San Antonio daily light. [volume] (San Antonio, Tex.) 1886-1907, 1890-03-04

the idea took possession of me, and, like
an Eastern mustard seed grew and flour
ished. Soon after that Uncle Keith had
rather serious lOsS-sOme mercantile
venture in which he was interested had
| come to grief. began to notice small re-
trenChments in the household; certain lit
tie luXurieS were given up. Now and then
Aunt Agatha grew little grave as she
balanced ner weekly accounts. One night
took myself to task.
''What business have you, a strong,
healthy young woman observed to my
self, severely, TO hr Il burden on these
good folk? What is enough for two may
be tight lit for three; it was that new
mantle of yours, Miss Merle, that has put
out the drawing-room fire for three weeks
and has shut up the sherry in the side
board. Is it fair or right that Aunt Aga
tina and Bncle Keith should foregO their
little comforts just because an idle girl is
on their hands,
pOndered this question heavily before
/ summoned courage to speak to Aunt
Agatha To my surprise she listened to
me very quietly though her soft brown
| eyes grew a little MISTY did so love
| Aunt Agatha's eyes.
Dear" she said, very gently, 81 wish
| this could have been prevented; but, for
my husbands sake, | dare not throw cold
| water on your plan. / cannot deny that
he has had heavy loss, and that we have
to be very careful. | would keep you
with me if could, Merle, for you are just
| like my own child, but Ezra is not young"
and here Aunt Agatha's forehead grew
| puCkered with anxiety.
ION, Aunt Agatha" | exclaimed, quite
| forgetting the gravity of my proposition
in sudden, childish annoyance, how can
you call Uncle Keith, Ezra? 1t is such a
| hideOuS name"
Not to my ears" she answered, quite
| calmly; "a wife never thinks her hus-
! bands name hideOus. He loves to hear
me say it, and | love to please him, for
| though you may not believe it, Merle, |
| think there are very few men to compare
with your uncle"
She could actually say this to my face,
| looking at me all the time with those hon
est eyes! / could not fOrbear little shrug
at this, but she turned the subject, placid
| ly, but with much dignity.
81 have been a working bee all my life.
! and have been quite cOntented with my
| lot; if you could only follow my example,
| should be perfectly willing to let you
60. have thought once or twice lately
that if anything were to happen to me,
yOu and your uncle would hardly be com
Portable together; you do not study him
sufficiently; you have no idea what he
really is"
| thought it better to remain silent.
Aunt Agatha sighed a little as she went
/ on.
IL am not afraid OF work for you, Merle;
| there is no life without activity. The
! idle man. as some one observes, spins on
! his own axis in the dark "a man of
mere capacity undeveloped," as Emerson
says, is only an organized day-dream
| with Il skin on it, just listen to this"
opening IA book that lay near her. "'Ac-
ton and enjoyment are contingent upon
each other. When we are unfit for work
we are always incapable of pleasure;
work is the wOOing by which happiness is
WOn.''
Yes, yes" | returned, rather impa-
tiently, for Aunt Agatha, with all her
projections, was too much given to pro-
verbal and discursve philosophy; "but to
reduce this to practice, what work can l
do in this weary wOrld?"
"You cannot be governess, not even a
nursery governess, Merle" and here Aunt
Agatha looked at me very gently, as
though she knew her words must give me
pain, and suddenly my cheeks grew hot
and my eyelids dropped. Alas! | knew
too well what Aunt Agatha meant; this
was sore point, the great difficulty and
stumbling-blOCk of my young life.
had been well taught in good school;
I had had unusual advantages, for Aunt
Agatha was an accomplished and clever
woman, and spared no pains with me in
her leisure hours; but by some freak OF
nature, not such an unusual thing as peO-
pie would have us believe, from some
want of power in the brain-at least, 50 a
clever man has since told mel was una
BILE to master more than the rudiments of
spelling.
| know some people would laugh in
credulously at this, but the fact will re-
main.
AS q child had lain sObbing on my
bed, beaten down by very anguish of
humiliation at being unable to commit
the column of double syllables to mem
DRY. and have only been comfOrted by
Aunt Agatha's patience and gentleness.
At school had a severer ordeal. For a
long time my teachers refused to admit
my inCapacity; they preferred attrbuting
it to idlenesS, StubbOrnness, and want of
attention: even Aunt Agatha was puzzled
by it, for | was a quick child in other
things, could draw very well for my age,
and could accomplish wonders in needle
work, was fair scholar in history and
geography, soon acquired q good French