Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1891-01-10

Il was enough that the psvements were fun o.
white men and women, the streets changing with
traffic and that the restless roar Of great city
rang in my ears. The cable cars glided 70 I'll
points Of the compass at once. I took them
one by one till could 60 no further. San
Francisco has been pitched down on the sand
| bunkers Of the Bikaneer desert About
| one-fourth Of il is ground reclaimed from the
sea-any oid-timers viii tell you all about that
The remainder is Just ragged, unthrifty sand
hills, today pegged down by houses.
| UP AND DOWN THE SAND HILLS.
From an English point Of view there has no,
been the least attempt at grading those hills,
and indeed You might as well try to grade the
hillocks Of Sind. The cable cars have for all
practical purposes made San Francisco q
dead level They take no count Of rise or fall,
| but slide equally on their appointed courses
from one end to the other Of q six mile street.
They turn corners almost at right angles,
\ cross other lines, and for aught ! know may
run up the sides Of houses. There ID no visible
agency Of their fight, but once in q while You
viii pass fve-storied building humming with
| machinery that winds up an everlasting wire
cable, and the initiated viii tell you that here
is the mechanism. gave up asking questions.
II it pleases Providence to make Q car run up
and down q slit in the ground for many miles,
and il for twopence halfpenny / can ride in
that car, why shall seek the reasons Of the
miracle? Rather let me look out Of the win
thousands of little houses made of wood TO
initiate stone), each house lust big enough for
man and his family. Let me watch the people
in the cars and try to find out in what manner
they differ from us, their ancestors.
1t grieves me now that cursed them Tin the
matter Of book piracy, because ! perceived
that my curse is working and that their speech
is becoming horror already. They delude
themselves into the belief that they talk En-
glish-the English-and have already been
nit lad f0r Eiru xrifi, .s,n Iiok
The man who pitied me spoke. so far as l was
concerned, the language Of thieves. And they
all do. Where we put the accent forward they
throw it back, and vice versa: where we give
the long "a they use the short, and words 90
simple as to be past mistaking they pronounce
somewhere up in the dome of their heads How
do these things happen!
No AMERICAN LANGUAGE.
Oliver Wendell Holmes says that the Yankee
schoolmarm, the cider and the salt Goldfish of
the eastern states are responsible for what he
calls nasal accent. know better. They stole
books from across the water without paying fer
EN- and the snort Of delight was fixed in their
nostrils forever by a just Providence. That is
why they talk q foreign tongue today. Seats
is dogs and rabbits is dogs and SOS parrots.
But this ere tortoise is an insect, so there amt
no charge" as the old porter said. A Hindu is
a Hindu and brother to the man who knows
his vernacular. And a Frenchman is French
because he speaks his own language. But the
American has no language. His is dialect
slang, provincialism. accent and so forth Now
that have heard their voices all the beauty of
Bret Harte Is being ruined for me, because
find myself catching through the roll of his
rhythmical prose the cadence Of his peculiar
fatherland. Get an American lady to read to
you ''How Santa Claus Came TO Simpsons Bar
and see how much is, under her tongue, left of
the beauty of the original
But I am sorry for Bret Harte. 1t happened
this way. A reporter asked me what thought
of the city and made answer suayely that il
was hallowed ground to me because of Bret
Harte. That was true. WELL said the re-
porter. Bret Harte claims California. but Cali
fornia don claim Bret Harte. He's been 80
long in England that he's quite English. Have
of the EraRiner?" He could not understand
that to the outside world the city was worth a
great deal less than the man. never intended
to curse the people with provincialism SO vast
as this.
THE CLIFF HOUSE.
But let US return to our sheep--which means
the sea lions of the Cliff House. They are the
great show of San Francisco. You take train
which pulls up the middle of the. street Gt
killed two people the day before yesterday,
being unbraked and driven absolutely regardless
OF consequences)- and you pull up somewhere
at the back of the city on the Pacific beach.
Originally the cliffs and their approaches must
fully defiled with advertisements that they are
now one big blistered sbomination. hundred
yards from the shore stood a big rock covered
with the carcasses Of the sleek sea beasts who
rolled and roared and walloped in the spouting
surges. No bold man had pain ted the creatures
sky blue or advertised newspapers on their
backs, wherefore they did not match the land
scape, which was chiefly boarding. Some day,
perhaps, whatever sort of government NAV
obtain in this country will make a restoration
of the place and keep it clean and neat. At
present the sovereign people, of whom have
heard SO much already, are vending cherries
and painting the virtues of Little Bile Beans'
all over 1t.
THE OLD ACQUAINTANCE.
This was depressing because, in spite Of all
that goes to the contrary, fine feathers ought
to make fine birds. There was wealth-unlim-
tied wealth-in the streets, but not an accent
that would not have been dear at so cents
wherefore, revolving in my mind that these
folks were barbarians, / was presently en-
hghtened and made aware that they also were
the heirs OF all the ages and civilized after all
There appeared before me an affable stranger
OF progressing appearance, with blue and
an innocent eye. Addressing me BY name he
claimed to have met me in New York at the
windsor, and to this claim / gave q qualified
assent. L did not remember the fact, but since
he was so certain of it. why then-I waited de-
yelopments. Ny fear was that in his delight in
marks about New York and the Windsor which
L could not understand. And indeed, he
ventured in this direction once or twice.
asking me what I thought of such and
such streets, which, from his tone.
gathered to be anything but
respectable 1t is trying to talk unknown New
fork In almost unknown San Francisco. But
my friend was merciful. He protested that
was one after his own heart, and pressed upon
me rare and curious drinks at more than one
bar. These drinks accepted with gratitude,
as also the cigars with which his pockets were
stored He would show me the life Of the CITY
Having no desire to watch a weary old play
again evaded the offer and received in lieu
OF the devils instruction much coarse fiattery
Curiously constituted is the soul Of man.
knowing how and where this man lied, waiting
IDLY Tor the finale, was distinctly conscious as
he dubbed compliments in my ear of soft
thrills Of gratited pride stealing from hat rim
TO boot heels. was wise, quoth he-anybody
could see that with half an eye; sagacious,
yersed in the ways Of the world; an acquaint-
ance to be desired; one who had tasted the cup
OF life with discretion.
THE BUNco srEKRKR.
All this pleased me and in Q measure numbed
the suspicion that was thoroughly aroused.
Eventually the blue-eyed one discovered, nav,
insisted, that had q taste for cards (this was
clumsily worked in, but it was my fault, for in
that met him half way and allowed him no
chance OF good acting. Hereupon laid my
head upon one side and simulated unholy wis
dom, quoting odds and ends Of poker talk. all
ludricously misapplied. My friend kept his
countenance admirably and well he might. for
nve minutes later We arrived, always by the
Dureat Of chances At a -boro -. cc,lI II. !,