The New York herald., 1922-12-17

and madronaS and built a bungalow OF
irresistible charm? Had she not built heI
own cobblestone chimney by studying a
book from the library? Had she not done
all this pioneering before her eyes dimmed
before the light started to flicker out?
Was she not ready for the next wavel
She was.
Suddenly when she was almost sixty
years old she had a powerful hunch which
said: open up real estate Office ON one
of your own lots and build houses and sell
the land yourself" And she did.
AS soon as the wee office was estab-
twenty minutes amidst an attractive set.
ting of flower boxes and hanging baskets
brimming over with scarlet geraniums and
blue lobelia, with an official blackboard on
the lawn on which she listed her property
she began to attract good fortune. She
believed that she herself was good fortune
and so she was. The good neighbors
called. They listed their property with
her to sell. Business picked up apace.
One by one she built little homes on he,
vacant lots and one by one she sold them
Usually she sold one before she built an
other. 1t paid better for her to operate
that way on account of her limited capital
She talked to the newlyweds straight from
the shoulder with the wisdom of Their
grandmother She talked to them about
owning their own home and what it woulC
mean in the future. She kindled in their
young hearts the keen desire for home
She never pushed them into a deal, but
encouraged them to think well before they
plunged. Then she knew they would bt
satisfied. It worked like a charm and
the houses sold like hot cakes and the
land sold with them. She made her inita
payments easy and gave her young inves
tors every opportunity to gain a running
start.
When she first began. sne proceeded
very slowly, never dreaming of borrow
ing money at per cent. from the banks
and using it to advantage. AS her cour-
age mounted she borrowed money for
building purposes. giving first mortgages
on her land. That enabled her to go ahead
with the business and make better prog
ress.
She drew her own plans on the black
board and saved the price of an archi-
tect; figured out the dimensions and cost:
hired her own foreman and remained on
the job with the carpenters, shingIers and
plasterers until the job was done and the
key in her pocket.
Her recreational hours were spent in
her Lakewood garden where her sweet
corn waved above her head and her grand
sons coaXed her to romp with them or to
tell them stories.
The way she clung to her Job, like a
puppy to a root. is best illustrated by her
own account of a community picnic on
the beach:
'It was on a Sunday All the neigh
bors and my sons family had gone pic
nicking. Apparently I was alone in the
neighborhood. I paced the floor of my
little real estate office and called myself
unlovely names for sticking so closely to
business.
CAS- the day waned I glimpsed a young
couple inspecting the sign on the lawn
Then they came in and informed me that
on their homeward way from the picnic
they were looking around for a house.
took them UP the street and sold them a
five room cottage That was satisfaction
enough for me and paid me dividends even
greater than the commission which
earned that day to make the wheels so
round"
Henrietta McCloy has now experienced
two fat years and two lean years and all
the while she is growing keener about the
building business. She has sold off all her