San Marcos free press. [volume] (San Marcos, Tex.) 1877-1892, 1878-06-22

paper; he must either be very slow
reader, or, having exhausted the news
he must have fallen on the advertise
ments. / offer him my paper. lie
takes it with bow, giving me his own
in exchange-the Banffshire Gazette.
No news to be got out OF that after nav
ing exhausted the Scotsman. lam soon
reduced to the births, marriages ana
deaths. Much interest to know that the
wife of Hugh Macdonald, stone-mason'
has presented him with a son; also TO
hear that Mrs. Mcqueen is dead; and
the nursery rhyme sometimes hear my
wife repeating to our boys occurs to me-
and mentally inquire, SHOW did she
diep" The announcement does not,
however, enlighten me on that point;
though it is easy to guess, seeing that 1t
contains the further information that
she departed this life at one hundred and
one years of age, and is deeply regret
ted. The latter assertion l fear is only
conventional fib, for l find in para
graph announcing her death as a local
centenarian, that she had great posses
sions, which have fallen to her nearest
surviving relative, a great-grand-
nephew.
My friend opposite is fairly off to
sleep. Quite clear that he has nothing
on his conscience. The other is as
deep in the Scotsman as he was erewhile
in his own paper. can't stand this
any longer. Talk l must. The Banff-
shire Gazette is published in the county
town bearing the same name; so see
my way to an opening. aI q. ...
"You come from Banff, I presumed
You must have been travelling all nightP
No wonder our friend here is worn
OUT
"We have come from Banff," replied
my friend, with no trace of the churl in
his voice or manner that his appearance
would lead me to expect. "We have
come from Banff; but we have not
travelled all night. Our governor makes
it point never to over-fatigue any of
his patients. It's part of his system; so
we broke our journey at Edinburgh"
His patients would as soon have
suspected my opposite neighbor of being
a criminal as an invalid.
"Indeed," say. "Might l inquire
what is his complaint"
NV taciturn friend touches his head
in mysterious way, and l am just in
time to stop low whistle indicative of
surprise, and to turn it into another
"Indeed." ........ ..
"What particular form does his
ahem-complaint take?"
l am beginning to hope he is not vio-
lent.
"Generosity.''
"GenerosityP"
eyes, sir. You see he gets all sorts
of schemes into his head for the relief of
suffering of all kinds; and his friends,
fearing he might make ducks and brakes
of his money, have put him under the
care of our governor.
els he wealthy" ....
every"
care his friends quite disinterestedp"
"Well, 1 don't know. But at any
rate they are quite right. He might fall
into the hands of unprincipled people,
who would help out his schemes to fur
Their their own"
"What is his latest planp"
"Well, sir, his last idea was, that
ambitious people who had failed in their
aims-such as authors whose books
were roughly handled by the critics,
artists whose works did not meet with
the appreciation they expected, actors
whose genius was not universally recog-
nized, and such-like-were great bore
to society, and in their turn were in
clined to shun the world; so he proposed
building a retreat where all such could
retire to seclusion-a kind of Agapem-
one, you see, SIR"
elf he had found scanty population
for his rural settlement, it would never
theless not be for the lack of such peo-
pie"
"Just so, sir"
ado you consider his a hopeless
caseP"
81 fear so, sir. He's one of the quiet
sort, you see. More violent cases are
often easier to deal with. Our governor
turned out rare wild one quite cured
the other day"