South Bend news-times. (South Bend, Ind.) 1913-1938, 1919-03-02
Peggy's Marriage Strategy
By Hilda Morris


Peggy sat in a great chintz-cover-
ed chair before the fire and sucked
the end OF her fountain-pen. a CIR
of generation ago under the same
circumstances, would have sucked
her pencil-point as a means Of sum
moning inspiration. But Peggy was
modern, from the top Of her shining
bronze head u the pointed toe Of
her smart brown boot. She was So
modern that she fitted into the mel
low richness of the beautiful old
room like the perfect flower of all
the generations that had lived in it.
She was so modern that her grand
mother, who dozed az the other side
OF the fireplace, wondered uneasily
what mischief she was up to now.
Writing a letter, apparently. Well,
so long as it was not 10 that young
hlacksmith-And she had Peggy 5
word OF honor that there should be
no more correspondence between her
and the blacksmith.
AS a matter of fact, he had not
been a blacksmith at all, but h2r6-
ware merchant. Old Mrs. Pendleton
declared that IL didn't matter, one
was as bad as the other, she always
insisted on calling him a blacksmith.
No Pendleton had ever married a
man who kept a store or did any
manner of work with his hands. The
Pendletons were lawyers, soldiers,
statesmen, Peggy TO marry hard
ware merchant? Impossible!
By which you may see that
Peggy" grandmother was quite as
fashioned as the atmosphere of
ancient mahogany in which she
dwelt.
Now the other girls of Peggy's
acquaintance, modern girls. like her
self, always married the men they
wanted to, regardless of family OBJ
jections. If they couldn't have ia
theirs blessing before the ceremony
they usually got it after, which
really did just as well in the end.
Nowadays there are many more
runaway marriages than tragedies
like Juliet's.
Peggy, in her turn, had considered
the runaway marriage proposition,
and thought il rather stupid. Be
sides, she was fond of her grand
mother and did not want TO hurt
her feelings. 1t would be much bet
ter TO find some scheme of bringing
her round to the point of accepting
Robert. Surely there was some way
of doing so! Pesgy had been work
irg or the problem for two months,
now, and the way was almost clear.
ITO whom are you writing, dear ?"
her grandmother asked in a gentle
tone apparently devoid of curiosity
"Oh, nobody muchi Just a sort
of general letter TO the soldier who
got my socks. Don't you remember
he wrote and thanked me for them
I've told him about the weather and
our Red Cross chapter and. every
other cheerful thing 1 can think OF,
guess I'll stop"
Mrs. Pendleton smiled approval.
DO what you can for the soldiers.
dear" she said. THE Pendletons
were great soldiers. How sad it is
that there is no Pendleton in the
army today"
Yes, isn't It? It's up to me to
marry a soldier, grandma, so that
we can have a service flag in our
window. You'd think it quite proper
for me 10 marry a lieutenant,
wouldn't you?"
''Of course, if he were a gentle
man. But don't speak so flippantly
of marriage, dear. One doesn't
marry for such things as service
flags"
mo, nor family trees, either"
Peggy retorted.
Only a day or two later Peggy
TO her grandmother that
ner soldier, the one who had got her
socks, was coming to the house to
dinner. She had invited him, because
his last letter sounded rather lone
some. He was stationed at a camp
nearby, and 1t was only kind to ex-
tend him hospitality. Old Mrs Pen
dleton did not quite approve, but
still. since he was a soldier
He proved 10 be very nice-look-
ing soldier, a lieutenant, too. The
khaki uniform stirred old memories
for Mrs. Pendleton, memories Of