San Antonio daily light. [volume] (San Antonio, Tex.) 1886-1907, 1891-07-18

ture and deStroy-these we stamp upor
till we crush out Gods image therefrou
these we spit and jeer at, cruelty and
/ drown! There is the difference
between you, the strong and wise OF a
| fruitful olden time, and we, the miSera-
BILE, puny weaklings of a sterile modern
| age.
| Had you, sweet st. Dorothy, or fair
| child-saint Agnes, lived in this day, you
would have felt something sharper than
| the eXecutioner's sword; for being puget
you would have been dubbed the wors,
| of women-being praYerful, you would
have been called ypocrites-being faith
you would have been suspected of all
vileness-being loving, you would have
been Knocked at more bitterly than the
soldiers of Pontius PLATE Knocked
Christ; bot you would have been free
free to indulge your own opinions, for
ours is the age of liberty. Yet how
much better for you to have died than
have lived till now!
Absorbed in strange, half morose, half
speculative fancies, l scarcely heard the
close of the solemn service. l was
reused by a delicate touch from my
wife, and l woke, as it were, with a
chords of the Wedding-march in Lohen-
grin laundering through the air. All
was over:-my wife was mine indeed
mine most thoroughly mine by the
exceptionally clOse-tied knot of a double
marriage, to do as l would with
"till death should us part" How long
gravely unused, how long before death
could come to do us this great service?
And straightway / began counting,
counting certain spaces of time that
must elapse before l was still
absorbed in this mental arithmetic, even
while l mechanically offered my arm to
my wife as we entered the vestry to sign
our names to the marriage register. So
occupied was l in my calculations that l
nearly caught myself murmur-
ing certain numbers aloud. l
checked this, and recalling my
thoughts by strong effort,
strove to appear interested and de-
lighted, as l walked down the aisle with
my beautiful bride, through the ranks of
admiring and eager spectators.
On reaching the outer doors of the
chapel several flower girls emptied their
full and fragrant baskets at our feet;
and in return, babe one of my servants
distribute a bag of coins / had brought
for the purpose, knowing from former
experience that it would be needed, 70
tread across such heap of flowers re-
quired some care, many of the blossoms
clinging to Nina's train;-we therefore
moved forward slowly.
Just as we had almost reached the
carriage, a young girl, with large laugh
ing eyes set like flashing jewels in her
soft oval face, threw down in my path
cluster of red roses A sudden fury of
impotent passion possessed me, and |
crushed my heel instantly and savagely
upon the crimson blossoms, stamping
upon them again and again so violently
that my wife raised her delicate eye
brows in amazement, and the pressing
people who stood round US shrugged
their shoulders and gazed at one another
with looks of utter bewilderment-while
the girl who had thrown them shrank
back in terror, her face paling as she
murmured, "Santissima Madonna! mi ia
pauraw bit my lips with vexation, in
wardly cursing the weakness of my own
behavior. l laughed lightly in answer
to Nina's unspoken, half-alarmed in
quiry.
at is nothing-a mere fancy Of mine.