San Antonio daily light. [volume] (San Antonio, Tex.) 1886-1907, 1890-09-22


Behold it:
MIss-The boreal fires of my passion are blaz.
ing with intensest feTvor. My soul is borne on
their seething pillows TO the elysium of ethereal
fields, or falls back into red hot furnace, bat
ting with doubt. Thus ever with alternate hopes
and fears my life IS gay or sad. would ask thee,
gentle one, if in our brief but heavenly compan.
iUnsLip you have learned to care for me-to love
met My life, my happiness, nay, my very soul,
hang On your reply. How remember the first
time ever saw YOU 1t was at the inaugural
ball. Your golden hair was dressed in the sweet
estof French twists and you had bunch of Gala
lilies at your breast Oh, how radiant. how
bright you were! The president smiled on you,
hut fancy your every glance was mine. Was it
not so? And do you love me? Or must l. with
your denial Of my love ringing in my ears, bury
my bleak life in heather lands afar?
Answer me soon, dear one, for this uncertainty
is dreadful Langushingly. JOEL JENNINGS
In passing, would say that portion of
this letter did not appear to Joel as quite
the proper thing. For instance, he never
saw an inaugural ball' (whatevcr that
might be-, and he could not remember that
the president had ever smiled on Joan, but
he was so afraid Of garbling his beautiful
copy if he attempted to alter it that he
copied it all, put it into pink envelope,
and dropped it in the postoffice with trem.
bling fingers.
Then he waited. Two days, three days,
four days passed and still no answer But
Saturday came, and, 10! when Joel made
inquiry at the Office fragrant lavender
note was handed him. He turned it over
and over in his hand On the face was his
name in beautiful script, and spelled with
two capitalism honor Joel rarely con
ferred upon himself; on the back was red
seal as large as a silver dollar, with de-
vice of two deers aspectant on the inscrip-
ton, 81 qu9ris peninsulam amsnam, cir
cumspice
How beautiful" thought Joel, as he
spelled it out and wondered what in the
world it meant.
He could not wait until he got home be.
fore reading that letter. He would know
his fate at once, and he opened it forthwith;
DEAR JoEL-Long, long have l. with fondest
emotions, dwelt upon dreams of you. In my bou
dOr, many a night, have watched the light from
alabaster lamps scintillating iris hued beams
upon the objects de vertu with which my cham.
Der overfiows and, oh dear one, someway, some.
how, each fairy CLEAN twisted itself into other
fairy CLEANS and contrived TO picture your dear
face TO my love blinded eyes. How hopeless
now. Do | remember the inaugural baIlY All.
me can ever forget it: remember how, lean.
ing upon the arm of the Baron Pounderzo, swept
through stately minuet catching your eyes ever
and anon-how sweet, how kind, how exqusitely
tender! What cared for president or noble: 1t
was enough for me to know you saw me, and that
WAS in Your thoughts. Sweet fate for humble me
Write me, write me often, dearest. EXpectantly
JOAN MATILDA MCVEY
IL e.. - ,,c.,
Joel seemed to be walking on air, so light
were his spirits. He felt that the world
was his, and, though C secretly worried
over the Baron PounderZO, he was fain to
believe his highness a myth, and of no
more substance than the inaugural ball
which he had opened in previous letter.
When he parted the covers of his COM
heart, he understood Joan's reply, for
there it was on page 1928, directly following
the letter he had writtenl He and Joan
were making love by the same book.
Delightful thought
Hand to hand they would tread the path
the compendium had marked out for them.
There would be no inconsistencies, for if
Joel, vide Lothario, had whispered burn
ing words to Joan upon the Rhigi Kuhn,
or had been rowed down the Canalazzo of
Venice in her gondola, or had breathed his
vows of attachment upon the icy crest of
Mont Blanc, Joan had her copy before her
and could return him a charming picture
OF a sunrise from the Rhigi, and the palaces
of the Grand Canal, and would, in anguish
ing terms, give him a counter VOW from
that boudoir with its alabaster lamps, etc.
The next billet doux was entitled IAN
Outburst of Affection Upon Receipt of the
Above" and Joel innocent youthD placed
this heading, word for word, at the top OF
his letter-a practice that Joan had hal
lowed in his mind by following herself.
Having dispatched his missive he did not
wait for a reply, but Immediately turned
to his compendium and read it from begin
ming to end. How she loves me" he muir
mured kissing the dear words, and when
at last the letter came, and he compared it
with the blessed LOthariO's text and found
every word, cart, md punctuation mark
in the prope' His JOY was uncon-
trolled.
And so, letter H., vr, step by step, the
loves of Joel and Jy-L vent sweetly and
smoothly on until only one note ernbody-
ing the important declaration and accept
ance, as mapped out in the compendium,
remained to eliminate their courtshiE
here most horrible chasm suddenly Cvl-
fronted the stricken Joel. The leaf with
pages l53 and l54, containing the all i'm
portant declaration, was gonel This dec
laration (for such Joel esteemed it to beg
covered both sides of the sheet and Tapped
over upon page 1856 Several lines remained
on that page, but they served only for a
kind of polishing off, as it were, of the
highly important and delicate matter pre-
cedinU them. What should Joel do?