SAN FRANCISCO.

Southland Times, Issue 1217, 1 March 1870, Page 4

SAN FRAN CISCO.

(Iftom a correspondent of the Lyttelton Times. The consciousness of having unbounded opportunities gives the Californian an appetite for progressive change so great, and a craving for a fiercer speed so keen, that a native said to me yesterday, " We enjoy earthquakes." This, of course, is set true, but the sentiment is suggestive. Sarthquakes are the flies in the ointment fore. People are now looking out for one, a*- the weather has been peculiarly opprefeßive, and I see many handsome houses being built of wood, as least likely to be thrown down. A gentleman resident here has just come into my room whi c I am writing this, and tells me the street talk is now of earthquakes. You hear the word from groups at the corners. He has just said, " Last October travellers would not come into this . hotel for a month." As I inhabit an apartment in the top storey, I shall have the sensation at its height if it comes. Besides earthquake, San Francisco is very apprehensive of fire, and the arrangements for the assemblage of engines (steamers) and notice to the inhabitants are excellent. The city is divided into wards, and its parts are numbered, the San Franciscan pocket-books having the numbers in them. Frequent telegraph signals communicate with a central building, which has a large bell. Suppose I live near telegraph station No. 56, and my house catches fire, I give a signal at once. The big bell tolls five times quickly, and then after a pause six times. The firemen all know where to go, and people in the street turn to their pocketbooks to see where the fire has broken out. This tocsin is repeated to make the warning sure. It rang twice last night. I heard the summons f0r,43 and 53. The former was repeated four times ; this, I believe, indicates a fire of special importance. An industrial exhibition is now open here, and sets forth well the resources of the country. I was much struck by the abundance and apparent excellence of the machinery exhibited. The products, however, which first take the eye on a hot summer day are fruit and wine. The former is excellent and abundant. Strawberries are grown the whole year round, and the grapes, figs, pears, melons, limes, and peaches might make the mouth of a statue water. Melons are mostly eaten before breakfast. The waiter brings you one, say a foot and a half round, to begin with, as soon as you take your seat at the table. Yesterday I saw a gentleman break his fast with half a sphere which would have served for a dinner party of a dozen in London. I laid down my knife and fork to look at him, and he ate it up with a spoon. The other fare is good. Venison and occasionally turtle, salmon, smelt, perch, cod, oysters, frogs, squirrels, quails, turkeys, beef, mutton, pork, &c, with pastry and ice creams, Indian corn, of which the green ear is boiled whole, buttered and eaten as a dog gnaws a bone, sweet potatoes, huge tomatoes, and other vegetables, form our ordinary dinner. Breakfast is similarly abundant, and lasts from 6 to 12. Luncheon comes on from 12.30 to 2.30, dinner from 4to 7, tea from 7.30 to 9, supper from 9 to 12. Though labour is dear here, food is not, the charge for daily board at this, which is one of the best hotels, being 3 dols. Provisions must be cheap indeed, as the head waiter, who had been servant in a gentleman's family in England, told me yesterday his wages were 80dols. a month, or about £240 a , year. But trifles are dear. " A bit," or 6^d, seems the smallest current coin. You have a bottle, or rather glass, of soda water. "How much ?" " A bit," and so on. Education is made much of here. Some of the schools are very fine. I went over the Lincoln " grammar," or, as we should call it, "national" school, though the scholars remain longer than they do with us. It has more than 1000 boys in attendance, and is divided into ten grades or standards, the lowest being the tenth. All but two are taught by mistresses. It is curious to see strapping young fellows of 16, with an incipient moustache, quetly obedient to a woman. The discipline is excellent. I never saw a school in better order. The writing of the tenth grade, where the children were six or seven years of age, was very good. The attainments of the scholars, so far as I could examine into them in two visits were about equal to those of a very good national school in England. The spelling was rather weak, the geography very fair, the arithmetic good and quickly done. More subjects, or at least subjects with more names, were taught than with us. The first grade was having a lesson in " philosophy " while Ijwas present. One boy was called upon to explain the construction of the microscope. Many common things were taught, but when I asked one of the elder scholars, a polite young man, with a ring on his finger, whether they learned Euclid, he did not know what I meant. On my explaining the question, he said that geometry was taught in the High School. The boys were all bright, neat, and remarkably quiet. The frames of their slates were mostly covered with baize, lest they should rattle against the desks. I was kindly welcomed in the room of every grade, and the superintendent, who explained the processes of the school to me, was most courteous. He said that in several respects he preferred the English , system. ; '"' San Franciscans, in common with all Americans, are great readers, especially ■of 'newspapers^ There are many of these, j^jut- the advertisements in some suggest "great credulity^- 1 -en the part of . the Californian public. The Daily Call is now open before me, and I see in one page seven advertisements of astrologers, one of which, as a specimen, announces that " Professor is the only practical planetary and electrical astrologer in the State. He can be consulted upon all sorts of business, law, robbery, sickness, love, or journeys by sea or land ; fee, two dollars: by letter, three. Send the

month of birth and year." Others profess " pure Arabian talismans for . dis*-' covering rich mines." This does not indicate great progress in sound popular education. San Francisco has many churches and chapels. I attended the service in six of them yesterday. None were full. Nowhere, except in the Episcopal churches, was there any provision for kneeling, but the seats were all softly cushioned and very comfortable. A fullblooded negro conducted the service in the Baptist chapel. The congregation was very small, there being only about 42 people in the building, which would hold 500. But the preacher's language was superbly polysyllabic. An excellent sermon was being preached in one of the Presbyterian Churches, which had the best congregation of all. Everywhere the proportion of men in the congregation was great. The Jew's synagogue is tbe most imposing religious edifice in the j city, and the Roman Catholics have the largest number of adherents. I did not, however, visit any of their churches. In two of the churches — Baptist and Presbyterian — the congregation seemed to take no part whatever in the singing, but sat, the ladies all fanning themselves, and listened to a small choir, though hymns, not anthems, were sung, and the people held books in their hands. In both cases there was an organ. One Episcopal church had a surpHced choir and full choral service. Other public buildings are large, and have an air of long- established success. Nothing, however, is more striking than the frequency with which you are reminded of the youth of the city. The first tent was erected by Captain W. A. Bichardson in 1835, and up to 1847 the place bore the name of " Terba Buena." You may meet men in the prime of life who came here before the first house in San Francisco was built. And now it is a thriving city, and spreads like fire. No wonder that the opening of the Atlantic and Pacific Railway has turned the eyes of America to this place, with its bay 100 miles long, and its varied incalculable possibilities of climate, position, and natural wealth, lhave not met with a single travelling Englishman since I have been here. I have searched the books of the lack House and Occidental, leading hotels, and find in page after page no entry of an English arrival. Three or four English came here yesterday. But the rush of visitors is American, and as I have conversed with many, I perceive that they come with a feeling that they are visiting almost another country. A gentleman said to me lately, " I can hardly believe that I am in America.'* The fame of California, however, will soon receive a fresh impulse throughout the continent. There has been here for the last week a large party or deputation of" Oddfellows" from all the States of the Union. They came in a special train, and the city newspapers have been filled with accounts of the various sights and civilities which have been shown to them by the authorities of the place. Wherever you go you meet a man with a riband in bis button-hole, stating that he is a member of such and such a Lodge in such and such a State. These gentlemen all seem portly, prosperous, and full of the impressions which they will soon take back to their own homes. I have no space to tell you of the various excursions to be made in the beautiful bay of San Francisco. Its suburbs are stretching out miles away. I have been steaming and driving east and west, and the number of villas, &c, with wide gardens, already occupied by men of business here is surprising.