San Antonio daily light. [volume] (San Antonio, Tex.) 1886-1907, 1892-02-11

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other, and coal AMI negroes became i'm.
portant."
"What a panic of speculation we all
rushed into in Lancashire!" said the old
gentleman. "We all felt, we gentlemen,
that we were mere idlers, not doing oui
duty, as England expects every man to
do. usless we were building chimneys
or digging pits. We were all either
grubbing down in the bowels of the
earth for coal, or rearing great chimneys
up in the air to burn it. l really think
most of us began to like smoke better
than blue sky; certainly it tasted sweeter
to us than our good old English fog.
"Well, sir" continued he, 81 was like
my neighbors. l must dabble in milling
and mining. l was willing to be richer.
Indeed, a o o as | began to speculate /
thought myself richer. l spent more
money. went deeper into my opera
tions. One car throw a great treasure
into a coal mine without seeing any re-
turn, and can send a great volume of
smoke up a chimney before the mill be-
gins to pay. 1t is an old story. l will
not tire you with it. l was all at once a
ruined man."
He paused a moment and looked about
the dim, starlit prairie, with the white
wagons and the low fort in the distance.
swell" said he, in the careless, airy
manner which seemed his characteristic
one, IF l had not been ruined l should
have staid stupidity at home and never
worked in a coal mine, or travelled on
the plains, or had the pleasure of meet
ing you and your friend here. 1t is all
fresh and novel. If it were not for my
daughter and my duties to the church. +
should take my adventures as lightly as
you do when your gun misses fire and
you lose a dinner.
"The thing that troubled me most at
the time of my disasters" he resumed,
twas being defeated for parliament.
There had always been a Clitheroe there.
When my father died l took his seat.
l used to spend freely on elections, but !
thought they sent me because they liked
me, or for love of the old NAME. When
I lost my fortune there came a snob, sir,
and stood against me. He accused me
of being a free thinker, as if the Clith-
eroes had not always been liberal! He
got up a cry and bought votes. My own
tenants, my old tenants, whom l had
Toasted out of pure good will a hundred
times, turned against me. / lost my
election and my last shilling"
at was just then, sir, that my dear
wife died and my dear Ellen was born"
He turned sadly around to look at his
daughter. She was walking at some
distance with Brent. The earnest mur-
mnr of their voices came to us through
the stiffness. 1 felt what my friend
must be saying in that pleading tone.
Everything went disastrously with
me-" continued Mr.. Clitheroe. 81 tried
to recover my fortunes, fairly and hon
estly, but it was too late. Ny creditors
took the old hall. Hugh Clitheroe in
Harry the Eighth's time built ID, ca land
where the family had lived from before
Egbert. Host it, sir. The family came
to an end with me. | found sheriff's
officers making beer rings on my old oak
dining table. The Vandykes went.
Hugh, of Cromwell's days, was divorced
from his wife, the Beauty. l tried to
keep them together; but scrubs bought
them and stuck them up in their vulgar
parlors. Sorry business! Sorry bust
nessl'
"You kept a brave heart through it
all"
y "Yes, until they accused me of dis
honesty. That I felt bitterly, and every
body gave me the cold shoulder. | could
get nothing to do. There is not much
that a broken down gentlemen can do,
but no one would trust me. l grew
poorer than you a conceive. lost all
heart. Men are poor creatures-as a
desolate man finds"
"Not all, 1 hope" was my protest.
"Truly not all, but the friends of pros
perity are birds that come to be fed and
fly away when the crumbs give out. All
are not base and time serving, but men
are busy and careless, and fancy that
others a always take care of them
selves. Icould not beg, sir, but it came
near starvation to me in Christian Eng
land-to me and my young daughter,
within a year after my misfortunes.
Perhaps I was overproud or overvain,
but 1 grew tired of the sights of people
that had known me in my better days,
and now lodged me because l was shah
by and poor. 1 wanted to get out OF
sight of the ungrateful, ungracious
world. The blue sky grew hateful to
me. / must live, or if life was nothing
to me my daughter must not starve. l
had a choice of factory or coal mine to
hide myself in. l sank into a coal mine"
"a strange contrast!" 1 said, after a