The San Francisco call., 1906-03-25

toned 10 keeping pace with my
thoughts-this inactivity is demoral-
izing"
Indeed. no, Take the floor by all
means. / fear you are much too COM
Portable to be long interesting. We are
an unfortunate lot
Life In the mining camps and frontier
towns of the West affords little in the
way of amusement, and the advent of an
itinerant Uncle Toms Cabin Company is
hailed as the event of the theatrical sea-
son. On such an eventful occasion oc-
CURED one of the incidents to which L
refer. This particular company was nei-
ther better nor worse than others of it's
kind, which is equivalent to saying that
II was pretty bad; yet they serve GER
tain and distinct purpose. At some stage
of the proceedings-I was paying little
heed to what was transpiring on the
stage, but you must know that every
loyal citizen owes 1t to himself not less
than to the community at large to be
present upon these auspicious occasions.
girl, as uncouth and uninteresting as
may well be conceived, slouched out upon
the stage. As she came into the uncer-
tain glimmer OF the tallow footlights she
approached dangerously near the ludic-
rous-in fact, she quite arrived. She held
a battered old cornet in one hand, drew
the back of the other across her mouth.
grotesquely distorted her begrimed fea-
lures, stood upon first one foot and then
the other, the while she contemplated her
audience with manifest discontinue. The
old horn under most favorable conditions
seemed capable of emitting little more
than few wheezy tones, and an already
afflicted audience resigned itself to suffer
further infections at the hands OF this
grotesque individual She had hardly
sounded the first note. however. before
the audience was made aware that too
hasty Judgment had been accorded. She
played several familiar airs creative of
interest on the part Of her auditors, grad
ually developing into manifest enthusi-
asm as she proceeded, and when, with
grand flourish of clarion tones and mar
tlal strains, she swung into the grand old
Star Spangled Banner she seemed to
strike an answering chord in every breast,
which reverberated again and again
throughout each human organism, and
communicated itself to the very atmos-
phere. In an instant the rough little au-
dience was in transports of joy, and when
she finally concluded her performance
with Home, Sweet Home every man,
woman and child was under the magic
spell OF her song-joy was unconfined.
Grizzled old miners grasped hands and
hugged one another like long lost broth
ers under the influence of this sudden out
pouring of spirit, and tears rolled down
rough and hardened faces long since
strangers to such emotions The few
who possessed wives became suddenly
conscious of greater appreciation TOT
their heipmates. Children were grasped
in strong arms and held aloft, and vari-
Gus other antics indulged which could
only be performed by human beings un-
der stress of strong innate yolition.
1T was good to see-more-it was grand
and glorious, and never TO be Forgotten.
1t was not a mere demonstration OF
rough and uncouth men and women
pioneers and wanderers in that wild
country who chanced to be amused--it
was the real man and woman within-the
spirit of nature, of God-the same that IS
within you and me, suddenly awakened
without volition of the individual by the
clarion tones and sweet refralns. ~
mattered not whence came those Sounus..
That they were blown through bat
tered horn by a freak Of girl possessed
no meaning. 1t was the song they sang
that spoke to the man within, and souls
burst forth in quick response and glad
acclaim. freed from the bondage Of the
sordid, the artificial and attuned for the
time to the inspiration of love and fra
ternal spirit-the real-the true-the nat
ural.
For days after the effect upon the
dwellers Of the little hamlet was mani
fest Hearts were lighter and work
seemed less irksome. Whistle and song
were in the very air. Hearty good will
rang in the salutations of man to his fell
lows Even the sun seemed to cast
softer and a warmer end brighter glow
on old earth. The cornet girl had gone
her way, but the joy of her song still
fingered in the hearts of men.
'.The other incident. Some weeks later
a revivalist came to the camp. Meetings
were held and a religious fervor was
stimulated according to prescribed forms.
The exhortations continued with unabat-
ed vigor for a week or more. Converts
were made others interested, excited or
frenzied to varying degrees. Doubt and
anxiety were soon depicted upon the
features of young and old who were iden-
tilted with the movement. There was no
whistle and song, or hearty laugh and
passing joke. Hearts were heavy and
tense The spring Of natural and joyous
spirit had been damned at its very fount,
and eternal damnation awaited those un-
fortunates who refused to accept in blind
faith the bigoted and blasphemouS doc
trine of pagan superstition and idolatry-
the sole salvation of the children of a
wise and beneficent Creator. The vain
reasoning-the conflict of hope and de-
spair-was pitiful to behold There was
nothing tangible-nothing real No in
ing appealed to the self within. All was
forced and MISUNDERSTANDING dark
and mysterious. One small child-poor
soul-took her religion SO seriously that
her sleeping as well as her waking hours
were given over to piteous lamentations.
Her parents simplified matters somewhat
by withdrawing from the movement: they
might be willing to suffer themselves,
but could not believe 1t their duty or even
their privilege to torment their child
Mote the difference. Which was the
true-which was the false? Which was
the natural--which was the artificial?
Which was common sense-which should
never be lost sight of-and which was
devoid Of sense? The spirit of life, of
love-tile great universal spirit-should be
allowed a free and natural expression in
every human being; anything less is a
fragrant perversion of the primary es-
sentials of human existence.
Eyes, we shall become masters of our
destinies when we work as hard and as
conscientiously to develop those same
innate possibilities as we now labor to
pervert and to stultify them. When we
realize that there is a higher law than
the will of man: that there is greater
victory than the triumph of one human
being over another; that there is no su-