San Antonio daily light. [volume] (San Antonio, Tex.) 1886-1907, 1891-04-06

health was vigorous, and always had
been. Her temper was even and happy;
she was tolerably well read; could drum
on the piano. could cook and, in short,
as the advertisements say, could make
herself generally useful, and had no OBJ
lection to children. And yet there she
was, unmarried, and wearing that IN
mistakable placard, Furnished apart
ments for single gentleman; inquire
Within
Next to her-it might have been BY
chance, the usual way was placed
Lieut.. Quire, Of the navy, on duty at
the department. The lieutenant had his
faults, among them trick of coming
| home very late at night, or som, lines
the next day, but he had a stanch de-
fender in Miss Sophia, who charged all
the gossiping comment of the other lodg-
ers on this fact to civilian jealousy of
brass bu 5tons. But nobody was disposed
to be ve:y harsh with Mr.. Suire. for he
was a 6ashing, handsome fellow who
had been all over the world, and was
very easy and companionable in his
| manners.
Next to Mr. Quire was o member of
congress, a brisk, big, ordinary man,
with an appetite like a pitcher plant.
The honorable gentleman owed MS sue
cess in life to doing one thing at time.
and doing that well. Thus, at meal
time he ate, and that. too, fast and long.
Poor man, perhaps he hurried through
his meals to save them, for he was very
likely to be interrupted at such hours,
when he was known to be at home, by
callers.
Ths other boarder, besides Stevens
and Bassett, was a pale young man. who
was stenographic secretary to n railroad
magnate; quiet, sensible fellow, who
minded his own business, and like the
honorable gentleman, found his bust
ness, at meal time, laid on the table.
Windward soon discovered, some
what to his amusement, for he was
fresh from New York, that by being
ooarder at Mrs. Exsh he was Gin society"
In New York city clerks, typewriters
and boarding house keepers are not
fashionable people, but here he found
they might be, and in the present case
were. Mrs Elk had given literary re-
rnisn only few days before his arrival,
and he was astonished to learn from
Stevens how many really distinguished
persons had attended and taken part.
The Sunday press had long and glow
ing notices of the musicale" as they
called it, in their society news, and it
had evidently been quite an ''event."
Miss Sophia had danced with q senator
and flirted madly with a full colonel,
though this she denied in the most .hame-
less manner to Lieut.. Quire when he 70
preached her for her heartless conduct
the next morning. 1t did begin to look
serious for the lieutenant, however, when
On the night after Windward's arrival
the colonel came with coach and bou-
quet and carried the beaming spinster of
to "german" at one of the most fash
ionable houses in town.
And why, pray, should not Mrs. Ex
be a society woman if she chosel She
wRs cultivated, agreeable, well dressed
lady. whose only fault was that she
earned her own living. She was poor,
of course, but no poorer than other nice
people. The then president of the United
States, for example, was saving up money
from his very moderate salary to pay his
honest debts His cabinet officers, with
but one or two exceptions, looked for
ward to their monthly pay day. and
found use for all their modest income,
which would scarcely pay the rent OF
what a Wall street broker or q prosper
Gus wholesale merchant in any OF our
larger cities would consider q suitable
house for his family to live in. The JUS
tees of the supreme court live. on sal
aries less than. many attorneys charge
Tor fees in the important cases they de-
eide. The army and navy colony is, Of
course, impecunious The diplomatic
corps are beggars in velvet.
Members of congress are, as class,
prosperous, commonplace country law
yers, who are not inclined to live beyond
their income, but who find they will do
so, with home and Washington bills to
pay out of 81, 900 year, unless they are
economical Tho body of well to do re-
spectacle people are either ''in Office" or
dependent on those who are, aud sala-
rieS in the departments range from 5000
to So 900, in very few cases rising above
81 800. There is very little business
done beyond retail shop keeping, and
no manufacturing or commerce to speak
of, so that there are no nabobs of trade.
In short, the capital of the poor mans
country is the poor mans city. AS
wealth and luxury increase in one they
will be reflected in the other, and the
change now going on in this respect is