Sacramento daily record-union. [volume] (Sacramento [Calif.]) 1875-1891, 1885-10-03
SAN FRANCISCO LETTER.
AN INTERESTING LETTER IRON
KATE HEATH. A
Growth of the Metropolis The old
Mission Churcb-Mechanic Fair
"A japanese Colony-Etc.
sAx FRAEc1soo. September 30, lse5,


port where one must land in order to get
further 1t seems strange to these that we
are grown great city and getting more
fame every day of our iyes-snatching a
park away from the sand dunes out by the
shore. for instance, and building eonserv-
atory (an everlasting memory be it of the
generous gentlemen who gave it
funds) containing collection Of orchids
worthy an exclamation of interest
even from Sophie BleGgee Herrick herself.
Miss HeIrick has written go charmingly OF
orchids in Harper's Magazine" I re-
member one idea of hers which struck me
with kind Of awe; it seemed to endow
the strange plant, with lis tubers, its singu-
lar arrangement: Of petals, its oddly bird
like, beautiful and fragrant flowers, with O.
personality of its own. She said: 1.-THE
object is not so much to develop an indi-
vidual orchid to perfection as il is to prop
agate the Species After this to me an
orchid is not plant; i: is 8 creature with
an ambition of its own. an ambition
in this great struggle of the sur
viYal Of the fttest to leave its
y.
Strange plant, which twists and twiRes
from handful Of tubers grown upon bit
of bark and hung in nidair, and there
upon its long and leafess stem to burst
into flower of beauty that seems SO like
sentient being it sounds your soul as
you gaze into its eerie facet Hundreds
have eagerly examined the Holy Ghost
flower that has just bloomed at the park
conservatory, and then with new interest
have turned TO the other orchids blossom
ing in their cases. Indeed it only needs an
announcement that one of the great lilies
is about 10 unclose; that the camilla gar
den viii burst its waxen buds that the
Holy Ghost flower unfolds, to create a
rush to the park. The Grant memorial
services, the crowning glory of which was
the solemn rendering of Nearer, My God,
to Thee" by brass instruments attracted
an immense crowd to the park, although
occurring on an unpleasant afternoon.
And on one pleasant Sunday the Haight-
street cars, running every four minutes,
were so filed with returning passengers,
till as late as 7 o'clock, that even ladies
stood outside on the steps OF the dummy.
But SEE HOW WE eRowi
q Look on this picture the sos, with lis
picks and shovels, its lo8-built houses and
its sand hills" then on this 1855, with
It's Mob Hill, the commerce at its wharves,
its spreading streets, nay. its cases of orchids
as a sign of development toward esthetic
tastes Those old Mission Fathers builded
better than they knew, for they and theirs
have become attractions in this march of
time. Scarce is there q stranger comes but
needs must see the old church and It's
cracked old bells, bound to place with
thongs Of rawhide Every splinter will
y hlar 7i.-f I'D I
privilege even now to be buried in the old
graveyard that lies alongside It IS queer
cemetery, and its oddly-rhymed epitaphs
smack decidedly of the ancient st this day;
then when the year 1850 is born what a
spot il Will be for the antiquarian Father
Brennan and Father Sullivan and
the rest Of them there in this
parish look modern and Jolly enough,
and the new church shines out in
newness, but there is an air about the old
place, musty, fickety, delightful old odor,
that nothing modern can begin to equal
And to think of having . museum all 10
ourselves, with the mammoth there and
skulls there from the inferior races up 10
our OWN ION the coneeit of man y, show
ing how beneyolence and Yeneration lifted
the forehead into nobility, and the bumps
OF baseness declined with models of cliff
dwellings and pueblos there; with reptile,
bird and beast--and all ours. our very own,
Next we shall have Nine. Tussaud as a
fixture, Or Mrs. farley come to stay.
THE MEcHAEIosf FAIR,
Just now upon its yearly decline. has be-
come AN established institution, and at
tracts so many strangers to the city that the
theaters suffer no dimiuution in attendance.
| wonder If the strangers add also to the
attendance OF the churches A novel
feature at the Congregational Club this year
has been the report of each clergyman as
to how his vacation was spent. The fair
IS always great attraction, so busy, so
busting, SO filed with the shuttle Of feet,
the buzz of voice, the indeseribable muir
muir that speaks so strongly of the human
1t is after all, the human element. that
proves magnet. l like to go where can
meet my friend, where I can watch a face
or follow with my eye the varied move
ments Of the crowd. 8 new definition of
personiied sellishness has been coined re-
Gently. 1t is the young man who goes to
the fair every evening with the same pretty
girl and season ticket,
SEVERAL EEw FEATURES
Have been added this year, which increase
the general effect OF the brightness. One
is the extra prominence given to the floral
tables, and another the floral prize present.
ed one evening to the most richly dressed
lady and or another evening to the lady
most tastefu'ly dressed. The first prize was
given to Mrs. TilleY, net resident here, but
the latter was awarded TO one whom we
consider as one of our own girls, Miss
Mabel Berry, daughter of Fulton g. Berry,
formerly Commissary al San Quentin,
and now living at Fresno. She
4. ,T-
her grandfather, E. N Torrev, an
ex-SupervisoT, who recently celebrat I'd
his golden Wedding, furnishing an occasion
for enjoyment to hosts of friends. Miss
Mabe, attired simply in a dark suit had
no idea Of dressing for the public eye but
received her prize gracefully. A sister,
Miss Minnie Berry, some time since be-
came missionary 70 TeintSin, China, go
ing from the H0ward-street Presbyterian
Church, and has recently returned from
her mission with large experiences in the
way of work among the heather. When
one thinks Of the heather in China and
Japan, doesn't it leave the impression OF
swarms and swarms Of insectsf Japan
comes very close to US of late years. partic-
ularly to San Francisco, though her door
has swung upon its hinges to the world at
large. But here are so many Japanese
working in the kitchen and studying for
an education, entering the churches (do
you notice that young Japanese ministers
name at the last Methodist Conference),
coming 20 US as workmen in their own
peculiar arts. How would il seem to you
to get letter from your old kitchen boy,
now in an Eastern college studying for the
ministry We'll, we had such letter In
the Japanese bric-a-brac store, called Iehi
Ban (which means number one') are six
workmen imported for their line of work.
One makes designs for and decorates china,
one embroiders, one paints on silk, one
works with bamboo, and so on. But il
has remained for the enterprising thought
of three brothers to bring out and establish
in our midst
BIT OF JAPAN IrsELF,
AS nearly as one can judge who has neye,
seen the little empire as it is at home. In
deed, this exhibition is ambitiously called
"a Trip Through Japan and adds to it.
self the cabalstic words, Dai Nippon
-