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And, lastly, as to what I see." Asher turned toward the west where the hot air quivered between the iron earth and a sky of brass. "I see a land fair as the garden of Eden, with grazing herds on broad meadows, and fields on fields of wheat, and groves and little lakes and rivers, a land of comfortable homes and schools and churches and no saloons nor breweries."
The Barbary Coast was a veritable bit of Satan's realm. The place was made up of three solid blocks of dance halls, for the delectation of the sailors of the world. Within those streets of peril the respectable never set foot; behind the swinging doors of those saloons anything might be happening, crime was as common here as drink, and much went on of which the law was blankly ignorant.
At the approach of the rainy season a deathly chill and a graveyard smell began to hang about the lower floors; and diseases of the chest are common and fatal among house-keeping people of either sex. There was no activity but in and around the saloons, where people sat almost all day long playing cards. The smallest excursion was made on horseback.
The brewers know that the saloons are the meeting places of lawbreakers and disreputables, that they enter the side doors leading to private rooms where burglaries, holdups and other crimes are planned and the booty is divided yet, brewers will make no real effort to improve these conditions. Is it surprising that the public is clamoring for the complete elimination of the breweries?
For gentlemen came to the Millinery Saloons, gentlemen whose looks said plainly that they found her prettier than the ladies that they brought; gentlemen who sometimes came again alone, who for two words would buy a hat and give it you. At Starker's there was always a chance of something happening. At Granville nothing happened, nothing ever could happen.
"I talked a good deal, bein' so mad at the Nation for makin' such dretful hard work partakin' of a gnat, and then swallerin' down Barnum's hull circus, side-shows and all. "Why didn't the Nation shet up the saloons?" sez she, in bitter axents.
If you could see the dark, cold, foul-aired tenements where they live, and then the bright, warm, cheerful saloons, that are open to all, you would see that it isn't the drink that draws the men. I even wish the women could come. The bulk of the men are temperate, and only take a glass or two of beer or whisky, to pay for their welcome.
In another chair sat Potter. There was no light in the office; neither man had thought of a light. As the revelry in the saloons increased the printer glanced furtively at his chief. "There'll be hell to-night!" he said. "I expect there will be trouble," agreed Hollis. Potter shifted uneasily in his chair, eyeing his employer with a worried expression. He was silent for a moment.
"It sounds a little harsh; a good harvest might have set him straight," he said. "However, I suppose you have a reason for what you're doing." "That's so. Langside's the kind of man I've no use for; he takes no interest in his place. After he has put in half a crop, he goes off and spends his time doing a little railroad work and slouching round the saloons along the line."
The quadrilles of Europe are succeeded by the dances of India, and while the young people execute the fandango, the bolero, the cachucha, or the lascivious movements of the bayadères, the enterprising half-breed, the indolent Spaniard, and the sedate Chinese, retire to the gaming saloons, to try their fortune at cards and dice.
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