, 1918-05-16
Patricia's
Patriotism
IN
By OSBORN JAMES
By OSBORN JAMES
Copyright, 1918, by the Mcclure Newspa-
per Syndicate.)

When Miss Lollabelle Perry made
up her mint hat 1t was a higher duty
for her to give her services as house
mother to a camp of young women
volunteer farmers for the summer than
to stay home and keep house for her
brother, Taylor Perry, she had felt no
small feeling of pity for that same
brother of hers.
81 know it will be hard for you" she
said, but you must remember that in
letting me GO you are doing just as
much of a patriotic act as 1 am in
going. Dinah will be here, of course
and you know she never goes out ex-
cept to come back to get dinner. You
poor lamb" added the sister, standing
behind her brother as he sat in his
favorite chair in the living room of
their suburban home, "you poor old
dear-I just hate to go away and leave
you. 1 know how forlorn you will be-"
Taylor sighed deeply and eradicated
the usual smile from his genial face.
1T will be tough, Lollabelle, but If it is
your duty, then I suppose you must
go" and as his sister hustled out of the
room to go about the work of packing
her trunks for the great event-for
Lollabelle had never before in the five
years that she had been keeping house
for her bachelor brother, gone away
from home o more than a weekend
at a time-Taylor's smile returned and,
laying down the paper which he had
been reading, he fell into a pleasant
train of thought. He was planning
several little stag parties. Dinah's
southern cooking was worth asking a
few of his friends out into the suburbs
to enjoy. With L%ollabelle home these
stag parties were out of the question,
for the good elder sister could not
conceive of young men-for her thirty
flve-year-Old brother was to her still u
lad-having a good time without girls
to dance with, and whenever he had in
the past attempted to have his friends
out for q weekend or a holiday she
always managed to gather together
some of the girls of the neighborhood
to giggle and dance and sing and in
vite mild filtration from his guests.
Now he would be able to be in a bache-
lor's paradise. He could also come to
uIlHtT WuIu cNCllusS III lie ShlIL
sleeves and smoke his pipe all over
the house. He was really quite re-
signed to Lollabelle's decision.
So Lollabelle went and Taylor and
nice brown-skinned old Dinah were
left in command, and Dinah used to
stand and chuckle at the side of the
table as Taylor ate thick porterhouse
steaks, luscious roast pork and rich
cream pies such as only Dinah could
make. The fact that the butchers
bills were considerably higher than
when Lollabelle was home and that
Dinah managed to consume twice as
much cream and eggs in her cookery
now as when Lollabelle was home did
not distress Taylor. For the sake Of
such freedom he was willing to pay
large bills.
The first stag party was a glorious
success as far as the refreshments
went. There was juicy roast pork for
Saturday dinner, with some of Dinah's
light, white rolls and a cream pie, and
for Sunday there was an enormous
ham such as only Dinah knew how to
cook. Monday morning there were
more of Dinah's rolls, and on Tuesday
the guests all persuaded them
selves they could stay till Wednesday
were broiled ham for break
fast, lamb chops for luncheon and a
o beef for dinner.
"None Of your poor folks make
believe meat-all stopped together out
of nuts and beans and things" COM
mented Dinah to herself, as h sur
veyed the larder with satisfaction, for
indeed the menus that she u been
permitted to plan were to her what a
gentleman's mem sought to be. And
Mr.. Taylor Perry and his guests en-
tirely agreed with her. However, as
such things sometimes happen, the
two guests were not so entirely con-
tent to be in u bachelor paradise as
he had thought they would be. One
of them had become unexpectedly en-
gagged and hence his mind seemed to
wander and his heart was absent at
times, and the other guest had recently
gone in for dancing and actually asked
Taylor whether he couldn't rake up
pretty girls. So Taylor reluc-
telephoned to his %nelghbor, Pa
Keen, whom Lollabelle usually
asked to attend such weekend parties,
and asked her If her mother would
her and two other young
fof the evening at his house.
"And bring some fox-trot records with
you," he asked. "One of the men here
is a dance fan. Thanks, awfully."
That night-it was Monday night
Dinah had ready a fiaky, snow-white
coconut cake which she served as
refreshments in the evening with a
frozen concoction made from undiluted
cream.