196 Life and Sport on the Pacific Slope 



of the Merry Smack. After his achievement he 

 was turned into a side-show. As one of the news- 

 papers put it: "The American women are trying 

 to make a star-spangled ass out of our national 

 hero;" and the women came perilously near to 

 doing so. The hero was kissed into exile, it was 

 said ; and at one place more than two hundred and 

 fifty fair adorers stood in line, and patiently and 

 rapturously awaited their turn to be embraced. 

 Lieutenant Hobson accepted this homage with an 

 humble and grateful heart; but one hardly likes 

 to think what would happen if similar sweet cour- 

 tesies were offered to Admiral Dewey or to Sir 

 Eedvers Buller. 



Hobson, willy-nilly, was made a side-show ; Joa- 

 quin Miller, the poet of the Sierras, made himself 

 one: surely a greater offence. It will hardly be 

 believed in England that this man, who has written 

 some of the finest poetry in the English language, 

 should join a variety show and exhibit himself 

 nightly, in costume, to all comers. One would as 

 soon expect to see an archbishop dancing the horn- 

 pipe in Katcliff Highway. 



There are many side-shows. The word is often 

 used to express an isolated sense of the ridiculous. 

 A person in our county was preaching on behalf 

 of Total Abstinence. To clinch his argument, he 

 cited the case of his own father who had destroyed 

 a vineyard in full bearing rather than make wine 

 of the grapes. We were profoundly affected by 

 this, and felt that it was a privilege to sit at the 

 feet of such a man's son. Some weeks later, this 

 parson was in the office of a friend of mine, and the 



