San Antonio daily light. [volume] (San Antonio, Tex.) 1886-1907, 1891-10-08

conception Of the magnitude of the pres. |
ent she had received. he begged her not |
to excite herself Mr.. Rand hated to be |
the cause of excitement in anybody I'M
less il broke ont over some rare old black
letter volume. He intilnated that in his
Judgment Arson had earned the sum
over and above the salary he had received
in his service, and he was only paving a
just debt. Then he took up his hat and
wen; oaS, closing the door softly behind
him lie WAS Il man Of few words eX-
cept on his own particular hobbies. and
on them he would talk endlessly.
Nov Hannah, the moment Mr.. Rand
left the house. dropped on her knees
on the Kitchen floor, and with the
tears streaming from her eyes uttered
such PRAYER of praise and thanksgiving
to God her children could never forget
it to their dying day. From that mo-
mant everything was changed. The
name of Hiram Rand became sacred
name in that humble little home She
taught her children to reverence and
look up to it as to guiding star. Her
home secure, Hannah drank at once
from deep wells OF strength and in5pira-
ton. She felt eqUal TO strenuous labor
to rear aud educate her children. The
ambition Of noble mothers stirred in her
to give them the instruction she had
never received in her poor, neglected
childhood. She lived by sewing and
taking in washing, and it was nothing
to Hannah to rise at four and to go to
bed at midnight that her children might
be kept at school.
But strange, unlocked for changes
have occurred within the eight years
since Arson died. Hiram Rand. who
was then the richest man in Littlefield,
having Inherited fine fortune from an
uncle and fourishing business from
his father, was now one of the poorest.
Sometimes. with quiet CLEAN of sad
humor, he said to his friend DR.. Boskirk
that he possessed nothing but what he
had given away. While he sat quietly in
his library glOating over his ElZevirs and
Aldines, noble first editions in precious
bindings, his fortune. in the hands of an
INSCRIPTIONS agent, melted away in ru-
nous speculations. His stocks and bonds
were involved in the embarrassment of
great railway and the failure of a
metropolitan bank, and his mill and real
estate all passed out of his hands to meet
the liabilities thus incurred.
Then, as misfortunes like rocks always
:iy in black hocks, his only daughter, a
.,:aautiful Gir!. died just in the bloom of
young womanhood, and his son was
drowned on yachting excursion in the
Mediterranean The old man, thus
wrecked in his affections and fortunes,
| fell into an illness, from which he arose
after many weeks broken and dis
! abed man, one side partially paralyZed
| and his LEFT arm and hand quite useless.
When he came to consciousness the auc-
tioneers We're in the lower rooms of his
house knocking down the furniture to
the lowest bidder, and Hannah Fearing
was at his bedside. where she had faith
fully held her post for six long weeks.
The doctor had bid III few OF the pre-
Cious Old volumes from Rand's valuable
library. and in less than week after the
sale the sick man and this little remnant
OF his fortunes. once great for a country
town. were moved over to Hannah's best
room. the parlOr of the brown cottage
where he had lived ever since Oh her
care and bounty.
Hannah said she was paying a debt,
and if she spent the remainder of her
life in Nursing Hiram Rand it would rot
make up to him what he had done for
her. lie was Old, alone in the world,
without near relatives, poor and prac.
tically helpless. for he was nailed to his
chair by paralysis and could only just
| manage to wheel himself from his bed
to his reading table by tae window.
The Guipt, transformations benefaCtions
of the man had made him many friends,
but principally among the poor, who
c0ald do noJniug INIT pray for him in
his Affections. Herman had kept him
now for three years, giving him the
care Of a loving and devoted daughter.
He had taken It in the right spirit, for,
as lie often said, it IS Il ra~er virtue to re-
ceive with grace than to give from your
abundance. \ peculiar bond had grown
up between them as she cooked and
washed for him, or nursed his ailments
and kept the sunny little parlor where
he lived as neat as wax, replying to all
narrow minded criticism Of her behavior
with biting, sarcastic speech.
1t was with immense pride and atfec-
ton that Hannah looked at the old man,
whom she reverenced us being of su-
pernatural endowments. She was not a
woman TO DO things by halves nor to
stint her love and devotion. 1t was her
belief that the old man had brought
her good Iuck and blessing, for had