The pastor pondered ten minutes.
“Nein,” he answered, “it is not against Bible law.”
“It would be for the good of the Fatherland.”
The pastor pondered twenty minutes.
“Ja,” he decided, “it would be for the good of the Fatherland.”
“We will do it,” announced Gretchen. “Ten of us will take one husband. Better a tenth of a husband than never any husband. Will you marry us?”
The pastor pondered thirty minutes.
“Ja,” he said at length, “for the good of the Fatherland.”
Quickly Gretchen spread her news. Quickly the girls accepted the Gretchen plan. Quickly they formed themselves into groups of ten and selected a husband. Quickly the twenty-eight men accepted. What man wouldn’t?
Only Selma Kronk, the homeliest of homely old maids, was left unmated. In indignant dismay she hastened to Frau Werner’s kaffee-klatch and unfolded to the married women assembled there the schreckliche Gretchen plan.