The San Francisco Call. Newspaper, May 1, 1898, Page 31

THE SAN FRANCISCO CAfaL, SUNDAY, MAY 1, 1898. 31 LL Americans had left Havana W ’J’r\ 2 cne exception. A venture- 1 boy, Harold Otway, was ng when his parents hastily left their home in the city to take pas- sage upon a’ steamer for Key West. to remain, having a wild. idéa. that he might become use- ful,-in some ¥ to his country. His back, for they sister, In their care and ‘ s corner in Havana gathered. Spaniards who talked teningly about the little provocation groups into a mob, upon Wwr ing the property and he livés of the hated Ameri- r had not been declared be- ere xcitedly and th: A eén the United- States and Spain, t.the signs of the times were all warlike. - The h parture of the Americans and, last of ali, the Ameri- 1 consuls from Cuba, indicated clear- e .was expected anon would tro: ). ‘theé idea that ¢ and-led-t Soon “boom. n Planter, the - steamer, de- when there was one of the wharves. at :which sterious. Vv moored.” Steam was up to_go at an instant’s cloaked, ly to ‘the er, K -when. the ler sped from Larbor of Havana. the confusion of the Harold: Otw: in. getting: “the v under had ranaged to ‘get on her deck and hid 8 nec oat. lifet S Ba EDITED 'BY DAVI] D’ = o TLE OF — =~ NEE DEEP CREEK™! HAROGLD SERVED THE FlL Als BY TOM.. GLEASON, STOCKTON. in a low voice by the chief of the desperadoes. The noise that followed told him that the Weyler must be near the Southern Planter. ““We'll just hail the Yankee ship and bring her to a standstill and hold her in conversation long enough to make the work of the torpedo sure. Then, Carrambo, what a fine show of fire- works there will be!” Harold knew that it wds time for THE GREAT TORPEDO EXPLODED. that, . W near enough, : " = 2 ~ e 3 him to act. The Spaniards were not launchia torpedo at. the American ves- ne e ot D e wea duite BELID ImowWiacT D dark. He succeeded in ting from Suppose the torpec- should not ex- ypger the boat and 1id behind a smoke plode?” - asked = & villainous-looking stack. His quick eves saw a life pro- Spanlard of the captain cerver and this he tied about him ready 0. fear of” that,”. w for an emergency. ) was.made by the manu- ' ye minutes passed. The Weyler the mine that ~vas exploded poy gained rapidly on.the Southern Maipe. loed ran-cold as he heard >. knew that his father ittle brother and Americins W ud . mother; ki pendéd dpon hi & torpec ke a8 the m Maire! Tt ) The. 5 the same ne that destroyed the ained upon by the re- who often niding. Ye#th to-all Yankees!” This was ‘the watchword of the mur- crew. g out thé torpedo!” d: heard ‘this command, uttered Planter and was soon in hafl. She heard the hail and waited for the Wey- ler. Her passengt and they s crowded her decks n to one side as rd to look at the made her c sed forv er. Soon the captain of the Wi talking to the master of the Southern Planter. He represented that the Weyler was an American vessel and yed the people on the .Southern wa Planter to look out for Spaniards. Dur- ing the delay the torpedo was quietly slipped overboard and a Spanish diver ; to fasten it to the South- hull. aited no longer. ‘“Treason! he shouted. “Steam ahead or you will be blown up by a torpedo!” The effect was great. The Southern Planter was under way in an instant. Yells of rage and disappointment from the crew of the Weyler followed. A rush was made by the Spaniards in eRuuRURRY -TH l work’ erititled t} telling competition the prelimiriary honors: Juliette C R. Maud Mallo; Lucy -Till_tsor \arion R. De Nita M. Tomasini, Suisun City; Nonie "E. Herbert, Bloomfield, Bertha Gertrude Al'len, Tulare, Frank Harrold n Francisco. Floyd Smith, San Francisco. Alfred Lawson, Seattle, Wash. Gussie Taylor, Berkeley, Cal. Frank McCarthy, Los P EREEENENRRRERRELS HE roll of honor embraces the names of the boys and girls whose to be selected as the champions in There are more girls than boys in the list, for the reason that the girls wrote shorter stories. handler, San Francisco. RRUBRNE BRERRBEN 8% ] 4 the story- Here are the winners of Cal. C: Cal, suLusnLLLuuureRERRENRR BRIV search of the person who had betrayed them. Harold dropped over the side with- out noise and swam in the direction taken by the Southern Planter. Would he be drowned? If so, he thought, he had saved the lives of his countrymen. He could not die in a better cause. 3ut the Southern Planter did not go far. Finding that she was not pur- sued, her master tried the effect of one of his deck guns on the Weyler. The shot fell short, but struck the floating torpedo. A great flash was followed by & deafening roar. The torpedo had been exploded. The explosion sank the Weyler. Seeing this disaster the master of the Southern Planter sent boats to the rescue. One of the first persons picked up was Harold Otway. When he mod- estly told his story on the deck of the Southern Planter, surrounded by the ENOS “WHITE, THE PURITAN. scowling Spaniards who had been ta- ken from the water, every American man on the ship took off his hat in re- spect to the courageous youngster. BLOSSOM HAS A QUEER DREAM BY VERA CHISHOLM, SAN FRANCISCO. HE sun had just completed its wandering journey through the fleecy and tangling clouds and had sought comfort in the beam- ing west, and the dark folds of evening had enwrapped the quiet little village. “Upon the pathway which runs to the brooklet lay tired little Blossom with her mind in fairyland. She ‘had not had her tiny head a minute on the grass whea an old lady stood before her. Blossom became frightened at first because the old woman looked like a witch. “What brought you iere?” cried the wite? in a terrifying voice, which made little Blossom sigh. “There are no sighs in Fairyland, and if the wind should hear you he would carry you beyond the fairy sea. 1 want to know your name and whence you came.” “I am Blossom. can’t get home.” “Never mind about that.” replied the disagreeabl. old witch. “Can you sing anything?” “I think I can,” said little Blossom, very nervously. “Mamma has taught me one about the Childish Heart.” “That's enough; don’t talk any more, bu’ come slong with me.” Leading Blossom b the hand the witch set out across beautiful paths of purple, gold and silver. The little flowers bowed to them as they passed the grand lawns of Falryland. e They had reached the golden palace, which was decorated with silvery laces. The witch opened the palace door and ' I lost my way and R 7 A disappeared. Blossom looked aroundin fright and saw, away up in the sky, the witch riding on a large goose. Now, Blossom knew very well that she had had Mother Goose with her. “Oh, how cross she was!” thought Blossom, “I am well rid of her.” Blossom looked up the palace stair- case and a little fairy maiden came running down to her. “Come {inside, my dear,” said the lit- tle fairy, taking hold of her soft little hand as Blossom shyly stepped upon the fairy carpet and soon found her- self face to face with the fairy queen. A smile spread over Blossom’s pretty face as she looked upon the queen’s beautiful throne. “Sing us a song, my dear,” said the queen. So Blossom sang her little song. “Ah, you shall have a reward,” sald the queen. stepping forward from her glittering throne and clasping little Blossom in her gentle fairy embrace. Blossom’s face grew crimson as her heart was beating with content. The queen promised Blossom that she would show her something wonderful. Leading Blossom by the hand down the staircase and, followed by her little fairy maidens, she entered the room of diamonds. How queer it looked! Why, there was a little fairy man moving in the air and swaying torchlights to and fro. His eyes were glittering with fire. Blossom saw little red men coming an- grily toward her. She screamed aloud and looked around: “Oh, where is the Queen of Fairy- land?” she cried. THIS WAS OLD MOTHER GOOSE. All had vanished. There was nothing but midnight around her. DOTTY’'S VISIT. BY ALEXANDER HAMILTON, RIO VISTA. Dotty was the only child of rich parents. She had every possible wish granted to her, by her father, but yet one thing was lacking—health. One hot summer, when the air of the large city became very close, Dotty became very sick.’ The doctor said that she must leave the smoky city and go to breathe the fresh air of the country. Mamma decided to take the little girl to grandma’s. How slowly the weeks seemed to drag to Dotty after that. But, after a few weeks, mamma and Dotty were on their way to grand- ma’s. Oh, what a pleasant time she had hunting eggs and playing in the hay. No more afternoons spent on the lounge with a raging headache. The only trouble was that the time went too fast. When at last the sum- mer was over and mamma and Dotty went back to the city, papa said that although he had greatly missed his little daughter, he was paid by seeing the roses on her cheeks. —_— Very soon the boys and girls may be asked to say what they would do if they could be war commanders on land or sea. . The Bumpkins have the war spirit and are trying their luck with a, bomb throwing mortar at the Presidio. War will furnish all the excitement the lively little fellows can need. SEA FIGHT. OTTO CARMALT, SAN’ FRANCISCO. T at sundown we sighted a Chi- n junk. I was a boy upon my father’s ship, the Four Winds. We were sailing the €hina Sea, My father, who was the captain as well as the owner of the Four Winds, had been cautioned to look out for Chinese pi- rates. His instinct told him that the junk was filled with pirates. The air was still; not a ripple upon the water. The sun was hardly down when the sea was made light by a full moon. Then the junk got out big sweeps and began to work her way to- ward us slowly. There was nothing to do but to wait and make ready to re- celve her. We had one deck c-anon and a full supply £ Winchester rifles and ammunition to suit. There were twenty persons on the Four Winds, in- cluding the officers, cook and myself. We all took Winchesters and stood be- hind a hastily thrown-up barricade of lumber and some odds and ends—all excepting the cock and the second mate, who volunteered to serve cannon. It was near midnight when the junk came near enough to hail us. Then the pirates opened proceedings by fir- ing a cannon ball in our direction. It was aimed so low that it came skipping along the water and bounded over our barricade, dropping with a splash into the water beyond us. “Fire!” shouted my father to the cook. Our cannon banged, and a “hot ball” struck the junk fairly amidship, just above the deck, and killing some of the pirates and wounding several. We cheered and the pirates yelled. They must have been greatly excited, for they rashly took to their boats to * board the Four Winds. Directly they had a dozen boats in the water, all fill- ed with rascals armed to the teeth and on they came! without ceremony, but soon separated that they might sur- round our ship. We all held our fire until they were near. My father scat- tered us about the vessel to do the best work we could. Soon we were firing as fast as we could and our work was very good. Every few seconds some one or another of the pirates_was hit. We aimed for the rowers. Meanwhile the cook and second mate loaded up the cannon with slugs, pieces of old chain and bullets of all sorts. Then they wheeled the gun well forward, pointed it toward the stern and threw én old sail over it. We all saw that a “‘masked battery” had been contrived for an emergency. We could not keep the pirates off. They did not return our fire but rowed for the Four Winds as fast as ever they could come. They were still two to our one when we saw them coming over the sides of our vessel. They were reckless of life. As soon as they reach- ed our craft my. father ordered us all forward, where the cook’s galley was some protection. It was better that we should stand together. Across the deck toward us came the pirates, led by a burly Lascar. Now they began to fire and they succeeded in picking off four of our best men. They were about to overwhelm us, wi.en my father cried out: “Unmask the battery. ing the gun stanc ¢ .ar.” We underst.od and parted on either All not serv- THE CHINESE PIRATE JUNK. side of the gun, from which the mask- ing sail had been removed, and left a clear way for the cannon. The pirates did not know - hat -ve were up to and paused. That was their undoing, for, & they hesita.ed our cannon went off. The chains and slugs and other mis- siles swept across the deck like furies and half the pirates fell. We seconded the work of the gun with a lively popping of Winchesters. The pirates wko were able were at last scared. They dropped over the side of t: 2 ship i to thdr Hoats and hurried away to their junk. We were too busy caring for our wounded men to fire at them. So they were working their sweeps to get away and they were soon out of rifle rarge. TWO NICKNAMES. BY E. BUMILLER. Of all the girls so sweet and gay, So lovely and so jolly, ‘Phere's none compare with dainty — Or match my saucy — it boys I like, I give my heart To all—but then, you know, There's not another boy like — Or our’ big brother — the RN RENSERRNERENRRNNEuANRNUANEULRHERLR 1 the prom..se. opinions. BN NN RN U NN UNRURNRRNNNNNRRNNIRRS THE FIFTEEN JUDGES. HE judges who will decide whéther the boys or the girls have won the victory in their story-telling -ompetition are named below. They are all Cotnty Superintendents of* Education with ‘one excep- tion, George Morton Robertson, attorney-at-law, who is also the presi- dent of the Berkeley Board of Education., The promise ivas made that the Opinions of the judges would be published this morning. The failure of several judges to report promptly has made it impossible to carry out Probably all will respond in a few days. morning, then, must be the day for the publication of these important How far they will deal with the intéresting question, “Is“there any literary superiority in sex in children?” opinions will all be brief. These are the judges: Margaret M. Mageau, County Superintendent, San Bernardino. Kate Ames, County Superintendent, Napa. . Julia L. Jones, County Superintendent, Mariposa. Harriet A. Grover, County Superintendent, Alpine. Mrs. H. L. Wilson, County Superintendent, Colusa. Mrs. M. E. Dittmar, County Superintendent, Shasta. Kate L. Donnelley, County Superintendent, Plumas. Etta Kise Harrington, County Superintendent, Lake. George H. Stout, County Superintendent, Butte. B. F. Howard, County Superintendent, Sacramento. J. W. Linscott, County Superintendent, Santa Cruz. Thomas J. Kirk, County Superintendent, Fresno. Edward Hyatt, County Superintendent, Riverside. William F. Finch, County Superintendent, Glenn. George M. Robertson, president Berkeley School Board. 5 BREESLLVRUVRIIRURRI{ULRINLIVRRIILLLLL 2 Next' Sunday be forecast. The PR AR R AT AR R R AR ARRRARR R R R R R cangot OLD PURITAN DAYS. BY HARRIET S. SNYDER, SANTA CRUZ. N the old days, when America was being settled, there lived in Ply- mouth a couple of young lovers. When they were children, playing in the green lanes of old England, Enos White and Priscilla May had, in childish glee, pledged themselves to each other. Now that they were older and had, further- more, crossed the sea to this strange new land, they still stood by the child- ish betrothal. They had come over in the Mayflower. Enos was a tall, manly, young fel- low, rather quiet; he was very stead- fast and honest. Priscilla was merry and affectionate. In her childhood she had been spoken of by the old people as “Priscilla, the hoyden.”. She was full of life and spirit, quite different from the staid maidens by whom she was surrounded. Every evening Enos and she would meet under an old pine. _ At last they were married by the good old minister in the little, bare, cold church. They had a little girl when they had been married about a year; a Sweet, little maid with big biue eyes and sunny ringlets. She was the idol of her par- ents. They called her Ruth. Soon Ruth had a brother, Brian, who had the dark hair and eyes of his father. All these years wars with the Indians had been frequent, and Enos White had in each case served gallantly under brave Captain Miles Standish. One day, as he was working in the field, the great church bell began to toll. It was the signal that all the men were to assemble fully armed. Priscilla, as soon as she had heard the bell, had taken out her husband's sword. He had his gun with him; for in those days men and women always had to have a gun with them. As soon as he entered, he buckled on his sword and, after tenderly kissing his wife and babies, hurried away to_the church. He did not return. When Captain Standish came back he had a sorrowful tale for the young wife. He had seen brave young Bnos White fall in battle, and had seen the Indians carry him away. When he had finished the young widow gave a plercing shriek, and fell. When Priscilla awoke in the morn- ing her hair, which had been a beauti- ful brown, was snowy white. She geemed to be out of her mind, and lay staring blankly at a window, while kindly neighbors performed her house- hold tasks. She remained in this stu- por for six or seven months, making no sound and showing no interest in the things about her. In the mean- time Ruth and Brian were cared for by the neighbors. One day, almost half a year from the time she had heard of her husband’s death, Priscilla suddenly spoke. “Look,” she said; “look at the win- dow,” and she lifted her arm. A man'’s face was looking in. “It is Enos. He is come back. I knew he would!” Her voice sank lower. ‘““Will you please open the door and let him in?" The woman rose hastil~ and then ran to tell the town.that “Priscilla White has spoken!” TR T aa In the meantime much was happening in the White home. As soon as the women had gone, Priscilla called gently “Enos, Enos, come in!” In a moment he was beside her, and she was lifted - in-his strong arms, while he murmured, “My poor little Priscilla,‘my poor little darling!” PR S LT S el S It was in the afternoon of the day fol- lowing the oné on which Enos had re- turned. All the town had gathered to hear Enos White tell how he had es- caped from the Indians, and how his hair had become gray. This is his story: “When I was left by my comrades I lay stunned, for I had been hit by an Indian club. The Indians came and carried me away to their camp. Here 1 was bound to a tree, while the sav- ages danced around me. They then lay down in a circle around me and slept. Thus it was for many nights; I was bound to a tree, while my guards slept. But one night an Indian brave slipped from the ecircle of sleepers and severed the cord that bound me. He then gave me a large pair of moccasins that com- - THE BUMPKINS GET THE WARLIKE SPIRIT AND OPEN THE CAMPAIGN WITH THEIR FIRST BOMB AIMED AT THE ENEMY. pletely covered my feet, wornout shoes and all, and motioned me to follow him. “I did not know whether he was a friend or not, but blindly did as I was bid. - At last, as we were on a rising knoll of ground, I saw his face. It was the Indian to whom we had given food, wife”’—turning to Priscilla—“when he was almost famished. * “We traveled all night, and when day came we lay down and slept. We had plenty of provisions in my knapsack, v hich my captors had allowed me to retain; and it was thus that we lived for many days. We frequently dis- guised ourselves, and worked for farm- ers, who gave us food in return. We traveled many days and many nights, and at last, in many months’ time, we reached Plymouth. Now, Yellow Bull, come forward and receive your just thanks!” A tall, sinewy Indian came forward. A strange scene was then enacted. The moment the children saw him they rushed forward and caught hold of his long legs. The women blessed him, and the men shook his hand warm- ly. Then they all partook of the feast that Priscilla, with the help of the neighbors, had prepared. As for Yellow Bull, he stayed with Enos and Priscilla until he died, ever a loved and faithful friend. And it soon became common to see the tall, thin Indian with a child on each knee, telling them of their brave “daddy’s” journey home to them. Here are Ruth and Dorothy, They live in Berkeley-by-the-sea, The peaceful sea whose breezes fan The cherry blossoms of Japan; Whose tides roll in against our door Along the California shore. And near to San Francisco town, Where all the streets go up and down, The lovely heights of Berkeley rise As if they meant to touch the skies. And big waves make a booming sound, ‘And roses blow the whole vear round; Where grows the fragrant laurel tres Lixe little Ruth and Dorothy, In lovely. Berkeley-by-the-sea. These little girls wear “‘overalls” For play-time, then if either falls Right in the sand they never mind, But just brush off what soil they find And trot along all right again, ‘And no one laughs or scolds, and then— . They hunt for bugs and never know Papa will take their pictufes so— He steals along with his machine And—there they are—as I have seen, Mi little Ruth and Dorothy Who live in Berkeley-by-the-sea. et