Gilded Age Resort Etiquette of Jewish Society

They laugh to scorn the indolence and apathy of the average Summer visitor, wage war on hammocks, on darkened rooms, stiff table etiquette, and dissipate with their bright smiles the hyper sensitiveness of time-honored invalidism. They ride, they walk, they talk, they row, they swim. They revel in athletic sports; they even climb the tall trees which have stood ward over the valley since the memory of the earliest settler. Nothing is too sacred for their daring approaches.– Image from KQED.org and a 2014 documentary telling the colorful story of how San Francisco became Jews’ American Jerusalem

SUMMER IN SAN RAFAEL

A California Resort After the Newport Style

Jewish Society

Of late years San Rafael has been growing in favor with the Jewish people of San Francisco. This class of citizens constituting an important percentage of our population, is second to none in the city in respectability, education and progressive tendencies. Their presence as a preponderating element in any community insures a respectful observance of the law, thriving homes, educational facilities and a hearty interest in local improvements. 

The Jews who spend the Summer months in San Rafael, are like the permanent residents, a bright, intelligent class, many of whom annually resort thither with a view of establishing a permanent residence. The are in variably accompanied by their chidren, a healthy, handsome set of little people, and parents and children together take more genuine comfort in their Summer's outing than any other class of visitors to San Rafael.

It savors ill of enterprise of the little town, that although in possession of a population of more than 3,000 people, it boasts no public library. Tradition relates that at one time in years gone by, an effort was made to establish a library in the place, and a small number of books, a mere nucleus of a collection, invited the public patronage. But the good people of San Rafael, destitute neither of culture nor of literary taste, were too indolent to put forth the necessary exertion to borrow books, and allowed the undertaking to languish for lack of support. 

A scheme is now under way to meet this crying need, and ere long the Summer visitors will be spared the tedium of life fifteen miles from a bookstore or a library, or relieved from the tiresome alternative of making a long trip cityward to exchange the volumes pro cured from San Francisco associations. To the energetic spirit of the late J.O. Eldridge belongs the entire credit of putting the scheme for a public library in motion, but the work is being ably carried on by his co-workers, Mrs. Stratton, T. B. Morris and Dr. Miller, liberally seconded by wealthy residents of the place.

The Coming Generation

It behoves the conservative visitors of San Rafael to enjoy while they may the quiet and the seclusion, the laziness and inactivity of life in this dainty Summer resort, for the day is swiftly approaching when the existing condition of affairs will be overturned. The young feminine population who are coming to the front are a bright and winsome class, with a fine disregard of conventional laws, an inborn zest for excitement, and little disposition to revere the traditions of their ancestors. The barriers of dignity and reserve behind which their elders are entrenched, fall away at the touch of their iconoclastic fingers.

They laugh to scorn the indolence and apathy of the average Summer visitor, wage war on hammocks, on darkened rooms, stiff table etiquette, and dissipate with their bright smiles the hyper sensitiveness of time-honored invalidism. They ride, they walk, they talk, they row, they swim. They revel in athletic sports; they even climb the tall trees which have stood ward over the valley since the memory of the earliest settler. Nothing is too sacred for their daring approaches. The lazy exile from the city, trying to cultivate a state of chronic lassitude, finds no comfort in their atmosphere. Many among them, including the Misses Forbes, Miss Kittle, Miss Boardman, the Misses Otis, Miss Sears, Miss Walker, Miss Stearns, Miss Harney, Miss McAllister, the Misses Tompkins and the Misses Watt, are graceful and accomplished horsewomen. 

To show the enterprise of these young people, it may be mentioned that on the 30th of May, a score or more among them, chaperoned by two married ladies, formed a riding party, and, equipped with all the essentials for a mountain trip, started out for a three days' jaunt among the hills, making Olema the first night, proceeding to Bear Valley the day after, and returning home by way of Bolinas the next day. This small undertaking is but a slight earnest of their capabilities for energetic exercise. 

Romping, daring, mocking, dragging their unhappy victims to the top of Mt. Tamalpais to view the glorious panorama spread out before him, taking long jaunts through forest and valley, tramping to the waterside, driving spirited horses, the stimulus of their example is working a revolution in the valley. Abetted by the insidious influences of a library, there is no telling where the progressional movement will end; and the only salvation open for the conservative resident is to flee to Ross Valley, where the friendly mountains, the moat and drawbridge of the bay, the happy limitations of the locality, offer a stern and impregnable protection against the onslaughts of the mischievous, meddling outside world.– Daily Alta, 1885

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