San Antonio daily light. [volume] (San Antonio, Tex.) 1886-1907, 1890-06-20

mus MS Journal contained DuL lJJle, Tor
instance, concerning his own painful
labors. which were often really hercu-
lean.
His various tackles were wofully in
adequate compared with the tasks he
imposed upon them. He quite dismissed
the ordinary standard Of human achieve
ment and performed prodigies of strength
and Archimedes like miracles Of inven-
ton. His muscles, always powerful, re-
sponded grandly to the tax upon them,
and he developed new powers unsus-
pected in himself Yet, driven on by his
fervid zeal. he was always dangerously
near some of those violent strains or
shocks that would have put an end to all
and crippled him for life He was con-
stantly, by turns, cold. wet, hungry,
scorched by excessive heat, or weighed
down by almost uncomfortable fatigue.
The earlier Cresus, -" he said, Offered
prize for the discovery Of a new pleas
ure; l, the later Cresus, might also offer
one for exemption from new pain"
Nevertheless he by no means COM
planned, but, on the contrary, even re-
joiced in his hardships. They seemed to
give him more valid title to the treas
ure. They were a mere nothing com
pared to the life long drudgery to which
most men are condemned, not only to
amass wealth, but even TO obtain bare
subsistence. The slightness of his real
claim was one of the causes of his ner-
vous dread lest all should be snatChed
from him even at the last moment.
1t is the destiny of man to win his
bread by the sweat of his brow" he
often exclaimed, land woe to him who
tries to escape it! | am reaping good
fortune far beyond what is granted to
the ordinary lot of mOrtalS, and | ought
to be glad of any small semblance of
earning it."
Paths We're traced over the Cinder
heaps and purple black emery sand by
his frequent gOings and cOmings. They
grew as familiar to him as the streets of
Cuernavaca, and be could follow them
as well by night as by day. 1t seemed
to him he had been there very long
time; former periods of existence became
visionary, the world of men grew small
III contrast with this world Of elemental
forces. He had dedicated himself to
Vulcan; he was communing directly
with that mysterious heart Of the earth
towards which his fancy had been so
| strongly drawn. He felt its throbbing
! pulse in earthquake tremors; he heard
its breathing in the issuing steam, and
sometimes a mysterious sound like a
| heavy, plaintive sigh came forth and per-
vaded all the place He might have
| thought, as the simple natives say of
| Popocat nntl, that wicked chiefs were
imprisoned below Cor tA,:r crimes, and
their groans and mUrmurs were often
| heard.
At night he had around him lights and
sounds as Of a great city, while in truth
there was only unbrOken lonesomeness
on every hand. He thought upon his
last end and the brevity of life, as one
could hardly help doing amid such sur
rOundinEs. Still, he was hot often
| gloomy. T. was full of aspiration for
love, power, display, for all those things
| that an ardent young man may desire,
and for which his desire seemed now to
| stand no small chance of qualification.
My apprehension" he related, among
| other things, has led me to take a lesson
out of the book of nature, and initiate
| certain animals whose safety lies in being
of the same color as the objects around
them. have easily reduced my cloth
| ing to the general dusty hue of the Bar
ranca, and thus glide about very little
distinguished from my background
There is steam generally floating in the
| air, and this is, perhaps, an efficient pro-
lection against being seen from above;
but have often fancied l saw troops of
animals and men peering down from
| there.
1t was vagaries of the crags and firing
ing bushes for the most part that pro-
duCed these illusions, but occasionally
he may have been right, for some of the
| lonely charcoal burners who inhabited
the district may have stopped a moment
to gaze downward in passing by. How
ever, there was never any indication
| that he was seen, and no harm came to
| him from this source
He had a quick eye for natural seem
cry, and did not soon lose his interest in
the striking original effects offered him
in the Barranca From his hut he saw
the sun rise and set like a flaming bea-
con on the towering cliffs. These cliffs,
broken into thousand fantastic or cas-
tellated shapes, were at some places
sheer, uncompromising, terrible, leav-
ing no rest for the eye as it scaled their
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