Los Angeles daily herald., 1890-01-20

crippled drains, ruined shanties, smoke,
dust, mud, Cinnamon, broken Kerosene
tins, battered hats, old-clothes shops;
cheap restaurants, where gravy anu
crumbs are stopped all over the prem
ises, dead goats, dead dogs.
dead horses, caulifower stumps,
greasy bones, exploded boots, De,
cayed eggs, jam pots, rags, dlrt ana
confusion, while floating over all the
hideous combination there is a Pervao-
ing odor of an eternal washing day., IN
which nothing is ever washed, anu
smell akin to that of q thousand damp
umbrellas stacked up in an atmosphere
of stale cocktails and ancient TOBACCO
smoke. Even Rio Janelro Is superDiy
clean and neat by comparison with Oni-
cago but the denizens OF the City by the
Lake are blind to all the awful conglom-
GRAFTON around them, and 60 on their
way rejoicing.
Still drifting westward, reached
OMAHA AND THEN DENVER,
In which latter city winter and severe
illness overlook me together, and finally,
in moment of desperation, took the
road for California, resolved to reach
San Francisco or perish ignominiously
on the railroad track en- route.
1t was evening when quilted Denver,
and the snow lay two inches deep on the
ground. 1 had niDety.fve cents in one
pocket and large boiled potato in the
other. My attire consisted of q soft hat,
which had been slept in until it had lost
ali pretensions to definite shape, coat
considerably split down the back, waist
coat with three buttons missing, two
pairs of Pants-one gone in front and the
other behind, 80 that their imperfections
fringed over and concealed each other
shirt also split down the back, and a
pair of boots held together by ropes.
Further was armed with q short pipe
and plug of tobacco. Solomon in all
his glory was not attired like me. If he
had been, the revolution which broke out
in the days of the affable Rehoboam
would have been advanced by quite
q number of years and the ugly rush oi
the Twelve Tribes would have capsizsd
the Wise Kings throne in the dust. Al
Las Vegas, New Mexico, my last cent
vanished into thin air, and hers my
career as
DEAD BROKE TRAMP
Commenced in real earnest. left that
town on the eternal road that led towards
the south and west in miserably de-
pressed frame of mind. 1 could no,
dig, for there was no digging to be done
in these parts, and as beggar was q
hollow failure. But just outside the
town two special blessings descended
upon me. The railroad man who lost
his lunch in that locality may be glad to
learn, even at this late hour, that it fell
into good hands. 1t consisted of six
slices of bread, two of ham, and two
eggs, and it supplied long.felt want
which otherwise would have remained
an aching void. Also the citizen who
missed dog on the morning of my
departure will be pleased to know
that the animal found COM
Portable home. He was a young,
needless. black and-white affair, with
a gladstone tail that curled up at the
end, and when he rashly insisted on
following my fortunes l let him come.
He slaughtered one or two hens in the
course Of our brief partnership and !
roasted the animals over my campfire for
our joint benefit. Then we struck an
arid region where hens were not, and ]
sold the dog to railroad man in ex.
change for two square meals and mid
die aged blanket of uncertain hue. A
few miles further on towards Albuquer'
que
NEW MEANS OF SUPPORT
Unexpectedly presented itself It is in
this locality that thc rSor iaiitoG sored In
dian presents himself-the miserable
wreck of the grand old scalp-hunting,
hair.raising savage of past ages who
k.1 o~o,,nI NTH hsc for = r. nd
fried the pale-faced maiden over slow
fire in the shadow OF his ancestral forest.
But alas the days of romance are over
and the red man will whoop and
raise human hair no more. Where he
used to collect the Aryau scalp the con-
quering white man now loafs and expec-
torates in saloon, and where the wig.
wan stood the Chinese laundryman
pursues his monotonous occupation of
"washee.washee-w wash" The war
hatchet is employed in these degenerate
days to chop wood in the back yard, and
the only war-song that the red man sings
is wall for broken victuals at the back
door of the local restaurant. But around
Albuquerque ON occasional specimen Of
THE ANCIENT RACE
Still dodders about on two uncertain legs,
decked in all the gsudy finery of his
fathers, and he still preserves that fond
ness for dried beef which marked his
nation in its palmiest times. Also with
the childish folly of decaying intellect
he occasionally hangs that beef up to
dry on the trees beside the railroad
track, from which situation the tramp
gently removes it and goes on his way
rejoicing. For over 100 miles I lived
on the plunder of a fallen people, and
can only plead in extenuation that the
meat vas the toughest ever tasted, and
that six hours consecutive boiling made
about as little impression on it as if l
had devoted the same period to boiling a
brick wall. Moreover, the Indian doubt
less had one source of satisfaction to
make up for his loss, for though he fights
no longer, he still curses with all the
fuency and fervency of his fathers, and
he probably took it out in choice
anathema at my expense
SOMEWHAT AS FOLLOWS.
May Vshaped demons round his soul cut ca
perS
In Hades. while eternity holds OUT
May he forever look through all the papers
In search of something new TO write about;
May brindled asps and dreary salamanders
Writhe round him thick as ears upon q sheaf;
May he have earache, leprosy and glanders,
Who steals fallen nations slice of beef.
May his lone feet DER many North Pole hum
mock
OF glaring ice, plod without hope of rest,
While tOothless furies dance upon his stomach
And redhot ibis beaks dissect his breast.