It is said that hundreds
were turned away. The writer and his friends considered themselves
fortunate to be able to thread their way through the crowd without
being crushed or having their garments torn. It was the grandest
function of a social character which ever took place on the Pacific
coast. The costly paintings adorning chambers, galleries and reception
rooms, the splendid specimens of statuary, the numerous pictures,
the brilliant lights, the strains of joyous music, but above all the
moving throng of handsome women beautifully arrayed, and the noble
bearing of Bishop, Priest and layman, with the fine intellectual faces
seen on all sides, made this reception a scene never to be forgotten.
Who, in the days of forty-nine, would have dreamed that, a little over
a half a century later, there would be such a magnificent gathering
of intellect and beauty,--men and women with lofty aims and noted for
their achievements in letters and art, and their prominence in Church
and State, and excelling in virtuous deeds, on a hill which was then a
barren waste of shifting sands?
While I am speaking of the reception in the Hopkins' Art Institute, I
may note that Californians have a great love for art.
Pages:
89
90
91
92
93
94
95
96
97
98
99
100
101
102
103
104
105
106
107
108
109
110
111
112
113