The Club life of San Francisco is an important element; and it will be an easy matter for you to find admittance to the Pacific Union Club, the Cosmos Club, or the Bohemian Club, if you have the indorsement of a member.  A letter of introduction or commendation from a clergyman or some well-known public man will secure for you the Open Sesame at any time; and here you can pass an hour pleasantly and meet the foremost men of the city, physicians, clergymen, lawyers, merchants, and army officers.

But we hasten on now to the old Mission Dolores.  Let us board the street car which leads to its door.  Meanwhile we have an opportunity to study what is called the Market Street system.  Rumour hath it that the street railways will soon pass into the hands of a syndicate with capitalists from Baltimore at the head of it.  The estimated value of the various lines is said to be over fourteen millions of dollars.  These cars are excellent in service, and they climb up the hills of San Francisco with perfect ease.  You feel, on some of the lines, as ascent is so steep, that the car is about to stand on end, and you cling to your seat lest you lose your balance; but you are perfectly safe.  They will take you in every direction as they run through all principal streets and out to Golden Gate Park and the Cliff House as well as to distant points in the suburbs of San Francisco.

Away back in the early days of the city the Mission was reached by a plank road from the shores of the Bay; but now you ride to its doors in comfort.  The Mission Dolores located in the western part of the city will always be a place of special interest.  It carries you back to 1776, the same year in which the American Colonies declared themselves to be free and independent of Great Britain.  The Mission was founded under the supervision of Padre Miguel Jose Serra Junipero, a native of the island of Majorca, who was born on Nov. 24th, 1713.  At the age of 16 years he joined the order of St. Francis of Assisi, and in 1750 he went as a missionary to the city of Mexico.  It was in 1769 that he arrived in San Diego and established its Mission.  Proceeding up the coast he founded other Missions, and his desire was to name one in honour of the founder of his order.  Said he to Don Jose de Galvez, the leader of the expedition from Mexico to California, “Is St. Francis to have no Mission?” The answer was, “Let him show us his port, and he shall have one.”  In consequence of this the San Francisco Mission was established.  The solemn mass which marked its foundation was celebrated by Padres Palou, Cambon, Nocedal and Pena; and on the occasion firearms were discharged as a token of thanks to God, and also for the purpose of attracting the Indians, though it was difficult for them to understand it.  The Indians were hard to win at San Francisco, but a piece of cloth, with the image of “Our Lady de Los Dolores,” on it, was exhibited to them and it produced a marvellous effect.  Pictures seem to have a peculiar attraction