Ellsworth American. [volume] (Ellsworth, Me.) 1855-current, 1918-03-13

:
in the service commented Mrs. Dean
from her citldel behind the coffee urn
at the head Of the long clearinghouse
table. She nodded in the direction OF
the newest and quietest of the young
women who teuanted her rooms and
partook of the bounty of her plate and
then looked up TO Mrs. Dean with the
suspicion of blush-en her face.
'Didn't your she said and then the
other boarders whose noses We're not
buried In their morning papers looked
back at Mrs. Dean to see how she
would take Miss Pringle's calm re-
joinder.
81 happened to see the service flag
flying in your window--that was ALL"
she shifted. 81 always go in to inspect
after Maggy said 1t was something
new. Wen. thinks /, Miss Pringle has
been keeping no brothers in the serv-
ice, Miss Prlngle, and we hadn't yet
seen any soldier beaus around here
evenings, or any other beaus for that
matter-so says to myself Miss Prin-
gle is sly one-she's got her Sammy
ut the front like the rest of them"
Miss Pringle's color deepened and
she studied the brown and bun of her
pancakes with even more scrutiny.
Some of the boarders who had been
deep in their papers felt the oppres-
sion of the silence that followed and
looked up, so that almost all eyes were
on Miss Pringie. But she made no
comment And after breakfast In more
than one group of dispensing boarders
the question uppermost was ''Did you
see poor Miss Pringlew "Poor girl |
suppose she has young man at the
furnishes never mentioned him and
I've never seen picture-I didn't
think she had.any beaus--but you new
err know, saltwater runs deep" Such
were the other comments.
AS Miss Pringle passed. still a little
embarrassed. from the dining room a
tall, lonely-looking young man stood
baek to hold the door open for her.
She had seen him several times before.
He was one Of the new boarders-had
a back hall bedroom somewhere in the
higher regions of the house. Appa-
rentiy he had no claims TO stellar con-
sideration from Mrs. Dean. She had
never introduced him TO any Of the
pretty girls of the house and she new
er, never asked him to have more strip
on his pancakes. He had heard Mrs.
Deans prying remark to Miss Pringle,
for as she passed him to leave the room
he looked into her eyes for just a Sec
ond.
Don't let her worry you" he said.
That was all; but Miss Pringle felt
that in that anthill of house she had
at least one friend. And Molly Pringle
needed friend--she needed to know
that someone believed in her-for as
a matter of fact she knew herself To
be fraud. The service flag was mere
ly a flag that fiuttered outside her
window because other girls she knew
had similar bags fiuttering from their
windows. She hadn't meant to cheat
but when the man with the little flags
on the street corner called ont every
evening as the girls from the store
were passing: SCOT man at the
front7 Buy flag TO show you've got
man at the front" other girls stop
ped and bought flags, some with one
star, some with two, some with three,
and hurried away seemingly much hap
pier for the small purchase. Molly
had no man at the front or anywhere
else, for that matter, but still she
bought her little flag and let IL wave
from her boarding window. Then
she started to work knitting muffiers
and sleeveless sweaters and wristlets
for the general Red Cross supply: and.
as she worked her needles far into the
night, she pretended that they were all
going for her soldier-for the Sammy
for whom the flag In the window was
waving. Then she bought some soft
green wool and started knitting a
sweater for herself. After knitting an
hour for her Sammy she would knit
fifteen minutes for herself-that was
what the other girls did-the other
girls in the store who had real Sam
mics.
Sometimes Molly took her soft green
knitting into the clearinghouse sit
ting room-when she was waiting for
dinner that was not really quite on
time. She hesitated about taking down
the soldier knitting for fear another
inquiring remark might come from
Mrs. Dean The girls had watched her
knit and had told her she was rapid
worker. and once she had wound
skein of worsted on the back of a chair
and another time the tail, forlorn
young man, who had once held the door
open for her. seemed to rise up from
a shadowy part Of the room and offered
to hold the yarn for her. He had held
to the last end OF the wool and as 1t
crawled through his hand, as Molly
wound the ball to completion, he look
ed at 1t and stroked it with his other
hand.
Its very pretty color" he said.