Evening star., 1894-03-01
JIM STRUTHERS' LOVEMAkING.
How He Saved the Life and Won tho
Love of His Sweetheart.

How He Saved the Life and Won tho
Love of His Sweetheart.
Col. Jim Struthers was at the National
Hotel last night. There was an eccentric
ity in his gait and disheveled tone in his
voice as he leaned listlessly on the brass
rail which runs along the bar The colonel
assured The Star man that he was never
more sober In his life. This was probably
so. Young fellow" said he to the reporter
IF 1 were in your boots. wouldn't drink
all that, simply because she told the maid
to tell you that she wasn't in. Brace up
and grieve no more, my laddy. The course
of true love never was smoother than a
blackboard or a cable car. 1 once had an
affair of the heart, or an amour de couer
/ believe they call it in Latin. The only
time / ever studied that dead language was
at college, and 1t confiicted so much with
my studies in PHILOSOPHY that was COM
PEELED to quit it. Well anyhow, had an
affair of the heart. This is just as true
as anything that Mr.. Moody. or George
Washington, or Ananias ever said. / loved
my love so well that 1 saved her from a
briny tomb. The rescue was one of the
most daring things / ever did. Falstaff and
Bob Acres wouldn't have had the desperate
courage which il required. / went down to
San Francisco, and In my breast ,hcre
burned flame of mad passion for one of
the bonanza beauties of the metropolis of
foSs and fieas. She was as fair as any ideal
ever wrought by Ariel into a poets dream.
Pegasus was never hitched TO a thought
lcvelier than her. Her skin was as fair as
the hands OF Leucothea, and her hair as
alluring as that of Ligea. Her mouth was
of coral inlaid with pearls and her eyes
were stars of cyanite that Shone from a
heaven of blushes-blushes that came not
from the rouge pot. Her figure was form
on which the gods did seem to have set
their seal. She was nodded in a Cytherisn
protoplasm and the billowy swells of Ler
form came not from the cotton fields of
Dixie. 1 loved her, and i wanted her to
love me. If 1 could do anything to prove
to her the heroic devotion of my Romeotic
ardor, L would never have to borrow
another cent. / thunk a thought. / owned
a large, comfortable boat of the batteau
pattern, very much on the order of the
Estella Sutton of the harbor police fleet.
l proceeded to arrange this boat SO that
could effect a rescue whenever l desired
hauled the boat, and cut out a section of
the planking just amidship. The after end
of this section i restored by means of
hinges, and the forward end of il L secured
with a bolt. From this bolt / ran a light
lanyard along the keel and fastened il to
the stern-post, just under the water line.
BY reaching down and pulling this rope. a
large piece of the keel would swing down.
the tide would rush in and a swamp would
| follow. / thought If / could get the young
| lady to take a sail with me, L could run the
boat over into shoal water. pull the trigger
and save my sweetheart's life like a hero.
/ invited her. She asked me if could row.
Well, now, you never saw a man on land
who didn't know all about handling a boat
| l told her that 1 rowed with the Potomacs
and had been left at River View more than
once. She accepted. We took the Mont
| gomery avenue cable car, went out as far
as Steiner street, and took the dummy for
| the Preside. We walked crosslots through
the grounds of the post, down through the
stables. and instead of going round by the
carriage road, We took the trail which leads
across the lowlands to Fort Point. We
| reached this gloomy pile in due time and
sat down to rest The four tiers of decay
| ing guns looked out upon us, and the big
old cast-iron gun that stands on the north
| west corner, at the top of the fortress, ard
announces the rising and the setting Of
| the sun. frowned on us as usual. Away OF
| to the south Lone Mountain, Mount Olym-
| pus and the Twin Peaks loomed up, and to
| the eastward was Telegraph Hill This hill
bears the same relation to Frisco as the
| green dome of the Illinois state building
| did to the worlds fair-you can never get
| out of sight of it. To the north were the
barren hills around and back of Point Bon
| Ito and the sunny waters around Saucilito
mirrored the blue of the sky. A pillar OF
dark smoke rose out of the western horizon
and announced the incoming of one of the
great steamers. perhaps the Alameda, from
Australia, Auckland and Honolulu. or the
| Rio, China or Oceanic, from Hong Kong
| and Yokohama. Over toward the mouth
of the Sacramento river steamboat smoke
| was also ascending. We sat on the sea-
| wall and l plucked Wild blossoms for her
/ asked her to wear them in compliment To
the flowers: 1 told her that they were as
| frail as my hope for heaven and Tor her
ana that they were as pure and beautiful
as the goddess of my world. She believed
me. / knelt and held the gunwale of the
boat as she stepped aboard A good sea
was running In through the Golden Gate.
Hard a lee,' / sang out as the boom swung
and Iela
merry as the marriage bell. We talked 10
each other Of what star should be our home
when love becomes immortal. She dabbled
her dimpled hand in the water as we ca
| reered along. As We struck the shoal on
the north side OF Angel Island, 1 put the
| boat into the wind. and as she came Up.
pulled the lanyard. which withdrew the
| bolt. There was creaking, grinding
sound: the whirl and rush and gurgle of
the bay poured in upon us; nv loved one
uttered a two-lunged shrek, the craft lung
ed first TO one side and then to the other,
| and settled. We were in the water Her
arms were around me. She was trusting
| in my bravery and genius as a swimmer
| Don't let me drown she cried, but rather
let me die than you. There was quite lit
| tie of surf and the waters were noisy Sill
| she clung to me as We journeyed toward
| the land. The dangers to which We were
exposed were appalling. The sea at that
point was waist deep. but l labored ard
groaned under my sweet burden, and said
words OF tender encouragement to her
| even called her darling and kissed her as
she clasped me In her fright. and as / wad-
ed INTO shore 1t was a trying moment.
| l was close to land. 1 edged OF obliuuely
and slowed down SO that / would not
reach the beach too hurriedly. 1 liked TIE
load which / carried. At last We reached
land, and L fell from exhaustion She hen /,
| over wept over. me, lollipopped over me.
| used up her vocabulary of sweets, strokei
| my hair and hands, even kissed me- called
me her poor dear, brave. darling hero, and
Il a GAd O cwrtvn ,x,1
with sort of death-glazed look in them.
l heard her shout Jim Struthers, L am
| yourn."
STEEL MERCHANT VESSELS,
The First One Of American Build