party--it's a shame!' Then my Louis telephoned up from the store
that if I went out I should take a cab. What that boy don't think of!"

"He's a fine boy, Mrs. Silverman; and such a sweet girl he married."

"It ain't for the money, Mrs. Katzenstein--believe me, it ain't; but why
should I take a cab when it's only one block away to the Subway? I leave
that to my children. Meena's the stylish one of our family--when it so
much as sprinkles that girl has to have a cab."

"Come right in, Mrs. Gump; I knew you wouldn't be afraid of a little
weather. Here, let me take your umbrella."

"It's a fine weather for ducks, Mrs. Katzenstein."

"Just you go right in the middle room with Birdie and make yourself at
home."

"Come right with me, Mrs. Gump; me and mamma was so afraid maybe you
wouldn't come."

Birdie flitted in and out from parlor to bedroom; the languor of the
morning had fallen from her.

"Now, mamma, you and the ladies sit down at your tables. That's right,
Mrs. Mince--you and Mrs. Kronfeldt play opposites, and Mrs. Ginsburg and
Aunt Batta. Don't get excited, mamma. I'll fix the ladies in their
places. Here, Mrs. Weissenheimer, you sit here between Mrs. Gump and
mamma."

"Look at that goil!" exclaimed Mrs. Mince, seating herself and taking a
pinch of Birdie's firmly molded arm between thumb and forefinger. "I
wish you'd look how thin she's got. Ain't that grand, though! I bet you
don't drink water with your meals?"

"Not a drop, Mrs. Mince; and no starchy food; no--"

"Mrs. Mince," interrupted Mrs. Ginsburg, dealing the cards with skill
and rapidity, "Doctor Adelberg told my sister-in-law that rolling on the
floor two hundred times morning and night had got this diet business
beat. All he says you got to be careful about is no water at meals. But
with me it's like Aaron says--I keep him busy filling up my glass at the
table."

"I wish you'd see my Birdie diet, Carrie! The grandest things she won't
eat! Last night for supper we had potato _Pfannkuechen_, that would melt
in your mouth. Not one will she touch! Her papa says how she lives he
don't know."

"I wish my Marcus would diet a little. I always say to him he's just a
little bit too stout--he takes after his poor father," said Mrs. Gump.

"You can believe me or not, Mrs. Gump; but, so sure as my name is Mince,
I got down from a hundred and ninety-two to a hundred and seventy-four
in two months! Reducing ain't so bad when you get used to it."

"Ho