The San Francisco Call. Newspaper, October 1, 1899, Page 31

THE SUNDAY CALL : 81 THE ROUNDS WITH A NIGHT MA LECTOR # g Jime on a Night Mail Cart. merry lot. They work like men, as I learned before we came upon t.e next rkey at e Topsy to this day, and there's not a man in the employ 1.6W box the I attempted . mild- of our Governn.ent who better earns every 1y to correct. “If he oing - the red pen t it pays him. r 1ds by v he'd know by Cupid sank a blue cap afar down his head, and what part of him was visib! behind his mustache looked mischievous we came up I heard him mut rom be- hind fit, hope L going to gerve you the trick he himself once—tip over on the hills. Then the breezy voice of the good-look- ing extra joined in: ‘“These trips ar pretty dangerous after the city gets dar B One 0f the bays drove into a pile of lum- DPlack ber one night—didn't see it comin’. We Whimpered.a tiay t had never chanced be some ~sort .of g to spring.: He himper and shied ) have breakdowns. T oads are ; never wonder again aftenin, O Further along were strests that frow bad places in the night.” Bt And I forgave them all right generously &t those who presumed to c for thelr sininl Intentions, for they had to e e bear the disappointment of my not scar- Loit bY this time, save in saloons 1 g o gl were no pedestrians, save policemen a. %he thres of us started f forg onz T SLolIen SR SECAREre MOy wRSC iE & e 0 NG ose iy wot v ScuodEevertn midable what !t might be. The boys saw us off. it ed Don't you think yvou'll gat tir 3 snap of tt k. T Better wrap that aroun next policeman we met said “‘Good morn- “Can you keep awake till ing “Well, good luck to the t It was six long, cold hours sinca din- The wind raced down I began to think tenderly of the that nigh 4w ;s dish face. Topsy bent his ever. The street was at its gayest, 1 Topsy noticed nothing. He s sadly used to it all. The terrified shriek of a fire whistle dld not startle him, and glanced soberly at the hook and ladder as it crashed onward toward him as if wers part of the collecting business. The hook and ladder turned an unexpected corner and sprang, mad, upon us, and Topsy jogsed gently in front of it, in'time, heaven knows how, to miss jt. You won't find any part of the trip much colder than this’' Mr. Larkey en- couraged. ‘The climate is diff’rent over'n the Mission.” The swooping wings of the alr struck us, and the dark we were dri time do you have supper? I 1etimes. 1 stop in for a e trip, but I don't oft I work to mak ng__without Did T not the hardest . cleep late in sleep don’t seem ing into made it feel colder. Thers wers sjooh . six hours ahead. D o i et = Th as no stop to be made until we ATy he night hand every: against the ght to- day ishness in Twenty-fourth and Church Etree There we were dus to collect from the first box at 9 o'clock. We were on time, 2nd ten minutes over, during etween the scolding engines which we grew warm and drowsy in tha street and brought back the corner drugstore. The drugstore made tt ¢ outdoors much colder than before, and the ped the air that crept in, even above a three-inch tracks. Along the w collar, made me bundle myself heavily. : In that far-away part of the town red poxes are not near together. Once in a ter. The hours wera so long while there is one altogether empty v this time that most of and the few letters found are more vari- them at all as they scud- ous than in the commercial district. Some are addressed in ungainly foreign char- acters and some writings quiver with old age a me are copper-plate labors on pink or bl 1ares that bespeak ruled note paper wit Then of a jen we came upon the Uncompromising clay toot for winter trips ¢ cast a glance ahead. I blushed with i dertaken; -haif It ey are the h s and wag are appropri-te tv to see T the wa ne or against ulder. On were driven in the de indicates ar pant 4 the end of night ha begl w ] cart ped from the cart 1 ] « at first and_wondered halted. Bi we do, rell i I go to beside wouldn’t_know nderstood horse dldn’t s ; compar ST m for him when we We rat come to And de- wake of ( b precatin iny, it's a Blondey was - it in tha Ferry said’as if to short of 2:30 when we rol as like your 11 you to rnke Ohange from ridin.. relieve Topsy’'s mind, It mother when she used. to ou stayed with him to thé end?” the only help of currant jelly left—she eted me wl really didn’t care for currant jelly. In _‘Why, of course know that my eight hours of comradeship with Mr. T intended to?’ I w Jle to amile Larke I came to tY “Intended to—ves {s a good an if e 1 s the open biue eve that 1t a cross word nor a headache The lines had been dropped long sinc : and Topsy was left to zigzag the hills nd formed in ‘Jine t his own discretion. 1 watched him t paint and the blue of t corners when they should be tur inder the electric T the guidance of naught but his own wise like a line of circus wheeled about part. - Thelr and they looked harioteers. 4 head, and I marveled. Among t Jlad vou happened on the - best . i o o ~ . " . - hoxes collec between 6:30 p. m. ¢ ther we've had.’ ; Jhere Amt Much Mail in It Jo-HNight. C3oa ronllot egpeiwegian Al ini T Sheriweive hau ol o ol stund working every night. But Topsy from Second street down, and there w: never erred but once. That was when we s the most to see O v ro § stands {t. When I first got him I thought the faintest flicker of us! in the returned by way of St. Luke's Hospital Next tlme you comq you can v he wouldn’t last a week, but he was bet- roan's pace. he kne nat the lights of There against the white wall and be one of the new wagons.” | ter'n I thought. Those roars seem the ferry building ahead meant a brie the shiny green terrace hangs a new red - Then it was off and away, -and men er than other hor: He's about cess from mail boxe When w box. The whole might be a page from a slept. KATHRYN MARCH. old and he's alw £ r the left arch we were : Uess He used to work for . s —— - ——re but that wasn't so bad as this—not so In the short time allowed for rest before | steady. But he's been at it 'hout long the long trip should begin I foliowed for a % 5 enough now, and I'm going to let him little way on their shifting journey the let- rought in tne bl and white stop. I'm going to take him over home to ters we had br Fruitvale and let him have a good time, sack. I have a confused recouection of and T'll get a new horse when I start seeing them faced, stamped up, by dizzy- Worlcagaini'’ g fingers, and their edges were His head bung a little Station D. If we were earller than the Topsy's reward Is to .be that of the £hoved even in a trough, and they were | : 856 1 - fed, ores at a time, to a greedy, gasping e of each box's ar ce- " 1 nd trouble running after Scarred veteran. I took the epportunity jittie machi o claws responsibility welghed “Topsy Io tell him SPout Ais Brosb s ut 1 do OUL to selze them the faster. ~When I e cobbles. "It kept his mas- tme t was (el 8 ORE Wt D & hia Dext.saw them they were postmarxed and | It was the Autocrat of the Breakfast dinary woman all the gifts a woman could n h Do e “hend slowly, rheumatically, Uelf stamps canceled. Table who had laid down the principle 88k or have save one. It will not, I hope, struck out the sight unheciced, Bead, SlORIY, TRONMANE N Beyond that I understood little, al- | that men, like peaches and pears, grow e s or oM o He pulled 100k was Incredulous and only said: “Who MoUSh there were polite people every. | gweet a little Whild before they decay. At aome day or other, be part of-lit i : ot and viack dogs across the field of Dewey knows h ; ng 8 where who explained. orti 2 cajico pinafore than 1 glory now up at every box and he listened patlently are you, taking possession of the United N{CTRNary fmoressed me n tedions, and | he explained, eager and ambitlous tory. Mrs. Lewes s not beautin : ; H ey p o : ites mall cart and talking nonsense to ; : B r's time to & in the embroidered peonies of a new em- to the sound of the key in the lock, tha States mgi L t0 T wondered how many T men are striving to carve a name for appearance the 3 e i I dered when I8 that drop of the box the soft noise of letters, me? Do you want to lead me into a fool's wo oidel®q O WA of the trifiing notes | S0 10 P, "t wenty years later they ettract admiration not éven a a box fn time. Clerks ond, that hairsbreadth Fven the raitiing of the box into place paradise? 'Are you sane, to be talkins [io Yrl{e the acceptances and regrets and | themselves, DUF LECOLY et WAL MY face like that lotte = Cushman, day really ceases and night agaln never tricked him—it was not his about flelds that wax green and fat when maye” But T saw Bundy and I shall aot | e ralte BDot eyt r\]‘hic‘n at least must make a deep impr t : ef BD s n the gion und selze at o ys worl a b n a » six. every corner halt. P 7 = We writhed our way through thisken- ing fog and the buildings stood blacker, do g o8y Dblock. I looked at the mmered a wee b ght, and I wondered just as wonder when 1 gloried more e that reached ea when a smoke still _sh some lighted cf these people ere, And, just as in the callco cue. But the snap of the spring lock— the new rains come, and I1dleness to i 0 the attention of the wera in big S led me once again, and day then he knew nd. with tha: bleak, munch therein? No: my paths are the f,‘,’(’]‘}‘&‘“;”{“é‘,gfc:g;’;’n‘g;’“%’ In sheep's | thoroughly optimistlc tone of the “Remin- gazer: nor docs it seem ke (hat of Mm Hostonl ihe ¢ and night slipped in some- dient endurance of his class of peo. aching paths that lead over bumpy cob- GOLIME JSwer bame actose, Bundy s the | jcences” of Justin McCarthy, & man who de abeth B s generous, well h when 1 was p_'vyl';‘v ”{L'fl Ble ahita R ‘h)r’ 0 _m_n?d bles, and my cue is the click of a lock. the sheeplest sheep, His front dg‘\’_ e of | certainly may consider that he has suc- in uminated I 8- Ttoow he writing that . Down st the yrater ron “Get-ap,” said Mr. Larkey. “He needs And as I thought upon a horse's Or WaS | feoqed? Both England and American s 2 rose of a sudden an con- opened for me and I saw the workings of 1 see. If whip na omething d - th u should thoughts I could see nothing in all his 2 s are now engaged in poking more in, what i merce. fonted rhe. 1t was the Grant. Close by drive the friskiest kind of horse over this :,‘,L.;’fq'f Antiooli which ImishCisacya inlthe sk ",‘5“‘ I learned how he tells tales. 8{“?555 ey fon SE this leminent Teishe and what persons et to see how often {t hung & PoStboX. 3 to-night+ UiP for about three nighis you'd have to place of man's greatest joy—the joy of Then his tront door was closed again and | ygp for his roseate view of all his friends ften the force of an itchi-on you, Mr. Larkey . lhere ain't much mall in it toonight,” whip him by that time. They get broke hope. Topsy's good time is coming, but OR°e Mote he stred down, without a slgn | gnd acqualntances—even those who op- unpleasant truth would describe prot Mr. Larkey said. ‘But you ought to sée yi.ide a w, Topsy was a good horse he is deprived of the greater good time Of malice aforethought in his bald, hypo- | josed him In religion, in politics and i by a still harder'and more emphat “Sometim, 4 they'll telt you : ? Lo son ATk oty iime g fransport leaves! L ead of time. The e BOX,.CVOry 19.% Yetters then and DELOE e these big places until the drop 'em as they go down to sail. Other ent into the business, but he's of anticipation, and even in the days when Critical face. All he sald was, “Quarter spoiled now. He's been at it most three he shall roam, cropping, over luscious t© Vears, and ho never gets a night off ex- felds across the bay, will there not al- _Below stairs we went to the waiting iterature. I wonder If it {s right for me Jective.” to increase their hilarity by pointing out = Now mark how the Justin McCarthy of | one little discrepancy between the Justin E s of the same lady. In the run out ¢ " don't find many letters. —The TERS n o "o 1Ty vacation —fifteen days ways be ono anxious ear trembling for Topsy and we found him surcounded by | McCarthy of twentv-five years ago and 3 hapter of too moon, they've s don't write any,’ I guoss thev [iin"year. e pulls elght hours a night the click? The pathos of animals that tho four other horses who do the four | the Justin McCarthy of to-day? cences” this phrase occurs: 6 o te 1 vel around the world so much that o Se cobblestones and over the hills, cannot know and tue pathos of the old other dlstricts. The red carts stood hud. | = Just about twenty-five years ago, in an who reads books and iy don't have ma T ¢ broke him. He never used 6 who move confused through a maddening dled in the light of the broad entrance and | article contributed to the Galaxy, a once authors is acquainted oMt It s the rolling stone story umble, but sometimes he goes down city’s streets always hurt me with the their drivers stood awaiting the only girl | famous New York magazine, Mr. McCar- and ilneament t o making the onehour trip With me now. If it rains and the streets same hurt. who ever made the nignt round. ! was | thy made. this hesitant gliusion to the pale, colorl e, with its cle cut e were expected af Station B are slippery, he has a hard time to keep Our way was stralght and plain once we introduced to their cordial welcome be. | physical characteristics of the lady who outlines—a face not beautiful, indesd; but d o v up. The rest of the boys keep two horse rBTChefl Market street. It was short to gnmng with Cupid and ending with 1cau d herself George Ellot: '‘Nature in- full of that intellectual expresstveness 0! ail’s Jpsy expressed, et 1:30. If we ~were later ~than U : ] e : 5 ] 2 - e s thenifuinoss. Ail qvw Yits Doy at 5.8 we V!?'_‘EE.,&'?F ‘#QEP!EAW“:",“,“ “,‘“d. change »ofl». they can't get any, that'l llect from the P?‘,?L‘l" he south side ondey; and, by my faith, they are a ldee _ue_gmeg_»to ha‘:e siven this extraor v\hich.apni&is_._tlg'flgx mind and heaxt.