A CALIFORNIA CLUB.

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume XVI, Issue 243, 12 October 1881, Page 4

A CALIFORNIA CLUB.

Mr Chßrles Wsrren Sfodderd wrif?n» from Ran Francisco to the Victorian Bevieiv give *n account of t« :■ •. »<li r Cinh knv^n ss the *'■• Br.b: mhri " which celebrates certain feft'.ivftlg known as She High Jinks, the Low Jinks, fhf» Christmas Jinks, and the Midsummer Jink?. Of the latter he fi*?B: — Tbe midsummer Jinks is tmique For werkp in a^varcs of the event, it is the totk of the Club. A committee is cppoinfed to scour the country in search of a suitable camping ground. The railway companies offer (he most liberol terms for the Uansporistion of passengers and freight. A half-dozec volunteers are on the grounds some days preceding the event, bneily employed in decorating tbe camp and the neighboring wood. TLe tents are pitched, scd well beJded with fresh, Bweet hny; a rostrum is erected; ed amphitheatre filled with beccheu ; foetoor.g cf Japanese lanterns swiny frora bougb to I otigh; banners flutter amosej tha br&ueheg. Legends are tacked upon tre-s and over the variou? tents, Approaching the catvas dormitories, one reads tfcia comfortiog as surance — "He giveth.His beloved sleep !" It i? discovered next morning that this enncurcc-ment «■?>s premature. "No sleep till morn" would hive come nearer the truth. On or.e hand :s written ia large let:e<e " To the etomach " — it is the way to tbe refectory, nntar (ireea boughs. Od the ether band "To the brain" — and there ore is supplied with everythicg crinkab'e, ircm ginger beer to champegne, and ell (he mixed drinks id the American calendar. Over tht tents sre fentsetie titles such as these — " The Morgue," " Sleepy Hollow," "Bummers' Reireat/'Hades." "Thunder Mill " — espsciully reeerva i for celebrated scorers, &c. All that a Bohemian brings to th'n temporary Paradise ia a pair of blankets ! The boaS leaves tbe city at 145 p.m. on Saturday. Lses thsn en hour's sail brings the club to tbe railway. There are usually one hondred and fifty who bave torn themselves from business, resolved upon becoming boys ugain for tbirty-aix hours at least. The trip up is jolly in the extreme; there ara singers enough to swell a chorus at the shortest poeeible notice; musicians, too, guitariste, violinists, and flutists. Music enlivens the hour, and flagons of good spirits, also, until tbe camp is reached. By this time, the cooks and servants having been sect in advance, dinner is ready. There is scarcely time for a swift plunge in the river before the gong is sounded, end the bnngry crowd swarms upon the long tables laid under the euperb red-woods. What appetites ! What hilarity ! What a dinner cooked in the open air, and served abont sunset, with the crickets beginning to Bicg, and the owls to give welcome to to a club of which tbfy have ever been honorary noembere. There is a frolic after dinner, just to eettle it, you know, and to work off a little of the overflowiog fun tbat is a feature of the occasion ; and this having somewhat subsided, the High Jinks is called, the company aosemblea in the arena, the woods are aglow with huge crackling bonfires and with a thousand twinkling lanterns ; the moon ia also cs near tbe fall as possible — for (hi3 feature is carefully studied by tbe committee. The arena is surrounded by a forest of columns — it is a Greek temple not made with bands. The odour of burnt pice boughs is iDcenee, bs it eecends with voices of sbe singer*-— • charming singere, charming never so wisely. The voices of both speakers and singers ring deliciously through tbe enchanted forest, bat, somehow, the applause seems to fritter away and sound frivolous in the solemn wood. Of coarse, there is Low Jinks, and. after that — last end most significant of the ceremocials — the Cremation of Care, Tbis occurs at midnight in a distant and, up to this hour, undiscovered patt of tbe forest, A procession is heade • by mourners and pell-bearers in tbe .goise of tha Italian Brothers of tbe Misericordia, each bearing a flaminp torch. A black pall covers the casket which coctfaine tbe imprisoned body of Care— Care that is the father of. all ills —Care that goade us to the grave, and is now about to receive his due, and to be burEed to aebee. Patriarch?, en l high priestp, and choristers follow tha club in a body, iso and two, aud wind ia procession (hrcutih leafy avpnues io the most meiacchcly music conceivable, ttiofflad drums and the faneresl wail of the choristers. Having reache.i the pyre, tbe catket ia deposited thereon, and the orslion delivered. It is alwsys a serious acd eloquent production ; a kind of Litarjy is eung with appropriate responses, end then, with tbe utmost dignity, the ceremonials are concluded, the torch is applied to tbe pyre, the flames encircle it, anu j suddenly, from the centre, gush stars that eoar throogh the bougha above, while at intervals flaming rcefeeia start into the air, and are loat beyond tbe tree tops. A dead silence prevails ; Sbe Bcene is wildly picturesque, and there is something half appalling in i». When there is nothing left but a bed of coals flashing in the night wiDd, tht company scatters itself, end seeks its several diversions until morning. It is cafe to e&y there is cot icuch sound Bleep within some distEnce of the camp. At intervals during the night distant choroses are hesrd, mysterious murmurs disturb tbe silence of the most secluded lent, and dreamers ore aroused to join in en escapade o! a mischievous, but harmless, niture. The dawn finds many a good Bohemian on his feet, who, up to that hour, has not closed his eyes for a moment, and, probably, will not before noon. At sunrise, the river is the scene of the liveliest swimming contests. A platform, with seats and springboards, is in demand most of the day. There is coffee at any hour after 5 a.m., a hearty breakfast at 9 o'clock, and then rest and recreation on the river or in the wood, enlivened with music at intervals, and siestas, which are at least not out of order ! In the afternoon, a hearty luncheon is spread, and over this final repast, with speeches, toasts, and songs, the time is whiled away until the hour of the return — about 4 a.m.— when the merry revellers entT ibeJraiD, ana settle th.smsQhw ior &

three hours' trip. It has been my good fortune to attend four of these annual midsummer Jinks of the Bohemian Club, and I must acknowledge that it speaks well for the club and for the quality of its membership that, though on each occasion there were from a, hundred and thirty to a hundred and fifty Bohemiaus present, and the occasion was considered a legitimate one for the indulgence of every boyish whim— in brief, each one was authorised to do as he pleased—l must confess I have never seen its licenses abused, and on each occasion I believe that the members returned warmer friends and better fellows. They returned with a sprig of cedar in their lapells, and a fund of reminiscences that will be club-talk for half a year, and with a determination to purchase the land— a bit of forest land washed by a living stream, where they may feel that a portion of nature awaits them, secured from the woodman's axe, green and fragrant for ever. This is the sentiment of a club called Bohemian, and wherein money is of no consequence, beyond the mere needs of the hour j where gentlemen are expected to remove their hats when they enter, and not stalk about or sit with them on, as if it were a waiting-room in a station or a reading-room in an hotel. Perhaps, nowhere else could such a club exist. San Francisco, which is far more Parisian than American, is original enough to do as she pleases in all things, and tbe result is a club which is hospitable without being ostentatious and informal without being vulgar.