The Washington times., 1920-05-27
A screcd of
Good Ideas.

Good Ideas.
DEAR ELIZABETH LATTIMER:
During the summer OF 1915 / met
at Riverview Nd, woman with
an unusual story. she had been
OF Baltimore lin Hishlandtown).
and had struggled along with a
shiftless husband and six small
children until she was forty-five
years OF age. At this time she was
left a widow with $4,000 life insur-
ancc. Though handicapped by poor
health and lack OF education.
nevertheless she made a fresh
start.
In the meantime, she had Tor
for several years past, helped with
the family income by making and
selling to local restaurants crab
and Goldfish cakes. With the $4,000
insurance she at once looked about
for a real estate bargain. She
found 1t in haunted" house that
no one else would have as love
gift and bought it on time with
$1,000 down at about $1,000 reduc-
tion on the original cost. How she
got rid Of the ghosts is another
story, but a dependable rattrap and
new furnace pipe figured in the
"exorcism."
She at once opened a small res
taurant for MONDAY meals, sell
ing principally her own wares, and
a year later sold the house at the
original cost. plus improvements,
plus also a bonus for the business
and good will. Then she set out to
find a second piece of "queered"
real estate at a bargain, and her
choicethis time was a rather pre-
tentious corner three-story house
in the heart of the factory section.
1t had been long vacant because OF
a murder within it's walls. IL was
not yet officially haunted, but
ghosts were expected to appear
most any night. This was also
bought at about $4,000 less its
value in bricks and mortar. Here
she reopened another noon-time res
taurant. only to sell out two years
later to a moving picture corpora
tion at about double the value OF
the property. With the proceeds or
the sale she purchased on easy pay
mcnts two six-room brick houses In
a more modern section of the city.
BY this time the three older chill
dren had married and gone their
separate ways and the three
younger ones were all working and
bringing home money. At the end
of ten years both pieces OF prop
crty were cleared Of mortgages.
She lives in one house with the
younger children and enjoys the
rental of the second house as pin
money" She still retains some OF
her old customers. but sells her fish
cakes only during the winter
months. During the summer she
feels she needs well-earned va
cation. and is enjoying it to the
utmost.
An English florist reared in Buck.
ingham Palace, where his grand
father had been head gardener to
the late Queen Nivtoria, told me
that many women of his acquaint-
ance were making considerable
pocket money raising and selling
flowers for which there is de-
mand. He said that roses and vio-
lets were good sellers. but that by
far the mosts profitable of all is the
lily-of-the.valley. There is con.
tinuous stream Of orders for this
beautiful flower which are often
difficult to fill. as the demand far
exceeds the supply. These are very
popular for weddings and christen-
ing and debutante receptions. Any
woman who can grow them sue
ccssfully can always find a steady
market for them with local florists.
One generally associates "farm-
ing with back-breaking toil--too
much for a woman's strength, but
there are certain agricultural side
lines that bring In handsome profits.
While not recurring hard manual
labor, they do. however. require