San Antonio daily light. [volume] (San Antonio, Tex.) 1886-1907, 1892-03-08

a dozen or so cabins and the old over
seer's house. All the home buildings
are on the widows part. However, if
you propose settling in Virginia, you
will of course soon remedy all that"
''The devil will" muttered the impa-
tient recipient of the epistle from which
the above sentence is quoted. "What in
thunder does he suppose wanted with
the land without the house? can have
new houses by the dozen; what wanted
was the old one. didn't know the old
lady was living still. She must be hard
on to seventy, for she had left the mid
die mile stone well behind twenty years
ago. I'd have liked owning the old
house; though the Lord knows what
want with it, or the land eitherr'
However, he wrote to the lawyer again,
giving the necessary instructions about
fencing and other matters, and intimat-
ing that his business might require his
presence in the east before many months
had passed, and that in that event he
would probably visit Virginia.
The months had passed, bringing with
them the necessity which Mr.. Anthony
had forecast. He had come east and
was now in Virginia. He had arrived
in the village the evening before and es-
tablished himself for the present at the
solitary boarding house Gt could not be
called hoteD of the place, which was
kept by new people, who had been resi-
dent in the village only matter of ten
or twelve years and of course were I'M
connected with that bygone time which
to Anthony seemed to move forward and
join hands with the present the moment
he left the train at the wayside station.
Twenty years. Had it been twenty
years since he had seen it all? 1t might
have been twenty days, he thought at
first, for the little change apparent. The
same river flowing on with gracious
curves and windings, the same willows
on its banks, the same fields and hills,
the same soft blue mountains in the dis
lance. Could it be twenty years since
he had seen it?
It was fair picture for loving ewes tn
rest upon, and even the chill unkindness
of the November evening could not
spoil it; but the eyes that gazed from
under dropping lids were more critical
than loving. Soon to their searching
quest changes began to make themselves
apparent. In place of the sleepy old Ca
nal of his boyhood there was single
track, unprosperous looking railway,
and telegraph poles marked the line Of
what was formerly the towpath.
And there were endless quiet changes
of the kind that mark the progress Of de-
cay, the slow inroads of poverty and
desolation. Twenty years had left be-
hind them traces of their fight in CALLED
and quilted fields that formerly were fer
tile, in hillsides grown up thickly with
broom sedge and sassafras, and in gen.
eral dilapidation of fencing and build
ings. What the devastation of war had
commenced poverty and unthrift were
completing, and the foot of time but
marked the road that was leading to
restitution.
Anthony gszed over it all and scorned
it. He was so full of energy, will and
activity of purpose that the evidences of
unthrift filled him with impotence.
All the tender beauty of the scene, all
its Old World calm, its repose and soft
enchantment were utterly lost upon him.
The lotos eating phases of existence were
beyond his comprehension-would have
been beyond his endurance.
"How small it all looksr' he unused
slightingly, as he paused in his whiting
to stroke his beautiful brown beard with
a strong sunburned hand, land yet
when was kid thought this valley
was the world. Now it looks to me as
though could straddle that river and
push the hills apart with my two hands.
Lord! how the country has gone down.
down to the very dogs, for want of
money and push. They hadn't much
practical energy to start with, these peo-
pie, but with one thing and another
they seem to have lost the little they
had. They can't make work tell any
more than kitten can pan ore. They
run to extremes and hit the best part OF
their ticks in the wrong place."
He finished trimming his stick thought
fully, handling his knife dexterously, |
cutting with firm, capable strokes, and |
making every cut further his design. |
The grain of the wood was close, its |
fiber tough, but he worked on persist
emily, without hurry or waste, and |
when he had completed the job to his |
satisfaction he closed the knife with a
sharp snap and returned it to his pocket.
The newmade cane was stout, and ne
balanced it il his hand and then struck |
it smartly against the rail to test its
strength.
1--we known the time when a good |
Virginia hickory would have been a
mighty pleasant thing to handle out