San Antonio daily light. [volume] (San Antonio, Tex.) 1886-1907, 1891-07-23

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approva SSu f1 re eha< 1n GG15 pas, cur
rent, but l wanted to be at a premium
on my own account. sacrificed myself
on the altar of character. Never did
knowingly offend anybody; never did ]
indulge myself in any of those little sar-
caslns, to infict which on some of my fe.
male acquaintance my tongue at times
fairly ached.
The mammas and maiden aunts in
congress assembled must have voted
that l was fresh milk and pure Canaan
honey-a model and delight. From
Miss Mayburn and Mr.. Temple 1 OBJ
tanned quite character for cleverness;
but never allowed myself to outshine
other folk, unless l was talking to some
body who would detect polite restraint
on my part. Macy Temple, though he
always assumed that dreadful and wild
ly aggravating masculine tone of supe-
riority and spoke as if he had concluded
to exhibit the truth to his female friends,
but to suffer in silence if they offended
against it, was never jealous of other
peoples talents, and took care that no
one should estimate my abilities at a
lower value than he himself had decided
to put on them. He often did ME the
honor to bring Inc little poems and lite
rary sketches of which he made great
secret; and he sometimes. did me the
much greater honor to beg for my
opinion.
We became great friends; he told me
what Miss Mayburn had said to him
about the character of my mind, and
pointed out to me what he considered
the mistakes in her estimate; he sug-
gested several courses of reading for me-
and took most kindly interest in my
intellectual welfare. But let nobody
suppose that he was an aesthetic. He
discovered no signs of astheticism in
the composition of bouquets; if he pre-
ferred sunflOwers to jacqueminots, he
took very good care to hide his taste
when he wished to compliment me; and
though he was very we'll ND in the
stained glass poets and nearly made me
weep by reading to me Sir Peter Harp
don's End" l don't think he cared as
much for Perugino or Botticelli as he
did for the cartoons in Puck. When
ever we INDUCED in an occasional bit of
Irritation | could not help thinking of
Mr.. Boullter, with whom very few men
compared favorably. | must do Mr..
Temple the justice to say that in his
own way he was charming. He had a
very attractive way of limiting compli-
ments, entrapping You in pleasing pit
fall of compliment to which he would
lead you carefully through ways of ap-
parently barren commonplace. But he
was not sufficiently exciting. His
method was too COldly intellectual;
there was not enough warmth about his
style nor soupcon of danger in his glance.
Then, too, l did not care to see too
much of him, for | thought it best not to
be supposed to be intimate with any man
during my first winter: and as he was ac-
custOmed to having his own way he was
displeased at being frequently put off.
For the same reason | took care not to
encourage Mr.. BOullter too much; in a
"OEu, Iuy pollCy was W OiIll9 iii CIC lncu
to my side, but not to keep any of them
there too long.
And oh, heavens! when l remember
the ennui which l endured during the
sessions of those awful sewing classes
and Bible classes which servilely Joined
when invited so to do. blush to think
that could ever have been so hypOcritical.
| remember that one Sunday afternoon
at the Grenes', while Mrs. Creme was
carefully explaining to us text out of
jeremiah or Deuteronomy (she had pc
culiar prediction for the most dismal
parts of the Old Testament, and once
suggested that we should have a week
day class to read Josephus)-I remember
that | was sitting in the window when
suddenly l saw Bran Boullter walking
with Susy Prague, the most giddy pated
little bud in town, who had been rushed
into society by five or six men, and had
Immediately assaulted every respectable
prejudice therein with awful audacity
and success. Bitterness of vexation and
jealousy suddenly filled my soul. l felt
as if l should like to jump out of the
window, tear Susy from the side eff Mr..
BoulIter, carry him off triumphantly
across the frozen river. eclipse her in her