The San Francisco call., 1910-09-25

little haI1, you know. though peopls
always exa xaggerate-and a fellow nat
urally does find it troublesome to con-
meet with three squares a day. But I
don't see any reason for grumbIfng.
You can't hold a good man down. and
sooner or later he's bound to come to
the top. Who knows? Maybe tonight
I'll run into some chap know in
Kearny street and he'll be there with
the glad mitt and It's easy street for
NINE"
Over in a shaded corner of the for
ward deck is a woman, tired and be-
draggled. holding a bulky bundle
wrapped in newspapers in her arms.
Beside her sits a man prematurely
old, his shoulders stopped and his
eyes fixed on vacancy. A clumsily
tied package from which the handle
of frying pan protrudes lies at his
feet No word passes between the
pair, but they huddle close together
as though for mutual protection from
the rude buffetings of a heartIess
world This is their moving day. Their
few belongings they carry with them.
without hope of betterment or fore
taste Of surcease. Life to them is a
] bitter thing, yet they cling tenaeiously
to life.
Engaged in earnest conversation
with a burly teamster Is an actor
perennially out of employment. He is
square Of shoulders and long of hair
and sports pair of dogsktn gloves
that flap loose at the wrists and fan
into holes at the finger tips. He has
seen better days. He is telling the i'm
passive teamster that he played bits
with Frederick Warde at the California
theater in 1902 and that one time ne
supported Modjeska. And he knows
he could make fortune in vaudeville
could easily get on the Orpheum cir
cult, and all that-but he doesn't want
to abandon the "legit.''
The travelling evangelist is here too.
He is going to hold a revival meeting
tonight in Oakland-Fifth and Wash
ington, at s oclock-and he'll be glad
to have some Of US present. We all
murmur something and then grin fool
ishly when he turns away. The light OF
fanaticism dances in his eyes and his
long fingers pluck nervously at the
skirts of his antiquated frock coat.
Crouching on the floor near the en-
gine room is a man with a dog. The
man is old. with struggling gray
whiSkerS and lean, palsied hands. The
dog is just plain dog. very hairy and
dirty. a mongrel terrier that Is osten-
sibly of no use In the world He is
smiling idly at a decayed cabbage leaf.
Two young men come along, cheap
toughs." they would be classed by those
who know, and one OF them kicks the
snoe. The animal yelps wildly and
fees in terror to the arms of the old
man. The old man rises In his wrath.
Unheedful OF the motley crowd OF team
sters and "vags" and nondescript pas
sengers that gather like Ill favored
flies, he turns upon the offender and
grills him with vituperation. He does
not say nice things His vocabulary Is
not choice. though it is emphatically
expressive, and the young men look
sheepish and edge away. The crowd
listlessly dissOlves and the old man
draws the whimpering cur closer to his
breast and with trembling fingers soft
Iy strokes the mongrers dirty, unkempt
hair.
Such is the drama OF the nickel ferry.
Every hour of the day a boat leaves
the slip on the south end of the ferr.
building and every boat carries tvr>
score or more OF passengers like those
whose acquaintance we have made.
Every hour a boat arrives at the ferry
slip and from every boat group OF
tired. shabby and life scared men and
women drag their way into the great
city OF smiles and tears
1t is not always pleasant TO ride on
the nickel ferry. 1t is not soothing
to think about the passengers on the
creek boat 1t is disconcerting TO ysu
and to me. as we sit in slippered ease
after dinner with a favorits book in
our hand and all manner Of creature
comforts within our reach; it is dis
concerting to reflect on the seamy side
OF life. But the seamy side OF life Is
there: to Mr.. Jingle and Mr.. Micawber
and the man with the dog the seamy
side of life Is always there. And Il
Is this that makes the nickel ferry a
factor In the life of a great city that
the man who is looking for experience
can not afford to miss The creek
IL .f~
learn things. The lessons are not pleas
ant lessons, but they are lessons none
the lezk