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The
Night Born
It was in the
old Alta-Inyo Club—a warm night for San
Francisco—and through the open windows, hushed
and far, came the brawl of the streets. The talk
had led on from the Graft Prosecution and the
latest signs that the town was to be run wide
open, down through all the grotesque sordidness
and rottenness of man-hate and man-meanness,
until the name of O'Brien was mentioned—O'Brien,
the promising young pugilist who had been killed
in the prize-ring the night before. At once the
air had seemed to freshen. O'Brien had been a
clean-living young man with ideals. He neither
drank, smoked, nor swore, and his had been the
body of a beautiful young god. He had even
carried his prayer-book to the ringside. They
found it in his coat pocket in the dressing-room...
afterward.
Here was Youth, clean and wholesome, unsullied—the
thing of glory and wonder for men to conjure
with..... after it has been lost to them and
they have turned middle-aged. And so well did we
conjure, that Romance came and for an hour led
us far from the man-city and its snarling roar.
Bardwell, in a way, started it by quoting from
Thoreau; but it was old Trefethan, bald-headed
and dewlapped, who took up the quotation and for
the hour to come was romance incarnate. At first
we wondered how many Scotches he had consumed
since dinner, but very soon all that was
forgotten...
John
Barleycorn
It all came to me one election day. It
was on a warm California afternoon, and I had
ridden down into the Valley of the Moon from the
ranch to the little village to vote Yes and No
to a host of proposed amendments to the
Constitution of the State of California. Because
of the warmth of the day I had had several
drinks before casting my ballot, and divers
drinks after casting it. Then I had ridden up
through the vine-clad hills and rolling pastures
of the ranch, and arrived at the farm-house in
time for another drink and supper.
"How did you vote on the suffrage amendment?"
Charmian asked.
"I voted for it."
She uttered an exclamation of surprise. For, be
it known, in my younger days, despite my ardent
democracy, I had been opposed to woman suffrage.
In my later and more tolerant years I had been
unenthusiastic in my acceptance of it as an
inevitable social phenomenon.
"Now just why did you vote for it?" Charmian
asked...
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