PETER MARRIED LOUISE.
WHAT YOU EAT DOESN'T COUNT
FOR VERY MUCH,
■ln high social circles the girl who wants»to cut out another girl orders new dresses and more hats. Among Ravages she sticks on a few more beads, and feathers. But in . small, Middle Western towns she rolls up her sleeves, opens the flo'ir bin, and makes something calculated to knock the spots off anything culinary the other girl ever dared dream of. That was why Mrs. Fruby said to her daughter with a hint of excitement in her voice, "Try him oi beaten biscuits, Sadie ! And your chocolate marshmallow pudding !" It had been hard enough all her life for Mrs. Fruby to be outdcna by Mary Sandler without having to endure seeing Mary Sandler's daughter get ahead of her own' Sadie. And of late Rosa Sandler had asked 1, Peter Vernon to dinner entirely too often to suit Mrs: Fruby's plans. So had half a dozen other girls. For Peter Vernon was a roatnirnonial prize, the like of wfyich a small town does not see more than once in a generation.
He had an interest in the big engine works, Which ' make money so fast that it gave, the populace the hiccoughs trying to count it. Natural jealousy of Mary Sandler made Mrs. Fruby consider Rosa a deadly rival. nearly as pretty as Sadie, and, moreover, she was a good.cook. So were margaret and Agnes and Carrie, other aspirants. Louise—Mrs. Fruby mere:ly - smiled at the idea of Louise. Being built on solid lines herself, Mrs. Fruby had an imagined contempt for ethereal creatures like Louise, w,hd looked as though a puff, of . wind might easily remove her from the scene v Louise was of the ethereal, useless kind, and Mrs. Fruby knew that" no sensible man wanted a helpless wife. Men> she often told •Sadie, like energy and" ability in a girl. As for cooking, it was doubtful if Louise could even cc©k a pan of fudge without burning it. Peter Vernon was a tall, thin young man, with a well-set head and a kindly, if shrewd, smile. ) '(■" He's not the sort to be taken in," Mrs. Fruby said, thankfully, as she superintended Sadie's work, making the beaten biscuits for that night's supper, to 'which Peter Vernon was coming. "Does your arm ache? Let me beat awhile!"
Peter Vernon liked the beaten biscuit immensely. He ate six. And he had two helpings of the chocolate marshmallow' pudding. "She nearly beat her arm off making those." Sadie's mother confided to him. '"But, I tell you, nothing daunts Sadie! When she does a thing, she does it !" jf'They certainly were mighty good," replied Peter Vernon.
"We always' have 'em Wednesday evenings," said Sadie's mother, with a sudden inspiration. "And you drop in that night without waiting to be asked, since you're : so fond of 'em !" '•'Yes, do•!.". echoed Sadie.
I Beaten biscuits are hard to make. Many were the weary hours Sadie Frubyv put in over them, because they had to be made regularly on Wednesdays. Sometimes Peter dropped in, and if not he was certain to be met on the street the next day by Sadie or her mother and pinned down, to another date. Mrs. Fruby took his .fondnessi for the marshmallow pudding as an especially good sign. "You keep it up, • Sadie," she told her daughter the evening Peter had -stayed a half hour beyond his-usual time. "I can begin to see that you're winning out !" "I don't know," Sadie said, dubiously. "'He goes to Isabel's and Margaret's, too —and Louise's !" "I wouldn't worry," declared her mother. "I guess Isabel can't make biscuits like- yours, and Margaret's cake is a joke.: And you know Louise Why you've got 'em all on the run !" ''•But he never says anything," Sadie protested. "I mean anything that I could take as " "He ain't that kind," declared Mrs. Fruby. : "He ain't going to make love to a girl till he's engaged to her J You beat those biscuits longer next time." Shortly after that the local newspaper contained the unexpected announcement of the quiet marriage of Peter Vernon and Louise, the ethereal. Mrs. Fruby, after a hysterical scream when she read the news, told Sadie plainly what she thought of Peter. She talked so vehemently that' she did not notice how-, pale Sadie's cheeks were. Sadie- usually was stolid and unmoved. . , '''Well," Mrs. Fruby saldVat last, wiping her eyes, f "it can't be .helped. You'd better, stir up some beaten biscuit for supper to-night —it's Wednesday !" Habit was strong in her. ■< ' It was then that Sadie yoiced a brand-now theory in her life. ''Beaten biscuit"!'.' she echoed, grimly. *'l never want to see one again ! I guess what you eat doesn't count for much; after all !"—"Chicago News."
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King Country Chronicle, Volume IX, Issue 736, 13 January 1915, Page 3
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796PETER MARRIED LOUISE. King Country Chronicle, Volume IX, Issue 736, 13 January 1915, Page 3
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