194 THE DESERT AND THE ROSE 



to be drawn between eating places, and at an Ameri- 

 can cafe accepts discreetly 'and mutely the morsels 

 I "sneak" under the table, whereas he is liable to 

 advance boldly to meet the more kindly Chinaman. 

 For the custom of showing kindness to domestic 

 animals was for long viewed as a weakness in this 

 section. 



By the toothpick waggling its way along the pub- 

 lic streets do we know that the normal dinnerhour 

 is nearly over and ours about to begin. In a private 

 dining room off the main room in which we take 

 our seats and await the attentions of handmaidens 

 more importantly engaged with the other sex, some 

 Business Man's Club is concluding its monthly 

 luncheon. The men are typically Western, despite 

 the probability that many of them are Easterners. 

 Never except in the pure Gallic race may one behold 

 such a variety of expression, such speaking coun- 

 tenances and gestures, as in this portion of the Far 

 West. The Mexican is voluble and pantomimic, 

 but his range is limited. Once in Boston I watched 

 the elder Coquelin and another Frenchman play out 

 a little drama in absolute silence. It was perfectly 

 comprehensible though not a word was uttered. 

 And now, not for the first time, such a scene is re- 

 created for me by American business men. They 

 talk, but what they say is inaudible at this distance. 

 Absorbed in their own affairs they are dead to the 

 outside world. When one beyond my range of 

 vision speaks, the men within it lean forward, each 

 face a separate study, tense with its individual 

 emotions, opinions — nerves as keen as those of a 



