Plentywood herald. [volume] (Plentywood, Mont.) 1908-current, 1929-10-17
Continental Angle
published BY special Arrangement With The
Chicaso Tribune 6yndicAte)

FIRST heard of the Krule woman
through Uncle Joe Fodder. The time
= l recall. was back in 1912.
Once a week the venerable Crane
Army man came over from his liver,
stable and spent a couple Of hours paw
ing among the upstate exchanges. Al
settling before the big pine table
our work. Yet he rarely appeared with
out bringing us items.
See we're goin' t have a new bake
shop in town. he remarked this morn.
ing in the year above specified. WON.
tn Jones block where Bud had hi.
market. Stranger, 1 think. I hopt
she makes out. Elites baked goods art
an insult { your stOmmick."
How'd you hear about her?" asked
Sam Hod, my partner.
Bud Jones was tellin' me-who rent
ed her tn place. Gonna do all her oWr
cookin', as l understand it. Tried t
buy tn Elite but Hoadley wouldn'
SELL"
Cruel, you say her name is?"
mo, Krule-K-r-u-l-e-Krulei"
What nationality's that?"
Dutch, l think"
Has she got any folkS?"
Bud didn't mention, but I took il
she's widowed. Comes firm BOsting
l think-or somewhereS close by it. BuC
did say she wanted t rent tn three
rooms upstairs, T. live there herself
An she's ordered a stove as big a. 9
house"
sHnur old q urnYnnnC'
well now, Bud didn't mention that
either. But he spoke of her size. II
tickled him pink"
Her what?"
'Fattest female he ever set eyes on
Said he'd like t. see her in a bath
ing suit; her legs must be wonders
She's gone back t Bosting t fetch uI
her stuff an tn placeu be open in
two or three weeks"
We verified this information anc
mentioned it that night in a small
front page paragraph. AT the end OF
the fortnight the woman r~eappeared.
When l saw her I smiled. she being
the most elephantine individual that
ever walked IN Main street. A woman
in her hfties. scarcely five feet in
height. she had a bosom like a table
top and an equator for a waist. Hell
hair was iron gray with a square Dutch
head set directly on her shoulders. Hel
torso was barrel-like and her arms like
tree boughs. A ~caricature, you think
I leave it to anyone who knows hel
here in Paris. A huge roll of flesh, thick
as an ordinary mans wrist, made the
back of her neck. And she didn't walk
she trundled.
And yet / liked her eyes.
They were robins egg blue, wide
apart and honest. Her pan-o'-dougf
face was saved by those eyes. They
held a docile g%ullibility that was alto
gether lovely. One could no more con-
ceive of Mrs. Krule cheating any one
or descending to chicanery, than one
could conceive of ones own mother
going to jail for firing o~rphanages Oh
kicking the clutches out from under
cripples.
An incident attending my first cal
is Of note.
I had visited the new bakery-sht
had named it the Dutch Oven, by the
way-to compliment her on the pow
derry white aspect of the place and
establish relations that might lead to
advertising. Two women patrons were
present ahead of me. AS the pro-
Pl UlullblCd w OlIC VI llCl Will
doWs to fill a paper bag with desig-
mated pastries l beheld a boy named
Sibley with his nose against the glass
A wild little nondescript urchin was
Benny Sibley. hatless and barefoot, his
features and clothing showing parental
Indifference. A NANCY, hybrid Airedale
was likewise attracted by those window
%delicacies. 1t stood on hind legs be-
side the tattered youngster, paws
against the pane where it left dirty
spots. Not at all a nice advertisement
to have near those edibles, for the
Sibley boys ensemble was unspeak-
ably besmirched.
Yet stout Mrs. Krule did not shoe
him away. She waited till her two
women patrons had departed. Then
she went to the window to readjust
her trays. Keeping her bulk toward
me SO I wouldn't see, she contrived to
snitch up one luscious eclair. To the
door she went next, as to scatter the
flies. Under the secrecy of her apron
without a spoken word, she slipped the
pastry to the startled boys hands.
Whereupon he turned and bolted, the
dog Looping after.
Mrs. Krule affected to be finicky
about those flies on her door screen
Then she turned and came toward me
avoiding my eyes. She offered no COM
ment on what she had done. She
might have looked as ashamed had she
struck the boy brutally.
l wanted to warn her that she wa
making an error, doing that sort o.
thing. The neighborhood urchins
would make her life miserable. YET
l said nothing.
Her husband was dead, she told me
Three daughters in Holland were mar
ried, had children. Not wishing to bt
dependent on them, she had joined 6
brother in a Boston delicatessen. Bu'
the man had sold out and gone back
to The Netherlands. Because the Van
derburg family up on Beech stree
were relatives of hers, she had com
up to visit them. Which had acquainted
her with Paris, VT, and the dissatis'
faction being given by the Elite.
| made note of these details. From
time to time other customers entered
They compelled her to arise from tn,
plain wooden chair planted by the casl
register, each time with an effort. II
those moments of being seated, thu
only evidence / had that our motherl,
Dutch bakeress possessed knees wa
her mannerism of keeping her stole
hands planted firmly upon them.
You mean you're going to do you
) own cooking, nights" l exclaimed, per
celvlng she was due to lose some o
her %rotundity.
I "Somevon to help me, I get" sh'
responded, ven der business pays me.