San Antonio daily light. [volume] (San Antonio, Tex.) 1886-1907, 1889-08-06

with me- l had brought her out here one
morning to look at the view from the top Ot
the reservoir. She said little of the scene,
but as we talked OF our old childish loves !
saw that its fresh features were incorporat-
ing themselves with tender memories of the
past, and was content.
There was a rich golden haze upon the
landscape, and as my own spirits rose amid
the voluptuous atmosphere, she pointed to
the waning planet, discernible like faint
cash in the welkin, and wondered how long
it would be before the leaves would fall.
Strange grill did she mean to rebuke my
joyous mood, as if we had no right to he
happy while nature, whitening in her poulp,
and the sickly moon wasting in the blaze Of
noontide, were there to remind us OF the
gone foreverr
"'They will all renew themselves, dear
Mary said l, and there is one that will ever
keep tryst alike with thee and nature through
all seasons, if thou wilt but be true to one OF
us, and remain as now child of nature
o "A tear sprang to her eye, and then search
ing her pocket for her card case, she remem-
bered an engagement to be present at Miss
Lawson's opening of fall bonnets at o'clock!
"And yet, dear, Wild hayward Mary, 1
thought of her now You have probably
outlived this sort Of thing, sir; but |, looking
at the moon, as | hoated there upturned to
her yellow light, thought of the loved being
whose tears | knew would flow when she
heard of my singular fate, at once SO gro
tesque, yet melancholy to awfulneSs.
And how often we have talked, too, of
that Carian shepherd who spent his damp
nights upon the hills, gazing as | do on the
lustrous planeti Who will revel with her
amid those old superstitions! Who, from our
own unlegended woods, will evoke their yet
undetected haunting spirits' Who peer with
her in prying scrutiny into natures laws
and challenge the whispers of poetry from
the voiceless throat of matterl Who laugh
merrily over the stupid guess work of ped
ants, that never mingled with the infinitude
of nature, through love exhaustless and all
embracing, as we have' Poor grill she will
be companionless.
"Alasi cOmpanionlesS forever-save i'll the
exciting stages of some brisk Irritation. She
will live hereafter by feeding other hearts
with loves lore she has learned from me, and
then, Pygmalion like, grow fond of the
images she has herself endowed with SEM
blance of divinity. How anxious she will be
lest the coroner shall have discovered any of
her notes in my pocket
Il felt chilly as this last reflection crossed
my mind, partly at thought Of the coroner,
partly at the idea of Mary being unwillingly
compelled to wear mourning for me, in case
of such a disclosure of our engagement. 1t
is a provoking thing for girl of 10 to have
to go into mourning for deceased lover at
the beginning of her second winter in the me
tropolis.
1.-THE water, though, with my motionless
position, must have had something to do with
my chilliness. | see, sir, you think that tell
my story with great levity; but indeed !
should grow deliriouS did | venture to hold
steadily to the awfulness of my feelings the
greater part of that night. | think, indeed,
| must have been most of the time hysterical
with horror, for the vibrating emotions
have recapitulated did pass through my
brain, even as have detailed them.
"But as | now became calm in thought ]
summoned up again some resolution of action.
81 will begin at that corner said y, and
swim around the whole Enclosure. / will swim
slowly and again feel the sides of the tank
with my feet. If die must. let me perish at
least from well directed though exhausting
effort, not sink from mere bootiess WEAKNESS
in sustaining myself till the morning shall
bring relief
1.-The sides of the place seemed to grow
higher as now kept my watery course beneath
them. 1t was not altogether dead pull !
had some variety of emotion in making my
circuit When | swan In the shadow, it
looked to me more cheerful beyond in the
moonlight When | swan in the moon
light l had the hope Of making some
discovery when should again reach the
shadow. turned several times on my back
to rest just where those wavy lines would
meet The stars looked viciously light to me
from the bottom of that well; there was such
a company of them; they were so glad in their
Iustpous revelry; and they had such space to
move in! | was alone, sad to despair in a
strange element, prisoned, and a solitary
gazer upon their chorus. And yet there was
nothing else with which | could hold COM
muniOnl
Il turned upon my breast and struck Out
almost frantically once more. The stars
were forgotten; the moon, the very world of
which | as yet formed a part, my poor Mary
herself, were forgotten. | thought only of
the strong man there perishing; OF me in my
lusty manhood, in the sharp vigor of my
dawning prime, with faculties illimitable,
with senses all alert, battling there with
physical obstacles which men like myself had
brought together for my undoing. The Eter-
nal could never have willed this thing! !
could not and would not perish thus. And
grew strong in insolence of self trust, and
laughed aloud as dashed the sluggish water
aside
Then came an emotion of pity for myself
of wild, wild regret; of sorrow, oh, infinite,
for fate so desolate, doom so dreary, so
heart sickening! You may laugh at the con-
tradiction if YOU will. sir but ! felt that