Sacramento daily record-union. [volume] (Sacramento [Calif.]) 1875-1891, 1881-04-02
CID MEN.
SOME OF THE OLD MEN TO BE
MET WITH.
The Greek Church in san Francisco-Its
Peculiar eremonies-Masses for
the Dead Gear.
SAN Francisco, March 30, 1881.

I was lust about to hail the car, but
from an impulse walked little slower to
observe closer an air of the unusual which
hung aboat small, bent old man coming
toward me, His face was puckered with
a hundred wrinkles, and his white hair
blew upon his shoulders but somehow he
seemed ike an old man growing young
He stopped to speak to me in his garrulous
way. q feel like spring this lovely morn
ing, said he blithely; &c l don't know but
I could dance if 1 tried" And when l
gave a doubtful smile, 10 he picked up
his cane and hoped half dozen steps
with stiff brisBness, and then smiling and
nodding and quite amused at himself he
passed me ond went On his way. The com
Portable feeling he had given me was still
warm round my heart as [ left the car at
Kearny street and started up that thor
oughfare Almost Immediately | was face
to face with another old man,
A MAJOR PENDENNIs,
I said TO myself, noting the comfortable
elegance of his long seal, skin overcoat and
the brightness Of his vanished boots, as
well as his general air of being well known
by the world. But I had done the shrewd
old Major an injustice for this man was
Young man grown old, and he leered
about him like & satyr at the hand
some women who passed to and fro.
Did YOU ever notice now objects Of the
same sort succeed one another when you
begin to look for them? Start out OF
morning with a certain bird in your
mind, and you viii hear the voice of
that bird floating toward you from
north, east, south and west, whereas had
you not been intent upon 1t you would
have returned from your walk declaring 1t
not abroad thus early in the year. So
when you tread the pave and have an eye
that sees fresh, bright young faces, these
crowd upon each other thick and fast.
When it selects noses, one nose big out OF
all proportion neighboTs with another that
equals it; and so the old men will come
promiscuously before you when once you
begin to take account of them. If you be
fortunate when you come to San Francisco
YOU will see the Duke of Sonora, who
went 10 France and was hand in glove
with Louia Napoleon in his plans for Mex
leo. and was dubbed "The Duke there
after. He IS a handsome, stately old man,
with silver hair conbed back ike Andrew
Jackson's, with heavy features, and
eyebrows that tut and overhang ike
shelves. And then perhaps Will happen
along his opposite - an old man
of the church, grim, sharp-featured,
spare ascetic, who looks as though he lived
upon a crust, and gnawed at the world as
if 'twere a bone Following after mayhap
you viii see the pointed white beard Of an
old man Of the press, who possesses one Of
the handsomest sons it was ever the for
tune of an old man to be proud of. 4
twinkle Of genial humor CLEANS IN the
faded blue of this old mans eye, and in him
behold the autaor Of the 'Annals Of San
Francisco, and the partieipator II a little
brush with pistols against Bateman Of the
stage, who took offense at a criticism upon
his daughters playing. Another
OLD MAN OF THE CHURCH
Is tall, heavy and round shouldered, with
a hanging under'lip. and is preacher of
most profound sermons Before those days
of disturbance, when certain newspaper
offices were Quilted here for sympathy with
Che South in It's rebellion, one Sunday
morning he prayed for The President OF
She Southern Confederacy and all others in
authority. Before his sermon was
ainished the news OF that prayer
Iloated outside, and an angry mob
gathered at the door to give the preacher
a call. He was hastily pushed through
side door, and into a carriage, and was off
before the crowd at the front door guessed
It. A man sprang up and fastened the
american flag 60 one OF the pillars, and
woman tierceiy snatched at its folds, when
she was warned to let It alone or mischief
would follow Now that the North and
the South are OF one feeling, that old
preacher fills pulpit in San Francisco,
and in the pews gather round him those
who prayed that prayer with him in the
day when they would not believe there
could ever be " lost cause" to mourn for
I listened to an old mans singing the
other night, and his voice was as firm and
musical as though it had been twenty-five
instead of sixty-tve. a peculiar Scotch
stolidness sat upon his countenance, and
as though unconscious Of the many eyes
attracted toward him, he still sang on in
great fervor-now arr, now bass, now
tenor-the revival songs, which are some
times so trivial and rafting they seem ike
the rum te-iddity Of all music. He is an
old merchant, who laid himself upon the
shelf in ms prime with large fortune to
keep hum in comfort. MIR. and Mrs. Steb-
bins, the song evangelists, soon, see. to
be with you, have been offered s. 600 to
sing for SIX months by the First Congrega.
tional Church of Oakland, but the offer
has been refused. The salary OF Rev J Ohm
Hemphin OF Calvary Church, this city,
has been reduced from $1,000 to $1,000
per annum, at his own desire. The paid
choir has also been dismissed, and the pew
rents reduced 20 per cent. On Sunday I
heard an old man,
FATHER GAvAZZi,
Preach. He is bachelor, y years of age !;
IS come from Italy in behalf of its Pro-
II l. L =. l.