San Marcos free press. [volume] (San Marcos, Tex.) 1877-1892, 1878-02-02


hope of some day making her his wife
had filled. Existence had lost its SAVIOR
and seasoning. The pleasantness he
had vaguely felt turned to blank and
a WEAKNESS. He grew listless and in
different to the things that had once
seemed of prime Importance. For hours
together he would remain seated on a
low stool, with his head buried in his
hands. Once or twice he passed the
night in this way, without taking note
of time.
Tins name had always been a
synonym for business promptness; but
now things were sadly changed. The
adze and Ratchet were idle for days to-
gether. There were fifty barrels to
make for neighboring brewer, and
when the time came round he had
not touched one of them. Tim had
no bad habits. He neither smoked nor
drank. He had never given Mrs. Dodd,
with whom he took his meals, the least
trouble about his food. He was the
most inoflensive end gentle of mOrtals.
The great disappointment at first
seemed to produce in Tim q mental
palsy. His faculties were numb.
He could not turn them to outward
things. A sense of loss filled and
overwhelmed him; but by and by there
were vague openings in the thick mist
that shrouded his senses. He realized
that Mandy was lost to him forever.
He CROPPED about in darkness for the old
hope; but did not find it. She would
never be queen of the white cottage.
No little Tins and 'Mandys would ever
frolic and chase each other about the
garden and the shop. The main stay OF
his life was gone; but gradually he
opened his eyes upon the world, and I'M
stopped his ears, to listen to its voices.
The view from the shop-door was
very lovely. 1t was in the full glory OF
its summer dress. The clear, bright
little river ran swiftly past, flashing like
melted diamonds in the sunshine. The
green shore sloped down in soft curves
to kiss the bright wavelets, and there
were thickets of bushes mingled with
wild flowers along the bank, all alive
with birds. Out in the middle of the
river a little island had rooted itself,
and was crowned with tuft of feathery
trees; and beyond rose blue hills, lap
ping and folding delightful shadows
and CLEANS of sunlight in their curves.
Tim would sit for long hours at the
door, with a vague feeling of wonder
as if seeing and hearing had just been
given to him. He felt that he had
always been like the dumb beasts Of
the field, that chew the cud and look
straight before them, perceiving
nothing. If it had not been for his
dumbness and his blindness he never
would have wronged Mandy, leaving
her to cling to vain hope until hel
heart tainted within her.
In those long summer days the little
cooper had ceased to work, save in
fitful way, beginning what never woulc
be finished. The neighbors talked about
him, shook their heads, and called hin
"half cracked" He lived in the shop
sleeping in the bedroom at the rear, ant
for whole days together communicated
with no human being. When he forgo
to 90 to his meals, over at the cottage
kind little Mrs. Dodd would carry his
food to the shop; and, finding him in
state of deep abstraction, would set il
down softly and 60 her way without
speaking. In her heart she believed
that Tins wits had gone astray.
1t was in these days when hi'
senses were quickened and his
mind emerging from its torpor thai
Tim began to feel strange new
warnings for expression. He lay
awake half the night and listened to thu
lisping and babbling of the little river
to the sound of wind in the trees, to thu
music of rain-drops on the roof. H'
perceived that even the inanimate could
speak, while he was dumb; and, with
sense of his own abasement and incom
pleteness, he shed bitter tears that soak
ed into his lonely pillow.
With this new chord vibrating in him
it occurred to Tim that he might chali
up something behind the shop-door
where he had formerly made record o
his tubs and barrels. He was no schol
ar. and had attended the district schoo