The morning call., 1893-11-12


time. The woman behind me sat up half
the night to bemoan 10 her companion the
loss of her switch.
1T cost 81. and 1 never wore it but
once" she said, TO the edification of the
entire car. Why will people persist in
taking the whole sleeper into their con-
fidence? Before morning we knew where
she came from, where she was going and
how old she was. The switch-losing
womap's friend spent her time in crying
for her husband, whom she was leaving
for the first time. Any one would have
thought she was going TO Kamtchatka
instead of Gold Hill.
The man across the way snored loud
enough to wake the seven Sluepers, while
the sick baby at the other end of the car
seemed trying to rival him in the matter
of noise.
When morning broke we were whirling
through mile after mile of snowsheds. At
Truckee we left these behind. and then
tie track followed the beautiful trout
famed Truckee River until we reached
Reno, where we changed cars. The ride
from Reno to Carson is very dreary. As
far as the eye can reach one can see moth
ing but a vast waste of sagebrush and
sand. Never tree relieves the mon otony,
and a jackrabbit is welcome sight.
The towns consist of a station and a
store, house or two, some Indian wicki-
q
mill. The old settlers tell you that this Is
the part of Nevada where silver was first
discovered and that these dilapidated viii
lagos were once fiourishing towns. One
sad day the mines gave out, the houses
were carried away bodily and desolation
remains.
Bowers mansion is sad reminder of
what things were in the palmy days. Sew
eral miles back from the track, and sur
rounded by grove of trees, one can only
catch q feeting glimpse OF the great house
as the train PUSHES past. Once upon 3
time. as the fairy stories go, its hundred
rooms were furnished IN the most gorgeous
and extravagant fashion, blooded horses
and fine eQuipages filed the stables. and
scores of servants ministered to ones
slightest wish. One day stocks fell, and
then went the owners fortune. To-day
Bowers' mansion is a resort for picnic par
ties and its former mistress reveals the
past, the present and the future TO credu-
lOus San Franciscans.
After a two hours ride from Reno we
reached Carson. Carson is a pretty little
city, situated in an oval valley, surrounded
on all four sides by mountains. The in
hahitants, realizing only too well the DESC
lation around il, have made the little town
a garden spot in the desert. Tres line
the streets on either side; every house has
Its garden and lawn, and over all
England town. Every one. be he great or
small. Governor or Ex-Governor, lives in a
little house. There is hardly two-story
residence in the place. They are all low
cottages with wide porches. over which
Chamber the Virginia creeeper. In October
weather l saw il brilliant red from the
hands of Jack Frost. Beside it grows the
wild clematis. whose snowy seed-pods
look like the ghost of last winters sno W.
drift Carson street is the principal thor
oughfare. On 1t are the mint, the small.
est n the world; the postoffice, a handsome
Government building. and the State
Capitol. big. rowing. white building.
In the Governors Office In the Capitol
hang life-slZe portraits of all the previous
Governors of the State. When Governor
Colcord Steps down and out his kindly
face will be hung in line with the rest.
We had not been in Carson many hours
before, at my request, we started on a still
hunt for some Indian wickiups, which were
a novelty to me. If you have a romantic
idea OF the home of the noble ~ red man
just disabuse your mind at once. The wig
wan of story-book fame is delusion and
a snare. In reality they are the filthest
denS one could wish to see, made from old
sacks, bits of worn-out carpet and dirty
rags piled on framework of sticks.
One sunny morning we drove several
miles across the sagebrush 10 Stewart In.
Institute is a large, roomy building. The
school term lasts ten months OF the year,
and during this time the children are
obliged to remain at the institute. Let
them go back to the wickiups for their
vacation and they return almost as un-
tanned as when they first came to the
institution, perhaps little worse, for ii
was wise man W no said "a little learning
is dangerous thing" A trip to Carson
is their idea of bliss. but they are seldom
allowed to go.
The superintendent is very ambitious to
send full blood ed Piute TO Congress. He
had one bright young fellow who had been
there long while. and of whom he had
great hopes, but one dark night, not long
ago. this young buck took French leave
and went to Sacramento to pick hops.
Even If be comes back the superintendent
will have most of his work to do over aga u.
The children range from four to twenty
years of age; from the sinister looking
half-breed to the ull-blooded young savage.
When our party trooped into the school-
room that morning. the pupils expressed
as much surprise and curiosity as their
stolid, apathetc faces are capable Of show.
ing. There they sat, row after row. q
queer-looking room full.
The boys wore overalls and jumpers,
and around the neck Of every one Of them
was tied handkerchief Of gaudy hue.
10 EltiS W6df tiCh uIcSScSs anu
their necks you also see the same hideouS
handkerchiefs. They are compelled to
braid their straight. black tresses. much
to the disgust of their mothers.
How delighted they are to show OF what
| they know. No shyness there.
1t is very funny to hear the children
sing. On the whole their voices are abuu,
| as musical as that OF a crow, and what
adds to the popularity of tone is the fact
that thew all sing through their noses
Patriotic and religious songs are he only
ones taught them. To the accompaniment
played on the organ by one of the lady
teachers, they sang america" straight
through in the same monotone, with never
a crescendo or a diminuendo. Neverthe-
less they are fond OF singing. and sing
about their work. which, by the wav,
they dislike exceedingly and shrk as
much as possible. The girls make all the
clothing and do all the cooking for the
pupils. but few OF them take any interest
| In their labor.