The Olneyville tribune. (Providence, R.I.) 1893-189?, 1894-01-27
The EARLIER Bird.
BY CHARLES d. WILLARD.

compartment Of n Pullman, in an
overland train heading westward.
They talked Of California-Of its gold
and the '49ers, Of it's fruits, OF it's
mountain scenery and OF the hospi-
tally Of the people. When the latter
subject was reached, one Of the
travellers fetched n 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 n Of them demanded
to know whether he had ever expert
enced the famous hospitality Of the
Californians, and TO this question he
made the following strange reply
Eyes, by proxy" Thercupon the
others, burning with curiosity, be-
sought him TO make himself under
stood. This he did i'm the following
tale
My first visit TO the Golden State
took place number Of years agO, when
! was an inexperienced young nan
Of about twenty-five. My home was
in Cleveland, where my family had re-
sided for many years. A trip TO Cali
fornia, i'm those days, was looked upon
as n great undertaking, and | began to
talk il gel with my numerous friends
and relatives several weeks before !
set out. Presently | made Il remark
able discovery. 1t was that every one
Of these friends and relatives had
some acquaintance on the Pacific
Coast, who would rejoice at the oppor-
tunity to welcome me afforded by II
letter OF Introduction.
Now, rs | understand n letter Of i'm
PRODUCTION, il is II sort Of n sight-draft,
friendship being the consideration,
drawn by your friend IN the stranger,
which you are empowered TO collect
il 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 n collector, for 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 its face
value.
At first, | tried by various cvasions
TO get out OF accepting these letters.
But il would not work. People seemed
to think that they were comforting
some enormous favor OF me, which,
with the natural modcsty Of youth, !
was seeking to decline. The more |
held of the greater was their zeal in
my behalf, and in several instances, |
II Il .-.-Il.1 -! -. l.....-
letters forced upon me which would
otherwise have been forgotten. What
could | do? Nobody ever heard Of such
thing as declining n letter Of intro
duction-it would be equivalent to
SAYING: 81 don't want to meet your
friend; he may be good enough for
you, but ! have no use for him. So
! accepted all that were offered and
concealed my 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 | was half resolved
to abandon the trip, solely on account
Of the ~premonition Of evil that swept
over me whenever contemplated that
awful heap. But | had now gone too
far to back out, and, dcpositing the
letters in one corner Of my trunk, |
took my departure. There was II
crowd at the station to see me off, and
the last thing | heard, as the train
started, was n general cry of:
"Be sure and present my letter to
-"
Ofcourse the request was super
fuous-like most things said ut part
ings-for the reason that had already
solemnly promised each one that |
would deliver his letter.
In the quiet solitude of the first
days ride, | had nothing to do but
think, and the bundle Of letters pro-
vided me with subject matter. They
constituted n problem whose vexa-
tious conditions drove me half dis
tracted.
IL | failed to deliver them-or to
make at least an honest effort in be-
half Of each-I should break my
promise TO a number Of people whose
good opinion | held in high esteem.
II would never do for me deliber-
ately TO admit on my return, that i
had scorned to make acquaintance
with their friends, or that had been
insensible to their kindness in giving
me the letters. On the other hand,
/ doubted whether l could manufac-
ture excus delicate enough to 60
around. Having been trained to
truth from my boyhood, | lacked the
imaginative power which is needed
for artistic mendacity. In fact, |
was likely TO find myself in the same
embarrassing situation that Is said TO
have overcome the Father Of his
Country i could not tell a lie-that
would get me out OF the scrape.
So / finally settled il in my own mind
hat | must present all the letters.