THE ANNALS OF

CHAPTER V.

the close of this first

• year
the membership of the
Bohemian Club counted
1ll actual numbers one
hundred and sixteen, but
in enthusiasm these figures
no more convey an idea
of size than does a lady's
'kerchief of the top-sail of a man-of-war. A promi-
tJ.{ arvelJous nent member in an address to the Club a year
influmce of later, says, with that modesty previously referred to
the Bohemian
Club. as characterizing the dwellers in Bohemia," The
influence of its vigorous young life has even crossed
the Atlantic and left its impress upon the older
culture of Europe. I doubt," he continues, "if
even the most sanguine of the projectors of the
Bohemian Club ever dreamed of the wonderful
results which so short a period would bring about
in its history, or foresaw the intense interest to be
taken in our proceedings by all classes of tbe
society in which we live." Much of this miraculous
notoriety, it was conceded, was due to the admirable
institution of High Jinks, which were likened to the
"Noctes Ambrosianre."

.~---
 THE BOHEMIAN CLUB.

The initiation fee which had been raised to

twenty-five dollars was now raised to fifty dollars, and
the monthly dues from two dollars and a half to
three dollars.
Mr. Henry Ed wards, the former Vice-President, Henry
was elected President of the Club for the next Edwards
elected
term, with Arpad Harazthy, Vice-President; George 'President.

Lette, Secretary; Robert Roy, Treasurer; and for

Trustees, D. P. Belknap, Edward Bosqui, Samuel
M. Brooks, A. G. Hawes and Robert M. Eberle.
The first important event of this administration
was the Jinks in honor of William Shakespeare. A "Shakes-
peare " Jinks.
The night set for this affair was of a Sunday,
probably because of Mr. Edwards' professional
engagement. He apologetically suggests in his
invitation that the members of the Club devote the
day to religious duties so that the amusement of
the evening may. not sit heavy on their souls. A
further clerical air is given to the proceeding by a
pen and ink sketch of an impossible Shakespeare
labelled "William, the Divine."
A "parlor entertainment" was given on May
21st to the lady friends of the members, but what
the nature of it was, whether the acidulated
MacStinger made tea, or the bland and subtle
t Parker composed one of his mysterious lemonades,
is a weird secret of the dead years.
 THE ANNALS OF

The next Jinks occurred on May 31st, of which

Paul Neumann was Sire. Mr. Neumann at this time
Mr. Neumann
surprises the was a young lawyer. He was called Paul by tho~e
'Boal'd of
Trustees, who knew him intimately, it being the custom in
the Club to use a man's first name in preference to
his last on the slightest provocation of friendship.
Once upon a time, when the Club 'was in a very
impecunious state and the members, with character-
istic loyalty, were all in the same condition,
Neumann, who had - a large, fat indebtedness of
many months standing, gladdened the hearts of the
Board by announcing his intention of settling it.
The astonished Trustees, who had long since ceased
to regard the account as even a possible asset,
crowded around Paul and shook hands with him
and congratulated him, and one enthusiastic member
even suggested that the Club could afford to open a
bottle of wine on so surprising an occasion. So the
wine was ordered and brought and drank to an
accompaniment of the recital of Paul's many
virtues, to all of which he listened with becoming
modesty, and then having finished his share of the
wine, and a little more, he said, "And now to
business," and drawing up to the table, he gravely
inquired the exact amount of his debt and wrote
out his note for it, spoiling thereby a good sheet of

•
 HENRY EDWARDS.

From the Paillti/1g in the Club by Benolli Irwin.

 THE BOHEMIAN CLUB.

paper. Mr. Neumann in later years became Attorney-

General for the Hawaiian Kingdom in the reign of
Kalakaua, and like many other young Bohemians of
that day, has since attained "the proud eminence
where he, himself, opens wine for the Club. The
subject of his Jinks was" The Hebrew and German
Poets."
Then follows "A Tennyson Night," of which <leA
Tennyson
Mr. James F. Bowman was Sire. The shortness of night."
the nights at this season (June 28th) compels him
to limit quotations to four hundred lines per man,
with a notable exception in favor of Mr. O'Connell.
That eminent Bohemian scientist, Dr. Behr, by the
way, eXplained this phe1!0menon of the greater length
of summer days as compared with those of winter,
by attributing it to the well known fact that heat
expands and cold contracts. We have since heard
others claim this discovery, but Dr. Behr assures us
that he is the original patentee.
Mr. W. H. Rhodes, a lawyer, the author of some
clever stories and sketches, printed over the name of
"Caxton," issues this invitation for July 26th:
"SPECIAL NOTICE TO ALL!
Bohemians attend!
I address you as Sire,
Elder Brother and Friend.
Come forth from your attics, your garrets and dens,
And brighten your bon mots, and sharpen your pens.

---
 ,2 THE ANNALS OF

The theme for your thoughts in our High Jinks to-night,

Is jolly, and gleesome, and funny, and bright.
'Tis THE WITS OF THE STATE-California's boast-
MARK TWAIN'S lively spirit, and SQUIBOB'S pale ghost,
With PIPES in your mouth, and HARTE in your hand;
With PODGERS in pocket, and FORBES at command;
With MIGHELS to live with, and MULFORD to roam;
And NEWCOMB, and BOWMAN, and BROMLEY at home;
We can laugh at the world, with its follies and crimes;
Its cares and misfortunes, its dollars and dimes;
Aud drawing about us our emblems of love,
"The Wits of Cry' BOHEMIANS BELOW ARE ARCHANGELS ABOVE!'
the State."
For there, as this evening, in Eden's abodes,
You'll find, as
Your Grand Sire,
Yours,
'CAXTON' H. RHODES,"

Of the men referred to in this screed, "Mark

Twain " (Samuel M. Clemens) became an honorary
"Mat'k
member of the Club October 17th, 1873, while
Twat"n"
Bret Harte also became an honorary member
and
Bt'et Harte about the same time. "Squibob," Lieutenant Derby,
made honor-
alY members, was personally known to many of the older mem-
bers and residents of San Francisco. "Pipes," or
II J eems Pipes, of Pipesville," was the pseudonym
of Stephen Massett, an erratic but talented English-
."
man who traveled about
/1;;7;;::""0'
,.,¥,,,-..,,,,., - .•.•.
the world, giving
,~:;~~~~~~~'~,a varied entertainment in the shape of
..-{"
...., t~\.
;e:::;
.l' a mono Iogue. H e gave t h erstfi r
penorm-
~, Ii"-~ ~
"~.
'. "-. ~"=.~~ ~~,
'~'"~·i·'
,<",
...•. ~2~·Ht ~ :
r;mllj~: ~ ~ 1
'fIn \\
/~\\\';
- \\ I
\\
 THE BOHE'llfIAN C'LUB. 53

ance that was ever held in the Alcalde Building, Stephm

Massett.
Portsmouth Square. Massett once edited the
Marysville "Herald." It is related of him that
once upon a time Mr. Hittell, the well known
California pioneer and author, engaged him in
argument on religion, which Mr. Hittell attacked,
finally winding up by saying, "See here, Massett,
you ought to get my book on 'Evidences Against
Christianity'; that will convince you." "Very well,"
said Massett, "I will." So the next time he entered
a book store he asked for it. The clerk showed
him the work in two volumes. "How much is it?"
said Massett. "Three dollars," replied the clerk.
" What!" exclaimed Massett, "Three dollars! Take
it back, sir, take it back; I prefer to remain a
Christian."
"Podgers" was Richard S. Ogden, correspondent
of the New York "Times," and a member of the
Club. Harry Mighels was editor of the Carson
"Tribune," and a painter of some talent; the Club
has one of his pictures, "The Lone Tree." Prentice
Mulford, who has since achieved wider reputation,
was at this time editor of "The Golden Era."
The following interesting note appears in an old
member's scrap-book: "In July, 1873, Owen
Marlowe, an actor lat the California Theater and a
•

54 THE ANNALS OF
Owen
Marlowe
well-liked member of the Bohemians, left California
leaves for his home in England. Prior to his departure
Bohemia.
the Club, through private subscription, presented
him with a gold watch and chain,' in appreciation
of his talent as an actor and noble qualities as a
gentleman.' "
In addition to these admirable qualities, Marlowe
also possessed the true spirit of Bohemianism, for
he afterward had to pawn the watch in order that
he might eventually arrive at his destination.
And now the infant Club, having cut its eye
The Club
teeth, went on a picnic. This precocious affair is
goes on a doubly interesting in view of the subsequently
pz·cmc.
famous mid-summer Jinks, to which it bears about
as much resemblance as a Dutch cheese to an eight-
day clock. The way the business came about was
through an invitation sent to the Club by a repre-
sentative of the Sausalito Land and Ferry Company.
Going on a picnic being a weighty matter, not to
be lightly undertaken, a special meeting of the Club
was called to consider the proposition. Finally the
Club concluded to accept the invitation and sent out
a circular requesting the members· to congregate at
Meiggs' Wharf on Saturday, July 30th, at 8:30 A. M.,
with their ladies, and take the boat for Sausalito.
Those who possessed a "matrimonial cooking stove"
 THE BOHEMIAN CLUB 55

were expected to contribute edibles, while the bache-

lors were called on for the wine. The Club, we
learn from its circular, generously furnished "bread
and butter, and seasoning." There were no less
than six committees, which irradiated the proceed-
ings with highly colored badges. One of -the
" features" not provided by the Club, or the Sausa-
lito Land Company, was the wind, which was so
Mr. Eastman.
persistently boisterous that the party was glad to
take refuge, on landing, in the pavilion, or huge
barn which had been thoughtfully erected in Sausa-
lito for the use of picnic parties, and there go
through with the programme arranged for the
occaSlOn;
Following this eventful episode, Mr. Joseph Ford,
a stock broker and an artist of considerable ability
who had spent several years abroad studying for the,
A "ellal-US
profession of painting, presided over a Jinks, August Dickens "
30th, of which the subject was" Charles Dickens." Jinks.

Then followed Dr. R. Beverly Cole with a Jinks,

"In Memoriam of Byron." The music for this "B..yr01l "
Jinks.
entertainment was written for the occasion by
members of the Club. The cartoon is a pen and
ink sketch by Bosq ui.
And now come we to an epoch! On September
27th, 1873, Mr. George T. Bromley made his first

~- - -_ .. _----~
•

THE ANNALS OF
llfr.Bromley public appearance before the Club. Mr. Bromley
makes his
first appear- had entered the society of the Bohemians the
ance before
the Club. preceding April, a young man of fifty-six, or there-
abouts. And that knowing bird which presides
over the destinies of Bohemia immediately took him
under her venerable wing. Previous to joining the
Bohemian Club, Mr. Bromley was born in Norwich,
Connecticut, and went to sea at the tender age of
twelve. He says his going to sea was a remarkable
instance of filial thoughtfulness, inasmuch as his
mother was somewhat anxious about his habit of
Dr. Co/e.
going out at night, so he went to sea in order
that when she woke up at any hour she might
know exactly where he was. So Mr. Bromley's
first Jinks naturally takes for its subject "Poets
who Have Sung of the Sea," for which the combined
talent of Mr. Bosqui and Mr. Newcomb furnished
a pen and ink cartoon of wrecks and sea serpents
and desert islands.
Inspired, no doubt, by Mr. Bromley's e.ffort, that
"Poets who eminent lawyer, orator and ex-soldier of the Rebellion,
have sung of
the battle- General W. H. L. Barnes, issued a special order for
field. "
a Jinks on November 29th, which dealt with "The
Poets who Have Sung of the Battle-field." Virgil
Williams painted the cartoon.
;,\ J. G. Eastman issued the call for the Christmas
 THE BOHEMIAN CLUB. 57

Jinks of 1873, in which it was proposed to discuss

the life, character and literary productions of that
eminent Bohemian, Dr. Watts; the punch to be Dr. Watts

made according to his private recipe. An unknown

artist has left a cartoon in black and white com-
memorating the event. Judge E. D. Wheeler
followed January 31st, 1874, with a Jinks on "Walter
Scott."
Dr. C. J. Deane, with a rather gruesome pro-
fessional pride, announces "A clinic over an apo-
plectic punch bowl in yigorem mortis, and a dissection
of the heart and brains of Dr. Oliver Wendell
Holmes," for which occasion Benoni Irwin drew the
cartoon. In the early part of the evening a com-
plimentary greeting was telegraphed to Dr. Holmes
by the Sire, to which presently came back the
Dr.Oltver
following answer: Wendell
Holmes
"Message from San Francisco! Whisper low! telegraPhs a
Asleep in bed an hour and more ago. poem to the
Club.
While on his peaceful pillow he reclines.
Say to the friends who sent these loving lines,
'Silent, unanswering, still to friendship true,
He smiles in slumber, for he dreams of you I'
Boston, February 28, '74, Midnight."

Probably this is the only case where a

poet has been waked up in the middle of the

General Barnes - 187].

 THE ANNALS OF

night to compose poetry by telegraph. The message

arrived at the Club, of course, in the early part of
the evening, and was received with much enthusiasm.
The Club, through its Secretary, afterwards sent an
apologetic note to Dr. Holmes for having so uncere-
moniously disturbed his slumbers, and asked him for
the verse in his own writing, to which the distin-
guished author sent this reply:
BOSTON, March 22d, 1874.
My DEAR SIR;-
I enclose the hasty lines which the Club has done
me the honor of asking for in my own handwriting.
Dr. Holmes'
It is a long distance to send so small a measure of
letter. verse, the squeeze of a single grape, as it were, but
you know how suddenly it was called for, and how
promptly, such as it was, it came.
With many thanks for the kind wishes and com-
pliments you convey me, I am, my dear sir,
Yours very truly,
OLIVER WENDELL HOLMES.

Dr. Holmes was afterward made an honorary

member of the Club. Although he never visited
San Francisco, he looked upon the connection in a
very friendly spirit. At his death the Club had the
melancholy satisfaction of being represented at the
obsequies by one ~of its members, who placed a wreath
upon the distinguished author's coffin.
The second annual High Jinks, which was, as
No. 1.
,..

~nion
 THE BOHEMIAN CLUB. 6r

usual, strictly a members' night, was sired by Mr.

The
Tames T. Bowman, the subject being "The Poet "Longfellow"
]ink$.
Longfellow"; the cartoon in black and white is by
Joseph Ford.
This Jinks ended the first year of Mr. Edwards'
administration and the second of the Club's exist-
ence. Unfortunately, Mr. Edwards had been sick a
great part of the time. Mr. Arpad Harazthy, the
Vice-President, however, served in his place with
commendable zeal and enthusiasm. Mr. Harazthy is
a veteran vine-grower of the State. His father, the
son of a Hungarian nobleman, exiled for political
reasons, crossed the plaius to California by the Santa
'The lone
Fe route in 1849. Harazthy, who was a boy at the horseman of
time, relates that one night as the party were the Santa Fi
trail.
gathered around the camp-fire, a horseman suddenly
appeared out of the darkness. This man was a tall,
black-haired, fierce-looking personage astride of a
coal-black steed. After talking awhile the stranger
disappeared as mysteriously as he came. He offered
no explanation of his being alone in that savage
wilderness, and our youthful Arpad always regarded
him as an apparition. It was not until twenty
years after that he again came face to face with the
midnight visitor, becoming associated with him, in
fact, in the formation of the Bohemian Club. The

--., --o:....;....;..:.~:. ~ __
62 THE ANNALS OF

solitary gentleman of the Santa Fe trail ~as Colonel

Cremony.
The membership had now increased to one
hundred and eighty-two. Among those who joined
in 1873, and still remain with the Club, are A. L.
Bancroft, John L. Beard, Dr. Behr, George T. Bromley,
General Foote, George C. Hickox, Barton Hill,
Thomas Hill, Charles Josselyn, Judge Low, Samuel
D. Mayer, Stewart Menzies, Sidney M. Smith, James
A. Thompson and Raphaef Weill. A modest library
of one hundred and fifty books had been collected.
Some of these had been presented by the men who
wrote them, and all were gifts of members. Mr.
William Alvord may be said to have been one of
the founders of the library, for he gave his check
for one hundred dollars to the fund-the check was
good, too, for besides being a Bohemian, Mr. Alvord
was a banker. Mr. Alvord also gave the Club the
well-known painting by William Hahn, entitled
((One of the Bohemians."
We also find recorded a vote of thanks ten-
dered to Charles B. Plummer for his gift of a copy
of Webster's ((very useful" dictionary. Mrs. D. P.
Bowers, the actress, presented the Club with her
portrait and received the following handsome acknowl-
edgment:
 THE BOHEMIAN CLUB.

"The members of the Club offer to Mrs. D. P.

Bowers their cordial thanks for the privilege she has (Mrs. 7). 'P.
Bowers
so kindly given them of looking upon her counter- presents the
feit presentment which now adorns the walls of our Club with her
portrait.
parlor. While doing homage at the shrine of her
genius the Bohemians desire to express their full
appreciation of the pleasure and pride they feel at
being allowed to be numbered among her friends
and admirers."
Mrs. Bowers was an admirable woman and a most
talented actress, who was playing at the time at the
California Theater. She was afterward made an
honorary member of the Club, an honor also bestowed
upon Mrs. Margaret B. Bowman, the wife of Mr.
James F. Bowman, and Mrs. Sarah Lippincott, a well-
known writer of that day.
We also find recorded an acknowledgment of the
donation of a door-mat by Mr. Belknap. That
gentleman explains that the mat was given him by
a dealer, probably because of his being a member of
the furnishing committee, and he accordingly pre-
sents it to the Club. Mr. Belknap does not say in The humble
so many words tbat he "worked)l that dealer for the beginning of
the" Order of
mat, but the inference is plain, and he deserves to Cheerful
Workers."
have his name inscribed among the founders of the
"Order of Cheerful Workers," whose meteoric career
 THE ANNALS OF

did so much in later years to add to the effulgent

reputation of the Club.
On April 3d, 1874, at the last meeting of the
Board of Trustees, that august body did a little
" working" on its own account, as the following reso-
lution shows:
"It was moved and seconded that the Board take
a drink at the expense of the Club. Motion carried
unanimously, and having been put into effect the
Board adjourned sine dz"e."

- From the cartoon oj • 'Ballad 11/1'1ters.·