The San Francisco call. [volume] (San Francisco [Calif.]) 1895-1913, 1895-05-31
SUNSHINE AND SOCIABILITY.

L
where in the Union so strong a sense OF
sociability as exists in California. No
where else are there so many picnics and
excursions, so numerous health and pleas
ure resorts crowded during the long sum-
| mers, SO many frolics of all kinds by every
| possible sort of social, beneficial, indus
| trial, educational or religious society, so
| many outing clubs devoted to fishing,
hunting, cycling, mountain climbing and
what not, SO many parties made up for a
| long season of camping in the mountains,
and, particularly in the smaller communi-
ties, so many clubs with so frequent
meetings for dancing or for literary and
musical entertainment.
There must be in the reasons for these
things some conditions which lie at the
very root of the circumstances which make
life worth living. What are they2
The very first must be high. free and
generous spirit. 1t is not supposable that
some occult reason must be sought to e1-
plain its exuberance among Californians.
Men and women cannot possess it if their
bodies are dull and heavy or lacking in
vigorous health, or if poverty and dis
couragement sit drearily on the heart.
The body must be strong, and the soul
elastic and aspiring, and these possessions
belong generously to our people.
Nor could a manifestation of this spirit
be expected if climatic conditions were ad-
verse. With our brothers and sisters of
the Eastern States such thing as genuine
pleasure is impossible in summer. There
can be no pleasant vigorous sport under
blazing sun, no nocturnal joys that are
accompanied with mosquitoes and sti-
fling air, no rowing on rivers of molten
brass, no camping in comfort under skies
that send rains and thunderstorms. Our
good friends, therefore, are restricted to
the winters for the best of their outdoor
sports, and, besides sleighing and skating
which indeed are royal sports-there is
little that they can do. In California, on
the other hand, the climate at all times
invites to its outdoor enjoyment AT
times and in some localities (but never on
the coast) the heat of midday may be
great, but the shade nearly always brings
comfort. And at night the necessity for a
pair of blankets brings the sweetest slum-
Der. In the summer we may sleep in the
open fields, on the ground and without
shelter, if we please, in perfect security
against mosquitoes or a drenching.
Nor could a people be expected to cult
vate great sociability if every moment of
their time were required in the struggle
for subsistence, nor be lithesome if the re-
wards of effort should be meager and the
heart bowed down with weight of pow
erty. 1t is natural for human nature to
complain, and there are thousands of Cali
fornians who grumble because they are
not making more money. 1t is a sort of
profanity that they thus indulge a weak
ness common to the race, for comparison
of their condition with that of their fell
lows elsewhere gives them reason to re-
ioice that they are so well off; that they
really have all that is needed to build
strong body and hopeful spirit, and
there are SO many natural blessings which
they may en- Joy without any effort to Sc
cure them that they could even be worse
Off financially than their brothers else
where and still have reason to be more
cheerful than they. But it is a fact that
the people here are more prosperous than
elsewhere, and that is one reason why they
are SO sociable and get so much pleasure
out of life.
recapitulation shows that we have
these reasons for the wide, free, life-loving
spirit that abides in US: First, perfect ply
steal health, the product of abundant sum
shine and pleasant thermal conditions;
second, wide range of sports and other
pleasures which are encouraged by bland
and wholesome climate; third, reasona-
BILE prosperity which prohibits a gloomy
and brooding disposition. This is the
strongest array of good things that the
world is able to bestow, and if there are
any of us SO ungrateful as to wish for more
we are running the risk of not being given
an opportunity to find them even in
heaven.