Mineral Point tribune. (Mineral Point, Wis.) 1869-1938, 1918-04-04
Caroline
Thinks 1t Out
"a"
By Mona Cowles
Copyright, 1918. by the Mcclure Newspa-
per Syndicate)

''To get up in the morning and make
your own coffee and boil your own
egg and make toast for yourself Is all
very we'll 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. Il
don't in the least mad living here in
this two-room apartment now ana
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 dejecteaiy ut 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
sight"
"Of course. I'm right" she agreed
at twenty | might have been foolish
and romantic. Then ! might have sup
posed that / 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.
"Wlth an occasional picture | could
sell that would come to no more than
forty-five hundred She sighed and
shook her head.
I'm sorry, Horace, but it can't be
done. I've seen other girls try to do 1t
und--weIl, perhaps they are happy
but we couldn't live the way we do.
You wouldn't want to try. 1t would
mean living I'm suburb somewhere
with an incoInpetens maid and wear
ing ready-made clothes-yes, | know
young At thirty / would look Il mess
I'm ready-mnde 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'ye had rather good fun that
way, haven't weY Horace murmured.
YES Horace dear, but doing it now
is one thing and doing II then is quite
another matter. You'll thank me some
tune for the stand | am taking"
''Then-you mean you won't marry
me?"
"Not In the least | simply mean
that | can't marry you till our income
Is doubled Mt least I"
Horace took out an envelope and
pencil from his pocket and began to
figure.
mine thOusand--that means that |
must have about seventy-fve hundred"
"I'lI relent little" smiled Caroline.
I'm marry you when you are making
six thousand You can work up to
that"
1T may take five years" sighed the
unhappy suitor.
"What il It does2 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
a think see your point of view"
And SO It was settled and Horace
and Caroline began their long engage
ment There were never any quarres
Caroline was too sensible for that
and never once ala she weaken from
her wise decision that to make toast
for yourself was one thing but TO have
10 do IL for two was another. Even
In his most impatient moods Horace
had TO admire the lofty ideal that
Caroline maintained toward marriage.
Ii was something that had TO be under
taken on dignihed, rather grand scale
or not az all.
And a dry 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 hiring
him the coveted six-thousand dollar
income. 1t did not seem then that
there would be long TO wait, for al
ready he hud reached the fifty-fiy hun
drcd mark ana he had saved enough
TO make possible the prospects OF
starting In life with IA rather more pre-
tentious abode than the suburban cot
tagc that Caroline had held In such
contempt,
Caroline worked ut her drawing
board as patiently ana eagerly as ever
and her ability MS an illustrator had
not become impaired but owing 10 war
conditions as the editors told her there
was less demuHd tor her particular
Kind of talent than In Years gone by.
When she I'D get au order il meant
n smaller check than formerly She
did not finch at the economies this
neccssitated Single poverty was one
thing, she insisted, and married pow
erty another
Then a day or SO ago Horace came
20 spend his usual Sunday afternoon
with her but instead Of hurrylng UP the
two flights Of stairs to her apartment
when he reached the house where she
IiyN1 In 1pfpSttar Sa3afpupcS H., haSi-