FREE BOOKS

Author's List




PREV.   NEXT  
|<   132   133   134   135   136   137   138   139   140   141   142   143   144   145   146   147   148   149   150   151   152   153   154   155   156  
157   158   159   160   161   162   163   164   165   166   167   168   169   170   171   172   173   174   175   176   177   178   179   180   181   >>   >|  
quiver. "You are a Scotchman, sir?" he said gravely. "So am I; I come from Aberdeen. This is my card," presenting me with a piece of pasteboard which he had raked out of some gutter in the period of the rains. "I was just examining this palm," he continued, indicating the misbegotten plant before our door, "which is the largest specimen I have yet observed in Califoarnia." There were four or five larger within sight. But where was the use of argument? He produced a tape-line, made me help him to measure the tree at the level of the ground, and entered the figures in a large and filthy pocket-book, all with the gravity of Solomon. He then thanked me profusely, remarking that such little services were due between countrymen; shook hands with me, "for auld lang syne," as he said; and took himself solemnly away, radiating dirt and humbug as he went. A month or two after this encounter of mine, there came a Scot to Sacramento--perhaps from Aberdeen. Anyway, there never was anyone more Scottish in this wide world. He could sing and dance and drink, I presume; and he played the pipes with vigour and success. All the Scotch in Sacramento became infatuated with him, and spent their spare time and money driving him about in an open cab, between drinks, while he blew himself scarlet at the pipes. This is a very sad story. After he had borrowed money from every one, he and his pipes suddenly disappeared from Sacramento, and when I last heard, the police were looking for him. I cannot say how this story amused me, when I felt myself so thoroughly ripe on both sides to be duped in the same way. It is at least a curious thing, to conclude, that the races which wander widest, Jews and Scots, should be the most clannish in the world. But perhaps these two are cause and effect: "For ye were strangers in the land of Egypt." WITH THE CHILDREN OF ISRAEL I TO INTRODUCE MR. KELMAR One thing in this new country very particularly strikes a stranger, and that is the number of antiquities. Already there have been many cycles of population succeeding each other, and passing away and leaving behind them relics. These, standing on into changed times, strike the imagination as forcibly as any pyramid or feudal tower. The towns, like the vineyards, are experimentally founded: they grow great and prosper by passing occasions; and when the
PREV.   NEXT  
|<   132   133   134   135   136   137   138   139   140   141   142   143   144   145   146   147   148   149   150   151   152   153   154   155   156  
157   158   159   160   161   162   163   164   165   166   167   168   169   170   171   172   173   174   175   176   177   178   179   180   181   >>   >|  



Top keywords:
Sacramento
 

passing

 

Aberdeen

 

curious

 

conclude

 
Scotchman
 
wander
 

effect

 
clannish
 

widest


borrowed

 

suddenly

 
gravely
 

scarlet

 
disappeared
 

strangers

 
amused
 
police
 

strike

 

imagination


forcibly

 

pyramid

 

changed

 

relics

 

standing

 

feudal

 

prosper

 

occasions

 

founded

 

vineyards


experimentally

 
leaving
 

quiver

 

INTRODUCE

 

KELMAR

 
ISRAEL
 

CHILDREN

 
country
 

population

 
cycles

succeeding
 

stranger

 
strikes
 
number
 

antiquities

 

Already

 
drinks
 

ground

 
entered
 

figures