Prohibition in Southern California [pp. 376-384]

Prohibition in Southern California.
cares and even her joys - even the fact
that she had made for herself a name,
and could wield good influence with her
pen,- and sometimes it was a solace to
have no thoughts, simply to rest and forget that one existed.
Beyond shone the silver-white of the
grand candle-lit altar. On one side the
figure of the blessed virgin, with uplifted
eyes and folded hands, a lamp burning
at her feet; on the other, Christ crucified. The figures of the few people who
had strayed in like herself were vague
in the dim light of the place. A woman
came up the aisle, stopping to kneel and
pray as she reached the pew where the
motionless figure sat, and then went her
way past the chancel and toward the
door.
At last Josephine rose and herself
wandered toward the brighter light. A
door opened at the side of the chancel,
and the figure of a priest came slowly
forward. He spoke in a low tone to a
woman who was doing some office about
the altar, and then descended the steps.
The small figure standing solitary in the
wide aisle attracted his attention, and
he paused and looked at her.
She had been watching him as he
came, and now they gazed into each
other's eyes.
A door opened, and a draught of air
made the candles flicker. A strange
shadow fell on the priest's face - probably from the uncertain light- and he
turned and re-entered the sacristy.
In a moment the little figure went to
the door, paused an instant, looked back
at the dim light of the holy space, and
passed out into the world which was
white with fallen snow.
Julie M. Lippmann.
PROHIBITION IN SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA.
THE establishment and enforcement
of prohibition in portions of a section
famous for its wines, is a matter that
seems anomalous enough to deserve
some explanation. The average Californian never dreamed that there lurked
in the State constitution a latent local
option provision. And to obtain from
the highest tribunal in the State legal
sanction for a prohibitory ordinance almost as strict as the "Maine law" is a
pieceof Yankee enterprise that compares
well with some of the achievements of
boom days in other directions. In the
counties of Los Angeles, Orange, San
Bernardino, and San Diego, over 30,000
people in ten towns are living under
municipal prohibition, and nearly Io,ooo
more boast of immunity from saloons,
more or less aided by a prohibitory provision in land deeds. It adds an element
of picturesque contrast that just outside
the pioneer prohibition city are two of
the largest wineries in the State, and
that in the very heart of the last city to
pass a prohibitory ordinance a winery
and distillery continues, unmolested, its
work of manufacture and wholesale trade.
The local option movement seems
worthy of more than passing newspaper
notice, but it is not easy writing history
till time has developed a proper historical perspective. The most that will be
attempted in this sketch is a record of
facts, leaving inference and prediction
to the reader.
376
[April,