San Antonio daily light. [volume] (San Antonio, Tex.) 1886-1907, 1892-03-16
Possessed of a Devil.


most curious secrets ever intrusted to
my keeping. The man who told it is
no more; fever and brandy-or, per-
haps, it was rum-csrried him off in
tropical regions. / may, therefore,
speak; may tell that secret. Nobody
will ever know the name of that man.
He was a good looking man about
five and forty, with q smiling face
and contagious laugh. He
played ecarte. euchre, poker,
and piquet, all day long. He
laughed when he won and laughed
when he lost. He absorbed great
deal of tobacco and a considerable
quantity of drink. He laughed and
told stories about his travels. He
had travelled q good deal, being by
trade q railway engineer; he was
well-read man, and his talk was bet
ter than ole gets from the average
acquaintance of the steamer I sat
next to him at dinner and we became
chummy, after the fashion of pas
sengers; we found out what common
acquain tances We had and where we
had been at school, and SO forth. /
found pre- sently that this man had q
curious trick of 1spsing into moody
silence. Anything might turn him
of into one of these fl ts; they would
last for ten minutes, or for an hour, or
whole day. So much for introduc.
ton. Next for the secret
One night-it Was midnight, but
the cabin was hot-I was on deck. 1t
was pleasant night. full moon rid
ing In the heavens, the waters smooth
save Tor the Atlantic roll, the steamer
steadily making her twelve knots an
hour on an even keel. L leaned over
the stern, gazing upon the broad
white stream of foam which we left
behind us. Presently I was reused
by this man. He leaned beside NE
without saying word. During the
whole evening he had been glum.
After little he began to talk. "You
wonder" he said, "why / go off to
these fits Of gloom. Fever told any
body before, but will tell you becstise
YOU will not laugh at me or talk 8.
bout me. Ny friend, am Of all mer
the most miserable, because I am
possessed of devil. Don't say
'Shoo!' Don't interrupt. Don't say
q word. 1t is q devil who fills me
With hardly know how to tell you
1t is absurd-it is preposterous
but there 1t is. He fills me with
envy, hatred and malice iuexpreesible
toward men who have done me no
harm; men who are not rivals of my
own at ell; men whose prosperity
does not hurt me in the least. hate
them because they succeed. Why?
Because of this devil within me
Why shouldn't they succeed? I've
succeeded myself as much as I ever
stopped my getting on. Why should
L want to stop them? Don't say
'Shoo! Don'tinterIupt There is no
reason for my hating them. You
mentioned at dinner tor az q man
waom We both know. You said how
we'll he was doing. l remembered
him at school; We have never quar-
relied; he was senior to me; we have
gone in different paths; we have
never crossed In business; yet direct
ly you told me he was succeeding !
began to hate him. Yes, 1 hate him
/ loathe him: Curse him! i would
rejoice to hear that any misfortune
had fallen upon him. It is all be.
cause of this devil of mine.
"Well, but that isn't all; there's
more again. Don't say word. The
more i hate q man the more evil
wish him, the better and faster he
gets on. Mark my words, when we
land we shall hear that some strange
stroke of good luck has fallen upon
that man." / vent ured to suggest
that the man might get on by his OWL
merits and apart from any evil wishes
that might be formed against him
NO" he said, ~ am not to be de-
ceived. I have made too many OBJ
servations of the thing. When I want
man to fail he succeeds; when i
want him to GO down hill he goes up. !"
''rhen," said, perhaps your devil
would kindly iDspirey With desire
to wish misfortune and failure for me
as WE'LL" He said nothing, but
walked away and mentioned the thing
no more. Sometimes L wonder wheth
er he or his devil has been a malevo-
lent mind TO me-. / must add that
when we got to port we found that
the man he mentioned had been made
attorney general. This curious form
OF self deiusion seems to me quite sin.
gular. I do not remember ever
to have seen 1t any book; it is
the reverse Of the evil eye,
because that brings misfortune
ihvoluntarily, whether, it is desired
or not; it is enough for the possession
of the evil eye to be associated with
any man or woman; misfortune al.
ways follows. In this case the wishes,
prayers and hopes for evil which lay
in the mans heart were tranformed
into favoring breeZes. His curses did
not, as sometimes happens, come
back to him; they were changed into
blessings on the way. 1t was, how
ever AN uncomfortable bee to carry in