Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1891-01-17

1t NAV be this sense Of possible disaster In
| the air that makes San Franciscan society 20
with so captivating rush and whirI. Reck.
| lessness is in the air. / can't explain where IL
| comes from, but there ii is. The roaring winds
| of the Pacific make you drunk to begin with
The aggressive luxury on all sides helps out the
intoxication. and you spin forever down The
| rin ging grooves of change" (there IL no small
| change, by the way, west Of the Rockies) 81
long rs money lasts They make greatly and
they spend lavishly; not only the rich. but the
artisans who pay nearly IS for a suit Of
| clothes and for other luxuries in proportion.
/ The young men rejoice in the DAYS Of theil
| youth. They gamble. yacht, race, enjoy prize
tights and cock tights, the one openly, the
| other secret; they establish luxurious clubs;
| they break themselves over horsefesh and Other
things. and they are instant in a quarrel
| At twenty they are experienced In BUSH
/ ness, embark in vast enterprises, take
| partners as experienced as themselves. and 20
to pieces with as much splendor as their neigh.
| bors. Remember, that the men who stocked
California in the fifties were physically and, Al
far as regards certain tough virtues, the pick
OF the earth. The iDapt and the weakly died
en- route or went under in the days Of construc-
ton To this nucleus were added all the rscel
of the continent-French, Italian and German.
| The result you shall see in large-boned, deep
chested. delicate-handed women and long, elas-
tic, weii-built boys. 1t needs no little golden
badge swinging from the watch chain to mark
the country bred of California Him love be-
cause he is devoid of fear, carries himself like
a man and has heart as big as his books
fancy, too, he knows how to enjoy the blessings
of life that his province SO abundantly bestows
upon him. At least heard q little rat of a
creature with hook bottle shoulders explaining
that man from Chicago could pull the eye
teeth OF a Californian in business. Well, if
lived in fairyland, where cherries where as big
as plums, plums as big as apples. and straw
berries of no account, where the procession Of
the fruits of the seasons was like pageant in q
Drury Lane pantomime and the dry air was
wine, should let business slide once in q way
and kick up my heels with my fellows. The
tale Of the resources of vegetable
and mineral - Is fairy tale. You can read 1t
in books. You would never believe me- All
manner Of nourishing food from sea fish to
beef may be bought ut the lowest prices. and
the people are consequently we'll developed
and of high stomach. They demand ten
shilings for tinkering a iammed lock Of a
trunk. they receive sixteen shillings day for
working carpenters, they spend many six
pences on very bad cigars which the poorest Of
them smoke, and they go mad over a prize
fight. When they disagree they do 80 fatally,
with firearms in their hands and on the public
streets.
QUICK ON THE TRIGGER.
/ was Just clear of Mission street when the
trouble began between two gentlemen, one of
"uOui pcIIOTdtcu Tue OtucT. WQeQ q DOllCo-
man, whose name 1 do not recollect. fatally
shot Ed Hearney" for attempting to escape ar
rest was in the next street. For these things
l am thankful. 1t is enough to travel with a
policeman in tram car and while he arranges
his coat tails as he sits down to catch sight Of a
loaded revolver. 1t is enough to know that
fifty per cent of the men in the public saloons
carry pistols about them. The Chinaman way
lays his adversary and methodically chops him
to pieces with his Ratchet. Then the press
eral.zx he Il a.
The Italian reconstructs his friend with long
knife. The press complains of the waywardness
of the alien. The 1rishman and the native
Californian in their hours Of discomfort use the
revolver, not one but six times. The press re-
cords the fact and asks in the next column
whether the world can parallel the progress of
San Francisco. The American who loves his
country will tell you that this sort Of thing is
confined to the lower classes. Just at present
an ex-judge who was sent to jail BY another
these titles mean anything) is breathing red
hot vengeance against his enemy. The papers
have interviewed both parties and confidently
expect fatal issue.
THE NEGRO QUESTION.
The negro has been made a citizen with a
vote, consequently both political parties play
with him. He will commit in one meal every
betise that senilion fresh from the plough
tail is capable of, and he will continue to re-
peat those faults. He is as complete q heavy
footed, uncomprehending, bungle-fsted fool
as any memsahib in the east ever took into her
establishment. But he is according to law q
free and Independent citizen-consequently
above reproof or criticism. He and he alone in
this insane city will wait at table (the China
man doesn't COUNT. He is unframed iuept
bat he will fill the place and draw the pay.
Now God and his fathers fate made him in
tellectually inferior to the oriental. He insists
on pretending that he serves tables by acci-
dent-as a sort Of amusement. He is a big,
black, vain baby and a man rolled into
one cOlored gentleman who insisted
on getting me pie when wanted something
else demanded information about India /
gave him some facts about wages. "Oh, h-r'
said he, cheerfully, that wouldn't keep me in
cigars for month" Then he fawned on me
for ten-cent piece. turned and saw by the
head upon his shoulders that he was Yoruba
man, If there be any truth in chronological
castles. He did his thinking in English. but he
was foruba negro and the race type had re-
manned the same throughout his generations
And the room was full Of other races-some
that looked exactly like Calais (but the trade
was never recruited from that side Of Africa,
some duplicates Of CAMERON heads and some
kroomen. If ever Kroomen wore evening
dress. As a general rule he keeps himself
very far from the negro and says
things about him that are not pretty
There are six million negroes. more
or less, in the states. and they are increasing.
The American once having made them citizens
cannot unmake them. He saws, in his news
papers, they ought to be elevated BY education
tie is trying this. but il il likely to be long Job
because black blood is much more adhesive
than white and throws back with ANNOYING per-
sistence. When the negro gets religion he re-
turns directly as hiving bee to the first in
stincts of his people. have attended a negro
church-they pray or are caused to pray by
themselves in this country. The CONGREGATION
were moved by the spirit to groans and tears,
and one of them danced up the aisle to the
mourners' bench. The motive may have been
genuine. The movements of the shaken BODY
were those of a Zanzibar stick dance such as
Won see at Alden on the coal boats and even "a
| watched the people the links that bound them
To the white man snapped one by one and
saw before me the hubshi (woolly hair PRAYING
to God he did not understand. What will the
American do with the negro? The south will
not consort with him. In some states misce-
genaiion is a penal odsnse. The north il every
year less and less in need Of his services. And
he viii not disappear. He will continue a. q
problem.
WHERE TIE EAGLE SCREAMED.
But this has nothing to do with San Fran
cisco and her merry maidens, her strong,
staggering men and her wealth of gold and
pride. They bore me to a banquet in honor Of
brave lieutenant-Carlin of the vandaliar-
who stuck by his ship in the great cyclone q
Apia and comported himself as an officer should
On that occasion-'twas at the Bohemian Club
heard oratory with the roundest Of o's, and
devoured dinner, the memory Of which will
descend with me into the hungry grave There
were about forty speeches delivered and not
one OF them was average or ordinary. II was
my first introduction to the American eagle
screaming for all ~