The San Francisco Call. Newspaper, December 18, 1904, Page 5

THE SAN FRANCISCO SUNDAY CALL. of it, Morgan 't s0 much since alked three davs on a gingerbread and rain- to get there. As related my- watch and t New Orleans, y from that ore to elude a menu of cast-off s than thing else. Also, I desired a change of scene, clothing, money, work, friends and a few other a soft-boiled brat deenred use- his business. Morgan City a g to Vera Cruz, Mex., and Gal- veston ¢ ected with the Morgan Railroad, which I had hoofed a dis- tance of ninety miles. There was one steamer in the harbor, the Whitney, At line of vessels bound for Vera Cruz, and she only awaited a flash at me before making an auspicious and dignified start. A huge affair was the Whitney, wide and flat, with a walking beam engine —one of those river relics that burn, blow up or sink as a side issue to Sun- day school excursions. With vague ideas of what might be doing, I limped aboard and asked the first man for a job. This large, hairy person bossed the genteel pastime of lowering freight into the forward hatch and swearing in a florid style of his own. When I spoke about bounding away on the laughing billows with him he regard- ed me hopefully and wanted to know if I had a pair of scissors. I said 1 had not. . ‘‘Because if you had y a berth down below he said. u might get trimming coal.” first cultivated sweet pensat Yort of seemingly heredi- when i then en effort ble little der the plea either a s a from h give ving t A A A LITTLE TALK ON “TARING IT EASY” on the contrary, it is nursed and in- dulged in whenever an excuse may be found for being disagreeable. The mcther whose temper makes a Id unhappy should be an object 1 to her children to avold such in their own hbn later by cult a manncr that will bring happiness and obviate the scenes that clouded their own childhood. The wo- man whese mother was exacting and inconsiderate can use her own percep- tions and know that by watching her own conduct she may correct the faults that ma her childhood so unhappy. There is nothing like taking life e: to course on. cultivate the calm that Kkeeps of plain sailing. A guard over temper, for which there often is neither rhyme ror r on, or if there be, it is of a nature so trivial as far from justifies the outburst. Exce: e emotion of any kind dreadful strain on one’s vitality hausting it in a way that is more diffi- cult “f recuperation thza one is prone to suppose. The reaction of an out- burst of this nature occasions a mental strain that results in physical collapse is a e o B G DL G S SO G000 %n exng Hard S “Maybe I can borrow a pair from the other fellows,” I ventured, “and if you'll show me how to get down there I'll try.” . That subtle seaman pointed out an iron ladder leading into the lurid bow- els of the ship, and I was making for it when & young man in a blue cap, probably a freight clerk, headed me oft. “Don't try it, sonny,” he cautioned. “That place would kill you. Nothing but niggers can stand the fire room See the steward. He might fix you.” I 4id see the steward, a fat negro re- sembling Billv Rice in stage make-up, and he fixed me plenty. The steamer was due to sail in an hour or so with 200 cabin passengers. Seven of the ten eoon waiters had struck and gone ashore because they didn't esteem the Hon. Billy, promoted to chiet steward from among their ranks on the previ- ous trip. ¥ach of the maleontents thought he should have won the epau- lets. Tn a tempest of rage, grief and mortification the blighted seven jumped the ship, ard, moreover, they boy- cotted Bllly Rice so that all well-dis- posed coons affiliated with the Food Passers’ Union kept away from the usurper in the hour of his greatest need. The idea of putting to sea with the three black dubs who struck handling the table service fow 200 neople filled the mind of Blily Rice with frightful forebodings. He would look worse than d on a sampan, and Billy So he fell upon my neck as avior of his reputation when I could handie more cooked grub vy six men, white or black. It was necessary to teil Billy something of a cheering nature in order to debut as the only white Food Passer safling in those troubled waters. Under certain stress a fellow is justi- fled in lying, if only for a mere matter of self-preservation. It was imperative the Whitney should go to sea, I had to go somewhere, and, as we needed one another in our business, what was more natural than that the Whitney and 1 should form a diplomatic al- liance? And yet 1 was a holiow mock- ery: or, to put it even stronger, an empty fraud about to bunko a confid- ing steamboat. In a hazy sort of wav I understood the duty reauired of me was to daly with real vietuals, and I was willing to learn all over again. Mr. Rice was too rbed in his own troubles to take much notice of my general fuzzy, sle g-out, rained-on, flea-bitten, half-starved aspect untll the steamer as well down the bay.“Billy then gave me a lovely white jacket that buttoned A at sometimes little understéod by the per- son most concerned. The head and the stcmach are often twir ends of g lever that balance one an- other perfectly if the calm Is sustaingd, but the moment that the mehtal pendu- By Charles up to my chin. After scouring my face and brushing my hair my upper works took a beauteous form, quite pleasing to behold, untll I looked at my feet, ‘which were all to the peacock. My fine feathers drooped and I feit like 2 bird of low degree among the ladles and gentlemen in gay traveling plum- age. However, my mind was‘not per- mitted to dwell on the outer man. It ‘was mid-afternoon when .the Whitney cleared and the scant cabin force, tackled the prodigious task of laying the tables and serving supper. Billy Rice, his three black tood pass- ers and myself toted great loads of dishes from the pantry to the long sa- loon. This work kept us on the broad jump, but T found time for keen side diversion at once profitable and sooth- ing. Connected with the pantry was the officers’ messroom, in which sup- per was already for the dog watch. A narrow table placed against the wall was stacked with cold meats, fcwl, sardines, salads and pastry suf- ficlent for five meén. In one hoary peseing in and out, 1 cleared that table while helping to set the cabin board. I won sométhing each trip, and some- times a double portion, devouring pie and smoked salmon with equal eclat while on the double-quick My fellow food passers regarded me with superstitious awe common to the negro. Billy Rice, though he said lt- tle, seemed impressed by the knowl- edge he had signed and khipped for that voyage a 4lving, breathing fa ine. My skinny legs were hollow, and 1 couldn’t stop eating until the bones ccased to rattle. Two weeks on a desultory diet of bananas, three days in the dry gingerbread class and one night and the great part of next day at Morgan City without food ha geared me up to the mean voracity of 2 threshing machine. Billy Rice at llleri:;th viewed my case in a proper ght. ’ he said, “you shore 1 confessed to a faint gnawing in my vitals. “But if you can feed other white folks like you do yourself,’ the chief steward continued, “the ship is saved.” Blushing with pride, T said my aim was to give the passengers a run for their passage money after getting my- seif filled up. So when I siowed down we spréad another layout for the dog watch and pretty goon a grand free- fer-all foray opened in the main sa- loon. Waiting on table when you know how. Slender maidens with their thumbs immersed in hot soup have been seen to glide serenely and never snill a drop, but this was is easy enough done on an even keel. Aboard a rolling ship it is different. There the food passer requires a steady brain and eye, sea legs and the trick of juggling per- fected to the highest possible art. All these qualities I lacked, and it wasn't long before the passengers and even B. Rice discovered me to be a four-flusher of the first water. The cabin resounded with the wails of the maimed and hun- 8TY. I made a hideous mess of things on my station—anointed myself, the cabin and its contents with soup and gravy; took an order from ome person and served it to another—ever and anon chipping chunks off the gilded wain- scoting with my moist and burning brow. Because of my color, perhaps, and the manner in which I strove to please the more fastidious, our passen- gers yielded to the not unnatural belief that I owned the ship. One red-headed pilgrim to Vera Cruz addressed me po- litely as Mr. Whitney, to the annoy- ance of my black contemporaries, and as Mr. Whitney I was known through- out the voyage. Somehow we struggled along and fought that first mea! to a bitter fin- ish. I was covered with shame and prune juice and other things, and the grand saloon resembled the lunch hour on a chowder steamer. During a lull in the havoc, when passengers and food passers paused for breath, the ship gave a lurch. She sidestepped on me. I was standing at attention at one side of the saloon. My heels struck the side or combing of an open stateroom door and I fell on the flat of my back. The jar rocked the ship and shook a shower of glass pendants from the grand chandelier above the table. That stunt was the best thing I ever did on any vessel, for the introduction of vaudevilie at a critical stage in the tragedy dhlt)elled the dark looks and muttered threats which portended open mutiny. The scalded, gummed and streaky passengers broke into cheergs and merry shouts of laughter. They thought'I was killed. Even when the white ghost of Mr. Whitney crawled out of the stateroom to haunt them some more the general good feeling was such that no one thought of reporting to me any incivility or in- attention on the part of the waiters and thereby conferring a favor on the management. Over night our noble ship wheeged her way Into the pussy waters of the gulf and in consequence the eating force was vastly diminished. The ill ones seemed glad because we didn't have cnough waiters to go around. Less than half the cabin complement ap- peared at breakfast and while that N R R S N S O N NS ST RIS R the indulgence that money can procure, d let two people sate themselves to pletion, one of a calm, good-natured disposition, the other peppery and al- Wways hunting for trouble, the calm onc :{:y indulge to his heart’s content. and lum swings too far on elther side. that hify mgcha caghoity, farling uo GE moment the physical machinery Is wi ‘@] fiend arranged. -, -;m-uag%u%ghpmmr People with ungovernable tempfrs are Unbegrabie. % nearly always hopeless dy -control i§ & greater virtue than wrecks, which goes to prove the They blame their irritability on poor overworked stomach, when that that organ would do it «duty In a happy and’ effective Christian manner if the mental balance did not upset It on all qecasions by its hasty and ungovern- able rages, A large percentage of dyspepsia can be traced directly to temper that is given free rein. If the temper were brought under eontrol in the beginning the dyspepsia would hardly obtain the awful hold that gripes the vitzls ard robs its victim of every joy in life, You will rarely find one possessed of a good, calm disposition a martyr to the throes that only the dyspeptic knows anything about, Of course, over-indulgence in rich food may v urally overwork the physical organization, but, granting ail S S S S S S S S S B S SO S L S G S S R SO R SO G SIS SO SRRSO SIS THE COULDN'T REMEMBER y G-MET e . SMITH - HE laws that govern the action of human gratitude are among the hidden things of nature, along with the name of the man who stole Charley Ross, the identity of the pernicious man who assaulted Wil- liam Patterson apd the man who in- vented the Panama hat, Only one thing is certain, and that is that mighty few of us are ever grateful for that for which we should give thanks and that we will all go out of our way to express our appreclation of the man who stands us up for our week's salary and calls it giving us a good time. There is the historic case of Miss Cas- sandra, who put in her time going around the hotels and cafes of anclent Troy informing the people that the country was going Democratic at the next election. Instead of taking her at her word and seemg to it that, the judges of election were properly apprised of their du- ties, they chased the young lady out of town, passed resolutions of confi- dence in the administration and let themselves be skinned in the first horse trade that came their way. We all know cases of this kind where people have gone out of their way to take a crack at the friends who were giving them good advice, at the same time turning over their check books to the green goods man in perfect confi- dence in his intention to do them good. Almost any member of the fallible hu- man race would do as an fillustration of this profound truth, but for purposes of convenience we shall select one par- ticular man whom we will label Smith. Smith is a safe name, because when you say insulting things about the bearer of it you hit so many heads that no ore is likely to feel called upon to hit back. Therefore we shall proceed to take a little fall out of Smith. ‘When Smith was young and as yet untutored in the ways of the wicked world he had condescended to accept a little timely assistance from a certain offspring of wealth who had been born with a whole set of silverware in his mouth and was spending most of his time trylng to_give the truck away. ::ggc ‘an; r exploited 11 a pulpit. 1t is the ax‘u swaysour lives, itis the glow ings sunshite into our lives. take life caey does not presuppose an icdifference that Is exasperating, and is more the Juxury of selfishne than anything eise, but the calm that lever meets g situation and makes the best of it. To indulge one’'s temper does no good, Ithough there are times when a splrilea stand must be taken, yet even in such casce a firm, determined man- ner will have more effect on the aver- age human than all the bluster that one is apt to regret in saner moments. There are Innumerable situations in life that fall upon us with crushing force. Griefs that tear our very souls, losses that rob us of comforts, trials for which we are totally unprepared, and above 2ll the suffering that comes . through those who have failed us in Emith was having a pretty tough time His wife’s cousin blew in one stormy of it getting up the first few rounds in the exceedingly slippery ladder of fame and fortune. and the boost that the scion of plutocracy gave him went a long way toward putting him at the tep. For a wonder Smith felt some slight stirrings of gratitude toward his benefactor. v . Being naturally given to thought dur- ing his moments of leisure Smith be- gan to consider what a good thing it was' to do a little boosting on his own account whenever he saw a young fel- low laying his plans to get his name in “Who's Who.” Smith did not confine his attentjon entirely to young men desiring to b8 treated for enlargement of the mind. MOTHER of two sturdy and promising boys was talking the other day about the great dif- ference in their way of taking life. “Luther,” she said, “will have three times as much trouble as he goes through the world as Edward. Luther takes things so desperately hard. In precisély the same circum- stances and experiences Luther will discover reasqns for worrying and fretting, while his brother will gain only pleasure and profit. I dread the future for Luther. He will be gray at 30 unless he gets rid of this terrible habit.” What is true of this youngster is doubly true of many persons grown to manhood and womanhood. ghey in- variably make things juet as hard for themselves and for others as it is pos- sible to do. Whatever occurs, they are quick to see all the dangers and hardships involved. Witf them it is always the cloud rather than the sil- ver lining, the thorn rather than the rose. There comes to be about them an atmosphere of fussiness, of fault- finding, of gloom that quickly impairs their own peace and efficiency and renders it harder for other people to live and work with them. And the curious fact about these persons Is that they are likely soon to lose all sense of proportion. If the weather is foul or the postman is late or the coffee at it mi are apparently m WIMI ? 3 they would be had the house burned down or their dearest friend died. In- deed, sometimes they seem to be dis- day and announced his intention of set- ting un in business in a small way for himself if he could only find some one who was willing to be parted from a small bunch of money for a short time. 8mith promptly informed the young man that he had a wad of greenbacks of which he had never been particularly fond and that it would be a real service to him if some one would take them out and bury them in a place where they wouldn’t be heard of for two or three gears, with interest at 5 per cent. The cousin jumped at the chance, and the greenbacks were gone before Smith had time to wave them a last farewell. . By this time he was heginning to like the game, and he put in most of his turbed even more by little annoyances than by great sorrows. When the lat- ter come they may rise to a new and unexpected degree of serenity, bhut it is the trifling Irritations in the daily routine that throw them off thelr base. Now, from certain points of view life is hard enough at best, but why should we make it unnecessarily hard? To be sure it is partly a mtter of temperament, but to a larger ex- NN THE HARD END OF : THINGS tent it is a matter of will. Those who are taking thii too hard may by resolution and persistent endeavor rid themselves of this incubus on their best life. In' the first place, admit th#t bur- dens and difficulties are a part of the e R S MG S S I N S SO N SO GG SO0 B O N 0SS S S 0000 D000 the crucial moment of our lives. It does no good, even in the face of these awful visitations, to rail against fate To meet a blow calmly is to deaden its force. We need all the courage we can summon to bear, and to exhaust what ;‘E‘!GI’VE Dlfi'lel' webm‘ny DDSITI t‘fl mfle‘; e carping or rebellion against whic 'i‘g'ufipomy nerve ourselves to bear ‘will never do any good. ‘The mother whose disposition is calm and lovablg, who has (00 much self- contrel to “Inflict ‘her own worries on her househald, {s the mother who can always retain the love of her children. If they have little worries, she can the them and comfort, and her own calmness communicates itself to them. She can prove by her manner that she is mot indifferent to their little woes or aches or pains, yet wishes to teach the most salutary of lessons. If one is worried or fretted by the failure of others, either gever the connection en- tirely, after weighing well the circum- stances, or .smooth over the situation by such encouragement as will make other efforts more successful. Indifference paralyzes both the love and the endeavors of those about us. Enecouragement is the greatest factor of success; a word or a smile puts thé vim and motive power into heart, Fables for the Foolish-%¥; time looking for convenient places to butt in. No matter what the need was, anything from a load of coal for a freezing family to the capital for the establishment of an enterprise for in- creasing the amount of fleece to be ob- tained from unwary lambs, Smith was there with the helping hand and the word of cheer. Talented young female persons with a weakness for pouring out their souls on the piano; equally talented young persons of the mascu- line versuasion who had visions of themselves In Michael Angelo’s shoes; weeplng women Who had lost their hus- bands, and husbands who were weeping because they couldn’t get lost—all found in Smith a guide, counselor and friend, as well as very easy money. Whenever world,” gaid he, “ye shall have tribu- lation.” But learn, too, to put over against every disappointment, every irritation some reason for rejoicing. The other night as a mother was putting her’ small boy to bed he suddenly said: “Oh, dear, everything looks so gloomy. There’s my hard arithmetic lesson, and there’s that boy at school who plagues me, and my doggie's run away, and it all looks so gloomy.” “Oh, brace up, Leon,” said the wise mother. “Think of your new football suit, and the party next Saturday, and your fine stamp collection, and your parents’ love for you.” Leon reflected a few minutes on the brighter side of the picture, and then, as he sald good- night, added: "It doesn’t look quite so gloomy, mother.” For us big people, nothing need be sp hard if we get into the way of matching every disagree- akle experience with an agreeable one. And one other antidote to the disposi- tion to take things too hard is an atti- tude of mind that looks for the divine meaning in all the hard things. Then they lose their power to fret us. We' don't deny their reality, but we say: “Well, hard as they are, there may be some purpose of good in them. Anyhow, we can wait a bit without fuming and 4 programme of human life, see whether after all there may not be Don’t deny their reality after the fash- some blessing wrapped up in them. In jon of the devotees of certain fash- the meantime we refuse to let them ir- ionable cults who have the ritate us,” “ of cheer,” said the fin_.ue- to us that aches and same man who told his followers that mfll klww;on flln:: hWot. so in th:xv:‘fld Mw&:‘“m ught one underst umanity tion, “I have overcome the world.” from center to circumference. “In the THE PARSON. meal was on Billy Rice made a dis- covery which tickled me as well as himself. Wheat cakes are one of the few edibles that will not slop over or splll at sea and, as our cook made them, the cakes clung to the plates like patent medicine stickers. My career at once took shape. I could serve the wheats without at- tracting undue notice, so they promoted me to pancake editor, in which capae- ity 1 issued thrke editions daily, with an occasional fried egg extra. Thus, in a way, I got a taste of yellow jour- nalism long béfore my time in Park Row. In a short time I grew quite pert and could gallop into the grand saloon— the hollow of my left arm piled high with little plates, which I shot around the tables after the manner of the fel- low dealing poker to experts who de- sire one card on the draw. Furthermore, in recognition of my one deep sea talent, B. Rice published pancakes for every meal just to help me along and I'll pever forget him for that. 3 No matter how poor, humble and worthless he may be, a boy will do one thing properly and if encouraged in that one thing his confldence is es- tablished and he eventually aspires to something ennobling and uplifting. “THE HOLLOW OF MY L G o ARM I do not think that any child ever suc- head and hands that works miracles. ceeded in life who lived through a fault-finding childhood. If things don't come your way, don’z indulge in morbid repinings, but take an optimistic view. Go easy, go slow, until you settle down to a steady gait. If worries come, as they have a way of doing, think that something better will follow, and nerve yourself not to show the world that vou are staggering un- der a blow; if losses too great to be borne almost crush you, let the effort to hide them nerve you to show a calm front. To take life easy is half the battle. Nature has endowed each and every one of us with a certain reserve force that always stands us in need. If, by over-indulgence, either mental or phy- sical, we exhaust this supply, nature exacts a penalty that must be paid. The rapid fire of ambitions is too ex- hausting; nature rebels against the strain. People who are the pleasant- est companions and those who live the longest are largely they who take life serionsiy and yet who do so in a calm, unruffled way tlat makes no sudden demands cn the reserve force. Cultivate a good disposition if you have not one. Do your best to please and Off the Bread Wagon Less than two weeks later I earned 40 cents shoveling o shells at Galveston, Tex.; but, as Rudyard once said, that's another item. Just the same, I look back with pride to my career as pancake gditor. All days look allke in the busy rou- tine on board a crowded vessel and I readily fell into the way of going ship- shape. Food, sleep and excitement soon rounded out the hollows in my boyish cheeks, and Mr. Whitney, with the cares of a large steamboat on his mind, fared well. One of the black boys gave me a shirt and collar; another trimmed my hair and a p: r, whose heart was large and his feet medium, d me to & pair of shoes. The condition of my old ones was wretched in the ex- treme. Run over at the heel and turned up at the side, they gave my feet the appearance of being set in italics. These italicized feet always emphasize a hard luck story. ‘While the ship lay at Vera Cruz they kept me on board to scrub things. On the way back she stopped at Galveston. There I spurned B. Rice, tendered my resignation as pan- cake editor and went ashore to swing Texas around by the tall Copyright, 1904, by Charles Dryden. PILED HIGH WITH PLATES.” By Hate Thyson Marr others. To make others happy is the most compensating job one ever holds down. It is a pastime rich in the bless- ing of happy faces. Take life easy. Don't let little things rufile you; there are too many great trials in life for one to waste time and emotion over little things. Little revenges gratified, little spites avenged never accomplish any good and ilfe is too short to waste your sub- stance in a way that leaves you fo power of resistance for its greater trials. Take it easy. There are thousands worse, off than you, although that is not much comfort to one who has his own troubles, yet the calmer we bear, the more courage will we husband by which to bear. Life is not an eas— proposition by any manner of means, but we can make it easier ofttimes by that philos- ophy'that makes us lovable and sym- pathetic rather than the indulgence of tempers that fairly paint the atmeo- sphere in irritating hues. Fret and worry make more dyspep- tics than an unruly internal mechan- ism ever dared to and so the man who would escape dyspep: and the woman who would retain her good looks must cultivate the art of taking life easy. A R e e aa for time for any one remonstrated with him spending so much of his and more tangible material the benefit of others, he would smile in the modest, depre- catory manner of the man who knows how good he is, but won't admit it for worlds, and point to the great number of friends he has gathered around him- self. In case of need, he reasoned, each one of the people he had helped would resolve himself into a life-saving corps of one and dash madly to the rescue. The time came in the fullness of events when his theory was put to the test, and it Is with sorrow, not un- mixed with sad exultation peculiar to scientific temperaments, that we record the result- Smith went up against it 80 hard one day that he bounced back. After he had pulled himself together again he cast about for some one to come and help him pick up the pieces. The first man he struck was the young man with the ingrowing mind whom he had started on an intellectual ca- reer. In spite of the fact that his band-made college diploma had enabled the youngster to unite himself in the holy’ bonds—and preferred stocks—of matrimony with a daughter of Slandered Oil, he couldn’'t remem- ber having met Smith, although he seemed to have heard the name some- where. Smith's wife’'s cousin had prospered in a worldly way and Smith thought that there was a little bread coming to. him off this particular pool, but there was nothing doing. Instead of bread he received a choice collection of hot air about the necessity of exercis- ing judgment in business and trusting only people who can show the goods. ‘Wherever he turned it was the same sad story. The people he had dragged up on the bank seemed to have begun to forget him before their hair was fairly dry. He was about ready to lie down and take the count when the old man who had given him his preliminary boost long years before took advantage of a good opportunity to die. When the will was read Smith was let in for the lion’s share of the old man's estate, apparent- 1y because he had never expected it. ‘The moral of this dramatic tale is that while it is quite allowable to cast bread on the waters, if you have plenty of bread, those who desire to lead a permavtent and fairly regular existence are recommended to get thelr staff of life hot from the oven. (Covyright. 1904, by Albert Brittd o1y /VEMO