Los Angeles daily herald., 1889-03-14
OLD TIMES.
A SeasOnabIe ReninIscence-AS Spirit
AnecdOte.

OLD TIMES.
SeasOnable Reainiscence-AS Spirit
AnecdOte.
There were few men in California who
could be compared with Don Mateo
Keller in strong sense, clear headedness
and width and depth Of acquired knowl.
edge. AS raconteur he was one of the
most interesting men we ever encount.
cred. In addition to degree of self
culture and an extent of reading in which
but few surpassed him, he was possessed
of dry and sarcastic humor and ma
tive wit that was instant and racy of the
the soil of his mother island, SO re-
nowned for her Grattans and her Currans.
Don Mateo was one of our earliest,
most extensive and successful vignerons.
His weak spot was in the belief that he
had succeeded in manufacturing a port
wine that was equal in all respects to
the famous brands of Oporto, and when
ever distinguished strangers visited his
place on Alameda street he would al
ways bring out a bottle OF his favorite
vintage.
1t was in the winter of 1878 that a not
able party of Englishmen, accompanied
by the famous Stephen II. Massett, the
composer and brilliant good-fellow, better
known in early days as "Jeemes Pipes,
of Pipesville," paid Don Msteo visit.
The weather was atrocious, and We had
had steady downpour for two or three
weeks. Keller was in an hospitable
mood, and soon broached one of his ia
vorite bottles of wine.
"There's port from the Juice of my
own grapes and manufactured by myself,
which l consider very superior"
The glasses were filled, and the guests
slipped the amber-colored liquid. ALI
but Massett pronounced it excellent.
Don Mateo noticed that Steve drank
very sparingly, and insisted on his
opinion of the quality of the wine.
"Ah, ,",said the witty composer, 81
like it we'll enough. 1t will do. You
know Pm an old traveller, and am al
ways satisfied with any port in storm %
"Yes," said Keller, quickly, land 1
should Judge from some of your music
that you are sometimes Indifferent about
the bars"
The sally and the retort were received
with laughter, and thawed the ice of
ceremony SO completely that the party
kept up a round of good humor and mer-
riment until they had thoroughly dis
cussed samples of every wine in Don
Mateo's spacious cellars.
Another amusing anecdote of this dis
tinguished Los Angeleho was the expert
ence he had had with famous medium,
who had "bowed down to drunkenness,
an abject worshiper." Notwithstanding
Don Mateo's strong practical sense, he
had become thorough believer in spirit
ualism. He would fly off at tangent
upon that subject in the midst
of the most matter-of-fact conversations.
One of bis favorite illustrations of the
truth of his faith was to tell, in his down.
right, irresistible way. the incident al
luded to above. The hard-drinking me-
dium, to whom he had given food and
shelter in the house at his Rising Sun
Vineyard, in the lower part of Alameda
street, was in the habit of coming into
town every evening and filling up. Don
Mateo could tolerate this; but he took
exception to the fact that Jackson (for
that was his name) would keep
up the debauch the next day. By plac-
ing watch upon his man, he discovered
that he was in the habit OF carrying a
bottle home with him every night, and
this it was that furnished the inebriating
supply for the succeeding day. Keller
determined to break up the habit. One
moonlight night he and couple of
friends followed Jackson to the vineyard,
and saw that after he passed the gate he
proceeded to haystack, dug a hole in
the stack, inserted the bottle well
in, and then plugged up the
done this and retired, the watchers
and at the suggestion of one Of the crowd
they hid it under the stoop. Don Mateo
wanted to destroy the bottle, because he
said it would be impossible 20 hide it
anywhere so that he could not find it. The
others, however, thought it would be a
good test OF his powers, and their plan
prevailed.
'What do you think !" said Don Mateo
to us when he was relating the incident
"We all stayed at the house that night,
and the next morning we saw Jackson
get up and go furtively to the haystack.
When he found the bottle gone he stood
still for while, and seemed to commune
with some invisible spirit. In less time
than you could say Jack Robinson he
walked straight to the stoop and pulled
out the bottle of whisky. tell you, that
test shook the unbelief of my friends"
"How did you account for it?' we
asked.
"Well, you see, in the spirit world as
in this, like seeks like. have no doubt
that Jackson was infected by familiar
spirit that had been a drunkard through
life, and, knowing how it was himself,
he came to his relief and told him where
we had hid the bottle"
"What became of Jackson ?"
"Oh, stood him as long as l could
but he got worse and worse, and was
finally forced to send him away. But he
was powerful medium whenever you
could keep him SOBER"
A water MOnOpOIist.
The heavy rains of yesterday morning