New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1869-11-27

that subtle wind which last night had pierced
our very marrow; the wind whose chill
and whose madness make, l fancy, the in
toxicatiOn of this climate. What is it, otherwise
/ wOnder-snce on the Plains and IN Nevada sun and
sky are not less brilliant since rain is no more usual
since the "thin air. of which we hear so much is
rarer, even, than the Coast, and since no higher
physical exaltaon is possible than that one feels IN
the Serras-whatis it, then that here and here only
keeps ones tense violin strings 30 played on
by the slight events of every hour the mere presence
of persons, the brlliancy of the days. that one Is
never sure whether they will snriek or sing in an
sweri Why is it that one is forced to find the moral
at the end of every days light record which, else
where, he would read only for the storyf Whyi 1T
that he is harried on to impossible labors with
vague unworded hope to propltiate the demon OF
restlessness that possesses him Why is it that
l myself keep proposing unanswerable conun-
drums, unable to stop. while the historic Me SILL
shiyers in Montgomery will defy the iend, and
rescue that amable young person as soon as L have
said that because of this wind, which have proved
to be The Climate people here do not die, but go to
pieces like the One Hoss ShayAll at once, and moth
ing FIRST Just as bubbles do when they burst.
We were bent on learning the town in series of
Object-lessons, and we were not to be deferred by
public opinion nor high wind. Alas, by day, San
l dare say she might put the real Bagdad in her
pocket so far as money and costlness, and
the bodily comforts of this year of grace
are concerned. But that splendid Capital
of Dreamland which we have all visited
know not how oft with its gardens and fountains
and marble baths, its temples and palaces and open
squares its wealth of color and fancy and odor, It's
spaciousness its ariness its light that never was on
sea or land-that Bagdad for which we last night
mstook her think she never heard of, or lf-lt Is
but to remember with q cOndescension of cOmmiser-
alton that that city could not be born to immortality
which was not founded on the Pacific Slope!
l said that Montgomery-st. stood for Broad
way. Except that it is shorter and mar
rover, with fewer shops and smaller, with
less imposing blocks, less dazzling windows,
less infntely-varied wares, less style and fash
ion, and hope, less folly, with an air bizarre
rather than sumptuous and determined rather than
assured, tits as like my fingers is to my fingers
San Francisco is twenty years old; New-fork IS
little matter of two hunred and fifty. and there are
statelier monuments of human achievement than
dry goods shops or silyersmiths. One does not ex-
pect the first settler TO plant roses instead of corn
and perhaps it is too early look for architecture
a growth of the SOIL Besides, an excellent modesty
becomes the citizen of that metropolis where Stew
arts store and mansion" rear their unblushng
fronts and where the Herald Building ana the Park
Bank are more heartily admired than the Academy
of Design. But the candid traveller must make
bold to say that the ugly painness of
those earlier buildings, which aimed simply
to be q shelter and storehouse. is not half
so undressing the frippery ornament of such
later structures as represent more money and more
leisure In such an atmosphere "a this where are
no shadows ornate and intricate adornments even
of carved stone would stare with dsproportionate
importance; but when stucco and sanded wood and
painted iron put on forms only proper to enduring
stone, then they seem to grin all over with Of
the righteousness OF these houses that Jack has
built and of the righteousness of Jack for building
them. That sublime faith in individual luck which
makes men put up wooden houses in a city which
has been SIX times burned to the ground apparently
invites them to begin those houses with no definite
idea how any Of them will come out. The
usual result is large room side
for parties" n bay-wndow. trimmed as if
it were ba-dress. and the rest of il is
of what fashion it please God. They all large,
these fine residences all comfortable all hospitabe
looking and nearly all ugly. But they all clothed
inboft shades Of brown and coffee and gray and much
may here be forgiven to building which does not in
sist on being white in addition to being ord And al
most every house has bit Of green and tree how
ever NHlc many vi tucln nave huCu
gardens and tiny rassplots, and mayhap fountain,
that they look like the ugly step-daughter who,
through enchantment, married the prince, and so
TO possess this fine Kingdom till the good fairy
shall setita right by turning her into rabbit hutch,
and popping down the rightful owner in her place.
San Francisco has four five hills, aud broad
ridge between them. and a lovely Bay which they
overlook, and o, such wOndTOus reaches of sea and
sky! SO, having been thus plainly told by Nature TO
make herself the farest city in the land what do you
fancy she doesi All the enviOus dweers of the
Cities of the Plains answer at once-"Why. she ter
those hills and sklfully leads her streets about
and about them; she brings in water from that Bay
and makes the air musical with fountains falling
into great basins she puts lovely little Public Gar
dens and plans walks for the people OH the crest Of
the hills, whence they may look of at
those stretches of sea and sky, going
down afterward to their fine houses or
their poor little lodgings younger and happier" No.
indeed no such sentimental folly for the wonderful
city which is tearing on out of breath, to be 1.-The
second on the continent in point of numbers and
commercial Importance" She cuts down her hills
and fills up her basin to build warehouses! Pres
emily she VIII be fiat and practical becomes the
second city in point of numbers and commercial i'm
pOrtance.
do not believe that it is the fault of the
San Francisco of to-day that she seems to think
money much better than beauty. A horrible
thought strikes me Can it De that She young, SO
innocent, has fallen into the hands of o
Ring, and is at the mercy of Contractors
We all know that it were better for
the welfare of any city that milestone
hanged about her neck, and that she
cast into the depths of the refuse to be-
leve it. make no doubt that some cheerful donkey
long since gone TO his reward-who had been bred
to gardening perhaps fancied that lac could lay out