Milford chronicle., 1925-03-20
CHAPTER 9

The little HOltz house always smelleC
Of peppermint, fragrant reminder o.
what earned their liver and onions. II
his mature years Admah was not re-
called to boyhOod scenes by the pun
gency of sunfloWers or of willows or by
the damp elf Odor Of shy wood fungi
It was the smell of peppermint that re-
Yived memories for him.
In their little square hCdse on Dutch
Hill the Hotties prospered, gauged by
the standard of wingless working IN
Bects. In that row of plnched dwell
hngs, marching diagonallf like wooden
soldiers in some intricate manOeuVre,
the H0ltz's enjoyed ceTtain distinc-
tion. In their daub of front yard they
had cultivated magnosaa tree which
retained it's shiny LEAKAGE until after
Christmas and bloomeG handsomely in
the Spring. Ma Hole} grew geraniums,
too, and once in a. Rnproving spirit
she borrowed brusGg9. bought paint
and commanded the HOltzes as family
to mount ladders and convert the Dutch
Hill residence into a spectacle of bright
orange with Indian red trimmings.
Drab, weatherbeaten Datch Hill gasped
at the innovation and lowed as how
the Candy Woman was brealkin' out in
marshmallows. SaV1rical car conduct
tors on the Washington Avenue line
could view the spot of ardent color as
they went around the loop and snick-
cred, Candy House is on fire!' until
the joke played QUE and the City's soft
coal smoke had dfGlRed the orange
clapbOards to the prevailing neutral
gray.
In Ma H3itzs Spartan breast there
lay the seed of self-expressiOn, I'M
Wartered and neglected. Modern ad-
vertistng meant nothing to her, since
she could read only the simplest words,
and they didn't interest her. In that
one debauch of primitive color, perhaps,
she gave way to an instinct. The
world should know that she was there,
D dot Of viyidness in the drabby ant
heap.
Admah, who grew up with a sort of
VOLTS affection for this lean, bitter |
woman, thought of her as unprogressive, |
neglectful of opportunities. He seldom !
Ventured to tell her so. One doesn't |
advice the perfect captain of river |
barge to get into gold-laced uniform |
and command an ocean hner-Only |
suicidal fool would offer such counsel.
To her life Ma Holtz was sufficient,
working constantly, never sparing her
hard, country-bred muscles. The pic
ture Of his mother, at work after con-
ventional Dutch Hill had gone to bed,
became familiar to Admah's eyes.
Hair that had been thin and grey
since he could remember she wore
neatly cOmbed back into a pug above
her ears. Her bare arms were stringy
and blue veined; as she leaned over
their lucky gravestone, dropping neat
portions of candy-batter in such a way
that each spoonful would harden into
perfect peppermint disk, there was
certain feminine daintiness about her,
in her ordinary acts. In
the light of a kerosene lamp shadows
would fall across her face softening it
10 certain gentleness. Sometimes she
would sing, thin, penetrating sound,
off the key;
"WaIE in thee light,
Bee-yelV-ti-f1tH light,
Doo-dr0ps are faILin' so pelO an so (
Ann all eroun' me 6ee-yesO-ti-fuH ,
light
Jesu, the light Ofthee tOorldi"
Over and over and over she would
ding it, not ecstaticalIy as the negroes /
DO, but def1antly. There was certain c
complaint in it, too. She called for I
light from heaven that had given her {
70 little. She had chosen her Guide I