The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1885-1921, 1900-07-28

to the nerce nOrtneaSterS that swept the |
"bunds" and bluffs of this wind |
swept but interesting city, looked as
yellow, as bilious. and as melancholy |
as human horses" could well look OH
Japanese cab-rank. All they wanted
was a fare; a fare to warm them, fare
to make them trot and restore circula-
ton to their wiry frames. Again and
again 1 had exchanged the warm, un-
healthy, over-heated atmosphere of the
Grand Hotel for the blasts and wilma
storms OF the wave-tossed shore.
Mnat wonder that the boys" the
CHEEKY, gOod-natured ldlers OF Yoke
mama, the passengers, the agents, the
newspaper men, the interviewers. the
BUSINESS men, and the gamblers of this
INN OF strange meetings should prefer
the bar and its merrinent of goodrich
iOwsnIp and cocktails" to the bar ana
ITS moaning" across the dull and wintry
waves OF the Yokohama sea board? 1t
was a strange experience. but one re-
peated again and again at every rest
I Ing-place and treaty port AL around
/ the word. If COMPOUNDED and democrat
Ized by the east WIND, 1 sought the coy
| but oven-like hotel, L was certain to be
The victim of well-intentioned hospital
\ ity, since not to drink with everybody
I
possible occasion is death to your rep
utaIlon as a good fellow, whilst to
drink whenever and wherever you are
invited to coterie of companionship
is death to your constitution. Show
your nose at the hotel bar, and you
must do as the bar does; fly from
temptation and rush into the east
winds outside. and you will be pinned
by n circle of rickshawmen who are
only too ready to tumble you in the
"go-carts" of Japan, to shops. to native
quarters, to views, to temples, to china
factories, to warehouses of curios, TO
tattooers, TO homes of strange dancers
to lighthouses in sly corners. tea-houses
destitute of romance, but overfiowing
with Whistles and alcohol in it's various
forms: in fact, to every temptation de-
! vised at the headquarters of modern
civilization.
1 had worshipped Fusfyama from
! every available prospect; and anxious
for still more information, / looked up
an old school friend, of Marlborough
days. who lived in handsome house in
2 the European quarter of Yokohama, a.
befitted one of its leading men. We
; had parted last in the famous ''B' dor
. mitory of the Old house at Marlbor-
( Ough, and We met over quarter of a
century afterwards at dinner table In
T Yokohama.
} I was Boosting TO my old school-fel-
= low of the wonderful things l had done
' in a short space of time; how 1 had
seen Nikko, and Kioto, and Tokoi, ana
t Atami, and birds eye view of Japan
csc life in every shape and form, wher
the good old fellow put on his consid-
5 ering cap and said:
Z But you have not seen old Playfort
: who lives on the race course, and is 6
Yokohama character?'
] at once owned up that the pleasure
~ old ~ q int haI hnn
n hitherto denied me.
4 But was as much in the dark as ev
I er concerning the trade, or occupation
:. or idiosyncrasies of old Playfort.
= My friend at once enlightened me. H
4 was an old English actor, he had seer
9 dy, and Phelps, had toured and stock
:. ed" I'm nearly all the best provincial
. towns of England, had been an actor Il
:. America for years, and has now set
: tied down as the landlord of a curiou
y kind of old English inn or shanty oil
e the breezy race course on the hill over
looking Yokohama and the sea.
But how on earth did an Englis
actor manage to find his way to ia
PAM" / observed.
"Oh. / don't know; drifted here.
. suppose; but he must tell you his stor
in his own fashion. All know is tina
y he wants to see you, and that / prom
!! tunity."
J. That same afternoon my old school
y fellow and l drove through an outiy
~ ing grey Japanese village, and foun
~ ourselves at the gate of the "Shakes
peare Inn." a curious. emboweret
VI tumble down old beer house or gro
le shop within a convenient walking dis
"a lance of Yokohama.
- The illusion of English home life we
~ kept up in the garden. in the shrubbel
~ les, In the miniature arbors of the CT
?, rious little cottage, so distinct from II
% dismal bungalows found in a land
=. paper-covered windows and squeakir
y shutters.
oI The peasant Illusion was only lost
u. the public smoke-roofh, where shocl
p headed Japs, and down t-heel, unto
y women, men with scrubbing- bru:
~ heads of hair. and girls in frousy pa
:. ded 'kmonos," also down-at-heel al
~, sloppety. took the place of "Ostler Jo'
III and the neat-handed Phyllis" in h
~ pink print gown. so intimately associ
u, ted with an English Inn.
on Old Playfort, the landlord of Il
=, Shakespeare Inn," was undoubted
OK a character and a favorite. Eve
er' EngIishman and Englishwoman in Y
IL kohama was familiar with the old &C
,er or. Old stagers were wont to turn
ne to his best parlor with their wives al
re daughters on a Sunday afternoon
AIR drink cup of tea and have q chat wi
" the old man, and the youngsters. t
lie; stewards, the sailors. the engineers. (
lru captains. and the mates of every ina
Unable vessel touching at this Japa
M csc port knew that they could find
le- drop of wholesome liquor. after 10
er walk. at the Shakespeare Inn," Ike
W by an English actor.
IN | entered the room and was forma
n. introduced to mine host. He was
Der fine. tall, handsome old fellow. ere
M with commanding presence, and a T
Der be voice hearty and vigorous. like
oy the old school of actors. When
no. came across the room to greet me. a
E to shake my hand. with a strong g
an 6f good fellowship. I could not h,
o,I- recalling the style and the manner
Sht John Ryder.
on Actors proverbially love to I;
out shop" and those whose living
SO thrown In with actors inherit the sa
owe popularity. / must own IL was a tr
ucn TO me. after the long severance FIR
me the footlights. to plunge into the k
ing Of conversation that was going on
sn- that moment thousands Of miles av
iple at the Garrick. Savage. or Green Ro
L: Clubs at home.