The Press., 1918-08-01
Caroline Thinks It Out
 00 By Mona Cowles
Copyright. 1918. by the Mcclure Newspa-
 per Syndicate)

very well and good for 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 a very definite air five years ago on the memorable afternoon when Horace Blair had proposed to her. "1 don't In the least mind living here in this two-roOm apartment now and 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 dejectedly at the graceful finger that Caroline had just permitted him to measure for the engagement ring.
 You are a very sensible girl. Car olIne," he said, ''and suppose you are right"
 "Of course, I'm right" she agreed. "At twenty I might have been foolish and romantic. Then might have sup posed that could be happy and make you happy on my thousand-dOllar-a- year income and your salary of three thousand"
 ''Twenty-eight hundred" Horace corrected with a sigh.
 With an occasional picture could sell that would come to no more than forty-hve hundred" She sighed and shook her head.
 "Pm sorry. Horace, but it can't be done. I've seen other girls try to do 1t and-well. perhaps they are happy but we couldn't live the way we do. You wouldn't want to try. It would mean living in a suburb somewhere with an incompetent maid and wear ing ready-made clOthes-yes, I know I have to now, but I won't always be young. At thirty I would look a mess in a ready-made suit-and we would have to keep eternally counting the money, and If we went to the theater we'd have to sit fin the gallery"
 We've had rather good fun that way, haven't weT Horace murmured.
 "Yes, Horace dear, but doing it now Is one thing and doing 1t then is quite another matter. You'll thank me some time for the stand am taking"
 "Then-you mean you won't marry mel"
 Not in the least. I simply mean that I can't marry you till our income Is doubled at leastr'
 Horace took out an envelope and pencil from his pocket and began to figure.
 "NIne thOusand-thst means that l must have about seyenty-ive hundred"
 "Tn relent a little." smiled Caroline. "In marry you when you are making six thousand. You can work up to that"
 Tt may take five years" sighed the unhappy sultor.
 What If 1t does3 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 a very sensible girl" said Horace accepting his sentence grtmly. 'I think see your point of view"
 And so 1t was settled and Horace and Caroline began their long engage ment. There were never any Quarrels Caroline was too sensible for that and never once did she weaken from her wise decision that to make toast for yourself was one thing, but to have to do it for two was another. Even in his most impatient moods Horace had to admire the lofty ideal that Caroline maintained toward marriage. It was something that had to be under taken on a dignlfied, rather grand scale or not at all.
 And a day 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 bring him the coveted shx-thOusand dollar income. It did not seem then that there would be long to wait, for al ready he had reached the fifty-ave hun dred mark and he had saved enough to make possible the prospects Ot starting in life with a rather more pre- tentiOus abode than the suburban cot | tage that Caroline had held in such contempt.
 Caroline worked at her drawing board as patiently and eagerly as ever and her ability as an illustrator had not become impaired but owing to war conditions. as the editors told her, there was less demand for her particular kind of talent than in years gone by | When she did get an order 1t meant smaller check than formerly. She | did not finch at the economies this | neceSsitated. Single poverty was one ! thing. she insisted. and married pow | erty another.
 Then day or so ago Horace came to spend his usual Sunday afternoon with her but instead of hurrying up the | two flights of stairs to her apartment when he reached the house where she | lived In splnster sedateness, he heSi' tated and then walked dejectedly around the block. Again he started to enter and with a heavy sigh retracted his steps around the block. It took considerable courage finally for him to ascend the steps he had trOd so many | times and to give his accustomed knock at her door.
 So we'll did Caroline know his every expression that 1t was in vain that he attempted to dissemble his depression
 "Tll have to. tell you some time" he began, when he had settled back in his favorite wicker chair with Caroline sit
 ting opposite to him by the window
 "If ever a man had reason to be dis
 cOuraged I'm that man-Rfter five years. Oh, Caroline, it Is too cruel o
 fate" He buried his head in hi
 hands, and If he had been anythini
 but the every Inch American man tha
 he was he would have shed tear o two.
 Caroline was not the young woman to put caresslng arms about his necl