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The day book. [volume] (Chicago, Ill.) 1911-1917, February 20, 1913, Image 18

Image and text provided by University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign Library, Urbana, IL

Persistent link: https://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn83045487/1913-02-20/ed-1/seq-18/

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THE PETERSON PLAN
By Henry P. Benton.
(Copyright by V. G. Chapman.)
In the first days of their en
gagement Ralph and Cynthia
loved each other to distraction.
Ralph Blair was twenty-five, and
had a prosperous future in the of
fice of the telephone company;
Cynthia was just a nice American
girl of a well-to-do family. There
1 L pi
Instead It Looked Worse.
could not have been a more aver
age couple in the world.
That was just why they loved
each other so much. They had
grown up in the same circle in the
same town ; they had always been
expected to marry, and they were
to be married at the end of the
year.
"I tell ycu, I'm as happy as a
king, old man," said Ralph to his
chum. Peterson. "It seems as
though I want to sing all the
time.-'
"How long have you been en
gaged?" asked Peterson gloom
ily. "Two weeks," answered Ralph
ecstatically.
"Wait till it's two months,"
said Peterson darkly.
Henry Peterson was nearly
thirty. His life was supposed to
have been permanently blighted
by an unfortunate and mysterious
love affair a year previously. The
discriminating, indeed, claimed
that they could see signs of a
swift recovery, but nevertheless
Peterson, as a gloomy ascetic,
convinced of the hollowness of
life ,and experienced in the ways
of women, occupied a romantic
niche in the minds of his friends
of both sexes which he did noth
ing to destroy.
"What do you mean by that?"
demanded Ralph Blair hotly.
"I mean," answered Peterson,
"speaking quite impersonally, of
course I mean that woman must
be kept in subjection in order to
insure happiness. The worst of
it is, they are so cunning."
"Cynthia isn't cunning!' ex
claimed Ralph indignantly. "At
least, not in the way you mean."
"They are all cunning," insist
ed Peterson. "At first they are as
meek as milk; then, when they
have wound their tentacles firm
ly round their victims they begin
to exercise their power. Little by
little they claim dominion; at last

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