The San Francisco call., 1896-04-05
OBSERVATIONS and REFLECTIONS.

preao, he crushed bits of it into little
pasty balls and tossed them at the birds as
they passed, and soon had spirited
throng IN the wake of the ferry-boat.
some OF the birds, in their eagerness, flew
quite close to where this good Samaritan
was sitting, perilously balanced on the
rail-, and some, but not all. became quite
expert In catching the dainty morsels on
the ny, while others, missing again and
again and having to descend each time to
the water to scramble for what they got,
soon learned their proper sphere and re-
NAMED on lower level, content to get as
best they could the little which escaped
the vigilance of their more capable COM
panlons. They knew their place and kept
~. very pretty were these little ships Of
the sea and the air, tossing and tacking
ana performing evolutions which Uncle
sans white squadrons might initiate in
vain, but the inequality in capability was
ABOUT as apparent among these featherec
olpeds as among those other bipeds clad
in worsteds and mohairs up in the strug-
Cling City.
There is now and ever has been more or
less discussion relative to the natural in
equality OF the sexes, and from this time
on to next election day California is likely
to hear much of it; but there is, at least,
one particular in which it must be con-
fessed that the wives and mothers of this
great American comm onallty manifest an
easy superiority over their husbands end
brothers, and that is in their ability to
handle hot dishes without physical dis
comfort. What! do you call that hot? 2"
a woman will ask, in derision, as she takes
from your agitated fingers dish which
has fairly scorched them, although you
have done your best at shifting it from
hand to hand and finger to finger; "why,
l could hold that dish all day." ''Pity
moveth the heart to love-" is an old
proverb, and it may have been true
proverb In some time or place, but the
pity your wife feels for you when she finds
you dancing about, swapping your fingers,
after having tried to adjust lamp Chin
ney set awry, or to take from the stove q
hot-handled frying sort of pity
moves their heart to derisiveness of spirit.
1t must be admitted on behalf of women
that they enjoy unrivaled good fortune in
being able to keep out of Jail. Vital sta
tistics compiled from the last census re-
turns show that for every ten thousand
men in America 23.6 of them were peep
ing from behind bars, while of each ten
thousand women in our country only 2.10
are restrained of their liberty. Why should
class of beings so little restrained OF
their liberty be SO solicitous for yet greater
liberty? Do they expect to keep altogether
out of jail?
1 encountered group OF four or five
men the other day standing interestedly
about a little. shallow pool of water which
had oozed from an ad iacent hillside watch
ing little hair-like, writhing object which
one OF the party had suspended on lead
pencil. There was much discussion as to
what the object was, some averring that it
was an infantile reptile; but at least two
OF the party asserted, and offered to back
the assertion with good, hard coin, that
the little object was not yet snake but
horsehair turning into a snake. Straight
way my mind went back to my old SWIM
ming days when l, too, was boyishly cred
ulous and thought it possible for horse
hairs to turn into snakes; but even in
those days proved the falsity of the popu-
lar belief by plucking hairs from the tail
of my pony and Dottling them in water,
putting them in watering troughs and
watching them day by day for weeks and
weeks, yet not one of them ever turned
into snake or anything at all, though
watched never so closely. These grown
up men certainly ought to have known
that spontaneous generation is an ex-
ploded idea and that dead things do not
turn into live things TO live and wriggle, as
this little object Enthusiastically did, but
there was not one in the crowd who was
so confident of this that he dared accept
the proffered wager. Of course the wrig-
gler was nothing but little brother earth
worm, gordius by name, whose larvae find
a home within the bodies of spiders and
other insects, but the incident serves to
show that men are but boys of larger
growth, not yet 50 familiar with science as
to altogether escape boyish credulity.
l was brought up on breakfast, dinner
and supper and SO were most Eastern and
Western people, and these people are
everywhere attended with dyspepsia
Farther south there are some people
who were brought up on breakfast lunch
and dinner and dyspepsia among them is
not so nearly universal; while in England
and on the Continent, where all live by
breakiasting. lunching and dining, dys-
pepsia plaques the people little. Are these
facts condolences or correlated incidents =?
Is it all in the names applied to our
National meals which gives US our National
disease, or do we eat our principal meal at
the wrong time of day? l have reference
to our great, home-living commonality
and not to those who live at clubs and
restaurants and so follow the English
fashion. Expert testimony on this point
is in order, but no Grahamite or vegetarian
need apply. l refuse to believe in that
gospel which teaches us that all good
things TO eat are bad to eat and all dis
tasteful products wholesome.
What becomes of all the people when
times get hard? Did the reader ever notice
how quickly ''to let" notices appear in the
windows of dwellings, storerooms and
downtown offices after panic has fallen
upon the country? What becomes of all
the people who formerly occupied those
dwellings, stores and offices? Are there
,,of i,,st nonn1o ;p $ha xrortl