Lum Patches Things Up

Originally Aired: April 20, 1938

Lum #23, "Lum Patches Things Up," finds Abner in deep trouble after his misguided attempt to run a matrimonial bureau goes disastrously wrong. When Abner sends out photographs of married men including Ezra C. Strunk, Mose Moots, and Dick Huddleston to prospective brides, their wives discover incriminating letters in their husbands' pockets. Mrs. Moots threatens to leave with the children, forcing Abner to confess his scheme to prevent the marriage from falling apart. Now half the town is furious with him, and Abner sits in the Jotten Down Store with Grandpappy Spears, wallowing in self-recrimination.

As Abner and Grandpappy argue about who's to blame, nearly coming to blows with a chair, Lum arrives and reveals the full extent of the damage. Mose Moots has been reduced to a henpecked husband, forbidden from attending lodge meetings and forced to do all the household chores for the next two years just to keep his wife from leaving. With his business partner and the entire community angry at him, Abner desperately searches for ways to patch things up and restore peace to Pine Ridge.