174 EAST PRUSSIA TO THE GOLDEN GATE 



house, his town, his cities for a purpose, and San Fran- 

 cisco, above all others, I judge, is built for a purpose, 

 through and through. You will understand this phrase 

 better as you read along. The streets are straight and 

 wide, because crooked, narrow lanes would not suit the 

 commercial purpose; they are all cut at right angles, run- 

 ning North, West, East and South — for a purpose. How 

 could a stranger possibly familiarize himself quickly with 

 the location of a place in which he is interested in so 

 large and mountainous a city, the houses of which, par- 

 ticularly in the outskirts, resemble anything but a contin- 

 uous line and where the many vacant lots make it almost 

 impossible to use numbers effectively? You commence to 

 realize that the founders and early city fathers laid their 

 plans for a purpose and, moreover, for a good one. Hav- 

 ing read so far you will now reason thus: If San Fran- 

 cisco has wide, straight streets and large squares, it must 

 be a beautiful city. Slowly, I pray you! Do not judge 

 too hastily. This is a new country and San Francisco 

 is of the latest birth, in what is commonly known as the 

 "Wild Western" region. Everything consequently is 

 yet done for a commercial purpose, and beauty, so far, 

 counts for little. And still one has to admit San Fran- 

 cisco has its attractions. Though the appearance of the 

 city, were I to describe a bird's-eye view from one of the 

 hill tops is not a very symmetrical one, nor does it pre- 

 sent to us the beautiful architecture of ancient Greece, 

 but one finds therein a rare liveliness and an ever chang- 

 ing aspect. San Francisco compares with Berlin as a 

 bright, rosy-cheeked maiden might be compared with a 

 marble Juno. No two houses have a similar front; not ten 

 are alike in general architecture. Each house has its pe^ 

 culiarity, indicating the taste and nationality of its Owner 

 and is built in accordance with the requirements of the 

 respective material used. One naturally finds the strang- 

 est contrasts of architectural products, mostly imitations 

 of foreign ideas, brought hither from every civilized and 

 uncivilized nation of the world. Buildings, representing 

 the styles of Holland, Australia, East India, Germany, 



