San Antonio daily light. [volume] (San Antonio, Tex.) 1886-1907, 1891-10-09

toward his literary dsS.Ta..Jns, out suo
did not hear him chuckling softly to |
himself at the amusement Hannah's talk
had afforded him.
Now it was time to fold Judge Rivers
shirts and Mrs. Prices baby linen and
pack them in the basket covered with a
dainty blue mosquito netSi:i2 for Dick to
take home VIXEN he returned from his
work When the kitchen Was all cleaned
up, the ironing table set back, the clothes
horse put away, the irons placed in Il
row on the pantry shelf, Hannah smooth
ed her hair and put on Il clean apron for
the afternoon rest The April Sunshine
was coming in ut her western window,
making Il warm, rTddy splash on the
pastered wall. Hannah drew her rock
ing chair and little work table into the
sunny corner, for rest did not mean IDLE.
ness to her. She had pair of Dicks
trousers to patch, revealing q compli-
Gated hole. SIX CnTn@red AID jagge !, that
seemed almost as formidable to Hannah
as problem in Euclid She was just
wrinkling her forehead over the task Of
trying to fill this aching void with n
round bit of cloth too small to fl it
when there came Il tap on the GuJv, and
before she had time to say Com in
the door opened to admit the plump per
son of Miss RuHy Armstrong.
Miss Ruby was Hannah Trarns, .igh
Dor. She lived in Il tiny white co; tage
with wecdy cid garden attached, and
kept her sister Jane, WHO had sp,i.S of
being demented, when she fancied her.
self the angel Gabriel and would blow
Shrill blasts OH Il tin horn ont OF the
window to inform the benlShred neigh.
borhood that the end of the weld was
at hand. But these spells were not very
numerous. She WAS generally quiet and
harmless, ard not without quick flashes
of sense and insight and Il knowledge OF
what was going on about her that made
Ruby feel, ms she said at times, very
''stTe2ked. ua if Jane were bewitched.
Moreover. she had intervals Of remem-
boring things long past which everybody
else had forgotten, and suddenly t?rag-
ging them out TO the light in II eerie,
eltiSh way that gave poor Ruby cree ping
sensations all the way down her spine.
Ruby never knew what was Soin3; on
in James mind. The poor Old creature
" ould sit whole days together in the
sun, in Il bed ticking gown, made Eluch
in the form Of bag tied around the
waist with a string, grooming n senseless
little soEg and trying to catch inlagi-
nary feathers she saw floating in the
-, M would IT, l,a,, ~,
eyes on her sister and bring out some
thing from the depths of her inCOhcrent
thoughts that made the blood run cold.
She was never violent, and at times
would take to her bed and sleep for days
curled up like Il dormouse, when again
she did not sleep wink for week, but
| wandered about at night, making u lit
tie, low, feeble wall like a lost child.
She had way of purloining small arti
cles and hiding them, and Of bringing
them out in unexpected moments much
TO her sisters surprise. Ruby never
crossed her in anything except to keep
matches ont Of her way lest she should
set herself on fire So she went and
came, muttering to herself or singing
eelily, as she pleased. At times she
would pull out the old girlish fimery she
Kept in her bureau drawers, and laying
off the bedtick would array herself fan
tastiCally in a great scoop bonnet and q
big lowered shawl, and with Il bead bag
on her arm would so to visit some ef the
near neighbors, who always treated her
kindly and gave her food.
James insanity was of so mild a type
1t did not trouble Ruby much, but there
were other things quite apart from her
peculiar household and haphazard ways
of getting along that caused her to take
dark views of the world and society.
These were principally the homeless vii
lage cats and the i'll treatment of horses,
and in fact of all dumb animals by bru.
tai men and thoughtless boys. The
grasshOpper was not SO great Il burden,
but when a NANCY, half starved kitten
with sore on its hind leg came under
Miss nUby's observation she lost faith
in the ProyidenJial government Of the
world and felt that the powers OF evil
were rryeluy mvch as they pleased
Gnr such waii and stray had been cher
Ished and reared l.y her and had now be
come as sacred in tin Armstrong house
as an old Egyptian cat divinity. Any
Denighted creature in Littletield who did
not know and admire the virtues OF the
great tortoise shell Crumpet was i'm
mediately crossed off Miss Ruby's books
Miss Ruby was stout-Of that soft
comfortable kind of stoutness that easily
rolls itself into ball on sofa and falls
into a catnap ON the slightest provoca.
ton. Even early in the morning she
was always slightly yawning behind her
plump hand, as if just aroused from
F.,r.,, winds Gl,a lent mn ,uui1 and her