San Antonio daily light. [volume] (San Antonio, Tex.) 1886-1907, 1888-08-14

rio mySeu OF .siAs, cOSU WndJ IL may, OF am
done for, and he prepared at once to throw
his windfall into the road, but was prevented
from doing so by a policeman, who said,
shaking his finger at him:
"See here, my good fellow, it strikes me
that you are looking but for chance of dis.
tributing revolutionary pamphlets on the
sly. Well soon have you in the lookup"
The drunkard hastily hid his find in his
pocket and made off. He went steathily,
looking round to see that no one was watch
ing him, toward the wine shop of an old &C
quaintance of his named Prokoritch. Before
going in he peeped carefully through the
window, and seeing that there were no Gus
toners in the shop and that Prokoritch was
doing behind his counter, he opened the
door quickly, ran in, and, without giving
lied that ali the goods Ill the carts ana shops
or upon the stalls did not belong to him, but
to other people. Never before had he been
conscious of this feeling. He rubbed his
eyes, saying to himself:
cam i'll! All this must be dream"
He went up to a cart, meaning to help him.
self to some Of its contents, but his arms
hung powerless at his sides. He moved to-
ward another, intending to pull the beard of
a Moujik, but to his horror his hands re-
manned clenched. Then he was terrified and
said to himself:
''What is the matter with me? l shall be
running my profession forever. 1t will be
better for me to go home, as l seem to have
taken leave of my senses"
Hoping always that this mysterious aff1ic
ton would PASS away. he walked through the
market looking about him. 1t was crowded
with all sorts of things; above all he noticed
much poultry, and everything seemed to say
TO him, "You have only to stoop down and
help yourself" The country people, however.
became holder, seeing that our friend was
not going on as usual, and that he contented
himself with looking very hard at their
goods. They even dared to make fun of him,
calling him "Niigaud Niigaudovitchl" (Son
of simpleton.l
'No, have some unheard of Illness" said
Lovets to himself, and he went home empty
handed.
His wife was waiting for him, calculating,
meanwhile, the number of bags, made of lime
tree bark, that he might be expected to bring
with him; for, as a rule, he took plenty of
these out and brought them back full of his
pilferings. But today he returned without
a single bag On perceiving this Nine
LovetS lost her temper at once, and darting
up to her husband she said:
where are the bags"
Upon my conscience began LovetS.
II ask you where are the bags" 49,.
Upon my conscience repeated Low
cts.
"Oh, very well, then, let your conscience
feed you till next market day. I have moth
ing to give you for dinner" Nine. Lovets
declared.
Lovets hung his head, for he knew this was
an argument to which he had no answer.
He took off his overcoat, and Immediately
his ideas changed entirely. Conscience re-
manned in the pocket of the coat hung upon
the wall, and Lovets at once felt light and
free end more like himself. Once more it
seemed to him that nothing i'll the world
belonged - other people; that it was all his
by right. The aptitude FOR appropriating
and consuming everything came back to
him.
All. All! my good friends, now you won't
get off so easily" he cried, rubbing his hands,
and he promptly put on his coat again to
hasten back to the market.
But, strangely enough, he had scarcely got
it on when his impulse stopped short. de
seemed to himself to be two men. One, with
out the overcoat, impudent and unscrupu-
lous; the other with it, timid and modest.
Although he found himself animated by
the best intentions he did not give up his
idea of going back to the market per
haps," he thought, II may end by getting the
better of it."
But the nearer he got to the market the
faster his heart beat, and the more he felt
impelled to show some kindness to all these
poor people who worked in the rain and
mud from morning to night to gain two
copecks. He no longer thought Of taking
other peoples property. On the contrary,
he felt his purse a burden to him now he
realized that it contained, not his money,
but his neighbors'.
"Here are fifteen copecks for you, FRIEND"
he said to a peasant, giving him the money.
"Why do you give it to me, simpleton"
sit is to make up for my former injus-
tices. Pardon me, for the love of God"
MAY God forgive you, then"
In this way he went through the market,
giving away all his money, and when it
came to an end he no doubt felt a great
weight lifted from his mind. Nevertheless
ne became very thoughtful.
81 have certainly caught some illness" he
said again to himself. II had better go home,
and 1 can take the opportunity of collecting
together all the poor meet by the way, and
giving them meal" and he proceeded to do
as he had said. He picked up numbers Of
beggars on the road, and brought them into
ais courtyard At the sight of them Nine.
Lovets held up her hands in horror, asking
what he would do next. Lovets came up to
her and said in a careSsing tone:
"Just see these good people have brought
you, my little Theodosia. Feed them, for
the love of Cod y Rnt he had hardly had