Part 26 (1/2)
”That's some more of Birdie's doings. Honest, you may believe me or not, Mrs. Gump, but I have to fight to keep that girl away from the kitchen and housework! Yesterday it was all I could do to get her to go to Rosie Freund's linen shower; she wanted to stay home and help me with to-day's _Kuchen_. This morning, after last night, she was up before eight! Such a child!”
”I suppose you heard of poor Flora Freund's trouble, didn't you, Salcha?”
”Yes, Batta; you could have knocked me down with a feather! But Mr.
Katzenstein always said the new store was too big. And such a failure, too!”
”I guess Flora won't have so many airs now! Down to her feet she got a sealskin coat this winter.”
”I always say to Mr. Katzenstein we ain't such high-fliers, but we are steady. Try some of that pickled herring, Mrs. Gump. I put it up myself.”
”I guess you heard of Stella Loeb's engagement, Birdie, didn't you?”
inquired Mrs. Mince, spreading the grape-jelly atop a finger-roll. ”To a Mr. Steinfeld from Cleveland.”
”Yes, I hear she's doing grand; but so is he. To get in with the Loeb Brothers' crowd ain't so bad.”
”Yes, they're all grand matches!” exclaimed Mrs. Ginsburg. ”It's just like Meena says; they're all gold pocket-book and automobile matches when they're with out-of-town men; but Cleveland--I don't wish it to her to live in Cleveland--not that I've ever been there, but I don't envy girls that marry out of New York.”
”My Ray's got it grand in Kansas City! I wish you could see her closet room and her pantry--as big as my whole kitchen! A girl could do worse than Kansas City or Cleveland.”
”I always say,” remarked Birdie, ”when I get engaged it makes no difference where he goes.”
”That's the right way to feel, Miss Birdie. Some day, if Marcus should ever marry--and I'm the last one to stand in his way--if he gets his promotion to the Newark factories and the girl he picks out don't like Newark, then she's not the right girl,” said Mrs. Gump.
”Newark,” said Mrs. Katzenstein, ”is a grand little town. Whenever we pa.s.s through on our way to Kansas City Birdie always says what a sweet little town it is. Mrs. Silverman, have another cup of coffee.”
The short winter day sloughed off suddenly, and it was dark when they rose from the table. ”So late!” exclaimed Mrs. Mince. ”I got a girl that can't so much as put on the potatoes. Honest, the servant problem gets woise and woise.”
”Sh-h-h!” cautioned Mrs. Katzenstein, placing her forefinger across her lips and glancing warningly toward the kitchen. ”Tillie,” she whispered, ”ain't such a jewel neither; but she's honest, and I'm glad enough to have anybody these days. Birdie, she's always fussing with me because I do too much in the kitchen; but why should my husband have his coffee so it don't suit him? Children don't understand--they're too much for style.”
”In my little flat, with Etta married and gone,” chimed in Mrs. Adler, ”I'm better off without a girl. I got a woman to come in and clean three times a week, and me and Ike go out for our supper. I got it better without the worry of a girl.”
”I give you right. If I'd listen to Marcus I'd keep a servant, too--a servant when I got my troubles without one!”
”Ain't that jus' like papa, Birdie? He always says: 'Salcha, you take it easy now; when one girl isn't enough keep two'--as if I didn't have enough troubles already!”
”Good-by, Mrs. Katzenstein!” Mrs. Kronfeldt inserted a tissue-paper-wrapped package carefully within her m.u.f.f. ”You got good taste in prizes--salts and peppers always come in handy.”
”That's the way me and Birdie felt when we picked them out--you can't have too many of them.”
”And, Birdie, you come over with your mamma some afternoon when Ruby's home. That girl with her society and engagements--I never see her myself! This afternoon she saw vaudeville with Sol Littleberger. He's in off the road.”
”Birdie had an engagement this afternoon, too, with a traveling-man; but I always like to have her home when I entertain.”
”I had a lovely afternoon, Mrs. Katzenstein. You and Miss Birdie must come and see me--One Hundred and Forty-first Street ain't so far away that you can't get to us.”
”Me and Birdie can come almost any afternoon, Mrs. Gump, except Sat.u.r.day we go to the matinee--we're great ones for Sat.u.r.day matinee.”
”That's what I call too bad! On Sat.u.r.day Marcus comes home early, and he could see you home.”