San Antonio daily light. [volume] (San Antonio, Tex.) 1886-1907, 1889-01-26
ONE DAY WITH A TYNIC.

Mr. Thomas Leggett gives no outward
signs of the confirmed pessimist that he is.
He is now so years of age, the pOesessor of a
good digestion and q fund of anecdotes. This,
you must observe, is a rare combination in a
professional cynic. But Thomas Leggett has
changed wonderfully since his school days.
Then, remember, he was trusting, confding,
and rather more easily deceived than were
other boys of his own age. Moreover he was
a young patriot, believed honeetl- and reve
entially in the stars and stripes, hallowed
the names Of Washington and Patrick Henry
and threw his whole soul and all # his nflu-
ence into the proper celebration of the Fourth
of July.
And now, after a separation of thirty
years, l was to meet Thomas Leggett at his
home. We were to renew our youth and bask
in the glorious twilight of "reminiscences.
had received a note from him ordering" me
to repair to his domicile promptly at a. m !,
and to then and there pass the day and even
ing. What CHEEKY, grotesque, yet unique
and picturesque little bachelors quarters
were hisl The house was a small, irregular
Queen Anne cottage in the center Of large
lawn in fashionable suburb The exterior
and the cozy rooms within impressed one
with their air of impudent neglige and scorn
of conventionalism.
Tho Tom Leggett who welcomed me on the
porch Of this homo on this particular balmy
June morning-the lawn sparkling with dan
delions and the air heavy with the incense of
ilacs-was not the Tom LegEett of thirty
years ago. That Tom was a thin, sensitive
youth, with a girlish face and effeminate
ways. This Tom was fat, bluff, hearty, sleek,
nui11 ~ loa ill
bob, he said, extending both hands and
almost crunching the bones of my own with
his genial grasp, ~ am glad to see you"
He did not, certainly, need to make aft
davit to this l believed him.
II see," Tom continued, abruptly, "you OBJ
serve the chipping off Of the paint. It's an
old swindle-a chemical imposition, you
know. 1 told the scoundrel who sold 1t to
me that believed it was a fraud, and the
perjurer offered to 60 before a notary and
swear that it had given satisfaction to a
thousand families-in another part of the
city. John"-to the butler-"send up two
bottles of port-the red seal-that hasn't got
quite so much logwood in it as the other"
Then we went into the library.
This" Tom LeYgett said, "is a trihe bet
ter than the front parlor. There are some
iOoi ehAh5S LII WILLS EOOIu-kue6o DOCKS, LOr lQ-
stance Some of the bindings are cheap,
trashy limitations of Levant, tree calf and
morocco, but the thoughts, the language, thu
style-they are all real and Substantial.
There's Shakespeare; but man named Don
nelly is turning the hose on Shakespeare
and trying to e1tinguish the immortal fire
Of his genius But even Donnelly himself
doesn't believe that Shake is a fraud. Oh
no. Donnelly is too old literary cam
paigner, has lived too long, and has got the
world down too pat TO believe any such
thing himself. He caught all he was fishing
fora couple of hundred thousand or SO,
flched from the pockets of nabobs and fools
mostly fools. Have a cigarG They are
Connecticut cabbage with medicated paper
wrapper. Don't bite too much Off the end or
the filling will all Aift down your sesophagus.
A man should get a good cigar for SIS
hundred, but l can't 20 it when Lssnd for
'em. The dealers won't put you up iirst class
goods for first class price unless you stand