The San Francisco Call. Newspaper, March 1, 1896, Page 17

THE SAN FRANCISCO CALL, SUNDAY, MARCH 1, 1896. 0/ 53 7 e RUAARVTT " = = SHAKES PEARE Julig (AESAR / ; TuE VIRGIN (Queem XN centuries to come, when the farmer prepares his soil for seeding with an lectric plow, chains the lightning to mower and reaper, and speeds to town through the air in his batlike flying- | 1e; when pnenmatic railways shall aph the tourist from one end of the 1t to the other, and when Califor- t shall be sold in London onlya | few days after it is picked from the trees; in such an era, when mechanical contriv- ances furnish motive-power for every pur- | pose, and when that noble species of ani- mal, the horse, shall have become extinct— with what spirit of wonderment will the student of history contemplate the days of old when barbarous mortals fought and slew each other on horseback to appease pride or gratify ambition; with what curious eye will that student scrutinize the equine skeleton at the museum, and pause to consider that such a frame bore the flesh of such an animal as that which Richard III goes mad about in the thrill- ing tragedy: tel nia A horse! a horse! My kingdom for a horse! Of course, the majority of mortals can- not be led to believe that such an erais le. No matter. We shall, perhaps, enjoy it as immortal spirits peering down from the everlasting stars. The centaries to come may take as much smusement at our expense -as we may derive at the expense of centuries gone by. Looking backward nowadays on ages of | the past the curious are prone to ask them- | selves Low some of the olden heroes and | hzroines. wounld appear in pictures with a nineteenth century setting. Ex-President Harrison and Speaker Tom Reea both ride bicycles. Nothing odd about that. It takes no jot or tittle away from whatever fame is theirs. But just | mount George Washington on a wheel and we become almost offended at the carica- ture. Itisall right if we show him on the | back of a mettled charger, but the form of the Father of His Country, attired in that glorous old Continental uniform. doesn’t look natural on a bicycle. Yet Washing- ton believed in plenty of outdoor exercise, and, were he in the land of the living to- day, he would doubtless be seen, after office hours, working his little bike with | that characteristic nerve and energy which our relatives over the ocean were taught to respect. Napoleon Bonaparte would have been charmed with the bicycle had it existed in his day. 1t would have been necessary for hrim to get a wheel made to order to suit the requirements of his short legs. On an old-fashioned ordinary, however, the Coi- sican, upon whose genius the world still gazes with awe, would have made a ridicu- lously funny sight. Welilington was better proportioned for a rider of the bike, and haa it been his lot to discover that Napoleon had become.an expert on the pneumatic wheel the Iron Duke would never have rested content un- til he had shattered the various records of therival whose star he was destined to pull down. i 7 Julius Cesar had & proper build lorAa cyclist. Take the bay leaves from his brow and hide his bald skull in a jaunty | cap, then tuck the flaps of his toga' xm_n' some modern knee-breeches and “Julius is not a bad figure for a wheeiman’s gallery. The man who paralyzed great Pomne}"s power would have mastered the: bike with- out any waste of time, because, as Brutus said, *‘Caesar was ambitious.” Tie bicycle would have been condemned on sight by Richard III because of the un- shapeliness of his form and the fact that one leg was a little longer than the other. There are people with limbs almost as im- periectin this later day who “ges there” to his wife in “Henry IV.” |stopping and finding he could be of no as- | Only a few yards are still in place and they | irom side to side, | on the wheel where they would otherwise be last in the rear of the procession. Women of the present time are reviving the ruffles and big sleeves of Queen Eliza- beth’s period. Itis only fair to give Eliz- abeth a chance to even up a little, even if | this evening-up process only go so faras a pictorial ride on a bicycle. Elizabeth had a superabundance of nerve and not all the criticisms of all the writers in England would have had a deterrent effect on her if she had once taken the notion to wear bloomers. . Marie Antoinette would have been hor- rified at the very thought of bloomers and she would never had ridden a bike in her i days of spendor unless the bike bad peen | an" exclusive affair, beyond the plebeian | reach. But there are many queenly women |'in the year of our Lord 1896 who ride the wheel, and some of them wear bloomers, too. Shakespeare would have experienced more pleasure than almost anybody else if he could have worked the treadles of a modern *safety.”” .He would have framed lyrics to the winged wheel and sonnets to bloomers. - These verses, from one of the Shakespearean sonnets, might serve a pur- pose as a reference to the ‘‘bicycle face” of a girl with the rose of health that defies description : And their gross painting might e better nsed, Where checks need blood; in thee it is abused. I never saw that yon did painting need. There lives more life in one of your fair eyes Than both y our poets can in praise flevise. Had the bicycle furor reached Britain when the Bard of Avon was engaged in building up the language;, he might have found it convenient to substitute “bike” for “horse’’ in such places, for instance, as this chorus in Henry V: Now all the youth of Englana are on fire: ‘They sell the pasture now ta buy the horse. The cast in America to-day is that pas- ture and horse are both being sold to buy the pneumatic wheel. ‘The average horse is hardly worth his feed, and the animal whose ancestors pranced under plumed knights of yore isnow being .done up in sausages and other tempting dishes for the foreign palate. . If that mountain of flesh and slave of “sack,” Jack Falstaff, bad struggled vio- lently with a wheel instead of scurrying about with his ragamuffin band, as re- corded in Henry IV, he could stiil have availed himself of this same speech: Bardolph, am I not fallen away vilely since this lastaction? Do I not bate? Do I not dwindle?" | Why, my skin hangs about me like an old lady’s loose_gown: I sm withered like an old Apple- John. One might imagine that Macbeth had just mounted a wheel for his first attempt | when he exclaims: 1 am settled and bend up each corporal agent For this terrible feat. ? Ana this gbbreviated conversation be- tween Lady Macbeth and ber ‘“‘worthy Thane” contains strong suggestions of an ultimate triumph over a tandem: Macbeth—If.we should fail— Lady M.—We fail! But screw your courage 10 the sticking point And we'll ot fail! “Come, wilt thou-see me ride?”- cries Hotspur Wheelmen, though, are not the kind of | people, let us hope, to emulate Hotspur’s example in this other particular: But, hark you, Kate I must not have you henceforth question me Whither I go; nor reason whereabout. But we will confine ourselves for this | }occasion to illustrations of people who | flourished before the age of the bike—be- | fore the winged wheel began to crowd the horse to the wall. Some centuries hence | the » progressive newspaper among its | hourly editions may find room for an article and a few caricatures drawing some striking contrasts, actually poking fun at’ some of the glorious scientific achieve- ments of the nineteenth century and blaming us for half-way doings. A PICTURESQUE WRECK. How the Ship Gosford Looks on the Sands of Point Conception. On the 18th of November, 1893, fire was discovered in the hold of the British ship Gosford while she was at sea on her second sistance proceeded on his way to Santa Barbara, whence he telegrapbed the news to San Francisco. Several tugs at once went to the scene, among them the | Fearless and Monarch, and made every effort to save the vessel. They worked for two days pumping water into her hold, but in spite of their efforts the deck burned through and she had to be abandoned. The crew had no difficulty in making land in boats, as the weather was fine and the sea almost as smooth as glass. For several days the fire burned fiercely until it had consumed everything combus- tible about the vessel, and then died out. Tne wrecking steamer Whitelaw saved little from what was considered a good iron ship, and she was left on the beach to become a picturesque wreck. 1t was thought at the time that the Gos- ford would soon go to pieces, but in spite of the effects of twenty-seven months’ buffeting of the elements she is still stand- ing to-day apparently as good as when she was leit to- her fate. When the Gosford struck she went broadside on the shore with her nose pointed east, and all the storms that have raged since then have failed to budge her. The Gosford is certainly a tribute to the ‘Wreck of the British Ship Gosford on the Beach Near Point Conception at Low Tide. [Sketched from the deck of the steamer Santa Rosa.] voyage. She wason her way from Liver- pool to San Francisco loaded with coal, and aad been 136 days out at the time. Captain Markham, her master, consulted with the crew and decided to make an at- tempt to beach his ship.’ Four days later the Gosford was seen close to shore two miles below Point Conception Lighthouse. Captain Alexander of the steamer Santa Rosa saw her from the deck of bhis vessel while passing down the “coast, and after ability of her builders, for every mast is still in an upright position. "Her hull structure has been strong enough to keep them from falling over. The wreck can be plainly seen from passing steamers and at low tide, when the sea is smooth, her bulwarks show several feet above water. The deck houses have, of course, been burned away, but the empty space has been fiiled with such pieces of rigging as fell from aloft. ‘A tangle of wire ropes hangs over the bows and from the masts. ——— LD | are loose and swinf; creaking mournfully | wind. That portion of the coast where ihe wreck of the Gosford lies 13 dreary and barren. A bluif of dry yellow sand rises abruptly from the shore only a few hun- drea feet away and forms a background thav throws the four rusted masts and swinging spars into strong relief. 3 Investigations by the people at Point Conception lighthouse show that the bot- | tom is gone out of the ship and that the sides are rusting away rapidly. The water rushes in and out of holes in the hull even when the sea is smooth, and when it is | rough it sweeps from stem to stern, and | the lower masts are almost concealed from view. “The wreck of the Gosford may stand in its present position for a long time to come, but the chances are that the first heavy gale will break the rusted deck beams apart and the masts will fall oves and disappear. ADVOCATING THE CHARTER The Merchants’ Assot;.iation Tak- ing the Initiatory Steps to Boom It Along. with eyery gust of A Call to the Framers of the New Law to Be Issued by Secre- tary Freud. 5 The friends and advocates of the pro- posed new charter for the future govern- ment of San Francisco are not going to re- main dormant between now and the day of election in their advocacy of the neces- sity of voters supporting the proposed law at the general election next November. The first move to this end was made in the office of the Merchants’ Asso- ciation through Secretary J. Richard Freud, who hag prepared the following notices, which will be sent through the mail to-morrow to the Board of Freehold- ers who prepared the charter—George T. Marye, Irving M. Scott, M. H. Hecht, William F. Gibson, I. J. Truman, J.). O’Brien, Jerome A. Anderson, Colin M. Boyd, Louis Sloss Jr., Henry N. Clement, Gustave H. Umbsen and Joseph Brittan: The quarterly meeting of the Merchants’ As- sociation will be held at Beethoven Hall, 336 Post street, near Powell, on Thursday evening, March 12, at 8 o’clock. Special subjects for the meeting: First—“Past, Present and Future Work of the Association.” Second—*Si Sweeping, Svrinkling and Pavin, Th: “Proposed New Charter for San Francisco,” The above important subjects, closely con- nected with the prosperity of this City, will be presented to theé meeting. £ The members of the Board of Freeholders who framed the new charter have been invited to speak briefly upon the charter. A synopsis of the new charter, prepared undor the au- spices of this assoeiation, will be given to each person attending the meeting. You are earnestly requested to be present, .and a cordial invitation is' also extended to your families and friends. Respectfully yours, MERCHANTS’ ASSOCTATION. F. W. DOHRMANN, President, J. RICHARD FREUD, Secreilrly, Dear Sir: The next quarteriy meeting of the Merchants’ Association will be held on Thurs- HAVE APPEAR BN THE BICSY CLE—. ED day eveming, March 12, at Beethoven Hall. The board of directors has unanimously de- cided that the proposed new charter for San Francisco be the special subject for considera- | tion and that each member of the Board of | Freeholders be invited to” attend the meeting | and take part in its deliberations. You are therefore cordially invited to be present on that occasion and the secretary of this associa- tion will soon personally call upon you to ascertain your pleasure in also. making a few remarks upon the new charter. Respectfully yours, F. W. DOHEMANN, President. J. RICHARD FREUD, Secretary. The synopsis above mentioned will be wepared by Mr. Freud and forwarded to each of the above-named gentlemen, who will be expected to give their views in ex- plaining the benefits sought to be accom- plished by its adoption. . In addition to the individual members invited te speak, the chairmen of the more important committees which had the sectional subjects to consider during the session of the freeholders will give- their views very fully on the matters embraced under their respective headings. For in- stance, on finance and revenue Colin M. Bogq will explain. On civil service J. J. O’Brien will explain his reasons why that NEW - TO-DAY. Made by the only large white labor Union factory in the United States. That’s one of the many reasons why you should smoke Robert Shipped to country dealers on approval. Ex- press free both ways if unsatisfactory. THE WERTHEIMER COMPA GOING RAPIDLY, THOSE FEW NEW $100 BICYCLES FOR $60 . CASH. Such opportunities are rare. Do not come too late to own a high-grade wheel for 1. ss than a low- grade price. - WHEELER & WILSON MFG. CO., 933 Market St., Opp. Mason, TAEKE ELEVATOR. LS. F. article was inserted. Irving M. Scott will ive his views on the department of pub- ic works. Other chairmen will follow and all will endeavor to show that out of a revenue of $6,700,000 which has been ap- propriated from the taxpayers for the fiscal year of 1895-96 a better showing could be made if a better system of its dis- tribution obtained. This will be the prin- cipal aim of the meeting—to show that by the new charter a decidedly better system can be had. In this movement by the Merchants’ As- sociation the Civic Federation and kindred societies are united and will have repre- sentatives present at the meeting to assist and encourage the boom. —_——————— It is said that Mme. Patti and other women of high standing on the stage pre- serve most carefully the boots they wore at their debuts, and they consider it lucky to have them about on. the first nights of fresh engagements forever after. —— NEW TO-DAY. Business, Pleasure, Independence. PLEASURE, because of the wondars ful - relaxation from all worldly cares. BUSINESS, because of the valuable time you save. INDEPENDENCE, because wholly upon yourself. =—""MEN's, $85. CATALOGUE FREE. LADIES’, $76 and $85. dndiana Ricyefe Go., J. S. Conwell, Managur, 18 and 20 McAlliste S¢. 8. F. 1896 RAMBLERS HAVE ARRIVED. you rely —m 1895 Models Will be Sold for $85.00. - COME WHILE THEY LAST. THOS. H. B. VARNEY, 1325 Market st., S. F. 427 8. Spring st., Los Angeles. LY STR!I’Zl o GRADE 7 A FOR_TWO YEARS. 324 POST STSK