The San Francisco call., 1910-11-06
Copyright 1910 BY THE BOBBS= MERRILL COMP

and what do you call the thing-the
festival?
Very hard to English. In Japan
the day Of SOULS
The hardfaced American looked
again at the little brown, spectacled
man, wondering idly why this un-
moral scientifically materialistio
heather, spending his days in books.
HIS nights in the whirling lusts of the
town, smiling and serene, should go
back across five thousand miles OF
water TO SIT one night before the armor
of the Samurai awaiting their judg-
ment Then slowly with smile, his
hand went to the Japanese: PLAY
square then with those ancestors It's
q fine idea. Sayonarar
He gambled five dollars into one
Of Ferreris slot machines without
a winning, and gossiped half an
hour with Fergy, the others hav-
ing gone Then Arnold caught the
owl car up kearny street and
was fellow given much to
dreams when alone; when with his
friends he had a way of listening alb
stractedly, but with an encouraging
humor Of comment. The town called
him square; the street nicknamed
him, as men DO one subconsciously
beloved.
But Ham wondered at times why he
was such a disaster to himself and
those who cared for him; though when
he went about the homeless dogs al
ways followed him and he saw the
wistfulness IN their eyes and knew that
life to them was one long yearning for
the possible adventure; and in the eyes
of women he saw that which the final
fly of the morgue records does not
show, for It was their secret, true ro-
L., 8 y 20 hot
old mothers, and the babes who always
watched him In a crowd. he saw a
wonder which he could not understand
and a peace that troubled him.
As he climbed the hill into China
town the late police detail from the
hall Of justice greeted him with friend
" pleasantries. When he reached the
door Of his lodgings 1t suddenly oc-
Cured to him that there was no avail
able bed in Miss Granberry's house and
he paused, wondering whereabout he
might find a room. Then he saw a
paper twisted about the door knob,
his marriage license crumpled, wine
stained, and by the corner light he
read the scrawls across It's back:
IF you and I together, sweetheart"
sweetheart, If you and l could roam;"
IF together we did roam, sweetheart"
Sammy, oh, sammy" sighed J. Ham
Arnold
Under the gray, ancient gable he
looked down the hill 10 the squat roofs
of Chinatown and the Barbary coast
reaching to the bay. The day was
coming beyond Mount Diablo TO the
east. II was still and high about him,
a clean land above the wolfish town,
the place Of savages. A vision came to
his somber eyes: yes he was above it
all-he had gone back the ways OF the
y of he hfa1
top in the north. there to stand in an
inviolate peace, gladness lie had put
BY, forgotten. And below him lurked
the city where the beasts were, beaten,
conquered; they lay gross. filled, the
weaker dying unheeded, but afar, high
on his hilltop he was above this-on his
lips a victor's song.
After a while he moved from the wet
balcony rail and sat on the rough mat
by the door so that ne could see the
stars fade. Quietly watching them his
knees relaxed presently. his shoulders
sank against the door frame the
fumes of many liquors stole to his
brain, and he slept.
The light widened over the eastern
mountains. Diablo shot a sparkle
from its snowy slope. The bay shores
grew plain. the town below took form.
Within half an hour because she was
from the country up in back and used
to early rising, the girl on the couch
stirred. Presently she looked drowsily
about and started at the strange room.
Then she smiled with sleepy luxu-
rance. From the window the chill air
streamej in; she wondered II the chill
dren in the big bed were well covered.
Sylvia slipped from the couch and
glanced at them. Then she came to the
window and put her head through,
glancing at the patches OF sea and
mountain under the coloring sky.
Looking along the balcony she saw a
man huddled at the door and in some
alarm, went cautiously TO open it. She
knew he must be asleep; now. she
saw It was her lover
She threw the door wide and in her
nightrobe knelt on the step above him.
He breathed gently, his dark face. with
out its inscrutable trouble now at
peace. The girl studied him quietly;
then she noticed the morning damp
on his hair and the collar upturned
about his chin. She went back and
dragged the heaviest blanket from her
bed and cautiously placed It over him,
rucking It under his form and about his
throat. She watched him longer and
then, with a smile, reached to the
dresser and took the mass of violets
from the bowl. shaking the water from
the stems. Laughing, she scattered
-
by twos and threes and in little gar
lands, they fell in his face and hair
and on the mold OF the boards
She laughed again out of her happI-
ness IT was grand. It was Just as
she had dreamed, as she wished TO be-
heve; he was a knight wandering
through the world doing noble deeds.
fighting brave battles; he had come to
lie before her threshold, guarding IT
through the dark hours; and now, when
the light had come, she could reward
him with the flowers he had given
her and which she had worn over her
heart She looked down at the brute
town; IT was stilled-for her, In the
night, he had conquered. It was with
out life; only, over a gaunt hill to the
north, lay drift Of fog, like a rag OF
lace on a beggar's breast
She looked down again at the violets
scattered over him