74 Life and Sport on the Pacific Slope 



beyond the dreams of avarice, conscious of powers 

 turned to rich account, respected and admired by 

 his fellows, a pillar of his State, and yet sensible 

 that in the greatest thing of all, in the administra- 

 tion of the most stupendous trust, in the care and 

 culture of his own flesh and blood — he has failed ; 

 that he has killed his best-beloved son with — too 

 much kindness ! 



This kindness, as in the case of King Lear, often 

 breeds rank ingratitude, especially amongst the 

 poor. Here is a story — I cannot vouch for the 

 truth of it — which illustrates a relation that too 

 often exists between son and father. The son is 

 speaking. " Yas — I 've had the worst kind o' luck 

 with the old man. I knew he was ailin', so I paid 

 his expenses out from Missourah, and fed him the 

 best o' corn all through the fall and winter. And 

 then, when spring come and I was a calculatin' 

 that 1 'd get a summer's work out of him, he up 

 and died ! " 



Throughout the West, in the cottages of the poor 

 and in the mansions of the rich, you will find 

 fathers and mothers the slaves of their children. 

 The poor work their fingers to the bone in order 

 that the little ones may wear clothes quite unsuited 

 to their station in life. Upon a hundred ranches 

 I have seen mothers cooking, washing, sewing, 

 while the daughters of the house were reading 

 novels or playing the piano. I have known a 

 mother make her own underclothing out of flour 

 sacks, when her little girl was wearing silk. 



" They can only have a good time once," is the 

 cant phrase of these altruists. 



