The San Francisco call. [volume] (San Francisco [Calif.]) 1895-1913, 1901-11-17

are modern, II Is certain that all the
vices are ancient" Such was the
4 qualified and doubtful praise accord
ed to the society of his own time by
the author of THE Last Days of Pom
peii' as comment on the cogged dice
found in that unfortunate city when it
was excavated. 1t would be a strange, IL
not a pleasant experience, IL some. great
catacysm of the kind should overtake
and so to speak. stereotype our mysteri-
Gus, ugly, but horribly fascinating me-
tropolis, which has devoured In the course
of it's varied menu lives of great men de-
voted to world questions; of silly women
given up to dress, Irritation and tight
lacing; of financiers secretly pulling
complicated system of wires; of the
dupes of these gentlemen; of men and
women (but chiefly the latter who have
thought. the world well lost for love; of
the disappointed, who run second for all
the prizes of life; Of desperate. maddened
gamblers: Of jealous and revengeful low
ers; of the general public, male and fe-
male each unit with its own particular
ak to grind of thousands of silent. toll
Ing, accomplishing horses, living, working
and dying at last under the lash.
The lash, we may truly say, has not
been reserved for horses alone, and,
though certain human brutes have been
considered too tender to endure 1t, 1t has
been administered freely enough to our
own PROFESSIONALLY, at least-and it is
not the less cruel when self-inflicted.
Man Is Much the Same.
Any comparison between the society Of
to-day and that of former times must be
exceedingly difficult, because, though hui
man nature remains exactly the same and
runs like a golden thread up the ages
until 1t is lost In mythology, it Is now SO
differently conditioned and it's character
istics so modified by circumstances that
its whole form and appearance have COM
pletely altered. But If we unwind the
different wrappings which shroud the real
man from our view he will be found I'M
changed
The vices and even the virtues of the
parents, however, have sometimes Curl
unconsciously lean to the opposite side,
impelled by nature rather than their own
will to trim the boats of habit and GUS
tom.
Young Girl Gamblers.
Take two of the crying sins which have
degraded society ever since social inter-
course became power in the world-gam-
bling and drink. Our grandfathers and
great-grandfathers INDUCED In the former
to an extent which made the temptation
to cheat an almost overpowering one, but
in the days of our fathers and mothers
things were not so bad as they have now
again become. Certainly young girls who
may now be seen of an afternoon or even
ing at the bridge table losing far more
than they can afford do not figure as
gamblers in the memoirs of former days.
AS most girls have spent their quarters
allowance long before it is DUE and as
they have not, so far as know, the young
mans resources of borrowing cash from
his tailor, 1T is difficult to see how they
can meet what losses they are certain to
sustain.
The modern girl. too, is in difficult po-
sition She is expected to dress far more
handsomely than her predecessors early
in the century. for whom a ribbon sash
and a white muslin. dress well damped to
make it cling represented the height OF
luxury. The rush and hurry of modern
life, travelling expenses, tips to servants,
dresses for London, others for the coun-
try. golfing, bicycling and tennis cos
tunes, riding habits, TO say nothing of
shooting, fishing and motoring gar
ments-an these things run into far more
money than the ordinary girl can squeeze
or coax out of dear papa.
/ honestly believe that with all their eX-
ira amusements, freedom of action and
speech and superior education, they are
not nearly so happy as their simpler and
more easily pleased forbears, who looked
reposee. blooming and domestic and had,
If we may trust to the accounts which
have come down to us, all the men at
their feet