The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1919-05-24
EVENING STORY
Beauty and Beethoven.
BY r. RAY BAKER.


There was nothing Angora or
| otherwise stylish about Beethoven.
He came of a family of ordinary
striped gray and black cats. bue he
was far from being an ordinary cat.
At least such was the opinion of
Velma Blake. who occupied two
rooms on the third floor back in the
Jordan flats, and who adopted the
feline wanderer and christened him.
Velma was employed as head of the
music department in the Emporium
five and ten-cent establishment. She
was a pretty busy girl and also she
was a pretty. busy girl. With or with
out the comma the phrase fits. She
had little time to spend in the care
of pets, but when a stray cat knocks
at ones door and one happens to be
particularly fond of that species of
animal, what can one do but offer a
home?
She took him in and~fed him, and
as he proceeded to make himself
comfortable and refused to leave the
vicinity of her rooms when she set
him out in the hall, she was forced to
the conclusion that she was elected
to be the creatures mandatory.
Velma's roommate didn't care for
cats. Why didn't you get a dog p"
she demanded, but she managed to
reconcile herself. in time, to the addi-
ton to the little family.
Beethoven proved to be a nysteri-
Gus being. He would vanish for two
or three days at time, and then sud-
denly reappear and remain at home
Tor period of equal length, making
ms arrival known by the usual wall
ing serenade. Velma got used to
these comings and goings, for there
was certain amount of regula rity
ABOUT them, and soon she was able to
forecast almost with certainty the day
and hour the wanderer would return
from his SojOurn.
At the front of the apartment house,
IN the basement, lived Ned Sayre q
bachelor young man. He shared the
rooms with an acquaintance, but his
life was rather lonely, for the two had
little In common, altho they got along
we'll enough together.
Like Velma, Ned was a cat fancier,
and like her he had taken possession
of one that paid him a visit on two or
| three occasions when his living room
WINDOW was open. The roommate
voiced some objections, but these were
overruled. and Beauty. as the cat was
cnrlstened. soon occupied a welcome
place in the household, If two rooms
and bath may be called such.
Like Beethoven, Beauty went away
on strange missions which he never
explained or even tried to explain,
Neds duty as clerk in haberdashery
Kept him away from home most of the.
DAY, and it is next to impossible to
Follow cat in the dark, SO Beauty's
whereabouts during these periodical
absences remained secret
Ned was of a timid nature; that is
ne was t1mid when a member of the
other sex was in proximity. However,
ne mad struck up an acquaintance with
Velma Blake and had got to the stage
where he could relapse into a day
dream when crossing the busiest cor
ner of the busiest street
He mustered sufficient courage once
week to take Velma to theater or
some other kind of entertainment, but
had never been in her apartment that
being against the rules of the house
to her Beethoven.
Such trivial subjects a cats are not
often discussed between young men
and young women who are keeping
company. There are more important
matters. such as music, bon bons, au-
tomobiles. Vaudeville and clothes: so
why should a couple of stray pets get
into the conversation? It would be
queer way to carry on a love affair,
would it not? Can you imagine a cou-
pie holding hands and at the same
time heated argument concerning
the merits of their respective cats?
So. in spite of the fact that both Velma
and Ned were very fond of their pets.
the subject never entered their talk
Two things puzzled Ned. and the
more he thought about them the more
puzzled he became. One was the
peculiar and repeated disa ppearance
of Beauty and the other was how to
win Velma for his lifelong partner.
Rather a strange combination of wor-
ries for a young man, but Ned could
not understand the girl any more than
he could the cat.
Similar mysteries concerned Velma.
| .