The Ottawa free trader. [volume] (Ottawa, Ill.) 1843-1916, 1882-04-22

IN design, while the capitals and columns, and
especially the upper corridor, are crowned
with elegant urns and vases of rare and beau.
tiful flowers and plants, whose twining ten.
drills In luxuriant growth gracefully testoon
the balconies, while the delicious fragrance of
this tropical conservatory pervades the air Of
the entire court with delightful perfumes.
Though rich and populous, yet San Fran.
cisco IS city without solid industry. She
has palaces and she has novels. She has a
superfluity of churches, asylums and prisons,
but she has comparatively few OF those other
compliments OF prosperity-workshops and
manufactures. Her church spires and her
palatal domes, glancing in the sunlight lift
everywhere into the atmosphere, but from
none OF her hills does the eye catch glimpse
of those mighty symbols OF common prosperity
and grandeur-the black smoke. stacks Of
laundering FORCES and whirllng wheels.
There are few of the greasy mechanic" ele-
ment to be seen, and the inspiring music OF
mills and factory splndles is not heard; but
instead of that element of industry there Is a
volupsuous populace with every evidence of
false and overstralned life, having for its grand
basis OF civilization three well established ex.
changes, in and around which congregate at
least 5000 OF the most desperate gamblers Of
modern times, of both sexes, who have no
business but that of stock gambling. Here
are fathers and sons, mothers and daughters,
to be seen each day rs constant attendants,
risking their all upon the games of the stock
boards and all under an excitement touching
dellrum. "They all do it," the good, the
bad and the indifferent Old and young, rich
and poor, boys and girls, you hear them talk
of stocks and their value!
To great number OF people, there is moth
ing so pleasing as a walk among
THE CHURCHES,
except It IS Chinatown-,o which l will de.
vote my next letter entire. In few cities are
to be found so many elegant ecclesiastical
institutions as in San Francisco, not only in
their exterior designs, but in their fitness OF
things" within; and yet with all the sacred
grandeur the people as religious community
don't seem to pan out" very well. have no
desire to picture all or any Of their golden
temples" but my sketch would seem lncom-
plete were to pass the old Mission Dolores,
without word of comment. 1t was the first
church erected in San Francisco and the sec.
ond IN the state 1t stands away in quiet
quarter of the city, around which cluster o
few end.tiled dilapidated abode dwellings that
speak to the antiquarIes Of an age long
ago. Soon they will disappear forever, but
the mission, that ancient landmark from
whence sprung the civilization of the Califor'
MIA coast, seems good for hundred years to
come, if the utilitarlan only lets it alone. As
1t Is, but little OF the original building can be
seen from the outside, but nearly all the inte
rlor decorations retain their pristine state.
To the right Of the church stands the old GEN.
etery, filled to overlooking with its population
Of silent sleepers, until now there remains no
room for aught but tangled flowers and over
grown grasses. A stroll through this ancient
city OF the dead reveals many commonly con.
structed stones, now unknown In this age of
eilded tombs and marble shafts.
If there is any one thing more pleasing than
another in sightseeing In San Francisco, it is
a stroll or ride through its
SQUARES AND PARKS.
Some OF them are really charming ornament
ed with beautiful shrubs and trees OF tropical
nature. and most conspicuous are the cedar
and blue gum" When the people from the
tar east first rushed to California to dig for
gold, make money and then return TO their
homes, but not finding the dust" IN equal
proportions to their expectations, they resolved
to build their homes on the sandy shores OF
this beautiful bay, and fix their abodes for all
time, and as breathing places, where relaxa'
ton from the turmoils of business could be
enjoyed by those who dwell in pentup garre.s
and tenements, charming parks and beautiful
squares we're planted and cultivated. The
most interesting and important OF all is the
Golden Gate Park, especially on Saturday at.
ternoons, for then all San Francisco takes Il
holiday, and most Of them drive through
the park to the Cliff House" beyond. And
what motley crowd is seen on the route.
mail phaetons, wagonettes,
bugges with tops and without tops, sulkies,
milk carts, and equestrians; splendid teams,
flashing in gold and varnish, bowling along
at a tenmile rate, behind which follows a
true Milesim family whose features speak OF a
direct descent from King O'Toole; in their
wake the world and his wife (and occasionally
somebody clse's wife, and the pedestrians IN q
&c. as. you. please stroll and all bent on An "ont
ing" The park consists of about thousand
acres of rolling ground that at one time was,
and most of 1t is now, covered with scrub
oaks, with its western end bordering on the
ocean, and a waste of drifting sand, while Its
eastern portions have been laid out with
walks and drives, grottos, mounds, summer
houses and sequestered hooks. Nature has
done little but art has worked wonders in the