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About The Sunday Oregonian. (Portland, Ore.) 1881-current | View Entire Issue (Sept. 10, 1905)
( 47 '?jLcKirt over (F YOU have a son or daughter or a nephew or nloce entering college this month, or you yourself are entering, you should be Intensely interested In tho college definition of the word "rushing." Hushing, forsooth, is the art of favor ably impressing a freshman by a shower of attentions with some special Greek letter fraternity, the probable object being to ask him later on to join the fraternity. At the same time, it operatos to acquaint the members of the frater nity with the freshman and to enable them to form their opinions of him against the day .when they may be called upon to vote on the question of formally extending an Invitation to him to become a fraternity brother. A Greek letter fraternity, by the way. Is an organization for college students somewhat on the lines of the' Masonic and similar bodies. It has chapters in different college; these chapters are all accountable to a upreme governing body, and In wmc fraternities with large chapter rolls the country is dlvldod into districts, the chapters In each district being looked aftr by a district head, who works under tho dlreotlon of the general governing body. "With one or two exceptions, a Greek letter fraternity is a secret body f it has a ritual and a prescribed form of initiation, and Its ex pressed and fundamental purpose is the promotion of friendships in college that will hurt through life. There is nothing Grck about it except the name, always a combination of two or more of the let ter of the Greek alphabet thus. Delta Kappa Eptdloin, Psi Cpsllon, Kappa Slg nut. Delta Tau Delta, among the men's frat entitle, and Kappa Kapa Gamma. Kappa Apha Theta and Alphl Phi among he women's sororities, or, as they arc -ommonly called the "girls' rats.". Rushing: Due to Rivalry. Rushing is a direct remit of the intense ivalry for members existing, among the Atious chapters of several fraternities at any given college. The 'membership of every chapter hs depleted at the end of each succcrHling college year by the grad uation of seniors and the dropping out of others: those students not already mem bers hav been welshed in the respective balances of the chapters and found want ing: how else can the ranks be recruited than among the freshmen of the ensuing year? Thla work of recruiting rushing, if you please is gone about systematically. Take, for example, a college located a short distance from a city and where the large body of the students Mve in dormitories or houses on the campus. A few days before the date set for the formal opening of the new term, two or more of the members of a fraternity will arrive at the college, look over the reg istrar's list ef new students. Jot down th naniiw of those that attract their In terest nams that have been associated with the college since Its founding, per hapsand ask sly Questions about tholr owners of the registrar or any of the pro fessors who happen to be about. After that, they proceed to look up any early birds that may have dropped in and to make taomsclves agreeable, showing the newcomers the college, explaining the points of Interest, and actively assisting them in becoming leeated in their new quarters. In the meantime the new classmen ar rive in evor-incroasing numbers, the oth er members of the "frat" show up, and as the new men get off the train they are Through a Nevada Desert in Automobiles Principal Means of Travel Between Goldficld and Xew Mining District of Bullfrog. BULLFROG. Nev., Aug. 30. (Special Correspondence of The Sunday Orogonlan.) Come to the Nevada desert. If you want some really up-to-dute cutomobUing. Bvcry time you start from Tonopah or Geldfloid to reach Bullfrog In a machine, you will Itave a part In an endurance tost, such as can nover be fmnd In any other part of the country. The distance from the original mining camp of Tonopah to Goldfleld, the newer settlement, Is about 27 mllos, and frem Goldfleld to Bullfrog, the latest of the great ntlnfnc districts that Nevada Is now offering to the world, it is 70 miles or more, and there is nothing but desolate desert between the points. Thore are o'd-fashloRed stages of the Deadwood style that "Buffalo Bill" has made fam ous, that travorse these descnt distances, but the 3sth century -way of traveling Is by auto, over roads that have been especially constructed for the traffic. When you go to buy your ticket, you get an immediate realization of the fact that prices aro ,Mlgk whenyou are moving about In a newly prospected mining coun-try- From Tonopah to Goldfleld. the fare is $6 and it takes you only a little more than an hour to traverse the distance. Each auto carries from four to seven passen gers, and the man who drives the ma chine over 'the desert gets $6. or the ameuRt of a single fare, for each trip that he makes. From Goldfleld to Bull frog, the fare Is 525. and the auto will not send out a load of less than four passengers. If you want to travel single, you can have the machine at an expendi ture of the full $100, but otherwise you must wait until enough passengers have been gathered to make the necessary complemtnt. Most of the Goldfleld-Bull-frog trips arc made by night, and they take anywhere from six to e dozfn hours, according to the ability of the chauffeur and the stability of his machine. Be your luck good or had, you -win always n- 1 mm ill II III Hi ill I I i ... -the registrar list effusively greeted by sophomores and juniors, and ven seniors, forgetful of their new dignity in their enthusiasm for their beloved "frat." The freshmen arc tenderly and solicitously conducted to the college. Everything possible Is done to make them feol at home they are intro duced to the registrar and the president, piloted to their rooms, aided In the puz zling task of making up their programmes of study, introduced to the brothers of their guides, of course, and, if the col lego happens to be co-educational, they meet certain young women who arc sub rosa allies of their sponsors. How It Affects the Freshman. Naturally, all these initial attentions, all entirely unexpected, make the aver age freshman's head swim and fill him with deep wonder at his sudden popu larityoften he is as innocent as a lamb about fraternity matters, possibly never having heard them casually mentioned even. The only freshmen who have such knowledge are those from the larger pre paratory schools, and they are few com pared with their classmen direct from high school. But what must he the state of the freshman's mind when, say a week after the opening of the term, he begins to be the recipient of numerous invitations to 'feeds'' in the rooms of upper classmen; is made one of a party of freshmen taken by them for an afternoon of pleasure in the city: is hauled from his books to spend a social evening in the company of a college "widow." whose home is In col lege town; and receives on all sides the most sympathetic advice and help In his efforts to develop himself Into a football star for the glory of his alma mater? Perhaps, by the time that he has been taken to the ehaptor's headquarter, a bowse, or a suite of rooms furnished In J approved coll ace-boy style In some pub lic building of the town he . begins to realize dimly what all the fuss Is about that he was sadly mistaken when he secretly attributed it to his Innate aWl-Itj- to please generally and mightily. He certainly does grasp the situation, in part J at least, when a day or so later he finds himself an honored guest In the headquar ters of another set of fellows; but If he is discreet he will hold his tongue and kop his head and let further light come to him gradually and as the young men, about him will. Above everything eis&t an upper classman hates a freshman who appears to know It all or Is inquisitive: many a freshman has spoiled his chances of becoming a fraternity man by showing one or the other of these qualities at the beginning of his college career. A Game That Has Xo Let Up. Day and night the rushing keeps up: thore is no let up. Just about the time the froshman gets burled In his lessons of the morrow, some one knocks on his door and in walks an upper classman who Is affability Itself for the better part of the evening, and before bidding the host good-night offers to take him the follow ing afternoon to the practice game of football with the university team of the city and point out the famous athletos and introduce him to some of them. At first, the net Is cast for every fresh man, that all may be studied and no po tential "frat" material be permitted to. escape. Gradually, however, as the rush ing progresses, this or that freshman Is dropped for good and sufficient reasons some of them would appear highly ab surd to the workaday world and all ef forts are concentrated on those remain ing under observation. Perhaps while have a better notion of the desert by the time you have reached your destination. You will never forget your first break down when you are customarily 30 or -M miles from the nearest center of civiliza tion. Honrs of Suspense. Tho nights in the desert are usually In tensely cold, just as the days are ex tremely hot, and a breakdown for any length of time means the maximum of discomfort. But these auto men have some marvelous expedients for obtaining relief. Bullfrog and Goldtlcld have been connected by a telephone line evor since the Bullfrog district was discovered, a little more than a year ago. The auto comes to a sudden stop. And you are told that it may be hours before It Is in work ing ordor again. The chauffeur roaches under his seat and pulls out a little box. with which he disappears across the des ert waste. He Is headed for the tele phone line, -which is seldom more than a few miles from the auto road, and with his tinv field Instrument he climbs a pole and in the shortest possible time he has made his wire connections and Is in com munication with the home office. Mind -you. at this time, you are out In the center of a desert where many men have perished In the last few years and whore you yourself would surely die If Imme diate means were not devised for your rescue. There Is the loneliness of death all around you, but in that Instant 'you can hear your man talking to the town folk so many miles away. v If the damage Is serious, the company will send out another auto to bring you back or take you on your further way. and these rescuing expeditions are always outfitted with bodily comforts, such as food and water. Each machine Is not only provided with a telephone, but always with a. fire extinguisher for use In an emergency. The comfort of the pas senger is safeguarded in every possible way, but It Is seldom that the 70 miles of desert road s traversed without fioine sort of accident The reward comes when you finally reach the rich and beautiful Bullfrog country, when tlis sun is Just appearing over the Eastern mountalna When all other thine have been said and THE SXTSVA.X OKEGOXIA'X, EbRTLAIO, . SEPTEMBER 10, 1905. arrivals these are la the procoss of being win nowed, a dozen of a "frat's" members from the city Just happen to drop out to college for a day In the interest of their alma mafr. Incidentally, of course, the freshmen meet the "grads" at "frat" headquarters, are warmly g-eetl by the latter and arc told confidentially by the upper classmen about the marvelous rec ord la athletics of oach "grad" and Ms present -high standing In his community. So It goes, day in and day out a heart breaking struggle, with every frstemlty man constantly on the qui vive. for he knows that many of the men his "frat" arc" rushing are also being rushed with equal fervor by a rival "frat" or two. and it's simply a case of straining every nerve to secure even a partial victory. How the Girls "Frats" Rush. In that college or university where the dormitory system has no place, the fresh men arc picked up in the classroom. In the gymnasium and on the athletic ffeki, and their boarding-houses and homes. If they happen to live near by. are haunted day and night by the rushers. As in the college with the dormitory system, no stone Is left unturned to capture the available fraternity material. Among the girl "frats" the rushing Is every bit as strenuous as that of the young men. One of the chief methods of feminine "frat" rushing Is to give a series of dances for the "freshles." at which they meet young men "who are instructed to develop opportunities to speak kiwi words for the "frat" Into the ears of the guests and otherwise endeavor to Im press them with the idea that there's only one "frat" worth belonging to. and so on. ad infinitum. Similar methods of. talking "frat" to the freshmen are sometimes employed In order to get around the faculty restriction sometimes put on active fraternity mem bers not to talk "frat" directly to fresh men until a certain day. Alumni mem bers are asked to do the talking, and In some cases are altogether too willing to 'assist In circumventing the authorities. But It should be stated that when "frat" men or women are -under restriction not done about tb'c communities that have so magically arisen in this dread and over whelming desert, the palm for picturesque location and for useful environment must be awarded to this tented town of Bull from. nestling, as It doer, at the foot of those .famous gold-bearing mountains. Bonanza. Lsdd and Montgomery- The Xcwcst Mining Camp. It was with the greatest wisdom that Millionaire H. IL Clark chose Bullfrog for his townslte. soon after the dlscov- 1 erv of mA hv "Rhnrfv" TlgrrLi nn what Is now the Original Bullfrog mine and the Bullfrdg Extension mine, three or four miles away to the westward. The first Bullfroggers would have had their city close to that original mine, and there was a period when evon Mr. Clark himself, after he had come Into mammoth mining possessions on Ladd Mountain, would have had the homes for himself and his followers Into the district In that rectlon three miles from what are now the prin cipal gold-producing eminences. But he was quick to realize the importance of the later discoveries, and under his lead ership those who had first camped on the western border of the Amargosa desert quickly removed their habitations tn where the present prosperous town of Bullfrog Is now so advantageously sit uated. The marvels of a desert town are many. but not all of them have even yet been exemplified In Bullfrog. When the first prospectors went Into the dawt. water was Scarce and almost as valuable as gom itself. v itn the passage ol one short year, however. Bullfrog. now boasts of a tremendous supply, piped from mountain springs more than IS miles away. Where not more than 12 months ago a man Inexperienced In dasert ways would almost surely have lost bis life from thirst. It was dnly a recent occur rence thnt a watermaln. burstlnr-. n flooded the cellar of a leading business ! establishment that merchandise valued at i who loved to tell this story. For In many thousands of dollars was almost stance. I sometimes make rpecchc3, and completely destroyed. I yet I am not a statesman." When Bullfrog was Just a. year old. on Tho little hand again went up and the AupTint fl a wondrous chanse had Vvnr answer came, tnumpnantjp august v. a wouarous cnange naa oeen ..j know. a statesman is a man who worked In the geography and Importance J (Kd speeches!"-Boston Herald. at the train to talk "frat" to freshmen until a certain time, they generally obey the rule in spirit as well as In letter. Pledge Day The Climax. Like everything else material, the rush ing season must com to an end soonor or later, and In many colleges that event ooeurs with the arrival of. what Is gen erally known as "pledge day," and In some colleges as. "spike day." this being a distinctively Western term. "Pledge day" Is sometimes agreed upon by the various Interested fraternities themselves; more often it is required of them by the college authorities. In cither case, every "frat" member Is bound by honor not to extend an Invitation of any sort' to a freshman to become a member of his fraternity before the arrival of the day set aside for that particular purpose "pledge" or "spike" day. It's all right to dine a freshman, and to show him a good time, and to help him with his new studies, and to coach him In gymnastics and to seek his company a large part of the time, and to hall him as a Jolly good fellow, and otherwise to permeate him OTitii tk roiinir that vou'd like mighty well to have him for a fraternity brother I but as for even hinting such a thing by word of mouth, that is strictly umicr me t ban! Of course, there come times when some over-zoalous "frat man com mits this woll-nlgh unpardonable sin, hut be It said to the credit of the large body of fraternity men where pledge day Is in vogue, that such breaches of faith and honor are rare. Indeed. The theory of pledge day Is that 1t lessens the Intensity of the struggle among- the various "frats" for posses sion of the available material among the freshman class. The condition Is that It docs not relieve this state of things an Iota, but prolongs It for weeks, since pledge - day Is usually placed from three to four months from the opening of the term. Pledge day does do this, however. In many cases; It keeps many a freshman from being" swopt off his feet with the first fort night of attention showered upon him and carried, dazed and dizzy, among a of the State of Nevada. North and south. from Tonopah to Las Vegas, more than 20J miles, the deserts had been traveled by trains of burros, .stages and automobiles, carrying thousands of men and women of nerve, energy and perseverance. Com menting upon the marvelous advancement, ex-United States Senator Stewart, who is not only one of Bullfrog's leading citi zens, but who Is Its present historian, said: "We have bullded substantial towns and communities: -we have developed groat mineral-producing areasnnd where one brief year ago the Indian alone knew the far end of the lonely trail, and the desorts In all their vastness and desola tion held fast the secrets of centuries, the white man has come to seek out and And and bless a land long thought Impos sible to anything but material for stories 1 of an uninhabitable wild West. The achievements of a year In Bullfrog, the farthest Isolated mining camp of Impor- tance in Nevada, have caused the mining world to marvel. Not only In the opening of ore deposits, but In the launching of big enterprises in advance of the develop ment of the mines, has the mining world found reasons for directing attention Bull frog way. There has been nothing slow In this district. The community has moved, and moved ahead. Phenomenal has been Its development In every sense. Capital has shown its confidence In an emphatic manner. Business men have not been slpw to grasp the fact that one of the greatest mining camps ever known is In Its Infancy here." G. G. RICE. Sheriff Hcrrlck and Speeches. The late Horatio G. Herrlck. of Law rence, for many years High Sheriff of Essex County, always took a keen In- " " 1" M j ium the launders school mmlttce. .J8'""," SJ?8 SEr after the death f Garfle d Sheriff Herrlck spoke to the pupils of the life of the late distinguished statesman, and thus asked, genially: "Now. can any of you tell me what a statesman Is?"' i V A little hand went up, and a llttlo girl replied: "A statesman is a man who ' makes speeches." "Hardl- that," answered Mr. Herrlck. pi w . .'ari; c iw m jmAF in -jt aiv .ot . sssssnKn"fJVasssK wr- i av I tz-w..f.w trnw 7 -. -x irizr&.s,- . -3?. body, of young men that he will after ward find uncongenial in many res pects. Pledge day gives him an oppor tunity to collect his scattered thoughts after the first desperate onslaught of the rushers; to study more or less calmly the situation; to size up the different groups of students clamor ing about him. and to determine with which group he would be most con genial as a brother in college and out of It, If given the opportunity. Of course, the wise freshman keeps his thoughts, whatever they may be. to him self. If he should say anything deroga tory of a certain fraternity, naturally his case would be settled In that quarter, and If he should speak favorably of a certain fraternity, he would as jya-ely cook his goose, the fraternity In question dropping him because, forsooth, he was too anxious to get In was trying to break In. If you please! How Freshmen Are Pledged. The moment pledge day nnives, no time Is lost In extending the coveted In vitations. The word moment is uod ad visedly. "Frat" men do not wait till the rising sunJs painting the East to extend the invitations. As soon as the clock strikes midnight, they hurst into the rooms of the men they want, rout them out of sleep (sometimes simulated) and then and there endeavor to pledge them to their respective "frats." This work of pledging Is not done in a helter-skelter sort of way. Certain "frat" men are told off to seek out cer- Return of Sherlock Holmes (Continued from Page -15.) state of affairs without betraying ono who certainly deserved little enoush con sideration at his hands. He took the more chivalrous view, however, and preserved her secret." "And that was why she shrieked and fainted when she saw the Coronet," cried Mr. Holder. "Oh, my God! what a blind fool I have been! And bis asking to be allowed to go out for five minutes! The dear fellow wanted to see If the missing piece were at the scene of the struggle. How cruelly I have misjudged him!" "When I arrived at the house," con tinued Holmes." "I at once went very carefully round It to observe If there were any traces In the snow which might help me. 1 knew that none had fallen since the evening before, and also that there had been a strong frost to preserve impressions. I iassed along the trades men's path, but found It all trampled down and Indistinguishable. Just beyond It. however, at the far side of the kitchen door, a woman had stood and talked with a man whose round Impressions on ono side showed that he had a wooden leg. I could even tell that they bad been dis turbed for the woman had run back swiftly to the door. as was shown by the deep toe and light heel marks, while Wooden-leg had waited a little, and then had gone away. I thought, at the time that this might be the maid and her sweetheart, of whom you had already spoken to me. and Inquiry showed it was so. I passed round the garden without seeing anything more than random tracks, which I took to be the police; but when I got Into the stable lane a very long and complex story was written In the snow In front of me. "There was a. double line of tracks of a booted man. and a second double line which I saw with delight belonged to a man with naked feet. I was at once convinced from what you told me that the latter was your son. The first had walked both ways, but the other had run swiftly, and, as his tread was marked In places over the depression of the boot. It was obvious that be had passed after the other. X followed them up. and found that they led to the hall window, where 5? Jte urns m HK taln freshmen in dormitory, boarding house or home, and a few minutes bafore midnight find these messengers patiently waiting at their posts for the ushering in of pledge day. It not infrequently hap pens that three or four men. representing as many fraternities, will fnvade a fresh man's room at the same time and put him In the rather awkward dilemma of sending all except one away sick at heart. The Girls Again. The girls' "frats" are not a whit less slow to take advantage of the arrival of pledge day to speak their curbed thoughts of weeks. Like the boys, the girls resort to all sorts of devices to extend their Invitations the first moment they can do so' In all honor. Last year, in order to be able to ask a popular freshman to be come 'one of their nHrabor. the members of a well-known sorority appointed a senior to make a social call on the young woman In question on the evening before pledge day, to stay therey until after the clock finished striking midnight, and then to make her little speech. The messen ger, accompanied by an escort. Indus triously talked the long hour Into the past and otherwise carried out her In structions to th& end. Then the fresh man, who had been longing for bed since 10 o'clock, burst out: "Why, the Idea, to think I'd join a mis erable old fraternity that would keep me up all night!"' A few days later the rejected sorority was further downcast to see the pin of Boots had worn all the snow away while waiting. Thon 1 walked to the other end. which was a hundred yards or more down the lane. I saw where Boots bad faced round, where the snow was cut up as though there had been a struggle, and. finally, Svhere a few- drops of blood had fallen, to show me that I was not mis taken. Boots had then run down the lane, and another little smudge of blood showed that It was he who had been hurt. When ho came to the high road at the other end, I found that the pavement had been cleared, so there was an end to that clew. "On entering the house, however. I ex amined, aa you remember, the sill and framework of the hall window with my lens, and I could at once see that some one had passed out. I could distinguish the outline of an Instep where the wet foot had been placed In coming In. I was then beginning to be able to form an opinion as to what had occurred. A man had waited outside the window, some one had brought the gems, the deed had been overseen by your son, ho had pursued the thief, had struggled with him, they had each tugged at the coronet, and their united strength causing Injuries which neither alone could have effected. He returned with the prize, but had left a fragment in the grasp of his opponent. So far I was clear. The question now was. who was the roan, and who was it brought him the coronet? "It Is an old maxim of mine that when you have excluded the Impossible, what ever remains, however Improbable, must be the truth. Now. I knew that It was not you who had brought It down, so there only remained your niece and the maids. But If It were the maids, why sbould your son allow himself to be ac cused In their place? There could be no possible reason. As he loved his cousin, however, there was an excellent explana tion why he should retain her secret the more so as the secret was a disgraceful one. When I remembered that you had seen her at the window, and how she had fainted on seeing the coronet again, my conjecture became a certainty. "And who could It be who was her con federate A lover evidently, for who else could outweigh the lovo and grati tude which she must feel to you? I knew that you went out little, and that your circle of friends was a very limited one. But among them was Sir George Burnwell. I had heard of him before as being a man of evil reputation, among women. It must have been he who wore those boots and retained the missing gems. Even, though he knew that Arthur their leading rival on the young woman's dress, the members of which, intuitively feeling sure "that she was their "sort" and would not join any other sorority, had not considered it necessary- to disturb her slumbers. Perltaps if they had. they, too, would have "missed" her. End of Rushing Anti-Climax. In those colleges where pledge day docs not exist, rushing, gradually tiles, out as the available freshmen, one after another, ar,e pledged and Initiated, As a general rule. It Is at least a month before any one Is pledged; It takes that lqng for each "frat" to decide on the "freshles" It really wants. After the Initiations begin, an other month or six weeks will probably pass before the rushing season ends of Itself, the contest for the last freshman having been decided. Pledging a freshman Is truly the climax of the rushing process. The anti-climax speedily follows initiation whon the feed3 cense, the theater parties cease, there are no more dances, personal attentions of all sort stop In large measure when the new "frat" brother Is made to feel that, after all, he Is merely an Insignifi cant freshman and must take a fresh man's place. Itj5 a very hard descent; but there Is thU'Sjjter'jensation: surround ing the new briV? . and ever ready to help and betrlonti him is a small bana of fellow collegians, and as the proper perspective comes to him, he feels In his heart that he has done a good thing in deed. had discovered him, he might still flatter himself that he was safe, for tho lad could ' not say a word without compro mising his own family. "Well, your own good sense will sug gest what mensures I took next. I went In the shape of a loafer to Sir George's house, managed to pick up an acquain tance with his valet, learned that his master had cut his head In the night be fore, and, finally, at the fccpense- of six shllllrtgs, made all sure by buying a pair of his cast-off shoes. With these I jour neyed down to Streetham, and saw that they exactly fitted the tracks." "I saw an 111-dressedvagabond In the lane yesterday evening." said Mr. Holder, "Precisely. It was I. I found that I had my man. so I came home and changed my clothes. It was a delicate part which I had to play then, for I saw that a pros ecution mpst be avoided to avert scandal, ami I knew that so astute a villain would see that our hands were tied In the mat ter. I went and saw him. At first, of course, he denied everything. But when I gave him every particular that had oc curred, he tried lo blusier, and took down a llfepreserver from the wall. I knew my man, however, and I clappped a pistol to his head before he could strike. Then he became a little more reasonable. I told him that we would give him a price for the stones he held 10CO apiece. That brought out the first signs of grief that he had shown. 'Why, dash It all!' said he, 'I've let them go at six hundred for the three! I soon managed to get the address of the receiver who had them,; on promising him that there would be no prosecution. Off I set to him. and, after much chaffering I got our stones at 1000 apiece. Then I looked In upon your son, . told him that all was right, and event ually got to my bed about 2 o'clock, after what I may call a. really hard day's work." . "A day which has saved England -from a great public scandal," said the banker, rising. "Sir. I cannot -find words to thank you, but you shall not find me un grateful for what you have done. Your skill has Indeed exceeded all that I havo heard of it. And now I must fly to my dear boy to apologize to him for the wrong which I have done him. As to what you tell me of poor Mary, It goes to my very heart. Not even your skill can Inform me where she Is now." "I think that we may safely say re turned Holmes, "that she Is wherever- Sir George Burnwell is. It Is equally cer tain, too. that whatever her sins are. they will soon receive a more than sufficient 1 punishment."