The San Francisco Call. Newspaper, April 7, 1904, Page 8

THE SAN FRANCISCO CALL, THURSDAY, APRIL 7 | Literar v Chat » Canterbury revealed Chaucer his func- which ars be Several ye a4 ever found tion tradition pitcher says g ol other per- e the be- and Anne at that trothe King He Richar was wor step into the was by no n “The Parle gave to the : i ht of vas not lacked imitators centuries of its exist- ; the assembling ne's day, and its the st worthy ¢ -eagle,” in i the narch prospective who fig It i this 2 to our e attention by volu the ted editiohs. It sual eye as one and hand- modern book- inder the direction of and a close i's m: nsifies and deepens ssion made by a first glance ages volume forms a thin f twenty-seven pages, and in ypearance is designed as an the French Gothic le Gothic type is printed on band-made paper, with age numbers, initiai letters ragraph marks, the two main | jivieions of the poem being indicated | ¥ two illuminated initials printed in| hefghtened with gold. The is in vellum boards, with the stamped in zold. |h> manner of its telling of its E xcept in nd in the The Parlem of Foule is, of <e whoily original with Chau- It owes something, perhaps, to{ Pariemens des Oiseaux” of Marie e France, and woven into its fanci- | ul conceits are ideas from the Som- nlum B nis of Cicero, a descr of the Gar of Love from the “Te of Bocecaccio, and an and her birds taken from s Naturae of Alain also sugges de” “Isle are these Dénte in the poem, but despite borrowings from foreign sources and langu thoroughly the in- in as are T id as clearly its author's progress and art b, w0 hard ¢ become speech Chaucerian pury ative of knowledge Thassay = These proverbial a part and matter how often one may have read lines have English no the poem with which they open, one will be certain to read it at least once | more in this unique edition. Every page of the volume suggests the early days of English. literature and the hours when the art of printing was, although in its infancy, an art prac- ticed for its own and for beauty’s sake more than for the vulgar spreading broadeast of printed sheets of paper. To turn the pages of “The Parlement of Foules™” its present guise something to be anticipated pecial pleasure by every genuine bib- liophile. The text, of which there are fourteen manuscripts and one printed edition (Caxton’s) in existence that serve as authorities more or less com- piete, is in this instance based on the Juscript, Gg. 4.27 in the Cambridge niversity ibrary. Three hundred and -five copies only have been in ma wenty printe The different phases through which the American novel has passed during recent years gare vividly described in an article by Robert Bridges in Col- lier's Weekly (March 12). “It is a ery big country,” he observes, “and the appetite for fiction seems to be as big as the country. Millions of peo- ple must be fed with it and the pur- veyors of fiction, like expert cooks, are put to it to invent new dishes. Some one concocts a new and tooth- me appetizer and straightway it be- womes the fashion. Then all the minor pastry cooks roll up their sleeves and try to imitate i.”" We quote further: ‘More than a decade ago the State novel became popular and we had novels of Virginia, Louisiana, Geor- gia, Kansas, Califorma—and so on through the States and Territories. Then a race element was introduced in dialect form, and negroes, creoles, Hoosiers, Yankees, Chinamen, Irish- men, I .goes and “Greasers all found themseives speaking strange and out- jundish tongues in the pages of fic- tion. < “When the confusion of tongues grew oppressive the great American business sense asserted itself and men and women were revealed in fiction as affected by the ‘idols of the market place” For a time the broker was the reigning hero—cool, resourceful and impudent. Then the miner (coal, iron and gold) furnished a melo- dramatic element which was sure to minate in a strike. We had these wvels with every variety of back- ground, from the oil regions of Penn- | |1ow journals® which | exami- | books | the printing | xl Kh verse | account | 's\l\nnm to the wild scenery of the | Sierras. The crown and summit of [ this style in fiction was reached in the | apotheosis of the multi-millionaire—a | strange, uncouth. but masterful figure, who still survives, with all the shop- | worn properties, in the gossip of yel- On a higher plane the professions found their interpreters— | and there were novels of lawyers, doc- | tors, clergymen. and gentleman bur- glars, | “The college man and woman re- sented the monopoly of the center of the stage by the ‘old graduates’ and | soon every college of importance had fts own particular brand of story with | the college colors on the cover, and |the time-honored local traditions, heretofore told to freshmen by word of | mouth, embodied in heroes and hero- ines clad in gorgeous contemporary rairhent. | *“When the present was exhausted the past began to yvield up its stores. The historical novel ran like wildfire | through the studies of ambitious au- | thors. * * * The critics could not say anything, because when they hurled historic accuracy at the author he or she replied with a new and out- landish country that never was on =ea or land. The trick was too easy to learn and that killed it.” Having exhausted all countries, races and times, says Mr. Bridges, | there was a lull, during which Amer- | ican authors sought in vain for new | fields of ac Then Kipling made | the anim alk and straightway | nimal books” became the and were tarned out by the hundred. The writer concludes: The animal kingdom having ceased be of supreme interest, the vege- | kingdom has succeeded it. We | are now in the full swing and stir of | the vegetable era of fiction. Wheat | found its interpreter in Frank Nor- ris, hemp in James Lane Allen, cab- bage in Miss Hegan. Tobacco has just | been exnloited in Miss Glagow’s novel, ‘The Deliverance.’ It is related by di- rect descent with several other fash- ions in fiction; it is @ Virginia novel, of the reconstruction era, of the cava- | lier r with a dash of negro and poor white. But these are all sub- sidiary to the tobacco motif—not plug | jor fine cut, or Wheeling stogie, but | growing tobacco in the field, before | the hail has perforated it or frost has | nipped it. * * ‘Hamlet of Denmark and Don Quixote of Spain ought to have been | | born in the tobacco belt.” to table ce, A book of unusual interest is prom- ised in the near future by the Put- nams, devoted to the philosophy of Matthew Arnold. The title is “Mat- thew Arnold, an Exposition and a Criticism.” The author is William | | Harbutt Dawson, who has already | made a name for himself, especially in | England, for his previous works, which | include “German Life in Town and| Country,” in the popular “European | fashion | 3 | Neighbors” series. | A new generation has arisen since Matthew Arnold was as a voice crying in the wilderness. Already the censure which divided the praise bestowed | upon him during his lifetime has been forgotten. with the more acute of the controversies which he provoked, and | the issues involved can, therefore, now for the first (ime be weighed dispas- | sionately. The purpose of Mr. Dawson's book is 1ow that there is a strong cult of 2 Arnold, and why this cuit | must prevail. Briefly, this cult stands | for idealism. Matthew Arnold was a man who combined with poetic insight ent of the thinker and the‘ | practical sense of the world of affairs. . | Nathaniel Hawthorne was born on | the 4th day of July, 1804. This year, | therefore, marks the hundredth anni- versary of his birth. To commemorate this ent of world-wide importance Dodd, Mead & Co. are to issue Haw-| thorne’s best work, “The Scarlet Let- | ter,” certainly the greatest novel writ- ten by an American, in an edition lim- ited to 125 copies on Japan paper and one copy on vellum. The letter press | will be an exact reimpression of the original edition. There will be fifteen original colored illustrations, all full page, by A. Romandi and C. Graham. | The volume will be in a special bind- ing. Altogether a most appropriate and worthy memorial of America’s rep- resentative man of letters. o F S { Mark Twain is not studying Italian;" he does not consider it necessary, even some time to come. “I cannot speak the language,” he recently explained. “I am too old now to learn how, also | too busy when I am busy, and too in- dolent when I am not; wherefore some | will imagine that I am having a dull time of it. But it is not so. The ‘help’ are all natives; they talk Italian to me, T answer in English. I do not un- derstand them, they do not understand me; consequently no harm is done nnd everybody is satisfied. In order to be | just and fair I'throw in an Italian word | when I have one.” Mark Twain re- cently gave a half-hour’s humorous | lecture on Italian grammar in the| Rinuccini Theater at Florence for the benefit of the British relief fund. . - . | Mrs. Humphry Ward, author of | “Lady Rose’s Daughter,” is so en- thusiastic over the success of the va- cation school she has established in Lendon that she wants to see the idea carried still further. “What we hope to see some time,” said Mrs. Ward recently, “is the organization of a Lon- don League of Play for the capturing of children’s playtime. 1 should like to see evening play centers established in every district in London, in all the parks and open spaces, with a super- intendent of playgrounds. I regard this as the natural complement of the school education the children are al- ready receiving and as of equal im- though he is domiciled in Florence for | portance.” Mrs. Ward's school was in- spired by an article she read in Har- per's Magazine, describing the vacation schools in New York. $ e An edition of “The Virginian,” with a number of stage pictures, will appear early next month. Mr. Wister's novel will also, by the way, inaugurate The Macmillan series of novels in paper covers, which promises to be one of the largest publishing enterprises of the year. THE SAN FRANCISCO CALL JOHND.;PRECKELS Proprietor « + 4 « . .+ « . . Addtess All Communications to JOHN McNAUGHT, Manager @mmwm&r THURSDAY....... .APRIL 7, 1904 NORTHERN CALIFORNIA ORANGES. E had something to say recently about the W Northern California citrus belt, and the produc- tion of citrus fruits north of the Tehachapi. This was made necessary by the comments of the Los An- geles Times on the year book of the State Board of Trade, in which the fitness of the Northern gitrus belt had been referred to. Now comes the Pacific Fruit World, published in Los Angeles, with this further reference to the subject: “There is a peculiar idea existing in the minds of some very intelligent people that oranges cannot be raised in Northern California, and when you tell them that 2346 carloads of the possible 30,000 output were raised and shipped from Central and Northern Califor- nia, they look at you as if they thought it was a Russian war dispatch sent by the way of Paris. And again when you tell them that the oranges are a month earlier than those from Southern California they seem inclined to say, ‘Youre another’ Nevertheless the fact remains, and while they are consumed in the State, yet the success is so marked the planting of orange trees is not merely a fad in the counties north of the Tehachapi, but a gen- uine business, because there has been a gain of 508 car- loads as compared with two years previous.” This may be regarded as settling the matter, and as an admission of the capacity of the Northern citrus belt, and of the fact also that its product is the earliest to ripen. These things being adjusted, it remains for all the citrus growers, from Oroville to San Diego, to go forward and increase the State’s output from its present 30,000 carloads a year to the 60,000 carloads which can soon be produced, and by studying markets and trans- portation get such facility in handling the crop as to make every tree yield a profit. The California orange can be made as common and as much sought in the American market as the apple was fifty years ago. The growers have recently had a conference with the rail- road companies on the question of rates and routing. The growers asked for the same rate on oranges as that on lemons, which is $1 per hundred pounds. A railroad officer in the conference said that he under- | stood that the lower lemon rate had not furnished any relief, and that lemop orchards were being grubbed out. To this Mr. Naftzger replied that the lemon business is profitable only on a large scale. Lemons in the same orchard ripen every month and every day in the year, in California, and are profitable only when raised in blocks large enough to warrant the employment of continuots labor, in every department of the business. He declared that large lemon plantations are in a most prosperous financial condition, and if any trees are being taken out it is in the case of small plantations. the growers on a small scale, when associated in the same region, are adopting the plan of associated employ- { ment of labor, which enables them to make the same profit as the large single orchards. These are important revelations. Most of the agricul- tural industries of the United States employ labor fit- fully. It is needed in seed time and at harvest, and be- tween times the demand slackens. An industry that re- quires continuous and unbroken use of the same volume of labor is most desirible, and if the transportation rate on lemons result in the expansion of that industry, the railroads, by conceding that rate, have made an impor- | tant contribution to the welfare of the State, in giving stability and continuity to the employment of labor. Citrus fruits are less perishable than deciduous fruits. }Tlmr keeping quality permits a better accommodation to +he demands of the market, and the supply can reach a more distant demand. When the isthmian canal is t'miched, there is no reason why California citrus fruits may not seeck a market in Europe. Before our produc- tion was an appreciable quantity in the market, fruit steamers loaded with the oranges and lemons of Sicily | and passed through the Mediterranean and crossed the | Atlantic to supply the American demand. Fast steamers can load with these fruits at San Francisco -and South- ern California ports, for the British Isles and Continental ports, and reach the market at a season when it is bare of the European product. A study of markets and methods will probably finaHy utilize profitably every ! acre of the two California citrus belts, and give the State the full benefit of its longest orange season in the world. There is no reason why there should not be trans- ferred to this industry, its interests and its products the same zeal that once ran to gold mining in this State, and then to stock raising and after that to wheat farming. Each of those industries was organized and took hold upon finance and credits, and was felt by the bankers and business men of all kinds. Having the climate, the water for irrigation and the skill to produce, an indus- try that had no standing twenty-five years ago and now exports 30,000 carloads a year has in it the most im- pressive possibilities. ither the Republicans nor the Democrats have made provision for a representation from the Philippines or Porto Rico in the approaching national conventions. It is well that this should be so. The people of our new- won possessions have troubles enough of their own with- out becoming involved in the nerve-racking squabbles of | American politics. T interested by an issue-making speech from Con- gressman Livernash. When Livernash makes an 1ssue all other issues hunt their holes. His issues are made with a club, cut out with a cleaver and hammered into shape with a maul. When finished they are wonder- ful to look upon, and fearful. His special issue was the closed shop for American labor. Taking the Miller case as a text, he went at President Roosevelt like an indict- ment of many counts. His argument was a mixture of prophecy and war whoop, and language came from him like the gory emixture of lean and fat that flows from a sausage machine. Being the champion of equal rights for all, or as the legend appears on the title page of Mr. Hearst's cam- paign biography, "Equal opportunities for all: special privileges for none,” he raised his. frenzied arm and clenched fist against the President for saying that places under the civil service in Government employ are open to all who can pass the examinations, get certified on the eligible list and be called by the nominating officer, because that is the law. Mr. Livernash requires the President to hold, notwithstanding the law, that such places are open only to those who are members of cer- tain organizations having the power to deny mm ship and therefore to prevent eligibility. NOW : COMES LIVERNASH. HE House has been entertained and the country But he added that | lg‘ressmul did not explain how his plan consists with i equal opportunity for all. If he should insist that such employment is not open to Jews or Catholics, could he ‘deny that it is a special privilege from which they are excluded? § Of all the attacks yet made on the President, this is the most absurd and fantastic. The matter was so well understood by the labor unions that when an attempt was made to bring it up in the meeting of the federation in Boston it was frowned down. The President has taken an oath to enforce the law, and the law knows no distinction in the employment covered by the civil ser- vice. Perhaps Mr. Livernash needed to open his pores and merely sought perspiration, in order to get in con- dition for higher efforts. A woman was murdered in this city the other day by her husband because she refused to add to the burden of her own support and that of her children the main- tenance of her worthless spouse. What human punish- ment permitted in the administration of civilized people can meet such a horror case as this? Death for some crimes is not punitive. T pleted arrangements for an excursion of California business men to St. Louis, leaving this city on May 13. The purpose of this is to have the most efficient and intelligent aid possible in making at the St. Louis Expo- sition a demonstration of the interest existing in this State in the vital matter of having the advantages of California fully understood. Many measures have been adopted in the same direc- tion. California has appropriated.$130,000 and has in- trusted to two commissioners the task of having a State display at St. Louis that shall do credit to the common- wealth. The counties of California have supplemented the appropriation of State money by raising large sums and by making large collections of .products to have their localities represented. San Francisco is arranging to have its own building on the model street, and to place on exhibition therein much that is of interest, calculated requzlly to instruct and to please. The announcement by the California State Board of Trade is pleasing. Great advantages must accrue to California by having its business men visit the exposi- tion in a body sufficiently large to make an impression. Mr. Fletcher, the secretary of the California State Board of Trade, reports that many prominent business men have expressed their intention to go with the party. Leading people of Honolulu have engaged accommoda- | tions on the special train. The indications, therefore, are that there will be no lack of business excursionists. At St. Louis they will meet with visitors from every part of the world. The world’s keenest observers and most logical thinkers will be there, intent upon learning and ready to take advantage of all information to be ob- tained. h To such the California business men will have a mis- sion. Conversant with every material interest in this State and representing every section bounded by Cali« fornia State lines, they will carry the weight of authority and possess trained readinéss in imparting facts. The hope is expressed by the State Board of Trade that FOR GREATER CALIFORNIA. HE California State Board of Trade has com- realty or other person who has enthusiastic interest and confidence in California will be in the party to travel under the board’s management. ~ There will be no limit to the size of the special train. It will have cars enough to accommodate all. The California State Board of Trade has the facilities for making such an event one of State importance. The board has been engaged many years in advancing, by every legitimate means, the welfare of California. It has connections in the countigs of the north, south, coast and central portions of the State. It is well supplied with literature, with data of all sorts, with facilifies for im- parting essential facts, and it is widely known in the East by reason of the extensive correspondence it has maintained since it was organized for the public good. Its reputation has been strongly established by conser- vatism in statement and ability to supply accurate infor- mation to all inquirers. The business men will be welcomed warmly at St Louis. By the time they arrive at the exposition the installation of ekhibits will have been largely if not en- flrely completed. The splendid buildings of the great The exposition season will still be so new that no one will have had time to grow weary. Interest will be keen and piqued by the freshness, novelty and magni- tude of countless attractions. The season is also climati- cally well selected by the State Board of Trade. Cali- fornia’s State building of mission architecture, standing on a hill, and San Francisco’s building, modeled after the ferry building at the foot of Market street in this city, will have become landmarks. The fame of Califor- nia will have been materially extended by the displays in these structures and in the great departments of agri- culture, horticulture, mines and mining, education—at all points. in brief, where there is a collection of exhibits. There will be many intelligent questions to be asked, and it will be to the interest of California to have them an- swered correctly. So the business men ,who go on the excursion to be conducted by the California State Board of Trade will, while they &re enjoying a fine outing, have opportunities to benefit California that ought not to be neglected. 1t is no less interesting than significant that not a single member of the California delegation in Congress figures discreditably in the various reports upon official dishonesty .in connection with the postal frauds. They were proof against disloyalty to the people they repre- sent and their conduct has made California unique in another of those phases of public life that win applause. It is not improbable that the city may purchase Sutro Heights, as measures have been taken to protect the rights of the municipality, under the will of Sutro, as a preferred pure!wet. The beautiful place may be made one of the show spots of the globe and under libc-al and intelligent direction could be made one of the most ‘famous public gardens of the American continent. In the incidental development of the Far Eastern war ~one fact more than another perhaps has occasioned the deepest regret, and yet the profoundest gratification. The Russians have discovered several traitors, and death has followed swiftly upon detection. A traitor wmm&ymudhnm“neunby. every merchant, manufacturer and producer, owner of | fair will be crowded with thousands of eager spectators. | o RS ST AR N S S S e TALK Ol‘ THE TOW\E Precocity. A very small girl with bright blue eyes and a happy smile was the central figure of attention at an informal luncheon given by the wife of a prom- inent newspaper man one day last week. The little tot is the daughter of the hostess’ most intimate friend and throughout the meal she kept the en- tire company in uproarious laughter with her bright remarks and witty say- ings. Finally when the meal was over and the guests had arisen from the table the hcstess went up to the little girl and after affectionately kissing her said: “Dorothy, dear, what would you say now if I were to ask you if you wouldn’t like to come out for a ride in the park with me?” Before the child had a chance to answer the question the husband of the hostess entered and having overheard the question quickly asked: “But what would you say if I were to ask you to come out in the park with me?” Without the slightest hesitation the baby girl looked up into the man’s eyes and replied, “I'd say ‘buttinsky!’ " The Sergeant’s W histle. ‘When Police Officer Carl E. Kentz, one of the newly appointed guardians of the lives and property of the citizens of Oakland, was detailed on his first beat in the northern portion of the city, near Lake Merritt, he was told among other things that if he heard the ser- geant’s whistle while patrolling his beat he should at once answer it, so that the sergeant might be able to locate him: About a week after he had begun regular duty Kentz was strolling along, keeping a sharp eye out for burglars and other violators of the law, it being just about the hour at night when these gentry begin to ply their trade, when he suddenly heard the sharp trill of a whistle. The alert officer paused to get the direction of the sound and again the rattle of the whistle broke the stillness of the night. Anxious to show his superior that he was awake and attending to duty Kentz put his own whistle to his lips and answered, at the same time hurry- ing in the direction from which the sound seemed to come. Again came the sharp call and once more the patrol- man gave answer. This was repeated several times and still Kentz seemed no nearer to the mysterious whistler. As he hurried along, wondering where the sergeant could be, he caught the flash of a star as a man in uniform came around the next corner on the run. The newcomer proved to be Offi- cer Jack Gardiner, who panted as he came galloping up, “What did you whistle for?” “I was answering the sergeant,” said Kentz. “Hark! there he, goes again!” Gardiner listened for a moment and then as the whistle was repeated he burst into a roar of laughter. “Why,” he said to the now thoroughly angry Kentz, “that isn't the sergeant whist- ling. It's one of those birds they call night hercns!” ‘Aristocracy of Birth. ‘Why did the aristocracy of parent- age fail to hold its own? Why did it die out in America and, practically speaking, in all the British colonies? ‘It had every advantage at the out- set; it held the inside track. It failed because two great laws of the universe were against it—first, the laws of arith- metie, and, secondly, the laws of phys- fology. It violated the principles of arithmetic because it requiréd that each individual or household should have a distinet line of ancestors, and it would thus be discovered in a few genera- tions that there were not nearly enough ancestors to go around, leaving people in the position of Mark Twain, who declared that he had “no parents to speak of, only a father or mother or so0.” It was contrary to the laws of physiology, as shown by the deteriora- tion of one royal family after another in Europe, these having come to re- semble those English race horses which have so much blood that there is very little horse, and it must be replenished from a more plebeian stock.—Thomas Wentworth Higginson, in the April At- lantic. A Fatal Deficiency. Old-time army mule chauffeurs and others who are cognizant of the effi- cacy of a clamorous cuss word in time of trouble will be shocked to learn that in Japan's vocabulary no provision is made for the fellow who wants to swear. Whether a general with a tea- caddy title can really win a great vie- tory without splitting the atmosphere with a few choice oaths remains to be seen—and if so, there's a heap of army reminiscent history which might well be rewritten.—Sagebrush Philosophy. Fishing With Armor. There is one kind of fishing in the United States in which diving armor is used. It is the abalone fishery of this State. The abalene is a shellfish which grows so firmly attached to rocks that * moved. Then they are washed and placed in a pickle over night. The next morning they are boiled and laid on trays, which are placed in the sun for half a day, after which they are smoked. Then they are boiled again and go out into tne sun to dry for two or three weeks. Again they go into lukewarm water to soak, and then they get another two weeks' drying, which makes them hard and solid and ready for market. By that time they will have shrunk so in weight that a lot that weighed 100 pounds when taken will weigh only ten pounds when ready for sale. Japanese Money System. Japan having set apart 100,000,000 yen for war purposes, it became interest- ing to know the value of a yen. Japan has a gold standard; but the yen is of silver currency and fluctuates with the pric: of silver, so that at this time 100,000,000 yen scarcely means more than £10,000,000, or $50,000,000. The Jap- anese currency systemi is decimal. The yen is divided into 100 sen; the sen into 10 rin; the rin into 10 mo; the mo into 10 shu, and the shu into 10 kotsu. In trade the mo and shu, which are incredible minute fractions of a farthing, sometimes figure, though there is no cpin to represent them; but the Government accounts only descend to the rin. When the decimal system of money cgme into use in this country the small- est conceivable division of money rec- ognized was the mill, ten of which made a cent, and therefore the mill corresponds with the rin. But 100,000,- 000 yen is a tremendous sum in Japan, where, according to the London Chroni- cle, “the wages of the skillful artisan are not more than 3 yen a week.” The Ship’s Doctor. A correspondent of a recdent edition of Lloyd's Weekly has expressed the views of a ship doctor in the following words: “Many travelers are in doubt as to the position of the ship’s doctor in regard to his remuneration from passengers for services rendered. The merchant shipping act enacts that every foreign going vessel having 100 persons on board or upward shall carry on board as part of her complement a duly qualified medical practitioner. Furthermore, an emigrant ship—i. e, a foreign gZoing vessel which carries fifty or more steerage passengers—must have a medical man irrespective of the number of crew or of other passengers carried. The salary of the doctor on board is commensurate with these du- ties to his ship. To any passengers who are suffering from ordinary forms of seasickness and its concomitant evils or who receive injuries which are in any way due to the ship the doc< tor’s services are free. For any sick« ness contracted before sailing or dur- ing a voyage which is not connected with the above named conditions he is entitled to a remuneration at the same rate as he would receive on shore. Obviously it would be as unfair to expect that his services to passengers should be rendered gratis as it would be for any visitor in a hotel or traveler on a railway to expect to have medical attendance free in any illness for which the hotel or railway authorities could not be held responsible.” Answers to Queries. % TOMMY RYAN—J. R., Byron Springs, Cal. Tommy Ryan, the pugilist, was born in Redwood, N. Y., March 20, 1870. PAPERS — W. 0., Hilton, Cal. The question in relation to the price of newspaper is not sufficiently clear to enable one to determine what informa- tion is desired. MINERALOGIST—C. L., Bangor, Cal. The State Mineralogist of California is L. E. Aubury, whose term expires Feb- ruary 25, 1905. His office is in the Union Ferry building, San Francisco. BUSINESS HOUSE—M. C. B, Green- dale, Cal. This department does not advertise the location of any business house. Questions of that nature should be accompanied by a self-addressed and stamped envelope. CALIFORNIA — D. M., Mateo, Dare County, N. C. The etymology of the name California is uncertain. Some writers are of the opinion that it is derived from two Latin words, Calida Fornax; or, in the Spanish, caliente it is quite impossible to tear it off with | fornalla—a hot furpace: but Michael any automatic apparatus that has yet been devised. The only way in which the abalone can be taken is by diving down to it and separating it from the rock with a chisel. The shellfish used to be gathered by divers, mostly Japanese and Chinese, who dived without sults, and at times these men got their hands into the open shell of an abalone, which would then close on them, with the résult that be- fore they could free themselves they ‘would drown. Now the divers go down in regular rubber armor, and as they can work in ‘from twenty to twenty-five feet of water and remain down any de- sired time they make much bigger hauls than the fishermen used to. TPl netted bags with them and put abalones in as they off. These - W Venegas, a Méxican Jesuit, in “Natural and Civil History of California,” 1758, is of the opinion that the Spanish dis- coverers did not name the new found land in this pedantic fashion, but that “the name owes its origin to some acci- dent; possibly to some words spoken by the Indians and misunderstood by the Spaniards.” Hittell, in his history of California, credits Cortes with having given the name California to that territory now known as Lower California, May 1, 1535. The name ap- pears in “Serga de Esplandid,” a ro- ‘mance published twenty-five years be- fore that date, referring to an island supposed to be west of the Indies. —— e -Qm-m._ Gh"fruhll:‘l Soep Chioe present 207 Bntter rlends T street. above Call building. * dally to ths