We took rooms in a fairly comfortable boarding-house, and settled down for an indefinite time. Our boys went to the public schools, which, in the towns, are very good indeed.
We found a great charm and attraction about San Francisco, with its splendid bay and curious town; the latter, built partly on a tract of land snatched from the sea, and partly on the drifting shifting sand hills, which stretch for miles around, is a triumph of energy and enterprise. Some of the streets had to be carried up at an angle of almost forty-five degrees, and the quays, water front and business quarter are built on what was at one time a shallow part of the bay. Now innumerable electric and cable cars fly up and down the steep hill streets. It is a strange sensation to "go the round trip" on any of these beautifully built machines; a sensation not altogether comfortable at first. One seems to be either slipping down the polished seats, on to the top of the next person, from the steep upward incline of the car, or one is trying to look quite easy-minded as the thing glides smoothly up to the edge of a cliff, and, without pause, runs straight down the face of it. Accidents, however, seem very rare, and all is so well managed, that one soon forgets to be uneasy, and some of these rides are delightful. One in particular—to the Cliff House—where the railroad is cut out of the cliff half way up its steep side, with the beautiful Pacific Ocean spread out below, and the Golden Gate in full view, is magnificent. China Town was thrillingly interesting to us, and we behaved like veritable gamins, hanging and dawdling about, flattening our noses against windows, and trying to see all we could of the ways of these mysterious people. Our impressions were, and still remain, that they are marvellously quick and clever, but unlovely.
Now began again the same diligent search that had kept us so busy in the South; far and near, to different neighbourhoods on all sides we went, seeing a great deal, and receiving much kindness from strangers, anxious to aid us to find what we wanted. Indeed, all over the United States we were impressed with the goodwill everyone showed, taking trouble and thought to help us if possible, and ready to be most hospitable, though we were absolute strangers.
This was often very comforting during those long months of undecided wanderings, when we felt so particularly homeless, and so anxious about the future, and the great importance of choosing wisely.
We were often amused to find what very unexpected people had ranches, somewhere in the Golden State. The black porter on the train; the man who swept out and attended to the church opposite our boarding-house; the driver of the hotel omnibus; our Chinese laundryman, and the Irish woman who succeeded him. This last-named proprietor was very anxious to warn us against unwise speculations. She considered speculation the only business worth going into, and herself made quite a good deal in this way. Then there was the learnèd head of a university, and the pretty young lady teacher at one of the Normal schools; also the rich Easterner, coming over three thousand miles in his private car to escape the cruel winter of the East. All these had ranches of different kinds, and all were ready to help and advise.
The only people whom we were very shy of consulting were the "real estate" men. It is true we had many a useful drive with them to inspect new neighbourhoods, but we would never have dreamt of buying on their recommendation. We had heard too much from others of the tricks they play, and the schemes they carry through, to influence possible buyers, and we took a rather wicked delight in making them useful, while remaining perfectly independent of them. We discovered that everyone who had a ranch spoke as though that part of the State were the only possible neighbourhood where ranching was sure to pay; yet we could not but notice that each one was most ready to sell his ranch.
It is said that every ranch in California is for sale, if the proper price be offered. But an explanation of this is that there seems to be a kind of restlessness and a speculative spirit in all Americans, which leads them to undertake everything in a tentative spirit, and makes them always ready to change, if any profit or advantage can be assured. Most of the ranches have that air, very plain at least to English eyes; there is nearly always the appearance of the owner being ready to move on to something else.
Such changes are regarded in America as perfectly natural occurrences. A man who changes his business often, from whatever cause, in England is looked upon as unsteady and unreliable, almost good for nothing in fact; but here the habit is so universal that it calls forth no comment.
Considering how very difficult it is for an ordinary young man entering upon life to hit upon just the best thing for his abilities and tastes, it seems a sensible view to take that the door should be left open for change, without any slur being cast on the stability or steadiness of the worker.
The changes made by men over here are most unexpected and often quite startling. The man who did all the hauling of our heavy furniture out to the ranch from the water front in San Miguel, some seventeen miles by road, was once a lawyer in the East. The indoor life did not suit him, and he never really liked his profession, so he came out here and has drifted into this, becoming one of the most skilled teamsters in all the neighbourhood.