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

- NAS SONNA RAts
Idler and slave; either extreme had its
own special unhappiness and unhealthi-
ness"
How much wisdom there was in the
weakness of the old mans character!
The more l talked with him, the more
pitiable seemed his destiny. "Oh, John
Brent" l groaned in my heart, 'plead
before. We must ave them from the
dismal fate before them. And if she
cannot master her father, and you, John
Brent, cannot master her, there is no
hope"
My friend made no sign that he was
ready to close his interview with the
lady. The noise of the ball still came to
us with the puffs of the evening wind.
l prompted the communicative old gen
tleman to renew his story.
81 have seen the interior of some of
the Lancashire mines; I have read the
blue book upon Them" l said. "You
must have been in a rough place, with
company as rough"
''It was hard for a man of delicate
nurture. But the men liked me. They
were not brutes-not all-if they were
roughs. Brutes get away from places
where hard work is done. My mates
down in the mine made it easy for me.
They called me Gentleman Hugh. l
was rather proud, sir, l confess, to find
myself liked and respected for what |
was, not for what l had. 1t was a hard
life and a rough life, but it was an hon.
est life, and my child was too young to
miss what her birth entitled her to.
cit was in our mine that l first knew
of the Latter-day church. For years
had drudged there, and never thought,
or in fact for myself much cared, tC
come out. l had tried the pleasures and
friendships of gay life; they had nothing
new or good to give me. For years
had toiled, when the first apostle came
out and began to make proselytes to the
faith in u country. They have never
disdained the mean and the lowly. ]
tell you, sir, that we in our coal pit, and
brothers in the factories, listened to
apostles who came across seas and la.
bored among us as if they loved our
souls. The false religions and outgrows
religions left us in the dark: but the true
light came to us. My mates in the Ian.
cashire mine Joined the church by hun.
dreds. was still blind and careless. II
was not until long afterward that the
time for my conversion came.
"As my daughter grew up l felt that ]
ought to be by her. l had worked a long
time in the mine, and was known to have
some education. The company gave me
a clerkship in their Office, and there |
drudged again for years, asking no help
or favor. 1t was in another part of the
county from my old residence, where
nobody knew me. My dear child-she
has always been a good child to me, ex-
cept that she sometimes wishes to rule a
little too much-my dear Ellen became
almost a woman, and all l lacked was
the means of giving her the position of
her rank. Education she got herself.
We were not unhappy, she and together,
lonely as we might be and out of place."
The old gentleman had been talking of
himself in such a cheerful, healthy way
and shown that he had borne such a
brave heart through his troubles that !
began to puzzle myself what could have
again changed his character and made
him the weakling l had recognized in
the interview with Sizzum.
at is very kind of you," he said, "to
listen to a garrulus old fellow. Your
sympathy is very pleasant, but l must
not test it too far. 1 will end my long
story presently, ,E
"fsupposed myself entirely forgotten,
as l was quite willing to be. BY and by
1 was remembered and sought. A far
away kinsmal had left me a legacy. 1t
was enough for a quiet subsistence for
us two, for Ellen and me. l returned to
the neighborhood of my old home.
found a little cottage IN the banks OF
Ribble within sight of my old friend,
Pendle hill. There we lived"
From this point Mr.. Clitheroe's man
ner totally changed. His voice grew
peevish and complaining. All the man.
ly feeling he had showed in briefly de-
scribing his day laborer's life passed
away. He detailed to me how the new
proprietor at Clitheroe Hall ~patronized
him insuffersDly; how his old neighbors
turned up their noses at him, and in
suited him by condescension. How mis-
cradle he found it to cramp himself and
save shillings in a cottage, with the
house in sight where he had lavished
pounds as lord of the manor! How he
longed to have his daugher as well
dressed as any of the young ladies about
her interiors in blood-for no one there
could rival the Clitheroes' lineage. How
he wished himself back in his mine, in