Page:California Inter Pocula.djvu/337



woman starve  before  he  would  lend  her  five  dollars  on a  dead  husband's  ring,  any  more  the  friend  of  human- ity than the  grinding  Jew  who  would  ? So it  is  with many of  our  popular  prejudices — sift  them  and  you find no  substance.

Oh, my  prophetic  soul,  mine  uncle! Many a  proud head has  bowed  beneath  the  symbolic  balls  for  the first time  in  California. Could the  pledges  at  the shops of  San  Francisco  pawn-brokers  rise  up  and speak, what  tales  they  would  tell ;  of  what  sighs,  and poverty, and  struggles,  and  despair  they  would  speak  ; of what  broken  vows,  of  what  heartless  cruelty,  of what  devoted  love  and  self-sacrifice,  of  what  agoniz- ing deaths! What touching,  silent  eloquence  in  those worn and  faded  articles,  many  of  them  once  pledges  of affection,  now  pledges  of  necessity  !

Nothing smacked  more  strongly  of  the  topsy  turvy times, or  was  more  characteristically  Californian  than these pawn-brokers'  shops. Ten per  cent,  a  month ; that was  the  rate  charged,  and  the  interest  for  one day was  the  same  as  for  one  month. Quick turns were likewise  the  rule,  for  the  sharp-ej^ed  Shylock  re- ceived the right  to  sell  pledges  unredeemed  at  the  ex- piration of one  month. What a  contrast  there  nmst be between  pawn-brokers'  pledges  of  different  parts of the  world. Here you  see,  scattered  about  the pawn-broker's boudoir,  the  materials  for  a  first-class curiosity shop ;  guns,  revolvers,  bowie-knives,  swords, dress coats,  camel-hair  shawls,  clocks,  watches,  dia- monds, meerschaum pipes,  opera-glasses,  books,  gold- headed canes,  flounced  dresses,  pictures,  and  every conceivable article  of  value  which  is  not  too  cumber- some or difficult  of  transportation. This temple  of distress,  the  necessitous  of  every  class  and  caste  ap- proach : the  unsuccessful  adventurer,  the  ruined  game- ster, the bloated  victim  of  dissipation. See that  pale, broken-hearted widow  approach  with  tremulous  step. She is  a  novice  still  proud  in  her  poverty. With un- easy glances at  the  passing  witnesses  of  her  disgrace,