The Washington weekly post. (Washington, D.C.) 1878-1916, 1899-03-21
JOAQUIN MIlLER'S ARCTIC SUIT.
ii low the Poet Of the sierra. Was Ouiwittsd
b. a Clever Little Woman.

For woman. shs can do more with a man
Than King and whole arz-ee-
The great poet, Joaquin Miller, often
huns the above lines. the refrain of an
old song learned in his boyhood days in
q miners camp Especially Is il true Of
the song If the woman have Lapdsorae
eyes, a bewitchiag manner. and is accou--
panied by talents, aecCmplices, and TIE
inevitable young man with the kodak.
That is what happened TO the poet Far
away from the city. to the eastward of
san Francisco Bay, and on the top OF
the highest OF several high hills, is a great
white square Of solid. solemn stone ma
sonry. seen from many a mile away That
IS Joaquin's Miller's tomb. Is Joaquin
Miller, then, dead? Not ne: but ne is
very mad 1t happened like this:
Miss Blanche Bates the very clever
very fascinating star and leading lady of
the FraWiey Company. who have Deel
playing in san Francisco. had seen the
far-OT tomb, and no doubt desired, as
many others have, TO look upon il a short
er distance. But there Wss something
Fl sc which Miss Bates more greatly ue-
sired to look upon. 1t was the famous
Alaskan dress suit in which the poet will
deliver his season of lectures in the East
before starting on his journey around the
world. The fame of this suit had gone
wide and far, the muck-lucks that come
TO the knees, the vest made of the Eur of
the sea-dOg, the silk-lined reindeer cap.
beaTskin wrap that was lined with
orange silk, and, most of all, the wonder
ful coat made outside of the spotted fur
of the baby reindeer. and inside of the fur
of the reindeer full grown. 1t had but
tons Of solid klOndyke nuggets of many
hundred dollars value, two long rows of
them, fastened on with copper wire. the
way the Alaskan Indians sew on buttons.
1t was ornamented also with the tooth of
a young walrUs, and with many OF their
costly fur tails that women covet for
their capes.
All of this was too much like hearsay
to satisfy the pretty actress. Besides.
she had a scheme. SO, one sunny NOvem-
Der mOrning-it was the Sth, and election
day-accompanied by merry party OF
friends. mostly newspaper folk, and the
man with the KODIAK understanding
yOuth-she set forth toward the white
tomb on the 1dT-of summit. They cross
ed the bay and took a carriage 10 the
heights The sun shOne and the birds
sang as they rode up the mountain side.
and they plotted together how to obtain
a photograph of Miss Bates in the poets
clothes, for this was the scheme tnelr
brains had brewed. She had been photo
graphed in many costumes, but never in
anything like this Artega from the north
eTn lights.
on the southern slope of the heights.
which is the poets home, the apple-tfeeS
were ont in full bloom. Whether the APP
ple-tTeeS had been deceived by the cary
raid and the warmth of the sun and
thought it spring, or whether 1t Is pecu-
liar to joaquin Miier's apple-trees TO
bloom in November, who shall say
The carriage stopped In the green lane.
and a man came ouS of the chapel door
and crossed the rustic bridge that leads 70
the poets dwelling. He wore a SUIT =
velvet corduroy, the color Oh II mat
brown of brown bees in the sun. a pale,
hon
ton-hole and a hint Of neckwear-a deli
cate Japanese sill1en tTifie of the shade of
the chTysanthemum; his trousers were
carelessly half-tJcked in the wrlnkied tops
of his boots.
A straight. rather tall, rather slender
man, with a come!y grace, whose tawny,
gold locks curled 10 his shoulders--phIl-
osopher. artist. poet. prince-either!-
OMEN sabe! he was Joaquin Miller.
The actress made him an ELUSIVE cola
pliment to which the poet graVely re-
pIied People who Aell lies go to nell
and the laugh was on the pretty actress
A lesser gifted woman would have been
daunted would have tailed in her scheme
of the photograph. But Miss Bates had
played more difficult parts, and she won
her ways
laid out for inspection on the poets bed
in the poets chapel and then the play De
gan She told of a magnificent seal-Skln
which she had Just received from New
York, and banteTed him TO trade. joaquin
is a very gallant gentleman. He SAID he
would trade if she We're in the seal-skin.
Now. what woman could be expected TO
trade for a coat unless she had tried the
coat on. The poet agreed 10 this also,
and the actress and her lady friends
with the Alaskan suit, Kiondyke nuggets.
and all-were taken to the room occupied
| by NCguchi, the Japanese poet 1.-THE Jap
| anese poet was not in it at the time). and
left alone. The gentlemen retired to the
| yard
Ii is said that the shrieks of laughter
! from the women who aided in the making
of this novel toilet frightened the coyotes
| in the poets canon. In any case. the
poet has canon deep and rugged, whose
! ''redwoods drip and "Trip with rain" and
| the canon has coyotes.
After a while a most charming and
unique vision in furs came out with he
sunshine and posed. 1t was the actress
| in the poets clothes; the guieless-lOOking
man with the kodak did the rest. Then
one Of the other women, sitting on the
stump of an acacia tree, smiled and hum
med softly to herself:
For woman she can do more with man
Than King and whole arm-ee.