Smyrna times., 1927-03-16
Love Called Him
to Flora
By r. J. OLIVER

bring that young man to the scratch
before he leaves this house tonight.
| You have had enough beaux, goodness
knows! It's time you got a husband.
| What's going to become of usf"
"Oh do stop, mother" cried Nettie.
I'll get husband when I get ready
and guess I'm about ready now. l
IKE Peter Barrows. 1t is too bad he
hasn't more mOney-and a little more
brains. But l have made up my mind
to marry him. So don't nag. Has Mr..
Bennett been around about the mort
gage? The last time he called and you
were out he stayed half an hour, talk
ing, and didn't mention money. He
said had beautiful hair" added Net
tie with a sigh.
you don't suppose" cried NAL
vina eagerly
"Of course not" snapped Nettie,
He is old enough to be my father
and away out of my reach anyway.
Don't dream dreams, mother. Jim
Bennett would not marry the queen of
Sheba." 1t will be gathered that Net
tie and her mother were not exactly
sentimentalists. The hard struggle
they had had since the death of the
husband and father had made these
two naturally matter-of-fact women
more matter-of-fact still. Nettie was
handsome, intelligent, JunoesQue.
Given a larger field and greater oppor-
tunities she might have gone far. AS
it was she had-after high school
become librarian of the public library
in the little town. Efficiency was her
middle name.
Peter BarrOws had long been one
Of her admirers He admired her in
tellect, her looks, her poise. He had
got into the habit of calling upon her
at frequent intervals. Still he had
never seriously contemplated asking
her to be his wife. She was good to
look at and pleasant and intelligent
companiOn-that was all. He was EN-
pioyed by large firm in the city If
teen miles away. Went in and out
every day and lived alone with one old
servant In the ancestral mansion he
had inherlted-about all he had in
herited except good name. He was
a good-Iooking, clean-living young man
with a sufficient salary. There was
nothing brilliant about him, but he
seemed to Ma!vina Sharples the most
available young man for her purposes
and she issued orders accordingly.
Peter went away from the Sharples'
house that night an engaged man.
When he entered that respectable
homestead nothing could have been
farther from his thoughts than that
he would leave it In this condition.
He was bewildered. frightened when
he got home and thought 1t over. Well,
Peter Is not the first young man who
has unexpectedly found himself In ike
case. He knew he ought not to feel
as he did and resolved to feel as he
ought to feel. Yet it was a decided
relief to him when, the next week.
his firm sent him away on a business
trip
Something happened. Peter fell in
love. She was the daughter of the
man he had been sent out to do bust
ness with-a pretty little thing with
hair verging on red not highly inte,
lectual; Of the clinging sort-a cling
stone peach. Her name was Flora
WINS. When Peter diagnosed his case
and found out what was the matter
with him he was as dazed as he had
been when he found himself engaged
to Nettie-and a great deal more dis
tressed. Honor bound him to Nettie-
love called him to Flora.
BY Nettie's request the engagement
between her and Peter had been kept
secret But that made no difference,
Peter was as fast bound in honor as
II their engagement had been an
nounced. Peter and Nettie had prom
ised, when Peter went away, to write
to each other every day. But some
how the correspondence had Ian
guished A month went by and Peters
mission was ended. He prepared to
turn his face eastward toward Nettie,
home and duty. The very morning he
was to start he received letter from
Nettie. She wrote that she felt that
their engagement had been a mistake:
they were not suited for each other.
She gave him back his troth. She
herself had resolved never to marry
but to devote her life to library work.
She felt herself better fitted for that
than for matrimony.
Peter asked his firm by telegram
for a vacation and got 1t. He spent
II In the Midwest. When he finally
started East he was again an en-
gagged man This time IL was Flora
Arriving at his home town the first
man he met as he stepped or the
train was Jabez Calender, the towns
news budget. "Well, Jabez, what's
the news" asked Peter.
"Oh, not much" replied Jabez,
"'ceptin' that Nettie Sharples was
married yesterday to old Jim Bennett"
Yes, Nettie had married Jim Bennett
and mighty good wife she made him.