davidaulloa/AmericanStories huggingface dataset:
The San Francisco call. [volume] (San Francisco [Calif.]) 1895-1913, 1895-08-11
i HE CONVERSION
OF JOHN PURDY.
BY TOM Try,

engineer and doctor received scorching,
and even the chaplain caught Whit OF
Drlmstone as the master-at-arms and the
sergeant OF marines conveyed him away
from the mast.
Down in the brig Purdy sat and pom
oered Tor several days. Occasionally he
varied his occupation by reconsigning the
ing an unsatisfactory way of passing the
time he concluded to let that person re-
main where he was. In the corner of his
cell he found several stray leaves from a
small Bible containing portions of the
Book of Job. Having nothing else to do
he read the pages and became interested
In Satan's scorching ministrations OF the
man from Uz.
He did not quite understand why Job
had been so grievously smitten. but the
man bore up under his Affections nobly
and flung his defiance straight at the gates
OF hell, and hell prevailed not against Kim.
That was true grit, about the only thing
on earth that John ever admired. Job
had rubbed ashes on his head and liniment
on his bruises and talked like philoso-
pher, while John Purdy, who had been put
in the brig for disobeying an order, had
howled like honey-hunting bear in a
wasp's nest.
In one chapter of the book he read the
answer to the 'comforters." and in
another the sublime questioning of the
Almighty:
Who shut up the sea with doors when
it brake forth 4 and said, Hitherto
shalt thou come, but no farther; and here
shalt thy proud waves be stayed?
"Canst thou bind the sweet influences
of the Pleiades or loose the bands OF Orion?
"Canst thou bring forth Mazzaroth in
his season? Or canst thou guide Arcturus
with his sons?"
Many such queries came to John out of
the darkness of his prison, and he girded
up his loins like man and answered them.
by turning to and taking charge of the GAL
ley. He didn't tender any apologies to
the executive for the eloquent abuse he
had piled on that officers head, for that
wasn't John Purdy's way. He might be
sorry for things he had said or done, but
he never wept over them.
The first lieutenant didn't ask for any
penitential Acknowledgements nor "baby-
act" pleadings. for that wasn't his way.
of the man down to discipline, but not to
break the spring IN him.
The regenerated sailor started the fires
under the coppers and accepted the sltua-
ton and the despised "buZzard" quite
Job-like. Then he hunted up the re-
mainder of the little Bible for more yarns
about old fellows with 'lots of grit"
He didn't put on any outward armor OF
faith or clothe himself in the regim entals
of holiness, nor make any public avowal
touching change OF heart, or erect a shin
ing fabric of good intentions for the future.
He was never seen to pray, nor ever heard
TO give his religious experience. His life
as known about the decks was replete with
the small woes that round out the ex-
istence of ships cook. The serving out
of hot water for coffee, soup, and the
The San Francisco call. [volume] (San Francisco [Calif.]) 1895-1913, 1895-08-11

John Purdy sat on his chest and searched
the Scriptures. The ebb and flow OF the
tide in the affairs of sailor men around
him never seemed to disturb John in his
earnest seeking after life through the pages
OF Holy Writ
When Sake Fisher and Quartergunner
Johnson stood under the break of the
to'gallant forecastle and alternated in the
most incredible yarns during the whole
watch, talking, talking until the bolts
started from the deck beams and the iron
stanchions around them began to wilt,
Purdy read on and on.
When Tom Walker, agriculturist, O. S.
n, and George Romer, who was always
leaving the navy to ship on ranch, sat on
their diddy-boxes down the maintopmen's
gangway and lifted their deep sea-bass
pipes in angry discussion, notwithstand-
ing they always agreed in every particular,
upon the respective merits Of pigs and
ducks as a farm livestock output, John
was lamenting with sad-voiced jeremiah
over the daughters of Jerusalem led into
captivity.
When David Clark, ship-iurist, fleet
barrister and all-round sea-lawyer, was
Interpreting unwritten and unheard of
DEGREES in large, weightful tone and
using words not calculated to inspire re-
spect for his court, Purdy had left the sea
and was cleaning with sweet Ruth among
the bearded barley in far-off Palestine.
When Paddy White was tramping up and
down his plank in the deck, growing
loudly and profanely at every stray
speck of dust that got on it with him,
Purdy was sitting down in the ash-heaps
alongside of sore job, holding converse
with his three 'comforters" on the pleas
ures of plaques.
When the soft winds were purring over
the sun-tinted wave and the ship swung
stately to the heave of long, rounded
swell, John was walking under the river
washed willows of Babylon, where the
exiled harps of Israel hung joyless and
mute. When the yell of the gale through
the gear and the boiling noises of storm
scourged ocean sounded around the ship
John Purdy was breathing the incense
from the valley lilies, robed in beauty far
surprising Solomon in all his glory.
When Gustavus Adolphus Petersen, an
instrumental musical prodigy from some
Norwegian ford which shall be nameless
here forevermore because it can't be pro-
nounced, began to pump 1.-The Ship That
Never Returned" out of a big gurgling
accordion, and the cat fled in terror to the
soundless deeps of the forehold, John
Purdy heard in fancy the triumphant song
of Miriam on the farther shore of the Red
Sea.
When old Alexander McGrath. the
sailmaker's mate, whose voice had been
tuned to the shrill note of an
English Channel gale, began to evolve
a vocal melody not unlike circular-saw
going through hard pine knot, John
Purdy heard the grand chorus OF the newly
The San Francisco call. [volume] (San Francisco [Calif.]) 1895-1913, 1895-08-11

odorous chunks of salt horse upon which
the men of the sea are to be brave and
patriotic; the usual quarreling with mess
cooks who buzz around the ships cook like
bees about bear; the childish wrangle and
contention that eddied around him, were
unnoticed in that deep reaching dawn of the
mind into the nobler springs of the human
passions. Purdy was not intellectual.
He could not reason out an abstract the
DRY into concrete actually. Neither was
he theological. The peculiar method and
special direction of mans movement into
spiritual perfection or the hair-splitting
ideas of argumentative religionists never
weighed heavily on his soul.
He made idols out of the strong, godly
men of the Hebrew hierarchy, and uncon-
sciously he trod in the footsteps they left
deeply indented on the shores of time.
John Purdy's testimony before board
of eminent theologians would not have
stamped him as a man of profound piety,
nor would his interpretations of the sacred
word have been accepted as samples OF
faultless orthodoxy; yet, aboard the ship
to disagree with 1.-The chaplain's mate" as
he was rated by the crew, were rank
heresy.
His faith found favor with Protestant,
Catholic, Jew or Moslem alike, not because
there was so little of it, but because it was
so simple. A little child couldn't err
therein, and they all understood that first
precept of all religions-the golden rule
which John Purdy taught by example.
Sake Fisher still told improbable stories,
but if in Pnrdy's presence they were
made as mild as the designations of a
Sunday-school picnic. Dave Clark decided
technical points of sea law, but quoted
largely from Moses, Daniel and ST. Paul
when in Purdys presence. Tom Walkers
agricultural experiences were very moder-
ate when narrated around the galley, and
George Romer was little more satisfied
with the navy when moored on the
chest alongside of the ships cook. Only
Paddy White was unmoved, or at least
he never appeared sensible of the odor of
sanctity that was supposed to be apparent
around John Purdy.
So the regenerated chief of the galley
lived and died and passed beyond the
horizon of time, and the chronicles of his
piety are written in the traditions of the
service to be recounted in the long mid
watches of after years.
The San Francisco call. [volume] (San Francisco [Calif.]) 1895-1913, 1895-08-11

rather an Indifferent manner by the pro-
prietors, who were generally the mana
gers-managing editors and Sunday editors
and news editors not being part of the then
newspaper staff.
81 remember that the day before the
duel did take place Terry, who was Chief
Justice of the Supreme Court, and Brod-
erick, State Senator, both high officials,
were arrested near Laguna MERGED on
warrant charging them with preparing to
fight duel. They had their hearing be-
fore Henry P Coon, Police Magistrate,
and the next morning the papers came out
with ten-line notice with a side head
stating that the parties named had had a
preliminary hearing, and that the charge
the statute which declared il a felony to
fight duel had been repealed, and that
the then existing law applied only to indi-
viduals after the duel had been fought.
And then when the duel was actually
fought the whole affair was dismissed in
an account of less than half column in
length. What would the managing editor
or the city editor of THE CALL OF to-day
say to reporter who would bring in such
an account of SO important an event2"
mo pictures? no interviews l asked.
And the colonel replied, mot a pic
ture; not an interview.
''Ihe reporters in those days were a Jolly
set of fellows, and they did not break their
necks trying to get what you newspaper
men of to-day call scoops There was
among them Billy Wells, Ned knight,
Ned Pepper and others whose names
1 cannot now recall. They had in
the rear of Ellen Moons Ivy Green
on Merchant street, near the old CITY
Fall, room in which they met every
day, and which was known as the Hall of
the Reporters Union The reporters for
the morning papers would meet there at
The San Francisco call. [volume] (San Francisco [Calif.]) 1895-1913, 1895-08-11

CUMMIT HoTEL-THE MOST BEAUTIFUL
y SPOT in the Santa Cruz Mountains. opens for Its
fourth season under its present manngeme mt June
/; the table is well known frst-cass fruit and
cream from our own ranch. Tennis, croquet MRS.
A. N. NICHOLS, Prop. p. O.. Wnghts, Cal.
The San Francisco call. [volume] (San Francisco [Calif.]) 1895-1913, 1895-08-11
(ygsS1I;20zl5S
R22gl99I7@,L52 5tl9{g1.
TIE OLD TIMER CONTINUES HIsREMINlsfENfEs

was rational for months, and during one of
these intervals he made what is now
known as compressed yeast, the first ever
made in this State, but the people refused
to patronize him, as they were afraid to
handle anything that was made by
Cranky Pfeiffer.' The last I knew Of
him he was doing business as aconfectioner
on Mason street in 1860. 1 suppose the
old man is dead now"
Now that you have told of this place
recall the fact that in writing something
about the home some years ago | learned
that the building had been erected by a
German who died in 1874"
ga day or two SINCE" continued the
colonel, ~ went to Black Point, which
discovered is military post, and called
The San Francisco call. [volume] (San Francisco [Calif.]) 1895-1913, 1895-08-11
New Incorporations.

The Rebeka Mining Company has been in
corporated with capital stock of 1000,
subscribed as follows: John A. Fault, Moses
Adler and Aaron A. Adler, $125000 each;
Sanford Sachs and Samuel L. Sachs, $62, 500
each.
The San Francisco Trading Company was in
corporated yesterday with $15 900 subscribed
ers are: A. P. Lorentzen, Alameda. $4,000;
Thomson Collie, Alameda, $4,000; H. s. Jarvis,
Oakland, $1,000; William II. Talbot, San Fran
The San Francisco call. [volume] (San Francisco [Calif.]) 1895-1913, 1895-08-11
BALDWIN'S TALLAC HOUSE,

LAKE TAHoE.
THE SUMMER RESORT OF CALIFORNIA;
i 20 hours from San Francisco; more than 5000
feet above sea level; accommodations first class
and attractions unsurpassed.
M. LAWRENCE & CO.,
Lessees and Managers, Tallac, Cal
The San Francisco call. [volume] (San Francisco [Calif.]) 1895-1913, 1895-08-11
IOWAgo Springs. LAKE. C0TNTY. CAL.

hot AND COLD MINERAL SPRINGS OF
IL great healing power. VIII cure constipation,
aid digestion and purify the blood. Terms So per
week. Water doctor on the premises. Write for
circular and further information.
The San Francisco call. [volume] (San Francisco [Calif.]) 1895-1913, 1895-08-11
Tho Wittmeier Case.

The contest of the John G. Wittmeier will be-
fore Judge Coffey resulted in jury disagree
ment. The SIS, 900 estate is held by the
second wife, who was the sole legatee. The
first was divorced years before the will was
made.
The Hawaiian star. [volume] (Honolulu [Oahu]) 1893-1912, 1895-09-16

The preservation of pictures has now be
come in London, it would seem, as the re-
suit OF some very ingenious experiments, a
regular scientific proceeding, If the ac-
counts given are to be relied upon. 1t is
simply placing the surface of the picture.
be It OF canvas or paper, in vacuum, thus
protecting it from the usual atmospheric
action which is so deteriorating. In carry.
ing out this plan the picture is inclosed in
q metal frame or vase, covering the back
and sides, and projecting from the sides
like an ordinary fame. In the edges Of this
case plate OF glass is inserted, just as in
an ordinary frame, and Theoretically sealed
10 tho metal. The air is then withdrawn
from between the surface Of the picture
and the glass, and thus the picture is in a
vacuum. II is asserted that the effect OF
this plan Is to completely protect pio.
lures from the action OF dampness, air.
gases and other causes that operate TO de.
stroy paintings exposed or framed In the
ordinary way.-New York Sun.
The Hawaiian star. [volume] (Honolulu [Oahu]) 1893-1912, 1895-09-16

only halt h'adN tor thhef'
She was looking over her wardrobe,
when her best friend called.
Papa has decided that we can go
away for the month";" she said, "and
I've had time to make absolutely no
preparations. | must make the best of
what | have
where are you going;" asked her
best friend.
II don't know, " she replied thought.
fully. 1T lies between the seashore and
the mountains, and am trying to make
up my mind now.
"Oh, that ought to he easy"
IF had time to prepare, yes, but
butt
She took up gown, held 1t out at
arms length and surveyed Il critically.
"Docollcte, she said briefly.
Just the thing for the mountains !
exclaimed the friend. There's nothing
but hops there, and l remember how
lovely you looked in that gown. Oh
the mountains, by all means, IL you
want to show yourself to the best ad
vantage.
"And Of course do. That's what In
going for, but-but'-
She held up several pairs of beautiful
silk stockings.
How lovely you would look in
bathing suit with thoser' cried tn
/ friend.
Precisely, she said. "Now shall
pin my faith TO the decollete gowns o
to the-the-hosiery' Really, it's to
provoking for anything to be sort O
half ready for either place H.
"Try them bothr' yelled n small
brother, putting his head through tn
door. IF your Tribes don't catch o
at the seashore, maybe you can win b
a neck in the mountainsv'
She said he was mean, horrid boy
but that's what she decided to do jus
the same. Chicago Post.
The Hawaiian star. [volume] (Honolulu [Oahu]) 1893-1912, 1895-09-16
SKETCHES N MQuAD


~ vas u imrf1n0man un o. passenger
train un tho e. " AVID q rad ~ i've
yoai D. iao clmo eaft, aid The urt
stots man with DE yellow gUatee IN
my day no mrn rn tlo face ~ us errih
could heat ru ni 'uri handhur, and !
gut the name along the fuute ~ The
Destroyer exIs,t ! did smash Few
hundred trunks yearly, but ! wasn't
half NJ bad NJ they tried a. make me
ont had cufiuus nutim about new
trunks mover gt hold ~ onc chat !
didn't just ache ~ smash IL, while |
handled the I'D oncs with al a mother's
care think got malicious about II
but the feeling was beyond my control ~
And what quoriod
well une day on the run mp to chi.
cage there came aboard particularly
uvorgr1wn and particularly handsome
Saratoga | was mad that day anyhow,
and mo- sooner got hold u that big
trunk than ! saw u way 60 work of my
bile A. soon ~ the train got under way
and had checked oH my numbers took
off my cuat aud vest and went IN for m
row with Saratoga / banged her and
/ slammed her and knocked her about and
/ Jumped un her, and In the course u H.
/ minutes she was the saddest wreck You
ever saw. by and by. when got cooled
| of, began to wonder how | could eN
plain the damages TO the owner, and
while thus engased 1t seemed as If some
If the contents scattered about had a
familiar look.
YES. I'm listening
81 gathered them up and hunted up
the end Of the trunk to look for a name.
found certain initials which sent cold
chills up my back | wasn't dead sure
yet, but was feeling like fool, when a
woman came into the car, saw that
wreck and uttered u wild shrek"
"She was the owner. Of course?"
Eyes. Of course "
And how did you get out Of the
scrape?"
81 never got ont Of the scrape. I'm in
ii yet IL il thrown up To me every day
I Of my life "
"Then the woman was
my wife? Yes; she was going up
to Chicago ON "A visit, and, unbeknown
to me, had planked down s2s for that
Saratoga to pack her buds in. | had
tackled and wrecked our own family
property, and though have bought hen
silks and satins and diamonds since
then she won't let up ON me. 1t got out
among the boys, and l just had to leave
the road. 1t got into the papers, and
have to leave Burlington. Say ~
"Well!"
Never mind, though. I'm out Of the
railroad business and running "A butchel
shop, and it won't hurt me to have thu
story republished. If it does, | mus
stand it. I'm chump, and chump
have no rights which newspapers ar,
bound to respect. You needn't even TT!
to make it easy for me, for my wife ha
SO newspaper articles about it in
scrapbook. and every time l get littl
off she points to that book and says:
Young man, come down. You ar
the chap who knocked the stufiing on
Of trunk which cost you month
wages T."
The Hawaiian star. [volume] (Honolulu [Oahu]) 1893-1912, 1895-09-16
THE POWER OF POETRY


Scott's Description of the Chase and What
the Ordinary Man Would Have Said.
Take, as a single instance of the pow.
er of poetry, Walter Scott's opening
lines in the Lady of the Lake." where
he describes the chase of the stag. The
stag escapes and evades his pursuers,
but what picture the great poet has
put into words!
Reduced to prose the ordinary observ.
er and writer would have said, "They
chased the stag several miles, but lost
him in the Trosachs. He could moi
possibly have said In prose:
The antlered monarch OF the waste
Sprung from his heathery couch In haste,
But ere his fleet career he took
The dewdrops from his tanks he shook;
Like crested leader, proud and high,
Toss'd his boamed frontlet TO the sky;
A moment gazed adown the dale,
A moment snuffed the tainted gale,
A moment listened to the cry
That thicken'd as the chase drew nigh.
Then as the headmost foes appear'd,
With one brave bound the copse he clear'd
And stretching forward free and far
Sought the wild heaths OF lam Var.
The poet began his picture with an
incident that only poet would have
thought worthy of words, but what 9
picture the few words makel
The stag at eve had drunk his I'LL
Where danced the moon on Monan's rill,
And deep his midnight lair had made
In lone Glenartney's hazel shade.
Forest and Stream.
The Hawaiian star. [volume] (Honolulu [Oahu]) 1893-1912, 1895-09-16

Extraordinary stories are told of the heal.
Ing properties OF new oil which Is easily
made from the yolk of hens eggs. The
eggs are first boiled hard. and the yolks are
then removed, crushed and placed over
fire, where they are carefully stirred until
the substance is on the point of catching
fire, when the oil separates and may be
poured of. One yolk will yield nearly two
teaspoonfuls Of oil. It Is In general use
among the colonists OF south Russia as q
means Of curing cuts, bruises, etc.7St
Louis Globe Democrat.
The Hawaiian star. [volume] (Honolulu [Oahu]) 1893-1912, 1895-09-16

Everybody spotted them for bridal
couple as they landed at the Erie depot,
in Jersey City, and there was a good
deal of winking and nodding among the
passengers on the ferryboat crossing to
New York The bride, who was a coun-
try girl of 90, was very uneasy and evil
IDENTIFY much put out. but the groom,
who was two or three years older, didn t
propose to be sat down on without show
ing his colors. He therefore walked
straight up to man who was grinning
and winking and queried:
Are you grinning at us, sir?''
"Oh, no, no, mol" replied the grinner
AS he instantly sobered up.
Didn't know but you were. We were
Just married this morning and are going
to spend week in New York Have
you any objections to the marriageT"
''Of course not. "
ANY objections to the bridal tour"
mo, sir
"You have seen newly welded cou-
Piles before, haven't your" kindly in
quired the groom.
YES few, " was the sheepish reply.
Didn't scare You out of your boots,
l hupe' Do You or any of your friends
here want to ask any questions?"
The grinner was very sober looking
man now, and he had no reply to that.
Because if they do now is the time,
you know. If anybody's at all curious,
I'll give 'em our names, ages, where
born, how brought up, politics, religion,
etc, and add that it was a case of love
OF first sight and neither of us had any
money to speak Of Did you say
No, the grinner didn't say. He was
out Of sight before the groom had gotten
that far, and for some reason there was
no more smiling and nodding among the
other passengers.
well, Tillie, said the husband as
he looked all around and then sat down
beside the blushing bride, 81 thought
the crowd wanted to know all about us,
and / was willing to explain, but it
seems l was mistaken, and so guess
we'll land on the other side all right
Are you quite comfortable, dear? Have
gumdrop, and then lay your dear sunny
head on your hubby dubby's manly
shoulder -
The Hawaiian star. [volume] (Honolulu [Oahu]) 1893-1912, 1895-09-16

The clock struck Jan. and then Feb.
10, but still she was alone.
The Eskimo wife slept but fitfully,
starting from troubled dream every
two or three weeks.
"Will he never conner"
Presently, however, she heard the
familiar football
Thanked again" she groaned. 1T is
hardly ten years since hs was drunk be-
fore.
1t was very late.
The gray dawn was already breaking,
and in less than month it would be
broad day Detroit Tribune
The Hawaiian star. [volume] (Honolulu [Oahu]) 1893-1912, 1895-09-16

Pineapples to DO canned need little
cooking In clear water before the sugar 10
added, or they will be hard, no matter how
much they are cooked. In fact, the longer
they are cooked with the sugar the tougher
they get and 1t Is the same with ounces
Granulated sugar In the proportion Of q
pound to three OF the fruit is about right
for canning.
The Hawaiian star. [volume] (Honolulu [Oahu]) 1893-1912, 1895-09-16

The Count (who has had little tiff
with his fiancee, the heiress) -But, my
treasure
The Heiress-Your treasure? Your in.
vestment, you mean !"-Exchange.
The Hawaiian star. [volume] (Honolulu [Oahu]) 1893-1912, 1895-09-16
Fauntleroy's Return.
yaara alopcai

Years elapsed.
They sometimes do.
bah Jove-awl" exclaimed fat
irregular looking individual in Londol
made clothes boosting himself painful.
down the gangplank of the Englisl
steamer and looking around with a dis
satisfied air, but l think it-aw-,
blooming beastly country, don't yol
know, and all that -
Then he went back to London.
1t was Little Lord Fauntleroy.
Rockland Tribune.
The Hawaiian star. [volume] (Honolulu [Oahu]) 1893-1912, 1895-09-16

First Horse-Well, they took poor old
Dobbin to the slaughter house today.
Second Horse-That too bad.
First Horse-It is bad, but worse
remains. They mean to make his hide
into bicycle saddles. = Indianapolis
Journal
The Hawaiian star. [volume] (Honolulu [Oahu]) 1893-1912, 1895-09-16

The car was filled with ladies' The
conductor stuck his head in the door
and yelled, "Move up, pleasel'
He must take us for advanced wom-
en-, said one, and the others smiled -
BROOKLYN Life.
The Hawaiian star. [volume] (Honolulu [Oahu]) 1893-1912, 1895-09-16

Aren't you afraid that friend of yours
will get drowned"
"No. He's all right. He can t
swim. Washington Star.
The Hawaiian star. [volume] (Honolulu [Oahu]) 1893-1912, 1895-09-16

Steamships will leave for and arrive from
San Francisco ON the following dates, till the
close Of 1895
ARRIvK Al H'NlLuIu LEAVE HoNoLuLu ROE