Surely it is a picture of the steadfast soul in the midst of commotions, when the waves of the sea of human passions "are mighty and rage horribly!" As you look out toward the Farallones, as lights and shadows fall on them, you almost imagine that they are ships from distant shores ploughing their way to the Golden Gate.

But what of the Golden Gate, on which our eyes now rest?
The name naturally recalls to mind the "Golden Gate" in the wall of Theodosius, in Constantinople, with its three arches and twin, marble towers, now indeed walled up to prevent the fulfillment of a prophecy that the Christian Conqueror who is to take the city will enter through it.

A similar belief prevails concerning the Golden Gate of the Temple Area in Jerusalem, which is also effectually barred.

But whoever named it doubtless had in mind the "Golden Horn," that noble right arm of the Bosphorus, embracing Stamboul and its suburbs for five miles up to the "Sweet Waters of Europe." There are indeed some correspondences between the two.

As the wealth of the Orient flows into the Golden Horn, the harbour of Constantinople for many centuries, so the riches of commerce, the products of great states west of the Rocky Mountains, and the treasures of the Pacific, pass through the Golden Gate.