Evening Star Newspaper, April 17, 1921, Page 63

Part 4—6 Pages MAGAZINE SECTION he Sunday Shae. WASHINGTON, D. C., SUNDAY MORNIN 19217 APRIL 17, Y Xy Where Acres of Flowers and Thousands of Workers Make Milady’s Perfumes BY STERLING HEILIG. GRASSE, Riviera District of France. March 27, 1921. HEY tell here in a quiet way, without concern or boasting, that 2,000 tons of orange blossoms and 1.300 tons of roses—to name no others—are swept into the iron maw of the perfume distillery each year. Weight is misleading when you deal with rose petals and mimosa blos- soma. So, for jasmine alone, nine billion six hundred million jasmine "flowers are plucked by hand each year around this town of Grasse to provide the world's chief supply of Jasmine perfume. We came to see. Nestling against the southern slope o a warm hillside above Cannes, and protected from all north winds by the screen of the lower Alps, Grasse is a famous ancient town whose business, time out of mind has been the raising of flow- ers, to kill them for the market. Or, if you prefer (and it is just as true), Grasse saves the soul of flowers— caught kept, in perfumes! And, ladies, here is the source of beauty, source of freshness as well a8 of sweetness, because these scents, flower essences, essential oils, re- fined oils, aromatics and the rest of them are at the bottom of all the more famous French cosmetics and beauty products—and Americans as well, in great part, because our pro- ducers_still import such raw materials from France, and France means Grasse, so skilled in the distilling of them. Grasse has been doing this since the year 1200 A. D., when, according PLUCKING JASMINE FLOWERS AROUND GRASSE. NINE BILLION A SINGLE YEAR FOR PERFUME MAK! FLOWERS WERE PLI MOONSTONE , BY WILKIE COLLINS. IGH on the forehead of the| four-handed moon god blos- | somed the lovely moonstone, | the forget-me-not of thel Brahmin priests, who guarded it day and night. The moonstone was a huge yellow diamond, with a curse and three Hin- doos tagged on to- it, should any one dare snitch it from its socket. \ But dinky-dinky-dink! It tripped the villains—the conquering Mongols dis- | respectfully operated on the moon god, and the curse started working. As each of the vengeance committee of three pezged out with old age, their descendants took up the sleuth- ing of the moonstone. After genera- tions of murders in different degrees, the moonstone at last opened its vel- Jow eye on a London fog. Col. John Herncastle, prominent in the storm- ing of Seringapatam, returned from India with the sparkier. The colonel disgraced himself with his family—so. 1o get. even with them for handing him refrigerated atmosphere, he died and left the moonstone to his niece, Rachael Verind * * * % ACHAEL was a dainty frail, loved by two of her cousins, Franklin 1 - 2 | to Terrin's “Precis,” all who washed gl Europe had to get their soap from rasse! ! * ok ok %k | TTHE flower harvest lasts nearly the | whole year round. It begins in February with the violet, which lasts until April. Overlapping (this is un- | derstood of all), but chiefty in March {and April. hyacinths. jonquils and} narcissus are plucked. May marks the great activity of roses and foran blossoms, whose harvest term for ihe most pgrt, in ttes and pinks are cut wkle on. The great il near mid-Octo- is picked in Au- mbor. And antity of other flowers cre nandled—some of m famous in scent, like the ver- a. heliotrope and geranium. others S.s un perfumers department stores. One such, illustricus yet humble, must be mentioned—the lavender of the Alps. Old maids, one time, were supposed to love its cool, chaste, severe fragrance. Sunburnt children run beside your e: to sell you dusty. ragged bunches of it. like a SUff weed in the style of heather and in _Alpine villages they ciub to- gether, buy a still and, in the style of homemade “hooch,” produce spirits of lavender which they sell direct to the great houses of Paris and Grasse. It yet nameless in the exception. In and around Grasse 20,000 men. women ard children are busily engaged throughout the year in cultivating, kill- ing and catching the soul of flower They till the soil continually. It must The gathered blos- be soft, rich, moist. soms must be tender nor too old and tough, but in their richest maturity. Of course, it is CKED I ‘education and a flock of outspoken debts; while Godfrey, a tender be- Zonia attired in curly hair and gait- |ers, was chairman of all the idle women’s anti and religious clubs in London. The moonstone was to be presented on Rachael's birthday anniversar. There was a dinner party, and just beforehand Godfrey led Rachael forth to the garden and she shook her head “Very awkward,” muttered Godfre “handing me the huckleberry at a time like this.” At. dinner, Rachael wore the dia- mond, and from the first the curse seemed to be full of pep. All of the guests quarreled. Even, the sweet lit- tle physician, Dr. Candy. lost his temper when Franklin Blake insisted begins in July and throughout | quite important in the blends of high| is the one homemade or rule-of-thumb | neither too young and | ! STERLING HEILIG Visits the Section and Writes of the Floral Glories of Grasse—Where | Billions of Blossoms Are Slaughtered to Make a Small Amount of Extract — The Flower ! Distillery—How Many of the Perfumes Are Made—Extracts Used by the Blenders. i heavy in dew, temperate in rainfall, in | the lower Alpine air, which is like win a privileged land, wonderfully fand yet ( inclemencies by the Aipine screen. Even human beings flourish with the flowers. Queen Victoria, in her old age. learned it in her little pony cart. Rheamatic and respiratory complaints are almost | unknown to the native population, and | official health statistics, just collected ! s in a cup) protected from i give the average human life in France: as thirty-eight years, and in Grasse- . what do you think? Yes, forty-five year: * k k¥ N ATURALLY. you suppose a Garden i 4N of Eden. 1 say that, as the country-i iside for niiles around Grasse is given {to the exclusive cultivation of flowers, | you would suppose the town to float n a poem of pink and white and be | wholesale, big. Shall Grasse compete | ith its great cugtomers? I trow not. Many of the firms of Grasse refuse to sell flower essences retail. Others, like Bruno Court, are willing to oblige tourists. simply.” Some will put you oft with delicious scented soaps. ~In others ladies who have the wit to do it procure orris and vetiver to give fragrance to trunks and linen. These are the grand old flower dis- tillers. The firm of Rouse-Bertrand fils has just celebrated its hundredth “birth- day since reorganization” by giving a banquet and a month's wages to all employes. Half of them have been twenty vears with the third thirty years or more and the remainder are their children, grand children or connections. - A family aftair—with 20,000 francs, special tion of 20.000 francs. to their self- managed pension fund. Here scented soaps were invented. “This town, in the twelfth cen- tugy.” says Térrin in his “Precis de istoire de Provence. laden with Sabean odors from the spicy shore of Araby the Best. And so it is for the one tourist in a hundred who, paying his good | i money for the Grasse excursion, has | the luck to see it. It is a glory in mauve and purple. It is a scege in gold and almond blossoms. But most tourists are buying soap. In the motor-brakes they .rush by, getting glimpses—just brief glimpses —of the 50,000 acres of roses, jon- | quils violets, hyacinths. Then rocks and dusty road again. Also, since the flowers are grown for commerce, | | drilled into lines like turnips, they have not the careloss beauty of flow- | i THE TUBEROSE HARVEST AROUND GRASSE. SIX THOUSAND MEN, WOMEN AND CHILDREN ARE OCCUPIED WITH THIS ONE FLOWER AT A TIME, THE HEIGHT OF ITS PRODUCTION. —_—mm has never yet been extracted from the lilac flower. And there are volatile oils from tuds, green leaves and barks, from roots, seeds and fruit rinds. Combin- ing from such elements—and spices, aromatics—the great perfumers com- pose subtle bouquets as painters paint a picture. It is the most difficult thing imaginable. Each success is worth a fortune, but they may be yvears repeating a success. So much So, that the great houses (some after a_hundred years of effort) average about six perfume speclalties apiece which have a world renown. Luck enters in, as much as genius. Once the formula is found it is a sim- ple question of the best raw’ mate- rials, and simple as the soul of the flower may be, flower essences are overwhelmingly indispensable. Where do the distillers of Grasse come in? They furnish, simply, the kower es- sences. If there be secrets, they are subtly hidden, because visitors are shown freely over the factories. There are queer surprises. * k X * VWITHOUT pig fat—plam lard—there is no jasmine. At Eruno- Courts a ‘particularly " intelli- gent and gracious lady shows the crowds into a hall packed to the cei ing with trays having glass bottoms. These glass bottoms are smeared two they may not use them, some Brit- ishers having decreed it bad taste to smell of anything but castille soap and water. Perfumes are for wom- en. Also, the fine perfumes of mark are expensive. They are stingy, in small bottles, themselves so beauti- ful and fanciful that they cost almost as much as their contents. And here we are at Grasse, the fountainhead of fragrance! Here we'll lay up stocks. The real thing—wholesale. * k ¥ * HERE. tken, there is disappoint- ment. I know of no honester or more skillful firms in the world than that of Rousse-Bertrand or Jean Giraud Fils or Bruno Court. Yet, do you see their names on bottles in the department stores? ‘No, never. What is their business? What is the trade of Grasse? These firms are vastly important. They slaugh- ter a ton of roses to make a quart of concentrated essence of Tose, which they sell for, say. 3.500 francs—one quart! They cultivate, pluck and distill ea ton (1,200 kgs.) of srange flowers to make a quart of peroli, worth up to 1,500 francs. Who buy these terrific_ essences by tha dozens of gallons? Why, the big blending perfumers of Paris, London and New York—they only. 1 know men who walk lonely ! | streets. guiltily sniffing a handker- ers growing at their own sweet will beside a little rill. Sir Frederick Treves says that those who love flowers should (in any case) avoid a perfume factory as they would a slaughterhouse. “For you will see Soft orange blossome 1y- ing dead at the bottom of a pit, sod- |den and mashed; roses being slowly boiled alive and jasmines crushed on the rack.” Sir Frederick is a great authority on the Riviera and has just published & book, but I think that he exagger- tates. The soul, Sir Frederick? What do you make of the soul of the flow- ers? Here it is—in a bottle! Tourists rush through Grasse all day, in “Seeing New York” motor brakes, for $2 the trip, or in your qwn hired limousine for 265 francs. or $20. The chauffeurs do not stop to let you watch the sea or flowers. They have business in the town— you are the -business. {” The auto-brake stops at a scent factory. All pile out with excite- ment, as if the purchase of perfumes was the sole business of life. and scented soap the bread of the same. | Ninety-nine tourists out of a hun- dred do not get beyond the factory. which. they seem to regard as | sogt of ehrine. Sir Frederick call 1it the triumph of soap over sentl- ment; but there is a reason for it, hidden from his nice discretion. There is sentiment. The senti- ment of perfumes! Men get more wildly cxcited at Grasse than Women. i 1 | white ION JASMINE %y to understand. All men |chief soaked in “L'Heure Bleu” or el 18” ensv; toliunderatand AL men | CR e O euns s Buten raiIvou | o i(Riee inctiea (Blck Bwith S e, this—he will not go sniffing tube- | “Smell it!” says Mme. Gavary, but you swoon before she says it, overcome by swegtness of delicious jasmine. Each morning new flowers are pack- ed on the cold grease,” she tells. “The grease absorbs the perfume. Each morning it is repeated, the dead flow- ers being rejected”—their soul is in the cold lard. Two months it is con- tinued until the same lard, in the same tray, is just foaded with the soul of tne jasmine. Then, treated with alcohol, “the soul goes to the bottle. There is the *“cold process” and the “hot process,”. there is boiling and distilling. And flowers come by bil- lions to it! Here are, just raw materials, the best, the parest. For the rose, Bul- garia_has been a strong competitor Fut Grasse specializes in all the flow {ers except the orientals, like Ylang- | Ylang (Cananga). Their sales are rose, pink, minosa or any other sim- ply “flower soul” for any length of time. Here is the disillusion. Simple flower perfumes pall. Let him try it, and he will soon discover that A primrose by the river's brim, A yellow primrose is to his And it is nothing more. * “Quelques Fleurs” is more than | “a few flowers,” and Guerlain has been seeking for Years a second +Jicky” combination—which is made Jhormously of aromat Even jasmine tires! Ambergri called “the perfumer's talisman’ is the product of a whale. Musk is the contribution of the Himalaya he-deer. is from the wildcat of North al perfumes furnish not only fraudulent imitations. but precious “colors” for the perfume tist's pallet. For example, lilac " AROUND THE CITY So poor Jemmy Grove turned over second housemaid, Rosanna Spear- man, who hailed from u reformatory, who kept dodging around like a cat shot with tacks. The sergeant gave -up the job. Rachael slipped Franklin a few harsh words, and he left for the con- tinent. Godfrey returned to lecture to his Ladies’ Club in London. R: chael being ill, Dr. Candy was sent for, but the doctor himself was very ill with brain fever and couldn’'t come. Kosanna Spearman took a dive in a bed of quicksand, and refused to leave a forwarding address. Rachael's mother took Rachael to London. e managed to sec Rachael, and she 1 indignantly: You poor hungry-éyed, long-eared. debt-ridden cootic! 1 saw you when ou copped them jewel. Then to try to kid me that way! Back to the woods went Franklin. He met a snow-bird, Dr. Jennings. assisgant to Dr. Capdy. who told him that Dr. Candy Had been off his ker-zip since Rachael's dinner, and had been talking in his sleep about a shot in the arm hc “ucked into Franklin at dinner. To prove his theory, Dr. Jennings coped up on e [ that though he didn't sleep well, laudanum wouldn’'t help him sleep. | The butler quietly removed the! knives from the table strum of an Indian kettle drum. The guests poured out to see three Hin- doo jugglers performing tricks. The next morning the diamond was gone \ext in the horror-scope came the police. The lc gummed things up for fair, so Sergt. Cuff. a specialist from London, was sent for. The first thing that he glued his eagle eye on was a splotch of smeared paint on R ael's sitting-room door. Who got the diamond? There was the lily pure Godfrey. kist by the morning dew, anxious to show his wardrobe against telitale | paint smears. Franklin Blake, right- hand m. to Sergt. Cuff, was eager to do anything to help locate the un- Incky stone. Rachael alonme refused Blake and Godfrer Ablewhite, Frank- lin was a lady-killer, with a foreign {10 ha her_lingerie handled a policeman. Then, too, there wids a uddenly from the terrace came the | One day a few weeks after Mr. Septimus” Luker, a three-ball baron. with a non-inquiring nature, made a deposit of a valuable package at the bank. Almost simultaneously, both Mr. Luke and Godfrey Ablewhite were jiu-jitsued and raffled by three dusky gentlemen from India. Godfrey slipped Rachael another chance to call him her own, and to his surprise she took it. * ¥ ¥ ¥ WRANKLIN BLAKE'S father and he returned to England. died, He went to call on Rachdel, but she wouldn't see him. He went back to the country house, to try his luck | once again at locating the moonstone, thinking maybe that had something to do with Kachael's nasty disposi- tion. He was handed a note written to Rosanna' Spearman just before she kicked the bucket, telling him to dig up a certain spot and he would find the shimmy shirt with the paint spot on it that Sergt. Cuff had been sleuth- ing for. He dug, he found. he beheld —his own night shirt! Smeared with paint. (Moral, he should have worn pajamas). CUFF, AT num-:‘o.\ THE JOB ONCE AGAIN, REMOVER HIS DISGUL - HILANDA has found another friend—a real lavender and old lace lady—if one may, Cuvier- like, build up a personality om a note that goes partly like this: “I can’t put in written words the | curitously happy thrill it gave me to | ‘meet’ Philander, radiantly risen from the decades 1 have heaped on his| | youthful head. Your comradc ‘over Yonder’ was right as far as she went, morphine, and made Franklin sniff a little more snow. With Rachael and plenty of other witnesses, Franklin performed a stunning Lady Macbeth, heading straight for the place where the moonstone had been. But he didn't show them what he did with the moonstone. - It didn’t matter much. Shortly after. a sailor who received a pack- age from Mr. Septimus Lucker was smothered with a pillow and three Tndians left England forever. Sergt. Cuff, at_home on the job once again, and died, and next day while the cruel one was crossing a field she heard the death knell toll and— e turned her body round about, And spied the corpse a-comin’;" "La_v‘d:;wn, lay down the dead,” she cried, “That I may look upon him."” So she looked. and the sight &l her dead love gave her such a remorse that she went home and wailed out to her poor ma, who must have had a | tr removed his disguise and the curly L 5 hard time with Barbara, going and T of Godtrey oh-so-pare emersed, | but 1 am one line ahead of her. A8 1| coming: P o o e merBed. | recall the old song, it started like [ “wqh. mother, mother. make my bed” \:nm:ph(xlyfm bat, hhad ;Ssn:lr.lh(h; stone | this ome, Philanders, let's be a —li_l'nd Mr: knows the rest. o Godfrey, who said “Thank you," : > by i There was something highly satis- and hocked it to Mr. Luker. marching. Every one for his true| . forC o0 SO we: they were s love a sarching. My generation has left me like that last rose we used to sing about and I am pining alone on myestem—which sounds quite senti- mental, but is sadly true. I cannot tell you how my heart hungers some- times for the old-time songs—many of them beautiful and all of them dear. 1 mind me of one that my nurse used to sing to me, that went like this: ‘Mother, mother, make my bed, and make it long and narrow. My true love died for me today, I'll die for him tomorrow." I wonder if you or one of the dear neighbors could tell me what it means—or, if not that, it you will kindly print a snatch or two of some beloved old ditties, I am sure it would please other last roses as well as your very sincere friend. ‘MRS. M. G.”" This plea was submitted to a mem- ber of the Once-on-a-Time Club, whose memory is as full of melodies as a musie box; echo melodies from the parlor, the nursery, the kitchen and the fields. “Why, she means Barbara Allen. I'll sing it for vou: “In scarlet town, where I was born, There was a fair maid dwelli And all the boys were struck with love— Her name was Barbara Allen. Needless to add. Franklin were married. Back in India the Moon God, re- splendent once more with the dia- mond in his bean. wore a snicker on his face that seemed to & guess that'll settle their hash for a while! I've been eight cen- turies getting even, but time is noth- ing in my young life. I'm a double- dyed, tack-eating, four-handed tough guy! Better lay offt my Moonstone, full of plot as a dime novel—and, hav- ing had their dramatic day, both went out into that night we know as ob- livion. And’ that would be all, except that when you start a “once-on-a-timer.” on the old song trail, you need 1eld to make her stop—and, anyhow, as it will please our lavender and lace lady, 2nd as Euddah once told the bird in the Bo tree that a small kind- ness is greater than mountains— here goes: “In the old days—don't demand dates—the summer house in the gar- den was a romantic institution, and young ladies (women hadn't arrived) entertained their callers on twilight balconies and front porches. And as the stars came out some one would start 'tn sing, ‘Soft O'er the Fountain,’ and always there would be some other one to lcad out with ‘Ever of Thee T am Fondly Dreaming.’ And an even- ing concert could never get along without ‘Oh, Sweet is the Vale Where the Mohawk Gently Glides,’ and may- be some sentimehtal young baritone would slip into the dark parlor, strike a few low. impassioned chords in G major, and sing: 'We met, twas in a crowd, And I thought he would shun me.” he knew every word of the fool- sh old thing. and when she had fin- shed she went through ‘Mary of the Wild Moor.’ and after that, ‘The Cot- tage by the Sea,’ and that choice lyric about ‘the old miller who lived over the Dee. “And, best of all; I remember Jane, with her golden skin and her golden voice, who had been a slave, and how she would let out that magnificent contralto of hers in ‘Roll on, silver i moon. guide the traveler on his way' and ‘I'll hang my harp on the willow tree and off to the wars again.' I've heard every great contralto from Anna Louise Carey to date, and there has never been one of them that could hold a candle to Jane.” And that ended the concert, because the once-on-a-timer was weeping over a slave girl. who had gone, before “If on your deathbed you do lie, most of us had come on earth. ‘What needs the tale a-tellin’ ? Aren't women the’ curious things? 1 cannot keep you from your death.| Especially old-maidy ones. Farewell,” cried Barbara Allen. NANNIE LANCASTER. Rachael and One of the youngsters was Jemmy Grove, who sent Barbara word that death was printed on his face and please wouldn't she come and see him die for her, So she went, and here's hat happened: He turned his face unto her straight, With deadly sorrow sighin’, Oh, beauteous maid come pity me, 'm on my deathbed lyin'." E of His B house: one- | dded to the firm's annual contribu- | 'supplied the ' whole of France, Italy and Spain | with its famous leather, soap and | 0il skillfully purified.” 1In_ another place ne goes further and afirms that “the whole of Europe obtained its soap from Grasse.” In the twelfth century it was a little republic. allied to Pisa for mu- tual protection. Wars raged. remained unmoved. Gras on. from her heights, raised hands of holy horror and went on with its soap making. was making perfumes long before distilled alcohol had come. in use. They still make and sell *jbso- lute perfumes without alcohol.” Never quarrelsome or ambijious, Grasse comes down in history uniqu 11y concerned with the purit its oils and the sweetness o scents. The house still stands whengy in 0, lived Doria de Roberti, who was both physician to the king and e~ fumer to the queen How forgetful is the world! 1t % called “the house of the oldest knows perfumer!” of Ring Lardner Writes irthday Party O the editor: Letters has been recd. from hundreds of read- ers asking how did I celebrate my birthday and why wasn't they something about it In the =o- ciety col. Well friends so many folks has been getting their name In the society page that didn’t belong there that the papers made up their mind to draw the.line somewhere 80 they past a rule to not print nobody’'s name that is still liveing with their first wife. . But on acct. of the mnation wide interest in the subject and to repay in a measure the kindness of my family and friends maybe it would not be out of place for me to pub- lish a report of the occasion which will long be remembered as one of the biggest flascos in the annuals of N. Y. society. . But first let me take this occasion to publicly thank my family and friends for remembering me and what they done towards giveing me a grand good time as well as the many valu- able gifts which I am afraid they || could ill afford though perhaps they are better off than a person would think to look at tHem. * % ¥ x V ELL in the first place there was a celebration at the Fiome and it was a Sunday and 1 got up late and come down to breakfast and they was a chair covered with presents from my kiddies who couldn't hardly wait for me to open up so as they could see what they was. Well they wasa can of tobacco and a box of stationery both charged at the drug store and they was a book that 1 forget the name of it. but it's @ mystery story and the mystery is how it got printed. They was also a sweater from the Mrs. and I may as well explain that we only been married 10 yrs: so she probably ain’t hardly had time yet to find out that I ali ready got 3 of them. “WHEN YOUR HUSBAND'S $15 LOSER, IT'S TIME TO GO HOME.” something. And a artist name Pres- ton give me a original drawing that was worth rcal money,- which he waited till later in the eyening be- fore he took it with a couple of full houses. Other gifts was a cigarette holder pretty near like new and a copy of the golf rules for 1916, which is just as good as any as far as I'm concerned, and all and all, when I seen what my friends had spent on me I couldn’t hardly help from yaw- ing and felt like I shouldn’t ought to take all these gifts, a specially the ones from ladies that wasn't my wife, and I got to feeling so miserable over it that I throwed somfe of them out the fliver window on the way home. But the costly gifts was just a drop ‘Well instead of the regular Sun- day dinner of chicken and ice cream and cake we also had a few candles which they made the kiddies blow | | in the bucket along side the 5 course birthday supper which we eat off our laps on acct. of the host and hostess never dreaming when they T S NS IS “THEY WAS A CHAIR COVERED WITH PRESENTS FROM MY KIDDIES.” out as soon as they was lit because you got to be careful of your candles when you live in a place where the electric light goes out every time the paper says cloudy tomorrow. But the big party come off at night in N. Y. city. This was give in my honor at some friends of mine and when we entered the apt. all the merry makers was there and the lounge was a_litter of presents and the first one I opemed up was a tie from my boss which didn’t have no card to tell who it was from but I seen him wear it too many times too not know. : G. Rice and R. Goldberg presented me ‘with some handsome golf acces- sorys, and one of the ones Rube give me was what they call a parachute ®olf ball, which is a regular golf ball th a pardchute tied to it and the directions says its “for practicing driving and all _other strokes in a limited area. The parachute pre- vents the ball from traveling very far” Which I suppose the theory is 0. K., but I can get the same results without no parachute. Mr. Rice give me a split midiron and a golf bag that you can put clubs of any length in it because they's no bottom. and he also give me a dozen golf balls that 1 washed them up the next day with soap and water and 2 of them turned pretty near white. MN[INE hostess give me a kind of <¥Ll a patent lighter that you fill it with kerosene and use it to start a fire in the fireplace instead of kin- dling wood. Most of these here pat- ents is no good and I ain’t tried this one yet, but if it don’t work it cer- tainly won't be from lack of, ex- perience.” Another of the fajr ladies give me & eléctric ‘flash light to use when they was tire trouble at night. or P4 * * ¥ *x \ ! i ! bought their dining rm. furniture that they would ever live anywheres bigger than Nashville. The piece of most resistance was a Virginia ham that friends had sent them, and the hostess said she had showed it to her butcher and he said it was worth $22, but he was stocked up with ham so we had it and it made 4 courses and the 5th course was individual birthday cakes which I eat one of them, but the other guests just tasted theirs and said they would save the rest till their birthday. * k¥ % FTER supper, they was a cholce of minoru or deuces wild and they made me play in the deuces wild because they seen me win once at minoru and they kept the jazz turned on and if a person wasn't interested in their hand they could get up and dance and the only hand I got ail evening was 4 deuces and a ace and it come when I and my brother was the only ones not dancing. * Well, the Mrs. finely come up and says it was time to go home, and I know without counting my chip that 1 was $15 loser as she is a stickler for the conventions one of which is that when your husband’s $15 loser its time to go home. So everybody says manny happy returns and we started home and was all most there when a tire blowed out and the Mrs. says here is a chance to use your new flash light, so 1 got out and pointed it at the tire, but it looked even flatter than without no flash light. That is how I spent my birthday and 1 won't have no more of them for pretty near a yr. But I suppose its like makeing a hole in 2 or being a honorary pall bearer and if it hap- pened ofténer a persom wouldn't en- joy it 3 as much. o RING 'W. DNER. - Great Neck,. April 15.