San Antonio daily light. [volume] (San Antonio, Tex.) 1886-1907, 1892-01-11

"Very true, my son." assented Mrs
Mason gently, "but you are powerless
to alter women. Their hearts must 60
as nature wills, ard lockers on can only
pray God to guideN them rightly. Bat,
Berkeley, You are unjust to your sister
Pocahontas has sound discrimination
and a very clear Judgment. Her inabil-
ity to meet our wishes is no proof that
her choice will fall unworthily."
Berkeley made no response in words,
but he looked unconvinced, and soon
withdrew to attend to the plantation,
:ndulging in profound conclusions about
women, which were most of them erro-
neous.
In the afternoon Pocahontas, provid-
ing herself with book and gayly col
ored feather fan, established herself COM
fortably in the old split bottomed rock.
ing chair in the deep shadow Of the
porch. The day had been close and sui
try, and even the darkened rooms felt
sitting; outside it was better, although
the morning freshness had evaporated
and that of evening had not yet come.
The sun sank slowly westward, sending
long rays across the bosom of the river,
whose waters were SO still that they
CLEANED with opalescent splendor. The
slender leaves of the old willows at the
foot of the lawn dropped exhaustedly,
showing all their silver Innings. and the
sky was one tawny blaze of color. The
sailboats in sight rocked gently with the
sluggish flow of the current, and drifted
rather than sailed on their course.
Once noisy, throbbing steamer, in
stinct with life and purpose, dashed by
unanimously, churning the still water
with impatient wheels, and rupturing
the slumberous air with its discordant
whistle. 1t Jared upon the quiet beauty
of the scene, and it was relief when it
swept around bend of the river, leav-
ing only trail of blue smoke, which
was harmonious.
One of the settlers who had secreted
himself in the house during the hot
hours, stepped out with overdone inno-
cence and stretched himself in a shaded
corner, painting and yawning dismally.
Pocahontas formed the only bit of
GOODNESS in the picture, sitting in the
shadow of the old porch in her pretty
white dress, with cape jasmine BIOS
som showing purely against the bronze
knot of her hair and another among the
laces ON her breast. The volume of
Emerson selected for the enlargement of
her mental vision lay unheeded in her
lap, and the big fan moved lazily as the
gray eyes gazed and gazed out over the
parched lawn and the glistening river
until the glare nearly blinded them,
She was thinking of jim, and feeling
pitiful and sad over her old friend, who
must break away from every home as
ISOLATION, and far from kindred and FAM
lily, among strange faces and unfamiliar
surroundings, make for himself new
life. She was sorry for Jim-grieved for
his pain in parting, for his disappoint-
Inent in regard to herself, for her own
inability to give him the love he longed
tor. She would have loved him if it had
been in her power: she honestly regret
ted that the calm, true, sisterly affection
she ielt for him could not be converted
into something warmer. Her friends
wished it; his friends wished it. 1t was
the natural and proper thing to have
happened, and yet with her it had not
happened.
With Pocahontas, marriage was a
very sacred thing, not to be contem-
plated lightly, or entered into at all
without the sanctification of pure, I'M
selfish love. If she should marry Jim
now, it would be with the knowledge
that the depth of her nature were un.
stirred, the true, rich gold still hidden.
1t did not seem to her that her old play
fellows hand was the one destined to
stir the one or discover the other. She
might judge wrongly, but so it APP
peared to her, and she was too loyal to
Jim to imagine for an instant that he
would be satisfied with aught save her
very best.
The evening freshened as the sun went
down, vagrant breeze stole out from
some leafy covert and disported itself
blithely. The big Irish setter moved
from the corner to the top step and
ceased yawning. An old colored man
appearing from behind the house took
his way across the lawn in quest of the
colts. The dog, with his interest in life
reawakened, bounded off the steps pre-
pared to lend valuable assistance, but
was diverted from this laudable object
by the approach of two gentlemen who
must be welcomed riotously.
Pocahontas, rising, advanced out of
the shadow to meet them-Jim Byrd
and tall, broad shouldered man, with
a great silky red beard, her brother-in'
law Mr. Rovall Garnett