The San Francisco Call. Newspaper, November 3, 1901, Page 14

TL_5 ERE is a strange story of the 1| remarkable hulk—the Tropic & & Bird. The old wreck has for years been a landmark on the beach Belvedere. A house has been built and families live there. Stranger vet, the granddaughter of the original ¥ of the ship is now living there, and the daughter of the captain ¥ oughts the stout ship Tropis round the Horn is now a San can. Below is given the odd ce in full, from the day that be- last voyage of the ship to the she was beached at the foot of Telegraph Hill, then taken to Bel- vedere, and later, years after, became me for the builder's descendants. CTYHE good of Belvedere who e passed year 7 mystery—a m s r midst for over < not solved it k ’ all, this - s s c < w th such accustomed t this mystery the end lifornia risk very n ke another. on s Jous whe 4s good s r there came deck half dr dispatched his on him. Now was str waist and twisted, they over, hut the hold. for to ere up again Like h he changed ng mob of st of gain, piercing flash, the ck of thunder. No time now It was a battle Each mar to his conquered, ing of all m began beaten out of ex- ne The crew worked their skins. to work best two own they ugly in tended in thrown hither in tk by Capta reach th to led the “Tropic what different ap- ay morning that S s ago, wi 1 beauty -to started in come round the ns, realiz'ng her condi- SUNDAY CALL.’ tion, beached her at the 0ot 0f Telom:apn Hill. The crew deserted to a man and ran from Yer as the rats had already done many years before. The position of the captain was not a pleasant one, but he and his brother set to work and with indomitable spirit and courage built'a boarding-house and gen- 1 merchandise store on the deck of thelr ill-fated ship. The captain was bookkeeper, and chambermaid, while his tended store and was high cook tlewasher. They coined money. Prices were high and they were liked for their pluck and stability. Some years later they sol!d out and re- cashier brother and bot- 2MRS. JOSEPH H ScorT. wus uer nusband come to her. The child, playing with the dog, came running to her side. They looked. They read “The Tropic Bird.” Sure enough, there, where the stern should have been, there in broad daylight, nafled to the boardings of the building, was the old identical woodwork, an1 in gold letters “The Tropic Bird.” “Let’s go In and see,” said the wife, full of hope and a feeling of shaking hands, as it were, with an old friend. ‘Come on,” said the sire, and the other two concurring, they boldly ascended the steps leading to the uper deck that was. And here the world became very small indeed. The first body they encountered was Mrs. Joseph H. Scott, who iavited them into her cozy parlor and bade them miles had divided these people for many, many vears, yet “Kismet"” brought them at its given hour together. ‘What dld Mrs. Scott know about “The Tropic Bird?” The little woman sat be- fore them with her big, bouncing boy on her lap and told them all she knew. About thirty years before a certain Mr. Bichard had seen the old hulk lying at the foot of Telegraph Hill and bargaining for her had bought her for a mere song. He then had her towed over to what is now beautiful Belvedere, cut her in half and built a house where the stern had been. Here her brothers had eventually come to live and had entered into business, one as a contractor and bullder, the other as a coal merchant. Here, she had come about twelve “Now.” she continued, “we have often wondered if this ‘Tropic Bird’ is the one my grandfather built. Donald Dewar was his name, and he was a shipbuilder up in Georgetown, Prince Edward Island. He turned out two ships in about 1825, and one of them was “The Tropic Bird. Her listeners were all excitement. “Did your grandfather sell “The Tropic Bird?' asked one. “Yes,’! came the answer, “to a gentleman in Gloucester, Mass. Grand- father thought she was unlucky, for even the rats wouldn't stay with her, so he sold her.” Therg was a moment’s silence. It was all so wonderful. There sat five people, four of them deeply interested in the tragedy that had been. There ahead of them was the bow of turned to the t via Panama, to en- to, r gage in fresh pursults and seek ad- Welcome to “The Tropic Bird.” months before and here she expected to that gallant though unlucky vessel, and i i It was an odd meeting. Thousands of remain till her son grew up. presently they would stand where the o In the spring of 1901, on a balmy gime day morning, among the hurrying, jost- | o OU ow w 'G T - ling throng that rush for the five min- | y KN Hy WE HRE R H -HANDED & utes past nine; had you been looking | - carefully, you would have seen four peo- W;wdarfi men as a rule right- use either hand without any preference. Wheléher rérullng or fighung._;‘he tx;‘\g‘n le pass through that small aperture, anded? Sir James Sawyer, M. D., has probably Wwould need more space for wieiding their s sromdgpeicn oS iy Many theorles are given In an- Ht upon the most plausible reason for the Reapons, |1, on the other, hang, oach » company “who sholds - swhy ‘ovar bk -swer. Some suppose that right- risht-handedness of the hum:;‘h:r"-hflg same hand as his neighbor employed, con- road, between San ~Francisco and San Rafael, via Tiburon. 1 say four people advisedly, for they consisted of two adults, a child and a | dog. Some v the dog shall make his- tory for himself. These four got off the boat at Tiburon, | as became people ‘who were searching for knowledge, or who were going to San Rafael "hey Tiburon, walked slow.y along through round the bend and so toward Belvedere proper. While the father was busy investigai- ing a boat in construction, the wife's eye caught a name that made her color come and go. that made ber call quickly. bid- handedness has become hereditary—that in course of long years of only partial em- ployment the ieft hard has lost its cun- ning. Against this theory, however, it is pointed out that almost all infants are at first left-handed, and for a very simple reason. In the ordinary way a mother or a nurse, unless left-handed, carries a vith its head against her left side th its right arm next her. The baby consequently puts its left hand out to grasp objects, and grows up left-hand- bused of the habit by subse- quent education. How often does one hear a fond mother saying, “Right hand, dear,” to a chiid who puts out a left in greeting or who prefers to use its left hand for holding a spoon or a knife? Many wise doctors now advise mothers to aliow thsir childsen te se early days, he says, might take who had the power and those might keep who could, we were a fighting people, and a people who fought hand to hand. " Naturally in this kind of fighting it is most convenient,to wield a weapon which can be used by one hand only, leaving the other hand and arm free for preserving balance, for defensive cover- ing and for offensive seizing. Now the right hand would naturally be used in preference to the left for wielding a weapon, in order that the heart might be kept as far away as possible from the assault of an adversary. Hence right- handedness arose and was passed on from father to son. Moreover, when men first fought toi‘eth- er in companies they must soon have found that it was most convenient to han- dle their weapons in a uniform way. If some in a fighting company were right- handed and others were lefi-handed their weapons wovld be coniloually claskicg. [ / ? fusfon ,would be minimized and a sym- metrical appearance would be given to the martial body. 8o it may be inferred, says a writer in the October Pearson’s, that from the ear- liest times custom and convenience have had most to do with the preferential use of the right hand. It is unfair to the left hand to argue that it suffers from any physical disabllity because man usually glves moest of nis fine work to the right and. This is shown by the fact that any man may train his left hand to be as clever as his right. In fact, in some matters the left hand is habitually given equal rights with the right, and “occasionally it is given the preference by naturally right-handed peo- EleA In knitting & woman gives both ands an equal share of work, and is equally skilled with each. When riding or driving a man_gives his left hand the mrenca in the matter of holding the -+ father of one and the grandfather of the other had stoed. They would feel the deck, once deep- dyed with human blood, beneath their feet, they would hear, on their imagina- tion, the yells and curses of a rum-soaked crew. They would see the brave young captain, the youngest ever to bring a ship around the Horn, standing cool and deliberate, giving quick commands, awing those sav- ages into obedience by his noble bearing and bringing his waterlogged ship safely an vort. SIDE VIEW OF THE TROPIC BIRD Awaking from St revinten the one fair woman went to the other and clasped her round the shoulders. “My dear,” she said, and her voice trembled with emotion, ““you are the con- necting link in this great and wonderful fact. This is your ‘Tropic Bird" and my “Tropic Bird'; your grandfather, Mr. De- ‘war, sold this vessel to my father and his brother. My father brought her round the Horn and beached her at Telegraph Hill." There were tears in the women's eyes as they went out arm in arm. WILLIAM JARDINE.