's around hero!" Mr. Townbred grinned. "I've already al-ready bought the seed corn, my dear." ho went on "A friend of mine got it from ;i rjovernment experiment sta- ! Hon and It's tested, too! I paid only $1.65 a bushel for it. Now If that Isn't belter than paying 4 00 u bar- I rcl. then 1 don't know!" "Y-e-s." aere d Mrs. Townbred dubiously, du-biously, "but, Ruthvln. you .of course j realise that the cost of the seed Is only a small part of tho expense, I and " Huh?" Questioned Mr. Townbred. 1 forcefully, thoufih Inelegantly. "The land must be plowed." she ex-j ex-j plained, "and we'll have to hire a man with a two-horse plow to do it, for the land Is new and old Bob could never turn It with our single plow Rut that won't cost over, say, three dollars. By the way, how much corn did you buy ?" "One bushel and I've arranged to get more," said Mr Townbred. "A whole bushel!" Mrs, Townbred simply couldn't help It. "Mercv sakes, Ruthvin, a bushel will plant I four acres easily and there's not a foot over one acre in that Btrip, I'm 1 sure!" "Oh, well," Mr Townbred remarked loftily, "we'll give the rest to Bob as ; a treat, or you can feed It to your . chickens." "I know," retorted Mrs. Townbred J "but but " The next day tho land was plowed In the morning, and John spent tho 1 afternoon harrowing It with Bob. As ho was "laying It off In rows" Mr and Mrs. Townbred camo down to look !oer the land. They stood for a while watching John as ho performed his slow and arduous ta.sk, and as ho came abreast of them Mrs. Townbred I asked : ' Has the fertilizer come, John?" "Fertilizer! Fertilizer!" exclaimed ' Mr. Townbred. In surprise. "Do we SI a ha c to have It to raise corn?" "Well, it Isn't absolutely necessary for now land, but It's much wiser to put It on; the crop Is sure to bo la rcer " "How much does It cost?" asked Mr Townbred, coldly. "About let's see well, roughly, about six dollars for this land." "Six dollars!" Mr. Townbred was exltid. "une-sixty-flvc for tho seed, throe dollars to plow and now six dollars for fertilizer! Well I Just guess not' I guess you'll bo telling me next that I must buy a garden-hose garden-hose that'll reach from the pump down to this field! Nothinc? doing on tho fertilizer, my dear! You say It Isn't absolutely necessary? Then why get lit? That's tho trouble with most farmers they don't apply business principles to their farming The Idea! Imagine a city man deliberately adding ad-ding an unnecessary expense to a proposition he's promoting'" "But, Ruthvln," Insisted Mrs. Town-bred Town-bred gently. "It costs so llttlo and It'll make such a big difference In the ' yield. Really It ask John, he can tell you wo should have It, can't you j John ?" "Tftssum," answered John slowly and wearily, "I dono usually raise j co'hn wJf fertilizer, en don again" looking at Mr. Townbred "I done j raised It wlfout." "I wash mv hands of the whole matter!" declared Mr. Townbred, tragically. 'Here you persuaded me to go Into this thing and then when I consent to give my attention to planting this llttlo patch In corn you j straightway interfero and wish mo to Incorporate somo of your theories instead of handling It on sound buel- j ness principles! I'm through! Here-after Here-after I'll tiok to my business In the city and let you run tho whole she- 1 bang out here!" But. be It noted, the very next afternoon aft-ernoon Mr. Townbred was down In j the field again, Inquiring about the) planting which had been dono that j morning. And he said never n word . of protest either then or later when ' John Innocently called his attention to tho fertilizer that had been spread On that morning. Which shows that Mr. Townbred 1 had succumbed that he had finally : reached that Important stage In th I transition of cltyman to countryman where any expense Is legitimate Just it so It helps to Improve the soli and ' crops! f tCopyrlght. 1915. by Edward Riddle Padgett.) J |