El Paso herald. (El Paso, Tex.) 1901-1931, 1912-11-26
Married Life the Third Year
To HeIen's Surprise Warren Does
Not Critieise Unfortunate
Purchases.
By Mabel Herbert Urner.
T was about II o'clock the next day


IT was about II o'clock the next day
when Helen's auction purchases,
4 the chair and the large brass jar,
were delivered. There was an express
charge of a dollar, which she thought
exorbitant, and which added that much
more to the cost of the articles.
Hardly had the door closed after the
eXpressman before Helen was down on
J her knees examining the chair. Was
it really an antique2 Was it worth
] what she had paid2
Then she tried it to see if it was
comfortable. But was it strOng2 Had
! that arm been repaired2 She examined
it more closely. 1t looked as though
| it had been broken and meEded there
| She would have to put il in the bed
| room, where it would not get much
use.
There were a number of scars and
| scratches on the carved legs She
| must rub those up before Warren saw
/ it.
Then she turned to the brass jar.
| 1t was really a very Quaint old piece
with its curious iron feet and bulginS
sides. But Helen could only see that
/ il was useless. She had bid on il
/ thinking it could be used as a clothes
! hamper. and had found out only when
7 it had been knocked down to her, that
what seemed to be a lid was not one,
/ and that the only opening was small
/ hole on top
Planning Its Use
! If only she had had the courage to
! speak up at the time-to have told the
/ auctiOneer Of her mistake and ask him
/ to resell it,
She had lain awake last night,
| thinking Of what she could do with it,
I what she could use it for. Could the
! top be cut off and made into lid?
/ But that would probably cost more
I than the jar was worth.
= e. - II 10 h.
( She ran TO the closet for a couple Of
| umbrellas Yes. the opening. on top
I was large enough for that. But when
she put il in the narrow hall to see
I how it would look, she found that the
( Jar itself was much too big 1t
hardly left space enough to pass.
/ Then she tried it in the library by
the gas logs. OF course a great many
people did have old brass and copper
! pieces sitting around, and thought
| them very decorative, but this one was
so big and clumsy. And besides, Helen
had always been opposed to anything
that was not useful. She hated
room filled with lot of traps
! that served no purpose except to be in
the way and catch dust. Warren, too,
was strong on this He always said,
| For heavens sake, let's not clutter up
/ the place with lot Of useless trum-
perry"
She felt she would not have the
courage to tell him about the Jar, at
least not for while She might give
it to some one for Christmas; II would
look like an expensive present Mrs.
/ Stevens would love it, for she had
! lot of antique brass.
Finally Helen hid the jar in the back
of her closet, and again turned her at
I tentiOn to the chair.
Maggie, where did you put that fur
niture pOlish2"
Isn't it there on that top pantry
shelf, maam2"
PoIfsbipa- E-urnffure
Helen got the polish and a soft fan
mel cloth and went TO work The back
Of the chair was Teneered, and the
grain Of the wood came out beauti-
Pussy PurrmeW. who always
] thought that when Helen got down
on the floor it was to play with her.
z came purring around. shifting inquls-
1 itively at the furniture polish
Helen had put on large bib apron
IN which she always worked, and now
! as she got up to stand back and view
the chair. Pussy Purrmew made
! leap after one of the apron strings
and overturned a bottle Of polish. Be
fore Helen could catch il up there was
little pool Of brown liquid on the
Persian rug
The kitten scampered away with
arched tail, while Helen ran out to
I the kitchen.
"Oh. Maggie. Pussy Purrmew's over
turned the furniture polish, Get some
warm water and sOap-quickr'
They washed it up in several waters,
but there was still a faint brown stain
That won't show much when it's
dry, man." said Maggie cOnsolingly.
But Helen knew that ii would show,
and il only added to the string of mis-
fortunes which seemed to have fol-
lowed her auction purchases
"Phewi Smells strong enough in
! herei" was Warren's first comment
when he came home that evening.
Yes. it's furniture polish. Pussy
PurrmeW's overturned the bottle"
Hello, Pussumsi Did you do that?"
as the kitten. aroused by his entrance,
jumped down from the window,
yaWned and stretched sleepily.
Instantly Helen knew that Warren
was in an unusually good humOr. He
would never trouble to notice the
kitten, much less to call her "Pus-
sums" if he were not particularly gen
iaL
warren Approves.
"Oh. / say. is this the new chair2'
Glad for him to see it first when he
was in so favorable a mood, she drew
it out and turned on another light
Why, that's a mighty good looking
chair. Lines are good, and that's a
good piece Of mahogany, too. Whatd
you say YOU pay for it?'
Twelve dollars"
Cheap, all right Couldn't get that
chair in the shops for less than
twenty five, could you?'
Helen knew that the chair could be
bought almost anywhere for fifteen,
perhaps less But she could not bring
herself to say So If he thought this
was worth much more than she had
paid, she might venture 20 tell him
about the jar
Yes, that chairs all right de-
clared Warren. And it's an old one.
too. That's no reproduction. Can't
make EN- like that now"
Helen was almost sure that it was
a reproduction. But it was so rarely
that Warren approved of anything
she bought that she had no scruples
in asserting eagerly.
"Oh. yes, dear, I'm almost sure that
it's old
well. I know it's old. That's a
genuine chair, and it's mighty cheap
for twelve dollars. What else did you
get?'
Nothing else hesitatingIy, Eek
cept a-brass jar"
let's see it. TrOt il out"
Tt was so heavy that Helen could
hardly carry it from the closet
'JOve, that's a whOpper, What Un-
der the sun are you going to do with
that"
The Chair Breaks.
''Why, dear, I got it for clothes
hamper" stammered Helen Then I
found this doesn't come off pOfnting