The San Francisco call., 1898-03-28
Monuols Extend PrOfeS- sional Courtesy to
 Miss Held.
Midst Smell and Smoke z Party of Theatrical People
 See Chinatown.
Tho Guide Tries to Explain LOca Politics to FrenchwOnnan
 and Paints

Anna Held, the little French woman, who has danced her way into the hearts of half the gay people on the American continent, made her first ap- pearance on the San Francisco stage last evening. Unfortunately she did not do her regular speciality, but, for the nonce, played the part of a spectator, and consequently the large audience, comprising Chinatown'S four hundred, who had gathered to see the ninety seventh act of the latest Picking suc- cess, "The Green Dragon and the Yel- low Dog" missed the treat that their white brethren will enjoy at the Bald win this evening.
 Miss Held is an inquisitive little bit of Parisian femininity and the minute her car rolls into city she starts out to see all of the place that is worth looking at, in which laudable endeavor every minute of her time, when she is not on the stage, is employed. Yester- day she organized a party to go through Chinatown, after the fair Anna herself had slept off the fatigue of an afternoon ride to the Cliff, where she had been to look at "Ze leetle Zeel- SkinS.'
 Miss Held was awakened from her
 
 into her boudoir emerged in a few minutes clothed in a light brown street dress and ready for her visit to the haunts of the descendants of the Tartar kings. So the whole party, consisting of Miss Held herself, George Bowles, Charles Hanlon, the lawyer, who was there as a guest of MT. BoNIes, started off on their tour.
 'Ees it not droll, Ze musk, and ze szmell, mais, but Zat ees not 20 droll as ze odder," was the comprehensive and critical remark that the Chinese theater provoked as the party passed through the doors and, forcing it's way through crowds of unWaShed Cantonese that lined the walls and blocked the passage ways, took their places in stage box that had been decorated by the management with a brand new American flag in honor of the distin- guiShed professional visitor. Miss Held sat and gaZed at the stage with interest while the audience of males in the pit sat and 'rubber-necked" at her heed full of the furious glanceS sent to them by their jealous better-halveS who were seated in the women's gallery. The men had not seen anyone so attractive as this girl from across the water for many a long day and resolved to have all the fun they could out of the sight while it lasted even though 1t meant
 
 night behind the domestic privacy of their fireside mattings.
 From the theater the party went through opium denS, where the drowsy devoteS of the poppy awoke from their dreams long enough to strike for a dime and immediately relapsed into their state of coma, through alleys where ladies of no especial reputation peeped at it from out strange little barred windows and passed remarks which were fortunately not understood; to tea houses where Miss Held ate French bon-bons and refused tea; to Murderer's alley, where her disappoint- ment had been assuaged by the expla- nation that only the early morn ing hours were devoted to kill ing, owing to a superstition that it was unlucy to get a shot or a stab in the dark; to the Grand Hotel, where the leper exhibited his shrunken limbs and told about the time he used to do politics for Dr. O'Oonnell, and where the guide tried to explain to Miss Held what politics meant, and was reSusci- tated with difficulty; to a drug store where perfume was purchased to kill the odor of the opium joints. and where the party hurried into the open air trying to get rid of the perfume, and in each place Miss Held would turn to the person nearest to her and ask queS- tions in a mixture of French and Eng fish which were .nly exceeded in their unintelligibility by the answers re- ceived.
 The last place visited was a Chinese pawnshop, whre MT. Bowles seemed to be perfectly at home and lnstfnctively reached for his watch, butsrecollecting himself asked the Chinese behind the counter what he would loan on the girl and was promptly offered $500, with 5 per cent off, as the feet did not come up to the Oriental standard.
 As the party turned from Chinatown proper into the environs on the way home Miss Held was heard to inquire confidentially of the guide as to the identity of ''ze aMistair An Zeed," who she had heard was "Ze fren of Mistair Bfl1ee Emerson, who maik ze pairsons laugh"