Montgomery County sentinel. [volume] (Rockville, Md.) 1855-1974, 1932-04-22
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BY FANNIE HURST =" L.
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T5OR twenty years the woman
X known as aAunt Ema had sold
a newspapers in the doorway Of a
haberdasher,s shop in the theater
section Of New York's Broadway.
A broker who bought papers from
her on the fly had nicknamed her that
because she reminded him Of an 'sAunt
EN-. who had reared him. szas-ss -
Like most happy misnomers, 1t
stuck. Aunt Ems real name was
well, no matter. There was some
thing short and stout and matronly
about the appellation Aunt EN-"
Something kind and wholesome. The
name fitted the little woman in the
decent black and the straw poke bon
net which she wore both winter and
summer as she sold newspapers to the
flying world that hurtled past her
doorway. E.a nH
Every evening at five, rain, snow,
shine, storm, Aunt EN- stood shouting
her wares in her doorway. When the
last theater light blinked out, she
wrapped up her loose change in red
handkerchief, tucked under her fold
ing camp chair for that purpose and
with her daughter, Wenda, who called
for her, marched her way home.
In way, Aunt EN- was quite char
acter about that busy neighborhood.
In the quick tide Of its ebb and flow
she had known great people by sight
(some as customers and hundreds Of
clerks and petty folk on their way to
subway and tram nodded Aunt Em
their good morrow as they tossed their
pennies, snatched their dailies, and
ran.
That little tucked-in corner in the
doorway had yielded Aunt Em twenty
years Of livelihood. Enough, mind you
to rear into successful maturity six
offspring with whom she had struggled
a widow, through years so lean, some
of them, that the cutters in her face
still showed the ravages Of pain, de-
prlvation, even hunger.
All that was changed now. Five OF
the six children had left the nest.
three sons and two daughters. mar
ried, and were on their own. A fairly
prosperous little flock of petty trades
people, set up here and there about
the great city in such small enter
prlses as statloner's shop, fruit stand
or notion store All of them given their
start, too, by willing, II lean contrIbu-
lions from the old lady's change hand
kerchief.
When she was sixty Amt En- might
well have felt entitled to slt hack and
LET those for whom she had toiled
through the wears do some Of the TOLL
ing for her
That was what Law heavily on the
heart of Wenda. the only unmarried
one of the flock. OF course the 9TH
ers all offered 10 contribute TO the nm
keep of the old woman. but somehow.
to Wenda. who felt passionately about
IT, there was something balf-hearted
about the profferinps Of the sons and
daughters and the inJaws.
In her heart Wenda felt hitter IN.
=. -. I....----, 49,. :.
warn THESE prothers ana sisters' II
uiu not seem 10 tWist their nearts tne
way It did hers to see the old woman
standing bumped In her doorway,
shouting.
Not that the old woman could be
easily dissuaded from her labors. On
the contrary, Wenda had occasion to
know that all too emphatically. ATT.
err all, on her own earnings as ste
nographer at twenty.eigbt dollars n
week, Weuud was wen uDle 10 take