The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1903-06-27
A Foolish Young Man.

To MANY Of us the name of Charles Warren
Stoddard is pleasantly a ssociated with the
Islands of Delight. Who that in the old DAYS
has cruised with him in summer seas amid
the lands where it Is always afternoon can
ever altogether Jose the haunting memory
Of those VOYAGES? Before the advent Of
the Steyensons and BeCkes and all their
following, he told us of the dusky men and
women and their homes, in two or three
books that were full of the charm that
distinguished those classics of the southern
seas. the tales Of Herman Melville. And
40 it is with a feeling Of pleasurable an
ticipation that we open a slim. green volume
that comes from San Francisco with Mr..
Stoddard's nams upon the title page.
But here We have another story. For
the Pleasure of His Company" "a. NJ.
Robertson San Francisco, CALI. is its title
and it is further described as An Affair Of
the Misty City Thrice Told" The reader
will have his own opinion az to how much
of an affair it is, and whether worth the
telling even once.
The Misty City OF the tale is San Francisco,
and the Affair concerns itself with the
thoughts, the personal opinions and the
somewhat mild adventures Of young Mr..
Paul Clitheroe of that town. The moon
is shining in the opening chapter. A
smalish moon. looking very chaste and
chilly, as Mr.. Stoddard describes her, peer
ing vaguely through the folds of fog that
so assiduously envelop the city by the
Golden Gate. She shone upon a silent
street, and on the corporation gas lamps
placed at infrequent intervals. Also upon
a rude stairway leading up to the bare
face OF a cliff that topped one OF those many
billy thoroughfares that give a spice of
Alpine adventure to the San Franciscan's
daily walks. ooh. that pale watcher, the
moon" says Mr.. Stoddard. as he enumer-
ates few Of the things upon which she
shone that night.
"she shone. my Lady Moon. into that
deep ravine which was half filled with
shadow, and made a weird picture Of the
place; it seemed like the bed OF some dark,
noiseless river the source Of which was
still undiscovered; and as for it's mouth no
one could ever find it, or, finding, tell OF
it. for the few who trusted themselves to
it's voiceless and invisible current were
heard Of no more; sometimes a sharp cry
for help pierced the midnight silence. and
it was known upon the hill that murder was
being done down yonder-that was all
in San Francisco was not without its pos
sbilities of unpleasant adventure. or
course,it is not to be imagined that in city
of such varied activities all the things upon
which the moon shone that night are duly
set forth by Mr.. Stoddard Art has her
limitations and so has moonshne When
she got round to it, however, she shone
upon the home Of Paul Clitheroe. Peeping
modestly in at the windows, she lit up the
queer apartment, to which he presently
came home to bed. 1t was a room Uttered
\ with Pompeiian antiquities OF the kind
discovered in the presence of the tourist ;
Toy canoes from Kamchatka and the south
Sn seas; wooden masks from the burial
pieces OF the Alaskan Indians and the
Tbsban tombs of the Nile kings; spears
and war clubs. carved calabashes and
shahs' teeth, and an idol from Easter Island
with>eyes made OF two missionary shirt
buttose OF mother-of-pearl of the Puritan
type
"Foryour practical cannibal," says Mr..
Stoddard. "having eaten his missionary,
splits outthe shirt buttons to be used as the
eyes which see not" A picturesque and
purely humorous statement that need not
perhaps betaken too literally, as even the
most practical cannibal would probably
draw the linest swallowing the missionary's
shirt. Also in Mr.. Paul Citheroe's sleeping
quarters was a crucifix and holy-water
font and several sacred hearts Of scarlet
satin with flames of shining tinsel Pickering
from their tops. Half dolls house and
half bower" is the authors description OF
this sleeping room, and it is further said
Of 1t that those OF his friends who saw it
for the first time, without knowing it to be
his home, would say: Paul Clitheroe would
fit in here" In due course the Moon retired
to make way for the Sun, and in due second
chapter Mr.. Clitheroe got out Of bed like
this
From dreamland Paul returned by EASY
stages to the workaday world He arose
donned trailing garment with angel sleeves
and a large crucifix embroidered in scarlet
upon the breast-that robe made Of him
cross between a monk and marchioness -
slipped his feet into sandals and entered
the larger chamber which was at once living
room and library. He opened the shutters
in the deep bay window and greeted the
day with the silent solemnitt Of fire.
worshipper. gave drink to his potted palms
and ferns and Towering plants, Vet his eve
wander leisurely over the titles ofhis books,
fingered a little while over his fav4rites and
patted some of them fondly on the back"
The reader who at this point is suffi-
GENTLY interested in the young man may
follow him in the further chapters that set
forth his doings. He disposed himself
handsomely in various hammocks, smoked
many cigarettes and talked a great deal
His friends thought so well Of him that, AZ
Mr.. Stoddard says, "they were ever ready
to dine him, or more frequently to wine
him. merely for the pleasure OF his COM
Pany.' He wrote verses and he tried the
stage. He dabbled in many things and he
made poor fst OF them all. Women liked
him. but he seems To have been too fond Of
himself TO care much about any one else