The San Francisco call., 1897-07-11
GAME OUT ALL RIGHT.

San Francisco seems to have come out
of the scrim mage with its visitors scrutiny
witho ut losing much. 1t expected pretty
serious ordeal when it met the critical
gaze of those discerning Fasteners, who
are never Tor moment 10 be taken in by
anything ;hat they once get their eyes on,
and who are, moreover, powerfully apt TO
detect at first glance with their eyes any
thing that they hitherto have had only
their ears on when some romancing West
erner was uttering himself enthusiastical-
ly (and saiely) back in their own homes.
San Francisco had some reason to fear
that the too patriotic ardor of few OF its
wanderers abroad had conjured up before
the dlstended vision of the East a prim-
rose reputation which it would be i'm posi-
bic for this or any other community under
heaven to live up 10 before the naked eye
of truth. 1t not unre asonably feared that
its rose bushes M ight be expected 10 tower
above the pine tree instead of the scrub
oak, through some absent-minded confu-
sion of terms on the part of veracious
native son travelling abroad for mental
recreation, or that its geraniums might
prove disappointing in their ability TO
cover only a tive nty- foot wall after some
rowing missionary of the West had Casual
ly let fall The impression that they quite
commonly sprsa ad over an expanse forty
feet high and hundred wide. 1t shrank
from the moment when it should be dis.
covered that the tops of its trees could
be seen without telescope or when it
was laid bare that every island in the bay
was not covered with roaring seals.
But, as we have intimated, the CITY
may congratulate itself on having come
out Of the rigorous mill of inspection with
a fairly we'll preserved reputation and
whole skin, despite the great things it had
to do TO come up to expectations. After
picking itself up and peering at its raj
ment it finds, to its intense relief. no rents
at all and very little dust. 1t is still a re-
markably great city in the eyes of the
multitudes from both far apd near Its
rose bushes are as wonderful! as any one
hoped to see this side of the Great Flower
Gardens; its geraniums climb to heights
hardly dreamed of in the philosophy of
fiower-raising in the East; its seals do not
swarm on Goat Island, but do exist none
the less audibly on the rocks at the Cliff;
and its climate-benign Providence be
praised look at its climate. That alone
Is enough to splendor it in :he memory of
visiting mankind for the rest Of their DAYS
even # they fail to see a rose bush. or
geranium, or seal in the whole State.
But, speaking of the State, suppose our
visitors take pilgrimage here and there
through the interior just to see what Cali
fornia is like outside of the crowded
metropolis. Here t home, among our
selves, we City folks as rule refrain
from descanting very heavily upon the
rival attractions which lie all around us
only a few miles away. We are al
ways secretly conscious of them, and
when We get good chance on the
quiet we dilate on them at q great rate
away from home-that is to say, outside
of the State where they will not hear
what good opinion we have of them and
become intoIerably swelled in ccnse-
que nee thereof; but we find it needful for
the preservation of the peace to austerely
mask our real sen timents for that reason.
Between just the visitors and ourselves
the interior possesses attractions far
greater than our own, and the airs 1t
would put on il we were to admit the
fact to itself would simply make life mis-
era BILE for us.
Hence our whispering. You had better
go and see for yourselves-see the trees
that are really big, the flowers that actu-
ally loom above the fencetops, the fruits
that have made California famous all over
the world. See real California by going
into the fields, the orchards. the forests
You don't get this near to paradise every
year. See all you can of it and en- Joy ii