San Marcos free press. [volume] (San Marcos, Tex.) 1877-1892, 1878-03-09

you Soo'f Az Su'l uitoScthoh" nS'Js AZ
me tell you, that q we'll behaved dog
asleep in the sun and sure of a bone TO
his dinner, isn't better off than we are
with all our wisdom, and all our doubts.
And yet he reverenced wisdom, l an
sure, and respected all honest opinions
and think that away down in his hear
lurked quiet faith in the saving powe
of virtue; but L doubt if he believed
very much in the naked moral strength
of human nature. l know he ono
sorely tried my patience in that regard
l was telling him how George Insley
known to us both as hardened speci
men Of the printer-toper, had taken tn
pledge and was manfully keeping it
and after had, finished, with the as
surance that Insley had not tasted liquol
for, nearly six months Che subsequent.
shot himself, poor fellowD, he ,droppet
his head a moment, and then looking VI
with an incredulous smile, said quietly
"There was some truth in those 'Ara
bian Nights stories, then, after alp
Singularly enough, too, his skep
ticism was confined to his own sex
singularly, l say, for he was a man. you
know, and not a woman. g. 1t was Eve
that the snake had to charm and be-
tray" he was accustomed to put it;
'"Adam fell as a matter of course
This was a little sophistic, to be sure, as
much of his logic was apt to be, but, the
sentiment Of it was so knightly thatlit
readily won him credit among his criti-
cal fellow-printers, eyeny at the expense
of some disloyalty to their own personal
sense of masculine superiority. n
He had been in love, once in his life,
this battered prodigsl, and the venture
could not be called complete success.
He told me all aboutit, of his own ac-
cord, one restful night as we sat on the
bridge at the foot of Kansas Avenue,
listening to the qquiver iof the cottou7
wood foliage, and watching the river
slowly gather the shadows to its tawny
bosom. He. was. religiously sober that
night, for wonder, and felt that it
must have been some subtle witchcraft
of the atmosphere, rather than the few
$3.50 remarks we had just been .ex-y
changing about Phil. ,Reade'js marriage
with the winsome little singer, Minnie
Beals, that so. suddenly drew his eyes
away from the water and out into the
vague perspective beyond the opposite
shore, and sent his thoughts back with
a bound, as it were, to the rich days
when every sky was blue to him and
every sound. a rapture of harmony. ID
"She was a good, solemn girl,'' he
began, sand I think her intentions We're
honorable all the time. know, now,
that she was not handsome, for her eyes
were crossed slightly, and her cheek.
bones were high, and her chin had a re-
firing turn-the face didn't Justify
you Understandable her hair inclined
to redness; but she was as beautiful to
me, then, as a flower, and l loved her
very dearly. 1 was holding the 'ad.'
cases on the Quincy Herald, in Illinois,
at the time, and saving some money
every week. 1 was expecting to be a
man of family, you know. l had fixed
in my own mind what kind Of a house
we would have, where we would buy our
groceries, how the children would look
and what we would name them (there
were to be several of them, all girls),
and a hundred other things that I'm
ashamed to think of now. But it was
all very real to me then, l tell you. Not
that ever spoke to Isabel-pretty name,
wasn't it?-about such matters. Oh,
no. We were very sensible pair of
lovers, 1 can assure you, and our court
ship was painfully correct. There was
none of the 'yon bright orb nonsense
about us. We weren't a bit spooney.
We didn't turn the light down nor hold
each others hands, nor say darling
Not any. Once, only once, l put my
arm around her waist, and might have
kissed her, may be, but she looked
squarely into my face, and said, you
forget, and that was all there was of it.
[ used to wish, sometimes, that she
would be little more demonstrative-
one gets tired of mere words, you know,
in takes of that kind-but perhaps
perhaps it was better as it was" al
He paused and pressed his hands to
MS forehead, as if he feared the sweet
would slip away from him in