The times-news. [volume] (Hendersonville, N.C.) 1927-current, 1933-02-24
CHAPTER IA

LIVE hundred dollars that total
l. must be before Janet and Rolf
could go to the courthouse and
then to the church and sOlemn'y
exchange promises to love and
cherish one another until death.
IL might not seem large sum to
d great many people. To Janet
and Rolf il was huge, indeed. II
was also the absolute minimum
on which a matrimonial venture
might safely be launched.
Janet knew this because she
had read it in a magazine. II was
Janet who had insisted the $500
must be in the bank before the.i
marriage. There had been arSC-
ments. Dozens OF them. Rolf hal
wanted TO hunt up preacher the
very next day after that precious.
insane bus ride on IN april nigh
when. with a dozen other passeI
gers about them, he had sOmehOs
got out the all-impOrtant Questi0:
10 a girl whose whisper was III
audible but whose star-lit eyes
said Yes"
She had loved him for those ar
guments hut of course she
couldn't agree. Why. Rolf was
earning $50 a week at the Atlas
Advertising Agency and her own
salary was $50. Rolf had a life
insurance policy and boosted
blithely Of the $16.75 in his wal
le,-S3 OF which he owed his
roommate. With paper and pen
ellis and a great many highly ir-
relevant Interruptions they ar
gued and added and sUbtracted-
and arrived at Janet's original
statement. There must be $500
in the bank!
It wasn't, she pointed out, what
the $500 would buy: it was what
It stood for. Janet knew quite a
lot about poverty. She knew
Daisy Mccullough who had
worked in the Every Home Office
until. gayly and irresponsibly, she
had married-and been divorced
six months later. She knew Mrs.
Frisbie whose husband was an in
valid and whose little girl
couldn't see. She had known Joe
Platz, too. we'll enough to grow a
little faint when she read how
they found his body in the river.
Joe Junior had been buried the
week before. Joe Platz had lost I
his JOB and couldn't face being
burden TO his wife.
IVES. Janet knew enough Of pow
n erty so that all OF Rolls
pleading couldn't win her from
her insistence that they must
work and save before they could
be married. Five hundred dollars
was the lowest possible figure.
At first they had assured each
other the $500 could be saved
easily. In six months at the most!
Rolf had made a buget OF his
S35 and showed Janet how TO
make one. Somehow at the end
Of the month the budget was
there but the money wasn't. They
had had wonderful times together
but theater tickets and dinners
and gardenias for Janet's coat col
lar had more than taken the sum
Rolf had set down under the
heading, Savings"
So there were more sessions
sith pencil and paper. more add
ing and subtracting. Out Of all
this had come further arguments
and then, gradually, the savings
accounts had begun to swell. In
stead OF theater parties and fresh
lowers and dancing at the Crys-
tai Slipper there were long walks
now and cafeteria meals and visits
10 the neighborh9od movie house
where tickets cost only Is cents.
Rolf chafed at all this-but al
ways came around to agree the
object was worth it. He wasn't
nearly as yersed in economy as
Janet. Some OF the other girls In
the Every Home Office thought
Janet had been growing Just lit