The San Francisco call., 1896-12-25

Christmas eve scores of little brass
bound apprenti tees on ships now In port
received dollar each with which to
enjoy the great holiday. To the average
San Francisco pleasure-seeker this may
seem small amount, but those boys will
spend the whole of the feast day enjoying
themselves, and will then have some left.
In years gone by l have spent many
holidays in this port on one dollar, and
persuaded myself that 1 had had a good
time. That is to say, that one dollar is
the general limit OF the captains gene
rosity on such occasions, but the lads
have discovered a way 10 outwit the cap
tain. In the first place, they will pour
into their commanders ear tale of woe
about their lack of clothing, want of soap,
need of ia bleware, and other complaints,
until he is persuaded to make an agree
ment with some waterfront tailor to let
the boys have about ten dollars worth of
goods each, for which he will be RESPONSE
BILE and which he will charge up to their
account. On leaving the ship the boys
will at once proceed to their tailor and
will make a fiat-footed proposition to him
to sell their ten dollars worth Of credit for
anything they can get.
The tailor will tell the boys that he has
to pay the captain 40 per cent commission
for the privilege of having the ships crew
for customers. This is little steep, but
25 per cent is an average figure. Then the
dealer will tell the boys that, as O rule,
about one-half of the customers run away
from their ships before the vessel sails, in
which event the tailor loses the amount of
his bill. On this showing he will persuade
the boys that it is about the right thing
to give them 81 % in return for their
signature to $40 bill of goods. 1t being a
case of Hobson's choice the boys compro-
mise with the amount named and two or
three Chinese cigars thrown in, the tailor
suggesting that the gift of the cigars is
dead loss to him and is only INDUCED in
for the purpose of securing the trade of
the young gentlemen when they again
come into port
Armed with So 25 the apprentices then
proceed to have a main royal time. Al
though they have probably just LETT their
supper table their first point of attack
will be restaurant where each will drink
about three cups of coffee and eat about
twelve varieties of dyspeptic confection-
ery This will cost them on an average
about four bits each, and then they will
proceed to take in all the free shows on
Kearny street and Montgomery avenue,
and probably by way OF variety they will
spend half an hour in the reading-room
attached to the Mariners Church, and
when they leave each will be CARRYING
several copies of some sectarian magazine.
On Christmas day dime will invariably
be blown in for trip to Golden Gate
Park. The park has great attractions for
the sailor boys, and they can always be
found around the molk y-house and the
bird house, surrounded by an OPEN
mouthed, credulous crowd listening to
| their tales of the remarkable monkeys and
birds that they have seen and caught and
tanned and eaten and been attacked by in
all manner of foreign countries. a seat in
the gallery of theater will certainly take
a portion of their money. for there are no
boys in the world who appreciate theater
more than sailor boys. They would cruise
around the world to see ballet.