The San Francisco Call. Newspaper, April 19, 1896, Page 28

EARLY CALIFORNIA LITERATURE. BY FRANGES F OLLOWING the publication of of Bret Harte's most successful insy ons were several very agreeable episodes.” The very next day in a literary assembly a lady ap- | proached me with the information that she was *‘Ridinghood,”. and; thereupon I proceeded to congratulate .myself and question ber. “Was I correct in my in- ferences in relation to Shirley’s letters?” I asked. she returned: “I have al- But concerning the ‘Out- “Quite so,”’ ways known it. croppin you much Mrs. Clappe. more than you learned from Come to sce me some day and I will The la name is Mary Viola Tingley Lawrence and I lost notime in prosecuting the acquaintance. Miss Tingley was the daughter of a dis- tinguished member of the California bar in “the fifties.”” Her childhood was spent in hotels and in contact with the stimu- lating life of the Minerva-like young State. Whether it was sliding down sandhills in company with Lily Hitchcock or exchang- ing bonmots with the gentlemen who so greatly predominated in San Francisco so- ciety in those times or reflective, u ) ht intellect to cull outand to fix the best impressions from what was going on around her. Very fortunately, as she felt it 1o be, she became a pupil of Mrs. Clappe’s,who, hav- ing been nurtured and educated in the do so.” leged discovery of the source | s’ and its compilation I could tell | cceptive | THE SAN FRANCISCO CALL, SUNDAY, APRIL 19, 1596 ULLER VICTOR. { ness houses—cheerfully gave both appro- bation and money to encourage the rising genins. Mrs, Fremont also lent her aid to secure him a position in the Sub-treasury, in order to lift him into a free atmosphere where he might work to advantage. The great popularity of Mr. Harte sug- gested to ‘Mr.” Roman that 1t mightbe a |'zood thing to connect his name in' some | way with: the unpublished book on his hands, and he therefore invited him to 190k it over. This he did, with the result | that the prose part was thrown out, and | many of the poems. Neither Miss Ting- ley nor Mrs. Clappe appeared in its pages, althouzh in the preface an acknowledg- | ment is made that the editor had been as- sisted by Miss Tingley. Of several titles | which she had proposed to Mr. Roman, *Outcroppings’” was selected as most suit- | able. All the material collected by her | with so much effort, excepting that which | sppears in_the thin volume which Mr.| Harte, in his usnal felicitous style, men- | | tions as his rst book,” was cast aside | and never recovered, nor can the same matter ever be duplicated. The same con- tempt was shown for the illustrations pre- pared for it. In this transaction, from | first to last, the person to whom the col- | {lection belonged was not consulted, nor | even informed of the facts. Such is the | history of ‘“Outcroppings'’ as learned from | Mrs. Tingley-Lawrence, in answer to my | ue | ! Like Harte himself, Miss Tingley made | her debut into California newspaperdom | in the columrs of the Golden Era, but she found her true place in journalism in 1868, | | when she became a regular correspondent | | of the Sacramento Union, then a leading | MRS. MARY VIOLA [Drawn from an atmosphere of one the great Eastern unive was competent to direct an mind, and who wes her- gh to be a co a pils. She had besides, letters will readily nd generons d e who knew her will ity that was fascina al, in spite of a rather too Thus the pupil and teacher ementary to each other. s Tingley was school she had ired the Fred C. ribes as a ‘‘beautiful handsome of ood and helpful; and only handsome fea- e, which in eloquence was bis tongue. “‘excellence’ in literary with the commenda- lea to further aspira- thorship. But with a forethought unusual in one of her age, she conceived the idea of coliecting for srvation the fragmentary literature of rnia down to her time, or about the inning of the War of the Rebellion. wny friends gave discouraging counsel, t her most trusted advisers, Mr. Ewer posi- graduated nad endship ¢ aca d Mr. King, said, “*Go ahead; the idea | s a good one, and at any rate it will be an education in many ways, On this encouragement she commenced | | | LAWRENCE, | the entertainment of her associates. She is descended irom a member of the Wash- ington family, her great-grandfather hay- ing been a cousin of the “Father of his Country.” Withal she is an unpretending, quiet, self-posseased woman, the pleasure of whose acquaintance grows by what it feeds on: a helper of the poor, and a wise counselor of the weak. The thought which has been pursuing me for some time is one of wonder that | With such writers as_belonged to what I} should call the second period of California literature so little credit has been given them by reviewers of a later date. Take, for instance, Mrs. Ella Sterling Cummins’ “‘Story of the Files,” prepared for the | Columbian exposition and incorporated in | the final report on the early writings of the State, and much stress is there laid upon the ill-judged saying of J. McDon- oufih Foard, one of the founders of the Golden Era, that it *‘was killed by letting women write for it; they killed it with their namby-pamby schoolgirl trash.” Now, there were 218 writers named who contributed to that paper, seventy-eight of whom were women, giving a preponder- ence of forty to the men’s list. Among the men wrilers were: Prentice Mulford, | Charles Warren Stoddard, Starr King, | Bret Harte, Mark Twain, quin Miller, John Muir, Edward R. Gilbert B. | Densmore, Stephen Massett, H. Webb and others of unquestioned genius. | Among the women were Therese Yel- verton, Adah Isaacs Menken, Mary V. Lingley, Ada Clare and (not having the files before me I cannot name a whole dozen) and the writer of this vindication of her sex (who until Mrs. Cummins did 80 was never called ‘‘weak and wordy’'), who, if they did not make, certainly did nct unmake the reputation of the Golden Era. In fact, a large degree of the support received by that ‘‘remarkable paper,” as Horace Greeley called it, was due to the bright things said by the women who wrote for it. The decline of the Era's period in literature was due to new condi- tions. The men who had fostered it by their abilities had found wider and more | remunerative fields, and the women like- wise. The weaker majority could not sus- tain the reputation of the paper. Besides the overland railroad had opened the East to us with its monthly magazines, its | great weeklies and dailies, and as I have u ady pointed out the form and fashion of journalism was changed. So unique had been the c! cter of the Era that at this day it requires a “key” to enable the reader to understand its localisms. Such a paper, when its peculiar period is past, becomes a sealed book, and such the Era became, not on_account of its women writers, some of whom no doubt were vapid enough, but because the world moves. A FLEET OF . SCOW SCHOONERS, | CRAFT THAT MAKE AN ANIMATED PrcTuRE WHEN ANCHORED IN MissioN Bay. Taken individually, few of the scow | schooners that are so numerous about the are beautiful to look at. even when seen under the most favorable circum- stances. But when a fleet of them is an- | chored in Mission Bay they form as beau- iful a_ picture as can be found within a | s journey of San Francisco. | The scow schooners are a craft peculiar to San Francisco Bay. They sall up the | { ivers to Sacramento and Stockton and to | points on the bay as far south as Alviso, Most of them are owned by their masters, who attend to all of the business and in many cases do the cooking. Few of them have regular work, but as soon as one trip | is made the captain has to go out and hunt up another cargo. While he is doing this | he lays his vessel up in Mission Bay. | Sometiimes there will be as many as thirty schooners at anchor at the same time, and there is never less than a dozen. old daguerreotype.] | newspaper not only on the Pacific Coast, but in the United States, her contributions being spoken of as indicating ber to be “‘the rising young writer of the West” by such men as Horace Greeley, Sammuel Bowles and George W. Curtis. They pos- sessed that charm of spontaneity, fresh- | and naturalness which alike the Judge upon his bench and the | miner in his cabin. The commonest | themes became invested with a fascinat- ing interest when touched by her pen. Her optimism inspired courage and Lope as it revealed latent possibilities to her reade ome of her letters were copied entire by the Eastern press, and in many a camp and town of California the arrival of the mail bringing the Week Union was the signal for a gathering about the postoffice to hear read the Ridinghood letter. It has been declared that no California writer has given so much pleasure or in- spired such high ambition. During the three years when her correspondence was running in the Union Miss Tingley re- d not less than a thousand letters from all classes of men and a number of offers of marriage. Expensive holiday gifts from unknown admirers, cold and silver br and substantial checks poured | into her lap, with thanks for the good she | had done in brightening and strengthen- ing the lives of her unknown correspond- | ents. What a very different notion this | | gives of the mining population from that imparted by Bret Harte's tales! And | ne: captivates | T A large number of schooners ply only between San Francisco and. Oakland and | can finish a job in a day. In that case | they always anchor for = the ht in Mission Bay and the fleet forms a little | city on.the water that is full of life and color. 1f the evening is ealm and the water reflects the brilliant sunset sky on its | smooth surface the forest of masts will be reproduced as myriads of quivering ser- vents. From each vessel a tiny wreath of pale blue smoke curls up until it mingles with the delicate mists of evening. = After supper strains of music float over the | water and small boats move here and there, bearing visilors from one vessel to | anotber. An altogether different picture is pre- sented on_any morning when the tide is running in and a stiff breeze is blowing | from the southeast. As most of the yessel are empty they are as buoyant as corks, | and even though the water be not di turbed to any great extent they will dance around in the liveliest fashion.” The masts | will swing from side to side so that the movement becomes confusion. | The hulls ofthe vessels are of all sorts of | colors and the sails of most are weather- | beaten-and brown. Things are not gener- | ally ““trim”’ about scow schooners, but this | only adds to the element of picturesque- ness, as the swinging ropes and sails hang- ing loose help to create an effect of anima. tion. The stiffer the breeze blows the more the boats roll and swing, until it makes one dizzy to look at the ever-moy- ing, ever-changing scene. | The captains of scow schooners are hard- | working men, and if they have anything to | AN ARTIST AT ELEVEN, The Extraordinary Talent De- veloped by Reuben L. Goldberg. | BRILLTIANT CAREER BEFORE HIM After but a Few Months’ Lessons He Draws a Remarkable Pen Portrait. San Francisco boasts of a youthful prodigy in the way of an artist who has attracted considerable attention among the diietanti ot the City, ana for whom a brilliant career is predicted shonld he choose art as his vocation in life, Up to mne months ago Reuben L. Gold- berg, the 11-year-old son of Max Goldberg, the politician and Yosemite commissioner, equally brilliant speeches were made on the other side, and the upshot of it was that Stevens was outvoted after a verv bit- ter and passionate partisan debate. Ste- vens was still boiling with disappointment and bitterness, when Toombs of Georzia, in a taunting way, asked him. ‘Well, Ste- vens, how do you feel over your defeat?’ ‘Feel,” snapped back Stevens, ‘feel? I feel like the poor man at the rich man’s gate, who was licked by the dogs.’”’—Washing- ton Post. TO PREPARE FOR WAR. | | Some Suggestions Offered. by a Naval | Officer. { Having outlined the nature of the first | line of defense—namely, the navy increased | by a National naval reserve, and that of | the second line, which should be an en- larged naval militia, acting within its own | district—we come next in order to the | question of fortifications and “harbor pro- tection. It would seem superfluous at this late date to draw attention to the vulner- able condition of our great ports; every rank, from general to lieutenant, has re- iterated again and again the need of ade- quate protection. Fortification boards have reported, and Congressional commit- tees have visited eacl: defenseless locality | the sum and substance of all inquirie being that we are powerless to resist the tirst onslaught from: even a second-class navy. Suffice it tosay to those who are The Pen Portrait Drawn by 11-Year-Old Reuben'L. Goldbsarg. [From a photograph made for “The Call.”) had never taken alesson in drawing ex- cept those mild tasks that are found in the public-school drawing-books. Then his persistent and somewhat stuc- cessful attempts to delineate faces attracted his father's attention, and, thinking he might develop talent if given a'chance, it was decided that he should take lessons 1n drawing. Thus far his only tutor has been aman who draws and paints advertising pictures, but the lad bas already done one elaborate pen picture that would do credit to one twice his age. The portrait was drawn from a photo- graph of a painting of an itinerant oid fiddler and the youthful artist has caught perfectly the expression of expectation on the old man’s face as he nolds out his hat for stray pennies after giving a street per- formance. six sittings of about an hour each and has been hand. later year: » memento of the lad’s first ambitious effort. The drawing was finished in | somely framed to be kept i | | clamoring for war, that $125,000,000 must be invested ‘in the building of forts and their equipment with modern ordnance. If this seem large, let it Le remembered thatit is no greater than the annual pen- sion appropriation. Certainly, safeguards for the tuture are as much a patriotic ne- cessity as gratitude for military services of the past. As in the case of battle-shi the element of time here faces us, must prepare some crude means for ws ing off any sudden blow which may be | struck before ' the completion of the new forts. A the question, **What can we And once ' more the answer 1l back upon the mechanical ingenuity of our people and create at least a flimsy covering for our nakedness.” In default of the general staff ent of tie duiies of the war offices of intelligence” would | result in collecting much diverse infor- | mation concerning the commercial plant fitted for building earthworks, blockading an enla | college | | trade. {a littie business with his own pac ENGLISH PACKET SERVICE How It Originated and Was Carried On in the Olden Time. A FAMOUS POSTOFFICE COLONY. The Captains of the Packets Used to Fight Their Ships Valiantly. In a recent issue of the London Chroni- cle is an interesting review of a new book, *History of the Postoffice Packet | Service,” by Arthur H. Norway. The author tells simple directness, a story which, in all probability, is quite unknown to the world at large. People are accustomed nowadays to think of the postoffice as the most pa- cific of all establishments. however, a fighting service. - The convey- ance of mails over seas—now, as always, the most important of its duties—forced this character upon it. To-day the ques- tion is mainly one of speed. Only a few generations ago it was mainly a guestion of safety. The very change of significance in the word “packet’’ shows the altered conditions. | An Ingenious Contrivance. | (From a sketch.] mainly for passenger traffic, and treating | the conveyance of mails as a mere inci- dent. A century ago the word denoted a | ship practically appropriated to the car- riage of mails and, what was more, armed to the teeth. The postoffice packet service, like the roquelaure and Dutch gardening, came in with the Revolution. Kor its headquar- ters choice was made of the best roadstead | for saliing ships in the Englisb Channel, | Falmouth, which from a mere fishing vil- | lage became as it were a postoffice colony, | existing solely for postal purposes and | thriving upon postal trade. A packet agent, the local representative of the Postmaster-General (itwo at a time), pre- sided over this queer little community. The captains and their crews were ser- vants of the postoffice—an important fact which, as it soon appeared, they were in some ‘danger of forgetting. With their heayily armed ships and their fiery Cor- nish blood they only remembered that they were “first-rate fighting men” and delayed the mails while they scoured the | seas for prizes. They dubbed themselves privateers, but they were privateers with- out licerse from the Crown—in plain lish, pirates. To recali them to a sense of their duty their armament -was reduced and they were bidden not fight, but to outsail taeir enemies. ‘‘You must run when you can. You must fight when you can no longer ! run; and when you can fight no more yon | must sink the mails before you strike.” | These instructions brought about unex- | pected results. The packets neither out- sailed nor fought their enemies, but sur- rendered to them. One vessel even hauled | down its flag before its opponent had fired | @ shot, and, lest the darkness should cover its dishonor, senta boat off at once to an- nounce it Curiously enough, these little acciaents alwavs happened on the homeward voy It took the postoffice authorities some little time to unriddle the mystery; when they dia they found it deliciously simple. The packet crews, their officers, the agent and the whole town of Faimouth were en- | gaged in an elaborate system of private The cargo, heavily instred” for the round voyage, was secretly disposed of at the outward port; the capture of the vessel on the homeward voyage established a claim on the insurance companies, and the crews quietly pocketed a double profit. There were other abuses. The sailors not | only traded, but smuggled. The agent did kets1n | the ship-chandlery line. The captains | sent the boats to sea under a fo’c’sle hand, while they stayed at home and made their pile. There exists a significant minute of the Postmaster General on this point, dated 1788: “We cannot forget that Captain D—— has been absent from his duty du; ing many years, assigning no other cause than the death of his mother in 1792 Ultimately, greater vigilance at the gen- eral postotlice put an end to these abuses. Private trading, at the cost of an abortive mutiny, was sup d, and during the first decade of this century the packet s vice,' while attending to iis proper busi- ness of carrying the mails. distinguished If, in safeguarding them, by a series of actions as gallant as any in’ English naval history. The course of these actions was nearly | always the same. There was first an at- tempt to get away. Then, upon this proving useiess, the mails were brought on deck, heavily shotted, so as to be sunk in case the ship should have to strike her flag. The euemy, relying upon superior numbers, would always attempt to board, and when it came to hand-to-hand fight- ing the Englishmen were nearly alw victorious. Many oi the packet captains died gloriously “on their quarterdec with engaging modesty and | 11 was once, | To-day we think of a floating | hotel, some Lucania or Teutonic, designed | | exist in that pa | | age. | in that he was not antagonized by Senator Hill, and therefore was contirmed by the Senate. Never before in the history of the court did two brothers. meet in such circumstances. Mr, Peckham was engaged | as counsel for the Central Pacific Railroad | Company in a case coming up from Ne- vada, presenting for decision the ques- tion, -*‘Is the State entitled to tax the lands within a railroad grant, which have | been surveyed and patented by the rail- road company. when the fees for survey- ing have not been paid?’—Washington f Post. - GARDENS. WINDOW The Love of Flowers Shown by People in the Spanish Quarter. The Spanish quarter of San Francisco covers several blocks and most of the peo- ple living there are poor; so poor many of them do not always have all they can | eat, but they have flowers and resort to innumerable schemes to grow them, for such a thing as a real garden does not rt of town. accessible place where the sun utilized, if possible. A wide window-sill is a treasure, and nearly every one in the neighborhood is covered with all sorts of plants, growing in all sorts of receptacles. Real flower-pots are scarce, because they cost monev, but boxes, cans and broken bottles are used everywhere. When the window-sill is wide there is no trouble, but when it narrow the housewife has to use all her ingenuity to very strikes is is Last Service of 01d [From a sketch. devise a place for her growing plants. Sometimes a sort of platiorm is arranged, but most of the landlords object to this, and not many can beseen. A favorite method is to fix up a sort of hanging shelf that can be suspended from a nail on the | window-sill by a cord. On this the plants | are placed during the day, but are taken in” at night. One narrow window-sill is made to hold | three old coal-oil cans filled with flowers. The cans are out of balance, sliding off by a wir front of them and fas both ends. The vents are turned down to serve as air inlets. -An artistic effect produced with old chianti bottles, They are cracked at the bottom to allow air to enter, but hold together by the straw wrap- kept across ened to the wall a | Artistic Use for Old Chianti Bottle. [From a sketch.) ping. Many kinds of plants can grow in these bottles and they are quite handy be- cause it is very httle trouble to tie a string around the neck and hang them on a nail. There are a few window-sills in the Spanish quarter of town that have no flowers on them, but there are also many | people who have flowers and no window sills. In order to give their cherished y