The San Francisco call., 1897-01-03
OUR WINTER SPORTS,

The celebration of New Years day by the
Burlingame Club with series of open-alr
sports strikingly illustrates the advantages
of the California climate for all seekers of
midwinter pleasure. The Burlingame
Club was not the only assembly of men
and women who enjoyed the festival of
the opening year out of doors, but as from
its wealth it has more prestige than others,
1t will be more widely noticed and there
fore serves best as an advertisement of
the geniality of our climate.
The dweller in San Francisco could take
his choice on New Years eve of almost
any form of New Years day celebration
he desired. He could by nights ride on
the train have transported himself to the
mountains, where, amid snow and ice, he
could have disported himself with skat-
ing or sleighriding to his hearts content.
Had he chosen he might have gone to
districts where orange groves are bending
beneath the weight of golden fruit and
where gardens are bright with the bloom
of thousand flowers. Ii the fancy took
HIM he could go aboard yacht and sail
over seas as lucent as any that ever spread
in the Mediterranean when the summer
sun was brightest.
Even if he determined to remain within
the confines of the City, he would have
found variety of enjoyment greater than
most countries could afford him even
within the widest extent OF their domin-
ion. Here he could enjoy the hustle and
excitement of the City, the grandeur of
the ocean stretching away from the cliffs
that are crowned with the beautiful Sutro
Gardens, or ascend the higher hills and
peaks of the peninsula and have therein
all the exercise of mountain climbing.
No other area of extent similar to our
State afforded such variety of sport and
enjoyment for the day and no other city
in this State equaled San Francisco.
In the past California was famous as the
land of gold, to-day it is chiefly renowned
as the region of fruits and flowers; but the
time is not far distant when it will be
known through ali the world as the land
of winter sports. We have already begun
series of winter festivals varying from
the ice palaces of Truckee to the rose fetes
of Santa Barbara, which have attracted to
US thousands of tourists and been the de-
light of pieasure-seekers from all parts of
lAS NOlAOs
These festivals are only in their infancy.
They improve with each succeeding year,
and grow from more to more until in the
course of time they will become world
famous. Then will the full charm OF Cali"
fornia be made known, and among all en-
Iightened people it will be recognized as
that portion of earth which is most con-
genial to man and serves best for the
development of every faculty within him.
1t is beyond dispute that humanity at
tains its highest levels in countries where
men and women can live most in the open
air. 1t was the congenlality of climate
which enabled the old Greeks to advance
in the ancient world, and made their
"halcyon days" as we'll as their genius
proverb even to our time. California can
rightly expect to become to the world of
to-day what Greece was OF old, and in so
becoming will owe as much 10 the gifts of
her climate as 10 any other advantage
which nature or man has bestowed upon
her.