The Richmond palladium and sun-telegram. [volume] (Richmond, Ind.) 1907-1939, 1914-01-17
Married Life
the Third Year
BY MABEL HER6ERT URNER.

BY MABEL HER6ERT URNER.
1t was an empty basement shop.
A faded red and white pole and some
half-erased lettering showed that the
! last tenant had been barber.
The window was smeared over with
soap, as is the custom in empty stores,
to keep the passerby from seeing the
barrenness and dirt inside But these
details Helen did not notice. She saw
only the head Of a gray kitten lying
against the glass from which 1t had
| rubbed off enough of the soap to be
seen. There was something in the
way the kitten lay that made her hur-
ry down the three steps to the win
dow.
| Was it dead? Helen tapped against
t but twereh4E .mtnsam. ScOmfhnoito
the glass, but there was no motion.
She tapped again with the metal clasp
of her purse. This time its eyes half
opened and 1t raised its head. But
when it tried to its feet, it fell back
with a soundless NEW
The situation was plain. The kit
ten had been shut up in this empty
store How long had it been there?
Its starving condition told of many
days.
Helen shook the door but it was
locked, of course. She went back and
gazed through the clear place of the
smeared window into the empty store.
There were few boards, some old
shelving a broken chair and some
rubbish in a concentrating else.
Again she tapped on the window
"a r.
and looked at her piteously, but this
time made no effort to stand.
How could she get it out? She ran
into the next door. a dingy locksmith
shop. An old man was filing key.
He could hardly speak English, and
only shrugged his shoulders at her
excited questionsg.
He didn't know anything about the
cat or the empty shop. Didn't rem
ember how long 1t had been vacant
And when Helen asked frantically for
the janitor or caretaker, he answered
sullenly that there wasn't any. The
grating sound of the file and the man S
indifference was more than she could
stand.
A POLICEMAN.
On the other side Of the street was
a cheap saloon. She couldn't 80 In
there She looked aronud in despair
1t was poor neighborhood, mostly
Italians. She had come in search OF
the place where Mrs. Stevens bought
her olive oil. 1t was in looking fOl
this place that Helen had Glanced to
see this wretched little kitten.
What could she do? The kitten
no
would be too late. Even now il
might be too weak to live.
If only she could find a policeman
But there was none In sight. She rar
up to the next corner and then on tt
the next, but htere was still no officer
She hurried on still lanother block
, and then saw one further on in the
center of the street.
When she rushed up to him ant
breathlessly told her story, he an
swered stolidly:
Sorry, ma am, but can't leave m,
beat. l guess the cat amt starvin'
it'll get all the rats it wants
"Oh, but it's a little kitten. It's to-
young to catch rats"
We'll, I'm sorry, ma'am." obstinate
ly, but I can't leave my beat"
Fiercely indignant, Helen starte.
back to the empty shop. On the wa,
she passed a drug store with the ia
miliar telephone sign. For a momen
! she paused uncertainty before tn
door and then entered determinedly
The phone was on counter in tn
rear Quickly she called up Warren
2 Dear, are you very busy" she ask
: ed excitedly.
f well, I'm not exactly twiddling m
:, thumbs. Why"
3 "Oh. could you come up here
s There is wretched little kitten lock
ed in an empty shop. 1t is so weak
, can't stand! l can't get anybody t.
, help me get it out! Oh, CAN'T yo1
, Gomez
Leave my work on some wild COOS
chase for a stray cat? What do 20,
take me for?'
; "Oh. but Warren, if you could onl.
> see it-oh, KNOW you would come!
1t is so weak and SO pitiful-it trie
to drag itself on its feet and then fall
back, and looks at me so piteously
Oh" with sob in her voice, "thinl
Of that poor little thing being shu
I up there for days without food 0
i water! And it is so helpless! I can
l leave it to die like that
: There was pause and then h