The Ordway new era., 1918-12-06
ThePatriotisrn
of Susan
By JANE OSBORN
Copyright, 1918. by Mcclure Newspaper
Syndicate.)

Tllton, turned Into full-iedged front
piazza." Horace Slocum had entertain
ed a passion for Susan-hopeless, but
none the less absorbing. For Horace
was at that time simply "A carpenter by
the day for the builder who built that
piazza, and though he had no mean
Idea of his own calling and had no very
definite notion of the social superior
ity of the Yagers over the Slocums,
still It was obviously impossible. Moth
ing could come of 1t. "Old Man Yager"
had made what for that town was
fortune in the leading dry goods store.
and Susan was his only heir. More
over, she possessed radiant red hair.
a defiant tlp-tilted nose, fair. rose
colored skin only the more dazzling for
the contrast OF n few frcckles-and
thus embodied Horace Slocums ideal
of all that was femlnnely lovely.
During those days that he sawed
and nailed the boards of the Yager
piazza the twenty-year-old Susan had
worn heliotrope gingham dress as
she puttered about the garden. and ms
Slocum caught glimpses Of her through
the windows; and since then there
had been an associational thrill about
that particular hue that had remained
still vibrant. showing that the thirty
elght-year-old "boss carpenter" was as
bewitched by Susan as ever. But 1t
was more hopeless. She was regard
ed as one of the "best fixed" spinsters
In town. She belonged TO the Country
club and had a center-aisle pew In the
church attended only by the old aris-
tocracy of Tilton.
History moved slowly In Tllton dur
ing most of those Is years, and though
Horace fed on despair, he had little
cause for jealousy. for there really
were no eligible bachelors In TIltOn
nor any reason why they should come
TINT is. until Tilton awoke one day
and found itself war industries cen
ter. Then for the first time since
there had been winter barracks In
old Tilton in the days Of the Revolu-
tion the male population far outnum-
bered that of the women. Only the
males In this case We're wOrkmen, me-
chanics, foremen, directors and pro-
moters of half dozen war-develop-
ing industries.
One morning in the first weeks of
this new regime Horace was feeling
particularly down Mt heart. The house
where he had boarded gloomily for
these Is years had been bought up
at good price ms an extension to one
of the plants, and he faced the propo-
sition of being homeless within week.
It was the morning he was putting
side porch on Widow Smiths house
next to Susan's-for by this time front
pDrches had gone out and side porches
were In demand in Tilton.
"Too bad about Miss Susan" the
widow remarked. She had brought
her pea shelling to the side window,
for she was nothing loath to converse
with the comely carpenter, who stop
ped saving as If suddenly paralyzed
and gazed back blankly at the widow.
"What's wrongT" he managed to
ask.
"Oh, she would manage her own nf-
fairs-did her banking all In an out
of-town bank, wouldn't have lawyer,
md now" the widow Smith here
ipoke with slow emphasis as she fold
ed her hands over the dish Of peas
and looked hard at Horace. "Now
she's keeping boarders."
keeping boarders!" Horace gasped.
"Yes, and you can believe me that
when any one ms proud as Susan va
ger would keep boarders, she's pretty
well reduced. But she would have her
own way and now-now she's reaping
the results"
The fact really was that Susan had
n houseful of boarders; and as every
one said-and all the neighbors were
gosslping about it-she couldn't have
"become reduced" nt better time. for
there were hundreds of out-of-town
war workers only too eager to snap at
n chance to become part of that house
hold.
Horace had so long been accustomed
to a mood of calm despair that the pal
pitation he experienced on actually
seeking admission for himself In Su-
uan's boarding house was immensely
disturbing Perhaps he would not have
been so reckless, hut now for the first
time the element of jealousy entered.
There were some 30 or 60 apparently
eligible bachelors in Tilton, and OF
these Susan had undertaken to accom-
modate under her. spacious roof six.
Horace was the seventh.
Apparently Susan was great mana
ger, for soon the excellence of the fare
of her board became proverbial
through Tilton. She retained her old
Southern cook, got "A couple of young
girls in to wash dishes. and walt on
able and still managed to make 20
of it-or apparently she did. for peo-
pie soon observed that coat of paint
,yas being applied and other signs Of
h full purse were in evidence. Then
he drew Horace aside one evening
after the other boarders We're leaving
the dining room and asked him wheth-
or he would undertake the job OF put