San Antonio daily light. [volume] (San Antonio, Tex.) 1886-1907, 1890-01-20
The Daily Eight.
MONDAY, JANUARY 20, 1890.

my patron very i'll if the reader does not per-
ceive a notable falling off. To behold the
man thus fallen; to know him accepted
among his companions as a poor, muddled
topper, welcome If he were welcome at alb
for the bare consideration Of his title; and to
recall the virtues he had once displayed
against such odds of fortune-was not this a
thing at once to rage and to be humbled att
In his cups he was more excessive | will
give but the one scene close upon the end,
which is strongly marked upon my memory
to this day, and at the time affected me al
most with horror.
was in bed, lying there awake, when
heard him stumbling on the stair and sing
ing. My lord had no gift of music-his
brother had all the graces of the family-so
that, when | say singing, you are TO under
stand manner of high, caroling utterance,
which was truly neither speech nor song.
Something not unlike is to be heard upon the
lips of children ere they learn shame; from
those of man grown elderly it had a strange
effect He opened the door with noisy pre-
caution, peered in, shading his candle; con.
ceived me to slumber; entered, set his light
upon the table and took off his hat. | saw
him very plain; a high, feverish eXultatiCn
appeared to boil in his veins, and he stood
and smiled and smrked upon the candle
Presently he lifted up his arm, snapped his
fingers and fell to undresS. As he did 50,
having once more forgot my presence, ho
took back to his singing; and now | could
hear the words, which were those from the
old song of the "Twa Corbies." endcSsIy re-
peated;
And over his banes when they are bare
The wind sail blaw for evermair!"
have said there was no music in the man
His strains had no logical succession except
in so far as they inclined little to the minor
mode; but they exercised a rude potency
upon the feelings, and followed the words
and signfiad the feelings of the singer with
barharic fitness. He took it first in the time
and manner of a rant; presently this i'll
favored gleefulness abated, he began to dwell
upon the notes more feelingly, and sunk at
last into a degree of maudlin pathos that was
to be scarce bearable. By equal steps, the
original briskness of his acts declined, and
when he was stripped to his breeches, he sat
on the bedside and fell to whimpering. l
know nothing less respectable than the tears
of drunkenness, and turned my back impa-
tiently on this poor sight.
But he had started himself q a to sup
pose) on that slippery descent of self pity, on
the which, to a man unstrung by old sorrows
and recent rotations, there is no arrest except
exhaustion. His tears continued to flow,
and the man to sit there, three parts naked,
in the cold air of the chamber. | twitted
myself alternately with inhumanity and
sentimental weakness, now half rising in my
bed to interfere, now reading myself lessons
of Indifference and counting slUmber until,
upon a sudden, calling to remembrance his
old wisdom, Constancy and patience, was
overborne with a pity almost approaching
the passionate, not for my master alone, but
for the sons Of man.
At this leaped from my place, went over
to his side and laid hand on his bare shout
der, which was cold as stone. He uncovered
his face and showed it me, all swollen and
tear marked like child'S, and at the sight of
my Impotence partially revived.
"Think shame to YOURSELF" said |. This
is bairnly conduct. might have been SWIVEL
ing myself, if l had cared to Swill my belly
with wine. But | went to bed sober like a
man. Come, get into yours, and have done
with this pitiabe exhibition"
"Oh, Mackellar," said he, my heart is
waen
"Waew cried l. For a good cause, l
think. What words were these you sung as
you came in? Show pity to Others we then
can talk of pity to yourself. You can be the
one thing or the other, but will be no party
to half way houses. If you're striker, strike,
and if you're bleater, beatI"
"CryI' cries he, with burst, that's it
strike! that's talking! Man, I've stood it all
too long. But when they laid a hand upon
the child, when the child's threatened"-his
momentary vigor whimpering off-''my child,
my Alexander!'-and he was at MS tears
again.
l took him by the shoulders and shook him.
"Alexander!" said l. DO you even think Of
bim3 Not you'll Look yourself in the face
like brave man, and you'll find you're but
a self decever. The wife, the friend the
child, they're all equally forgot, and you
sunk in a mere log of selfshness."
"Mackellar," said he, with a wonderful re-
turn to his old manner and appearance, you
may say what you will of nae, but one thing
never was-I was never selfish"
II will open your eyes in your despite"
said l. How long have we been here! and
how often have you written to your familyg
| think this is the first time you were ever
separate; have you written at alll Do they
know if you are dead or hvingr
had caught him here too openly; it braced
his better nature; there was no more weep
ing, he thanked me very penitently, got to
bed and was soon fast asleep; and the first
thing he did the next morning was to sit
down and begin letter to my lady; very
tender letter it was, too, though it was never
finished Indeed, all communication with
New York was transacted by myself, and it
will be judged | had a thankless task Of It,
What to tell my lady and in what words
and how far to be false and how far crueI