1904 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



1117 



California, who is sometimes called "Fa- 

 ther Eloquent," on account of his wide ce- 

 lebrity as an orator, gave us perhaps the 

 most thrilling and powerful argument of the 

 whole session of five days. I will try in my 

 feeble way to give you one of his strong 

 points. Not long ago one of his daughters 

 went to San Francisco to meet some friends. 

 For some reason nobody at that special time 

 was on hand to meet her at the depot, 

 without any particular thought in regard to 

 the matter, she showed her card to a fine- 

 appearing young man who stood near, and 

 who did not seem to be in such a hurry as 

 some of the rest. He was very affable and 

 polite, and he told her it would give him but 

 very little trouble to go with her to her 

 friend's, for it was not far away. Before 

 they got out of sight, however, an old man 

 hurried after them and called out " Stop! " 

 At this the young lady turned around. The 

 old gentleman, somewhat out of breath, said, 

 "Young lady, this man is a villain. Come 

 away from him this minute or you will get 

 into trouble. ' ' 



The young fellow began to show some 

 signs of indignation; but the elderly man si- 

 lenced him by a word, and he slunk out of 

 sight as soon as possible. The old man then 

 took the girl where she wished to go, and 

 explained to her that it was right in an op- 

 posite direction. The speaker said he wish- 

 ed to digress a little to explain that this 

 younger man was what is called a "procur- 

 er. ' ' In our large cities there are thousands 

 of them employed. A few years ago he was 

 in a city where a number of men were sit- 

 ting out in front of a hotel. It was in the 

 afternoon, and a great many women were 

 passing along the street in front of the 

 group. A young man well dressed and of 

 pleasing manners sat there in conversation 

 with the rest. All at once he started up 

 and followed after a girl who passed. The 

 older man said to the rest of the crowd 

 something as follows: "Did you see that 

 young man start up all of a sudden? Yes. 



"Well, let me tell you something about 

 him. He gets big pay from a certain insti- 

 tution here in the city. Young as he looks, 

 he is an old hand in the business. He has 

 learned by studying human nature, and par- 

 ticularly by studying girls, that there are cer- 

 tain ones he can approach without getting into 

 trouble. He has learned by long experience 

 so he can tell by a girl's actions and by her 

 looks whether she is likely to be the one he 

 wants. Now, what I am saying need not 

 reflect on the girl's character at all. It is 

 the innocent and unsuspecting he is after— 

 those who have not learned the ways of the 

 world, and he catches on to this by their air 

 and manner. He will contrive in some way 

 to get on speaking terms with the girl he 

 has just followed. He will spend weeks and 

 may be months in getting acquainted with 

 her if she seems to be cautious. He will 

 give fictitious references in regard to him- 

 self and family, for his employers see there 

 is no lack of any thing that money can buy. 

 Do you ask how he can sit around dressed 



up in fine clothes, and spend his time in this 

 way? Well, let me explain to you that he 

 sometimes gets five hundred dollars for a 

 single successful intrigue of this kind." 



With the above explanation Bro. Chap- 

 man proceeded with his argument. 



"Now, friends, suppose I had been near 

 when my daughter started off with that 

 young fellow. I am an old man. I have 

 neither strength nor muscle. Suppose this 

 young chap laughed at me when 1 made a 

 protest. Would some of you tell me that it 

 was not worth while to make such a fuss 

 about it ? Suppose they would say, ' Why, 

 this thing is going on every day. They 

 have got money and means, and it is no use 

 for us to try to help ourselves. They are 

 young and strong. We are feeble old men, 

 and have only a lot of women to help us. ' 

 Why, if I should come here on this stage 

 and tell you I gave up because the fellow 

 was too strong for me, and had too many 

 others around him, you would hiss me out 

 of the room. It is my duty as a father to 

 give my life to save my daughter, even if it 

 is but throwing it away. Again : Suppose 

 this young man, as he disappeared with my 

 daughter behind a closed door, had reached 

 back and offered me a roll of bills, say $500, 

 to keep quiet. Suppose he had suggested, 

 ' My dear friend, you can take this money 

 and build a nice sidewalk near your home 

 and fix things up generally.' Now, what 

 would you as American citizens say to an 

 argument like that? Have I overdrawn 

 it?" 



At this there was a clapping of hands, 

 and calls of " Not a bit ! " until it seemed 

 as if it would raise the roof. Then " Father 

 Eloquent" added, in a way that nobody but 

 himself could add, "My dear brothers and 

 sisters, how much better is it for a man to 

 devote his time and money to leading our 

 hoys astray instead of our girls ? ' ' 



I was startled at the figure, and had just 

 about decided in my own mind that, at least 

 in the eyes of the world, it was a good deal 

 worse to trap the girl than the boy; but to 

 my surprise somebody called out, "Not a 

 bit;" then another and another, until it 

 seemed to be the united sentiment of that 

 great concourse that the man who brings a 

 boy down to ruin by deliberate and careful 

 scheming, is just as bad as one who lures 

 the daughter to her ruin. 



At this point of the story he turned to 

 some of the officers on the stage and asked 

 the question, "My friends, what was it that 

 the Governor of Ohio said when he objected 

 to the Brannock bill ? Have I been rightly 

 informed when I am told he said, 'The 

 Brannock bill as you have it is not fair to 

 the saloon-keeper '?" 



Several voices replied, "You have almost 

 his exact words." 



And now let me digress a little right here. 

 You may remember I was present at that 

 discussion in the Senate in regard to the 

 Brannock bill. When I was told the govern- 

 or said the above, my blood came up to 

 boiling heat; but I did not know exactly 



