Noticing that the sun was now high, my companion drew out his watch. "Luncheon time," he announced. "Shall it be the Palace or St. Francis hotel?"
"Let's keep in the spirit of the times and go to a Spanish restaurant,"
I suggested, and soon we were on a car headed for the Latin quarter.
"May I replace the violets you left at the Mission?" he asked, as stepping from the car at Lotta's fountain, we lingered before the gay flower stands edging the sidewalk.
Before I had a chance to reply a fragrant bunch was thrust into his hands by an urchin who announced: "Two for two-bits."
"Two-bits is twenty-five cents," I interpreted, seeing the Easterner's mystified look.
"I'll take three bunches." His eyes rested admiringly on the big purple heads as he held out a dollar bill.
"Ain't you got any real money?" asked the boy, not offering to touch the currency.
Again the man's hand went to his pocket and drew out some small change, from which he selected a quarter, a dime and three one-cent pieces. The urchin turned the coppers over in his palm, then, diving below the heap of violets, he pulled out several California poppies. "We always give these to Easterners," he announced as he tucked them in among the violets.
"I wonder how that boy knew I was an Easterner?" the Bostonian reflected as we turned away. Then gently touching the golden petals, he asked: "Where did you get the odd name 'eschscholtzia' for this lovely flower?"
"It was given by the French-born poet-naturalist, Chamisso, in honor of the German botanist, Dr. Eschscholz, who came together to San Francisco on a Russian ship in 1816. However, I like better the Spanish names, dormidera—the sleepy flower—or copa de oro—cup of gold," I added as I pinned the flowers to my coat. The man's glance wandered around Newspaper Corners, when suddenly his look of surprise told me that he had discovered on this crowded section of commercial San Francisco a duplicate of the old bell hung in front of the Mission San Francisco de Asís.