his public duties seemed to involve floods of
pretty girls--well, if I were a man it would be my ambition to be mayor
of San Francisco for the rest of my life.

The year I spent in California they were building the Exposition. They
made of that task, as they make of every task, a game and a play and a
lark--a joy and a delight--even though they were building under the most
discouraging conditions that an exposition ever encountered. But nothing
daunts the Californian, and so wood and iron, mortar and paint, grew
steadily into the dream city that later fronted the bay.

As I think it over, I am very glad that I did not tell the Californiacs
how beautiful Massachusetts is. Because it would only have bewildered
them. I am glad that I did not mention to them that I shall always
cherish a kind of feeling for Massachusetts that I can develop for no
other spot. Because it would only have hurt them. You must not tell
a Californiac that you love any place but California or that you have
found beauty elsewhere. It's like breaking an engagement of marriage
with a girl. It's like telling a child that there's no such person as
Santa Claus. There's no tactful way of wording it. It simply can't be
done. And I am very glad that I told the Californiacs all the time
how much I love California, how much I love San Francisco. For beauty,
California is like the fresh, glowing, golden crescent moon; it is
waxing steadily to a noble fullness of development; and San Francisco
is like the glittering evening-star; it fills the Pacific night with the
happy radiance of its light and life. I think of California always--with
its unabated fighting strength--as a champion among States. It takes the
stranger--that champion State--under its mighty protection and gives him
of its strength and happiness. It is more fun to be sick in California
than to be well anywhere else. And I think of San Francisco always--the
spirit of Tamalpais in the air--as an Amazon among cities. Its people
love "the city" because, within the memory of man it was built, and
within the memory of child, rebuilt. They themselves helped to build and
rebuild it. They have worked and fought for it through every inch and
instant of its history. It takes the stranger--that Amazon city--into
its great, warm, beating mother-heart. If you are sick it makes you
well. If you are sad it makes you glad. It infuses you with its working
spirit. It inspires you with its fighting spirit. It asks yo