Dakota farmers' leader. (Canton, S.D.) 1890-19??, 1909-11-26


1t is a thing said and signed and
implicitly believed in by the discern
ing few that San Francisco Is a place
Wherein things can happen. There
are some cities like this-cities that
have come to be picturesque-that Of
fer opportunities in the matter of
background and local color, and are
full of stories and dramas and novels,
written and unwritten. There seems
to be no adequate explanation for this
state of things, but you cant go about
the streets anywhere within a mile
radius OF Lotta's fountain without
realizing the popularity. just as you
would realize the hopelessness Of max
ing anything out OF Chicago; fancy a
novel about Chicago or Buffalo, let US
say. or Nashville, Tenn. There are
just three big cities in the United
States that are STORY cities'-New
YORK. of course, New Orleans, and best
Of the lot, San Francisco.
Here, II o put yourself in the way
of it, you hall see life u~ncloaked. and
bare Of convention-the raw, naked
thing, that perpleves and fascinates-
life that involves death of the sudden
and swift variety. the jar and shock CT
Unbiased passions, the friction of men
upon the edge Of mysteries for which
there is no explanation-little eddies
on the surface Of unsounded depths,
sudden outfiashings of the ineXplicable
troublesome, disQuieting, and a lit.
tie fearful.
About this House With the Blinds"
now.
If 0 go far enough afield, with
your face towards Telegraph Hill, be-
yond Chinatown, beyond the Barbary
Coast, beyond the Mexican quarter and
Luna's restaurant, beyond even the
tamale factory and the Red House, you
will come at length to a park in a
strange, unfamiliar, u~nfrequented quar-
ter. You will know the place by rea-
son OF a granite stone set up there by
the geodetic surveyors. for some longi-
tudinal purposes Of their own, and by
an enormous Flagstaff erected in the
center. Stockton street TANKS It on
one side and Powell on the other. 1t
Is an Italian quarter as much as any
thing else, and the Societa Alleanza
holds dances in a big white hall hard
by. The Russian church. with it's
minarets Chat look for all the world
like inverted balloons) overlook it on
one side. and at the end of certain sea-
ward streets you may see the masts
and spars Of wheat ships and the
Asiatic steamers. The park lies in a
valley between Russian and Telegraph
Hills, and in August n early Sep
TENDER the trades come fogging up
from the bay, overwhelming one with
sudden, bulging gusts that strike
downward, blanket-wise and bewilder-
Ing. There are certain residences here
where, l am sure, sea captains and
sailing masters live, and on one corner
Is ar ancient house with windows
opening door fashion upon a deep ver-
anda. that was used as a custom Office
in Mexican times.
I have a very good friend. who is a
sailing master aboard the Mary Baker,
a full-rigged wheat ship, a Cape Horn
er, and the most beautiful thing l aver
remember to have seen. Occasionally
l am invited to make a voyage with
him as su~percargo, an, invitation which
, you may be sure l accept. Such an
invitation came to me one day some
four or five years ago, and made the
trip with him to Calcutta and return.
The day before the Mary Baker cast
of l had been aboard (she was lying
in the stream off Meigg's wharf, at
tending to the slowing of my baggage
n the appointment of my stateroom.
The yawl put me ashore at three in
the afternoon. and | started home via
the park / have been speaking about.
On my way across the park l stopped
In front Of hat fool geodetic stone,
wondering what it might be. And
while 1 stood there puzzling about it,
a nurse-maid came up and spoke to me.
The story of The House With the
Blinds" begins here.
The nurse-maid was most dreadful
ly drunk, her bonnet was awry, her
face red and swollen, IN one eye was
blackened. She was not at all pleas
ant. In the baby carriage, which she
dragged behind her, an ~overgrown in
FAINT yelled like a sabbath Of witches.
Look here" says she; you're a
gemmleman. and l wantcher sh'd help
me outen a fix. I'm in a fix, swat I
ana bad fix"
I got that fool stone between myself
and this object, and listened to 1t pour
ing out an incoherent TRADE against
some man who had done It dirt, b.
Gawd. and with whom 1t was incum-
bent that I should fight, and she was
N . IN. S'what abe was. and could I.
who was evidently . psrnck 0ssnmls-
0aA. ehli0s her with sfosr ,As9 ~