The San Francisco call. [volume] (San Francisco [Calif.]) 1895-1913, 1899-05-10
ADJUSTMENTS.
THE PANHANDLE EXTENSION,

7 HIS caption is apt physical description OF
the proposed extension to Van Ness avenue OF
the boulevard, lined with trees and decorated
with flowers that now connects with the entrance to
Golden Gate Park By our citizens 1t is well
understood. But to visiting strangers or in other
States or foreign countries it conveys no adequate
conception OF an improvement that so long as San
Francisco lasts will its enterprise and its artistic
skill in blending utility and beauty in exquisite pro-
portions
Golden Gate Park IS an existing reality of which the
State and the nation have reason TO be proud. The
conversion OF a mass OF barren sand swept by the
ocean winds into a combination of natural feicities
Is the perfection OF genuine art into which the service
Of climate of soil OF the flora of all lands, of birds Of
richest plumage and even of the animal kingdom
have been impressed The alienation OF smooth lawns
gtering with verna beauty, glinting lakes, secluded
dels distracted from the roaring world, wooded hills
filed with the aroma OF the pine, beds and banks Of
flowers brilliant with diversified colors and odorous
with delicate scents constitutes varegated picture OF
still life as charming to the eye it is soothing to
the tired brain The aviary the conservatory the
unite the.contribuons of all zones and of past
ages. The playground with its appropriate structures
resounds with the joyful notes OF innocent and ire
pressibe childhood. In the geological department,
yet only in its infancy the old hunter and rapper
his health and his muscular strength originated The
broad and solid avenues free from dust and lined with
the trees of the forest and with floral borders attract
alike the equipages OF the rich and the humble con-
veyances OF those whose chief endowment is their
American citizenship. There too the modern centaur
gldes with his wheeled substitute for his legs.
And in the labyrinth of paths, quiet and lovely the
deep recesses OF the Serras where murmuring waters
chant the praises OF solitude, bookmen plunge into
literary deaism lovers whisper the story OF eternal
harmony and the paternalism OF the world feeds
the affections domestic socialism.
The Golden Gate Park is perpetual monument to
the memory of the dead and the dsnterested abors
OF the living It's management has been and is almost
unique in its intelligence, in its integrity and in its
effectiveness Its praises have spread to international
distances No description of the West has been in
validated by its omission
The extended boulevard, projecting its melodious
invitation rest purity to the cleansing renova-
tons OF rural beauty into the very center of our tu
nultuous city, will speedily be fashioned is more
than expedent for it is essential There is no point Of
view in which this contention is disputabe. II the
symmetrical development of communities is part of
the American system then the artistic is as important
the merely unitarian element as in these modern
days the experiences and the examples of aggregated
masses everywhere attest There is no physician for
the body like pure air freshly waited from the sea
and tempered by sylvan distractions There is no
medicine for the intellect like embowered rest and
peace. There is tonic for the soul comparable to
the tender suggestions OF clean and soliciting nature
The Call cannot question the success of the addi-
tona boulevard, which in its returns of every sort
not only among ourselves but in our external rea-
tons, within generation will repeatedly multiply its
cost. Our local columns yesterday noticed the ex-
pected corporation of improvement associations,
which will be a decisive influence in favor of the
project But its elective Endorsement should be
imous.