The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1856-1888, 1880-10-16
e his New York neighbors-over the

So long as the parties remained at the
Geysers, Nick Won Dam, as he was de-
signated, was subject to all sorts of jokes
upon the Mercer ladies, mere ct tile.
Will you allow your servant to order up
my horse, Miss Mercer7" said one of the
young gentlemen to her on one occasion.
ooh, certainly. " she replied Nicholas,
will you be kind enough to order up the
gentleman's horse ?" 1850 .s..45-
The gentleman's horse came up, but with
a burr so deity arranged under the saddle
that, upon mounting, the gentleman was
tossed DER the horses head.
During the week Nicholas" who had
made terms for indefinite employment at
sixty dollars a month and found" made
himself useful in numberless way escort
ing the ladies while riding, dancing, and
picknicking doing camp duty cutting bait
and batting the hook for Miss Lillian to
fish carrying her easel and camp-stool over
the hills to romantic glens holding the sun
shade while she sketched sometimes with
the mother, on lonely hill-sides, and some
times alone with the daughter, in sight of
the house or camp.
Whenever he and Lillian were alone to-
gether, he addressed his fair companion with
the studied courtesy of the well-bred gentle
man. His language was then of the
choicest, his remarks finished he talked of
books, and art, and music. Once he sur
prised her by taking the brush from her
hand, to explain, by his practiced touch, a
suggestion of perspective. Whenever they
were in the presence of the mother, or of
any third person, he dropped strangely into
bad grammar, spoke in German patois, look
ed the clown. and acted the awkward man.
of-all-work that he affected to be. When
alone, she called him Familiarity Nicholas
and on one or two occasions, Chick" In the
presence of strangers " Nicholas " became
{" Mr.. Won DAM" TO Lillian he explained
that he had been servant to a gentleman in
the University of Heidelberg and there, In
association with student life, he had the op-
portunity of instructions in art, and especial
ly in music. That at the beer-halls he was
permitted. with pipes and lager, to indulge
in song and chorus with students.
Leaving the valley of the Geysers, the
Mercer party made the grand round of Cali
fornia sights-with the ever faithful and in
telligent vGlet de place, the always respect
full and most handy Nick Won Dam. They
visited the Yosemite-that grand chasm reft
in the Sierra, with its matchless rocks and
its splendid waterfalls the beautiful Lake
Tahoe-up among the primeval forests of
pine, a splendid sheet of crystal water, mir
roring blue skies. and circled by grand old
forests, that shadow the pebbled margin of
fabulous depths. Together they had idled
upon our ocean shores-the pebbled beach
at Pescadero, and the p~ine-shaded pools of
Monterey. Together they have travelled
through California's semi-tropical south
amid its vineyards and its orchards of
orange, lemon, and olive. For her he had
plucked the red clusters of pomegranate;
and once, when her hands had been occu-
pied, he had modestly placed the flowers in
her golden hair-above her glowing face,
rosy with the flush that had permitted such
liberty from the hand of a mental and
which, for a day, entailed upon our friend
Nick the severest dignity-to make him feel
that he was a servant, earning sixty dollars
a month and expenses paid.
In June, the party had gone down from
San Luis Obispo to sketch the 8 Moro -
a solitary rock upon the shore, standing out
where the waves wash its base. The horses
had been detached from the carriage, Mrs.
Mercer disposed of in a swinging hammock
within a shady willow group, easel and
camp-stool nicely arranged, and Miss Lillian
hard at work with brush and color. Nick,
his labors over, had thrown himself careless
ly at the artists feet. Nick was beginning
to admit himself in love with the beautiful
girl. His original threat of getting even +"
for her kissing his nose with her wet fingers
had resolved into a determination to marry
her. At the same time, he chung to the
romantic idea of making the proud beauty
fall in love with the poor Nick Won Dam,
and he resolved to conquer her in present
disguise.
He had thrown himself upon the grass at
her feet. Don't you think, miss for he
he had never yet dared to call her Miss
Lillian" don't you think, if you turned
your back upon the lone red rock of the
. Moro with its waste of dark waters lying
beyond, you could find a more interesting
picture 2 Look inland toward the Coast
Range and across this broad mesa, to the
terraces and plateaus, the valley and hill
sides. | wonder how these terrace forma-
tions-so noticeable on this coast-occurred.
Glacial action. doubtless, away back in the
gloomy and mysterious past, when the great
ice-sheet that clothed our continent, and
the great ice-belt that locked our ocean
shores in its embrace, moved downward to
the sea and southwark, impelled by i~rresista-
bic forces, sculpturing the rocky coast bar
rier, and planning off the irregular hills to
level mesas."f ra
Lillian had suspended her work, and look
ed down upon the splendid, manly form that
lay at her feet. He was looking out upon
the wide sea-dreaming, but dreaming an
intellectual dream; looking back, back to
when the continent was more than primeval
it was chaos-before it was clothed
in the grand old forests, glimpses of which
he caught upon the Coast Range before
grassy lawns came down to be kissed by
the warm sea waves. -t
al wonder now this lone rock escaped
the embrace of the glacial monster beg
your pardon, miss; Is there any service
can render you? I think your mother is
sleeping" ID .I. III
Accident, / suppose" she answered.
81 sometimes wonder, Miss Mercer, if
there is any such thing as accident in the
world. | wonder if everything is not ordain-
al from the honinpino Tbara ca, b. ~