The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1914-12-07
The Euening Story
Sweets-and Suzanne!
(By Dorothy Douglas

:
SweetS-and Suzanne!
(By Dorothy Douglas.)
Suzane. enveIOped in an apron.
stood over the gas range stirring
fudge. 1T seems such an odd thing
to send to the army" she said to her
mother.
Chocolate is very nourishing and
sustaining, DEAR" replied Mrs. Adams.
THE boys can carry it along with
them on a march and, when they feel
! hungry or fatigued, eat a piece with
out stopping. Don't you see?''
| Susanna nodded. "Oh, I'm more
than willing to make it. and since the
call for 1t has been sent out I'm sure
it is required; but it seemed an odd
thing. at first. to be making for SOL
| der boys
"And yet more adapted to your par
ticular talents than the knitting Of
socks or making of nightshirts.' Mrs.
Adams added. wisely.
/; Suzanne laughed, a merry, ripping
laugh that would have been as much
the long march as a bit of fudge
could they have heard it. fright, oh,
mother" she said. slangily.
| And then she went on with her
candy making, thinking and wonder
ing as she stirred where and by whom
it would be eaten. Girl-like she wove
romances about it, and as she sat In
the window Judging" it after 1t had
cooked for the required number of
moments she began to see more of ro-
nance than practical good in it..
Finally it was Judged" to the
proper consistency and she spread it
on a flat dish, smoothing it with her
spoon as it fell. rather reluctantly.
from the pan. Good fudge always
leaves the pan reluctantly. This is
one Of the tests of its having been
| Judged" sufficiently.
Il wonder If any of the boys
will get whole box. by any chance,
she said to herself. I-wonder"
away on the ice, and in ten minutes
she took it off and began to mark it
! off in generous squares. 1t was then
that she put into action the little idea
that had budded in the brain as she
stood making tie candy. She traced
her name on the flat surface of the
candy SO that it looked like puzzle
when marked into squares She
carved her name and the village In
which she lived very plainly and then
she placed the dish back on the ice.
1t took Suzanne some time to find
a box in which she could lay the
cake of fudge flat. for 1t was large
cake. She did not want to spoil the
design she had made SO carefully.
Her cheeks were glowing with the
Thought of romance as she tied it up
and addressed it to the woman who
was looking after the sending of
sweets to the troops at war.
Not a day passed in which she did
not think of tie silly thing she h
done, and yet even at the end of the
month she hoped that she might hear
from her candy some way-somehoW.
When a trainload of wounded SOL
der boys arrived at the big city. OF
which her home was a suburb, Suz-
anne was anxious to join the volun-
iteer workers who were to care for the
soldier ladies.
II am not a trained nurse, but ]
could help" she told her mother.
"All right. DEAR" her mother said
1T is noble work and you have
my permission to $3.50 long as you
go chaperoned by Mrs. Greene"
Mre Greene was a matron of the
Icommupfty who was going to nelr
with the nursing of boys who had
been brought home, and she had Of
fered to take Suzanne with her.
| 1t fell to Suzanne's lot to be sent
to the home of a soldier boy whose
mother was an invalid At his home
she was to assist in taking care OF
him, and from the young man she
learned much of the life of soldiers
in battle.
But we had much to be thankful
for" the wounded soldier told heI
lone day when she sat by his invalid
chair which was drawn out on to the
sunny porch beside that of his mother
1--WE had wonderful Red Cross serv-
lice We were not left to suffer on the
field but were given the best and
uuickest of attention at all times and
sent home to mend up. And here
he smiled into the girls yes-'you
lean see for yourself what we have
when we get home, the flower of the
land to care for us. Isn't this SO
mother"
The mother nodded and tears
. stood in her eyes. You have. indeed
my boy, the flower of the land she
added.
Suzanne hung her head, tears
! binding her for a moment. 1t waf
difficult to realize that such trifles as
it had been her good fortune to be
able to do could be SO deeply appre-
ciated.
And the good people all over the
country even saw to it that we had
candy = chocolate sweets ouI
marches. 1t was greaty' the boy said
"Did-did you have any fudge -
Suzanne asked timidly.
i Fudge? The best ever and one 81