334 Beyond the Sierras. 



about San Francisco were altogether pleasant. I had been told fables about 

 the wind, and had expected tu run into bits of gale too strong for tenderness ;. 

 but the fact difVered from the fable. I found the air in California generally 

 astir, and on the immediate bench of the Pacilic it might be called windy; 

 but in other situations 1 do not recall that our pilgrims were ever troubled 

 with too much breeze. When we first traversed the San Gabriel valley 

 there was a wind blowing at Ontario; but in all our journeyings up and 

 down the San Joaquin and Sacramento plains we went unvexed and un- 

 blown to our places. I conclude, therefore, that the bad reputation of the 

 California wind clerk is based on slander; and the allegation that he consid- 

 ers it mere pastime to blow the soul out of a hippopotamus is a campaign lie 

 started by the opposition. I candidly declare that I never saw him in any 

 other role than that of a gentleman. 



The shops along the principal streets in San Francisco are beautiful 

 and brilliant. There is much variety. The Japanese store near the Palace 

 is perhaps the best in the country. There are many places where you can 

 gather bric-a-brac to the full capacity of your trunks and boxes. Human 

 life in the street flows at a rapid rate. The San Francisco pulse is several 

 strokes to the minute above the average; and the temperature of the biped, 

 especially about the exchanges and real estate offices, is above the normal. 



My stay in the city was too brief to furnish the daUi for a fair general- 

 ization on the subject of San Francisco morals. That old pessimist, Tliey 

 Say, calls it a bad place, and I should not be surprised if there is much 

 ground for his bad opinion. I think that San Francisco swears and drinks, 

 that she gambols a good deal and gambles some. I think that her society is 

 by no means conservative, as it respects the practice of several of the civic 

 virtues. I think that her human breixst contains a good deal of machination 

 and not a little passion. But I have some things to sjiy also in her defense. 

 I believe that her drink is largely wine, and that she consumes less lire- 

 water than any other American city of her size. This, as far as it goes, is 

 good. To be sure, I do not justify wine-bibbing, but I only say that, if the 

 human animal must administer some sort of oblivion to himself, it is better 

 to take it in fermented grape-juice than in the form of hell-tire. Again, as 

 to San Francisco sin, it appeared to me that there was something manly and 

 robust about it which half transfers it to the column oh the other side of the 

 ledger. The old Enemy became a snake at the gate of Eden, and goes on 

 his belly to this day. He is a sneak. He slips around into all the coverts of 

 the world, and is constitutionally ashamed of himself. The wickedness of 

 cities is generally of this sneaking variety. It slips around in the dark, and 

 squats, and hides, and lies. I confess that there is something exhilarating, 

 or at least exciting, and half-manly in the open street manners of San Fran- 

 cisco wickedness. There is an efl'rontery about it that astonishes you and 

 tiikes your breath, and I should not be surprised, withal, if the reformation, 

 which we hope for in all of our American municipalities, will find easier 



