The Mount Holly news. [volume] (Mount Holly, Burlington Co., N.J.) 1891-1942, 1918-03-12
Caroline
Thinks 1t Out
o<D
By Mona Cowles
Copyright. 1918. by the Mcclure Newspa-
per Syndicatel

ss$sssssssssssssss<sessessssSA
/ copyright. 1918. by the Mcclure Newspa-
per Syndicate.)
ITO get up in the morning and make
your own coffee and boil your own
egg and make toast for yourself is all
very well and good for a girl when
she Is single, but to have to do that
sort Of thing is quite different when
one is married." Caroline had said
with very definite air five years ago
on the memorable afternoon when
Horace Blair had proposed to her. II
don't In the least mind living here in
this two-rOom apartment now and I
suppose you are quite comfortable in
the boarding house, but to have to live
In three or four rooms or to have to
, go to boarding after we are married
would be really quite impossible"
Horace fondled the hand he held and
looked dejectedly at the graceful finger
that Caroline had just permitted him
to measure for the engagement ring.
"You are very sensible girl, Car
oline," he said, "and suppose you are
right"
"Of course, I'm right" she agreed.
"At twenty l might have been foolish
and romantic. Then I might have sup
posed that l could be happy and make
you happy on my Observation-Disclosures
year income and your salary of three
thousand"
Twenty-eight hundred" Horace
corrected with a sigh.
with an occasional picture could
sell that would come to no more than
forty-1ve hundred" She sighed and
shook her head.
I'm sorry, Horace, but 1t can't be
done. I've seen other girls try to do it
and-well, perhaps they are happy
but we couldn't live the way we do.
You wouldn't want to try. 1t would
mean living In a suburb somewhere
with an incompetent maid and wear
ing ready-made clothes-yes, I know
l have to now, but won't always be
young. At thirty would look a mess
in a ready-made suit-and we would
have to keep eternally counting the
money, and If we went to the theater
we'd have to sit in the gallery"
"We've had rather good fun that
way, haven't we2' Horace murmured.
Eyes, Horace dear, but doing 1t now
is one thing and doing 1t then is quite
another matter. You'll thank me some
time for the stand am taking"
'Then-you mean you won't marry
mel"
mot in the least. I simply mean
that can't marry you till our income
is doubled at leastw
Horace took out an envelope and
pencil from his pocket and began to
figure.
mine thousand-that means that I
must have about seventy-f1ve hundred"
I'll relent little" smiled Caroline.
"Tll marry you when you are making
six thousand. You can work up to
that"
ut may take five years." sighed the
unhappy sutton.
"What If it does? We love each
other, and we can go on quite nicely
this way. You know marriage isn't
something to be entered into emotion
ally"
you are very sensible girl" said
Horace accepting his sentence grimly.
Il think see your point Of view."
And so 1t was settled and Horace
and Caroline began their long engage
ment. There were never any quarrels
Caroline was too sensible for that
and never once did she weaken from
her wise decision that to make toast
for yourself was one thing, but to have
to do 1t for two was another. Even
In his most impatient moods Horace
had to admire the lofty ideal that
Caroline maintained toward marriage.
1t was something that had to be under
taken on a dignified, rather grand scale
or not at all.
And day or so ago Caroline was
still making her own toast and draw
ing an occasional picture that sold,
quite content on her small income and
Horace was working on patiently with
the concern with which he had begun
ten years ago, grimly waiting for an
other chance ahead that would bring
him the coveted six-thousand dollar
income. 1t did not seem then that
there would be long to wait, for al
ready he had reached the fifty-fye hun
dred mark and he had saved enough
to make possible the prospects of
starting in life with q rather more pre-
tentious abode than the suburban cot
tage that Caroline had held In such
contempt.
board as patiently and eagerly as ever
and her ability as an illustrator had
not become impaired but owing to war
conditions, as the editors told her, there
was less demand for her particular
kind of talent than in years gone by.
When she did get an order 1t meant
a smaller check than formerly. She
did not finch at the economies this
necessitated. Single poverty was one
thing, she insisted, and married pow
erty another.
Then a day or so ago Horace came
to spend his usual Sunday afternoon
with her but instead of hurrying up the
two flights of stairs to her apartment
when he reached the house where she
lived in spinster sedateness, he hesi-
tated and then walked dejectedly
around the block. Again he started to
enter and with heavy sigh retracted
his steps around the block. 1t took
considerable courage finally for him to
ascend the steps he had trod so many
times and to give his accustomed
knock at her door.
So well did Caroline know his every
expression that 1t was In vain that he
attempted to dissemble his depression.
'rll have to tell you some time" he
began, when he had settled back In his
favorite wicker chair with Caroline sit
ting opposite to him by the window.
eff ever a man had reason to be dis
couraged I'm that man-after five
years. Oh, Caroline, it is too cruel of
fate" He buried his head in his
hands, and If he had been anything
but the every inch American man that
he was he would have shed tear or
two.
Caroline was not the young woman
to put caressing arms about his neck
and assure him that everything was
lovely whether it was or not. and Hor-
ace liked her better because she was
not. She simply waited for him to tell
the rest Of the story.
81 have to tell you, Caroline" he
said, because I know you will feel
the blow almost as much as do.
am sure of your love; If 1 weren't,
couldn't endure this terrible calamity.
I'm sure you'll wait-perhaps five