The San Francisco Call. Newspaper, July 12, 1896, Page 17

Having only a shining silver quarter of a dollar in my pockets, I started forth to be a prince for 3 day in gay San Francisco on this amount of cash. The problem was how to get at least two good meals, to visit the leading places of interest in town, to keep sbreast of the news, current litera- ture, etc., of the time, to hear one or two fine concerts of instrumental music of high class, and generally to bave a really ropal time on two bits. My instructions included an admonition not to accept fa- vors on account of personal acquaintance, the purpose of this bemng to have the net result such as may be achieved by any person who is much alive to the possibili- 4ies inhering ir existing local conditions. Keen and pungent odors proceeding from open doorways on East street sug- gested gustatory delights, and & police- man, who was inducted into the condition of the. royal exchequer, ‘‘opined” that in this neighborhood breakfast couid be most satisfactorily obtained. “You see it is this way,” said the knight of the locust club. *“You can go into this office and get’ a ticket which will entitle you to a free breakfast at the Balvation Army Lifeboat; or you can go around into Jackson street and get a pint of wine and some meat stew for a nickel, butI would not advise that, because the wine is the dregs of vats; or you can go into one of these places and get a large glass of steam beer and something to eat for 5 cents.” Five minutes later the edge of the appe- tite of the morning was being dulled rap- idly through the agency of three shiny frankfurter sausages, bread ad libitum and potations from a deep glass in which foamed the amber liguid popularly known as steam beer. The sansages were evi- dently cooked by & chef. The smoothand burnished exterior indicated the interior to have been properly prepared. Sightly and shapely like the *‘lady fingers’” made by the pastry cooks, they were as easy to take in one’s digits, and they crackled deliciously at the first pressure of the in- cisors. Then from them was exhaled a fragrant odor which impelled a flow of gastric juice and caused expectation to run riot. Here was a beginning of which Fsculapius could approve; upon which a vhilosopher like Seneca might look with satisfaction, and which would call forth the commendatory nod of broad-girthed Gambrinus. & Upon the surface of amber-colored beer floated foam as evanescent and light as thistle down. beer was as deep and as musical, as it was clinked against another, as a beli of Shan- don ““That sounds so grand on the River Lee.” Clearly through its transiucent sides could be observed the sparkling effer- vescence, the riotous ascent of sparkling globules which conferred, as a reward for patronage of a plebeian beverage, a delight- ful tang, in which was all the lusty flavor of sun-kissed felds of bearded barley, waving and rustling in the wind. The re- porter moved nearer the bread dish. There wasa general human gravitation in the same direction. The *‘barkeep’ looked on benigaly. Squared off before this array, as the frankfurter imparted its sweetness, the staff of life lent itsstaying and blood-mak- ing qualities, and the beer percolated soitly as cool spring water drips from a mossy spring down a grateful throat, not The receptacle holding the | seamed and juicy pork, smoked invit- ingly by. A salt sea smell, such as might be enjoyed by the swirling blue depths of the Pacific, where beaches are a-glim- mer in the afternoon light and mermaids comb their hair sit- ting in seaweed gar- dens or fair pas. tures of kelp, stole insinuatingly 1ts way to fond apprecia- tion. Clams! eclams potatoes tucked in babes in a truckle bed; clams im- pacted and reveling in the per- fection and joy of being steamed clams; clams that were juice, only juice, the wineof the sea, the tonic of the dyspeptic, the inspirer of dreams of a hoe, a robust constitution, a wade in sparkling water, a dig and a find. Glorions crustaceans, mag- nificent peanuts of the sea, it is your pro- pinquity that insures the superiority of the seaside brain to that of the person who shrivels under heat where salt breezes do not blow. For 5 cents the prince of aday could have the choice of any of these dishes, with bread and beer. There was nogrudg- in chowder, with as neatly as ing about it. The ‘‘barkeep” had mno | sooner drawn the beer than he briskly in- quired, “What will you eat?”” There was a marplot in the place, a man who sug- | gested sordid considerations to'the man behind the bar and lunch-counter, hinting that beggary lies this way and thatin- solvency must chase by night and day the man who would give 5-cent meals with steam beer thrown in. On him were bent sinister looks and the general verdict was that lie should be claimed by the sea, with all its wealth of luscious food full in sight, and be forced to dine, sup and breakfast upon starveling smoked herring—as red and smoky, salt and bony as possible. I must explain here that Iatethe frank- furters because I knew thateconomy made it necessary to have something that would stand by me for some hours and stand off any hints of hunger. It was early in the day to start for the park and the Cliff. The bonton would not come out until later. There was enough to do in the meantime. Two or three preliminary preparations for burst- ing into the fashionable throng at the park on terms of equal footing were neces- sary. There were spots on the reportorial shoes; the reportorial face needed a razor; the indispensabie boutonniere must be procured. The shave could be secured free. The boutonniere might come easily, but how about a shine? The presence of sufficient blacking on the shoe-leather was evident. Oh, for a brush for a minute freel “Bire,” said Napoleon when he con- templated and discussed a winter foray over the mountains into Italy, “sire, there shall be no Alps.” I was not Napoleon, but Italy, by a rocky road, was nevertheless my destina- tion. The problem was to swoop down, 80 to speak, upon a bootblackery; to seize a brush and administer personally half a dozen free rubs and to get away - free. Some of the Italians have eyes like stilettos, their gaze piercing you through. =N [ 5 - L,,UgTAu"“" (Al S —~— T T LT E ~ I8 staying nor speeding the clouds of yester- day vanished as a wisith. The present be- came radiant with lexpectation, money was dross and the fiture—i. e., this one day of princeship—wai filled with premoni- tions of pleasing acconplishment. All this time other|odors were blown about, like smells f a field of wild Boston bean, flanked w flowers. The bracing 4nd brain-creating | lightning speed the, shoe-brush whisked stitches of red- | over his shoes, and they shone like adrum ) e, Others are mild as the skies of their only lovely native land of song and vine., Be- fore a drowsy Italian knew what had hap- pened I bad a brush and was dusting the reportorial bat. It wasa shoe-brush and the Ttalian said hospitably, ‘“Taka disa brusha.” Fatal amiability. The prince of a day had sized him up correctly. With | saw Napoleon come at them, over the G suimeE 5¢ 5uumv$uo‘f major's Fourth of July shake. Nor were the Italians more astonished when they wintry roads from the Alps, than was the proprietor of this blookblack-stand. “Thank you,” Isaid and walked away. There was next a shave to be secured. The fact may not be generally known, but it is a fact that in this commercial and money-seeking City there is a tonsorial emporium where the penniless wayfarer, so be it that he is hirsute, is sought for. From the highways and the byways men with beards and flowing locks are gathered in to supply practice to the students of a THE SAN FRANCISCO CALL, SUNDAY, JULY 12, 1896. have survived to this electrically advanced time, it is pleasing to think that such um- brellas are no longer in use. The philoso- pher, ambling amiably through the streets of Philadelphia with that umbrella raised in a thunder shower, would be a fit pictorial companion piece for Ajax defying the lightning, both calculated to make Ajax get in and do something. Close by the Franklin relic is Daniel Boone’s fowiing piece. There are relics enough and metallurgical specimens enough in glass cases to interest one for a week. Theprince of the day had 50 far seen two museums, had one meal, one shine, one shave and one refusal to accept a bath—all for a nickel. The next step was equally economical. The Free Public Library contains the newspapers of the day. The morning news was duly digested, the gnonthly magazines were scanned, and note was made of the park programme of music for the day. There had not been an idle moment or a dull moment so far. Transportation to and from the park was a serious matter. Although only one nickel had been taken from the treasury the units which go toward making up a quarter of a dollar, one dime and two nick- els, clinked insignificantly in my pockets as if they knew that they were very small fry and were twitting each other on that humiliating fact. When the prince of a day boarded a streetcar it was with the idea of having a long ride for a nickel—not the longest in the town, but as long as was compatible with the plans of the day and the time re- maining in which they could be carried out. the point of departure. The first car that came along woula do barber school which is on Howard street near Eleventh. Not evena prince for a day would derogate from his dignity by accepting a favor where he was not able to confer one of equal size in return. Secis- | sors snip and razors meander endlessly over cheeks without a fee. Young men and old men and at least one young woman have become students in an | eight weeks’ course in the barber school. | With a towel tucked under my chin and lathered for the coming event, I kept my shiny shoes carefully out of the reach of anything that counld injure their gloss, and soon emerged with a face more beautiful and princely than ever, On my Hyperion-like locks had been deposited sweet scents. This being near the Lick free baths a visit was paid to that estab- lishment. As a strangeran invitation was extended to bathe freely and without price by a genial attendant, who dispenses towels and generally superintends. This invitation would bave been accepted but for the shine and the hair dressing. This was bad generalship and unworthy of a “man who aspired to emulate Napoleon, but the retreat was masterly as it was ac- companied by an invitation to *‘call again.” 1t was barely 11 o’clock, too early still for the bonton. Standing on pedestals, with outstretched paws, two large bears guard the portals of the museum of the California Academy of Sciences. Passing along a marble floor and over palatial stairways, the prince of a day allowed his haughty eyes to dwell with cold, unrelenting and scientific cynicism upon the huge but counterfeit mammoth which stands pre-eminent among a bevy of articulated prehistorics. Butsoon the delights of contemplation came surging across the reportorial mind like racing @ons. Onee more the earthin fancy became the battle-ground of huge amphibians, wallowing in fear or shak- ing their arena with . their ponderous tread. Huge winged serpents with ser- rated teeth shot horribly across the sky. Lizards came to ghe one thou- sandth anniversary of - the birthday of the equanodon, and the honors of the day were divided between the pterodactyl and the ichthyosaurus. The behemoth, ‘“that sweated blood,” shrieked with all the vigor of prehistoric lungs of leather. Here in a glass case the dreaded python writhes. There the egg of the Mississippianis ‘contains dull possibilities of producing an Easter alligator. There ‘was no reporter’s “detail”’ connected with this; no danger of a ‘‘scoop’ ; no story to be extracted. The post-pliocene and plio- cene periods might become inextricably | mixed and no one could be held responsi- ble. This show could be viewed with the free spirit which belongs to the ordinary mortal; getting more intense joy because the big animals are -as big as the laws of nature permit and because their names are mostly unpronounceable. 5 There was the State Bureau of Mining standing open with free and inviting as- pect. In a glass case is the umbrella which was once owned by Benjamin Franklin. It is a vivid blue color as to cloth. The stick is stout as a truncheon and terminates in a ferrule of brass. While there couid be only grief in an American mind that Benjamin Franklin could not | 1 { Lotta’s fountain was settled as| and from a front seat the moving spectacle of Market street was enjoyed. After rid- ing some blocks westward a transfer was taken to Powell street and a northward course was pursued. Then the second transfer took the nickel tourist out over the Jackson-street line, from which there were fine views of the Golden Gate and handsome residences and grounds which, ag they were passed, stimulated a sense of aristocratic enjoyment. Central avenue caused the issuance of a third transter and the beginning of a fourth ride for a nickel. The itinerary had inciuded a tour wesiward, a second tour northward, a third tour westward and southward, and now, for the same nickel, the fourth tour, westward and still further southward to Golden Gate Park was taken. On these four trips two pieces of good luck came along which counld not be thrown away. The first was the capture of a morning paper which was leit by a pas- senger. The second was the acquisition of the coveted boutonniere. Information from the paper, strategically volunteered, led to a conversation with a family party bound for the park, the conversation being ‘based on my admiration for pinks, of which one of the young persons had a bunch. Would I accept & boutonniere? Why, certainly, with pleasure. The news- paper was a gold mine, for it was subse- quently sold, after some brazen use of lung, for a nickel to a party from the coun- try who wanted tolook upa time table. That nickel secured a glass of beer and a free lunch near the park, but that lunch ‘was so poor that the less said about it the better. 5 The greatest conservatory on the Pacific Coast, namely, the one in Golden Gate Park, was made to furnish its quota of entertainment. A cigar wowld have en-- hanced the joy of this part of the day, but that was denied and this is the oniy re- membered deprivation. In the conserva- tory the eyes are regaled with the choicest vegetation. The humid air is like the tropics, and its fostering influence causes the plants in its soil to burgeon forth bravely in a bewildering opulence of graceful flowers and rainbow-husd petals and fronds. The orchids reveal their gin- gular habits and charm the eye. Clamber- ing vines decorate their graceful foliage with gaudy blossoms. By the time the edge has worn off this pleasure the aviary calls for a visit and the buffalo paddock invites. The birds sing beautifully, the squirrels gracefully antic, the inhabitants of the paddock charm and there are three nickels still in the treasury, these incur- sions into botany, floricuiture and zoclogy not having cost a cent. Three shows in one, added to four separate rides and the other diversions of the day and the best was yet to come. Travelers tell of the gay sights on “Un- ter den Linden,”” the Bois de Boulogune, Fifth avenue, Commonwealth avenue and famous boulevards where wealth and fash- ion congregate in dress parade. Taking a comfortable bench under a shady tree, I took in the fashion and gayety of all the “nobby”’ peoplein San Francisco, to which | was added the tourists from ail climes. A gay cavalcade speeds between the banks of living green, upon which are. drifts of flowers. The wheels flash as they merrily whirl. The voices of the riders of horses . and bicycles are raised in gay laughter ana genuine glee. The wind rustles de- liciously through the trees, but there is lacking still the flavor and odor of a good cigar. Fifteen cents would take the tour- ist down on the cars and give him a dinner of three courses on Kearny street— soup, meat and dessert—the course dinner costing 10 cents and the ride a uickel. Avaunt, course dinner! Better -the fra- grant weed and the satisfying 5-cent coffee and cake than the pampered appetite of three courses which shall cause this other- wise perfect scene of present bliss to be marred. It is thena tournament—at dice. A lucky throw that, and the princeofa day has a cigar and still retains the entire 15 cents. If before the scene was blissful it is now Elysian or Nirvana like. The benckes in the park are no more hard. The trees whisper more softly 1o each other as they interchange jocular confidences and leafy quips. The sun dial truly *‘tells only the sunny hours.”” The women seem more beautiful and chic. The bicyclists speed along with dream-like ease and insub- stantiableness. Every flower in the park area diffuses a sweeter and subtler breath. The park police would be excused for as- suming suddenly a heroic pose as riders of Bucephalus. The afternoon passes all too fast on golden wings. The sweet cool- ness that follows sunset, the sky being laced with purple and gold, is delicious. From the sward rises the steam of new - mown hay. The horses’ hoofs rattle like castanets on the hard road. Over the steep sides of Tamalpais, as the prince of a day climbs the stairsleading upward toward the north side of the park, there is a purple shadow, a deep robe of royal purple, in which early stars soon begin to glisten like jewels. But the glory of the mountain is also only for a day, and at once a bond of sympathy exists between the prince and the royal mountain. There will be no evening cigar, but there is a course dinner ahead and a conce rt The course dinner is not bad. It consists of soup, roast beef and pudding, with coffee. Now comes the lasi event of the day. After the evening papers have been read—free—the steps of people are wending inward from Market street to the Em- porium. Therein, perched on an elevated music-stand, are the orchestra. They play music by Mercadante, Rossini, Weber, Verdi, and so on. The cadence rises and falls. The prince drinks it allin. Penni- lessas he is he feels that he *‘dwells in 7 i ‘marble halis,” and the marble all about him assists the illusion. Truly, 1 have been a prince for a day in San Francisco on two-bits. There are no to-morrows. Eternity is now. % About 2000 sailing vessels of all kinds disappear in the sea every year, carrying down 12,000 human beings, and invoiving aloss of about £2,000,000 1n property, NOEMCTEW u A RgpuTy of THE ‘Fourty DiMENgIoN: Some Startling Possi This is the age of invention and discov- ery. Professor Crookes of England, the greatest chemist of the world, some years | ago invented a peculiar tube which has lately come into general use through the | X (or unknown) ray, Camille Flam- | marion, the great French astronomer, hae | demonstrated the probability of human life in the planet Ma's. Both of these scientists assers that what is referred to as | “‘the fourth dimension of space’ is an ac- | tual fact in nature, and that in addition to length, breadth and thickness, matter may possess a fourth dimension. Eminent as these gentlemen are in their respective professions their belief in ‘‘the new dimen- | sion” has been received with great incred- ulity, and it is only within the past few | months that even the faintest show of | respect nas been extended by the world | for their belief in this direction. What is the fourth dimension? How can there possibly be a measurement be- sides length, breadth and thickness? In reality there is not. But thereis a prop- erty or quality of matter which at first was thought to be equivalent to a new dimen- ston, and for convenience these scientists employed the word ‘“dimension” when referring te it. The newly discovered quality of matter ranks in importance next to Jength, thickness and breadth. ' It is “‘permeubility.” It has been discovered that two solid bodies may exist in the | same place at once; that solid matter can pass through solid matter without the slightest injury to either object. Itis through the X ray that the first great public demonstration of this law is made. It is a scientific axiom that no two molecules of matter really touch each | other, but each 1s surrounded by an inter- | space of ether. All molecules are known | to- be in constant motion, the rate of vibration varying according to the| texture and density of the substance of which they are parts. Now, when the X ray1s employed on an object, it fur- nishes so powerful a light that it illum- inates these etheric interspaces, and the molecules themselves being so infinitesi- mally small, and in constant motion, they offer litule or no resistance to the illumina- tion, hence under proper conditions it has been proven that the human eye can see all through & solid mass of matter, through iron plates, stone walls and human bodaes, with about the same degree of clearness that it sees through the atmosphere. Two distinct inventions or discoveries lie ahead in this direction. The first is to scientifically prove that gross matter can pass through gross matter; the sec- | ond, to project the human body through | solid substances. Both these feats may be pronounced impossible; and even where one admits them for the sake of argument he is apt to claim that there could be no radical difference in the two operations and that one discovery would include the 3 other. But this is notso. The first dis- covery will be made long before the sec- ond can be demonstrated to the satisfac- tion of science. Actually, both of these feats have been accomplished by hundreds of investigators of the finer forces of nature, but as they have considered such thines as of very small importance compared with what they were searching for, they have rarely Interpenetration of Solids. bilities of the Finer Forces of Nature. taken the trouble to say anything about the “incidental” fests they performed. They bave also acquired the ability to see through solid matter by using the X-ray of the body, 'and to these investigators the invention of HKoentgen appears a very clumsy affair. I will giv. Western materialistic societies a clew if they wish to explore this new realm. Itis merely a hint, but if some of them take the trouble to follow it up they may become more widely known than Edison or Tesia. Starting with the known fact that all molecules are in a state of | rapid vibration, under certain laws of co- hesion, each molecule keeping entirely separate from all others and each being surrounded by an atmosphere of ether, as is now demonstrated by the X ray, it follows that if we could procure a point suffi- ciently fine it could be inserted into the interspace between the molecules. The interspaces have a greater breadth than the molecules. Taking two objects of the same composition, iron, for instance, the one can be passed through the other, if we can once succeed in getting the mole- cules of one piece to exactiy join with the | interspaces of the other. There are certain laws of rhythm which govern the constant inclination in all grades of matter, and when one is once able to learn the harmonic action and in- teraction by which the molecules play back and forth he has the problem half solved and has next to acquaint himself with the peculiar quality of force which must be applied in order to compel the atoms of different objects to interpenetrate each other. Itisenough at present tosay that this force is electrical in its nature and that when applied in a certain way the scientist will be able to pass wood through iron, brass through marble and iron through glass without the least fear of d amage. The next resnlt referred to in connection with the new guality of matter is the pos- sibility of living men passing through solid walls, no matter of what kind of ma- terial composed, or of descending through the'solid crust of the earth, with less in- convenierce than the diver sinks to the bottom of the sea. This will ba accomplished in an entirely different manner from the method first aescribed. In that case there wasan in- terpenetration of molecules. But in the case of the human body the molecules are knit around with such an intricate net- work of nadis (minute nerves) and vital essences that should there be a penetra- tion of gross substance through them it would result in death or dangerousinijury. There are, of course, certain loci in the body at which there are invisible open- ings in which one may jab himself with a dagger without any real injury—provided he knows how, but speaking of the body as a whole it is not safe to disarrange its molecular arrangement. In order io transport the body through solid sub- stances onme must entirely discompose those molecules which his body contacts, and then build them up again after he has passed through. This is accomplished by a knowledge of electrical forces; and the displacing and replacing of the molecules can be accomplished with the rapidity of thought. An instance of this operation was given in THE CALL of June7, in its article on Magician Tautriadelta, where the lIatter described an African who floated through the walls of a but and back again the walls remaining. intact. The fourth; dimension of space then, while.it concerns;the interior of matter, is not a dimension in reality, but it has to do .with a: quality ‘or!property of matter— permanently—which is entirely unknown to western science, though in my own country—India--it is a matter of general knowledge, and was also known toa num- ber of the mystic philosovhers of Europe, In Indiait1s a common matter for the traveling fakirs . to -give performances in which :they thrust their hands through solid 'doors, put.. books through books, enter houses with.only one door and pass out through the wall on the otber side. Many fakirs of comparatively little nower are able to do these things. They possess enormouswyill power, and having gained a knowledge of some of the subtle essences of nature, they are able to perform feats which seem miraculous to the uninitiated. But the higher class of fakirs or yogis never appear in public, and are said to _possess knowledge as far in advance of the average fakir as the fakir is ahead of tne American scientist in this line. It is said by some of the Eastern seers that America is to make some great dis- coveries regarding the “fourth dimension of space’’ during the coming century, and perhaps after a few years the above will not sound as strange as it does to-day. ' Rax Sixem. N