Cleveland morning leader. [volume] (Cleveland [Ohio]) 1854-1865, 1861-03-27

revival Of grass, and the breaking out Of
green over the mountain sides. Il was very
strange 70 me 10 pass through November
that had no drearinesS 10 walk 70 church on
Thanksgiving day Qior our minister preached
70 q large congregation, and / stood up
through the whole Of the long sermon) with,
out an over coat, through the most genial air
/ imaginable; and as the sun sank lower, week,
I by week, 10 see the yerdure starting out
around the plank sidewalks, In the gardens
aud yards, and lastly climbing the slopes Of
the delightful hills which are commanded BY
my library window, to hanish their uniform
Of brown. The rainy season sets in this
/ year, just after the frst Of December; and the
Winter solstice brings to US no sleet, no bitter
winds, nor frozen fields, but Souther ly airs
and the dawn OF Spring Our Christmas IS
natures Easter. .
It lis a very notable and joyous holiday in
San Francisco. Far OF its coming shone-
that is 10 say, two or three weeks off-in the
large auction sale of Japanese wares and
French fancy goods. For three days the
largest hall In the city was the scene of
| spirited competition for the most beautiful
! Rrticles Of ornament and luxury from Paris
| while two eonsignments from our neighbors
on the Pacific, only month of, have been
| displayed in the most Attractive ball in the
| city, and two days and nights were used up
| in disposing of them by auction. Thirteen
| years ago San Francisco was a struggling
| village Of few hundred inhabitants whose
! tenements made no impression on the waste
OF sand. Now the European and the Mongo
lian Paris compete for the patronage of our
wealthy thousands, with eargoes Of Injuries.
Il seems to me that enough Japanese cabinets
have been sold, since have been in this city,
70 furnish one to every house here, and tht n
4 supply Washington with a new one every
week, for the next tour years.
l have gone only moderately into the pur-
chase of Mongolian knick-nacks and yet my
house bears witness 10 the run Of the fever,
which is as necessary q part Of acclimation
in this metropolis as felons and boils. The
vigilance committee banished only the outside
social felOns, not those which are bone Of
our bone.) Your correspondent and family
drink tea from japanese cups, take melons
and blnanRs from nobly cOlored japanese
dishes; sliced Oregon apples that weigh two
pounds each, on Japanese plates; see our
mantel-pieces adorned, without any danger
or idOlatry, with a Japanese Joss or two, and
our sidebOard glorihed by pOrtly bronze urn
from Jeddo, ample enough 10 receive the
ashes Of all the household, but devoted to more
ignOble service as the receptacle Of half
burned matches.
It is crowned with squat enormitF which
it would puzzle the great Agassiz to classify
Ia toad's head on the body of a hippOptamus;
and the spout or faucet OF the urn seems 70 be
an idiotic aud drunken dragon. We receive
cards in platter that might be boiled with
out disturbing its brilliant black polish. An
umbrella stands near the door, which opens
like the roof Of pagoda. We pack linens
in MOngolian trunks, tear up Waste-Daper
into baskets from Kansgawa use Japanese
trays Of all sizes for all sorts of Yankee uses.
enjoy the charming color and quaint inlai,l-
work Of family Of cabinets a mother and
two daughters fgifts)-in fact, take our cue
from Japan to such an extent, in the matter
of furniture that shouldn't be surprised to
see myself some morning when look into a
Japanese steel mirror, adorned with the
braided cue, in order to match the scenery in
doors.
There were very large sales of all kinds Of
articles for elegant gifts for Christmas
Some of the jewellers told me that their sales
were nearly double that oflast year.
On Christmas eve, the city fairly blossomed
1 W-AA aegs ~ We-9 N0Ay A4AA anu LuuuuIs-
Slosh is the word for a soft spell in a Boston
winter, here, at the crossings, by the foot Of
the hills, where the pianls get fUuSezss, NJ
word is in order for description but Sqtsh.-
/ DR.. Worcester does not give it but then he
never Was in San Francisco in December
Yet neither rain nor mud damped or i'm
peded the general spirit of jubilee. Nine
festivals, mostly Of religious societies, were
in full blast. The one which attended was
in the largest hall Of the city, and gathered
! / Eve hundred children around loaded tables
and an immense evergreen, forty feet high,
which bore gifts on every twig.
The youngest member of my family, who
has always been firm Bostonian, was un-
, fortunately allowed to 60 to this festival
, The music, the least, the ample room for the
children to play and scamper and dance, the
presence of Santa Claus himself with pack
8 and hump, and the reception of two or three
gifts which be plucked for her from the tow
! ering tree, added to the remarkably stuffed
stocking which she found on her bedstead the
next morning, have seriously shaken her prin-
{ ciples. She uttered herself to me before nigh
ofthe 25th, with emphasis, in this way: "l
6 tell you what, father, its no use now, they
don't have such Christmases East as they dC
out here"
r But must talk Of New Years day. 1t i
Z against all law in San Francisco to have
! clear Christmas and equally illegal to hav,
: a stormy New Year. Last evening, however
J, | December 3lst, il seemed certain that thu
custom OF fine weather for the Inauguration
# was to be powerfully damaged. A furiou
> storm Of warm rain set in, and at ten threat
. ened q tempest. I was obliged 10 watch the
old year out in my library, and found that
i5 at eleven, the storm rapidly abated, so tina
9, 1861 broke upon Us serenely, with no breatl
3 Of wind, and with food Of moonlight upol
le the crested bay. And such a morning a
!. daWued over this cityl We take the sunris
/ nearly four hours after you have had it,
, This morning it seemed as though it wa
$, FIVE months later. Il carried January to yoJ
d, but brought June to US.
II l opened my windows on the southerl
le side Of the house at halEpast seven, an
n saw, through breaking silvery mists, foo
sh Of warm sunshine furnishing the hills bac
.a isl Of the Mission into brilliant emerald. o
y the other side of the bay, twenty miles off b
N NJ air line, ridge three thousand feet high WI
'ta crowned with gilded snow above the gree
Id ndh Of its raYines. Uunder my windows, birt
J that looked like a species Of wren were hR,
p ing merry time, and a humming bird vi
lodging in and out among the thick blossom
> Of locust tree, hanging for honey und
each, on invisible wings. I went down I'M
the parlor, and saw halfa-dOzen vases an
dishes Japanese, of course lined vii
roses, heliotrOpe fuchsias, mignonette, YER
MICA, verbena, ambutulons, and giliyhoWer
ID that had grown in the open air during tV
81 weeks Of December storm.
mt Do you can this ''a streteher?" Go wi
Al me, then, to the north side Of the house, al
~ ~ let me show you locust in bloom, and bud
70 red and white, opening on rose-bushes in
~ yard where ray Of sunshine has not fallt
for two months, it being shaded by the hou
~. all day. In the next yard, equally sunless,