The San Francisco call., 1898-01-23

the sign of a gentleman. Whatever Clay may have been, there is no doubt that at present he Is a doddering and senile old nuisance. If he still keeps in stock one of the knives with which he cut his way to fame he could do nothing more popular than to fall upon it. I do not see why the world should care whether Clay can keep his child wife at home or whether she chooses to roam her native wilds with another more her equal in years and ignorance. And when her loving brother takes a reformatory shot at her I am prone to commend the peculiar form his af- lection assumes. But he would do bet ter to let the girl go and use his rifle to pick off a fool correspondent or two.
 have been greatly pained to observe the kick-up in local society. It shows the people who move there to be hu- man. From inspection of a few sample that they were not.
 It is without so much as start of surprise I notice that Arthur McEwen has deserted the Bryan standard. Me Ewen's strong point is the facility with which he can tear himself vociferously from friends, the friends bearing up well. for at the worst they know that he will come tearing back again. The gentleman is able when he takes the trouble. but fickle as the queen of the Amazonian march. Only few short | moons ago he could not say things mean enough to express his distaste for Hearst, who above all men had been considerate of him. He despised Hearst, and yellow Journalism sent him into spasms of great length which he re- duced to print. Then he went to work for Hearst and became a part of the yellowest sheet ever openly published. His encounter with Bierce will be re- membered. It was with notable pleas ure that the public watched these two eccentric writers mailing the hides of each other to the door. Which hide was the more thoroughly tanned was never exactly determined, and really Is not serious matter. The interest arose from the fact that the McEwen pen had scarce been dry from drip ping honey words all .lver Bierce when | it was dipped into the vitriol and jabbed at him with fervor and appar- ent glee. These truths may console Bryan. He kept McEwen as friend long enough to have broken the record and if he really desires. may be able to woo him to his side once more.
 A reporter is responsible for the statement that certain prisoner was
 small-booked." This leaves the world ! rn x1-1,o
 oner. Probably after being small booked" he was "celled" and the next morning as likely as not police court i ed"
 a perfectly lovely plan of preserving the dead. Instead of being laid in the 1 ground or reduced to ashes. bodies are to be kept as if asleep, so that mourn
 CTS may come and gaze upon them, thus keeping themselves alive to the necessity of continuing to mourn. If the plan has anything to commend it the fact has yet to be mentioned. The sooner the mortal frame is reduced to | it's primary clements after the spirit i has fled the better People who view | the preservation scheme with subdued | the time a body has succumbed to dis ease it Is not an object of beauty, and has slight chance to be a joy forever. | Then complications might arise. The multiwidower would be embarrassed to have his fourth gaze upon his three | lying in a row. She would be sure to criticize the style of clothes worn by her predecessors, for part of the per | fectly lovely plan is that the exhibits
 shall be clad in the mode prevailing at the time they go to pickle Modes change, and to keep abreast of progress it would be necessary to occasionally change the drapery of the tomb. Of course. this sounds like nonsense, | largely because it is nonsense but is in keeping with the entire proposition.
 1 It Is stated that in his anxiety to get aboard the Peru the other night, Arthur Berendt, by professions journal ist and lawyer. had himself announced as doctor. There is still left to MT.
 Berendt the joy of entering the min istry, after which he will, perhaps. feel
 repaid for the trouble and expense of having become an American citizen, an
 ordeal he only consented to undergo after years of thoughtful consideration. The Rev. Anna Shaw seems to be about the only rival in point of degrees whom the journalist-lawyer-d has reason to fear. Miss Shaw is also a lecturer, and Berendt would have to employ a shotgun to corral an audience and a barb-wire trocha to keep it corraled. Thus far I have generally avoided
 being personal in this department, ex-
 cept as to public men. but not to men, i ton "C. B. S." were a hardship beyond
 endurance. I am at loss as to the | identity of the individual behind these
 initials, or whether they represent a
 man or woman. In either case the lu-
 minous intelligence for which they
 stand deserves to go down the ages by
 thunder. (This is not slang, thunder
 merely being the medium). "C. B. S.'
 writes to the British Californian giving
 a list of the local toilers in the news
 paper field. who were born under the
 English flag. To be born under the
 English flag is understood to be a dis
 tinguished honor. and to speedily get