The Tupelo journal., 1913-05-02
THAT BLESSED KITTEN
Stray Black Cat Innocent Means
of Reuniting Lovers Who
Had QuarreIed.
BY WHEELER M'MILLEN.

6y M'MlllEN.
"Me-a-ow!"
The d~espairing cry of a shivering.
homeless kitten penetrated to Bent
1ys room. Bently hated cats; and he
was out of a job.
But" he declared to himself. this
as too cold a night for even a worth
uess cat to be out"
The kittens miserable "me-a-ow!"
again ose above the shrieks Of the
zero wind. It sounded as If the vic
tim Of the frosty blast was giving its
last howl before lying down to freeze
Hn the now The tenderness Of Bent
ays heart overcame his lo~ng-fostered
aversion for anything feline. AS he
held the door open. the keen wind
drove fine particles of snow v the
rug.
The cats cry sounded across the
street II could never find it there"
SBently slammed the door, and crawled
up on top Of the radiator, which SEEM
ed to have given up all effort to warm
the room.
Fuller than before of the agony Of
the cold, the cry again reached Bent
ly's ears He opened the door. AS
the snow sifted over his slippers, he
heard soft feet patter across the
porch, and a black kitten slipped into
the room.
Bently picked the cat up in one
hand. AS its four feet dangled in the
air, he examined his guest. Ice and
snow still hung In its bedraggled
black fur. The kitten, grateful for
warmth and attention, began to purr.
Bently drew a chair close to the rar
.diator, and put on 1t, warm side up,
the cushion hat had been on top Of
the heater. On this he carefully de-
posted the cat. He settled himself
in the one rocker that scarcely could
be said to adorn the room. A whim-
sfcal mood stole ver him, as he gazed
mt the kitten, which was comfortably
pushing its claws into the cushion
NJ 1t purred loudly.
80 you're out of q job and up
against 1t, too, are you, Puss"
Puss seemed more inclined to alb
sorb the heat that the radiator had
begun in honor of the occasion, than
TO engage in conversation. Bently
continued his interrogations and OBJ
servations, himself beginning to IN
Joy the situation as much as the cat
appreciated it.
81 don't generally like cats, but I
ihoEnuo thot Won ond will no fnn
friends. That reminds me that we
haven't been introduced-but geniuses
hate f%ormalities, too" Bently halted
in his soliloquy.
II said l didn't like cats; but l
know of some one who does. I'll bet
she'd like to have one like you for
a pet. She would call you a beauty,
though / don't quite agree. Would
you like to hear of this person who
likes cats?"
, For answer, Puss ceased the ablu-
tons that were %engrossing her atten-
ton, yawned comfortably, jumped
from the cushion to Bently's knee and
sal down socially in his lap.
WELL, by the shades of old maids,
/ do believe you are really interested!
/ must tell you all about her.
Once upon a time-no, not once
upon a time because she is still very
much alive. But 1t Is once upon a
time so far as l am concerned, 80
we'll let 1t go that way. Once upon a
time, there was a sweet and independ-
ent young woman, who lived in a
room something like this, only more
homelike for having a woman in 1t, in
this very city. Her name was Mar
garet. Margaret made her living by
writing things for newspapers and
magazines. One day, while she was
working at space rates for the paper
on which l was a reporter, l met her.
Puss, are you listening? Well, we be-
came good friends. We became such
good friends, indeed, that l went very
often to see her, and we planned how
we would furnish the fiat we were
going to have together when both Of
us were a little more successful
when she had sold her serial and l
got a raise in salary.
"But she insisted on liking cats, and
would always have two or three
around to care for. told you a while
ago that l hated cats. At least l had
always pretended to hate them, so l
had come to believe that 1 really did.
"We quarreled the other day about
that. Then, some other things went
wrong, and we quarreled worse than
uo That uoc torrih1o puacv Won
must never quarrel with any n you
love.
by the way, wouldn't you like to
see Margaret's %picture?"
When Bently's voice paused, the
kitten looked up and began to purr
again.
Il guess you e you do"
Bently reached for the picture that
was lying on the table. AS he held It