davidaulloa/AmericanStories huggingface dataset:
The San Francisco call. [volume] (San Francisco [Calif.]) 1895-1913, 1897-09-12
Current Literature.

The September number of Current Litera-
ture has two pages OF love songs selected
from the poems of the late Jean 1ngelow and
a portrait of the author There is selection
from "In the Tideway," the new book of Mrs.
Steele, author of 'On the Face OF the Waters"
and an interesting scene is quoted from Mrs.
OHnhant'S last novel.
The San Francisco call. [volume] (San Francisco [Calif.]) 1895-1913, 1897-09-12
Godey's MAGAZINE.

The September number OF Godey's Magazine
has an interesting article on 1.-THE Women
Who Influenced Byron" by Esther Singleton,
who treas the subject from a woman's point
of view. Women in Religious Ministry" as
q development OF the past half century, is
written by s. T. Willis. Carrie Stowe, in "The
Court of Love-" relates how the old glitch of
Bacon" ceremonies were revived at Dunmow
last year, after the apse of many generations.
The fiction features quite varied.
The San Francisco call. [volume] (San Francisco [Calif.]) 1895-1913, 1897-09-12
st. Nicholas.

The September mum Der OF ST. Nicholas has
story of Old England called "a Girl of Win
chester" by Virginia Cabell Gardner, telling
how little girl was selected 10 recite cpl
thalamium before Queen Mary on the occasion
Of the latter's marriage 10 Philip of Spain
FLOATING Fire-engines,' by Charles T. Hill,
gives description of the powerful freboats of
New York, which can throw twenty-five times
as much water the ordinary land engine
"a Right Royal Robe" des cribes one made
wholly of rare feathers. the work OF scores of
years, belonging 10 the Kings of the Sandwi CHI
Islands. "A Soap Bubble and It's Secrets"
shows how these can be made beautiful and
more lasting than the ordinary. 1.-The Street
Dogs of Constantinople" and "stories About
Elephants" will be sure to interest the chill
dren. The serials are now nearing their ends
There are many pictures, poems and verses.
The San Francisco call. [volume] (San Francisco [Calif.]) 1895-1913, 1897-09-12
Outline MAGAZINE.

Outing for September has fol- its opening
article From the Coast to the Golden klon-
dixie. with many illustrations taken on the
spot. The author is Edward Spur OF the
United States Geological Survey, and he gives
careful and reliable account of every stage
OF the journey from the steamer to the banks
where the nuggets lie. This is the main fcs +
ure of the magazine, but it teens with other
outing articles, among which are: "A Van
couver Salmon" by Edward W. Sandys tell
ing OF Southern and British Colum biz; "Duck-
Shooting on the Hudson River" by John Day
Knapp; "Bluefshing Off Fire Island" by
Frederick de CARTS; Deer Hun ting on San
hedrin," by NinetTa Eames; 1.-The Larchmont
Regatta Week." by A. j. .Kenealy, and "a
Woman's Outing Oh the Nepignon," by Berg
thora. There are the usual editorials, records
and poems.
The San Francisco call. [volume] (San Francisco [Calif.]) 1895-1913, 1897-09-12

stood Dog" is an account of how an amiable
animal got the name of Satan. The first part
of a novelette,, 1.-The Durkett Sperett,' is con-
tributed by Miss Sarah Barnwell Elliott, who
few years ago wrote the successful novel
GERRY"
The San Francisco call. [volume] (San Francisco [Calif.]) 1895-1913, 1897-09-12
The Lotus.

The Lotus, combined for August and Sep
TENDER, comes under cover designed to COM
pei attention. 1t has unique marginal illus
trations, head and tail pieces. Among its
prominent features is folio OF verse from q
prison, signed NO. 1882. Carmen Harcourt
Austin writes from Mexico story OF Chinese
elfabnegation, IAN Vets Penance." There
is love story in brief by Charles Fletcher
Scott, 1.-THE Faith of the Faithful"
"The Leper," by Leonard II. Robbins, is q
strong picture of the anguish of that affection.
1.-The Confession of Dead Man" is a fantasy
OF self-murdered soul. Walter Blackburn
gives a bright review OF q California book,
THE Itinerant House, and Other Stories" by
Miss Dawson. There are a number of short
The San Francisco call. [volume] (San Francisco [Calif.]) 1895-1913, 1897-09-12
NOTES AND NEWS OF THE LITERARY WORLD.

got the best of New York confidence man.
Another attraction is a new ballad by Kip
ling which is a dramatic personifcation OF
English rule in Egypt.
The San Francisco call. [volume] (San Francisco [Calif.]) 1895-1913, 1897-09-12
THE CHAP BOOK ON THE LARK.

out the story are we'll done; and life in Lon
don is revealed with the skill of true novelist.
The San Francisco call. [volume] (San Francisco [Calif.]) 1895-1913, 1897-09-12
LITERARY NOTES.

Harold Frederic has written a novel in which
he has departed from his familiar American
scenes. The new book deals with English life.
The San Francisco call. [volume] (San Francisco [Calif.]) 1895-1913, 1897-09-12

Mrs. Gertrude Anterior, who has been living
in England for some time, is going to Rouen,
where she will complete her new story.
The San Francisco call. [volume] (San Francisco [Calif.]) 1895-1913, 1897-09-12

1t is somewhat mundane to assert books
with money, but authors 90 not write for
glory, nor do publishers publish for the same
thing. Anyhow, without further comment,
the calcu alton has been made that Hall
Caine's "The Christian ought to bring him
in some $40. 600.
The San Francisco call. [volume] (San Francisco [Calif.]) 1895-1913, 1897-09-12

The reading of Nelson has by 20 means
abated III England. The demand for Mahan is
con unuous. Clark RusselPs "Our Great Naval
Hero" is the latest edition.
The San Francisco call., 1897-02-07

is great on anatomy of the horse. Nature
intended him for a veterinary Esculapius.
He is charmed by the hind knuckle of a
mare when the hinge shows deformities
which impair its lubricity, and ons uch a
survey his mind becomes peppered with
the rising bubbles of like reported cases.
The articulation of the equine, his mus
cles, his osseous tissue and his nerve fila
ments have so long saturated the mental
ity of Colonel Moore that he has ceased
meditating short cuts of moving on the
enemy, but has gone into the 9uartermas-
ter's department, where he sees to it that
the cavairymen are we'll horsed.
And what with Captain E. l.. Zalinsky
and his dynamite gun, Lieutenant Frank
Green of this department whose strong
mechanical turn has made him signal Off
Ger, and Lieutenant ]. P. Finlay, whose
explorations of the domain of meteoroloey Y
placed him in charge of the Weather
Bureau at San Francisco, and whose dis
covery of the fact that the tornado always
rises in the southeast quadrant of the bar
ometric low made him a member of the
French Academy, what with all these,
say, riding into distinguished billets on
the backs of their much petted hobbies.
what then are we going to do with the
poet, the musical com poser, the pianist,
the tragedian, the magician, the biblio-
phile and the geologist? for surely that
science which tends 10 the perfection of
methods and means for simultaneously
destroying large numbers of human be-
ings has no use for these arts which
flourish strongest in the weakest of the
piping times of peace.
Yet the fact that the wing of the service
The San Francisco call., 1897-02-07
FIELD FHRINGS IN FEBRUARY
The Naturalist at Large Muses. the Mystery Of the Blessed
Seedtime Season

TkTLNTIL this year 1 had always sup
f6ShE posed that the butterflies were
oJ9 creatures of a single season, living
their brief. happy summer and passing
away with the falling leaves before the
autumn rains. l find that in California,
at least, this is not the case. Our butter
flies, or at any rate some varieties ofthem,
seem to spend the rainy season In sort
of torpor, perched with folded wings, in
safe crannies, out of reach of wind and
storm, waiting till the clouds roll by and
brighter days come. One such patient
waiter 1 have noted daily for three months
past in a corner behind door, and l am
sure he has not stirred during all these
weeks. He will wave a languid wing or
move g foot if molested, but these are
all the signs of life he gives. Another
has been spending the winter just inside
the edge of yellow-hammer abandoned
hole, and one rested for, a matter of two
months or more on my window ledge, but
few away one sunny day recently, and
to-day handsome gold and brown fellow
took fight from under the caves of the
shed roof and f1uttered away to where the
wild currant is poisoning yonder by the
stream.
This probably explains the presence of
butterflies in the winter fields. They are
not newcomers, but old inhabitants, sun
ming themselves on warm mondays. l
have counted a dozen within the last
hour huttering about among the mustard
and cress A little spring salad does not
come amiss with them any more than it
does with us.
1t Is surprising, the number of insects
to be noticed about during the winter
months. A goldfnch has been travelling
up and down the trunk of yonder big tree
for the last fifteen minutes searching the
crevices for something which he evidently
finds, if one may judge from his frequent
little pecks and darts at the rough bark,
and a dragon-fy is skimming about on
the surface of the pool yonder. | have
seen no ants as yet, but big bumble- bee
Just went blundering by, and the honey
bees are already improving the shining
hour among the swamp willows. This
has been a comfortable winter for the
bees, but fancy they are tired enough of
honey at present, and are glad to get
some fresh bread again. They find this
in the yellow pollen of the willow catkins,
and devour it eagerly. There is not very
much of it as yet, but fortnight hence
the ground will be strewn with the yellow
powder, and little later the air will be
full of the willows winged seeds sailing
off to who knows what fair bourn2 The
airy, fairy things may travel out through
the Golden Gate and reach the isles of the
South sea. Or they may never come to
port at all. 1t is just because of this ex.
treme hazard of fortunes that the willow
and other wind-fertilized plants produce
such myriads of seed. Millions come to
naught, but there are plenty, even after
the bees have eaten their fill of yellow
bread.
The bees here by the streamside need
fresh bread for they have had hard
winter, despite favorable conditions.
They swarmed late in the season and found
The San Francisco call., 1897-02-07
Distinguish Themselves Anes Lines He Alien
Profession Of Ams~D Of Music Art Sconce.

feel q loss as of the passing of a brother
when Captain Anthony Wayne Vogdes,
long stationed at Fort Mason, a few weeks
ago folded his tent and silently moved
away to take position at some Eastern
rendezvous in obedience to some reIent-
less order which took no account of the
welfare of California scienceP The captain
is geologist and bibliophile; and pro-
ducts of his learned labors in volume of
bibliogra ply of paleozoic crustacea now
ornament the shelves of the California
Academy of Sciences.
The specially in geology of the captain.
however, was the trilobite. the earliest
form OF invertebrates which appears in
the silurian rocks The captain made a
profound study of this crab, and great was
his Joy upon occasion at finding that his
loved California had given up most per-
feet specimen of this fossil. 1t was found
(by the captain, think) in one of the in
terror counties and was of all his collec-
ton the most rare and valuable. The
erudite papers which the captain wrote
upon this trilobite and others of the
species are among the most important
contributions of which the academy can
boast in its department OF paleont ology.
By Captain Vogdes books were held in
| something of the same esteem as are
gems by the lapidary. His library was
scientific and in it's lines exhaustive. He
had the most important collection of
United States scientific reports known to
exist outside the Government library, and
his tlreless prowl over the interiors of
every secondhand book store in San
Francisco had made him thoroughly
The San Francisco call., 1897-02-07

insignificance and the real thing in life is
the hobby, risen to enwrap the man, to
make him an expression OF it, not as an
embodiment of mllitarIsm as he was
started in his life path TO become.
Thus it occurs that under the blue coat
and the epaulettes walks the actor or the
artist. To the world they are lieutenant
this and captain that; but to nature and
their own their own deep selves one is an
expressionIst of dramatic force, the other
mirrors his surroundings with the brush
and canvas.
OF course it can be accounted that where
a man comes to be great in some line
which is in a manner incident TO the
business of war that he is pushing some
thing definitely within the scope OF his
profession. The zone of industry en-
braced by the material needs of the army
is SO wide that studies which a few years
ago would have been regarded as dilettant-
ism and properly categored as hobbies
are now within the recognized sphere of
military practice. Indeed, there are occu-
pations which primarily were actually in
dulged as hobbies, which the expanding
embrace of the military profession has
since inclosed and they stand to-day as
regular departments of the service.
When Lieutenant g. o. Squier Third
Artillery, began delving into electricity he
did not perceive that such would in
short while be an appropriate arm of
military mechanics; but such soon came
to pass, and when he invented a device
for measuring high velocities of proiec-
tiles, both inside and outside the guns, by
means of polarized light he was recognized
as more of an inventor than soldier. 1t
was through Captain John Mills of the
Engineer Corps dIverting his off moments
with electrical machines that he came to
conceive the idea of lighting the Bartholdi
statue in the New YORK harbor, and it was
through his penchant for delving into the
conduct of the mysterious physical fluid
that he was put on the Lighthouse Board,
where he still is.
Captain J. NJ. ingalls, is q great genius
in mathematics; the mobility of his brain
fbers fairly weeps with figures, like dollar
marks in the dreams of a pawnbroker.
His delight used to be to figure out the
transit OF Venus and to indulge in long
and involved correspondence with noted
professors of mathematics over intricate
problems IN that science. Under the SOL
dier's cloak of the man stalked the
Archimedes, no more fitted by nature to
The San Francisco call., 1897-02-07

the third round. 1t was a mill which
would have done good the heart of Captain
Charles D. Collins. in charge of small arms
practice, now of Denver, late OF Los
Angeles, where he was on the staff at the
headquarters of the Department of Ari-
zona.
The captain is handy with the stuffed
gloves and nimble and spry upon his
pins. He punches the bag daily and is
always ready for round with any man
of his class. of which, unfortunately or
otherwise, there are very lew. 1t has
been the policy OF the service to encourage
athletic exercises among the men for the
benefit it affords in the development of
their muscles and of their physical
strength as soldiers. and with the ath-
The San Francisco call., 1897-02-07

her Sunday-night beaux with song ard
music from the compositions of Major
John A Darling OF the Third Artillery,
who has recently taken brief leave Of
the Presidio to seek health in the EastP
The carol of song breaks out through the
brass bound blue and the yelling soul of
the songster browns the fierce cultural of
the man Of blood.
Hark! the sepulchral tones: s'I am thy
fathers spirit; doomed for a certain term
! to walk the night''-and thus in amateur
theatricals used Captain Butler Price to
recite the part of Hamlet's ghost while
Lester Wallack sitting in the audience
greet ted his closing sentences with the ap-
plause of a critic who knew when the
ghost was we'll performed. Wallack
many times urged Captain Price to take
the stage and Fanny Kemble was anxious
to star with him, but the captain steadily
refused to leave the army, and though he
is still the actor that nature made him,
yet he never quilted the ranks of the
amateur.
The same remarks are applicable to
Captain Charles Humphries of Angel
Island, the magician who knows and does
all the tricks that Hermann knew, con-
cerning whom the Sunday CALL had an
account in its issue of January II. Captain
Humphries. as did Captain Price. ex-
periences the fact that however great may
be an actors merit, the world does not come
to know it so long as he remains an
amateur and he cannot elevate his hobby
into profession and sustain himsel in
the army.
Then what has brazen cannon and the
weighty calsson, in short, what has ord
nance anyway to do with poetry? Yet,
Captain w. B. Gordon, ordnance staff
officer at West Point, writes the most
charming verse; romantic pentameters,
lam bic idyls, the poetry of love with its
soft airs breathing perfume through the
melody of words, the artist in language
xpIessing the sentiments or the passions
of the soul, the delights of the mind; and
outside his window the armed sentry
moves his measured pace around mounds
of cannon balls and big bellied howitzers
yawn their wide mouths, there, if need be,
to beich out fire ana thunder.
And while Captain Gordon is writing
poetry, and Lieutenant Wise OF the Ninth
Infantry is being hauled aloft ''messen-
ger"-like on the cord of his tandem kites,
whereby he demonstrates that a com bina !
ton of box-kites can be flown which will
support the weight of an observer in mid
air, and while Lieutenant-Colonel Theo-
dore A. Dodge is writing an extension to
his history of Gustavus AdoIphus, the
neighbors of Colonel J. V. Mid
dleton, physician-surgeon of the Depart
ment OF California. are listening TO an
opus of Beethoven which ascends from
the windows of the colonefs house. The
MIN bic fingers of the military physician
are deft upon the ivories OF the upright,
and the staccatos, the crescendos and plan
issimos punctuate and swell and modu-
late beneath the touch of one of the most
exquisite performers upon the coast, per-
haps within the country.
But what local lover of science did not
The San Francisco call., 1897-02-07

Joseph r. Binns of the First Infantry.
He went into political economy, and i'm
mediately he became submerged in deep
water. In that study, instead of serene
prospects as charm the eyes of his
brother officers from the saddles of their
several steeds. he saw everything awry /;
civilization trending backward into the
beast; the country going to the dogs; the
army to be made the instrument to Cypress
the masses under the rough-shod heel of
tyranny. Lieutenant Binns consulted his
conscience; he would not lend his
efforts to subvert human liberty; the
Sacramento riots had shown him
how the thing was going; he was
present with his company on the side
OF force in that scrimmage; his books and
theories had shaped the condition in his
mind, the instance of the riots but fitted
the condition as he perceived it. The
President smirkingIy accepted the resig-
nation which the lieutenant rendered,
and the only political economist which
,, The army had ever known, in sulIen re-
| fusal. in statuesque pose of patriotism,
| had cut the service.
But brain alone has not claimed al the
hobby riders among the officers of the
army. Brawn as we'll as brain is not
without its distinguished Representa- tatives.
Second Lieutenant Nolan, First Infantry,
| now at the Presidio. had a long record as
football player at West Point, and IN
the game which was played here recently
with the Olympics he surprised the ma
tives with his aggressive punting of the
! pigskin. 1t was he who maneuvered on
| the left when a military picked eleven re-
Gently played the Berkeleyites.
| Lieutenant r. G. Croxton, also of the
| Presidio does not himself very actively ex-
ercise as an athlete. but he is sage and willy
as an athletic manager. He knows all
about the handling OF athletic exhibitions,
| is familiar with the methods of managers,
| with the terms, the tricks and favors, is
eminent in such business. At Beuicia he
lately engineered the first fstic encounter
| between soldiers which has ever taken
place in the army. 1t was pitched in a
! twenty -four-foot ring and it was four
round affair. In that bout Peters of Com
pany B worsted Ramsey of Company c in
The San Francisco call., 1897-02-07

| cry-"towh ee''-from which he gets his
name, "brown towhee," but very early in
the season the male bird has short
rather feeble, but sweet song with which
he wooes his lady. But the towhee for all
his plain garb, is lovable bird and a
thorough-going little gentleman, which is
more than can be always said of his more
popular cousin, the robin of song and
story. 1t is pleasant to note the courteous
manners of the ground robin il mixed
company of birds. He is polite even to
the English sparrow, and have seen him
make way for young one of that tribe
where all have been scratching among the
loose hay about barndoor.
He is an engaging little head of the
house during nesting time, too, and grows
quite thin and careworn attending to the
wants of the family. The pair set up
housekeeping early in the year, usually in
the low bushes, lupin, southernwood,
greasewood and manzanita that cover
these hills, and raise two, sometimes three
broods during the summer. The ground
robin is cheerful chap. despite his sober
dress, and no weather seems too wet or
too windy for him to venture forth. On days
when all the other birds sit disconsolately
huddled under leafy shelter, the towhees
may be seen, happy as larks, cheerily
fitting about, stopping now and then to
give their brown feathers shake.
The American 70 bin (Merula mlgratoria)
is unusually numerous hereab outs this
spring. They always sing during tn e
rainy weather, and the air has been melo-
dious with their notes during the past
week. The fogs, too, have begun their
annual epithalamium-a not unpleasant
sound at little distance, and 1 heard a
house wren singing yesterday, though 1
could not get sight of the little fellow.
Across the burrows of the plowed field
below me q thousand spider-webs CLEAN,
diamond studded by drops of moisture,
as though a jeweled canopy had been
spread for some fairy fete. 1t is wonder
full how these gossamer webs withstand
the rain. The larks make sad rents in
them now as they brush through its
lacy meshes, stopping every now and
then to bring some lacemaker's work to
an untimely end. The keen fragrance OF
the upturned earth, soaked in the soft
large February rains, assails the nostrils
pleasantly. There is hush and a mys-
terry over the bare brown fields, where
the seeds OF the coming crop lie passing
Silly from death unto life. Mother Earth
it is indeed at this time. guarding her
treasure in the brooding, nourishing
warmth of the eternal feminine.
To be afieid in February is to come very
near to the heart of things, and the expe-
rience is wholesome and refreshing. Our
little brown neighbors out in the Pacific
Ocean have days OF the year set apart
when the whole population goes out 10
see the fruit trees aboom. This is Gus
tom we would do well to initiate but bet
ter yet for us, il we ever arrive at the full
ness of seeing that which will send US to
Mother Nature in her earliest time of
promise, ''to make our souls" and learn
of hor in the blessed seedtime season.
ADELINE KNAPP.