The San Francisco Call. Newspaper, February 4, 1900, Page 6

THE SUNDAY CALL & % NOVEL METHODS CF THR WILY IMARKET HUNTER. EIX D ox with a cannon on nd a t egged ox wading where Man's Character Shown stilts is above reproach 2 h His passage t f good, keen observ above his fellow as himself were first . QT left arm as a shield. there p; by the So Says the Stilt Walker. took to stilts, and on xcept on e streets are slippery uncertainty e g rd on his back setting with and im 10onday meal the rest, ha prettily done Men in his wood- ther up “and there? indignities heaped habod Crane,. but firm bellever in law and upholder of the Goverp- TS TSSO DT Jop of Ris Hat SLAUGHTERING DUCKS WITH A small ones, though. Say, Browning, I iell you these two-barreled guns ain’t in it, an' they're against the law besides. Tell you what: I'm going to get them to make me a twelve-barreled 10-gauge gun, and have every barrel pointing in a little dif- ferent direction; then I can rake down the whole flock and take my pick. -This biz of having 10,000 ducks right under your nose and only getting a couple of hundred and half of them small—dces not suil me.” The first scatter-wide shotgun was made to order, with diverging multi- barrels. It has one hammer which fires the first barrel; that automatically fires the second, and so the twelve go, seriatim, making a continuous roar. Then it takes half a day to pick up the ducks. This, mind you, can only be done where ducks are plentiful. The hunter on the Alvarado marshes or the Suisun preserves does not see such sights as the market The ox was driven to the bank and out into the shallow pond to where the hunter of San Joaquin is accustomed to. crate on {t; then the ox pulléd the sled ment, especially in municipal affairs, although the bluejacket has more than once taken him to jail and purloined his stock in trade—his stilts. More than once he has been charged with obstructing traffic, but at this he sneers, “for,” asks as he pats his stilts lovingly what these obstruct?"” Th same cipalities m tain smooth sidewalks upon, and, best of all, lamp-posts,” murmurs he, as iis hands in ecstacy and looks nd story window, “what would t them—for when 1 fall I could I do witho :ver never rise again ‘without their friendly aid.” And fall he does, often. v man with wooden underpinning is never sure of his position 1l wonder then, that he {s somewhat of a philosopher his own he has formed id as and awn cc about things and peo- > peculia own point of > r perhaps, is his character of people from of their hats. , according to this divided into four cl r silk hats or “‘tiler: ats or Fedor: or r caps or s talks about these different classes as indicated by their headgear with the same familiarity as we would speak of negroes, Chinese or Hottentots me of his observations are salient and some are to be taken with a grain or two of salt. Fundamentally there is a conviction in him that the top of a man’s hat is an index to his character. It is as the open hand to the palmist, or as a thumb-mark to Pudd'nhead Wilson; it tells all—a man’s virtu faults and faflin, It is the open sesame to every man's disposi- tion. Take as a starter that class of people who adorn their heads with the polished tile—purseproud; if the top of the hat be smooth and the grain of silk all lies in the same direction In one unfurrowed smooth- ness the man underneath is sure to be of an even, unrufifled disposition, particu- lar as to his appearance and neat In his dress and habits; on the other ‘hand, if the hat is ruffled about the edge and the crown presents a generally mussy appear- ance, the wearer s careless and of ro steady purpose. A ruffled edge about the crown with a smooth center denotes a nervous and impulsive man, given to twisting his hat about in his hand while trying to appear at his ease. Often a silk hat is seen which has a small disturbed looking place on the right-hand side mar Sherlock Holmes, —those who > who wear rojected hitched to a large sled with a crockery ducks lay thickest on the water. “Pretty. near 400, I guess; most of them the top; the man who is found under this kind of a hat can be immediately set down as one who does not, as a rule, wear a tile; the ruffled place is caused by the wearer’s ineffectual endeavor to re- move his hat as he would his every-day soft one. Then, of course, there is the good hat gone wrong, like the owner, and the shabby genteel een-better-days” hat which is a bad endeavor to go right. When a man wears a derby hat which has veral large cracks. extinet craters etc., the man under it drinks somewhat profusely, The man under a square-top derby is sevére and generally wears his hands in his pcckets; he who cultivates the rounded top is jolly, while the man with the low crown is either young or a fop. The somber black soft hat, when set squarely on the head, denotes a minister— if jauntily on the side, a gambler. But the man with the cap is the greatest problem of them all; the most irresponsi- ble the most erratic. There are two es of cap wearers—the righ and the poor—the rich of the richest and the poor The man of the better cap goes swinging in the air, his hands He stops at the core ner, turns about, retraces his steps, stops again, looks in a shop window, lights a cigarette, goes back to the original cor- ner, looks up anfi down the street, and then dodges into a saloon. Purely a gen- tleman of leisure, in search of amuse- ment, is the man under the cap. He of the “other half,” the poorer man, smokes a pipe, black and strong, walks slowly along, his hands behind his back and observes nothing in particular; most likely a retired coal heaver too old to work. And so this man on stilts goes about this busy world, calculating his steps and observing the men who pass below him like so many ants beneath a tall and slender sapling. The present, past and future is as an open book upon the top of their heads. Withal he is a modest man. “I do not like newspaper notorfety,” said he to me one day, preparatory to a constitutional which he was about to take. “I am an only son and my folks are very sensi- tive about what I do, and desire that I lead an upright life. “So long,” answered I, and then I pa: ed out into the busy street and removed the handkerchief from the top of my hat. SEYMOUR BRISCOE. Saved by a Cat. Score one for pussy. A Bristol, Eng., cat a few days ago proved the means of gaving a whole family from destruction by fire. At half past two in the morning a shopkeeper named Ledo Schniedermann was aroused by his pet tabby, which was gently scratching his face. He tried to drive her away, but as the faithtul feline persisted, he aroused him- self, to find the room full of smoke. He alarmed a lodger, Herman Muller, who ‘was sleeping on the same floor, and also his sister and another young woman. They all rushed to the stairs, where the flames were already spreading. ‘With the exception of the lodger, the inmates, taking puss with tbem, reached & landing, from which they escaped to the back yard. Just as the flames shot right through the spiral staircase Muller, ‘who had stopped to put on his boots, was cut off from escape. The flames reached his room, and then, throwing out some bedding, he leaped from the second-story window. He badly sprained his ankle, and was taken to the inflrmary. along with 1 deep in his pocke La Baigneuse. Among the art treasures left behind by the late dramatist, M. Edouard Pallleroff— and they are many and valuable—is Bchoenewerk's famous statuette of “La Balgneuse.” Pallleron became possessed of this treasure In rather an odd way, says an art writer in the London Chron- icle. It was offered as a prize in a lottery by an artistic society, and was won by a cab driver, who found himself rather per- plexed by his good fortune, and finally set it up in his stable. Palileron traced the man out, and asked him how much he wanted for it. “Well,” replied the cabby, “‘they tell me she might be worth a ten- pound note.” ““Well,” cried Pallleron, “I'll give you £250.” “Don’t make fun of & poor chap,” answered the jehu in plaintive tones. He soon found, however, that the customer meant business and Pallleron carried off “La Balgneuse” then and thera The Kern lakes are more properly marsh—shallow pools, a foot or so now a in DOV ITIIDTAII I, DDA D D D DS S depth, and lying In groups and chains with tules, reeds, cattails and wild rice growins in and about them. Through these tule patches, which are as dense as Indian jongles, there are always thou- sands of cattle from the great stock ranches adjoining. The duck : to the cattle, end after a while no attention te them. The hunters learned this and trained oxen to walk out and act as stalking horses are used by deer hunters. The bottoms of the pools are fairly firm, and one can wade for miles through the open water, never find- ing a deep or miry place. The tdea of the cannon on the ox was an improvement in all directio so the market hunters had pack made with stout swivel guns m upon them, and in this way divic labor of hunting. Another duck hunter made himself a g after the manner of the pre- He built a house on piles in lake and d it from roof ridge to water's edge with long tules. He put a fence of wire netting around the house at a distance of a hundred feet or more then got some tame ducks and turned them loose inside with their wings clipped. ; Sitting comfortably with slippers and pipe before the fire, he enjoyed some of the most luxurious and successful duck AND AN OX PLAY HAVOC WITH THE BIRDS- shooting that ever fell to the lot of a hunter. But to follow the s escaped from ox | Up on the wh a particularly wheat could be shovel broad bills. Close at h in the water of wk the dust and cha without wt & duck to cattle to be ducks felt crack, a swis their heads found themsel by a fine meshed thread, which had bee of the ducks that On o9 ev ltke a flash fro T cealed in the traw bottom. Such dueks as had not been eaug in the net gave 4p any pt at br fast for 1 t s lagoon to rice, whic carp. A large num succeeded in finding bits of raw po disclosed the fact tha potato contained a wh attached a string tied bottom of nd the tied speedily broug their fell d o game of water tag ith g than either th With the net A Miniature of Greatest feistorical JInferest Owned by a San Franciscan. HERE is an old minlature in our city that could tell tales if it would. Day In and day ‘out it lies silent in its soft little plush case, but it looks steadily forth with the blue eyes of the long ago Lord Nelson. The plush case is securely locked away in the desk of D. Esper. Mr. Eisner is a Geary-street furrier, supposed to know more about the shade of mink and the quality of seal than he does about art and curios. But the Nelson miniatnre is the apple of his eye, and it's an apple that a good many professional collectors would snap up at the first chance. Two years ago Mr. Eisner vhal}(‘ed upon the painting. It belonzed to an®ignorant man, who was trying to dispose of it. The beauty of it attracted Mr. Eisner, and he at once offered the man $. “I guess you can have it,” was the an- swer. “I tried to sell it for the gold of the frame, but a pawnbroker would give only 50 cents,” So it changed hands. But to every query about the picture’s history the man remained dumb. Its new owner took it h it to the family, and it w dmired and aiscussed. It is in the form of a.large oval locket, and the back shows a lock of light brown halr inclosed in glass. The glass was broken when Mr. Eisner bought it. Around this is a band of dark biue enamel, and the whole is clamped with gold rivets and made to hang by a ring. As investigation went on curlosity arcse If 1t had been only the face—but the lock of hair—that was too much. Romance crept in. There was surely a story shut up in that locket. The eyes were the kind that go to make stories. Mr. Eisner re- turned to the seller. “I've got to know how you came by that picture,” he said. “Got to” didn’'t count, but jingling gold did. ' The price of the history mounted to $80. At last all tha as known was told. The man made a written statement that the miniature had been given to him by his mother shortly before she died in 1896. 8he was a lodging-house keeper in Lon- don—Golden square, near Regent street. A poor woman who had once occupled a room in her house had been unable to pay rent due and left the picture, saying that it was a miniature of the great admiral, Lord Nelson. The man himself had lost its original case and could tell nothing more of it than that “he remembered there was a picture of two animals on it— a lon and another thing with one horn in the front of its head.” Mr. Eisner returned home all excite- ment with newly stimulated -curlosity. ‘That very day he began a course of in- vestigation, which he has continued for me and showed /SFACE MINIATURE s~ the past two years, always missing com- plete proof, yet with ever more favorable evidence. Letters and figures appeared on the face of the locket, but they were indis- tinct. A strong magnifying glass made them legible. “W. Grimaldi, A. R.” at the left and “1791" at the right. This added interest. Letters and queries brought farth the Information that Grimaldl was miniature painter to the Duke and Duchess of York. Photographs were made of the painting and sent to J D. Schenhauser, the expert of Berkeley square. Mr. Schenhauser visits. America year after year with his collections and displays his wares in the Waldorf-Asto- ria, where the wealthiest of curio hunters flock to see and buy. He took fourteen months to look into the matter. Then he wrote that there was no doubt about the picture being a genuine Grimaldi. It was done in the oxygenized paint used on copper of ivory at that time. Furthermore, Grimal- di was the only miniature painter of Lon- don at that period. to the subject, he could only specu- He thought' the Nelson theary probable. written In all Mr. Eisner has two letters to England. N swers have been discour 3 Eccles, niece of Lady Nelson, writes she is sure her aunt once possessed s a plcture of the admiral, but that no trace of it can be found. Compare the face with that of the au- than thentic portraits. It is most of them, but no more Hoppner portrait of t the blue. The nose is similar, full as always, the eyes brilllantly blue. The lift of the left eyebrow and the mole on the right cheek are according to painted record. Riveted within the case a bit of yellow paper can be seen nestling nder the lock of hair, according to the custom of last y lovers. That little o doubt tells the story. ner is waiting to have it opened by proper authorities. He may go to Lon- ear for that purpose The eum will probably have a finger in the pte. What does the little paper tell? The old, old story, it is safe to trust. But is it told in_the language of John Smith er Horatlo, Lord Nelson?