XXII. 



^rj n.eco @/o^^' 



RED-LETTER day in the annals of New York 

 sharpers is the advent of a California steamer. 

 Hardly is the vessel telegraphed before a fleet of 

 pilot boats start out to meet her, each anxious to be the lucky 

 one which is to act as her escort and be the recipient of her 

 pilotage fee. The boats are furnished with packages of circu- 

 lars, mainly of hotels, boarding houses and clothing stores, 

 and these are scattered broadcast over the steamer as soon as 

 opportunity offers, and are eagerly read by a community 

 whose literature has been so rare as that on our vessel. Solo- 

 mon Levi's statements in regard to the merits and cheapness 

 of his clothing are absorbed, without their truth being ques- 

 tioned, by people who look upon them more as a mental enter- 

 tainment than as schemes for entrapping the unwary into 

 shoddy dispensaries. Peter Hash's account of his luxurious 

 parlors. Sybaritic dining halls and gorgeous dormitories are 

 enjoyed like romances, and so are the descriptions of the Ori- 

 ental accommodations of the Occidental Hotel. Weakened by 

 such mental pabulum the passengers go on their way, weary 

 with their long journey and full of excitement at the prospect 

 of landing. Wistful are the looks which they cast upon the 

 city, with its scenes of busy life, as the steamer nears the 



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