s and before he knew it had stepped square on it with the iron
plated heel of his work boots, squashin' the crystal into the works.
And six weeks later he'd carelessly rested a red hot clinker rake on
his right foot and had seared off a couple of toes. But the climax came
when he managed to bug the safety catch on the foolproof ash elevator
and took a 20-foot drop with about a ton of loaded ash cans. He only had
a leg broken, at that, but it was three or four months before he came
limpin' out of the hospital to find that the buildin' agent didn't care
to have him on the payroll any more.

Somehow Henry got his case before Mr. Robert, and that's how I was sent
scoutin' out to see if all this about a sufferin' fam'ly was a fairy
tale or not. Well, it was and it wasn't. There was a Mrs. Gummidge, and
Rowena, and Horatio, just as he'd described. And they was livin' in a
back flat on a punk block over near the North river. Their four dark
rooms was about as bare of furniture as they could be. I expect you
might have loaded the lot on a push cart. And the rations must have been
more or less skimpy for some time.

But you couldn't exactly say that Ma Gummidge was sufferin'. No. She'd
collected a couple of fam'ly washes from over Seventh avenue way and was
wadin' into 'em cheerful. Also she was singin' "When the Clouds Are
Darkest," rubbin' out an accompaniment on the wash board and splashin'
the suds around reckless, her big red face shinin' through the steam
like the sun breakin' through a mornin' fog.

Some sizable old girl, Ma Gummidge; one of these bulgy, billowy females
with two chins and a lot of brownish hair. And when she wipes her hands
and arms and camps down in a chair she seems to fill all one side of the
room. Even her eyes are big and bulgy. But they're good-natured eyes. Oh
my, yes. Just beamin' with friendliness and fun.

"Yes, Henry's had kind of a hard time," she admits, "but I tell him he
got off lucky. Might have been hurt a lot worse. And he does feel
downhearted about losin' his job. But likely he'll get another one
better'n that. And we're gettin' along, after a fashion. Course, we're
behind on the rent, and we miss a meal now and then; but most folks eat
too much anyway, and things are bound to come out all right in the end.
There's Rowena, she's been promised a chance to be taken on as extra
cash girl in a store. And Horatio's gettin' big enough to be of some
help. We're all strong and healthy, too,