The story
“The grocer was known in the village as ‘Simple Simon.’ The ‘humorists’ had lots of fun, but it never struck them that they were making Simon a wealthy man. An individual who ‘picked on’ the grocer was a young college graduate who had won honors as a baseball pitcher. His jests were rather above the average in strenuousness, and the grocer soon grew to dislike him, especially when he found cats in the sugar bin and dogs sleeping in ground coffee. There was excitement in the village one day when a beautiful maiden appeared. She explained that she intended to start a class in penmanship and ‘hoped that the gentlemen would join.’ The college boy seemed to have the inside track, but Simon, the simple grocer, was the dark horse. ‘Teacher’ gave a lawn party, her pupils being the guests, and explained to them that every man there had proposed to her. She had decided, however, that the man she married must be her partner as well as her husband. Therefore, she said, they could submit specimens of their handwriting, and the best hand would win. This looked for an easy victory for the college boy. When the grocer submitted his offering, teacher threw herself in his arms. For what Simon wrote was a check ‘payable to my wife on her wedding day’ for $10,000.”
Summary from Reel Life · 15 April 1916
