San Marcos free press. [volume] (San Marcos, Tex.) 1877-1892, 1889-03-28
NUN ID.

spread abroad. Everybody remembers
tho days Of Governor Belcher, when
money was particularly scarce. II was
timo Of paper credit. Tho country
had been deluged with government bills;
tho famous Land bank had been estab-
lished; there had been rago for specu-
lating; tho people had run mad with
schemes for new settlements; for build
Ing cities In tho wilderness; land jobbers
went about with maps Of grants and
townships and Eldorados lying no
body knew where, but which every
body was ready to purchase. In q
word, the great spcculating fever which
breaks out every now and then In the
country had ragged to an alarming do
gree, and everybody was dreaming OF
making sudden fortunes from nothing.
AS usual, the fever had subsidized; tho
dream had gone Off. and the imaginary
fortunes with II; the patients were left
in doleful plight, nnd the whole country
resounded with tho consequent cry OF
"hard times"
At this propitious time Of public dis
tress did Tom Walker set up as usurer
In Boston. His door was soon thronged
by customers. The needy and tho adj
venturous, the gambling speculator, tho
dreaming land jobber, the thriftless
tradesman, tho merchant with cracked
credit, In short, every one driven TO raise
money by desperate means and desperate
sacrifices hurried to Tom Walker.
Thus Tom was the universal friend OF
tho needy and no acted like friend In
need;" that is to say, he always exacted
good pay and good security. In proper
ton to tho distress Of the applicant was
the hardness Of his terms. He accumu-
lated bonds and mortgages, gradually
squeezed his customers closer and closer,
and sent them at length dry as q sponge
| from his door.
In this way he made money hand over
hand, became rich and mighty man,
and exalted his cooked hat upon Change.
! He built himself, as usual, q vast house
out of ostentation, but loft tho greater
part Of II unfinished and unfurnished
out Of parsimony. lie oven set up o
carriage in the fullness Of his vainglory,
though he nearly starved the horses
which drew II; and as the ungreased
wheels groaned and scroeched on tho
axletrees you would have thought you
heard the souls Of tho poor debtors he
was squeezing.
As Tom waxed old. however, he grew
thoughtful. Having secured tho good
things of this world, he began TO feel
anxious about those of the next. He
thought with regret on the bargain no
had made with his black friend, and set
his wits to work to cheat him out OF tho
conditions. He became, therefore. all
Of sudden, a violent church goer. He
prayed loudly and strenuously, as II
heaven were TO DO taken by force OF
lungs. Indeed, one might always tell
when he had sinned most during the week
Al IL. - L.
Tho quiet Christians who had been mod
estly and steadfastly travelling Zionward
were struck with self reproach at seeing
themselves 10 suddenly outstripped In
their career by this new made con-
vert. Tom was rs rigid In relig-
ious MS In money matters;7 he was o
stern supervisor and censurer OF his
neighbors, and seemed to think every sin
entered up to their account became q
credit on his own side of the page. He
even talked of the expcdiency Of reviving
the persecution OF Quakers and Anabap-
lists. In a word, Toms zeal became as
notorious as his riches. 3e
Still, In spite Of nll this strenuous at
tention to forms, Tom had lurking
dread that the devil, after all, would
have bis due. That no might not be
taken unawares, therefore, 1t Is said he
always carried small Biblo In his coat
pocket. lie had also great folio Bible
on his counting house desk, and would
frequently be found reading 1t when peo-
pie called on business; on such occasions
no would lay his green spectacles on tho
book, to mark tho place, while he turned
round TO drive some usurious bargain.
Some say that Tom grew little crack
brained In his old days, and that fancytng
Ia hn
new shod, saddled and bridled, and buried
with his feet uppermost, because he sup
posed that mt the last day the world would
be turned upside down, In which case he
should find his horse standing ready for
mounting, and he wns determined at tho
worst to give his old friend run for It.
This, however, is probably o mere old
wives fable. If he really did take such o
precaution II was totally guperfluous; ut
least 10 says the authentic old legend,
which closes his story In the following
manner:
On one hot afternoon In tho dog days,
lust as a terrible black thunder gust was
coming up Tom sat In his counting
house In his white linen cap and India
silk morning gown. He was on the point
Of foreclosing n mortgage, by which no
would complete the ruin Of an unlucky
land specuiator for whom he had pro-
fessed the greatest friendship. The poor
land jobber begged him to grant few
few months Indulgence: Tom had
grown testy and irritated and refused
another day.
"Sly family win be ruined and brought
upon the parish" said the land jobber.
Charity Begins at home," replied Tom,
III must take care OF myself In these
hard times."
"You have made go much meney ont
Of me-" said the speculator.
Tom lost his patience and his piety-
"The devil take me, said he, III have
made n farthlngr
Just then there were three loud knocks
al the street door. He stepped out 70
SEQ who was there. A black man was
holding a black horse which neighed and
stamped with impatience.
tom. you're come forr said the black
fellow, grufly. Tom shrunk lack, but
too late. He had left his little Bible
at the bottom OF his coat pocket,
and his big Bible on the desk buried
under the mortgage he was about 10
foreclose: never was sinner taken moro
nnawarcs. The black man whisked him
like child astride the horse and away
he gallopcd In tho midst Of n thunder
storm The clerks stuck their pens be-
hind their eaTs and stared after him from
the wtndowA Away went Tom Walker,
dashing down the street; his white cap
bobiing up and down. his morning gown
futterinz In the wind. and his steed
striking IRE out of the pavement al every
bound. When the clerks turned 70 look
Tor the bl1ck man he had disappeared
Tom Walker never returned 10 fore-
closs the mortgage A countxyman who
lived on the borders Of the swamp re-
ported that In the height Of the thunder
gzzst he had heard q great Gathering a
toofs and q bowling Along the road. and