will give you the finest site in the world for a city, with state-house
and residences built and ready for your free occupation." And so it was
agreed, and the general made ready for the coming of the legislature.

Meanwhile, to the American alcalde, who had established his rule at
Yerba Buena, a trading hamlet in the cove opposite the island of that
name and nucleus of the present San Francisco, came Folsom, United
States army captain and quartermaster, to whom had been given certain
lots of land in Yerba Buena, and said: "Why not call the town San
Francisco, and bring hither ships which clear from various ports for San
Francisco bay?" And so it was done; the fine plans of the Mexican
general fell to the ground, and the name Benicia was given to what had
been Francesca. A year or two later, with five hundred ships of the
gold-seekers anchored off the cove, not all the men and money in the
country could have moved the town from its ill-chosen location.

Opportunity is much the same in various times and places, whether
fortuitous or forced. More men make opportunity than are made by it,
particularly among those who achieve great success. Land being
unavailable, Venice the beautiful was built upon the water, while the
Hollanders manage to live along the centuries below sea level.

The builders of Chicago possessed varied abilities of a high order, not
least among which was the faculty of working together. They realized at
an early date that the citizens and the city are one; whatever of
advantage they might secure to their city would be returned to them by
their city fourfold.

"Oh, I do love this old town!" one of them was heard to exclaim as,
returning from the station, his cab paddled through the slushy streets