Milford chronicle., 1925-06-26
CHAPTER 80

He had been away from the store all
morning, pursuing an enterprise Of his
own in the young, hourishing town
which had sprung up across the wide
River after the K. & G. bridge was
0uilt. The sight of his new store al
ways affected Admah headily. On a
good cOrner-the Grand Avenue shop
Ping district was growing rapidly
ground 1.-THE front glowed flagrantly
with the vermiliOn paint which he had
r4dsed to be mixed three times to suit
El5 eye . plenty of yellow in the
red, so that the folks would stop and
stare at the big gold sign CANDY
HOLTZ. To Admah that sight gave
the esthetic pleasure which an artist
feels when at last he has found his
meter.
That day, as he stepped from his
Ford and stood regarding the effect, his
venturesome corner looked good to
Admah Holtz. His nickel-plated cleo
trio candy-puller in the window was
patiently, faithfully turning its skein
of fstrawberry-cOlor taffy. A novelty
in town, he had imported that candy
puller after having seen its double
working on the boardwalk at Atlantic
City. 10 had warned him Of the ex-
pense. 10, of course, would. &.
But the device was already paying its
own rent. More than that, it was
flashing a message to the passerby,
telling the world about Holtz.
Admah found 10 behind the counter,
weighing out taffy which he cracked
with a little silver hammer. There were
three customers waiting and Jo looked
peevish. Therefore Admah hurried to
the rescue in time to satisfy one with a
half pound of peppermints and another
with a box of Home Sweet Chocolates
the latter he bought in job lots from a
local factory and re-packed under his
own label. Other customers came in
and Admah attended them handily;
without apparent effort he served twice
as fast 10 who prided himself on his
thoroughness.
Presently there fell lull in trade.
While 10 worked fussily to satisfy the
demand Of an old lady who came in to
find an extinct variety of lemon drop
Charley Finch, their thin-Wristed clerk,
returned from lunch. Out back Ad-
nah cast a proprietOrial eye over his
force; three cOIOred girls stood at marble
topped work-tables dropping pepper
nints out of little machines especially
made for dropping. Ma Holtz's iron
spoon and pan had been relegated to the
past. The handicapped tables were
standardized articles, manufactured by
a confectioners' supply company in De-
troit. What then had become Of the
reconverted gravestone upon which Ma
had so laboriously dripped a million
pep'mints? Admah knew, and 10, of
course, had found out. The idea had
seemed silly to 10, but his protests had
MT weakened Admah's determination
that her name and line from walk in
the Light be cut in the slab and that it
mark a mound beside Pa Holtz's in
cluttered churchyard across the River.
Sentimentality, you'll say. Yes, but
the golded stones that mark PharaOh's
tomb are sentimental too.
After he had made round Of the new
store, exulting in the neatness and the
smartness Of it all, Admah came back
to the counter and found 10 resting be-
hind q CODY Of the StGr-EG0le. Pale,
thin and straw-colored, the older Holtz
brother had already lost some Of his
front hair and wore tanned, uXorious
look.
WELL" he drawled from behind the
sheet, "I see your best girls bobbed up
again."
Forget IT," Admah invited, then by
the way Of counter irritant, 1--WE
looked over that corner in Scudderville
and about decided to take lease"
Better look out, said 10, employing
hIs eaanallla- Than he thraW asida his