BY WILLIAM A. WEATHERS
The Cincinnati Enquirer

SPRINGDALE - Helen Drummond felt miserable over the weekend after she lost more than $600 in cash Thursday, shortly after cashing her paycheck at the Thriftway supermarket on Kemper Road.

''I had many heart attacks,'' Mrs. Drummond, 32, of Union Township in Butler County, recalled Monday. ''I said (to my husband), 'I know somebody is having a party now.'''

But it's Mrs. Drummond who can party now.

On Monday morning, she received a call from Provident Bank notifying her someone had found her money at the store and was prepared to return it to her.

''I didn't think there were still honest people in the world like that,'' she said.

When Mrs. Drummond met Mary Lemley, 32, of Springdale, at the store Monday, Ms. Lemley told her that her 7-year-old son, Michael, had found the envelope with the money.

''The child really touched my heart,'' Mrs. Drummond said. She gave his mother $50 for him as a reward for his honesty.

Ms. Lemley said she and Michael were standing near the customer service counter in Thriftway on Sunday when the youngster directed her attention to the envelope.

''He pointed at this envelope between the wiper fluid. It was lying at a child's eye level. He just kept looking at me with these big eyes.''

Michael is a second-grader at Springdale Elementary School.

''I saw money in it,'' he said. ''I pulled my mom's hand, and I told her I saw the money.''

''I was in shock,'' Ms. Lemley said.

Asked what he planned to do with the $50, Michael said, ''I don't know, (maybe) buy some toys. (Mom) told me to open a bank account, but I didn't.''