San Antonio daily light. [volume] (San Antonio, Tex.) 1886-1907, 1891-08-08

which nature so palpaDly refined as
his must have shrunk with loathing. 1t
was novel and delightful to me to meet
a man SO completely absorbed in pur-
suit which promised no reward beyond
| the ameiiorItion of society," result of
which h" coIld hoDe to live to see only
the BEGINNINGS. For mere dollars and
| cents he Caretl nothing He had no am
bicion to grow ricn Indeed, it was one
Of his tenets that no one should retain
| more than IA certain amount Of property
doubtless enough to keep the wolf
FROM the door and to permit the con-
| tinuatiOn o. scholarship. How much more
Unseltish aud ennOOtins life than that
of tle feverlSh money getter. with Ill
his appliances of forga and factory and
export and import! had found an an
SNver to my warnings aad my unrest in
| this untiring devotion to abstract truth.
A part Of this was true undoubtedly
| of Paul Barr as well Ardor and zeal
J were the very essence of his philosophy,
| but it was easy to divine by looking at
| him-at least it appeared So to me-that
| he lacked the spirit of persistent, unset
| fish scholarship which diStin guiShed his
rival felt that he was superficial. and
| that he would rather sacrifice his prin-
ciples than his own Interests.
All the more did have faith in this
! instructive preference for Mr. Spence
| from the fact that IRON the standpoint
of the picturesque AMI romantic every
thing was on the side of the artist poet.
| Tall dashing, handsome and brilliant,
he WAS adapted and doubtless accus-
| toned to carry hearts by storm.
| No woman could receive his admiring
Eltnces without tint slight thrill and
dutter of the heart which proves the
presence of fascinating man. On the
other hand the master-l liked to think
| Of him as such--was, as | have already
intimated, commonplace in appearance
| ut the first glance, and save, for his mar
velous voice, distinguished for none of
| those graces which attract my sex. Per-
| haps it would be more just to say that
| he sought to reDress them rather than
that they did not exist, for when under
the influence of enthusiasm for his sci
ence his face was inspiring to look upon.
Such were the conclusions at which l
arrived after sitting my impressions.
But never did my incapacity and dearth
| of knowledge appear to me in less
complimentary light than at this time.
| vowed again and again to give myself
up uurpservedly to study, and first of al!
to choose some special branch that would
prevent my efforts from resulting in
merely desU!tory work. Ii so, what bet
ter field could | choose than that in
which there were fellow workers al
ready whom knew and with whom l
could sympathize? The more ! thought
abe ut the subject the stronger did the
argument in favor of this selection APP
peSr At last one morning, in an excess
of enthusiasm, sat down and wrote
| note to Mr.. Spence, asking if he would
be kind enough to call on me at his leis-
ure--"on a matter of business" added.
so as to preclude any possible misinter-
probation on his part
| This was about a week after Miss
Kingsley's tea. In the meantime had
| been to see Aunt Agnes twice. but had
not found her at home. was curious
to hear what Miss Kingsley would sly
| concerning me, for | felt by no means
sure that her remarks would be wholly
| complimentary. Freely as | blamed my
self for my conceited notions at the time
| regarding the attentions of the two
| philosophers, | was not ready to absolve
her from the imputation Of jealousy. 1t
was difficult to explain her conduct on
any other ground, and | remembered
what Mrs. Marsh had said as to tender
| relations between her and Mr.. Spence
| Indeed, felt some irritation against her.
and conviction that she was not Likely
to be altogether my friend when we
were not face to face. However, she
| had chosen to insert my name in the
next issue of The Mercury as having
| been present at a small gathering at her
"parlors" to meet 1.-The distinguished
scientist and poet, Charles Liversage
Spence notice which she doubtless
considered 'sympathetic.
| staid at home the whole of the day
following that on which | wrote to Mr..
Ipylce, and US rewarded by receiving
a visit from him in the afternoon. He
| seemed little at his ease when he en-
tered the room, and observed a num-
Der of details OF dress and manner which
showed that he was not versed in the
usages of fashionable life despite his
early experiences. These lapSes, or
rather differences, did not affect me dis
agreeably-indeed. 1 was well content
that he should be as unlike as possible
the fiippant youths of so called society
but they were much more noticeable
than when he was in the midst of such
artistic surroundings as he found at
Miss KinpSley'S