San Antonio daily light. [volume] (San Antonio, Tex.) 1886-1907, 1892-03-18

JtllJ wv Ol tAlC tLCCo anu DtohCo III
forests and the shrubs in the garden
were cased in ice, and when the sun
shone on them it was very beautiful.
But at night it was cold-so bitter cold,
and the wind would rise and take the
snow up in its arms and toss it about in
fine soft clouds that blinded peoples
eyes and made them stumble and some
times lose their way, and it was very
dangerous to go abroad at night.
when the little boy was one week
old there came dark, dark night, with
snow and wind and terrible sleet. The
house where the baby's father lived was
in the country and stood in a great
yard that was almost little park.
About twelve o'clock there came noise
under the windows of the mothers
chamber, and the dogs howled, and the
cat on the hearth rug set all her fur on
end. The nurse went to the window
and drew aside the curtain, but it was
so dark she could see nothing. Some
one is lost in the storm, and old Bruno
is straining on his chain she said, COM
ing back to the fire, which glowed
warmly, and touching with her foot the
rocker of the cradle where the child was
sleeping.
"Then the mother cried out from her
bed that it must be seen to, and sent and
had the father walked; and he and the
nurse went out and found in the snow
beneath the window an old, old woman,
bent and gray and shriveled, SO that the
wonder was how she ever got there.
She was almost frozen, and they carried
her into the house, and into the mothers
room, because there was the noblest fire.
They laid her near it and chafed her
limbs and wrapped her in warm cloth.
ing and comforted her with wine. And
the mother, from her pillows, looked on
and told then what to do. Soon the old
woman opened her eyes, and the first
thing they beheld was the fire. How
beautiful she muttered, and held ont
her withered hands; so beautiful! SO
beautiful and she went on for many
moments murmuring about the beauty
of the flames. Presently she espied the
infant, and leaning over the cradle she
scanned him long and earnestly"
Dan paused, his eyes shimmering with
mirth.
go on! go onr said the boy i'm.
patiently.
81 know the old witch gave the child
red hair" murmured Ella; "but go on"
Mary said nothing, but leaned nearer.
1.-The poor little thing lay there so
pink and still and helpless, with its
round bald head on the pillow and its
small hands folded like rose leaves"
continued Dan, land he looked so inno-
cent and lovely, that the old woman's
heart was stirred and she longed to do
something for him. Passing her hand
therefore over his head and gazing ten.
derby on the fire, she said slowly: ITO
the child of the house that has sheltered
me and warmed me l give the most
beautiful thing in all the world. He
shall be crowned with locks that glow
and curl like the flames that leap from
the heart of the Goals. Their color shall
rival the rudy hue of the wine which
is warming my frame, and their texture
shall be as soft and as fine as the silk in
the hands of the spinner
Then the mother cried out against it,
for it seemed to her cruel wrong to
put on a little child. Not so-it is a
blessing the old woman said; for to
those who love him the locks shall glow
with warmth and beauty until they
think that nothing in all the broad earth
can compare with them, while to those
vi hot, h,,,x thax, xxy.ll h,IaA,,e
and suggest many unpleasant images,
and all who hate him will speedily de-
part from him. And that will be good
for the boy, because he will always
have around him only those who love
him. Then the old woman vanished up
the chimney, Ran, in a big puff of
smoke, and everything she said came to
pass, for the old woman was a fairy"
There was pause when the tale was
done.
Then Ella said; after this l shall de-
fend red hair from all aspersions.
shall maintain with all my strength that
it is the color preferable to all others,
and shall cali it Titianesque and lovely"
Ran climbed up on the arm of the
the chair and again rested his soft round
cheek upon it. II love it, he announced;
sit warns me all through to my heart,
it does, and think it's more beautiful
Ter than any hair in the world"
There was nothing in the little story
to account for it, but that night, when
Mary was in her chamber, she took from
between the leaves of her Bible faded
u 4 - T.
with eyes like Rams, and gazed at it
long and earnestly. Suddenly she bent
her face down ON it with whisper that
sgnl,