Oakland Tribune from Oakland, California • Page 10

OAKLAND TRIBUNE UGUST 16, 1914, 13 SUNDAY MORNING. GOSSIP FROM SAN FRANCISCO WEEKLIES V. sssssssi Ewing ParK a Plain Liege Filmy Witticism, As They See It Lifting the Lid In San Francisco So the police commissioners have decided to permit dancing In some restaurants one night a week! Is this a concession to the spirit of San Francisco that Mayor Rolph loves to prate about? And whereabouts In the decalogue do we find the night that need not be kept like a Connecticut Sabbath? Mysteri conduct his "March of the IrishJKlngs," written for Morse Stephens' grove play "St Patrick at Tara," and that the stirring music was resoundingly applauded. Professor Stephens' drama was not particularly sylvan, but It pleased Bohemia. Dr.

Shiels confined himself conscientiously within the limits imposed by grove drama, but he left his audience rather cold. The usual travesty of the grove play was omitted this year. For the past few years this has been prepared by Morse Stephens for delectation of the choice spirits, who remain in the grove Sunday evening. This year Malcom Whitmans to Desert Local Society i It la said in Burlingame that as soon as Malcolm Whitman recovers- fully from the operation for appendicitis, he will return to New York, and that means the loss to local society of his exceedingly popular wife. Mr.

Whitman is very loyef to the East and in several respects it haa advantages oveT our Wild and Wooley West, where society is composed of a-l many heterogeneous Ingredients as a boarding house stew. Anything from ous are the irrationalities of the current dispensation suppressed. George Bernard Shaw rushed to her defense, and some of the remarks he addressed to the episcopal puritan are worthy the pondering of the i San Franciscans who want to fig-leaf our drama. The Bishop, he said, "Is proceeding on the assumption that his conscience Is more enlightened than that of the people who go to the Palace Theater and enjoy what they see there. If the Bishop may shut up the Palace Theater on this assumption, then the Nonconformist patrons of the Palace may shut up the Church of England by turning the assumption inside out." Furthermore, said Shaw, "If such Individual and sectarian standards were tolerated we should have no plays at all, for there never yet was a play that did not offend somebody's taste." Are our souls to have no adventures because adventures are dangerous, he asked.

"Carry that an obvious step farther and the Bishop of Kensington will be gagged because he might at any moment utter false doctrines." It is a far cry from the Bishop of Kensington to Corporal Peter Peshon and the rest of the censors who attended the premiere at the Columbia. But the same principle Is Involved. Perhaps our case is a bit more humorous since we send officers to pronounce on plays who cannot even pronounce the names of the plays properly! Town Talk. Chaffing Prexy Wheeler must be packing. So there were no Princess plays presented in Chicago.

But before he went his way Bllnn took occasion to say what he thought about the Chief of Police. He has a pretty facility of police vituperation," has Hal of our town. He knows the secret of compounding verbal Greek fire. If be wrote his Indignation on blue litmus paper, the paper would turn red. The castlgatlon he gave the Chicago Chief was a triumph of literary expression.

It was published far and wide, and held the Chief up to considerable soom. He's smarting from it yet Hence the vendetta. Happy the man who can advance the cause of morality and prosecute a private revenge at one and the same time! Town Talk Moral Spasms of San Francisco We of Ban Francisco are perhaps not so cultured as the tllumlnati who dwell by the blowy shores of Lake Michigan. And perhaps we are not less moral. Bo we may view with' complacency the little storm of scrupulousness that has been stirred up over the Bllnn engagement at the We have known these storms before.

They are periodical in their nature, and do neither much good nor much harm. There have been many occasions in our creditable theatrical annals when plays have been protested. The censors have been called out Id force before. Tou cannot have forgotten that "The Blue Mouse" was suspect, and that two detectives passed on "The Girl from Rector's." Indeed, it is not so long since the movie censors, by way of diversion perhaps, attended the first pro duction of a Paul Armstrong melodrama of eugenics at the Alcazar. Yet, with the exception of Salmi Morse's Passion Play (which received the countenance of the saintly Archbishop Alemany but offended the tenderer susceptibilities of cer tain Methodist ministers), I cannot recall a single instance when a play was actually suppressed by official action.

I have not forgotted "The Turtle." "The Turtle" would seem unduly re spectable If presented today, we have so broadened our ideas in these matters, but at the time of its production it gave every community it came into the most violent of conniption fits. There waa quite a pother about It in San Francisco as soon as It was advertised for presentation at the California Theater. The people of the McDonough estate threatened to break Sam Frledlander's lease on the theater ff he dared to house its un-expurgated nastlness. So it was a very stupid and inoffensive "Turtle" that crawled onto the California stage on the opening night. A packed house was disappointed the expected salacity was absent "I wouldn't take Little Egypt to see "The Turtle," said Ashton Stevens next morning, and went on to explain that he wouldn't Insult the oriental wriggler of the Midway Plalsance by asking her to sit through Its deadly dullness.

The second night the California didn't hold a corporal's guard. "The Turtle," you see, was censored by the landlord, not by the police. The nearest the police ever came to Interfering with a play, so, far as my recollection goes, was when i they served notice on Manager Kurtxig of the little Colonial in McAllister street! At the opening performance of the Princess Theater players at the Columbia anocared Corooral Peter Peshon of the Board of Censors. He waa there to see that the Muse of Comedy behaved hereelf. Now Corporal Peter Peehon la no prude.

He haa had wida experience of tha drama In the movies, and he haa proved him self sensibly tolerant, though he hai aeen drama which he haa had cut down by Jape measurement. Now he had heard jnMitiKAAig rumors about the Princess plays. Somebody had Informed him that the Bllnn repertoire waa streaked with the boudoir drama rampant So he was on the alert He sat through "Hari Karl" without a blush. He saw nothing wrong In the play but the Jap. The only had taste he could find was the young woman's.

Then came "En Deshabille." This comedy startled him a When the lady entered the bedroom. Just after the man In the pajamas got into bed, Corporal Peter Peshon frowned a little, Though he's no playwright, when he saw the lady taking the pins out of her hair he began to imagine the drift of the thing. But when he found they were respectable married folk, he went outside to cool off. In the lobby he met Man ager Melville Marx and the Chronicle's critic, Wally Young, "What do you think of the show?" Marx asked. The censor of films observed that there was nothing wrong with it, but he could see where "that French play" might be toned down si tittle.

"Of couase It's all right," he said, "but the lady In bed, It that could be cut out, 1W "That's right," the Chronicle's critic interrupted, addressing himself to Marx, "cut about two hundred feet out of It. The most enterprising press agent could not have done better by the Columbia than Chief of Police White did when he expressed hi doubts about the pro prlety of the Holbrook. Bllnn playlets and sked the Board of Censors to attend the railing performance. As soon as the Cillers action was announced In the pa pers eager patrons of the art theatric began besieging the box office In Geary street. Despite the fact that the war news monopolised the first four or five pages of the papers, and that this item of theatrical information was hidden away where it had to be looked for, all our best people and a great many not quite superlative read the announcement and immediately hurried downtown to reserve seats for the premiere.

Every body wanted to go to the premiere, for everbody had the same thought there might not be a second night, or the sec ond night's performance might be as innocuous and stupid as a bowdlerized version of Les Contes Drolattques. The "Board of Censors constituted a factor of unknown value In the theatrical equa tlon. They might censor, and they might not Why take a chance? "Two seats for the first night please, and as near the stage as possible!" Town Talk. Chicago Vendetta Transplanted Here To do Chief White simple Justice, it must be mentioned that he was fully aware of the precious advertising he was lavishing on Messrs. Gottlob and Marx when he Intimated to them that it might be necessary for him to put the lid on the Princess plays In the interest of public morality.

"Gus" White is broad-minded, and endowed with a sense of humor that makes him humanly tolerant. I doubt whether in his heart of hearts he takes the Board of Censors very seriously or is anxious to see their function extended to Include the censoring of legitimate drama a well is film plays. But Chief White felt compelled to act Esprit de corps urged him on. The Chief of Police of Chicago had taken the trouble, to' wire the Chief of Police of Ban Francisco that the plays produced by Holbrook Bllnn and his associates were immoral, Indecent, obscene, naughty, demoralizing and subversive of public order. I do not pretend to quote his very terms, but Chicago's Chief of Police feels strongly on the subject, and no doubt he used even stronger adjectives than these I have set down.

Holbrook Bllnn happens to be that func tlonary's black beast, his pet aversion. On Holbrook Bllnn and all his works and pomps snd plays and players the Chicago Chief of Police has declared a war of extermination. He has sworn a vendetta of horrendous Import Naturally our "Gus" could not Ignore the warning served upon him by a distinguished So," though heltnewhls interference would crowd the Columbia on opening night, he felt compelled to take action. To give him his due Chief White smiled good-naturedly when Mel Mart gravely thanked him for his Interference and told him that it had packed the Columbia to the last row of the gallery for the first time in lo! these many moons. Marx thanked the Chief In the lobby before the Of course the Chief was It would be a cowardly Chief of Police who would hesitate to risk his own morals at a performance to which he had despatched Corporal Peter Peshon and the rest of the Censors.

San, Francisco Is the first city the Princess Players have visited since their memorable experience In Chicago, so this engagement has given the Chief of Police of the Windy City his first chance to strike at Holbrook Bllnn. Chicago is very cultured city, but it Is not without the taint of provincial puritanlsm. The fig leaf is highly regarded in Chicago as a buckler of morality. This may seem strange to those who remember that eminent authorities like Gertrude Ather- ton and Mrs. Fiske have declared Chicago to be the center of American culture, but let us remember that centers of culture know their Emerson and have a proper, disdain for an enslaving consistency.

Cultured Chicago received the Princess Flayers with eyes modestly downcast and minds troubled by doubt They had heard about the productions from adventurous men who had risked their Immortal souls by visiting the little Princess Theater In New Tork. So they resolved not to dally with the chances of damnation. The Chief of Police is tha guardian of Chicago morals, and he sent a policemsn to a rehearsal of the Princess plays. The policeman returned to head quarters lnrsucfnrseaaarizeQtate muia uiai uotDioo nun a was told lis The new Ewing Park, out in the Richmond District has proven a veritable Liege. 1 The Seals have lost money since the Remove out there, and the whole Pacific Coast League Circuit has not taken out of this city one half of the money pulled down In seasons, past The Berrys, the McCredles and the ethers are inclined to blanie it on our beautiful New Park.

-The mysterious Conclave ef the League Moguls at the St. Francis Hotel on July 28 was "about this very Thing. The dally papers eald not a word of the Real sjid Innermost reason for the Conference; so we'll serve you the News, though a little Belated. The t'p-shot of the Con- i fab Is that Negotiations are now pending, with a fair show of success, which will lead to a Return, for this Season anyway, to Old Recreation Park, in Valencia street. Most all the League Magnates favored this Move, and Messrs.

Ewing, Ish, and Baum naturally inclining to Stand by the Guns and Stay with the New Park. To the Ewing-Ish faction, the Re-open-lng of negotiations' with "Ed." Walters for the use of Recreation Park Is a sour pill to take. However, the Ewing lease on Recreation Psrk has still some time to run, and maybe the Intention Is to come back to Valencia street for Just a short spell of time, until general business and prosperity conditions re-adjust themselves. It will be recalled that Walters was eliminated as a stockholder In the Oakland Club two years ago, but quickly countered by securing ah option on Recreation Park In this cltyt when the Ewing lease would expire in 191S. For Ewing' to Continue there, Walters asked an exorbitant lease rental.

Then Messrs. Ewing and Ish built the present splendid and admirable plant at Geary and Masonic avenue. From a close study of conditions. It appears the Mission district and the populous district southwest of Market street supplied a goodly portion of the attendance through the week. The money-spending sports of the city are to be found in the Mission district The boxing bouts receive their major support from this part of the city, and so it Is with baseball.

The quality of attend ance has improved in Richmond, but not so the gross recelptsv Another thing. Times are hard, and the baseball magnates of the coast have to psUl through on a short draught of steam as best tliey may. The tact Is that every club in the league is not getting out' of San Francisco by one-half what was forthcoming In previous seasons. As San Francisco is the bulwark of the league, this state of affairs cannot go on for long. Hence look out for a change a switch back to Valencia etreet and a reduction of the carrying strength of the clubs from eighteen players to fourteen players.

Such is' baseball in these panicky war times. The Seals will shortly have a new 'n- fielder. His name Is Bob Jones and he is the third-sacker who has been playing with Ogden in the Union Association. The Seals had the first claim on the club and, as Jones Is well recommended, decided to call him here at once. Ed Klepfer, the big Venice pitcher, will probably be taVen up on option by the Chicago White Sqx.

It is known that Charles Comisky has had great reports on Klepfer and that his scouts have given him the opinion that the big twlrler would be more valuable than Dicky Bayless. Comisky has an option through the sale of Doc White to Venice last fall. and can take any man out of the club he wants. In the recent proposed trade between pakland and Venice, Klepfer was figured as part of the deal. Hogan was willing to give Klepfer, Litsch and Elliott for Pruiett, Hetling and Mitze.

The deal fell through because no arrangement could be made which, would strengthen the Oakland Wasp. Generous Millionaires, Are Some of 'Em Vincent Astor has presented to the village of Rhinecllff, N. a strip of land to be used by the village as a highway leading to the New York Cen tral station. The village tried to buy the property several months ago for highway purposes, but the owner refused to sell for less than $25,000. The village could not afford to pay this and the project was giveimp.

The much wanted land extends through what Is known as the Holllday Farm. When Mr. Astor learned that the vil lage sought the land so as to open a new approach to the railroad, he opened negotiations for the purchase; he finally closed a deal, and today It was announced that he had offered the land to the village without price. The gift was accepted, and with the aid of Mr. Astor the village officials will begin laying "out" a "tilgh way.

A somewhat similar instance of pub-llc-pirltedness was given at Napa, bj our San Francisco millionaire Adolph Spreckels. The road between Mr. Spreckels fine stock farm and the town was In wretched condition, and no money In the county treasury to make the repairs. Mr, Spreckels built a fine road at his own expense and about every motorist who vIbHs Napa knows how good the road Is, for the Spreckels farm 1 one of the show places of Napa. Wasp.

Adding to School Department's Plans The Oakland recreation department proposes to appoint an official story teller. "A storyteller for children has long been desired In the. playground work," says George Pickle, superintendent of playgrounds, "and will add greatly to the efficiency of he department's work among the children. Storytelling is an art In Itself, and la a source of much entertainment and education when carried on In a systematic way among the young folks." This f-m of municipal -vaudeville might very well be supplemented with official Instruction In Mis Ihiis.ii and Msw Letter, that Wilde's "Salome" would not beWalled Flst: Figment of the Imagina- SGrops-ot-roart-beef to-disearded-colia buttons are likely to be found in the mixture or mess, if you prefer the term. Many exceedingly conventional people also have grown blase In Old World communities like the hurly-burly and catch-as-catc'h-can style of our Wild Western Smart set To a blase cosmopolitan, It Is an amusing novelty like a dinner of corn beef and cabbage after a diet of broiled chicken and frogs legs, or like copious draughts of steam beer after a champagne orgy.

Some Eastern people, however, take a kmg time to become acclimated in the Far West. They retain their New England ideals and revolt against the letting down of the bars and the letting in of everybody who can increase the gaiety of an occasion ahd reciprocate with liberal hospitality, regardless of ancestry, education or the Ten Commandments. The average Easterner, however, after spending six months in the sunshine and sea breezes of California, becomes a Wild Westerner for life. Mr. Whitman's attack of appendicitis was very sudden.

He was playing tennis in the afternoon and the same night he was under the knife at the Adler hospital. Being an athlete and the possessor of a fine constitution there is every hope that he will soon be arovnd again in perfect health. Meantime, Mrs. Whitman Is his most devoted nurse and is refusing all Invitations to social affairs. The solicitude for her husband recalls the fact that her sister, the late Mrs.

Harrison, was one of the most devoted of wives. Mr. Harrison is the Lieutenant Governor of the Philippines, and by all accounts, a notable misfit for the important position. Wasp. Effect of the War on Trade and Industry The Jemnorary halt In trade, owing to the European war, cannot last long and must be succeeded by a period of unexampled activity in business and Industry.

Europe must be supplied with the necessaries of life, and with millions of men divoroed from productive activities ami consuming great quantities of food amf" nvm'tlons of war, this country will neces. sarlly be called on to supply the lack. For the moment, transportation by sea 1 halted, but thli Is a condition that cannot long continue. We may look for decisive battles shortly to determine the command of the sea. Already the influence of the prospective demand for the great staples has been felt by the market.

The price of sugar has In the past wetk marked a sensational advance, which more than neutralizes the tariff reductions. How Important the Hawaiian sugar planters and tho beet sugar people consider the buoyant upward movement of this staple may he gleaned from the fact that the advance of the last five days is more double the amount of protection removed from the industry on March 1, 19U. This reduction of the svgar schedules, whlc.t went into effect on that date, cost the beet growers and the Hawaiian cane planters J6.80 a ton. Th protection afforded by the, Dlngley tariff aggregated $20.96 a ton for th Hawaiian and domestic producers, and the" revision' lopped tiff about fS.80, end fixed May 1, 1P1C, as the effective date for free sugar. With twenty-two months of protection by ft uty amounting to a little- mere than 1 cent a round before them, and raw mutar steadily climbing, small that -the sugar people feel Jubilant.

Shortly, the Par.ama canal will be open for trade, eox that California products may be chepply laid down In European porta. Fcr years tho export of dried fruits, canned goods, win, 1a lati nclsc, whest and beans have formed a portion of the extorts of San Francl to Germany, France and the United Kingdom, Ihe distribution of these products being effected from these centers to other parts of the continent During the year 1913 San Francisco exported domestic merchandise to England aggregating J7.959.COO, to Ireland $595,000, to Scotland 124,000, to Canada $3,822,000. to Australia- New Zealand fflS- 000 to British India and other BrWiv.li possessions about $450,000. California tills year has an exceptionally large tarley crop, and it was expected probably half of the crop, estimated at 95C0OO tens, would have been shipped to Europe, but the breaking out of war necessarily will change the destination of all that portion except that now on tha tea, and very little of that is of new crop. While the exports of wheat have been diminishing in recent years, there will be a demand now.

becausa of the Russian wheat crop being retained at home for their own use. This will naturally Increase the price of both wheat and barley and tliia state will derive benefit thereby. San Francisco already has established an export trade in wine with Great Britain, France and Germany. This trade must get a very material Impulse from the fact that the war is certain to cause a great shortage In tho product of Euro, pean vineyards. It la estimated that tha thortage in the Furopean crop will total 1,000,000 gallons of wine.

News Letter. 'Tis a Question; What's the Answer? It was Monday night at the Columbia, and the Princess Players were In the midut of that spicy little play "The Bride." 8lttlng in front of me was a very beautiful young woman, and I hap-pennd to know that the Kht shining In her fine black eyes was the afterglow of the honeymoon. I happened to know also that the young man besldi her was her husband who is net slngle-heartedrln his devotion to m- as he ought to be. In the midst of a most amusing incident she turned to him and ma 1,1 In a i "n-aningtui manner: "They do these things better- In, France." i Town Talk. ly, dancing In the philosophy of this dis pensation Is not an unholy pastime.

It Is tolerable, but like everything else In this day and generation it must be regu lated. Terpsichore must not be given her head, else she may run amuck with her tambourine and use her garland of flowers to catch souls as susceptible as the chaste Max Kuhl. I suppose it was in deference to the prejudices of Max that the commission gave the lid only a one-seventh tilt. Perhaps they thought It would rouse the sleeping Puritan to go any further. But perhaps In time the Mayor may screw his courage up a little and tell Max to go to blazes.

I hear, by the way, that the Mayor Isn't so en thuslastlc about Max" since he heard of the precise character of the commissioner's relations with the Good Government League. When he gave Max the appointment to the commission be thought he was rewarding a zealous, disinterested patriot, but, so the story goes, somebody has told him that when Max was making the fight for civic purity it was- on a cash basis something like a thousand a' month. If such was the case the Mayor is deserving of felicitation on having picked out at least one business man to give verisimilitude to the profession of a business administration. The lid-tilting hearing was in the nature of a field day for our, militant pulpiteers, and they whangdoodled to their hearts' content although the outcome showed again that Charles James Fox was right when he said that oratory never changed votes. The Rev.

John M. Jackson, a notable pulpit pounder, declared that any lifting of the lid would be an act of bad faith since we had assured the world that our Exposition would be held In a city morally clean. To the mind of this master of ratiocination the reason for England's and Germany's failure to participate nationally in our Fair is probably to be found In the fear of those countries that San Francisco might prove a wickeder city than London or Berlin. No doubt he thinks that the world would be mightily Impressed with our virtue If the word went forth that we abhorred cafe dancing and singing. It is worthy of note that while several of the most Jarring sects were represented by their ministers during this hearing, there were no Roman Catholic priests or Jewish rabbis present to protest.

I asked one of the newspapermen who reported the hearing how he accounted for this, a.id he said: "I guess the priests and the rabbis were too busy ministering to their flocks to have any time for this particular matter of uplift." I shouldn't be surprised if he was, right. Town Talk. Curiosity, Satisfied In Doctor's Grove Play There must have been great curiosity among the eight hundred and sixty Bohemians who were present at the high Jinks to see how Dr. J. Wilson Shiels would acquit himself as a playwright As I did not see "Nec-Natama," I am not a very good Judge of its merit Even if one has cultivated the habit of visualizing a drama from the printed page, one cannot do full Justice to its worth by merely perusing it In the reading, I must say, it Is Impressive.

"Nec-Natama." the author tells us, means Comradship, and Dr. Shiels found his theme by Imagining the condition into which an Indian tribe- would be plunged if love was banished from their midst and hate took possession of their hearts. As the doctor's purpose was the inculcation of a moral lesson by means of symbolism, he took what liberties he pleased not only with Indian character but also with nature. We are to suppose that among these primitive people love held dominion until one day a white man who had been saved mlracuously from the stake, succumbed to the charms of the Hate Woman, whereupon the cycle of hate began, to continue until a captive maiden inspires the Hate Chief of the tribe with a pure passion, thus teach-ing him self-restraint and restoring the reign of love. From the nature of the theme "Nec-Natama" Is beautiful rather than strong; It Is sentimental rather than true.

But it lends Itself to picturesque treatment, the end no doubt that Dr. Shiels kept in view. It is a carefully written play. Many of the speeches consist of chopped-off phrases that must be effective on the stage in conveying the laconic style we associate with Indians; but the reader finds his pleasure in the more elaborate speeches written in the metre of "Hiawatha," and in the songs. Dr.

Shiels' songs read very well Indeed; they prove him, not a poet Indeed but a graceful versifier. The bent recitative is that in which the High Priest tells the story of the coming of the White Man to the wood and the evil events that followed. The best lyric is "The Song of the Trees," it is good to read, and It must have been Very effective when sung. "Nec-Natama" Is not to be numbered among thu best of Bohemia's grove dramas, but it is a worthy performance, and there is no reason why Dr. Shiels should plead In extenuation that he is a physician, not a writer.

The consensus of opinion in Bohemia seems to be that "Nec-Natama" disappointed expectations. "Too much dialogue, and not enough action" Is the way I have heard a number of Bohemians sum it up, All agree that the stage effects were very beautiful, particularly the cascades which flowed down the mountainside to splash Into the pool on the stage. The electric lighting of the water was Ingeniously contrived and excited enthusiasm. The music of 1'tla Waklrnp I have heard described as "too sugary." It Is significant that at the 'shin was given an ovutlon when lis arose to for the- omlsiotahx saying that there was not sufficient enthusiasm over "Nec-Natama" to make a travesty worth while. But Bohemians are notoriously hypercritical, and it may be that the criticisms I havo summarized ar unnecessarily harsh.

Town Talk. This InKy War You Read About Admiral Mahan' is a wise prophet, who attaches a useful and competent string to his prophesies. He refuses, now that the matter Is In the way of immediate test, to commit himself on the moot question whether" the dreadnoughts and super-dreadnoughts are junk, chiefly dangerous to their own crews, or are really effective engines of war. On the other hand, H. G.

Wells has burned his dreadnoughts behind him, and says he would Just as soon go to sea In St. Paul's Cathedral as In one of these modern monsters, Then, again, In this Inky war of the experts, there Is another Ingenious proponent who Is writing for the papers, and declares that the warlike Influence of a fleet may be chiefly "stale and noiseless." This perhaps Is a form of moral support afforded by a fleet bottled up In harbor and afraid to come out for fear of being attacked by the submarines. News Letter. As to Jackling and His Plans The grand bachelor apartment for Copper King Jackllng that Includes an entire floor of the new St Francis wing is nearly completed. But will It be a bachelor apartment? That remains to be seen.

There is Just a chance that Jackllng may take a bride into its luxurious ease. A bachelor Is never a confirmed bachelor until he's and as Jackllng Is very alive you never can tell when he'll marry. Jackllng is in Alaska Just now on his splendid yacht Cyprus, and there are guests aboard, for he's a great entertainer. It happens that among the guests Is Mr. E.

B. Braden and his charming daughter Winifred. Braden Is a member of the Pacific-Union and the Claremont Country Club. His daughter hasn't made her debut yet, but she's Immensely popular on both sides of the bay. Incidentally she Is receiving a great deal of attention from the Copper King.

Decidedly, it Is in order to ask whether Jackllng will enter his new hotel home as a bachelor or as a benedick. Town Talk. Mrs. Sharon's Hands The tea rooms of the Palace and St. Francis are the rendezvous for the returned smart-setters these days.

At the Palace during' the tea hour Tuesday a handsome young army officer remarked to his charming companion that he liked the tea and muffins, but that the piece de resistance for him consisted of the hands of Mrs. Frederick Sharon. Naturally I studied Mrs. Sharon's hands. The son of Mara, was right.

They are unusually fine hands. They are as exquisitely shaped as the hands of a Phldlan Venus and as white as lilies, with rose-tipped finger nails. They are graceful hands that flutter likei petals. And they are expressive hands, the revealing signs of a charming personality. They are hands for a painter to delight In; hands that only a poet like Austin Dobson could fittingly celebrate.

I am grateful to the soldier for calling my attention to Mrs. Sharon's hands. Town Talk. Experimenting In Oakland ThirUntverglty-of -proposes- to Institute an Interesting experiment in Oakland In the way of a preparatory school to fit students for the university. This will be a sort of laboratory In which the children will be the subjects of experiment In rnf lhcds of pedagogy.

The plan Is undertaken at the invitation of the Oakland Board of Education and the school authorities will co-operate In the establishment of the University, School at Forty-eighth, and Webster streets, designed for the 'jurrose cf secondary or high school education, It has lorn been the defctre nf tha purtment of education of the University of California, of which the director Is Prof. Alexia F. Lcnpe, to supplement the work given in the theory of education with actual laboratory practice In a secondary school designed especially for this purpose. The Stato Board of Education requires a certain amount of teaching experience which -will now students of pedagogy. It is hoped, in large pari in tne new university school In Oakland.

It will be operated under the su-pemirinn of the University of California with Professor C. E. Hugh, of the department of education, as principal, and will be conducted as a secondary chnni the plan of the Horace Mann School In in ew worn, which Is connected In a similar way with Columbia University. A six year orIlege preparatory course beginning with the seventh grade will ultimately be given, but at present no classes will be open to third and fourth year High School pupils. The work will he conducted In accordance with the most modern Ideals of education, and will afford the unusual advantagv of smaller classes than are possible In the other hljrh schools.

In addition to the regular academic subject a-wlde option In language will be offered, In accordance with a promise recently made by Hie Bohid of Education to establish' nt lean jne School In Oakland. Latin, French, German, IM'iUilsli snit'linllsii sill lIuiHf'ill' lu a littJ't the curriculum. cw Letter. Is Merry Game The Bohemians who attended Dr. Bhlels' grove play had a great time chaffing Benjamin Ide Wheeler about the troubles of his friend Kaiser Wll-helm.

The president of the University of California might have enjoyed his stay In the Bohemian Grove much more if the war talk (which divided Interest with had not turned so persistently on the apparently desperate condition of the German army. Everybody In Bohemia knows that Benjamin is a great friend of Wllhelm. He always refers to that august personage as "my dear friend the Kaiser," and It is pretty generally understood from his conversation that when Wheeler is In Berlin he calls the Kaiser "Bill" and that the Valaer reciprocates by addressing him as "Benjy." So the Bohemians made a point of putting Prexy Wheeler on the defensive. They were loud in their praise of Belgian prowess. They read in his hearing dispatches stating that the Ger man gunners exhibited poor marksman ship, and that the German commanders showed lack of initiative and enthusiasm.

They wondered why a fighting machine like the German army should have Invaded Belgium without victualling Itself properly. In fact they lost no opportunity of baiting Wheeler. And he satisfied their expectations by attempting to explain. His stay at the grove waa one long exposition of German strength, one continuous explanation of German reverses. Whereas his tormentors laughed gleefully in their sleeves.

Which serves to remind me that shortly after the conclusion of the Balkan War! President Wheeler wrote for the Literary Supple- ment of New York Times a review 01 Ared H. Fried book "The German emperor and the Peace of the Worold." Tnls review which bore the name of resident Wheeler was headed "The t'on Pacifist. The heading goes lurmer tnan Prexy Wheeler goes I. ULt RIUVIG IB Birunge reading In view of what has happened during the past three weeks. "Ger- miny cannqt wish for any further an- nexations pf European territory," writes Wheeler.

"It cannot afford to disturb the present balance of races and creeds." Also: "Germany wants first of all quiet and- order in Europe. There- will be no war unless Britain, under the 1onff of her suspicions, should en- trust herself at inrnn linfnrlmfo to the guidance of extremists who believe In striking before Germany attains her full naval strength. To the out- side observer it is the chief wonder that the people of Britain have been so slow to recognize that the Emperor is their best friend in Europe." These quotations seem to Indicate not only that Prexy Wheeler Is not endowed with prophetic gifts a circumstance that doesn't surprise but also that he lacks the discretion which might have prevented him from setting down his dogmatic assertions where they could be used to embarrass him. But his condition Is not so bad as Starr Jordan's, for Jordan was caught In the tangles of war while preaching universal peace. Town Talk.

Society Leaders as Grand Jurors Is the federal grand Jury getting Into society? Or Is society getting into the federal grand Jury? Probably it's the latter way. A new federal grand Jury has Just been Impaneled by Judge Dool-Ing, and In the list are Harry Simpklns, Gus and Will Taylor, I need not mention that these are very Important society men. Gus and Will Taylor are Important ln themselves, socially considered, and tremendously Important as the husbands respectively of Helen and Edna Hopkins: In the list they appear as Ironmongers, not as society men. Harry Simpklns Is listed without occupation, simply as "Harry Simpklns, University Club." That of course is a residence, not an occupation. Harry Simpklns Is a capitalist and doesn't have to work for a living.

On his social Importance I do not have to dilate. There was a time when many thought he would marry Jennie Crocker, but he didn't. There three men will lend tone to the federal grand Jury. If it meets at night they- are aura to attend in dinner coats, which will Impress the other jurors and amuse Judge Dooltng who never wore a dinner coat In his life. Indeed, I don't think Judge Doollng ever constricted his manly bosom within the limits of a "boiled shirt" He prefers a hickory shirt for all occasions.

Harry Simpklns and the tw Taylors will find the Judge's hickory shirt very Interesting. As for their work, they will find that Interesting too. no doubt as Interesting, let us say, as Ing to mis some of the winter's festlvl- volve sacrifice, you see. Towu Talk. permltted if the Dance of the Seven 1 Veils was indecorously executed.

But, they might have saved themselves the trouble. Izetta Jewell, San Francisco's first Salome, wss no Mary Garden. When she got through unwrapping her seven veils there waa still so much chaste muslin swathed about her body that my memory Is not playing me false, I think even Herod showed considerable disappointment! Town Talk. FlB Leaf Ctllt Is in Evidence There Is no reason why we should be unduly humiliated by these spasmodic outbreaks of pseudo-morality. They are not confined to small, isolated communities like ours.

They are as old as recorded history. Let us remember always that the cult of the fig leaf began In the Garden of Eden. Adam and Eve were the first Puritans! There were thin-lipped, dour Greeks who shook their heads over the nudities of the Gymnasium; Romans who found matter for criticism In the unveiled marble Venuses the sculptors delighted to chisel. History Is full of the censoring of plays, books, pictures and statues. Savonarola flourished, not In Chicago but In Clorenoe.

Paris was always a liberal city, yet even In the easy-going days before the Revolution the censor was a busy little cup of tea. Has not Anatole France preserved for us the figure of M. Nlcodeme, the president of the Purity League of Paris at the beginning of the eighteenth century? You have of course read that veracious book wherein Jacques Turnspit preserves the opinions of his dear master the Abbe Colgnard, so you remember the day bustled into the book shop of M. Blalzot in the Rue St. Jacques and complained that a volume of Ronsard In the window was open at the frontispiece which displayed the figure of a woman clothed only In her hair.

"The end that I pursue," explained M. Nlcodeme, "Is to outdo In nlceness In' the matter of modesty the regulations of! the Lieutenant de Police." And that Is the end every Anthony Comstock of them I all has pursued before and since. "Wei have," exclaimed M. Nlcodeme, "fixed I six hundred vine or fig leaves on the statues In the King's park." The rebuke which Abbe Colgnard administered from his point of vantage at the top of a ladder where he was devouring a volume of Cassidorus, Is good for the busy-bodies of today, so I shall quote It: "Seeing that objects have no meaning for us save by association of ideas. In placing vine leaves and fig leaves on statues, you transfer the quality of Indecency to the leaves: so that one can no longer see vine or fig trees on the oountryalde without conceiving them ss sheltering some Indecency." About a year ago when Gaby Ceslys was appearing at the Palace of Muslo Hall In London she was assailed by fig lent fanatics headed by the good Bishop slumming.

They are to serve till No-of Kensington. The Bishop was so vember, which means that they are go- wrnught up over Gaby's performance TTiBi ii wiius a imtsi' Hi Timsirm. lwum wwi mm in ium about her, and demanded that her act bei.