Weekly Trinity journal., 1877-05-05
MY DOUBLE.

I
me l have a peculiar face, and that they
would know me- >among ten thousand
not that | am altogether lovely, but be-
cause, though not handsome, | am not
common looking.
| | have never been vain of my looks,
/ but nevertheless have had some pride
/ in my individuality - SO much, in
| deed, that | have kept my eyebrows
! heavy and smooth. my teeth white. and
nose high and straight. | have never
| been foolish enough to attempt to add Uo
the size of my cad. l will say just here
thct people seeing me for the first time
think me stern and morose, and yet dogs,
/ children and horses make friends with
me at once and | have as many noble,
| platoni3 attachments with the sex of my
dear mother rs any man living, who has
had no more extended experience. !
state this, not to give catalogue of my
personal peculiarties, but that my read
ers may the better comprehend an adven-
ture | am about to relate.
In '6S found myself at San Diego,
one of the dupes of the Lower California
Emigration Society. Unlike the hun
dreds who had risked and lost their all in
the adventure, | had money left, and, de-
Gliding to make the best of my ill-luck, |
stopped over at San Diego, with the view
- mi t,o
round for chances for investment.
San Diego is AS near paradise in eli
mate as any place on earth and when
the seasons are not dry, the country for
| forty miles back from the coast is as fer
/ tile to the plow and rs beautiful to the
eye rs one would wish to see. The city
itself is old, and will continue to look Sc
till new people get IN to tear down its
adobes, and erect houses and marts after
nineteenth century plans, and do busi-
ness like Americans, instead Of copying
! the followers of the Cid.
There is one thing about San Diego
that attracts the stranger, and that is it.
show of hospitality-I say show, for it is
all on the surface, so tar as the native
Californians are concerned. One of the
forms that hospitality takes in this city i,
the iandango, where you are invited 20 d
public dance, meet everybody on the
most familiar terms, without introduc.
/ ton, and contribute to paying for the en-
tertainment before it is over.
/ Students of men and manners go offer
where their tastes would not lead them
| am not dancer by birth or by educa
ton, and, like the Chinese prince,
would prefer TO pay some one to do it TO
me, rather than to do it myself that is
if dancing by proxy were delight
which it is not.
My friend, Captain Hammond, though
an older man, is a dancer, and, so far "a
| can judge Of the art, think he nigh
be classed rs tirst-rate one. II he is no
he has certainly not benefited by his op
portunities, nor failed for want of prac
tice.
"The ball tonight, major, is in homo
of you and your friends from the'peninsu
la, so Of course you will go round" sale
the captain, ms he appeared in my room
at the hotel in his very best attire.
l pleaded ndisposition, but the captain
would not hear to il. He told me | wa,
/ to sail for San Francisco on the morrow
that the chances were / would never visi
San Diego again, and he was ANXIOUS
having seen the houses in buggy will
him by day, that | should see the occu
pants of those houses with him by night
As it was reduced to matter of cour
tesy, | yielded to the captains wishes
and making some slight changes in my
toilet, ! announced myself as ready. As
we we're about to leave the room, the cap
tain, who had been eyeing me very close
said, in tone OF surprise
81 never saw such resemb blance in my
life ~
"What do you mean, Hammond ?"
asked, somewhat nettled for be it re-
mem bered up to this time felt not lit
tie vain of my facial pecularites.
"Why, never saw two men look more
alike in my life," he replied.
"You mean | look like somebody else?''
"Most decidedly with that coat and
hat on, and your beard brushed out from
your chin"
WAS not compimented, yet / asked
"Pray who is my double ?"
"Dr. Pleasonton, who used to live
here"
"And where is Doctor Pleasonton
now ?"
eff didn't know you since you were
boy, I'd swear he was in this room as
it is, believe he is living in Philadelphia,
or rather at Chester, near there, " said the
captain.
"And the doctor lived here ?r
son, yes !" with a shrug.
"How long since ?"
"About a year"
"Went home with fortune ?" l said
ironically.
"Well, yes" said the captain. "The
fact is he ran away with Senorita Diaz,
the prc:tiest girl in the country, and what
made the matter noticeable was that she
was to have been married to Carlos Cos
tillo, member of one of our largest and
most influential families"
"Then, captain, he in no way resem-
bies me, for | never saw a woman ]
would not rather run away from, if had