A TRIP TO SAN FRANCISCO.

Waimate Daily Advertiser, Issue 21, 15 October 1898, Page 1

A TRIP TO SAN FRANCISCO.

o (Continued.) ' Th« body of the 'Frisco luggage waggons ■ is swung between high wheels, but dips ' <dosm so as to be only a foot from the 1 ground, and has 'no sides. - Luggage is > piled on and then, rods are run into sockets on each side to prevent any parcels | slipping. When the destination is reached ' the rods are taken out and the parcels are : unloaded - without any. trouble. Huge . .cases can in this way be' loaded ' with Jittle or no lifting machinery. There is one ' drawback to the streets of 'Frisco ; many being paved with cobble, which '.makes the, traffic extremely noisy.- Although this is being gradually supplanted toy ashphalt 'Frisco is -not an ideal place for fcicyeleiriding. ,The pathways are 'very wide and the-town is splendidly lighted by electricity.' 'is devoted'to -amusementsjcviciousfand otherwise.'-'- The better class .theatres ? are* admirably "conducted. 'In*these -iti is compulsory for tojjerrioveherhat, andmp applause : is allowed - e xo«pt by.clapping L 6f^Hands:"'i/rhe music

balls range from high-class to abominable. 120 miles from IFrisco is the township of. Monterey, containing the Hotel del Mbnt«, one of the most palatial residences^ for invalids in 'the world: • The, grounds, which cover; many acres, are laid oni in the most, magnificent, style. Another pretty placg near J "Frisco is the .Mount Tamalpais rattway, zigzag up a mountain over 2600 ft. high/ The trig up through ; the wopded slopes among fthe . Californian;^pmes 'wid'^across the^ileap gullies, arqund\aharp% twists on',theTline ,at a speeH ttiai is " hairf raising is. an exciting afternoon's -outing. Sabbath D^y t ia jErwVo,*, apparently [ t does not e;cist eicepyas^aholiHay.^ THe'Ena'co Sunday is I equivalent J \to Cthe , Queen's s Birthday, out; f here^ThV, theatres t ~are open- earlier^- and is pkyiJonger, 'itVithe day .for hofsejracing, J^ixnmihg^matcheß, , railw.ay excittsions % anld^e^ery.other''form /~>|^W> ';k ;l C' 7 YeV c e **® r ifi}^4sfißal6on beautifully got up; andexcellenthotlun'ches are . served,?' sta^d 'on)aUideJable for cuaitomersrvThe;lwger;bi^jha;v«;fivedr^rix

Ib-araien, *H well dressed, and the whole appearance of the place is very stylish. 'The American barman is an artisjfc at -concoctmgtdrinks, temperance and otherwise, and eipertS'get from £5 to £6 per ■week. Some of the drinks contain a large number of ingredients and take about five ,minuteB to<6iake. *There are no barmaids. There is no restriction *>n -the sale of liquor, and the bars axe open night and .day. i There is^a good deal of drinking '- done in the saloons, . but .there ,are almost no signs r .of "excessive drinking to be seen. .Ab the liquor is so easily got, and in fact confronts you-at every turn, . this is very surprising. 'Of course there are innumerable saloons and gambling houses - where the stranger can be swindled.- The for relieving strangere of their s surplus cash are simply legion. To give - you an instance. An organist came over from England, and intended to stay -with friend ?at -jb, .-boarding house. On the way he 'was foolish enough to tell Ins '"" name," business, and where he had come from. Arriving at the boarding house he v could not find his friend, and accepted the porter's help to find another place. On the way thither the latter obtained many interesting details concerning the now : arrival. Next morning, when the organA'ist had just finished breakfast, agentleman <came in and greeted him by name. On -, saying the stranger had the advantage -of him, he was told that they were fellow " from ' England. '■The gentle- ,: mangave the organist's name and mentioned .the ship's name, with various „ .incidents -of the voyage. The result was *■ " that "the pair.-went for a -walk through the -town in the' afternoon. As avening^was , coming on, the stranger was brought to a 1 gaming house. They sat down to a game but a row arose and the organist was .asked for the 'Joan of some *noney. He . unsuspectingly £%& ; no sooner •• -was it handed over than a policeman - V opened the door and said " I arrest -you ♦ - for gambling." The "lights -were ex- - tinguished and the company rushed " for T the doors. The organist rushed too, «nd . a few minutes later found himself in the i Btreet, minus hat and money." They seem -to be perfectly reckless of human life. Many people are found unconscious in the s having 'been sandbagged and -robbed. Every man, and almost every -woman is armed, ;»nd when a dispute* > i .arises it is a question of which shoots first. Durmg^the-fortnight I was in the town, ' --six- men were shot" for mere trifles, -one, ' tfOver the change of a dollar." The police f h-are riot very.-often seen in the .daytime, ' but are easily rung up when necessity '""arises. 'The -street lamp-posts have telephones in- a box 'attached to them, to' < which the policemen of the heat keep the *' 'key.^'^When an arrest- takes -place the ...constable telephones for the partrol < .'*?wsggbn, -which comes along in a few^ fn minutes/ Tfou never „ see, ■ men .dragged . -^'a-boutthe slireets. There is- 7 one « thing" r.^bout ihe hotels and jsaloons which strikes ,4>he as odd. The crockeryware, even in is of the thickeet description, and

the knives and forks of the poorest*.. The only excuse they can give for the crockery is that the waiters throw it about 'so often that they must have something strong. - The waiting and attendance are infinitely behind anything you see in a British community. Everyone gives you to understand that he is as good as you are. The attendance in shops is exactly the same. A customer would be kept waiting for half an hour without apologyof any kind being oftered. If you don't like it you can go elsewhere. The contrast between the attention and civility in a London shop, and the want of it in San Francisco is most striking. All over America, in the Western States especially, the independence of the people is forcibly thrust upon you. I have always been in favour of democracy, but when » negro waiter offensively asserts his equality, it passes democracy and becomes offensive. Again, I have gone into a barber's shop in a hurry and asked to be shaved quickly, the barber coolly lit a cigarette, sat down and brushed his hair till he was ready, thus demonstrating^his perfect independence. There is a great contrast between the American men and American women, the men being of much coarser fibre. The little girls are oldfashioned, but bright and clever and wellmannered, but, on the other hand, the boys are rude and rough, and take endless liberties that children in British communities would never dream of. The average individual wealth appears to be far beyond that in the colonies. The wages, as a rule, are very good, but the prices of goods are correspondingly high. Americans are well paid for what they do, and they pay well for anything done for them. Even for services to which the American passengers were freely entitled, they would offor liberal recompense. The position of the women is one of absolute equality, if not superiority. Men treat their wives and families with great consideration as far as I could see; they grudge them nothing.^ But they are not on that account civil to other men's wives and families. I saw many instances of great incivility to elderly men and women. The average American "and Britisher are very difterfint in their ways. There is much talk about an AngloAmerican alliance, but on the slightest dispute between the two countries the alliance would vanish into thin air. The American is saturated with a notion of his independence, and many think Britain has sought an alliance because she was finding herself in deep water. The popularjnotion that Americans are always in a bustle i« erroneous. They are very easy-going, more especially about other £ people's business. Nobody seemed to me to be in a hurry in shops or offices, <. and ' this dilatoriness was much complained, of by other , passengers after landing. . , One is well , aware- that , people's * experiences difter, but' these are the things that struck . ,me forcibly . j%Whether they, are applicable to more than a email percentage of the people, I cannot tell. On entering

(Continued on seventh page.)