San Antonio daily light. [volume] (San Antonio, Tex.) 1886-1907, 1892-01-11
is such good fellow, and was always
gentle and careful with the little girls,

is such good fellow, and was always
gentle and careful with the little girls,
even when he grew great rough lad;
such little chevalier in his feelings too.
l remember one Christmas, just after the
war, when he was about fourteen, the
children wanted some Christmas green
to decorate the parlor. 1t was the fall you
were in the south, and they wanted to
make the room pretty to welcome you
home again. Susie, Nina and my two
girls went over into the Shirley woods to
get it, and Jim went with them. They
found plenty of lovely holly, but no
mistletoe for a long time; you know
how scarce it is around here. At last
Pocahontas spied splendid bunch, full
of pure, waxen berries, way up in the
top of tall oak tree, and set her heart
at once on having it.
"There had been heavy sleet the night
| before, and every limb was caked with
ice-slippery as glass. Climbing was
doubly dangerous, and Grace begged
him not to try, but that foolish Poca-
hontas looked disappointed and Jim
dashed right at the tree. It was ter
ribly foolhardy thing to do, and Grace
said it made her sick to watch him;
every minute she expected to see him
slip and come crashing to the ground.
The little girls all cried, and Grace
boxed Jims ears the instant he was safe
on the ground again with the mistletoe.
The children came home in great ex-
citement, Pocahontas with the mistle-
toe Rugged tight in her arms and tears
pouring down her cheeks. When
scolded Jim for his recklessness he
opened those honest hazel eyes of his at
me in surprise and said, But Princess
wanted it, as if that were quite suffi-
Gent reason for risking his life. Poor
little Princess"
After moment she resumed: 81 wish
she could have loved him in the way we
wish. Marriage Is a terrible risk for a
girl like her. She is too straightforward,
too uncompromisingly intolerant of every
day littleness, to have a very peaceful
life. she has grown up so different from
other girls; so full of ideals and ro-
nance; she belongs, in thoughts and mo-
tives, to the last century rather than to
this, if what l hear be true. She is
large hearted and has great capacity
for affection, but she is self willed, and
she could be hard upon occasion. If she
should fall into weak or wicked hands
she would both endure and infiict untold
suffering. And there is within her, too,
endless power of generosity and self sac
rifice. Poor child with jim | could
have trusted her; but she couldn't love
him, so there's nothing to be done"
"Why couldn't she?" demanded Berke-
ley argumentatively. "Shell never do
any better; Jim's handsome fellow, as
men go, brave, honorable and sweet
tempered. What more does she want?
1t looks to me like sheer perversity."
Mrs. Mason smiled indulgently at her
sons masculine obtuseness. The subtle
ties of women were SO far beyond his COM
prehension that it was hardly worth
while to endeavor to make him under
stand. She made the effort, however,
despite its uselessness.
at isn't perversity, Berkeley" she
said; 81 hardly realize, myself, why the
thing should have seemed so impossible.
suppose, having always regarded Jim
as a kindly old playmate, and big,
brotherly friend, the idea of associating
sentiment with him appeared absurd.
Had they ever been separated the affair
might have had a different termination;
but there has never been a break III
their intercourse-Jim has always been
here, always the same. That won't do
with girl like Princess. 1t is too COM
monplace, too devoid of interest and I'M
certainty. Yes, my dear, know that
in your eyes this is folly, but at the
same time it is nature. You don't I'M
derstand. Princess, l fear, sets undue
endowments cheap beside it. And we
must admit, Berkeley, dearly as we love
Jim Byrd, and noble fellow as he is, he
has not the intellectual power which
commands admiration. With all my
respect for intellect, can see that Prin- |
cess greatly overrates it. She has often
declared that unless a man were intel |
lectually her superior she could never
love him"
'Intellectually-a fddlestickr' scoffed |
Berkeley contemptuously. "She don't
know what she wants or what is good
for her. Women rarely do. They make |
their matrimonial selections like the |
blindest of bats, the most egregious of |
fools, and then, when the mischief is |
done, go in for unending sackcloth or |
divorce court. Pocahontas will get hold |
of fellow some day who will wiring her
heart-with her publishing longing after
novelty and intellect and fine scorn of
s.,.Al. II Io,,o1A- 7 n II