Mansfield mirror. (Mansfield, Wright County, Mo.) 1908-1957, 1913-06-26
PAYS TO Be GOOD
One Was Pretty Bad, but the
Other Was Good Enough
for Both.
BY JOANNA SINGLE.

'fN' ~
ing. He liked the Golden Rule. II
his girl was off in the country and in
process of what Richards graphically
called acting Up" with a chap like
Eaton. he would thank any friend for
putting him wise. Richards was al
ways more brief than elegant.
Therefore in the stuffy little coun.
try postoffice he pushed his hat back
from his plump. perspiring counte-
nance and with his tongue slightly
protruding to help him along, he PEN
ned the following letter shutting his
ears to all June outside. He wrote
thus:
Dear Fred:-
You must have gone Off your nut
to stick there making a little more
beastly cash on this first day Of June!
What's the use Of making money
to get married on and meanwhile let
ting the other fellow get the girl? AS
l understand it, you aren't any too
solid with Rose. +" It's nothing to me,
of course, but In that case why allow
W AhohC Z hColt blo" ioLu
er of that chump. Eaton? He's here
and right On the Job. and owes you
no good will, besides being dead crazy
after her from the start. Come out
of it and look after your own inter-
ests. This is my first and last boiler
on the subject.
Il might add, II it's necessary, that
she looks like a wild posy. Her moth
err doesn't object to Eaton's filthy
lucre, neither does Rose dislike his
motor and his boat. being a human
girl. The moonlight on the lake is
glorious. stayed with her last night
till she hated me, and l want to do
some fussing on my own account in.
stead Of looking after your property.
IL | wasn't SO fat Id take her away
from you myself.
"Rosie's mother is certainly the
ideal country hostess and l must say
l like early June, better than late
September for an outing. It's great.
after toiling on a city newspaper all
winter. | feel like a colt turned out
to PASTURE want to kick conven-
tons and society and all law to pieces
but l don't. 1t pays to be good.
But not 90 good-to a girl. II you
are, she marries somebody else.
Elsie Ragan Is coming out tomor-
row. She doesn't mind my figure and
laughs at my jokes. Come on out
Saturday and let the office 60 to
thunder. Note my reserve!
Yours.
"DICKY."
"P. S.-Dude all up in your white
fiannels when you come. d.
"P. s. again.-While l think of 1t.
who knows much about Eaton, save
that he comes from out west?
Where'd he get his money. and who
the Sam Patch is he. anyhow? D."
Fred Knowlton read the letter with
a puzzled frown. His work needed
him-and apparently Miss Rose Carey
thought she didn't. He called himself
a foo! for being bound to a girl who
would as yet give him but a half.prom-
Use. She said she was not sure OF
herself, which might mean that she
was too sure Of him, and willing to
have another free summer. The en-.
gagged girl is more or less under sur
VIGILANCE, bound by a thousand ham
pering little conventions. Had Rose
been openly betrothed to Frederic she
could not have motored about with
this new breezy young westerner. thus
waking envy in various female
bosoms. Dicky was right in calling
her a human girl.
AS that gentleman left the %postoffice
he saw her whizzing by with Eaton.
her hair a golden cloud in the sun and
wind. He gave another good wish to
his friend Fred. and went his fat and
happy way to the lake for a swim.
Sweltering in town, for the summer
was hot unseasonably early, Fred
Knowlton went on thinking and frown-
ing and working. He was not sure
about Richards advice. And as he
thought, his anger rose. steadily but
surely. Rose wanted him, or she
didn't. He didn't know that he cared
to make the girl he loved the bone of
a more or less savage contention with
Eaton or anyone else. Her apparent
faithlessness ranked and hurt. But
he stuck to his desk another week.
One evening he sat at his window
and looked out on the hot street and
remembered how a month ago on a
soft May night he had walked with
Rose Carey and told her all his heart.
She had half yielded. she did care.
but she was not sure she-wanted t o
be-married just yet. And she did
not love anybody else, oh. no! And
finally she let him have one small but
rapturous kiss. and consented to wear
the little old silver ring that was his
mothers. But-they weren't exactly
engaged-not quite. He had told her
that he was engaged to her, anyway,
and that he would wait for her to
know her own mind. After that Eaton
had come out to see the Calls, and
had stayed, and stayed, and finally
sen for his a and motor-boat and
all the rest. From the first he had
devoted himself to Rose.
Still Frederic s%tubbornly I aved IN