The San Francisco call. [volume] (San Francisco [Calif.]) 1895-1913, 1895-06-02
HOMES FOR THE POOR.

He was an ingenious cable-car conductor
who not long ago bought two abandoned
horsecars for $40 each, had them hauled
out into the sand dunes for So more, and
there himself set them up and made very
comfortable home for his little family. 1t
required certain courage to do this, for
such procedure is sure to raise a laugh at
the expense of the man who can rise so far
above such mean hindrances; and at the
same time his enjoyment of his own pecu-
liar home is great in proportion to his abil-
ity to ignore the sneers of his friends.
The lot upon which he established the
cars was one which he had bought
Whether or not he had paid for it entirely
is a matter that does not concern US. He
could Just as easily have bought the lot On
time by making small payment down, or
could have leased it.
This enterprising young man has taught
Us number of lessons and caused US to
reflect on certain conditions which are
peculiarly favorable to the poor of San
Francisco. We are reminded, for in
stance, that even an abandoned streetcar
airy as we may deem it to be, has no fierce
heat or biting cold to turn aside from its
occupants, and that as the sand upon
which it rests is clean, porous and absorp-
tive, little care in the handling of domes-
tic refuse will make sewers altogether
unnecessary, for there is nothing more
cleansing and purifying than such sand as
covers the vast unsettled stretches of the
western side of the peninsula.
All that our friend has seriously to con-
slider, therefore, is water for domestic use.
Not much money would be required for a
windmill, for there is an unlimited supply
OF wind and great abundance of water.
II he is not able to afford this land sellers
Of windmills are very generous in their
terms) he may be able at small expense to
| make arrangements for the delivery OF
| water in one of the dozen ways that an
earnest and ingenious man might devise.
He is a happy man indeed whose poverty
enables him to seek a wider and freer life
| than those whom conventionalities govern
can possibly enjoy. 1t is unfortunate that
| so little enterprise in this direction is ex-
hibited by the poor, and surprising that
the earnest benevolent societies which
seek to promote the comfort and health OF
the poor do not expand their energies in
the direction of establishing families in
cots nesting among the sands. We live
here as people do who have not the pecu-
liar blessings which are thrust upon us.
Even the well-to-do among US who know
about the wholesome delights to be secured
from camping in the woods entirely over.
look the fact that within the limits of our
own City they may find the pleasantest
rural conditions added to all the con.
veniences which the near presence of a
| great city affords. There are mountains
and canyons without number, where shade
and seclusion are at hand; but better than
they are the open stretches of clean sand
that cover hundreds of square miles north
and south of the park.
As for the very poor among us, they are
content to live in the crowded and squalid
districts where the streets are i'll kept
and all possible physical discomforts en-.
countered. Individual enterprise is the
rarest of human qualities, and hence it is
that obsolete traditions based on experience
alien to the superior conditions which
abound among US govern our domestic
conduct. 1t is not to be expected that the
helpless poor or even the moderately pros.
porous will be able to discover and employ
the delights of a half-outdoor life in the
city, but humanitarian regard for the
health of children and the matchless bene.
| fits of large and free life under the whole.
some winds and the health-giving sunshine
ought to impel our educated classes to