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diff --git a/.gitattributes b/.gitattributes new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6833f05 --- /dev/null +++ b/.gitattributes @@ -0,0 +1,3 @@ +* text=auto +*.txt text +*.md text diff --git a/5951.txt b/5951.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..d75cb8a --- /dev/null +++ b/5951.txt @@ -0,0 +1,5676 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of Reno, by Lilyan Stratton + +Copyright laws are changing all over the world. Be sure to check the +copyright laws for your country before downloading or redistributing +this or any other Project Gutenberg eBook. + +This header should be the first thing seen when viewing this Project +Gutenberg file. Please do not remove it. Do not change or edit the +header without written permission. + +Please read the "legal small print," and other information about the +eBook and Project Gutenberg at the bottom of this file. Included is +important information about your specific rights and restrictions in +how the file may be used. You can also find out about how to make a +donation to Project Gutenberg, and how to get involved. + + +**Welcome To The World of Free Plain Vanilla Electronic Texts** + +**eBooks Readable By Both Humans and By Computers, Since 1971** + +*****These eBooks Were Prepared By Thousands of Volunteers!***** + + +Title: Reno + A Book of Short Stories and Information + +Author: Lilyan Stratton + +Release Date: June, 2004 [EBook #5951] +[Yes, we are more than one year ahead of schedule] +[This file was first posted on September 24, 2002] + +Edition: 10 + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK RENO *** + + + + +Produced by Juliet Sutherland, Charles Franks +and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team. + + + + + +RENO + + +THE HOLY BIBLE +I quote the following: + +"When a man hath taken a wife, and married her, and it came to pass +that she find no favor in his eyes, because he hath found some +uncleanness in her: then let him write her a bill of divorcement, and +give it in her hand, and send her out of his house. + +"And when she is departed out of his house, she may go and be another +man's wife." + +From the fifth book of Moses, Deuteronomy, Chapter XXIV. + + +[Illustration: Lilyan Stratton] + + + +A BOOK OF SHORT STORIES AND INFORMATION + +BY + +LILYAN STRATTON + +Author of +"The Wife's Lesson" +"Feminine Philosophy" +Etc. Etc. + +SCENIC VIEWS +by +VAN-NOY INTERSTATE COMPANY OF SAN FRANCISCO + + +1921 +Lilyan Stratton Corbin + + + +I dedicate this book to all good husbands and to my own in +particular..... +L.S. + + + +CHAPTER + +Part 1. Social and Industrial Life + +Part 2. Reno Tragedies + +Part 3. Reno Romance + +Part 4. Reno Comedies + +Part 5. Reno and its People + +Part 6. Nevada Divorce Laws + +Part 7. Sons of the Sagebrush + + +I do not guarantee the statements and information contained in this +book, but they are taken from sources which I believe to be accurate. + +LILYAN STRATTON. + + + +LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS + +Washoe County Court House, Reno, Nevada +One of the Court Rooms in Famous Reno Court House +Palisades Canyon Showing Humbolt River +Lovers' Leap Blue Canyon +Truckee River Canyon +Off to Donner Lake +Amid the Snow at Truckee, California +Donner Lake +Truckee River Dam +Honeywood of the Wingfield Stables +Views of Reno's Public Play Grounds +University of Nevada +General View of Reno, Looking N. W. +Wingfield Home +The Truckee from Riverside Drive +Looking North of Virginia Street +Glenbrook +Cave Rock +Lake Tahoe +Lobby of the Golden Hotel +Mt. Rose School +Reno National Bank Building +Interior of Reno National Bank +Elk's Home +Y. M. C. A. +View of Nevada University Campus +Facsimile of Round Trip Ticket from New York to San Francisco +Renoites as Seen by a Reno Cartoonist +Riverside Hotel, Reno, Nevada +Captain J. P. Donnelly, Former State Police Superintendent +Senator H. Walter Huskey +Governor Emmett D. Boyle of Nevada +Governor's Mansion at Carson City +Frank Golden, Jr. + + + +INTRODUCTORY + + +The magic little word "Reno" makes a smile creep over the face of +anyone who hears it mentioned, as a rule in recognition of the one +thing for which it is known. I have smiled myself with the rest of the +world in the past; in the future my smile will have a different +meaning. + +I have lived in Reno. I have felt the pulse of its secret soul, and +have learned to understand its deeper meaning, and it is therefore +that I am able to uphold my intimate conviction in an attempt to +change the world's opinion of Reno and its laws from ridicule to +admiration. And if my book has any reason for being, it lies in this +attempt. + +Those whom fate forces to visit "the big little city on the Truckee +River" will find in this book a great deal of carefully gathered +information for which before my pilgrimage I would have been so +thankful, and with the aid of which so much worry and heartache would +have been saved. + +This book is not written with any intention whatsoever to propagate +divorce; I want this clearly and conclusively understood, so that +there can never be any misunderstanding. + +To me there are three things sacred above all others: the first is +motherhood; the second marriage; the third is the home. + +He or she who promiscuously profanes these sacred things is unworthy +of them and must pay the severest penalty. + +My book is meant to be an appeal for happiness and health; an appeal +for peaceful homes, happy and contented husbands, happy wives and +mothers of happy, healthy and well bred children. + +After all, unhappy and discontented human beings are unfit physically +and morally to produce the best work and the finest healthiest +children. The children are the forthcoming bearers of the world's +burdens and responsibilities. To them belongs the future, and already +too many social problems of the present age are due to the unhygienic +and illogical mating of the human male and female. + +The divorce courts should only be appealed to as a last resort, to +free some tortured soul from a life of misery, caused by humiliation, +shame and hatred, the very essence of all evil. When the sacred state +of matrimony becomes so profaned and degraded that it soils everything +it comes in contact with; when even the minds of our children are +poisoned and distorted by the atmosphere, and the last ray of hope has +vanished, only then the hour has struck to ask the law for justice; to +appeal to the judge for redemption for humanity's sake. + +Why have I written my book in parts, and why has each part its +individual interest and charm? Because readers may choose any part or +parts that especially interest them. If they are not interested in the +book for the information it gives, they will always find the short +stories and tales of Reno interesting and amusing. + +Part 1. Social and Industrial Life: Is written to acquaint the +intended colonist or visitor with every phase of social and industrial +life. This is very important to know for many reasons. First the law +requires that one go to Reno for some other reason than divorce. So +you may go there for instance to become a student; it is a healthful +and therefore a fine place for study. The well equipped university +gives ample opportunity; and if one is taking one's children, which +often happens, it is well to know about the schools. It is well to +have some other purpose in view when joining the Reno Divorce Colony, +and to carry that purpose into effect. Also if one is not blessed with +over much of the goods of this world, one can earn one's way while +waiting. This part contains much information that is practical, +useful, essential and interesting. + +The industries are very important. There are plenty of pleasant +positions to be had; plenty of opportunity for business, as you will +learn by reading this part; also many sorts of amusement, so that no +one need be bored. It is best to keep busy; busy people seldom get +lonely; lonely people often are too much in quest of companionship.... +Moral, don't play with fire; and if you do get into trouble don't +blame it on the "altitude." Reno's altitude has been somewhat abused +by colonists in the past; loneliness is much more to blame for the +unhappy state of mind so often experienced out there, and loneliness +is mostly the result of idleness. + +Part 2. Reno Tragedies: Consists of a few short tales of people who +have been members of the divorce colony. Whilst the comedy part +describes characters who find life is all froth, who skim its surface, +so to speak, those portrayed in this chapter are people who take +existence seriously; who want to drain the cup of life to its last +dregs! If one listens as one reads one can almost hear the steady +heart throbs..... + +These are not exactly blue law stories, but as many great authors have +taken the liberty of depicting things just as they found them in real +life, my humble self has availed itself of the same prerogative. These +tragic little tales of the divorce colony should be dear to you as +they are to me; they are most appealing sketches in life..... + +Part 3. Reno Romance: Relates the story of a fair Virginian whose +youthful mistake is righted through the Reno divorce courts. The fair +heroine is reunited with her girlhood sweetheart, and they live +happily ever after; a short story depicting another type of Reno +divorce case. + +"Let us begin dear love where we left off, Tie up the broken threads +of that old dream.".... + +Part 4. Reno Comedies: Has been written to give the reader, whether a +would-be colonist or not, a glimpse of the humorous side of the +occurrences in this much-talked-of little city. Happiness after all is +not a question of the place, because "the city of happiness is in the +state of mind." However, any person, place or thing that has not its +funny side becomes rather dull, to say the least, and likewise the +mind that cannot appreciate the humorous side. This part consists of a +few plain tales from the humorous side of the lives of departed +celebrities of the divorce colony, and should be amusing and +entertaining to any reader. Naturally fictitious names have been used. + +Part 5. Reno and Its People: Is meant to give prospective residents or +visitors an insight as to just what kind of place they may expect to +find, and to dispel any fears that the accommodations would not be +comfortable. It will acquaint newcomers with the kind of men and women +one finds oneself associated with in daily life, which to strangers in +a strange land, is most important, I think. Newly arrived colonists, +perhaps lonely and heartsick, will not find it quite so hard to go to +a strange country, if they know in advance that the people are +generous, big hearted and sympathetic; progressive and interested in +all things that stand for the betterment of humanity. + +Part 6. Nevada Divorce Laws: Gives the reader any and all information +required to secure a divorce in Nevada; and besides it contains the +opinion of many great thinkers on the question of divorce, coupled +with a plea for universal divorce law. One should find this an +interesting chapter, whether a prospective colonist or not; its +contents, however, are absolutely indispensable for anyone +anticipating divorce in Nevada, and consequently ought to be read most +carefully; more especially so, as for the actual legal advice in this +part, I am greatly indebted to one of Reno's ablest lawyers, Senator +H. Walter Huskey. + +Part 7. Sons of the Sagebrush: A few short biographical sketches of +men I met, read about and heard about during my stay in Reno. It is +well to know the kind of men we may come in contact with, both in +business and in a social way; most certainly it is well to know the +type of men we may have to come in contact with in a business way. For +that reason I have written a few little sketches of these men. Among +them are lawyers, judges, mining men, hotel men, politicians and +pioneers. Aside from giving some useful information this part is +interesting for its character studies and its amusing little +incidents. + +LILYAN STRATTON. November, 1921. + +[Illustration: WASHOE COUNTY COURT HOUSE. RENO NEVADA] + + + + +PART 1 + +SOCIAL AND INDUSTRIAL LIFE + + +Dull in Reno? Why no; how can one be bored in this delightful "big +little city," when here you will find a concentration of all the most +picturesque phases of life--a conglomeration of gaiety and tragedy, +humor and drama, frivolity and learning! What a fertile field for the +psychologist and sociologist. + +It is wonderfully interesting not always to turn to books only, with +their rigid, lifeless rules and laws; books can only convey to us the +things someone else has learned! Those who desire a real understanding +of human nature's handiwork must work and play on human mountains, in +human fields and human swamps. + +Being an ardent student of life and character, I have found Reno +highly interesting and amusing, and dear reader, if you will do me the +honor to accompany me through the following pages of this chapter, I +am sure you too will be interested. + +First we will visit the restaurants, cafes and hotels which are +teeming with the vigor of life, vibrant and pulsating; and if you know +and understand human relationship, or wish to, then you may overflow +with sympathy, laugh in conviviality, or perhaps weep in the privacy +of your own room for what is and for what might have been.... + +The fashionable restaurant is not a large pretentious place, +elaborately decorated, but there is something in the atmosphere which +is not tangible but which we yet can sense. Who are all these people? +and if each told his own story, how tremendously interesting it might +be! Unconsciously, you know that the atmosphere is distinctive; that +things are different; so many interesting personalities grouped into +such a small place is something most unusual. + +Over in the corner is a New York banker; his strong, handsome face +marked with character lines and crowned with white hair: the stamp of +long years of struggle in the financial world. See, he is smiling +across the table at his companion, and his face is almost boyish as he +chats and laughs. Such a companion! I wonder what fate has sent her to +cheer the desert city; a modern Cleopatra, even more beautiful than +she of Egypt: a radiant beauty, this dark-eyed queen of the Orient; +ruby lips and teeth of matched pearls; hair black as midnight, and +fires smoldering in dreamy eyes as if in pools of mystery... Bored in +Reno? How could one be? + +This is only a cafe such as you might visit in any other city. One +might see the same banker and the same Oriental beauty in a New York +cafe. But there they would not be nearly so interesting; for such +people to be in Reno means either a domestic comedy, tragedy or +romance. Each one is a puzzle, and one finds oneself intent upon +divining the mystery embodied in these personalities, as they come and +go like shadows on a screen. + +Now the waiter comes: there is something unusual about him also; one +can't help noticing his big, powerful form as he bends over the table +to take the order; he is a New York chauffeur working his way free +from a nagging wife, so that he may marry a popular society belle. You +can forgive her, can't you, for admiring his handsome physique; a +Greek god he is in spite of his Irish brogue and bad ear for +grammar.... But then she probably does not hear much of that, and +won't if he is wise. + +That little woman over there with the carmine lips and black eyes, she +is the wife of a Methodist minister and is here for the "cure" of +course, like the rest. She is going to hitch her matrimonial wagon to +a vaudeville "star" by way of a change! "The very day I get my +decree," she told me. + +There comes an interesting couple. I think the woman is Moroccan. +Doesn't she look a barbarous relic with those immense rings in her +ears? You feel that there should be one strung through her nose, too. +There is a story abroad that she is the consort of a well known +millionaire of Chicago; after several unsuccessful attempts on her +part at stabbing him, he is giving half his fortune in alimony to get +rid of her. The other night at Ricks' she threw a plate at a man +because for five minutes he paid more attention to her woman friend +than to her.... A dangerous playmate, methinks! + +That charming little lady in a symphony of blue, surrounded by a +company of admiring friends, is Mme. Alice, a Broadway opera star; her +story is very interesting indeed. No, I dare not tell; it is +sufficient that you should know that she is a gentle, sweet little +mother, although she looks a mere girl herself. She has a voice of +unusual quality and dramatic sweetness. I have had the pleasure of +hearing her sing at several concerts which she gave for charity. She +is extremely generous in that direction and always draws a packed +house. She got her divorce while I was out there and passed on like +the other shadows on the screen. The last I saw of her was when she +was singing the "Battle Cry of Freedom" in the Hotel Golden lobby, as +her decree had been granted. Her face was just radiantly happy as she +repeated several times: "I am free, I am free.".... + +At a table, back in the shadows of the palms by the piano, sits +another interesting little lady from gay New York. She is also a +singer of note and the wife of a well known author. She has taken a +mansion on the banks of the Truckee, and brought along her retinue of +servants. Of course she is beautiful, the golden haired, blue eyed +type, with a complexion like tinted rose leaves.... + +Who is that lone man at the table just opposite? Ah! that bearded +gentleman with light hair, wearing a black tie; an artist-looking sort +of chap? That is a world-famous portrait painter. I had the pleasure +of meeting him and his beautiful bride at Cannes, Southern France, +some years ago. Yes, he does look rather forlorn; there is a pathetic +droop to his mouth. No, he is not here for a divorce; one of the +exceptions. + +He arrived a few days ago from Tangiers; it was while there that he +received by registered post his wife's summons in her divorce suit, +and he took the first ship back to America to fight the suit and to +try to win back his beautiful wife, who, by the way, is also a +talented artist. But alas! Cupid is a stubborn little beggar; though +blind as a bat and not very large, yet he has a will of his own, and +won't be driven or led.... + +Though the man seated over there is apparently very interesting and is +internationally known as a great artist and an exhibitor in the Royal +Academy in London; though he must have loved his wife very much, to +have traveled half way around the world from the northern coast of +Africa to Reno, in order to try and bring about a reconciliation, +still the beautiful wife has gone on with her divorce, which was +finally granted, though bitterly contested! + +And so there he sits as though lingering over the grave of a great +love. Bow down, ye Gods, and weep.... + +The hotels also are filled with interesting types; the pretty girl at +the news-stand today suddenly disappeared! Yes, she got her divorce! +In her place is the homeliest man you have even seen, and all the +traveling men look disgusted and buy their papers from the newsboys in +the street. The hotel stenographer has also taken her departure, and +now we see a dainty blonde in place of the statuesque brunette. The +brunette has gotten her divorce and has gone to San Francisco to marry +a millionaire sportsman, so I hear. + +The beautiful lady with the sparkling black eyes, between that little +boy and girl, is a violinist. They have the rooms over mine, and for +several months I have heard the patter of tiny feet and childish free +laughter; but I fear the mother does not laugh so much. I have been +told that she lives in constant fear lest her husband come and take +the children from her. In this case, I am told, there is a chance of +reconciliation. I hope so with all my heart! + +The tall, handsome old gentleman speaking to her is a retired civil +engineer; very wealthy I believe. He lived twenty-one years with his +first wife who died; after some time he married again, but after one +year of married life he is here for the "cure." He is an enthusiastic +sportsman, a good horseman and very popular. + +The Court House is the next place of interest to study character, to +find interesting personalities and new types. You may go over any day +and watch some poor victim's case being tried. If one is doing time +one self, it is a very good way to obtain inside information, though +it is a bit like being at your own hanging..... not exactly, of +course, but enough to make the anticipation peculiarly gruesome. Each +searching question of the judge seems to draw the noose around the +plaintiff's neck tighter and tighter; you will hold your breath: a +word, and the six months' exile and more are all in vain..... Not +until the final decision, "Judgment for the plaintiff," is pronounced +do you heave a sigh of relief. + +[Illustration: ONE OF THE COURT ROOMS IN FAMOUS RENO COURT HOUSE] + +Each day the divorce mill grinds the steady grist, and it is there +that one has a splendid opportunity of studying personality and +character. The wife who is nagged and abused; the one who is obliged +to support herself and her children; the one who has outgrown her +charms; the luxurious beauty who has spent her husband's fortune and +is preparing to spend another in the same way; the wife who has made a +mistake and found the right man at the wrong time; the wife whose +husband another woman has taken; the wife of a drunkard or a gambler. +The husband who is nagged; the husband whose wife is a spendthrift; +the husband whose wife wins prizes at bridge and neglects her home; +the husband whose wife has deserted him when he needed her most.... + +Naturally the stories you hear from the "aspirants" are always +plausible; and so they go by, the endless passing show. + +Next we will go to dinner; we will dine at the Hotel Golden tonight; +they have just opened their new restaurant, and the food is excellent; +so is the cabaret. There are two beautiful girls, new arrivals, who +sing very well indeed; one is tall and fair and more than usually +interesting. This beautiful girl sings with wonderful expression; a +sweet tender passion, expressing at the same time a great love and a +world of sympathy .... It is said that out of suffering comes +sympathy, out of pain tenderness.... + +This girl might well burst into fame on the heart throbs of her songs; +they are the voice of a soul which has suffered much, loved much and +has become all tenderness and all sweetness. + +Another interesting type whose story will be told at the Court House +in a few months. + +There is a violinist who is exceptional also; he draws the bow over +his violin, and low, sweet strains of music come floating to our ears; +then the music will suddenly change to the wild ecstasy of joy which +will compel you to notice the player. When you look at him, you will +know that his soul is not there; your heartstrings will quiver until +the music stops; then you will suddenly find that you have forgotten +to eat, and that the food is cold.... But you ponder on: you wonder +who that artist-dreamer is; he must have been leading his love through +poppy fields, kissing away from starving lips love's hunger, while he +played.... Yes, he is here for the "cure." + +After dinner we will go to the theatre. There are several theatres, +but the large productions usually go to the Majestic, which is modern +in every respect and has seating capacity of more than one thousand. +All the New York productions that make the Pacific Coast Tour play +Reno. All the eminent musicians such as Kreisler, Misha Elman, the +Boston Symphony Orchestra, and others, stop here on their Western +tour, and their concerts are always well attended and tremendously +appreciated. + +Tonight we will hear the Boston Symphony.... + +You are surprised at the large ultra-fashionable audience; there are +as many in evening dress as one would expect to see at a New York +first night; here one can't tell the members of the Divorce Colony +from the residents. They are an aggregation of well dressed, +appreciative people, anxious to enjoy the evening's wonderful music. + +Dancing is the next in line of indoor amusements; most of the hotels +and restaurants have splendid floors and excellent dance music. At +Wilsonian Hall there is a beautiful ball room, and those who wish to +learn the latest steps will find an expert teacher in Mrs. Wilson who +takes special trips to New York every season in order to become +acquainted with the very latest dances. Her classes and receptions are +patronized by the best people, both of the Colony and City, and are +very interesting and popular. + +Those who take their pleasure in life a little more seriously will +find an excellently equipped public library, thanks to Mr. Carnegie. +There is also a very fine collection of books at the University of +Nevada, which is conveniently located in a very beautiful part of the +city. I should like to pay a passing tribute to the University staff. +They are as fine a set of professors as one could possibly desire to +have. I had an opportunity of attending some of the lectures during +the Summer Course and found them exceedingly interesting and well +delivered. + +Of special interest to women would be the Century Club, a well +organized body of the best women in the city. They are interested in +home economics, child welfare and improvement of social conditions +generally. They own their own spacious club house, which has a large +assembly hall, lecture room, banquet hall, service kitchen and large +grounds facing the river, with tennis courts and other conveniences +for entertaining. + +There is also a Suffragette Club which is known as the Civic League, +and is also instrumental in promoting public welfare. The Mothers' +Clubs or Associations too, are better developed than those in many a +large city; a fact which rather agreeably surprised me and proves how +decidedly progressive are the women of the West. + +And now we will have a look round and visit the out-of-door +attractions, which are many and varied. In summer, there is Belle +Isle, a beautiful little amusement park on the banks of the Truckee, +almost in the center of the city and the scene of many jolly +carnivals. The city park is also a pretty little spot, and here are +given many festivals and concerts for the Red Cross and other +charitable organizations. It is a delightful place to spend a summer +afternoon or evening. The gay music, flying colors and beautifully +tinted light among the branches of the trees are all an inspiration to +free happiness. There too it is delightful to sit when all is quiet, +and watch the moonlight on the snow-capped mountains, while the warm +summer breeze stirs the leaves above and the distant rushing waters of +the Truckee float out to you like fairy laughter on the summer air. + +[Illustration: PALISADES CANYON SHOWING HUMBOLT RIVER] + +Nature has many delightful surprises in store for the new arrival in +Reno; when you have strayed out to Moana Hot Springs and have taken a +refreshing dip, you will agree with me. I thought the water was heated +until a friend explained that it came gushing out of the ground almost +boiling hot and had to be cooled off for the pools. There had been +Jeffries' quarters during his training for the Jeffries-Johnson fight. + +From Moana one can see Steamboat Springs; these springs can be seen +from a distance of several miles, owing to the fact that they send a +steady stream of hot steam into the air, which spreads over an area of +a mile or more; it is a strange sight to see this stream ascending +into the clear atmosphere from the roaring regions below. The various +hot springs to me are the most wonderful part of nature's loveliness. +Here one may watch lonely colonists and native maidens dive and play +in the water whilst listening to their laughter. An early morning dip +in the pool and a swift canter back to town will start your blood +tingling; clear the city-cramped lungs and fill them with Nevada's +fresh invigorating air. It will make one feel like a two year old and +add ten years to one's life..... + +Ricks, the famous road house, and training quarters of Jack Johnson, +the black champion prize fighter, is within walking distance of Reno. +Its chicken dinners have helped to make the place famous. There are +private rooms for those who seek seclusion, a splendid dance floor, +and I am told that here the mechanical pianos grind out waltzes, one +steps and fox trots, whilst glasses clink far into the night and +parties of colonists make merry. + +Farther on is Laughton Hot Springs, another popular bathing resort. +This place is mostly patronized by motorists and equestrians and is +more fortunate than the others in its location. The little rustic +hotel is built in the cosiest nook, just at the bend of the river; the +fine old trees bend their graceful branches over the rushing waters in +which the majestic mountains reflect their wondrous beauty. Here one +may obtain private dressing rooms and bathing pools, or a party of two +or more may have a number of dressings rooms opening onto the same +pool. The water in the pools changes every fifteen minutes. I am told +there is a continuous inflow and overflow, which empties out into the +river. + +What a wonderful spot to build a modern structure with beautiful steam +rooms, modern dressing rooms and marble bathing pools, in place of the +crude board sheds which rather spoil the natural beauty of this place +of many charms, where one may bathe in the hot springs pool, fish in +the river, wine, dine and dance! What more could the soul in exile +wish for? + +If you wish for seclusion, seek a tranquil spot on the banks of the +river; dream to your heart's content, watch the silvery moonbeams play +among the branches and sparkle on the river, and listen to the sighing +of the summer wind. I know of no place near New York endowed with so +many of nature's charms. + +Fishing in the river is good, but fishing in the mountain brooks and +streams is much better, and one can take a pack-horse, ride up over +the mountains and discover places which look as though they dropped +right out of a picture book. + +Rubicon Springs is such a place; a quaint old hunting and fishing +camp, where a few nature lovers hide away from; the world every summer +and really "rough it." I caught there some of the finest mountain +trout I have even seen; I also saw a party of men bring in a very fine +deer one afternoon, a feat which caused quite a little excitement +among the guests. + +This isolated spot cannot be reached by automobile, it being about +fifteen miles from the main road over a rugged mountain trail. + +There is certainly everything to be wished for in the way of out-of- +door amusements in and near Reno. There besides motoring, riding, +fishing, hunting, swimming and dancing are the tennis courts and the +golf links. The Golf Club gives many interesting tournaments and is +one of the social centers in summer for the elite, as is the race +track where one may meet the world and its wife. The track is good and +the horses as fine as one can see anywhere, all of which helps to +render this sport most fascinating. + +[Illustration: LOVER'S LEAP BLUE CANYON] + +Talking of horses reminds me of one of my never-to-be-forgotten rides +to Laughton Springs. Those who have never seen a Nevada sunset, while +riding over the Sierras at the close of day, can have no conception of +its wondrous beauty. I will try to tell you about it. + +We started one evening at a brisk canter over the swelling foot hills +along the Truckee River, whence we could see Mt. Rose lift its stately +head, clothed in royal robes of crimson and purple which half revealed +and half concealed its snow-capped peaks and pine-clad grandeur. + +As we rode over the mountains which tower above the rivers and the +greenest valleys, a storm came up; storm clouds dark and threatening, +the most imposing I have ever seen. In a short while the storm passed +over and the last rays of the setting sun shone on three mountain +peaks across the river and valley. It is impossible to imagine a more +exquisite display of colors. I think it must have been like the light +that shines on a happy mother's face when she holds her love-child in +her arms. And then a rainbow encircled the illuminated mountains, like +a beautiful filmy halo about the head of the Madonna, while beneath +lay the Truckee; its water like silvery veins and sparkling gems, +glistening and trembling in the golden light. And stretching away to +the north and east lay the sagebrush plains, wrapped in the silence of +a dying day and illuminated with the sheen of God's promise of a to- +morrow to come..... A wonderful picture: Nature's own masterpiece! + +The motor trips are the next in line of outdoor amusements and these +trips will afford one the splendid opportunity of seeing, apart from +the unexcelled scenery, the numerous places of interest. First, Carson +City, the Capital; the State Penitentiary and the Government Indian +School, also the Indian homes and reservations; you will find them all +interesting. Carson City was founded in 1858 and was named after Kit +Carson, the famous scout. The capital is thirty miles from Reno, +fourteen miles from Lake Tahoe and twenty-two from Virginia City. + +[Illustration: TRUCKEE RIVER CANYON] + +The elevation of Virginia City is six thousand feet above sea level. +There you may don skin garments and go down three thousand feet in a +mine on the famous Comstock Lode. The heat in some of the mines is so +intense it is impossible to stand it for more than a few minutes at a +time. + +There is so much of interest in these famous old mining camps and in +the strange freaks of nature. Here are the numerous hot springs and +Pyramid Lake, an enormous body of water forty miles out in the desert, +which possesses no apparent outlet although the Truckee flows into it. +And apart from that, the development of agriculture and irrigation is +interesting. + +I will try and describe some of my motor trips through Nevada and +California. + +One fine Sunday we set out on an automobile trip to Virginia City over +the great Gieger Grade, which has become so famous through the +wonderful Comstock Lode from which over seven hundred millions in gold +and silver have been extracted. The ride was most exciting, and the +magnificent scenes unrolling themselves continuously upon each swerve +round a sharp curve or a dangerous bend, just held us all enthralled. + +Often I was reminded of Switzerland, and then as I gazed, more and +more enraptured by the delirious orgy of multi-colored hues, and +looked at the precipitous ascent we had made; at the heights we had +yet to climb, and at the undulating peaks that stood like an army of +sentinels guarding us on every side, I forgot I was in the land of +Nevada. I had drifted into an Arabian Night reverie, and not till the +forty horse-power winged horse suddenly lost its equilibrium and gave +a most ungainly lurch, not till then did I redescend to earth. While +the incapacitated horse partook of first aid to the injured, I got out +and gathered some of the prettiest little flowers I have ever seen; +all the more marvelous because nature takes care of them in some +mysterious way which we cannot understand, since rain is practically +unknown in Nevada. There was the beautiful spotless desert lily; the +delicate desert violet, the fascinating yellow blossom of the pungent +native growth--the sagebrush--and many others. + +[Illustration: OFF TO DONNER LAKE picture shows a dogsled team] + +My next motor trip was from Los Angeles to Santa Barbara; there the +scenery compares with that of Nevada as an exquisite water color +compares to a grand old oil painting. We went spinning along over a +perfect road from Los Angeles to Santa Barbara, and I felt that +America might well be proud of this wonderful state. Surely none other +possesses such a variety of climate, or such a variety of beauty. +Hardly do I dare attempt a description of all this magic scenery. It +seemed a dream to me; just color everywhere. Green valleys and +turquoise skies; snow-capped mountains and rosy sunsets. For many +miles we wound round and round the mountain side, through orange +groves, laden with golden fruit, tucked away in the emerald green +foliage, and fruit orchards abounding with spring blossoms. And then +we came to the Pacific Ocean which stretched far out into the +infinite, reflecting the rose-colored sky just at sunset. The dream of +it all is still with me. I could hardly realize that a week before I +had been flying through the pure white sparkling snow in the same +state; and yet, here I was only a few hours away.... One sojourning in +Reno should not miss a trip through California while in the +neighborhood of that glorious state. San Francisco is only a day's +journey by rail, and the trip is truly worth while. + +Reno is not without its out-door winter sports; it has the advantage +of being only thirty-six miles from Truckee, California. While flowers +are blooming and birds singing their spring songs in Southern +California, the Snow Queen reigns at Truckee in the mountains, six +thousand feet above the sea. Here people from San Francisco and other +large cities gather to indulge in winter sports, such as skiing, +tobogganing and sleighing, and many professionals go there to display +their art in skiing and skating; the Switzerland of the West, I would +call it. It was all too fascinating and too beautiful: six feet of +snow everywhere, and everything sparkling white in the sunshine. + +[Illustration: AMID THE SNOW AT TRUCKEE, CALIFORNIA illustration shows +a dogsled team] + +Once I started out to see Donner Lake, which reposes between Summit, +the highest point on this trip across the Great Divide, and Truckee. +We were in a sleigh drawn by a team of huskies: real Alaskan dogs. I +have ridden pretty much everything from a broomstick to a bronco, but +this was my first experience with huskies. I thought it was going to +be hard work for the dogs, but they frolicked about in the snow with +their pink tongues out, showing all their teeth as though they were +laughing in fiendish glee and enjoying every moment of it. + +Truckee is only about thirty-three miles from Reno by automobile, and +the distance by train is thirty-six miles, so there should be no +excuse for not visiting this American Switzerland. + +Another point of information which I discovered and think will +interest you quite as much as it did me, was that most all the great +moving picture companies go to Truckee to take their Alaskan scenes. +And now whenever you see a beautiful arctic picture on the screen, you +will realize that you are not looking at the frigid regions of Alaska, +but at the glories of California. + +The Snow Queen knows, however, that when she tires of her realm of +snow, a really, truly fairy land awaits her only a few hours distant, +where she may play Fairy Queen and wander through fields of golden +poppies, filling her arms with spring blooms, in beautiful Southern +California. + +In Reno itself moonlight skating parties on the river and the +University pond are popular also. Dull in Reno? Absurd! + +Nevada is necessarily a mining state. Apart from the $700,000,000 in +gold and silver taken from the Comstock Lode, Nevada's mines have +supplied the world with thousands of tons of other materials, such as +lead, zinc, etc., and thus when one thinks of the industries in +Nevada, it is quite natural to think of mining first. There it is in +the air. Everywhere you are confronted with specimens of ore: in the +offices of mining companies, in your lawyer's office, on the doctor's +desk, on your friend's dressing table, next to the Bible in the +minister's home. A chubby baby will gurgle and coo over a piece of +this polished rock, and hold it in a little pink fist; old, white +haired men will feebly finger a rough specimen streaked with green and +amber. The spell of Nevada..... + +Walk out over the desert or ride over the hills, and as far as you can +see, the sides of the mountains are perforated with holes made by +prospectors; thousands and thousands of them, every one representing a +hope. A promoter will take a piece of this beautifully colored rock +and explain to you about the percentage of gold or copper it contains, +the cost of extracting it and the enormous profits to be made; a +friend will show you a marvelous specimen and explain that he or she +owns a half interest in the claim which is sure to turn out at least +half a million..... Then you will perhaps think of Robert Service's +"Spell of the Yukon" and you will understand the enthusiasm and spirit +of optimism. + +After all, why should they not be enthusiastic and optimistic? The +whole state is piled high with mountains which look just like the ones +in which so much gold and other valuable minerals have been +discovered; if they are the same on top, why are they not the same +below the surface? + +Tell us, you opal colored mountains of Nevada, what stores of precious +treasures are you guarding from the greedy hand of man and how soon +will you throw open another door of your treasure house? + +After having lived in the West and visited the mines and talked with +the old-timers, I can easily understand the fascination of prospecting +and mining, and why, in spite of all the hardships it entails, so many +have become enslaved by the spell of it. + +The Crystal Saloon, at Virginia City, was built during the days of the +first great boom, and on its register are many names of famous people. +Under the year 1863, I saw written the following: "Clemens, Samuel L., +Local Editor of Territorial Enterprise..." Mark Twain! + +The old-timers will tell you stories about Mark Twain's adventures in +Nevada's mining camps almost as funny as those he himself wrote about +in his book "Roughing It." + +In the register of the Washoe Club, organized in 1875, are the name of +Thomas A. Edison, Fred. Grant (son of General Grant), and many other +famous names. + +[Illustration: Donner Lake] + +I have been informed of a new discovery in connection with the native +plant, the sage-brush. I am told there are splendid prospects for the +development of potash and denatured alcohol from the huge sagebrush +fields of the state. + +The principal business of Reno consists of banks, hotels, shops and +restaurants. The shops do the city credit; they are up-to-date and +well kept, and you will find almost every kind of shop. The electrical +stores display every new electrical device on the market. The +stationery shops are equally well equipped; the candy stores most +tempting and excellent in every way, and the music store, hardware, +drug, corsetiere, gents furnishing, shoe, fancy goods and department +stores, the hair dressing parlors and florist shops are all up-to-date +and as fine as you could find in any city twice Reno's size. The +grocery stores and butcher shops and markets are of the finest. These +places employ hundreds of people and the department stores send their +buyers to New York and Paris. + +Reno has two daily papers, namely, the "Evening Gazette" and the +"Nevada Journal." The "Nevada Journal" belongs to the Associated Press +and has its private telegraph wires by which it receives the news +direct. + +The hotels and apartment houses are always well filled. They are up- +to-date, well kept and flourishing; the cafes are constantly being +enlarged. The real estate business is also progressive; one may rent +splendidly furnished houses, or modest cottages, or apartments at very +fair prices. There I first saw the automatic elevator, the kind that +you ring for and that runs down by itself and opens its own door; then +you get in, press a button at the number you wish to get off at, and +the elevator runs itself up to the floor indicated, stops and opens +its door. The same apartments have beds that fold up automatically +into the wall, leaving nothing in evidence except a beautifully +paneled mirror. + +The Reno Commercial Club, which was founded in 1907, is made up of a +body of the representative men of the state, who are organized to +encourage educational and social intercourse, and to aid in social and +material up-building of the city and state. + +Its executive board is as follows: Charles S. Knight, H. H. Kennedy, +Tasker L. Oddie, B. Adams, Fred Stadtmuller, R. L. Kimmel, E. H. +Walker. + +The Club's efforts are continually directed toward the encouragement +of new enterprises, the securing of capital for new industries and +investments; the dissemination of literature regarding the resources +of Nevada; the building of good roads and cooperation with other +states for a national highway; the immigration of settlers upon the +agricultural lands of the state, more intensive farming, expansion of +dairy interests, fruit growing and other agricultural industries. + +The Commercial Club is always obliging in extending the courtesy of +its information bureaus in matters pertaining to the affairs of the +city or state. Write to it! + +Nevada has made very broad strides in the direction of agriculture +owing to its irrigation development. The Easterners somehow have an +idea that Nevada has made very little progress since pre-historic +days; that the West is still wild and wooly and consists of cow-boys, +cattle ranches and rattle-snakes; but this impression is very +erroneous. The picturesque cow-boy is practically a thing of the past, +and so is the highwayman; the picturesque stage-coach with its four to +six teams is almost forgotten; and I did not see one rattle-snake +during all my exploits in the mountains and over the deserts. What has +become of all those historic things which we so closely linked with +the wild and woolly West of the past? They have retreated into +oblivion before the great wheel of progress..... + +It is a mistaken idea to imagine that because Nevada is such a +mountainous country it is unsuitable for agriculture. There are many +broad green valleys, flourishing and producing splendid farm products. +This of course is the astonishing result of artificial methods of +irrigation. Alfalfa and potatoes are Nevada's greatest crop; wheat, +rye, oats and other cereals are also grown. Some of the ranches have +splendid orchards consisting of pears, apples, plums, cherries, etc., +and the production will undoubtedly increase as greater irrigation +developments are introduced. + +[Illustration: Trucker River Dam] + +What irrigation will do for the parched deserts of the West remains as +yet to be seen, but when I stop to consider that all the famous spots +of California owe their beauty almost entirely to irrigation, then I +dare predict great things for the desert states. + +In a 1918 issue of the United States Geographical Survey Press +Bulletin is an article which is particularly interesting for the +possibilities it suggests at once to the reader for the utilization of +waters. It reads as follows: "'Underground Water in Nevada Deserts.' + +"In Nevada the bedrock forms a corrugated surface consisting of more +or less parallel mountain ranges and broad intervening troughs that +are filled to great depths with rock waste washed from the mountains. +These great deposits of rock waste were in large part laid down by +torrential streams and are relatively coarse and porous. Because these +deposits are porous the rain that falls upon them and the run-off that +reaches them from the mountains sinks into them, and the valleys in +which they lie are exceptionally arid. These deposits, however, form +huge reservoirs in which the water is stored and in which, to the +limit of the capacity of the reservoirs, it is protected from +evaporation. So well is this water hidden that its existence was not +suspected by many of the early travelers, and even today long desert +roads on which there are no watering places, lead over areas where +ground-water could easily be obtained. + +"In a desert valley, even where no wells have been sunk, it is +generally possible to ascertain and outline the areas where ground +water lies near the surface and to make an intelligent forecast of the +depths to water in other parts of the valley. If a sufficient number +of observations are made, it is also generally possible to form a +rough estimate of the quantity of water that is annually available in +such a valley and to predict to some extent the capacity of wells, the +quality of the water, and the cost of recovery." + +To anyone familiar with Nevada, there are dozens of such desert +reaches which must instantly suggest themselves to the mind, and it is +interesting to speculate, not altogether idly, on how advantage might +be taken of such conditions. The Bulletin particularly speaks of one +of these areas: + +"In an investigation recently made by O. E. Meinzer, of the United +States Geological Survey of the Department of the Interior, in Big +Smokey Valley and adjacent area near Tonopah, Nev., the character of +the vegetation and other surface criteria show that the ground-water +stands within ten feet of the surface over an area of 130,000 acres. +The measurements made indicate that tens of thousands of acre feet of +water are annually contributed by mountain streams and by rainfall to +the underground reservoir, and that about the same quantity of ground- +water is annually discharged into the atmosphere through the soil and +the plants in the shallow water areas. It was estimated that in an +area of 240,000 acres the ground-water lies within 50 feet of the +surface and that in an area of 335,000 acres it lies within 100 feet +of the surface. Detailed maps were made showing the location and +extent of these areas." + +Nevada, because of its peculiar geographical and climatological +situation, will always need to irrigate its land to produce crops. +Where irrigation waters are available, the soil has proved abundantly +fertile, but Nevada has been handicapped by a lack of water for these +very soils which would be capable of producing the best crops. + +If, perhaps, underlying those fertile though now arid areas there is +such a reservoir of untapped waters as the Bulletin describes, there +must instantly occur to the mind the question: "Cannot these waters be +made available?" + +Elsewhere in Nevada great arid areas have been reclaimed by tapping +such underground reservoirs and raising the waters to the surface for +irrigation purposes with gasoline motors, where they have not flowed +of their own accord, in artesian wells. Nevada has not ventured far +into this field because it has not felt the necessity. But why wait on +necessity? Why should not Nevada attempt to reach this water? It could +easily do so and so add much valuable fertility to the state's already +important resources. + +Of course, if these new irrigation resources of the state were to +become sufficiently utilized, then there would seem no reason why +Nevada should not be one of our best agricultural states. + +The Truckee River is a splendid asset to Reno. Fed by the eternal +snows of the Sierra Nevadas, with a fall of 2,442 feet between Lake +Tahoe and Pyramid Lake, it affords a water power equalled by few +rivers in the U. S. A. Its power plants now supply light and power for +all near-by mines; Mason Valley, Youngton, Virginia City and the +Comstock Lode; yet these power stations do not generate one-tenth of +the power that could be obtained. It is said that it would easily be +possible to develop 40,000 horse-power within five miles of Reno. + +This means that Reno has great advantages as an industrial center, and +as water power is known to be low in cost and as there is an immense +quantity of iron ore in the state, it might eventually be considered a +fine place to manufacture war supplies, especially for use on the +Pacific Coast. + +The Southern Pacific Shops are at Sparkes near Reno and are of great +advantage to Reno merchants. These shops do the general repair work of +the Salt Lake Division of the Southern Pacific; they employ between +five and six hundred men at an approximate payroll of $125,000 per +month. + +The Verdi Lumber Company near Reno employs from 350 to 400 men in its +mills, box factories and logging camps, at a monthly payroll of +approximately $25,000. + +In addition to these industries there are the Reno and Riverside +mills, and large stock yards and packing houses. Nevada is a noted +stock growing state for great droves of sheep, hogs and cattle; +Nevada's beef is famous throughout the United States. + +Reno, as well as all Nevada, is proud of the world-famous Wingfield +racing stables, and not without reason. Mr. George Wingfield is a +great connoisseur of horseflesh and has spared neither pains nor +expense in order to add the best thoroughbreds to his stock. Even as I +write, the news reaches me that an expert has left for England to +purchase for Mr. Wingfield four mares and a stud, Atheling, a great +English favorite. + +[Illustration: Honeywood of the Wingfield Stables] + +At present Mr. Wingfield has in his stables about 75 horses. I had the +privilege of visiting them some time ago, and made the acquaintance of +some of his prize yearlings. They were wonderful animals, just as fine +as any I have ever seen, and I think I know and understand horses +pretty well. There is one, Honeywood, a beautiful stallion, who was +the winner of the Cambridgeshire stakes at Newmarket, England, in +1911. I don't think I have ever seen a more beautiful animal. + +The fact to be deplored is that the Federal and State Legislatures are +not taking sufficient interest in the reforestation of Nevada; they +should enforce the planting of two or three trees for every one that +is felled. I believe some such law is now in force in the state of +Washington and elsewhere. Near the big mining camps in Nevada around +Reno, the mountains have been literally stripped of all their trees in +the development of the mining industries. It has been a case of: "All +Take and No Give." + +And now we come to "Divorce" which, if not actually an industry, can +all the same easily pass for one, for there is no doubt but that the +influx of prospective divorcees, of both sexes, contributes a goodly +portion toward the financial welfare of Reno. Not only do hotels, +restaurants, cafes and shops reap an abundant harvest from the luxury- +loving wealthy colony, but even real estate prospers, as many +"aspirants" rent cottages for the "season." + +Lawyers are kept busy all the time; the banks are opening new accounts +for every patient who comes to town, and therefore on more mature +consideration, why should we not call it the "Divorce Industry"? + +After all, what's in a name? + +[Illustration: Views of Reno's Public Play Grounds] + + + +RENO HAS ALL THE ADVANTAGES OF A BIG CITY WITH NONE OF ITS +DISADVANTAGES + +The following is a reprint of a circular prepared by the Reno Chamber +of Commerce: + +Location--Reno is situated in Western Nevada, twelve miles from the +state line, and on the borderland of the lofty Sierras and Nevada +plateau. The city lies in a fertile valley through which the beautiful +Truckee flows, and is surrounded by high mountains. + +Area of Reno--Three square miles. + +Population--Power company, telephone company and school census show +over 15,000; government census, 12,016. + +Elevation--4,500 feet. + +Climate--Winters short, moderately cold and open, with very little +snow. Cool, dry, delightful summers, with cool nights, allowing +refreshing sleep. No thunderstorms, hail, fogs or earthquakes. Average +number of days without a cloud in the sky, 195; partly clouded, 105; +and cloudy, 65. Doctors prescribe Reno's sunshine, dry atmosphere and +altitude for health. + +Railroads and Rates--Three railroads enter Reno; the Southern Pacific, +the Western Pacific and the Virginia and Truckee, affording the city +transportation facilities enjoyed by few Western cities. At the +present time Reno enjoys full terminal rates or better for goods +shipped from Eastern points and the distribution rates to the Nevada +and Eastern California territory are also very favorable. All three +roads furnish ample freight handling and side track facilities. + +Highways--Reno is the center of the highway system of Nevada, and an +important station on three transcontinental highways; the Lincoln +Highway, the Overland Trail and the Pike's Peak Ocean to Ocean +Highway. + +City Government--The government is a municipality with a mayor and six +councilmen elected by popular vote. Appointive officers are city +clerk, chief of police, chief of fire department, city engineer and +city health officer. The city attorney is also elected. + +Industries--Reno is not an industrial city, but may be termed the +office of the big industries of the state. Its biggest industries are +a packing plant, machine shop and foundry, soap factory, planing +mills, brick plant, flour mills and railroad yards. + +Financial Strength--The six banks in Reno have a total capitalization +of $1,745,000 and total deposits of $14,782,751.92. Total resources +amount to $18,363,651.94. The clearings average $4,500,000 monthly, +indicating that Reno does a business of a city at least twice its +size. Of the six banks, three are national. + +Tax Rate and Indebtedness--The tax rate of Reno, including state, +county and city taxes, is $3.55 and the bonded indebtedness $433,000. + +Jobbing Center--Due to its central situation Reno is the jobbing +center for the territory of Nevada and Eastern California. Reno has +several warehouses and wholesale grocery, automobile supply, produce, +tobacco, building materials, hardware, bakery and confectionery store. + +Cost of Living--The cost of living is about the same if not lower than +in the Middle West and Western communities. The surrounding country +supplies Reno with wholesome and cheap food and Reno's location on the +main lines from the East and California enables the merchants to sell +imported goods at a reasonable figure. One person can live well on $75 +a month and the average family of five lives on $150 a month. + +Housing Conditions--Like most of the cities of the country there is a +shortage but not an acute one of apartments and small homes in Reno. +However, the amount of building done in Reno this year was almost +three times that of any previous year, and the housing problem is +expected to be solved by the summer of 1921. + +Health Conditions--The clear, dry air, altitude and sunshine of Reno's +climate are especially beneficial to health, and persons with lung +trouble find relief in Reno. There are no tenements or unsanitary +conditions and the city health authorities enforce the laws strictly. +Dairies, restaurants and bakeries are inspected regularly, and no +refuse is allowed to accumulate in streets or yards. The water supply +is pure. + +Labor Conditions--Labor conditions are good in Reno, which is the +shipping point for the labor of the mines, lumber mills, ranches and +construction camps of the Nevada and Eastern California territory. +There is always work to be found in the trades and unskilled labor +markets. The supply of office and store positions is about equal to +the demand. There are no strikes or other quarrels between employer +and employee in Reno. The trades are on a union basis. + +Schools--There are five grammar schools, a kindergarten, business +college, high school and university in Reno. Plans are now being +perfected for the establishment of a junior high school which will +take care of the eighth grades and freshman high school classes. The +scholarship standard is high and the best laboratory and playground +facilities are offered. The teachers are paid salaries above the +average, enabling the schools to maintain an efficient teaching force. + +Churches--There are twelve churches as follows: Baptist, +Congregational, Presbyterian, Episcopal, Christian Scientist, +Lutheran, Methodist, Methodist Colored, Roman Catholic, Salvation +Army, Seventh Day Adventist, Spiritual. + +[Illustration: University of Nevada] + +Hotels and Apartments--Reno has excellent hotel facilities with three +large, first-class hotels and forty smaller hotels and apartment +houses. + +Clubs and Civic Organizations--Headed by the Reno Chamber of Commerce +there exists a live and aggressive group of civic and other +organizations in Reno. Enumerated they are the Rotary Club, Lion's +Club, Woman Citizen's Club, Italian Benevolent Society, G. A. R., +Women's Relief Corps, Nevada Bankers' Society, Nevada Historical +Society, Nevada Livestock Association, Nevada Mine Operators' +Association, Reno Clearing House Association, Nevada Highway +Association, Y. M. C. A., Y. W. C. A., American Legion, Veterans of +Foreign Wars, Red Cross, Salvation Army, Reno Grocers' Association, +Reno Automotive Dealers' Association, Washoe County Medical Society, +W. C. T. U., Spanish War Veterans, Washoe County Farm Bureau, Washoe +County Tax Payers' Association, Truckee Meadows Water Users and Washoe +County Bar Association, Twentieth Century Club, Reno Nurses' +Association. + +Fraternal Organizations--Ancient Order Foresters, B. P. O. E., +Fraternal Brotherhood, F. O. E., I. O. O. F., Daughters of Rebecca, +Knights of Columbus, Knights of Pythias, Ladies of the Maccabees, +Loyal Order of Moose, Masonic Orders, Modern Woodmen of America, Royal +Neighbors, U. A. O. Druids, Woodmen of the World, Women of Woodcraft. +There are four lodge buildings maintained by the Elks, Masons, Odd +Fellows and Woodmen of the World. + +Public Buildings--Reno has many imposing public buildings, among them +the county court house, city hall, public library, post office, Y. M. +C. A., high school building, churches and university buildings. A new +post office and Federal building is contemplated, and $100,000 a year +is being spent on new buildings at the University. + +Theatres--Reno has four first-class theatres: The Rialto, Majestic, +Grand and Wigwam. The first is a combination vaudeville and picture +house and during the show season the best road shows are brought to +Reno by the management and staged there. The other three are motion +picture houses which secure the highest class films to be had. Their +combined seating capacity is over 5,000. + +Publications--Two daily newspapers, five weekly journals, and three +monthly journals are published in Reno. The Reno Evening Gazette and +the Nevada State Journal give full Associated Press reports. + +Parks and Playgrounds--The city maintains two parks and one +playground, and there is a playground at each of the public schools. +Wingfield Park is a recent acquisition given the city by George +Wingfield and consists of a beautiful island of over two acres, +situated in the Truckee river within three blocks of the business +district. The city is now improving this park and connecting it with +the playground on the shore. The playground has three tennis courts, +swings, and teeters and is used constantly during the year. In +addition to the municipal parks the children of Reno have all outdoors +to play in. + +[Illustration: Wingfield Home] + +[Illustration: General View of Reno, Looking N. W.] + +Hospitals--There are three hospitals in addition to the county +hospital and the state hospital for mental diseases. The St. Mary's +Hospital is also a training school for nurses. With a staff of thirty- +three physicians, these hospitals are well able to take care of any +emergency and the most expert treatment can be obtained in Reno. + +Libraries--Reno has a Carnegie Library, University Library, county law +library and the high school library. The Elks Club, Y. M. C. A. and +Chamber of Commerce maintain reading rooms. + +Telephone--The Bell Telephone Company of Nevada furnishes telephone +service in Reno with 3,729 stations in the city. Of this number 1,725 +are business phones and 2,004 residence phones. The rates are lower +than most cities on the coast. The company plans to spend $300,000 in +Reno the coming year in a new building to house its exchange. Long +distance communication with most of the points in Nevada is also +provided. + +City Water Supply--The city water supply is taken from the Truckee +river by the Reno Power, Light & Water Company, twelve miles west of +Reno, and is of the purest quality. It is snow water and is treated by +a purification plant near the outskirts of Reno. Two large reservoirs +store the water and give it ample pressure for distribution. A monthly +rate of $2.75 for an unlimited supply of water is charged each +residence. This allows for irrigation of small gardens and lawns. + +Gas and Electricity--Gas is manufactured by the Reno Power, Light & +Water Company and distributed to nearly every home in the city through +thirty-one miles of mains. The minimum rate is $1.10 a month and +averages $2 per 1,000 cubic feet. Electricity is sold by the same +company for light and power purposes from three hydro-electric plants +on the Truckee river. For domestic uses the electricity is sold at +seven to two cents a kilowatt hour, and for power at a minimum of five +cents a kilowatt and as low as two cents for large users. + +Street Cars--The Reno Traction Company has five miles of track in the +city and connecting with Sparks, three miles to the east. Cars are run +on the half hour during the day and on the hour at night until 12:30 +a.m. + +City Paving--Reno now has six miles of paved streets with five +additional miles on the program for 1921. There are forty miles of +sidewalks covering practically the entire city. + +Sewers--Rena has thirty miles of sewers emptying in the river at a +point below the city. + +Shipping--The railroads entering Reno do a large business in the local +yards, and Reno's importance as a distributing center is growing +rapidly as shown by the following figures: Imports 1915, 155,000 tons +of freight; imports 1920, 207,000 tons of freight. Exports, 1915, +45,000 tons; export 1920, 89,000. Several trucking lines also operate +out of Reno to surrounding points and handle a large tonnage which it +is impossible to estimate. + +Building Activity--The building permits issued for 1920 totalled in +round numbers $300,000, which is twice the figure of last year. + +Contemplated Civic Improvements--The city council is working upon a +comprehensive plan of civic improvements which includes paving work +already mentioned, landscaping the river banks west of the Virginia +street bridge, and improvement of Wingfield Park. A new bandstand +costing $5,000 is being completed in the city park and close to +$100,000 is being spent in purchasing an aviation field and building a +hangar. A free tourist camp ground is to be modernly equipped. + +Building and Loan Associations--There are two Building and Loan +Associations in Reno. The Union Building & Loan Association and the +Security Savings & Loan Association. Both offer material assistance to +the home builder on long payment plans. + +Fire Department--The equipment of the fire department is valued at +over $75,000, and consists of the most modern fire-fighting apparatus. +High speed motor trucks which can reach any point in the city within +three minutes after the alarm is sounded, are used, and twenty-four +men man the trucks on the platoon system. The department has a record +of efficiency and the loss by fire is very low in Reno. + +Police Department--Reno also has a very efficient police force of +fifteen men. An identification bureau and emergency hospital is +maintained by the police department. Only sixteen burglaries occurred +in Reno in 1920, and eight of the perpetrators were apprehended. +Eleven robberies were reported and six apprehended. + +Reno Chamber of Commerce--The Reno Chamber of Commerce is an +organization of 1,300 members employing a managing director, a +secretary and a traffic manager on full time. These men maintain a +credit bureau, mining information bureau and traffic bureau, and are +carrying out a program of civic improvement and state development. The +rooms occupy the fourth floor of the Reno National Bank Building in +the heart of the city, and are used by some thirty organizations as a +civic center. The business and community life of Reno revolves around +the Chamber of Commerce. + +[Illustration with caption: THE TRUCKEE FROM RIVERSIDE DRIVE] + +[Illustration with caption: LOOKING NORTH OF VIRGINIA STREET] + +Aviation Field--The municipal aviation field consists of some sixty +acres of land one mile south of the city, and is headquarters for the +aerial mail service. The county is building a hangar costing $30,000 +and the government stations over thirty men at the field. Two mail +planes arrive each day and are repaired and overhauled at the field. +In the event of the mail service being extended to Los Angeles and the +Northwest, Reno will be the point at which the mail transfers are made +for these points. + +University of Nevada--The University of Nevada is located in Reno, on +a beautiful eminence overlooking the city. It is an accredited +university offering for study all the regular courses for +matriculation and bachelors degree in mining, agriculture, arts and +sciences, civil engineering, electrical engineering and mining +engineering. The teaching and scientific staff number 75 and the +registration, 465 students. The state is expending $100,000 a year on +new buildings at the University and it costs $170,205 a year to +maintain from state and federal funds. Laboratory service is afforded +the mining, agricultural and stock raising industries of the state and +the University is looked upon with great pride by the citizens of +Nevada. + +Fishing and Hunting--The country surrounding Reno abounds in game and +fish and outdoor life is the fashion. The streams and lakes are all +well stocked with game trout and a good basket of trout can be caught +in the Truckee river within the city limits of Reno. Deer, grouse, +sagehen, rabbits, coyotes and wildcats are plentiful on the ranges and +can be reached within a few hours from Reno. + +Valley Farming--The valley in which Reno is located contains some +30,000 acres of fertile land, and is especially suited to the raising +of garden truck, fruits, chickens and grains and grasses. There is a +ready market for all the produce that is raised in the valley. A small +farm of a few acres can be obtained within a mile of the city for a +reasonable figure, and a good living earned in spare hours after work +in the city. + + + + +PART 2 + +RENO TRAGEDIES + + +Mrs. Smith did her little six months in Reno and the world's sympathy +was with her, and the recording angel, I dare say, winked solemnly to +himself and said: "Another domestic tragedy!".... + +It is certainly a tragedy to be told outright by the husband one has +borne children for and has been a good wife to, and has loved and +cherished for the best part of one's life, to "cash in one's old face +and make room in his heart and home for a younger and more fair." This +was the case, apparently, with the Smiths. + +And yet during my short stay in Reno, I have heard of more tragic +cases than that of Mrs. Smith. Mrs. Smith had been left her child and +money. We can't buy happiness with money, it's true, but we can at +least buy comfort, and that is something after all. I knew of a +different case where there was no money to buy comfort: a mother, with +a baby in her arms and the one desire in her heart, to make it +legitimate before it should grow old enough to understand..... I met +this heart broken mother in a hospital in Reno, six years after her +arrival there. I had heard about her and went to see the child. + +"The divorce colony, all frivolity and gaiety," you say? Pardon me, I +know better! + +This devoted mother had loved the father of her child. She had left an +impossible husband and gone with a man who had shown her sympathy, +kindness and love when her life was all unhappiness. She had fought +bravely for her freedom, but for some reason had been unable to obtain +it. The months had dragged into years, the woman toiling day by day in +a shop to support herself and baby, until years of work and worry had +claimed their prize at last, and she had fallen ill; and it was then I +heard of her and went to see her. I could still see traces of beauty +in the now hardened lines about her mouth and sunken eyes. It has been +said that "absence makes the heart grow fonder," but alas! there are +too many cases where "absence makes the heart grow... yonder." The man +whose wife she had hoped to become forgot her in less than a year and +passed out of her life.... + +I shall never forget the day I saw this fatherless child, with her +little pale face, rose-bud mouth and big brown eyes, which when she +lifted them to mine were filled with unshed tears. I knew that this +little lonely child of fate understood.... even at the age of six. I +just wanted to take her in my arms and cry.... + +One beautiful morning a mother arose and called at the door of her +daughter's bedroom. What, no answer? She opened the door and looked +in. Why, the bed had not been slept in! The mother knew that Marjory +had been despondent of late, and she knew why. Can you imagine the icy +hand that gripped that mother's heart when she looked upon the empty +couch. An hour later Marjory's beautiful young body was found floating +in the stream that runs through the University grounds among the green +trees, with sunshine filtering through and the birds singing their +glad notes of life among the leafy branches. As pure and sweet as a +desert lily, and as dainty as an apple blossom was this daughter of +Nevada. He who said "Truth is stranger than fiction" well nigh spoke +truthfully indeed. + +Why wish to leave, Marjory, when you possessed youth, beauty and +loving friends; when the month was June and all the world rejoiced? +Indeed, why? + +If Marjory's stiffened lips could have answered, she would have said: +"Yes, but my lover proved untrue: yesterday he was married to the +Queen of the Divorce Colony; today they are on their honeymoon, and I +am in the great unknown...." + +It is between the hours of twilight and night. The last fading light +of the setting sun is reflected upon the waters of the Truckee River, +in a silvery, rose-tinted hue, indescribable in its delicate beauty. +There is a strange lady seated on the veranda of an imposing Colonial +home overlooking the river. She is writing; sometimes she stops to +gaze upon the glory of the sunset with great dreamy eyes, whose depths +seem unfathomable. How the soft twilight glow enshrines her face! But +now the sun has disappeared, yet the light seems still to cling about +her beautiful form. In a brighter light you might see that her lips +are crimson with the glow of youth, though her face is pale. Her hair, +parted in the middle and dressed straight back, and her white gown +give her the appearance of a Madonna. In her bodice, she wears a white +rose which from time to time she caresses in a dreamy fashion..... + +Just here Eileen--her name is romantic isn't it?--is attracted by a +young man who comes up the street whistling as he walks full of the +joy of youth and life. He runs up the steps, two at a time. The lady +on the porch lifts her eyes just one moment, but womanlike she sees +much in a glance. She sees that his eyes are of a wonderful dark blue; +that his hair is thick and wavy; and that he is tall, straight and +strong. How lithe and supple he seems, too, as he runs up the steps +and disappears into the house. Has he seen the lady Madonna? She does +not know. There is indeed something strange about this dark haired +man; something out of the ordinary and fascinating.... + +The Holbrooks had been immensely wealthy at one time but owing to +gambling and unsuccessful mining deals their fortune had dwindled, and +at the death of Mr. Holbrook his widow had found that her sole +possessions consisted of a beautiful home and three lovely children. +Eileen Reed had come to Mrs. Holbrook with a letter of introduction +from a friend in the East, and had been taken into the home for the +period of her exile. + +It was young Holbrook who had tripped up the steps and entered the +house without apparently seeing her. Having a keen woman's +understanding, I wondered if this apparent ignoring of the lady's +presence was not what first caused her keen interest in the young man, +for Eileen was not accustomed to being ignored. She bore her crown of +beauty with added brilliance and grace because of the passing years, +and was fully aware of her power to sway the will of those about her, +and move the hearts of men with her irresistible charm and perfect +splendor, alike persuasive, compelling and all-powerful. + +She had never really loved: a poor girl of a respectable family, she +had taken up nursing; had married a wealthy doctor, and had been in +the position of the penniless but beautiful wife of a rich husband. + +At dinner Eileen was presented to young Holbrook. I happened to be a +guest at dinner on that particular evening, and noticed a slight +effort on the part of the new arrival to interest the young man. +However, young Holbrook was cordially polite only. After dinner they +sauntered out on the piazza and chatted, for some time. During the +conversation, Eileen got the impression that if he had expressed his +opinion about divorces, it might not have been altogether +complimentary. He had grown up in Reno and for more than fifteen years +had seen the divorcees appear and vanish, and oh!--what a tale he +could have told. + +However, he evidently thought this woman different or at least out of +the ordinary, and he was right; she was a most unusual and unusually +interesting woman. + +They drifted into a rather serious conversation; they spoke of the +old-fashioned chivalry; the profound respect men had for women in the +old-fashioned bygone days; he spoke of his father with so much +reverence, dignity and pride, and this boy-man with all his premature +experience, gave Eileen glimpses into a soul, into his soul, which was +pure and clean and good. + +Eileen was rapidly becoming interested in this young head of the +household; she found herself listening most attentively to every one +of his words. After hearing nothing but silly wordly chatter for +years, it seemed good to listen to this man who seemed to have +absorbed all the romance and mystery of the land of his birth. At one +time he would speak like a boy of twenty; the next moment like a man +of forty; always there seemed to be present two personalities, one the +care-free, happy boy, the other the all-wise, far-seeing man, with a +keen intellectual understanding of every phase of life. + +So much were these two people interested in each other that neither +noticed that it had grown quite late and a little chilly. Eileen +shivered slightly and rather unconsciously; young Holbrook noticed it. + +"Why, you are cold, and it is late; I am sorry I did not realize it," +he broke out in astonishment as he glanced at his watch; "really you +must forgive me for keeping you up!" + +He extended his hand as he bade her good night. Eileen returned his +good night in her most charming manner, though rather mechanically; +something had come over her; she did not know it, but for the first +time in her life she seemed to have fallen in love.... + +Much to my surprise and strangely enough after that evening these two +people seldom met and were never alone together; it seemed to me as +though young Holbrook avoided Eileen without seeming to do so. I could +not understand his attitude unless he felt himself slipping and was +trying to avoid temptation. I felt that his apparent indifference only +served to fan the flames in Eileen's heart. She struggled with her +wounded pride though there never was any outward sign of her feelings +until she became ill. + +The first day's illness brought a gorgeous bouquet of red roses. "Oh, +why did he do that, and why did he send red roses, the emblem of love +and passion?" and why did Eileen clasp them madly to her heart and +drink in their sensual sweetness? For three long weeks Eileen lay ill +with burning fever, and always there were fresh red roses, but he +himself did not come until Eileen began to convalesce. And one day he +came and stood by her couch, and looked down, at her. He saw that she +was paler, but the lips were still as scarlet as the petals of the +American Beauties on the table by her side. The rose-colored light +cast a glow over the prettiest breast and shoulders God had ever +moulded! They said very little; it would be interesting to know what +their thoughts were..... + +Shortly after Eileen came out of the hospital she sent a little token +of appreciation to Mr. Holbrook, in recognition of his unfailing +kindness during her illness. That same evening they met, by chance, +and as he clasped her hand and thanked her for the little gift, the +pressure of his hand sent a strange thrill to her heart; she stammered +something in a tremulous voice and rushed away. Later in the evening +they met, shall we say again "by chance", at dinner. They danced +together, and the pressure of his strong arms nearly maddened +Eileen.... Oh, why do we play with fire and why is forbidden fruit so +sweet! + +A strange woman this, with her dual personality: a Madonna and a lover +of all things good and beautiful, but a Cleopatra when the passionate +fires of her soul were stirred; and this night, a passionate love that +lacked all reason, dominated everything else in her being. When they +had parted and she was alone in her room, sleep refused her offices: +twelve: one: two.... and her eyes still were staring into the +darkness.... Not a sound; all was quiet. She rose from her couch, her +hair streaming, her body all aglow. She donned a flimsy, rose-colored +dressing gown, opened her door, crept silently down the hall and went +bodily into young Holbrook's room. In a dressing gown and slippers he +sat, reading a magazine; he must have been restless, too. "Why Mrs. +Reed--Eileen--what is the matter?" + +"The matter is, Boy, that I love you with all my heart and soul." And +as he held her in his arms he whispered: "And I love you." + +For the first time since he had held her in his arms early that +evening her reason asserted itself for a moment, and she pressed her +hand over his lips to stifle the words. She had thought of poor little +Marjory and her white face in the stream, and of a thousand other +reasons why they should part. There were sacred promises on both sides +to be kept. "But be mine," she pleaded, "just for tonight." + +He held her in his arms; she was his very own, and she counted his +heart-throbs as they beat against her breast. He scented the perfume +of her breath against his cheek, and drank deep of the wine of her red +lips, as she whispered again her sweet confession through a mist of +tears.... "The Woman Thou Gavest Me!" + +No one could better grace love's throne, nor rule more royally. Voice +so low and tender and heart so warm, all herself she gave, and gladly, +thoughtlessly, recklessly. Is it true that all humanity means to do +right though often wrong: that the heart at times must obey the +mandates of circumstances and environment: that even the purest and +best succumb to temptation? Another day, and reason rules! + +He was engaged to a girl who had been his little sweetheart as far +back as he could remember. He had carried her books and pulled her +sled and fought her battles, and now he surely would never break her +heart. There is duty; an invention of the Devil, but it must be met, +though hearts break and burn; though we wander through a desert of +hallowed love and damning desire. This dream was to end. For months +those two beings faced their little world with only a nod as they +passed by; not even as much as a hand-clasp. Who can tell what the man +thought, or if he cared? But the woman wept out her sorrow in my arms. +Confession is good for the soul, so it is said; there is joy in a +heartache sometimes, and sweet content in tears. She told me how she +lay awake and listened for his footsteps. If he came into the room her +heart would almost cease beating. She almost fainted once when she met +him coming in with his fiancee... but in silence she suffered; pride +and duty ruled. + +"How exquisitely he tortures me," she said. "He uses roses as his +weapons.... But what think you of this my friend? I shall bear his +image into life! What matter laws and customs, and sins forbidden.... +I shall be happy again when I hold my baby in my arms".... + +So terribly shocked was I that I could only gasp in amazement, but +when I looked into the face of the woman, behold.... the Madonna! + +There seemed to be a spiritual light illuminating her face and she was +far away in the land of dreams, looking into the face of her blue-eyed +baby; born of a great, great Love, sacrificed to Duty. Life.... What a +tragedy! Fate, did you say? Thank God for Time, the healer of all +wounds. As someone has said: "Never a lip was curved in pain that +could not be kissed into smiles again!" + +Just half an hour before she was leaving Reno, as we were dropping the +last of the little silver toilet articles into her small traveling +bag, and gathering up the odds and ends here and there, the telephone +rang. At Eileen's request I answered. A manly voice said: "Mr. +Holbrook speaking; I would like to come and pay my respects to Mrs. +Reed if she has a few minutes to spare, and will permit me!" Of course +she would, poor girl; she looked as though heaven had suddenly opened +and beckoned her enter. I left them alone. + +Whatever was said must have taken the bitterness out of the parting, +because it was a sweet-souled, courageous girl that joined me ten +minutes later, to take her departure for life's everlasting battle +fields; to begin anew. Perhaps she knew his love would crown the +awaiting beyond with divine fulfillment...... + +When I saw her off on the Eastbound train, she answered my questioning +look by taking a small photo from her bodice--"No, I have not +forgotten," she said with a smile that was more tragic than all the +tears the world has ever shed. "Here, next my heart, I shall carry my +love always, but there is his duty and mine, and so much do I love +him, that I want to bear all the pain myself...." + +Being a trained nurse, Eileen when she got her divorce went to France +with several other Red Cross nurses, "where," she said, "I shall try +to mend my broken heart while I help to patch up some of our mutilated +soldier boys. My only hope is that I may be of some use, and I feel +sure that my own miserable little wail of bereavement will get lost in +the shuffle, when I am face to face with the tragedies of the battle +fields..." + +Shall we forgive her? Yes, if we follow the teachings of the +Nazarene..... I sometimes hear from Eileen; she is somewhere in +France, and so is young Holbrook, I am told! I may yet continue their +story some day. Methinks it is a promise; a whisper across the miles +of unrest; a pledge of the fulfillment of a prayer; a surety for +tomorrow's sunshine! Already I can see a smile in the East: may I +hope, and hoping believe?.... + +"To Helen, my full blown rose, spirit of perfect womanhood, my +inspiration and guide; to her whose love exceeds all others, to her +memory I bow my head in everlasting devotion and admiration...." + +Thus spoke a man who had watched the train disappear eastward with the +body of his sweetheart, four years prior to the writing of this book. +When I think of all the tragic stories of the divorce colony, Helen's +was perhaps the most pathetic. She was the daughter of a wealthy +family in New York State. She ran away when only sixteen, and married +a man whom she thought she loved, and for years she struggled to find +happiness, ignored by her people because of her choice of a husband. +She found herself poverty stricken and unloved, paying the price of +her folly. What a pity that we must be young and know too little, and +then grow old and sometimes know too much! Ideals are simply mental +will-o'-the-wisps, of which we are always in pursuit, but which we see +realized but seldom. + +For ten long years this woman faced neglect, humiliation and days and +nights of anguish in her efforts to fulfill her duty, until she could +stand it no longer, and crept back to her father's door to ask +forgiveness. The millionaire father sent her to Reno, with ten dollars +a week to live on, and a promise of forgiveness if in future she would +promise to live according to his wishes. Poor little Helen! For years +her heart had been starving for love, and now Reno meant to her the +call of honor and duty, the sworn obligation of her family. But, alas, +Helen was beautiful: a girl who had only just become a woman; whose +sufferings had only served to develop a strong personality with an +intangible charm; whose whole being suggested unnumbered possibilities +of mind and character. Her face was like a lily, so fair, and almost +classic, yet showing unmistakably the warm heart and emotional nature +of the woman. A wealth of golden hair that crowned her regal grace, +and eyes that had stolen the tenderest blue from a turquoise sky +beneath the shade of modest lashes. Appealing lotus-like lips, rosy- +ripe and moist with the dew of promised bliss; sensuous curves and +graceful feminine lines..... such a woman was Helen. And he! Six feet +of Western manhood; a graduate of Yale, and still an athlete at 35. A +man with the highest ideals of fine, clean, strong manhood. He had +gone West shortly after leaving college and had made his fortune, but +he liked the West and its people, and there he made his home. The +rough mining life he had led had worn off a little of the drawing room +polish of his younger years, which made him even more fascinating, and +something had turned his raven-black hair just a little bit gray at +the temples. + +This man sat in a lawyer's office one afternoon, his wide brimmed +Stetson pulled low over his eyes, and a cigar between his teeth, when +a rather timid little blonde lady entered. He removed both cigar and +hat and stood up. Jack Worthington was the man, and he was presented +to Helen by his old friend, Dick Sheldon, who was also Helen's lawyer. + +Were you ever alone in a strange land, sitting between the four walls +of a barren, stuffy room with the blue devils swarming thick around +you? That had been the case with poor little Helen for two long weeks +before her meeting with Jack Worthington. + +Two whole weeks!....it had seemed an eternity to this beautiful woman, +with the wreckage of her youth staring her in the face: a youth which +should have been all sunshine and flowers. She had risked all for the +price of love and lost.... + +"Gee! Some woman!" said Worthington to Sheldon when the door closed +upon Helen, after a private consultation with the lawyer. + +"What's the matter, old boy; captured at last, after all these years? +Well, they say: 'the longer you wait, the harder the blow!' But I'll +have to hand it to you, you're a good picker. That little woman is an +angel if there ever was one in Reno, and you will be a lucky boy if +you can win her!" + +Two days later there was a little dinner given at the home of Mr. and +Mrs. Sheldon, and strange to say, Helen and Worthington were among +those present. From that time on it was Jack who chased away the +shadows and kept Helen amused. There was something wonderfully sweet +and soothing about this strong, self-reliant man of the West. Life +cannot exist without sunshine, and this man was slowly becoming the +sunshine of Helen's life, with each walk in the moonlight along the +banks of the Truckee, and with each ride through the wonderful, silent +places, while they enjoyed Nevada's matchless sunsets, and glorious +freedom of open country. + +[Illustration with caption: GLENBROOK] + +In spite of all Jack could do in the way of chasing away the shadows, +Helen continued to grow more like the lily and less like the rose. It +was terribly hot in Reno as the summer months came on, and there were +reasons why Helen could not have all the comforts. Worthington, with +his thousands, was hopeless. She should be up to the lake where the +cool, fresh breezes could fan the roses back into her cheeks, but how +could he manage it? + +"I know, I shall have the Sheldons go up to their camp at Glenbrook, +and invite us up for the week.".... + +The very next morning a very sweet feminine voice called Helen over +the 'phone. "Good morning, Helen dear, aren't you nearly cooked? Yes, +I know it's a hundred and ten in the shade. I say, dear, Mr. Sheldon +and I have a cozy nook up at Glenbrook, on Lake Tahoe. Won't you come +up and spend the week with us there?.... Oh, yes, we will call for you +at 8 A.M. tomorrow .... Oh, no, don't thank us, you will be so +welcome.... All right, good-bye." + +When Helen tripped lightly down to the big touring car the next +morning, she showed no surprise when Jack jumped from the back seat +and assisted her to a place by his side. It was a gay party that +landed at the camp a few hours later. Did these two people know that +they had grown to love each other? There had been no word of love +spoken between them but that night they went for a row on the lake of +many colors, just as the sun dropped over the hills and the moon shone +out in all its glory. Mr. and Mrs. Sheldon stood on the shore and +watched them with a knowing smile. Jack was the salt of the earth, and +he meant so well.... He did not mean to speak to Helen until she was +free, but alas! for the infinite cry of infinite hearts that yearn. +For weeks and weeks, when the days were the darkest, it had been Jack +who happened along just at the right moment with a book or some +flowers, accompanied by a funny story or a joke, some little kindness +that would brighten the path a bit. What a mixture he was, of +tenderness and brusqueness; of common sense and poetry; of fun and +seriousness, this adopted son of the sagebrush. These were Helen's +thoughts as she watched his strong body bend gracefully over the oars, +which sent them flying through the sapphire water of Lake Tahoe. + +Already the color was beginning to appear in Helen's cheeks and she +looked happier and more bewitching than ever before. "An angel +pointing the way to Paradise," thought Jack. They discussed the moon- +kissed glades and leafy woods of shadowland. Did they know that in +each leafy bough Cupid awaited with love's weapon poised? Jack drew in +the oars and allowed the little boat to drift; it is sometimes +wonderfully sweet to drift; sometimes we drift into the harbor of +happiness; sometimes we smash against the rocks, and are left +shipwrecked. Little did Helen dream that soon this new found happiness +was to vanish; that her lips burning for kisses yet unborn, might soon +unbend and voice deepest anguish and piteous appeal; that those eyes +which betokened unsolved depths of fondest affection, of laughter, +love and life, might soon lose their lustre and dreamy languor, in an +ocean of tears..... There two people drifted silently along, conscious +only of the fact that they were supremely happy in each other's +company .... But lo! out of the quiet a storm is born: why had they +not noticed that the moon had hidden her silvery face behind a black +cloud? The spray and rain beating upon their happy faces was the first +incident which made them aware that a terrific storm was upon them, +and that they were many miles from home. The wind was whipping the +waves into a perfect fury, thus rendering unmanageable the little +boat. The thunder rolled and roared, and finally the wind drove the +frail craft against the stony wall of Cave Rock. Jack managed to grasp +a part of the jagged surface and drag Helen with him; the boat hit +against the rocks several times and finally broke up. + +[Illustration with caption: CAVE ROCK] All through the struggle Helen +had sat motionless and fascinated at the strength and skill this man +displayed in his efforts to pull for the shore, but when at last they +were there, and she felt his strong arms about her, all her courage +and strength failed her, and she fainted. He clasped her closer to his +heart and looked into her colorless face. Her clothes were dripping, +and her golden hair was streaming about her face. Jack stopped for a +moment and pressed his burning lips to hers--they were icy. + +"My sweet burden of glorious womanhood," he whispered. "Thank God you +are safe!" And he climbed up the rocky mountainside to the only +available shelter.... Cave Rock. There he took his dripping burden and +laid it on the damp, cold stones. There was no sign of life. He took +off his coat, rang the water out as best he could, and spread it on +the rocks and laid Helen upon it. He rubbed her hands and arms, and +bathed her head, but she remained chilled. + +If he only had a dry match to start a fire with, or some brandy, but +alas! they were storm-tossed souls, with no means of warmth, except +that of the man's palpitating body..... He was aglow with warmth from +the exertion of rowing and climbing up the mountainside. He would +bring back life and pulsation to this woman whom he loved with all his +heart and soul, by the warmth of his own glowing body. As he drew off +his waistcoat and threw it aside, something fell to the ground. He +felt about in the dark until he found the object; it was a tiny silver +match case, some silly Christmas present which he never used and had +forgotten all about, but it was surely a welcome friend at this +particular moment. Were there any matches in it?.... He held his +breath for a moment while he opened it .... His sigh of relief told +the story. The rest now was only the work of a minute: some bits of +driftwood and the remains of some previous camp fire quickly started a +blaze. + +Carefully he laid Helen upon his coat near the fire, and continued to +rub her body until her eyelids quivered and she opened her big blue +eyes and looked about. + +She saw the camp fire, the strange looking cave and the big handsome +figure bending over her.... First she looked startled, then when she +slowly realized their predicament she became hysterical, threw herself +into her rescuer's arms and wept. + +And each knew, as the one man and the one woman will always know by +intuition, that fiction has no miracles such as are found in the book +of life. Lips may dissemble, but there is no need of speech when heart +meets its mate. Jack gathered her to his breast and soothed her as +best he could. It was so good to look in her face and to hear her +voice; her heart was so pure and her soul so lily white: her eyes like +violets wet with the morning dew.... + +When she was quieter, Jack whispered in his fine manly voice quivering +with earnestness: "Helen, my own, will you be my wife, my own sweet +little wife until death do us part?" + +"Until death do us part, I will!" she whispered, and surely the angels +must have recorded that sacred promise. Her voice was suffused with a +world of tenderness as she breathed the words. From his coat pocket +Jack produced a plain gold band. "My mother's wedding ring," he said, +"it has never left me since I said good-bye to her and laid her to +rest. I have been looking for a woman who would be as worthy of +wearing it".... and he slipped it on her finger and kissed the hand it +graced. And then and there they pledged their troth..... + +"I love you with all my heart and soul, my own sweet woman, and before +God we can do no harm: with love such as ours there can be no such +thing as sin. Society is a tissue of pretense: convention a fleeting +fantom. My sweet bride of tonight." + +Splendidly conscious of her sweet sacrifice, she smiled at +tomorrows.... "There is this hour and we live; if sin it is, it is yet +divine; the happiest hour of my life, because I am loved and I love so +much.".... + +Adieu to duty and creeds, love's altar has vestments of rosebud lips +and starry eyes with whispered words of love divine: "Sin," it's said; +but if with the one all holy love, what care we for the reckoning +hour..... + +"Oh! Helen dear, you are missing the most gorgeous sunrise of +creation!" + +[Illustration with caption: LAKE TAHOE] + +Why, it is Jack's voice.... Helen opens her eyes and looks around. +"What did you say about the sunrise, Jack dear?" She looks out of the +cave in the direction whence the voice came, and sees the silver dusk +turning rose. + +"Oh! the sunrise! Yes, dear, I'll be there in just a minute." Helen +quickly brought back her gaze from the rosy-tinted silver light to the +cave and its surroundings. There was a camp fire lighted, and her +clothing was stretched on a line near it, and she herself was wrapped +warmly in a dry woollen cloak. In a very short time, she appeared at +the opening of the cave, fully dressed, as fresh and sweet as a rose +and radiantly happy. + +"Good morning, my wonderful bride, my own sweet woman," he whispered +as he kissed her almost reverently. "Together we will enjoy this +glorious sunrise!" + +"Isn't it wonderful?" she sighed, "not a sign of last night's terrible +storm: just see how beautiful the lake is; all emerald, sapphire and +gold! How the sun reflects its golden glory on the smooth water! How +wonderful, Jack dear, to watch the birth of a new day, coming forth +from the hands of its Maker. Oh, it is so good to be alive, my lover!" + +And Jack again held her in his arms, pressed her to his heart and +almost smothered her with kisses. "And I want to say to you, dear, +that no fame, no glory, no wealth, nothing on earth can bring the +happiness, the real heart's content into one's life, that just one +hour's true, unselfish love can give. I know this after ten long years +of grief, suffering and despair, when all the time my heart cried out +for its own, for what was its birthright and its heritage! I want to +give you my whole heart, dear, a heart full of gladness and +rejoicing." + +"My own sweet woman, it shall be my one and only thought to make your +life one beautiful day of gladness and joy! And now, dear, I am afraid +there is nothing to do but to walk back to the next camp which is +about four miles distant, and then telephone the Sheldons to come for +us. I am sure they must be worried; they are probably searching the +lake for us. The road is good, that is one thing in our favor. Do you +feel equal to the walk, or do you prefer to be left here while I go +for help?" + +"Indeed I shall not be left here all alone. I could walk twice that +distance!" They started off, hand in hand...... + +And for three wonderful months hand in hand they wandered. Only two +people lived in this wonderful world for this man and this woman. All +its wealth and beauty: its unutterable joys: its pleasures and stores +of infinite happiness: all their very own! Together they wandered down +life's leafy lanes, treading its quiet paths: together they drank deep +of nature and enjoyed every moment without a thought of tomorrow. The +flowers shed their sweetest perfumes, the birds sang their sweetest +songs, and each leaf and bough nodded as though they knew. Of all men, +he was the one God made, and she,--the woman.... Their souls responded +to spiritual intuitions: their minds entwined as do the ivy and the +oak... + +So beautiful was the love and devotion of this man and this woman, +that every one who knew them was in sympathy with them; they were +envied by those who had never known such blissful peace and delirious +delight. These two people were planning a beautiful home on the banks +of the Truckee. There had been a sweet confession from Helen: her case +would soon be up for hearing and all would be well.... But alas! +suddenly Helen was taken seriously ill. Three days later she died in +the hospital. What was the matter? No one knows! With her last breath: +"It has all been worth while, Jack dear," she whispered. + +And the man, heart-broken, bought a solid silver casket, with a glass +inner casket, padded with delicate rose satin, and therein he laid the +woman he had loved, honored and respected above all others. A friend +who saw her said: + +"Never have I seen anyone look so beautiful, as she lay there in her +soft chiffon gown, with a cluster of rosebuds in her hand; a full +blown rose herself. Is it possible that a creation so fair and +beautiful can, in a few short hours, return to dust again?" + +The next day Helen's body, in the silver casket, covered with flowers +--the last tribute of a great love--was homeward bound. Is she to be +envied, or pitied? I wonder.... + +The man who ever carried in his heart the greatest respect and +reverence for this one woman, whispered gently as he placed a wreath +of roses on her casket: + +"And I had hoped that you would be with me always! Oh, love of mine, +what a wealth of beauty, charm and winning grace were yours in full +flower".... + +I hope, if it be true, that there yet remains another life in some dim +land of mystery; that they may again walk together, and sing, as in +the long ago; hand in hand; for love such as theirs will live through +eternity, and ever after.... + + + + +PART 3 + +RENO ROMANCE + + +Reno and Romance go hand in hand I should say. If you asked half a +dozen of your friends what the word Romance means, I dare say each one +would give a different answer. I think one of the most beautiful plays +I have ever seen was a play called "Romance"; yet to me the play +seemed rather a tragic story.... I have looked up the word in an +English dictionary and it gives the definition, "An imaginative story, +fiction." How prosaic! To me Romance has always been something +poetical and very real indeed. + +At any rate, it is real in Reno; everywhere there is evidence of it; +and it is easy to lay one's finger on the romantic cases. Just peep +into the room of this new arrival; there is a bower of beautiful +flowers, and there is a telegram on the dressing table. The lady's +lawyer had been telegraphed to and has given instructions that a +garden of flowers be arranged as a welcome to the fair exile; the +telegram contains words of encouragement and consolation. + +I heard of many romances that were beautiful and interesting; that +pictured to my mind youthful mistakes righted, dreams realized and +ideal future homes, with love reigning supreme and peace and harmony +keeping the charm ever radiant. I can't tell you about all of them, +therefore I shall select the one I thought most beautiful. The heroine +of my selected romance is Mrs. Beuland, of Virginia. + +Never have I found it so difficult to describe a woman as I find it to +describe Mrs. Beuland; I wish I could picture to you this most unusual +woman as I knew her in the southland, a mere girl of sixteen; as I +think of her now she brings to my mind a poem of William Wordsworth: + + "I saw her upon nearer view, + A spirit, yet a woman too: + Her household motions light and free, + And steps of virgin liberty; + A countenance in which did meet + Sweet records, promises as sweet; + A creature not too bright or good + For human nature's daily food-- + For transient sorrows, simple wiles, + Praise, blame, love, kisses, tears, and smiles." + +Yes, she was like a poem, with much of the untamed grace of a panther, +and the gentleness of a dove..... + +In Balzac's unique story, "A Passion in the Desert," a question is +asked: "How did their friendship end?" The answer is, "Like all great +passions--in a misunderstanding. One suspects the other. One is too +proud to ask for an explanation and the other too stubborn to offer +it." And so it was with Mrs. Beuland, else I should not be recording +her romance here. + +I am glad the story of Balzac did not read: "Like all great loves," +because I believe that a great love always brings with it harmony and +understanding. The misunderstanding in this case was due to the fact, +that the girl did not know that under this great passion lay +slumbering a wonderful love of everlasting endurance. + +Surely the heroine of this romance was deserving of a great love. She +was like a sunbeam when she entered a room, she always brought +gladness; she radiated the joy of living. + +She rode like a princess, danced like a fairy, was a child of nature +and at the same time a woman of the world. I have seen her romp in a +daisy field and gather flowers with the children, as much a child as +any of them, and a few hours later I have met her in a drawing room, +an entirely different person, all dignity and self possession. + +Mrs. Beuland was a daughter of one of the first families of Virginia; +tall and stately, with a splendid, graceful physique, blue eyes, black +hair and olive skin. Her physical charm and mental attraction were +always struggling for supremacy. + +She was a girl of many moods; sometimes the joy of living would just +radiate from her and her care-free laughter and musical voice would be +that of a happy child; another time her eyes would lose the sparkling, +captivating expression and become dreamy and thoughtful, as though +they were peering into the great beyond; her voice would tremble with +earnestness as she would discuss some serious subject. And then again +there would be a note of sadness, though never of bitterness. + +I knew Mrs. Beuland as Nell Wilbur in Virginia, before her marriage to +Mr. Beuland. Her family were among the victims of the Civil War who +were left paupers after the wreckage of the South. + +Nell Wilbur had always been proud, willful and highly strung. Her +mother had died young. Her father after futile attempts to guide her +steps in the right direction, finally concluded that it was better to +let her have her head; she would run away with the bit anyway. She +might break her neck, but she surely would have to learn life's +lessons in her own way, and she did. + +Her family tried to make a match for her but she refused, saying, "I +want to be the captain of my own soul; I will make my own mistakes": +and she kept her word. Just seventeen, she went to visit an aunt in +New York, glowing with youth and health, with a mind full of romance +and ideals; an enthusiast, and a dreamer of dreams. She at once found +herself surrounded by devoted admirers, all rivaling with each other +in their efforts to please her. One young millionaire, finding that +she was fond of equestrian sports, offered her the pick of his +stables, whereupon the young Virginian lifted her eyes in surprise as +she said: "But where would I ride? Your little old park isn't big +enough to ride in, and the people all look as though they dropped out +of a Fifth Avenue shop window. If you would come with me for a cross +country gallop in Virginia, you would understand that I could not +possibly be interested in doing living pictures in Central Park!" + +Among the hosts of Miss Wilbur's admirers there were two who +interested the young lady; one a splendid young English lawyer, rich +and handsome: the other, a young New York artist, poor but +interesting, very sincere, very intellectual and with strong +personality. + +Both men had many faults, though they had their full share of fine +qualities as well. The faults that were most annoying to Miss Wilbur +in the young lawyer (whose name by the way was Glen Royce) were his +profound conceit and his sensual nature. There was some excuse for him +because the Gods had endowed him with all their charms; he was an +Adonis, Apollo and all the other Greek Gods in one. I don't think I +have ever seen two people so near physical perfection as Nell Wilbur +and Glen Royce. They seemed to be made for each other; every one had +decided that they would surely be married. Young Royce was madly in +love, and though Miss Wilbur lavished her smiles on the young artist, +Will Beuland, no one thought that he had the slightest chance. + +Miss Wilbur's aunt invited a party of the young people to Atlantic +City for the Easter holidays, and I was lucky enough to be asked, my +principal pleasure being in watching the ideal young lovers. They were +always perfectly groomed; always stunning; in morning dress, bathing +suits and evening clothes, alike charming. The last evening before our +return I was in the reception room when Nell appeared dressed for +dinner. I watched young Royce when, with all the grace of a prince, he +rose to receive her. She was in rose satin and chiffon, with a cluster +of pink blossoms in her hand, like the herald of spring; so soft and +delicately tinted were her beautifully moulded shoulders that one +could scarcely perceive where the soft clinging chiffon left off. She +was startlingly beautiful, and as I watched the man as he touched her +hand, I could have sworn that all the blood in his veins had turned to +liquid fire. + +I made some excuse and left them alone. The balcony was dark and +deserted, and I betook myself to its seclusion. I think the lovers +must have forgotten about the balcony; I am quite sure he had +forgotten everything but the vision before him. He was living in the +world that never was; the sound of flutes was wafted on the breeze +from fairyland. Pulsing bosom and sheen of sun-kissed shoulders.... +Ah! maddening modesty and virtue, how inconsistent are thy ways! No +wonder so many forget about the cursed serpent.... + +Through the windows I saw the man lead the woman to a cluster of palms +in a far corner of the big room, seat her on a divan in the shadow of +the palms and drop on his knees before her. The next moment she was in +his arms. He had meant to propose the same as we read in books, but +his lips were too near the woman's delicately tinted breast... He +kissed her lips, her eyes, her bosom and shoulders; he was like the +rush of a bursting river whose waters cry out in ecstasy of liberation +as they leap in the sunshine. + +That evening at dinner the engagement was informally announced. There +was, however, something in Miss Wilbur's manner that I could not quite +fathom; that something which completes the happiness of two people who +love each other was lacking. It was not until ten years later when I +met Mrs. Beuland in Reno, that I understood the shadow. + +I knew that the young lawyer had failed to induce Miss Wilbur to +consent to an early wedding, and after much persuasion Mr. Royce +returned to England alone. Later it was rumored that the engagement +had been broken off; then we heard that Mr. Royce had committed +suicide; again that he had married; another time that he was returning +to America to press his suit. + +Miss Wilbur was very reticent about the subject and continued to +receive the attentions of the young artist, Will Beuland, and some six +months after Mr. Royce returned to England she was married to the New +York artist. No one seemed surprised, though it caused much gossip. + +Fancy my astonishment when ten years later I met the stately Mrs. +Beuland in the lobby of my hotel in Reno. I had not seen her since her +marriage; the only difference the years had made, apparently, was that +now she was a woman instead of a girl, and yes, there was just a wisp +of snowy white hair among the black locks about her forehead, which +made her look even more aristocratic, if that was possible. + +When one is lonely and alone in a strange place, it is most agreeable +to find an unexpected friend; and when one has a heavy heart, it is +good to confide in a sympathetic friend; so Mrs. Beuland and I became +close companions. I was fortunately able to lend a helping hand and +cheer the lonely way of this charming and much loved woman. One day as +we were chatting on the banks of the Truckee, she said to me: "Do you +know, it does seem such a pity that one of the most beautiful things +on earth really causes the most trouble!" "What is that?" I replied. +"Youthful ideals," she replied. + +"For a youthful ideal I have paid long years of misery, and have spent +that time as an apprentice in the workshop of wisdom. Tardy wisdom, +the mother of all real enduring happiness. Because of a youthful ideal +I did not marry the man I really loved; instead I married the man I +thought I loved. I wanted to be the companion and friend and ideal +mate and intellectual partner through life to the man I married; those +were my ideals. + +"The moment I promised myself to the man I loved I found myself +clasped tightly in passion's mad embrace; a mad passion by youth's +fierce fires fed; his kisses hotly pressed on my lips burned into my +very soul and made my heart sick. Was that love? It was certainly not +my ideal, to be the toy of mad passion! + +"Ah! where was wisdom's tardy voice that it did not whisper: 'God made +men thus: there are no perfect men!'.... + +"How true it is that ideals are simply mental will-o'-the-wisps!.... + +"I married for ideals, not for love. I was in love with the ideal, and +the man I married led me to believe he was that ideal; picture my +heart-aching disappointment when I found that his art was his real +bride, and that I was a sort of understudy; hardly that, after the +first few months. I awoke to the fact that I had exchanged my youth +and freedom for a domestic mill that sank all my ideals into +commonplace. I said I would make my own mistakes and I did. Then came +the long battle with my pride, and I suffered in silence. For seven +long years I faced neglect and humiliation; and then one day after a +visit to my old home, I returned to find my husband and one of his +models occupying my very home.... my very bed. I turned and left the +place without a word. + +"For the first time in my life I grew bitter; I wondered if it were +true, that realization kills all the joys we anticipate; if all our +rosy dreams turn gray in the face of cold reality. + +"I was sick at heart and alone, too proud to go to anyone with my +troubles; it seemed to me that day by day the color was fading out of +my life. I had for years given all my love gifts only to answer duty's +call and one by one the leaves of my romance began to fall, until +jealousy, like a cancer, had eaten into my aching heart, and left me +stripped of everything, even hope.... + +"My thoughts were muddled; I could not think clearly: it was a day in +early June: I did not know where to go, and I did not want to meet +anyone I knew. I never knew quite how or why, but a few hours later I +found myself in Atlantic City. I arrived there in the evening and +after refreshing myself, I walked out on the board walk and almost to +the end of it, until there was no one in sight: and then I went down +on the sand and there I seated myself. I thought, with the big silver +moon overhead and the waves breaking on the shore, I should be able to +think out some plan for the future. I don't know how long I sat there, +but I know the only thoughts that came to me were that in my case I +was forever through with romance, sentiments and ideals. There was a +storm raging in my soul, and bitter resentment in my heart; I had +meant so well and it had all come to this. I looked at my watch: it +was nearly eleven; I suddenly realized that I had forgotten to dine, +that my head ached and that I was tired. I got up and started back to +the hotel. Then a miracle happened; it sounds like fiction but I swear +it is the truth..... + +"I heard my name called; it sounded as though it were an echo out of +the past. I looked up.... a tall gentleman was standing by me looking +down into my face; 'Good evening, Mrs. Beuland, this is indeed a +pleasant surprise." Glen Royce....You know our story, and as I had not +heard from him in years you can imagine my surprise. + +"Mr. Royce had been in America just one week; he had come over on +business and just thought it would be interesting to run down and have +a peep at the sea. I think both our thoughts traveled back over the +years to the Easter time we spent together there.... + +"'How long are you remaining?' he asked after a little pause. 'About a +week,' I replied. 'May I call tomorrow then?' 'Yes,' I said, 'but I +have just arrived and am rather tired; if you will excuse me I will +leave you now.' He saw me to my hotel and said good night. I never +knew quite what was said or what really happened, however. I slept +soundly from sheer exhaustion, and awakened the next morning +refreshed, but unable to realize that everything was not a dream. + +"Then the 'phone rang. 'Good morning, Mrs. Beuland; this is Glen Royce +speaking; hope I haven't called you too early? Will you come for a +walk? It is a beautiful day.' I did and before the day was over, I had +made a confidant of this old sweetheart of mine, and extracted a +promise from him, a very foolish, silly promise. + +"'I want so much to be your friend,' he said, 'there must be something +I can do to make your burden lighter.' I told him that I would accept +his friendship under one condition, that he would promise not to make +love to me, and so the courtship was started all over again on a +friendship basis, though I did not realize it at the time. Later he +made me tell him why I broke our engagement, and when I explained he +understood, and blamed it on a misunderstanding. + +"I thought him a much finer man than he was ten years ago, but of +course that is only the wisdom that comes with the years. It has been +three years since I met him that evening, when I was blind with utter +despair. That's the story so far! My case will be called tomorrow; if +I am lucky I will be free, and then he is coming out and we will be +married here and spend our honeymoon in California. I want you to be +my only attendant. Things have turned out so that he is to remain in +America; we have a beautiful little home near New York, down by the +sea. When you go back East you must come and see us." + +And so the happy day arrived, just as the sun was sinking down behind +Mount Rose; we stood in the silent church; I held the flowers, a huge +bouquet of simple spring blossoms, while the groom slipped the little +gold band on the bride's finger and the organ pealed out the +benediction.... + +A few months later I arrived in New York and telephoned, "Hello, Nell, +is that you? Here I am, may I come out, or are you two still +honeymooning?" The answer came back: "We are still honeymooning, but +you may come out; in fact, I am just crazy to see you. You will never +find the way alone; meet Glen at his office and come out with him +tonight!" And I did. The bride was at the station to meet us, +radiantly happy. We motored over a beautiful bit of country and in +about ten minutes came to a beautiful villa, with beautiful gardens +and a glimpse of the sea in the distance; it did my soul good to watch +this picture of domestic bliss. They were like a boy and girl again, +up to their eyes in love and gloriously happy. + +"A love and happiness with wisdom as its basis and made up of +understanding and friendship, with a dash of romance, and enough +passion to lend warmth and charm, and a good portion of common sense +that doesn't expect perfection": this is Nell's recipe for domestic +happiness. + +Three years later. My husband and I have just returned from a week-end +visit to Mr. and Mrs. Royce: the recipe seems to be working fine; I am +trying it myself. We sat on the porch and watched them stroll out to +the beach, in the fading light of the setting sun, and then the +shadows of twilight hid them from sight. They disappeared, hand in +hand; lovers, living in perfect companionship, planning and building +as they go. May their matrimonial ship continue to sail on sunny seas, +where soft winds blow, and rest in the harbor of happiness at last. +Another triumph for Reno..... + +On the occasion of our visit she showed me a package of letters tied +with white satin ribbon; "Glen's letters," she said; "he wrote me one +every day I was in Reno and they are the most beautiful letters ever +written." I read some of them and I agreed with her; I wish she would +allow me to publish them: it would make a good world better for having +read them. "Nor has earth, nor Heaven nor Hell any bars through which +love cannot burst its way toward reunion and completeness".... + +And yet this queen of matrimonial bliss said to me, "I wish that all +mothers would warn their girls against ideals which are not practical. +I blame my ideals for years of utter misery; my ideal was a perfect +man." + +"Someone has said: 'God does not make imperfect things,' and yet can +anyone say that he has ever seen a perfect man or a woman? I held on +to the shreds of my ideal until there was not a shred left to hang on +to; until my heart lay bruised and bleeding on the altar of dead and +gone ideals. And then wisdom came and whispered: 'You have been +looking for perfection, but there is no such thing on this earth: we +must be forbearing and forgiving: 'forgive us our debts as we forgive +our debtors.' + +"With wisdom came new ideals that were practical and a new kind of +love, indulgent and forgiving, yet self-respecting; a love as strong +as the Rock of Ages. Love--a little thing--a sentiment perhaps--and +yet without it what would be left of that which we call life.... + +"There are emotions which make for ambition, for right living, for +honor and position, but how pitifully small and inconsequential +besides the mighty tomes which, circling the globe, comprise the +lexicon of love. Love--the symbol and sequel of birth, the solace of +death--the essence of divinity! Frozen indeed is the heart which has +never felt its glow; gross and sordid the soul which has never been +illumined by its sunshine. + +"To live is to love, my friend, and to love is to suffer a little and +to be happy much." + + + + +PART 4 + +RENO COMEDIES + + +According to some of the comic postcards which are sent out, Reno was +known in the time of Adam and Eve. + +Someone sent me a card while there, which depicted Adam and Eve under +the famous apple-tree. (Telephone: 281 Apple.) Eve was beautiful in +flowing hair and fig leaf. Adam had one on too, a rather faded affair. +Adam was plucking a nice, fat, green fig leaf out of his salad. Under +the picture were written the words: "Eve, the next time you put my +dress suit in the salad, Reno for me." + +One sees and hears funny things in Reno. For instance, no one will +abide there long before being asked: "Are you here for the cure?" At +first you may look astonished and say: "No, I am perfectly well, thank +you," but the smile that lightens the questioner's face makes the +meaning slowly dawn upon one. One can hear a porter say to a conductor +of the train from the East: "Any victims today?"; and the hotels +frequented by the divorcees are known as "hospitals for the first aid +to the matrimonially injured." The reporter of the local paper will +ask: "Any new headlines ready?" The Court House is known as "the +divorce mill." Sometimes as "the separator"! + +Then Renoites are fond of nicknaming the members of the divorce +colony, as well as the buildings. + +One fair divorcee was dubbed the "Weeping Beauty" by her lawyer, +because she wept whenever she visited him. And she looked pretty too +when she wept: "like a dew-kissed rose," he said. A gentleman of +mature age was known as the "Silver King" because of his princely +bearing, silvery white hair and Greek god figure. "The Venus of Reno" +was another one, a statuesque brunette, because of her perfect figure +and Grecian gowns. A very stout lady bore the graceful name of "Reno- +ceros," whereas an old reprobate could do no better than "Renogade." +However, "Reno-vated" they all got! + +An interesting fact is that your chambermaid, bellboy, hotel clerk, +taxi driver, dressmaker, saleslady, cook and laundress, hairdresser, +waiter and bootblack may all and each be a so-called divorcee. (For +convenience sake, I speak of them all as "divorcees," although Webster +defines a "divorcee" as a man or woman who has already obtained a +divorce.) What is more, a great many of these people who are working +are well fixed financially, and are just working to keep sane. I +remember tipping my waitress one evening. The next day I received a +bunch of American Beauties from that lady, which simply bowled me over +at a glance. She got her divorce, and is now married to a wealthy New +York real estate man. So you see it is difficult to discriminate. + +I received shock after shock until I felt like a shock absorber. I was +dining with a friend one evening in a restaurant we often patronized. +The gentleman with me desired a cigarette, and found his case was +empty. A waitress, noticing his disappointment, extracted a silver +cigarette case from her rather attractive bosom, opened it, and +offered my friend one of her monogrammed cigarettes. Another victim! + +One evening after writing all day without any recreation, I went down +to dinner, feeling a bit tired but rather satisfied with my day's +work. I said to my waitress while looking over the bill of fare: +"Tilly, I have worked hard today; I feel that I deserve a halo!" Tilly +looked at me for a moment, and disappeared. She was a devoted soul and +had always taken great pains to please me. In a few minutes she +returned with a disappointed expression on her face, and said: "I am +sorry, Mam, I can't get you the halo. Cook says it's something Mary +wore around her head." + +Some of the witnesses in divorce cases are very humorous. I was +present at a few hearings, when a tall and thin man stated in a rather +shaky voice that his wife was a "beastly vampire," and that after +living with him for two whole weeks she struck him over the head with +a crutch and told him that she had a graveyard full of better men than +he was. The present victim was the fourth husband of the defendant. + +"Judgment for the plaintiff".... + +Another pretty young lady said that one of her husband's favorite +pastimes was spitting in her face, while yet another lady accused her +actor husband of "too much artistic temperament, and whiskey temper." + +"Judgment for the plaintiff".... + +The funniest case I ever witnessed was that of an old washwoman. I +don't know where she hailed from, but the judge said: + +"Why do you wish to get a divorce from your husband?" + +"Well, yer honor, he don't support me." + +"But," said the judge, "is that all the complaint you have? You must +have more than that to get a divorce." + +"Well, yer honor, I don't love my husband any more." + +"That won't do either," said the judge impatiently. "Is that all?" + +"Well, to tell the truth, yer honor, I don't think he is the father of +my last child." + +"Judgment for the defendant." .... + +What matter law and customs to even the most staid and stone-hearted +Wall Street banker if he happens to be on top of the world with a +woman who is a masterpiece of creation? There are many in Reno,-- +masterpieces: not millionaire bankers--, and lonely too, sometimes! +Anyway it came to pass not so very long ago, that a New York banker of +great wealth and international reputation went out to Reno to secure a +divorce. After two months' stay the gentleman lost his heart to a very +attractive lady, who also was whiling away six months of her sweet +young life in order to shake off the matrimonial shackles. The banker +was about fifty, the lady twenty-seven and the wife of a well-known +New York actor. So lavish were the banker's attentions to this +charming lady that he gave a most extraordinary banquet in her honor +at the Riverside Hotel to which were invited about one hundred guests. +The dinner was under the management of one of the best of San +Francisco's caterers, and all the table decorations were brought from +San Francisco. The banquet, I am told, cost about $5,000--Hoover in +those days was not popular as yet.... But alas! poor little Cupid was +obliged to succumb to failure. Before the six months had passed, the +banker's wife "got wise" to his whereabouts and his doings, and he +disappeared from Reno very abruptly. About the same time the beautiful +lady's actor husband learned of the affair, and sued the banker for +fifty thousand dollars "heart balm" .... And so we find a fool face to +face with his folly.... + +"Altitude," did you say? I don't know .... Funny how a few fleeting +hours can change the face of the world! How the mind when free and +refreshed can see and admit mistakes, and how our fairy castles and +wondrous dreams vanish at the touch of reason and stern reality. It's +wonderful to have known paradise: to have walked in its flower-strewn +paths and to have tasted its delirious delights. But the awakening! +"How could I?"--"How could She?"--"What was the end of it all?" "Who +knows?" + +It is not well for man to be alone, nor woman either, otherwise why +was Eve bestowed upon Adam? That is probably what a young man from one +of the first families of Boston thought while exiled to the Reno +Divorce Colony for the purpose of ridding himself of a wife: the +result of one of youth's romantic mistakes. The affair of some years +ago shocked his family and Eastern society generally. Was it a shop +girl from Boston, or a chorus girl from New York? I have forgotten. +Anyway, his companion in Reno was a fascinating little dancer of the +Sagebrush Cafe. So infatuated was the young man with this little +charmer that he spent his entire income entertaining her, and when the +income had vanished he pawned his jewelry, including his watch. But +then, boys will be boys, and after all, what could the poor youth do? +All alone in a strange place! It is so uninteresting to sit and twirl +one's thumbs: "Twiddle-dee Twiddle-dum.".... + +"That love laughs at locksmiths" and "All is fair in love and war" +seems to be the moral of the following, if moral there be in it: + +Mrs. Jones, a very beautiful and statuesque blonde, went out to Reno +for a divorce. On her arrival there she wrote her husband that she had +repented: "I am sorry I ran away from you," she is said to have +written, "and if you will come out here for me we will make up and +live happily ever after." He came out and was arrested and thrown in +jail, charged with extreme cruelty. The lady got her divorce within +three weeks instead of six months, as she was able to serve the +summons upon her husband in the State of Nevada. After that her +sweetheart came out and they were married. I am told that some three +years later the husband brought suit against them for collusion, but I +never heard how it terminated. One of the noted cases of the Reno +Divorce Colony is the divorce of a famous New York beauty and heiress. +While she was riding in Central Park one afternoon her horse bolted +and she was saved by a handsome policeman named Dow. When the young +lady looked into the eyes of her rescuer, it was a case of "love at +first sight." This god of the police force informed his wife of the +affair: she immediately packed her box and started for Reno. A few +days after her arrival, her husband was located in Carson City, by the +merest accident of course, and as it was possible to serve the summons +upon him in the State of Nevada, the case was put through in two +weeks. As soon as it was ended, Mr. Dow presented his ex-wife with +five one thousand dollar bills. When the cashier of the Reno National +Bank handed her the envelope containing the bills, she extracted them +and deposited them in her stocking. She was advised not to go about +with so much money on her, whereupon she replied that the "First +National was good enough for her." That same evening a champagne +banquet was given by the ex-policeman at the Colony Restaurant at +which most of the divorce colony were present, and among them, his ex- +wife. Both of them were extremely demonstrative; in fact the entire +party was decidedly affectionate, and the affair was the talk of the +town for months afterwards. After Mr. Dow married the famous beauty, +he found out it was riot all heaven to be the poor husband of a rich +wife, and so he decided to return to the police force. Of course, that +would never do at all, and therefore the fair lady promised to pay him +ten thousand a year, in quarterly installments of $2,500, if he would +consent to be her idle rich husband. This he did until Mrs. Dow II. +found out that hubby was indulging in clandestine meetings with Mrs. +Dow I., and presto, change! the allowance suddenly ceased. After a few +months of separation from his bank roll, having become accustomed to +an easily earned income, Mr. Dow sued his bank, Mrs. Dow II., for the +blue envelope of two quarters of the allowance, and the New York +newspapers just hummed with a fresh scandal. Finally Mrs. Dow II. +tried to get a divorce on the plea that the Nevada divorce was +illegal. Failing in this, there were ways and means found in the East, +and at last they were divorced. It has been rumored that Mr. Dow +thought the old love best after all, and that Mrs. Dow I. has been re- +installed to the place of honor by his side. "True love never did run +smoothly": not even in the police force.... + +A rather amusing story is told of Elinor Glyn's visit to Reno, not for +a divorce, dear reader, but apparently for atmosphere, as she spent +several months in the most rugged states in the West. One of the +handsome sons of the sagebrush, known as the Beau Brummel of Reno, +became very attentive to the distinguished lady visitor, and when she +expressed a desire to see a real Western shooting scrap, the gentleman +said: "All right; the lady must have anything her heart desires, +doggonit!" and so he staged a regular shooting scrap. And they do say +out there that it was so realistically done that Elinor fainted and +was unconscious for an hour. The "fight" occurred on the train from +Tonopah to Mina. Mr. Beau Brummel had been showing the lady Nevada's +great mining camps: a couple of seats in front of Elinor Glyn and her +escort two men began to quarrel, presumably over a game of cards. The +fight grew until each pulled a six-shooter. There was a shot and a +flash, and one man fell: dead, apparently, while the other stood over +him, wild eyed, his smoking gun in his hand. + +I can truly believe this story as I saw the dead gentleman auction off +four times the same basket of roses at a Red Cross benefit, and each +time he got a hundred dollars for the basket... However dead he may +have been, he certainly was not dead on the vine! + +Speaking of Beau Brummels, I never found out the name of the gentleman +who came back from Lawton's one evening--or was it morning?--minus his +silk shirt. A lady of the party had taken a fancy to it and suggested +that they auction it off for the benefit of the Red Cross: at that +time America had just declared war on Germany, and the interest in the +Red Cross was at its height. The lady's suggestion was carried out +with enthusiasm. The lucky lady was Mrs. Hall, called "the forty +million dollar divorcee"; she bid seventy-five dollars for the shirt +and wore it to a golf tournament the next day. Let us hope that the +gentleman's linen was as attractive as his shirt, for the shirt was +removed then and there and bestowed upon the fair purchaser. + +I met a very charming young couple in Reno whose story rather +interested me. I was not shocked at this case, as I had been in Reno +some time before I was introduced to them, and had heard about it. +When I first met Mr. Lake he was with a very beautiful young lady to +whom he seemed very attentive, and I thought surely they were +sweethearts. We all went out motoring with Mr. Lake's lawyer, and in +the course of conversation the lawyer informed me that Mr. Lake had +received his decree about two weeks before, and as he had obtained a +splendid position in Reno he had decided to remain there. His fiancee +was expected next week from Alabama, and they were to be married at +once upon her arrival. The lady with Mr. Lake at the time, the lawyer +went on to say, was just eighteen years of age, and had received her +decree about a week before. She had a fine little boy about two years +old with her. + +One day the young lady called, and informed me that she had just been +up to the future home of Mr. and Mrs. Lake unpacking his fiancee's +trousseau which had been sent on ahead, with the request that it be +unpacked and hung up in order that the wrinkles all be out by the time +the bride arrived. + +"Look," continued the girl from South Carolina, and she held out her +hand displaying a beautiful Roman gold ring of artistic design. "Isn't +it beautiful?" + +Was I mistaken? did her voice choke at the next words? were there +tears in her eyes? + +"This is her wedding ring, isn't it beautiful? I am wearing it until +she arrives...." + +The naughty fiancee arrived two days before she was expected, and came +near upsetting everything. Hubby-to-be saw her first, dodged, jumped +into his car and raced up to the other girl's home to get the wedding +ring and break the dinner engagement for that evening. Then he rushed +downtown and greeted his bride-to-be in his lawyer's office. They are +living in Reno, happily married. Mr. Lake received a telegram of +congratulation from his first wife. Mrs. Lake II. is a charming woman. +I think she has heard all about the episode, but she is a diplomat and +probably thinks that one way to matrimonial bliss is skilled +ignorance. + +Happiness and contentment and.... love.... or what we think it is! And +yet, what would the world be without that inheritance. + +The Six Months' Residence Law of Nevada, was not made primarily to +accommodate matrimonial misfits, but to secure settlers by offering +them early citizenship and votes, the State being only sparingly +populated. Prior to Reno, Sioux Falls, Dakota, used to be the haven +for those seeking relief from the "tie that binds." When Dakota placed +the ban on the divorce colony, someone discovered the Nevada divorce +law, and those who found that Cupid was no longer at the helm of their +matrimonial ship, turned Reno-ward. However, be it known that the +citizens of Nevada knew all about this easy relief law from the +undesirable bond way back in 1851, as the following quotation from a +very amusing chapter of Nevada's history will illustrate. The book I +speak of is called "Reminiscences of William M. Stewart" and was +written by a Senator. Of course he was a Senator! Judges and Senators +are as thick in Nevada as Colonels in Kentucky. Most every man worth +while has been, is, or is going to be a Senator or a Judge. However, +that book is a good one and I found the following most interesting and +amusing. Says William M. Stewart: + +"If you want to preserve good health, keep your head cool and your +feet warm!" + +"While working our claim I awoke one morning and saw a covered wagon +with two oxen which had been unyoked and were grazing on the grass +near a spring in a ravine below me. I soon discovered that a line had +been drawn from the wagon to a clump of rocks, upon which were hung +several articles of feminine apparel to dry. Women were so scarce in +California at that time that this was sufficient to arouse the whole +camp. The "Boys" as we were called, were scattered along the Coyote +digging for a distance of about four miles, and when anything unusual +happened the words, 'Oh, Joe!' would be passed along the whole line. + +"When I saw the feminine raiment, I raised the usual alarm, "Oh, Joe!" +and this called the attention of the miners on Buckeye Hill, where I +was, to the clothes-line which had attracted my notice. They gathered +round on the hill, nearly surrounding the covered wagon and its +contents. The rush of the boys in the immediate vicinity to see the +wonderful sight attracted those farther away, and in less than ten +minutes two or three thousand young men were watching the wagon, +clothes-lines, and fascinating lingerie. In alarm the man that +belonged to the woman inside stuck his head out of a small tent beside +the wagon. I assured him that no harm was intended, but that we were +very anxious to see the lady who was the owner of the clothes. This +aroused her curiosity sufficiently to induce her to pull the curtain +of the tent aside so that her face could be discovered but not fully +seen. + +"I then proposed that we make a donation to the first lady that had +honored our camp with a visit. I took from my camp a buckskin bag, +used for the purpose of carrying gold, and invited the boys to +contribute. They came forward with great eagerness and poured out of +their sacks gold dust amounting to between two and three thousand +dollars. I then proceeded to appoint a committee to wait on the lady +and present it. The motion was unanimously carried and one of the +gentlemen on the committee suggested myself as chairman. I took the +sack of gold and went within about thirty feet of the tent and made as +good a speech as I could to induce the lady to come out, assuring her +that all the men about her were gentlemen, that they had seen no +ladies for so many months and that the presence of one reminded them +of their mothers and sweethearts at home. I told her that the bag of +gold was hers on the condition that she come out to claim it. Her +husband urged her to be brave, but when she finally ventured about +half way the cheers were so vociferous that she got frightened and ran +back. She repeated this performance several times and I kept moving +slowly back far enough to get her away from the little tent so the +boys could get a good view of her. I suppose half an hour was occupied +with her running back and forth while the boys looked in admiration. +When I finally gave her the bag with all the good wishes of the camp, +she grabbed it and ran into the tent like a rabbit. + +"The next morning the wagon and the owner of the inspiring apparel +were gone and we never heard of them in after life. It was no doubt +well that they hastened their departure, for in those days it was a +very usual occurrence for the young wife coming to that country to be +persuaded to forsake her husband on their arrival in the new camp. The +immigrants of 1850 included thousands of newly married young people +whose wedding journey included all the hardships and privations of +crossing the plains. Those hardships made the men look rather rough +and scrubby, and they were all miserably poor. The women were young, +and after they had an opportunity to wash their faces, looked more +attractive: particularly to the miners who had been deprived of female +society for several months and had accumulated some money and good +will. The miner would propose marriage, and if a divorce could be +obtained extreme cruelty was usually given as the reason for the +divorce. The intended bridegroom was always a ready witness to swear +to a case of extreme cruelty. + +"In the fall of 1851 I went to Nevada City to bring supplies for the +men engaged in construction of the Grizzly Ditch. I bought several +mule-loads and was having them packed very early one morning, but +before I could get away I was summoned as a juror in Judge Barber's +court. This was before I made myself exempt from jury duty by becoming +a member of the bar. I saw the judge and tried very hard to beg off; +but he told me there were ten divorce cases on hand and he wanted to +dispose of them that day. + +(I think 1917 had nothing on 1851 when it comes to divorces in Nevada. +Author.) + +"The judge continued: 'I cannot excuse you but I think you can get +away in time to return to your camp tonight.' So I had to submit +though I did not like it. I then prepared the jury room for use by +conveying to it a demijohn of whiskey, a bucket of water and twelve +tin dippers. As foreman of the jury I wrote the verdict as follows: +'We, the jury, find the defendant guilty of extreme cruelty.' We +returned the verdict to the court, heard the next case, and continued +until we had disposed of the ten cases. There were ten weddings that +afternoon and evening. + +"I then thought and still think that we did the best thing that could +have been done. These women had separated from their husbands, and if +they had not been allowed to marry the men who had parted them, they +perhaps would have done worse. Some of them made good citizens and +raised families, and when they grew rich became very aristocratic." + +So much for the pioneer days, and they are really not so far away. + +Don't take an umbrella with you, you won't need it; it never rains; +but I wish someone would write a poem to take the place of "Mispah." I +received that poem from four different people on my departure from +Reno, and I feel that it is overworked, though it is beautiful indeed, +and I have quoted two verses of it below: + +MISPAH + + "Go thou thy way and I go mine + Apart, yet not afar. + Only a thin veil hangs between + The pathways where we are; + And God keep watch 'tween thee and me + This is my prayer. + He looketh thy way, he looketh mine, + And keeps us near. + I sigh ofttimes to see thy face, + But since this may not be, + I'll leave thee to the care of Him + Who cares for thee and me." + + + + +PART 5 + +RENO AND ITS PEOPLE + + +Reno is named after General Reno, who died in the battle of South +Mountain. It is about two thousand nine hundred miles from New York +City; it takes nearly four days to reach it by train. From Reno to San +Francisco is only about two hundred miles. The altitude is about 4,419 +feet: the population twelve thousand. This "big little city" in the +West is modern in every respect: it is the county seat of Washoe +County and the largest city in the State of Nevada. + +Reno is located in the greenest of valleys and surrounded by the +Sierra Nevadas, the most majestic mountain range in the United States. +These mountains cover a length of six hundred miles from Mount Jacinto +to Mount Shasta, and a breadth of from seventy-five to one hundred +miles, with long and gradual slopes on the west, cut by deep canons. +The climate of the Sierras is beyond an adequate description: the +beautiful summer days are mild and rainless. The main peaks of the +western range are: Mount King, Mount Gardner and Mount Brewer; those +of the eastern range: Mount Kearsage, Mount Tyndall, Mount Williamson +and Mount Whitney. Mount Whitney is the highest peak in the United +States outside of Alaska, rising 14,898 feet above sea level. The +other main peaks of the Sierra Nevadas exceed 13,000 feet in altitude. +The peaks nearest Reno are: Mount Rose and Peavin Mountain, both of +which can be seen from any part of the City of Reno. + +In this setting nestles our much-talked-of "Gem City of Nevada"--the +city of heart-throbs and dreams! Its chief industries, I would say, +are gold and love.... One less poetic might call these mining and +divorce. + +Next to its dreamy, romantic side, Reno has a very practical side: its +position as a business center. The railroads radiating north, east, +south and west, give it an enormous tributary territory. There are +modern business blocks, department stores, excellent hotels. The best +hotels are: The Hotel Golden, the Riverside and the Overland. + +[Illustration: Lobby of the Golden Hotel] + +Reno is a city of beautiful residences, trees and shrubbery; asphalt +and macadam streets. There are fine public buildings, libraries and +theatres of the first magnitude. + +One of the most noteworthy features of Reno is its beautiful schools. +There are six besides the High School and the University; Orvis Ring +School, McKinley Park School, Southside School, Mt. Rose School, Mary +S. Doten School and the Babcock Memorial Kindergarten. The +architecture is the "old mission," and it is difficult to decide which +one really excels in beauty. Apart from the beautiful architecture, +these schools are all equipped with every modern device for the +training of the younger generation, both physically and mentally. +Never in any public school have I seen such a splendidly equipped +Domestic Science room as the one in the McKinley Park School. Its +beautiful open, airy Assembly Hall with its hardwood floors and stage +for private theatricals and other social affairs is the acme of modern +refinement. In this hall the "Mothers' Club" holds its meetings, and +the children have their school dances. + +The University of Nevada has the best equipped school of Mining +Engineering in the Western States; it also has a summer course on +several interesting subjects, which often is taken advantage of by +many who find time passing slowly, and wish to "brush up a bit." + +Among the imposing buildings downtown is the Y. M. C. A., an artistic +and splendidly equipped edifice. It is located on the north bank of +the Truckee, commanding a beautiful view of snow-capped Mount Rose and +Slide Mountain in the distance, above the green of the trees. Part of +this building is devoted to indoor sports and consists of a gymnasium, +conducted by able instructors; a handball court, bowling alleys, pool +and billiard tables and a spacious swimming pool with shower-baths; it +furthermore has a library and a large number of private rooms for out- +of-town guests. At the time of the writing of this book, 1917, the Y. +M. C. A. donated the use of its Assembly Hall to the American Red +Cross for making hospital supplies and for "First Aid" classes. Here, +the residents of Reno work side by side with members of the "Divorce +Colony," women in all walks of life, from all parts of the world; +women famous and beautiful, all working for the great cause of +Humanity without any social prejudices, personal feelings, or +pettiness.... So much for the Y. M. C. A. + +[Illustration: Mt. Rose School] + +Among the prominent and beautiful buildings are: the Nixon Building +and the Nixon Home on the banks of the Truckee, both of which are +artistic and worthy of mention. + +Also the Elks' Home is very beautiful and picturesque: it is set in +spacious grounds and has an imposing entrance crowned with an immense +elk's head. Each of the antlers holds a beautifully colored light; the +lights form the national colors. The home contains every comfort for +the wandering Brother Elk, including a warm welcome. Broad verandas +and balconies overlook the Truckee River, and when there is dancing +its playful waters sing a rustling accompaniment to the music, which, +when mixed with the moonlight on the river and the pretty girl by +one's side, is calculated to make a romantic cocktail, sufficiently +intoxicating to make any poor lonely Elk absolutely helpless. + +The social affairs of this organization take a very prominent part in +the life of Reno. One sojourning in this city would be well advised to +have a card to the Elks, should he or she have relatives or friends +who are members. The Elks are a splendid organization: I have found +them always ready with a helping hand extended. + +There are no less than ten churches in this charming little Reno town. +The different denominations, their pastors and location are: + +1. Baptist Church, Second corner Chestnut; Rev. Brewster Adams. + +2. Catholic (St. Thomas), Second corner Chestnut; Rev. T. M. Tubman. + +3. Congregational, Virginia corner 5th; Rev. W. D. Trout. + +4. Episcopal, Second corner Sierra; Rev. Samuel Unsworth. 5. First +Church of Christ, Scientist, Masonic Temple. + +[Illustration: Reno National Bank Building] + +6. Lutheran (St. Luke's), Bell corner Second; Rev. F. E. Martens. + +7. Methodist Episcopal, Sierra corner 1st; Rev. W. E. Lowther. + +8. Presbyterian, Ridge corner Hill; Rev. W. E. Howe. + +9. Salvation Army, Sierra Street; Capt. Boyd in charge. + +10. Seventh Day Adventist, West 5th; Rev. W. S. Holbrook. + +The banks of Reno also do it credit; there are four in number: + +1. The Farmers & Merchants Bank, Virginia corner Second Street. + +2. The Reno National Bank, Virginia corner Second Street. + +3. The Scheeline Banking and Trust Co., N. Virginia Street. + +4. The Washoe County Bank, N. Virginia Street corner Second. + +In speaking of the banks, I want to comment especially upon the Reno +National Bank. This bank a few years ago moved into its new building, +a most beautiful and artistic structure, which in my opinion would do +credit to Wall Street. Its lobby is artistically and beautifully +equipped, as well as all parts of the bank. It is finished entirely in +white marble, with blue velvet hangings, and no luxury or comfort +known to a modern bank building has been forgotten in its +construction. + +This bank was built in 1915 by Mr. George Wingfield at a cost of +approximately $200,000. + +"From the North corner comes the light" .... can it be that sometimes +its emerges from the West! + +Last but not least is the beautiful Court House. It was rebuilt in +1909 at an approximate cost of $150,000. It is located in a very +prominent part of the city, and faces a beautiful little park; a very +imposing building with its big golden dome, numerous marble pillars +and broad steps. These steps might truly be called the "great divide," +as many thousands have tripped up united and returned divided; which +incidentally does not mean "united we stand, divided we fall." + +Perhaps much more so: "united we fall, divided we stand!" + +[Illustration: Interior of Reno National Bank] + +As one looks at this palace of Justice one cannot help conjuring up +mental pictures of famous beauties and prominent men, whose stories +have furnished headlines for the leading newspapers of our big cities +in years gone by; they seem to pass in review; a continuous procession +ascending the steps in search of freedom and new happiness.... + +Through this little city flows the Truckee River, which I think is one +of its chief beauties. This river is one hundred miles long; flowing +out of Lake Tahoe, it empties into Lake Pyramid, a desert lake with no +apparent outlet. The waters of the Truckee are as clear as crystal, +except when they reflect the rose color of the sunset, or the thousand +hues from the mountain peaks when they turn green and gold, rose and +purple: I have seen them look as though covered with heliotrope +velvet, just at the hour between sunset and moonrise. + +One can follow the Truckee River from Reno to Lake Tahoe,--a motor run +of about three hours, through scenery of indescribable beauty. The +course of the river, tortuous and quickly changing from side to side, +offers to the enchanted eye a kaleidoscopic review of towering rocks, +foaming waterfalls, pine-clad mountains, snow-capped peaks, emerald +lakes and moss-green valleys. + +I shall never forget my first trip from Reno to Lake Tahoe over what +is known as the "Dog Valley Grade." We stopped at the summit, at the +edge of the mountain. Down we peered into the misty shadows of the +deep valleys, six hundred feet below. It was a strange sensation to be +hanging thus between earth and sky: to feel that the only thing +between life and death was about three feet of roadbed, and four "non- +skid" tires. It was wonderful to drink in the beauty of it all. I felt +like a disembodied spirit, traveling back:.... back over centuries +into forgotten ages, trying to realize what this wonderful country +must have been like when it was still hidden by the foaming waters of +a great inland sea..... + +And then we reached beautiful Lake Tahoe, set in the midst of the +Sierra Nevadas, surrounded by a dozen snow-capped peaks, the staunch, +unflinching satellites of one of God's wondrous treasures. It reflects +a picture to be surpassed nowhere else in the world. The great depth +of the lake accounts for its glorious color of waters, which, +turquoise blue in one place twenty feet away will change to emerald +green; the colors do not fade into one another: they are distinctly +separated. In some places the depth of the lake is even unknown. Lake +Tahoe is twenty-three miles long: its maximum width thirteen. Its +altitude is six thousand two hundred and twenty-five feet above sea +level: the highest body of water in the United States. On one side its +undulating waves kiss the shores of California: on the other those of +Nevada, so that exiles of the "Divorce Colony" may take advantage of +this delightful summer resort and still remain within the State to +which one day they hope to owe their happiness..... + +The midsummer air is cool and invigorating; hunting and fishing +excellent; motor rides perfect; boating and bathing the finest in the +land. Hotel and camping accommodations are splendid; the landscape is +picturesque and a never-ending delight to the eye. This is one of the +great many splendid advantages of the beautiful city tucked away in +the shadow of the Sierras; so cheer-up, you prospective exiles, the +wilds have their untold fascinations. + +In writing of Reno one feels a compelling desire to describe the +principal points of interest around and near the city, as in these +days of motor cars and good roads it is a never-ending joy to spend a +day among the famous gold mining districts, visit the Indian homes and +reservations, and other beautiful and interesting places. I will +endeavor to describe these further: + +Near Reno, on the Truckee, is the famous Carson Dam: the first +reclamation project undertaken by the government under the National +Reclamation Project Act. I went out to look it over and found it +tremendously interesting. It was built in 1903 at a cost of +$7,000,000. The dam is constructed of earth and concrete, eight +hundred feet long, one hundred ten feet high, four hundred feet wide +at the base and twenty feet wide at the top. The main unit of this +project was completed in 1913. It was the means of reclaiming a total +of 2,000,000 acres of what was once known as the "Forty Mile Desert." +The dam produces many thousand hydroelectric horse-power, and it is +wonderful to see this stretch of desert waste turned like magic into +rich productive agricultural soil. Perhaps some day the entire desert +will flourish likewise.... Who knows? + +Carson City, the capital of Nevada, is situated in the Eagle Valley +and was originally laid out in 1858. The valley was first visited in +1833 by Kit Carson, the famous scout and frontiersman. The south end +of Eagle Valley was settled by Mormons in 1849-1850. Carson City +itself is 33 miles from Reno, 22 miles from Virginia City and 14 miles +from Lake Tahoe. + +The principal points of interest in Carson are the Mint, the State +Capitol, the Orphans' Home; the Federal Building and the Post Office; +the Indian School; Shaw's Springs. And many other interesting things +will well repay a visit. The Virginia and Truckee Railroad, over which +the trip to Virginia City is made, is one of the grandest successes of +railroading and engineering. It was constructed between Carson City +and Virginia City in 1869, and from Carson City to Reno in 1872. The +entire cost of the road was $5,200,000, or not less than $100,000 per +mile. + +The enormous business transacted by the road may be surmised when it +is stated that for a long time it paid the Central Pacific Railway $ +1,000 per day for freight on goods received there from, and collected +for freight at the Virginia City office from $60,000 to $90,000 per +month, and at Gold Hill but little less. + +East of Carson City on the road to Virginia City we pass the State +Prison, known for its historic relics. Some years ago, during +quarrying in the prison yard, immense footprints of pre-historic +animals and birds were discovered at a depth of twenty feet below the +surface of the ground. They cover an area of two acres, and were made +by mastodons: they are over four inches deep. Many man-like tracks +were found, 18 to 20 inches long and 8 inches wide, with a stride of +30 inches and a distance between right and left tracks of 19 inches. + +[Illustration: Elk's Home] + +A few miles east of Carson is the town of Empire, once an important +trading post and distributing point for lumber, cordwood, etc. + +After leaving Empire the road enters the canons of the Carson River, +passing in rapid succession the sites of numerous mills which were +erected to. crush the rich ore of the world-famous Comstock Lode. +Principal among these were the Morgan, Brunswick and Santiago mills +which turned out hundreds of millions of dollars' worth of bullion. +The grade of the road rises rapidly, the track leaves the canon and +soon reaches the Mound House, the junction point with the Southern +Pacific. Railroad trains leave Mound House for Dayton, Fort Churchill, +Tonopah, Goldfield and all points south. + +Leaving Mound House the road soon traverses the famous mineral belt of +the Comstock Lode. This belt is 7,000 feet wide and 6 miles long, and +produced nearly a billion dollars. The first mine to be seen is the +Haywood, lying to the west side of the road. This mine produced over +$1,000,000 and is still active. + +To the east can be seen Silver City. The mines in this vicinity +produced over $12,000,000. None of them has attained any great depth. + +The road next enters the Gold Hill district. The country in this +vicinity is gashed and scarred by hundreds of cuts, shafts and tunnels +dug by the early prospectors in their search for wealth. Every one of +these marks represents a hope, and in many cases the hope was +realized; the same spirit animates their successors and the search +still goes on. + +The principal mines in Gold Hill are the Ophir, Caledonia, Overman, +Seg, Belcher, Yellow Jacket, Kentuck, Crown Point, Imperial and +Bullion. The Yellow Jacket was the first mine located, taking its name +from the fact that its locators were warmly opposed by a swarm of +yellow jackets. This was in 1859. The yield of the Gold Hill mines and +the dividends paid were enormous. + +The Ophir Mining Co. in 1859 sent 45 tons of their croppings to San +Francisco for reduction, the cost for transportation being 25 cents +per pound, or $500 per ton. They paid $450 per ton for smelting, a +total cost of $42,750, yet they made a profit of $128,250 on the +transaction, the rock giving over $3,800 per ton. + +High above the town of Gold Hill and clinging to the side of the +mountain can be seen the flumes of the Virginia & Gold Hill Water Co., +which supplies the camps of Virginia City, Gold Hill and Silver with +the finest water in the world. The water is conducted 3 I miles +through pipes and flumes from springs and snow-fed streams in the +Sierras 1,500 feet above the city. The capacity of the flumes is +10,800,000 gallons per day. From Gold Hill the road runs through +tunnels, twists and turns along the side of Mt. Davidson until it +reaches Virginia City, the end of the line. + +Virginia City was first settled in 1859. It obtained its name from an +old prospector, James Finney, nicknamed "Old Virginny." Its elevation +is 6,205 feet above sea level. + +In 1861 the population of Virginia City was 3,284, of Gold Hill 1,294 +and of Silver City 1,022; in 1878 it was 40,000. + +The first international hotel was built in 1860. It was a single story +building. The first day's receipts were $700. The present structure +was built in 1877; it cost $210,000. + +The honor of discovering the "Comstock Lode" belongs to the two +brothers, Allen and Hosea Grosch. The majority of the miners on the +Comstock in the first days of its activity lived in tents and dug-outs +called "holes in the wall." + +I never realized the vastness of our country, nor the wonderful +opportunities which the West affords those in search of wealth, until +I lived there six months. There are untold undeveloped resources, the +like of which does not exist in the over-crowded East. May this little +book, in a way, serve to introduce the West to the East. + +Reno and her people cannot be spoken of as typical of other Western +towns and people, as the residents of this much-talked-of "big little +city" are subject to conditions which do not exist in any other town +in the country. They are democratic and whole-hearted Westerners, but +find themselves confronted with social conditions which change their +attitude toward things. However, I was very much impressed at the +comparatively few divorces one finds among the older, permanent +residents. I think this proves that it is the "unattainable that is +most desired." + +[Illustration: Y.M.C.A.] + +The women of Nevada have enjoyed equal suffrage for some time; they +are wide awake and interested in all public affairs. Besides being +domesticated, they are intellectual and energetic. There are very few +"prudes" among them, and a great many diplomats. Nowhere more than in +Reno is developed among men and women a sense of being individual. I +attended many of the Women's Clubs, and was always agreeably surprised +to find them up-to-date in every respect: a company of women banded +together to study and plan for the betterment of humanity, and social +conditions in general. The Mothers' Club and the Century Club are +doing splendid work in aiding the development of "Home Economics," +"Better Babies," helping with all kinds of charities, civic +improvements and much other commendable work. + +It was at these clubs that I met the real wife and mother, with real +sweetness of soul: the woman who even under difficulties knew how to +live a simple, pure and gentle life. Never have I come in contact with +so much human feeling--even the ministers and their families are +human, and full of understanding! The officials and people of +prominence are all natural and unassuming. + +I attended a "Ladies' Aid" meeting at which there were about forty +ladies present, and among other good traits of these fine, earnest +women I noticed particularly the absence of gossip and prudishness. + +However, there is a spirit of contradiction prevailing in Reno which +is very difficult to understand. All traces of the "wild and woolly" +Western town have disappeared. The people of Reno are very docile +indeed .... there are no cowboy yells nor Indian whoops, which some of +our Eastern and Southern friends imagine still to exist. And the click +of the roulette-wheel has passed with the years that have departed. +Reno has developed into a cosmopolitan city with a cosmopolitan +population. The cafes have cabarets with excellent talent, and there +is dancing every evening in several of the hotels, where amid the +bright lights, gay music, beautifully gowned women and well groomed +men, one might easily imagine oneself in one of the swell cafes on +Broadway: until one catches a glimpse of the moonlight on the Truckee, +through an open window.... Here the people of Reno rub shoulders with +those who constitute the "Divorce Colony," and to a new-comer, it is +difficult to distinguish the one from the other. + +The people of Reno keep their city clean, and maintain a very high +standard of law and order. A lady may walk out unescorted at any hour +of the day or night, and will never be molested or insulted in any +way. The absence of public drunkenness and profanity is very +noticeable, and I was not surprised to read the following note clipped +from one of the local newspapers on Sunday morning: + +"DEAD CALM IN POLICE COURTS ON SATURDAY" + +"Police court was absolutely deserted yesterday morning, not a single +case appearing on the docket to mar the serenity of the day. Reno's +night police found the citizens unusually well behaved all night long +and were not required to make even one arrest during the twelve hours +they were on duty." + +The fact that the people do not show much hospitality to undesirables, +not even the hospitality of their jails, may explain why the little +city is so calm and peaceful, and its police not overworked. The +following clipping will indicate what happened to undesirables: + +"THREE MEN ARE TOLD TO GET OUT OF CITY" + +"Population of Reno Dwindles, Following Session of Judge Bryson's +Court" + +"Charles C. Stewart, James Joyce and John Burke were picked up by the +police on Commercial Row Wednesday for disorderly conduct. Judge +Bryson's police court was still in session and the men were arraigned +immediately. All three pleaded guilty to the charge and for the best +interests of the community were given until 10 o'clock Thursday +morning to get out of town." + +[Illustration: View of Nevada University Campus] + +I had the pleasure of being a guest at the "Military Ball" in the +University of Nevada, at which the Governor, his staff and many state +officials were present, and was very much impressed by the fact that +Nevada's statesmen, like the State, are comparatively young. The +Governor did not look a day over thirty. They were a fine looking lot +of earnest, unassuming, democratic Westerners. I do not know when I +have seen a prettier picture than the one I saw when I looked down +from the balcony upon that splendid assembly of glittering uniforms, +beautifully gowned women, and handsome young students, amid fluttering +flags and gay music. As I looked on, I could not help thinking of the +pioneer ancestors of some of these illustrious sons and daughters of +Nevada, who had crossed the plains in the early days, and I wondered +what they would have to say of this brilliant array, and of the magic, +modern little city of Reno and its people, if they could peep from +behind the curtains of yesterday! I am sure they would be more than +proud of both! + +I fully expected to find living in Reno unusually expensive, but was +agreeably surprised to find that one can live there even more +reasonably than in the East. The prices are not extortionate at all, +there being no specially made rates for "visitors," and the people are +neither grasping nor selfish. + +I have found the people of Reno charming and interesting and it has +been a pleasure indeed to get a peep behind the scenes of this +romantic little city, and above all, I have found everyone fair and +courteous in every way to those who are to become citizens of their +town. + + + + +PART 6 + +NEVADA DIVORCE LAWS + + +"The History of Nevada," published in 1913, Sam P. Davis writes as +follows: + +"The unenviable reputation, throughout the length and breadth of the +land, in regard to the divorce law, has heaped ignominy on the State +of Nevada. A few unscrupulous members of the legal fraternity, little +better than outcasts at home, have come to Reno and besmirched the +good name of a great State by their activity in converting into +pernicious channels a law originally intended to give relief to +mismated couples who could not travel the matrimonial highway in peace +and harmony. + +"The divorce law of Nevada was enacted by the first territorial +legislative assembly in 1861. The law was good enough for Nevada and +gave general satisfaction until its exploitation for purely mercenary +motives began. + +"Twenty-two States have practically the same divorce laws in force on +their statute books, with the exception of the provision regarding +residence. Until this year, Nevada required only six months' +residence, but that had to be clearly established before action for +dissolution of marriage could have any standing in the courts of the +state. The residence had to be absolute, without the lapse of a single +day except where good and sufficient reason could be shown, and to the +entire satisfaction of the trial court. + +"Six months' residence was also necessary for citizenship in Nevada +and enabled a man to exercise all the rights of a citizen. Therefore, +it naturally follows, that he could prosecute a divorce, or any other +kind of a suit, in the State of which he was a citizen. + +"In order that the reader may reach an intelligent understanding of +this much mooted question, the statute on divorce is quoted in full: + +"Divorce from the bonds of matrimony may be obtained * * * for the +following causes: + +"First--Impotency at the time of marriage, continuing to the time of +divorce. + +"Second--Adultery, since marriage, remaining unforgiven. + +"Third--Wilful desertion at any time; of either party by the other, +for a period of one year. + +"Fourth--Conviction of a felony or infamous crime. + +"Fifth--Habitual gross drunkenness since marriage, of either party, +which shall incapacitate him from contributing his or her share to the +support of the family. + +"Sixth--Extreme cruelty in either of the parties. + +"Seventh--Neglect of the husband for the period of one year, to +provide the common necessaries of life, when such neglect is not the +result of poverty on the part of the husband, which he could have +avoided in ordinary industry." + +"As the law governing the term of residence, to acquire citizenship, +which obtained in Nevada for half a century without causing even +passing comment, has been taken advantage of for mere mercenary +motives, the unanimous verdict of a righteously indignant people went +forth that the law should be amended, in some way, to correct the +evil. Thus at the last session of the Legislature the time required to +obtain a residence before obtaining a divorce was changed from six +months to one year. + +"If some sister States are stricken with remorse or find themselves in +a sudden paroxysm of virtuous indignation, let them pass a law and +enforce it, correcting the evils complained of at home, which will +keep their divorces from coming to Reno-Nevada does not want them. If +they persist in coming, let their home State enact a law which will +make a divorce decree obtained in Nevada, void and of no effect +whenever and wherever said divorcee sets foot within the borders of +the home State. When other States enact and rigidly enforce some such +drastic measure, the West will begin to have some regard for their +particular brand of virtue. Until then, the West may be pardoned for +believing that cant and hypocrisy often join hands with the lawless +element and make a grandstand play for political effect. + +"Economic conditions in the West are vastly different from those in +the East. Nevada is a sparsely populated country, and it is not +considered to the interest of the State to hedge about too closely the +road which leads to citizenship. Anything which may have a tendency to +obstruct immigration or turn it in another direction, is conceded, in +this neck of the woods, to be unwise statesmanship. The State has a +vital interest in securing and holding as large a population as is +consistent with her rapidly increasing resources; always keeping +steadily in view the fact that none but desirable citizens are wanted. +If, however, the other kind come, as they sometime do, Nevada is ready +to cope with the situation, as many of that class can testify from +personal experience. + +"Nevada is a veteran of the Civil War, having been organized as a +territory in 1861, and admitted as a State of this glorious Union in +1864. No soldier on the field of battle ever made a more gallant +defense of his country than did this "Battle Born" State during the +trying times of the war. What she lacked in men was made up in money. +Nevada was baptised in the blood of the nation and paid for her +baptismal rite in a flood of gold and silver. With this flood of gold +and silver, she saved the commercial honor of the country. This gold +and silver paid the armies of the Civil War, averted national +bankruptcy, and enabled the Government to resume specie payment in +1873. + +"Those were dark days in the financial and political history of the +United States, and Nevada, maligned and despised as she is today in +some quarters, was the savior of her country in that most critical +period of her history. The State that furnished the sinews of war +should have some standing in the hearts and minds of the American +people, even if Republics are ungrateful. + +"From the best information at hand, it would appear that the mines of +Nevada have yielded the enormous sum of two billion dollars during the +past fifty years. Of this amount it is conceded that the Comstock +alone produced fully one-half. The figures are given in round numbers, +but are considered by mining men who are posted in such matters to be +conservative. Thousands of discoveries, many of them marvelously rich, +are still being made all over the state, in hitherto unknown and +undeveloped territory. Besides gold, silver and copper, immense +deposits of salt, borax, lime, platinum, sulphur, soda, potash-salts, +cinnabar, arsenical ores, zinc, coal, antimony, cobalt, nickel, nitre, +isinglass, manganese, alum, kaolin, iron, gypsum, mica and graphite +exist in large quantities. + +"Proudly conscious of her strength and probity of character, great +big-hearted Nevada looks down from her lofty pedestal and freely +pardons all who may have misjudged her. This is Nevada's record. Match +it, if you can. + +"The impulse which inspires a desire for a dissolution of an +intolerable matrimonial alliance, is as fundamental to human nature as +the one which inspires a desire for marriage, and is oft times far +more moral. Therefore, to require the commission of immoral and +degrading acts on the part of one of the parties to a marriage before +a divorce can be granted, regardless of why it is desired, places an +unwarranted premium upon immorality, and degrades society equally as +much as it does the one committing the offense. + +Not only does this policy of the law foster immorality, but immorality +increases in proportion as the law becomes more drastic. Surely, the +Nevada law is more moral than that of New York, which permits divorce +for adultery only. New York has the most drastic law of any of the +States; as a consequence it has in proportion to the population, about +seven times as many proven cases of adultery as any other State. There +are nearly four times as many such cases there, as in the neighboring +State of Pennsylvania. This is not because the good people of New York +are so much worse than their neighbors, but because the law requires +that residents of the former State, who desire divorce, commit +adultery; unless they have the time, money and inclination to go to +Reno. + +The effort to compel men and women to live together against their own +free will, which is the purpose of stringent divorce laws, has caused +even more immorality inside of marriage than it has outside. Immoral +conditions are never so dangerous as when they exist in marriage. And +besides, the fundamental policy of our laws which not only permits, +but requires an investigation of divorce causes, is highly productive +of evil. Many of the divorce cases in New York are simply food for a +set of morbidly curious scandal-mongers. Even the Mohammedans consider +our practice in this respect extremely vulgar: there is no more reason +why a court should know why a husband and wife wish to separate than +why they wish to marry. + +Nevada most certainly has the most sane and moral divorce laws of any +of the States. More than half a century ago, in 1861, Nevada enacted +its divorce laws in their present form. It then, as now, provided for +only six months residence before filing suit. This was in line with +its other liberal legislation and with legislation in other Western +States. This divorce statute included, and still includes, seven +causes of action: impotency, adultery, desertion for one year, +conviction of a felony, gross drunkenness, cruelty and failure of the +husband for a period of one year to provide the common necessities of +life. + +In addition to this there is another splendid feature of the Nevada +divorce law. It is not necessary to have witnesses, except to prove +the fact that one is a resident in Nevada. The plaintiff's testimony +is sufficient, unless the case is contested. + +This law eliminates the despicable bribing of witnesses which so often +happens in other states. It also eliminates the obscene, immoral and +vulgar courtroom discussions which are often the result of calling +witnesses in divorce cases. + +The wisdom of this early legislation in Nevada is shown by the fact +that more than fifty years afterwards the United States Commission of +Uniform Legislation, in preparing a law on divorce to be offered for +adoption by all states, has recommended Nevada's statute almost word +for word. It should be remembered that this Commission is made up of +the greatest thinkers of modern times: lawyers, jurists, professors, +moralists and statesmen. + +No one criticises Nevada's causes for action. It is admitted that +divorce, when it results from any one of these causes, is the only +remedy for unfortunate relations, which, without such remedy, would +injure society. A great majority of the leading thinkers and writers +in our churches today admit that these causes of action are not too +broad. + +I believe that Maryland has one of the most lenient divorce laws of +any of the Southern States. A divorce is granted to residents after +three years' separation. The decree is granted to the one deserted. + +Some of the Eastern and Southern States, in this respect, are still in +the throes of the dark ages. + +The Western States, practically all of them west of the Mississippi +River, have seen the perfidy and injustice resulting from such narrow +exactions. These modern, progressive ideas have crystallized into the +form of wise legislation, the statutes of many of the States being +almost identical with that of the State of Nevada. + +In South Carolina no divorce is permitted on any ground. New York is +but little better since the only cause recognized is adultery. + +New York's rigidity in this respect has annually led thousands of +people to resort to revolting and immoral acts and join in collusion, +in order to obtain relief from wretched and unbearable marriage bonds. +Such laws are unjust. Such laws wreck valuable lives. With strong +characters they lead only to unhappiness; with the weak, they result +in immoral living. + +The question then: "Is divorce ever right?" must be answered in the +affirmative. + +Why should two persons, who find after reasonable trial that they have +made a mistake, and that they are wholly unsuited for each other, +physically, morally and intellectually, be compelled to live together? +What is at first mutual indifference, ripens gradually into loathing +and hatred. Such conditions bring into the world innocent children, +begotten not of love, as marriage presupposes, but of disgust, hatred, +lust and incompatibility. Is it not a fact, established by the most +reliable medical authorities and celebrated criminologists, that crime +is fostered in the minds of children begotten of inharmonious +relationship? + +We can never fathom the depth of untold sorrow brought about by +unfortunate marriages, where there is no way to annul them. This +burden upon mankind has resulted in countless desertions, felonies, +drunkenness, murders and suicides. + + "In the daytime when she moved about me, + In the night, when she was sleeping at my side,-- + I was wearied, I was wearied of her presence. + Day by day and night by night I grew to hate her-- + Would God that she or I had died!" + --Kipling. + +There is no stronger plea for divorce than hatred; all things +mentally, morally and physically bad originate from hatred. + +I clipped the following from the Pall Mall Gazette of London, England, +of May 2oth, 1920: + +EASY DIVORCE + +Opinions of the Typical Englishman To the Editor of the Pall Mall +Gazette, + +"Sir:-If it is not too late to answer some of the arguments brought to +bear on 'Easy Divorce,' as Lady Beecham calls it, or, as I prefer to +call it, the proposed equalisation of the Divorce Laws on which she +wrote recently, I would like to know how far the sentiments of the +'Typical Englishman' mentioned in the article are known to Lady +Beecham. + +"Among many great men she mentions Gladstone. Now, his opinion on the +subject is surely well known, as in 1857 he supported an amendment +moved by Mr. H. Drummond that infidelity alone on the part of a +husband should entitle the wife to the dissolution of the marriage. +Gladstone's speech was, I believe, an earnest attack upon the +injustice of the Divorce Bill to women. + +"An able advocate, Sir Charles Russell, once described the action of a +man whose wife was seeking a divorce from him in the following strong +terms: 'This was not a case of mere vulgar acts of infidelity, but it +was that of a man whose continued course of conduct, consistent only +in its profligacy and heartlessness, had brought the wife into a +condition by which the marriage tie had become a galling chain.' + +"If the conduct of the respondent did not amount to legal cruelty, the +law was in an anomalous state, and did emphasize in a marked manner +the inequality which existed in the laws relating to these matters +between men and women. + +"George Eliot once wrote: 'These things are often unknown to the +world; for there is much pain that is quite noiseless, and vibrations +that make human agonies are often a mere whisper in the roar of +hurrying existence." + +"Thackeray in 'The Newcomes' speaks of 'matrimonial crimes where the +woman is not felled by the actual fist, though she staggers and sinks +under the blows quite as cruel and effectual, where with old wounds +still unhealed, she strives to hide under a smiling face to the +world.' + +"How anyone can find it in their heart to state that incurable +insanity should not be ground for divorce is inexplicable to me; but +as it is well known that partial insanity even is not, and I know of +an instance of a man who went twice into an asylum and came back twice +to his wife, the poor woman bearing him on each occasion another +child. Even this is not a ground for divorce. The Cruelty in refusing +the injured person her freedom seems almost incredible." + +The first wrong step between young people is impossible to avoid, +since during courtship both wear masks, each trying to impress the +other that he or she is a paragon of all virtues. The net result is, +that the truth often becomes a horrible revelation immediately after +the wedding ceremony. Unhappy and mismated marriages, without means of +rectification, are the curse of civilization, the living, gnawing +cancer of society. + +In 1913, Nevada, under the lash of exaggerated newspaper notoriety, +enacted a law changing the period of residence for the plaintiff in +divorce actions from six months to one year. From Nevada's territorial +existence down to that time it had been six months. + +It is a matter of history that Nevada extended to the world +inducements to go to her sparsely settled lands, in the way of liberal +legislation and short periods of residence to acquire rights of full +citizenship-franchise included. A man becomes, under Nevada laws, a +full fledged citizen and voter at the end of six months. To him is +extended every privilege of government and from him is exacted every +obligation of government, and the fact that at the end of six months +he can bring an action for divorce is a consequence of these laws, and +not--as is often thought--their purpose. + +Consequently, changing the law on the point of one of its principles +instead of equally on all was irrational and illogical. Small wonder, +therefore, that in 1915 the people, acting through their legislators +and Governor, restored the period of residence in action for divorce +to six months. It is now in strict conformity with their other laws, +and with the same rights prescribed by them. Nevada's inhabitants have +rescinded their act of 1914, by which they allowed immigrants and +citizens to be robbed of a valuable right. The overwhelming vote of +the legislature and approval of the bill by the Governor clearly shows +the public opinion upon the subject. If it be right to commence action +for divorce in one year, then it is right in six months. Length of +period of residence is not a moral question. In this act the people of +Nevada believe that they are morally and legally right, and that they +are materially helping the progress of humanity. + +It is often supposed that one can secure a divorce in Reno without +having to present grounds or causes for it. Let me hasten to +disillusion such "idealists." As mentioned above, there are seven +causes for divorce in this State, any one of which in the eyes of the +liberal Nevada law, is sufficient justification for a dissolution of +marriage. + +A fact which perhaps is not generally known is that one may leave the +state temporarily any time after establishing a residence, provided, +however, that the time during which one has been absent, is eventually +"made up," that is; the actual presence in the state and county must +amount to six months. + +In one divorce case at which I was present,--Mrs. Jones versus Mr. +Jones--, the questions to a six months' resident were as follows: + +Q. Are you the plaintiff in this action? + +Q. What relation does Mr. Jones bear to you? + +Q. When were you married? + +Q. Where were you married? Q. Are there any children of this marriage? + +Q. It is stated in the complaint that since your marriage to Mr. Jones +he has been guilty of habitual gross drunkenness, which he has +contracted since the marriage. Will you please state to the court the +circumstances in regard to his acts of habitual drunkenness? + +Q. Have his acts of habitual gross drunkenness incapacitated him from +contributing his support to the family? + +Q. What effect have his habits of gross habitual drunkenness had upon +his performing his part of the marital relations? + +Q. Please refer to page 5 paragraph--of your complaint and read it as +to your reasons for coming to Reno, Nevada. + +Q. When did you come to the Count; of Washoe, State of Nevada? + +Q. Where have you been residing since you came to Reno, Nevada? + +Q. Have you been engaged in any occupation or profession during your +residence in Reno, Nevada? + +Q. What is your intention in regard to your continuing your residence +in the State of Nevada? + +Q. What was your former name? + +Q. Do you desire to be restored to your former name for business and +property reasons? + +Q. It is stated in the complaint as a second cause of action that Mr. +Jones for more than one year last past has failed, neglected and +refused to provide you with the common necessities of life. Please +state, if any, what provisions he has made for your support and how he +has supported you, if at all. Q. It is stated in the complaint that he +has been during all the said time and is now an able-bodied, talented +man, and has been and is now in receipt of liberal salaries for his +services. Please state to the court what the facts are in regard to +this. + +Q. Has his failure to provide you with the common necessities of life +been the result of poverty or sickness and could he have avoided such +failure by ordinary industry? + +Q. Please state how you have supported yourself. + +Q. It is stated in the complaint as a third cause of action that Mr. +Jones has been guilty of extreme cruelty to you in the State of Texas +and in the State of New York. Please state to the court what his +treatment has been to you in the way of using vulgar language to you +and calling you vile names. + +Q. What occurred at New York City on or about May, 1919, in regard to +the conduct of the defendant, in regard to his father and his coming +to the hotel in a condition of intoxication. + +Q. It is stated that at Waco, Texas, the defendant would drink and +keep you awake until a late hour in the morning. Please state to the +court the circumstances of his conduct. + +Q. What occurred during the winter of 1919 at New York City in regard +to Mr. Jones flourishing a loaded revolver and threatening to kill +you? + +Q. What effect did his treatment of you have upon your being compelled +to leave him? + +Q. What have you done in regard to endeavoring to persuade Mr. Jones +to cease his excessive use of intoxicating liquors, his exhibition of +ugly conduct, his vile language, to induce him to resume a normal +condition of conduct and treat you with kindness? + +Q. What effect, if any, has his habitual gross drunkenness and extreme +cruelty--to you had upon your happiness and health, and how has it +affected you mentally and physically? + +Q. What effect has it had upon the intent and purposes of +intermarriage and rendering your life with your husband unendurable, +miserable and unbearable? + +In this case the charges were non-support and drunkenness and extreme +cruelty. + +The plaintiff in a divorce case need not become seriously concerned +because a defendant has refused to sign papers at the time he or she +has been served. Personal service upon the defendant--the mere fact +that the papers are handed to the defendant is sufficient, whether he has +accepted them or not--or service by publication and mailing in Nevada will +accomplish the same purpose; except that there will be a delay of forty days +in the first case and eighty-two in the latter; however, if the defendant is +not represented, or does not appear, there may arise the question as to +the legality of the divorce in some States, especially in New York State. + +It will obviate considerable delay and inconvenience, if the defendant +will sign and file his personal answer, admitting the plaintiff's +allegations of residence, marriage, children, etc., but denying the +cause of action. This answer should also contain an express waiver of +notice of all proceedings. An answer cannot be signed, however, until +the complaint is filed: the complaint cannot be--filed until six +months have elapsed: therefore the divorce is not granted in six +months, as is the impression which so many have, but the suit may be +started at the termination of the six months' period. + +An expeditious and simple method of facilitating proceedings is to +have the defendant appoint a lawyer in Nevada, granting him the power +of attorney to accept service of the complaint. Since this can be +provided for in advance the delay after the case has been filed can be +reduced to a minimum. + +Below is the form of the Power of Attorney: + +"KNOW ALL MEN BY THESE PRESENTS, That I, John Jones, of the Town of +Waco, County of....... State of Texas, hereby constitute and +appoint........ of the city of Reno, County of Washoe, State of +Nevada, as my true and lawful attorney, in fact and at law for me and +in my name to act for me and appear for me as my attorney in any +action that may or shall be instituted by Mary Jones, my wife, against +me for the dissolution of the bonds of matrimony existing between us, +in the second Judicial District Court of the State of Nevada, in and +for the County of Washoe; and in any such action to accept service of +summons thereon and to plead to or demur to, or to answer any verified +complaint or other pleading that may or shall be filed by said Mary +Jones in any action in said court; and to do and perform any other act +or acts or to take any other proceeding or proceedings he shall deem +proper in said action. + +"GIVING AND GRANTING unto my said attorney or his substitute full +power and authority to do and perform all and every act and thing +whatsoever requisite and necessary to be done in and out of said +action, as fully and to all intents and purposes as I might or could +do if personally present with full power of substitution, hereby +ratifying and confirming all that my said attorney or his substitute +may do or shall cause to be done by virtue of these presents. + +"IN WITNESS WHEREOF, I have hereunto set my hand and seal this...... +day of July A. D., 1917. + +"STATE OF TEXAS, COUNTY OF....... ss.: + +"On this.... day of July, A. D., 1917, personally appeared before me, a +Notary Public, in and for the County of......... State of Texas, John +Jones, known to me to be the person described in and who executed the +foregoing instrument and who acknowledged to me that he executed the +same freely and voluntarily and for the uses and purposes therein +mentioned. + +"IN WITNESS WHEREOF, I have hereunto set my hand and affixed my +official seal the day and year in this certificate first above +written. + +"Notary Public in and for the County of ......... State of Texas. + +Many people are under the impression that it is absolutely essential +to engage a lawyer before reaching Reno, or immediately upon arrival. +Both of these conceptions are erroneous. It is considerably wiser to +make one's selection after taking up a residence, when one has had an +opportunity to discuss the matter with the local people who "know the +ropes," and who are thus in a position to advise one right. No legal +action is necessary until some months have elapsed, unless of course +the case be exceptional, as the one below for instance. + +The Nevada law provides that a suit for divorce may be immediately +commenced in the county "where the defendant may be found." From this +it will be seen that a plaintiff who has been a resident of Nevada for +ten days or even one day, may sue at once if the defendant can be +found in Nevada for service. That is, no six months period of +residence is necessary at all, if the defendant happens to be there, +or comes there for a reconciliation, to regain custody of children, to +obtain a satisfactory property settlement, or for any other legitimate +purpose, free from collusion. + +A celebrated case of this kind was tried at Minden, Nevada, in 1920. +Below is a list of questions asked the plaintiff by the lawyer: + +Q. When did you first come here? + +A. The 15th day of February. + +Q. Have you any other residence? + +A. No, sir. + +Q. Is it your intention to make Nevada your residence? + +A. Yes, sir. + +Q. Did you by any means know of the coming of your husband into this +state? + +A. No, sir. + +Q. Did you make any arrangements whereby he was to come into this +state? + +A. No, sir. + +Q. When did you first learn that he was in this State? + +A. A friend told me he was coming to Nevada on business to look for a +coal mine. + +Q. Did he mention any place your husband might be going to? + +A. Yes, he said something about Gold Hill. + +Question by the Judge: +Answer by Plaintiff: + +Q. Do you know where there are coal mines in Gold Hills? You mean gold +mines. + +A. Yes, gold mines. + +Questions by lawyer: +Answers by Plaintiff: + +Q. What if anything did you do on hearing that he might come into this +state? + +A. Why, I telephoned you and informed you. + +Q. Did you see your husband? + +A. No, sir. + +Questions by Judge: +Answers by Plaintiff: + +Q. Did you have anything to do with the appearance of your husband in +this vicinity? + +A. No, sir. + +Q. I want to have you very clear on this. No arrangements were made +between yourself and your husband whereby he was to come into this +state? + +A. No, sir. + +Q. When was it that you determined to stay in Nevada? + +A. When the doctor told me I needed a change. + +Q. And when was that? + +A. That was at Christmas, about two weeks after. + +Q. Have you ever, directly or indirectly, had any understanding with +your husband that you should come into the State of Nevada and later-- +being here--that he should come into this state, that you should +institute divorce proceedings and have him served with papers? + +A. No, sir. + +Q. Is it your purpose and intention to [remainder of question and +answer missing in original] + +Q. Did you have anything to do with the appearance of your husband in +this vicinity? + +A. No, sir. + +Q. I want to have you very clear on this. No arrangements were made +between yourself and your husband whereby he was to come into this +state? + +A. No, sir. + +Q. When was it that you determined to stay in Nevada? + +A. When the doctor told me I needed a change. + +Q. And when was that? + +A. That was at Christmas, about two weeks after. + +Q. Have you ever, directly or indirectly, had any understanding with +your husband that you should come into the State of Nevada and later-- +being here--that he should come into this state, that you should +institute divorce proceedings and have him served with papers? + +A. No, sir. + +Q. Is it your purpose and intention to remain in the State of Nevada +as a resident and particularly in the County of Douglas? + +A. Yes, sir. + +Q. Is it your purpose to build here? + +A. Well, if I can find a place to suit me I will. + +Q. And have you given up Los Angeles as your residence, and your +permanent residence is Genoa, Douglas County, Nevada? + +A. Until I regain my health, but this will be my home. + +Q. Do I understand that you have come into this state in good faith, +seeking health and nothing else? + +A. Yes, sir. + +Q. That you have not come into the State of Nevada for the purpose of +instituting divorce proceedings? + +A. No, sir. + +Q. That is absolutely so? + +A. Absolutely. + +By the Judge: + +"I think I have gone into this question pretty thoroughly. I feel that +I should do so in all these matters in view of the fact that our +statute requires a six months' residence. Therefore we should look +into these matters thoroughly. That is all." + +Because of various newspaper items recently published the public has +got the idea that the Reno divorce law has been changed. The following +article, clipped from the Nevada State Journal of February 2nd, 1921, +will explain the change in the laws as amended on that date: + + SCOTT DIVORCE BILL PASSES UNAN- + IMOUSLY-SENATE BILL PROVIDES + THAT PARTY MUST HAVE LIVED + IN STATE SIX MONTHS. + +"Carson City, Feb. 1.--The Senate today passed the measure introduced +by Senator Scott to amend the present divorce law. The bill as drawn +re-enacts the law now in force, with the added provision, that at +least one of the parties to an action for divorce must have resided in +the State of Nevada not less than six months prior to commencement of +the suit. + +"On recommendation of the judiciary committee, the bill was amended, +to make the beginning of a suit possible in cases where "the cause of +action shall have occurred within the county while plaintiff and +defendant were actually 'domiciled' therein." In a talk urging passage +of the bill as amended, Senator Scott declared that at least 90 per +cent, of the odium attached to Nevada because of its divorce law was +due to the fact that a few unscrupulous persons and attorneys-by means +of collusion-so arrange matters as to take advantage of the "Where the +defendant may be found" clause. He stated that he feared that unless +some change as he proposed was made that people might soon go to that +extreme and demand an enactment of legislation much more severe in its +requirements. He presented the bill, "not as an attorney, but as a +citizen of Nevada to cure what as a citizen he believed to be an +evil." The amendments were adopted, and the bill passed, Senator Ducey +answering "No," on roll call. + +"At the afternoon session of the Senate, Senator Ducey rose to ask a +question of privilege, and proceeded to explain his vote by stating +that he had failed to get the gist of the amendment. He thereupon +requested that the Senate grant him the courtesy of a reconsideration +of the vote taken at the morning session. Under the unanimous consent +rule, a motion for reconsideration carried, after which the bill was +passed with sixteen senators voting in its favor." + +[Illustration: Picture of Sir H. Walter Huskey] Following is a letter +from H. Walter Huskey, one of Reno's prominent lawyers, in which at my +request he answers some very important questions. Much of the +information I have already given you in the foregoing pages, but I +think it a good idea to give you the questions exactly as answered by +him. This information really consists of most valuable legal advice to +anyone anticipating a visit to Reno. + +Twenty-second October,1920. + +"Dear Mrs. Stratton: + +"I am very happy to have your letter of the 11th instant, and to note +that you are making such splendid progress with your book. + +"My time and services are always at your command, even though you have +asked me some questions that are not strictly in the horizon of a +lawyer's work. + +"The advantages of Nevada's divorce laws are as follows: + +"The residence is only six months, but requires actual presence in the +county where the action is to be filed. We have six causes of action +for the husband, and--by adding neglect of the husband to provide the +plaintiff with the common necessities of life--seven for the wife. + +"In most states corroborative evidence is required, that is, testimony +of evidence tending to corroborate the allegation and testimony of the +plaintiff. In Nevada no corroborative evidence is required in the +absence of a contest, that is, testimony of the plaintiff alone in a +non-contested case is sufficient. + +"In most or many of the states, the decree of divorce when granted is +not final and absolute, that is, in some states it is interlocutory, +requiring another appearance in court at the end of six months or a +year. In other states, either one or both parties are forbidden the +right to marry for six months or one year or longer, or the defendant +is given six months in which to appeal, or one or both parties are +placed under disabilities preventing immediate marriage. In Nevada the +decree is absolute the moment granted and the minister, if desired, +may be waiting at the court house door to perform the new marriage +ceremony..... + +"With these few remarks I shall take up your questions by number: + +"1. Where to go upon arrival? + +"There are three good hotels in Reno; the Riverside Hotel, Hotel +Golden and the Overland Hotel. Besides the hotels we have two or three +good apartment houses. Many people go directly to the private boarding +houses where room and board can be had at more reasonable figures. + +"2. What attitude to take up with the local people: what to do: what +to avoid? + +"In the great West strangers are taken to be alright, until they prove +themselves otherwise. It is unlike the East or South, where one must +prove oneself as to character and standing, before one can hope to be +admitted into the better circles of society. Fully ninety per cent, of +the people who come to Nevada to become bona fide residents with the +expectation of taking advantage of Nevada's lenient divorce laws, are +people of high character and standing. It is naturally well to mix +with Reno's people, to keep oneself as straight and restricted as one +would do at home, and to avoid the tendency to throw off all restraint +when one passes west of the Rocky Mountains. + +"3. Are there any crook lawyers? + +"There are crook lawyers, but not in Reno. There were one or two who +have been indicted and disbarred. Sometimes it is possible-when the +address can be found-to communicate with the defendant spouse and stir +up trouble by offering to defend him or her free of charge, hoping by +such action to be placed in position to squeeze a few hundred dollars +out of the plaintiff. The best way to avoid this is to go to Reno and +look over the field before selecting an attorney. + +"4. The possibility of blackmail? + +"The only possibility in the nature of blackmail comes from +unprofessional practitioners like those mentioned in the preceding +paragraph, who, in some way having the address of the defendant, +communicate with him or her in the hope of stirring up trouble and +representing the defendant in the contest. When relations are thus +taken up with the proposed defendant, these lawyers usually notify the +plaintiff that if the plaintiff will come to him or to a lawyer of his +selection--someone closely associated with him--the matters can be +adjusted and the divorce granted. The position taken by our County +Clerk, under our law, in refusing absolutely to allow anyone, other +than the parties and attorneys for the parties in a divorce suit, to +have access to the papers greatly reduces the field of this blackmail +and protects many innocent people. + +"5. How do you proceed with the case? + +"Upon arrival in Reno a new resident ought to find a reputable lawyer, +consult him, retain him by paying him possibly one-third of the fee, +and state to him the entire cause of action. The lawyer will take down +the facts, given a receipt or contract showing the total fee to be +paid; will make a record of the beginning of the residence period and +will talk to the client generally about his or her cause of action, +and the steps necessary to be taken toward establishing a bona fide +residence that will hold water against all attack. Many persons have +failed in contested cases, because of statements they have placed in +letters to friends and relatives. These statements often show that the +plaintiff is only serving time in Nevada, and, if brought to the +attention of the court, will defeat one's allegation of residence upon +which the jurisdiction of the court depends. Without jurisdiction no +divorce can be granted. + +"6. What is the first step? + +"7. What if you cannot serve? + +"After the six months' residence period is completed, the first step +is to prepare, verify and file the complaint. This complaint is a +clear statement of the plaintiff's cause or causes of action. At the +time of filing this complaint the summons is issued and handed to the +attorney for the plaintiff. Where the defendant is not willing to file +an answer or demurrer, and thus submit to the jurisdiction of the +court, an "Affidavit for Publication" is sworn to by the plaintiff, +and an "Order for Publication" is prepared for the signature of the +judge, and being signed by him, is filed with the Clerk of the Court. +After publication is ordered service may be made by publication once a +week for six weeks in a Reno paper and by mailing a copy of the +complaint attached to a copy of the summons to the defendant at his or +her last known residence. + +"After publishing for six weeks, it is necessary to wait for a period +of forty days during which time the defendant may answer. Service is +complete only at the end of publication, and a defendant living +outside of Nevada is entitled to the full period of forty days after +service. + +"Below is a facsimile of different forms of 'Service by Publication': + +SUMMONS + +No. 16447 Dept. No. 2. + +IN THE SECOND JUDICIAL DISTRICT COURT OF THE STATE OF NEVADA, IN AND +FOR THE COUNTY OF WASHOE. L.M.M., plaintiff vs. A.M.M., defendant. + +The state of Nevada sends greeting to said defendant: + +You are hereby summoned to appear within ten days after the service +upon you of this summons if served in said county, or within twenty +days if served out of said county but within said judicial district +and in all other cases within forty days (exclusive of the day of +service), and defend the above-entitled action. This action is brought +to recover a judgment and decree of this court forever severing and +dissolving the bonds of matrimony now and heretofore existing between +the parties hereto upon the grounds of desertion, adultery and extreme +cruelty as described in the complaint. + +Dated this 15th day of December, A. D., 1920 E.H.BEEMER, + +Clerk of the Second Judicial District Court of the State of Nevada, in +and for the County of Washoe. + +By G. R. ELLITHORPE, +Leroy F. Pike, Deputy. +Attorney for Plaintiff. + + +SUMMONS IN THE SECOND JUDICIAL DISTRICT OF THE STATE OF NEVADA, IN AND +FOR THE COUNTY OF WASHOE. I.M.G., plaintiff, vs. S.L.G., defendant. + +The State of Nevada sends greeting to said defendant: + +You are hereby summoned to appear within ten days after the service +upon you of this summons if served in said county, or within twenty +days if served out of said county but within said judicial district +and in all other cases within forty days (exclusive of the day of +service), and defend the above-entitled action. This action is brought +to recover and decree dissolving the bonds of matrimony existing +between you and said plaintiff, upon the ground that you wilfully +failed, neglected and refused to provide for said plaintiff the common +necessaries of life for a period of more than two years next preceding +the commencement of this action, although having the ability so to do; +awarding to said plaintiff the care, custody and control of the two +minor children, the issue of the marriage between you and said +plaintiff, to wit: G.L.G. and R.O.G.; and for general relief, as +alleged and described in the complaint of said plaintiff now on file +in said action in the office of the Clerk of the above named court, +and to which said complaint reference is thereby made and said +complaint made a part hereof. + +Dated this 8th day of January, A. D., 1921. + +E. H. BEEMER, + +Clerk of the Second Judicial District Court of the State of Nevada, in +and for the County of Washoe. + +A. A. SMITH, Attorney for Plaintiff, + +312 Clay Peters Bldg., Reno, Nevada. Jl5-22-29;F5-l2-l9-2e + +"8. What if you can serve? + +"Six weeks of time may be saved if the defendant can be served with +complaint and summons. This personal service outside the state of +Nevada is equivalent to completed service by publication, and the +defendant has forty days in which to answer. + +"9. What if the defendant does not fight? + +"In cases where the defendant is willing that a decree should be +granted, much time and some expense may be saved by defendant signing +and filing a short formal answer, admitting plaintiff's allegations of +residence, marriage, children, etc., but denying the causes of action. +By filing this answer personally, or by retaining a Reno lawyer to +accept services and file it for the defendant, the defendant need not +visit Nevada at all. The case can then be closed up, and the decree +granted within ten days after the expiration of the six months. By the +filing of this short answer the defendant submits to the jurisdiction +of the court, and any decree of divorce granted is valid and effective +for plaintiff and defendant alike beyond any question, the world over. + +"10. What if the defendant fights? + +"If the defendant fights the case, evidence and testimony must be +introduced and the case tried as other contested causes in other +states. If the defendant be the wife, she can by filing affidavits +showing her position financially compel the plaintiff husband, before +proceeding with his case, to advance such sums of money as may be +necessary to cover costs, attorney's fees, alimony pending the suit +and traveling expenses to and from Reno. + +"11. What about the chances for losing? + +"In the absence of a contest, if a divorce case in Nevada be prepared +by a lawyer who knows his business, there is no real reason for +losing. If the cause be contested, then it all depends upon the +allegations and proofs of the plaintiff as compared with the +allegations and proofs of the defendant. Probably three cases out of +four (contested cases) are won by the plaintiff. + +"12. How is the case called? + +"When the case has been filed and the time during which the defendant +is permitted to answer has passed, a default is prepared by the +attorney for the plaintiff, and signed and filed by the county clerk. +In cases where the defendant has appeared personally or by counsel and +an answer has been filed, they are ready for trial. On calendar day,-- +which comes each Monday--either the default case or the case in which +an answer has been filed is called to the attention of the court by +the plaintiff's counsel and is set down for trial by the court-- +usually some day that week. + +"13. Procedure of an actual case? Witnesses: Questions? + +"The trial of undefended divorce suits usually takes about fifteen or +twenty minutes. The only witnesses necessary are those to Prove +"residence in Reno" for the period of six months. Room rent receipts +are not sufficient. Usually it is necessary to call the landlady of +the rooming house, or the clerk of the hotel where the plaintiff has +resided to show a continued residence in the County of Washoe. Where +the plaintiff moves about frequently from one rooming house to +another, it is more difficult to prove continuous residence. A +residence in the county is all that is needed and all that has to be +proved, however, and often plaintiffs in the summer time spend a month +or two on that portion of Lake Tahoe which is in Washoe County. + +"14. Is this case treated publicly or privately? + +"All cases are tried in a court room which is open to the general +public, unless the allegations are of such immorality in the complaint +that the proof should not be heard by the general public. Divorce +cases are so common in Reno, however, that the public rarely attend. + +"15 Does the decree allow you to take back your own name? + +"If the plaintiff be a woman and if there be no children the issue of +the marriage, she will be allowed, if requested in the complaint, to +take back her maiden name. The decree signed by the court simply +orders that the plaintiff's maiden name be restored to her. If there +be children the issue of the marriage, the maiden name of the mother +will not be restored to her for the reason that it is thought that the +mother should retain the name of her children. + +"16. What is the entire cost? + +"The entire cost of a non-contested case ranges from $22 to $30. If +the case be contested there is no telling how high the cost may run. +The cost of taking numerous depositions might amount to $50 or $100 or +more. If the question is intended to cover the fees for lawyers' +services, I would say that they run from nothing up to several +thousand dollars. The usual fee for a person of ordinary means is +about $250, which is probably the average fee in such cases in Reno, +but persons of wealth often pay from $1,000 to $5,000. + +"17. In what sense are witnesses used, and how do they strengthen the +case; is it the same as in the East? + +"In all non-contested cases, either where they go by default or where +the defendant voluntarily files his answer after the residence for six +months is proved, the plaintiff's testimony is sufficient to prove his +or her cause of action, that is, no testimony beyond that of the +plaintiff is needed where the case is not contested. In the event of a +contest, the more witnesses and depositions one can procure the more +likely they are to win. + +"18. Can the divorce be obtained at once if the defendant can be +served in the state? + +"The statutes of Nevada expressly provide that, if the cause of action +occurred in Nevada, that is, if the last acts of the defendant took +place in Nevada, or if the plaintiff and defendant last cohabited in +Nevada, or if the defendant without collusion can be served with +papers in Nevada, the plaintiff need not reside there six months or +for any other definite period. In line with this express provision of +Nevada's laws, if a plaintiff comes to Nevada to begin a residence, +and if the defendant comes here for any other purpose than to submit +to service of the papers, which would be collusion, but bona-fide to +secure the custody of children, to procure a settlement of property +matters and alimony, to bring about a reconciliation, etc., service of +the summons and complaint may forthwith be made upon him in Reno, and +the case may proceed to trial at the end of ten days without the six +months' residence period by either party. + +"19. How is the fee paid, and when? + +"As to fees for legal services, some attorneys require the entire fee +in advance; some allow the fee to wait until some adjustment or +settlement is made, or until the case is ready for trial, but the +better method for both client and attorney is for the client to pay +down one-third of the fee as a retainer, one-third at the time of +filing the complaint, and the balance of one-third on the day set for +the final trial of the case. + +"20. Please state the effect the Nevada divorce has in different +states. For instance, I know a woman who got her divorce in Nevada and +married again in New York; her first husband sued her for divorce in +New York and accused her of adultery and got a divorce. Please state +if the divorce is absolutely legal when the defendant is not +represented, because I am very anxious that my book shall state only +facts. I don't want to lead anyone astray on that subject. I am quite +sure the divorce is not legal if it is simply obtained by advertising, +as I myself was about to be handed back my divorce papers, and refused +a marriage license in New York, when I explained that my husband had +been personally represented. If that had not been the case I would not +be the happy lady I am today. + +"Nevada divorces, exactly like the divorces granted in other states, +are valid as follows: if the defendant be served in Nevada, in the +event he appears in the cause either for contest or voluntarily, for +the purpose of submitting to the jurisdiction of the court, the decree +is absolute and valid the world over, freeing both parties from the +moment it is granted. + +"If the defendant be served outside of the state of Nevada, either +personally or by publication and mailing, and should not make an +appearance in the case, the case goes by default and the decree, which +is held valid in most cases as a matter of comity, is seriously +questioned in the states of New York, Massachusetts and Illinois. Its +validity is questioned, however, only in favor of a defendant who is a +resident and citizen of the state where its validity is brought into +court, that is, a resident of Illinois obtaining a divorce in Nevada +by default against a defendant who resides in Illinois, will find that +his decree of divorce is valid beyond a question in New York and +Massachusetts and all other states except Illinois. Likewise, a +resident of New York may depart from his home, take up his abode in +Nevada, obtain a default decree against a spouse domiciled in New York +and may marry again and live in any other state, except in the state +of New York. It might be noted here, however, that many hundreds of +plaintiffs have obtained default decrees under such circumstances and +have married again, returned to New York state and have lived there +without difficulty. Most foreign countries give validity to a Nevada +decree. + +"Respectfully submitted, + +"H. WALTER HUSKEY." + +In considering a divorce in Nevada, the traveling expenses are quite +an item; therefore I have written to the Traffic Department of the +Pennsylvania Railroad System, and in a letter under date of February +6th, 1921, from the Traffic Manager of that company, I am indebted for +the following information: + +"Regarding tickets, etc., to Reno, Nevada; round-trip tickets are not +sold to Reno, but it is possible to purchase a round-trip ticket from +New York to San Francisco or Los Angeles, and use it only as far as +Reno. (I found that the greatest advantage of this ticket was that one +could have a peep at San Francisco and Southern California without any +extra cost, as one returns to the East.--Author). This ticket has no +validation feature. + +"The round-trip ticket bears a limit of nine months and it costs +$201.06, plus tax of $16.08, to either San Francisco or Los Angeles. +The one-way fare from New York to Reno is $111.63, plus tax of $8.98." + +The roads used in the trip are The Pennsylvania Railroad, Chicago and +Northwestern, Union Pacific and Southern Pacific. + +Below are suggestions for the best through trains quoted from 1921 +time tables: + +Daily Service. + +Leave New York (Pennsylvania Station) + 6:05 P. M., Saturday + +Arrive Chicago + 3:00 P. M., Sunday + +Leave Chicago (Union Pacific) + 7:10 P. M. Sunday, Overland Express. + +Arrive Omaha + 9:00 A. M. Monday + +Arrive Ogden + 1:00 P. M. Tuesday + +Leave Ogden (Southern Pacific) + 12:30 P. M., Pacific time, Tuesday. + +Arrive Reno + 3:25 A. M. Wednesday + +In conclusion I would desire to express the sincerest heart-felt hope +that none of my readers be placed in a position where the only road to +follow is: "the Great Divide." However, when there is no way out, no +means of reconciliation, no tangible reason for submission to penal +servitude for life, the only solution left is to face the truth; to +turn one's back upon the past, and face the future! + +We revere our ancestors, but the inheritance handed down to us +dissolves itself into obligations to the present: our principal +obligation to the World today is our duty to the World tomorrow! To +posterity: to those to whom "from failing hands we throw the torch...." + +As Virgil said: "Nati natorum et qui nascentur ab illis:" our +children's children and those who will be born from them. + +And in assuming our duty to the World tomorrow, we must start by doing +our duty to the World today: ourselves; by righting what is wrong; by +blasting the trail through life's mountainous obstacles; and purifying +the atmosphere around us and leading the World on to the light that +beacons us from beyond. + +[Illustration: Renoites as seen by a Reno Cartoonist] +[ Reprint from Reno Freming Gazzette ] +[ Aug. 7 1917 ] + + + + +PART 7 + +SONS OF THE SAGEBRUSH + + +To write of the "Sons of the Sagebrush" does not necessarily mean that +they were born in the Sagebrush, or in the West. I was surprised to +find that about seventy-five per cent, of the prominent citizens of +Nevada had hailed from almost every State in the Union, from Carolina +to California. The Good Book says that the wise men came from the +East. From personal observation I should say that many of them settled +in the West. + +I am told that there are numerous cases in which mothers worry for +fear their sons may be led astray by some fascinating "divorcee"; that +he may be caught in her "selfish snare" and left with a smashed heart +and lost youthful ideals, while the fair lady laughs and leaves; but +if you will pardon a bit of slang, I should say that the Western youth +is a "pretty wise guy," and that mother need not worry because he can +look out for himself! However, "mother's advice" may not always have +held good after a mint julep, or a stroll in the moonlight..... Hence +the experience. + +I do not mean that if a beautiful lady should whisper gently to one of +the youthful sons of the Sagebrush: "I am afraid to go home in the +dark," the gentleman would ring for a messenger boy as an escort, or +call a taxi; and if she sighed for sympathy and a stroll by the +Truckee, he would think that she needed a doctor, or a nerve +specialist. .... The sons of the Sagebrush are not cold-hearted, nor +are they lacking in courtesy of any sort, but to use a Western +expression, they possess a large percentage of "horse sense!" Meaning, +that they are not wearing their hearts on their sleeves these days.... + +One of the most interesting and unassuming gentlemen I met in the "big +little city" was Mr. George Wingfield. I had made up my mind to that +effect long before he was introduced to me because I had seen his +beautiful home on the banks of the Truckee, and his beautiful bank +building on the corner of Second and Virginia streets (the Reno +National Bank, which I have described in Part 5), and had visited his +ranch, and admired his string of thoroughbred horses and high-class +stock. I had also been told how this gentleman had made his fortune +almost over night, so to speak, during the big gold boom, and I liked +him for staying right there and spending the gold in the State whence +it came. He did not take his riches and go away, as so many of them +have done, but he helped to build a beautiful city, and there it is +that he made his home. + +I was rather surprised to find that Mr. Wingfield was not a native +son, but hailed from Arkansas: also, I was disappointed in this +gentleman's appearance, having been told that he was a resident of the +West, when the West was really "wild and woolly," and full of gold and +other things.... I expected him to be a much older man, and have not +quite forgiven him for not being at least six feet six, with cold +steel-blue piercing eyes, gray hair at the temples and a face furrowed +with strong character lines. + +That was the sort of mental picture I had made of him when a friend +told me of his experiences in the mining camp during a big strike of +the miners. They were shooting up the town in real Western style, and +many of them had been heard to swear that they would have Wingfield's +life. He might well have taken his departure, but he did not: he was +strong and relentless and knew no fear, though I am told he ate his +meals in a restaurant where the walls were covered with mirrors, with +his back to the wall, and a six-shooter on each side of his plate. +Rather thrilling, to say the least. + +So far, Mr. Wingfield has not found it necessary to take advantage of +the liberal divorce laws of the State: his beautiful home, charming +and accomplished wife, and lovely children account for that. + +Somehow Mr. Wingfield's experience in Nevada and the gold mines brings +to my mind a poem from Robert W. Service's "Spell of the Yukon," of +which I am very fond: + +"This is the law of the Yukon, + and ever she makes it plain; +Send not your foolish and feeble; + send me your strong and your sane-- +Strong for the red rage of battle; + sane, for I harry them sore; +Send me men grit for the combat; + men who are grit to the core...." + +It would be difficult to name a citizen of Nevada more popular with +his fellow-men or enjoying to a greater degree the confidence and +trust of those with whom he is associated than H. J. Gosse, proprietor +and manager of the Riverside Hotel of Reno. + +The colony has a real friend in H. J. Gosse, who is certainly an +exponent of joy, giving optimism to the lonely wanderer who may find +himself domiciled under the roof of the Riverside Hotel where the +splendid personality of this old pioneer reigns supreme. + +Mr. Gosse's parents crossed the plains with an ox-team from New +Orleans to California way back in '49. In 1862 the family moved to +Silver City, then a lively mining town. + +[Illustration: Riverside Hotel, Nevada] + +The subject of this sketch went to school in Virginia City and later +attended the Golden Gate Academy in Oakland, California. Like other +young men, he followed various vocations and in 1896 he purchased the +Riverside Hotel, which he has successfully conducted ever since. Under +his management the hotel has continued to be the leading hotel in the +city, and in 1901 the present large brick structure was erected. + +In 1888 Mr. Gosse was united in marriage with Miss Josephine M. Mudd, +a native of California. In politics Mr. Gosse is a Republican. He is a +member of the Improved Order of Red Men, and has filled all the chairs +in the local Tribe and is Past Grand Sachem of the State of Nevada. He +is also a Mason, being a member of the lodge chapter, commandery and +the shrine. He is an active member of the B.P.O.E. No. 597, of Reno, +and was instrumental in organizing the Lodge. In recognition of his +services, he has been made an honorary life member and is a member of +the Grand Lodge of the United States. + +Mr. Gosse's only son was among the first to answer his country's call +when the United States entered into the World War in 1917; he died in +his country's service a few months later.... + +No pictures of the picturesque West would be complete which did not +depict in the foreground the fine, handsome figure of Nevada's +erstwhile "Sentinel in Chief": former State Police Superintendent, +Captain J. P. Donnelley. + +The Captain and his wife were among the very first friends I made when +I arrived in Reno. Since then we have become more and more intimate, +and my admiration and appreciation of them both grow keener, if such +is possible, the longer I know them. + +Almost as interesting as the history of Nevada itself is the excited +checkered career of this man, who at an early date left his native +State of California where he had risen from the ranks of private to +Adjutant of the 10th Battalion Infantry Guards and had sought in +preference the dangers and hardships of rugged Nevada. Here he became +deputy sheriff and chairman of the Republican Central Committee of +Esmeralda County, to succeed Captain Cox as Superintendent of the +State Police in 1911. + +In the same year there was a spurt of unusual liveliness from the +Indian quarter. Several white men were killed, and it was Captain +Donnelley who was selected to head one of the posses and risk the +brunt of the battle. The Captain's scrapbook, which he was kind enough +to let me look over, revealed many an interesting incident, and one +would never think when talking to him that this genial, humorous, kind +faced man was every inch a soldier and a hero. The combination strikes +me as wonderfully illustrative of what real culture and civilization +can do for a man. He fights, not for the love of fighting, from a +savage hankering after blood, but because it is for the good of +humanity in general that he should fight, and therefore that he does +well. + +A large reward had been offered for the capture of those Indian +desperadoes and of the several posses that had been sent out Captain +Donnelley and his brave band were the only "lucky devils," and escaped +with their scalps. + +In appreciation of his fine work the citizens passed a resolution to +send the following letter to the Captain: + +"To the Nevada State Police and to Captain Donnelley, Privates Buck +and Stone, and Sergeant Newgard: "Gentlemen:- + +"As a Committee of One I am directed by the citizens of Surprise +Valley, this county, by a resolution passed by the citizens last week, +to express to you gentlemen the thanks we so deeply owe you for your +efficient and loyal services rendered in the interest of public +justice in the running down of the Indian renegade murderers of our +citizens in Nevada. + +"We cannot begin to express the same by words of tongue or pen and our +feelings coming from the heart must be left to better speakers and +writers than myself. + +"Be assured of our great thanks, and should occasion require we will +endeavor to make good in payment. + +"Very sincerely yours, + +"(Signed) H. E. SMITH, Sheriff." + +[Illustration: Captain J. P. Donnelly Former State Police +Superintendent] + +In 1912 there were some very serious disturbances in the copper mines +in Ely. Martial law was declared; Captain Donnelley was delegated to +go down to quell the disorder, and in a remarkably short time peace +and order were restored. His success was due in a great measure to his +magnetic personality, for the Captain is very popular and makes +staunch friends wherever he goes. + +One of the greatest assets a man can have is the right sort of a wife. +Mrs. Donnelley, once a divorcee, is both charming and interesting. She +is a woman of culture, has traveled extensively and is interested in +all the social problems of the day. When the Red Cross Chapter was +organized in Reno she was asked to take charge of the workroom, which +originally started with two and now boasts of a working force of +between thirty to forty ladies. Without her efficient aid, little +progress would have been made. + +Both the Captain and his wife are exceptionally fond of children and +animals, and they tell the following amusing incident about one of the +Captain's birthdays. One fine afternoon, out of a clear sky, seventeen +youngsters of every conceivable size and shape, marched in upon Mrs. +Donnelley, and announced the fact that they had come to celebrate +Captain Donnelley's birthday. Thereupon they held aloft three monster +cakes which they had brought along to demolish in case the Captain did +not have birthday cakes any more. After the rather surprised lady of +the house had ransacked the neighborhood for some fruit and ice cream +to help the cake along and practically no vestige of the feast +remained, the unsuspecting Captain came upon the scene. There was a +rush and a scamper and a babel of voices shouted out, "Oh, Captain +Donnelley, we're having such a good time at your birthday party!" + +Orpheus and his lute, David and his harp, Donnelley and his dog! These +are inseparable associations, and so fine and historic an animal is +"Brownie" that the newspapers devote write-ups to him just as if he +were a regular celebrity or something like that. He is now guarding +the chicks on a ranch and is making a dandy truant officer, so the +Captain tells me. + +The Captain is a thinker, too. A short time ago he wrote a series of +articles for the Reno Gazette, dealing with psychology. I was +particularly impressed with a fact which he made to stand out clearly +above all others and which would vitally affect society as a whole if +it were to be universally carried out. It is the substitution of an +indeterminate sentence for the definite one which now prevails. "No +judge can determine in advance when a prisoner is fit to return to the +community," he says; and in the same way we release the inmates of an +insane hospital as soon as we think them sufficiently recovered, he +believes we should release the criminal as soon as experts pronounce +him fit to resume his relations with society. + +The following is a copy of the verses which the Captain thought would +help his co-workers to do things right: + + "Did you tackle the trouble that came your way + With a resolute heart and cheerful, + Or hide your face from the light of day + With a craven heart and fearful? + Oh, a trouble's a ton, or a trouble's an ounce, + Or a trouble is what you make it; + And it isn't the fact that you're hurt that counts, + But only how did you take it. + + "You're beaten to earth; well, well, what's that? + Come up with a smiling face, + It's nothing against you to fall down flat, + But to lie there-that's disgrace. + The harder you're thrown, why the higher you bounce; + Be proud of your blackened eye. + It isn't the fact that you're licked that counts, + It's how did you fight, and why. + + "And though you be done to death, what then? + If you battled the best you could; + If you've played your part in the world of men, + Why, the critic will call it good. + Death comes with a crawl, or comes with a pounce, + And whether he's slow or spry, + It isn't the fact that you're dead that counts, + But only, how did you die?" + +And now we come to a pure Sagebrush Son who first announced himself +into the family midst only a few miles away from Virginia City, Judge +Langdon. His father had been a true pioneer of the Comstock Lodge, and +so Frank was born with a "golden" spoon in his mouth. + +However that may be, he went to school at Gold Hill, thence to St. +Mary's College and finally passed the bar examination in 1886. Then he +came back to Nevada, post haste, and established a law office in +Virginia City and there he is to this day. Not for long, however, did +he remain a private practitioner. He soon became a member of the +Assembly, and District Attorney of his home County and subsequently +was elected Judge of the County of Storey. And thereby hangs a +"story." + +While the Judge was on the bench a felonious murder was committed. +Preston and Smith were the criminals arraigned before the courts, and +Frank P. Langdon their Judge. Originally the trial had come up in +Hawthorne, Seat of Esmeralda County, and when in the midst of the case +the County Seat was changed the case was naturally transferred. +Feeling ran very high, for the prisoners had many friends, and several +anonymous letters, bearing a fear-inspiring skull and cross-bones +sketched in blood-red ink, did the young Judge handle: needless to say +without any fear or trepidation! A son of the sagebrush knows no fear! + +At last the day for the final decision came. Some of those I have met +who were present in the court room tell me that the atmosphere was +highly charged and that many expected to see the Judge get a rough +deal. But calmly, in clear ringing tones, he boldly stated his +convictions, irrespective of the direst results that might follow; yet +nothing happened. The men were condemned and the Judge is still +residing in Virginia City, happy with his wife and six lively +children. + +Not only through the popular ditty have the Blue Ridge Mountains of +Virginia become famous: their own natural beauty is sufficient to +render them beloved by all those who have had the opportunity to see +them or live amongst them. But it is also under the blue shadows of +those Virginia peaks that many a good man was born and it is therefore +a great tribute to Nevada, I think, that Judge Sanders has permanently +made his home under the purple and gray shadows of the Sagebrush +slopes. + +He had been deputy clerk and librarian of the Supreme Court of +Virginia, and during this time had taken advantage of the lore with +which he came in contact to study the ways and byways of the law. Like +unto hosts of others, for him too the Comstock Lode had proved a +magnet, and in 1904 he hit the trail for Virginia City, Nevada. Then +he trailed on, attracted by the Manhattan boom, and finally landed in +Tonopah, the great silver camp. By this time he had begun to be known +as a "big fighter" in the law world. His famous speech on the +"Prospector" attracted considerable attention, and Nevada's sons soon +found out that they had a real man in their midst. He was elected +District Attorney of Nye County, and there never was a man more free +from political prejudice or more ready to give every applicant to the +Courts of Justice a fair and square deal. Cattle rustlers quaked and +trembled at the name of Sanders as did I. W. W.'s; surrounding States +never felt so very kindly disposed toward the Judge, as it was he who +in a great measure was responsible for exterminating this disturbing +element, or rather dumping it into other States, since it proved +inexterminable. + +Judge Sanders is married to a Wisconsin girl and has his home at +Carson City, Nevada. + +Dick Stoddard is a Reno boy through and through, and although his +middle name is Cross, it certainly has nothing to do with his +disposition, for he is most entertaining and genial. As a youth he +attended the High School and the University, after a time taking the +civil service. Then in the service of the railroad proper, he wandered +around the coast for about four years. + +Not content with this mission in life, he entered the law offices of a +prominent firm of attorneys where he imbibed all the legal wisdom he +could, supplementing his practical experience by theoretical study. In +1903, behold our Judge, a full-fledged advocate; in 1905 he was +elected City Attorney for Reno. It was during his term that Reno's +streets were first paved, the new City Hall built and the Truckee's +banks spanned by the Virginia Street bridge. + +A rather amusing story is told of how "they,"--his friends,--"put one +over" on Dick, the "putting over," however, being to their mutual +advantage. + +The Judge, or rather Attorney, as he was then, had one of those "off" +spells that all of us have at times. He had sniffed his fill of musty +legal parchment for the time, and he decided that he would prefer a +sniff of the sea-weed and brine; that he needed a tonic arid that no +better could be found than "Ozone." So he packed his grip, gave his +friends the "slip," as one might say, and skipped off to a California +resort. And while this revered City Attorney was vigorously breasting +the Pacific billows, and enjoying cooling breezes that brought in +their wake reminiscences of Honolulu, and other lands that enchant the +senses, his friends at home saw to it that Dick Stoddard got the title +of "General" hitched onto his title of Attorney. + +During his generalship there were several interesting "spats" between +the Inter-state Commerce Commission and the railroads, but Attorney- +General Stoddard was the right man at the right time, and I assure you +that the State didn't have to suffer. + +Judge Moran is another original son of Erin who has adopted Nevada and +has been adopted by her. One could hardly say that he was born with a +golden spoon in his mouth, for "Barney" Moran had anything but the +"life of Riley" in his early years. Up and up he has moved along the +checker-board, however, until now he has become a "knight," a real +knight, for many a human being would still be in sore distress were it +not for the Judge's kind heart and sympathetic understanding in the +divorce court. Some have dubbed him "Papa" Moran; he is so fatherly +they say. And as of course it is no sin to kiss a father, it has +happened that some of the highly strung victims have ventured to +embrace Papa after he pronounced those all-meaning words, "judgment +for the plaintiff." + +When he was only ten years of age, both his parents passed away and so +about four years afterwards he crossed the "herring pond" in quest of +a life of adventure. As far as variety is concerned, he had plenty of +it, and some to spare, and it is all those hard knocks that have +helped him to understand human nature as he does. Over in Cleveland he +attended night school while working during the day as a machine-shop +apprentice. Not finding this "job" quite to his liking, he tried +tending the "traps" or doors underground in some of the coal mines. +Soon his fancy changed again, and we find him engaged as a water boy +on one of the railroads. "Tick, tick;-tick tick-tick," signaled the +telegraph, and it was not long before young Moran became proficient +enough to take a job as an operator. + +Now why the nickname "Barney," you will ask. Thereby hangs a tale! + +While working in the telegraph office, Tom Morau became infused with +some of the electricity which charged the instruments, or so it seemed +anyway. Now there were no less than four boys in that office who +answered to the name of "Tom." So you may imagine, can't you, what, +stampede there was every time the chief operator called "Tom." But +don't imagine our Tom ever let anyone else get ahead of him. Although +he was the youngest and probably the least in requisition, he was +always "Johnny on the spot" before any of the Toms. To solve this +dilemma which was first considered a joke but later developed into an +unmitigated nuisance, the chief operator eventually said to Moran, +"Say, Tom, in future you're Barney." + +Under the tutelage of Thomas L. Bellam, who took a great interest in +him, he did three years of general study. This whetted his appetite +for more, and he consequently landed in Chicago and took a course at +the Chicago College of Law. But not till several years later did he +take his final degree and start practicing. Now our wandering little +Irish boy is District Judge of Washoe County. + +How seldom it is that we find anyone whose name is a real symbol of +his temperament or profession. Often Mr. Stone will be a weak +mollycoddle; Mr. Sharp, a phlegmatic butter-won't-melt-in-my-mouth +sort of individual, or Mr. Strong, an "acute dyspeptic." + +Somehow, the gentleman in question, August Frohlich, seems to have +been a little more fortunate in that respect, for Frohlich in German +means "merry," and I have yet to find a man who is more devil-may-care +or happy-go-lucky, in spite of all his family responsibilities, than +Mr. August Frohlich. + +He was born in California, and at the age of seventeen found himself +the sole supporter of himself and his mother. Since then he has held +in turn almost every known variety of commercial position. Acting +first as a fruit rancher, he then developed a passion for mining, at +the same time pursuing a business course. When next we see him, he is +exchanging smiles and general goods over the counter, his popularity +winning for him afterwards the position of Postmaster and agent for +Wells Fargo & Company at Crescent Mills. But he was young and +restless, like so many of us have been, in one way or another, and two +years are a long time. After running a stage line, doing a little +bookkeeping and a few other odd jobs of the kind, he came to Reno and +settled down for another two years to study at the University. And so +on. The scene kept changing with kaleidoscopic rapidity until finally +he found a congenial position in the Washoe County Bank, with the +position of Receiving Teller. Political ambitions then began to take +possession of this ever-progressive man, and he--was elected a +Republican member of the 25th Legislature from Washoe County, +receiving the highest vote of any of the twenty-seven candidates. In +recognition of his ability, he was elected Speaker of the Assembly +which was evenly divided, there being twenty-four Republicans and +twenty-four Democrats, with one Independent. In his campaign for +Speaker, the only promise he made was for a square deal. The proof +that he had redeemed his promise was evidenced by his being re-elected +Speaker of the Special Session which was held the following year. He +was Director of the Reno Commercial Club, and surely the club spirit +must be strong within him when you stop to think that he is a Mason, +Elk, Moose, Druid, Woodman, and is active in the Y.M.C.A. At the +present compilation, Mr. Frohlich is the owner of the Commercial Steel +Company. + +I have recently been told by a lady who is prominent in social affairs +that his great function when a benefit of any kind is given in town, +is to try to drown the unmelodious clatter of the dishwashing with his +fine vibrant tenor. + +Mr. Frohlich certainly enjoys popularity; his good humor and pleasing +personality account for that, and thus Reno can surely be proud of +such a bachelor, who all these years has defied lassoing. + +"Railroad Day," the big day when Reno was put on the map, was also +Norcross Day, for the day when the first Pacific train passed through +this town was the one when little Frank Norcross passed into our +mundane existence to take his place--with the rest of us mortals: when +so to say little Frank was "put on the map." His parents had come out +to California as far back as 1850, Norcross' father being engaged in +mining, lumbering and farming. + +Frank Norcross had his preliminary education at Huffakers, and had +early evinced a literary turn of mind when as a comparative youth he +received the degree of Bachelor of Arts. Twenty years later the +University conferred upon him the honorary degree of Doctor of Law. He +served a full term as County Surveyor of Washoe County and attended to +Reno's old-fashioned lights, trimming them as he went along, no matter +how severe the cold. One consolation he probably had was that unlike +the other pedestrians he had an opportunity to warm those frozen +finger tips. No mean advantage, I should judge, when the mercury sinks +to zero and lower. + +He taught in a local school for a year or so, then did some newspaper +work for the Journal and Gazette and finally ended by practicing law, +having graduated from the University of Georgetown in 1894. After +that, promotion came easily. When he had been in succession District +Attorney of Washoe County and Supreme Judge, he served for two years +as Chief Justice, and so great was his popularity that he was re- +elected without any opposition. + +A very interesting fact about the Judge is that he won a thousand +dollar cash prize offered by the "National Magazine" of Boston, for +the best article in support of Colonel Roosevelt for a second elective +term. But then, he was a great friend and admirer of the Colonel's and +it evidently came to him easily. + +It was mainly through his efforts that the Reno Free Library was +established, for he had always been interested in educational +opportunities. Apparently he had some difficulty, too, in persuading +Andrew Carnegie that Reno was actually an inhabited town, and +habitable at that. "Andy," like so many other Easterners, was a little +skeptical on that score, thinking probably that the divorcees would +not want a free library, and surely according to fame or rather +notoriety, there was nothing else of any note or significance in Reno +but divorcees, with the exception perhaps of the lawyers, and they no +doubt had all the law books they needed! + +Besides being a great lawyer, the Judge is also a good patriot, for he +was a captain of the National Guard and took considerable interest in +the State Militia affairs. + +Judge Norcross is a member of several brotherhoods and societies, +among them the Nevada State Council of the National Civic Federation +of which he is chairman, and the Committee of One Hundred of the New +York University "Hall of Fame," the business of which it is to decide +upon those who are to wake up over night and find themselves famous. + +Among the prominent Nevada citizens of the early mining days, are +"Lucky Baldwin," C. C. Goodwin, James G. Fair, John W. Mackay, Marcus +Daly and Mark Twain. Those who have not already done so would, I am +sure, enjoy reading Mark Twain's "Roughing It." In this book he tells +many interesting and amusing stories of his experiences in Nevada +mining camps. I quote him as follows: "I went to Humboldt District +when it was new; I became largely interested in the 'Alba Neuva' and +other claims with gorgeous names, and was rich again in prospect. I +owned vast mining property there. I would not have sold out for less +than $400,000 at that time, but I will now. Finally I walked home--200 +miles--partly for exercise, and partly because stage fare was +expensive." + +Again he says: "Perhaps you remember that celebrated 'North Ophir.' I +bought that mine. You could take it out in lumps as large as a +filbert, but when it was discovered that those lumps were melted half +dollars, and hardly melted at that, a painful case of 'salting' was +apparent, and the undersigned journeyed to the poorhouse again." + +The following is one of the tragic incidents in the mining game. I +think it must have been such an instance that caused the origin of the +Western slang phrase-"Out of Luck." + +"I paid assessments on 'Hale and Norcross' until they sold me out, and +I had to take in washing for a living, and the next month the infamous +stock went up to $7- a foot. + +"I own millions and millions of feet of affluent leads in Nevada, in +fact the entire under crust of that country nearly, and if Congress +would move that State off my property so that I could get at it, I +would be wealthy yet. But no, there she squats--and here am I. Failing +health persuades me to sell. If you know of anyone desiring a +permanent investment I can furnish one that will have the virtue of +being eternal." + +I think "Roughing It" was written about 1851. + +If you knew Senator Huskey as I do, you would agree with me that the +Senator is indeed Huskey by name and "husky" by nature. A more +complete parcel of huskiness you never did see, nor a jollier, more +cordial and better hearted could you ever wish to meet, for he has +never allowed the musty parchment to dry up the finer faculties of his +sentiments, and he can appreciate a beautiful sunset, a fine verse, +and in fact all Nature's beauties, and yet be the big man and the +great lawyer he is. + +Then too, the Senator is an enthusiastic sportsman and plays a +splendid game of hand-ball. I have known him, for hours on end, to +pound at the ball at the Y.M.C.A. as if his very life depended upon +whether he had hit it a hundred or a thousand times in an afternoon; +as if he would be shot at sunrise if he fell below the mark. But in +college days, his strength ran to his feet. He was known as a powerful +kicker, and woe betide the man who would try and act as a buffer +between his feet and the ball. + +And now let me tell you about the Senator's early life. He started his +career on the farm, for his father was a school teacher, and you will +agree that--a family of fourteen is a rather expensive kind of brood +to rear. And so, some of those fourteen chicks had to hustle and fence +for themselves as soon as they could. Among the little Huskeys was +Walter. It is thus he graphically describes some of his reminiscences: + +"I was a cracker jack at cutting corn. Father and brothers could beat +me at husking, but somehow or other I was good at cutting. And some +days I could cut as high as twenty-six shock in a half day. Finally I +had accumulated a little fund and decided to brace myself for a talk +with the college professor in charge. I was the greenest thing you +ever saw, and they called me 'Lengthy,' for at that time I weighed +only one hundred and thirty pounds." + +The title of "Senator" has since done its historical duty, for the +once "bony laddie" now turns the scales at 250 pounds..... + +After that, the college professor paid young Huskey's parents a +surprise visit, as a result of which we find the boy at work at a +preparatory course in the Wesleyan University, Kansas. Within two +years, through assiduous perseverance and keen enthusiasm for his +work, he was able to teach in the country districts. For a decade he +taught the younger generations how to shoot, and thus eked out a +fairly moderate living, for the pay was not staggering by any means, +nor was it like Huskey to forget the folks at home. + +In La Porte, Texas, whither by this time he had wandered, they offered +him the principalship of the High School. "They gave me," I heard him +say one day, "one hundred dollars a month, and I thought it was the +biggest salary in the world." + +[Illustration: Senator H. Walter Huskey] + +Then he realized that it was almost impossible to convert a mint of +knowledge into a mint of money, even as a principal, so he struck out +vigorously for law, took a special course at Stanford University and +received second highest honors. Shortly after he landed in the "big +little city" of Reno and entered into partnership with Charles R. +Lewers, who had strangely enough been His professor at Stanford +University and who evidently held his erstwhile pupil in very high +esteem, in thus throwing in his lot with him. + +In 1906 Huskey was elected by the Assembly of Nevada, and in 1914 by a +very flattering majority was sent up as State Senator for Washoe +County. As a law maker, he had proven his worth on more than one +occasion, for not only is he a Senator with a brain, but also a man +with a heart. The passing of the Employers' Liability Act was due +directly to the Senator's spirited persistence. He lost the Southern +Pacific contracts through it, but he did not care. + +One of the real romances of the divorce world is the Senator's second +marriage, and the present Mrs. Huskey is exceedingly charming and +interesting, and a splendid horse woman. + +An amusing incident is told of a little political difference of +opinion between the Senator and the suffragettes about a remark which +this worthy gentleman let forth in an unguarded moment. You should +have seen the sparks fly and the fire flame up! In fact, it gave me +considerable pleasure to be able to announce at the moment of writing +that Senator Huskey's golden crop of curls was not singed beyond +recognition and that his eyes were still steel blue and not black. +This is how the conflagration started: + +At a conference in Carson City between the City Council and the Washoe +delegation, the Senator, who put in a rather tardy appearance, is +reported to have said to the other members: "All the ladies who came +to Carson on The Cat Special' are waiting for you upstairs. I'm going +to a show. Anything you do is all right for me." + +Miss Anne Martin, the president of the Women's League, did her best to +put a favorable interpretation upon this very questionable term of +endearment by saying that probably the Senator meant that they were as +undrownable as cats, who are reputed to have nine lives, and that this +persistence was getting what they wanted. That was all very well for +the "mild" cats, but the spit-fiery ones were not so easily satisfied. +One of them sent him a letter addressed, "Mr. H. W. Meow Huskey, +Senate Chamber, Carson City." Others still more vindictive pasted a +picture of a large tomcat, hunched of back and bristling of hair, +right next to the Senator's campaign picture which already decorated +the middle of the Truckee. Under it was written as large as life, "THE +HUSKEY TOMCAT." Needless to say the whole town of Reno turned out the +next day to enjoy the joke, and among them was the Senator, who +enjoyed it as much as anyone. + +There is a strong rumor abroad that the Senator is to be a likely +candidate for Governor: I certainly wish him every success. If a +comprehensive knowledge of the law, a vigorous prosecution of the +principles of Justice and a big heart are attributes that count, then +the Senator stands the greatest chance to win the fight. + +Maurice Joseph Sullivan, Lieut.-Governor: No mining, no teaching, no +law! This sketch is of a thoroughbred business man, who after +graduating from the Polytechnic High School in San Francisco, joined a +large wholesale hardware firm as a start in his career. Here he got +some pretty "hard wear": those preliminary knocks that rub off all the +rough edges and take with them some of the glamour of life..... +However, Maurice Sullivan didn't have as many rough edges as most +young fellows. He was good looking, popular and unspoilt--a phenomenon +rarely come upon--and being ambitious it was not long before he had +set up in Goldfield under the style of the Wood-Sullivan Hardware Co., +selling hardware with lightning rapidity, just as if it were the +easiest ware in the world to dispose of. + +Then one fine day Sullivan developed into a full-blown philanthropist. +Each little baby visitor born into the camp of Goldfield was donated a +big silver dollar, by way of encouragement to stay. And they surely +did stay, those "Dollar Babies." + +In 1914 he was elected to the Lieutenant-Governorship, and an amusing +anecdote is told of how he became "peeved" when he discovered that +several of the house members were playing "hookey" in order to avoid +voting on a bill, and sent the State police after them. How many of +the culprits were collared and brought back I was not told, but I am +inclined to think that it was the good round figure "nought," for the +bill was scratched and the Lieut.-Governor fumed in vain. + +Mr. Sullivan was Lieut.-Governor during my stay in Nevada. + +Senator Morehouse.... One does not often in a lifetime meet a person +born on April Fool's Day, and, usually when one happens to come across +such a butt for mirth he will probably try to pass it off by telling +you that the day of his birth is the last day of March, or something +similar. I have known scores of people born on the 28th or even the +29th of February, but Senator Morehouse is the first one I have met +who has the courage to face the world, and boldly announce the fact +that he is an April Fool's child. But then, the joke is on the +original April Fool, for the Senator has fooled him by being one of +the brightest men of the State, and certainly its most gifted orator-- +the Demosthenes of Nevada, in fact. Surely a true son of April Fool +should stutter and stumble, and stammer and shy in the most pitiful +manner. Well, anyway, the Senator can always have the consolation that +he has "put one over" on Father April Fool. + +Way back, in the days of "Mobile Bay", young Harry Morehouse, then +only a lad of seventeen, fought for his side until he could fight no +more. Then the Sisters of Mercy had to mend the ravages of that +unnatural fight, and for seven months Harry had a little holiday lying +on his back. No sooner recovered, the rover spirit seized his feet and +round he came to California, by way of the Isthmus, where he acted as +"a sort of reporter," until he had eked out enough knowledge to teach +in the grade school. Thence he started on the law path, from which he +emerged most triumphantly, and after practicing in California struck +out Renowards in 1913, where he was associated with the late Judge +James G. Sweeney, who but recently passed away. + +By nature the Senator is mild and gentle, and always ready to lend a +helping hand to a fellow traveller. I have had the pleasure of meeting +him in private life, and have always felt impressed with those perfect +manners, that pleasant voice and those kindly words. Although one of +the newer Sons of the Sagebrush, he is surely one of the most +acceptable. + +Governor Emmet D. Boyle has the distinction of being the youngest +governor into whose hands Nevada ever thought it safe to entrust her +well-being. He is none of your gray-beards, stolid of thought and +sluggish of action, but a young politician (his real profession is +mining engineering) with a wealth of experience, and plenty of good +common "horse sense." + +His mother was a literary woman, and from her he learned to find a +friend in books. As for his father, he was one of the most prominent +mining men of the Comstock, and as a lad the governor-to-be had +already acquired an extensive knowledge of mining, surveying, assaying +and milling. + +At sixteen he joined the University and became a member of that most +select of fraternities, with that weird-sounding name, Phi Kappa +Kappa. He had specialized in mining at college, and upon graduation +left the State, and engaged in several mining enterprises in British +Columbia and Mexico. Then when his father passed away, he returned to +Nevada and was offered a position as State Engineer. + +In 1915 he was made Nevada's Tax Commissioner and he traveled the +State far and wide, gaining both fame and popularity. + +At college the Governor had distinguished himself considerably in the +sporting arena, and he was known to be a particularly strong man when +it came to kicking the ball. + +"Once a sport, always a sport!" If this spirit does not have the +opportunity to show itself in active practice on the field of sport, +it will nevertheless make itself felt in one's relations with men on +the field of life, and so we have in Emmet D. Boyle a practical man +with a vast knowledge about Nevada's foremost sources of success, with +a true appreciation of the booklore of our ancestors, a keen eye and +the love of fair play of the true sportsman. + +[Illustration: Governor Emmett D. Boyle Of Nevada] + +That he has a kind and humane heart can be judged from the fact that +it was he who was responsible for the re-introducing of the six months +residence law. Why should two people be forced to live together in +distrust and misery any longer than was absolutely necessary? And so +he worked as best he could to shorten that time, as much as the +statute would permit. He succeeded, and thanks to him, several people +have had their happiness given back to them..... + +I had the honor to meet the Governor on a number of occasions and +always found him so simple and unassuming that I could hardly realize +I was conversing with the man holding the highest position in the +State, as if I had known him for years. + +The leading man of the State should have a charming wife! The Capitol +would indeed be a desolate place without a hostess to entertain the +Governor's colleagues, and apparently Governor Boyle has made a +remarkably good choice in Miss Veda McClure, for she is extremely +popular and takes a great interest in the Red Cross work, which is +making such splendid strides all over the State. + +Let me here relate to you a most amusing incident which occurred to +the Governor some little time ago. + +It was a State function and the dinner was scheduled for eight o'clock +sharp; but it was not on time, and you shall hear why. At a quarter to +eight, when his dress suit had not yet put in an appearance from the +tailor's, the Governor sent a search party after it and waited, as +patiently as circumstances would permit, for the delinquent "fine +feathers" to blow in. By eight, he was a little more than uneasy, but +it didn't help any. Suddenly, on the domestic horizon appeared a +weird-looking creature! A human being, apparently in a state of frenzy +over some terrible catastrophe. It was the tailor! "Here," he +whispered, almost in tears, as he handed something to the outraged +head of the State, "these ain't yours, but you'll have to wear 'em; +yours someone else is wearing." + +[Illustration: Governor's at Carson City] + +And he wore them.... But, the tale runs, the Governor looked----He +certainly did establish a precedent at that dinner. Mockers say that +Judge Pat McCarran ran a close second, because his Excellency is lean +and lank, while Judge McCarran would make two of him one way, and +almost half of him the other, and because what happened to Governor +Boyle had also happened to Judge McCarran that very night. + +Fred, de Longchamps... As a youngster, when playing amongst the +rabbits and brush on the south side of the river Truckee, Fred, de +Longchamps, like most youngsters, built many a castle in the air. +Later, those castles descended literally from the air to the earth, +for little Fred became a great architect, and now I am not surprised +when I think how often I have admired those beautiful villas, which +are strewn in such profusion all over Reno. + +When at Reno University, de Longchamps did the pen and ink work and +other illustrating for the "Artemesai," the University publication. +Mining, too, seemed to have a certain fascination for him, and in +addition to his course in building, he gained considerable experience +in mining operations. Then came the toss-up. Mining won, but wasn't +strong enough to hold out, and thereupon, behold him returned to his +old love. + +Do you see that fine modern looking structure over yonder? It is the +Court House, without which Reno would not be Reno, and it was Mr. +Fred, de Longchamps who conceived and built it. The Y. M. C. A. +Building, The Nixon Bank Building, all these and more, are the +splendid achievements of this brilliant young architect, who has +helped in such a great measure to make the City of Reno as attractive +as it is. + +It might also interest you to know that the Nevada Buildings at the +San Francisco Exposition were erected "on the originality" of Fred, de +Longchamps, and though their cost was comparatively small, they +compared favorably with any State buildings on the grounds. + +Senator Nixon.... Although a native of Texas, Senator Nixon's life is +essentially a Nevada Romance. He started on his career as a simple +telegraph operator, and then migrated with all the Nevada immigrants +in the boomy days of the goldfields. It wasn't exactly "open Sesame" +and then a fortune. It was perseverance that "did the trick." But it +made a mighty good job of it, for at the time of his decease in 1912, +the Senator was worth several millions, and his beautiful residence +situated at the top of a hill on the outskirts of Reno is said to have +cost no less than $200,000. It does seem a pity, however, that as soon +as a moderate sum of wealth is accumulated-with but few exceptions- +there is a hankering to desert the State of Nevada in favor of some +more populated, but surely not sunnier clime. And so young Nixon took +his father's millions to the adjoining State of California, and Nevada +knows not of them. + +Often I have felt that there was an analogy to the generous, self- +sacrificing Mother Earth who gives all of her life and energy to +nourish her sons, and who in reward receives little but slights and +neglect. + +Frank Golden..... While writing of the Sons of the Sagebrush, we must +not forget Frank Golden, Jr., who is a native son of Nevada, and one +of the youngest hotel managers in the West, having become manager of +the Golden Hotel at Reno when he was about nineteen. Mr. Golden's +father built the Golden Hotel in 1901. He died in 1911, at which time +the management was taken over by his son. The hotel was burned down in +1916 and reconstructed under the supervision of Frank, Jr., with the +result that it is now perhaps the most beautifully equipped, best run +and most modern European hotel in Reno, or in the State of Nevada, for +that matter. + +Apart from being one of the youngest hotel managers in the West, he is +also one of the most popular. + +Frank Golden was among the first to answer his country's call and +served in France. + +[Illustration: Frank Golden, Jr.] + + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Reno, by Lilyan Stratton + +*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK RENO *** + +This file should be named 5951.txt or 5951.zip + +Produced by Juliet Sutherland, Charles Franks +and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team. + +Project Gutenberg eBooks are often created from several printed +editions, all of which are confirmed as Public Domain in the US +unless a copyright notice is included. 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