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Horace Annesley Va Vachell
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Life and Sport on the
Pacific Slope
By a
Horace Annesley Vachell
Author of «The Procession of Life,’? «*A Drama
in Sunshine,’’ etc.
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New York
Dodd, Mead and Company
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Copyright entry
1,19 70
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SECOND COPY
Copyright, 1900
By Dopp, MEapD anpD COMPANY
All rights reserved
UNIVERSITY PRESS . JOHN WILSON
AND SON + CAMBRIDGE, U.S.A.
TO
fay Father-in-La,
CHAUNCEY HATCH PHILLIPS,
WHO, BORN IN THE EAST, IS ESSENTIALLY OF THE WEST,
I DEDICATE THIS BOOK.
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Prefa tory Note
My Dear CutEr,—lI dedicate this book to you
with profound pleasure, in acknowledgment of an
affection and sympathy which have been sealed
by a great sorrow. From your hands I received
a loyal, loving wife; but the fact that she was
born in California has not shackled my lips in
speaking of the West. She, I know, would have
entreated me to write with a free hand; and if at
times I seem to criticise somewhat harshly certain
women who, consciously or unconsciously, are
widening the gulf between their husbands and
themselves, let it be remembered by my friends
that I have judged these women according to a
standard set by a daughter of the West, a standard
of tenderness, fidelity, unselfishness, and modesty
to which few wives, be their country what it may,
can attain.
Many and many a time have you and [ talked
over the subjects treated in these pages; but
Vili Prefatory Note
although our opinions clashed now and again, our
intercourse continued absolutely free from friction
and discord. ‘That intercourse, which began seven-
teen years ago, and our friendship, which sunshine
could not wither nor shadow obscure, have indirectly
inspired this volume. But I ask you to shoulder no
responsibility in regard to it; and whether you ap-
prove what I have written or not, believe me,
Most affectionately yours,
HoracE ANNESLEY VACHELL.
Horsey, Winchester.
CHAPTER
Contents
THe LAND or To-mMoRROW .
THE MEN OF THE WEST
THE WOMEN OF THE WEST
THE CHILDREN OF THE WEST
Rancaw Lrg, I. .
Rancu# Lirs, II.
Business LIFE
ANGLO-FRANCO-CALIFORNIANS .
THE ENGLISHMAN IN THE West, I.
THE ENGLISHMAN IN THE West, II.
THE SripE-SHOW
PoT-POURRI
ETHICAL
Bic GAME SHOOTING .
SMALL GAME SHOOTING, I. .
SMALL GAmE SuHoorTIne, II.
SEA FISHING
FresH WATER FISHING
107
131
149
161
177
191
205
229
249
273
289
307
335
x Contents
APPENDICES
CHAPTER i PAGE
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106 CURA ge rol op fad og 2 RPS NOE Menno DAP PL TV NH icp) fey.
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I
THE LAND OF TO-MORROW
‘
1
i
Life and Sport on the
Pacific Slope
si
THE LAND OF TO-MORROW
OT long ago I saw the sun rise in a Surrey
garden. Standing at an open window I
looked down upon dew-laden, silvery lawns that
sloped to a lovely mere. In the mid-distance the
mist lay like a velvety blur upon the woods skirting
the northern bank of the Thames. It veiled, too,
the great cedars and elms in the garden, robbing
them of colour and substance, so that they seemed,
as it were, grey ghosts,—spectral sentinels of an
Eden whence the glory had departed. The mist
began to melt beneath the kiss of an August sun,
and I lingered at my window, waiting expectantly
for what would be revealed, as if I were a stranger
to the garden and its beauties. Very soon the trees
and shrubs and flowers were clearly defined, fresh
and glowing. Against the yew hedge that encom-
passed this pleasaunce was an herbaceous border.
Here, great salmon-pink hollyhocks towered above
the graceful larkspurs — dark and pale blue. Below
these again were those sweet vagabonds the corn-
flowers, the stocks, the verbenas, and snapdragons.
4 Life and Sport on the Pacific Slope
Fringing the border were the gaudy calceolarias.
Not for the first time I was struck by the amazing
finish of the picture, its exquisite texture and quality.
And I reflected that in Surrey alone there are hun-
dreds of such gardens, and that they represent the
care and the culture of a thousand years.
Looking at this perfect miniature I was fain to
contrast it with a picture I knew and loved in
another land seven thousand miles away. I could
see in fancy a great valley sloping westerly to a
great ocean. Upon the face of this landscape lay
the same glad freshness of morning. And here
too the mist had spread her magical carpet, obscur-
ing the bare plains, veiling the rude houses and
barns, blotting out, in fine, the works of man while
lending unearthly beauty to the works of God.
In both pictures was revealed the hand of the
Master. And the less included the greater, even as
the infinite spaces of the sky are reflected in a
dewdrop.
The Surrey garden was an epitome of yesterday
and to-day. Upon the other, the great valley sloping
to the Pacific, broods the promise of to-morrow.
This Land of To-morrow includes within itself the -
material resources of all the nations. It has a great
seaboard, rich valleys, mountains of minerals, vast
forests, rivers, lakes, reservoirs of oil (the fuel of
to-morrow), and a people not to be matched in
energy, patience, pluck, and executive ability.
Fifty years ago this was the Lotos Land, where
life was essentially Arcadian, pastoral and _ patri-
archal. Another race dwelt upon the shores of the
The Land of To-Morrow 5
Pacific, the Hispano-Californians, who ate and drank
and made merry. Some of them may still be found
south of Point Concepcion; they have absolutely
nothing left — except their charming manners.
When I came to the Pacific Slope, in 82, you might
find, here and there, a ranchero, the lord of many
acres, of many flocks and herds. At his house a
warm welcome awaited the stranger. The men of
the family, the caballeros, entertained their guests
with feats of horsemanship, barbecues, and stories
of the past. The sefioritas danced and sang. The
word “work” was seldom mentioned. These were
simple primitive people: content with little, grate-
ful to God for the blessings vouchsafed them, truly
free, if we may accept their own testimony, and
truly happy. Such as they were, however, the
Pacific Slope will never see their like again.
Their songs, | remember, were infinitely tonching.
One had a pathetic refrain (it was a favourite with
the sefioritas): Adzos, adios, para siempre adios. I
never heard it sung without reflecting that this —
so to speak —was the swan-song of the Latin to
the all-conquering Anglo-Saxon.
During the fifty years that followed the American
occupation of the West so much has been accom-
plished that an encyclopedia would hardly find
room for facts. In the appendices of this book will
be found figures taken from reliable sources that will
serve to faintly indicate what has been done. By
applying to these figures the rule of geometrical
progression some conception may be formed of what
will be done — to-morrow.
It will be conceded, I think, that so far as Cali-
6 Life and Sport on the Pacific Slope
fornia, Oregon, Washington, and British Columbia
are concerned the experimental stage has been
passed. Mining, for instance, has become an exact
science. The same may be said of fruit culture,
viticulture, the breeding of fine horses and catile,
the making of wine and oil, cereal-raising, and man-
ufactures. The cruiser upon whose bridge stood
Admiral Dewey when he entered the harbour of
Manila was built in San Francisco. An immense
battle-ship, “The Oregon,” doubled Cape Horn with-
out misadventure, a marvellous feat. Her keel was
laid in the ship-yards of the West. The modern
war ship is a machine so complex, combining in
itself so many of the arts and sciences, so incom-
parably difficult of nice adjustment, that it would
seem to be the ne plus ultra of human ingenuity
and mechanical skill. To the hands and brains
that have constructed an “Oregon” nothing can be
deemed impracticable. )
I shall now set forth, as briefly as may be, my
reasons for speaking of the Pacific Slope as the
land of To-morrow. The people who live in the
West are profoundly convinced that their country is
a land of to-day. More, the word “to-morrow” has
an offensive signification. California, for instance, ~
was once known as the land of “ mafiana,’ a land
where nothing must be done to-day that could pos-
sibly be put off till to-morrow.
Time has brought many changes to the Pacific
Slope, but none more amazing than the change from
ignorance and indolence to activity and intelligence.
But the promise of the future dwarfs the perform-
ance of the present. Heretofore, despite her unpar-
The Land of To-Morrow 7
alleled resources, California has been, for the many,
terra incognita. Over and over again I have been
asked the most absurd questions. A lady of rank
and fashion told me only the other day that she
hoped to visit California, because she wished to see
the — Andes. Another thought that the Golden
State belonged to England. A third was interested
in Yo Semite, but feared the terrors of the wilder-
ness. She really believed that I roamed my ranch
clad in skins of wild beasts, that the plains were
black with Apaches, the towns at the mercy of des-
peradoes! Some of my friends have greeted me on
my return to England as if I were a long lost ex-
plorer. “ How glad you must be,” they say, holding
my hand in a fervent clasp, “ to find yourself once
more in a civilised country.” When I explain that
I have been living in a town of thirty thousand
people, a town better lighted, better kept, more
abundantly blessed with the amenities of life, than
two-thirds of the cathedral towns of England, I am
confronted by a pitying stare.
I remember taking some English travellers to a
luncheon at the country house of a Californian.
After luncheon a drag came round, and we went for
a drive. The visitors cocked bewildered eyes at the
coach, the harness, the servants, the horses. When
their surprise found words, they overwhelmed our
host with compliments far too florid for his taste.
Silence would have been a subtler form of commen-
dation. French visitors would have conveyed their
sense of pleasure and concealed their amazement.
But this ignorance of the West is passing away,
and with it will pass the fear also, that fear which
8 Life and Sport on the Pacific Slope
a great raw boy so often inspires in his elders. In
a certain sense the West has been running amok.
It has had a stormy youth. It has played queer
pranks. Talk to the wise men of the East — why
is wisdom supposed to dwell in the East? —and
they will shake their hoary heads at the mere men-
tion of the West. Some of them, doubtless, have
suffered real pain, finding themselves in the grip of
a young giant unconscious of his strength. Gold
has come out of California and been sown broadcast
all over the earth. There is no advertisement like
gold. Even wise men are dazzled by the sight of it.
And accordingly the very name of California became
a synonym of the precious metal. Men who were
unwilling to leave their snug hearths sent some of
their savings to the State that was called golden.
And it is to be feared that these savings were never
seen again. In Wall Street, in the city of London,
on the continental bourses, Californian mining stocks
were freely bought and sold. But, for the most
part, the great fortunes were made by the Californi-
ans themselves: the Fairs, the Floods, the Mackays,
of bonanza times. The outsiders, who — like Kip-
ling’s woman —did not know, who never could
know, and did not understand, lost their money and
with it their faith in the El Dorado on the shores of
the Pacific. Although gold was being taken by the
ton from the mountains and streams, although
the country was extraordinarily prosperous, yet the
bottom —as the phrase runs — was out of the boom.
California had the whooping-cough.
The measles followed in due course. In mining
times, land was held at a few cents an acre. The
The Land of To-Morrow 9
dons who owned hundreds of leagues were in the
habit of giving it away. A miner, shrewder than
his fellows, asked Mariano Vallejo for a farm.
Vallejo gave him eight thousand acres of fine land,
and bade him take more if he wanted more. Others
followed. The Haggins, the Tevises, the Millers ac-
quired principalities for a song. When the psycho-
logical moment came, these vast ranchos were
subdivided and put on the market, on the world’s
market. Mr. Nordhoff wrote a book about California
that was widely read. Pamphlets, maps, special
editions of newspapers, lecturers, agents of the trans-
portation companies, Boards of Trade, proclaimed
the virtues of Californian soil. Of course, the facts,
quite amazing enough in themselves, were embel-
lished. It was a day of individual successes. One
man had cleared four hundred pounds sterling from
one acre of cherries! Another had made a fortune
out of apricots, or oranges, or ostriches. Not a
word was said of the patience, labour, and special
knowledge that had made such results possible.
Reading the pamphlets one was not only assured of
success, but failure was proved to be impossible.
The prose, in which these alluring statistics were
embalmed, was homely enough, mere fustian, but
the poetry that lay between the lines of it might
have lent enchantment toa dustbin. Great stress
was laid upon the climate. To the farmer in the
East, or mid-West, to the British labourer, to the
French or German peasant, —all of them groaning
and travailing under conditions more or less intoler-
able, the slaves of the elements, the playthings of cy-
clones and blizzards, — to these poor weary workers,
10 Life and Sport on the Pacific Slope
life beneath the soft blue skies of California was
pictured as a sort of triumphant procession.
And so it proved — for a season or two.
I remember planting potatoes —the Early Rose
variety — upon some land for which I had just paid
(in ’82) five dollars an acre. My neighbours, men
of flocks and herds, laughed at my folly. They too
had read the pamphlets, and sneered at the predic-
tions of the prophets. According to them, land in
Southern California was adapted to pastoral uses —
and nothing else. I was pronounced a tenderfoot
with money to burn. The potatoes were planted in
virgin soil. They increased and multiplied. In
due time the crop was sacked and sold. After pay-
ing expenses, I found that I had cleared about one
hundred dollars per acre !
I could cite a thousand such instances.
During the decade that followed, the Pacific Slope
was peopled with petty farmers and fruit-growers.
Land values steadily rose in obedience to the im-
mutable laws of demand and supply. The men
of flocks and herds, the ‘‘silurians” as they were
called, the “ moss-backs,” ploughed up their pastures
and sold their sheep and cattle. The spirit of the
times had them by the throat. These patriarchs,
knowing but one business (and that indifferently
well), became of a sudden horticulturists, wine-
makers, fruit-growers, or dealers in real estate.
They no longer laughed at others, they laughed
with them. Everybody laughed. A broad grin
rested on the face of the landscape. We were all
blowing soap-bubbles, and that is glorious sport
when you are young. And there was plenty of
The Land of To-Morrow II
soap. It greased — so to speak — the ways of every
enterprise. Heavens! what crazy crafts put to sea!
Town properties began to boom. At Los Angeles
men stood patiently in line for many hours waiting
to buy lots which they had never seen. The same
lot was sold again and again within a week. New
towns were hastily surveyed and put up at public
auction. The bidders fought with each other for
the privilege of securing corner lots on avenues that
were laid out on— paper. These auctions were ad-
vertised in all the daily papers; excursions were
organised ; the railroads, of course, had more than a
finger in the pie. When the new town-site was
reached, meat and drink were provided for the hun-
gry and excited buyers. A band furnished appro-
priate music.
Looking back it seems incredible that we could
have been such fools. The craze affected all alike,
rich and poor, young and old, wise and simple. If
you had no money the banks clamoured for your
patronage. Their gold lay in shining piles upon
the counters. You could borrow what you pleased
— atten per cent. The men of business, the trades-
men, the lawyers, the doctors, and the parsons
bought land. We were all, in a sense, thieves, for
we robbed Peter to pay Paul. The saloons did a
roaring trade. Champagne, at a sovereign a bottle,
was the only liquor fit to slake the thirst of the
Native Sons. They smoked shilling cigars ; fat per-
fectos, encircled with gaudy paper bands upon which
was inscribed “ Habana.” Some of these full-flav-
oured weeds were made by Chinese cheap labour in
the stews of San Francisco. Perhaps the opium in
12 Life and Sport on the Pacific Slope
them lulled to sleep the prudence of the smokers.
Who can tell ?
During these halcyon days there were no Popo-
crats, no Silverites (for silver— as in the time of
Solomon — was counted as dross), no Unemployed.
Everything being upside down, the man became the
master. I remember that I was graciously per-
mitted to pay my cook eighty-four pounds a year
for services worth, as we compute results in Europe,
a ten-pound note. Theranch hands wore diamonds.
On Sunday they arrayed themselves in suits of broad-
cloth at fifteen pounds the suit, silk-lined ; they took
their “ best girls” for drives in well-appointed bug-
gies drawn by fast pairs of trotters. As for the
young ladies, I dare not describe their toz/ettes.
But the outward and visible sign of this amazing
_ prosperity was most manifest in the houses (they
were always spoken of as residences) which — like
Aladdin’s palace — seemed to be built and furnished
in a single night. .A propos of them I have a story:
I was in a Pullman car, and we were passing through
a valley dotted with most unsightly houses, — ram-
shackle buildings, for the most part, each an amal-
gam of half a dozen styles of architecture, each
obviously built for show.
“What are yon?” said an old Scotchman, who
was of the party.
“ They ’re private residences,” replied an American,
proudly. “Yes, sip, we’re passing through Paradise
Park. Six months ago, sir, this tract was a howling
desert of cactus and sage brush.”
“Eh, eh-h-h? Ye surprise me. Private resi-
dences, ye say?”
The Land of To-Morrow 13
“Yes, sir. What do you take them for?”
The old Scotchman answered soberly: “I was of
the opeenion that they must be lunatic asylums.”
A big fellow, evidently a cattleman from Arizona,
burst into Homeric laughter.
“ Jee-roo-salem!” he exclaimed. “That’s just
exactly what they avr.”
Of course adversity trod hard upon the heels of
her twin, prosperity. The pendulum began to swing
the other way. We had had, as I have said, the
measles, and the body politic was enfeebled and
anemic. Bad prices, an over-glutted market,
drought, frost, and blight, set their stigmata upon
us. “ Laugh,” says Mrs. Wilcox, “and the world
laughs with you: weep — and you weep alone.” Our
laughter had rung through the East and Europe.
Our youth and high spirits had enchanted the older
civilisations. Now, recovering from a contagious
disease, we were constrained to mourn alone, in
silence and seclusion. The contrast between the
smiles of the past and the tears of the present would
have been pronounced humorous had it not been
pathetic. When I first came to the West, I was
speaking one day to a Californian of London and
the glories thereof. He listened politely, but when
I had finished he said meaningly: “London is all
right, though it ain’t Paris, but both of them are
— remote.” To him, San Francisco was the centre
of the solar system: the sun itself. Only last
year I happened to meet the same man. His
forehead, I noted, was puckered with perplexity ;
his clothes were shabby; his linen was not im- —
maculate; he smoked a pipe. After a minute’s
14 Life and Sport on the Pacific Slope
talk, he said to me, feverishly: “Say, what ails
California ? ”
I told him that, in my humble opinion, the hard
times were over, that the future was rosy with the
blush, not the flush, of returning health, and that
California would be richer and stronger and wiser
than she had ever been before. My friend’s expres-
sive face brightened.
“The State is all right,” he replied earnestly.
“The trouble lies with us. We’ve had a bad dose
of the swelled head. And now,” he added mourn-
fully, “we ’ve got cold feet.”
In the slang that comes so pat to the lips of a
Western man, he had said — everything.
When California begins to laugh again, the world
will laugh with her. She is smiling already. The
discovery of gold in the tributaries of the Yukon, the
opening up of Alaska, the acquisition of the Philip-
pine Islands, railroad competition, the Oriental trade,
the possibilities that encompass the cutting of a
canal across the Isthmus of Panama,! and the com-
pletion of the Trans-Siberian Railway, the discover-
ies of coal fields and oil wells, these — to name only
a few — are the heralds of a progress and prosperity
that must prove radical and enduring?
1 Since writing the above the Panama Canal has become the
property of American capitalists.
2 The Hon. John Barrett, late United States Minister to Siam,
writes: “Three great States, California, Oregon, and Washington,
forging ahead in material strength with tremendous strides, de-
veloping vast resources, increasing rapidly in population, and pos-
sessing mighty potentialities yet to be exploited, debouch with
. their entire western boundaries upon the Pacific, and look to it for
The Land of To-Morrow iy
I am not prepared to discuss the pros and cons of
Imperialism in a book which merely professes to
be a pot-pourrt of personal experience; but I can
understand why the word itself is offensive to
many good Americans. Expansion, to my mind,
better expresses the purpose and policy of those
who have annexed the Philippines. Already, we
are told, the bill to be paid for these islands
amounts to more than two hundred millions of
dollars: a large sum, but not too heavy a price to
pay for that moral expansion which has revitalised
a country needing perhaps no fresh territory. Al-
though I use the word “moral” I am confining
myself to practical politics. The sentimentalists,
the men of Utopia, are as usual astride the fence.
We know only too well that from them proceed, in
endless prolixity, empty words,— vow, et preterea
mhil. But even to those who take the world as
it is, to those whose eyes are undimmed by party
prejudice, the annexation of the Philippines and the
protectorate of Cuba mean something far more im-
portant than the acquisition of rich territory, or
the right to take a leading place in the councils of
the nations. It is very questionable to the writer
whether the one or other of these is worth much
a goodly share of their future prosperity... . If we include the
long winding coast of Alaska and the Aleutian Islands, we have a
grand total of nearly thirty-five hundred miles facing the Pacific.
. . . China, Japan, Siberia, Siam, the Philippines, and Korea, not
only want the flour of the Pacific Coast, but they are developing a
growing demand for timber, manufactured food supplies, and a long
list of lesser products.”
Note. — The grand total of Pacific trade exchange — exports and
imports — was $210,000,000 for the year 1898.
16 Life and Sport on the Pacific Slope
in hard cash to the United States; but it does
seem absolutely certain —if the testimony of the
past is to be accepted — that with nations as with
individuals a policy of self-sufficiency, of restric-
tion, and of isolation, is demoralising, and in the
end disintegrating. The Spanish-American war,
where millionaire and cowboy fought side by side
in the ranks, did more to adjust the relations be-
tween rich and poor than all the synthetic philoso-
phies of the world. Expansion will create new and
enlarge old professions; it must have a permanent
civil service, a diplomatic corps, an army, an ade-
quate navy, a merchant marine; but these are
merely the phylacteries of evolution; beneath and
unseen lie the quickening pulses of a life richer in
its opportunities, wider in its scope, more varied
and variegated, a life in sympathy and in touch
with others, a life that is ampler, nobler, freer,
and happier than the life which lives in and for
itself alone. As the egg of an eagle is to the
monarch of the air, so is the incubation to the
“hatch and the disclose” of a great nation.
However, dismissing the subject of Imperialism
as one not germane to these pages, we must remem-
ber that rightly or wrongly the Philippines and
Hawaii now belong to the United States, and that
their possession affects the future of the Pacific
Slope more than any other part of Uncle Sam’s
domain. Californians, at any rate, have no cause
to complain of or criticise a policy which must —
benefit directly and indirectly every farmer and
merchant west of the Rocky Mountains. It has
been computed that the Philippines’ imports from
The Land of To-Morrow 17
foreign countries (including Spain), compared with
the imports from the United States, were in the
ratio of thirty-three to one. This fact indicates
the volume of trade awaiting a market nearer
(China excepted) by thousands of miles than any
I have named. Roughly speaking the imports into
the Philippines are some ten millions, while the
exports will be about twice as much. But this is
nothing. Mr. John Foreman, in his book entitled
“The Philippines” (London, 1899), says that the
possibilities of development are so great that the
next generation will look back with astonishment
at the statistics of to-day. If Mr. Foreman proves
a prophet, San Francisco will be one of the five
great cities of the world. She has a harbour that
can be entered by any ship afloat, at any time of
the tide, and at all seasons of the year; a harbour
vastly superior to New York harbour; a harbour
with an anchorage of seventy-nine square miles!
New York has an anchorage of nine and a half
miles.
Let us make, however, no mistake. The West,
intellectually and morally, has proven itself both
wild and woolly. The healthiest sign of a vigor-
ous recovery is the recognition of this by the people
themselves. Cold feet may be quickly warmed; a
swelled head is not so easily treated. For the
present the Pacific Slope is—so to speak —in
the corner. Our nurses, the great capitalists, have
their eyes upon us, but we must be careful. It
is time for us to put aside childish things, the
swaddling-clothes of conceit and ignorance, and
to assume instead the toga of manly modesty.
2
18 Life and Sport on the Pacific Slope
Then, and not till then, we can take our rightful
place in the senate-house of the world.
When I was asked to write this book, I replied
that although I was provided with matter for it,
the varied experiences of seventeen years, yet the
manner of setting them forth adequately would
prove, I feared, beyond my powers. I have reason
to know that the people of the West are extremely
sensitive to criticism — especially from Englishmen.
And having many warm friends in the West,
having, moreover, many connections by marriage
amongst them, wishing, if I did write at all, to
write with entire frankness, I hesitated for a long
time before I undertook a task that may be best
described by the old Greek word of — “ bitter-sweet.”
In the Greek it is “sweet-bitter,” for the ancients
held that the bitter follows the sweet—and re-
mains. We, as Christians, hold otherwise. With
us the sweet prevails and endures. Speaking per-
sonally—and it is only as an individual who has
lived many years of his life in the West that I am
entitled to a hearing—1 would say emphatically
that the bitter has passed from me. Were it not
so I would hold my tongue. More, had I not ©
suffered in common with the people of the West,
did I not know, as they know, the peculiar trials
and temptations of a new country, if I was not
willing to share the blame, to shoulder my part
of the load, I would lay down my pen before it is
hardly wet. My object is primarily to show what
life in the West zs, not what it ought to be. 1
believe in the Pacific Slope. I am profoundly con-
The Land of To-Morrow 19
vinced that it has a great and glorious future before
it; and that it stands to-day upon the threshold of
that future. If Horace Greeley were alive, I am
sure that he would repeat his famous dictum:
Young man — go West.
Il
THE MEN OF THE WEST
im th
‘
SNS:
Bray
nen Gre AUS A
‘ fi) VERSA NOLL ve
aA! Vv bh Penh
i ae J
II
THE MEN OF THE WEST
UCH was forgiven to Mary Magdalene, quia
multum amavit, and much may be for-
given to the sowers of the West because they have
laboured so hard and so faithfully. — Nice customs
curtsey to great kings, they grovel before con-
querors. And the men who apprehended the pos-
sibilities of the West, who not only crossed the
plains, and the forests, and the mountains, but who
recrossed them with shining ribands of steel, were
— Cesars, endowed with the strength and the weak-
ness of giants. You must consider them and their
actions, in the aggregate, panoramically, as you
would survey a Californian landscape.
The English traveller, who merely touches the
phylacteries of American life, always lays stress
upon the dollar as being the unit of value on the
Pacific Slope. According to this authority we are
money-grabbers, worshippers of the Golden Calf,
sacrificing to the god our own flesh and_ blood.
And yet no people on earth are more truly lavish
with their gold than the men of the West; no
people care less for gold as gold; no people greet
the loss of it with greater fortitude and good-temper.
What gold represents — power and success — is
dear to the Native Son, for he knows that he can-
not plead as an excuse for failure the burdens of
24 Life and Sport on the Pacific Slope
tradition and convention that hamper the strivers
in older countries. In the West runners are nude
when they start: the race is to the swift, the
battle to the strong. ach is given credit for what
he does, not for what he is. Indeed, in a country
where the only gentlemen of leisure are tramps, it
is shameful to be other than a bread-winner. Dives
works harder than Lazarus. Only the other day
a millionaire, a comparatively young man, was
stricken down. He died of —over-work. Why
did he not take it easy? Surely, he had enough.
I knew this man, and he told me that he laboured
more diligently than the meanest clerk in his
employ, and for practically the same wage: clothes,
board, and lodging. He dared not do less than he
did. It is against the spirit of the West to shirk
responsibilities.
Mr. Clarence Urmy, a Californian, whose tuneful
verses are familiar to readers of American maga-
zines, has written some charming lines upon this
theme. According to Mr. Urmy, those only fail
who strive not. The sentiment is as pretty as the
verses that embalm it. And it is a sentiment
essentially of the West. But it would be truer
to say that only those who strive can know the
bitterness of failure. In a new country the strife
is so strenuous, it demands so many sacrifices, that
failure becomes almost a synonym for death. God
help the man who, in the accounting that comes
to all of us sooner or later, finds his balance on
the wrong side of the ledger. Surely, in that dark
hour the sense of what he has suffered and endured
becomes a crown of thorns. Later, perhaps, he
The Men of the West 25
may realise that it is better to have striven in vain
than not to have striven at all.
The men of the West never take the word
“failure” home to their wives. It is locked up,
when they leave their office, in that symbol of pros-
perity, the safe, which often contains nothing more
valuable than the record of wasted endeavour. One
and all are stoutly self-assured that if the slippery
yesterdays have eluded them, if the silvery to-days
belong to others, the golden to-morrows are theirs
by the unalienable rights of faith and hope. The
door-mat kind of man who lies down grovelling,
and permits the foot-passengers to wipe their shoes
upon him, is not to be found west of the Rocky
Mountains. Robustly conscious of his strength,
the Native Son confronts the beasts of the market-
place with the same courage and determination
that sustained his father in the wilderness. I have
stood in the wheat-pit of San Francisco when
wheat was jumping like a kangaroo. Around me
were men — some of them young — who had large
fortunes at stake. I saw one “bear” unmercifully
gored by the stampeding “bulls.” But he picked
himself up with a grin, lit a cigar, ate a capital
luncheon, told a good story, and made it plain to
my wondering eyes that physically, mentally, and
morally, he was none the worse for his mis-
adventure.
Curiously enough, despite this pluck and energy,
the men of business are ignorant of much that they
ought, in their own interest, to know thoroughly.
The average English gentleman, the magistrate and
landlord, lacks the intelligence, the cleverness and
26 Life and Sport on the Pacific Slope
tact of his American cousin, but, narrow and prej-
udiced as the Briton is in many ways, he takes
the broader view in regard to the conduct of the
world’s affairs. Not till the war with Spain did
these challenge the serious intérest of Americans.
I have read, even in sober reviews, the grossest
blunders, the most absurd misrepresentation of facts
within the reach of any journalist who has access
to a library. In this particular regard the press is
French: to please the public, to tickle the ears of
the groundlings, they ignore the truth as perversely
as the Dreyfusards and anti-Dreyfusards writing in
the “Figaro” and the “ Hcho de Paris.” In an English
party paper, say the “Standard,” you will mark that
an account of a Liberal meeting will be faithfully
recorded. The speeches will be printed verbatim ;
the cheers, the hisses, the questions, will be honestly
reported. I have never read in a Western paper
a true description of a political meeting. The facts
are embellished or mutilated according to the politi-
cal views of the editor. Of an enemy, who in
private life may be a blameless citizen, nothing too
shameful can be said. He is proclaimed a Judas,
a Catiline, a Nero, a Verres. Ancient history is
ransacked to find his peers in infamy. This is
entirely a Gallic characteristic, alien to the Anglo-
Saxon spirit and love of fair play. The men who
wish to be “posted” buy two daily papers, the
Republican and Democratic organs, and form their
opinions by what is left unsaid in both.
On the other hand, the Western man is keenly
conscious of his limitations. He wants to know.
England is full of men who are quite convinced
The Men of the West 27
that what they don’t know is not worth knowing.
I can hear the voice of the old colonel, a rasping
voice mellowed somewhat by sherry, as he pro-
nounces all subjects without the magic circle of
his own intelligence — bosh. Not so the Western
man. He is catholic in his sympathies. Every-
thing interests him — and everybody. He devours
an essay upon liquid air and its possibilities, and
turns from that with gusto to a vol au vent of
political gossip, or a chaudfroid of economics. And
this being so, it is a thousand pities that the cooks
who cater to this appetite should not supply whole-
somer diet. Western people suffer from dyspepsia,
but what they eat is as Mellin’s food compared to
what they read.
Some months ago I was returning from a fishing
tour in British Columbia. In the smoking-room of
the Pullman car, I encountered a youth of about
seventeen, who, taking me for a tenderfoot, pro-
ceeded to set forth at great length the resources of
California, its sociology, topography, and climate.
I listened patiently for a couple of hours. Pres-
ently he asked me if this were my first visit to his
State. I replied in the negative, saying that I lived
in California, that I owned land, that I was engaged
in a large business. He looked uncomfortable ; then
in quite a different tone he said: “Say — when did
you first come to California ?”
It was my turn.
“You are a Native Son ?”
“JT am,” he answered proudly and promptly.
“ About seventeen years old?”
“That’s right; seventeen last fall.”
28 Life and Sport on the Pacific Slope
“ Ah —well, I came to the State of California
about the same time you did.”
He blushed scarlet; then he laughed heartily.
“Great Scott! Why didn’t you tell me to come
off my perch ?”
After that, he asked a number of questions and
listened civilly to my replies. We parted the best
of friends.
An Englishman is never seen to worse advan-
tage than when he is insisting upon what he is
pleased to call his—rights. For in the develop-
ment of character it is expedient that men should
sometimes do without privileges to which they con-
ceive themselves entitled. Perhaps if we clamour
too persistently for our dues in this world, we may
also, in the world to come, be dealt with according
to our deserts. At any rate it is a charming char-
acteristic of the men of the West that they are
good-humouredly content with less than that to
which they are legally and morally entitled. As
much, be it noted, cannot be said of the women.
In San Francisco, at certain times of the day, the
demand for seats in the cable cars invariably ex-
ceeds the supply. And the men of course always
give up their seats to the ladies, who accept them —
without thanks. Once, however, I saw a Briton
who refused to budge. Finding the eyes of the fair
upon him, he fidgeted and finally burst into speech.
“You ’re all looking at me,” he said angrily ; “and
you think I ought to give up my seat. Well, I’m
not going to do it. And if the men of this country
had more sense they ’d keep what they ’ve paid for,
The Men of the West 29
and then the cable companies would provide seats
enough to go round.” He was scarlet in the face
before he finished, and everybody laughed.
At the theatre, in church, at race meetings, coun-
try fairs, at all times and in all places where a little
patience and good-humour temper what is disagree-
able, the people of the Pacific are at their best.
Once at a performance of “ La Tosca,” some youths
in the seats behind me were “ guying” the actress
who was sustaining the principal role. And this to
the annoyance of all of us. A man not far from me
silenced them. “That lady on the stage,” he said,
very politely, “is making so much noise that we
cannot hear what yow are saying. But I hope we
shall have the pleasure of listening to your criti-
cisms later, after the act is over.”
At times something more drastic is wanted. A
lady had been rudely treated by some minor official
of a railroad. As a rule, ticket-sellers give them-
selves great airs. To women, however, they almost
invariably show courtesy and consideration. This
man was an exception. The lady, very indignant,
at a loss for words, but with a comical sense of
humour, turned to a stranger at her elbow. “ Pray,
sir,’ said she, “tell this man what I think of him.”
The stranger proved equal to the task set him. In
a melancholy drawl, without betraying the smallest
excitement, he said slowly: “Sir, this lady thinks
you are an understrapper, clothed with a little brief
authority, whose only qualification to the position
you occupy is your — impudence.”
The English reader will pronounce this to be tall
30 Life and Sport on the Pacific Slope
talk. In England, even amongst men of mark,
niceties of speech are banned and barred. The
phrase-maker is commonly a prig, the precisian in
grammar is despised as a pedant. The American
on the contrary, has found out that a well-sharpened
tongue is more reliable than a six-shooter. But it
must be noted that (regarding the tongue as a
weapon) conversation in America is necessarily ag-
gressive and competitive. Club talk in England is
narcotic in quality, in the West it is stimulant. I
have met vampire talkers, who seemed to suck from
the brains of others vigour and vitality. Some im-
press one painfully as struggling against odds too
great to be overcome. Up to the neck in a quag-
mire of words, they finally sink into silence, defeated
but not disgraced.
I remember meeting a friend who had been
elected a state senator, and asking him how he
had fared at Sacramento. “First rate,” he replied,
taking hold of the lapel of my coat. “ Yes, first
rate. I was really scared out of my wits, but
I didn’t wilt. And I rehearsed carefully my
own little song and dance. You read my maiden
speech? Yes: good—eh? My boy, I practised
it in front of my mirror. Yes, I did! And I
gave ’em a little of everything: a dash of Mill,a
teaspoonful of Spencer, Shakespeare, the Bible, and
a line from the Mikado. It was great, great! It
hit ’em all. I tell you—don’t give me away —
that the western orator’s vade mecum, his staff,
his shield, his cruse of oil, is—a Dictionary of
Quotations.”
Nothing upsets the equanimity of a Californian
The Men of the West 31
crowd. At one of the great football games between
Stanford and Berkeley Universities, a huge stand,
flimsily constructed of timber, began to shake omi-
nously. Several persons jumped up and a panic
was imminent. Just then there arose a well-
known man, something of an autocrat in his way.
“Sit down!” he said sternly. “Sit Down! SIT
DOWN!” He was obeyed, but a clear voice was
heard in reply: “That’s all right, Fred. But why
don’t you sit down yourself?”
Another anecdote that illustrates well the temper
of an American crowd as contrasted with an Eng-
lish assembly is worth repeating: A great singer
was enchanting a large audience, when suddenly
at her feet a column of flame soared up into the
flies. In the front row of the stalls a man sat
beside his wife (some wags said she was his mother-
in-law). As the flames shot upward this fellow
bolted. He was next to the gangway, and was
up and out of the theatre before the audience had
realised what was impending. The flames van-
ished ; the cantatrice smiled and assured the house
that the danger was over. Then the man came
back! In England he would have been greeted
with hisses. In America he was cheered! For
my part, I think that his moral courage in return-
ing was more amazing than his cowardice in run-
ning away.
In a thousand ways the men of the West show
that they are willing and content to accept less
than their due. In lawsuits a compromise is
generally possible, whereas in England the same
suit would be fought to a finish. And in their
32 Life and Sport on the Pacific Slope
daily dealings with others, the Native Sons are
humorously sensible that “the other fellow” may
get the best of the bargain, and if he does none
complains. A question at such a time would pro-
voke a grin and the assurance that the speaker’s
turn would come — later. I remember a very stout
dealer in real estate who once showed me a rocky
and sterile piece of land, for which he asked an
exorbitant price. I was indignant. “You must,”
said I, “take me for a fool of fools. How dare you
show me such a scarecrow of a ranch as this! To
whom does it belong?”
My stout friend answered sorrowfully: “It’s
mine. I was fool enough to buy it in boom times;
I’ve been waiting ever since to find a bigger fool
than I to take it off my hands. And,” he added
sotto-voce, “I don’t know now that Ill ever find him.”
Another real estate agent was showing some
rough hills to a client. The day was hot, the
slopes were almost perpendicular, and the client
tired and out of temper. After seeing the ranch
he demanded the price. It was named. “ What!
You have the nerve to name a figure as steep as
that for such land!”
“Well,” murmured the other, blandly, “you see ~
the land is steep too.”
The consideration shown to employees by the
great corporations and business houses is a mani-
festation of that genial, kindly spirit which is in-
deed as mortar binding one human soul to another.
The master seldom forgets that once he was the man,
and the man never forgets that he in his turn may
be the master. I cannot recall, during seventeen
The Men of the West Ex}
years, one single instance of a cruel and cutting
rebuke from one in authority to a clerk or servant.
A friend of mine had a clerk who was always for-
getting important duties: letters would be left
unmailed; important entries on the books would
be omitted; messages, even, were sometimes not
delivered. Said my friend to me one morning:
“Really, I must speak to John.” So John was
summoned, and I wondered what manner of rebuke
would fall upon his head. “John,” said my friend,
“it is most astonishing what a very bad memory
you have. But Ibelieve that in time it will
improve, because I notice that you have never once
forgotten to draw your salary on the first of the
month.” John took the hint, and after that my
friend was truly and faithfully served.
It has been said that corporations have no con-
sciences. I can personally testify that this is,
generally speaking, untrue of the banks in the
West. The kindness and forbearance shown by
them to their debtors have tided many and many
across the quicksands of ruin. It is often, I admit,
the policy of the strong not to seize the spoil, but
I know of cases where bankers have preferred the
interests of customers to their own, and during
recent years of drought and panic, notably during
the time when the Australian banks were breaking
by the score, the policy pursued by the capitalists
of California averted a general panic. Had they,
in their hour of sore need, pressed claims upon an
impoverished community, half the farmers and
storekeepers in Southern California would have
become bankrupt. More than one bank suspended
3
34 Life and Sport on the Pacific Slope
payment, but the confidence of the people in those
who held their fortunes in the palm of the hand
was sustained and justified.
I was in California when war was declared be-
tween the United States and Spain. Of that war
so much has been written by so many and such
able men that little remains to be said — now.
Later, when the history of it is set forth calmly
and dispassionately, when time has adjusted the
scales by which the great events of the world are
measured, it will be found that the Declaration of
Independence has not been fraught with more
vital interest and significance to the people of the
New World than this declaration —so to speak —
of Dependence: the dependence, not of the weak
upon the strong, but of the strong in relation to
the ignorance and folly and vice of the weak: a
confession that no nation, however great, can stand
alone. The particular causes that constrained Mr.
McKinley to let loose the dogs of war have not
yet been determined. The ugly word “revenge”
was in many mouths. Political expediency, in-
crease of territory, were phrases heard at the street
corners and in the clubs. And, doubtless, these
and half a dozen others were factors in’a sum that
must have sorely puzzled the President and his
Cabinet. But, personally, I believe that from Maine
to California the Puritan spirit, using the adjective in
its best sense, was stirring the hearts of the people.
There is a feeling all over America, but more
especially in the West, a feeling essentially Gallic,
that leads men to pose as being worse than they
The Men of the West 35
are. J remember a charming American woman
saying to me, & propos of her husband: “ He is the
most domestic man I know, but he would like to
be thought a Jattle wild.” Now, the London “ Spec-
tator” predicted war some weeks before it was
declared, and it pointed out the good motives that
would surely animate our cousins over-seas. The
article was able, but a note of condescension lurked
between the lines of it, that condescension in re-
gard to foreigners of which James Lowell wrote so
delightfully. American readers might infer from
the “Spectator” that they were expected by Eng-
land to do their duty, not as free-born Americans,
but as the kinsmen of Englishmen. I do not say
that the writer of the article in question deliber-
ately meant this. But I assert that by Americans
such interpretation was placed upon it, and upon
other similar articles in the London papers. At
any rate, the San Francisco “ Argonaut,” the best
weekly upon the Pacific Slope, and one of the best
in the world, burst into coloured sparks of rhetoric.
After reading carefully an impassioned leader, I
was quite satisfied (temporarily) that Duty, as an
entity in American affairs, was dead, that Evil
always triumphed over Good, that Might was
Right, and that the finger of Destiny was the
finger of Death. The article was widely read in
the West, and its phrases snapped up by many
an Autolycus. Men who had talked glibly enough
only the week before of philanthropy, and the obli-
gations of a model republic, went about the streets
dancing a sort of Carmagnole. It was high time
—some of them said —to grab all they could get.
36 Life and Sport on the Pacific Slope
Why not be bold and bad, like the buccaneer-
ing Briton? Let the United States annex Cuba,
and Spain, and Europe, and the Aurora Bore-
alis, if necessary. The reaction had set in. Then
I remembered one of Max O’Rell’s best stories.
Mons. Edmond About had written of a hero that
he was “ virtuous as a pupil of the Polytechnique.”
The pupils of the Polytechnique at once held an
indignation meeting that simmered into the form
of a round robin to the distinguished author.
“Monsieur,” it ran, “pray mind your own busi-
ness. We are no more virtuous than you are!”
Max O’Rell always added that he knew this story
was true, because he signed the round robin
himself !
But be the causes of the war what they please,
the spirit in which the youth of America responded
to the call of arms must awaken the liveliest
admiration in all of us. If Mr. McKinley had
asked for a million men, he would have had them
within twenty-four hours. Friends of mine, men
with many interests at stake, volunteered to serve
in the ranks. A private’s musket might have
been a marshal’s baton, judging by the eagerness
with which it was sought. One patriot—to cite ~
a single instance out of a thousand —no longer
young, very rich, occupying a high position in
society, a man of fashion and culture, wired to
Washington entreating his friends there to procure
him any position, however humble, in either the
army or navy. It is said that his wife wired also:
“Pay no attention to Jimmy.” No attention was
paid to Jimmy, except perhaps by the Recording
The Men of the West 27
Angel; but his fervent wish to serve his country,
abandoning thereby all that most of us count as
making life worth living, has curious significance
to a foreigner. There are about a million Jim-
mies in the United States.
In the West the war was taken very soberly. In
the clubs, in the restaurants and cafés, at the
theatres and music halls, there was none of that
cheap and vicious excitement that in its worst
phases is delirium. The regiments marched into
San Francisco, they sailed through the Golden
Gates, and always the streets and docks were
black with friends to wish them “God speed you.”
An observer could not fail to be profoundly im-
pressed by these comings and goings. Between
them and the mimic parades of the National Guards
upon high days and holidays, was the difference
between the real thing and the sham. The faces
of the fathers were grim as they watched their sons
file past (they were thinking of Gettysburg and
Vicksburg), and the women’s cheeks were wet.
The word “ Chauvinism” has been used more than
once of late in connection with the people of the
West,—a word to which a deserved stigma is
attached. But, for my part, the militarism of the
people was a pleasant thing to witness. Rich and
poor alike joined hands in singing the national
anthem, and the fact that it is set to the music of
“God Save the Queen” did not detract from its
power and purport so far as I was concerned.
Columbia called her sons to arms, —
** And all the bugle breezes blew
Réveillé to the breaking morn.”
38 Life and Sport on the Pacific Slope
The Stars and Stripes floated from the top of every
house. Upon hundreds of thousands of windows
were pasted paper flags. The girls encircled their
hats and waists with ribbons of red, white, and
blue. The boys bought badges and buttons. The
men wore tiny enamelled scarf-pins. Some Eng-
lishmen took exception to this perfervid patriotism.
They said that love of country was cheapened
when a man wore it in his cravat instead of in his
heart. In England, continued these critics, the
flag was held too sacred to be defamed to calico
uses.1 I can quite sympathise with this point of
view, but I can also sympathise with and apprehend
the spirit of a new country which exacts, and exults
in,a demonstration. And a demonstration is neces-
sary, —the confession of faith of a heterogeneous
people. Englishmen can well take the patriotism
of their fellow-countrymen for granted; they are
and have been Englishmen for nearly a thousand
years. But in the West is it not common prudence
to demand from the Kelt, the Teuton, the Latin,
the Slav, an answer to the question, “ Are you truly
of us, or merely with us?” Fifty years hence the
Stars and Stripes will be still the beloved flag, but
it will not be seen twisted around the hats of the
maidens, or pasted in paper upon the windows.
The men of the West may be divided into three
classes: those who live by the seaboard, those who
live on the plains, and the stockmen and miners
who dwell in the mountains.
1 Since these lines were written the author has witnessed the
scenes in London after Ladysmith and Mafeking were relieved.
The Men of the West 39
It has been my unhappy experience that most
of those who live by the seaboard are — tricky, as
were, doubtless, the traders of Tyre and Sidon.
And there is small excuse for their trickiness
inasmuch as to them, the citizens of a great republic,
have been given advantages denied to the strivers
in less favoured countries. All these knaves know
the right, yet they choose the wrong. In the old
world you find the seller putting the biggest straw-
berries on the top of the pottle, his smallest pota-
toes in the bottom of the sack, water into the milk,
sand into the sugar, and so forth. In the West,
where neither poverty, nor vice, nor disease, nor
ignorance can be pleaded in excuse, these tricks
assume a darker complexion.
It is true that the worst offenders come from the
East and from Europe, for the West is a sanctuary
to the pariahs of the nations. Here, mind-healers,
clairvoyants, astrologers, card-sharpers and the like,
flourish as the bay tree. These are the dregs of the ©
older civilisations, the scum of the new, and there-
fore the more readily seen. Perhaps, if choice must
be made of two evils, it is better that sewage should
be spread upon the fields than lie festering in cel-
lars. The bad that has come to and is in the West
lies upon the surface of all things, in full view of a
too hypercritical world. If this scum be not soon
skimmed and cast to the void it will filter through
every stratum of society, as it has done elsewhere,
and then the last state of the West, outwardly im-
maculate, will prove worse than the first. I believe,
personally, that the period of purification has begun.
There is said to be honour amongst thieves.
40 Life and Sport on the Pacific Slope
Western thieves are exceptions to this rule. I re-
member subscribing toward the construction of a
steam schooner that was to carry at a minimum.
rate the produce of our county. to San Francisco.
Many farmers pledged themselves to ship their
wheat and wool by this vessel. The railroad, a
local road, was run upon the well-known principle
of charging the shipper “all that the tariff would
bear,” a policy which enriched the shareholders of
the road, but did not endear them to the farmers of
our county. It was pointed out that as soon as the
steamer was put in commission, the railroad rates
would be cut in a competition that must prove disas-
trous to the fortunes of the steamer, unless the farmers
loyally observed their contract. It was also pointed
out that if the farmers failed to support the steamer,
it would be sold, and that the railroad would have
our county at its mercy. Were they loyal? Had
they the wit to avail themselves of an opportunity ?
No. The railroad did cut their rates. The poor
little steamer was wiped from the seas. And then,
when it was too late, the penny-wise farmers paid in
full for their folly and dishonesty.
Of the men who live in the plain, the less said
the better. The sun seems to have sucked the sap
from them, leaving them, as it leaves the grass in
the pastures, drab-coloured and withered. Here
are the wheat farmers of the Pacific Slope, who
hold the prosperity of the inland towns at the
mercy of the elements. If the sun shines too fiercely,
if the wind blows too hard, if the rain fails, if blight,
or rust, or wire worms attack the crops, the com-
munity trembles. The banker, the storekeeper, the
The Men of the West 4I
lawyer, the doctor, and the parson may well join in
the farmer’s prayers for rain. To all, a drought spells
ruin. These big gamblers are the curse of a new
country. They have done enormous harm to the
State of California. They impoverished the soil that
yielded at first fabulous harvests, and they impover-
ished the souls of those dependent upon their success
and failure. Credit is the life blood of a new country;
it irrigates the waste places of the earth. Without
it the greater portion of the West would be to-day
what it was in the time of Daniel Webster — a wilder-
ness, But credit, like water, can do grievous harm.
Credit, in full flood, has swept from the West those
habits of thrift and industry and patience that alone
make for character and prosperity in a community,
as in an individual. They will return, they are
now returning, halting in the wake of adversity,
and under more generous conditions will become
vertebrate and vigorous.
In the old days, it will be remembered, Lot chose
the plain, and to Abraham was given the hill. And
since those ancient times, it has always seemed to
me that the best men live nearest the stars. Cer-
tainly in the West you will find that the mountain-
eers are a finer race, more robust than their brethren
of the plain, simpler in their habits, breathing a
purer air and leading a purer life. For the most
part they are miners or cattlemen. If you meet
one of these fellows, be sure and mark the quality
of his glance. George Eliot’s much criticised adjec-
tive “ dynamic ” describes it best, — that all-compel-
ling gaze, the glance of a man whose eyes are
weapons not of offence, but of defence. In the foot-
42 Life and Sport on the Pacific Slope
hills, in the forests, and in the plateaux of the Sierras,
you will find these men. They are a silent race,
save when possessed of strong drink, sober of coun-
tenance, impassive (some of them) as Redskins,
very prejudiced, but as a rule honourable, kind-
hearted and truthful. Like the ancient Persians,
they can ride, shoot, and speak truth. They are
loyal to their friends. Some years ago two outlaws
set the officers of justice at defiance. They lived
on the plain, but in their hour of need betook
themselves to their friends in the mountains. Here
they found sanctuary and food and drink. A great
price was set on their heads, but for many months
they remained at large.
Shooting and fishing among these people, I have
always found them hospitable and honest. Often
they have refused money for my board and lodging.
Not once can I recall an overcharge for services
rendered. Talking with them around the camp-
fire, I have been told amazing stories of obstacles
surmounted, stories of almost superhuman pluck
and endurance. Of the life beyond their forests
and mountains they are profoundly ignorant. An
English Minister of Education, Sir John Gorst, has
said that he considers “ reading, writing, and arith- -
metic to be of dubious value to a boy who lives in
the country; and grammar a positive curse.” The
men who live nearest the stars are learned in other
lore, the ancient wisdom of the woods and streams,
where every leaf and pebble tells its tale to the at-
tentive eye and ear. They are still masters of the
arts that an educated world has forgotten. Perhaps
contrast colours too vividly the imagination, and
The Men of the West 43
warps our sense of proportion. But, in the cool
northern woods in springtime, when the forest ap-
peals in turn to all the senses, lying, may be, on the
banks of a lovely stream, watching the rainbow
trout, the big fellows at ease in the tail of a rapid,
seeing, perhaps, a stag quenching his thirst, hearing
the melodious murmur of the stream, the soft sigh
of the cedars kissing overhead, smelling the per-
fume of the pines, I have wondered if this, the life
of the primal man, is not, after all, the best that can
be lived under God’s high heaven. At any rate, as
an antidote to the fever of modern life it has no
peer. O weary worker of the West, see to it that
for a season in each year you live out-of-doors!
Sleep beneath the stars. Eat the food that the
woods and streams provide. Fill your lungs with
ozone and oxygen, fill your body with plain, whole-
some food, fill your heart with the freshness and
fragrance of the forest, your soul with the glory of
the firmament; and then, when you return to the
roaring thoroughfares of the world, you will realise
that, no matter how dun the days of strife may be,
you too have had your golden hours — of rest.
I have spoken hitherto of men generally, but
the West produces certain giants, who by virtue of
their size challenge special attention. These are
the aristocrats, the few, who at all times and in all
places mould and control the many. I shall name
two. Mr. Collis Huntington was the President of
the Southern Pacific Company, the richest man in
California, the ablest financier in the United States,
and one of the shrewdest politicians of this or any
44 Life and Sport on the Pacific Slope
other age. He has been compared to Bismarck, to
Napoleon, to Gladstone. He had enormous execu-
tive ability, stupendous capacity for work, a great
sane mind in a great sane body. I have had the
pleasure of chatting with him, and I recall without
effort his leonine head, his keen, kindly eyes, his
massive body, and the power and vigour that ema-
nated from it. Mr. Huntington could stand upon the
ragged edge of an abyss, and gaze undaunted into
frightful depths. There is said to be a line between
right and wrong. Mr. Huntington ploughed close
to the line, where the soil is richest; some say
that he went beyond it. That line, most of us will
admit, is a meridian, variable and varying. Per-
haps when Mr. Huntington’s figures are given to
the public, it will be agreed that his line has been,
after all, nicely computed. To most of us this same
line is a broad strip of debatable land upon which
we wander, poor vagabonds, asking of each other
where we are. To Mr. Huntington must at least
be given the credit of always knowing exactly
where he was. More, he showed others where and
what they were. He plucked the eagle’s feathers
from many a daw; he stripped many an ass of
his lion’s skin. An octogenarian, he worked as
hard as any youth. Born in a small Eastern vil-
lage, he was essentially of the West. His life was
simple, primal even. By the sweat of brow and
brain he made himself—a Colossus. And you can-
not measure him with the foot-rule of pygmies.
Of Mr. Huntington scores of stories are told,
One, pregnant with significance, is repeated from
Shasta to San Diego. The driver of a cab, recog-
The Men of the West 45
nising the great man, protested that he had been
paid no more than his legal fare. “Your nephew,”
said the fellow, “pays me three times as much.”
“Ts that so?” replied Mr. Huntington. “ Well,
you see, my friend, I have not a rich uncle —as he
has.”
What Mr. Huntington has been to the material
growth of the Pacific Slope, Doctor Jordan, of the
Leland Stanford Junior University, has been to
the more subtle development of the world unseen.
His influence to-day amongst the young men of
the West cannot be measured till to-morrow. In
a country where gold colours the very flowers of
the field, Doctor Jordan, like Agassiz, has had no
time to make money. He has refused preferment
again and again, cut down his salary, when the
university was in financial straits, laboured strenu-
ously in many fields without the labourer’s wage,
and, in fine, has set an example of energy and
fortitude that thousands are striving to emulate.
But David Starr Jordan’s friends — and their name
is legion —say that he does too much. He is a
world-famous ichthyologist, an international author-
ity upon natural science, a writer of note, a poet,
a lecturer, a journalist: the Charles Kingsley of
the New World. Is it not to be feared that this
Protean capacity of playing a dozen parts will work
evil rather than good? The weakness and the
strength of the West lurk in its varied resources.
A child taken to a toy-shop squanders his dollar
upon a dozen trifles because the sense of selection
is paralysed. Likewise the young man, apprehend-
ing, through the clear lenses of a Jordan, the infi-
46 Life and Sport on the Pacific Slope
nite possibilities of the future, the alluring wares
that Nature has spread upon a thousand counters,
may wander here and there, frittering away his
capital of energy upon a score of gewgaws, whereas
he might have bought and paid for a radiant pearl.
Some of my readers must have seen that amaz-
ing Italian, Fregoli THe plays by himself a comed-
ietta, in which he alone assumes the various réles.
He is ubiquitous. Here, a dotard —there, a bal-
lerina. There are many Fregolis in the West. I
used to know one who was in turn doctor, parson,
undertaker, justice of the peace, paper-hanger, and
painter. He played all these parts indifferently
well; he was intelligent, temperate, hard-working
—and he never had been able to earn more than
a bare living.
Il
THE WOMEN OF THE WEST
ra
is
(Seta
ah,
Dau,
IIl
THE WOMEN OF THE WEST
I REMEMBER a pretty Californienne with whom
I used to dance, a true daughter of the West,
charming on account of her beauty, vivacity, health,
and youth. She had never left the Pacific Slope —
except on the wings of a perfervid imagination —
and she afforded an amazing contrast to other young
women of my acquaintance, the gilded girlies who had
had what is humorously called advantages, —a season
in London, a winter in Riviera, a summer at New-
port, and so forth. Perhaps I had better say at
once that in speaking of the men and women and
children of the Pacific Slope, I do not include the
Anglo-Franco-Americans, who have built around
themselves a stone wall that I, being an English-
man, am willing to respect.
Our pretty Californienne dines in the middle of
the day and sups at six. Thesame girl, in England,
would be painfully ill at ease in the presence of a
stranger. Moreover, you would note regretfully
that the English girl’s skirt was ill hung, that her
hair was somewhat tousled, that her shoes were
vilely cut. The Californienne, on the contrary,
challenges criticism out of a pair of sparkling eyes.
“Take a square look at me,’ she seems to say; ‘it
will brace you up.” Should you accept this invita-
tion in sober earnest, defiance will curve her lips
4
50 Life and Sport on the Pacific Slope
into a smile. The odds are she will put you to
the blush with the sharp question, “Anything
wrong ?”
The first time that I had the honour of a valse
with this young lady, I committed a breach of eti-
quette. She danced admirably. I—vwell, no man
is bound to incriminate himself —I did my best.
But, after circling twice round the room (the night
was sultry), I stopped and began to talk. She
seemed provoked at something, answered in mono-
syllables, and when I said, “Shall we go on danc-
ing?” replied curtly, “ That’s what we ’re here for.”
After a couple of turns I stopped again, and then
my lady Disdain, out of the fulness of her heart,
spoke : —
“Tt’s not hard to tell that you’re an Englishman.”
“Thank you,” said I. ‘‘ My dancing betrays me.”
“Yes, it does. No, no, I don’t mean that. You
dance fairly well, but —”
For a couple of minutes she wouldnot budge from
her “but.” Finally, she was constrained to entire
frankness. Why had I stopped twice without con-
sulting her convenience? JI was so paralysed with
amazement that I had no answer pat, save the ob-
vious one. I had stopped — so I said — because, in |
my opinion, it was better to stop than to fall down.
“Giddy ?” she demanded incredulously.
“Yes; giddy.”
“ American men never get giddy,” she observed,
after a significant pause.
“Tf they did,” I submitted, “would they stop
without consulting their partner ?”
“They would go till they dropped,” she retorted.
The Women of the West si
Did she mean it literally? Perhaps not. But
truth underlies these idle words. The Western
man ws expected to “go till he drops;” and the
Western woman sets the pace. Are women judges
of pace ?
You may roughly divide the daughters of the
West into two great classes: the bond and the free ;
those who have leisure and those who have none.
The woman of leisure is a charming creature ; clever,
plastic, cheery, and always womanly (the English
girl who hunts, shoots, swears, and gambles has no
understudies on the Pacific Slope); but, be she
maid, wife, or widow, she obeys no law save that of
her own sweet will. There are many exceptions,
of course, but the Western woman of leisure, in
startling contrast to other women, does what she
likes rather than what she ought; although often
duty and inclination march hand in hand? If a
daughter of the West sits up with the sick child
of a neighbour, the chorus says, “How good of
her!” The chorus does not say, “How good for
her.”
She is unconsciously the most selfish creature of
her sex. To find her mate, you must go to England
and take the gilded youth who fondly thinks that
the world owes him a living. He has had, as a
rule, an expensive and superficial education, he can
talk glibly enough about most things on this earth,
particularly his neighbours, and his neighbour’s
wife. He has a feminine love of being “ done well.”
He will join a great house-party and leave it with-
out saying good-bye or thank-you to his hostess.
He will invite his pals to drink his father’s vintage
52 Life and Sport on the Pacific Slope
champagnes and to shoot his father’s coverts ; and
when the author of his being writes a fatherly letter
complaining that his son’s extravagance will force
him (the sire) to let his town house and spend the
season out of town, the son sends a postcard in reply,
expressing his regret and offering to rent the house
in question himself! Once and again a youth such
as I have described (from life) marries a daughter
of the Golden West; and then Greek meets Greek.
One girl I knew married a man who died under
peculiarly tragic circumstances. Everybody con-
doled with her, and perhaps she grew tired of cheap
verbiage. At any rate she silenced sympathy one
day by saying, in the most naive manner: “ Yes, it
was dreadful, dreadful; but, thinking it all over, I
would sooner it was him than me!”
It is not uncommon to read in the society notes
of a San Francisco paper that Miss X is enter-
taining a party of her friends at her country place.
The country place belongs to her father the bread-
winner, but he is seldom seen and as seldom heard.
The English father of daughters, loud-voiced, didac-
tic, prone to fits of “ waxiness,” the laughing-stock
of many, and the terror of the few unhappy women
over whom he rules, is unknown on the Pacific
Slope. Ifa Californian father ventured to find fault
with a daughter, he would be sent, metaphorically
speaking, to bed. For a week he would be given to
understand that he was in disgrace. He would
have to take his meals —as it were —at the side-
table. 3
The women I am describing improve their minds
at the expense of their souls. Culture, which —
The Women of the West Lg
according to Matthew Arnold — is only one-fourth
of life, teaches them nothing about the vital three-
fourths — conduct. The men are busy making
money —they have no time to do anything else;
but the wives and daughters are taking French and
German lessons, studying Spencer, or Maeterlinck,
or Mrs. Mary Eddy, devouring, with an appetite
which grows by what it feeds on, the contents of
every new book, good or bad, — in a word, eternally
busy in widening and deepening the intellectual
eulf between the men and themselves.
The men are responsible for this state of affairs.
Indeed they brag of it. They are willing to die
that their beloved may live. The hotels (and the
divorce courts) are full of idle wives. Why?
Because housekeeping in a new country is a syno-
nym of work. Many a good fellow has said to me,
“ My wife, sir, shall not work, so long as I can work
for her.”
None of these butterflies are happy. Mark the
quality of their laughter. Note the tinkle of
raillery. The educated daughter of the West would
sooner laugh at you than with you.
This one-sided condition of things cannot be
dismissed with a phrase. In all new countries,
there is a time when woman is compelled to bear
dreadful burdens. Look at the pioneers, — the
men who advanced step by step into the wilder-
ness, performing prodigies of labour, hewing down
vast forests, reclaiming hideous swamps, irrigating
the barren places, for ever working and fighting,
the prey of wild beasts and wild men, the heroes,
who, despite all obstacles, perhaps because of them,
54 Life and Sport on the Pacific Slope
triumphantly vindicated their unparalleled patience
and energy,— these were accompanied by their
wives, the mothers and grandmothers of the
daughters of the West. Stop and think what
these women, some of them delicately nurtured,
suffered and endured. Think not only of the
physical ills, but of the mental worries and anxie-
ties: the sense of isolation, the impending sword
of death and disease, the possibility of what is
worse than death, —torture and dishonour.
Ts it then to be wondered at that when a brighter
day dawned for these men they realised what was
owing to their wives? And have they not be-
queathed the sense of this obligation to their sons ?
Can you not hear them saying, “Nothing that
this world can give is too good for the women of
the West” ?
And accordingly she has been exalted, and the
hands that placed the idol on high are loath to pull
it down. Indeed, so beloved are their women by
the men of the West that some of them (a few),
who are truly no more than graven images, have
been given articulate speech. I know one man, a
charming fellow, witty and humorous and the
husband of a stupid wife. Again and again he has
told me what his wife has said upon subjects whose
very names, I am convinced, are Greek to her. I
have never failed on such occasions to express my
sense of his wife’s wit, and upon my soul I am
beginning to believe that my Pygmalion really
gives his Galatea credit for the good things which
he puts into her mouth. Such a husband brings
no business cares to his shrine. Often the divinity
The Women of the West 55
is the last to learn that the worshipper who has
decked her with diamonds is on the eve of bank-
ruptcy. But let it never be forgotten that when
adversity comes the idol steps quickly down from
her pedestal. The shrine is dismantled. The
divinity enters the kitchen. And you can wager
that she soon learns how to cook an excellent
dinner.
Again, in early days the men were many, the
women were few, and, as a commodity in the
marriage mart, of extravagant value. It is unfair
to say that they went to the highest bidder, for
Western girls are not mercenary in the sense that
applies to the daughters of Mayfair, but naturally
they fell into the arms of the rich rather than the
poor. Indeed, a poor man, unable to give his wife
the luxuries of life, remained at the mines or on
the plains —a bachelor.
Another reason: the last. At a time when vast
fortunes were made and lost in a few weeks or
months, it was part of the general scheme of things
to make hay while the sun of prosperity was shin-
ing. The man who had sold a big herd of fat
steers, who had struck a rich lead at the mines,
who held booming stocks, was not one to grudge
his wife a few diamonds or an extra dress or two.
Freely they had received, as freely they gave.
And so, petted and pampered, with not a caprice
left unsatisfied, the women of the West, touched
to the finest issues by poverty and hardship, were
by prosperity debased and discoloured. Not long
ago a friend of mine met a charming woman on
one of the big Atlantic liners. She confided to him
56 Life and Sport on the Pacific Slope
her plans for her honeymoon. Nothing was want-
ing, seemingly, but a husband. He—it appeared
—had been left behind in San Francisco.
Let us turn now to the women who earn their
own living: the type-writers, the stenographers,
the book-keepers, the telegraph and telephone girls,
the doctors, and insurance agents. The fact that a
girl can and does earn a fair living gives her a sense
of independence and a self-possession quite admirable.
But often, avoiding the Scylla of ineptitude, she
is engulfed in the Charybdis of a too strenuous
endeavour. She is pushing behind a coach that
already is over-horsed. Whatever she may accom-
plish to-day, to-morrow must hold for her sickness
and disappointment, — the protest of the body femi-
nine against uses to which it is ill-adapted, the
protest of the mind whose desires have outgrown
performance. There is a loss— who can deny it?
—of womanliness. Does this loss to a community
outweigh the gain ?
Some years ago I walked into my office, and found
at my desk, in my chair, reading my paper, an
insurance agent. She was tall, well-dressed, and
had the impudence and insolence of her tribe.
With these weapons she had fought her way past
my clerk, and through a door marked “ Private.”
When she saw me she smiled and nodded.
“T’m making myself to home,” she said blandly.
“So I see,” was my reply.
“Won’t you be seated ?”
“You are very kind.”
I sat down and waited.
The Women of the West 57
“Do you carry life insurance?” she asked.
“T do, madam.”
“In what companies, sir?”
“Upon my honour, madam, I do not see how
that concerns you.”
She explained that she represented a new com-
pany, that an exchange would benefit both of us,
and so on and so forth. After five minutes of this
I said quietly, —
“T am sure that your time is money to you, so
I tell you frankly that I have gone into the subject
of insurance, that I belong to an old-line company,
and that nothing you can say will make me leave
it. And so I wish you — Good-morning.”
The hint was wasted. For another ten minutes
her tongue wagged faster that a terrier’s tail. By
this time I had almost forgotten her sex.
“Madam,” said I, “I made a mistake Just now.
I perceive that your time is not worth much, not
as much as — mine, for instance. I wish you again
— Good-morning.”
I rose, and held open the door. She rose also,
somewhat after the fashion of the immortal Sairey
Gamp.
“You are an Englishman,” she said, and there
was not sugar enough left in her voice to sweeten
a fairy’s cup of tea.
oP am:
“Yes, you are. And let me tell you, sir, that
you are the rudest Englishman I have ever met.
Good-morning, sir.”
I did not grudge her the last word.
A well-known Californian tells another story.
58 Life and Sport on the Pacific Slope
He was standing in some public office, chatting
with other men, when a brazen-faced lady sailed
into the room, note-book in hand, interrogation on
her brow. She was, it seemed, the moving pillar
of flame of some organisation that had concerned
itself, amongst many matters, with female suffrage.
This Gorgon approached a man, and addressed
him, —
“ Are you in favour of woman’s suffrage, sir?”
“Most emphatically I am not,” he replied.
“You are not. Your name, sir,—and your
address ?”
The man stammered out both name and ad-
dress. The lady marched on, asking each the
same questions. None refused their names or ad-
dresses. Finally, she tackled a stout farmer.
“ Are you in favour of woman’s suffrage, sir?”
“T am not,” he replied. “Indeed, I think there
are fools enough in pants voting already.”
“Sir-r-r-r!!! Your name, your address ?”
The stout farmer eyed her calmly. The other
men waited a-quiver with expectation. The stout
farmer conveyed somehow the impression that he
would stand his ground, and vindicate the superi-
ority of the male.
“That is none of your d
very deliberately.
The Gorgon stared into his impassive face. Then
she turned and confronted the others. Nobody
smiled or frowned. But the sense of the meeting
had been adequately set forth by the stout farmer.
The lady fled.
There are many such women in the West, and
d business,” said he,
The Women of the West 59
they make the lives of their “men folks,” as they
are pleased to call them, abjectly miserable. The
following anecdote, not a new one to Western read-
ers, illustrates the man’s point of view. A long-
suffering husband was burying his wife. The coffin
had been taken from the hearse by the pall-bearers,
and was being carried through the somewhat nar-
row gate of the cemetery. It chanced that in
passing through the gate, the coffin was thrust
hard against one of the posts. Almost immedi-
ately, to the amazement of the mourners, a muffled
scream was heard. The lid was hastily unscrewed.
And, lo! the woman was not dead at all. She
was taken home and lived for three more years.
Then she died again. At the funeral, as the coffin
was being lowered from the hearse, the husband
addressed the bearers very solemnly: “Boys —
mind that post.”
We come now to the Western woman who leads
the double life,— the life of the peasant and the
gentlewoman. There are hundreds of these be-
tween San Diego and Victoria, nay, thousands,
who, as a factor in the future of the Pacific Slope,
challenge attention —and pity. Personally I can
conceive nothing more pathetic, more heart-break-
ing, than the spectacle of a gently nurtured girl
constrained by poverty to bake and wash and
sweep, to play the parts of cook, nurse, wife, ser-
vant, and washerwoman, and yet, by virtue of what
is bred in her, constrained also to dress as a lady
dresses, to eat what a lady eats, to read what a
lady reads. Here, again, the curse of a new coun-
try, the insatiable desire to appear other than what
60 Life and Sport on the Pacific Slope |
you are and ought to be, grinds these unhappy
women to powder. They wish—they will tell
you—to keep up with the procession! Where is
the American sense of humour? The men know
that the double life cannot be lived. Accordingly,
they give their undivided attention to business.
When success crowns his labours, the Westerner
can —and often does —apply himself diligently to
art, or letters, or politics, and the powers of con-
centration that made him a man of money serve
also to make him a man of culture; but what
chance has the woman who wishes to make soup
and poetry in the same place and at the same
time? She is sure to forget to put salt into either.
It is easier to bale out an ocean with a pitchfork
than to live successfully the double life. Think of
Browning and —basting, of a crying baby and
French irregular verbs, of kitchen odours and
Herbert Spencer. The end is inevitable. These
women die, worn out. Before their first boy is
breeched the colour and form and fragrance of
life have fled. And they leave to their children —
what? A taint, in a sense, as of scrofula, the
stigmata of the suffering and sorrow that wait on
failure. These children in their turn will try to
shave Shagpat. Their mother, in the attempt to
do two things at once, has given them indigestible
food for mind and body. Upon the graves of these
unhappy women should be inscribed the famous
French line: “Malheureuse est ]’ignorance, et plus
malheureux le savoir.”
A feature of home life in the West to which — |
so far as | know —no writer has drawn attention,
The Women of the West 61
is the gradual backsliding of maternal love and
tenderness as the child grows older. This is so in-
sidious as to escape the notice of most persons —
particularly the parents; but amongst nearly all
classes in the West— as in the upper and upper-
middle class of England —there is an animal love
of the very young, a wish to cuddle, and kiss, and
flatter, and dress, and spoil the little ones, a love
which diminishes as imperceptibly, but as surely, as
the adored object increases. And the men like to
see it. They take the mother at her own valuation.
She tells them that she loves babies, that she
is so fond of children; and they believe it! These
women always sigh because their children are
growing up. The child is, or ought to be, develop-
ing, maturing, becoming in short a human being,
ceasing to be a kitten or a puppy; and this — say
the mothers —is cause for regret. And as a rule, it
as cause for regret. The child is growing up to be
vain, hard, selfish, deformed in mind, perhaps in
body — essentially unlovable. Some wit said that
the spinsters of England were the mothers of Eng-
lish gentlemen. He was alluding to the nurses,
the governesses, the maiden aunts, the plain elder
sisters, who do not perhaps kiss and cuddle, but
who patiently and laboriously, day after day, month
after month, year after year, shape and prune and
water the tender plants committed to their charge.
And these are the women whom the men of the
world hold cheap! I never meet a mother but I
wonder whether her children are denied, not kisses,
but that love which finds expression in ceaseless
ministration to the mental and moral faculties. I
62 Life and Sport on the Pacific Slope
know one mother — it is a privilege to know her —
who is in and of the West. She has no servants,
no sister, not even a friend to help her care for her
three children. Does she hug her little ones in pub-
lic? Not she. But she gives them hours of patient
teaching and gentle correction. And when her chil-
dren grow up she will have her reward.
There are many such in the West, but there
might be so many more. And, mark you, the “ani-
mal” mother, beneath the veneer of tenderness is
hard — hard as the nether millstone; and her hard-
ness grinds to powder the gawky hobbledehoys and —
hoydens who are not a credit to her whom they
have the misfortune of calling — mother!
Some of my readers will remember a paragraph
of Daudet’s in that delightful book Fromont Jeune
et Risler Ainé. It is so pat that I cannot forbear
quoting it: a translation would spoil it.
“Ce que Sidonie enviait par-dessus tout a Claire,
c’était l’enfant, le poupou luxueux, enrubanné de-
puis les rideaux de son berceau jusqu’au bonnet de
sa nourrice. Elle ne songeait pas aux devoirs doux,
pleins de patience et d’abnégation, aux longs berce-
ments des sommeils difficiles, aux réveils rieurs,
étincelants d’eau fraiche. Non! dans l’enfant, elle
ne voyait que la promenade. . . .”
The women of the Pacific Slope have indirect
control of the churches and schools. We are told
that “the hand that rocks the cradle is the hand
that rules the world,” but in the West it not infre-
quently happens that in attempting to rule the
world, the cradle is allowed to stand still. Work is
The Women of the West 63
done in churches and schools that might be better
done at home. It would seem as if the women of
the West, living in a country where everything is
on a large scale, were absolutely unable to see what
is small. With their eyes fixed on the mountains
they ignore the molehills. The men will tell you,
with a fine disregard of ancient wisdom, that if you
take care of the dollars, the cents will take care of
themselves. Such matters are ordered better in
France. There the men make the francs, and the
women save the centimes. But in the West the
dollars made by the men are squandered by the
women. And the children buy candy with the
cents.
Perhaps the word “‘squander” is ill-chosen. The
Western woman is keen to get what she calls “ value
received” for her money. She will spend a morning
as lightly as a dollar, looking over samples at a dry-
goods store. Generally speaking, she buys some-
thing unsuited to her station in life and her husband’s
monthly income. You see more trash upon the
counters of Western shops than anywhere else in
the world: cheap shoes, cheap clothes, cheap jew-
elry, cheap underwear. What is plain and service-
able finds no favour and no sale.
Some of the men and women who think about
these things have said to me that what is wanted is
an example: a Roosevelt in petticoats, who will
preach and practise the gospel of simplicity and
thrift. One cannot help feeling that such work —
now that the war is over —might be undertaken
by the Red Cross Society. Comfort is one of the
most alluring words in the English language, but in
64 Life and Sport on the Pacific Slope
the West it is found for the most part only in dic-
tionaries. It is conspicuously sacrificed to show in
the palaces of the very rich, and it has never en-
tered the cottages of the poor. You may find it in
the homes of what would be called in England the
middle class, especially amongst the Jews, but even
here it is jostled and pinched by its bastard brother
Display. The women of the West are very hospi-
table, but at their luncheons and dinners you are
sensible that too much is attempted. A lady with
one servant entertains upon the same scale as her
neighbour who has four. Many of the dishes she
has prepared herself; and in consequence she comes
to table a physical wreck, unable to eat, unable to
talk. In such houses a famine follows the feast;
after the guests have departed the mistress takes to
her bed.
Speaking of examples, it is a pleasure to cite Mrs.
Pheebe Hearst and Mrs. Jane Stanford. These
ladies own and control many millions of dollars.
They are the widows of two senators who began life
poor and obscure men. Senator Stanford was one
of four who conceived and carried to a successful
issue the building of that colossal railroad which
linked the West to the East. Senator Hearst was ©
a famous miner. The bulk of their fortunes will
eventually be absorbed by the two Universities of
California. One can conceive no nobler use for
great wealth than this: the endowment and equip-
ment upon the most munificent scale of institutions
whose doors stand open to all who are worthy to
enter them. To this single end Mrs. Stanford has
devoted her fortune and her life. It is a fact that
The Women of the West 65
when the Leland Stanford Junior University was in
sore financial straits, she denied herself no sacrifice,
living in poverty and seclusion until the dun days
were past. More, at an age when most women count
themselves entitled to rest in peace, she mastered
those difficult arts by which alone great trusts are
properly administered. She became a woman of
business, the slave of innumerable interests, shifting
responsibilities to none, the patient indefatigable
worker and executrix. The same may be said of
Mrs. Hearst.
To women such as these, the Pacific Slope owes
an incalculable debt. The money, vast sum that it
is, which they give is the least part of that debt.
The sleepless nights, the anxious days, the physical
exhaustion — can these be computed ?
The girls of the West marry for love. Very often
the daughter of a rich man, accustomed to every
luxury, marries a poor clerk, or a struggling lawyer
or doctor; and while the struggles last she almost
invariably proves a loyal and tender helpmeet.
Adversity would seem to link such lovers with
golden fetters; prosperity tears them apart. It
is curious to note that the rich father rarely makes
his daughter an allowance, no matter how sharply
poverty pinches her. There may be virtue in this
Spartan discipline (I believe there is more than
we suspect), but to English eyes it appears un-
necessarily rigorous. There is a true story of a
millionaire who gave his daughter a very large
fortune when she came of age. Later, she married
against his wishes a poor man, and the father said
5
66 Life and Sport on the Pacific Slope
bitterly that if he had been vouchsafed a glimpse
of the future, his daughter would have gone penni-
less to the man of her choice. The daughter, with
her husband’s consent, in accordance, perhaps, with
his wishes, returned her fortune to the father — and
he accepted it.
The women of the West have undertaken one
colossal labour. They have not sprinkled the
demon Drink with their tears; they have fought
him tooth and nail. For many years it seemed
to me that the advocates of Temperance, a synonym
in the West for Total Abstinence, were far too
radical in their proposed reforms. Myself a mod-
erate drinker, believing then (as I believe now)
that a glass of wine with one’s dinner is far more
wholesome than a cup of strong tea or coffee, and
infinitely less injurious than the lime-saturated
water of the Pacific Slope, I could find no words
strong enough to condemn those who, styling them-
selves temperate, proved in debate to be the exact
opposite. Since then I have learned to look at the
matter from the woman’s point of view. I must
admit, very reluctantly, that nothing short of the
knife will cut out this cancer. I hold no brief
for the W.C.T.U., I pronounce Prohibition a sorry _
plank in any political platform, but I do believe
that working amongst individuals, fathers, hus-
bands, and brothers, the women are justified in
demanding total abstinence; they are not likely
to obtain it. It seems almost impossible for the
average man of the West to confine himself to a
pint of light claret a day. The experiment has
been tried again and again; it has always failed.
The Women of the West 67
And in the past seventeen years I have seen so
many seemingly sound apples drop rotten from
the tree — gin-sodden and worthless. In England
drunkenness is confined to a certain class; the
drunkards of the West are ubiquitous. You find
them everywhere — except, be it said, in the pulpit.
The doctors, the lawyers, the business men are
the worst offenders, for they nip, nip, nip, all day
long, till they become — as they are called —
whisky-tanks, and cease, for the practical purposes
of life, to be men at all. What has been done to
check the growth of this monstrous tumour has
been done by the women, and to them be the
credit.
There are some public positions which women
fill with genuine dignity. At the outbreak of the
late war, a Red Cross Society was organised in San
Francisco (I think), with branches all over the
Pacific Slope. The Society concerned itself with
the welfare of the American soldier, and in particu-
lar the American volunteer, for whose comfort those
in authority had made inadequate provision. One
regiment arrived in San Francisco to find itself with-
out rations. It is true that a banquet was prepared
for the officers at the Palace Hotel, but the men
would have gone without food for twenty-four hours
had it not been for the Red Cross Society. It was a
flagrant case of Red Tape versus Red Cross, and the
Red Cross was not found wanting.
I have found in country-bred girls an air, a grace,
a charm quite irresistible. And you cannot classify
them collectively. The typical Western girl does
not exist. Each is unique, a study in white, or red,
68 Life and Sport on the Pacific Slope
or blue, or yellow (primary colours, mark you) ; each
appeals to the curiosity, not to mention the cupidity,
of the male ; each, too, has a chameleon-like facility
of adapting herself to her environment without sac-
rificing an iota of her personality. Many English-
men waste valuable time in making up what they
call their minds upon purely domestic matters. In
the West, the daughters generously assume this
task. Without the circle of politics and business,
the young American man follows wherever his sis-
ter, or some other man’s sister, may lead. About
this spinster, moreover, are no skirts of compromise:
those clogging garments which cramp and compress
the walk, the talk, the very thoughts of the English
miss.
Perhaps the common denominator of the young
women of the West is a magnificent charlatanerie ;
an imposture that would be ridiculous if it were not
sublime. Each pretends to be what she is not;
each thinks herself the superior of the women in
the classes below hers, the equal of those in the
classes above; each strives to appear cleverer,
younger, wittier, and prettier than God intended
her to be. Indeed, it is an impertinence to speak
of them as women ; they are all —ladies. And all
are ambitious. The ambition of the wife spurs the
husband to efforts beyond his strength. Living as
they do in the country of infinite possibilities, the
humblest unconsciously try to fit themselves for
positions that but few are destined to occupy. I re-
member, many years ago, being accosted by a tramp,
who asked me for money wherewith to buy “a bite
of something to eat.” I gave him a small coin, re-
The Women of the West 69
marking that in my opinion he was likely to spend
it on “a bite of something to drink.” As he moved
away, ragged and forlorn, my father-in-law, who
was with me, said soberly: “You should not cut
jokes with free-born American citizens, That fel-
low may live to be senator of this State.”
The balance must be adjusted between the woman
who does not work at all and the woman who works
too hard. I am of opinion that a radical change
is taking place in the hearts and heads of the women
themselves. I have already said that adversity
brings out and develops what is best in the Western
woman. The hard times have given them a clearer
perception of values, a saner common sense, En-
vironment is more potent than heredity. The New
England women, for instance, bring with them to
the West the qualities that distinguish them, —a
love of truth and duty and renunciation; and as a
rule these good gifts abide with them till they die.
But their daughters born in the West will be of the
West; and as the West changes, sloughing its skin,
so will they change, in obedience to the laws of
evolution, till they stand at length, strong and tri-
umphant upon the pyramid of experience, not what
they are to-day, but what they ought to be—
to-morrow.
IV
THE CHILDREN OF THE WEST
isn
‘
IV
THE CHILDREN OF THE WEST
T has been said that the pioneers were the salt
of the earth, but their children have been
reared for the most part as if they were sugar.
A man who has practised rigid self-denial, who
knows —none better —what he has lost, as well
as what he has gained, and who, perhaps, lacking
a perfect sense of proportion, is apt to overestimate
the value of advantages he has been forced to
forego, —an academic education, for instance, cul-
ture, sport, in fine, the amenities of life,—such a
one, sitting alone in his counting-house, may well
swear that his children shall drink freely of the
cup denied to him. And how can he — poor fellow
—he expected to foresee the results: intoxication,
folly, bitterness ?
Many a father in the West has said: “My son
is not like me; we have nothing in common.”
“Why should he be like you?” one might reply.
“You have kept him in cotton wool; you have
humoured his whims; you have taught him to
consider himself alone. Now you complain that
he is selfish, indolent, and extravagant. Who made
him so?”
This question the fathers of the West are un-
willing to answer. One can conceive no more
pathetic condition of affairs: a father successful
74. Lite and Sport on the Pacific Slope
beyond the dreams of avarice, conscious of powers
turned to rich account, respected and admired by
his fellows, a pillar of his State, and yet sensible
that in the greatest thing of all, in the administra-
tion of the most stupendous trust, in the care and
culture of his own flesh and blood —he has failed ;
that he has killed his best-beloved son with — too
much kindness!
This kindness, as in the case of King Lear, often
breeds rank ingratitude, especially amongst the
poor. Here is a story —TI cannot vouch for the
truth of it— which illustrates a relation that too
often exists between son and father. The son is
speaking. ‘“ Yas—TI’ve had the worst kind o’ luck
with the old man. I knew he was ailin’, so I paid
his expenses out from Missourah, and fed him the
best o’ corn all through the fall and winter. And
then, when spring come and I was a calculatin’
that I’d get a summer’s work out of him, he up
and died!” |
Throughout the West, in the cottages of the poor
and in the mansions of the rich, you will find.
fathers and mothers the slaves of their children.
The poor work their fingers to the bone in order
that the little ones may wear clothes quite unsuited
to their station in life. Upon a hundred ranches
I have seen mothers cooking, washing, sewing,
while the daughters of the house were reading
novels or playing the piano. I have known a
mother make her own underclothing out of flour
sacks, when her little girl was wearing silk.
“They can only have a good time once,” is the
cant phrase of these altruists.
The Children of the West 75
It never seems to occur to them to consider
whether or not the children are “having a good
time.” Certainly, compared with the children
of other countries — France, Germany, England —
they lack mirthfulness. Perhaps they are sensible,
poor little dears, of the sacrifices made on their
behalf; perhaps the strife around them, which they
passively witness every hour of the day, has entered
like iron into their souls; perhaps they, in common
with their elders, attempt too much and learn too
soon the weariness of satiety. I have talked with
little maids of four, who knew that their dolls were
stuffed with sawdust. I have seen the same little
maids pull down their tiny skirts, blushing. 0, ye
Prunes and Prisms! Ought a little girl of four to
know that she has—legs? I remember one miss
of seven (a born coquette, by the way) who hon-
oured me with her friendship. She was in my
room when I was unpacking a portmanteau, and
she took the greatest interest in my coloured shirts.
Presently she said softly, “My father buys my
frocks, but Auntie gets my underclothes.” Then
she added, with a queer little stare, ‘Perhaps I
ought not to mention underclothes to a gentleman.”
When they go to school, and they go too soon,
evil besmirches them. From what I have learned
from many parents, it is safe to assert that inno-
cence is seldom found in the country schools of
the West. One hesitates to indict a system of
education that in many respects works admirably.
One knows that a mother who is both cook and
housekeeper cannot play the part of schoolmistress.
And one sympathises with a natural ambition which
76 Life and Sport on the Pacific Slope
confounds means with ends. If a smattering of
book-learning is the be-all and end-all of education,
the mothers of the West are justified in sending
their little girls to school. If, on the other hand,
purity of mind, modesty, unselfishness, be deemed
a maiden’s triple crown, she had better stay at
home till she is old enough to know evil when
she sees it, and, so knowing it, choose the good.
When I first came to California, the girls, with
few exceptions, enjoyed unrestrained liberty. They
scoffed at apron-strings. They walked, and rode,
and drove alone with the man of their choice. The
mothers always stayed at home. They said proudly
that they could trust their girls. This trust was
a beautiful thing, quite ideal, but how often was it
betrayed! You must ask the doctors, read the
records, and talk with the young men who take
the girls to the picnics and dances, and when you
have done all this you can answer the question for
yourself.
In a country town, you will find the streets full
of girls. They are sent alone on errands; they loaf
about the station and post-office, they walk arm in
arm up and down the thoroughfares. They ought,
every one of them, to be at home working, helping
their mothers, who— heaven knows!— want all
the help they can get. And yet these same mothers
admit that their girls are a hindrance to them in
the kitchen and the laundry. “Bless you,” said
one hard-working farmer’s wife to me, “ my daughter
could n’t cook a meal o’ victuals to save her life.”
From her tone I was left to infer that this inca-
pacity was greatly to the girl’s credit. In the
The Children of the West 7a
West a stream is expected to rise higher than its
source. A minute later the mother murmured, “I
do wish that you could hear Alvira play Weber’s
‘Invitation to the Waltz.’ ”
Alvira was sweet sixteen, had attended school
since she was six, and what she knew of practical
value could have been put into a grain of millet-
seed.
On the other hand, the boys are encouraged to
earn an honest penny as soon as they are breeched.
I am speaking of the sons of the poor. Many a
small boy, out of school hours, sells papers, peddles
tamales, or does “chores,” for a neighbour. The
money so earned he spends on himself. This of
course fosters independence. The boy learns to
paddle his own canoe, to shoot the rapids. At
fifteen he is —so to speak —a voyageur, a naviga-
tor. The father is a “ back number.”
The conceit of the very small boys, their bump-
tiousness and braggadocio, always amaze the stranger
and foreigner. I read a story the other day that
must have been clipped from a Western newspaper.
A father leaving home had specially commended
the care of the mother to his small son, aged —
five. That night, the urchin modified his evening
prayer. He entreated the protection of Heaven on
behalf of the absent sire; but he ended as follows:
“Dear God, don’t bother about mamma, for I’m
taking care of her myself.”
My own little boy, a Native Son brought up in
California, was very much excited at the prospect
of a first visit to England. The battle of Omdur-
man had just been fought. “I do hope,” he said,
78 Life and Sport on the Pacific Slope
after seeing the pictures in the “ Illustrated London
News,” “that the Queen will keep the war in
Egypt going —for me.”
Another day he was listening attentively to the
story of the Golden Calf and the Fiery Serpents.
“ Well,” he remarked, as the Bible was closed, “ they
were wicked, those Israelites. No wonder God was
mad with them. J don’t blame him.”
Irreverence is a characteristic of the children of
the West. This is partly the fault of the pastors.
I remember a funeral sermon preached by a Presby-
terian minister upon a dead child. The child’s
play-fellows were in church, and attentive listeners
to a discourse mainly biographical. The preacher
concluded : “I can see him; yes, I can see our dear
little friend;” he looked upward, and the eyes of
the children were immediately fixed upon the ceiling
of the church. “There he is, corralled in Heaven,
playing about with all the other little angels.”
This allusion to the corral, that homely feature
in the Western landscape, appealed forcibly to the
imagination of the children, but surely the ridicu-
lous was too perilously near the sublime.
Speaking of funerals, I recall another anecdote
that illustrates this peculiar blending of the sacred
and the profane. In Southern California, funerals
are, like the Irish wake, a source of entertainment
to the many who attend them. If the deceased
happens to have been in his lifetime a member of
any order, such as the Oddfellows or Freemasons, his
funeral becomes a public function, a parade. You
march to the burial-ground clad in the uniform of
The Children of the West 79
your order; a band furnishes appropriate music;
at the grave certain rites are observed. But the
solemn procession to the cemetery is robbed of its
significance, by the rout that follows the benedic-
tion. Peace, indeed, is left with the dead. The
living race home, as if Death, with the “ tiger-roar”
of his voice, were pursuing them. After one of these
functions I encountered the chief mourner and mur-
mured my condolence. He asked me in return what
I thought of the funeral; then he added, before I
could answer: “It was fine. Every thing according
to Hoyle. Well sir, she’d been a good wife to me,
and me and my friends appreciated that fact, and
so — we gave her a good send-off !”
Children attend these entertainments.
Talking with the boys and girls of the West, one
notes the bias of their minds to what is material
rather than ideal. This gives to each child a certain
personality — he must be reckoned with as an indi-
vidual. His egoism is so plainly manifested that
it becomes dominant. And this egoism of the
child is pregnant with ill-omen for the future of the
race. What makes for character — sense of duty,
reverence, humility, obedience —is not inculcated
by the majority of parents in the West. On the
contrary, they encourage the egoism latent in all
-children, till each becomes an autocrat. I shall
never forget a morning I passed in what is called
the “ Ladies’ Parlour” of a steamship. My mother
was with me, prostrated by headache and sickness,
and the room was full of fellow sufferers. Suddenly
a boy marched in playing —toy bagpipes. The
80 Life and Sport on the Pacific Slope
skirl of the pipes at a distance has been known, I
believe, to please some persons with Scotch blood
in their veins, but the wildest pibroch ever played
in Highland glen was sweet melody compared to
the strains produced by this urchin. The women
glared at him, but he played on, delighted with
himself and his toy. His mother was present, un-
protesting. Presently he flung down the pipes,
walked to the piano, opened it, sat down, and began
to hammer the keys with his feet. The mother
smiled fatuously. I rose up and approached the
child. “You play very nicely with your feet,” I
ventured to say, as I lifted him from the stool, “ but
some of these ladies are suffering with headache,
and your music distresses them. Run away, like a
good boy, and don’t come back again.”
The child stared at me and obeyed. The mother
was furious. Had I been Herod the Great, red-
handed after the slaughter of the Innocents, she
could not have looked more indignant or reproach-
ful. I was interfering with the sacred rights of the
American child to do what he pleased, where he
pleased, and when he pleased.
In the East —I am glad to say — Fashion has
ordained that the children of the well-to-do shall
be quietly dressed, soft-voiced, polite, and consider-
ate. They flaunt no absurd silks and satins, they
wear no jewellery, they play neither the piano nor
the fool — in public.
In the West it is otherwise.
South of Point Concepcion, the children suffer
from the effect of a climate ill-adapted to the de-
The Children of the West 81
velopment of the Anglo-Saxon race. One hesitates
to use the odious word, “décadent” in connection
with them, but no other can be found. You will
see many pretty faces, whose features lack strength
and balance. The lads are pallid, narrow-chested,
and rickety; the girls, like the roses, lack fresh-
ness and fragrance. There is an exotic quality about
them, a quality not without a charm, a languorous
grace denied to the robuster children of the North.
These are the orchids of the Pacific Slope.
Their precocity is astounding. Most of them are
allowed to read the public prints, and in particular
the Sunday editions, wherein may be found a special
page devoted to the young, and which the young
— according to my experience — seldom read. In
1895 we were horrified by a dreadful double murder.
Two girls were decoyed to a church, and there dis-
honoured and despatched by a fiend of the name
of Durrant. The case furnished hundreds of col-
umns of what is known in editorial sanctums as
“good stuff,” and for two years these details tainted
the public mind. The very headlines were sufficient
to debauch the imagination. To-day, you would
hardly find on the Pacific Slope an intelligent boy
of fifteen who is not familiar with the details of this
murder. Finally, Dewey took the taste of Durrant
out of their mouths.
If the mental diet is too stimulating for the chil-
dren, the food they eat is no less so. Some parents
gravely contend that the tissues of a child’s stomach
may be toughened, like his cuticle, by abuse. One
man I know wakes up his children in the middle of
the night to eat whatever he fancies: Welsh rarebit,
6
82 Life and Sport on the Pacific Slope
cold plum pudding, caviare, or pickled clams. “I
like my babies around me,” he observed tenderly. I
feared that he would n’t have them long, but he as-
sured me that they were none the worse for these
noctes ambrosiane.
All the children of the poorer class eat too much
salt meat, and drink tea that is little better than
poison. The cooking on the ranches is inconceiv-
ably bad. Soda and cheap baking-powders take the
place of honest yeast; steaks and chops are fried,
not broiled, and served sodden with grease; the vege-
tables, particularly the peas, are tough and tasteless ;
the puddings alone are palatable. As a rule, these
viands are gulped down in a few minutes. The
children fill their pockets with doughnuts (the
Western word “sinkers” is expressive) and scurry
away to their lessons and games. The elders take
a dose of some patent medicine, and fondly believe
that they have enjoyed a square meal. 7
The amount of medicine sold on the Pacific Slope
is significant of either stupendous credulity or stu-
pendous ill-health on the part of the people. And
the children get more than their share of the drugs.
The weakening of a general belief in the Great -
Physician has quickened faith in the quacks. If
Tommy cuts his finger the doctor is summoned ; if
Mamie coughs, a lung specialist must be consulted ;
if the baby has a pain, he must be dosed with pare-
goric. In a country where health once reigned
supreme, where doctors were unknown, where drugs
were sold by the grocers, you may hardly find to-
day a perfectly healthy family. One child has lost
The Children of the West 83
his “adnoids,” another his tonsils; this one goes
twice a week to an aurist; an oculist has just oper-
ated upon that; a nose specialist (he won’t be long
without a name) has the fifth under special treat-
ment, and so forth.
And yet, despite the money spent on them, de-
spite the care and anxiety of the parents, despite
the pampering, despite the endearments, the children
of the Pacific Slope are emphatically neglected.
You seldom see a father or a mother patiently
and laboriously teaching a child. The common
round is distasteful to the people of the West, the
trivial task is abhorrent. The “grind” of slowly
imparting to achild habits of self-control, obedience,
and a sense of duty is a treadmill that few care to
mount. Those who can afford it pay others to train
their children for them, and this training is, as a
rule, intermittent and ineffective.
The religious training is practically in the hands
of the Sunday-school teachers. The more intelli-
gent of these will tell you, if you ask them, that
their efforts are often futile, because at home the
men of the family habitually make light of sacred
things and names. I remember one very small
boy who astonished his mother one night by sud-
denly sitting up in bed and saying, “Well, I am
a dam fool; I’ve forgotten to say my prayers!”
Here again is the blend of sacred and profane.
The good qualities of the children of the Pacific
Slope are: originality, independence, pluck, and
perspicuity. They are extraordinarily quick-witted
and plastic, full of quips and odd turns of speech,
84 Life and Sport on the Pacific Slope
and blessed with the strongest imaginations. A
grandmother gave me the following. She had
explained very patiently the nature of that respect
which is due to age from youth. At the end she
asked, “Do you understand what I[ have been
saying ?”
“You bet I do,’ replied the grandson (aged six).
“JT know that it would n’t do for me call you —
Tom.”
During a heavy rainstorm, an urchin was seen by
his mother to drop upon his knees. “ Dear God,”
prayed the child, “father says we have had rain
enough. Please turn off the faucet.”
This urchin once begged me to read aloud to him
from the paper I held in my hand. I assured him
that what I was perusing — the annual statement
of one of the banks — would not interest him. He
begged to contradict me. So I began: “ Capital
Stock. . . $3,000,000.” |
He interrupted me at once. Stock, seemingly,
suggested dairy cows, for he said eagerly: “ By
golly, three million dollars! Wouldn’t I like to
own those cows, and would n’t I milk ’em for all
they were worth, and sell’em when they went dry ?”
Upon another occasion, he had returned from a
visit to one of the neighbours’ wives, whom he pro-
nounced a perfect lady. I took exception to the
adjective and substantive, the person in question
being a peasant. “Well,” said he, “she may not be
a perfect lady, but she’s a very agreeable woman.”
Upon the deck of a steamer I heard the fol-
lowing: A small boy from the West asked a
friend of mine, a striking-looking man, who he
The Children of the West 85
was. “I’m the pilot,” replied he, with a twinkle
in his eye.
“The pilot,” repeated the urchin, thoughtfully.
“Then why ar’n’t you on the bridge ?”
These imps criticise their elders and _ betters
freely. A tot said to me quite gravely : “My auntie
is not as smart as she thinks herself. And she’s
often very rude. She cont’adicted me this morning.”
A snub —need it be said — is good powder wasted
on the Western youth. I remember a lad of eigh-
teen who was selling books. He went into the
office of a physician notorious for his crabbed
temper, and submitted his wares. The medico
bade him be gone, in very unparliamentary terms.
“Can you read?” demanded the youth, blandly.
“ Read, sir! I don’t read such books as you sell.”
“I sell Shakespeare, and the Bible. You don’t
act as if you had read either. Good-morning.”
This same youth — who surely will go far — had
heard that at a certain bank the clerks had agreed
to hustle any book agent who invaded their prem-
ises. The book agent, it must be added, is regarded
in the West as a beast of prey. Our young friend
took his own line. Rushing into the bank, he ex-
claimed excitedly, “ Boys, have you seen him ?”
“Seen whom?” repeated the clerks in chorus.
“That book agent.”
“No, no. We want to see him! We’re fixed
for him. The last fellow made us weary. We’re
going to skin the next one alive. Where is he 2?”
“He is—here!” said the youth dramatically.
“Start right in, boys, and enjoy yourselves. When
you get through [ll sell you some books.”
86 Life and Sport on the Pacific Slope
He sold his books.
If they refuse to take a snub, they are quick to
take a hint. There is an authentic story of a poor
lad who approached a famous millionaire and asked
for twenty-five cents (a shilling), wherewith to buy
a meal.
“A meal?” exclaimed the great man. “ Why,
my boy, twenty-five cents will buy you five meals
— of bread and water. And a healthy lad like you
can live on two meals a day. I’vedone it. Here’s
your quarter.”
The boy took the coin and the advice. Years
after he sought out the millionaire and thanked
him.
Since I first crossed the Rocky Mountains, an ex-
traordinary stimulus has been given to all athletic
exercises. In 1882 baseball was the only game.
To-day the muscles of the youths are hardened
and expanded by football, polo, golf, tennis, and
bicycle riding. And yet the physiology of bodily
exercise is entirely misapprehended, even more so
than it isin England. In no country do the young
men “scorch” as in the West. You may see them
any Sunday upon the highways and byways. Their
faces are streaming with perspiration; their eyes
are popping from their heads; their brows are
seamed with anxiety. Doubled up above the
handle-bars they always seem to me the most piti-
ful notes of interrogation. They are asking for
health and strength. What are they getting ?
I hold with Walt Whitman that “in man or
woman a clean, strong, firm-fibred body, is more
The Children of the West 87
beautiful than the most beautiful face;” I know,
also, what athletics has done for the young men of
the West; I am well aware of the many (who
might have been drunkards and debauchees) whom
a love of manly sport has reclaimed and regener-
ated. But I cannot blind myself to the fact that
in this, as in other matters, the pendulum has
swung too far the other way. The strenuous com-
petition that stalks in the market-place rages furi-
ously in the playing-fields, too furiously for the
weal of the athletes. In their play, as in their
work, would it not be wise for the Sons of the
West to give pause ?
RANCH LIFE—I |
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RANCH LIFE— I
UTSIDERS look at ranch life through rose-
coloured spectacles. The word “ranch” has
peculiar charm: it sounds more pastoral, more
alluring than “farm.” A farm suggests hedges,
fences, stone walls. Of necessity, life on a farm
would seem to be life within bounds, circumscribed
by convention, lacking the freedom and freshness
of the ranch. A ranch implies ampler pastures,
purer air, the essence of Arcadian things.
In the West the word is linked indiscriminately
to a score of industries. We have cattle-, horse-,
hog-, fruit-, berry-, chicken-, and even bee-ranches.
According to your inclination, according to the
amount of capital at your disposal, you may choose
any one of these; but remember, you will infallibly
fail— losing money, time, and probably health —
unless you give to your ranch undivided energies,
unwearied patience, a fair measure of brains, and a
leaven of common-sense.
The writers who have described ranch-life as
easy and leisurely, a refuge for men who have
broken down in the professions or in business, have
— consciously or unconsciously — lied.
On a cattle-ranch, you will be sensible of its
remoteness. You are far from railroad and post-
g2 Life and Sport on the Pacific Slope
office. Once a week, perhaps, you get papers and
letters; once a week you see a fresh face, hear the
tones of a fresh voice. The world wags on, but
you are out of it. To some this isolation is intoler-
able; to others, doubtless, it brings comfort and
content. The life grows upon one. You rise early,
feed your horse and yourself, and ride forth into
the hills. After a time you begin to know your —
cattle; you can see them, distinguish one from an-
other at a distance that surprises the tenderfoot.
If one is missing you are aware instinctively of
the fact, and glance skyward. U e
4
,
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Ast, tf . eee has
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Ranch Life 93
of the “greasers,” however, can still fling a rope
with such exquisite art that the loop seems to be
guided by an invisible hand to the horn or hoof
it is destined to encircle; they can vault on, and
off, and over, a horse at full gallop, or snatch a coin
from the ground as they race by — swinging far
out of their big saddles and into them again with
extraordinary grace and agility; they can “tail”
a bull; they can “tie up” and wntie a wild Texan
steer, single-handed; and they can break and ride
anything that goes on all-fours. In the days be-
fore the American occupation of the Pacific Slope
the mastery of such feats was part, the larger part,
of a caballero’s education, and the vaquero was held
in high esteem. To-day, poor fellow, his occupa-
tion is almost gone.
There is plenty of work to be done on a big cattle-
ranch: fences must be built and repaired; water
troughs— where there are no streams— must be
filled ; the hay-land must be sown to barley, and
the crop harvested. You eat the plainest and most
unpalatable fare, — bacon and beans, for the most
part, with canned vegetables and dried apples and
apricots. You sleep in the hardest of bunks, be-
tween rough blankets. You wear canvas overalls.
You smoke coarse tobacco. But you are strong
and well. That is the reason why so many men,
who would seem to be ill-equipped for a rough life,
deliberately chose it in preference to any other.
As a rule, the cowboys spend what they earn in
drink, the most fiery whisky they can find —the
brand known as “Sheepherder’s delight.” After
94 Life and Sport on the Pacific Slope
leading a sober and temperate life for perhaps two
months they will ride into the nearest town, and
proceed to paint it a beautiful blood-red. As long
as the money lasts, all comers are invited to drink.
When the last cent 1s spent the cowboy mounts his
bronco and returns to the ranch, where, you may
be sure, no indiscreet questions are asked. In the
’80’s, when southern California was still a pastoral
country, these roysterers were anathema maranatha
to the townsmen, despite the money they put into
active circulation. You may see them to-day jog-
ging into town, astride their wiry, fiddle-headed geld-
ings (your true vaquero never rides a mare), clad
in chappareros (long, loose leggins made of stout
leather, designed to protect the legs in riding
through the tough manzanita and chaparral), and
wearing big stiff sombreros tied under the chin by
a piece of black ribbon. The dandies are distin-
guished by a fine silk neckerchief, loosely knotted,
by the high-heeled boots (the high heels prevent
the foot from slipping through the large wooden
stirrups), by the silver mountings of the Mexican
bit, by the rawhide bridle and cuerda, by the long
buck-skin gloves. Those who wear canvas overalls
instead of “chaps” will be careful to turn up the
ends of them, so as to display the black trouser
beneath, and when they dismount and lounge
through the streets, you will mark an easy swagger,
the cachet of the caballero. .
Drunk, they are dangerous; sober, most capital
fellows, — cheery, kindly, without fear, hard as nails,
and generous to a fault. From such men Roose-
velt recruited his famous Rough Riders, and they
Ranch Life 95
make the finest irregular cavalry in the world; but
they are and always will be —Ishmaelites. They
are profoundly ignorant of everything outside their
own calling, and always laugh disdainfully at a
tenderfoot’s blunders. It is best to laugh with
them, but sometimes the tables are turned. I know
a man, now famous, who once silenced a camp full
of cowboys. He had made some trivial blunder —
I forget what — which provoked the jeers of the
“boys.” “My God!” he exclaimed, “is it possible
that you fellows, born and bred in this cow coun-
try, laugh at me? Look here, I have been twice
round the world, I speak half a dozen languages, I
have lived, lived, mark you, in half the States of your
Union, I have met your famous men; and you, you
dare to laugh at me because I do not know the one
little thing which you know. Well, laugh away,
boys. What I don’t know about cow-punching is
worth a laugh, but what you don’t know about
everything else in the world is enough to make a
man cry.”
I have found a warm welcome in dozens of cow-
boys’ camps and never, but once, anything else. On
that occasion my brother and I were the unpremedi-
tated cause of the “trouble.” We had been camp-
ing out in the mountains, and had with us in our
spring-waggon a small demijohn of whisky. This
demijohn we carefully hid, at the special request of
the foreman of the ranch, but the cook, who had
not been to town for many moons, found it and an-
nexed it as treasure-trove. It seems that this cook
had had “words” that morning with the “ boss,”
and our whisky, in large undiluted doses, fanned
96 Life and Sport on the Pacific Slope
into flame resentment that otherwise might have
smouldered harmlessly till it burned out. As we
were sitting together after supper, spinning yarns
and smoking, the cook suddenly marched into the
room, and bade the boss and the other cowboys be
gone into the hills, or where they pleased, but off
the ranch. He carried my Winchester rifle in his
hand, and as he spoke covered our group, which dis-
persed like a bevy of quail when a hawk circles
overhead. In a jiffy, none was left in that room
save the cook, my brother, and I. I cannot explain
why we stayed, but we had received no orders to go,
and we knew of course that the cook had no grudge
against us. Then followed a scene, ludicrous enough
now, but not so funny at the time. The cook para-
ded up and down the room, assuring us that he
was the King. To emphasise his claims, I remem-
ber, he fired into the ceiling two royal salutes, and
just then —it being moonlight outside —I saw a
dark figure, pistol in hand, flit past the open door.
There were two doors in the room exactly opposite
to each other. At the same time I saw another
figure, similarly armed, at the other door. The
King, apprehending danger, brought his rifle to his
shoulder, pointing it first to the right and then to ~
the left, according as the heads appeared and dis-
appeared. Meantime he waxed grimly facetious,
entreating the gentlemen outside to come in, or at
least to stand still, and so forth. The comic side of
it did not strike me till afterwards, because I was
wondering whether it would not be expedient to lie
down upon the floor, out of the line of fire, a posi-
tion commended by all tacticians of the West.
Ranch Life 97
However, I was sensible that the men outside were
not going to shoot first, so I sat still and waited.
Suddenly the King’s mood changed. He called to
one of the men outside, the brother of the foreman:
“Say, Charlie,—I’m cold. Bring me my coat; it
hangs in the kitchen.”
Now drunken men are sometimes as subtle as the
serpent, and I decided that if I were Charlie, I
should remain outside, and not play the valet, even
to a king. Charlie, it seems, was not of my opinion,
for he said quite naturally: “That’s all right: I’1l
get your coat.” And in less than a minute he was
standing in the open door with the coatin his hand.
It was a plucky thing to do. The King eyed Charlie,
and Charlie eyed the King. There was a light in
Charlie’s keen grey eyes that was not to be mistaken
by a sober man.
“Give it to me,” commanded the King.
Charlie held out the coat. The King, with an
eye cocked at the door opposite, advanced to take it.
“No funny business,” growled his Majesty. “It
your brother sticks his ugly head into that door, I’ll
shoot you deader’n mutton.”
Charlie — as it proved afterward — had persuaded
the others not to interfere. He wanted to play “a
lone hand.” As the King put forth an arm for his
coat, the other jumped like a cat at the rifle—and
we jumped too, and everybody else jumped, till
there was a big heap of men in the middle of the
floor, and at the bottom of the heap the King.
Presently we disentangled ourselves, and nobody
was left on the floor save he who was no longer
King, and the boss.
7
g8 Life and Sport on the Pacific Slope
“You are king, are you?” said the Boss. “Take
that!”
He had the monarch by the ears, and at “that”
he raised the royal head, and pounded the floor with
it, till the foreman entreated him to stop, for the
flooring, he said, was rotten. Then the ex-King was
handcuffed, and securely tied to a bed. Next day,
the boss and the foreman led him to the ranch
fence, and explained to him that if he had any con-
sideration for his own health, he must never, never,
never come back again. And I am quite sure he
never did.
I can tell another story that ends less happily,
and which illustrates a peculiar phase of ranch life.
Around nearly all the old Spanish grants, the
ranchos proper of Southern California, lies Govern-
ment land, valued by Uncle Sam at one dollar and
a quarter an acre. A great deal of this land is
worthless save for grazing purposes, and it often
happens that the possession of a fine spring or a
small creek gives the owner undisputed title to
many hundreds of acres not worth taking up on
account of a scarcity of water. But when it was
proved that some of these hitherto neglected lands
were the natural home of certain grapes and fruits,
men were eager to file homesteads —as the phrase
runs — upon them, and the squatters who had had
the use of them for many years naturally felt
aggrieved. In some cases they had fenced in
these hills, to which they had no legal title what-
ever. Not far from us was an old squatter who
had grown rich upon Uncle Sam’s lands. He had,
I think, some three hundred and twenty acres of
‘ ¥*
Ranch. Life 99
his own, well-watered, and his stock roamed over
a couple of leagues of rolling hills. One day a
man and his wife filed their claim to a quarter
section (160 acres) of these hills, and began to
build a cabin. The first squatter protested and
blasphemed —in vain. Finally, he and his son
and a nephew deliberately stalked the stranger,
and shot him dead on his own land; they also
shot and wounded the wife, who dragged herself
several miles to a neighbour, and recited the facts.
Within twenty-four hours the murderers were
locked up in the village “calaboose,” and during
the following night they were taken out and
lynched. The Vigilantes hanged them from a
bridge not a mile from our ranch-house, and some
children, crossing the bridge on the road to school,
found the bodies stiff and stark at the end of two
stout ropes. A rope had been provided for the
nephew; but at the last moment, as he stood shiv-
ering upon the ragged edge of eternity, he was
released and commanded to leave the county for
ever. He needed, I have been told, no urging.
This case has a certain interest, because the old
man, it appeared, had not fired a single shot; but
it was equally certain that he, and he alone, had
planned the affair. Further, he was rich, and the
people in our county were only too well aware
that in California it is easier for a camel to pass
through the eye of a needle than for a rich man
to be convicted of murder in the first degree and
executed. Accordingly, they very properly hanged
an old scoundrel who otherwise would have escaped
almost scot-free.
L. of C.
100 Life and Sport on the Pacific Slope
Many persons supposed that my brother and I
were amongst the Vigilantes. We were not. We
knew absolutely nothing of what was going on, so
to speak, under our noses, till the next morning.
What knowledge came to us after the event we
discreetly kept to ourselves. One young fellow,
I remember, a druggist, imprudently hinted that
he could tell a strange story if he pleased, and it
seems that towards midnight he had been wakened
out of his sleep by the Vigilantes passing his drug-
store on their way to the calaboose which adjoined
it. It was said that the young man looked out
into the night and saw a dozen masked men, that
he heard the dialogue that ensued between the
leader of the Vigilantes and the constable on guard,
that he followed the party to the bridge (a most
unwise proceeding), and witnessed the lynching.
For a brief season this youth was the hero of the
hour; then a quiet, middle-aged citizen, a man
with a square brow and chin, and a pair of keen
blue eyes, was seen to enter the drug-store, and —
mirabile dictu !— after this the mind and memory
of Peeping Tom became a blank. He had seen —
nothing; he had heard—nothing; he knew —
nothing. But observant persons remarked that ~
this young gentleman’s face, normally as ruddy as
David's, had turned of a sudden a dirty grey-green ;
so we may infer that the quiet, middle-aged citizen
did not call upon his fellow-townsman to pass the
time of day, or to buy drugs.
According to the gentlemen who write with ease
upon any subject within or without their ken, the
West is now tame. My own experience is this:
Ranch Life IOI
a man in search of what is technically called
“trouble” can find it on the Pacific Slope very
quickly ; the man who minds his own business and
keeps a civil tongue in his head is as safe in the
wildest parts of the West as he would be in Lon-
don — perhaps safer. Looking back, I can recall
many deeds of violence: men stabbed or shot in
drunken brawls, stage-coaches “ held up” and robbed,
trains stopped and looted, banks sacked, and so forth,
not to mention the horse and cattle thieves who
used to infest our part of Southern California. But
to-day, you will find few desperadoes, and those few,
like the rattlesnakes, live in the brush hills far from
telephone and telegraph. In the ’80’s it was not
uncommon to meet the knights of the road at
the taverns and saloons just outside the towns.
In our county, during my time, the infamous
Dalton gang of train-robbers owned a small ranch
not far from ours. The notorious Black Bart has
been pointed out to me. This gentleman always
worked alone. Wearing a long black mask, he
would not hesitate to “hold up” a stage-coach.
When he had robbed the passengers, whom he
paraded in line, he would politely request them
to remount and be gone. Then he would pin to
the trunk of a neighbouring tree a copy of verses,
commemorating the event in quaint English, and
signed by himself. I was given to understand that
Black Bart was even prouder of his “ poetry” than
of his exploits as highwayman.
But even to-day, young Englishmen settling upon
cattle ranches on the Pacific Slope would do well
to mind what company they keep. I remember
102 Life and Sport on the Pacific Slope
one poor fellow, the son of a parson, who came
to us many years ago. He arrived with an amaz-
ing kit. Pistols and knives lay meekly by the
side of manuals of devotion. He was armed cap-a-
pie against the assaults of the world, the flesh, and
the Devil. My brother and I looked at these
weapons and advised the owner of them to keep
them, where they were, at the bottom of a port-
manteau. But he objected to this, being the son
of a man who belonged to a church militant. Then
we explained to him that a fight in California was a
very different affair to a row with an English rough.
It is, in fine, a combat & ouwtrance. At the time I
am writing of, if one man struck another, the blow
or slap was regarded generally as a deadly insult,
only to be wiped out with blood. The man who
was struck drew his pistol, if he carried one, and
fired instantly. If he had no pistol or knife on his
person, he went in search of these weapons, and,
further, deemed it no shame to lie in wait for his
antagonist, and to shoot him down like a dog when
he came within range. If you care to consult the
records, you will find dozens of cases of what
people in Europe would pronounce cold-blooded
murder, in which the murderer has not only been
suffered to remain at large, but has won for him-
self the respect and esteem of the community whose
unwritten law he has vindicated. “It don’t pay to
fool with that feller,” is the popular verdict; “he
is too quick with his gun.” In such cases it 1s
disgraceful to sustain defeat. I knew an Irishman
whose daughter had married a crack-brained fellow,
the terror of our district. Finally, this Greek met
Ranch Life 103
another Greek, who dropped him dead in his tracks.
Shortly afterwards, I was passing the Irishman’s
house, and marked a red-headed urchin playing
on the porch. In reply to my question: “ Whose
boy is that ?” the Irishman murmured mysteriously :
“Sorr—’tis me daughter’s husband’s chi-i-ild.”
The name of the vanquished and the dead was
too inglorious to be mentioned.
The parson’s son listened attentively to what we
said, but he remarked in conclusion: “Of course T
shall be careful, but —” He never finished the
sentence; we inferred from the tone that his
father’s son did n’t want to fight, but—/ Not long
after he struck a man, a foul-mouthed, drunken
blackguard. Before the parson’s son knew what
had happened, he was stabbed, and he died a few
hours later. The man was arrested, tried by a jury
of his peers, and acquitted /
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RANCH LIFE—II
Cy our ranch, we wore canvas overalls. My
brother used to say that the unfastening of
a large safety pin left him in condition for a plunge
into the pool at the bottom of our corral. Yet on
Christmas Day (and also upon the Queen’s first
Jubilee) we solemnly arrayed ourselves in dress
things and dined & la mode.
We had many pets. One —a goat — gave us a
deal of trouble. He was a remarkable beast, with
a cultivated taste for sheet music, and he could
swallow, whole, Sunday editions of San Franciscan
newspapers: a feat never accomplished by mortal
man. If anything was missing on the ranch, such
as a monkey-wrench, or a button-hook, or a packet
of tobacco, we always knew where it was — inside
the goat. Finally he took to roosting on the piano,
for neither bars nor bolts kept him out of our
sitting-room; and he had a playful habit of ap-
proaching you very quietly from behind and then
— Bif! We loved that goat, but the time came
when we had to choose between him and our Lares
and Penates. It was no use giving him away,
because he refused to be a party to the transaction,
and always came back more wicked than _ before.
Our Chinaman said he was a devil. So he was
condemned to death, and three of us drew lots to
108 Life and Sport on the Pacific Slope
decide who should be the executioner. I shall not
reveal upon whom that lot fell, but the man who
slew the goat has never been quite the same since.
He carries the brand of Cain.
We had also a tame pig that answered to the
name of Dolly. Dolly was a thoroughbred Poland-
China, and she used to follow me about like a dog
and eat out of my hand. Dolly became enormously
fat, and after a time refused positively to budge
from the kitchen door, transferring her affections,
after the manner of her sex, from her lawful lord
and master to another, the cook, who wooed her
wantonly with wash. Dolly was eaten; and we
have never dared since then to speak disparagingly
of cannibals. We had also a parrot that was pos-
sessed not of one but of a dozen devils. Some
parrots attain a great age, but this bird died young
—I am glad to say. Of course we tamed many
colts: a grave mistake unless you intend them for
a circus. It is easy to teach a horse to shake
hands, and waggle his head, and stand on a tub,
and lie down; but you cannot teach him a sense
of the fitness of things. I remember a black whom
I used to drive as leader of a pony tandem. He
was on such intimate terms with me that he
never questioned his right to do as he pleased.
This perfidious wretch would not only stop when
he came to a hill, but also lie down, flat on his
back with all four legs in the air, —a disgraceful
object.
Speaking of horses reminds me of an incident.
Some neighbours and friends of ours had a horse
called Alcalde. Alcalde was a most respectable
‘ATLLVO fO HONNE V
Ranch Life 109
person, but like all of us he had his failing: he
would flick his tail over the reins. Now it hap-
pened that my friend was of a nautical turn, and
in his youth he had learned the art of tying
wonderful knots. Accordingly, one day, when he
was about to take his wife for a drive, he tied down
Alcalde’s tail so tightly and so securely that not a
wiggle was left in it. Now it happened that only
that morning my friend’s wife had turned on the
water, — water, you must understand, is very pre-
cious on a ranch in Southern California, — and, alas!
she had neglected to turn it off, being distracted
possibly by household cares; so the water had
flowed away, leaving the family tank empty and
cracking beneath the ardent rays of the sun. Con-
ceive if you can the wrath of a husband condemned
by a wife’s carelessness to pump many hundreds
of gallons of water! You may be sure that he (he
was an Englishman) told his unhappy wife she had
committed the unpardonable sin, and she, poor soul,
apprehending the magnitude of her offence, held
her peace (which is remarkable, because she was a
daughter of the West). Perhaps — you may draw
your own conclusions — the husband was sorry
that he had spoken so harshly, and thought that a
drive behind a fast-trotting horse would establish
happier relations between two who should be one.
Be that as it may, after the drive was over, he be-
gan to unharness Alcalde, his wife standing by and
talking to him. The traces were unhooked, the
breeching straps unbuckled, and then Alcalde was
commanded to leave the shafts. But Alcalde, wise
as Balaam’s ass, never stirred, for he knew that his
110 Life and Sport on the Pacific Slope
tail was still fast to the buggy. Thereupon my
friend took the whip and applied it smartly to
Alcalde’s quarters. Alcalde, who had doubtless
been nursing his wrongs throughout that afternoon,
and who now was given an opportunity, as the
lawyers say, to show cause, retaliated by kicking
the buggy into a heap of kindling wood. My
friend’s wife watched this performance with interest,
and when it was over she turned to her husband
and said quietly: “ My dear, after this, I shall turn
on the water and let it run as often and as long as
I please.”
Of the hired men and girls who honoured us by
working for wages which an English curate would
not despise, Il could write currente calamo, but I dare
not do it, for I feel like the stout gentleman who
remained in the plains, because he was sensible
that in the hills he might begin to roll, and go on
rolling, till he rolled out of the world altogether.
I have so much material that I dare not cut the
wire which holds the bale together. One or two
stories, however, may be pulled out, without dis-
turbing the rest. We employed a man who in his
youth had had an encounter with a circular saw.
The saw, in such cases, generally has the best of it ;
and on this occasion two of our hired man’s fingers
were left in the pit. Upon one of the remaining
fingers he wore a diamond ring! And he actually
told me that his hand “kind o’ needed settin’ off.”
It never seemed to strike the poor fellow that the
proper place for that maimed hand was his pocket.
He used to wave it about — so my brother said —
as if it were a Pampas plume.
Ranch Life VIt
Another anecdote illustrates that amazing lack
of a sense of proportion which characterises the
people of the West. We had a girl, as cook, who
was always leaving us to assist at the funerals of
her relations. These died one after the other.
Finally the mother died, and the girl asked for a
week’s leave. At the end of the week I drove up
to her father’s house to fetch Jane, and he (the
father) came out to speak to me. Naturally I
murmured a few words of condolence.
“Yes,” he replied mournfully, “ poor Jane, poor
girl, she has had bad luck,” he seemed to ignore
his share in it; “she’s lost in one year,” he began
to reckon on his fingers, ‘ yes, —Tom, Mamie, her
uncle Charlie, her mother, and to-day, this very
morning, she has lost Dick.”
“Good heavens!” I exclaimed, confounded by
such unparalleled misfortunes. “You have lost
Dick! Let me see, he was your youngest boy,
wasn’t he?”
“No,” said the man, gravely, “Dick was poor
Jane’s canary bird. She thought the world of it.
And it died this morning. Too bad, —ain’t it ?”
Max O’Rell, in one of his lectures, pointed out
the radical difference between the French servant,
Marie Jeanne, and the English Mary Jane. “Marie
Jeanne,” he would say, “puts her wages into a
stocking and puts that stocking into a hole in the
ground; Mary Jane puts her wages into a new
hat, puts the hat on to her head, and gets photo-
graphed in it.” I wish it were possible to repro-
duce Mons. Blouet’s quaint, ironical accent, and to
show you the quirk of his eyebrows. I do not
112 Life and Sport on the Pacific Slope
know what he said about the Californian hired
girl, — possibly he never had the honour of meet-
ing her.
Many queer characters lived within a small
radius of our ranch-house. I dare say we appeared
equally queer to them, for I often intercepted winks
and grins not intended for my eyes which bespoke
a keen sense of the humorous. Reciprocity is a
blessed thing, and I am happy to think that we
afforded some of our friends as much amusement
as they furnished us. One most remarkable instance
of how much stranger truth is than fiction came
under our immediate notice: a case of Enoch
Arden. There were two brothers, and the eldest
married a wife, who bore him children. Then,
tired perhaps of domestic joys, he sailed away —
seemingly for ever. Now the younger brother had
lived beneath the elder’s roof, and he knew that
his brother’s wife was as gold that has been tried
in the fire; accordingly, when the years passed and
the elder never returned, nor sent word that he was
alive, it seemed good to the younger to marry his
brother’s wife, which he did, and in due time became,
in his turn, the father of several children. And
then, like a bolt from the blue, the man who had |
disappeared reappeared, descending “ perpendicu-
lar,” as Sterne would say, with a“ me voici mes
enfants!” What happened? If youcome to think
of it, this is a nice little problem — something akin
to Mr. Stockton’s Lady or the Tiger riddle. Here
were two husbands, two fathers, — and one wife!
The problem was solved to the entire satisfaction of
all persons concerned, including Mrs. Grundy, who
Ranch Life 113
is not quite so particular in the West as she is in
Mayfair. It was obvious, you will admit, that the
elder had the law on his side, but only a tenth of it,
for the very substantial nine-tenths were and had
been for many years in the possession of the younger.
It is also obvious that the elder had no such passion
for his spouse as, shall we say, Juliet inspired in the
heart of Romeo. He had deliberately forsaken her.
Still, it is not impossible that he had often re-
pented, thinking, may be, of his children’s faces,
and the old homestead, and the savoury dishes that
his wife could make (for she was an excellent cook).
Mind you, he had not been lost ina sub-arctic forest,
or living on a desert island, or doing anything, in
short, which could be pleaded as an excuse for his
absence and silence. The story is tragic from an
English or New England point of view. You will
say at once that the sailor went back to sea. Nota
bit of it. He bought a piece of land hard by, and
settled down comfortably as his brother’s neigh-
bour. He did not want—so he said—to make
any “trouble;” but he wished to see his children,
and his brother, and the mother of his children.
So he acted according to his convictions, and
the people said Amen. It seemed to them, as it
seemed to the sailor, the only sensible thing to
do.
In the brush hills were many squatters — wild
folk, living the primal life, half-clothed, half-starved,
drinking coffee made from roasted barley, eating
what they could shoot, and not unfrequently what
they could steal. A friend of ours, a foreigner, a
man of breeding and culture, went to live amongst
8
114 Life and Sport on the Pacific Slope
them. One day, I asked him the why and the
wherefore of it. “I will tell you,” said he, very
gravely. “I have lived, as you know, in ze capi-
tals of ze vorld. And I came to ze conclusion zat
society was a big monkey-house, and zat all ze
monkeys were trying to pull each ozer’s tails. But
I will tell you—entre nows—ze monkeys in ze
backwoods of California are worse, far worse, zan
ze monkeys in society!”
Some of the men, however (they are generically
known as “Pikers,” because many of them came
originally from Pike County, Missouri), if found
lacking in the “small, sweet courtesies of life,”
have, none the less, some interesting attributes. I
knew one capital fellow who in happier circum-
stances would have become a naturalist of note.
He was what is called “a market hunter;” and
none was more familiar than he with the habits
and habitat of game. He seemed to know by
instinct where the big trout might be found, and
could catch them with his hands; he was the
finest stalker I have ever met; he used to come
striding into town with dozens of quail, when
other market hunters would tell you that there
were no birds in the country; he could always |
predict the coming of the snipe and wild duck,
of which he shot thousands.annually; and he
was, in his youth, as strong and as handsome as
Hercules. Another man was an ornithologist, a
daring fowler and scaler of cliffs. He performed
the almost impossible feat of robbing a condor’s
eyrie. These birds are larger than the South
American condor, with a spread of wing exceeding
Ranch Life 115
ten feet, and a beak powerful enough to crack the
shank bone of a sheep. Our friend captured a
young condor and nourished it successfully for
some weeks. Then he asked us to arrange with
the Zoological Society for its purchase and ship-
ment, but, unfortunately, before we could do so
the bird died. These rapacide are only to be
found, I believe, in the County of San Luis Obispo,
and in the mountains that le near'the seaboard in
California Baja. Another Missourian, a cousin of
the last, was also a market hunter and a naturalist.
He had made a special study of wild bees, the bees
that hive in holes in the steep sandstone cliffs and
those also who hive in rotten trees. From the sale
of the honey taken from them, from the sale of game
and venison (the latter swb rosa) and fish, both sea-
fish and trout, this son of Arcadia supported him-
self, his wife, two brothers, his wife’s mother, and
a large family of children! He often told me that
he could not work, using the word work in its
Western significance; yet, in his own calling, he
laboured more assiduously and to better purpose
than two ordinary hired men.
I have not entered into a detailed account of our
ranch duties, because these will be treated in the
appendix.
Of our amusements something may be said. At
one time we played polo, and I believe I am en-
titled to the credit of introducing the game to the
Pacific Slope. We used to play regularly in ’83,
and I should be very interested to know if the
game was played West of the Rocky Mountains
116 Life and Sport on the Pacific Slope
at an earlier date. The vaqueros delighted in it,
and proved amazing players, although it was im-
possible to teach them team play. Each played
for his own hand, and each rode as if he had a
dozen lives. I can remember one memorable game
when four of us Englishmen played against four
vaqueros. Half the county witnessed the match,
and the excitement was tremendous: the women
standing up in the spring waggons and shouting,
and the men betting and cursing. The umpire had
a sorry time of it, for our opponents broke every
rule, written or unwritten. The game was drawn:
each side winning two goals. We should have won
hands down had our antagonists ridden ponies like
ours under standard size. But we had conceded to
them the odds of riding what horses they pleased,
and as many as they pleased. So they outgalloped
us from first to last. But it was a glorious match!
Every man who played was more or less hurt; but
no bones were broken, and no money changed
hands. Some people imagined that we made the
game a draw on purpose. I, as captain, can testify
that we played to win, and were within an ace of
losing.
We had plenty of fun apart from polo, breaking
our ponies and training them to jump. And we
practised throwing the lariat, although we never
became skilful with it. There were no race-
meetings in our county till the County Fairs were
organised; but one man would match his horse
against another’s, and these matches would gener-
ally take place upon the Pizmo sands, a magnificent
race-course fifteen miles long and fifty yards wide.
Ranch Life 117
Here also were held the clambakes and barbecues:
Homeric feasts whereat the meat was hung upon
long willow spits, roasted over glowing wood-coals,
and eaten with a sauce cunningly compounded of
tomatoes, onions, and chiles. These delightful en-
tertainments were given and attended by Span-
ish people for the most part. The fair sefioritas
would bring their guitars, and sing those pathetic
love lilts which have a charm so distinctive and
peculiar and ephemeral, for they are passing with
the people who sang them, and will soon be utterly
forgotten. After the barbecue, the men would
smoke, and often take a nap, and then would
follow some feats of horsemanship. A race be-
tween a caballero and a man afoot to a post twenty-
five yards distant, and back, was always well worth
watching. As a rule the man beat the horse on
account of the difficulty in turning.
Some of the country dances were amusing. Jack
always took his Jill to these functions, and certain
unwritten laws were rigorously observed. It was
not considered good form to take your partner out-
side the ballroom. After the dance, you led her to
a seat, and, bowing, deserted her. One English-
man, at his first village dance, got himself into
what might have proved a serious scrape. He
had no Jill of his own, and being introduced toa
pretty one belonging to somebody else, made him-
self agreeable. The girl danced with him, and was
then taken for a short stroll outside beneath those
stars which seem to shine more brightly in Cali-
fornia than anywhere else — particularly when you
are young. I must not presume to say what passed
118 Life and Sport on the Pacific Slope
between the pair, but I am sure nothing of more
importance than a few idle compliments, for the
maid was very pretty, and she danced like a sylph,
and the man—JI knew him well—could turn a
phrase. When they returned to the dancing hall, a
waltz had begun, and Jack now appearing to claim
it, little Jill was easily constrained to give it to
the other. My friend told me afterwards that he
marked a ring upon her forefinger, a gold ring with
a diamond set in the middle of it, and he was rather
surprised when she refused to leave the heated
room after the waltz was over. She blushed too
when he begged her to go to supper with him, and
said, without assigning any reason, that that was
quite impossible. The Englishman, unconscious of
giving offence, sat down and entertained his part-
ner to the best of his ability. Suddenly, a young
farmer strode across the room, and, standing in
front of the maid, said in an angry voice: “Give
me my ring.”
“ But —” protested the maid.
“Give me my ring.”
As she was pulling it from her finger, the English-
man understood. He had been annexing some-
body’s best girl! So he rose up, and grasping the
youth’s arm led him to the door and into the road,
where apologies and explanations were offered and
accepted.
These dances always began with a Grand March,
a very solemn and silent function, a parade of Jacks
and Jills walking arm in arm to the sound of
appropriate music. During the quadrilles the steps
were called by a Master of Ceremonies, the language
Ranch Life 119
used being for the most part French, although I did
not find this out for a long time. We, being Eng-
lishmen, made a sad mess of these steps — which
were often peculiar and complex; but the word
“Swing Partners,” never failed to adjust our diffi-
culties and blunders. I can well remember one
dance in a small village at which this command
was given so often that I ventured to ask my
partner if, in her opinion, the Master of Ceremonies
knew what he was doing. “He’s rattled,” she
replied glibly. “Whenever he forgets, he says,
‘Swing Partners, and while we’re a swingin’ he
thinks over what comes next. I think ‘Swing
Partners’ more interesting than ‘ Sachez, or ‘ ala
main left, — don’t you?”
Now in those days “ Sachez” and ‘a la main
left” were manceuvres executed with great dignity
and grace; you accorded your partner nothing
more than the tips of your fingers in the latter,
whereas in the former you advanced and retreated
upon the tips of your toes. But at “Swing Part-
ners,” you grasped the young lady firmly round the
waist, and were not rebuked too severely if her
feet, in the abandon of the pirouette, swung clear
of the ground altogether. Such freedom would be
eyed askance in the large towns, but I am talking
of the hamlets of Southern California — long ago.
Accordingly, I assured my partner that in my
opinion “ Swing Partners” was — interesting.
When you are introduced to a young lady in the
country, she will probably repeat your name. Mr.
Robinson begs to present Mr. Jones to Miss Smith.
Mr. Jones murmurs “ Miss Smith ;” and Miss Smith
120 Life and Sport on the Pacific Slope
murmurs “Mr. Jones.” If Mr. Jones be English,
she is sure to add: “From London, I presume.”
This always annoys an Englishman of the upper
and upper-middle classes, because he does not wish
to be taken for a cockney. I can recall meeting
two ladies who were not from the country, but
essentially town-bred. They too “ presumed” that
I was from London. I said, “ No.”
“Perhaps,” said the younger of the two, “you
have been in London?” and on my admitting as
much, she continued: “And perhaps you have
met a friend of ours, Mr. Simpkins ?”
I regretted that I had not the pleasure of Mr.
Simpkins’ acquaintance, but the lady was not satis-
fied. “Hngland”—I make no doubt that her
thoughts ran in this strain— “is a small country.
These men must have met some time and some-
where.” Accordingly she smiled and murmured:
“He has curly hair and he was connected with a
large firm, yes, a very responsible firm — the jewel-
lery line. Are you sure you have never met
him ?”
“ Never,” said I.
“ He had a jealous wife,” she insisted; “and his
hair was beautiful: black and curly — was n’t it,
Sadie 2?”
“He was an elegant gentleman,’ assented Miss
Sadie; “and his wife was — terribly jealous.”
I hinted that curly hair and moral rectitude did
not always, so to speak, trot in the same class. I
have no doubt that Mrs. Simpkins was not jealous
without reason.
In ’86 the rise in the value of land, with increased
Ranch Life 121
taxation and a fall in the price of cattle, turned
many rancheros into farmers. The big Spanish
grants were cut up and sold in small tracts to
Eastern and mid-Western buyers. These men
fenced their farms with barbed wire, built ram-
shackle board-and-batten houses and barns, and
talked glibly of cmprovements. Across the fair face
of the Southern Californian landscape was inscribed
the grim word—Ichabod. In an incredibly short
time, the superb trees — the live oaks, white
oaks, madrones, sycamores, and cotton-woods — were
chopped down. A spirit of utilitarianism was
abroad, smiting hip and thigh, sparing nothing,
not even the ancient mission of San Luis Obispo.
It stands to-day smugly respectable in a cheap
modern overcoat of concrete and paint. The pic-
turesque tiles have been thrown to the void; the
pillars and arches have been pulled down; and the
padres’ garden — a cool sequestered pleasance, fra-
grant with herbs whose very names and uses are
forgotten — has been subdivided into town lots!
Once, upon the steps of the church, I met an old
Spanish woman, whose withered face was framed
in a soft black shawl, most becomingly draped.
She chattered of the pleasant yesterdays, and I
asked idly if she approved the changes that had
been wrought in the ancient building.
“My American friends,” she answered in her own
tongue, “tell me to wear a jacket with big sleeves,
and to buy a bonnet, but, sefior, this shawl suits me
best. And the Mission was getting like me —ugly
and wrinkled; but I wish they had left it — its old
shawl.”
122 Life and Sport on the Pacific Slope
My brother and I sold our cattle, and began to
sow wheat in our valleys and on our hills. Some
of the neighbours planted out large orchards and
vineyards; others opened stores. Churches and
school-houses were built. Everywhere, even in the
brush hills, was heard the buzz of the big threshing
machines, the skirl of the circular saws, the clang
of the hammer on the anvil; all the sounds, in fine,
of what is called Prosperity.
The tiny hamlet that lay upon the outskirts of
our ranch became a bustling village. My brother
and I rubbed our eyes, just as Rip Van Winkle
rubbed his when he returned to the town that he
had known as Sleepy Hollow. But if the dust was
still in our eyes, we were soon sensible that those
around us were wide awake. The change from past
to present was as the contrast between Jacob and
Esau. The vaquero, rough, honest, brave, and
chivalrous, had galloped away to other pastures ;
in his place stood the farmer, the smooth-talker,
the man of guile, cunning, and crafty. Gone too
were the long days in the saddle, gone with the
quail and the wild ducks, and the deer and the
antelope. Our ploughshares were bright, but our
guns rusted in their cases.
On a wheat ranch, the work begins before cock-
crow, and it ends when you fling yourself, spent
and aching, upon your bed. For in a new country
leisure is seldom found on a farm. There is so
much that clamours for adjustment and readjust-
ment: trees must be felled and split up into posts ;
post-holes must be dug (two feet deep) ; wire must be
stretched ; stumps must be taken out; brush must
Ranch Life 123
be burned off; and so forth —ad infinitum. And
above us hung the impending sword of uncertainty.
Our county had not then passed the experimental
stage. Speaking personally, I was always conscious
that no matter how hard we worked, that the har-
vest would be reaped by others: that they would
profit by our mistakes.
Of the many mistakes that we made, it is pain-
ful but expedient to speak. We planted vineyards
and were compelled to plough them up when they
came into bearing, because we had chosen varieties
ill-adapted to our particular soil; we (I speak now
of my brother and myself) planted orchards of
prunes and apricots and apples and pears; and
they came to nought because we lacked the special
knowledge that is now the inheritance of the
Western horticulturist; we tried to breed fine
fowls, prize pigs, fast trotters, and we failed, not
because we lacked intelligence or energy or pa-
tience, but because we didn’t know how, as a child
would say.
And we attempted to do too much, as our neigh-
bours did. To use a homely expression, salted and
peppered to suit the Western palate: “ We bit off
more ’n we could chew.”
Upon the ordinary ranch, of course, mixed farm-
ing has become a necessity. In early days, you
seldom found milk or cream upon the tables of the
big rancheros. The wheat farmer bought his vege-
tables, his hams and bacon, his eggs, his fruit, his
Thanksgiving turkey,—everything that was con-
sumed in his house. This policy was justified then
by the price of wheat; it can be justified no longer.
124 Life and Sport on the Pacific Slope
The petty farmer, who to-day buys anything at
the local store except tea and coffee and sugar and
clothes, is either a fool or a spendthrift.
It is so easy to have a “home” on the Pacific
Slope: roses bloom perpetually ; all fruits and vege-
tables grow in profusion and perfection; the dairy,
the poultry yard, and the hog pen should keep
the table abundantly supplied. What ruined the
farmers in the hard times was not drought, nor
low prices, nor bank failures, but big store bills
and big mortgages. If the farmer and his wife
and his sons and daughters had been content to
wear canvas and fustian, to eat only what was
raised on the ranch, to work together — the hus-
band and his sons behind the plough and harrow,
the mother and daughters in the dairy and poultry
yards —they would have weathered the storm.
Instead of this, they kept up appearances. The
ranch was mortgaged and crop-mortgaged, and every
acre sown to wheat: a dishonest speculation, which
proved disastrous also.
I have known some happy farmers —a few. If
you wish the soil to bless you, you must wrestle
with it, as Jacob wrestled with the angel. And
the fight must be— without gloves and to the
finish. Kid-glove farmers are the most unhappy
of all. And the soil will stain your hands and
roughen them; and the hard toil will warp your
mind as it will bend your back. Great loss is
involved; and the gain may not be easily com-
puted. And yet despite an experience which has
been unfortunate, I firmly believe that life in the
open air, beneath the genial skies of the Pacific
Ranch Life 26
Slope, upon a rich and generous soil, ought to be
a life worth living.
“ The secret lore of rural things,
The moral of each fleeting cloud and gale,
The whispers from above that haunt the twilight vale.”
These to me have inexpressible charm, a charm the
greater perhaps because they may not be lightly
apprehended. To the farmer whose heart is in his
work, there may, there must come many trials and
disappointments, for he is the plaything of the
elements, the victim of laws that he cannot con-
trol; but there will come also, in the fulness of
time, the harvest, the golden sheaves that a man
can take with him when he dies. To the farmer
in the West whose heart is not in his work, I can
only say that it were better for him if he had
never been born.
For the seamy side is there: rough, encrusted
with frustrated hopes, scored by many harsh lines,
like the faces of the women who work too hard.
Always you are haunted by the sullen spectre of
a dry year, the dry year that comes, it is true,
only once in twenty years, and leaves when it
does come the hearts of the farmers as colourless
and arid as the brown, bleak hills which encom-
pass them. In some years, too, the rain falls capri-
ciously, bringing plenty and prosperity to one, to
another want and misery. I have stood day after
day watching the green spears of wheat as they
turned sere and yellow, bending at last in abject
supplication for the moisture that came not; and
I have seen, how often! the blight and wire worms
126 Life and Sport on the Pacific Slope
ravaging a landscape, making it leprous and un-
clean. On the orchards and vineyards fall frosts
and scale, transmuting the silvery buds into charred
cinders, blackening the green- shoots and tender
leaves till the trees would seem to be draped in
crape, mourning for their dead blossoms.
And here, in this land of sunshine, as elsewhere,
disease spares not, and if you are living far from
town and doctor, you must wait in torment for the
help that is so long in coming. Your child, your
wife, is dying perhaps, and you sit beside what is
dearest to you in all the world, straining your ears
to catch the sound of the galloping horse that may
bring life or find death.
I have already spoken of the sense of isolation.
If you have led the gentle life, if you have depended
largely upon others, if your nature craves the fric-
tion of human intercourse, if fine music, beautiful
pictures, the playhouse, the cathedral, have become
to you not superfluities but necessities, then ranch
life will surely be hateful and unprofitable.
The domestic difficulties drive some housewives
distracted. Ona ranch it is hard to keep servants,
even if you are rich enough to pay them well for
their services. Sometimes, for many weeks, a mis-
tress is compelled to do her own cooking; she can-
not buy what she wants from the village stores ; the
meat is tough and poor in quality; the groceries
are adulterated. These things are not trifles.
What affected us more than anything else was
the consciousness that we were living in a cwl-de-
sac. Happily, my brothers and I had so much in
Ranch Life 127
common that we were more or less independent of
others. Yet this very fact contracted our sympa-
thies ; our circle, instead of widening, grew smaller
and smaller till it contained nothing but ourselves.
When we stepped out of it, 1 remember, we were
always amazed to find out how unconsciously we
had lost touch with civilisation. Great affairs that
were interesting the world that thinks and reads
excited in us but a tepid interest; we were queerly
sensible that nothing mattered very much except
the price of cattle, and the amount of feed in the
pastures, — all the rest was leather and prunella.
I have been tempted to dwell only upon memo-
ries that grow brighter and more fragrant as the
years roll by. How often, after a hot summer’s
day, I have watched the brown foothills, as the
purple shadows were stealing across them. It is
then that the breeze from the ocean stirs the tremu-
lous leaves of the cotton-woods; it is then that the
cattle wind slowly across their pastures, leaving
the cafions and gulches where they have lain dur-
ing the sultry hours; it is then that a golden haze
envelops all things: a glamour as of the world
unseen, a mirage so fair to the eye, so cunningly
interwoven with fact and fancy, that the realities
of life, no matter what they may be, seem to melt
away into the gathering shadows.
And after the sun has set, the air is filled with
enchanting odours, — the odours of a land that the
Lord has blessed, the scent of herbs innumerable,
the balmy fragrance of the pines, the perfume of
the wild flowers, a pot-pourri of essences distilled
by night alone.
128 Life and Sport on the Pacific Slope
These are dear to the sons and daughters of the
West: the promise, so to speak, of better and hap-
pier days, when life on the Pacific Slope will be
purged of what is mean and sordid, purged and
purified.
This is the dream of those who love the West.
Is it only a dream, a vision of Utopia? It would
seem that only cities please a generation not con-
tent with rural joys. Worldly wisdom, what
Maurus Jokai calls our evil angel, tells a young
man that he can never make a fortune on a ranch,
which is true. It is also true that the same young
man, nine times out of ten, will make no more
than a bare living in the town, but this knowledge
is withheld from him. Only the very few have
the money-making capacity; only the very few
can come to their full stature in the over-crowded
streets of a big town; the many die in middle
age, worn out and weary, sick in mind and body,
paupers in all that constitutes true wealth. At
the mines, on the cattle ranges, in the orchards
and vineyards, on the farms, these same men,
working as hard and patiently, would preserve
their health, achieve independence, and learn at
length the lessons that only Nature can impart,
the lessons which teach a man not only how to live.
but how to die.
BUSINESS LIFE
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BUSINESS LIFE
OME years ago, an article appeared in the “Cos-
mopolitan Review,” entitled: “The Young
Man in Business.” It was written by the editor
of the “Home Journal,” Mr. Edward Bok. None
reading the article carefully could fail to mark two
qualities in it: the sincerity of the writer, and his
cock-a-whoop faith in his creed. Mr. Bok, I be-
lieve, came to America as a boy with no credentials
save those that are inscribed upon an honest face,
with no capital save health, strength, and common-
sense. To-day he is a rich man, widely known and
respected. Some people laugh at Mr. Bok because
he caters and caters successfully to a certain class
of readers. Perhaps he is, in a sense, the William
Whitely of journalism, the Universal Provider.
You may be sure that Mr. Bok never laughs at
himself —he hasn’t time. Life to him is a syno-
nym of effort. Watch Sandow when he is putting
up his three hundred pound bell; you will mark
a frown upon his face. Singers are trained to
smile sweetly when warbling; did you ever see a
tenor smile when he was standing on tip-toe at-
tacking the high “C”? Never. In fine, effort
warps and twists the face, as it warps and twists
the body. This was abundantly set forth between
the lines of Mr. Bok’s paper. The writer spoke
132 Life and Sport on the Pacific Slope
convincingly of the fierce competition that rages
around all trades, all arts, all sciences. He made
it plain that to succeed —as he interprets success
—you must not only work hard, you must work
harder than anyone else. Whatever pace be set,
do you set a faster. If your competitor works ten
hours a day, do you work twelve. You must read
the books, and those alone, that have a direct bear-
ing on your work; you must talk to the people, and
to them alone, who can push your fortunes; you
must eat and drink and make merry, bearing in
mind the penalties that wait on excess; you must
beware of the club, the theatre, the campus, because
these will extinguish the sacred fires of energy. I
am not quoting Mr. Bok verbatim, but in sum and
substance that is what he said. Reading the arti-
cle, I was sensible that nothing short of this eternal
manifestation of energy, this perfervidum ingenium
which seems to be the peculiar heritage of the
Scandinavian, would prevail. The mere recital of
what ought to be done made. my bones ache.
Since, I have never thought of Mr. Bok without
thinking also of the fable of the two frogs. The
frogs, you will remember, fell into a bucket of cream.
One of them, conscious of weakness, knowing that
night was coming on, that he could not scale the
slippery sides of the bucket, that it would be hope-
less to try to keep afloat till morning, incontinently
drowned. The other struggled and struggled, and
was found next morning by the milkmaid alive
and well — upon a pat of butter! We are not told
any more; but you may be sure that the hero sang
the song of the churning to all the frogs in Frog-
“LSVa ONIMOOT *“LAAMLS LANYVIN
Business Life 123
land, and became a great and shining example to
his race for all time.
Now Mr. Bok’s paper —as has been said — laid
stress upon the comparative value of effort, but he
laid still greater stress upon the superlative value
of concentrated effort. According to him, it is ne-
cessary to place all your eggs in one basket — and
to watch that basket.
Unhappily, this advice does not commend itself
to the Native Son of the Golden West. He likes
to place his eggs in many baskets; and then he
sets himself the task — thereby wearing himself
to skin and bone — of trying to be in two places
at one and the same time, — like Sir Boyle Roche’s
bird. If you had access to the ledgers of the men
who have become bankrupts in the last decade,
you would find, under Profit and Loss, that the
profits made in the bankrupts’ regular business had
been squandered and lost in half a dozen or more
wild-cat enterprises. They will generally plead in
extenuation that they have had bad luck; which
reminds one of the story of the man who murdered
his father and mother, and then invoked the mercy
of the Court upon the ground that he was an
orphan.
In a certain town I know there is a sign, upon
which is inscribed the following legend : —
“ HOME-MADE BREAD: JOB PRINTING:
RUBBER STAMPS.”
Bread, of course, demands in the making clean
hands; job printing is more defiling than pitch.
One person was baker, printer, and rubber stamp
134 Life and Sport on the Pacific Slope
manufacturer. I ordered a rubber stamp, and
arranged to call for it at a certain hour. It was
not ready at the stipulated time, because — so said
the baker —the dough had been troublesome that
morning. When I called again later, the stamp
was still unfinished, because —so said the printer
— some job work had been promised by noon, and as
the dough had not risen properly, the type-setting
had been necessarily postponed. It was a case of
Stick won’t beat Dog; Dog won’t bite Pig; &c.
This robbing of Peter to pay Paul is the particu-
lar sin of most Western business men; it clogs the
wheels of progress; it palsies prosperity; it keeps
capital seeking investment in the vaults of the
banks. In hard times it spells stagnation. After the
collapse of the land boom, I heard many a man say:
“JT have to pay what I owe, but nobody pays my
bills receivable.” (A curious perversion of fact.
No money changed hands at all. In the county
where I was living at that time, we went back to
the primitive methods of bargain and barter.)
This state of affairs is profoundly immoral. It
obscures all distinctions between meum and tuum ;
it makes honest men thieves against their will.
Amongst a people who venerate evolution, and
regard the word as a fetich, who inscribe upon their
coins E Piuripus UNvM, this policy, if persisted
in, will surely achieve degeneration and disinte-
gration.
That I am speaking within my brief, none will
dispute who is familiar with the history of Banking
in the West. We have, it is true, Bank Commis-
sioners, who are paid by the people good salaries to
Business Life 135
perform certain duties, involving a periodical ex-
amination of the business done by the banks, a
report upon their financial condition, and, if this
be deemed unsatisfactory, certain powers plenipo-
tentiary in regard to a change of management, or,
in extreme cases, the suspension of payments. The
laws upon this subject could hardly be bettered ;
the administration of them has become a farce.
The Commissioners are often ill-chosen; their work
is too hastily done; they consider the feelings of
the Board of Directors, whom they know personally,
rather than the depositors ; and consciously or sub-
consciously they conceal rather than reveal fraud.
I used the word subconsciously advisedly. There is
a sentiment in the West, underlying all conduct,
which the Native Son fondly calls tolerance: a
sentiment which wilfully blinds itself to things as
they are, and prattles sweetly of things as they
ought to be. In a country where the unforeseen
nearly always happens, the Bank Commissioners
doubtless justify themselves by predicting good
whenever they are confronted by evil. Spero
infestis should be taken as their motto. It is
obvious that these gentlemen should be compelled
to do their duty, or their office abolished. At pres-
ent, they are a menace to the community, who, for
the most part, have faith in them —a faith sorely
tried of late. I know of cases when unhappy per-
sons allowed all they possessed in the world to
remain in the keeping of those whom the Bank
Commissioners publicly proclaimed to be solvent
and trustworthy, and who were proved shortly
afterwards to be neither the one nor the other.
136 Life and Sport on the Pacific Slope
An anecdote illustrates the point of view of the
Bank Commissioner. I can vouch for the truth of
it. A man was indicted by the Grand Jury for
embezzlement. At the trial it was abundantly
shown that he had misappropriated money held in
trust by him. But the verdict of the jury was Not
Guilty. A friend of mine remonstrated with the
foreman. “Oh, yes,” said that gentleman, “he took
the money sure enough, but, you see, the poor devil
did n’t take much.”
Let us return to the Banks. Nearly all the wise
men of the West are bankers, or connected with
banks, because it is (or was) obvious to them that
it is safer to play with other folks’ money than
with your own. It seemed to these gentlemen,
who possessed all the qualities necessary to suc-
cess save second sight, that land had a certain
definite value, a value easily to be determined by
the experts in their employ. As a matter of fact,
land, like any other commodity, is worth what it
will fetch, neither more nor less. Accordingly, in
defiance of the principles of banking, large sums
were loaned upon real estate, sums tied up for a
term of years. During the great boom, hardly a
bank in the West refused money to its regular
customers when the security of a first mortgage
was offered in exchange, and so it came to pass
that when the boom collapsed, when bad _ prices
and dry years confronted the mortgagors, when
principal and interest became overdue and delin-
quent, hundreds of thousands of acres fell into
the hands of the banks, who were in consequence
forced to either sell them or farm them, both
Business Life tan
the sale and culture of land being lines of busi-
ness which they were ill-qualified to undertake.
The land in most cases came under the ham-
mer, and was knocked down to the highest bidder
at a price equivalent to perhaps one fourth of
what the mortgagor had paid for it. This up-
heaval of land values paralysed the best brains
and energies in the West. Even those who had
paid in full for their land, and owed no man any-
thing, were terror-struck. An Englishman sud-
denly told that the bag of sovereigns he had
slowly collected during a life of labour and self-
denial was nothing more than a bag of crown
pieces would present an analogous case; and it does
not require a vivid imagination to conceive what
his feelings would be.. It is perfectly true that
the fictitious value of most of the lands west of
the Rocky Mountains was steadily maintained by
those who were unable or unwilling to sell their
properties, but none the less it was in the air that
we were not upon terra firma at all, but encamped
on shifting sands.
“Honour” amongst business men is a delicate
question to discuss, but one germane to this chap-
ter. If you talk to capitalists in any of the
European cities, they will be certain to impugn
the Western sense of honour. These gentlemen
draw odorous comparisons between their methods
and ours. Judged by their standard, we fall short,
— that is certain ; because in an old country it pays
to be honest, whereas in a new country the Lord
would seem to only help those who help them-
138 Life and Sport on the Pacific Slope
selves freely from other folks’ piles. The Chosen
People are a concrete example of this, for they
pilfer and prosper after a fashion quite impossible
overseas. But I imagine that an impartial judge
would pronounce the difference, ethically consid-
ered, to be one ’twixt Tweedledum and Tweedledee.
We have no “guinea-pig”’ system in the West; we
are not hypocrites; we don’t take very much (com-
pared with others); and what we do take is always
published in the newspapers. If you read the
“Times” diligently, you will come to the conclu-
sion that a rich man can do no wrong; a Western
editor will prove to you conclusively that a rich
man can do no right. In “Aurora Leigh,” Mrs.
Barrett Browning speaks of those who sit in easy
chairs and damn the rows that stand. The Eng-
lishman, snug in his easy chair, is given to cheap
condemnation of those who stand, and that is why
he is so beloved by the nations. When you have
nearly all that the Gods can give, it is not difficult
to be virtuous — as Becky Sharp observed.
Of the many in business upon the Pacific Slope
who are honest we hear nothing, which reminds
me of a story. At the time of the last Presiden-
tial election, when the claims of Free Silver were
being generally exploited, the following was over-
heard: “Where are the Gold men?” demanded a
Popocrat, a street orator, who was holding forth to
a crowd in sympathy with his dogmas, “ where
are they? I don’t see them. I don’t hear them.
Where are they?” After a pause a deep voice
answered: “I’ll tell you where they are, they ‘re —
at work.”
Business Life 139
The live-and-let-live philosophy of the West is
slowly changing its skin. Adversity has taught
us to check our accounts. Not so very long ago
a store-keeper found, after an annual stock-taking,
that a saddle was missing. He instructed his
book-keeper to charge all the customers who were
cattle-men with one saddle. “Those,” he argued,
“who have not bought a new saddle will protest.”
The book-keeper obeyed instructions, but not a
single bill was protested. Such laxity is no longer
the rule, but the exception.
In all big businesses, in the offices of the trans-
portation companies, in the saloons and _ restau-
rants, in the hotels and places of entertainment,
you will observe automatic tills that register the
sums paid, and make peculation upon the part
of employés almost impossible. This ingenious
machine has taught the employed to rely not upon
what they can steal, but on what they can law-
fully earn; as a factor in the ethical development
of the working classes it is justly entitled to men-
tion. Before it was introduced, employers, when
estimating future profits, always deducted a cer-
tain percentage for undiscovered thefts. At one
time I employed a large gang of Chinamen to cut
wood and cord it. They were cunning fellows, and
their tricks were not easily detected. For instance,
they would pile the wood on a side-hill, or around
a stump, or the wood in the centre would be loosely
corded, so that the tale of cords, when I, in my
turn, scid the wood, would be short. . I measured
the wood myself, but, despite my intimate knowl-
edge of their heathen arts, I was regularly robbed.
140 Life and Sport on the Pacific Slope
Finally, I deducted from the money due to them
ten per cent, to cover fraud that had escaped my
eye. They did not object to this tax, and my
cook said that I was “heap smart, same as ’Melican
man.” I commend this policy to all who employ
Chinese wood-choppers.
I went into active business in the year 1890, and
the business — involving the sale and subdivision
of large tracts of land—brought me at once into
contact with many sorts and conditions of men:
bankers, merchants, journalists, politicians, parsons,
lawyers, and of course farmers. Our offices were
open from nine to four to all comers, and anything
that pertained to the development of the county
or state was discussed freely and at length. The
harvest moon of prosperity was just beginning to
wane on the Pacific Slope, but land was still in
good demand, and our correspondence was very
large. Every scheme of importance, every enter-
prise of moment, challenged our interest and atten-
tion. To my father-in-law, the head of the firm,
was entrusted also the management of a street
railway and of a large hotel. An Investment and
Development Company, of which I was secretary,
and the members of a committee formed for the
purchase of a right-of-way for a great railroad
used to meet daily in our private room. I men-
tion these things, that may perhaps be considered
irrelevant, because it will be seen that being identi-
fied with a firm which had done and was still doing
an immense business, I had exceptional opportuni-
ties of studying many phases of business life, and
the characters of business men.
Business Life 141
What impressed me most, I remember, was the
fluid nature of the credit extended by capitalists to
all willing to buy and improve land. Credit alone
opened up the country and developed it. And
credit established also a state of interdependence
between man and man which brought in its train
some curious results. Debtors, sensible that a
golden fetter linked each and all of them to a
common creditor, Capital, grew fearful of offending
that creditor. Many excellent plans devised for
the public weal, and for no other purpose, were
nipped 7 the bud, because men could not be per-
suaded to vote against the will of those to whom
they were indebted. There is no such slavery as
debt. From the debtor’s point of view, the very
cardinal virtues must grovel in the dust before that
false god — Policy. In the name of Policy every
debtor’s knee must bow.
As time passed, men began to chafe beneath their
chains, to fret and fume in secret. Finally, the
freemasonry of misery binding them together, they
began to talk openly of rebellion and repudiation.
Debt bred the Popocrat, the Silverite, the man who
wanted something in exchange for nothing. Debt
set class against class.
Thus it will be seen that credit, percolating every-
where like a river in flood, irrigating the waste
places, making the desert to bloom and blossom,
accomplished great good and great harm. But the
harm is passing away, the good remains. A clever
writer once said that if you wish to change a man’s
character, you must change his point of view. The
point of view of the Native Son has changed en-
142 Life and Sport on the Pacific Slope
tirely during the last decade. Plastic, quick-witted,
eager to excel, with immense recuperative and re-
constructive powers, he is not so reckless as of
yore; he has learned humility; he is beginning to
understand himself — and his limitations. The
heart of the Native Son is in the right place,
but his head has been cocked at a wrong angle.
And you can forgive him much on account of his
youth: he is not that detestable object —an old
sinner.
The business man of the West burns his candle
at both ends. Asa youth, his recuperative power
is immense; as he nears middle age, it dwindles and
flickers till nothing but a spark is left. He never
rests. As soon as breakfast is over, he hurries to
his office and begins work at once; luncheon is
bolted in ten minutes, food not easily digestible
being chosen, then more work. His dinner hour
finds him jaded, in no physical condition to eat and
digest a large meal; yet you will see him consume
half a dozen courses with an appetite sharpened
perhaps by a cocktail or two. After dinner, does
he keep quiet? Not he. The club, the theatre,
or his everlasting work claim him. His busy brain
responds to the stimulus of debate, or emotion, or
greed: it grinds on and on, not even stopping when
he crawls, spent and weary, between the sheets of
his bed.
An inscrutable Providence has given America the
English tongue, a medium of speech unsuited to a
people rather Gallic than Anglo-Saxon in their
quickness of apprehension and power of articula-
tion: that is why Americans talk French so much
Business Life 143
better than we do—and English too for that
matter. But a Volapuk of home manufacture
would be better than either for a nation who has
plenty to say and but little time to say it in. I
remember giving a friend the name of my London
tailor. When I saw my snip some months after, he
thanked me for sending him a good customer, but
he added: “He was a queer gentleman, sir.” I asked
for an explanation. “He was in such a hurry, sir,
that he would n’t try his clothes on.” That reminds
me of another story. I had a large water scheme
to submit to a New York capitalist. He told me
that his time was so filled up it would be impos-
sible to talk over the matter unless I would waive
insular prejudice and discuss business at dinner.
I dined with him, bringing maps and reports, and
three times during that dinner he was disturbed by
men wishing to see him! In apology, he observed
that he was sailing to Europe on the following
Wednesday, and that his engagements were “crowd-
ing” him. “If you are going to England,” said I,
“let us meet at my club in London, and go into this
scheme thoroughly.” He stared at me and laughed.
“Why did you not tell me that before?” he ex-
claimed. “I have always a little leisure over
there.” Then I demanded the name of his steam-
ship. “I am not sure whether I shall sail on the
‘Teutonic’ or ‘St. Louis,” he replied. “As it is
winter I can secure a berth on either at the last
moment, and there is a difference of one hour and
a half in the times of departure. An extra hour
and a half in New York means many dollars to
”»
me.
144 Life and Sport on the Pacific Slope
Truly does the Western poet sing :
“‘T look in vain for traces of the fresh and fair and sweet
In yellow, sunken faces that are drifting through the street ;
Drifting on, drifting on,
To the scrape of restless feet ;
I can sorrow for the owners of the faces in the street.”
It is interesting to contrast two faces often seen
side by side in Western theatres and places of
entertainment: the Anglo-Saxon and the Teuton.
The German, stolid, phlegmatic, round, and rosy,
has worked perhaps as hard as or even harder than
the restless, keen-eyed, sallow-cheeked man at his
side ; but now he is taking it easy. He does not
chatter between the acts to his wife or fiancée; he
absorbs the sights and sounds in front of him with
evident gusto, but he gives nothing back. The
Native Son, on the other hand, is giving rather than
taking, he is entertaining his companion, instead
of allowing the people on the stage todo so. The
German goes to bed to sleep soundly till the mor-
row; the Native Son lies awake for half the night,
pursued by a Comus rout of vagabond thoughts.
Again, ask the German what he reads. You will
be surprised to find that a big fellow whom you
have contemptuously stigmatised as a beer-swiller
has read and assimilated the masterpieces of Goethe,
Schiller, and Heine; he talks intelligently of the
great historians and metaphysicians; he will tell
you of the triumphs achieved by his fellow-country-
men in pathology and therapeutics. But what will
particularly strike you, is the man’s capacity for
absorbing and retaining facts that may prove of
Business Life 145
service to him in his trade or business; his mind
is a storehouse, wherein may be found the food
best adapted to support and prolong life. The
Native Son’s mind, on the other hand, is a show-
room full of “notions,” a heterogeneous collection,
containing much that is quaint and ingenious and
amusing, but little that is useful and enduring.
If the Native Son has any respect for himself
and his race, he must learn to husband his resources,
instead of dissipating them. Systematic reading
of what is best and most inspiring in our literature,
careful attention to exercise and diet, rest and re-
freshment alternating with work and fatigue, would
regenerate the toilers of the West.
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VIII
ANGLO-FRANCO-CALIFORNIANS
HAVE already spoken (figuratively) of a stone
wall which the Anglo-Franco-Californians have
built around themselves. Within that wall may
be found a wonderful and exact presentment of
European life: English men-servants, French cooks
and dresses, décadent pictures, five o’clock tea, eight
o'clock dinner, and what is inseparable from all
these good things —ennwi. And yet a fly lurks
within the ointment of their luxury: the sense
that by the West they are regarded as a joke, an
extravaganza. Within the stone wall is what Dis-
raeli used to call the sustained splendour of a
stately life; without sits Ridicule singing ribald
songs.
Of the many things English to which Americans
have a right to strenuously object, nothing is more
objectionable than the stone wall, whether it be
concrete or abstract. In England it has definite
meaning, a raison Wétre, but even in England it is
an open question whether the stone wall has not
kept out more than it kept in. In the West, the
stone wall is an anachronism, more, an impertinence.
I do not wish to be misunderstood. Life would be
intolerable without a certain amount of privacy
The exclusiveness that keeps an uncongenial neigh-
pour at arm’s length is justifiable on the plea that
150 Life and Sport on the Pacific Slope
his tastes and habits differ from ours. It is not
justifiable on the plea that we are intrinsically
better. The Anglo-Franco-Californians are accused,
perhaps unjustly, of posing as being better than
the people who are not upon their visiting lists.
Only Omniscience can determine so nice a question ;
but if they claim to be better, the onus of proving
it lies on them; when they have done so, it is
probable that the people will cheerfully admit the
supremacy. As Professor Peck pointed out, Colonel
Roosevelt may be considered an aristocrat, because
he has proved himself to be more patriotic, more
unselfish, more courageous — better, in fine, than
the average citizen.
The Anglo-Franco-Californians have what few
possess in the West, —the means and the leisure
to do what they ought to do, the things that worka-
day folks are sadly constrained to leave undone.
Many of them soberly realise their opportunities
and responsibilities. The spirit that impels Dives
to cheerfully loan to exhibitions his pictures, and
china, and plate, the spirit that drives him from his
comfortable library into the Pandemonium of poli-
tics, the spirit that makes him cheerfully endure
the hardships and perils of a campaign, is his good
angel; the spirit, on the other hand, that drives
him to the uttermost parts of the world in search
of what can only please or profit himself is his
demon, no matter how angelically disguised.
American readers will remember a certain fancy-
dress ball given in New York, and the excitement
it created. When an army of the “ unemployed”
was marching to Washington, when times were
Anglo-Franco-Californians 151
troublous all over the country, when it seemed to
thoughtful men that the chain which links labour
to capital was about to break, so fierce was the
strain put upon it, one of the leaders of society
issued invitations to a ball which was to bear the
same relation to ordinary balls as the entertain-
ments of Lucullus bore to the every day dinners
of ancient Rome. As a matter of fact, the cost
of this ball was absurdly exaggerated, but the prin-
ciple is what concerns us. Much ink was spilt in
setting forth the pros and cons of the case. It was
shown that so far from the ball being an injury to
the poor, the benefits accruing to them from the
large sums of money put into active circulation
amongst a score of industries would very measur-
ably relieve a vast deal of distress. And yet the
sentiment on both sides of the Atlantic set dead
against what was termed the elevation of the
Dollar. The Ball was a grievous blunder on the
part of Capital, because lavish display during a
season of want and suffering is and always will be
cruelly inexpedient and inept.
The Anglo-Franco-Californians have both added
to and subtracted from the prejudice against things
“English,” —a prejudice that nothing short of an
awful war waged by the English-speaking peoples
against the rest of the world will be strong enough
to uproot and exterminate. Curiously enough there
is no such prejudice against things French which
are surely not above criticism. I remember a smart
equipage that used to be seen daily at Del Monte
some years ago. A Californian confessed to me
152 Life and Sport on the Pacific Slope
that he did not like it, because it was English. I
explained to him that the whole thing, just as it
stood, — horses, harness, and vehicle,— was not
English at all but Austrian. He eyed me dubiously.
Then he said: “ Well, it looks English any way.”
The American nation borrowed our national air
and set to it words of their own. It is now part
and parcel of Uncle Sam’s dearest possessions, and
many of his children fondly believe that Uncle Sam
composed the music, just as many English peasants
are convinced that the Bible was originally written
in the vernacular. In the same spirit, English
customs that formerly were eyed askance have been
adopted and naturalised.
When the first English drag rolled through the
streets of San Francisco, the street arabs flung
stones at it, regarding it as a symbol of what they
abhorred: the stage-coach, so to speak, of Class Dis-
tinction, whereon the few could be driven through
life, exalted above the many. To-day there are
many drags, and the gutter-snipes cheer as they
roll by, freighted with youth and beauty, not be-
cause their democratic principles have forsaken
them, but because they realise that to them per-
sonally the coach brings pleasure and profit, — the
joy of beholding a perfectly appointed equipage ;
the profit of reflecting that one day they too may
sit in the seats of the mighty.
I can remember when it was hardly prudent to
walk abroad in breeches and leggings. The small
boys, if they refrained from throwing stones, would
pelt you with ironical remarks. “Give that feller
the whole sidewalk —he needs it,” was a favourite
Anglo-Franco-Californians 153
observation ; or, if you wore white polo unmention-
ables, “Say, Mister, ain’t you forgot your pants ?”
Anything, in fine, that differed ever so slightly
from what they, as Californians, were accustomed
to, provoked ridicule and displeasure. Servants in
livery (the livery being regarded as a badge of
servitude), dog-carts, ponies with hogged manes
and bang-tails, knickerbockers, English saddles and
harness, and the like, were absolutely hateful to
them during the ’80’s. To-day, these prejudices
are evaporating. Indeed, the pendulum is swing-
ing far the other way. I remember being asked
to a luncheon given at the Burlingame Country
Club in honour of some distinguished New York-
ers who had acted as judges at the San Francisco
Horse Show. We drove down to the Country Club
upon coaches belonging to members, and I, the
Englishman (the only Englishman, so far as I can
recollect), out of all that large party wore the
ordinary clothes of the American citizen. The
others were attired in the latest sporting fashion.
Nor did their garments provoke criticism from the
foot-passengers. And yet, not half a dozen years
before, curiosity taking me to a revival meeting,
I had been publicly apostrophised by the gentle-
man (white) who conducted the proceedings. It
happened that I had been in the saddle all day,
and was wearing an old check shooting coat and
a pair of well-worn breeches. I seated myself
upon the bench farthest from the preacher, and
was rather astonished to find myself an object
lesson to the assembly. “There sits one,’ ex-
claimed the revivalist, pointing a finger of scorn
154 Life and Sport on the Pacific Slope
at my coat, “who toils not, neither does he spin.
And Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like
unto him.” This was so obvious to the meanest
understanding that the speaker’s assurance seemed
superfluous. I know now that he was protesting
against a costume that, in a sense, distinguishes
the man who rides from the man who walks. The
same spirit inspired another gentleman of humour
and imagination to enroll himself in a hotel register
as “John Jones, and valise,’ merely because the
last entry immediately above his ran: “Thomas
Smith —and valet.”
I mentioned just now the Burlingame Country
Club. The history of that club has, I think,
peculiar interest, because it is the epitome, the
substantial sum and substance of what the Anglo-
Franco-Californians have accomplished in a single
decade. In its way it is unique, because it does
encompass and manifest so much that is good in
contemporary French, English, and American life.
Such as it is, moreover, it must be seriously
reckoned with as a factor in the development of
the Pacific Slope. It has passed the experimental
stage; it stands upon a firm social and financial
basis; it has withstood ridicule, envy, and internal
dissension. The word club will mislead English
readers, for the Burlingame is not, as Hurlingham
or Ranelagh, a mere place of amusement, but a
colony where people live—some of them all the
year round —a colony of persons who have tacitly
agreed to obtain, regardless of cost, the comforts of
life, and to rigorously exclude the mean, the sordid,
and the common. Burlingame is a model village
Anglo-Franco-Californians res
of the rich. Nature has done much for the place;
art has done more. It lies upon the park-like foot-
hills that slope gently to the Bay of San Francisco.
In the wooded cafions and gulches may be found
the “cottages” of the members, houses built for
the most part for comfort rather than show; houses
with broad and deep verandahs, with large living
rooms, with cosy corners. Within, you will mark
no silken and velvet hangings, but the freshest of
chintzes, the most exquisite linen, that simplicity,
in short, which is so delightful and so costly.
Here the women wear the plainest clothes, while
the male gladly lays aside his cut-throat collar
and assumes instead the soft and becoming stock.
But stock and skirt must be cut by an artist. The
hypercritic at Burlingame might complain that art
had just failed to conceal art. The négligé is too
studied. But the whole is amazing. You have
polo, tennis, golf, pigeon shooting, bathing, boating,
and a score of minor amusements to distract your
leisure. You can hire from the club stables a
well-appointed four-in-hand, a tandem, even an
Irish jaunting car, at a price considerably less
than you would pay in London. You have all
the advantages of country life in France or Eng-
land. | 40,292,194 19 | 52,340,237 14 | 66,297,031 54
Loans on real estate . hid 116,794,723 21 | 111,283,35018 | 107,104,395 41
L ks, bonds, and
eect oy PERS Ae 18,458,983 18 | 19,041,115 21 | 20,631,893 72
Loans on other securities . : 4,449,314 29 7,295,105 59 7,298,780 31
Loans on personal security 51,109,071 30 57,815,271 76 60,326,997 84
Money onhand . . 24,001,393 01 31,242,296 76 | 31,968,016 03
Due from banks and bankers 21,875,832 36 23,451,148 01 34,312,678 36
Other assets . 1. . . . 3,128,399 17 3,724,645 74 5,307,639 11
Totals . . . . . . |$302,415,455 62 | $330,892,531 58 | $358,446,968 02
LIABILITIEs.
Capital paid up $52,224,381 85 | $50,870,258 21 | $46,801,318 62
qink eels and Profit 1] 97,549,123 39 | 28,296,58414 | 29,128,504 78
Due depositors. . - - - 206,481,600 45 | 232,709,284 16 | 256,864,395 47
gjecny sl ean and Saas rt 100,545 71 177,718 29 491,478 95
Due banks and bankers. 9,292,573 04 12,380,739 94 14,044,910 68
Other liabilities . ... 6,767,231 18 6,457,946 84 11,121,359 52
Totals . . . . . . | $02,415,455 62 | $330,892,531 58 | $358,446,968 02
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II
HORTICULTURE
HE first questions for the would-be horticulturist to
determine are: industry and locality. In Cali-
fornia he has the choice of hill or valley, of the seaboard
or the interior, of climates which include the snows of
Shasta in the north, and in the south the everlasting sun-
shine of San Diego. Of the many industries which
challenge attention, it is sufficient to name the prune, the
apricot, the peach, the olive, the apple and pear, and the
citrus fruits : the lemon and orange.
The settler of course wants as much as he can get for
his money ; and I take for granted that he has, or will
have, a wife and family. It behoves him, therefore, to
consider not soil and climate alone, but those advantages,
social, educational, and religious, lacking which life in a
new country may prove not worth the living. A man of
small means cannot afford to make mistakes ; he has no
capital to squander in costly experiments ; and it is cer-
tain that he will make mistakes, that he will lose both
time and money, unless he is prepared to profit by the
experience and advice of others. On this account alone
it is absolutely necessary to select a locality where the
industry adopted has passed the experimental stage.
Most young Englishmen, particularly those of the upper
and upper-middle class, make their homes in places where
Ishmael would starve. They try to combine two things
which have no affinity for each other, viz., sport and
money-making. Accordingly, they buy cheap land far
Appendices 361
from civilisation, and discover too late that a little rough
shooting is but a sorry equivalent for poverty, isolation,
and wasted endeavours.
In horticulture the best soil, the best climate, the best
advice are none too good for the man whose future happi-
ness and prosperity are at stake. And so, if prune-grow-
ing be the industry chosen, I would urge the settler to
buy land in Santa Clara county in preference to other
counties, not because the prune will not thrive elsewhere,
but because the prune output of this county is nearly
three times greater than the entire product of the rest of
America, and has a larger income from its fruit than any
other county in the world. In like manner, the man
who proposes to devote his energies and capital to the
cultivation of oranges and lemons would be justified, in
my opinion, in going south, to Orange, Riverside, Los
Angeles, or San Bernardino counties, instead of north to
Oroville ; not because the Oroville oranges are in any
respect inferior to those grown in the south, but because
the south is par excellence the citrus fruit belt of the
world. And let it be remembered that land (even in the
heart of Santa Clara county) varies immensely: you will
find thin, gravelly, unproductive soil side by side of the
richest alluvial deposits.
The settler will ask — How can I, a stranger, tell the
good from the bad? The answer is obvious, and lies on
the tip of a thousand tongues. In a thickly settled com-
munity scores of persons may be found who will tell you
the history of the piece of land in question. Find out what
crops grew thereon, who owned it in the past, the nature
of the subsoil, the depth to water, and so forth. It is
inexpedient to accept blindly the testimony of one wit-
ness as to the merit or demerit of any piece of land, parti-
cularly if that witness be owner or agent ; but Truth may
be found, if you seek for her diligently.
362 Appendices
Cheap land is nearly always poor land. And it will
pay the horticulturist to give more than its value for the
good rather than Jess for the bad. The men who have
failed as fruit-growers bought, as a rule, cheap land,
planted cheap trees, and employed cheap labour.
The highest priced land lies within a few miles of the
large towns, but on that very account it offers irresistible
advantages to the man of small means. While your
trees are coming into bearing, you must support yourself
by labour, or by the sale of berries and vegetables and
eggs and poultry. In the big fruit-growing districts of
California, men, women, and children can earn good
wages picking, packing, and canning the fruit, while the
merchants gladly buy the small products of the farm.
In fine, a man of muscle and intelligence can make a
handsome living upon a few acres near a large town,
whereas he would probably starve upon a government
claim of 160 acres five-and-twenty miles away.
Let it not be forgotten also that proximity to a town
enables the horticulturist to sell his crop, either on the
tree, or picked, or dried, without any tedious and perhaps
expensive delays. More: if, for reasons unforeseen, he
wishes to go elsewhere, his land near a town will sell
quickly ; in the hills, far from railroad and civilisation,
a ranch, however good, may hang for years upon the
owner’s hands.
I submit some figures, but I anticipate criticism of
them, for I am aware of the amazing discrepancy between
the experience of two men, let us say, living side by side,
growing the same fruit, both successful, both entitled to
speak with authority. My figures, collected at first hand,
represent the mean between extravagance and a too rigor-
ous economy.
Roughly speaking, the cost of setting out a vineyard,
or an orchard of prunes, or peaches, apricots, apples,
Appendices 363
olives, or cherries, is about the same. Citrus fruits are
more expensive, as will be seen. And the profits are less
variant than one might suppose, if an average be struck
between the fat and lean years. The income should be
at least ten percent on the total investment, and often
very much more.
Table showing prices of land per acre : —
Hill land for deciduous fruit... . . . . $30 to $50
Valley land for deciduous fruit .. . » «100: to. 200
Land, without water right, for citrus ee gis) ey As
Land, with water right, for citrus fruits . . . 200 to 300
Land, with water right, and of the choicest qual-
ity, near Riverside . . . . . . « » 800 to 400
Orchard in bearing of deciduous fruit elle 8 SOO tee
Orchard in bearing of citrus fruit . . . . . 500 to 2000
These prices are for land in the choicest localities and
situated near large towns. Some land companies in the
State undertake to sell valley land, plant it to trees,
deciduous or citrus, care for the same during three years,
and then turn it over to the purchaser. Their figures
average per acre $250 for deciduous fruits, $300 for olive
trees, and $350 for citrus fruits. I cannot commend this
system of purchase. Corporations are said to have no
conscience, and it is obvious that a company cannot give
to these orchards the individual care they need. An
orchard is like a kindergarten: each tree in it has its
idiosyncrasies. If you do not wish to do your own work,
it is possible to find in the districts I have named reli-
able orchardists who will take charge of your property.
I have made contracts with such men to plough, culti-
vate, prune, and supervise orchards of deciduous fruit at
rates ranging from $8 to $12 per acre. These rates do
not include, of course, the picking and drying of the fruit.
In Santa Clara county, an orchard of prunes or apricots
364 Appendices
in full bearing should pay a net profit of $100 per acre.
Many pay more, very many pay far less. In and around
Riverside and Orange are groves of ten acres which pay
an annual income of $3,000, but an average grove is not
nearly so remunerative. At the same time, what man
has done, man can do, and the horticulturist who fails
nas generally nobody but himself to blame.
I can remember the time when wiseacres predicted
that horticulture in California would be overdone. Since
then the different fruit-growing industries have assumed
a stupendous importance, and to-day California’s orchards
and vineyards bring in more money than the exports of
her cereals. A glance at the statistics at the end of this
appendix will satisfy any intelligent person that —as
Horace Greeley predicted more than forty years ago —
“Fruit is destined to be the ultimate glory of California.”
With new markets opening in the Philippines and all
over the Far East, with an ever-increasing demand for
her wares at home and abroad, with cheaper transporta-
tion, with co-operation on the part of producers, with
better and more economic methods of handling her pro-
ducts, Horticulture in California holds out her arms to
the world, not overdone, not played out, but young, fresh,
and vigorous— another Atalanta, rejoicing because she
has outstripped all competitors.
A Suort CareEcHIsmM OF INTEREST TO HoRTICULTURISTS.
Q. What is the cost of planting one acre to prunes,
peaches, apricots, or vines ?
A. The prune is par excellence the fruit, for although
an apricot or peach orchard costs no more to cultivate
and care for, and the peach bears in three years, yet these
fruits — while they command a higher average price than
Appendices 305
the prune —are more subject to climatic changes. It is
better to have an average crop of prunes every year than
_a bumper crop of apricots one season and a total failure
the next. In the estimates submitted, cost of trees is
not counted in. Prunes may be bought (the French is
the leading variety) from 4 cts. up to 7 cts.; apricots,
8 cts. ; peaches, 8 cts. and 9 cts. Vine cuttings are worth
90 cts. to $2 per thousand, and the cost of setting out a
vineyard, with the vines from seven to eight feet apart,
and cultivating the same till maturity, is about two-thirds
that of setting out an orchard of prunes where the trees
are one hundred to the acre.
The following estimate was taken from the books of a
responsible prune-grower. It is the total cost of setting
out and caring for a fifty-acre prune orchard, including
every expense item: not omitting interest, computed at
9 per cent on original investment, and the cost of
squirrel poison, etc. I believe that orchards can be set
out and maintained for much less, but the man who
bases his figures upon mine is within safe territory.
FEM EE soe kt NORE BTS
2nd “ LA aaa oe) La 577.
ord.“ Saar aie te 503.
4th “ VF a eae ae 499.
Sth “ 0 Cheep ae 571. 4 crop may be counted on.
oy A IOS aN Feng a ¥ ee
In the 7th year the orchard comes into full bearing.
Roughly speaking, it will be seen that the annual cost
of an orchard per acre after the first year is about $10.
The second estimate submitted is from an orchardist
located upon our ranch. He is thoroughly responsible
and capable. He is willing to agree with any intending
purchaser to plant an orchard to prunes, to take care
of it entirely for the sum of $20 per acre for the first
366 Appendices
year, $11 per acre for the second year, and for every
succeeding year $10, turning over to the owner the pro-
ceeds from fruit after the fourth year, less expenses of
picking, drying, etc.
Q. In how many years do these trees bear remunera-
tive crops ? |
Peace 47s Pe ied eh tig, vo ey Het | fe ee ne
PRNCE fads aie tay tes Mas ie a ein st et aE ee
PRATER fe) EY se Vleet lie. Weing /iny, Maoeeneog lO. ee
VORB a Src SMD her Urner oh 9 ont ence ee ten
Q. What is a remunerative crop ?
The value of a crop is determined by the laws of
supply and demand, but generally speaking a small crop
commands a big price, and a big crop a small price. The
wise man must strike an average between the $2,000.00
received for the crop of cherries from one acre, and the
total failure from an acre of the same fruit near by.
Roughly speaking a fair prune orchard in full bearing
should net to the owner not less than $100 per acre per
annum, taking the average price of the green fruit at one
cent per pound. To-day it is lz and 2 cts. per pound.
Q. How may pests be combated ?
It is a fact that in California means have been found
to successfully destroy all pests that attack trees or.
vines. In the brief limits of a pamphlet it is impossible
to describe at length the different methods of the lead-
ing horticulturists. Exact information can, however, be
obtained. In no other part of the world have orchards
and vineyards suffered so little as here ; no danger need
be apprehended from this source by the _ horticulturist
who is willing to profit by the experience of others.
Q. What is the cost of lumber, rough and surfaced,
and commodities ?
Appendices 367
Rough lumber . . . . . . $13 00 per thousand
Surfaced lumber . =... . 2100 “ o
LE Ue Oe Oe Sy OF Rae ee |
22 RAR OP a 25 “ pound
Lc Us Ra Ele AULD MA BE BE TO. by
pt ee aS i *
Meee NES Se bee cai! 09 “ "
Clothing and furniture are as cheap now as in the
Eastern and mid-Western States, and a working man can
feel comfortable in canvas overalls every day of the
year.
Q. What employment can be found by orchardists and
vineyardists ?
Fruit-picking in the orchards and vineyards, and work
in the canneries, dryers, packing establishments, and
Wineries give employment to thousands of men, wornen,
and children. In the winter and spring there is work to
be obtained by any man in possession of a stout team.
None need be idle. Labour is worth from $20 to $40
with board. A good mechanic will work and supply his
own board at $3 to $5 per diem. Cooks command $25
a month and board. Second girls $15 a month. Girls
from the East can always find employment at these figures,
The supply of female help is far below the demand.
@. Can money be made in the poultry business, with
berries, melons, etc. ?
Yes; eggs and poultry always command a ready sale
and a fair price. Turkeys, geese, ducks, and chickens
do well throughout the year. The poultry yard of a
thrifty orchardist should pay easily for the clothing of
the family. Broilers average from $3 to $5 per dozen,
eggs from 15 cts. to 30 cts. per dozen. Berries, melons,
vegetables, etc., can easily be raised and sold or traded
at local stores. California produces an enormous crop of
berries, and every farmer ought to raise, between the trees
368 Appendices
of his young orchard sufficient vegetables for his own use,
and enough besides to pay his butcher’s bill.
Q. Is it wise to purchase land with a small capital 2
The writer is honestly of the opinion that California
is one of the few places in the world where a man may
start in business with a small capital. The State has
been settled up and developed by persons who for the
most part brought no money. While it is desirable to
bring capital here, many men have been and are to-day
making money without it.
Q. Is the present a good time to purchase — and
why?
Most assuredly. The wise trader buys on the bumps
and sells on the slumps. The stringency of the times
a drought, — the first in twenty years,—and the gen-
eral stagnation and depression following the disastrous
boom of 86 and ’87, have combined to place values below
par, and according to expert authority a healthy reaction
is now in order and almost inevitable.
III
VITICULTURE
OOD wine, we are told, needs no bush, but Cali-
fornian wine is sold in England under a brand
advertised extensively as the “ Big Tree.” Without in
any sense depreciating this brand, it is proper to say that
the best Californian wine is not sold in England at all.
And it is not easy to obtain it in California. A friend of
mine has in his cellars a certain Rhine wine some twenty
years old, which he pronounces justly ‘a perfect dream ;”
but of this, I understand, there is hardly any left. Of
the wines on the market, the best Burgundy of the Swiss-
Italian colony, the sauternes of Livermore name, and
the clarets made from the Lafite grapes (the Cabernet
and Cabernet Franc) may be highly commended; while
ports and sherries and other sweet wines made in South-
ern California find a fair market. So far the champagnes
of the Pacific Slope have lacked the quality that distin-
guishes the French wine, but Mr. Paul Masson, of San José,
is selling an article of uncommon merit; and he is enthu-
siastically of the opinion that champagne of the finest
flavour, sparkle, and purity will in time be produced in
his cellars.
Viticulture in California has steadily prospered in spite
of disappointment, disease, and litigation. In early days
a rough wine, ‘tinto,” was expressed from the Mission
grape by the Padres, and vines can still be found about
the old adobe Missions more than a hundred years old,
which still bear heavily. Mr. Nutting, writing on this
subject, says : —
24
370 Appendices
‘* The oldest regular Mission vineyard known to me is about
ten acres, planted in 1847 by the pioneer, Peter Lassen, on
what is now the Stanford ranch at Vina, and it is more vigor-
ous and prolific than some of the young vineyards of more
popular varieties.”
In 1880 more than 80 per cent of the 35,000 acres of
vineyard in the State were of this quality-lacking variety ;
but to-day, out of 150,000 acres of vineyards, more than
60 per cent of the red wine is made from the Zinfandel
grape. However, as the Secretary of the Italian-Swiss
colony well points out, the Zinfandel can hardly be
considered as one grade, because it varies according to the
location and the soil in which it is grown.
The disappointment of which I have spoken overtook
the men who, recognising the possibility of making wines
of a high commercial standard, staked their time and
money and special knowledge against the ignorance and
prejudice of their fellow-citizens. The claret made from
“quality ” grapes came into competition with the rough
red wines expressed from grapes that yielded five or more
tons to the acre. The public generally were not able to
discriminate between what was wine and what was not ;
in the East, those who did know the difference bought
up the best wine at a price far below its value, and sold
it under French labels, at an exorbitant profit, to the rich
Californians. Many of the wine-makers were ruined, and
the State as a wine-producing State was condemned,
because only the worst wines were sold as Californian.
This state of affairs was bad enough; worse followed.
The phylloxera attacked the vineyards, and destroyed
millions of vines. Then, when a brighter day seemed
about to dawn, when resistant varieties were coming into
bearing, when the public was just beginning to recognise
the merits of the best Californian wine, when, in short,
it seemed to the most conservative that the wine industry
Appendices 371
was likely to. become a stupendous factor in the pros-
perity of the State, a fresh disaster set its iron heel upon
the vineyardists. The merchants, with that short-sighted
policy which has always distinguished their relations
with the producer, sought to monopolise the profits of
wine-making, and succeeded for a season. Then co-
operation on the part of the wine-makers brought about
an armed peace, which terminated in open war. Finally,
the claims of buyer and seller have been adjusted, and
now —and not till now — wine-making would seem to
have passed the experimental stage, and to have settled
down into an organised industry which, properly managed,
offers more than ordinary inducements to the prospective
settler. I repeat 2f properly managed. Wine-making is
an art, —an art, moreover, which would seem to be the
peculiar possession of the Latin race. None the less, I
am of opinion that the Englishman or American borrow-
ing the experience of the Frenchman and Italian, and
adding to it the results of his own observation and analy-
sis, will beat the Latin in theend. Foreign wine-makers,
I have noticed, cling like limpets to old world methods,
but if there is one thing certain in regard to viticulture,
it is that certain varieties of grapes vary enormously’
according to soil, climate, and elevation, and it is equally
certain that the foreign wine-maker in California does
not sufficiently take these variations into account.
Wine-making, however, requires not only experience,
but a large working capital. The prospective viticulturist
will do well, therefore, to confine his attention to growing
grapes and selling them to the wineries. He can rely
upon a price varying according to the season from $9 to
$12 per ton. If he raises two and a half tons to the
acre, his gross profits will lie between $22.50 and $30
per acre. Deducting 50 per cent for working expenses,
interest on capital invested, etc., the net profit should
372 Appendices
average, year in and year out, not less than $13 an
acre, —a fair return from land that may be bought from
$25 to $45 per acre. And it must be remembered that
a vineyard is a permanent investment, and exacts less
care and attention than a prune orchard or an orange
grove. It is absolutely necessary to make no mistakes
at first, either in the choice of your land, the buying of
your cuttings, and the cultivation of the vineyard during
the first five years.
I cannot do better than conclude these few remarks on
wine and wine grapes with a clipping from an article
which appeared some few months ago in the San Fran-
cisco “ Chronicle :” —
“Californian wine can compete with its European rivals,
and, as to quality and price, to the great advantage of this
State. The only drawback is the roundabout means of trans-
portation. Californian wines have to be sent from here to
New York, thence to England, and from there to the South
American countries, because there is no direct line running
either from this port or from the East. But it looks as if this
hiatus would soon be a thing of the past. Several projects
are maturing which promise the establishment of lines of
&teamers from New Orleans and New York to those South
American republics which can be counted upon to consume
a large proportion of the wine produced in California. The
completion of the Nicaragua canal would also give us the
required outlet, and of itself would go far toward solving
the problem that has so long troubled those in the wine
trade of securing markets for the wines grown in this State.
Meanwhile domestic consumption is increasing, slowly, it is
true, but yet it is growing, until now 20,000,000 gallons of
our dry wines are drank in the United States, and a trade is
springing up with England, Belgium, Switzerland, and Ger-
many which promises to attain considerable proportions.
1 The Panama Canal is now in the possession of New York
capitalists.
Appendices 373
Inquiries as to the handling of California wines are being
received by San Francisco dealers that show that if the
American tariff be placed in operation in the West Indies a
large trade can be expected to be built up in Cuba and Porto
Rico, where the middle and upper classes are accustomed to
drinking Spanish and French productions, and will welcome
the pure and low-priced vintages of California. In time, and
if the trade be pushed, the Philippines will take off our hands
millions of gallons of our low-grade wines, and it has been
suggested that if the Government of the United States would
place wine on its ration list so that it might be mixed with
the unhealthful water of the tropics, the lives of many of the
troops whom it will be necessary to maintain in the Philip-
pines and the Antilles would be saved, and at the same time
the vinicultural industry of California would be greatly bene-
fited. Taking all these possibilities and probabilities into
consideration, our annual average production of 20,000,000
gallons of dry wines should be as a drop in the bucket, and
the time should not be far distant when every hillside in
California should be set out in vines, and the amount of wine
produced for home consumption and for export to our new
territories and to other markets which stand ready to receive
them, should rival that of the famed countries of Southern
Europe.”
RalIsINns.
California produces as fine a raisin as that of Malaga,
and one that keeps much better and is far cleaner. I
have not lived in Fresno, which is the chief raisin dis-
trict (it has about 35,000 acres in Muscat grapes, about
three-fourths of California’s raisin acreage), but I know
from reliable sources that raisin-growing is a pleasant
and profitable occupation, and that the industry was
never more prosperous than it is at the present moment.
The crop for 1899 was 66,000,000 pounds (not counting
the raisins consumed in the State), an increase in one
decade of nearly 50,000,000 pounds: a result which must
challenge the serious attention of the would-be vineyardist.
374 Appendices
A raisin vineyard bears well in four years from plant-
ing, and the fruit is dried in small trays by the sun alone.
Each tray makes about seven pounds of raisins, and as
there is no dew in raisin-growing districts, the grapes dry
by night as well as by day. Experience alone tells the
vineyardist when the raisin is sufficiently dried, but the
methods are simple and inexpensive. A seeding-machine
has been lately invented which extracts all seeds and
turns out a raisin fit for a pudding. The inventor has
certainly earned the undying gratitude of the busy house-
wife. Bare land can be bought at prices ranging from
$50 to $200 an acre, and an acre in bearing ought to
average year in and year out one ton of raisins. I
learn with pleasure that the raisin-growers of Fresno,
after a year’s experience, have renewed their organisa-
tion for two years. Co-operation on the part of small
farmers, fruit-raisers, and vineyardists is essential to their
prosperity.
It is almost superfluous to add that no man who is
intending to grow raisins should fail to visit Fresno,
where he will learn more in a week than he could glean
from fifty books on the subject. Fresno is now enjoying
somewhat of a boom, owing to the flourishing condition
of the Coalinga Oil fields.
IV
BEET CULTURE
TN Beet Culture California retains her leadership in
factory capacity and output of beet sugar, and seems
likely to do so. The factories in California have a daily
capacity of 8,500 tons of beets, while all the other facto-
ries in the Union combined average 8,300 tons. The
sugar beet is raised in and around the following localities :
Alvarado, Watsonville, Chino, Los Alamitos, Crockett,
Spreckels, Oxnard, and Santa Maria.
The statement of the cost of raising beets and the profits
derived therefrom is taken from the books of a beet farm
near San Juan, and is quoted by Mr. Claus Spreckels,
the father of Beet Culture in California.
It will be noted that in the case quoted above the land
was rented. This land asa rule belongs to the owners
of the factories, and so far the contract system of leasing
land to farmers has worked well. Under the contract
system the farmer has the assurance that he will get his
money promptly at an agreed price upon the delivery of
his product. He has also the advantage of the factory’s
expert advice upon all questions relating to the culture
and harvesting of the beet. On the other hand, the
farmer who owns his own land makes a larger profit, and
consequently takes greater risks. Time —as General
Chipman has well pointed out — will settle the present
difference of opinion as to whether the farmer should be
paid on the basis of the richness of the beet, or by the
ton regardless of its purity or the sugar it contains.
376 Appendices
Cost | Cost
Total cost. per per
acre, | ton.
EXPENSES.
Rent of 238 acres at $7.00 per acre . . | $1,666.00} $7.00| $.37
First ploughing ... . . $340.00
Second ploughing. . . . . 396.65 1,236.65} 5.19] .28
Cultivating and harrowing . 500.00
Sowing—labor ..... 85.00
Use of drill . . . pte 28.80 Lee AM ee
Seed, 2,830 pounds at tencents .. . 28300} 1.19} .06
Thinning nie 1,100.00} 4.62] .25
Cultivating and weed cutting, « one man
and two horses, thirty days at $3.00 . 90.00 38] .02
Ploughing out, one manand team, ninety-
five days at $3. OO hs 285.00; 1.19; .06
Topping and loading into waggons, 1335.3
days at $1.00 . . 1,335.30] 5.61] .30
Hauling 3 miles to switch, at fifty cents
perton . . 2,225.50) 9.35] .50
Freight on railroad to factory . a fea 2,225.50| 9.35] .50
Cost of knivesand hoes ..... . 20.00 Ai Dimes!
Cie) 9) ied Oe OO ens SG CPANEL MRO SA 300.00} 1.26] .07
Totalexpenses . . . . . . . {$10,880.75 |$45.72 |$2.44
INCOME.
4,451.275 tons of beets, at lity 00 . . . |$17,817.22 |$74.86 |$4.00
Sale of beet 0) 0 ; ayia 4 oe 200.00 84] .04
Totalincome ... .. . . .« |$18,017.22 |$75.70 |$4.04
Net profit . ... . +. . . . | $7,136.47 |$29.98 |$1.60
General Chipman, from whose report to the San Fran-
cisco Board of Trade I take my facts, goes on to say :—
“California is destined to become the beet sugar plantation
of America as it has already become the orchard of America,
because pre-eminence must be accorded and must surely come
to that State where the conditions necessary to success, both
in the growing of the beet and its manufacture into sugar, are
most favourable. ... Briefly summarised, these favourable
conditions are: earlier maturity of the beet, earlier opening
Appendices 377
of the campaign, longer season for harvesting, longer run of
factory, greater yield per acre, greater per cent of saccharine,
immunity from frost, immunity from rain at critical periods,
and ensilage or ‘ pitting’ of the beets avoided.”
The land adapted to beet culture in California extends
through the interior valleys from Tehama County in the
north to San Diego in the south, and along the entire
California sea coast, and in the coast valleys — about
750,000 acres.
Constant cropping to beets is injurious to land, but the
rotation of crops and slight fertilisation adjust the losses
of potash and lime. According to an authority, land
sown to wheat after beets will produce a twofold yield.
The price of the best beet land varies from $100 to
$250 per acre, according to its location.
Vv
IRRIGATION
HE drought of 1898 taught the people of California
the lesson of irrigation. Before the secularisation
of the Missions the Padres dug many ditches, and water
was carried to their vineyards and orchards from a long
distance, involving enormous labour on the part of the
Indians, labour in those days being compulsory for the
most part. To-day, power will be found cheaper than
the systems which bring water to land in obedience to
the law of gravitation. In 98 we bought and operated
two pumping plants which worked admirably; and it
must be remembered that when you are dependent upon
water supplied by a company from some huge reservoir
there is always the grave danger of the water failing at
critical times. In the Salinas valley, for instance, gigan-
tic sums were expended in digging canals, but when these
were dug, the river from which the water to fill these
canals was to be taken, dried up, and the enterprise was
temporarily wrecked. There are many parts of Cali-
fornia, notably in the counties of Kern, Tulare, and
Fresno, where the water obtained from the canals does
not fail, but speaking generally it will pay the small
farmer to own his own pumping plant.
I cannot do better than quote in full a memorandum
on this subject written by Mr. William H. Mills, to
whom I am indebted for many courtesies. Mr. Mills
is widely known as a brilliant writer upon all subjects
connected with the resources and development of Cali-
fornia. He says:—
Appendices 379
“Fruit raising, vine growing, and small farming in Cali-
fornia will depend for their success in a very great measure
upon the artificial application of water. These applications
have proven profitable, and will continue to be so under favour-
able conditions without irrigation, but they are far more
profitable with it. Every orchardist and vineyardist ought
also to be a gardener, and, in order to diversify the products
of the land, irrigation must be resorted to. Clover, berries,
gardens, orchards, and vineyards should be found on the
same holdings, and should occupy the attention of the cultiva-
tor of the soil in their various seasons. ‘This diversity would
in a measure equalise the demand for labour throughout the
year and greatly improve the labour conditions. Irrigation
will enable the orchardist and vineyardist to supply his table
with poultry, eggs, milk, butter, vegetables, and fruits, and
thus confer upon his holdings its first and paramount duty of
affording him a complete subsistence. The problem of living
having been solved, the question of profit would become more
certain and happily less important.
“The ancient methods of irrigation will be superseded by
modern and more economic methods. This revolution will be
referable to the cheapening of mechanical power and the
increased efficiency of pumping machinery. Under the old
method a main canal carrying water at an elevation to lay a
certain district under irrigation was necessary. Its construc-
tion and maintenance were costly, while the application of
water to lateral ditches was also costly and unsatisfactory. A
gravity supply of water can be passed over a surface where
the decline is constant. There are no lands sufficiently level
to make more than 60 per cent of their surfaces subject to
irrigation from any point of elevation in their vicinity.
“There are seasons in which the excess of precipitation
makes drainage a problem difficult of solution. In such
seasons, a costly water system constructed after the old plan
of canals with lateral farm ditches is uneconomic as well as
useless. ‘The money invested in it earns nothing in such
seasons, and as a rule in the country in the northerly portions
of the State the level areas have more to fear from excessive
precipitation than from drought.
380 Appendices
“If it be suggested in answer to this statement that the
summer months are dry months and that the application of
water during the heated term will enable the cultivator of the
soil to avail himself of the superior productiveness of the
summer months, the answer is that the application of water
by canals and lateral ditches produces in all countries where
the practice has been in vogue swamp conditions on the
lowest lands, unless a supplemental costly system of drainage
is resorted to, and besides, as already noticed, it cannot be
applied to the entire surface of the land.
‘“‘ Naphtha or gasoline engines have furnished a very cheap
power for pumping, while improvements in pumps have made
their use far more economic than the application of water by
the more primitive and crude method of ditches. Of course,
the water must be brought toa point from which it may be
pumped economically, and this can be done in three ways:
first, by a main canal, which is tapped only with the suction
of pumps. Such a canal would cost less and would be more
permanent in its construction, because it would not be con-
structed with reference to supplying water to laterals. Second,
by the use of the channels of living streams. For the most
part the irrigable lands of California are accessible to streams.
Third, by the sinking of wells. Concerning this latter, it
should be noted that an irrigated country soon fills with
water, and wells in such a country afford an ample supply for
such portions of land holdings as need irrigation. The eco-
nomic use of the pump is also greatly reinforced by the -
facility with which, in modern times, electrical power is
transmitted at cheap rates.
“Some practical experiments in pumping were made in
various parts of the State during the drought season of 1898.
It is stated on seemingly reliable authority that there are not
far from two thousand irrigation pumps in operation in the
county of Santa Clara alone. For the most part these are
using wells, and their use has proven beneficial and economical.
“In Capay Valley, with irrigating machinery, pumping from
Cache Creek was practised and highly satisfactory results
obtained. It was found that a six-inch pump, using a fifteen
horse-power gasoline engine, was capable of delivering forty-
Appendices 381
two thousand gallons an hour (700 gallons per minute) at the
end of an eight-inch pipe two thousand feet in length at an
altitude of thirty feet above the surface of the water. This
would give two hundred and fifty gallons to each of 168 trees
per hour, a little in excess of the equivalent of one inch of
rainfall. Ten hours’ pumping, allowing 250 gallons to each
tree, would give a daily efficiency of the pumping machinery
equal to 1,680 trees, or fully sixteen acres a day. Excluding
the labour of handling the pipes, which was usually performed
by the owner of the orchard, the cost was $5 per day. The
cash outlay, then, tofthe orchardist, excluding his own labour,
was $5 per day for the application of 250 gallons to each of
1,680 trees through a pipe line two thousand feet in length.
At a greater elevation than thirty feet the efficiency of the
machinery was reduced. Careful arithmetical observation,
however, demonstrated the practicability of supplementing
the pumping station at the creek with pumps stationed at the
end of the pipe line to reach still higher elevations, and
practically demonstrated the superior economy and advisa-
bility of pumping as a substitute for ditches. Every portion
of an orchard, however uneven its surface, could be reached
with the pipe line, and from a single pumping station, where
the highest point of the land was below thirty-five feet eleva-
tion, approximately 500 acres of alfalfa could be irrigated.
The application of 27,000 gallons to each acre could be made
for 334 cents per acre. This is the equivalent of one inch of
rainfall, or the equivalent of three inches of rainfall on each
acre could be made for $1 per acre; or the application of the
equivalent of one inch of rain at three different times in the
season for the same sum, not including the labour of moving the
machinery or the necessary movement of the pipes over the sur-
face of the land. The experiment brought plainly to view the
fact that at below thirty-five feet elevation above the surface
of the water the entire cost, including all the labour employed,
would be the equivalent of one inch of rain for forty cents an
acre, or at most $1.25 for the application of this one-inch
equivalent three times in a season.
“The machinery used for these experiments was constructed
on a truck, movable from point to point, and the result ob-
382 Appendices
tained was very highly satisfactory. Over an accessible sur-
face the water was evenly distributed, and when the irrigation
was completed, there was no injurious excess in low places or
deficiencies upon the higher elevations of the surface.
“The equipment with which these results were obtained
embraced the following: One 15 horse-power gasoline engine,
one 6-inch centrifugal Krogh pump, one truck 8-inch tread
of tire, three thousand feet of 8-inch wrought-iron pipe with
fittings, including priming pump, jack screws, oil tank, and
duck cover; and cost $2,000.
“The capacity of the equipment was equal to the duty of
irrigating throughout the season 500 acres of land, and upon
that area would supply all the water necessary for any species
of cultivation desired, whether of alfalfa or orchard. Its
capacity was equal to 1,200 acres of orchard land, and, as
already noted, the original investment was but $2,000.
«To recapitulate these conclusions, the experiment in Capay
Valley demonstrated that a stationary pump, eliminating the
cost of trucks designed to make the equipment portable, with
2,500 feet of pipe, cost less than $1,500. For orchard pur-
poses the efficiency would be equal to the duty of irrigating
1,200 acres of orchard or 500 acres of alfalfa throughout the
entire summer season, and the application of 135,000 gallons
of water to each acre during the season would cost $1.65 per
acre for the season, not including the labour of moving the
pipes; or if the labour of moving the pipes is included, $1.75
for the season.
“ Aside from the advantages already noted, the superior
efficiency of applying the water to the entire surface of the
land and the control of the quantity of water placed upon the
land, the interest on the original cost of the equipment is to be
considered. It is doubtful if, by a canal system, lands any-
where in the State can be laid subject to an irrigation system
for less than an original cost of $10 per acre, and this original
investment would be permanent and the interest element
connected therewith would be a perpetual charge against the
original equipment. $10 an acre for 1,200 acres of orchard
would be $12,000, or for 500 acres of alfalfa $5,000, as against
$1,500, the original cost of a coefficient pumping plant.
Appendices 383
“The application of electrical power would reduce the
cost from the figures herein given. ‘To the estimates relating
to the canal system must be added the cost of maintenance,
the waste of water by absorption and evaporation, and the very
unsatisfactory method of applying the water by gravity.
“Tt is within reasonable probability that from sixty to
seventy-five per cent of the orchards and vineyards of the
State could be laid subject to irrigation by pumping at a cost
not exceeding that given in this statement.
‘““This by no means exhausts the subject. All over the
State wells of sufficient capacity to supply a three-inch pump
on small areas of ten or fifteen acres, using a five horse-power
engine, are to be found. There is scarcely a land-holding
where an equipment of this kind costing less than $1,000
cannot be made available. The application of this cheaper
and less ambitious equipment would greatly diversify the
agricultural pursuits of the State ; would enable cultivators
of the soil to beautify their holdings and furnish the full round
of home necessities.”
VI
HINTS TO SPORTSMEN
T is a hard saying, but the sportsman in search of
game, big or small, must be prepared to encounter
what is more grievous to bear than toil and fatigue —
disappointment. It is almost impossible to get reliable
information in regard to game and fish, and the stuff
printed in railroad circulars, real estate pamphlets, and
most of the magazines, is absolutely untrue. More, a man
may be honestly willing and able to give information,
and the person to whom it is given may find it worthless
owing to some misapprehension on his (the sportsman’s)
part. I could name half a dozen rivers and streams
where the steel-head trout may be caught, and the angler
might wet his line in vain on such rivers, because neither
I nor any one else could predict exactly when these fish
would be running.
Good sea-fishing, however, particularly at Catalina
Island, is a certainty. Between the first of May and
the first of September the fisherman may confidently
count on killing tuna, black-bass, yellowtail, sea-bass,
albicore, and bonito, beside many others. This is the
only place, indeed, where tuna can be caught. You travel
direct to Los Angeles from New York, and Avalon (Cata-
lina’s small town) is four hours distant. Here are several
hotels, and within a stone’s throw of them the stands and
boats of the boatmen. Tuna fishing costs from $5 to $7
a day. For the other fish, a rowing boat (instead of a
Appendices 385
launch) is quite sufficient, and the hire of one with a man
to row it is $3. Two men can fish comfortably from the
sternsheets of these boats, and so divide the cost; or you
can hire a boat by the week without a man for a small
sum, and row yourself. The boatman supplies everything,
including rods and reels; but I take for granted that the
sportsman will bring his own tackle. You will need
three kinds of rod: a tuna rod, a yellowtail rod, and
a light rod for bonito. If economy must be practised,
buy no tuna tackle (which is very expensive), for one
boatman at least, James Gardner, has excellent rods and
reels. I know of only one man who makes a reliable
tuna reel, Edwin Vom Hofe, of New York, and his reel is
not yet perfect. Upon this reel must be wound three
hundred yards of cutty-hunk line, one hundred of twenty-
four ply, and the back line of twenty-one. Unless the
reel can hold this amount of wet line it is worthless for
tuna fishing. The ordinary tarpon tackle will not prove
satisfactory for tuna. Hooks can be bought on the island,
and all the tuna boatmen have gaffs, although some of
them (the gaffs) are not long or strong enough. You can
also buy on the island piano wire, and make your own
tuna and yellowtail spinning tackle at a price consider-
ably less than half of what is paid for the ready-made
article. Cutty-hunk lines are also for sale in Avalon.
The rod should not be too stiff, but stiff enough to
“pump” the fish when he sulks.
For black-bass you use tuna tackle. For yellowtail,
sea-bass, and salmon (not found at Catalina), I have
found the ordinary yellowtail rods much too short and
too stiff. I commend a lightish spinning rod of split
bamboo, and the line (despite the protests of the boat-
men) should be fifteen ply cutty-hunk. The reel should
hold two hundred yards of this eastly. Beware the
dealer who shows you a reel which he says will hold
25
386 Appendices
so much line, and which on trial holds some fifty yards
less than you expected.
Take with you a stout box — wood or leather — hold-
ing scissors, pincers, a knife, hooks of all sizes, wire, gimp,
extra lines, vaseline, file, thread, and the other odds and
ends, lack of which interferes so often with comfort and
sport. And do not omit from these binding silk, wax,
and varnish, for a split bamboo is not proof against salt
water, and if injured must be mended at once.
Your ticket to Catalina, allowing for a few days en
route, and your expenses between London and Avalon,
should not exceed fifty pounds. The rates at the Avalon
hotels vary, according to accommodation, between $2 and
$6 a day.
Small-game shooting begins about the first of October,
and continues till the end of February. I have already
said that it is impossible to get really good duck or quail
shooting unless you camp out. The best quail grounds
are still to be found in Southern California, but only a
market-hunter can take you to them. He will provide
everything, but it will be well, in your own interest, to
add a few luxuries. You will take a tent, but I advise
you to sleep, if possible, in a waggon. My brothers and I
always took a light waggon with two horses. The bed of
the waggon was filled with hay for the horses, and on this
hay we slept. As a general rule it is not necessary to
carry much hay, as it can be bought at the ranches at a
reasonable price; and farmers, we found, were generally
willing to supply us with butter and milk and eggs. Do
not sleep in their barns. You will be disturbed by the
horses and by fleas, and there is always the danger of
fire.
Remember, too, that if the autumn rains have not
fallen, the country over which you are shooting is covered
Appendices 387
with grass as inflammable as tinder. A spark burning in
an empty cartridge may destroy thousands of acres of
feed. You cannot be too careful.
For quail shooting I prefer to use very small shot,
No. 8, chilled ; and I seldom shoot at a bird that is more
than forty yards away. A wounded quail is impossible
to find without an excellent dog, and the best of dogs
soon lose their powers of scent on a warm autumn day.
After a little practice you will learn to retrieve your own
birds. If they are getting up singly one after the other,
which often happens, and you have several down in the
low sage brush, it is wise to mark the places where you
think they have fallen with a cap, a handkerchief, or a
glove. Then you circle slowly round these objects,
gradually enlarging your circle, overlooking no tuft of
grass or bush, and by this method, slow, but sure, you
will lose few quail.
I have not given a list of stores, because your market-
hunter must travel at least twice a week to some point on
the railroad whence he can ship the dead birds, and on
these occasions he can buy what is needed for the camp.
None the less, good hams, bacon, canned jams and vege-
tables should be purchased in a big town, as the village
stores only keep third-rate articles.
Duck shooting is fairly good in Southern California, but
excellent in the marshes north and north-east of San
Francisco. Here again you will be helpless without a
professional hunter, for you must have decoys, dogs,
boats, and also that special knowledge of the habits of
the birds which only comes after long experience. As
ft have pointed out, a commission merchant in either Los
Angeles, San Francisco, or Portland, will gladly give you
the names of half a dozen Nimrods, and he will also tell
you who kills the most game—an important thing to
know.
388 Appendices
For all these expeditions a waterproof hold-all should
take your kit, not the common hold-all, but the large bag,
into which, if necessary, you can crawl yourself on a
damp night. This will contain two pairs of blankets, a
small pillow, a change of clothes and underlinen, extra
boots, towels, etc. A small bottle of Chamberlain’s Colic
Cure (in case you drink unknowingly of alkali water),
some quinine pills, and a mild aperient, should not be
omitted.
The cost of such expeditions will be trifling compared
to the expense of buying or hiring a complete camp
equipage, and paying the wages of a guide. Market-
hunters work hard, and seldom make more than a bare
living, so you will find them only too willing to accept
a modest sum of money, better “grub,” and the birds
you shoot, in exchange for their companionship and a
share of their sport. I have often found it difficult to
prevail upon such men to accept any money at all.
Big-game expeditions are not lightly to be undertaken,
and it is absurd to lay down the law in regard to them ;
so much depends upon season, locality, and the men
themselves. Under certain circumstances you look ask-
ance at a tooth-brush, for every extra ounce must be paid
for by the sweat of your brow. In the dense forests of
the Pacific Slope each man packs on his back his own
load, and the lighter the load the lighter the heart of
him who carries it. Speaking from experience, I strongly
advise the English sportsman to keep out of the woods
of Washington, Oregon, and British Columbia, unless he
can reach their solitudes by means of a canoe. The
chance of shooting a wapiti in the forest is very slim,
but the chance of returning from such expeditions abso-
lutely worn out in body and soul is not so small. I shall
speak, therefore, of those expeditions which can be made
Appendices 389
either with a waggon or pack animals through a country
tolerably open. Such country may still be found in
Wyoming, Idaho, Montana, Eastern Oregon, Eastern
Washington, and in the uplands of British Columbia ; but
I dare not undertake to recommend any particular spot.
Roughly speaking, it is still possible to get wapiti, mule-
deer, antelope, blacktail, and bears of sorts in the States
I have mentioned ; but bighorn, wild goat; caribou, moose,
and musk-ox must be sought for in British Columbia
and Alaska. Mr. Baillie-Grohman suggests the Olympic
Mountains of Washington as a likely place for the Pacific
coast wapiti, which differs slightly from the “elk” of the
Rockies ; and into these same mountains I hope to go
within a few months, but I cannot as yet claim a per-
sonal acquaintance with them. My brother and I were
in the State of Washington, close to these mountains,
some two years ago, but we were fishing. We learned
that parts of the country were open, and that game was
plentiful ; and we had the pleasure of seeing several fine
trophies which had come the year before out of the
Olympics.
No matter where you go, however, it is all-important
to find a good guide, and from choice —as well as for
economical reasons— a trapper is your man; but be sure
that he is a trapper and not an impostor, and make it
clear to him what you want. In one of my expeditions
the bag included bison, bear, bighorn, wapiti, mule-deer,
and antelope; but that was seventeen years ago. When
I was in Vancouver Island in ’97 I met a friend return-
ing with an Indian from an expedition. He had shot
nothing! But then he and his guide had plunged into
the forest. The same man shooting the year before in
the uplands of the Chilcotin district had enjoyed excel-
lent sport with both bighorn and caribou.
The less you take from England in the way of ¢mpedz-
390 Appendices
menta the better. We found a camp bucket (sold, I
believe, by Silver) very useful, because it contains in a
surprisingly small space nearly all you want in the hard-
ware line; and I strongly recommend an air mattress and
small indiarubber bath. I have used for many years
two rifles, an English Express, 450 cal., and a Win-
chester repeater. The Express cost fifty guineas, the
Winchester a few dollars, and I prefer the latter. The
795 pattern Winchester, 30 cal., shooting the U. S.
service bullet, is a wonderful weapon for the price, and
extraordinarily effective ; but I cannot testify to its effect
on big bears, although I am told that the trappers pre-
fer it to a larger bore. Winchester cartridges can be
bought everywhere.
Clothing and boots are better made and far cheaper in
England ; but blankets, tents, cooking utensils, and so
forth, can be bought as cheaply in any Western town,
and will fetch second-hand a certain sum. It is most
important to take the best field-glass that money can
buy.
Every sportsman has his own ideas about the com-
missariat department. Personally, I contend that the
more you can conveniently take in the canned goods
line the better. Straight meat agrees with very few.
Canned corn, canned tomatoes, canned beans and bacon,
dried fruits and vegetables, and plenty of cheese, make
camp life healthier and cheerier. At any rate, a few
cases of these will soften the first rigours of the cam-
paign ; and when they are gone, you will be hardened
and able to forego such luxuries. In any case, don’t
stint the sugar. Saccharine matter in some form would
seem to be an imperious necessity to a man living the
primal life. Chocolate, too, is a wonderful food, and one
too often ignored by the sportsman.
I submit a list, beginning, as will be seen, with
Appendices 391
the necessities and ending with the luxuries. The quan-
tity must be regulated by the number in the party and
the time you propose to be absent. Your guide can
adjust such matters.
Matches. Lard.
Flour. Dried fish (smoked salmon, etc.).
Salt and pepper. Crackers.
Baking powder. Raisins (cheap and good food).
Sugar. Keg of Syrup.
Chocolate (a large quantity). Oatmeal.
Whisky. Canned vegetables.
Coffee and tea. Canned fruits.
Bacon. Jams and marmalades.
Dried onions. Hams.
Cheese. Tinned turkey, chicken, game,
Beans. etc.
Dried potatoes. Tinned milk and cream.
Dried apples. Tinned soups.
Dried apricots. Keg of butter.
Dried prunes. Pickles.
I omit tobacco, because those who smoke will never
leave the blessed weed behind. Whisky must be kept
under lock and key if Indians be of the party. To most
trappers strong drink is irresistible, and on that account
many sportsmen take only sufficient for medicinal pur-
poses. If you camp out in the winter, bacon and lard
are necessities, and much more warming than alcohol.
I have spoken already of the sleeping bag, but I would
urge the tyro once more to take plenty of warm bedding
if he intends to brave the snows and frosts of the Far
North. At a sharp pinch, you can sleep in gum boots
and mackintosh. This, I need hardly say, is a last
resource against the most piercing cold.
You can buy at the Army and Navy Stores a small
leather medicine case, which contains a few drugs in
portable form.
Englishmen are outrageously robbed when they begin
to buy horses, mules, waggons, saddles, ete. Find out
the market price of what you want: information cheer-
ap? Appendices
fully given by any respectable citizen not directly or
indirectly concerned with the sale. At such times good
letters of introduction are invaluable. The men at the
head of big enterprises, the railroad people, the bankers,
the contractors, will take particular pains to see that the
stranger within their gates is not swindled, provided
always that you appeal to their sense of hospitality. It
is possible to buy an “ outfit,’ use it for six months, and
sell it for nearly as much as you gave ; but such a piece of
luck falls to few.
In conclusion, I emphasise once more the expediency of
borrowing experience. In Victoria, in Tacoma, in Seattle,
in Portland, and in San Francisco, men may be found
whose advice will save you not only money, but time and
trouble. Most Englishmen are so desperately anxious to
start into the wilderness that they grudge every minute
spent in making inquiries. Such greenhorns nearly
always return empty-handed, because they go empty-
headed. Long before we start on even small expeditions,
my brothers and I begin to make careful notes. For
instance, it is folly to take horses into a country where
the feed is short; it is absolutely necessary to know
something of the topography of the district you wish to
hunt in : its rivers and streams, its mountains, woods, and
trails (if any). You are sure to pass through many big
ranches, and a letter to the owners will insure you a
welcome at least. If you can do no better, a card from
one of the merchants may prove an open sesame to price-
less stores of information.
It is perhaps superfluous to remind the sportsman that
around the camp-fire all men are equal. And remember
that, be they many or few, your hired companions will
take their tone from the “ boss.” If you whine, so will
they ; if you curse, so will they ; if you loaf, so will they.
Insist from the first upon order and cleanliness. Each
Appendices 393
man should have certain definite duties, duties never
to be shirked; and it is amazing how quickly these
duties are performed after a little practice.
In regard to the preservation of your heads, a hint or
two may not come amiss. In the dry uplands, scrape
the skins free of flesh and fat, and dry them in the sun.
The skulls can be sawn in two. See to it that the skin
around the necks of the deer and wapiti is preserved ; and
be sure that the slit is at the back of the neck, so that the
trophies when mounted will show no ugly seam. The
appearance of many a fine head has been spoiled, because
it was cut off too near the skull, and the skin slit below
the neck. In the lowlands, where it may be hot and
damp, it is necessary to use either pepper and salt, or
some preserving mixture.
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