this, one of the last rehcs of gambling saloons, fell forever out of sight, a new iron fence enclosed the plaza, fresh grass covered its hitherto unsightly face, and the citizens of San Francisco looked hopefully forward to the good time which had been so long in coming.
The gambler is almost always well dressed. No class in California are so scrupulously neat in all their belongings. Nor is he always an idler, knave, or fool. He knows that his profession is not ranked among the most honorable, but he does not intend always to follow it. He would make a fortune and then retire. He is not without generous impulses, but they spring, like the sympathy of a spoiled child or the passion of a femme perdu, from apparently trifling causes rather than from principle.
The Alia of the 27th of May, 1850, announces the completion of the Empire gambling saloon and the main floor of the Parker House as one would speak of the opening of the Suez canal or the bridging of Niagara. "The room is about 140 feet in length," says the editor, *'by 50 in width, with a lofty ceiling, and is decorated in the most magnificent manner. It is painted in fresco by Messrs Fairchild and Duchean, and is certainly a most creditable evidence of their artistic skill and taste. We do not know of any public room in any portion of the United States of so great an extent, or possessing such elegant decorations and embellishments. Our New Orleans and New York friends would scarcely believe that they could be so far excelled in California. The Parker House, the lower floor, was also opened. The room is of about the same size, and handsomely fitted up, although not with quite so much elegance as the Empire. As yet but one story is completed, but it is contemplated to carry out the entire building on the same extensive and elegant plan. The rapidity with which these places of public resort have been completed speaks much for the enterprise of the proprietors."
