The Opelousas courier., 1894-05-05
The EaRLIER Bird.
BY CHARLES D. WILLARD.

There were four men in the smoking
compartment of a Pullman, in an
overland train heading westward.
They talked of California-of its gold
and the '49ers, of it's fruits, OF its
mountain scenery and of the hospi-
tality of the people. When the latter
subject was reached, one of the
travellers fetched a sigh so long and
deep that it instantly attracted the
notice of the others, and they asked
him it's cause. He returned no an
swer, Then one of them demanded
to know whether he had yer expert
enced the famous hospitality Of the
Californians, and to this question he
made the following strange reply:
eyes, by proxy" Thereupon the
others, burning with curiosity, be-
sought him to make himself Under
stood. This he did in the following
tale:
Nv first visit to the Golden State
took place a number of years ago, when
[ was an inexperienced young man
of about twenty-five. My home was
in Cleveland, where my family had re-
sided for many years. A trip to Cali
fornia, in those days, was looked upon
as a great undertaking, and began to
talk it over with my numerous friends
and relatives several weeks before l
set out. Presently | made a remark
able discovery, 1t was that every n
of these friends and relatives had
some acquaintance on the Paclflc
Coast, who would rejoice at the oppor-
tunity to welqbme me afforded by a
letter of introduction.
Now, as I understand a letter OF in
PRODUCTION, it is a sort of a sight-draft,
e friendship being the consideration,
drawn by your friend on the stranger,
which you are empowered to collect
If YOU can. Your success depends
upon several things; your friends
credit with the stranger, for
one; the strangers general solvency
that is, his capacity for friendship
for another, and his opinion of you
as a collector, for q third. The whole
transaction seems to me loose and
irregular, and the risk falls entirely on
the unfortunate bearer of the letter,
who usually takes the thing on it's face
value.
At first, I tried by various evasions
to get out of accepting these letters.
But it would not work. People seemed
to think that they were comforting
some enormous favor on me, which,
with the natural modesty of youth, |
was seeking to decline. The more l
held off the greater was their zeal IN
my behalf, and in several instances,
am confident, it resulted in my having
letters forced upon me which would
otherwise have been forgotten. What
could l do? Nobody ever heard of such
athing as declining a letter OF intro
duction-it would be equivalent to
saying: " don't want to meet your
friend; he may be good enough for
you, but I have no use for him. SO
T accepted all that were offered and
concealedmy true sentiments under
an expansive mass of gratitude.
At last, when | was ready to start,
the bundle of letters had grown SO
large thatit positively frightened me.
Indeed, at times l was half resolved
to abandon the trip, solely on account
of the premonition Of evil that swept
over me whenever | contemplated thai
awful heap. But l had now gone toe
far to back out, and, depositing the
letters in one corner of my trunk, ]
took my departure. There was {
crowd at the'station to see me off, ant
the last thing | heard, as the train
started, was a general cry of:
"Be u and present my letter t.
Ofcourse the request was super
luous-like, most things said at part
ings-for the reason that | had alread.
solemnly promised each one that
would deliver his letter.
In the quiet solitude of the frs
days ride, I had nothing to do bu
think, and the bundle of letters pro
yided me with subject matter. The.
constituted, a problem whose vexa
tious conditions drove me half dis
tracted.
II I failed to deliver them-or t
make at least an honest effort in be
half Of each--I should break m,
promise to a number of people who's
good opinion / held in high esteem
It would never do for me deliber
ately to admit on my return, that
had scorned to make a~cquaintanc
with their friends, or that | had bee
insensible to their kindness in givin
me the letters. On the other hand
doubted whether | could manufac
ture excuses delicate enough to g
around. Having been trained t
truth from my boyhood, | lacked tn
imaginative power which is needle
for artistic m%endacity. In fact,
was likely to find myself in the sam
embarrassing situation that is said
have overcome the Father OF nj
Country: I could not tell a lie-tha
would get me out of the scrape.
Sol finally settled it in my own min
that I must present all the letters.
Then the other horn Of the dilemm
began to gore me. Here werea lot {
people who knew nothing Of me, nor
of them. was expected to hunt ther
up, at a great expense of time an
trouble, and deliver to them a lette
apiece all around, after the fashion (
o conscientious and impartial mai
man. But that was not all. Thes
letters practically involved a demand
on my part, for attentions, based on
je-ne-saisrquoi relationship betwee
the sendeIa and the recipient. Being
very young man, / was somewhat SCI
~sisireen the score of snubs, and / 81