The southern press., 1851-06-25

from the wealth-producing operative the maxi
mum Of labor which his health and strength
can yield, relying upon another who stands
ready to step into his place whenever he fails.
But that process cannot be carried on between
the sovereign States of this confederacy, until
their respective citizens shall become recreant
to the exalted trust with which they have been
SO noby endowed.
e5g- The whole history Of the rise, progress,
and prospects of the /. State Of California" re-
sembles fiction more than fact. The wild
dreams of the earlier Spanish discoveries
seem to have found consistency and local
habitation there; and the circumstances con-
nected with this unprecedented history have
given character to the homogeneous mass that
constitute its population, peculiar to the place,
and this wondrOus time of ours.
Four times has the city Of San Francisco
been almost totally reduced to ashes, bury
ing in its ruins the hard earned wealth which an
adventurous spirit, chance, or skill, had accu-
INFLATED in the hands of the more fortunate Of
its citizens. Yet undismayed and disheartened
by such series Of disasters, the men who have
thrice made fortunes there to be swept away in
night, retiring to rest millionaires, and reused
from their slumber only to see it taking wings
unto itself }" these men, we say, abate no jot of
heart or hope-but manfully and hopefully set
| to work to retrieve their losses Our readers
are aware that it has not been our practice to
laud the land of gold, or its floating population,
nor have we refraned from fully commenting on
the pictures Of social" progress afforded by
the rectalsin their own papers. But their con-
duct in adversely does much to soften the stern
ness with which the moralist must view the ex-
cesses induced by sudden prosperity and what
ever sins may have been laid to their door, it
would be ungcnerous now to dwell on, after the
purgation by fire which they have undergone.
The spirit to which We refer is 80 powerfully
illustrated in an editorial Of the Alta California
Of May 18th, that we cannot refrain from ex-
tracing it.
| fit BE- indeed true that q brave man, strug-
Cling with the storms of fate" is one of the
most instructive and interesting spectacles this
varied life of ours presents, then indeed no one
can read the subjoined statements without ad-
miration:
/ MIsFoRTUNEs AND PERsEvERANcE.-There
are in this city gentlemen who can recount more
| instances of misfortune, and more trumphs over
them, than perhaps can any other on the face of
the earth. Men have come here after many a
manly struggle elsewhere, and after many vary
ling successes and dsappointments, have occa.
/ sionally found themselves above their bad luck
apparently, and on the high road to wealth. In
an hour, they have found themselves PROSTATE,
burned out, fiat. The next day saw them start
again in the r, ce nothing daunted, determined
TO conquer in the strife. And such will conquer.
Disaster itself cannot keep them down.
One of our well known auctioneers informed
us that the recent fire, which swept his place of
business as clean as wind and flames could do
it, was one of his oldest and most frequent Gus
tomers-it had taken his whole stock just
twelve times, that being the number of times
which he had been burned out Yet the next
day his sign was hung out on his adobe, where
his jests were as frequent and light spirited as if
neither smoke nor fame had passed near him.
Such superiority to misfortune is better and
more valuable than the richests mine in Cali
fornia. A happy spirit cannot be purchased.
This is the spirit which will not only deserve
success, but mmand 1t.
We wish to give one more instance out of the
many Astounding in our midst The name Of
the Parker house is known as far as the name of
San Francisco. II was the first considerable
house in the city. its fate has been chequered
one We do not know exactly ahe costs and
history of it, but for a year and half past it
has been about this: II was purchased on the
20th of December, ls49. IL was then paying
$4,000 per month rent. On the Oath OF the
same month it was burned down in the first
great fire which visited this city. It was built
up again at cost of $4,000, and was ready to
be opened on the 4th of May, 1850, when il was
burned down again. Once more It was built up
at various times, a portion of it converted into
the Jenny Lind theatre" and more recently the
larger portion was in good stage Of progress
toward completion Of beautiful and capacous
theatre with three tiers, when the last fire of
May 4 h once more and for the lhi: d time laid
il in ashes.
The building OF the last structure, and the
various changes and improvements, must have
cost the propretors Messrs. ]. Hart a. I. Ma
/ yure m IRE than 100000. The income from
this property wonld have paid of all it, debts in
four mon his. The fire at once bloited out all
it, receipts But now mark the spirit which
rules in California Already the proprietors
have n new building in progress. The lumber
Is on the ground The workmen are framing il.
A wooden building Is 10 be first erected, TO be
followed just as soon as possible by substan-
| ial asure enough" fire proof brick building.
= hich will be erected over the wooden one, and
will contain an elegant theatre capable Of seat
| ing three thousand persons. We give this rs
specimen of the spirtofth this city, while abundant
others of similar character could be named
San Francisco will yet work ont her own great
destiny in spite of the false deductions Of peo-
pie up the bay Ia spite Of the worthless councils
and Botany Bay convicts.
THINGS UsFoRTUNATE-Almost everything
seemed to combine TO effect the ruin of this city
on Saturday night. The chief engineers and
numbers Of firemen were at Sacramento; there
was almost an interregnum in orr city govern
ment; the old council had adjourned and felt
no disposition TO assume any responsibility in