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 you to work and fight with it.
Massachusetts never permitted me to work or fight for it. Woman is as
yet, in no real sense, a citizen there. And the result is that I love
California as I love no other State, and San Francisco as I love no
other city. I have no real criticism to bring against the Californiac.
In fact, reader - ah, I see you've guessed it. I'm a Californiac
myself.