The Glenwood post., 1923-05-24

cord which would hold the stockings
below the tops Of Crink's worn shoes.
Nominally, Mrs. Penfeld was man.
ager Of the six buildings designated
by the first owner as Cluster court.
There were two small flats in each
house, and they were grouped around
a horseshoe driveway which inclosed
an oval devoted to single pepper
tree. Space had been too limited to
allow front yards, and all six build
ings fairly dipped their shabby noses
into the driveway, like little animals
feeding out Of winding trough.
On one Of the crumbling stucco
posts that flanked the entrance, might
still be deciphered the words "Cluster
Court" although the black paint
which had formed them had been
well-nigh obliterated by the beating
rains of many seasons. 1t might as
well have been totally effaced, be-
cause no one ever used the name. By
one Of the earliest tenants 1t had
been corrupted into '1The Custard
Cup" and the term had clung.
As for Number At, where Mrs. Pen
field lived, 1t had no frontage what
ever, being approached by a cramped
alley at the curve Of the horseshoe.
1t had nothing In common with the
buildings that composed the Court.
The Custard Cup had changed own
ers, a year before, and had been Of
fered to Mrs Penfeld, rent free, In
return for the most general supervi-
sion, including the collection of rents,
the assuagement of unreasonable de-
mands, and the responsibility Of re
porting any calamities that might
descend.
The landlord had left Mrs. Pen
fields life easily uvable, but the ten
ants contrived to make 1t difficult.
Wasn't she the manager7 Well, what
did that mean II not to manage?
Therefore they summoned her as
promptly for the baby's Group as for.
a fire in the roof, as inevitably for
scalded hand as for a leak in the
kitchen. By common consent she was
regarded as flrst-aid to trouble.
And she never thought Of refusing,
although the increasing demands en-
croached sadly upon the washing and
ironing by which the household was
supported. Mrs. Penfeld was an ex-
cellent laundress; and greatly to the
dismay Of an architecr who would
have planned Il otherwise. she had
the largest back yard in The Custard
Cup. In consequence, she was able
to keep desirable patrons, who appre-
ciated the clothes she returned to
them, eloquent Of care and decent
soap, and full Of the freshness that
comes from the beating Of sun and
air in open places.
Her most important patron was
Mrs. Horatius Weatherstone. who had
become factor at Number At and
was referred to with fattering fire.
quency, although the Penflelds had
never seen her. Negotiations were
conducted through an efficient house
keeper. Indeed, Mrs. Weatherstone
would not have known that Mrs. Pen
field existed except that the name
was entered in her list Of attaches
and therefore came to her notice upon
those occasions when the unselfsh
impulses In her nature had accumu-
lated and found outlet in an acute
attack Of philanthropy. When Mrs
Weatherstone felt one Of these spasms
coming on, she ordered the house
keeper to assemble all super1uous
articles and half-worn clothing; then
she herself descended upon this het-
erogeniety. divided 1t rapidly into
, fairly equal parts, and dispatched
these in different directions.
Mrs. Penfield, as "laundress," al
ways received a bundle-usually cast
of garments Of Miss Geraldine and
Miss Bonnie Weatherstone, since their
mother knew that all poor people
have large families, and that all large
families are composed Of both girls
and boys. Mrs. Weatherstone would
have suffered fastidious shock II
she could have seen Crink and Thad
transformed by Mrs. Penfield's patient
Ingenuity into innocent caricatures Of
Geraldine and Bonnie; but the sight
was spared her, and the Penfields
were too sincerely grateful to criti-
cize. Their small income was hardly
elastic enough to cover the funda.
mental items Of food and fuel, school
books for Crink. shoes for two active
youngsters, and various articles Of
apparel which Mrs. Penfield could not
counterfeit at home.
Just at present the Penfields were
riding on a wave Of prosperity, due
to Crink's securing two hours Of work
each day at the combined grocery and
meat market which served the neigh
borhood. So far he had been paid in
merchandise-stale vegetables, shop
worn fruit, groceries which had suf-
fered accident, shafts Of bone and the
more muscular cuts Of meat, stunned
by patrons who possessed the where