The Fulton County news. [volume] (McConnellsburg, Pa.) 1899-current, 1918-11-28
ThePatriotisn
of Susan
~0
NEUTRALITY-SUSPICIOUS. <<<SS<<Srf<<S'SSSSNfSS
copyright, 1918. by Mcclure Newspaper
Syndlcate)
BY JANE OSBORN

"
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
ropyright, 1915. by Mcclure Newspaper
Syndicate)
Ever since fifteen years before, when
,he Yagers had the quaint old Dutch
norch of their house on High street, In
Tllton, turned into full-iledged front
oozza," Horace Slocum had entertain
sd passion for Susan-hOpeless, but
oonr the less absorbing. For Horace
Uos nt that time simply a carpenter by
,be day for the builder who built that
oozza. and though he had no mean
ldea Of his own calling and had no very
definite notion of the social superior
NJ of the Yagers over the Slocums,
sill II was obviously impossible. Moth
inc could come of 1t. sold Man Yager"
had made what for that town was n
fortune In the leading dry goods store,
and Susan was his only heir. More
oyer. she possessed radiant red hair,
defiant tip-tilted nose, fair, rose
rolored skin only the more dazzling for
thp contrast of few freckles-and
thus embodied Horace SlOcums ideal
Of all that was femlnlnely lovely.
During those days that he sawed
and nailed the boards Of the Yager
plazza the twenty-year-Old Susan had
worn n hellotrope glngham dress as
she puttered about the garden, and as
Slocum caught glimpses of her through
lhe windows: and since then there
had been an assoclatlOnal thrill about
that particular hue that had remained
still vibrant, showing that the thirty
plpht.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 n center-aisle pew In the
church attended only by the old arls-
tocracy of Tilton.
History moved slowly In Tilton dur
Ing most of those II 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
that Is, until Tilton awOke one day
and found itself war industries cen
ter Then for the first time since
herp had been a winter barracks IN
Old Tilt0n in the days of the Revolu
ton the male population far outnum
bered that of the women. Only the
males In this case were 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 feelin!
PARTICULARLY down at heart. The hOuS'
where he had boarded gloomily fol
these IL years had been bought NJ
at Il good price as an extension to ont
of the plants, and he-faced the propo
Sltion of being homeless within week
II was the morning he was putting
side porch on Widow Smiths hous,
next to SuSan's-for by this time from
porches had gone out and side porche
were in demand in Tilton.
"TOO bad about Miss Susan" tn
widow remarked. She had brough
her pea shelling to the side window
for she was nothing lOath to convers
with the comely carpenter, who stop
ped saving us If suddenly paralyze
and gazed back blankly at the widow
"Whats wrong" he managed t
ask.
"Oh, she would manage her own al
fairs-did her banking all in an out
Of.tOwn bank, wouldn't have II lawyer
and now" the widow Smith her
spoke with slow emphasis as she fot
ed her hands over the dish of pea
and looked hard mt Horace. "No'
she's keeping boarders."
"Kceping boarders !" Horace gaspet
'Yes, and YOU can believe me tina
when any one as proud as Susan VI
ger would keep boarders, she's prett
well reduced. But she would have he
own way and now-now she's reapin
the results"
The fact really was that Susan ha
houseful of boarders and rs ever
one said-and all the neighbors wer
goSSlping about it-she couldn't hay
Become reduced" ut better time, fc
there were hundreds of out-of-tow
war workers only too eager to snap
chance to become part of that hous
hold.
Horace had so long been accustome
to a mood of calm despair that the pa
ptNIon he experienced on actual
seeking admission for himself in 81
sans boarding house was immense
disturbing. Perhaps he would not hay
been so reckless, but now for the fir
time the element of Jealousy entere
There were some 30 or GO apparent
eligible bachelors in Tilton, and I
these Susan had undertaken to accor
mod0te under her spacious roof 81
Horace was the seventh.
Apparently Susan was great man
ger, for soon the excellence of the faI
Of her board became proverb
through Tilton. She retained her o
Southern cook, got couple of your
girls in to wash dishes, and wait {
.able and still managed to make a