San Antonio daily light. [volume] (San Antonio, Tex.) 1886-1907, 1892-01-08

70 make little Roadway against the inva-
lid son. They had all the sunny hours
of many long years before them: he per-
haps only the hurrying moments OF one.
For Warner change was imperative
80 imperative that even the rebellious
girls were fain to admit It's necessity.
His condition required a gentler, kndlier
atmosphere than that of New York. The
poor diseased lungs craved the elixir OF
pure air; painted for the inauguration OF
breezes freshly oxygenized by field and
forest, and labored exhaustedly in the
languid devitalized breath of city. The
medical fraternity copiously consulted,
recognized their impotence, but refrained
from stating it, and availed themselves
of their power of reference to the loftier
physician-the boy must be healed, if he
was to be healed, by nature. The coun-
try, pure air, pure milk, tender care;
these were his only hope.
General Smith was a man trained by
military discipline to be instant in de-
cision and prompt in action. AS soon as
the doctors informed him that his sons
case required-not wanderings-but a
steady residence in climate bracing, as
well as mild, where the comforts of home
could supplement the healing of nature,
he set himself at once to discover a place
which would fill all the requirements.
To the old soldier, New England born
and Michigan bred, Virginia appeared a
land of sun and flowers, country well
nigh tropical in the softness of its eli
mate and the fervor of its heat. The
doctors recommended Florida, or South
Carolina, as in duty bound, and to the
suggestion of Virginia yielded only a
| dubious consent; it was very far north,
they said, but still it might do. To the
general, it seemed very far south, and he
was certain it would do.
In the old time, he remembered, when
he was in lower Virginia with Mcclellan,
he had reveled in the softness, the de-
| light of that, to him, marvellous climate.
He had found the nights so sweet; the
air, yitalized with the breath of old
ocean, so invigorating, the heat at noon
d. so dry, and the GOODNESS at evening
so refreshing. There were pines, too; old
fields of low scrub, and some forests OF
the nobler sort; that would be the thing
for Warner. He remembered how, as he
sat in the tent door, the breeze scented
with resinous odors used to come to him,
and how, strong man though he was, he
had felt as he drew it into his lungs that
it did him good.
In those old campaigning days the
fancy had been born in him that some
time in the future he would like to re-
turn and make his home here, where
humorous ocean wooed gracious land
that when his fighting days were over
and the retired list heightened by his
name it would be a pleasant thing to
have his final bivouac among the gallant
foes who had won his admiration by
their dauntless manner of giving and
taking blows.
The exigencies and INSCRIPTIONS of mill
tary life in time dimmed the fancy, but
it never altogether vanished. Out on
the plains with Custer, away in the
mountains and the Indian country, vege-
tating in the dullness of frontier posts,
amid the hustle, the luxury and excite
ment of city life, the fancy would return;
the memory of those soft starlit Vir-
ginia evenings would infold him with a
subtle SPELL In thought he would again
sit smoking in the tent door, the gray
shadows stealing out from their covert
in the woods, accommodating all the
country ere they swept down and took
possession in the name of their queen
the night. The air would grow cool
with the fragrant breath of the ocean
and the pines, whip-poor-wills would
chant in the tree tops and cartridges
sound their blithe note away in the fields.
1t was not wonderful that when the ne
cessity of securing a country home arose
the fancy should resume its sway, and
that meditated fitting southwark
should suggest Virginia as its goal.
The idea that any portion of his family
would be displeased by the realization OF
his fancy or feel themselves aggrieved
| by his arrangements never entered into
the veterans calculations He returned
from the south with his purchase made
and his mind filled with anticipations OF
the joy the unlading of this precious
honey would occasion in the domestic
hive, and when he was met by the angry
buzz of discomfort instead of the gentle
hum of applause his surprise was great
and his Indignation unbounded.
what the devil are they grumbling
about?" he demanded of his wife. ''Shir-
ley's a fine plantation. The water is
good, the air superb; there are excellent
gardens and first rate oyster beds. The
house is old fashioned, but it's comfort
able, and little money will make 1t
rooras o What's the matter with themY"