San Antonio daily light. [volume] (San Antonio, Tex.) 1886-1907, 1892-03-02
"GRACIOUS!"

Mr.. Farlow was compact business
man, bright, shrewd and kindly. He had
seen a good deal of life in his day, and it
was not commonplace life, either. One
evening as we sat cozily together, he told
me how he found his wife, for he knew
loved her as we'll almost as he did, and
his tone was trifle more confidential than
usual. If | am to repeat the story it must
be in strictly confidential manner, out Of
regard to my friend, though there is
nothing that any man could be ashamed
ofin it, except the parading of ones sacred
heart to the world. But there is a way in
which the sacred heart can be told about
that makes it remind us of our own
sacred hearts and the days Of our own
courtships and little affairs, which, though
we may pretend to have forgotten them,
are always vivid enough If anything hap
pens to call them up.
will let Mr. Farlow tell his own story,
for he can tell it better than could:
"You know my marriage all came out of
South American trip that once made,
and that is the interesting part Of the lit
tie romance. ] was only twenty-one and
in the employ of shipping company in
San Francisco | had been with them
about year and half, and think they
trusted me good deal; in fact. they must
have done so to have sent me on the expe-
dition they did. A captain and his crew
had run away with ship that belonged to
the company, and they wanted me to catch
him. He had started with his booty to-
ward Cape Horn, and il he once fairly left
the South American waters he was pretty
safe from us. boarded the swiftest
schooner that sailed out of Frisco bay, and
we stretched every inch Of canvas for the
south. The runaway had good two days
the start of us and was nearly as good a
sailer as we, but we resolved to do our best
and hope for luck. In any kind Of an en-
terprise man may always hope for luck.
though he can't really count on it. Atany
rate it serves to keep the courage up.
Elm five days we sighted the islands off
Colombia and stopped to make inquiries
The vessel we were after had been sighted
two days and half before, and was going
straight for the Cape The news was not
encouraging, but we set off again, with
two days and "A half instead of two days to
gain. But we still hoped for luck, or some
happy thought. 1t was not luck, but a
happy thought that finally decided me to
leave the ship at Valparaiso and strike
across country to Buenos Ayres in the hope
of heading off the robbers before they
cleared that port. Sailing round the Capa
| knew to be hard work and often slow
and with good luck | could probably catch
the vessel, or ut least have gained in the
chase.
The trip across the Andes and the vast
plains beyond was memorable one to me.
1t took fortnight of the hardest tramping
and riding ever did in my life, but saw
some things have never seen since, and
never will again. The guides that we
started with were crusty, malicious fel-
lows, and made me wonder every night
when | lay down to sleep on the open
ground whether should not wake up to
find my throat cut Fortunately that never
happcned but the reason was that they
had the better part of my money before we
set out. Otherwise think my life would
have been held pretty cheap by life in
surance company.
"Half way up the mountains we found
an old monastery and a little chapel. At
first it seemed deserted, but when at last
we heard baby cry we knew that there
were human beings about. We peered in
at little old kitchen and saw there a lit
tie old woman who seemed to have been
born about the time the kitchen was built,
say a hundred years ago. We asked for
food and lodging in every language we
knew, but the only reply we got was
grunt and gesture toward an inner door.
We tried the door, but some one was lean
ing against it on the other side. By this
time was quite out of patience, and lift
ing the latch of the door gave it a terrible
push inward Some glass thing fell and
broke i'm thousand pieces on the stone
floor, and as the door swung open we saw
a white old priest stagger backward In the
little oratory of the chapel, and on the
paving were the fragments of a long black
bottle that had contained some black
liquid The old fellow looked very much
frightened and deprecating, and fastened
to explain that at his age he found drop
now and then necessary. We made his
feelings all right on that point by offering
to drink some more with him, II he had
any. 1t appeared that there were a num-
Der of bottles in the cellar. The old priest,
and even his wife, the old woman who
seemed unable to speak, proved very hos
pitable in the end, and we went on our
way early the next morning.
"At last the mountains were passed, and
before us stretched broad, level, grassy
plain, and twenty miles away, though the
distance seemed much less, lay city half
the size of Boston. but whose site was on
no map in existence, and whose name prob
ably not ten educated men IN this country