The Celina Democrat. (Celina, O. [Ohio]) 1895-1921, 1918-12-06
ThePatriotisnn
of Susan
0p
BY JANE OSBORN
FsselFSls1 s5ss@F7s1E
Copyright. 1918, by MoClu,: Newspaper
SyndicGte)

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Copyright, 1918, by McCluIs Newspaper
SyndicGte)
Ever since fifteen years bcfttu when
the Yngers had the quaint old DEtch
porch Of their house on High street, In
Tllton, turned into II full-llcdged front
plnz2u," Horace Siocum had entertain
ed a passion for Susan-hopcless, but
none the less absorbing, For Horace
was at that time simply II 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
lty Of the Yngcrs over the SloculnS,
stlll Il was obviously impossible. Moth
Ing could come of II. "Old Man lager'
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,
n defiant tip-tilted nose, Il fair roSe-
rnl0rcd skin only the moro dazzling for
the contrast af few frecklcs--and
thus embodied Horace Slocums ideal
of alI that was feminincly lovely.
During those days that he sawed
and nailed the boards of the Wager
piazza the rw"nty-year-old Susan had
worn helIotrope glngham dress as
She puttcrcd aaout the garden, and ms
Slocum caught glimpscs Of her through
the windows and since then there
had been an aSsoCiati0nul thrill about
that particular hue that had remained
stIll vibrant showing that the thirty
aight-yoar-nld "hoss carpontcr' was as
hcwitched by Susan rs ever. But II
was more hopeless. She was regard
rd ms one Of The "hoet fixed Spinsters
IN town. She belonged to the Country
rluh and mad Il ccnt2raislc pew in the
church attended only 10y the old ariS-
tocracy of Tilton.
History moved slowly In Tilton dur
Ing most Of those II years, and though
Horace fed on despair, he had little
rause 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
md found itself war Industries cen
ter. Then for The first time since
there had been u winter harrncES in
old Tiltan in the days Of the Rcvolu-
tion the male population far outnum-
bcrcd that OF the women. Only In"
males I'm this case were worEmcn, mo
chnnics. foremen. directors and pro-
motors Gf half dozen war-drvclop-
ing Industries.
one morning in the first weeks Of
fhis new regime Horace was feeling
particularly down at heart. The house
where lie had boarded gIoomiIy for
these II yeurs had been bought up
mt n good price uS an extension to one
of The plants. and he faced the propo-
sition of being knwclcSS within week.
II was the morning he was putin" Il
side porch on Widow Smiths house
next TO Susan's-for by this time front
porchcs had gone out and side porchoN
were in demand in Tilton.
"Too bad about Miss Susan" the
widow remarked. She had brought
her pea shclling to the side window,
for she was nothing loath to converse
with the comely carpenter, who stop
ned saving as if suddenly paralyzod
and gazcd back blauliy at the widow.
"Whats wrong?" he managed to
ask.
ooh. she would manag" her own af-
fairs-did her banking all in an out
or.town bank, wouldn't have Il lawyer,
/ and now" the widow Smith here
smoke with slow emphasis aS she fold
ed her hands over the dish Of peas
and looked hard at Horace. 'Now
she's keeping boardcrS."
"Kcepirg 2 boardcrs" Horace gaSpcd.
"YpS, and you can believe me that
when any one as proud as Susan va
ger would keep bOardcrS, she's pretty
well reduced But she would have her
own way and row-now she's reapina
| the results"
The fact really was that Susan had
q hnuseful or bOardrrs; and as every
one safd-and all the neighbors were
/ gossipfng about it-Shc couldn't have
"bcconc reduCcd' at a 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
4 10 4 mood Of calm despair that the pal
pitation he experienced on actually
seeking admission for himself in Su,
sans boarding hous" was immensely
distmbine Perhaps he would not have
been so reckless, but 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 proverbia
through TiltOn. She retained her ole
Southern cook, got 4 couple of youns
girls in to wash dishes, and wait OF
able cnd still managed to make "A g