The San Francisco call., 1896-04-12
OBSERVATIONS AID REFLECTIONS.

uat naVoc historical research is
making of our childhood s idols! The dis
covery that there is not any s'truly" Santa
Slaus is only the beginning of an image
breaking that strews the pathways of life
with incessant wreckage. William Tell
and the apple, Pocahontas and the saving
OF Captain John Smith have been laid
away in their oblivious graves, to the desc
lation of millions of hearts; but child
moods latest and most poignant grief is
because of Mr.. William NJ. Sloane's fatal
demolition of Empress Josephine. To
think that this lovely woman, deserted
and left all forlorn while yet beautiful, and
whose sweet mission it was to soften the
rgors OF the marble-hearted man of des-
tlny, was no better than she ought to have
peen! In fact, not nearly SO good. 1t is
crushing. What paragon of virtue, love-
hness and constancy the old historians
pictured her. That she was beautiful and
Intellectually bright is still true, but, alas
she was as bad as beautiful and altogether
unworthy the admiration OF any child.
Those little, red-covered biographies of
the great and good What child has not
reveled in them and blessed the name of
Abbott as he read? And yet all the he
roes OF all the Abbotts were heroic with
the same dead level of mugwumpish i'm
partlallty, and made equally worthy of
youthful emulation, though at the cost of
entire disregard of historic verify. 1t were
better so. Children can safely be initis ted
into knowledge of the good ard the
beautiful, but not the true. Only those
can bear that who have come to the years
OF discretion, have suffered the smashing
OF their idols and have survived. The Alb
bolts, in falsifying history for childhood's
sake, did nobiy, and it is encouraging to
know that they made great deal of
money by their righteous SHINING. If
eood did not so often result from evil,
would there be so very much good in the
world?
My boy-for | like to talk to the boys
once in whie-read every scrap of relia-
bic history or anecdote about Lincoln that
comes In your way. Once interested in
the story of his life you will never weary
OF 1t. He was not dem-god like ULYSSES
or Hector, Achilles or Agamemnon, but he
was better than these, for he was flesh
and blood American, the perfected product
OF the best that is in American manhood.
Homely, wise, kind, patient, brave, not
too good for frolic, he was of all men just
the man to be boys hero. 1t seems al
most that God, in his providence, had kept
the Lincoln family impoverished of manly
qualities for more than hundred years in
order to save up those elements OF great
ness which belonged by right to three sue
cessive generations and make them avail
able at time of supreme national need.
pap for
do there will come TO be within that Par
thenon of ideals which every man carries
in his heart rugged model of American
manliness, living image and daily helper
in your work of character building which
will tend to make you an Abraham Lin
coin kind of man.
Speaking Of broken images reminds me
of another hoax-the sleeping beauty.
Beauty is beauty no longer when she
sleeps. Artists bave painted and sculptors
have carved sleeping beauties that were
beautiful, but they were not sleeping, but
only posing. In sleep the chin drops, the
eyelids shut Ike cellar-doors and all light
and life goes out of the face, leaving it as
if cast in the ugly mold of death. Why,
the greatest beauty that ever was would
set the dogs to bowling if they came upon
her while asleep. Only babies are pretty
when they sleep, and most babies are
pretty only when they sleep.
l have amused myself by making some
private statistical observations IN relation
to the attendance of men and women at
houses of worship and places OF recreation,
and find at houses of worship the ratio of
attendance of women to men is about five
to one; and that at places of amusement
OF the better sort the ratio of men to
women is about one and half to one, the
half OF man having the best seat for pur-
poses of observation and applauding most
immoderately whenever remarkable agility
is manifested on the stage.
Humanity is easily amused and the
simplest things are the most amusing. The
best lmpersonations are sometimes but
tamely applauded, while whistler is ap-
plauded again and again. l have seen q
good quartet retire behind the scenes with
out an encore, and ten minutes later a
human jumping jack turn himself into a
daddy-longiegs and straddle off the stage
amid deafening applause. While the
Keenest witticisms are provoking smiles, a
man at the other end OF the stage who pos
sesses no element of attractiveness except
a mouth like catfish, and who does moth
ing at all but make faces, has his unnatural
contortions rewarded with roars of laugh
ter. This is true, as every theater-goer
knows, but it does not prove degeneracy
of the human race, anthropoidal ancestry
or anything of that sort. 1t is just only
true and that is all there is of it..
There was visitor in the City a little
while ago whose coming and going were
worthy of note, but were not noted. She
is over 80 years ole, reared sons to die for
a country she had seen little of and daugh-
ters to pick lint for those who had gone to
war; but they were all dead-her husband
was dead-and now she is going about to say
good morning and good evening to coun-
try she has thousand reasons for hold
ing dear. A stout young neighbor accom-
panies her wherever she goes, and she has
been going most of the time for year or
two-traveling by easy stages, spending a
week here and there and month else
" or hofo