The Manning times. [volume] (Manning, Clarendon County, S.C.) 1884-current, 1906-07-25
Human Kindness in Wrecked San Francisco.


Human Kindness in Wrecked San Francisco
Human conduct was put to ;
terrible test, and survived it
Out of my own experience I re
call only kindness. None was 81
hard-up as not to help another
even though the help went nt
farther than a word. Let me bt
more specific.
When the ceiling came doW1
on the top floor of the Occidental
Hotel we fled with barely enough
clothes for panic modesty
Among the absent articles were
one pair of shoes. J barefooted il
up Bush street towards Grant
avenue, for the overhead trolley
and telegraph wires in Mont
gomery and Kearny streets were
falling. Near Kearny street ar
all-night cabman stood at his
horses head. He hailed me. His
eyes glazed with terror, he said
':Let me drive your wife and you
somewhere. It won't cost you a
cent. You know me-honest, toe
bad, it won't cost you a cent! Lei
me drive you somewhere. Let
me drive you to the cemetery
That was kindness, and it was
kindness as unconscious of ghast-
liness as of humor.
At Grant street we were joined
by a stranger, completely clad
save for a collar, My bare fee:
troubled him more than they did
me.
s:Here." he said. stHere's a shoe
store. Break the window and
take a pair. You. can pay for
them 1ater-if there is any later"
"Not yet," said I.
II guess you're right. 1t
might start the looting.''
We were walking Grant ave-
nue., making for Portland square.
"Here," he cried suddenly,
"there's a Jap store and the fel-
lows just opening it. Get a pair
Of slippers.
I started for the shop; my hand
went mechanically for my pocket
it was empty. The stranger
read my face.
"You forgot your money. Help
yourself to mine"
Three gold twenties and a FIVE
dollar gold piece were on his
palm.
His thumb projected one of the
twenties. He was forcing" it
as sleight-of-hand men ssforce" a
card.
I took the S. piece, gave it to
the Jap and put on a pair of up
peerless bath slippers. The Jap
gave me change-S4.65. He
could not have been cooler had
the earthquake been merely a
Russion army. I turned to give
the change to the stranger.
ssPut it in your pocket, he
said, "and I wish you'd take
some more. 1t may comein handy
this day
"You don't know me-" said.
You don't me" " he answered,
"and there's no time for ex-
changing cards.
After five minutes argument
on my part the stranger gave
me his name and address,
In that fragment of the picture
his kindness is very vivid.
My next helpful brother was a
Chinaman, we met him in Ports,
mouth square, where hundreds
on hundreds of his countrymen
were gathered. Of all of them,
he alone wore the product of the
American clothing store.
GA pair of socks will warm
your feet, and I've got another
pair for the lady" said my Chi,
nese stranger. ssCome with me.
It's only over the way to Sacra.
mento street. I own the drug
store next door to the Chinese
DOCTOR
Yes, he was kind.
So was the gentle old lady that
found a seat with US on a bench
in the square and opened her tel
escope basket and gave to the
lady of my itinerant household
a pair of leather slippers. Those
slippers are still in commission.
They shall be precious souvenirs
when the city is rich again, but
just now they are as blessedly
useful as my own shoes, Wnlcn
they were the means Of restoring
to their original owner.
We slept in another square,
the Almo, high over Hayes val
ley; and there, too, all was kind
ness.
Tomorrow will be a hard day
for the poor" said a man thai
had banked $4,000 the day be-
fore.
"For the poor!r' laughed a big.
hearted Irish cook who had es'
capped with a large pillar-sllf
full of timed beef. "t'or the
poor!!" she laughed, giving him a
can Of beef. "I'd like to know
what the rich have got to be rich
with. ."-Ashlon Stevens in The
San Francisco Examiner.