The San Francisco call. [volume] (San Francisco [Calif.]) 1895-1913, 1898-09-11

not add much to the sum of human
intelligence. I would not ordinarily
presume to criticize them adversely,
ana yet q recent one struck me as sus-
ceptlole Of Improvement. He said to
one anxious searcher after the truth
that Scotch terrier is good for ro-
dents, but fox terrier is better. l
cannot agree. A Scotch terrier Is bad
for rodents and a fox terrier is worse.
In the same column he explained that
the falling Of star did not indicate
the death Of man, and that belief to
this effect was a superstition. l don't
know about this either. Stars fall
and men die. What subtle connec-
ton there may be between the two
events is beyond human ken. They
may be specific instance of cause and
effect for all the wisest person in the
world can tell.
There Is little reason for condoling
with anybody who is heeced through
the agency Of a matrimonial bureau.
That such a bureau is of necessity a
fraud, people with sense enough to re-
ceive mental impression from the i'm
pact of falling house are certain to
know. Yet 1 confess to respect for
the nerve Of the mining man who got
taken in by one of these traps with a
widow for bait, in having her put in
jail and endeavoring to break up the
concern. The widow is said to be
known to the police, and If she is not
the quicker they get acquainted with
her the better. But the widow has q
trif1e of nerve herself. She denounces
the unhappy victim of her wiles as lack
ing in refinement and as not being her
social equal. Well nowI She de-
serves to be sent to the head Of the
class I trust that. when out of her
cell she may meet some one who is her
equal in the essential quality Of re-
flnement, and that they may live hap
PLY ever after.
There is many an incident in local life
worth writing a story about. In the
daily record there are touches Of pa
thos, even of heroism. 1 have in mind
the Widow Wilson, with whom for
years two hackmen have been IN love.
One did his wooing by night and the
other by day. and the JOY of neither
was marred by the knowledge that he
did not have monopoly of the widows
great heart. Some women can keep q
secret. Year after year was the widow
courted by the pair, each putting in a
twelve hour shift. But at last the
men found each other out, and there
had to be a final choice, an ordeal
which no doubt Wrung the tender SEN
sibilities of the charmer. She made
her selection and there may be expected
shortly fisticuff function, wherein two
hackmen will be principals and the po-
| lice will referee. Whether the pres
ent status of the matter is satisfac-
tory to the widows daughter has not
been ascertained, as this young lady
has gone for a time to the Magdalen
Home, and is what the Spanish term
| incommunicado. This affair consti-
tutes one of the incidents to which ref
erence was made in the opening line
Minna street society is said to be all
broke up about 1t.
When a man sends weekly political
| letters to the country papers, all the
| letters presenting a single side of the
situation, and does it without remun-
Grafton" I take this to mean without
remuneration from the papers. Doubt
less he gets paid at the other end of
the line, and does not take it in the
form of glory either. The patriot who
beats his breast and yowls from the
stump seldom becomes so enthusiastic
as to do it with an eye single to the
betterment of any cause to the neglect
of his purse. The scribbling patriot
is built on the same lines.
|
Phil Francis of the Stockton Mail has
been perpetrating poetry He presents
it with an intimation that he expects
bricks to be SHE'D at him. I am al
ways loaded for the amateur poet, but
reading this verse 1 laid down the brick
which had been ready poised. The
verse was a tribute to 1.-The Man in the
Ranks" 1t was gentle, patriotic, re-
sonant with melody. If I could write
poetry as we'll as Francis can I would
do it oftener than he does.
Among the best letters sent back
from Manila have been those of Fred
Healy, q private in the ranks Of the
First California. When the call to
arms came Healy was quick to re-
spond. He was a reporter on this pa
per, a gentleman by birth and instinct
and culture. He went because he
thought 1t his duty to go. After he
had enlisted he told me that he had
not much confidence in himself. He did
not know how he would act under fire,
land yet" said he, Il would hate to
come back from Manila without hav-
ing been tried OUT He has been
tried out" and he acted as everybody
who knew him was sure he would.
see from private letter from COM
rade who stood next to him in the
ranks that a bullet cut a branch from
a tree not foot above Healy's head
OF course this circumstance was not
in itself remarkable, but in Healy s
own communication it was not men
toned. Like the brave young Ameri-
can that he Is, he would not boast. He
would not even speak of his own SEN
sations, or the ordeal through which
he had passed. I glory in the spunk
Of Healy, and venture to say that
when he returns the staff will have him
as guest of honor at a better dinner
than the Philippine Islands ever saw.