The West Virginian. [volume] (Fairmont, W. Va.) 1914-1974, 1919-12-08
EIE
SHORT STORY.
Bobby ard Che H.C.L.
BY JANE esBoRN.
Copyright, 1919, by the Mcclure
Newspaper Syndicate.

slafH ENQH9RR0R0I A9yauIS0GCs
hfD o AS far as you Ike. quoth
/, Bobby to his young wife,
~ Lucille, with that peculiar
brand Of satisfaction written on his
face that comes to a man who feels
he has been extremely liberal. Just
j 30 long as 1t is bang-up dinner, I'm
not going to consider any reasonable
cost. Here, Lucille" he said, draw
ing forth q crisp ten-dollar bill from
his bill case, there is something.
Spend the whole Of 1t II you want
terrapin, cavlare, green turtle, lobster
whatever they have at /. the diEty
dlnners."
"And there are to be eight OF u.s."
Lucilies words betOkened WEAKNESS.
but 1t was a WEAKNESS that Bobby,
The exuberaut young Bobby, failed to
SYsss he agreed, you and me g and
NY brother John aud his wife and
4 -FOUR brother John and his wife and
Tho Bob Newtons-just a jolly party.
!. I'll b. home by g. so as to do any
thing can Tor you at the last min
ute. suppose you'll get Sally to
wear 4 cap and apr0n??"' And away
g went Bobby, filled with pleasurable
Emancipation Of his first dinner party
II had been settled between the
Bobby Stranges when they were mar
ried that they would run no bills dur.
ing the first years of their married
life. Bobby was convinced that every
housewife should go marketing per-
sonally, taking advantage of the bet
ter prices that we're offered to those
who paid cash, and Lucille had agreed
perfectly And Bobby Strange did
not mean to be parsImonious-
But the trouble was that Bobby had
been rather 0verfed on a certain brana
Of magazine article that urges young
men TO save. 1t was his theory that II
a young man earned sixty dollars a
week he should save at least fifteen.
He felt that he was generous when he
allowed Lucille thirly-fiVe on which
to run the house.
When Lucille complained meekly
and good naturedly that butcher bills
were amazingly, high, Bobby smiling
ly quoted some articles he had read
about using the cheaper cuts, but I'M
Fortunately Bobby had a taste for
chops and steaks and could not en-
dure stews. "Oh, there are Other
things you can get" he assured her.
4 can't remember Just what they call.
them. But you'll find it all in the
books"
80 when Bobby Strange left that
morning Lucille sat looking at the ten
dollar bill. She ran finger over Its
verdant face affectOnately. There
wore 40 many things that it would do.
1huy needed potatoes, and only the
day before Lucille had found place
where she could buy eggs at splen-
did price
She had hoped 10 be able to get
some to put down" for winter. They
were out OF soap and 1t was so much
cheaper buying it in large quantities
But this ten dollars was not for soap
IL eggs or Potatoes. 1t was for terra
pin and green turtle.
Luciie started out early to shop
and she spent hours In her search for
the inexpensive luxurles that she had
hoped for. But they were not TO be
had. Why, even ordinary barnyard
fowl were so cents q pound. Ere
Quently as she marketed she consult
ed the little menu that she had made
out for the dinner that night, and fro
quently she ran her little silver PEN
Gil through certain dainties she had
planned to have,
1t was not alone a physical fatigue
that weighed her down when she re-
turned from the marketing trip.
on1
you. Sally?" she asked when she
came home.
suppose so, ma'am," replied Sal
", III you get one for me. You
t,itdr't expect me to have them for
myself"
Lucille had to take the cork out OF
the pattom of the china elephant bank
in which che had been saving nickels
with which to buy a washing ma
chino, Then she went out in search
Of the white cap and apron that snn
could buy with the small amount that
the elephant presented her with.
The dinner seemed 10 be successful
enough, but something must have
passed between the Bobby Stranges
afterward that took little of the fe-
licity out of Lucille. For when her
brother John arrived Unexpectedly the
next morning at about 8 after Bobby
had started off for his office he found
his sister in tears.
He had trouble in tracing these
tears to their source, or Lucille knew
that John was an unswerving friend
and champion of her Bobby. II he had
not boon she never would have ex-
planned to him.
after you had all gone," she cx-
plainod. The said to me that ! needn't
have been so thrifty. He told me that
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