New-York tribune., 1894-01-07

| He maverckcd his fathers calves more freely
than any others. and under the very noses "i
| the old mans cowboys: and il was this heartlesS
ingrattude, and his poor old fathers until"s
love. and ineXhaustibe admiration and fond
| ness-a tenderness which followed and protected
| the young scamp from the consequences "i H-S
| rascality and which refused To see or hear any
| thing wrong alb ut the boy--that suggested -
! some one the descriptive title OF "Finncgaps
AbsaOm." which Immediately stuck and entirely
superseded his proper name. don't believe nan
| the people in the Fanhandle-to which newly
| opened country had come To ranch for myself,
and they had followed later. when he was about
| tweve-knew that his name was Robert Emmett
| Finnegan
| When he was about nineteen. the old folks
| gathered him up rather suddenly and sent him
t. college. He had got to be a big. fresh-colored
| rather fne-looking fellow with an Investigating
blue eye, and pecvish under lip; the kind of
! fellow all the girls naturally - wild over. but
no man could without wanting to kick. un-
knew the whole Panhandle TO a thirsted
| FOR his blood. and yet he was safe from bodily
mother But everything could not be borne
| the old man was gently but firmly offered
alternative: so off to college Absalom went
An account incidentally overheard one day
SAY. Finncgan's lbsalom's gone off to col
lcre"
Yes Country got too hot for him. and Fin
negan .e;,i, sent him away
"Oh. they said he swung too long loop for
them, and they wasn't going to stand it any
| more.
And this was a clear statement Of the case in
cattle Vernacular.
He was two years at college spending his
vacations at San Antonio and other cities Then
| they had To bring him home. In the first place,
| his prodigaty was about 10 ruin them; the cattle
| just wouldn't hold out. Then, too, il WAS ju-
| dicious to withdraw him when they did instead
| of waiting for expulsion.
Shortly after Finnegan's Absaom was sent
away to Austin, the Finnegan household had
| acquired new member This a half MeXi-
# +
tempting to cross the treacherous Canadian AT
night, when the river was up had missed the
ment in the Canadian. even in daylight, and
without an extra big stream.
ISdbel was the offspring Of one Of those
strange incongruouS unions YOU see sometimes
on the frontier, whore such odd jetsam and Not
sam from the great sea Of life are driited and
tossed torether in fantastical combination.
Her peregrinating father had long been sort
of institution in all north and west TcXas in the
guise of the harmless, necessary pcdlor.
a Yankee of the Yankees. selling patent churns.
new-fanglcd household implements and recipes
for making everything in the world YOU wouldn't
want-in Texas-ncluding all sorts Of per
fumes, marvellous cements. furniture polish and
fancy temperance drinks \ man Of iron muscles
and tremendous Will power. there seemed Ia be
a lack i'm him that prevented him from using
his remarkable and varied forces except to the
most trivial ends. \ crank. that lacked but Il
balancing touch To be genius: full of strange
contrivances and Inventions dcvourcr of all
books and papers. author and admirer Of all
schemes.
only a little weight. a touch Of continuity.
little sequence in his ideas. persistence in any
one line of thought or effort, and he might have
been a statesman. n fnancier. leader of men, |
and left his mark upon his time and place in !
stead Of one of Fatc's blank cartridgcs-an ad- !
vcntitOus Bohemian. blown idly hithor and
thither by every little gust Of destiny.
II was in one of his 0utbursts Of reforming |
social conditions, wiping out prcjudiccs and |
breaking down race distinctions. that Jason Tut
tie married Felice Gomez
This girl was Of Mexican family # some
traditions. a little property in land and cattle. !
and much pride refusing TO associate upon !
terms OF equality with the run Of poor McXicans |
In the country, and insisting apOplcctcally upon |
Castilian blood whenever such matter was /
broached. They had some teaching. and a few |
old Spanish books which they read pcrsistently; |
and not one Of them could be got to confess 10
the understanding Of an English sentence by So
much the turning of an cyelash.
The funny part of the matter came in the atti-
tude of the Gomez family toward this marriage.
They furious. They proceeded to regard |
the connection as little better than disgrace.
and to cast Felice off. in the most correct and |
edifying old Spanish manner.
And so ii came about that when. sixteen
years later Tuttle and mis- Mexican wife We're
drowned in the greedy faithess Canadian, that
has stolen away so many lives intrusted To il.
their fifteen-year-Od Ysabel was left as utterly
alone and fororn as a little woodpecker or
squirrel. orphaned before yet old enough 10
leave The nest and the kind hearted Finnegans.
hearing of it. went and got the child and
brought her home. Her position in the house
petted INDUCED servant.
Being the only child. Ysabel was much cdu-
Gated and trained. in the most singular. erratic
and contradictory manner. by her strangely
assorted parents; her mother watching and
laboring necessarily to the end that the child
should read and speak only Spanish. and grow
up ideal Spanish scilOrita: and her father feed
ing her active brain upon the most cmancipatcd
literature. and ndustrously pumping the most
advanced of his radical ideas into her receptive
mind 1T spoke well for the girls native force
and judgment that she really found out
things formed some ideas. and drew some con-
cusions of her own from this bcwildering pro-
cess.
When she first became member Of the Fnnc-
gan household she was a slender slip Of girl
quiet as a little shadow. but with ample promise
Of beauty if any eye had looked disceningIy at
her. And in the two years that elapsed before
the son and heir came home that promise
boomed into most cpulent fulnment.
Her form was pretty and graceful but IT was
curious air Of individuality. strong personal
and original note in her bearing despite its still
occurrences, that piqued and attracted. And
then. the rich red shining lambcntly through
her creamy cheeks and breaking into open
crimson on her full lips. the big black eyes. with
their long fringes downcast, and the flashing
white teeth that helped to make dazzling her
rather smile-all Of these were calculated
to infiame the susceptible masculine heart.
All the unattached cowboys and cattlcmen in
all the adjoining counties cast approving eyes
upon this glowing beauty and some had en-
deavored TO do a, little covert signing at her
shrine. but the old people. who had come 10 be
very fond Of her were now as careful and watch
full Of her as Of daughter; and Ysabel herself
was a model # dcmurc discretion.
When AbsalOm came home and found this on
chanting creature in the house his instinct was
just To reach out and take possession of ito
have and please himself with IT, Wasn't II the
same as everything else on the ranch. his?
For once the old people opposed him stoutly
and unfnchinGly and prepared to send her 10
a convent school at Trinidad. Upon the heels
of long and somewhat stormy interview with
YSabel. in which he found her as determined in
her views as the old people. and entirely salts
fled to go away to school. he fang in upon his
parents with the announcement that he was
going To marry her.
Al first blush this seemed az terrible 10 them. !
with their strict Old World ideas of caste. as
that he should entertain less honorable intcn-
tions toward her. But their resistance was. as ,
usual when the boy wanted anything. short
lived. and their final captuatiOn entire.
OF course cverybOdy's notion Of the matter ,
IL. n tL..,