The Seattle post-intelligencer. [volume] (Seattle, Wash. Terr. [Wash.]) 1888-1914, 1889-10-20

-INGTON. SUNDAY. OCT
issStcn assaiaed and grossly misrepresentea.
she stoifly denied that Il was ~ bad
as some had described IT. We'll. enc
remarked. Il rains great deal IN Wash
insson territory" Mrs W. admitted that
u rasned great deal here. .sbus." she
added. -oar rains are dry rains And
there Was measure Of truth in what she
szid' for, daring many OF our winters. the
rains hare come In the form OF mists 50
light aud warm that outdoor work has been
prosecuted without cessation through the
entire season by men in their shirt sleeves.
The vet rains We have had Of late are .
Few feature Of our climate: their Ike Was
never Witnessed here before.
Aprcpos OF the dry rain II Is related
that gentleman waking through rural
district on rainy dAy overlook bov GO
ing The same way, and remarked 10 the
Juvenile that il sas siisagreeable weather.
Yes sir, replied the youth. this is .
vet rain"
struck by the emphasis placed by the
yoangsier on the word wet the gentle
man asked:
Did You ever know or hear OF dry
rainT''
Yes. sir" answered the boy.
When and where was itza
The rain Of Sodom and Gomorrah,"
promptly replied the Juvenile.
Our rains are not so dry as that of Sodom
and 6onorrah. nor are they so wet as
those OF California and Oregon, not to
mention the frequent destructive rains OF
the Eastern states, where they are often
productive OF devastating freshets, q thing
unknown here.
Among the best-known hoselkeepers on
Puget sound IN early days were Mlias and
silas 6ailiher, twin brothers. Milas kept
the Puget Sound hotel in Sieilacoom in
ISIS, and silas the Washington hotel in
olympia For that period they were quite
efficient hosts, and met the requirements
OF all save the very fastidious. The BUSH
ness was profitable. especially in Olympia,
owing to its being the seat of government,
the location of the land and surveyor gem
erals Offices, etc.
strong rival of the Washington in
Olympia was the Pacific hotel, kent for
some years by negro woman named Re-
she became rotund and wealthy. when she
insisted upon being called Mrs. Howard.
She and her husband we're good cooks. and
by judieious management succeeded in
making their house very popular. In a
few years Mrs. Howard. who had once heen
slave. amassed q fortune of $4,000. While
accommodating this wealth she educated and
supported in the East an orphan daughter
at tas.~ 60
band having died before she did, Mrs How
ward bequeathed her wealth to an adopted
half-breed Indian boy, who soon suuan-
dered il and finally found home i'll the
Oregon penitentiary.
silas Gaither was probably the first per-
son on Puget sound to employ Chinese
cook. For some DAYS the Chinaman gave
entire satisfaction, and Mr. Galliher felici-
lated himself on having secured quite q
valuable aquisifion. One day he walked
quietly into the kitchen while the cook was
making some pies. when he Witnessed
performance which changed his opinion of
the Chinaman's value in the culinary de-
partment. Unconscious of his employers
presence. the cook filed his mouth with
milk and then squirted ii through his lips
over the crust OF the pies. Approaching
him. Mr.. Galliher asked:
What do you do that for?"
ME make him shine" replied the celes-
tial.
You needn't make him shine any
more" said the host. and thereafter kept
an eye on the cook, to see that he didn't
introduce any other Objectionable prac-
tees in his kitchen.
One of the best known hotel keepers on
the Sound, from 1856 to 1860, was Mrs.
Conkling, coarse and masculine woman
with heart as tender as the most delicate
and refined of her sex. She kept a house
in Seattle on Main street, between Com
merciai and Second streets. For some
years her house was the best in the town.
Mrs. Conkljng had contracted an unfortu-
nate habit of daily using very profane Ian
guage, which was perhaps due in part or
wholly to her surroundings. To this I'M
womanly habit she ow,sl the sobriquet OF
Mother Damnable." by which she was
better known than by her real name.
Joe Francisco, well remembered by the
writer. was the first to open hotel on the
site formerly occupied by the Arlington.
Mother Damnable's house, across the
street, was in existence when Joe opened
what was then considered heightened es-
Enlistment. but which would now suffer
by comparison with our poorest hotels and
restaurants.
AZ periods little later David Sires and
A. r. Delin tone of whom Is dead and the
other a leading undertaken now in Port
lant1 established hotels in Seattle, both
creditable for the time in which they ex-
istei.
The first professional man to take mp his
abode in this territory was Dr. William
Fraser Tolmie. He was sent out from
Scotland by the Hudson Bay Company as
chief factor Mt Fort Nisqually, where he
arrived in iSI2 and remained unit. July -,
1889, when he removed to Victoria. DR.
Tolmie united the practice of medicine
with the supervision OF farms and trade
with the Indians. Save in cases of wounds
from accidents or hostile encounters, there
was little need of a physician or surgeon
bat the doctor doubtless found employ
nent enough in looking after the compa-
ny's agricultural and trading interests.
Although, as agent of the Hudson Ray
Company, he Kept considerable stock oil
the best wines and liquors ohtainable on
this coast. he Was very abstenlious and a
Jealous advocate al temperance. Like
Governor Douglas, Dr. Tolmie had an In
dian wife.
For many years Matthew r. Burns was
as well known rs a practiciug physician
h. gfats 49,