The San Francisco Call. Newspaper, September 4, 1904, Page 12

THE SAN FRANCISCO SUNDAY CALL. HELL, AS5r%, JOM% LTEN AR UNCLE SILAS . ve | It is a penalty of e at his self so own disposal. I studies of social lems are, I speak of this at once, as well meant advice concerning such ply to yo b” Faykerr and Miss “Ba ranklin. I readily 1« ce and with wha will pardon my call- y eve to be my p danger. But, dear I have had my lesson and shall ss Franklin may have deceived n my account. t Mr. Faykerr may have re- 1 in the gambling house as his commis- re. This, I say, I admit; yet I cannot but feel 1 knowledge of New York as to discover the vs supposed your visits here to be ure, yet I hear from Mrs. Lacquerre that you er social sets, and I gather from her smiling remarks iain to indulge in the frivolities of society to an ex- ally know of even those with whom our companion- e closest! You, whom I have always supposed to be a 1 m, if not austere, conduct, to have so conducted w York as to earn a reputation for gayety of demeanor 1 ng gone to her summer cottage, Boulder Crest, I received from her a note inviting me for a week end, the time of my ar- rival d departure being definitely stated in her note, even to the par- each way. This struck me as lacking in hos- hostess were fortifying herself against having a 2 minute longer than she had braced herself to agine instances where stich precaution would be ad 1ld it be used in sending out invitations to guests who are . I hope, no more than a properly high regard for my own merits, yet I cannot but speculate upon the fact that for the very week Mrs. Lacquerre named I had several other invitations which did n sloop, the Hyghbol Mr. Backstay t visit to minutes or hours—not even days. I was, for a yachting cruise by Mr. Jack Backstay, on whose I had already made one vovage up the sound. I met h Mr. Faykerr one evening and he cordially invited me yacht the next day. He was going aboard that night and asked me to call at a certain store in the morning and order a number of articles, of which he gave me a list. I did so, noting that the goods con- sisted ch of refreshments of a solid nature and otherwise. When I mentioned the yacht to which they were to be sent the salesman politely but with marked firmness insisted upon cash in advance. Of course I paid for the goods, thinking it would be entirely proper to remind my host of n ! UBEN FR IMPLE NARRATIVE OF A GENTLE STRANGERS ADVENTURES IN NEW YORA.. the amount at a later time. It was quite a merry party on the yacht, but the beauty of the Sound addressed the members with no eloquence, as a game of poker began as we started and was never deserted for the twenty- four hours we sailed. Not to seem churlish I played at times—“sat in,” as Mr. Backstay quaintly put it—and at the end of the vovage it was dis- closed that the amount of my losses to my host just offset the bill I had paid for sundry cases of wine, patties and other more substantial provisions. I left the yacht in company with a quiet, smiling gentleman, who re- marked to me, “You paid the shot this time, I believe.” He explained that Mr. Backstay had evolved a plan of high living and plain sailing which much amused and interested his friends. He had inherited nothing but the yacht, “not enough else to buy a new duck suit for him,” my acquaint- ance said, and lived on her permanently. When his larder ran low he asked some guest to order a new supply and worked out the financial end as in my case. The wages of the crew and other necessary expenses he won at poker. “Jack’s a deuce of a nice fellow,” remarked my informant, “and we are all awfully proud of him that he has evolved so successful a plan for living nicely and honestly. Had he not such a pretty wit, or none at all, he might have become a cotillon tender, and then we would have been obliged to cut him, but as it is we are proud of him.” I relate this incident as evidence of the popularity I am enjoying, my informant assuring me that Mr. Backstay only honored with invitations to his yacht men whose qualities made their popularity a matter of course. 1 chanced to speak to Mrs. Lacquerre of this and she laughed heartily, say- ing, “Poor, dear ‘Jack’ Backstay! We all know him, and I do assure you that you have been correctly informed. He entertains no one-on that amazing yacht of his whose qualities he is not certain are sufficient to provide entertainment.” She placed such a peculiar accent on the word “entertainment” that had I been of a suspicious nature it might have oc- curred to me that the kind of entertainment my qualities provided went into the several hampers of wine and food I sent to the yacht—and paid for. But, of course, it would be a kind of mock modesty I greatly con- demn for me to pretend that I am not in myself, and aside from my fof- EETVILLE BY Lowies B TOWHSEND tune, a young gentleman of high qualities as an entertainer. Only the young and frivolous could deny that, I fancy. < This thought brings to my mind M Frances Lacquerre. Not that esteem if she were n of her own mer she is frivolons; she might be more acceptable i She seems to be a young woman with a high and that is a phase of character I find it di coming equanimity. Miss Frances has a lofty maner of looking —at me, for example—which her mental attributes do not in any justify. At the time of the conversation with Mrs. Lac have just referred, I turned to Frances and.ask stay. She hesitated a moment and then replie organized, there is a proper place in it for sharks to pr of gudgeons.” “I fail to appreciate the application of your si sponded. “Were there no gudgeons on Mr. Ba fully. “Frances, dear,” interrupted Mrs a gudgeon is, and neither do I. O The young lady raised her evel which exasperated me qu delightfully of one mind we all are—r gudgeon is. But, mamn 1 vulgar “Don’t be slangy, Frances,” lady prepared tea. For a vo qualities she is much in my mind v that her famed beauty, which I did not at first see, ha seek in woman, as the poet wrote— “Benignity and home bred se: Ripening into perfect innocence.” ion of Mr pose, as SO y’s yacht?” she aske “you do not know what tea.” Lacquerre, ed in seems to know described as a suc 2d r sai ttle wor To be sure, I grown upon m rather than “A lovely apparition To be a moment's © I find that Frances is—but why should I waste time in tellin think of her. Surely, she is nothing to me, nor would I learn that she “goes in for,” as the q sports and is very popular th youn learn, devote but little of their time problems; engaging themselves, r. nature. But I shall be able to tell return from my promised week-e and for that purpose pend this 1 Well, Uncle, Silas, if vou Lacquerre assures me that you am becoming convinced that in orde and see it it whole” it may be advisable for me to inte national fiscal policies a for a time, quiring some knowledge of how my f conducts his life. I was verv thorough in lege, but now, to my surprise, I might as well be creed outworn” as a modern American for all that of life surrounding me. Mrs. Lacquerre's cottage is a twen ent t least, devote e many om mansion on a rocky of land reaching out into a bay ed islands. It is sev the railway station, and, with tlie exception of perhaps half equally expensive cottages, there is no other habita with all the cottages had week-end partie that for an event interested, a company of nearly a ndred bled. In a later letter, perhaps my m r life at B I shall not give you a filled-in picture of « must attempt but a sca recreations on land—golf, ter and squash— dulged, for it is with the water my exper cove, on the sheltered side of the point, anchored, some belonging to the hosts, so there were numberless small craft of ma s for sailing, some for rowing. In, on, nd, and I may say under and over, these yachts and various other craft, the life of the several house parties chiefly centered, and there was co 1al intercourse between the yachts and the landing; sometimes by means of rowboats manned by uni- formed sailors and sometimes by little sailing craft or by pretty motor boats, and again even by swimming. A party of us were down at the ba: house, built on the deck of an old wreck, when Miss Frances said to me: “Can you really swim? You do not play golf, polo, tennis, squash, nor do {you yacht. If you swim let me show you off.” The remark rather confused me, as it had not occurred to mé that I lacked in any of the accomplishments of the society my wealth and educa- tion places me in, Therefore I was pleased to think of what a powerful swimmer I am “Surely,” I replied, “I swim. Let us swim out to the yacht” Miss Frances looked at me as if doubtful of my sincerity, so to prove it I dived off and struck out. and she promptly followed. We boarded one yacht by its landing steps and a maid enveloped Frances in a warm bath robe. I felt some little pride in having our feat highly praised. Nothing but yachting was talked off by the party assembled on the afterdeck, and I determined to secure a boat of some sort at once in order not at all times to feel so wholly out of the running, as the saying is. That afternoon I quietly hurried over to a fishing village not far up the coast and promptly made known my wish to an ancient mariner I found on the wharf looking out to sea with one eve and narrowly regarding me with the other. When I made known to hi y desire to purchase a sail- boat he brought both eyes to bear on me, adjusted his trousers band with both hands, spat to the right, then to the left, and at last slowly remarked: “Well, sir, some men be lucky. Ef you be looking for a tried and true, reg’lar old-style Yankee sloop as hez proved herself at everything from lobsters to lime, come with me.” The craft he showed me looked much in need of a bath, in spi fact that she was quite as wet inside as out, but my seafaring fri sured me that with new sails and a coat of paint she would be as handsome as a cup defender, and probably as fast. I was impatient to become a pri- vate yacht owner, so I closed a bargain, and the ancient mariner offered to sail me back to Bowlder Crest Cove. As to the boat’s sailing qualities I have no knowledge, for I was so frantically busy pumping all the way I heeded nothing except my rapidly blistering hands, But as we entered the cove I heard much comment shouted through megaphones by gentlemen on the anchored yachts, such as “Two to one she sinks before she beaches!” “Hi there, Noah, where are you going, overland?” This last remark was suggested by the fact that at that instant we grounded heavily on the beach. There was a shiver, a shake, a gentle sighing of old timbers, and mv craft seemed to shrink and collapse. The mariner jumped overboard and waded ashore, saying, “Never thought she’d get here, but the price was worth the risk.” All thg guests from the cottages gathered to inspect my purchase, which, having been beached at high tide, we could soon walk around dry shod, and there were many expressions of wonder that the skipper had managed to fetch her so far from her angjent resting place. I felt some chagrin as I learned that my purchase had long been an object of curious interest as the oldest and craziest craft afloat, but before I revealed the object of its purchase I heard Frances say to me with a meaning accent: ty sk e to the guests, odd shapes and des “It was so kind of you to risk your life to supply our beach with a wreck It is so very picturesque, and we have always wanted one, but no one be- fore ever thought of this plan.” I saw that she had said this to protect me from ridicule and to make a hero of me. and I attempted, perhaps with some feeling, to thank her but she interrupted me by exclaiming: “Oh, greater freshness than yours has been salted by a clever woman!” Then she ran away. Now. what could she have meant, Uncle Silas? What could she have meant? Affectionately, REUBEN.