The San Francisco call. [volume] (San Francisco [Calif.]) 1895-1913, 1895-04-07
A NEGLECTED LUXURY.

The dwellers on the shores of San Fran
cisco Bay seem to have wholly made
quate perception of the opportunity for
manifold pleasures which it presents. 1t
is true that we have some beautiful private
yachts and two or three fourishing yacht
clubs; that Oakland has a canoe club; that
in the vicinity of Sausalito and Belvedere
many households have delighted occupants
in summer; that sometimes on Sundays a
big ferry steamer makes a bay excursion,
including picnic at Ell Campo; that on
rare occasions swelldom hires a tug or
other inappropriate craft and enjoys a
moonlight trip on the water, and that a
few small naphtha launches are owned.
Ali these are well so far as they go, but
the scale on which they are conducted is
utterly disproportionate to the size of the
population and the delightful pleasures
which the bay could afferd.
The steamer excursions on Sundays too
often carry registering element, which
cannot serve as an enticement to gentle
folk, and are no better than the rough
Sunday excursions by rail. Now, there
are many thousands of refined laborers,
artisans, clerks, teachers, business men
and others who love the bay, and who
have only Sunday in which they may en-
JOY it. On balmy Sunday twenty or
thirty thousand of these visit the park,
where an excellent band plays without
charge to the visitors, and where there are
many beautiful things. The cost of all
this pleasure is streetcar fare, 10 cents.
The police patrol of the park is so admir-
able that the danger of rowdyism does not
exist to deter the most orderly and refined.
Why are not these visitors given an op-
portunity to enjoy inexpensive and we'll
hammered Sunday excursions round the
bay?
Sunday is not the only great day at the
park. On Saturdays thousands of chill
dren are taken there by their parents,
nurses or elder brothers and sisters, and it
is a treat to see them enjoying the day.
Why could not Saturday bay excursions be
arranged for children, with a stop for a
picnic and Chamber over the hills? And
what could give them keener or whole
somer pleasure than that?
On the western side of the bay, few
miles south of San Francisco, are extensive
oyster beds, which are approached by long
piers running out from the shore. These
ought to serve as a hint for the erection of
hotels, casinos and the like on piers over
the water. The Alameda shore is particu-
larly well adapted for this. There used to
be great swimming establishments at Ala
media, and their failure to maintain their
popularity was caused by lack of care in
their management.
How many of the young men and women
of the city are there who know how to row
or handle a sail? That they are lovers of
wholesome, vigorous sport is shown in the
eagerness with which they have adopted
the bicycle, but towing and sailing are in
fnitely more elegant and peaceful than
cycling.
These are hints of but few of the pleas
ures which the bay is offering. OF all
graceful and soothing delights those of the
water are the best. Under the spell of its
pleasant song the rest which we seek from
the broiling, moiling world falls like a
precious gift from the richest stores of
silence and peace; and its gentle touch
upon heavy eyelids, and its droning Groom
into weary ears, bring down slumber as
sweet as that of child whose soul has not
been hardened and bent and riven by the
agonies of the world.