The San Francisco call., 1898-07-24
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By HENRY JAMES.
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It seems to me the focal Tyre" man of the Yisalia Delta deserves to be more than local. He should be inter national, universal. To all I can do to promote this end I contribute cheer ful effort, conscious that the laurel wfeath comes from unworthy hands. I can do nothing better than quote only from a recent number of the Delta, for one of my unhappinesses is that I do not see the paper regularly. In this number appeared four verses. I cannot forbear quoting them all The reader can select from among them the gem which may impress as the brightest:
 JULY IN VISALIA.
 At this warm season of the year
 No cooling spot is found
 Save where the noble oak doth cast
 It's shadow on the ground.
 As matter of fact, there are other cooling spots, but shall the poetic fancy be hampered by facts? Not if I can help it. The shade that any old tree doth cast is just as good as oak shade. A cellar is cooling. The bottom of well is actually chilling. No matter. The poet must be unfettered.
 VISALIA'S PLEASURE SEEKERS.
 They're resting now amidst the shades
 Of wonder mountain peaks,
 And will not ventuSe home again
 For six or seven weeks.
 The nicety of poetic calculation is not to be marred by mathematical preci- sion. If he had said: For five or eight weeks" the effect would have been utterly spoiled. He knows his business. hope that when they shall at last venture to come they will have gained the strength to enable them to sit where the local Tyre twangs, and Appreciate what they are getting.
 A WOMAN's WHIM.
 Why is it that woman likes
 Oftimes to wear a skirt
 So long that when she strolls about
 It draggles in the dirt?
 I have wondered at the same thing myself, but never had the gumption to ask in a way certain to bring an ans wer It is but simple justice to the bard that the lady explain, or else roll up her skirts.
 THERE'S NO ESCAPE.
 As we go through the world 1t does
 Seem very, very hard
 To think that one day we must sleep
 Alone in some graveyard
 The fourth may we'll be regarded as the dazzling paralyzer of the collec- tion. Yet there is comfort. At least when we are asleep in some graveyard, with the accent on the wrong syllable, We shall neither know about 1t nor miss the strain of the "lyre.1 There is nothing earthly like this strain, but we have faith that the music of heaven beats it.
 It is easy to imagine the Lord of the local HearstIings looking at the picture of Shafter above the door leading to the lair of poodle and musing: First he said we were liars, and then he bounced us from Cuba. What, ho! minion, anothr spray of laurel for the general. He deserves. something for having sized us up.'
 To come into contact with such a publication as The Pulpit and Social Problems is a refreshing experience. The only fault I would find with the little magazine is that the title is too cumbersome, and perhaps misleading. It's treatment of all matters upon which it touches is direct and sincere as well as thoughtful and instructive. I cannot agree with all it's conclusions concerning ethical points. but would not presume to characterize the con- clusions as wrong being open to con- viction, and receiving with the utmost respect the opinions of such men as compose the editorial and contributing force. The Pulpit and Social Prob lems Is devoid of any trace of sec tarian narrowness ,or bias. It is for this reason especially l object to the unwieldly title. It is a fact, regretta- ble perhaps, but not to be denied, that pulpit discussion, as I have had the privilege of following 1t, has been marked by zeal rather than by broad and lucid reasoning. Therefore the title page is enough to create a pretu- dice which might prevent a careless observer from looking further, course which would be to his loss, and to the restriction of the work the magazine seems destined to accomplish.
 To discuss any question with a man of the callber of the Rev. Owen Jones would be impossible. I wonder that his fellow ministers regard his weak and silly mouthing as worth serious consideration. When he charges that the wickedness of California is due to disregard of the Sabbath, and this dis regard due to the preachers, he insults that common intelligence in which na- ture has seemed to deny him partici- patton.
 Tn the North American Review for February of last year there appeared an article of much interest. It ,still possesses the element of interest, ac- centuated by recent events. It shows that the business of prophecy is some times engaged in by amateurs. The author of the article was announced as foreign naval official, and I assume him to have been the navigator of the bowl in which three wise men once went to sea. Gan the United States afford to fight Spain?" was the ques-