San Antonio daily light. [volume] (San Antonio, Tex.) 1886-1907, 1890-12-16
BEYOND THE PALE.

A man should, whatever happens, keep
to4his own caste, race and breed. Let the
white go to the white and the black to the
black. Then, whatever trouble falls is in
the ordinary course Of things - neither
sudden, alien nor unexpected.
This is the story of man who willfully
stepped beyond the safe limits of decent
every day society, and paid for il heavily.
He knew too much in the first instance,
and he saw too much in the second. He
took too deep an interest in native life, but
he will never do so again.
Deep away in the heart of the city, be-
hind Jitha Megji's bustee, lies Amir Mathis
gully, which ends in dead wall pierced
by one grated window. At the head of the
gully is a big cowbyre, and the walls on
either side of the gully are without win
dows. Neither Suchet Singh nor Gaur
Chand approve of their women folk look
ing into the world. If Durga Charan had
been of their opinion he would have been
a happier man today, and little Bisesa
would have been able to knead her own
bread. Her room looked out through the
grated window into the narrow. dark
gully, where the sun never came and where
the buffaloes wallowed in the blue slime.
she prayed the gods day and night to send
her lover, for she did not approve of liv-
ing alone.
One day the man-Treiago his name was
came into Amir Mathis gully on an aim
less wandering, and after he had passed
the buffaloes stumbled over big heap of
cattle food.
Then he saw that the gully ended in a
Il l., Ia, Hall id
the grated window. It was pretty little
laugh, and Trejago, knowing that, for all
practical purposes, the old Arabian Nights
are good guides, went forward to the win
dow and whispered that verse of "The
Love Song of Har Dyal' which begins:
Can man stand upright in the face of the
naked sun; or q lover in the presence of his be-
loveds
Ifmy feet fail me- o heart of my heart, am to
blame being blinded by the glimpse of your
beauty
There came the faint tchinks of wom-
ans bracelets from behind the grating, and
little voice went on with the song at the
fifth verse
Alas! alas can the moon tell the Lotus Of her
love when the gate of heaven is shut and the
clouds gather for the rainsS
They have taken my beloved, and driven her
with the pack horses to the north.
There are iron chains on the feet that were set
on my heart.
Call to the bowmen To make ready
The voice stopped suddenly, and Trejago
walked ont of Amir Maths gully wonder
ing who in the world could have capped
THE Love Song of Har Dyal" so neatly.
Next morning as he was driving to office
an old woman threw packet into his dog
n,4 In, hn clrat "a ha nj a
broken glass bangle, one flower of the blood
red dhak, a pinch of bhusa or cattle food
and eleven cardamoms. That packet was a
letter-not clumsy, compromising letter,
but an innocent, unintelligible lovers
epistle.
Trejago knew far too much about these
things, rs | have said. No English man
should be able to translate object letters.
But Trejago spread all the trifles on the
lid Of his office box and began to puzzle
them out.
A broken glass bangle stands for Hin
doc widow all India over; because, when
her husband dies, woman's bracelets are
broken on her wrists. Trejago saw the
meaning of the little bit of the glass. The
flower of the dhak means diversely "de
sire, - come, write" or danger" ac-
cording to the other things with it. One
cardamon means jealousy" but when
any article is duplicatedi in an object letter
it loses its symbolic meaning and stands
merely for one of number indicating
time or, if incense curds, or if saffron be
sent also, place The message ran then:
"a widow-dhak flower and bhusa-at II
O'clock The pinch of bhusa enlightened
Trejago. He saw-this kind of letter
leaves much TO instructive knowledge