In 1874 there was forced upon the citizens of San Francisco the necessity of taking steps to give better care and opportunity to the neglected children of the community.  A poorly conducted reform school was encouraging crime instead of effecting reform.  On every hand was heard the question, “What shall we do with our boys?” Encouraged by the reports of what had been accomplished in New York City by Charles L. Brace, correspondence was entered into, and finally The Boys and Girls Aid Society was organized.  Difficulty was encountered in finding any one willing to act as president of the organization, but George C. Hickox, a well-known banker, was at last persuaded and became much interested in the work.  For some time it was a difficult problem to secure funds to meet the modest expenses.  A lecture by Charles Kingsley was a flat failure.  Much more successful was an entertainment at Platt’s Hall at which well-known citizens took part in an old-time spelling-match.  In a small building in Clementina Street we began with neighborhood boys, who were at first wild and unruly.  Senator George C. Perkins became interested, and for more than forty years served as president.  Through him Senator Fair gave five thousand dollars and later the two valuable fifty-vara lots at Grove and Baker streets, still occupied by the Home.  We issued a little paper, Child and State, in which we appealed for a building, and a copy fell into the hands of Miss Helen McDowell, daughter of the General.  She sent it to Miss Hattie Crocker, who passed it to her father, Charles Crocker, of railroad fame.  He became interested and wrote for particulars, and when the plans were submitted he told us to go ahead and build, sending the bills to him.  These two substantial gifts made possible the working out of our plans, and the results have been very encouraging.  When the building was erected, on the advice of the experts of the period, two lockups were installed, one without light.  Experience soon convinced us that they could be dispensed with, and both were torn out.  An honor system was substituted, to manifest advantage, and failures to return when boys are permitted to visit parents are negligible in number.  The three months of summer vacation are devoted to berry-picking, with satisfaction to growers and to the boys, who last year earned eleven thousand dollars, of which seven thousand dollars was paid to the boys who participated, in proportion to the amount earned.

William C. Ralston was able, daring, and brilliant.  In 1864 he organized the Bank of California, which, through its Virginia City connection and the keenness and audacity of William Sharon, practically monopolized the big business of the Comstock, controlling mines, milling, and transportation.  In San Francisco it was the bank, and its earnings were huge.  Ralston was public-spirited and enterprising.  He backed all kinds of schemes as well as many legitimate undertakings.  He seemed the great power of the