The San Francisco call. [volume] (San Francisco [Calif.]) 1895-1913, 1895-05-28
THE ST. CLAIRE CLUB.
How the San Jose Organiza-
ton Perpetu the Old
Time Festival.
PREPARING FOR THE EVENT
and Breakfast on the Head
of the Bull.


of the Bull.
The members of the Sainte Claire Club of
San Jose have reminded their friends in
this City that the annual bullshead break
fast will take place at the Guadalupe mines
next Thursday. The spot where this
sylvan banquet is spread is on the grounds
of the summer residence of James V. Cole
man, who has Hospitality put his premises
at the disposition Of the club. The shade
is perfect, and the surroundings most
characteristic mountain scenery.
This is always gala day with the Sainte
Claires. Under those broad oaks they
make merry, forget their sorrows and
remember tn cir calamities no more. No
one is of age on these occasions, all are
boys who have not yet arrived at the age
of reason and who are therefore relieved
from all those burdens which wisdom
imposes, free to play marbles, spin tops or
luxuriate in the exhilarating pastime leap
frog without any sage to 'call them down"
for undue exhibitions OF frivolity.
The drive to the Guadalupe is appetite
ing. 1t winds by the stream which has
only summer existence in the valley, but
which endures all the season in the gorge
of the Guadalupe. Fine alders and syca-
mores fringe its banks, and the vast area
of orchards of the Santa Clara Valley
group into the landscape from the rising
ground. Large and well-kept farmhouses
dot the road, with here and there an inn,
with refreshing setting of oaks and
poplars and good-natured looking land
lord framed in the doorway.
The chefs of the bullshead breakfasts
of this club have grown old in the bust
ness. They are the sons of the original
owners OF the soil, whose mothers sucked
them on the broad porches of the cool
adobe dwellings, and whose fathers owned
the herds that roamed where apricot,
peach and apple tree now stand in long,
symmetrical rows. But the American
came and the Spanish grants changed
hands, the herd-owners became sim ply
herd.men and the sons of the former lords
OF the manor now cook bullsheads for the
offspring of the strangers who absorbed
their inheritance.
The native Californian has genius for
out-of-doors cooking He knows the value
of the grill, and the frying-pa is used
only for the frijole, that delicious red bean
OF the country. He enjoys standing over
the embers of the fragrant WOO fire watch
ing the asado crisp and crackle and the
rich brown juice-conhning crust form on
the carcass of the beef or lamb, not to
speak of the universal and highly es-
teemed sucking-pig. By his side is his
compatriot, blending the tomato and green
chilli and tender onion for the salsa, with
out which no asado or bullshead is
perfect.
The staff of the Sainte Claire Club put the
bullsheads into the caverns they have
exhuned for them on Wednesday night
All that day big fire has been kept burn
Ing in that hole, until the rocks that line
1t have come to red hot pitch. Then,
wrapped in sacks, the masks Of the brave
an other lining of sacks cast over them, a
covering Of earth laid upon the sacks, and
the chefs sit down to keep their vigil by
the shrine.
There, under the stars. with the muir
muir of the river in their ears and the
soughins OF the trees above their heads,
these brown natives smoke their cigar
cites and talk of the old days of the
rodeo and fandango, ere agriculture
usurped the plains, and mems possessions
were limited by fences and surveyors
monuments. Perchance the ancestors of
those very bulls which are now steaming
in the red soil may have furnished forth
Spanish holiday and pierced with their
sharp horns the horses ridden by the
daring matadors. Madre de Dos, what
change since the dons rode to the Mission
Church in serapas, crisp with gems and
gold lace. and there was food and shelter
and wine for all, and only the peon. did
the work!
These jeremiads are quickly exchanged
for business when the teams of the club
men bowl along the smooth road and the
dlslnherited hidalgos buckle down to work.
Not, indeed, to spread the cloth or arrange
knives and forks and napkins for the
Euests-that la Dor is performed by the
hired servants of the club-but to swing the
n fyAh Ia chnr al h,,,~ =,
toro to the surface. This ceremony is al
ways performed in the presence of an
audience. The intelligence is spread that
the bullsheads are to be disnterred, and
the Sainte Claires assemble around the pit
and prepare their nostrils for the first de-
hclous Whit Of the steaming meat. Never
mine yielded richer treasure than those
Spanish miners drag from the larded earth.
The carcasses which have been spiJted
over the long pit of embers are also pro-
nounced cooked to q turn by the chef in
command. Then sharp knives are plunged
into the fat sides of beef and lamb and pig,
while the man at the salsa works his spoon
around with brisk and skillful twist of
the elbow and wrist pregnant with antici-
patton. The club men preserve a solemn
silence and exchange giances only. The
moments are toe precious to be wasted in
small talk. The funny man who attem pied
to begin a story would strike cold frost.
But when the first keen edge of appetite
is taken off, and the jaws of the gourmets
work slower and with more deliberation,
conversation is again resumed. Its tone is
gastronomic. These bullsheads break
fasts possess progressive quality mas
much as the last enc is always pronounced
the best. 30 with the beans, the asado and
the salsa, not to mention the wine, which
naturally may be supposed to improve
with age. Only the anecdotes are new,
and not few of the older ones receive
honor toward tho close of the feast when
the guests become less critical.
The Sainte Claire Club takes no heed of
the decadcnce of this one-time universal
banquet, but every year honors the bulls
head with its preference. And those re-
unions are always delightful, and richly
reward the observers and perpetrators of
this old California custom.
---------------
YOSEMITE VALLEY.
The Annual Meeting to Be Attended by
the Governor.