The patriot. [volume] (Indiana, Pa.) 1914-1955, 1919-06-07
The
Helpers
Copyright. 1918. BY Western Newspaper Uassu-I
BY T. B. ANDERSON

Z MlAuOh SlOOu SdAAuS LCAGCuNeAg out
! upon the rain-Swept street. Ii was a
wretched locality and those hurrying
by were manifeStly of the poorer class.
He was Adrian Howard, a lawyer Of
1 five years standing, and he had wan
/ dered casually to the neighbOrhOOd be-
cause he had been named as candi-
date for the judgeShip on a new reform
ticket.
A survey of the field had convinced
Adrian Howard that the opposition
| controlled a large majority in the dis
trict. For all that he had become in
terested in viewing the conditions
! about him. IdleneSS and crime went
hand in hand and poverty and hunger
haunted the great rows OF cheap fire
trap tenements. A little girl, ragged
and unkempt and dripping with rain,
! her broken shoes soaked, hugging close
/ a tattered shawl and chilled and shiv-
! ering, attracted his attention by her
/ forlorn appearance. She handed a slip
/ of paper to the druggist and sat down
/ wearily upon a stool TO await the prep
/ al dIAOL VI p4SSN1lpNAOh oA1C udO
brought. When the clerk appeared
! from behind the case with a bottle,
she voiced weakly:
please sir, it's for Mr.. Gray. who
is very sick, and Miss Airline says she'll
pay you next week"
| The druggist drew back the extend
ed bottle. You'll have to find the cash
for this prescription" he said GROSSLY. d
Eyes, sir, please, sir, but Mr.. Gray
is very sick, and Miss Airline will sure
ly pay you"
"Well, let some of his friends pro-
vide the money. He's done enough for
| them when he was we'll"
The little child began to cry, bound
f., by strands of loyalty and love to the
sick man. Adrian stepped forward
asked the charge, paid it, and the little
one directed at him a grateful glance,
seized his hand in an impetuous way
and kissed it. The druggist looked
half-shamed and said apologetically:
Don't think me hard-hearted but If
you should see my books you would
Illell dAu WCAA hCaA W
bankruptcy from trusting these unfor-
tunate people about here. The Grays
! deserve q heap, but / have done my
limit in helping them out. Old William
Gray has been kind Of world father
to the poor and distressed, but l fancy
he and his daughter have fallen on
hard lines.
"Wait," spoke Adrian, as the child
gathered the rag of a shawl over her
shivering shoulders, maybe l am go
ing your way and you can share my
umbrella"
1t was thus that Adrian Howard
came to know the GrayS, father and
daughter. 1t was thus that for the
first time in his life he got down to the
core of the problems of the poor and
unfortunate. The little girl had led
him to a tenement in the poorest part
of the district, and in two clean but
poorly furnished rooms he found an
aged man, feeble, fevered and wasted
away, and his daughter, a girl of
about twenty, lowering over him like
some ministering angel
The scenes Adrian had passed
through in reaching the place had
placed heart sympathy and an open
purse at any call that might arise, but
he dared not even suggest charity to
the dignified old man or his daughter,
in those faces he traced the evidence
of undoubted gentility. Adrian awk-
wardIy told of a passing interest in
the rain-beaten child, asked if he
could be of any assistance, and de-
parted reluctantly, the sweet, patient
face of Airline Gray indelibly i'm
pressed upon his memory.
He found an excuse for gazing upon
it again, and in cementing a closer ac-
quaintance with Mr.. Gray. The latter
was the idol Of the more sedate class
of workers in the district. His skill
as q fair artist had decreased as he
grew older, but he received occasional
orders, and until he fell i'll he had
managed to earn a living, his daughter
cooperating with some pastel work for
the big city stores.
Airline did not resent the offer Of
some sickroom delicaCies for the inva-
lid, and the old artist was prevailed
upon to accept a small loan as against
a sum owing him from a slow client.
Adrian, as Mr.. Gray grew stronger,
brought him some paying commits
sions from friends. He learned that
the old man was guide and adviser to
| several humble neighborhOod clubs
and his word went very far with his
loyal following.
For two weeks Adrian did not see
much Of the Grays. He was engrossed
in his campaign among voters In
higher circles. The slum wards his
friends had little hope of, and he him
self was fairly aStounded when, the
morning after election, he read his
name among the successful judicial
candidates.
"And the slum wards did It." an
nounced a friend. why, half the dis
| trict went for you"