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Show Grandma Obeyed Orders By JACK WOODFORD ;: t. ( cj, We.ittMii .V--w.iuii-pr Union.) "JSJO OXK In the village was ever j ' able to explain Just why Abe Mincer Min-cer was Sf fond tit Grandmother I'lumb. Surely there was no logical accounting for It. Grandmuthei I'lumb'a cottage was in the center ot a row of latter-day, tumbledown shacks. Well, Abe Mincer owned the shack next door, and Abe Mincer was the junk man. When Grandma Plumb's grandson, Harvey, had come home from Chicago Chi-cago to die of consumption Abe Mincer had surreptitiously gone to Fdlingcr's drug store at the corner and placed a cash deposit to cover any medicines Grandmother Plumb might need. "For why?" he had said, blinkingly. when questioned upon the subject by the irreverent and totally misunderstanding misunder-standing drug clerk. "For why do I do It veil, how do I know? I gotta!" Grandmother Plumb had gotten herself her-self In pretty deep with the undertaker, under-taker, and the florist; and even owed the minister for his part In the funeral. The grandson's last act had been to obtain no one ever knew how a battered bat-tered old touring car which he had suddenly appeared in town with one day, after several days' absence. Ills passing left Grandmother Plumb In sole and undisputed possession posses-sion of the junk car. One morning, as Abe was hitching up his mournful horse to his creaky wagon, Grandmother Grand-mother Plumb's head appeared over the fence. "Good morning, Abe," said Grandma Plumb, resplendent in a nice lace cap. "You are a business man, Mr. Mincer," went on Grandmother I'lumb briskly. "It is on a business proposition that I want to speak to you." "Veil, muni, if der is anything what I kin do " "I've decided to dispose of Harvey's car," collided Grandmother I'lumb. "Veil, Missus I'lumb, I tink I kin gif you " "You'll not give me a cent!" interrupted inter-rupted the lirtle old lady. "You'd be sure to give me more than it is worth, you rogue ; I'm going to sell it to strangers. You see, I owe you about fifty dollars, and the florist about twenty-five; the undertaker's bill was two hundred, the doctor's a hundred, and other items will come to two or three hundred all together; do you think " Abe eyed the old lady sadly for a long time. His mind's eye erased the barn wall directly before him, on Grandmother Plumb's property, and he saw the battered old 1918 model. It would be a miracle if she got fifty dollars dol-lars for it. For a long time Abe stood eyeing the lady before him rellectively. "Veil, I tell you, Missus Plumb; you do zhust what I say, and I'll positively guarantee that you get for your egszel-lent egszel-lent car at least vun tousund dollars. 1 vill take care of the adverdising ; you will take care of the selling. Vcn people come aroundt to. look at the car you zhust tell them that they can look at it but they must not touch it you understandt? And don't sell it for vun dime less than vun tousand." j "I certainly shall, Mr. Mincer; I have always admired your business acumen." "Remember," cautioned Abe, turning his head and stopping in bis tracks as he ambled back toward the wagon. "And, by the way, Missus Plumb, isn't there a white border painted aroundt the mud guards?" "Yes, there is a fine, white line painted around the edges of the mud guards." "Egzactly, Missus Plumb Wednesday Wednes-day you vill half peoble after the car but don't let dem touch it you understandt?" un-derstandt?" Grandmother I'lumb nod-ed nod-ed and Abe drove off toward the business busi-ness section of the city. The morning of the second day after this incident, Grandmother Plumb was besieged with several men whom she knew by sight as living liv-ing around town all their lives. They wanted to buy the car, and there was no difficulty in keeping them from touching it ; they didn't even want to look at it; their only anxiety was to get Grandmother Plumb to take their money and deliver up the car. They j bid against each other hysterically and grandmother finally sold it to one of them for fifteen hundred dollars I because, be had the cash with him. That evening, when Abe drove home, lie came over to the fence and called to Grandmother Plumb. "Veil, Missus Plumb, did you sell the car?" "Yes, thank you," replied grandmother, grand-mother, from her kitchen window. "I got a very fair price for it. thanks to you." Abe Mincer smiled inwardly, and outwardly, and kept smiling and mumbling to himself and glancing at grandmother's windows as he unhitched un-hitched his horse. When lie went into his house he took from beneath his coat a copy of a paper Issued in a nearby town ; a paper which, he knew, circulated among the sporting element in the town, the very ones witli whom Harvey had associated, and who would remember the car. He turned to an ! inside page and read the ad, which he had caused to be inserted : I "Stolen, a few months ago, large ! touring car with white markings I around edges of mud guards. Car contained vaiutble papeis, sewed into leather seat, for which owner will j gladly pay five thousand dollars re-I re-I ward for return and no questions asked. Comniutdcate with BoS X. T. I 27, cure this payer." |