Hospitality stretched to its utmost limits in California during the ’seventies. Anything the state produced belonged to the meanest of God’s creatures. I remember being invited to visit at a country place and, walking over the estate, hesitated to pick any of the fruit. I was laughed at.
“The fruit grows on the trees for any man to pick,” said my host.
It was literally true: but the memory of being whipped, in Concord days, for climbing a wall and picking a pear, was too recent for me to understand this point of view.
One of the most lavish entertainers, and a man to whom the city of San Francisco owes a great debt, was William Ralston. He started numberless civic enterprises, one of which was a hotel which was to make her famous the world over; and he imbued that hotel with a spirit, a hospitality, and an atmosphere which have endured to the present time. Into every detail of this hostelry he put the most loving care. After the fire of 1906, which completely demolished the inside, the walls remained as stanch and firm as they ever were and completely earthquake proof—due to their enormous thickness.
The rooms were built around a central court, very much like a patio. Horses and carriages drove right in here, depositing guests almost at the office desk. The furniture for all the rooms was made of solid mahogany which Mr. Ralston brought all the way from South America in a big white fleet sent down for the purpose. Nothing more completely Western or completely comfortable could be imagined. If you stopped at the Palace Hotel, you were certain to get the feeling that you were somebody’s personal guest and that that somebody had taken a great deal of trouble for your ease and enjoyment.
In his own home at Belmont, Mr. Ralston was an extravagant host. The immense house was always crowded with guests, and from a specially constructed gallery he looked down (like an Emperor of Rome) upon these numbers of people, each one amusing himself according to his own personal desire. But emperors fall, and there are always people jealous of a dictator, no matter how just he may be. Ralston lived for others and consequently trusted others; therefore, the blow must have been harder to bear when it fell.
I saw him the day he was asked to resign from the presidency of the California Bank. It was right after he had left the board of directors. He did not act in any way unusual, but came out of the building, went straight to his carriage, and drove away. That was in the morning. The evening papers had the account of his suicide. He had gone out to North Beach to have his daily swim, and, contrary to his usual habit, left his watch and valuables in the life saver’s hands, waded into the water, and was gone.
One could hardly pass over the dreamers of the West without telling of the greatest of them all—the Emperor Norton. His was a vision worth having, for he believed himself the deposed ruler of the vast kingdom of the United States. Foully ousted from his throne, he was only biding the time when he would come into what was rightfully his. I suppose “the few faithful subjects,” who stuck to him were the citizens of San Francisco. At any rate, they furnished him with a living and the few luxuries he deemed necessary in his exile. They called him a “natural,” but I often suspected him of being more clever than they knew.
The Emperor looked very much like General Grant, perhaps because of his bushy beard and long blue army coat. In his top hat he wore a feather and elaborate gold epaulets on his shoulders, while across his breast were rows and rows of medals. He was in no way shabby, and, in spite of his costume, gave the impression of mighty dignity. No one laughed at him, no one interfered with him, and he went his way, receiving everything he wanted without paying a cent. Charity? Not at all. He took it as his right. The street cars belonged to him; therefore, he rode for nothing.
He always looked neat, with his boots beautifully polished—again gratis—by any bootblack in the town. Many times he came into our store, asked to see some articles of merchandise, looked them over carefully, and selecting what he wanted, said ponderously: