THE FOLLY OF DELAY.

Golden Bay Argus, Volume VII, Issue 66, 5 September 1901, Page 2

THE FOLLY OF DELAY.

Most people do not know that New York furnishes about two-thirds of the roses of the United States. One New York man learned this last winter to his sorrow. Ho lost a bet of a rose and delayed paying it. “ Do you think I’m going to pay a dollar and fifty cents for a rose?” ho asked. “ Well, I’m not. What do you think I’m made of, money? Wait until we go down to .Florida and I'll pay the bet. I can just pick ’em off the bushes down there, they tell me. Have a little patience ami I’ll pay you with three American beauties. I guess they won’t cost me more than a quarter,” he added with a chuckle. The woman waited very amiably until they met in Jacksonville. “ Now, I want my rose,” she said, with a little more emphasis on each succeeding word, that conveyed the impression that she not only wanted it, but would have it. “ And you shall have it,” he replied, with a generous smile. “ Here’s a flower store. Step right in and pick out any one you want.” “This will do nicely,” she said, suavely, picking out one with an e> ra 'ong stem and' beaming on her victim. “ How much? ” he asked the girl behind* the counter, pulling out a few small coins from his pocket. “ That is worth two dollars and 50 cents, sir, she answered glibly. “It came all the way from New York in a refrigerator car.” “Great heaven! Duped! Bobbed! Buncoed! Sandbagged at last!” exclaimed the man. “ Who would have thought it? Twofifty in long-green for a single rose down here in the land of flowers! Why I should have saved a dollar by buying the rose in New York.” And he was right. Itoses never go higher than two dollars and 50 cents in New York city, and that is considered a very fancy price.