The herald., 1896-06-14

withstood the assaults of six years prac-
tical experience; and he has often been
heard to say that discarded mail bags
| saved him many a tailor's bill in his
struggling youth.
Years and years and some more years
rolled around until he finally found him
self possessed of a sufficient crop of the
fruits of honest toll to encompass the
ownership, of a herd of cattle. while n
| couple of Spanish land owners, whose
knowledge of our language and complex
business methods initiated to their det
riment during a transaction with him,
| in which the words whereas" Witness
eth," and I'VE therefore hereunto set
our hands and SEALS" etc, figured
prominently, involuntarily furnished
him with several thousand acres of val
liable land, as they afterward learned to
| their great sorrow. From that time his
| journey up the hillside of prosperity
was smooth and serene. Aside from a
| certain amount of reticence concerning
! some of his earlier adventures, owing
to modesty and other private reasons.
his "reminiscences of the pioneer days of
California and advice to young men pos
| sessng character, but small capital and
| experience, are of the most interesting
character, and he stands prominently in
| the foreground of the few who make q
success of this life.
| But / lose the thread of my narrative.
Facts will dissipate theory in spite of
ourselves.
1t seems to us that that old fellow
never enjoys life; that is in the true
sense of the word. His whole existence
is devoted to one purpose-accumulat-
ing wealth-and 1 believe that the en-
joyment of wealth consists in it's spend
ing. But the moment man of that age
is interrupted in his progress through
the groove which years Of steady appli-
cation have scooped out for him, a
species of torture about which more fiex-
ible imaginations have small concep-
ton. takes hold of him, and all there is
in life for him is gone.
Then here Is another breakout. The
characters, q rickety old hay wagon,
about a dozen bushels of sediment, cas-
tor beans, thistles. cactus, dirt and some
hay, mixed up on it's bottom for the first
layer, and tumbled thereon, so many or
more to the square yard. a crowd of
girls and young fellows, each fitted out
with a fish horn and iron ribbed pair of
lungs, making top covering. They
seemed to be enjoying themselves as
they rolled over cobble stones and the
jolting punched them up in tangled
mass until another collision with
boulder restored order again. This Is
what is called straw ride, we believe.
This doubtless is true. but it strikes us 1t
has many points of resemblance to the
old fashioned sport of rolling a human
DelHS uOWl IL Hill III IL 1ldlltQ up UdIItl, VI
namented with a few dozen iron spikes,
sharp end in; but probably there is some
difference in favor of the straw ride; the
man in the barrel always travelled
alone.
The old mans comfort is money max
ing-not the spending of 1t. The more he
makes. the older he grows, the greater
becomes his greed. There is no f1nality
about it; the realm of his desire broad
ems, and its boundaries become DINNER
and DINNER as his wealth increases.
Such enjoyment may be hollow, and
poor IDEAL but it is all he has-simply
the requirement of more, more. And
so it will be until he falls asleep some
time, and the powerful presence, Habit,
will fail to awaken him ever again.
About or o'clock the young people
ARRIVE home. and crawl out of the mess
little exhausted with the vigorous
massage treatment; but the bruises, dirt
etc, are simply reminders of the fact
that no pleasure is unalloyed in this
world.
This brings to our mind the eastern
diversion of sleigh ride parties. Now,
to the man who will look back with SEN
sible eyes, and not let that painful sigh
for youth and it's happy associations
spoil his logic why there was about as
much pleasure in sleigh ride, outside
of the companionship incidental to the
occasion, as in sitting on a back porch
in 10 below zero weather. with both feet
in a tub of water, string of bells in
one hand and long whip in the other
keeping both accessories in active oper-
alton.
That incident, which in the eyes of the
rest of the world at least detracted from
the splendor of the festivities attending
the coronation of Nicholas the Second,
cZar of all the Russias. was probably
not upon the original program. The de-
sire for what was probably the first
substantial meal the majority of the as
semblage ever had in prospect, led to
the mad rush for food at an unfortunate
time and place. and anywhere from 1900
to 1000 human beings were killed in the
catastrophe that followed.
1t throws light upon a queer condi-
ton of affairs prevailing in some places
across the water. On one side of the
stage of this drama, barbaric celebra-
tion dressed up in Tyrian purple, prec-
ious gems. gold and silver-millions and
millions of money. On the other side, a
hungry mass of people, to the number
of 20OO 900, camped out on the open plain,
awaiting through the darkness and chill
of whole night the signal for the open
ing of the feast. 1t sounded and a STAN
pede like that of a vast herd of wild cat
tie took place, in the desperate struggle
for the first mouthful of food. In ten
minutes, probably upwards of three
thousand human beings were deprived
of life and the curtains rung down upon
a charnal house, the wall of death rising
up on the morning air, announcing the
arrival of another symbolic day in the
existence of monarchy whose legends
and history from the beginning to the
present abound with kindred events.
Here is a little more. In case the
weather prophets will give us spell Of
such weather as saluted us a week ago
last Sunday and Monday, another bene-
fit for 'Libre Cuba" would not be out
of order. The lawn party given on
Washington street short time ago was
well patronized, even with the severe
chill of the night. However, eating ice
cream and drinking claret punch under
the stars while bundled up in overcoats
and furs, is hardly regular, but it indi-
Gated how the people here feel about the
endeavors of that tiny speck in the
southern seas to shake off the incubus
of the toothless old wolf who for the
past 800 years bled it to the point Of
extinction. But the grip of the treach-
erous old leper is steadily weakening,
and it is as near certainty as any
thing not yet actually come to pass.
that the most bloodthirsty, cruel. cow
ardly and cold blooded nation that
ever disgraced humanity, will soon see
with dim eyes her last remnant of
power and possession in the western
hemisphere slip from her nerveless
grasp, and find herself foundering in