Part Two: Sketches
Did You See the Circus?
Some Twenty Thousand Other People Were There
WONDERS OF THE STREET PARADE
The Good People Came Out to Show the Children the Animals A Good Parade
If some man had cornered the children market day before yesterday, he could have made a fortune.
Yesterday was circus day, and every deacon and elder and staid business man in Houston who wanted to see Mademoiselle Marie Meers ride barebacked and walk the tight rope, and had no kids of his own, was out offering love and money for somebody's else to take along as an excuse for going to the circus. In some New England towns large families make a living by renting out their children to church members for this purpose.
When a man tells you that he doesn't believe in the Old Testament, just ask him what made him follow the band wagon and the steam piano and the animal cages when he was a boy, and what makes him still sneak into the circus and feed the elephant peanuts and stare the monkeys out of countenance. It's nothing in the world but a feeling we all inherited from Noah when he put on the greatest show on water for a run of forty nights and as many matinees all over the world. The smell of the gas jets and sawdust, the crack of the ring-master's whip, the ancient jokes of the clown, and the wonderful linguistic performances of the lemonade man are temptations that most of us strive to resist in vain.
For many weeks Houston has been posted with the bills and banners of Barnum and Bailey's show, and as the time drew nigh the small boy developed insomnia and an unusual affection for indulgent uncles and big brothers with money.
When the day came, the pleasure of anticipation developed into the rapture of attainment.
All men think of their boyhood days with fond remembrance when the circus comes. Even Susan B. Anthony falls into dreamy retrospection when she sees the animals walking in the parade two by two, and she recalls the time long, long ago when she first saw them go in out of the wet during that dreadful forty days and nights' rain.
* * * * *
The street parade at 10 o'clock was the best ever seen in Houston.
The procession was nearly twenty minutes passing a given point. The cages were new, and the horses, especially, were magnificent specimens of their kind. The animals exhibited were in good condition as a rule and some of them assumed to perfection their role of wild beasts. The lions, however, appeared to be old, and were mere wrecks of the king of beasts. The man who was in the cage with them cowing them down with his eagle eye deserves the attention of the S. P. C. A. This show has twenty elephants and but four tigers, but this should not discourage good democrats. It is a long time yet before the election. The pageant of the world's nations was immense. England, France, Germany, Turkey, Belgium, and other nations were represented by cavalry attired in the national uniform. America was properly represented by a float containing the Goddess of Liberty on a throne, Uncle Sam in front, sailors on the four corners, Jesse James and Richard Croker in the middle. Some Roman chariots came next. We admire the enterprise of Barnum and Bailey in this line, but we think they are carrying realism a little too far when they procure Roman matrons of the time of Marcus Aurelius to drive these chariots in our streets. Is the cigarette girl exhausted or Newport society all engaged, that they cannot furnish us with something better to look upon?
It is estimated by a level citizen that fully 15,000 human beings witnessed the street parade, and probably 800 or 900 populists.
The crowd awaiting the parade was the same old circus crowd. The streets were lined with pretty girls, dudes, merchants, clerks and country folks. The woman chewing gum and dragging around a howling kid was there; the woman with a baby carriage, receiving the curses and reviling of the crowd with her usual complacent smile, was there; the girl who ate popcorn and shrieked at every bite was there; the man who said it was the same old thing he had seen forty years ago was there.
A chilly wind was blowing, and a cold, drizzling rain falling, and one of the shivering Egyptians riding a camel bethought him of his sunny native home and said to one of his countrymen, "Bedad, and Oi wish Oi was in Donnegan's joint on T'irteenth Street long enough to put about half a point of the craythur under me shirt," and the sad-eyed Oriental at his left replied, "Py Cott, dot cold vint a man's pack sdrikes like der teyfel, aindt it?"
The Mr. Bailey of this show is not, as some people think, Mr. George Bailey of the _Dallas News_. Mr. George Bailey has nothing to do with the circus, except to write their bill posters.
At 1 o'clock the doors of the Ethnological Congress were thrown open, and the surging crowd went down into its pants pocket and drew forth the price. The performance in the circus tent began at 2.
The animal exhibit was first-class, and many of the boys who had had the d.t.'s recognized some old friends. In the center of the tent was an international bargain counter on which were displayed families of Hindus, Singalese dancers, Fiji Islanders, Ratmaliatmas, Samoans, etc.
The Post Man approached an intelligent-looking Samoan and said:
"Lovely and sad-hearted exile from the wave-kissed beach of Pacific's coral-stranded isle, dost thou not pine for thy beloved far-off home?"
The large Samoan cast a wistful glance at his questioner and said in his sonorous native tongue: "Cut it short, Cully. Yer can't razzle-dazzle me. Get a movelet on your joblots, or I'll give yer a wipe wid dis property battle-axe. See?"
This show has the distinction of carrying the most remarkable dwarf in the world. The owners offer a considerable reward for his equal. He is the largest dwarf now before the public, being nearly six feet in height.
* * * * *
The pious and stately man who takes the children to see the animals was very much in evidence. One of them, very sour-looking, with his coat buttoned up high, said to a small boy he was leading by the hand: "That animal you see, Willie, is the leopard, of which, as you know the Good Book says, 'he cannot change his spots.'"
"But he can, though, papa," said Willie. "A minute ago he was way over in that corner of the cage, and now he's up here in front."
"Do not be sacrilegious, my son," said the sour-looking man. "Come, let us go into the tent where Mademoiselle Meers is riding eight horses while in her famous Trilby pose. I wish you to study that noble animal, the horse."
Another starchy-looking man, with a plug hat and white tie, had four or five children with him. All paused a moment in the animal tent, and he said rapidly: "My dear children, these are lions, tigers, monkeys, elephants, hippopotamuses and camels. You are all familiar with them from the pictures in your story books. Let us now go into the other tent and view the human form, the noblest work of God, as Mademoiselle Matthews does her act upon the flying trapeze."
In the circus tent there were three performances taking place in as many rings at once. The acrobatic acts, tumbling and balancing were good. The "refined contortion act" by Miss Maude Allington and Mr. H. Wentworth was a revelation. Ladies and gentlemen who had heretofore regarded the contortion act as something low and vulgar were surprised and delighted with delicacy, tact and exquisite diplomatic finesse with which these thorough artists tied their legs behind their necks and did the split.
"Europe's greatest rider," Mr. William Wallett, was fine, and divided honors with Rider Haggard, the assistant author of the programme and show bills.
The ladies who were advertised to ride bareback more than fulfilled their promised feats. They were barebacked, and also bare--that is, were dressed something like surf bathers in Galveston.
Evetta, the only lady clown on earth, came into the ring and caused roars of laughter by putting her hands in her bloomer pockets and standing on one foot. She then did the excruciatingly funny thing of sticking out her tongue at the crowd. Then, after convulsing the audience by standing on the other foot, she retired. For that tired feeling, see Evetta, the only lady clown.
* * * * *
A man who had evidently come up the street on the saloon side went into the side show and seemed fascinated with the tattooed man from Borneo, who exhibited upon his person a great variety of ornamental designs, such as roses, landscapes, ballet girls, ships, etc. "Ladies 'n gent'l'men," he said, "come 'n shee zhis great phenomenon. Always wanted see livin' picshers. Zis fus' livin' picsher ever shee. Set 'em up all round; z'my treat."
The tattooed man leaned down and hissed in a low tone: "Say, stop dat song and dance and git a move on you, Cully, or I'll tump you one on de smeller. See?" =
* * * * *
It must be said of Barnum and Bailey's show that it is orderly and well conducted. The gang of swindlers, toughs and confidence men who generally follow circuses are not allowed to annoy the crowd. The tents are large and the accommodations good. Their immense business is conducted with perfect system and each man in the aggregation fills his place in producing the harmonious working of the whole.
* * * * *
The performance itself was only the average circus performance, with a great deal that was neither new nor remarkable, but with a feature here and there that was far above the ordinary even in that line. The trouble is in attempting to do too much. Had the programme been executed in the old style, in one ring, it might have been too long; but it would have impressed the public far more than when distributed among three rings. The spectator becomes bewildered and catches a good thing only now and then, while he misses possibly two or three other brilliant acts. There could have been no complaint for want of variety. There was a little of everything and all done at least with the usual skill of the circus performer.
Several innovations were introduced, among them a female ring master and a female clown. Trilby on horseback, a skirt dance on horseback, and a serpentine dance on horseback are others. The water carnival, an exhibition of high diving, somersaults into water and other aquatic sports is perhaps the newest circus idea. It is given in a lake of water, to use the fertile press agent's phrase, forty-two feet across and six feet deep. In the menagerie are a number of new animals, notably several new elephants, making the herd now number twenty-four. The Ethnological Congress is all new, and those who have seen the Midway Plaisances at the big fairs will be especially interested in this peripatetic plaisance, which contains a curious assortment of curious peoples. In its acrobatic department, the aerial swinging and leaping and high trapeze work were very fine indeed; and with the equestrian accomplishments of the Meeks sisters, particularly, when the two rode one horse, constituted the most meritorious parts of the performance. A notable feature also was the performance in the ring of a herd of elephants, among other things going through a quadrille. It is such a performance and, to quote the voluble agent again, such an aggregation of panoramic novelties, with much that is old, that the public generally will leave the big tents fully satisfied that they have received their money's worth.
(_Houston Daily Post_, Wednesday morning, October 30, 1895.)
Thanksgiving Remarks
A great many people who are skeptical on other subjects swallow Thanksgiving Day without questioning the validity of its title.
There are plenty of people in Houston who will sit at the table today, with their mouths so full of turkey and dressing that they will be utterly unable to answer the smallest question about the origin of this National festival.
The United States is the only country in the world that has a day of National thanksgiving in commemoration of one special event. Among the earliest settlers in this country, with the exception of cocktails, were the Pilgrim Fathers. They were a noble band of religious enthusiasts, who sailed from England to America in a ship called the _Mayflower_ after a celebrated brand of soap by the same name.
By good fortune and fast sailing they managed to reach America before Thanksgiving Day. They landed at Plymouth Rock, where they were met by Hon. F. R. Lubbock and welcomed with an address. It was a very cold, and not a good day for speeches, either.
This heroic little band of refugees were called Puritans in England, which is French for abolitionists. As they stood upon the bleak inhospitable shore, shivering in the biting blast, Captain Miles Standish, who had the stoutest heart and also the most jovial temper in the party, said: "Say, you fellows, can't you stop chattering your teeth and shaking your knees? There don't any of you look like you wanted to pass resolutions against burning anything just at present. You're a jolly-looking lot of guys."
Among the distinguished members of this band were William Bradford, Edward Winslow, John Alden, John Carver and Marc. Anthony, a nephew of Susan B.
According to the habits of true Americans, they had not been on land half an hour till they went into caucus to elect a governor.
John Carver carried around the hat and collected the ballots, and consequently was elected.
"Now," said Governor Carver, "I hereby announce my proclamation that next Thursday shall be Thanksgiving Day."
"What for?" asked Captain Standish.
"Oh, it's the proper thing," said the governor. "You'll find it in all the school books and histories."
Governor Carver then appointed a committee with Captain Standish as chairman to explore the country around.
Captain Standish set forth at the head of his devoted followers through the deep snow, while the others went to work erecting what rough shelter they could out of logs and pine boughs. Presently Captain Standish and his band returned, making tracks in the snow about ten feet apart and closely pursued by a large, brick-red, passionate Indian, who was remarking, "Waugh-hoo-hoo-hoo!" at every jump. Governor Carver advanced to meet the untutored child of the forest, and said to him in simple words:
"How! Me heap white chief. Gottee big guns. You killee my soldiers, me heap shoot. Sabe?"
"I am charmed to meet you, governor," said the Indian. "My name is Massasoit. I also am a great chief. My wigwam is down there" (pointing with graceful gesture to the southwest)--"I have just come back from slaying the tribe of the Goo-Goos. You may not have heard, governor, that the cat came back."
Governor Carver grasped the hand of Massasoit, and said: "Welcome, thrice welcome to our newly discovered continent, sir. Colonel Winthrop, give Mr. Massasoit your hand."
"I'll keep mine, and deal him another if it's all the same to you," said Colonel Winthrop.
Massasoit took his place at the side of the blanket that was spread on the snow, and the pasteboards were shuffled.
Two hours later the Pilgrim Fathers had won from the Indian chief 200 buffalo robes, 100 pelts of the silver fox, 50 tanned deer hides, 300 otter skins, and 150 hides of the beaver, panther and mink.
This was the original skin game.
Later on in the game, Governor Carver called a bet of $27 worth of wampum made by Massasoit, with his daughter Priscilla, and lost on eights and treys.
Longfellow, in his beautiful poem, describes what followed:
Then from her father's tent, Tripping with gentle feet, Priscilla, the Puritan Maiden, stepped. All that she Knew was obedience; Ready to sacrifice All for her father's word, Priscilla, the dutiful, Gentle and meek as the Dove. As the violet Modest and drooping-eyed, Up from his poker game Gazed Massasoit, Chief of the Tammanies, Brave as a lion. Up Gazed Massasoit. Then, as a roebuck springs, Swift as an arrow, or Leapes Couchee-Couchee, the Panther, or Buzzy the Rattlesnake springs from his Coils in the sumac bush, So Massasoit got a Move on his chieftainlets; Got to his Trilby's and Fled to the wildness. Rushing through snowdrifts, and Breaking down saplings, till Far in the distance he Looked back and saw that she Followed not far behind; Priscilla the sprinter was Not very far behind; Cutting a swath through the Snow with her number fives; Right on his trail was she; Right on his track with a New-woman look on her; Longing and hungry look, Look of a new-born hope, Hope for a man that might Be her own tootsicums. Then Massasoit, the Chief of the Tammanies, Gave a loud yell that woke Wise-Kuss the owl, and woke Kat-a-Waugh-Kew-is, the Ring-streaked coon, and woke Snakes in the forest. Then Massasoit was Gone like an arrow that Speeds from the hunter; he Only touched ground on the High elevations; he Fled from the land of the Pilgrims and Puritans, Fled from Priscilla the Puritan maiden; Fled from Priscilla who Wanted to tickle him Under the chin and call Him her sweet toodleums. Thus Massasoit, the Indian warrior, Laid down four aces and Took to the wilderness, Bluffed by a maiden. Laid down a jack-pot, and Lost his percentage. Lost it to treys and eights, And to the forty years Lived by Priscilla; Priscilla, the maiden.
(_Houston Daily Post_, Thursday morning, November 28, 1895.)
When the Train Comes In
Outline Sketches at the Grand Central Depot
Next to a poker game for a place to contemplate human nature in its most aggravated form, comes a great railway passenger station. Statistics show that nine-tenths of the human race lose their senses when traveling on the cars, and give free demonstrations of the fact at every station. Traveling by rail brings out all a man's latent characteristics and propensities. There is something in the rush of the train, the smell of the engine smoke, the yell of the butcher, the volapuk cries of the brakeman and the whizzing scenery visible from the windows that causes the average human being to shake off the trammels of convention and custom, and act accordingly.
When the train stops at the depot and unloads its passengers, they proceed at once to adopt for their style of procedure the idea expressed by the French phrase _sauve qui peut_, or in polite language--"the devil take the hindmost."
An observer, unless he is of the "casual" variety, can find much entertainment in watching the throng of travelers and bystanders at any metropolitan depot. The scene presented belongs to the spectacular comedy. There are no stage waits; no changing of scenery; no forgetting of lines or casting about for applause. The mimes play their part and vanish; the hero with his valise is jostled by the heavy villain from the baggage room; leading ladies scramble, kiss, weep and sigh without bouquets or applause; marionettes wriggle and dance through the crowd, putted by the strings of chance, and the comedian plays his part unabashed by the disapproving hiss of the engines and the groans of the grinding wheels.
At the Houston Grand Central Depot when the trains come in there are to be seen laughter and lanterns, smiles and sandwiches, palavering and popcorn, tears and tamales.
To the student of human nature is presented a feast; a conglomerate hash of the lighter passions and eccentricities of man; a small dish whereof, ye Post Man will endeavor to set before you.
* * * * *
The waiting room is bright with electric lights. The line of omnibuses and hacks line the sidewalk on Washington Street, and the drivers are crowding close to the dead line on the south side of the depot.
Scattered among the benches in the two waiting rooms are prospective travelers awaiting their trains. The drummers and old traveling men sit reading their papers or smoking, while new and unseasoned voyagers are pacing up and down, glancing uneasily at the clock, and firing questions at everybody that passes. The policeman at the door who has told the old man with the cotton umbrella at six different times that the Central arrives at 6:35, makes up his mind that if he inquires once more he will take the chances on getting a verdict of justifiable homicide.
The old lady with the yarn mittens who has been rapping with her spectacle case at the ticket agent's closed window for fifteen minutes says, "Drat the man," and begins to fumble in her traveling bag for licorice lozenges.
In the ladies' waiting room there is the usual contingent of peripatetic public. The bright-eyed, self-possessed young lady who is the traveling agent for a book, or, perhaps, a new silverware polish, has learned the art of traveling. Haste and flurry are unknown to her. A neat traveling cloak and a light hand satchel comprise her accoutrements. She waits patiently, tapping lightly with a patent leather toe, and faintly humming the refrain of a song. Not so the large and copious family who are about to make the journey of their lives--at least fifty miles. Baskets, bags, valises, buckets, paper bundles, pot-plants, babies and dogs cover the benches in their vicinity. The head of the family wears a look as deadly solemn as if he were on his way to execution. His face shows the strain of the terrible journey he is about to undertake. He holds his tickets in his moist hand with a vice-like grip. Traveling is a serious matter with him. His good lady has taken off her bonnet. She drags out articles from boxes and bags and puts them back; she trots the baby and strews aprons, hairpins, knitted gloves and crackers far and wide. She tells John where she has hidden $13 under a loose board at home; she would never have mentioned it, but she is certain the train is going to run off the track and she may be killed. A few grummy looking men sit with their coat collars turned up, by the side of their weary spouses, who look as if they cared not for accidents, end of the world, or even fashions. A black-veiled woman with a prattling boy of five sits in a corner, disconsolate and lone; some aimless stragglers enter and wander through the room and out again.
* * * * *
In the men's waiting room there is more life. Depot officials in uniform hurry through with lanterns. Travelers loll upon the benches, smoke, read and chat. From the buzz of voices fragments of connected words can be caught that read something like this:
"Got a $300 order from him, but it cost me $10 in drinks and theater tickets to get it--yes, I'm going to Galveston; doctor ordered perfect quiet and rest-a daisy, you bet; blond hair, dark eyes and the prettiest--lost $20 on treys up; wired my house for expense money this morning--ain't seen Sam for fifteen year; goin' to stay till Christmas--loan me that paper if you're through with it--Red flannel scratches me, this is what I wear--wonder if the train's on time--No, sir, don't keep the _North American Review_, but here's _Puck_ and _Judge_--came home earlier one night and found her sitting on the front steps with--gimme a light please--Houston is the city of Texas--confound it, I told Maria not to put those cream puffs in my pocket--No, a cat didn't do it, it's a fingernail mark; you see I put the letter in the wrong envelope, and-Toot--toot--toot--toot--toot."
The train is coming. An official opens the north doors. There is a scramble for valises, baskets and overcoats, a mad rush and a struggling, pushing, impolite jam in the doorway by a lot of people who know that the train will wait twenty minutes for them after it arrives.
The bell clangs; the single eye of the coming engine shines with what may be termed--in order not to disappoint the gentle reader--a baleful glare. A disciple of Mr. Howells' realistic school might describe the arrival of the train as follows: "Clang-clang-chookety chookety--chookety-clang-clackety clack-chook-ety-chook. Che-e-e-e-ew! Bumpety-bump--Houston!"
The baggage men, with yells of rage, throw themselves upon the trunks and dash them furiously to the earth. A Swiss emigrant standing near clasps his hands in ecstasy. "Oh, Gott," he cries, "dess ees yoost my country like I hear dot avalanch come down like he from dot mountains in Neuchatel fall!"
The passengers are alighting; they scramble down the steps eagerly and leap from the last one into space. When they strike the ground most of them relapse into idiocy, and rush wildly off in the first direction that conveniently presents itself. A couple of brakemen head off a few who are trying to run back under the train and start them off in the right direction.
The conductor stands like a blue-coated tower of strength in the center of the crowd answering questions with an ease and coolness that would drive a hotel clerk wild with envy. Here are a few of the remarks that are fired at him: "Oh, conductor, I left one of my gloves in the car. How long does the train stop? Do you know where Mrs. Tompkins lives? Merciful heaven, I left my baby in the car! Where can I find a good restaurant? Say! Conductor, watch my valise till I get a cup of coffee! Is my hat on straight? Oh, have you seen my husband? He's a tall man with link cuff-buttons. Conductor, can you change a dollar? What's the best hotel in town? Which way is town? Oh, where's mamma gotten to? Oh, find my darling Fido; he has a blue ribbon round his neck," and so on, _ad noisyam_--as one might say. You can tell old travelers at a glance. They have umbrellas and novels strapped to their satchels and they strike a bee line for the open doors at the depot without creating any disturbance.
But the giggling school girls on their way home for the holidays, the old spectacled lady who punches your ribs with her umbrella, the country family covered with confusion and store clothes, the fat lady with the calla-lily in a pot, the timid man following the lady with the iron jaw and carrying two children, a bird cage and a guitar, and the loud breathing man who has been looking upon the buffet car when it was red, all these have tangled themselves into a struggling, inquiring, tangled Babel of bag, baggage, babies and bluster.
* * * * *
The young lady is there to meet her school-girl friend. The escort stands at one side with his cane in his mouth; nervously fingering in his vest pocket to see if the car fare is ready at hand. The girls grapple each other, catch-as-catch-can, fire a broadside of the opera bouffe brand of kisses, and jabber out something like this: "Oh, you sweet thing, so glad you've come--toothache?--no, no, it's a caramel--such a lovely cape, I want the pattern--dying to see you--that ring--my brother gave it to me--don't tell me a story--Charlie and Tom and Harry and Bob, and--oh, I forgot--Tom, this is Kitty--real sealskin of course--talk all night when we get home"--"Git out der way dere, gents and ladies"--a truck piled with trunks four-high goes crashing by; a policeman drags an old lady from under the wheels, and she plunges madly at the engine and is rescued by the fireman, whom she abuses as a pickpocket and an oppressor of the defenseless.
A sour-looking man with a big valise comes out of the crowd and is seized upon by a red-nosed man in a silk hat.
"Did you get it, old boy?" asks the man with the nose.
"Get your grandmother!" growls the sour man.
"That fellow Reed is the biggest liar in America. Feller from Maine got it. I'm a populist from this day on. Got the price of a toddy, Jimmy?"
The engine stands and puffs sullenly. The crowd disperses gradually, stringing by twos, threes and larger through the waiting-room doors. Depot officials hustle along, pushing their way among the people.
A brakeman springs from his car and runs up to a dim female figure lurking in the shadow of the depot.
"How is the kid?" he asks sharply with an uneven breath.
"Bad," says the woman, in a dry, low voice. "Fever a hundred and four all day. Keeps a-calling of you all the time, Jim. Got to go out again tonight?"
"Orders," says Jim and then: "No, cussed if I do. The company can go to the devil. Callin' of me, is he? Come on, Liz." He takes the woman's arm and they hurry away into the darkness.
A ragged man with a dreary whine to his voice fastens upon a big stranger in a long overcoat who is hurrying hotel-wards.
"Have you a dime, sir, a man could get something to eat with?" The big man pauses and says kindly, "Certainly. I have more than that. I have at least a dollar for supper, and I'm going up to the Hutchins House and get it. Good night."
On the other side of the depot the hack drivers are crowding to the dead line, filling the air with cries. A pompous man, who never allows himself to be imposed upon when traveling, steps up to a carriage and slings his valise inside. "Drive me to the Lawlor Hotel," he says, commandingly.
"But, sir," says the driver. "The Lawlor is--"
"I don't want any comments," says the pompous man. "If you don't want the job, say so."
"I was just going to say that--"
"I know where I want to go, and if you think you know any better--"
"Jump in," says the driver. "I'll take you."
The pompous man gets into the carriage; the driver mounts to his seat, whips up his horses, drives across the street, fully twenty-five yards away, opens the door and says: "Lawlor Hotel, sir; 50 cents, please."
He gets a dollar instead, and promises to say nothing about it.
The carriages and omnibuses rattle away with their loads; other travelers straggle in for the next train, and when it arrives the Grand Central will repeat its little farce comedy with new actors, and new specialties and various readings between the lines.
(_Houston Daily Post_, Monday morning, December 16, 1895.)
Christmas Eve
Some Sights and Sounds Caught on Houston Streets and Elsewhere
Houston is a typical Southern town. Although a busy, growing city that is easily holding its place among the half dozen metropolitan cities of the South, it retains most of the old-time Southern customs and traditions.
The all-absorbing haste, the breathless rush, the restless scramble for gain so noticeable in Northern cities is absent here. Houston people are prosperous, and they take things easy, believing that one may gather a few roses of pleasure on the way through life and still keep up with the march of progress. In no city in the South is Christmas more merrily welcomed with social pleasures, the exchanging of friendly offerings, and general rejoicing than in Houston. The immense crowds of people that have lined our streets and stores for the past week testify to the fact.
Yesterday was probably the busiest day among the merchants that the season has witnessed; and there is no question but that it brought to the children anticipations of the brightest nature.
Stand for a few moments on the corner and view the people.
They are moving like a colony of ants, some going, some coming, threading in and out in an endless tangled maze. When the gods lean over the edge of Mount Olympus and gaze down upon this world, while the waiter is out filling their glasses with nectar, they must be highly entertained by the little comedy that is holding the boards on earth. Our world must look to them very much as a great ant bed, over which we crawl and scramble, and run this way and that, apparently without purpose or design.
That light streak across the sky, which we call the Milky Way, is nothing more nor less than the foam spilt from tankards of nectar as the gods quaff and laugh at our strange antics. But it is Christmas eve, and what do we care for their laughter? Turn up the lights; let the curtain rise, and the Christmas crowd is on!
* * * * *
Did you ever watch a young lady buy a Christmas present for her father?
If not, you have missed a good thing.
They all go about it the same way. In fact, young ladies who buy Christmas presents for their fathers are just as sure to perform the operation in exactly the same way, as they are to sit on one foot while reading a novel. She always has just two dollars for this purpose, which is handed her by her mother, who suggests the idea. She goes out late in the afternoon on the day before Christmas. She first goes to a jeweler's and looks at several trays of diamond studded watches, and wonders which one her father would like. Then, after examining about one hundred diamond rings, she suddenly remembers the amount of money she has, sighs and goes off to a clothing store, where she closely scrutinizes an $18 smoking jacket, and a $40 overcoat. She says she believes she will think over the matter before buying, and leaves. Next she visits a book store, three dry goods stores, two more jewelers, and a candy shop. When Christmas morning comes, her father finds himself the proud possessor of a new red pen wiper with the fifteen cent cost mark carefully erased, and there are to be observed in a certain young lady's dressing case a new pair of gloves and a box of nice chocolate bonbons.
* * * * *
The fat man who is taking home a red wagon is abroad in the land.
He is generally a pompous man who prides himself on being self-made, and glories in showing his democracy by carrying home his own bundles. He holds the wagon in front of him and pushes his way through the crowd with a sterling-citizen-risen-from-the-ranks air that is quite wonderful to observe.
How the girls in their cloaks with high turned-up collars laugh and chatter and gaze in the show windows with "Oh's" and "Ah's" at everything they see! If you happen to be standing near a group of them you will hear something like this:
"Oh, Mabel, look at that lovely ring--squeezed my hand and said--sealskin, indeed! I guess I know plush when--and five from Papa, so I guess I'll buy that--going to hang them up, of course; I bet they'll hold more than yours, you old slim--good gracious! Belle let me pin your--papa asked him how he wanted his eggs for breakfast, and Charlie got mad and left, and the clock hadn't struck--No, I wear these kind that--sixteen inches around the--Oh! look at that lovely-forgot to shave, and it scratched all along--I'll trade with you, Lil; Tom said--with lace all round the--come on, girls, let's--"
The noise of a passing street car drowned the rest.
The children are out in full force.
Did you ever reflect that children are the wisest philosophers in the world? They see the wonderful things in the windows for sale; and they listen gravely to the tales told them of Santa Claus; and, without endeavoring to analyze the situation, they rejoice with exceeding joy. They never measure the chimney or calculate the size of Santa's sleigh; they never puzzle themselves by wondering how the old fellow gets his goods out of the stores, or question his stupendous feat of climbing down every chimney in the land on the same night. If grown folks would dissect and analyze less things that are mysteries to them, they would be far happier.
* * * * *
Two men meet on Main Street and one of them says:
"I want you to help me think. I want to get even with my wife this Christmas, and I don't exactly know how to do it. For the last five years she has been making me ostensible Christmas presents that are not of the slightest possible use to me, but are very convenient for herself. Under the pretense of buying me a present, she simply buys something she wants for herself and uses Christmas for a cloak for her nefarious schemes. Once she gave me a nice wardrobe, in which she hangs her new dresses. Again she gave me a china tea set; at another time a piano; and last Christmas she made me a present of a side-saddle, and I had to buy her a horse. Now I want to get something for her Christmas present this year that I can use, and that will be of no possible service to her."
"H'm," said the other man thoughtfully, "it's going to be a hard thing to do. Let's see. You want something she can't make use of. I have it! Have yourself a new pair of trousers made, and present them to her."
"Won't do," says the first man, shaking his head. "She'd have 'em on in ten minutes and be clamoring for a bicycle."
"Buy her a razor, then; she can't use that."
"Can't she? She has three corns."
"Say! There ain't anything you can get that you can use and she can't."
"Don't believe there is. Well, let's go take something anyhow."
* * * * *
The lights are beginning to burn in the show windows, and people are gathering in front of them.
To many of the lookers-on this gazing in the windows is all the Christmas pleasure they will have. Many of them are from the country and little towns along the fourteen lines of railroad that run into Houston. A country youth presses through the crowd with open mouth and wondering eyes. Holding fast to his hand, follows Araminta, bedecked in gorgeous colors, beholding with scarce-believing optics the fairy-like splendors of Main Street. When they return to Galveston they will long remember the glories of the great city they visited at Christmas.
* * * * *
A solemn man in a high silk hat, attired in decorous black, edges his way along the sidewalk. One would think him some city magnate making his way home, or a clergyman out studying the idiosyncrasies of human nature. He opens his mouth and yells in a high, singsong voice: "What will mamma say when Willie comes home with a mustache just like papa's--buy one right now, boys; you can curl 'em, twist 'em, pull 'em, and comb 'em just like real ones--come on boys!" He fixes below his nose a black mustache with a wonderful curl to the ends and goes his way, occasionally selling one to some smooth-faced boy, who shyly makes his purchase. On the edge of the sidewalk a little man is offering "the most wonderful mechanical toy of the century, causing more comment and excitement than any other article exhibited at the great World's Fair." The public crowds about him and buys with avidity. Not twenty steps away in a Houston toy shop the same kind of toy has been sold for years.
* * * * *
On a corner stand a group of--well, say young men. They wear new style high turn-down collars and chrysanthemums. Their hats tilt backward and their front hair is brushed down low. They are gazing at the ladies as they pass. How Charles Darwin would have loved to meet these young men! But, alas! he died without completing the chain. Listen at the scraps of alleged conversation that can be distinguished above their simultaneous jabber:
"Deuced fine girl, but a little too--cigarette? I'll owe you one--she's a nice girl, but--the loveliest necktie you ever--would have paid my board, but saw that elegant suit at--kicked me clear out of the parlor without--that girl has certainly got a--haven't a cent, old man, or I would--old man said I had to go to work, but--look at that blonde with the smiled right at me, and--the little one with the blue--he struck me in the eye, and I won't speak to him now--no, the brunette in the white--I was real mad, and said, confound it--link buttons, of course."
* * * * *
At a corner sits a woman with blue goggles, grinding an organ, on which stands a lamp chimney, in which burns a tallow candle.
Why the candle, the observer knoweth not. At her side crouches her pale little boy. A philanthropist bends toward her with a nickel between his fingers. Far away, among the wilds near Alvin, he has a little boy about the same age, and his heart is touched. The little boy springs up. He has a cigarette in his mouth, and he hurls a big fire-cracker between the philanthropist's feet. It explodes; the boy yells with delight; and the philanthropist says: "Gol darn the kid" and reserves his nickel for beer.
* * * * *
Gazing with far off, longing eyes into a show window that glistens with diamonds and jewelry, stands a woman.
Her black dress and veil proclaim that she is a widow. One year ago the strong arm upon which she leaned with such love and security was her pride and joy. Tonight, beneath the sod of the churchyard, it is turning back to dust. And yet, she is not altogether desolate. She has sweet memories of her loved one to sustain her; and besides that, she is holding to the arm of the man she is engaged to marry when her time of mourning is up, and she is out selecting an engagement ring.
* * * * *
A policeman lurks in the shadow of an awning with his club in his hand ready to strike.
Two doors away there lives an alderman who voted against his being put on the force. It will not be long before the alderman's little boy will come out on the sidewalk and shoot off a Roman candle, and then the policeman will strike; a city ordinance will be carried out, and a little boy carried in.
* * * * *
A man steps up to a salesman in a fancy goods store.
"I want to get something," he says, "for my wife's mother. I think--"
"James," calls the salesman, "show this gentleman the 5-cent counter."
Merchants who make a study of their customers are quick to know what they want. A man who is unmistakably a clergyman goes into a grocery store that is next door to a saloon. The salesman attends upon him. He buys 10 cents worth of minced meat for pies, and then lingers, clearing his throat.
"Anything else?" asks the salesman.
The clerical-looking man fumbles with his white cambric tie, and says:
"Tomorrow will be Christmas, you know day of holy thoughts--peace on earth, and--and--and--our hearts should carol forth praises however, we must dine--er--er--mince pie, you know; the little ones in the family enjoy it--have the meat here--thought, perhaps--something to flavor--just a drop of--"
"Here, Jimmy," yells the salesman, "go in next door and get this gent a pint of whisky."
* * * * *
Christmas brings pleasure to many; it brightens some lives that hardly ever know sunshine; it is abused by too many and made a season of revelry and sin; but to the little ones it is a joy forever, so let the tin horns blow and the red drums rattle, for those restless little feet and those grimy little hands come first in the making up of Heaven's kingdom.
Merry Christmas to all.
(_Houston Daily Post_, Wednesday morning, December 25, 1895.)
New Year's Eve and How It Came to Houston
Sketched at Random as the Old Year Passed
We that would properly welcome the new year should view it with the eye of an optimist, and sing its praises with the coated tongue of a penitent.
We should dismiss from our hearts the cold precept that history repeats itself, and strive to believe that the deficiencies of the day will be supplied by the morrow. Since fancy whispers to us that at the stroke of midnight the old order will change, yielding to the new, let us put aside, if possible, all knowledge to the contrary and revel in the fairy tale told by the merry bells.
Man's arbitrary part of the time into hours, days and years causes no perceptible jolt beneath the noiseless pneumatic tire of the cycle of years. No mortal tack can puncture that wheel. Old Father Time is a "scorcher," and he rides without lamp or warning bell. The years that are as mile-stones to us are as gravel spurned beneath him. But to us, of few days and an occasional night off, they serve as warnings to note the hour upon the face of a mighty clock upon which the hands move silently and are never turned back.
The New Year is feminine. There is no question but that the world has become badly mixed as to the gender of time. And again, the New Year is no cherubic debutante with eyes full of prophetic joys, but a grim and ancient spinster who flutters coyly into our presence with a giddy giggle, rejuvenated for the occasion. We have made obeisance to those same charms time out of mind; we have whispered soft nothings into those same ears many moons ago; we have lightly brushed those painted and powdered cheeks in time gone by when they glowed with the damask bloom of youth. But let us hug once more the dear delusion. Let us say that she is fair and fresh as the rising morn, and make unto ourselves a season of mirth and heedless joy.
The fiddles strike up and the hautboys sigh. Your hand, sweet, coy New Year--take care of that rheumatic knee--come, let us foot it as the gladsome bells proclaim your debut--number 1896.
* * * * *
The last day of the year is generally spent in laying in as big a stock as possible of things suitable for use the next day for swearing-off purposes.
It is so much easier to resolve to do without anything when we have just had too much of it. How easy it is on New Year's day, just after dinner, when we are full of good resolutions and turkey, to kneel down and solemnly affirm that we will never touch food again. The man who on the morning of the glad New Year stands trembling with fear on the center table, while snakes and lizards merrily play hide and seek on the floor, finds no difficulty in forswearing the sparkling bowl. The dark brown, copper-riveted taste which accompanies what is known to the medical profession as the New Year tongue, is a great incentive to reform.
The beautiful siren-like, Christmas-present cigar that is so fair to gaze upon, when lit turns like a viper and stings us into abjuring my Lady Nicotine forever.
When we attempt to sit upon the early scarlet runner, hand-embroidered rocking-chair cushion presented to us by our maiden aunt and slide out upon the floor upon our spinal vertebrae, we feel inclined to kneel in our own blood with a dagger between our teeth and swear by heaven never to sit down again.
When we go upon the streets wearing the neckties presented to us by our wife, and the loiterer upon the corner sayeth, "Ha, Ha," and the newsboy inquireth, "What is it?" is it any wonder that we curse the necktie habit as an enemy of man, and on New Year's morning swear to abjure it forever?
When we say farewell, and with clenched teeth wend our way into the shirt made for us by the fair hands of our partner in sorrow, and find the collar tighter than the last one worn by the late lamented Harry Hayward, and the tail thereof more biased than a populist editorial, and the bosom in billowy waves that heave upon our manly chest like a polonaise on a colored cook on Emancipation Day, and the sleeves dragging the floor as we walk about, saying, "It's so nice, my dear--just what I wanted," what wonder that we register an oath with the Lord of Abraham and Jacob as the glad New Year bells peal out, nevermore to wear again a garment made by that portion of the earth's inhabitants that sits on the floor to put on its shoes, and regards the male torso as a waste basket for remnant AA sheeting and misfit Butterick patterns?
There are so many things we take a delight in forswearing on New Year's Day.
* * * * *
While strolling aimlessly about the streets of Houston on the last evening of 1895, little sights and sounds obtrude themselves and reveal the spirit of the time, as little pulse beats indicate the general tone of the human system.
It is nearly 6 o'clock, and there is a lively crowd moving upon the sidewalks. Here comes a lovely little shopgirl, as neat and trim as a fashion plate. Her big hat plumes wave, and her little boot heels beat a merry tictac upon the pavement. Debonaire and full of life and fun, she moves, cheery and happy, on her way to supper. Her bright eyes flash sidelong glances at the jeweler's windows as she passes. Some day she hopes to see upon her white finger one of those sparkling diamonds. Her lips curve in a meaning smile. She is thinking of the handsome, finely-dressed man who comes so often to her counter in the big store, ostensibly to buy her wares. How grand he is, and what eloquent eyes and a lovely mustache he has! She does not know his name; but, well, she knows that he cares a little for the goods she sells. How soft his voice as he asks the price of this and that, and with what romantic feeling he says that we will surely have rain if the clouds gather sufficiently! She wonders where he is now. She trips around a corner and meets him face to face. She gives a little scream, and then her face hardens and a cold glitter comes into her eye.
On his arm is a huge market basket, from which protrudes the cold, despairing legs of a turkey, from which the soul has filed. Two yards of celery trail behind him; turnip greens, cauliflower and the alleged yellow yam nestle against his arm. On his brow is confusion; in his face are hung the scarlet banners of a guilty conscience; in his romantic eyes she reads the tell-tale story of a benedict; by the hand he leads a cold-nosed but indisputable little boy.
She elevates her charming head to a supercilious angle, snaps out to herself the one word "married!" and is gone.
He jerks the limp, sad corpse of the turkey to the other side, snatches the cold-nosed little boy about five feet through the air and vows that never again will he go to market during the joyous year of 1896.
It is New Year's eve.
* * * * *
A citizen is restlessly pacing the floor of his sitting room. There is evidently some crisis near, for his brow is contracted, and his hands are nervously clasped and unclasped behind his back. He is waiting expectantly for something. Suddenly the door opens and his family physician enters smiling and congratulatory. The citizen turns upon him a look full of inquiry.
"All is well," says the physician. "Three fine boys, and everybody getting along first rate."
"Three?" says the citizen in a tone of horror, "Three!" He kneels on the floor and in fervent accents exclaims: "Tomorrow will be the New Year, and I hereby solemnly swear that--"
Breaking in upon his resolutions comes the merry chime of the New Year bells.
* * * * *
The people come and the people go.
In the stores, looking over remnants of Christmas goods, are to be found that class of people who received presents on Christmas Day without giving any, and are now striving to make late and lame amends by returning the compliment on New Year's Day. The New Year's present is a delusion and contains about as much warmth and soul as a eulogy on the South by the _New York Sun_.
Two ladies are at a bargain counter, maintaining an animated conversation in low but dangerous tones.
"She sent me," says one of them, "a little old nickel-plated card receiver on Christmas Day, and I know she bought it at a racket store. Goodness knows, I never would have thought of sending her anything, but now I've got to return it, of course--the old deceitful thing and I don't know what to get for her. Let's see--oh yes; I have it now. You know they say she used to be a chambermaid in a St. Louis hotel before she was married; I'll just send her this little silver pin with a broom on it. Wonder if she's bright enough to understand?"
"I hope so, I'm sure," says the other lady. "That reminds me that George gave me a nice new opera cloak for a Christmas present, and I just forgot all about him. What are those horn collar-buttons worth?"
"Fifteen cents a dozen," says the salesman.
"Let me see" says the lady meditatively--"Yes, I will; George has been so good to me. Give me three of those buttons, please."
* * * * *
_Viva el rey; el rey esta muerto!_
The Spanish phrase looks better than the hackneyed French, and it is correct, having been carefully revised by one of the most reliable tamale dealers on Travis Street. The old year is passing; let us stand in with the new. In happy Houston homes light feet are dancing away the hours 'neath holly and mistletoe, but outside stalk those who inherit want and care and misery, to whom the coming season brings nothing of hope or joy.
Two young men are wending their way up Preston Street. One is holding the other by the arm and guiding his steps. The sidewalk seems to run in laps and curves, twisting itself into hills and hollows and labyrinthine mazes. One of the young men thinks he is dying. The other one is not sure about it, but he hopes he is not mistaken. They are both good friends of the old year, and they hate to see it leave so badly that they have sewed their sorrow up in a sack and tried to drown it.
"Goo' bye, old frien'," says the dying one. "Go 'way and leave me to die here on thish boundless prairie. Sands of life's runnin' out like everyshing. Zat las' dish chick'n salad's done its work. Never see fazzer'n muzzer any more."
"Bob," says the other one, "you're 'fern'l idiot. Never shay die. Zis town Houston can't be more'n ten miles away. We're right on Harvey Wilshon's race track now goin' round'n round. Whazzer mazzer wiz livin' for country'n so forth?"
"Can't do it, old boy; 'stremities gettin' coldsh now. Light's fadin' out of eyes'n worldsh fadin' from view. Can't shay 'er prayer, old boy, 'fore vital spark expires! Can'tcher say lay'm down to sleep, Jim?"
"Don't be a fool, Bob; come on, lesh find city Houston 'n git a drink."
"Jim, I' dead man. Been wicked 'n told liesh, 'n played poker. Zhere ain't no hope for handshome, unscrup'loush shociety man like me. Been giddy butterfly 'n broke senty-five lovin' creaturesh hearts--jus' listen Jim, I hear angelsh shingin' an' playin' harpsh, 'n I c'n see beau'ful lights 'n heavensh wiz all kind colors flashin' from golden gates. Jim, don't you hear angel throng shingin' shongs 'n see lights shinin' in New Jerushalem?"
"Bob, you d'graded lun'tic, don't you know what that ish? That's Salvation Army singin', 'n Ed Kiam's 'lectric sign you shee. Now I know where we're at. Zere's five saloonsh on nex' block."
"Jim, you've shaved m' life. Lesh make one more effort 'fore I die, 'n tell barkeep' put plenty ice in it."
* * * * *
Midnight draws on apace, and while some welcome with revelry the advent of the New Year, others stray in the land of dreams, and allow it to approach unheralded.
Ladies over 30 years of age take on a grim look about the jaw, and bend with a deadly glitter in their eyes over the article in the Sunday paper that treats of "How to avoid wrinkles," and sadly shake their heads when they read that Madame Bonjour, the famous French beauty, kept young and lovely until after 110 years of age by using Bunker's Bunco Balm.
The New Year brings to them sad prospects of another gray hair, or a crow's foot around the eye.
* * * * *
To the little folks the season is but a prolongation of Christmas, and they welcome the turning over of the new leaf without a misgiving.
Would that we all might trace a record upon it as fair as that their chubby hands will scrawl.
Happy New Year to all.
(_Houston Daily Post_, Wednesday morning, January 1, 1896.)
Watchman, What of the Night?
About the time that Alonzo bids his Melissa the fourteenth farewell at the garden gate, and _pater familias_ calls angrily from his noisily raised window, there sets forth into the city a straggling army of toilers whose duties lead them into laborious ways while the great world slumbers more or less sweetly upon its pillow.
Time was when all honest burghers were night-capped and somnolent at an early hour, and the silent streets knew naught but the echoing tread of the watchman who swung his lantern down the lonesome ways and started at his own loud cry of "All's Well." But modern ideas have almost turned the night into day. While we slumber at home, hundreds are toiling that we may have our comforts in the morning. The baker is at work upon our morning rolls; the milkman is at his pump; the butcher is busy choosing his oldest cow to kill; the poor watchman is slumbering in a cold doorway; the fireman is on the alert; the drug clerk sits heavy-eyed, prepared to furnish our paregoric or court plaster; the telephone girl chews gum and reads her novels while the clock chimes wearily on; the printer clicks away at his machine; the reporter prowls through the streets hunting down items to go with our coffee and toast; the policeman lurks at a corner, ready to smash our best hat with his deadly locust.
These night workers form a little world to themselves. They grow to know each other, and there seems to be a sympathy among them on account of their peculiar life. The night policemen, and morning newspaper men, the cab drivers, the street cleaners (not referring to Houston now), the late street car drivers, the all-night restaurant men, the "rounders," the wiernerwurst men and the houseless "bums" come to know and greet one another each night on their several regular or aimless rounds. Only those who are called by business or curiosity to walk into this night world know of the strange sights it presents.
At 12 o'clock the night in the city may be said to begin. By that time the day toilers are at home, and the night shift is on. The street cars have ceased to run, and the last belated citizen, hurrying home from "the lodge" or the political caucus is, or should be, at home. Even the slow-moving couples who have been to the theater and partaken of oysters at the "cafe for ladies and gents," have bowed to the inevitable and reluctantly turned homeward.
And now come forth things that flourish only in the shade; white-faced things with owl-like eyes who prowl in the night and greet the dawn with sullen faces and the sunlight with barred doors and darkened windows.
Here and there down the streets are arc lights, and swinging doors, and about are grouped a pale and calm-faced gentry with immaculate clothes and white flexible hands. They are soft-voiced and courteous, but their eyes are shifty and their tread light and cruel as a tiger's. They are gamblers, and they will "rob" you as politely and honestly as any stock broker or railroad manipulator in Christendom. Byron says:
"The devil's in the moon for mischief; not the longest day; The twenty-first of June sees half the mischief in a wicked way As does three hours on which the moonshine falls."
And still worse; a night when there is no moon to shine. Darkness is the great awakener of latent passions and the chief inciter to evil. When night comes, the drunkard doubles his cups; the roisterer's voice is unrestrained; even the staid and sober citizen, the bulwark of civil and social government looses the checkrein of his demeanor and mingles in the relaxations of the social circle. The tongue of gallantry takes on new license, and even the brow and lip of innocence itself invite admiration with a bolder and a surer charm. What wonder, then, that lawlessness o'erreaches itself, and sin flaunts her flaming skirts in the very face of purity when darkness reigns!
In the all-night saloons there is always someone to be found. At little tables in the corners one can always see two or three worn and shady-looking customers, sitting silent, brooding over the wrongs the world has dealt them, or talking in low, querulous tones to each other of their troubles. A smart policeman, with shining buttons and important step, goes down the street twirling his club. He tries the doors carefully of the big stores, the wholesale houses and the jewelry stores to see if they are securely locked. He never makes a mistake and wastes his time trying the fastenings of the small shops.
A few gay young men stroll by occasionally, with their coat collars turned up, laughing loudly and scattering slang and coarse jests. Down gloomy side streets steal a few dim figures, clinging to the shadows, walking with dragging, shuffling feet down the inclined plane of eternity. These are disreputable, but harmless, creatures, who have stolen out to buy cocaine and opium with which to dull the bite of misery's sharp tooth. In high windows dim lights burn, where anxious love watches by the bedside of suffering mortality through the long night watches, listening to the moans that it cannot quiet, and wondering at the mysterious Great Plan that so hides its workings toward a beneficent end.
Down by the bayou throb the great arteries of the town, where all night long the puffing of steam and the click of piston rods keep its life streams moving; where men move like demons in the red glow of furnace fires; where snorting engines creep in and out among miles of laden freight cars, and lanterns dance and circle amid a wilderness of tracks and shifting trains like big eccentric fire-flies.
One can always see a few men perched on high stools at the all-night lunch counters. They are for the most part members of the night-working force, telegraph operators, night clerks, railroad men, messenger boys, streetcar conductors, reporters, cab drivers, printers and watchmen, who drop in to drink a cup of coffee or eat a sandwich.
The night clerk at the drug store sees much of the sadness and some of the badness of life. Customers stray into the store at all times of the night. The man with the disarranged attire and impatient manner is a frequent visitor. He has a doctor's prescription for some sick member of his family, and thinks it a greater blessing that he finds a store open and a clerk ready to compound his medicine than to be obliged to tug at a night bell for half an hour to wake up a sleepy clerk, as in times gone by. Desperate-looking men sometimes come in to buy poison--generally morphine--and occasionally a hopeless, wretched woman with eyes big with hope deferred and an unpitying fate, will creep in and beg for something that will stay the pain forever. Often, in the darkest hour that they say comes before dawn, a man will enter in a hurry, buy a few pounds of prepared chalk and slip around the corner and drive away in a wagon containing two big bright tin cans full of pure, rich Jersey milk.
In the infirmaries and hospitals the nurses and genial-faced Sisters of Mercy bend over the beds of sufferers all through the dreary night, and bring to many an aching heart, as well as to pain-racked bodies, consolation and solace. The doctors, too, see much of the seamy side of night life. They are out by day and by night; the telephone rouses them from warm beds at all hours; whenever a knife flashes in a brawl, the doctor must be sent for; if a lady feels a nervous fluttering at the heart, out must come the carriage, and he must be sent for to feel her pulse in the middle of the night. Often he watches at the bedside of some stricken wife or child, while the husband is away roistering in evil company.
* * * * *
On a dry goods box sits a tramp, gently swinging his feet. It is 2 o'clock in the morning, and there he sits chewing a splinter with a frequent side glance toward the policeman on the next corner. What is he doing there? Nothing.
Has he any hopes, fears, dislikes, ambitions, hates, loves or desires? Very few. It may be that his is the true philosophy. John Davidson says of him in a poem:
I hang about the streets all day, At night I hang about; I sleep a little when I may, But rise, betimes, the morning's scout, For through the year I always hear Aloud, aloft, a ghostly shout. My clothes are worn to threads and loops, My skin shows here and there; About my face, like seaweed, droops My tangled beard, my tangled hair, From cavernous and shaggy brows My stony eyes untroubled stare. I know no handicraft, no art, But I have conquered fate; For I have chosen the better part, And neither hope, nor fear, nor hate; With placid breath, on pain and death, My certain alms, alone I wait. And daily, nightly comes the call, The pale unechoing note, The faint "Aha" sent from the wall Of Heaven, but from no ruddy throat Of human breed or seraph's seed, A phantom voice that cries by rote.
This is a state closely bordering upon Nirvana. Tennyson struck another chord that sooner or later most people come to feel, when he said:
"For, not to desire or admire, If a man could learn it, were more Than to walk all day like a sultan Of old in a garden of spice."
The tramp sits out the weary hours of the night or else wanders in dreary aimlessness about the streets, or crawls into some vestibule or doorway for a few brief hours of unquiet slumber.
His is a pitiful solution of life at its best, for, though he has acquired a numbness in place of what was once a keen pain, it is directly contrary to the plan of the human mind to await in hopeless stolidity the "certain alms" of death.
* * * * *
One of the most important of the world's industries carried on at night is the making of the great morning daily newspaper. The average reader who unfolds his paper above his coffee cup in the morning rarely reflects that it represents the labor of half a hundred men, a great number of whom bend their lagging steps homeward only when the newsboy has begun to wake the morning echoes with his familiar cry.
When night comes the editorial day-force is ready for home; the Associated Press wire is rattling in its messages from all parts of the world; the telegraph editor is busy putting "heads" on the type-written copy of the telegraph operator, and the night editor has rolled up his sleeves, laid his club handy, and breathes a silent prayer for help to the Goddess of Invective as he begins to wade through his pile of missives from correspondents. The State wires are opened, and the messenger boys are beginning to arrive with specials.
The city editor and his force are in, and are busy writing out the local news from the notes they have taken during the day.
The phone rings, a reporter seizes his hat and is off to get the item--perhaps an affray--someone run over by a wagon--a fire-a hold-up, or burglary--something that the good citizens must not miss as they eat their hash and muffins at breakfast.
The editorial room at night sees many strange characters and scenes. People come up on all kinds of curious missions.
A citizen stumbles up the stairs and nearly falls into the room. The force simply glances at him and keeps on working. His hair is frowzled; his coat is buttoned in the wrong buttonholes; he wears no collar; and in his blinking eyes, a roguish twinkle strives to overcome the effects of loss of sleep. He is a well-known citizien, and the force marvels slightly at his unusual condition. He staggers over to the telegraph operator and clutches the railing around his desk.
"Shay," he says in a bibulous voice, "wantscher to telgraph startlin' news to ze outside world. Cable 'm to Europe 'n spread glad tidings to all shivilized countries. Get shome bull'tins out at onesh."
The telegraph operator does not look up, and the gentleman tacks with difficulty and steers against the railroad editor.
"Whatsher doin'?" he says.
"Railroads," says that gentleman shortly.
"Zat's ze sing. Gotter bigesht railroad item ever saw. Give you two columns cause tremendoush 'citement railroad shircles."
The railroad editor writes calmly on, and the visitor gives him a reproachful look and bears down upon the city editor.
"Shay, friend," he says, "gozzer bigges scoop 'n city news world ever heard. No ozzer paper 'n town knows it."
"What is it?" says the city editor, without turning his head.
"Appalin' sensation 'n Firs' Ward. Shend four, five reporters my house at onesh. I'm goin' back now. Had _twins_ my housh when lef' home. Goin' back to shee 'f any more 'rived. Come back 'n let you know if find any. Sho long, gen'lemen. Keep two columns on front page open 'till get back."
Later on three or four young gentlemen drop in. They speak low, and are courteous and conciliatory. They are well-dressed, carry canes and seem to have been out enjoying themselves. One or two of them have torn coats and disarranged ties. One has a handkerchief bound over his eye. They confer deferentially with the city editor, and certain words and phrases, half-caught, tell the tale of their mission: "Unfortunate affair--police--best families--publicity--not seriously hurt--upper circles too much wine--keep out names--heated argument--very sorry--friends again."
Comes the hot lunch man with his basket filled with weirnerwurst and mustard, ham sandwiches, boiled eggs, cold chicken. The staff is too busy, and he lugs his basket upstairs where the printers are at work.
A boy brings in a special telegram. The night editor opens and reads it, and then springs to his feet. He grasps a handful of his hair and kicks his chair ten feet away. "---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ----" he yells. "Listen to this."
It is a special by wire from a country correspondent. This is what it says: "Spring has opened here. The birds are singing merrily in the trees and the peach trees are in full bloom. The weather has moderated considerably and the farmers are hopeful. The fruit crop will be assured unless we should have a cold snap sufficient to injure the buds."
"---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ----" remarks the night editor again, and then, his vocabulary failing to express his feelings, he bites his cigar in two and sits down again.
A man in a seedy frock coat and a big walking cane saunters in and draws a chair close to the night editor's desk.
"When I was with Lee in the Valley of Virginia--" he begins.
"I am sorry you are not with him now," says the night editor.
The visitor sighs, borrows a cigar and a match, and drifts out to see if he can get the ear of someone of a more indulgent temper.
Between 1 and 2 o'clock the city editor and his assistants are through their work, the railroad man turns in "30" and they troop away, leaving the night editor to remain until the last.
In the composing room the printers have been working away since 7 o'clock on their keyboards like so many Paderewskis. They quit about 3:30 a.m. As the night editor leaves, another army has begun its march. These are the people who rise at 2 or 3 o'clock in the morning. The mailing clerks are preparing the papers for the out-of-town mails; the newsboys are crowding around for their papers, and abroad in the land are audible the first faint sounds of the coming day.
Wheels are rattling over the dark streets. The milk man is abroad, and the butcher's cart is making its rounds. Policemen relax their vigilance, and around the coffee stands is gathered quite a crowd of night workers who drop in for something hot before going home.
It is five hours yet before my lady arouses in her boudoir, and hundreds of her slaves are astir in her service. When she seats herself at ten at the breakfast table arrayed in becoming morning toilet, she never thinks of her loyal vassals that have been toiling during the night to prepare her dainty breakfast. Miles away the milkman and his assistants rise at 2 o'clock to procure the milk for her tea; the baker many hours earlier to furnish her toast and rolls, and the newspaper she so idly glances at represents twenty-four hours' continuous labor of the brainiest, most intelligent, courtly, learned and fascinating set of men in the world.
The night editor stops, perhaps, to eat a light lunch at a stand, and chat a few minutes with the night workers he meets there. As he wends his way homeward, he meets a citizen who has for once for some reason arisen at what seems to him an unholy hour of the morning.
"Good morning," says the citizen, "what in the world are you doing up so early?"
"Oh," says the night editor, "we newspaper men have to rise real early in order to get the paper out by breakfast time."
"To be sure, to be sure," says the citizen. "I never thought of that!"
(_Houston Daily Post_, Sunday morning, March 29, 1896.)
Newspaper Poets
The journalist-poet seems to be a hybrid born of the present day when rapidity and feverish haste are the necessary conditions to success. There is hardly a newspaper of the first class in the land that does not include a jingler in its staff.
A journalist is one thing, and a poet should be another. A combination of the two--or rather a man who tries to do the work of both--is very nearly a union of opposites.
A journalist is a recorder of transient impressions; he seizes whatever is worthy of note from the swiftly-moving stream of current events, and stamping his data with the seal of his own originality--if he possesses any--he flings his paper damp from the press at the heads of the public and is off pursuing fresh quarry. He is a machine--but of admirable efficiency--that threshes the chaff from the million happenings of the day, and delivers the wheat to those who would flounder helplessly among the piled sheaves if left to themselves.
The poet should be of different mold. He should not be vexed with the task of winnowing, but, with the golden grains laid before him by his more active brother of the winged feet, he should be allowed to sit apart and view life in its entirety with calmer, larger, and unobstructed vision. A poet-journalist may rise to be a journalist of renown, but he will never be a great poet. The muse is too shy to appear daily at the bidding of an ink-grimed copy boy. In glancing over the daily papers, we occasionally find a verse of merit, that, though evidently scribbled during the daily grind that must come, whether inspiration impels or not, yet has some touch of the true fire. Indeed, many gems that will long be remembered have thus been dashed off in a few minutes, but these are exceptions.
Some paper mentioned recently that Frank Stanton wrote his exposition ode at his desk amid the confusion of a newspaper office in two hours, fanning himself with one hand and writing with the other. The ode was said to have been a good one, and much commendation was bestowed upon the writer. Now, this is unjust to Mr. Stanton's fame, for he can write poetry, and the people will persist in praising those daily jingles of his in the Atlanta Constitution. No one seems to suggest that he could have written a much better ode by taking a day or two over it, and not overheating himself and having to waste so much vital energy in fanning.
* * * * *
The idea intended to be advanced is that it is more than likely that newspaper versifiers as a rule do not claim to be poets, and would rather be known as journalists who sometimes drop into rhyming skits as a relaxation and for diversity.
The great public, though, must dub anything poetry that rhymes, and often spoil a good journalist's reputation by insisting on his being passed on to posterity as a poor poet.
A good paragraph on a timely subject often gains a spiciness by being turned in rhyme--especially in the form of parody--but our newspaper poets have not yet learned the fact that an article uninteresting in the form of prose will not gain in merit when written even in the most faultlessly metred verse. Somebody has described poetry as lines of equal length, with rhymes at the end and sense in the middle. The daily column which so many newspaper versifiers now turn out is a mistake, if it is poetic fame they are seeking. The "demnition grind" as the wheel turns will soon exhaust all the water in the Pierian spring, as the grist itself bears witness.
This is said in reference to those who are really ambitious of winning poetic laurels. Those who attach nothing more than ephemeral importance to their topical skits need no criticism, for they will incur no disappointment.
Some of the more serious newspaper rhymesters evidently are making attempts more ambitious than the time occupied in their preparation warrants, and the hasty work and lack of finish and pruning plainly visible in their efforts are to be deplored.
If the truth were known, inspiration has played a small part in the production of the most famous poems of the world.
It is the patient toil, the unremitting and laborious cutting away of inferior parts; the accurate balance and the careful polish that develops the diamond from the rough stone to the perfect gem.
One poem a month from some of our prolific writers might claim our admiration for thirty days, at least, but three in a day have a tendency to force us to save up a portion of our appreciation for the three more we will have dished up to us in the morning.
Our Southern poets especially are guilty of over-production. Those among them most generally accepted as representative voices among our writers of verse are occupying positions in which they are doing better work in other than poetic lines. A few of them have talent that would bring them fame if allowed space, time and scope for full development and use.
Mr. Will T. Hale, whose poems appear in the _Memphis Commercial-Appeal_, shows a clear and praiseworthy conception of the situation when he says:
"I dare say that Tennessee poets, including among the many, Walter Malone, Howard McGee, R. M. Fields, Leland Rankin, Mrs. Hilliard, Mrs. Boyle, Mrs. Gilchrist, Mrs. Barrow and Mr. Lamb, have written jingles which they never called poetry, never expected to be taken as anything more than ephemeral things to be glanced at and forgotten; written in rhyme because as easily written as a prose paragraph. I, an humble versifier, a toiler in newspaperdom, like my confreres throughout the State, arrogating nothing to myself, but pleased if my writings are copied and complimented beyond their deserts--I have done so. I shall continue to do so. Why should it be insisted that I want to cram it down one's throat as poetry? Let me jinglify if I want to."
Mr. Hale realizes the transient nature of such verse as the journalist must needs write to fill space, although he has written in this way some gems that study could scarcely improve upon.
* * * * *
It is doubtful if Mr. Frank Stanton, who has struck some high and abiding chords upon his lyre, could be, or would care to be, remembered by the jingles he turns out daily for his newspaper. Yet, if the popular impression is correct, Mr. Stanton aspires to poetic proficiency and fame.
One poem on which he would spend days of labor would do much more toward gaining him reputation than the wonderful number of rhymes that he turns out within that space of time.
A short time ago he dashed off two or three verses on a Midway dancer, called something like "Papinta," that had a rhythm and a lilt and swinging grace to it that were fascinating and truly admirable. The poem was delicate, airy and sprite-like, and one could almost see the form of the dancer and hear the castanets and guitars while reading the musical lines.
But the amount of verse he writes daily will not permit of such a high average, and the moral of it all is that, while he is succeeding as a journalist and an interesting writer upon the day's topics, his future as a poet is not being benefited by his overproduction of poetry at present.
* * * * *
The late Eugene Field might in time have become a poet of considerable ability, but there is little question that his newspaper labors were too onerous to allow of a thorough development of his poetic powers. The verses he wrote have always been popular because they were simple and musical, and addressed themselves to an almost universal sympathy for children, and his poems, charming and lovable as they were, stopped short of being great. It was the subject and the sentiment, rather than the literary proficiency of his poetical work, that made him so widely known. A poem to be great and long-remembered must be erected in the same way that a house is built. The foundation, the superstructure, the architectural proportions, the ornament and finish must be the result of care and labor, or else it abideth not.
Judge Albion W. Tourgee, whose opinions on matters literary deserve respect, however it be concerning his political proclivities, advises poetic as well as other literary aspirants to always work in a room with an open fire--not for the sake of the fire, but in order that he may burn five sheets for every one he sends to the printer. W. S. Porter.
(_Houston Daily Post_, Sunday morning, November 24, 1895.)