South Bend news-times. (South Bend, Ind.) 1913-1938, 1918-12-15
The Seven Sweaters
By Vincent c.. Perry


Grace Hammond had never real
lied how big her fathers house was
until she was left all alone for the
first time. The other members of
the family had moved to the sea-
side for the summer and they had
taken all the servants. save one.
Mandy, the one remaining servant,
had taken the afternoon off, and
left Grace sitting on the top bal
cOny, knitting. Grace tackled the
sleeve of the sixth sweater with
will. Just that one sleeve and then
one more whole sweater and her
work would be done. She looked at
the five finished sweaters piled up
on her work table, with a feeling of
pride. She had not dropped
stitch in any Of them. They were
as nearly perfect as handmade
sweaters could be. Grace was not
sure she would be glad when the
seventh sweater would be finished.
There was a glory she got out Of the
work that appealed to her.
1t was much nicer TO be knitting
than idling at the seaside. She was
sick of the seaside anyway. 1t
would be the same old crowd that
had been there year after year;
there would not be a new face to
make things interesting. If by any
chance any new young men did ap-
pear her younger sisters would be
the favored ones. There was no rO-
nance left for her. No wonder she
had not been anxious to go with the
others. She could just imagine how
the gossips would talk when they
learned she was still Miss Ham
mond." why she's been here for
seven years and not a lover She
must be nearly forty by now" Grace
could almost hear stout Mrs. GillOp
SAYING. She was not nearly forty,
but people like Mrs. Gillop could
make her feel years older than she
really was. She wished she did not
have to go there at all. There were
other seaside resorts much nicer.
The remembrance Of one caused her
to blush and hide her face in the
sweater. Romance had found her
there, but had lost her too soon. She
was just twenty. then. Perhaps ii
was because of that romance that
she had not cared for others. Never
could she find a man TO measure up
to the standard of billiard Morse.
How handsome he wasl How Won
derful were his eyes and his voice
ahi"
"Bother!" Grace jumped from
her chair to bring herself back to
earth. i've dropped a stitch" she
tried to Danish the dreams from her
mind. for she had promised the Red
Cross society to turn out seven
sweaters before the end OF the
month, and there was little time left
She knew that she would not be able
TO finish them If she went with the
others to the seaside, so had stayed
behind until the work was COM
pleted. After taking out the bad
work and getting a good start again,
Grace's fingers worked like light
ming. II would not do 10 dream
again. she knew. but she could not
make her mind behave.
Somehow the seven sweaters re-
minded her OF the old fairy-tale,
seven Swans" Here she was just
like the princess weaving seven
coats 10 free her brothers. Instead
OF reeds. however. Grace's material
was the softest wool. II made the
work more interesting TO pretend
that she was the princess The
seven brothers required an even
greater stretch OF imagination, for
she had no brothers. She tried 10
draw a mind picture Of them They
we're all tall, handsome. with pierre
ing black eyes that sparkled merrily
when they smiled; their hair was
black and wavey; their noses were
well formed and straight; their
voices were soft and pleasant and
| their hands were white as snow;
their names were-here she stopped.
| she could make them all look like