“‘There have been many such cases,’
said the medical student. ’Many of the
mothers have died—few of the babies have
lived. I, personally, know of nine babies that
have been born in the park to-day. There must
have been many others here, among the sand hills,
and at the Presidio.’”
“Think of it, you happy women who have become
mothers in comfortable homes, attended with every
care that loving hands can bestow. Think of the
dreadful plight of these poor members of your sex.
The very thought of it is enough to make the hearts
of women burst with pity.
“To-day I walked among the people crowded on
the Panhandle. Opposite the Lyon Street entrance,
on the north side, I saw a young woman sitting tailor-fashion
in the roadway, which, in happier days, was the carriage
boulevard. She held a dishpan and was looking
at her reflection in the polished bottom, while another
girl was arranging her hair. I recognized a young
wife, whose marriage to a prominent young lawyer eight
months ago was a gala event among that little handful
of people who clung to the old-time fashionable district
of Valencia Street, like the Phelan and Dent families,
and refused to move from that aristocratic section
when the new-made, millionaires began to build their
palaces on Nob Hill and Pacific Heights. I spoke
to the young woman about the disadvantages of making
her toilet under such untoward circumstances.
“‘Ah, Julia, dear, you must stay to luncheon,’
she said, extending her fingers just as though she
stood in her own drawing-room.”
“I looked at the maid in astonishment, for I
had never met the young society woman before.
The maid shook her head and whispered when she got
the chance:
“‘My mistress is not in her right mind.’
“‘Where is her husband?’ I asked.
“‘He has gone to try to get some food,’
said the girl. ’She imagines that she is
in her own home, before her dressing table, and is
having me do up her hair against some of her friends
dropping in.’
“‘She must have suffered,’ I said,
‘to cause such a mental derangement.’
“The girl’s eyes filled with tears.
She told me that her mistress had seen her brother
killed by falling timbers while they were hurrying
to a place of safety. A little farther on I saw
two women concealed as best they might be behind a
tuft of sand brush, one lying face down on the ground,
while the other vigorously massaged her bare back.
I asked if I might help, and learned that the ministering
angel was the unmarried daughter of one of the city’s
richest merchants, and that the girl whom she succored
had been employed as a servant in her father’s
household. The girl’s back had been injured
by a fall, and her mistress’ fair hands were
trying to make her well again.
“Thus has this overwhelming common woe levelled
all barriers of caste and placed the suffering multitude
on a basis of democracy. On a rock behind a manzanita
bush near the edge of Stow Lake I saw a Chinaman making
a pile of broken twigs in the early morning. The
man felt inside his blouse and swore a gibbering,
unintelligible Asiatic oath as his hand came forth
empty. Observing my escort, the Chinaman approached
and said:
