his red-topped boots. A heavy -cased watch—was it gold?—which he drew from his pocket told him it was ten o'clock; a brother bmnmer came samiteriiig along the street, sidled up to him with scarcely a j^erceptable sign of recognition, and began a conversation remarkable for its fewness of words. As among beasts and lovers in the simple presence of each other there was a mute understanding untranslatable into the t^ulgar tongue. Presently they turned and walked away, under the guidance of their particular providence.
The system of free lunches has not been wholly free from abuses. While it was a point of honor in patrons neither to eat nor drink too much, often there were those so carried away by the effect of the savory viands on their unruly appetites, that the proprietors lost money by their patronage. In November 1854 a movement was made by some fifty or si/ty fashionable saloon-keepers in San Francisco to al olish this original, yet honored institution; but so firm was the hold upon the popular stomach, that it was found to be impracticable. It was estimated that at least five thousand persons were directly interested in the movement, and dependent on the result for their daily refreshments. The committee reported in favor of abolishing the free lunch system, but the proprietors failed to adopt it, and the custom was indefinitely continued.
The hotel system of 1849 reached a state of perfection under the auspices of a certain shrewd genius of Sacramento. In those days whisky as a means of warmth was more plentiful and profitable to innkeepers than blankets. One landlord had in his barroom seven bunks, one over another, made of flour and coffee sacks stretched between two horizontal poles fastened to posts, forming an uncomfortable hollow just wide enough for a medium-sized man to drop into. For these seven bunks there were but one pair of blankets, and how to satisfy seven customers, and get pay for seven beds with but one pair of
