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| author | Roger Frank <rfrank@pglaf.org> | 2025-10-15 04:41:52 -0700 |
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| committer | Roger Frank <rfrank@pglaf.org> | 2025-10-15 04:41:52 -0700 |
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diff --git a/.gitattributes b/.gitattributes new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6833f05 --- /dev/null +++ b/.gitattributes @@ -0,0 +1,3 @@ +* text=auto +*.txt text +*.md text diff --git a/13321-0.txt b/13321-0.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..01e7ea4 --- /dev/null +++ b/13321-0.txt @@ -0,0 +1,6720 @@ +*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 13321 *** + +[Illustration: Life at the Mission of Dolores, 1855] + + + IN THE + FOOTPRINTS OF + THE PADRES + + BY + CHARLES WARREN STODDARD + + + NEW AND ENLARGED EDITION + + + INTRODUCTION BY + CHARLES PHILLIPS + + + SAN FRANCISCO + A.M. Robertson + MCMXII + + + + + + TO MY FATHER + SAMUEL BURR STODDARD, ESQ. + FOR HALF A CENTURY + A CITIZEN OF SAN FRANCISCO + + + + + THOUGH THE KINDNESS OF THE EDITORS + OF THE SAN FRANCISCO CHRONICLE, + THE CENTURY MAGAZINE, THE + OVERLAND MONTHLY, THE + AVE MARIA, NOTRE DAME, INDIANA, + THE VICTORIAN REVIEW, MELBOURNE + + + + +INTRODUCTION + + +Since the first and second editions of "In the Footprints of the Padres" +appeared, many things have transpired. San Francisco has been destroyed +and rebuilt, and in its holocaust most of the old landmarks mentioned in +the pages that follow as then existing, have been obliterated. Since +then, too, the gentle heart, much of whose story is told herein, has +been hushed in death. Charles Warren Stoddard has followed on in the +footprints of the Padres he loved so well. He abides with us no longer, +save in the sweetest of memories, memories which are kept ever new by +the unforgettable writings which he left behind him. He passed away +April 23, 1909, and lies sleeping now under the cypresses of his beloved +Monterey. + +Charles Warren Stoddard was possessed of unique literary gifts that were +all his own. These gifts shine out in the pages of this book. Here we +find that mustang humor of his forever kicking its silver heels with the +most upsetting suddenness into the honeyed sweetness of his flowing +poetry. Here, too, we find that gift of word-painting which makes all +his writings a brilliant gallery of rich-hued and soft-lighted wonder. +Of the green thickets of the redwood forests he says, in "Primeval +California": "A dense undergrowth of light green foliage caught and held +the sunlight like so much spray." So do Stoddard's pages catch and hold +the lights and shadows of a world which is the more beautiful because he +beheld it and sang of it--for sing he did. His prose is the essence of +poetry. + +In my autograph copy of "The Footprints of the Padres" Stoddard wrote: +"A new memory of Old Monterey is the richer for our meeting here for the +first time in the flesh. We have often met in spirit ere this." Whenever +we would go walking together, he and I, through the streets of that old +Monterey, old no longer save in memory, he would invariably take me to a +certain high board fence, and looking through an opening show me the +ruins of an adobe house--nothing but a broken fireplace left, moss-grown +and crumbling away. "That is my old California," he would say, while his +sweet voice was shaken with tears. That desolated hearth seemed to him +the symbol of the California which he had known and loved.... But no, +the old California that Stoddard loved lives on, and will, because he +caught and preserved its spirit and its coloring, its light and life and +music. As the redwood thicket holds the sunlight, so do Stoddard's words +keep bright and living, though viewed through a mist of tears, the +California of other days. + +In this new edition of "The Footprints" some changes will be found, +changes which all will agree make an improvement over the original +volume. "Primeval California," first published in October, 1881, in the +old Scribner's (now The Century) Magazine, when James G. Holland was its +editor, is at times Stoddard at his best. "In Yosemite Shadows" shows us +the young Stoddard full of boyish enthusiasm--he could not have been +more than twenty when it was written and published, in the old Overland, +then edited by Bret Harte. It is more than a gloriously poetic +description of Yosemite, when Yosemite still dreamed in its virgin +beauty; it is the revelation of a poet's beginnings, for it gives us in +the rough, just finding their way to the light, all those gifts which +later won Stoddard his fame. + +The third addition to this volume is "An Affair of the Misty City," a +valuable chapter, since it is wholly autobiographical, and at the same +time embodies pen portraits of all the celebrities of California's first +literary days, that famous group of which Stoddard was one. Of all the +group, Ina Coolbrith was closest and dearest to Stoddard's heart. The +beautiful abiding friendship which bound the souls of these two poets +together has not been surpassed in all the poetry and romance of the +world. These last added chapters are taken from "In the Pleasure of His +Company," which is out of print and may never be republished. + +The "Mysterious History," included in the original editions of "The +Footprints" has wisely been left out. It had no proper place in the +book: Stoddard himself felt that. The additions which have been supplied +by Mr. Robertson, who was for years Stoddard's publisher, and in whom +the author reposed the utmost confidence, make a real improvement on the +original book. + +"We have often met in spirit ere this," Stoddard wrote me. We had; and +we meet again and again. I feel him very near me as I write these words; +and I feel, too, that his gentle soul will visit everyone who reads the +chronicles he has here set down, so that even though no shaft rise in +marble glory to mark his last resting place, still in unnumbered hearts +his memory will be enshrined. With his poet friend, Thomas Walsh, well +may we say: + + "Vain the laudation!--What are crowns and praise + To thee whom Youth anointed on the eyes? + We have but known the lesser heart of thee + Whose spirit bloomed in lilies down the ways + Of Padua; whose voice perpetual sighs + On Molokai in tides of melody." + +CHARLES PHILLIPS. + + San Francisco, + September first, + Nineteen hundred and eleven. + + + + +TABLE OF CONTENTS + + + Old Days in El Dorado-- + I. "Strange Countries for to See" + II. Crossing the Isthmus + III. Along the Pacific Shore + IV. In the Wake of Drake + V. Atop o' Telegraph Hill + VI. Pavement Pictures + VII. A Boy's Outing + VIII. The Mission Dolores + IX. Social San Francisco + X. Happy Valley + XI. The Vigilance Committee + XII. The Survivor's Story + + A Bit of Old China + + With the Egg-Pickers of the Farallones + + A Memory of Monterey + + In a Californian Bungalow + + Primeval California + + Inland Yachting + + In Yosemite Shadows + + An Affair of the Misty City-- + I. What the Moon Shone on + II. What the Sun Shone on + III. Balm of Hurt Wounds + IV. By the World Forgot + + + + + +LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS + + Life at the Mission of Dolores, 1855 + View of Montgomery, Post and Market Streets, San Francisco, 1858 + Fort Point at the Golden Gate + The Outer Signal Station at the Golden Gate + City of Oakland in 1856 + Interior of the El Dorado + Warner's at Meigg's Wharf + The Old Flume at Black Point, 1856 + Lone Mountain, 1856 + Russ Gardens, 1856 + Certificate of Membership, Vigilance Committee, 1856 + West from Black Point, 1856 + "China is Not More Chinese than this Section of Our Christian City." + "Rag Alley" in Old Chinatown + The Farallones + Murre on their Nests, Farallone Islands + Monterey, 1850 + San Carlos de Carmelo + "The Huge Court of that Luxurious Caravansary." + "The Gallery Among the Huge Vases of Palms and Creepers." + Meigg's Wharf in 1856 + Telegraph Hill, 1855 + Sentinel Hotel, Yosemite, in 1869 + San Francisco in 1856 + + + + + +THE BELLS OF SAN GABRIEL + + + Thine was the corn and the wine, + The blood of the grape that nourished; + The blossom and fruit of the vine + That was heralded far away. + These were thy gifts; and thine, + When the vine and the fig-tree flourished, + The promise of peace and of glad increase + Forever and ever and aye. + What then wert thou, and what art now? + Answer me, O, I pray! + + And every note of every bell + Sang Gabriel! Rang Gabriel! + In the tower that is left the tale to tell + Of Gabriel, the Archangel. + + Oil of the olive was thine; + Flood of the wine-press flowing; + Blood o' the Christ was the wine-- + Blood o' the Lamb that was slain. + Thy gifts were fat o' the kine + Forever coming and going + Far over the hills, the thousand hills-- + Their lowing a soft refrain. + What then wert thou, and what art now? + Answer me, once again! + + And every note of every bell + Sang Gabriel! Rang Gabriel! + In the tower that is left the tale to tell + Of Gabriel, the Archangel. + + Seed o' the corn was thine-- + Body of Him thus broken + And mingled with blood o' the vine-- + The bread and the wine of life; + Out of the good sunshine + They were given to thee as a token-- + The body of Him, and the blood of Him, + When the gifts of God were rife. + What then wert thou, and what art now, + After the weary strife? + + And every note of every bell + Sang Gabriel! Rang Gabriel! + In the tower that is left the tale to tell + Of Gabriel, the Archangel. + + Where are they now, O, bells? + Where are the fruits o' the mission? + Garnered, where no one dwells, + Shepherd and flock are fled. + O'er the Lord's vineyard swells + The tide that with fell perdition + Sounded their doom and fashioned their tomb + And buried them with the dead. + What then wert thou, and what art now?-- + The answer is still unsaid. + + And every note of every bell + Sang Gabriel! Rang Gabriel! + In the tower that is left the tale to tell + Of Gabriel, the Archangel. + + Where are they now, O tower! + The locusts and wild honey? + Where is the sacred dower + That the bride of Christ was given? + Gone to the wielders of power, + The misers and minters of money; + Gone for the greed that is their creed-- + And these in the land have thriven. + What then wer't thou, and what art now, + And wherefore hast thou striven? + + And every note of every bell + Sang Gabriel! Rang Gabriel! + In the tower that is left the tale to tell + Of Gabriel, the Archangel. + +CHARLES WARREN STODDARD. + + + + +IN THE FOOTPRINTS OF THE PADRES + + + + + +[Illustration: View of Montgomery, Post and Market Streets, San +Francisco, 1858] + + + + +OLD DAYS IN EL DORADO + +I. + +"STRANGE COUNTRIES FOR TO SEE" + + +Now, the very first book was called "Infancy"; and, having finished it, +I closed it with a bang! I was just twelve. 'Tis thus the +twelve-year-old is apt to close most books. Within those pages--perhaps +some day to be opened to the kindly inquiring eye--lie the records of a +quiet life, stirred at intervals by spasms of infantile intensity. There +are more days than one in a life that can be written of, and when the +clock strikes twelve the day is but half over. + +The clock struck twelve! We children had been watching and waiting for +it. The house had been stripped bare; many cases of goods were awaiting +shipment around Cape Horn to California. California! A land of fable! We +knew well enough that our father was there, and had been for two years +or more; and that we were at last to go to him, and dwell there with the +fabulous in a new home more or less fabulous,--yet we felt that it must +be altogether lovely. We said good-bye to everybody,--getting friends +and fellow-citizens more or less mixed as the hour of departure from our +native city drew near. We were very much hugged and very much kissed and +not a little cried over; and then at last, in a half, dazed condition, +we left Rochester, New York, for New York city, on our way to San +Francisco by the Nicaragua route. This was away back in 1855, when San +Francisco, it may be said, was only six years old. + +It seemed a supreme condescension on the part of our maternal +grandfather that he, who did not and could not for a moment countenance +the theatre, should voluntarily take us, one and all, to see an alleged +dramatic representation at Barnum's Museum--at that time one of the +features of New York city, and perhaps the most famous place of +amusement in the land. Four years later, when I was sixteen, very far +from home and under that good gentleman's watchful supervision, I asked +leave to witness a dramatic version of "Uncle Tom's Cabin," enacted by a +small company of strolling players in a canvas tent. There were no +blood-hounds in the cast, and mighty little scenery, or anything else +alluring; but I was led to believe that I had been trembling upon the +verge of something direful, and I was not allowed to go. What would that +pious man have said could he have seen me, a few years later, strutting +and fretting my hour upon the stage? + +Well, we all saw "Damon and Pythias" in Barnum's "Lecture Room," with +real scenery that split up the middle and slid apart over a carpet of +green baize. And 'twas a real play, played by real players,--at least +they were once real players, but that was long before. It may be their +antiquated and failing art rendered them harmless. And, then, those +beguiling words "Lecture Room" have such a soothing sound! They seemed +in those days to hallow the whole function, which was, of course, the +wily wish of the great moral entertainer; and his great moral +entertainment was even as "the cups that cheer but not inebriate." It +came near it in our case, however. It was our first matinee at the +theatre, and, oh, the joy we took of it! Years afterward did we children +in our playroom, clad in "the trailing garments of the night" in lieu of +togas, sink our identity for the moment and out-rant Damon and his +Pythias. Thrice happy days so long ago in California! + +There is no change like a sea change, no matter who suffers it; and +one's first sea voyage is a revelation. The mystery of it is usually not +unmixed with misery. Five and forty years ago it was a very serious +undertaking to uproot one's self, say good-bye to all that was nearest +and dearest, and go down beyond the horizon in an ill-smelling, +overcrowded, side-wheeled tub. Not a soul on the dock that day but fully +realized this. The dock and the deck ran rivers of tears, it seemed to +me; and when, after the lingering agony of farewells had reached the +climax, and the shore-lines were cast off, and the Star of the West +swung out into the stream, with great side-wheels fitfully revolving, a +shriek rent the air and froze my young blood. Some mother parting from a +son who was on board our vessel, no longer able to restrain her emotion, +was borne away, frantically raving in the delirium of grief. I have +never forgotten that agonizing scene, or the despairing wail that was +enough to pierce the hardest heart. I imagined my heart was about to +break; and when we put out to sea in a damp and dreary drizzle, and the +shore-line dissolved away, while on board there was overcrowding, and +confusion worse confounded in evidence everywhere,--perhaps it did +break, that overwrought heart of mine and has been a patched thing ever +since. + +We were a miserable lot that night, pitched to and fro and rolled from +side to side as if we were so much baggage. And there was a special +horror in the darkness, as well as in the wind that hissed through the +rigging, and in the waves that rushed past us, sheeted with foam that +faded ghostlike as we watched it,--faded ghostlike, leaving the +blackness of darkness to enfold us and swallow us up. + +Day after day for a dozen days we ploughed that restless sea. There were +days into which the sun shone not; when everybody and everything was +sticky with salty distillations; when half the passengers were sea-sick +and the other half sick of the sea. The decks were slimy, the cabins +stuffy and foul. The hours hung heavily, and the horizon line closed in +about us a gray wall of mist. + +Then I used to bury myself in my books and try to forget the world, now +lost to sight, and, as I sometimes feared, never to be found again. I +had brought my private library with me; it was complete in two volumes. +There was "Rollo Crossing the Atlantic," by dear old Jacob Abbot; and +this book of juvenile travel and adventure I read on the spot, as it +were,--read it carefully, critically; flattering myself that I was a lad +of experience, capable of detecting any nautical error which Jacob, one +of the most prolific authors of his day, might perchance have made. The +other volume was a pocket copy of "Robinson Crusoe," upon the fly-leaf +of which was scrawled, in an untutored hand, "Charley from +Freddy,"--this Freddy was my juvenile chum. I still have that little +treasure, with its inscription undimmed by time. + +Frequently I have thought that the reading of this charming book may +have been the predominating influence in the development of my taste and +temper; for it was while I was absorbed in the exquisitely pathetic +story of Robinson Crusoe that the first island I ever saw dawned upon my +enchanted vision. We had weathered Cape Sable and the Florida Keys. No +sky was ever more marvellously blue than the sea beneath us. The density +and the darkness that prevail in Northern waters had gone out of it; the +sun gilded it, the moon silvered it, and the great stars dropped their +pearl-plummets into it in the vain search for soundings. + +Sea gardens were there,--floating gardens adrift in the tropic gale; +pale green gardens of berry and leaf and long meandering vine, rocking +upon the waves that lapped the shores of the Antilles, feeding the +current of the warm Gulf Stream; and, forsooth, some of them to find +their way at last into the mazes of that mysterious, mighty, menacing +sargasso sea. Strange sea-monsters, more beautiful than monstrous, +sported in the foam about our prow, and at intervals dashed it with +color like animated rainbows. From wave to wave the flying fish skimmed +like winged arrows of silver. Sometimes a land-bird was blown across the +sky--the sea-birds we had always with us,--and ever the air was spicy +and the breeze like a breath of balm. + +One day a little cloud dawned upon our horizon. It was at first pale +and pearly, then pink like the hollow of a sea-shell, then misty +blue,--a darker blue, a deep blue dissolving into green, and the green +outlining itself in emerald, with many a shade of lighter or darker +green fretting its surface, throwing cliff and crest into high relief, +and hinting at misty and mysterious vales, as fair as fathomless. It +floated up like a cloud from the nether world, and was at first without +form and void, even as its fellows were; but as we drew nearer--for we +were steaming toward it across a sea of sapphire,--it brooded upon the +face of the water, while the clouds that had hung about it were +scattered and wafted away. + +Thus was an island born to us of sea and sky,--an island whose peak was +sky-kissed, whose vales were overshadowed by festoons of vapor, whose +heights were tipped with sunshine, and along whose shore the sea sang +softly, and the creaming breakers wreathed themselves, flashed like +snow-drifts, vanished and flashed again. The sea danced and sparkled; +the air quivered with vibrant light. Along the border of that island the +palm-trees towered and reeled, and all its gardens breathed perfume such +as I had never known or dreamed of. + +For a few hours only we basked in its beauty, rejoiced in it, gloried in +it; and then we passed it by. Even as it had risen from the sea it +returned into its bosom and was seen no more. Twilight stole in between +us, and the night blotted it out forever. Forever? + +I wonder what island it was? A pearl of the Antilles, surely; but its +name and fame, its history and mystery are lost to me. Its memory lives +and is as green as ever. No wintry blasts visit it; even the rich dyes +of autumn do not discolor it. It is perennial in its rare beauty, +unfading, unforgotten, unforgettable; a thing immutable, immemorial--I +had almost said immortal. + +Whence it came and whither it has gone I know not. It had its rising and +its setting; its day from dawn to dusk was perfect. Doubtless there are +those whose lives have been passed within its tranquil shade: from +generation to generation it has known all that they have known of joy or +sorrow. All the world that they have knowledge of has been compassed by +the far blue rim of the horizon. That sky-piercing peak was ever the +centre of their universe, and the wandering sea-bird has outflown their +thoughts. + +All this came to me as a child, when the first island "swam into my +ken." It was a great discovery--a revelation. Of it were born all the +islands that have been so much to me in later life. And even then I +seemed to comprehend the singular life that all islanders are forced to +live: the independence of that life--for a man's island is his fortress, +girded about with the fathomless moat of the sea; and the dependence of +it--for what is that island but an atom dotting watery space and so +easily cut off from communication with the world at large? Drought may +visit the islander, and he may be starved; the tornado may desolate his +shore; fever and famine and thirst may lie in wait for him; sickness and +sorrow and death abide with him. Thus is he dependent in his +independence. + +And he is insecluded in his seclusion, for he can not escape from the +intruder. He should have no wish that may not be satisfied, provided he +be native born; what can he wish for that is beyond the knowledge he has +gained from the objects within his reach? The world is his, so far as he +knows it; yet if he have one wish that calls for aught beyond his +limited horizon he rests unsatisfied. + +All that was lovely in that tropic isle appealed to me and filled me +with a great longing. I wanted to sing with the Beloved Bard: + + Oh, had we some bright little isle of our own, + In the blue summer ocean, far off and alone! + +And yet even then I felt its unutterable loneliness, as I have felt it a +thousand times since; the loneliness that starves the heart, tortures +the brain, and leaves the mind diseased; the loneliness that is +exemplified in the solitude of Alexander Selkirk. + +Robinson Crusoe lived in very truth for me the moment I saw and +comprehended that summer isle. He also is immortal. From that hour we +scoured the sea for islands: from dawn to dark we were on the watch. The +Caribbean Sea is well stocked with them. We were threading our way among +them, and might any day hear the glad cry of "Land ho!" But we heard it +not until the morning of the eleventh day out from New York. The sea +seemed more lonesome than ever when we lost our, island; the monotony of +our life was almost unbroken. We began to feel as prisoners must feel +whose _time_ is near out. Oh, how the hours lagged!--but deliverance was +at hand. At last we gave a glad shout, for the land was ours again; we +were to disembark in the course of a few hours, and all was bustle and +confusion until we dropped anchor off the Mosquito Shore. + + + + +II. + +CROSSING THE ISTHMUS + + +We approached the Mosquito Shore timidly. The shallowing sea was of the +color of amber; the land so low and level that the foliage which covered +it seemed to be rooted in the water. We dropped anchor in the mouth of +the San Juan River. On our right lay the little Spanish village of San +Juan del Norte; its five hundred inhabitants may have been wading +through its one street at that moment, for aught we know; the place +seemed to be knee-deep in water. On our left was a long strip of +land--the depot and coaling station of the Vanderbilt Steamship Company. + +It did not appear to be much, that sandspit known as Punta Arenas, with +its row of sheds at the water's edge, and its scattering shrubs tossing +in the wind; but sovereignty over this very point was claimed by three +petty powers: Costa Rica, Nicaragua, and "Mosquito." Great Britain +backed the "Mosquito" claim; and, in virtue of certain privileges +granted by the "Mosquito" King, the authorities of San Juan del +Norte--the port better known in those days as Graytown, albeit 'twas as +green as grass--threatened to seize Punta Arenas for public use. +Thereupon Graytown was bombarded; but immediately rose, Phoenix-like, +from its ashes, and was flourishing when we arrived. The current number +of _Harper's Monthly_, a copy of which we brought on board when we +embarked at New York, contained an illustrated account of the +bombardment of Graytown, which added not a little to the interest of the +hour. + +While we were speculating as to the nature of our next experience, +suddenly a stern-wheel, flat-bottom boat backed up alongside of the Star +of the West. She was of the pattern of the small freight-boats that +still ply the Ohio and Mississippi rivers. If the Star of the West was +small, this stern-wheel scow was infinitely smaller. There was but one +cabin, and it was rendered insufferably hot by the boilers that were set +in the middle of it. There was one flush deck, with an awning stretched +above it that extended nearly to the prow of the boat. It was said our +passenger list numbered fourteen hundred. The gold boom in California +was still at fever heat. Every craft that set sail for the Isthmus by +the Nicaragua or Panama route, or by the weary route around Cape Horn, +was packed full of gold-seekers. It was the Golden Age of the Argonauts; +and, if my memory serves me well, there were no reserved seats worth the +price thereof. + +The first river boat at our disposal was for the exclusive accommodation +of the cabin passengers, or as many of them as could be crowded upon +her--and we were among them. Other steamers were to follow as soon as +practicable. Hours, even days, passed by, and the passengers on the +ocean steamers were sometimes kept waiting the arrival of the river +boats that were aground or had been belated up the stream. + +About two hundred of us boarded the first boat. Our luggage of the +larger sort was stowed away in barges and towed after us. The decks were +strewn with hand-bags, camp-stools, bundles, and rolls of rugs. The +lower deck was two feet above the water. As we looked back upon the Star +of the West, waving a glad farewell to the ship that had brought us more +than two thousand miles across the sea, she loomed like a Noah's Ark +above the flood, and we were quite proud of her--but not sorry to say +good-bye. + +And now away, into the very heart of a Central American forest! And hail +to the new life that lay all before us in El Dorado! The river was as +yellow as saffron; its shores were hidden in a dense growth of +underbrush that trailed its boughs in the water, and rose, a wall of +verdure, far above our smokestacks. As we ascended the stream the forest +deepened; the trees grew taller and taller; wide-spreading branches +hung over us; gigantic vines clambered everywhere and made huge hammocks +of themselves; they bridged the bayous, and made dark leafy caverns +wherein the shadows were forbidding; for the sunshine seemed never to +have penetrated them, and they were the haunts of weirdness and mystery +profound. + +Sometimes a tree that had fallen into the water and lay at a convenient +angle by the shore afforded the alligator a comfortable couch for his +sun-bath. Shall I ever forget the excitement occasioned by the discovery +of our first alligator! Not the ancient and honorable crocodile of the +Nile was ever greeted with greater enthusiasm; yet our sportsmen had +very little respect for him, and his sleep was disturbed by a shower of +bullets that spattered upon his hoary scales as harmlessly as rain. + +Though the alligator punctuated every adventurous hour of that memorable +voyage in Nicaragua, we children were more interested in our Darwinian +friends, the monkeys. They were of all shades and shapes and sizes; they +descended in troops among the trees by the river side; they called to us +and beckoned us shoreward; they cried to us, they laughed at us; they +reached out their bony arms, and stretched wide their slim, cold hands +to us, as if they would pluck us as we passed. We exchanged compliments +and clubs in a sham-battle that was immensely diverting; we returned +the missiles they threw at us as long as the ammunition held out, but +captured none of the enemy, nor did the slightest damage--as far as we +could ascertain. + +Often the parrots squalled at us, but their vocabulary was limited; for +they were untaught of men. Sometimes the magnificent macaw flew over us, +with its scarlet plumage flickering like flame. Oh, but those gorgeous +birds were splashes of splendid color in the intense green of that +tropical background! + +There were islands in this river,--islands that seemed to have no +shores, but lay half submerged in mid-stream, like huge water-logged +bouquets. There were sand-bars in the river, and upon these we sometimes +ran, and were brought to a sudden stand-still that startled us not a +little; then we backed off with what dignity we might, and gave the +unwelcome obstructions a wide berth. + +Perhaps the most interesting event of the voyage was "wooding up." A few +hours after we had entered the river our steamer made for the shore. +More than once in her course she had rounded points that seemed to block +the way; and occasionally there were bends so abrupt that we found +ourselves apparently land-locked in the depths of a wilderness which +might well be called prodigious. Now it was evident that we were heading +for the shore, and with a purpose, too. As we drew nearer, we saw among +the deep tangle of leaves and vines a primitive landing. It was a little +dock with a thatched lodge in the rear of it and a few cords of wood +stacked upon its end. There were some natives here--Indians +probably,--with dark skins bared from head to foot; they wore only the +breech-clout, and this of the briefest. Evidently they were children of +Nature. + +Having made fast to this dock, these woodmen speedily shouldered the +fuel and hurried it on board, while they chanted a rhythmical chant that +lent a charm to the scene. We were never weary of "wooding up," and were +always wondering where these gentle savages lived and how they escaped +with their lives from the thousand and one pests that haunted the forest +and lay in wait for them. Every biting and stinging thing was there. The +mosquitoes nearly devoured us, especially at night; while serpents, +scorpions, centipedes, possessed the jungle. There also was the lair of +larger game. It is said that sharks will pick a white man out of a crowd +of dark ones in the sea; not that he is a more tempting and toothsome +morsel--drenched with nicotine, he may indeed be less appetizing than +his dark-skinned, fruit-fed fellow,--but his silvery skin is a good +sea-mark, as the shark has often confirmed. So these dark ones in the +semi-darkness of the wood may, perhaps, pass with impunity where a +pale-face would fall an easy prey. + +At the Rapids of Machuca we debarked. Here was a miry portage about a +mile in length, through which we waded right merrily; for it seemed an +age since last we had set foot to earth. Our freight was pulled up the +Rapids in _bongas_ (row-boats), manned by natives; but our steamer could +not pass, and so returned to the Star of the West for another load of +passengers. + +There was mire at Machuca, and steaming heat; but the path along the +river-bank was shaded by wondrous trees, and we were overwhelmed with +the offer of all the edible luxuries of the season at the most alarming +prices. There was no coin in circulation smaller than a dime. Everything +salable was worth a dime, or two or three, to the seller. It didn't seem +to make much difference what price was asked by the merchant: he got it, +or you went without refreshments. It was evident there was no market +between meals at Machuca Rapids, and steamer traffic enlivened it but +twice in the month. + +What oranges were there!--such as one seldom sees outside the tropics: +great globes of delicious dew shut in a pulpy crust half an inch in +thickness, of a pale green tinge, and oozing syrup and an oily spray +when they are broken. Bananas, mangoes, guavas, sugar-cane,--on these we +fed; and drank the cream of the young cocoanut, goat's milk, and the +juices of various luscious fruits served in carven gourds,--delectable +indeed, but the nature of which was past our speculation. It was enough +to eat and to drink and to wallow a muddy mile for the very joy of it, +after having been toeing the mark on a ship's deck for a dozen days or +less, and feeding on ship's fodder. + +Our second transport was scarcely an improvement on the first. Again we +threaded the river, which seemed to grow broader and deeper as we drew +near its fountain-head, Lake Nicaragua. Upon a height above the river +stood a military post, El Castillo, much fallen to decay. Here were +other rapids, and here we were transferred to a lake boat on which we +were to conclude our voyage. Those stern-wheel scows could never weather +the lake waters. + +We had passed a night on the river boat,--a night of picturesque +horrors. The cabin was impossible: nobody braved its heat. The deck was +littered with luggage and crowded with recumbent forms. A few fortunate +voyagers--men of wisdom and experience--were provided with comfortable +hammocks; and while most of us were squirming beneath them, they swung +in mid-air, under a breadth of mosquito netting, slumbering sonorously +and obviously oblivious of all our woes. + +If I forget not, I cared not to sleep. We were very soon to leave the +river and enter the lake. From the boughs of overarching trees swept +beards of dark gray moss some yards in length, that waved to and fro in +the gathering twilight like folds of funereal crape. There were +camp-fires at the wooding stations, the flames of which painted the +foliage extraordinary colors and spangled it with sparks. Great flocks +of unfamiliar birds flew over us, their brilliant plumage taking a +deeper dye as they flashed their wings in the firelight. The chattering +monkeys skirmished among the branches; sometimes a dull splash in the +water reminded us that the alligator was still our neighbor; and ever +there was the piping of wild birds whose notes we had never heard +before, and whose outlines were as fantastic as those of the bright +objects that glorify an antique Japanese screen. + +Once from the shore, a canoe shot out of the shadow and approached us. +It was a log hollowed out--only the shell remained. Within it sat two +Indians,--not the dark creatures we had grown familiar with down the +river; these also were nearly nude, but with the picturesque nudeness +that served only to set off the ornaments with which they had adorned +themselves--necklaces of shells, wristlets and armlets of bright metal, +wreaths of gorgeous flowers and the gaudy plumage of the flamingo. They +drew near us for a moment, only to greet us and turn away; and very +soon, with splash of dipping paddles, they vanished in the dusk. + +These were the flowers of the forest. All the winding way from the sea +the river walls had been decked with floral splendor. Gigantic blossoms +that might shame a rainbow starred the green spaces of the wood; but of +all we had seen or heard or felt or dreamed of, none has left an +impression so vivid, so inspiring, so instinct with the beauty and the +poetry and the music of the tropics, as those twilight mysteries that +smiled upon us for a moment and vanished, even as the great fire-flies +that paled like golden rockets in the dark. + + + + +III. + +ALONG THE PACIFIC SHORE + + +All night we tossed on the bosom of the lake between San Carlos, at the +source of the San Juan river, and Virgin Bay, on the opposite shore. The +lake is on a table-land a hundred feet or more above the sea; it is a +hundred miles in length and forty-five in width. Our track lay +diagonally across it, a stretch of eighty miles; and when the morning +broke upon us we were upon the point of dropping anchor under the cool +shadow of cloud-capped mountains and in a most refreshing temperature. + +Oh, the purple light of dawn that flooded the Bay of the Blessed Virgin! +Of course the night was a horror, and it was our second in transit; but +we were nearing the end of the journey across the Isthmus and were +shortly to embark for San Francisco. I fear we children regretted the +fact. Our life for three days had been like a veritable "Jungle Book." +It almost out-Kiplinged Kipling. We might never again float through +Monkey Land, with clouds of parrots hovering over us and a whole +menagerie of extraordinary creatures making side-shows of themselves on +every hand. + +At Virgin Bay we were crowded like sheep into lighters, that were +speedily overladen. Very serious accidents have happened in consequence. +A year before our journey an overcrowded barge was swamped at Virgin Bay +and four and twenty passengers were drowned. The "Transit Company," +supposed to be responsible for the life and safety of each one of us, +seemed to trouble itself very little concerning our fate. The truth was +they had been paid in full before we boarded the Star of the West at +Pier No. 2, North River. + +Having landed in safety, in spite of the negligence of the "Transit +Company," our next move was to secure some means of transportation over +the mountain and down to San Juan del Sur. We were each provided with a +ticket calling for a seat in the saddle or on a bench in a springless +wagon. Naturally, the women and children were relegated to the wagons, +and were there huddled together like so much live stock destined for the +market. The men scrambled and even fought for the diminutive donkeys +that were to bear them over the mountain pass. A circus knows no comedy +like ours on that occasion. It is true we had but twelve miles to +traverse, and some of these were level; but by and by the road dipped +and climbed and swerved and plunged into the depths, only to soar again +along the giddy verge of some precipice that overhung a fathomless +abyss. That is how it seemed to us as we clung to the hard benches of +our wagon with its four-mule attachment. + +Once a wagon just ahead of us, having refused to answer to its brakes, +went rushing down a fearful grade and was hurled into a tangle of +underbrush,--which is doubtless what saved the lives of its occupants, +for they landed as lightly as if on feather-beds. From that hour our +hearts were in our throats. Even the thatched lodges of the natives, +swarming with bare brown babies, and often having tame monkeys and +parrots in the doorways, could not beguile us; nor all the fruits, were +they never so tempting; nor the flowers, though they were past belief +for size and shape and color and perfume. + +Over the shining heights the wind scudded, behatting many a head that +went bare thereafter. Out of the gorges ascended the voice of the +waters, dashing noisily but invisibly on their joyous way to the sea. +From one of those heights, looking westward over groves of bread-fruit +trees and fixed fountains of feathery bamboo, over palms that towered +like plumes in space and made silhouettes against the sky, we saw a +long, level line of blue--as blue and bluer than the sky itself,--and we +knew it was the Pacific! We were little fellows in those days, we +children; yet I fancy that we felt not unlike Balboa when we knelt upon +that peak in Darien and thanked God that he had the glory of discovering +a new and unnamed ocean. + +Why, I wonder, did Keats, in his famous sonnet "On First Looking into +Chapman's Homer," make his historical mistake when he sang-- + + Then felt I like some watcher of the skies + When a new planet swims into his ken; + Or like stout _Cortez_ when with eagle eyes, + He stared at the Pacific,--and all his men + Looked at each other with a wild surmise-- + Silent, upon a peak in Darien. + +It mattered not to us whether our name was Cortez or Balboa. With any +other name we would have been just as jolly; for we were looking for the +first time upon a sea that was to us as good as undiscovered, and we +were shortly to brave it in a vessel bound for the Golden Gate. At our +time of life that smacked a little of circumnavigation. + +San Juan del Sur! It was scarcely to be called a village,--a mere +handful of huts scattered upon the shore of a small bay and almost +surrounded by mountains. It had no street, unless the sea sands it +fronted upon could be called such. It had no church, no school, no +public buildings. Its hotels were barns where the gold-seekers were fed +without ceremony on beans and hardtack. Fruits were plentiful, and that +was fortunate. + +There, as in every settlement in Central America, the eaves of the +dwellings were lined with Turkey buzzards. These huge birds are regarded +with something akin to veneration. They are never molested; indeed, like +the pariah dogs of the Orient, they have the right of way; and they are +evidently conscious of the fact, for they are tamer than barnyard fowls. +They are the scavengers of the tropics. They sit upon the housetop and +among the branches of the trees, awaiting the hour when the refuse of +the domestic meal is thrown into the street. There is no drainage in +those villages; strange to say, even in the larger cities there is none. +Offal of every description is cast forth into the highways and byways; +and at that moment, with one accord, down sweep the grim sentinels to +devour it. They feast upon carrion and every form of filth. They are +polution personified, and yet they are the salvation of the indolent +people, who would, but for the timely service of these ravenous birds, +soon be wallowing in fetid refuse and putrefaction under the fierce rays +of their merciless sun. + +In the twilight we wandered by a crescent shore that was thickly strewn +with shells. They were not the tribute of northern waters: they were as +delicately fashioned and as variously tinted as flowers. All that they +lacked was fragrance; and this we realized as we stored them carefully +away, resolving that they should become the nucleus of a museum of +natural history as soon as we got settled in our California home. + +We had crossed the Isthmus in safety. Yonder, in the offing, the ship +that was to carry us northward to San Francisco lay at anchor. For three +days we had suffered the joys of travel and adventure. On the San Juan +river we had again and again touched points along the varying routes +proposed, by the Maritime Canal Company of Nicaragua and the Walker +Commission, as being practical for the construction of a great ship +canal that shall join the Atlantic and the Pacific Oceans. We had passed +from sea to sea, a distance of about two hundred miles. + +The San Juan river, one hundred and twenty miles in length, has a fall +of one foot to the mile. This will necessitate the introduction of at +least six massive locks between the Atlantic and the lake. Sometimes the +river can be utilized, but not without dredging; for it is shallow from +beginning to end, and near its mouth is ribbed with sand-bars. For +seventy miles the lake is navigable for vessels of the heaviest draught. +Beyond the lake there must be a clean-cut over or through the mountains +to the Pacific, and here six locks are reckoned sufficient. Cross-cuts +from one bend in the river to another can be constructed at the rate of +two hundred and fifty thousand dollars, or less, per mile. The canal +must be sunk or raised at intervals; there will, therefore, at various +points be the need of a wall of great strength and durability, from one +hundred and thirty to three hundred feet in height or depth. + +The annual rain-fall in the river region between Lake Nicaragua and the +Caribbean Sea is twenty feet; annual evaporation, three feet. These +points must be considered in the construction and feeding of the canal, +even though it is to vary in width. The dimensions of the proposed +canal, as recommended by the Walker Government Commission, are as +follows: total length, one hundred and eighty-nine miles; minimum depth +of water at all stages, thirty feet; width, one hundred feet in +rock-cuts, elsewhere varying from one hundred and fifty to three hundred +feet--except in Lake Nicaragua, where one end of the channel will be +made six hundred feet wide. + +Nearly fifty years ago, when a canal was projected, the Childs survey +set the cost at thirty-seven million dollars. Now the commissioners +differ on the question of total cost, the several estimates ranging from +one hundred and eighteen million to one hundred and thirty-five million +dollars. The United States Congress at its last session authorized the +expenditure of one million by a new commission "to investigate the +merits of all suggested locations and develop a project for an Isthmus +Canal." + +And so we left the land of the lizard. What wonders they are! From an +inch to two feet in length, slim, slippery, and of many and changeful +colors, they literally inhabit the land, and are as much at home in a +house as out of it; indeed, the houses are never free of them. They +sailed up the river with us, and crossed the lake in our company, and +sat by the mountain wayside awaiting our arrival; for they are curious +and sociable little beasts. As for the San Juan river, 'tis like the +Ocklawaha of Florida many times multiplied, and with all its original +attractions in a state of perfect preservation. + +All the way up the coast we literally hugged the shore; only during the +hours when we were crossing the yawning mouth of the Gulf of California +were we for a single moment out of sight of land. I know not if this was +a saving in time and distance, and therefore a saving in fuel and +provender; or if our ship, the John L. Stevens, was thought to be +overloaded and unsafe, and was kept within easy reach of shore for fear +of accident. We steamed for two weeks between a landscape and a seascape +that afforded constant diversion. At night we sometimes saw flame-tipped +volcanoes; there was ever the undulating outline of the Sierra Nevada +Mountains through Central America, Mexico, and California. + +Just once did we pause on the way. One evening our ship turned in its +course and made directly for the land. It seemed that we must be dashed +upon the headlands we were approaching, but as we drew nearer they +parted, and we entered the land-locked harbor of Acapulco, the chief +Mexican port on the Pacific. It was an amphitheatre dotted with +twinkling lights. Our ship was speedily surrounded by small boats of all +descriptions, wherein sat merchants noisily calling upon us to purchase +their wares. They had abundant fruits, shells, corals, curios. They +flashed them in the light of their torches; they baited us to bargain +with them. It was a Venetian _fete_ with a vengeance; for the hawkers +were sometimes more impertinent than polite. It was a feast of lanterns, +and not without the accompaniment of guitars and castanets, and rich, +soft voices. + +After that we were eager for the end of it all. There was Santa +Catalina, off the California coast, then an uninhabited island given +over to sunshine and wild goats, now one of the most popular and +populous of California summer and winter resorts--for 'tis all the same +on the Pacific coast; one season is damper than the other, that is the +only difference. The coast grew bare and bleak; the wind freshened and +we were glad to put on our wraps. And then at last, after a journey of +nearly five thousand miles, we slowed up in a fog so dense it dripped +from the scuppers of the ship; we heard the boom of the surf pounding +upon the invisible shore, and the hoarse bark of a chorus of sea-lions, +and were told we were at the threshold of the Golden Gate, and should +enter it as soon as the fog lifted and made room for us. + +[Illustration: Fort Point at the Golden Gate] + + + + +IV. + +IN THE WAKE OF DRAKE + + +We were buried alive in fathomless depths of fog. We were a fixture +until that fog lifted. It was an impenetrable barrier. Upon the point of +entering one of the most wonderful harbors in the world, the glory of +the newest of new lands, we found ourselves prisoners, and for a time at +least involved in the mazes of ancient history. + +In 1535 Cortez coasted both sides of the Gulf of California--first +called the Sea of Cortez; or the Vermilion Sea, perhaps from its +resemblance to the Red Sea between Arabia and Egypt; or possibly from +the discoloration of its waters near the mouth of the Rio Colorado, or +Red River. + +In 1577 Captain Drake, even then distinguished as a navigator, fitted +out a buccaneering expedition against the Spaniards; it was a wild-goose +chase and led him round the globe. In those days the wealth of the +Philippines was shipped annually in a galleon from Manila to Acapulco, +Mexico, on its way to Europe. Drake hoped to intercept one of these +richly laden galleons, and he therefore threaded the Straits of +Magellan, and, sailing northward, found himself, in 1579, within sight +of the coast of California. All along the Pacific shore from Patagonia +to California he was busily occupied in capturing and plundering Spanish +settlements and Spanish ships. Wishing to turn home with his treasure, +and fearing he might be waylaid by his enemies if he were again to +thread the Straits of Magellan, he thought to reach England by the Cape +of Good Hope. This was in the autumn of 1579. To quote the language of +an old chronicler of the voyage: + +"He was obliged to sail toward the north; in which course having +continued six hundred leagues, and being got into forty-three degrees +north latitude, they found it intolerably cold; upon which they steered +southward till they got into thirty-eight degrees north latitude, where +they discovered a country which, from its white cliffs, they called Nova +Albion, though it is now known by the name of California. + +"They here discovered a bay, which entering with a favorable gale, they +found several huts by the waterside, well defended from the severity of +the weather. Going on shore, they found a fire in the middle of each +house, and the people lying around it upon rushes. The men go quite +naked, but the women have a deerskin over their shoulders, and round +their waist a covering of bulrushes after the manner of hemp. + +"These people bringing the Admiral [Captain Drake] a present of feathers +and cauls of network, he entertained them so kindly and generously that +they were extremely pleased; and afterward they sent him a present of +feathers and bags of tobacco. A number of them coming to deliver it, +gathered themselves together at the top of a small hill, from the +highest point of which one of them harangued the Admiral, whose tent was +placed at the bottom. When the speech was ended they laid down their +arms and came down, offering their presents; at the same time returning +what the Admiral had given them. The women remaining on the hill, +tearing their hair and making dreadful howlings, the Admiral supposed +they were engaged in making sacrifices, and thereupon ordered divine +service to be performed at his tent, at which these people attended with +astonishment. + +"The arrival of the English in California being soon known through the +country, two persons in the character of ambassadors came to the Admiral +and informed him, in the best manner they were able, that the king would +visit him, if he might be assured of coming in safety. Being satisfied +on this point, a numerous company soon appeared, in front of which was a +very comely person bearing a kind of sceptre, on which hung two crowns, +and three chains of great length. The chains were of bones, and the +crowns of network, curiously wrought with feathers of many colors. + +"Next to sceptre-bearer came the king, a handsome, majestic person, +surrounded by a number of tall men dressed in skins, who were followed +by the common people, who, to make the grander appearance, had painted +their faces of various colors; and all of them, even the children, being +loaded with presents. + +"The men being drawn up in line of battle, the Admiral stood ready to +receive the king within the fences of his tent. The company halted at a +distance, and the sceptre-bearer made a speech half an hour long; at the +end of which he began singing and dancing, in which he was followed by +the king and all the people; who, continuing to sing and dance, came +quite up to the tent; when, sitting down, the king took off his crown of +feathers, placed it on the Admiral's head, and put on him the other +ensigns of royalty; and it is said he made him a solemn tender of his +whole kingdom; all which the Admiral accepted in the name of the Queen +his sovereign, in hope that these proceedings might, one time or other, +contribute to the advantage of England. + +"The people, dispersing themselves among the Admiral's tents, professed +the utmost admiration and esteem for the English, whom they looked upon +as more than mortal; and accordingly prepared to offer sacrifices to +them, which the English rejected with abhorrence; directing them, by +various signs, that their religious worship was alone due to the supreme +Maker and Preserver of all things.... + +"The Admiral, at his departure, set up a pillar with a large plate on +it, on which were engraved her Majesty's name, picture, arms, and title +to the country; together with the Admiral's name and the time of his +arrival there." + +Pinkerton says in his description of Drake's voyage: "The land is so +rich in gold and silver that upon the slightest turning it up with a +spade these rich materials plainly appear mixed with the mould." It is +not strange, if this were the case, that the natives--who, though +apparently gentle and well disposed, were barbarians--should naturally +have possessed the taste so characteristic of a barbarous people, and +have loved to decorate themselves even lavishly with ornaments rudely +fashioned in this rare metal. Yet they seemed to know little of its +value, and to care less for it than for fuss and feathers. Either they +were a singularly stupid race, simpler even than the child of ordinary +intelligence, or they scorned the allurements of a metal that so few are +able to resist. + +Drake was not the first navigator to touch upon those shores. The +explorer Juan Cabrillo, in 1542-43, visited the coast of Upper +California. A number of landings were made at different points along the +coast and on the islands near Santa Barbara. Cabrillo died during the +expedition; but his successor, Ferralo, continued the voyage as far +north as latitude 42°. Probably Drake had no knowledge of the discovery +of California by the Spaniards six and thirty years before he dropped +anchor in the bay that now bears his name, and for many years he was +looked upon as the first discoverer of the Golden State. Even to this +day there are those who give him all the credit. Queen Elizabeth +knighted him for his services in this and his previous expeditions; +telling him, as his chronicler records, "that his actions did him more +honor than his title." Her Majesty seems not to have been much impressed +by his tales of the riches of the New World--if, indeed, they ever came +to the royal ear,--for she made no effort to develop the resources of +her territory. No adventurous argonauts set sail for the Pacific coast +in search of gold till two hundred and seventy years later. + +There seems to have been a spell cast over the land and the sea. We are +sure that Sir Francis Drake did not enter the Bay of San Francisco, and +that he had no knowledge of its existence, though he was almost within +sight of it. In one of the records of his voyage we read of the chilly +air and of the dense fogs that prevailed in that region; of the "white +banks and cliffs which lie toward the sea"; and of islands which are +known as the Farallones, and which lie about thirty miles off the coast +and opposite the Golden Gate. + +In 1587 Captain Thomas Cavendish, afterward knighted by Queen Elizabeth, +touched upon Cape St. Lucas, at the extremity of Lower California. He +was a privateer lying in wait for the galleon laden with the wealth of +the Philippines and bound for Acapulco. When she hove in sight there was +a chase, a hot engagement, and a capture by the English Admiral. "This +prize," says the historian of the voyage, "contained one hundred and +twenty-two thousand _pesos_ of gold, besides great quantities of rich +silks, satins, damasks, and musk, with a good stock of provisions." In +those romantic and adventurous days piracy was legalized by formal +license; the spoils were supposed to consist of gold and silver only, or +of light movable goods. + +The next English filibuster to visit the California coast was Captain +Woodes Rogers--arriving in November, 1709. He described the natives of +the California peninsula as being "quite naked, and strangers to the +European manner of trafficking. They lived in huts made of boughs and +leaves, erected in the form of bowers; with a fire before the door, +round which they lay and slept. Some of the women wore pearls about +their necks, which they fastened with a string of silk grass, having +first notched them round." Captain Rogers imagined that the wearers of +the pearls did not know how to bore them, and it is more than likely +that they did not. Neither did they know the value of these pearls; for +"they were mixed with sticks, bits of shells, and berries, which they +thought so great an ornament that they would not accept glass beads of +various colors, which the English offered them." + +The narrator says: "The men are straight and well built, having long +black hair, and are of a dark brown complexion. They live by hunting and +fishing. They use bows and arrows and are excellent marksmen. The women, +whose features are rather disagreeable, are employed in making +fishing-lines, or in gathering grain, which they grind upon a stone. The +people were willing to assist the English in filling water, and would +supply them with whatever they could get; they were a very honest +people, and would not take the least thing without permission." + +Such were the aborigines of California. Captain Woodes Rogers did not +hesitate to take whatever he could lay his hands on. He captured the +"great Manila ship," as the chronicle records. "The prize was called +Nuestra Señora de la Incarnacion, commanded by Sir John Pichberty, a +gallant Frenchman. The prisoners said that the cargo in India amounted +to two millions of dollars. She carried one hundred and ninety-three +men, and mounted twenty guns." + +The exact locality of Drake's Bay was for years a vexed question. So +able an authority as Alexander von Humboldt says: "The port of San +Francisco is frequently confounded by geographers with the Port of +Drake, farther north, under 38° 10' of latitude, called by the Spaniards +the Puerto de Bodega." + +The truth is, Bodega Bay lies some miles north of Drake's Bay--or Jack's +Harbor, as the sailors call it; the latter, according to the log of the +Admiral, may be found in latitude 37° 59' 5"; longitude 122° 57-1/2'. +The cliffs about Drake's Bay resemble in height and color, those of +Great Britain in the English Channel at Brighton and Dover; therefore it +seems quite natural that Sir Francis should have called the land New +Albion. As for the origin of the name California, some etymologists +contend that it is derived from two Latin words: _calida fornax_; or, as +the Spanish put it, _caliente fornalla_,--a hot furnace. Certainly it is +hot enough in the interior, though the coast is ever cool. The name +seems to have been applied to Lower California between 1535 and 1539. +Mr. Edward Everett Hale rediscovered in 1862 an old printed romance in +which the name California was, before the year 1520, applied to a +fabulous island that lay near the Indus and likewise "very near the +Terrestrial Paradise." The colonists under Cortez were perhaps the first +to apply it to Lower California, which was long thought to be an island. + +The name San Francisco was given to a port on the California coast for +the first time by Cermeñon, who ran ashore near Point Reyes, or in +Drake's Bay, when voyaging from the Philippines in 1595. At any rate, +the name was not given to the famous bay that now bears it before 1769, +and until that date it was unknown to the world. It is not true, as some +have conjectured, that the name San Francisco was given to any port in +memory of Sir Francis Drake. Spanish Catholics gave the name in honor of +St. Francis of Assisi. Drake was an Englishman and a freebooter, who had +no love for the saints. + +That the Bay of San Francisco should have so long remained undiscovered +is the more remarkable inasmuch as many efforts were made to survey and +settle the coast. California was looked upon as the El Dorado of New +Spain. It was believed that it abounded in pearls, gold, silver, and +other metals; and even in diamonds and precious stones. Fruitless +expeditions, private or royal, set forth in 1615, 1633 and 1634; 1640, +1642 and 1648; 1665 and 1668. But nothing came of these. A hundred years +later the Spanish friars established their peaceful missions, and in +1776 the mission church of San Francisco was dedicated. + +[Illustration: The Outer Signal Station at the Golden Gate] + + * * * * * + +At last the fog began to show signs of life and motion. Huge masses of +opaque mist, that had shut us in like walls of alabaster, were rent +asunder and noiselessly rolled away. The change was magical. In a few +moments we found ourselves under a cloudless sky, upon a sparkling sea, +flooded with sunshine, and the Golden Gate wide open to give us welcome. + + + + +V. + +ATOP O' TELEGRAPH HILL + + +Perhaps it is a mile wide, that Golden Gate; and it is more bronze than +golden. A fort was on our right hand; one of those dear old brick +blockhouses that were formidable in their day, but now are as houses of +cards. Drop one shell within its hollow, and there will be nothing and +no one left to tell the tale. + +Down the misty coast, beyond the fort, was Point Lobos--a place where +wolves did once inhabit; farther south lie the semi-tropics and the +fragrant orange lands; while on our left, to the north, is Point +Bonita--pretty enough in the sunshine,--and thereabout is Drake's Bay. +Behind us, dimly outlined on the horizon, the Farallones lie faintly +blue, like exquisite cloud-islands. The north shore of the entrance to +the Bay was rather forbidding,--it always is. The whole California shore +line is bare, bleak, and unbeautiful. It is six miles from the Golden +Gate to the sea-wall of San Francisco. There was no sea-wall in those +days. + +We were steaming directly east, with the Pacific dead astern. Beyond the +fort were scantily furnished hill-slopes. That quadrangle, with a long +row of low white houses on three sides of it, is the _presidio_--the +barracks; a lorner or lonelier spot it were impossible to picture. There +were no trees there, no shrubs; nothing but grass, that was green enough +in the rainy winter season but as yellow as straw in the drouth of the +long summer. Beyond the _presidio_ were the Lagoon and Washerwoman's +Bay. Black Point was the extremest suburb in the early days; and beyond +it Meigg's Wharf ran far into the North Bay, and was washed by the +swift-flowing tide. + +San Francisco has as many hills as Rome. The most conspicuous of these +stands at the northeast corner of the town; it is Telegraph Hill, upon +whose brawny shoulder stood the first home we knew in the young +Metropolis. After rounding Telegraph Hill, we saw all the city front, +and it was not much to see: a few wooden wharves crowded with shipping +and backed by a row of one or two-story frame buildings perched upon +piles. The harbor in front of the city--more like an open roadstead than +a harbor, for it was nearly a dozen miles to the opposite shore--was +dotted with sailing-vessels of almost every description, swinging at +anchor, and making it a pretty piece of navigation to pick one's way +amongst them in safety. + +As the John L. Stevens approached her dock we saw that an immense crowd +had gathered to give us welcome. The excitement on ship and shore was +very great. After a separation of perhaps years, husbands and wives and +families were about to be reunited. Our joy was boundless; for we soon +recognized our father in the waiting, welcoming throng. But there were +many whose disappointment was bitter indeed when they learned that their +loved ones were not on board. Often a ship brought letters instead of +the expected wife and family; for at the last moment some unforeseen +circumstance may have prevented the departure of the one so looked for +and so longed for. In the confusion of landing we nearly lost our wits, +and did not fully recover them until we found ourselves in our own new +home in the then youngest State in the Union. + +How well I remember it all! We were housed on Union Street, between +Montgomery and Kearny Streets, and directly opposite the public +school--a pretentious building for that period, inasmuch as it was built +of brick that was probably shipped around Cape Horn. California houses, +such as they were, used to come from very distant parts of the globe in +the early Fifties; some of them were portable, and had been sent across +the sea to be set up at the purchaser's convenience. They could be +pitched like tents on the shortest possible notice, and the fact was +evident in many cases. + +Our house--a double one of modest proportions--was of brick, and I +think the only one on our side of the street for a considerable +distance. There was a brick house over the way, on the corner of +Montgomery Street, with a balcony in front of it and a grocery on the +ground-floor. That grocery was like a country store: one could get +anything there; and from the balcony above there was a wonderful view. +Indeed that was one of the jumping-off places; for a steep stairway led +down the hill to the dock two hundred feet below. As for our neighbors, +they dwelt in frame houses, one or two stories in height; and his was +the happier house that had a little strip of flowery-land in front of +it, and a breathing space in the rear. + +The school--our first school in California--backed into the hill across +the street from us. The girls and the boys had each an inclosed space +for recreation. It could not be called a playground, for there was no +ground visible. It was a platform of wood heavily timbered beneath and +fenced in; from the front of it one might have cast one's self to the +street below, at the cost of a broken bone or two. In those days more +than one leg was fractured by an accidental fall from a soaring +sidewalk. + +Above and beyond the school-house Telegraph Hill rose a hundred feet or +more. Our street marked the snow-line, as it were; beyond it the Hill +was not inhabited save by flocks of goats that browsed there all the +year round, and the herds of boys that gave them chase, especially of a +holiday. The Hill was crowned by a shanty that had seen its best days. +It had been the lookout from the time when the Forty-Niners began to +watch for fresh arrivals. From the observatory on its roof--a primitive +affair--all ships were sighted as they neared the Golden Gate, and the +glad news was telegraphed by a system of signals to the citizens below. +Not a day, not an hour, but watchful eyes sought that signal in the hope +of reading there the glad tidings that their ship had come. + +The Hill sloped suddenly, from the signal station, on every side. On the +north and east it terminated abruptly in artificial cliffs of a dizzy +height. The rocks had been blasted from their bases to make room for a +steadily increasing commerce, and the débris was shipped away as ballast +in the vessels that were chartered to bring passengers and provision to +the coast, and found nothing in the line of freight to carry from it. + +Upon those northern and eastern slopes of the Hill a few venturesome +cottagers had built their nests. The cottages were indeed nestlike: they +were so small, so compact, so cosy, so overrun with vines and flowering +foliage. Usually of one story, or of a story and a half at most, they +clung to the hillside facing the water, and looking out upon its noble +expanse from tiny balconies as delicate and dainty as toys. Their +garden-plots were set on end; they must needs adapt themselves to the +angle of demarkation; they loomed above their front-yards while their +back-yards lorded it over their roofs. Indeed they were usually +approached by ascending or descending stairways, or perchance by airy +bridges that spanned little gullies where ran rivulets in the winter +season; and they were a trifle dangerous to encounter after dark. There +were parrots on perches at the doorways of those cottages; and +song-birds in cages that were hidden away in vines. There were pet +poodles there. I think there were more lap-dogs than watch-dogs in that +early California. + +And there were pleasant people within those hanging gardens,--people who +seemed to have drifted there and were living their lyrical if lonely +lives in semi-solitude on islands in the air. I always envied them. I +was sorry that we were housed like other folk, and fronted on a street +than which nothing could have been more commonplace or less interesting. +Its one redeeming feature in my eyes was its uncompromising steepness; +nothing that ran on wheels ever ran that way, but toiled painfully to +the top, tacking from side to side, forever and forever, all the way +up. + +Weary were the beasts of burden that ascended that hill of difficulty. +There was the itinerant marketer, with his overladen cart, and his white +horse, very much winded. He was a Yorkshire man, and he cried with a +loud voice his appetizing wares: "Cabbage, taters, onions, wild duck, +wild goose!" Well do I remember the refrain. Probably there were few +domestic fowls in the market then; moreover, even our drinking water was +peddled about the streets and sold to us by the huge pailful. + +The goats knew Saturday and Sunday by heart. Every Saturday we lads were +busier than bees. We had at intervals during the week collected what +empty tin cans we might have chanced upon, and you may be sure they were +not a few. The markets of California, in early times, were stocked with +canned goods. Flour came to us in large cans; probably the barrel would +not have been proof against mould during the long voyage around the +Horn. Everything eatable--I had almost said and drinkable--we had in +cans; and these cans when emptied were cast into the rubbish heap and +finally consigned to the dump-cart. + +We boys all became smelters, and for a very good reason. There was a +market for soft solder; we could dispose of it without difficulty; we +could in this way put money in our purse and experience the glorious +emotion awakened by the spirit of independence. With our own money, +earned in the sweat of our brows--it was pretty hot work melting the +solder out of the old cans and moulding it in little pig-leads of our +own invention,--we could do as we pleased and no questions asked. Oh, it +was a joy past words,--the kindling of the furnace fires, the adjusting +of the cans, the watching for the first movement of the melting solder! +It trickled down into the ashes like quicksilver, and there we let it +cool in shapeless masses; then we remelted it in skillets (usually +smuggled from the kitchen for that purpose), and ran the fused metal +into the moulds; and when it had cooled we were away in haste to dispose +of it. + +Some of us became expert amateur metallists, and made what we looked +upon as snug little fortunes; yet they did not go far or last us long. +The smallest coin in circulation was a dime. No one would accept a +five-cent piece. As for coppers, they are scarcely yet in vogue. Money +was made so easily and spent so carelessly in the early days the wonder +is that any one ever grew rich. + +A quarter of a dollar we called two "bits." If we wished to buy anything +the price of which was one bit and we had a dime in our pocket, we gave +the dime for the article, and the bargain was considered perfectly +satisfactory. If we had no dime, we gave a quarter of a dollar and +received in change a dime; we thus paid fifty per cent more for the +article than we should have done if we had given a dime for it. But that +made no difference: a quarter called for two bits' worth of anything on +sale. A dime was one bit, but two dimes were not two bits; and it was +only a very mean person--in our estimation--who would change his half +dollar into five dimes and get five bits' worth of goods for four bits' +worth of silver. + +[Illustration: City of Oakland in 1856] + +Sunday is ever the people's day, and a San Francisco Sunday used to be +as lively as the Lord's Day at any of the capitals of Europe. How the +town used to flock to Telegraph Hill on a Sunday in the olden time! They +were mostly quiet folk who went there, and they went to feast their eyes +upon one of the loveliest of landscapes or waterscapes. They probably +took their lunch with them, and their families--if they had them; though +families were infrequent in the Fifties. They wandered about until they +had chosen their point of view, and then they took possession of an +unclaimed portion of the Hill. They "squatted," as was the custom of the +time. The "squatter" claimed the right of sovereignty, and exercised it +so long as he was left unmolested. + +One man seemed to have as much right as another on Telegraph Hill. And +one right was always his: no one disputed him the right of vision; he +shared it with his neighbor, and was willing to share it with the whole +world. For generations he has held it, and he will probably continue to +hold it so long as the old Hill stands. From the heights his eye sweeps +a scene of beauty. There is the Golden Gate, bathed in sunset glories; +and there the northern shore line that climbs skyward where Mount +Tamalpais takes on his mantle of mist. There is Saucelito, with its +green terraces resting upon the tree-tops; and there the bit of +sheltered water that seems always steeped in sunshine,--now the haunt of +house boats, then the haven of a colony of Neapolitan fishermen; and +Angel Island, with its military post; and Fort Alcatraz, a rocky bubble +afloat in mid-channel and one mass of fortifications. + +What an inland sea it is--the Bay of San. Francisco, seventy miles in +length, from ten to twelve in width; dotted with islands, and capable of +harboring all the fleets of all the civilized or uncivilized worlds! The +northern part of it, beyond the narrows, is known as the Bay of San +Pablo; the Straits of Carquinez connect it with Suisun Bay, which is a +sleepy sheet of water fed by the Sacramento and San Joaquin Rivers. + +To the east is Yerba-Buena, vulgarly known as Goat Island; and beyond it +the Contra Costa, with its Alameda, Oakland, and Fruit Vale; then the +Coast Range; and atop of all and beyond all Mount Diablo, with its three +thousand eight hundred feet of perpendicularity, beyond whose summit +the sun rises, and from whose peaks almost half the State is visible and +almost half the sea,--or at least it seems so--but that's another +vision! + + + + +VI. + +PAVEMENT PICTURES + + +We had been but a few days in San Francisco when a new-found friend, +scarcely my senior, but who was a comparatively old settler, took me by +the hand and led me forth to view the town. He was my neighbor, and a +right good fellow, with the surprising composure--for one of his +years--that is so early, so easily, and so naturally acquired by those +living in camps and border-lands. + +We descended Telegraph Hill by Dupont Street as far as Pacific Street. +So steep was the way that, at intervals, the modern fire-escape would +have been a welcome aid to our progress. Sidewalks, always of plank and +often not broader than two boards placed longitudinally, led on to steps +that plunged headlong from one terrace to another. From the veranda of +one house one might have leaped to the roof of the house just below--if +so disposed,--for the houses seemed to be set one upon another, so acute +was the angle of their base-line. The town stood on end just there, and +at the foot of it was a foreign quarter. + +In those days there were at least four foreign quarters--Spanish, +French, Italian, and Chinese. We knew the Spanish Quarter at the foot of +the hill by the human types that inhabited it; by the balconies like +hanging gardens, clamorous with parrots; and by the dark-eyed senoritas, +with lace mantillas drawn over their blue-black hair; by the shop +windows filled with Mexican pottery; the long strings of cardinal-red +peppers that swung under the awnings over the doors of the sellers of +spicy things; and also by the delicious odors that were wafted to us +from the tables where Mexicans, Spaniards, Chilians, Peruvians, and +Hispano-Americans were discussing the steaming _tamal_, the fragrant +_frijol_, and other fiery dishes that might put to the blush the +ineffectual pepper-pot. + +Everywhere we heard the most mellifluous of languages--the "lovely +lingo," we used to call it; everywhere we saw the people of the quarter +lounging in doorways or windows or on galleries, dressed as if they were +about to appear in a rendition of the opera of "The Barber of Seville," +or at a fancy-dress ball. Figaros were on every hand, and Rosinas and +Dons of all degrees. At times a magnificent Caballero dashed by on a +half-tamed bronco. He rode in the shade of a sombrero a yard wide, +crusted with silver embroidery. His Mexican saddle was embossed with +huge Mexican dollars; his jacket as gaily ornamented as a +bull-fighter's; his trousers open from the hip, and with a chain of +silver buttons down their flapping hems; his spurs, huge wheels with +murderous spikes, were fringed with little bells that jangled as he +rode,--and this to the accompaniment of much strumming of guitars and +the incense of cigarros. + +Near the Spanish Quarter ran the Barbary Coast. There were the dives +beneath the pavement, where it was not wise to enter; blood was on those +thresholds, and within hovered the shadow of death. Beyond, we entered +Chinatown, as rare a bit of old China as is to be found without the +Great Wall itself. Chinatown has grown amazingly within the last forty +years, but it has in reality gained little in interest. There is more of +it: that is the only difference; and what there is of it is more +difficult of approach. The Joss House, the theatre, with its great +original "continuous performance"--its tragedy half a year in +length,--flourished there. The glittering, spectacular restaurant was +wide open to the public, and so was everything else. That fact made all +the difference between Chinatown in the Fifties and Chinatown forty +years later. + +My companion and I tarried long on Dupont Street, between Pacific and +Sacramento Streets. The shops were like peep shows on a larger scale. +How bright they were! how gay with color! how rich with carvings and +curios. Each was like a set-scene on the stage. The shopkeepers and +their aids were like actors in a play. They seemed really to be playing +and not trying to engage in any serious business. Surely it would have +been quite beneath the dignity of such distinguished gentlemen to take +the smallest interest in the affairs of trade. They were clad in silks +and satins and furs of great value; they had a little finger-nail as +long as a slice of quill pen; they had tea on tables of carved teak; and +they had impossible pipes that breathed unspeakable odors. They wore +bracelets of priceless jade. They had private boxes, which hung from the +ceiling and looked like cages for some unclassified bird; and they could +go up into those boxes when life at the tea-table became tiresome, and +get quite another point of view. There they could look down upon the +world of traffic that never did anything in their shops, as far as we +could see; and, still murmuring to themselves in a tongue that sounds +untranslatable and a voice that was never known to rise above a stage +whisper, they could at one and the same moment regard with scorn the +Christian, keep an eye on the cash-boy, and make perfect pictures of +themselves. + +[Illustration: Interior of the El Dorado] + +In some parts of that strange street, where everybody was very busy but +apparently never accomplished anything, there were no fronts to the +rooms on the groundfloor. If those rooms were ever closed--it seemed to +me they never were,--some one kindly put up a long row of shutters, and +that end was accomplished. When the shutters were down the whole place +was wide open, and anybody, everybody, could enter and depart at his own +sweet will. This is exactly what he did; we did it ourselves, but we +didn't know why we did it. The others seemed to know all about it. + +There was a long table in the centre of each room; it was always +surrounded by swarms of Chinamen. Not a few foreigners of various +nationalities were there. They were all intensely interested in some +game that was being played upon that table. We heard the "chink" of +money; and as the players came and went some were glad and some were sad +and some were mad. These were the gambling halls of Chinatown. They were +not at all beautiful or alluring to the eye, but they cast a spell over +the minds and the pockets of men that was irresistible. Nowadays the +place is kept under lock and key, and you must give the countersign or +you will be turned away from the door thereof by a Chinaman whose face +is the image of injured innocence. + +The authors of the annals of San Francisco, 1854, say: + +"During 1853, most of the moral, intellectual, and social +characteristics of the inhabitants of San Francisco were nearly as +already described in the reviews of previous years. There was still the +old reckless energy, the old love of pleasure, the fast making and fast +spending of money; the old hard labor and wild delights; jobberies, +official and political corruption; thefts, robberies, and violent +assaults; murders, duels and suicides; gambling, drinking, and general +extravagance and dissipation.... The people had wealth at command, and +all the passions of youth were burning within them; and they often, +therefore, outraged public decency. Yet somehow the oldest residenters +and the very family-men loved the place, with all its brave wickedness +and splendid folly." + +I can testify that the town knew little or no change in the two years +that followed. The "El Dorado" on the plaza, and the "Arcade" and +"Polka" on Commercial Street, were still in full blast. How came I aware +of that fact? I was a child; my guide, philosopher and friend was a +child, and we were both as innocent as children should be. It is +written, "Children and fools speak the truth." I may add, "Children and +'fools rush in where angels fear to tread.'" The doors of "El Dorado," +of the "Arcade," and the "Polka" were ever open to the public. We saw +from the sidewalk gaily-decorated interiors; we heard enchanting music, +and there seemed to be a vast deal of jollity within. No one tried to +prevent our entering; we merely followed the others; and, indeed, it was +all a mystery to us. Cards were being dealt at the faro tables, and +dealt by beautiful women in bewildering attire. They also turned the +wheels of fortune or misfortune, and threw dice, and were skilled in all +the arts that beguile and betray the innocent. The town was filled with +such resorts; some were devoted to the patronage of the more exclusive +set; many were traps into which the miner from the mountain gulches fell +and where he soon lost his bag of "dust,"--his whole fortune, for which +he had been so long and so wearily toiling. There he was shoulder to +shoulder with the greaser and the lascar, the "shoulder-striker" and the +hoodlum; and they were all busy with monte, faro, rondo, and +rouge-et-noir. + +There was no limit to the gambling in those days. There was no question +of age or color or sex: opportunity lay in wait for inclination at the +street corners and in the highways and the byways. The wonder is that +there were not more victims driven to madness or suicide. + +The pictures were not all so gloomy. Six times San Francisco was +devastated by fire, and all within two years--or, to speak accurately, +within eighteen months. Many millions were lost; many enterprising and +successful citizens were in a few hours rendered penniless. Some were +again and again "burned out"; but they seemed to spring like the famed +bird, who shall for once be nameless, from their own ashes. + +It became evident that an efficient fire department was an immediate and +imperative necessity. The best men of the city--men prominent in every +trade, calling and profession--volunteered their services, and headed a +subscription list that swelled at once into the thousands. Perhaps there +never was a finer volunteer fire department than that which was for many +years the pride and glory of San Francisco. On the Fourth of July it was +the star feature of the procession; and it paraded most of the streets +that were level enough for wheels to run on--and when the mud was +navigable, for they turned out even in the rainy season on days of civic +festivity. Their engines and hose carts and hook and ladder trucks were +so lavishly ornamented with flowers, banners, streamers, and even pet +eagles, dogs, and other mascots, that they might without hesitation have +engaged in any floral battle on any Riviera and been sure of victory. + +The magnificence of the silver trumpets and the quantity and splendor of +the silver trappings of those fire companies pass all belief. It begins +to seem to me now, as I write, that I must have dreamed it,--it was all +so much too fine for any ordinary use. But I know that I did not dream +it; that there was never anything truer or better or more efficient +anywhere under the sun than the San Francisco fire department in the +brave days of old. Representatives of almost every nation on earth could +testify to this, and did repeatedly testify to it in almost every +language known to the human tongue; for there never was a more cosmical +commonwealth than sprang out of chaos on that Pacific coast; and there +never was a city less given to following in the footsteps of its elder +and more experienced sisters. Nor was there ever a more spontaneous +outburst of happy-go-luckiness than that which made of young San +Francisco a very Babel and a bouncing baby Babylon. + +[Illustration: Warner's at Meigg's Wharf] + + + + +VII. + +A BOY'S OUTING + + +There was joy in the heart, luncheon in the knapsack, and a sparkle in +the eye of each of us as we set forth on our exploring expedition, all +of a sunny Saturday. Outside of California there never were such +Saturdays as those. We were perfectly sure for eight months in the year +that it wouldn't rain a drop; and as for the other four months--well, +perhaps it wouldn't. It is true that Longfellow had sung, even in those +days: + + Unto each life some rain must fall, + Some days must be dark and dreary. + +Our days were not dark or dreary,--indeed, they could not possibly be in +the two-thirds-of-the-year-dry season. It did not rain so very much even +in the rainy season, when it had a perfect right to; therefore there was +joy in the heart and no umbrella anywhere about when we prepared to set +forth on our day of discovery. + +We began our adventure at Meigg's Wharf. We didn't go out to the end of +it, because there was nothing but crabs there, being hauled up at +frequent intervals by industrious crabbers, whose nets fairly fringed +the wharf. They lay on their backs by scores and hundreds, and waved +numberless legs in the air--I mean the crabs, not the crabbers. We used +to go crabbing ourselves when we felt like it, with a net made of a bit +of mosquito-bar stretched over an iron hoop, and with a piece of meat +tied securely in the middle of it. When we hauled up those home-made +hoop-nets--most everything seems to have been home-made in those +days--we used to find one, two, perhaps three huge crabs revolving +clumsily about the centre of attraction in the hollow of the net; and +then we shouted in glee and went almost wild with excitement. + +Just at the beginning of Meigg's Wharf there was a house of +entertainment that no doubt had a history and a mystery even in those +young days. We never quite comprehended it: we were too young for that, +and too shy and too well-bred to make curious or impertinent inquiry. We +sometimes stood at the wide doorway--it was forever invitingly open, +--and looked with awe and amazement at paintings richly framed and hung +so close together that no bit of the wall was visible. There was a bar +at the farther end of the long room,--there was always a bar somewhere +in those days; and there were cages filled with strange birds and +beasts,--as any one might know with his eyes shut, for the odor of it +all was repelling. + +The strangest feature of that most strange hostelry was the amazing +wealth of cobwebs that mantled it. Cobwebs as dense as crape waved in +dusty rags from the ceiling; they veiled the pictures and festooned the +picture-frames, that shone dimly through them. Not one of these cobwebs +was ever molested--or had been from the beginning of time, as it seemed +to us. A velvet carpet on the floor was worn smooth and almost no trace +of its rich flowery pattern was left; but there were many square boxes +filled with sand or sawdust and reeking with cigar stumps and tobacco +juice. Need I add that some of those pictures were such as our young and +innocent eyes ought never to have been laid on? Nor were they fit for +the eyes of others. + +There was something uncanny about that house. We never knew just what it +was, but we had a faint idea that the proprietor's wife or daughter was +a witch; and that she, being as cobwebby as the rest of its furnishings, +was never visible. The wharf in front of the house was a free menagerie. +There were bears and other beasts behind prison bars, a very populous +monkey cage, and the customary "happy family" looking as dreadfully +bored as usual. Then again there were whole rows of parrots and +cockatoos and macaws as splendid as rainbow tints could make them, and +with tails a yard long at least. + +From this bewildering pageant it was but a step to the beach below. +Indeed the water at high tide flowed under that house with much foam and +fury; for it was a house founded upon the sand, and it long since +toppled to its fall, as all such houses must. We followed the beach, +that rounded in a curve toward Black Point. Just before reaching the +Point there was a sandhill of no mean proportions; this, of course, we +climbed with pain, only to slide down with perspiration. It was our Alp, +and we ascended and descended it with a flood of emotion not unmixed +with sand. + +Near by was a wreck,--a veritable wreck; for a ship had been driven +ashore in the fog and she was left to her fate--and our mercy. Probably +it would not have paid to float her again; for of ships there were more +than enough. Everything worth while was coming into the harbor, and +almost nothing going out of it. We looked upon that old hulk as our +private and personal property. At low tide we could board her dry-shod; +at high tide we could wade out to her. We knew her intimately from stem +to stern, her several decks, her cabins, lockers, holds; we had counted +all her ribs over and over again, and paced her quarter-deck, and gazed +up at her stumpy masts--she had been well-nigh dismantled,--and given +sailing orders to our fellows amidships in the very ecstasy of +circumnavigation. She has gone, gone to her grave in the sea that +lapped her timbers as they lay a-rotting under the rocks; and now +pestiferous factories make hideous the landscape we found so fair. + +[Illustration: The Old Flume at Black Point, 1856] + +As for Black Point, it was a wilderness of beauty in our eyes; a very +paradise of live-oak and scrub-oak, and of oak that had gone mad in the +whirlwinds and sandstorms that revelled there. Beyond Black Point we +climbed a trestle and mounted a flume that was our highway to the sea. +Through this flume the city was supplied with water. The flume was a +square trough, open at the top and several miles in length. It was cased +in a heavy frame; and along the timbers that crossed over it lay planks, +one after another, wherever the flume was uncovered. This narrow path, +intended for the convenience of the workmen who kept the flume in +repair, was our delight. We followed it in the full assurance that we +were running a great risk. Beneath us was the open trough, where the +water, two or three feet in depth, was rushing as in a mill-race. Had we +fallen, we must have been swept along with it, and perhaps to our doom. +Sometimes we were many feet in the air, crossing a cove where the sea +broke at high tide; sometimes we were in a cut among the rocks on a +jutting point; and sometimes the sand from the desert above us drifted +down and buried the flume, now roofed over, quite out of sight. + +So we came to Fort Point and the Golden Gate; and beyond the Fort there +was more flume and such a stretch of sea and shore and sunshine as +caused us to leap with gladness. We could follow the beach for miles; it +was like a pavement of varnished sand, cool to the foot and burnished to +the eye. And what sea-treasure lay strewn there! Mollusks, not so +delicate or so decorative as the shells we had brought with us from the +Southern Seas, but still delightful. Such starfish and cloudy, +starch-like jelly-fish, and all the livelier creeping and crawling +creatures that populate the shore! Brown sea-kelp and sea-green +sea-grass and the sea-anemone that are the floating gardens of the +sea-gods and sea-goddesses; sea-birds, soft-bosomed as doves and crying +with their ceaseless and sorrowful cry; and all they that are sea-borne +along the sea-board,--these were there in their glory. + +We hid in caverns and there dreamed our sea-dreams. We ate our lunches +and played at being smugglers; then we built fires of drift-wood to warn +the passing ships that we were castaways on a desert island; but when +they took no heed of our signals of distress we were not too sorry nor +in the least distressful. + +At the seal rocks we tarried long; for there are few spots within the +reach of the usual sight-seer where an enormous family of sea-lions can +be seen at home, sporting in their native element, and at liberty to +come and go in the wide Pacific at their own sweet wills. There they had +lived for numberless generations unmolested; there they still live, for +they are under the protection of the law. + +The famous Cliff House is built upon the cliff above them, and above it +is a garden bristling with statues. Thousands upon thousands of curious +idlers stare the sea-folks out of countenance--or try to; but they, the +sons of the salt sea and the daughters of the deep, climb into the +crevices of the rocks to sun themselves, unheeding; or leap into the +waves that girdle them and sport like the fabled monsters of marine +mythology. Seal, sea-leopard, or sea-lion--whatever they may be--they +cry with one voice night and day; and it is not a pleasant cry either, +though a far one, they mouth so horribly. Long ago it inspired a wit to +madness and he made a joke; the same old joke has been made by those who +followed after him. It will continue to be made with impertinent +impunity until the sea gives up its seals; for the temptation is there +daily and hourly, and the humorist is but human--he can not long resist +it; so he will buttonhole you on the veranda of the Cliff House and +whisper in your astonished ear as if he were imparting a state secret: +"Their bark is on the sea!" + +The way home was sometimes a weary one. After leaving the bluff above +the shore, we struck into an almost interminable succession of +sand-dunes. There was neither track nor trail there; there was no oasis +to gladden us with its vision of beauty. The pale poet of destiny and +despair has written: + + In the desert a fountain is springing, + In the wide waste there still is a tree; + And a bird in the solitude singing, + Which speaks to my spirit of thee. + +There was no fountain in our desert, and we knew it well enough; for we +had often braved its sands. In that wide waste there was not even the +solitary tree that moved the poet to song; nor a bird in our solitude, +save a sea-gull cutting across-lots from the ocean to the bay in search +of a dinner. There were some straggling vines on the edge of our desert, +thick-leaved and juicy; and these were doing their best to keep from +getting buried alive. The sand was always shifting out yonder, and there +was a square mile or two of it. We could easily have been lost in it but +for our two everlasting landmarks--Mount Tamalpais across the water to +the north, and in the south Lone Mountain. Lone Mountain was our +Calvary--a green hill that loomed above the graves where slept so many +who were dear to us. The cross upon its summit we had often visited in +our holiday pilgrimages. They were _holydays_, when our childish feet +toiled hopefully up that steep height; for that cross was the beacon +that lighted the world-weary to everlasting rest. + +And so we crossed the desert, over our shoetops in sand; climbing one +hill after another, only to slide or glide or ride down the yielding +slope on the farther side. Meanwhile the fog came in like a wet blanket. +It swathed all the landscape in impalpable snow; it chilled us and it +thrilled us, for there was danger of our going quite astray in it; but +by and by we got into the edge of the town, and what a very ragged edge +it was in the dim long ago! Once in the edge of the town, we were +masters of the situation: you couldn't lose us even in the dark. And so +ended the outing of our merry crew,--merry though weary and worn; yet +not so worn and weary but we could raise at parting a glad "Hoorah for +Health, Happiness, and the Hills of Home!" + + + + +VIII. + +THE MISSION DOLORES + + +I have read somewhere in the pages of a veracious author how, five or +six years before my day, he had ridden through chaparral from Yerba +Buena to the Mission Dolores with the howl of the wolf for +accompaniment. Yerba Buena is now San Francisco, and the mission is a +part of the city; it is not even a suburb. + +In 1855 there were two plank-roads leading from the city to the Mission +Dolores; on each of these omnibuses ran every half hour. The plank-road +was a straight and narrow way, cut through acres of chaparral--thickets +of low evergreen oaks,--and leading over forbidding wastes of sand. To +stretch a figure, it was as if the sea-of-sand had been divided in the +midst, so that the children of Israel might have passed dry-shod, and +the Egyptians pursuing them might have been swallowed up in the billows +of sand that flowed over them at intervals. + +Somewhere among those treacherous dunes--of them it might indeed be said +that "the mountains skipped like rams and the little hills like +lambs,"--somewhere thereabout was located the once famous but now +fabulous Pipesville, the country-seat of my old friend, "Jeems Pipes of +Pipesville." He was longer and better known to the world as Stephen C. +Massett, composer of the words and music of that once most popular of +songs, "When the Moon on the Lake is Beaming," as well as many another +charming ballad. + +Stephen C. Massett, a most delightful companion and a famous diner-out, +give a concert of vocal music interspersed with recitations and +imitations, in the school-house that stood at the northwest corner of +the plaza. This was on Monday evening, June 22, 1849; and it was the +first public entertainment, the first regular amusement, ever given in +San Francisco. The only piano in the country was engaged for the +occasion; the tickets were three dollars each, and the proceeds yielded +over five hundred dollars; although it cost sixteen dollars to have the +piano used on the occasion moved from one side of the plaza, or +Portsmouth Square, to the other. On a copy of the programme which now +lies before me I find this line: "N.B.--Front seats reserved for +ladies!" History records that there were but four ladies +present--probably the only four in the town at the time. Massett died in +New York city a few months ago,--a man who had friends in every country +under the sun, and, I believe, no enemy. + +I remember the Mission Dolores as a detached settlement with a +pronounced Spanish flavor. There was one street worth mentioning, and +only one. It was lined with low-walled adobe houses, roofed with the red +curved tiles which add so much to the adobe houses that otherwise would +be far from picturesque. The adobe is a sun-baked brick; it is +mud-color; its walls look as if they were moulded of mud. The adobes +were the native California habitations. We spoke of them as adobes; +although it would probably be as correct, etymologically, to refer to +brick houses as bricks. + +There were a few ramshackle hotels at the mission; for in the early days +it seemed as if everybody either boarded or took in boarders, and many +families lived for years in hotels rather than attempt to keep house in +the wilds of San Francisco. The mission was about one house deep each +side of the main street. You might have turned a corner and found +yourself face to face with the cattle in the meadow. As for the goats, +they met you at the doorway and followed you down the street like dogs. + +At the top of this street stood the mission church and what few mission +buildings were left for the use of the Fathers. The church and the +grounds were the most interesting features of the place, and it was a +favorite resort of the citizens of San Francisco; yet it most likely +would not have been were the church the sole attraction. Here, in +appropriate enclosures, there were bull-fighting, bear-baiting, and +horse-racing. Many duels were fought here, and some of them were so well +advertised that they drew almost as well as a cock-fight. Cock-fighting +was a special Sunday diversion. Through the mission ran the highway to +the pleasant city of San José; it ran through a country unsurpassed in +beauty and fertility. Above the mission towered the mission peaks, and +about it the hillslopes were mantled with myriads of wild flowers, the +splendor and variety of which have added to the fame of California. + +The mission church was never handsome; but the facade with the old bells +hanging in their niches, and the almost naive simplicity of its +architectural adornment, are extremely pleasing. It is a long, narrow, +dingy nave one enters. Its walls of adobe do not retain their coats of +whitewash for any length of time; in the rainy season they are damp and +almost clammy. The floor is of beaten earth; the Stations upon the walls +of the rudest description; the narrow windows but dimly light the +interior, and rather add to than dispel the gloom that has been +gathering there for ages. The high altar is, of course, in striking +contrast with all that dark interior: it is over-decorated in the +Mexican manner--flowers, feathers, tinsel ornaments, tall candlesticks +elaborately gilded; all the statues examples of the primitive art that +appealed strongly to the uncultivated eye; and all the adornments gay, +gaudy, if not garish. Do you wonder at this? When you enter the old +church at the Mission Dolores you should recall its history, and picture +in your imagination the people for whom the mission was established. + +The Franciscans founded their first mission in California at San Diego +in 1769. The Mission Dolores was founded on St. Francis' Day, 1776. To +found a mission was a serious matter; yet one and twenty missions were +in the full tide of success before the good work was abandoned. The +friars were the first fathers of the land: they did whatever was done +for it and for the people who originally inhabited it. They explored the +country lying between the coast range and the sea. They set apart large +tracts of land for cultivation and for the pasturing of flocks and +herds. For a long time Old and New Spain contributed liberally to what +was known as the Pious Fund of California. The fund was managed by the +Convent of San Fernando and certain trustees in Mexico, and the proceeds +transmitted from the city of Mexico to the friars in California. + +The mission church was situated, as a rule, in the centre of the mission +lands, or reservations. The latter comprised several thousand acres of +land. With the money furnished by the Pious Fund of California the +church was erected, and surrounded by the various buildings occupied by +the Fathers, the retainers, and the employees who had been trained to +agriculture and the simple branches of mechanics. The presbytery, or the +rectory, was the chief guest-house in the land. There were no hotels in +the California of that day, but the traveller, the prospector, the +speculator, was ever welcome at the mission board; and it was a +bountiful board until the rapacity of the Federal Government laid it +waste. Alexander Forbes, in his "History of Upper and Lower California" +(London, 1839), states that the population of Upper California in 1831 +was a little over 23,000; of these 18,683 were Indians. It was for the +conversion of these Indians that the missions were first established; +for the bettering of their condition--mental, moral and physical--that +they were trained in the useful and industrial arts. That they labored +not in vain is evident. In less than fifty years from the day of its +foundation the Mission of San Francisco Dolores--that is in 1825--is +said to have possessed 76,000 head of cattle; 950 tame horses; 2,000 +breeding mares; 84 stud of choice breed; 820 mules; 79,000 sheep; 2,000 +hogs; 456 yoke of working oxen; 18,000 bushels of wheat and barley; +besides $35,000 in merchandise and $25,000 in specie. + +That was, indeed, the golden age of the California missions; everybody +was prosperous and proportionately happy. In 1826 the Mission of Soledad +owned more than 36,000 head of cattle, and a larger number of horses and +mares than any other mission in the country. These animals increased so +rapidly that they were given away in order to preserve the pasturage for +cattle and sheep. In 1822 the Spanish power in Mexico was overthrown; in +1824 a republican constitution was established. California, not then +having a population sufficient to admit it as one of the Federal States, +was made a territory, and as such had a representative in the Mexican +Congress; but he was not allowed a vote on any question, though he sat +in the assembly and shared in the debates. + +In 1826 the Federal Government began to meddle with the affairs of the +friars. The Indians "who had good characters, and were considered able +to maintain themselves, from having been taught the art of agriculture +or some trade," were manumitted; portions of land were allotted to them, +and the whole country was divided into parishes, under the +superintendence of curates. The zealous missionaries were no longer to +receive a salary--four hundred dollars a year had formerly been paid +them out of the national exchequer for developing the resources of the +State. Everybody and everything was now supposed to be self-sustaining, +and was left to take care of itself. It was a dream--and a bad one! + +[Illustration: Lone Mountain, 1856] + +Within one year the Indians went to the dogs. They were cheated out of +their small possessions and were driven to beggary or plunder. The +Fathers were implored to take charge again of their helpless flock. +Meanwhile the Pious Fund of California had run dry, as its revenues had +been diverted into alien channels. The good friars resumed their +offices. Once more the missions were prosperous, but for a time only. It +was the beginning of the end. Year after year acts were passed in the +Mexican Congress so hampering the friars in their labors that they were +at last crippled and helpless. The year 1840 was specially disastrous; +and in 1845 the Franciscans the pioneer settlers and civilizers of +California, were completely denuded of both power and property. + +In that year a number of the missions were sold by public auction. The +Indian converts, formerly attached to some of the missions, but now +demoralized and wandering idly and miserably over the country, were +ordered to return within a month to the few remaining missions, _or +those also would be sold_. The Indians, having had enough of legislation +and knowing the white man pretty well by this time, no doubt having had +enough of him, returned not, and their missions were disposed of. Then +the remaining missions were rented and the remnants divided into three +parts: one kindly bestowed upon the missionaries, who were the founders +and rightful owners of the missions; one upon the converted Indians, who +seem to have vanished into thin air; one, the last, was supposed to be +converted into a new Pious Fund of California for the further education +and evangelization of the masses--whoever they might be. The general +government had long been in financial distress, and had often +borrowed--to put it mildly--from the friars in their more prosperous +days. In 1831 the Mexican Congress owed the missions of California +$450,000 of borrowed money; and in 1845 it left those missionaries +absolutely penniless. + +Let me not harp longer upon this theme, but end with a quotation from +the pages of a non-Catholic historian. Referring to the Franciscans and +their mission work on the Pacific coast, Josiah Joyce, assistant +professor of philosophy in Harvard College, says:[1] + +"No one can question their motives, nor may one doubt that their +intentions were not only formally pious but truly humane. For the more +fatal diseases that so-called civilization introduced among the Indians, +only the soldiers and colonists of the presidios and pueblos were to +blame; and the Fathers, well knowing the evil results of a mixed +population, did their best to prevent these consequences, but in vain; +since the neighborhood of a presidio was often necessary for the safety +of a mission, and the introduction of a white colonist was an important +part of the intentions of the home government. But, after all, upon this +whole toil of the missions, considered in itself, one looks back with +regret, as upon one of the most devout and praiseworthy of mortal +efforts; and, in view of its avowed intentions, one of the most complete +and fruitless of human failures. The missions have meant, for modern +American California, little more than a memory, which now indeed is +lighted up by poetical legends of many sorts. But the chief significance +of the missions is simply that they first began the colonization of +California." + +The old mission church as I knew it four and forty years ago is still +standing and still an object of pious interest. The first families of +the faithful lie under its eaves in their long and peaceful sleep, +happily unmindful of the great changes that have come over the spirit of +all our dreams. The old adobes have returned to dust, even as the hands +of those who fashioned them more than a century ago. Very modern houses +have crowded upon the old church and churchyard, and they seem to have +become the merest shadows of their former selves; while the roof-tree +of the new church soars into space, and its wide walls--out of all +proportion with the Dolores of departed days--are but emblematic of the +new spirit of the age. + +FOOTNOTES: + +[Footnote 1: In "California," 1886,--one of the admirable American +Commonwealths Series.] + + + + +IX. + +SOCIAL SAN FRANCISCO + + +Social San Francisco during the early Fifties seems to have been a +conglomeration of unexpected externals and surprising interiors. It was +heterogeneous to the last degree. It was hail-fellow-well-met, with a +reservation; it asked no questions for conscience's sake; it would not +have been safe to do so. There were too many pasts in the first families +and too many possible futures to permit one to cast a shadow upon the +other. And after all is said, if sins may be forgiven and atoned for, +why should the memory of a shady past imperil the happiness and +prosperity of the future? All futures should be hopeful; they were +"promise-crammed" in that healthy and hearty city by the sea. + +It was impossible, not to say impolite, to inquire into your neighbors' +antecedents. It was currently believed that the mines were filled with +broken-down "divines," as if it were but a step from the pulpit to the +pickaxe. As for one's family, it was far better off in the old home so +long as the salary of a servant was seventy dollars a month, fresh eggs +a dollar and a quarter a dozen, turkeys ten dollars apiece, and coal +fifty dollars a ton. + +In 1854 and 1855 San Francisco had a monthly magazine that any city or +state might have been proud of; this was _The Pioneer_, edited by the +Rev. Ferdinand C. Ewer. In 1851, a lady, the wife of a physician, went +with her husband into the mines and settled at Rich Bar and Indian Bar, +two neighboring camps on the north fork of the Feather River. There were +but three or four other women in that part of the country, and one of +these died. This lady wrote frequent and lengthy descriptive letters to +a sister in New England, and these letters were afterward published +serially in _The Pioneer_. They picture life as a highly-accomplished +woman knew it in the camps and among the people whom Bret Harte has +immortalized. She called herself "Dame Shirley," and the "Shirley +Letters" in _The Pioneer_ are the most picturesque, vivid, and valuable +record of life in a California mining camp that I know of. The wonder is +that they have never been collected and published in book form; for they +have become a part of the history of the development of the State. + +The life of a later period in San Francisco and Monterey has been +faithfully depicted by another hand. The life that was a mixture of +Gringo and diluted Castilian--a life that smacked of the presidio and +the hacienda,--that was a tale worth telling; and no one has told it so +freely, so fully or so well as Gertrude Franklin Atherton. + +"Dame Shirley" was Mrs. L.A.C. Clapp. When her husband died she went to +San Francisco and became a teacher in the Union Street public school. It +was this admirable lady who made literature my first love; and to her +tender mercies I confided my maiden efforts in the art of composition. +She readily forgave me then, and was the very first to offer me +encouragement; and from that hour to this she has been my faithful +friend and unfailing correspondent. + +South Park and Rincon Hill! Do the native sons of the golden West ever +recall those names and think what dignity they once conferred upon the +favored few who basked in the sunshine of their prosperity? South Park, +with its line of omnibuses running across the city to North Beach; its +long, narrow oval, filled with dusty foliage and offering a very weak +apology for a park; its two rows of houses with, a formal air, all +looking very much alike, and all evidently feeling their importance. +There were young people's "parties" in those days, and the height of +felicity was to be invited to them. As a height o'ertops a hollow, so +Rincon Hill looked down upon South Park. There was more elbow-room on +the breezy height; not that the height was so high or so broad, but it +_was_ breezy; and there was room for the breeze to blow over gardens +that spread about the detached houses their wealth of color and perfume. + +How are the mighty fallen! The Hill, of course, had the farthest to +fall. South Parkites merely moved out: they went to another and a better +place. There was a decline in respectability and the rent-roll, and no +one thinks of South Park now,--at least no one speaks of it above a +whisper. As for the Hill, the Hillites hung on through everything; the +waves of commerce washed all about it and began gnawing at its base; a +deep gully was cut through it, and there a great tide of traffic ebbed +and flowed all day. At night it was dangerous to pass that way without a +revolver in one's hand; for that city is not a city in the barbarous +South Seas, whither preachers of the Gospel of peace are sent; but is a +civilized city and proportionately unsafe. + +A cross-street was lowered a little, and it leaped the chasm in an agony +of wood and iron, the most unlovely object in a city that is made up of +all unloveliness. The gutting of this Hill cost the city the fortunes of +several contractors, and it ruined the Hill forever. There is nothing +left to be done now but to cast it into the midst of the sea. I had +sported on the green with the goats of goatland ere ever the stately +mansion had been dreamed of; and it was my fate to set up my tabernacle +one day in the ruins of a house that even then stood upon the order of +its going,--it did go impulsively down into that "most unkindest cut," +the Second Street chasm. Even the place that once knew it has followed +after. + +The ruin I lived in had been a banker's Gothic home. When Rincon Hill +was spoiled by bloodless speculators, he abandoned it and took up his +abode in another city. A tenant was left to mourn there. Every summer +the wild winds shook that forlorn ruin to its foundations. Every winter +the rains beat upon it and drove through and through it, and undermined +it, and made a mush of the rock and soil about it; and later portions of +that real estate deposited themselves, pudding-fashion, in the yawning +abyss below. + +I sat within, patiently awaiting the day of doom; for well I knew that +my hour must come. I could not remain suspended in midair for any length +of time: the fall of the house at the northwest corner of Harrison and +Second Streets must mark my fall. While I was biding my time, there came +to me a lean, lithe stranger. I knew him for a poet by his unshorn locks +and his luminous eyes, the pallor of his face and his exquisitely +sensitive hands. As he looked about my eyrie with aesthetic glance, +almost his first words were: "What a background for a novel!" He seemed +to relish it all--the impending crag that might topple any day or hour; +the modest side door that had become my front door because the rest of +the building was gone; the ivy-roofed, geranium-walled conservatory +wherein I slept like a Babe in the Wood, but in densest solitude and +with never a robin to cover me. + +He liked the crumbling estate, and even as much of it as had gone down +into the depths forever. He liked the sagging and sighing cypresses, +with their roots in the air, that hung upon and clung upon the rugged +edge of the remainder. He liked the shaky stairway that led to it (when +it was not out of gear), and all that was irrelative and irrelevant; +what might have been irritating to another was to him singularly +appealing and engaging; for he was a poet and a romancer, and his name +was Robert Louis Stevenson. He used to come to that eyrie on Rincon Hill +to chat and to dream; he called it "the most San Francisco-ey part of +San Francisco," and so it was. It was the beginning and the end of the +first period of social development on the Pacific coast. There is a +picture of it, or of the South Park part of it, in Gertrude Atherton's +story, "The Californians." The little glimpse that Louis Stevenson had +of it in its decay gave him a few realistic pages for _The Wrecker_. + +I have referred to the surprising interiors of the city in the Fifties. +What I meant was this: there was not an alley so miserable and so muddy +but somewhere in it there was pretty sure to be a cottage as demure in +outward appearance as modesty itself. Nothing could be more unassuming: +it had not even the air of genteel poverty. I think such an air was not +to be thought of in those days: gentility kept very much to itself. As +for poverty, it was a game that any one might play at any moment, and +most had played at it. + +This cottage stood there--I think I will say _sat_ there, it looked so +perfectly resigned,--and no doubt commanded a rent quite out of +proportion to its size. It had its shaky veranda and its French windows, +and was lined with canvas; for there was not a trowel full of plaster in +it. The ceiling bellied and flapped like an awning when the wind soughed +through the clapboards; and the walls sometimes visibly heaved a sigh; +but they were covered with panelled paper quite palatial in texture and +design, and that is one thing that made those interiors surprising. + +At the windows the voluminous lace draperies were almost overpowering. +Satin lambrequins were festooned with colossal cord and tassels of +bullion. A plate-glass mirror as wide as the mantel reflected the +Florentine gilt carving of its own elaborate frame. There were bronzes +on the mantel, and tall vases of Sévres, and statuettes of bisque +brilliantly tinted. At the two sides of the mantel stood pedestals of +Italian marble surmounted by urns of the most graceful and elegant +proportions, and profusely ornamented with sculptured fruits and +flowers. There was the old-fashioned square piano in its carven case, +and cabinets from China or East India; also a lacquered Japanese screen, +marble-topped tables of filigreed teek, brackets of inlaid ebony. Curios +there were galore. Some paintings there were, and these rocked softly +upon the gently-heaving walls. As for the velvet carpet, it was a bed of +gigantic roses that might easily put to the blush the prime of summer in +a queen's garden. + +I well remember another home in San Francisco, one that possessed for me +the strongest attraction. It was bosomed in the sandhills south of +Market Street,--I know not between what streets, for they had all been +blurred or quite obliterated by drifts of sifting sand. It was a small +house fenced about; but the fence was for the most part buried under +sand, and looked as if it were a rampart erected for the defense of this +isolated cot. Some few hardy flowers had been planted there, but they +were knee-deep in sand, and their petals were full of grit. One usually +blew into that house with a pinch of sand, but how good it was to be +there! + +Within those walls there was the unmistakable evidence of the feminine +touch, the aesthetic influence that refines and beautifies everything. +It was not difficult to idealize in that atmosphere. It was the home of +a lady who chose to conceal her identity, though her pen-name was a +household word from one end of the coast to the other. She was a star +contributor to the weekly columns of the _Golden Era,_ a periodical we +all subscribed for and were immensely proud of. It was unique in its +way. Of late years I have found no literary journal to compare with it +at its best. It introduced Bret Harte, Mark Twain, Prentice Mulford, +Joaquin Miller, Ina Coolbrith, and many others, to their first circle of +admirers. In the large mail-box at its threshold--a threshold I dared +not cross for awe of it--I dropped my earliest efforts in verse, and +then ran for fear of being caught in the act. + +Imagine the joy of a lad whose ambition was to write something worth +printing, and whose wildest dream was to be named some day with those +who had won their laurels in the field of letters,--imagine his joy at +being petted in the sanctum of one who was in his worshipful eyes the +greatest lady in the land! About her were the trophies of her triumph, +though she was personally known to few. Each post brought her tribute +from the grateful hearts of her readers afar off in the mountain mining +camps, and perhaps from beyond the Rockies; or, it may have been, from +the unsuspecting admirer who lived just beyond the first sandhill. This +was another surprising interior. There was plain living and high +thinking in the midst of a wilderness that was, to say the least, +uninviting; the windows rattled and the sand peppered them. Without was +the abomination of desolation; but within the desert blossomed as the +rose. + +There were other homes as homely as the one I preferred--for there was +sand enough to go round. It went round and round, as God probably +intended it should, until a city sat upon it and kept it quiet. Some of +these homes were perched upon solitary hilltops, and were lost to sight +when the fog came in from the sea; and some were crowded into the thick +of the town, with all sorts of queer people for neighbors. You could, +had you chosen to, look out of a back window into a hollow square full +of cats and rats and tin cans; and upon the three sides of the +quadrangle which you were facing, you might have seen, unblushingly +revealed, all the mysteries and miseries of Europe, Asia, Africa, and +Oceanica; for they were all of them represented by delegates. + +Of course there were handsome residences (not so very many of them as +yet), where there was fine art--some of the finest. But often this art +was to be found in the saloons, and the subjects chosen would hardly +find entertainment elsewhere. The furnishing of the houses was within +the bounds of good taste. Monumental marbles were not erected by the +hearth-side; the window drapery was diaphanous rather than dense and +dowdy. The markets of San Francisco were much to blame for the +flashiness of the domestic interior: they were stocked with the gaudiest +fixtures and textures, and in the inspection of them the eye was +bewildered and the taste demoralized. + +Harmony survived the inharmonious, and it prevailed in the homes of the +better classes, as it was bound to do; for refinement had set its seal +there, and you can not counterfeit the seal of refinement. But I am +inclined to think that in the Fifties there was a natural tendency to +overdress, to over-decorate, to overdo almost everything. Indeed the day +was demonstrative; if the now celebrated climate had not yet been +elaborately advertised, no doubt there was something hi it singularly +bracing. The elixir of it got into the blood and the brain, and perhaps +the bones as well. The old felt younger than they did when they left +"the States,"--the territory from the Rockies to the Atlantic Ocean was +commonly known as "the States." The middle-aged renewed their youth, and +youth was wild with an exuberance of health and hope and happiness that +seemed to give promise of immortality. + +No wonder that it was thought an honor to be known as the first white +child born in San Francisco--I'd think it such myself,--and I'm proud to +state that all three claimants are my personal friends. + + + + +X. + +HAPPY VALLEY + + +How well I remember it--the Happy Valley of the days of old! It lay +between California Street and Rincon Point; was bounded on the east by +the Harbor of San Francisco, and on the west by the mission peaks. I +never knew just why it was called _happy_; I never saw any wildly-happy +inhabitants singing or dancing for joy on its sometimes rather +indefinite street corners. If there is happiness in sand, then, happily, +it was sandy. You might have climbed knee-deep up some parts of it and +slid down on the other side; you could have played at "hide-and-seek" +among its shifting undulations. From what is now known as Nob Hill you +could have looked across it to the heights of Rincon Point--and, +perchance, have looked in vain for happiness. Yet who or what is +happiness? A flying nymph whose airy steps even the sand can not stay +for long. + +Down through this Happy Valley ran Market Street, a bias cut across the +city that was to be. Market Street is about all that saved that city +from making a checker-board of its ground-plan. Market Street flew off +at a tangent and set all the south portion of the town at an angle that +is rather a relief than anything else that I know of. Who wants to go on +forever up one street and down another, and then across town at right +angles, as if life were a treadmill and there were no hope of change +until the great change comes? + +Happy Valley! I remember one cool twilight when a "prairie schooner," +that was time-worn and weather-beaten, drifted down Montgomery Street +from Market Street, and rounded the corner of Sutter Street, where it +hove to. You know the "prairie schooner" was the old-time emigrant wagon +that was forever crossing the plains in Forty-nine and the early +Fifties. It was scow-built, hooded from end to end, freighted with goods +and chattels; and therein the whole family lived and moved and had its +being during the long voyage to the Pacific Coast. + +On this twilight evening the captain of the schooner, assisted by a +portion of his crew, deliberately took down part of the fence which +enclosed a sand-lot bounded by Montgomery, Sutter and Post Streets; +driving into the centre of the lot; the horses--four jaded beasts--were +turned loose, and soon a camp-fire was lighted and the entire emigrant +family gathered about it to partake of the evening meal. On this lot now +stands the Lick House and the Masonic Hall--undreamed of in those days. +No one seemed in the least surprised to find in the very heart of the +city a scene such as one might naturally look for in the heart of the +Rocky Mountains and the wilds of the great desert, or the heights of the +Humboldt. No doubt they thought it a Happy Valley; and well they might, +for they had reached their journey's end. + +A stone's throw from that twilight camp, on the south side of Market +Street, stood old St. Patrick's Church. It was a most unpretending +structure, and was quite overshadowed by the R.C. Orphan Asylum close at +hand. Both were backed by sandhills; and both, together with the sand, +have been spirited away. The Palace and Grand Hotels now stand on the +spot. The original St. Patrick's still exists; and, after one or two +transportations, has come to a final halt near the Catholic cemetery +under the shadow of Lone Mountain. It must be ever dear to me, for +within its modest rectory I met the first Catholic clergyman I ever +became acquainted with; and within it I grew familiar with the offices +of the Church; though I was instructed by the Rev. Father Accolti, S.J., +at old St. Ignatius', on Market Street; and by him baptized at the St. +Mary's Cathedral, on the corner of California and Dupont Streets, now +the church of the Paulist Fathers. I have referred to dear old St. +Patrick's--which was dedicated on the first Sunday in September, +1851--in the story of my conversion, a little bit of autobiography +entitled "A Troubled Heart, and How It was Comforted at Last." The late +Peter H. Burnett, first Governor of California, was my godfather. + +In 1855 St. Mary's Cathedral was the handsomest house of worship in the +city. For the most part, the churches of all denominations were of the +plainest, not to say cheapest, order of architecture. As a youth, I sat +in the family pew in the First Presbyterian Church, situated on Stockton +Street, near Broadway. Well I remember my father, with others of the +congregation--all members of the Vigilance Committee,--at the sound of +the alarm-bell, rising in the midst of the sermon and striding out of +the house to take arms in defence of law and order. + +Perhaps the saddest sights in those early days were the neglected +cemeteries. There was one at North Beach, where before 1850 there were +eight hundred and forty interments. It was on the slope of Telegraph +Hill. The place was neglected; a street had been cut through it, and on +the banks of this street we could, at intervals, see the ends of coffins +protruding. Some were broken and falling apart; some were still sound. +It was a gruesome sight. + +There were a few Russian graves on Russian Hill, a forlorn spot in those +days; but perhaps the forlornest of all was Yerba Buena cemetery, where +previous to 1854 four thousand and five hundred bodies had been buried. +It was half-way between Happy Valley and the Mission Dolores. The sand +there was tossed in hillocks like the waves of a sandy sea. There the +chaparral grew thickest; and there the scrub-oaks shrugged their +shoulders and turned their backs to the wind, and grew all lopsided, +with leafage as dense as moss. + +No fence enclosed this weird spot. The sand sifted into it and through +it and out on the other, side; it made graves and uncovered them; it had +ever a new surprise for us. We boys haunted it in ghoulish pairs, and +whispered to each other as we found one more coffin coming to the +surface, or searched in vain for the one we had seen the week before; it +had been mercifully reburied by the winds. There were rude headboards, +painted in fading colors; and beneath them lay the dead of all nations, +soon to be nameless. By and by they were all carried hence; and those +that were far away, watching and waiting for the loved and absent +adventurers, watched and waited in vain. A change come o'er the spirit +of the place. The site is now marked by the New City Hall--in all +probability the most costly architectural monstrosity on this continent. + +"From grave to gay" is but a step; "from lively to severe," another,--I +know not which of the two is longer. It was literally from grave to gay +when the old San Franciscans used to wade through the sandy margin of +Yerba Buena cemetery in search of pleasure at Russ' Garden on the +mission road. It flourished in the early Fifties--this very German +garden, the pride and property of Mr. Christian Russ. It was a little +bit of the Fatherland, transported as if by magic and set down among the +hillocks toward the Mission Dolores. Well I remember being taken there +at intervals, to find little tables in artificial bowers, where sat +whole families as sedate, or merry, and as much at ease as if they were +in their own homes. They would spend Sunday there, after Mass. There was +always something to be seen, to be listened to, to be done. Meals were +served at all hours, and beer at all minutes; and the program contained +a long list of attractions,--enough to keep one interested till ten or +eleven o'clock at night. + +I can remember how scanty the foliage was--it resembled a little the +toy-villages that are made in the Tyrol, having each of them a handful +of impossible trees that breathe not balsam, but paint. I remember the +high wind that blew in bravely from the sea; the pavilion that was a +wonder-world of never-failing attractiveness; and how on a certain +occasion I watched with breathless anxiety and dumb amazement a man, +who seemed to have discarded every garment common to the race, wheel a +wheelbarrow with a grooved wheel up a tight rope stretched from the +ground to the outer peak of the pavilion; and all the time there was a +man in the wheelbarrow who seemed paralyzed with fright,--as no doubt he +was. The man who wheeled the barrow was the world-famous Blondin. + +[Illustration: Russ Gardens, 1856] + +Another sylvan retreat was known as "The Willows." There were some +willows there, but I fear they were numbered; and there was an _al +fresco_ theatre such as one sees in the Champs-Elysées; indeed, the +place had quite a Frenchy atmosphere, and was not at all German, as was +Russ' Garden. French singers sang French songs upon the stage--it was +not much larger than a sounding-board. + +An air of gaiety prevailed; for I imagine the majority of the _habitués_ +were from the French Quarter of the city. Of course there were birds and +beasts, and cages populous with monkeys; and there was an emeu--the +weird bird that can not fly, the Australian cassowary. This bird +inspired Bret Harte to song, and in his early days he wrote "The Ballad +of the Emeu"; + + O say, have you seen at the willows so green, + So charming and rurally true, + A singular bird, with the manner absurd, + Which they call the Australian emeu? + Have you + Ever seen this Australian emeu? + +I fear the poet was moved to sarcasm when he sang of "the willows so +green, so charming and rurally true." Surely they were greener than any +other trees we had in town; for we had almost none, save a few dark +evergreens. Well, the place was charming in its way, and as rurally true +as anything could be expected to be on that peninsula in its native +wilderness. The Willows and Russ' Garden had their day, and it was a +jolly day. They were good for the people--those rural resorts; they were +rest for the weary, refreshment for the hungry and thirsty--and they +have gone; even their very sites are now obliterated, and the new +generation has perhaps never even heard of them. + +How we wondered at and gloried in the Oriental Hotel! It was the queen +of Western hostelries, and stood at the corner of Battery and Bush +Streets. And the Tehama House, so famous in its day! It was Lieutenant +G.H. Derby, better known in letters as John Phoenix, and Squibob--names +delightfully associated with the early history of California,--it was +this Lieutenant Derby, one of the first and best of Western humorists, +who added interest to the hotel by writing "A Legend of the Tehama +House." It begins, chapter first: + +"It was evening at the Tehama. The apothecary, whose shop formed the +southeastern corner of that edifice, had lighted his lamps, which, +shining through those large glass bottles in the window, filled with +red and blue liquors--once supposed by this author, when young and +innocent, to be medicines of the most potent description,--lit up the +faces of the passers-by with an unearthly glare, and exaggerated the +general redness and blueness of their noses." + +The third and last chapter concludes with these words: "The Tehama House +is still there." The laughter-making and laughter-loving Phoenix has +long since gone to his reward. Of the Oriental Hotel scarcely a +tradition remains. The Tehama House--what there is left of it--has been +spirited to the north side of Broadway within a stone's-throw of the +city and county jail. The cliffs of Telegraph Hill browbeat it. It is, +one might say, the last of its race. + +Another hospice--if it _was_ a hospice--I remember. It stood on the +corner of Clay and Sansome Streets, and was a very ordinary building, +erected over the hulk of a ship that had been stranded there in the days +of Forty-nine. I saw the building torn down and the bones of the hulk +disinterred years after the water lots that had been filled in for +several squares, between it and the old harbor, were covered with +substantial buildings. When that bark was buoyant it had weathered Cape +Horn with a small army of argonauts. They had gone their way to dusty +death; she had buried her nose on the water-front and had been +smothered to death in the mire. Docks, streets, grew up around her; a +building had snuffed her out of sight and mind. The old building gave +place to a new one; the bark was resurrected in order to lay a solid +foundation for the new block that was to be. In the hold of this +forgotten bark was discovered a forgotten case of champagne. It had been +sunk in mud and ooze for years. When the bottles were opened the corks +refused to pop, and nobody dared to touch the "bilge" that was within. +All this was on the happy hem of Happy Valley--and still I was not +happy. + + + + +XI. + +THE VIGILANCE COMMITTEE + + +It was May 14, 1856. I chanced to be standing at the northwest corner of +Washington and Montgomery Streets, watching the world go by. It was a +queer world: very much mixed, not a little fantastic in manner and +costume; just the kind of world to delight a boy, and no doubt I was +delighted. + +"Bang!" It was a pistol-shot, and very near me--not thirty feet away. I +turned and saw a man stagger and fall to the pavement. Then the streets +began to grow dark with people hurrying toward the scene of the tragedy. +I fled in fright; I had had my fill of horrors. The pistol-shot was +familiar enough: it punctuated the hours of day and night out yonder. +But I had never witnessed a murder, and this was evidently one. + +When I reached home I was dazed. On the witness stand, under oath, I +could have told nothing; but very shortly the whole town was aware that +James King--known as James King of William (i.e., William King was his +father)--the editor of the _Evening Bulletin_ had been shot in cold +blood by James Casey, a supervisor, the editor of a local journal, an +unprincipled politician, an ex-convict, and a man whose past had been +exposed and his present publicly denounced in the editorial columns of +the _Bulletin_. + +This climax precipitated a general movement toward social and political +reform in San Francisco. It was James P. Casey, a graduate of the New +York state-prison at Sing Sing, who stuffed a ballot-box with tickets +bearing his own name upon them as candidate for supervisor, and as a +result of this stuffing declared himself elected. Casey was hurried off +to jail by his friends, lest the outraged populace should lynch him on +the spot. A mob gathered at the jail. The mayor of the city harangued +the people in favor of law and order. They jeered him and remained there +most of the night. One leading spirit might have roused the masses to +riot; but the hour was not yet ripe. + +In 1851 a Vigilance Committee had endeavored to purge the politics of +the town and rid it of the criminals who had foisted themselves into +office. Some ex-members of this committee became active members of the +committee of 1856. Chief among them was William T. Coleman, a name +deservedly honored in the annals of San Francisco. + +James King of William was shot on Tuesday, the 14th of May. He died on +the following Monday. That fatal shot was the turning-point in the +history of the metropolis of the Pacific. A meeting of the citizens was +immediately called; an executive committee was appointed; the work of +organization was distributed among the sub-committees. With amazing +rapidity three thousand citizens were armed, drilled, and established in +temporary armories; ample means were subscribed to cover all expenses. +Several companies of militia disbanded rather than run the risk of being +called into service against the Vigilantis; they then joined the +committee, armed with their own muskets. Arms were obtained from every +quarter, and soon there was an ample supply. A building on Sacramento +Street, below Battery, was secured and made headquarters of the +committee. A kind of fortification built of potato sacks filled with +sand was erected in front of it. It was known as Fort Gunny Bags. This +secured an open space before the building. The fort was patrolled by +sentinels night and day; military rule was strictly observed. + +All things having been arranged silently, secretly, decently and in +order--the members of the committee were under oath as well as under +arms--they decided to take matters into their own hands; and in order to +do this Casey must be removed from jail--peaceably if possible, forcibly +if necessary--and given a lodging and a trial at Fort Gunny Bags. + +On Sunday morning, the 19th of May, chancing be under the weather, and +consequently at home sitting by a window, I saw people flocking past the +house and hastening toward the jail. We were then living on Broadway, +below Montgomery Street; the jail was on Broadway, a square or two +farther up the street; between us was a shoulder of Telegraph Hill not +yet cut away, though it had been blasted out of shape and an attempt had +been made to tunnel it. The young Californian of that day was +keen-scented and lost no opportunity of seeing whatever was to be seen. +Forgetting my distemper, I grabbed my cap and joined the expectant +throngs. We went over the heights of the hill like a flock of goats: we +were used to climbing. On the other edge of the cliff, where we seemed +almost to overhang the jail and the street in front of it, we paused and +caught our breath. What a sight it was! It seems that on Saturday +twenty-four companies of Vigilantis were ordered to meet at their +respective armories, in various parts of the city, at nine o'clock on +Sunday morning. Orders were given to each captain to take up a certain +position near the jail. The jail was surrounded: no one could approach +it, no one escape from it, without leave of the commanders of the +committee. + +The streets glistened with bayonets. It was as if the city were in a +state of siege; so indeed it was. The companies marched silently, +ominously, without music or murmur, to their respective stations. +Citizens--non-combatants but all sympathizers--flocked in and covered +the housetops and the heights in the vicinity. A hollow square was +formed before the jail; an artillery company with a huge brass cannon +halted near it; the cannon was placed directly in front of the jail and +trained upon the gates. I remember how impressive the scene was: the +grim files of infantry; the gleaming brass of the cannon; one closed +carriage within the hollow square; the awful stillness that brooded over +all. + +[Illustration: Certificate of Membership, Vigilance Committee, 1856] + +Two Vigilance officials went to the door of the jail and informed +Sheriff Scannell that they had come to take Casey with them. Resistance +was now useless; the door of the jail was thrown open to them and they +entered. At their approach Casey begged leave to speak for ten minutes +in his own defense,--he evidently expected to be executed on the +instant. He was assured that he should have a fair trial, and that his +testimony should be deliberately weighed in the balance. This act of an +outraged and disgusted people was one of the calmest, coolest, wisest, +most deliberate on record. Law, order, and justice were at bay. Casey, +under guard, walked quietly to the carriage and entered it. In the jail +at the time was Charles Cora, a man who had murdered United States +Marshal Richardson. He had been tried once; but then the jury +disagreed--as they nearly always agreed to in those barbarous days. +Hanging was almost out of the question. Cora was invited to enter the +carriage with Casey, and the two were driven under military escort to +Fort Gunny Bags. + +On the day following, Monday, James King of William died. On Tuesday +Casey was tried by the executive committee. John S. Hittell, the +historian of San Francisco, says: + +"No person was present at the trial save the accused, the members of the +Vigilance Committee, and witnesses. The testimony was given under oath, +though there was no lawful authority for its administration. Hearsay +testimony was excluded; the general rules of evidence observed in the +courts were adopted: the accused heard all the witnesses, cross-examined +those against him, summoned such as he wanted in his favor, had an +attorney to assist him, and was permitted to make an argument by himself +or his attorney, in his own defence." + +Casey and Cora were both convicted: their guilt was beyond the shadow of +a doubt. + +On Wednesday James King of William was laid to rest at Lone Mountain. +The whole city was draped in mourning; all business was suspended; the +citizens lined the streets through which the feral cortége proceeded, or +followed it until it seemed interminable. + +As that procession passed up Montgomery Street and crossed Sacramento +Street, those who were walking or driving in it looked down the latter +street and saw, two squares below, the lifeless bodies of James P. Casey +and Charles Cora dangling by the neck from two second-story windows of +the headquarters of the Vigilance Committee. Justice was enthroned at +last. + +"The Vigilance Committees of San Francisco in 1851 and 1856," as Hittell +says, "were in many important respects unlike any other extra-judicial +movement to administer justice. They were not common mobs: they were +organized for weeks or months of labor, deliberate in their movements, +careful to keep records of their proceedings, strictly attentive to the +rules of evidence and the penalties for crime accepted by civilized +nations; confident of their power, and of their justification by public +opinion; and not afraid of taking the public responsibility of their +acts." + +The committee of 1856 was never formally dissolved. The reformation it +had accomplished rendered it inactive. Some of the worst criminals in +California had been officials. A thousand homicides had been committed +in the city between 1849 and 1856, and there were but seven executions +in seven years. + +Richard Henry Dana, Jr., the author of "Two Years before the Mast," who +spent the greater portion of two years--1834-35--on the coast of +California, and who revisited the Pacific coast in 1859, observes: + +"And now the most quiet and well-governed city in the United States is +San Francisco. But it has been through its seasons of heaven-defying +crime and violence and blood; from which it was rescued and handed back +to soberness and morality and good government by that peculiar invention +of Anglo-Saxon republican America--the solemn, awe-inspiring Vigilance +Committee of the most grave and respectable citizens; the last resort of +the thinking and the good, taken only when vice, fraud, and ruffianism +had entrenched themselves behind the forms of law, suffrage, and +ballot." + +San Francisco was undoubtedly the most disreputable city in the Union. +It is now one of the most reputable. As I think of it to-day there is no +shudder in the thought. And yet I saw James King of William shot; I saw +Casey and Cora transferred from the jail to the headquarters of the +Vigilance Committee; and I saw them hanging as the body of James King of +William was being borne by a whole city, bowed in grief, to his last +resting-place. And my venerated father was a member of that +never-to-be-forgotten Vigilance Committee of San Francisco in the year +of Our Lord eighteen hundred and fifty-six. + + + + +XII. + +THE SURVIVOR'S STORY + + +It is not much of a story. It is only the mild adventure of a boy at +sea; and of a small, sad boy at that. This boy had an elder brother who +was ill; and the physicians in consultation had decided that a long +sea-voyage was his only hope, and that even in this case the hope was a +very faint one. + +There was a ship at anchor in the harbor of San Francisco,--a very +famous clipper, one of those sailors of the sea known as Ocean +Greyhounds. She was built for speed, and her record was a brilliant one; +under the guidance of her daring captain, she had again and again proved +herself worthy of her name. She was called the _Flying Cloud_. Her +cabins were luxuriously furnished; for in those days seafarers were +oftener blown about the world by the four winds of heaven than propelled +by steam. Yet when the _Flying Cloud_, one January day, tripped anchor +and set sail, there were but three strangers on the quarter-deck--a +middle-aged gentleman in search of health, the invalid brother, in his +eighteenth year, and the small, sad boy. + +[Illustration: West from Black Point, 1856] + +The captain's wife, a lady of Salem who had followed him from sea to +sea for many a year, was the joy and salvation of that forlorn little +company. How forlorn it was only the survivor knows, and he knows well +enough. Forty years have scarcely dimmed the memory of it. Through all +the wear and tear of time the remembrance of that voyage has at +intervals haunted him: the length of it, the weariness of it, and the +almost unbroken monotony stretching through the ninety odd days that +dawned and darkened between San Francisco and New York; the solitary +sail that was blown on and on, and becalmed and buffeted between the +blue waste of waters and the blue waste of sky; the lonesomeness of it +all--no land, no lights flashing across the sea in glad assurance; no +passing ships to hail us with faint-voiced "Ahoy!"--only the +ever-tossing waves, the trailing sea-gardens, the tireless birds of the +air and the monsters of the deep. + +Ah, well-a-day! There was a solemn and hushed circle listening to family +prayers that morning,--the morning of the 4th of January. The father's +voice trembled as he opened the Bible and read from that beautiful +psalm: + +"They that go down to the sea in ships, that do business in great +waters, these see the works of the Lord and His wonders in the deep. For +He commandeth and raiseth the stormy wind, which lifteth up the waves +thereof. They mount up to the heaven; they go down again to the depths; +their soul is melted because of trouble. They reel to and fro and +stagger like a drunken man, and are at their wit's end. Then they cry +unto the Lord in their trouble, and He bringeth them out of their +distresses. He maketh the storm a calm, so that the waves thereof are +still. Then are they glad because they be quiet; so He bringeth them +unto their desired haven. Oh, that men would praise the Lord for His +goodness and for His wonderful works to the children of men!" + +The small, sad boy looked smaller and sadder than ever as he stood on +the deck of the _Flying Cloud_ and waved his last farewell. He tried his +best to be manly and to swallow the heart that was leaping in his +throat, and at the earliest possible moment he flew to his journal and +made his first entry there. He was going to keep a journal because his +brother kept one, and because it was the proper thing to keep a journal +at sea--no ship is complete without its log, you know; and, moreover, I +think it was a custom in that family to keep a journal; for it was, more +or less, a journalistic family. + +Now we are nearing the anniversary of that boy's journal: it runs +through January, February and March; it is more than forty years old +this minute. And because it is a boy's journal, and the boy was small +and sad, I'm going to peep into it and fish out a line or two. With an +effort he made this entry: + +"CLIPPER SHIP, FLYING CLOUD, + "January 4, 1857. + +"I watched them till we were out of sight of them, and then began to +look about to see what I could see. It begins to get rough. I tried to +see home, but I could not. The pilot says he will take a letter ashore +for us. Now I will go to bed." + + +Then he cried unto the Lord in his trouble with a heart as heavy as +lead. + +"JAN. 5.--The day rather rough, with little squalls of rain. We are +passing the Farallone Islands, but I feel too bad to sketch them. I get +homesick when I think of the dear ones I left behind me. I hope I may +see them all in this world again." + +That was the gray beginning of a voyage that had very little color in +it. The coast-line sank apace; the gray rocks--the Farallones, the haunt +of the crying gull--dissolved in the gray mist. The hours were all +alike: all dismal and slow-footed. + +"I don't feel very well to-day," said the small, sad boy, quite +plaintively. On the 6th he brightens and begins to take notice. History +would have less to fasten on were there not some such entries as this: + +"A list of our live-stock: 17 pigs; 12 dozen hens and roosters; 3 +turkeys; 1 gobbler; a cockatoo and a wild-cat. We have a fair breeze, +and carry 26 sails. + +"JAN. 7.--The day is calm. I began to read 'Uncle Tom's Cabin.' I like +it. The captain's wife was going to train the wild-cat when it bit +her--but not very hard. + +"8.--There was not much wind to-day. We fished for sea-gulls and caught +four. I caught one and let it go again. Two hens flew overboard. The +sailors in a boat got one of them; the gulls killed one. + +"9.--The day has been rather gloomy. I caught another sea-gull but let +him go again. On deck nearly all day. + +"10.--The cockatoo sits on deck and talks and talks. + +"11.--It makes me feel bad when I think of home. I want to be there." + +The long, long weary days dragged on. It is thought worth while to note +that there were fresh eggs for breakfast, fresh pork for dinner, fresh +chicken for supper; that a porpoise had been captured, and that his +carcass yielded "three gallons of oil as good as sperm oil"; that no +ship had been seen--"no sail from day to day"; that they were in the +latitude of Panama; that it was squally or not squally, as the case +might be; that on one occasion they captured "four barrels of oil," the +flotsam of some ill-fated whaler, and that it all proved "very +exciting"; that a dolphin was captured, and that he died in splendor, +passing through the whole gamut of the rainbow--that the words of +tradition might be fulfilled; that the hens had suffered no sea-change, +but had contributed from a dozen to two dozen eggs per day. Still +stretched the immeasurable waste of waters to the horizon line on every +hand. Day by day the small boy made his entries; but he seemed to be +running down, like a clock, and needed winding up. This is how his +record dwindled: + +"JAN. 20.--The day is very pleasant, with some wind. We crossed the +equator. I sat up in one of the boats a long time. I wish my little +brothers were here to play with me. + +"21.--The day is very pleasant, with a good breeze. We are going ten or +eleven knots an hour. + +"22.--The day is very pleasant. A nine-knot breeze. Nothing new happened +to-day. + +"23.--The day is pleasant. Six-knot breeze." + +It came to pass that the small, sad boy, wearying of "Uncle Tom" and his +"cabin," was driven to extremes; and, having obtained leave of the +captain--who was autocrat of all his part of the world,--he climbed into +one of the ship's boats, as it hung in the davits over the side of the +vessel. It was an airy voyage he took there, sailing between sea and +sky, soaring up and down with the rolling vessel, like a bird upon the +wing. + +He rigged a tiny mast there--it was a walking-stick that ably served +this purpose; the captain's wife provided sails no larger than +handkerchiefs. With thread-like ropes and pencil spars he set his sails +for dreamland. One day the wind bothered him; he could not trim his +canvas, and in desperation he set it dead against the wind, and then the +sails were filled almost to bursting. But his navigation was at fault; +for he was heading in a direction quite opposite to the _Flying Cloud_. + +Then came a facetious sailor and whispered to him: "Do you want ever to +get to New York?"--"Yes, I do," said the little captain of the midair +craft.--"Well, then, you'd better haul in sail; for you're set dead agin +us now." The sails were struck on the instant and never unfurled again. + +I wonder why some people are so very inconsiderate when they speak to +children, especially to simple or sensitive children? The small, sad boy +took it greatly to heart, and was cast down because he feared that he +might have delayed the bark that bore him all too slowly toward the +far-distant port. This was indeed simplicity of the deepest dye, and +something of that simplicity the boy was never to escape unto the end +of time. We are as God made us, and we must in all cases put up with +ourselves. + +What a lonely voyage was that across the vast and vacant sea! Now and +then a distant sail glimmered upon the horizon, but disappeared like a +vanishing snowflake. The equator was crossed; the air grew colder; storm +and calm followed each other; the daily entry now becomes monotonous. + +"FEBRUARY 2.--To-day for the first time we saw an albatross. + +"7.--Rather rough and cold; I have spent all day in the cabin. It makes +me homesick to have such weather. + +"14.--I rose at five o'clock and went on deck, and before long saw land. +It was Terra del Fuego; it was a beautiful sight. Here lay a pretty +island, there a towering precipice, and over yonder a mountain covered +with snow. We made the fatal Cape Horn at two o'clock, and passed it at +four o'clock. Now we are in the Atlantic Ocean. + +"WASHINGTON'S BIRTHDAY.--Rough weather: a sixteen-knot breeze. To-day we +got our one thousandth egg, and the hens are doing well. At +twelve--eight bells--we saw a sail on our weather-bow: she was going the +same way as we were. At two, we overtook and spoke her. She was the +whaler _Scotland_ from New Zealand, bound for New Bedford, with +thirty-five hundred barrels of oil. We soon passed her. I wish her good +luck." + +I will no longer stretch the small, sad boy upon the rack of his dull +journal. He had a glimpse at Juan Fernandez, but the island of his +dreams was so far off that he had to climb to the maintop in order to +get a sight of its shadowy outline. When it had faded away like the +clouds, the lonely little fellow cried himself to sleep for love of his +Robinson Crusoe. + +One night the moon--a large, mellow tropical one,--rose from a bank of +cloud so like a mountain's chain that the small one clapped his hands in +glee and cried: "Land ho!" But, alas! it was only cloud-land; and his +eyes, that were starving for a sight of God's green earth, were again +bedewed. Indeed he was bound for a distant shore, a voyage of ninety-one +days; and during all that voyage he was in sight of land for five days +only. It may be said that the port he was bound for, and where he was +destined to pass two years at school, four thousand miles from his own +people, may be called "The Vale of Tears." + +Off the Brazilian coast a head-wind forced the ship to tack repeatedly; +she was sometimes so near the land that people could be seen moving, +like black dots, along the shore. Native fishermen, mounted upon the +high seats of their catamarans--the frailest rafts,--drifted within +hailing distance; and over night the brave ship was within almost +speaking distance of Pernambuco. The lights of the city were like a bed +of glowworms,--but the small, sad boy was blown off into the sea again, +for his hour had not yet come. + +Here is the last entry I shall weary you with, for I would not abuse +your patience: + +"APRIL 5, 1857.--I was _awoke_ this morning by the noise the pilot made +in getting on board. At ten o'clock the steam-tug Hercules took us in +tow. We had beautiful views of the shore [God knows how beautiful they +were in his eyes!], and at three o'clock we were at the Astor House, +with Captain and Mrs. Cresey, Mr. Connor, and the Stoddard boys--all of +the _Flying Cloud_,--where we retired to soft beds to spend the night." + +There is a plaintive touch in that reference to _soft beds_ after three +months in the straight and narrow bunk of a ship. And there is more +pathos in all those childish pages than you wot of; for, alas and alas! +I am the sole survivor,--I was that small, sad boy; and I alone am left +to tell the tale. + + + + +A BIT OF OLD CHINA + + +"It is but a step from Confucius to confusion," said I, in a brief +discussion of the Chinese question. "Then let us take it by all means," +replied the artist, who had been an indulgent listener for at least ten +minutes. We were strolling upon the verge of the Chinese Quarter in San +Francisco, and, turning aside from one of the chief thoroughfares of the +city, we plunged into the busiest portion of Chinatown. From our +standpoint--the corner of Kearny and Sacramento Streets--we got the most +favorable view of our Mongolian neighbors. Here is a goodly number of +merchant gentlemen of wealth and station, comfortably, if not elegantly, +housed on two sides of a street that climbs a low hill quite in the +manner of a tea-box landscape. + +A few of these gentlemen lodge on the upper floors of their business +houses, with Chinese wives, and quaint, old-fashioned children gaudily +dressed, looking like little idols, chatting glibly with one another, +and gracefully gesticulating with hands of exquisite slenderness. +Confucius, in his infancy, may have been like one of the least of these. +There are white draymen and porters in the employ of these shrewd and +civil merchants, and the outward appearance of traffic, as conducted in +the immediate vicinity, is rather American than otherwise. + +Farther up the hill, on Dupont Street, from California to Pacific +Streets, the five blocks are almost monopolized by the Chinese. There +is, at first, a sprinkling of small shops in the hands of Jews and +Gentiles, and a mingling of Chinese bazaars of the half-caste type, +where American and English goods are exposed in the show windows; but as +we pass on the Asiatic element increases, and finally every trace of +alien produce is withdrawn from the shelves and counters. + +Here little China flaunts her scarlet streamers overhead, and flanks her +doors with legends in saffron and gold; even its window panes have a +foreign look, and within is a glimmering of tinsel, a subdued light, and +china lamps flickering before graven images of barbaric hideousness. The +air is laden with the fumes of smoking sandal-wood and strange odors of +the East; and the streets, swarming with coolies, resound with the +echoes of an unknown tongue. There is hardly room for us to pass; we +pick our way, and are sometimes curiously regarded by slant-eyed pagans, +who bear us no good-will, if that shadow of scorn in the face has been +rightly interpreted. China is not more Chinese than this section of our +Christian city, nor the heart of Tartary less American. + +Turn which way we choose, within two blocks, on either hand we find +nothing but the infinitely small and astonishingly numerous forms of +traffic on which the hordes around us thrive. No corner is too cramped +for the squatting street cobbler; and as for the pipe cleaners, the +cigarette rollers, the venders of sweetmeats and conserves, they gather +on the curb or crouch under overhanging windows, and await custom with +the philosophical resignation of the Oriental. + +On Dupont Street, between Clay and Sacramento Streets--a single +block,--there are no less than five basement apartments devoted +exclusively to barbers. There are hosts of this profession in the +quarter. Look down the steep steps leading into the basement and see, at +any hour of the day, with what deft fingers the tonsorial operators +manipulate the devoted pagan head. + +There is no waste space in the quarter. In apartments not more than +fifteen feet square three or four different professions are often +represented, and these afford employment to ten or a dozen men. Here is +a druggist and herb-seller, with huge spectacles on his nose, at the +left of the main entrance; a butcher displays his meats in a show-window +on the right, serving his customers over the sill; a clothier is in the +rear of the shop, while a balcony filled with tailors or cigar-makers +hangs half-way to the ceiling. + +[Illustration: "China is Not More Chinese than this Section of Our +Christian City."] + +Close about us there are over one hundred and fifty mercantile +establishments and numerous mechanical industries. The seventy-five +cigar factories employ eight thousand coolies, and these are huddled +into the closest quarters. In a single room, measuring twenty feet by +thirty feet, sixty men and boys have been discovered industriously +rolling _real_ Havanas. + +The traffic which itinerant fish and vegetable venders drive in every +part of the city must be great, being as it is an extreme convenience +for lazy or thrifty housewives. A few of these basket men cultivate +gardens in the suburbs, but the majority seek their supplies in the city +markets. Wash-houses have been established in every part of the city, +and are supplied with two sets of laborers, who spend watch and watch on +duty, so that the establishment is never closed. + +One frequently meets a travelling bazaar--a coolie with his bundle of +fans and bric-a-brac, wandering from house to house, even in the +suburbs; and the old fellows, with a handful of sliced bamboos and +chairs swinging from the poles over their shoulders, are becoming quite +numerous; chair mending and reseating must be profitable. These little +rivulets, growing larger and more varied day by day, all spring from +that great fountain of Asiatic vitality--the Chinese Quarter. This +surface-skimming beguiles for an hour or two; but the stranger who +strolls through the streets of Chinatown, and retires dazed with the +thousand eccentricities of an unfamiliar people, knows little of the +mysterious life that surrounds him. + +Let us descend. We are piloted by a special policeman, one who is well +acquainted with the geography of the quarter. Provided with tapers, we +plunge into one of the several dark recesses at hand. Back of the highly +respectable brick buildings in Sacramento Street--the dwellings and +business places of the first-class Chinese merchants--there are pits and +deadfalls innumerable, and over all is the blackness of darkness; for +these human moles can work in the earth faster than the shade of the +murdered Dane. Here, from the noisome vats three stories underground to +the hanging gardens of the fish-dryers on the roofs, there is neither +nook nor corner but is populous with Mongolians of the lowest caste. The +better class have their reserved quarters; with them there is at least +room to stretch one's legs without barking the shins of one's neighbor; +but from this comparative comfort to the condensed discomfort of the +impoverished coolie, how sudden and great the change! + +Between brick walls we thread our way, and begin descending into the +abysmal darkness; the tapers, without which it were impossible to +proceed with safety, burn feebly in the double night of the +subterranean tenements. Most of the habitable quarters under the ground +are like so many pigeon-houses indiscriminately heaped together. If +there were only sunshine enough to drink up the slime that glosses every +plank, and fresh air enough to sweeten the mildewed kennels, this highly +eccentric style of architecture might charm for a time, by reason of its +novelty; there is, moreover, a suspicion of the picturesque lurking +about the place--but, heaven save us, how it smells! + +[Illustration: "Rag Alley" in Old Chinatown] + +We pass from one black hole to another. In the first there is a kind of +bin for ashes and coals, and there are pots and grills lying about--it +is the kitchen. A heap of fire kindling wood in one corner, a bench or +stool as black as soot can paint it, a few bowls, a few bits of rags, a +few fragments of food, and a coolie squatting over a struggling +fire,--coolie who rises out of the dim smoke like the evil _genii_ in +the Arabian tale. There is no chimney, there is no window, there is no +drainage. We are in a cubic sink, where we can scarcely stand erect. +From the small door pours a dense volume of smoke, some of it stale +smoke, which our entry has forced out of the corners; the kitchen will +only hold so much smoke, and we have made havoc among the cubic inches. +Underfoot, the thin planks sag into standing pools, and there is a +glimmer of poisonous blue just along the base of the blackened walls; +thousands feed daily in troughs like these! + +The next apartment, smaller yet, and blacker and bluer, and more +slippery and slimy, is an uncovered cesspool, from which a sickening +stench exales continually. All about it are chambers--very small +ones,--state-rooms let me call them, opening upon narrow galleries that +run in various directions, sometimes bridging one another in a marvelous +and exceedingly ingenious economy of space. The majority of these +state-rooms are just long enough to lie down in, and just broad enough +to allow a narrow door to swing inward between two single beds, with two +sleepers in each bed. The doors are closed and bolted; there is often no +window, and always no ventilation. + +Our "special," by the authority vested in him, tries one door and +demands admittance. There is no response from within. A group of +coolies, who live in the vicinity and have followed close upon our heels +even since our descent into the under world, assure us in soothing tones +that the place is vacant. We are suspicious and persist in our +investigation; still no response. The door is then forced by the +"special," and behold four of the "seven sleepers" packed into this +air-tight compartment, and insensible even to the hearty greeting we +offer them! + +The air is absolutely overpowering. We hasten from the spot, but are +arrested in our flight by the "special," who leads us to the gate of the +catacombs, and bids us follow him. I know not to what extent the earth +has been riddled under the Chinese Quarter; probably no man knows save +he who has burrowed, like a gopher, from one living grave to another, +fleeing from taxation or the detective. I know that we thread dark +passages, so narrow that two of us may not cross tracks, so low that we +often crouch at the doorways that intercept pursuit at unexpected +intervals. Here the thief and the assassin seek sanctuary; it is a city +of refuge for lost souls. + +The numerous gambling houses are so cautiously guarded that only the +private police can ferret them out. Door upon door is shut against you; +or some ingenious panel is slid across your path, and you are +unconsciously spirited away through other avenues. The secret signals +that gave warning of your approach caused a sudden transformation in the +ground-plan of the establishment. + +Gambling and opium smoking are here the ruling passions. A coolie will +pawn anything and everything to obtain the means with which to indulge +these fascinations. There are many games played publicly at restaurants +and in the retiring rooms of mercantile establishments. Not only are +cards, dice, and dominos common, but sticks, straws, brass rings, etc., +are thrown in heaps upon the table, and the fate of the gamester hangs +literally upon a breath. + +These haunts are seldom visited by the officers of justice, for it is +almost impossible to storm the barriers in season to catch the criminals +in the very act. To-day you approach a gambling hell by this door, +to-morrow the inner passages of the house are mysteriously changed, and +it is impossible to track them without being frequently misled; +meanwhile the alarm is sounded throughout the building, and very +speedily every trace of guilt has disappeared. The lottery is another +popular temptation in the quarter. Most of the very numerous wash-houses +are said to be private agencies for the sale of lottery tickets. Put +your money, no matter how little it is, on certain of the characters +that cover a small sheet of paper, and your fate is soon decided; for +there is a drawing twice a day. + +Enter any one of the pawn-shops licensed by the city authorities, and +cast your eye over the motley collection of unredeemed articles. There +are pistols of every pattern and almost of every age, the majority of +them loaded. There are daggers in infinite variety, including the +ingenious fan stiletto, which, when sheathed, may be carried in the hand +without arousing suspicion; for the sheath and handle bear; an exact +resemblance to a closed fan. There are entire suits of clothes, beds and +bedding, tea, sugar, clocks--multitudes of them, a clock being one of +the Chinese hobbies, and no room is completely furnished without at +least a pair of them,--ornaments in profusion; everything, in fact, save +only the precious _queue_, without which no Chinaman may hope for honor +in this life or salvation in the next. + +The throngs of customers that keep the pawn-shops crowded with pledges +are probably most of them victims of the gambling table or the opium +den. They come from every house that employs them; your domestic is +impatient of delay, and hastens through his daily task in order that he +may nightly indulge his darling sin. + +The opium habit prevails to an alarming extent throughout the country, +but no race is so dependent on this seductive and fatal stimulant as the +Chinese. There are several hundred dens in San Francisco where, for a +very moderate sum, the coolie may repair, and revel in dreams that end +in a deathlike sleep. + +Let us pause at the entrance of one of these pleasure-houses. Through +devious ways we follow the leader, and come at last to a cavernous +retreat. The odors that salute us are offensive; on every hand there is +an accumulation of filth that should naturally, if it does not, breed +fever and death. Forms press about us in the darkness,--forms that +hasten like shadows toward that den of shades. We enter by a small door +that is open for a moment only, and find ourselves in an apartment +about fifteen feet square. We can touch the ceiling on tiptoe, yet there +are three tiers of bunks placed with head boards to the wall, and each +bunk just broad enough for two occupants. It is like the steerage in an +emigrant vessel, eminently shipshape. Every bunk is filled; some of the +smokers have had their dream and lie in grotesque attitudes, insensible, +ashen-pale, having the look of plague-stricken corpses. + +Some are dreaming; you see it in the vacant eye, the listless face, the +expression that betrays hopeless intoxication. Some are preparing the +enchanting pipe,--a laborious process, that reminds one of an +incantation. See those two votaries lying face to face, chatting in low +voices, each loading his pipe with a look of delicious expectation in +every feature. They recline at full-length; their heads rest upon blocks +of wood or some improvised pillow; a small oil lamp flickers between +them. Their pipes resemble flutes, with an inverted ink-bottle on the +side near the lower end. They are most of them of bamboo, and very often +are beautifully colored with the mellowest and richest tints of a wisely +smoked meerschaum. A small jar of prepared opium--a thick black paste +resembling tar--stands near the lamp. + +The smoker leisurely dips a wire into the paste; a few drops adhere to +it, and he twirls the wire in the flame of the lamp, where they fry and +bubble; he then draws them upon the rim of the clay pipe-bowl, and at +once inhales three or four mouthfuls of whitish smoke. This empties the +pipe, and the slow process of feeding the bowl is lazily repeated. It is +a labor of love; the eyes gloat upon the bubbling drug which shall anon +witch the soul of those emaciated toilers. They renew the pipe again and +again; their talk grows less frequent and dwindles to a whispered +soliloquy. + +We address them, and are smiled at by delirious eyes; but the ravenous +lips are sealed to that magic tube, from which they draw the breath of a +life we know not of. Their fingers relax; their heads sink upon the +pillows; they no longer respond, even by a glance, when we now appeal to +them. Here is the famous Malay, the fearful enemy of De Quincy, who +nightly drugged his master into Asiatic seas; and now himself is basking +in the tropical heats and vertical sunlight of Hindostan. Egypt and her +gods are his; for him the secret chambers of Cheops are unlocked; he +also is transfixed at the summit of pagodas; he is the idol, the priest, +the worshipped, the sacrificed. The wrath of Brahma pursues him through +the forests of Asia; he is the hated of Vishnu; Siva lies in wait for +him; Isis and Osiris confront him. + +What is this key which seems for a time to unlock the gates of heaven +and of hell? It is the most complicated drug in the pharmacopoeia. +Though apparently nothing more than a simple black, slimy paste, +analysis reveals the fact that it contains no less than five-and-twenty +elements, each one of them a compound by itself, and many of them among +the most complex compounds known to modern chemistry. This "dread agent +of unimaginable pleasure and pain," this author of an "Iliad of woes," +lies within reach of every creature in the commonwealth. As the most +enlightened and communicative of the opium eaters has observed: +"Happiness may be bought for a penny, and carried in the waistcoat +pocket; portable ecstasy may be had corked up in a pint bottle; peace of +mind may be set down in gallons by the mail-coach." + +This is the chief, the inevitable dissipation of our coolie tribes; this +is one of the evils with which we have to battle, and in comparison with +which the excessive indulgence in intoxicating liquors is no more than +what a bad dream is to hopeless insanity. See the hundred forms on opium +pillows already under the Circean spell; swarms are without the chambers +awaiting their turn to enter and enjoy the fictitious delights of this +paradise. + +While the opium habit is one that should be treated at once with wisdom +and severity, there is another point which seriously involves the +Chinese question, and, unhappily, it must be handled with gloves. +Nineteen-twentieths of the Chinese women in San Francisco are depraved! + +Not far from one of the pleasure-houses we intruded upon a domestic +hearth smelling of punk and pestilence. A child fled with a shrill +scream at our approach. This was the hospital of the quarter. Nine cases +of small-pox were once found within its narrow walls, and with no one to +care for them. As we explored its cramped wards our path was obstructed +by a body stretched upon a bench. The face was of that peculiar +smoke-color which we are obliged to accept as Chinese pallor; the trunk +was swathed like a mummy in folds of filthy rags; it was motionless as +stone, apparently insensible. Thus did an opium victim await his +dissolution. + +In the next room a rough deal burial case stood upon two stools; tapers +were flickering upon the floor; the fumes of burning punk freighted the +air and clouded the vision; the place was clean enough, for it was +perfectly bare, but it was eminently uninteresting. Close at hand stood +a second burial case, an empty one, with the cover standing against the +wall; a few hours more and it would find a tenant--he who was dying in +rags and filth in the room adjoining. This was the native hospital of +the quarter, and the mother of the child was the matron of the +establishment. + +I will cast but one more shadow on the coolie quarter, and then we will +search for sunshine. It is folly to attempt to ignore the fact that the +seeds of leprosy are sown among the Chinese. If you would have proof, +follow me. It is a dreary drive over the hills to the pest-house. +Imagine that we have dropped in upon the health officer at his city +office. Our proposed visitation has been telephoned to the resident +physician, who is a kind of prisoner with his leprous patients on the +lonesome slope of a suburban hill. As we get into the rugged edge of the +city, among half-graded streets, strips of marshland, and a semi-rustic +population, we ask our way to the pest-house. Yonder it lies, surrounded +by that high white fence on the hill-top, above a marsh once clouded +with clamorous water-fowl, but now all, all under the spell of the +quarantine, and desolate beyond description. Our road winds up the +hill-slope, sown thick with stones, and stops short at the great solid +gate in the high rabbit fence that walls in the devil's acre, if I may +so call it. We ring the dreadful bell--the passing-bell, that is seldom +rung save to announce the arrival of another fateful body clothed in +living death. + +The doctor welcomes us to an enclosure that is utterly whitewashed; the +detached houses within it are kept sweet and clean. Everything connected +with the lazaret is of the cheapest description; there is a primitive +simplicity, a modest nakedness, an insulated air about the place that +reminds one of a chill December in a desert island. Cheap as it is and +unhandsome, the hospital is sufficient to meet all the requirements of +the plague in its present stage of development. The doctor has weeded +out the enclosure, planted it, hedged it about with the fever-dispelling +eucalyptus, and has already a little plot of flowers by the office +window,--but this is not what we have come to see. One ward in the +pest-house is set apart for the exclusive use of the Chinese lepers, who +have but recently been isolated. We are introduced to the poor creatures +one after another, and then we take them all in at a glance, or group +them according to their various stages of decomposition, or the peculiar +character of their physical hideousness. + +They are not all alike; with some the flesh has begun to wither and to +slough off, yet they are comparatively cheerful; as fatalists, it makes +very little difference to them how soon or in what fashion they are +translated to the other life. There is one youth who doubtless suffers +some inconveniences from the clumsy development of his case. This lad, +about eighteen years of age, has a face that is swollen like a sponge +saturated with corruption; he can not raise his bloated eyelids, but, +with his head thrown back, looks downward over his cheeks. Two of these +lepers are as astonishing specimens as any that have ever come under my +observation, yet I have morbidly sought them from Palestine to Molokai. +In these cases the muscles are knotted, the blood curdled; masses of +unwholesome flesh cover them, lying fold upon fold; the lobes of their +ears hang almost to the shoulder; the eyes when visible have an inhuman +glance that transfixes you with horror. Their hands are shapeless stumps +that have lost all natural form or expression. + +Of old there was a law for the leprosy of a garment and of a house; yet, +in spite of the stringency of that Mosaic law, the isolation, the +purging with hyssop, and the cleansing by fire, St. Luke records: "There +met Him ten men who were lepers, who stood afar off; and they lifted up +their voices and cried, Jesus, Master, have mercy on us!" And to-day, +more than eighteen hundred years later, lepers gather on the slopes of +Mount Zion, and hover at the gates of Jerusalem, and crouch in the +shadow of the tomb of David, crying for the bread of mercy. Leprosy once +thoroughly engrafted on our nation, and nor cedar-wood, nor scarlet, nor +hyssop, nor clean birds, nor ewes of the first year, nor measures of +fine flour, nor offerings of any sort, shall cleanse us for evermore. + +Let us turn to pleasanter prospects--the Joss House, for instance, one +of the several temples whither the Chinese frequently repair to +propitiate the reposeful gods. It is an unpretentious building, with +nothing external to distinguish its facade from those adjoining, save +only a Chinese legend above the door. There are many crooks and turns +within it; shrines in a perpetual state of fumigation adorn its nooks +and corners; overhead swing shelves of images rehearsing historical +tableaux; there is much carving and gilding, and red and green paint. It +is the scene of a perennial feast of lanterns, and the worshipful enter +silently with burn-offerings and meat-offerings and drink-offerings, +which they spread before the altar under the feet of some colossal god; +then, with repeated genuflections, they retire. The thundering gong or +the screaming pipes startle us at intervals, and white-robed priests +pass in and out, droning their litanies. + +At this point the artist suggests refreshments; arm in arm we pass down +the street, surfeited with sight-seeing, weary of the multitudinous +bazaars, the swarming coolies, the boom of beehive industry. Swamped in +a surging crowd, we are cast upon the catafalque of the celestial dead. +The coffin lies under a canopy, surrounded by flambeaux, grave +offerings, guards and musicians. + +Chinatown has become sufficiently acclimatized to begin to put forth its +natural buds again as freely as if this were indeed the Flowery Land. +The funeral pageant moves,--a dozen carriages preceded by mourners on +foot, clad in white, their heads covered, their feet bare, their grief +insupportable, so that an attendant is at hand to sustain each mourner +howling at the wheels of the hearse. An orchestra heads the procession; +the air is flooded with paper prayers that are cast hither at you to +appease the troubled spirit. They are on their way to the cemetery among +the hills toward the sea, where the funeral rites are observed as +rigorously as they are on Asian soil. + +We are still unrefreshed and sorely in need of rest. Overhead swing huge +balloon lanterns and tufts of gold flecked scarlet streamers,--a sight +that maketh the palate of the hungry Asiatic to water; for within this +house may be had all the delicacies of the season, ranging from the +confections of the fond suckling to funeral bake-meats. Legends wrought +in tinsel decorate the walls. Here is a shrine with a vermilion-faced +god and a native lamp, and stalks of such hopelessly artificial flowers +as fortunately are unknown in nature. Saffron silks flutter their +fringes in the steams of nameless cookery--for all this is but the +kitchen, and the beginning of the end we aim at. + +A spiral staircase winds like a corkscrew from floor to floor; we ascend +by easy stages, through various grades of hunger, from the economic +appetite on the first floor, where the plebian stomach is stayed with +tea and lentils, even to the very house-top, where are administered +comforting syrups and a _menu_ that is sweetened throughout its length +with the twang of lutes, the clash of cymbals, and the throb of the +shark-skin drum. + +Servants slip to and fro in sandals, offering edible birds'-nests, +sharks' fins, and _beche de mer_,--or are these unfamiliar dishes +snatched from some other kingdom? At any rate, they are native to the +strange people who have a little world of their own in our midst, and +who could, if they chose, declare their independence to-morrow. + +We see everywhere the component parts of a civilization separate and +distinct from our own. They have their exits and their entrances; their +religious life and burial; their imports, exports, diversions, +tribunals, punishments. They are all under the surveillance of the six +companies, the great six-headed supreme authority. They have laws within +our laws that to us are sealed volumes. Why should they not? Fifty years +ago there were scarcely a dozen Chinese in America. In 1851, inclusive, +not more than 4,000 had arrived; but the next year brought 18,000, +seized with the lust of gold. The incoming tide fluctuated, running as +low as 4,000 and as high as 15,000 per annum. Since, 1868 we have +received from 10,000 to 15,000 yearly. + +After supper we leaned from the high balcony, among flowers and +lanterns, and looked down upon the street below; it was midnight, yet +the pavements were not deserted, and there arose to our ears a murmur +as of a myriad humming bees shut in clustering hives; close about us +were housed near twenty thousand souls; shops were open; discordant +orchestras resounded from the theatres; in a dark passage we saw the +flames playing upon the thresholds of infamy to expel the evil shades. + +Away off in the Bay in the moonlight, glimmered the ribbed sail of a +fishing junk, and the air was heavy with an indefinable odor which to +this hour puzzles me; but it must be attributed either to sink or +sandal-wood--perchance to both! + +"It is a little bit of old China, this quarter of ours," said the +artist, rising to go. And so it is, saving only a noticeable lack of +dwarfed trees and pale pagodas and sprays of willowy bamboo; of clumsy +boats adrift on tideless streams; of toy-like tea gardens hanging among +artificial rocks, and of troops of flat-faced but complaisant people +posing grotesquely in ridiculous perspective. + +[Illustration: The Farallones] + + + + +WITH THE EGG-PICKERS OF THE FARALLONES + + +Those who have visited the markets of San Francisco during the egg +season may have noticed the abundance of large and singularly marked +eggs, that are offered for sale by the bushel. The shells of these eggs +are pear-shaped, parti-colored, and very thick. They range in color from +a light green to grey or brown, and are all of them profusely spotted, +or blotted, I might say spattered, with clots of black or brown. Some +are beautiful, with soft tints blended in a delicate lace-like pattern. +Some are very ugly, and look unclean. All are a trifle stale, with a +meat of coarse texture and gamy flavor. But the Italians and the Coolies +are fond of them, and doubtless many a gross finds its way into the +kitchens of the popular cheap restaurants, where, disguised in omelets +and puddings, the quantity compensates for the lack of quality, and the +palate of the rapid eater has not time to analyze the latter. These are +the eggs of the sea-gull, the gull that cries all day among the shipping +in the harbor, follows the river boats until meal-time, and feeds on the +bread that is cast upon the water.[2] How true it is that this bread +returns to us after many days! + +The gulls, during incubation, seek the solitude of the Farallones, a +group of desolate and weather-beaten rocks that tower out of the fog +about thirty miles distant from the mouth of the harbor of San +Francisco. Nothing can be more magnificently desolate than the aspect of +these islands. Scarcely a green blade finds root there. They are haunted +by sea-fowl of all feathers, and the boom of the breakers mingles with +the bark of the seals that have colonized on one of the most +inaccessible islands of the group. It is here that myriads of sea-birds +rear their young, here where the very cliffs tremble in the tempestuous +sea and are drenched with bitter spray, and where ships have been cast +into the frightful jaws of caverns and speedily ground into splinters. + +The profit on sea-eggs has increased from year to year, and of late +speculators have grown so venturesome that competition among +egg-gatherers has resulted in an annual naval engagement, known to the +press and the public as the egg-war. If two companies of egg-pickers +met, as was not unlikely, the contending factions fell upon one another +with their ill-gotten spoils--the islands are under the rule of the +United States, and no one has legal right to take from them so much as +one egg without license--and the defeated party was sure to retire from +the field under a heavy shower of shells, the contents of which, though +not fatal, were at least effective. + +I have before me the notes of a retired egg-picker; they record the +brief experience of one who was interested in the last campaign, which, +as it terminated the career of the egg-pirates, is not without +historical interest. I will at once introduce the historian, and let him +tell his own tale. + +"On Board the Schooner 'Sierra.'-- + "Off the City Front. + "May 4, 1881. + +"5 p.m.--There are ten of us all told; most of us strangers to one +another, but Tom and Jim, and Fred, that's me, are pals, and have been +these many months. So we conclude to hang together, and make the most of +an adventure perfectly new to each. At our feet lie our traps; blankets, +woolen shirts, heavy boots, with huge nails in the soles of them, +tobacco in bulk, a few novels, a pack of cards, and a pocket flask, for +the stomach's sake. A jolly crew, to be sure, and jollily we bade adieu +to the fellows who had gathered in the dock to wish us God-speed. +Casting loose we swung into the stream, and then slowly and clumsily +made sail. The town never looked prettier; it is always the way and +always will be; towns, like blessings, brighten just as they get out of +reach. Drifting into the west we began to grow thoughtful; what had at +first seemed a lark may possibly prove to be a very serious matter. We +have to feed on rough rations, work in a rough locality, among rough +people, and our profits, or our share of the profits, will depend +entirely upon the fruitfulness of the egg-orchard, and the number of +hundred gross that we are able to get safely into the market. No news +from the town, save by the schooner that comes over at intervals to take +away our harvest. No society, save our own, good enough always, provided +we are not forcibly confined to it. No amusements beyond a novel, a +pipe, and a pack of cards. Ah well! it is only an experience after all, +and here goes! + +"Sea pretty high, as we get outside the Heads, and feel the long roll of +the Pacific. Wind, fresh and cold; we are to be out all night and +looking about for bunks, we find the schooner accommodations are +limited, and that the captain and his crew monopolize them. We sleep +anywhere, grateful that we are able to sleep at all. + +"10 p.m.--A blustering head wind, and sea increasing. What little supper +we were able to get on board was worse than none at all, for it did not +stay with us--anything but fun, this going to sea in a bowl, to rob +gull's nests, and smuggle eggs into market. + +"May 5th. + +"Woke in the early dawn, everything moist and sticky, clammy is the +better word, and that embraces the whole case; stiff and sore in every +joint; bacon for dinner last night, more bacon for breakfast this +morning, and only half-cooked at that. Our delicate town-bred stomachs +rebel, and we conclude to fast until we reach the island. Have sighted +the Farallones, but are too miserable to express our gratitude; wind and +sea still rising; schooner on beam ends about once in forty seconds, +between times standing either on her head or her tail, and shaking +herself 'like a thing of life.' + +"At noon off the landing, a buoy bobbing in the billows, to which we are +expected to make fast the schooner, and get to shore in the exceedingly +small boat; captain fears to tarry on account of heavy weather; +concludes to return to the coast and bide his time; consequently makes +for Bolinas Bay, which we reach about 9 p.m., and drop anchor in +comparatively smooth water; glad enough to sleep on an even keel at +last; it seems at least six months since we left the shining shores of +San Francisco, yet it is scarce thirty hours--but such hours, ugh! + +"Bolinas Bay, May 6th. + +"Wind blowing a perfect gale; we are lying under a long hill, and the +narrow bay is scarcely rippled by the blast that rushes over us, thick +with flying-scud. Captain resolves to await better weather; some of the +boys go on shore, and wander out to a kind of reef at the mouth of the +bay, where in a short time they succeed in gathering a fine mess of +mussels; the rest of us, the stay-on-boards, rig up a net and catch +fifteen large fat crabs; with these we cook a delicious dinner, which we +devour ravenously, like half-starved men; begin to realize how +storm-tossed mariners feel, and have been recounting hair-breadth +escapes, over our pipes on deck; there will be much to tell the fellows +on shore, if we are ever so fortunate as to get home again. + +"May 7th. + +"Though the weather is still bad enough to discourage us landsmen, we +put to sea, and once more head for the Farallones. They are hidden in +mist, but we beat bravely about, and by-and-by distinguish the faint +outlines of the islands looming through the fog! We try to secure the +buoy, tacking to and fro; just at the wrong moment our main halyards +part, and the sail comes crashing to the deck. To avoid being cast on +the inhospitable shore, we put to sea under jib and foresail, and are +five miles away before damages are repaired and we dare venture to +return; head about, and make fast this time. Hurrah! After several trips +of the small boat, succeed in landing luggage and provisions above +high-water mark on the Farallones; each trip of the boat is an event, +for it comes in on a big breaker, and grounds in a torrent of foam and +sand. + +"We find two cabins at our disposal; the larger one containing +dining-room and kitchen, and chambers above; seven of our boys store +their blankets in the rude bunks that are drawn by lot. Tom, Jim, and I +secure the smaller cabin, a single room, with bunks on three sides, a +door on the fourth. + +"9 p.m.--We have dined and smoked and withdrawn to our respective +lodges; the wind moans without, a thin, cold fog envelopes us; the sea +breaking furiously, the night gloomy beyond conception, but the captain +and his crew on the little schooner are not so comfortable as the +egg-pickers whom they have left behind. + +"May 8th. + +"We all rose much refreshed, and after a hearty breakfast, such as would +have done credit to a mining-camp in pioneer days, set forth on a rabbit +chase. The islands abound in rabbits. Where do they come from, and on +what do they feed? These are questions that puzzle us. + +"We resolve to attack them. Having armed ourselves with clubs about two +feet in length, we proceed in a body until a rabbit is sighted, then, +separating, we surround him and gradually close him in, pelt him with +stones or sticks until the poor fellow is secured; sometimes three or +four are run down together; it is cruel sport, but this is our only hope +of fresh meat during the sojourn on the islands; a fine stew for dinner, +and some speculation on the prospect of our egg-hunt to-morrow. + +"May 9th. + +"We did the first work of the season to-day. At the west end of the +islands is a chasm, through which the wind whistles; the waves, rushing +in from both sides, meet at the centre and leap wildly into the air. +Across this chasm we threw a light suspension bridge about forty feet in +length and two in width; one crosses it by the aid of a life-line. On +the further rock the birds are nesting in large numbers, and to-morrow +we begin the wholesale robbery of their nests. + +"When the bridge was completed, being pretty well fagged and quite +famished, we returned to the cabin, lunched heartily, and spent the +afternoon in highly successful rabbit chasing. Plenty of stew for all of +us. If Robinson Crusoe had been cast ashore on this island, I wonder how +he would have lived? As it is, the rabbits sometimes succeed in escaping +us, and without powder and shot it would be quite impossible for one or +two persons to bag them. We are beginning to lose faith in the +delightful romances of our youth, and to realize what a desert island +is. + +"May 10th. + +"In front of us we each carry a large sack in which to deposit eggs; our +boots are clumsy, and the heavy nails that fill their soles make them +heavy and difficult to walk in. We also carry a strong staff to aid us +in climbing the rugged slopes. About us is nothing but grey, +weather-stained rocks; there are few paths, and these we cannot follow, +for the sea-birds, though so unused to the presence of man, are wary and +shy of his tracks; the day's work has not proved profitable. Few of us +gathered any eggs; one who was more successful, and had secured enough +to make it extremely difficult for him to scale the rocks, slipped, fell +on his face, and scrambled all his store. His plight was laughable, but +he was scarcely in the mood to relish it, as he washed his sack and +blouse in cold water, while we indulged in cards. + +[Illustration: Murre on their Nests, Farallone Islands] + +"May 11th. + +"Built another bridge over a gap where the sea rushes, and which we call +the _Jordan_. If the real Jordan is as hard to cross, heaven help us. +Eggs not very plentiful as yet; we are rather early in the season, or +the crop is late this year. More rabbits in the p.m.; more wind, more +fog; and at night, pipes, cards, and a few choruses that sound strange +and weird in the fire lights on this lonely island. + +"May 12th. + +"Eggs are so very scarce. The foreman advises our resting for a day. We +lounge about, looking off upon the sea; sometimes a sail blows by us, +but our islands are in such ill-repute with mariners, they usually give +us a wide berth, as they call it. A little homesick towards dusk; wonder +how the boys in San Francisco are killing time; it is time that is +killing us, out here in the wind and fog. + +"May 13th. + +"Have been hunting abalones all day, and found but a baker's dozen; +their large, shallow shells are glued to the rock at the first approach +of danger, and unless we can steal upon these queer fish unawares, and +thrust something under their shells before they have shut down upon the +rock, it is almost impossible to pry them open. Some of the boys are +searching in the sea up to their waists--hard work when one considers +how tough the abalone is, and how tasteless. + +"May 14th. + +"This morning all our egg-pickers were at work; took in the west end, +only the high rock beyond the first bridge; gathered about forty dozen +eggs, and got them safely back to camp; in some nests there were three +eggs, and these we did not gather, fearing they were stale. In the p.m. +tried to collect dry grass enough to make a thin mattress for my bunk; +barely succeeded; am more than ever convinced that desert islands are +delusions. + +"May 15th. + +"It being Sunday, we rest from our labors; by way of varying the +monotony of island life, we climb up to the lighthouse, 300 feet above +sea level. The path is zig-zag across the cliff, and is extremely +fatiguing. While ascending, a large stone rolled under my foot, and +went thundering down the cliff. Jim, who was in the rear, heard it +coming, and dodged; it missed his head by about six inches. Had it +struck him, he would have been hurled into the sea that boiled below; we +were both faint with horror, after realizing the fate he had escaped. +Were cordially welcomed by the lighthouse keeper, his wife, and her +companion, a young woman who had come to share this banishment. The +keeper and his wife visit the mainland but twice a year. Everywhere we +saw evidence of the influence of these charming people. The house was +tidy--the paint snow-white. The brass-work shone like gold; the place +seemed a kind of Paradise to us; even the machinery of the revolving +light, the multitude of reflectors, etc., was enchanting. We dreaded to +return to our miserable cabins, but were soon compelled to, and the +afternoon was spent in the customary rabbit chase, ending with a stew of +no mean proportions. + +"May 16th. + +"More eggs, and afterwards a fishing excursion, which furnished us +material for an excellent chowder. We are beginning to look for the +return of the schooner, and have been longing for news from shore. + +"May 17th. + +"A great haul of abalones this p.m. We filled our baskets, slung them +on poles over our shoulders Coolie fashion, and slowly made our way back +to camp. The baskets weighed a ton each before we at last emptied them +by the cabin door. Built a huge fire under a cauldron, and left a mess +of fish to boil until morning. The abalones are as large as steaks, and +a great deal tougher. Smoke, cards, and to bed; used up. + +"May 18th. + +"Same program as yesterday, only the novelty quite worn off, and this +kind of life becoming almost unendurable. + +"May 19th. + +"More eggs, more abalones, more rabbits. No signs of schooner yet. +Wonder, had Crusoe kept a diary, how many days he would have kept it +before closing it with chagrin. + +"May 20th. + +"Spent the p.m. in getting the abalone shells down to the egg-house at +the landing. We have cleaned them, and are hoping to find this +speculation profitable; for the shells, when polished and cut, are much +used in the market for inlaying and setting in cheap jewelry. We loaded +a small tram, pushed it to the top of an incline, and let it roll down +the other side to the landing, which it reached in safety. This is the +only labor-saving machine at our command. + +"May 21st. + +"We seem to be going all to pieces. The day commenced badly. Two of the +boys inaugurated it by a violent set-to before breakfast--an old grudge +broke out afresh, or perhaps the life here has demoralized them. I have +lamed my foot. Tide too high for abalone fishing. Eggs growing scarce, +and the rabbits seem to have deserted the accessible parts of the +island. Everybody is disgusted. We are forgetting our table-manners, it +is 'first come first served' now-a-days. I wonder if Robinson--oh, no! +he had no one but his man Friday to contend against. No schooner; no +change in the weather; tobacco giving out, and not a grain of good humor +to be had in the market. To bed, very cross. + +"May 22d. + +"No one felt like going to work this morning. Affairs began to look +mutinous. We have searched in vain for the schooner, now considerably +overdue, and are dreading the thought of having to fulfill a contract +which calls for six weeks' labor on these islands. Some of the other +islands are to be visited, and are accessible only in small boats over a +sea that is never even tolerably smooth. This expedition we all dread a +little--at least, I judge so from my own case--but we say nothing of it. +While thus gloomily brooding over our plight, smoke was sighted on the +horizon; we ascended the hill to watch it. A steamer, doubtless, bound +for a sunnier clime, for no clime can be less sunny than ours of the +past fortnight.... It was a steamer, a small Government steamer, making +directly for our island. We became greatly excited, for nothing of any +moment had occurred since our arrival. She drew in near shore and cast +anchor. We gathered at the landing-cove to give her welcome. A boat was +beached in safety. An officer of the law said, cheerfully, as if he were +playing a part in a nautical comedy, 'I must beg you, gentlemen, to step +on board the revenue cutter, and return to San Francisco.' We were so +surprised we could not speak; or were we all speechless with joy, I +wonder? He added, this very civil sheriff, 'If you do not care to +accompany me, I shall be obliged to order the marines on shore. You will +pardon me, but as these islands are Government property, you are +requested to immediately withdraw from them.' We withdrew. We steamed +away from the windy rocks, the howling caverns, the seething waves, the +frightful chasms, the seabirds, the abalones, the rabbits, the gloomy +cabins, and the pleasant people at the top of the cliff within the white +walls of the lighthouse. Joyfully we bounded over the glassy waves, that +grew beautiful as the Farallones faded in the misty distance, and, +having been courteously escorted to the city dock, we were bidden +farewell, and left to the diversions of the hour. Thus ended the last +siege of the Farallones by the egg-pickers of San Francisco. (Profits +_nil_.)" + +And thus I fear, inasmuch as the Government proposes to guard the +sea-birds until a suitable license is secured by legitimate egg-pickers, +the price of gulls' eggs will go up in proportion, and hereafter we +shall have to look upon them as luxuries, and content ourselves with the +more modest and milder-flavored but undecorated products of the less +romantic barn-yard fowl. + +FOOTNOTES: + +[Footnote 2: NOTE: The author has confused the murre with the sea-gull. +It was the egg of the murre that was marketed.] + + + + +A MEMORY OF MONTEREY + +I + + +"Old Monterey"? Yes, old Monterey; yet not so very old. Old, however, +inasmuch as she has been hopelessly modernized; the ancient virtue has +gone out of her; she is but a monument and a memory. It is the Monterey +of a dozen or fifteen years ago I write of; and of a brief sojourn after +the briefer voyage thither. The voyage is the same; yesterday, to-day +and forever it remains unchanged. The voyager may judge if I am right +when I say that the Pacific coast, or the coast of California, Oregon +and Washington, is the selvage side of the American continent. I believe +this is evidenced in the well-rounded lines of the shore; the smooth +meadow-lands that not infrequently lie next the sea, and the +comparatively few island-fragments that are discoverable between Alaska +and Mexico. + +I made that statement, in the presence of a select few, on the promenade +deck of a small coaster then plying between San Francisco and Monterey; +and proved it during the eight-hour passage, to the seeming edification +of my shipmates. Even the bluffs that occasionally jutted into the sea +did the picturesque in a half-theatrical fashion. Time and the elements +seemed to have toyed with them, and not fought with them, as is the +annual custom on the eastern coast of the United States. Flocks of sheep +fed in the salt pastures by the water's edge; ranch-houses were perched +on miniature cliffs, in the midst of summer-gardens that even through a +powerful field-glass showed few traces of wear and tear. + +And the climate? Well, the sunshine was like sunshine warmed over; and +there was a lurking chill in the air that made our quarters in the lee +of the smoke-stack preferable to the circular settee in the +stern-sheets. Yes, it was midsummer at heart, and the comfortable +midsummer ulster advertised the fact. + +What a long, lonesome coast it is! Erase the few evidences of life that +relieve the monotonous landscape at infrequent intervals, and you shall +see California exactly as Drake saw it more than four centuries ago, or +the Argonaut Friars saw it a century later, and as the improved races +will see it ages hence--a little bleak and utterly uninteresting. + +California secretes her treasures. As you approach her from the sea, you +would scarcely suspect her wealth; her lines, though fine and flowing, +are not voluptuous, and she certainly lacks color. This was also a part +of our steamer-talk under the lee of the smoke-stack; and while we were +talking we turned a sharp corner, ran into the Bay of Monterey, and +came suddenly face to face with Santa Cruz. + +Ah, there was richness! Perennial groves, dazzling white cottages +snow-flaking them with beauty; a beach with afternoon bathers; and two +straggling piers that had waded out into deep water and stuck fast in +the mud. A stroll through Santa Cruz does not dissipate the enchantment +usually borrowed from usurious distance; and the two-hours'-roll in the +deep furrows of the Bay, that the pilgrim to Monterey must suffer, is +apt to make him regret he left that pleasant port in the hope of finding +something pleasanter on the dim opposite shore. + +We re-embarked for Monterey at dusk, when the distant horn of the Bay +was totally obscured. It is seldom more than a half-imagined point, +jutting out into a haze between two shades of blue. Stars watched over +us,--sharp, clear stars, such as flare a little when the wind blows. But +the wind was not blowing for us. Showers of sparks spangled the +crape-like folds of smoke that trailed after us; the engine labored in +the hold, and the sea heaved as it is always heaving in that wide-open +Bay. + +In an hour we steamed into a fog-bank, so dense that even the head-light +of our ship was as a glowworm; and from that moment until we had come +within sound of voices on the undiscovered shore, it was all like a +voyage in the clouds. Whistles blew, bells rang, men shouted, and then +we listened with hungry ears. A whistle answered us from shore--a +piercing human whistle. Dim lights burned through the fog. We advanced +with fearful caution; and while voices out of the air were greeting us, +almost before we had got our reckoning, we drifted up under a dark pier, +on which ghastly figures seemed to be floating to and fro, bidding us +all-hail. And then and there the freedom of the city was extended to us, +saturated with salt-sea mist. Probably six times in ten the voyager +approaches Monterey in precisely this fashion. 'Tis true! 'Tis pity! + +Having been hoisted up out of our ship--the tide was exceeding low and +the dock high; having been embraced in turn by friends who had soaked +for an hour and a half on that desolate pier-head--for our ship was +belated, groping her way in the fog,--we were taken by the hand and led +cautiously into the sand-fields that lie between the city and the sea. + +Of course our plans had all miscarried. Our Bachelors' Hall fell with a +dull thud when we heard that the chief bachelor had turned benedict +three days before. But he was present with his bride, and he knew of a +haunt that would compensate us for all loss or disappointment. We +crossed the desert nursing a faint hope. We threaded one or two wide, +weedy, silent streets; not a soul was visible, though it was but nine +in the evening,--which was not to be wondered at, since the town was +divided against itself: the one half slept, the other half still sat +upon the pier, making a night of it; for old Monterey had but one shock +that betrayed it into some show of human weakness. The cause was the +Steam Navigation Co. The effect was a fatal fondness for tendering a +public reception to all steamers arriving from foreign ports, after +their sometimes tempestuous passages of from eight to ten hours. This +insured the inhabitants a more or less festive night about once every +week or ten days. + +With rioutous laughter, which sounded harsh, yea, sacrilegious, in the +sublime silence of that exceptional town, we were piloted into an +abysmal nook sacred to a cluster of rookeries haggard in the extreme. We +approached it by an improvised bridge two spans in breadth. The place +was buried under layers of mystery. It was silent, it was dark with the +blackness of darkness; it was like an unholy sepulchre that gave forth +no sound, though we beat upon its sodden door with its rusted knocker +until a dog howled dismally on the hillside afar off. + +Some one admitted us at the last moment, and left us standing in the +pitch-dark entrance while he went in search of candles, that apparently +fled at his approach. The great room was thrown open in due season and +with solemnity. It may have been the star-chamber in the days when +Monterey was the capital of the youngest and most promising State in the +Union; but it was somewhat out of date when we were ushered into it. A +bargain was hastily struck, and we repaired to damp chambers, where +every sound was shared in common, and nothing whatever was in the least +degree private or confidential. We slept at intervals, but in turn; so +that at least one good night's rest was shared by our company. + +[Illustration: Monterey, 1850] + +At nine o' the clock next morning we were still enveloped in mist, but +the sun was struggling with it; and from my window I inspected Spanish +or Mexican, or Spanish-Mexican, California interiors, sprinkled with +empty tin cans, but redeemed by the more picturesque _débris_ of the +early California settlement--dingy tiles, forlorn cypresses, and a +rosebush of gigantic body and prolific bloom. + +We breakfasted at Simoneau's, in the inner room, with its frescos done +in beer and shoeblacking by a brace of hungry Bohemians, who used to +frequent the place and thus settle their bill. Five of us sat at that +uninviting board and awaited our turn, while Simoneau hovered over a +stove that was by no means equal to the occasion. It was a breakfast +such as one is reduced to in a mountain camp, but which spoils the +moment it is removed from the charmed circle of ravenous foresters. We +paid three prices for it, but that was no consolation; and it was long +before we again entered the doors of one of the chief restaurants of old +Monterey. + +Before the thick fog lifted that morning we had scoured the town in +quest of lodgings. The hotels were uninviting. At the Washington the +rooms were not so large as the demands of the landlord. At the St. +Charles'--a summer-house without windows, save the one set in the door +of each chamber--we located for a brief season, and exchanged the +liveliest compliments with the lodgers at the extreme ends of the +building. A sneeze in the dead of night aroused the house; and during +one of the panics which were likely to follow, I peremptorily departed, +and found shelter at last in the large square chamber of an adobe +dwelling, the hospitable abode of one of the first families of Monterey. +Broad verandas surrounded us on four sides; the windows sunk in the +thick walls had seats deep enough to hold me and my lap tablet full in +the sunshine--whenever it leaked through the fog. + +Two of these windows opened upon a sandy street, beyond which was a +tangled garden of cacti and hollyhock and sunflowers, with a great wall +about it; but I could look over the wall and enjoy the privacy of that +sweet haunt. In that cloistered garden grew the obese roses of the far +West, that fairly burst upon their stem. Often did I exclaim: "O, for a +delicate blossom, whose exquisite breath savors not of the mold, and +whose sensitive petals are wafted down the invisible currents of the +wind like a fairy flotilla!" Beyond that garden, beyond the roofs of +this town, stretched the yellow sand-dunes; and in the distance towered +the mountains, painted with changeful lights. My other window looked +down the long, lonesome street to the blue Bay and the faint outline of +the coast range beyond it. + +Here I began to live; here I heard the harp-like tinkle of the first +piano brought to the California coast; here also the guitar was touched +skillfully by her grace the august lady of the house, who scorned the +English tongue--the more eloquent and rhythmical Spanish prevailed under +her roof. One of the members of the household was proud to recount the +history of the once brilliant capital of the State, and I listened by +the hour to a narrative that now reads to me like a fable. + +In the year of Our Lord 1602, when Don Sebastian Viscaino--dispatched by +the Viceroy of Mexico, acting under instructions from Philip III. of +Spain--touched these shores, Mass was celebrated, the country taken +possession of in the name of the Spanish King, and the spot christened +Monterey in honor of Gaspar de Zuniga, Count of Monterey, Viceroy of +Mexico. In eighteen days Viscaino again set sail, and the silence of the +forest and the sea fell upon that lonely shore. That silence was +unbroken by the voice of the stranger for one hundred and sixty-six +years. Then Gaspar de Portola, Governor of Lower California, +re-discovered Monterey, erected a cross upon the shore, and went his +way. + +In May, 1770, the final settlement took place. The packet _San Antonio_, +commanded by Don Juan Perez, came to anchor in the port, "which"--wrote +the leader of the expedition to Padre Francisco Palou--"is unadulterated +in any degree from what it was when visited by the expedition of Don +Sebastian Viscaino in 1602. After this"--the celebration of the Mass, +the _Salve_ to Our Lady, and a _Te Deum,_--"the officers took possession +of the country in the name of the King (Charles III.) our lord, whom God +preserve. We all dined together in a shady place on the beach; the whole +ceremony being accompanied by many volleys and salutes by the troops and +vessels." + +When the _San Antonio_ returned to Mexico, it left at Monterey Padre +Junipero Serra and five other priests, Lieutenant Pedro Fages and thirty +soldiers. The settlement was at once made capital of Alta California, +and Portola appointed the first governor. The Presidio (an enclosure +about three hundred yards square, containing a chapel, store-houses, +offices, residences, and a barracks) was the nucleus of the city; but +the mission was soon removed to a beautiful valley about six miles +distant, where there was more room, better shelter from the cold west +winds, and an unrivalled prospect. The valley is now known as Carmelo. + +A fort was built upon a little hill commanding the settlement, and life +began in good earnest. What followed? Mexico threw off the Spanish yoke; +California was hence forth subject to Mexico alone. The news spread; +vessels gathered in the harbor, and enormous profits were realized on +the sale and shipment of the hides of wild cattle lately roaming upon a +thousand hills. + +Then came gradual changes in the government; they culminated in 1846 +when Captain Mervin, at the head of two hundred and fifty men, raised +the Stars and Stripes over Monterey, and a proclamation was read +declaring California a portion of the United States. + +The Rev. Walter Colton, once chaplain of the United States frigate +_Congress_, was appointed first alcalde; and the result was the erection +of a stone courthouse, which was long the chief ornament of the town; +and, somewhat later, the publication of Alcalde Colton's highly +interesting volume, entitled "Three Years in California." + + + + +II. + + +In 1829 Captain Robinson, the author of "Life in California" in the good +old mission days, wrote thus of his first sight of Monterey: "The sun +had just risen, and, glittering through the lofty pines that crowned the +summit of the eastern hills, threw its light upon the lawn beneath. On +our left was the Presidio, with its chapel dome and towering flag-staff +in conspicuous elevation. On the right, upon a rising ground, was seen +the _castillo_, or fort, surmounted by some ten or a dozen cannon. The +intervening space between these two points was enlivened by the hundred +scattered dwellings that form the town, and here and there groups of +cattle grazing. + +"After breakfast G. and myself went on shore, on a visit to the +Commandant, Don Marian Estrada, whose residence stood in the central +part of the town, in the usual route from the beach to the Presidio. In +external appearance, notwithstanding it was built of adobe--brick made +by the mixture of soft mud and straw, moulded and dried in the sun,--it +was not displeasing; for the outer walls had been plastered and +whitewashed, giving it a cheerful and inviting aspect. Like all +dwellings in the warm countries of America, it was but one story in +height, covered with tiles, and occupied, in its entire premises, an +extensive square. + +"Our Don was standing at his door; and as we approached, he sallied +forth to meet us with true Castilian courtesy; embraced G., shook me +cordially by the hand, then bowed us ceremoniously into the _sala_. Here +we seated ourselves upon a sofa at his right. During conversation +_cigarritos_ passed freely; and, although thus early in the day, a +proffer was made of refreshments." + +In 1835 R.H. Dana, Jr., the author of "Two Years before the Mast," found +Monterey but little changed; some of the cannon were unmounted, but the +Presidio was still the centre of life on the Pacific coast, and the town +was apparently thriving. Day after day the small boats plied between +ship and shore, and the population gave themselves up to the delights of +shopping. Shopping was done on shipboard; each ship was a storehouse of +attractive and desirable merchandise, and the little boats were kept +busy all day long bearing customers to and fro. + +In 1846 prices were ruinously high, as the alcalde was free to +confess--he being a citizen of the United States and a clergyman into +the bargain. Unbleached cottons, worth 6 cents per yard in New York, +brought 50 cents, 60 cents, 75 cents in old Monterey. Cowhide shoes were +$10 per pair; the most ordinary knives and forks, $10 per dozen; poor +tea, $3 per pound; truck-wheels, $75 per pair. The revenue of these +enormous imposts passed into the hands of private individuals, who had +placed themselves by violence or fraud at the head of the Government. + +In those days a "blooded" horse and a pack of cards were thought to be +among the necessaries of life. One of the luxuries was a _rancho_ sixty +miles in length, owned by Captain Sutter in the valley of the +Sacramento. Native prisoners, arrested for robbery and confined in the +adobe jail at Monterey, clamored for their guitars, and the nights were +filled with music until the rascals swung at half-mast. + +In August, 1846, _The Californian_, the first newspaper established on +the coast, was issued by Colton & Semple. The type and press were once +the property of the Franciscan friars, and used by them; and in the +absence of the English _w_, the compositors on _The Californian_ doubled +the Spanish _v_. The journal was printed half in English and half in +Spanish, on cigarette paper about the size of a sheet of fools-cap. +Terms, $3 per year in advance; single copies, 12-1/2 cents each. Semple +was a man just suited to the newspaper office he occupied; he stood six +feet eight inches in moccasins, was dressed in buckskin, and wore a +foxskin cap. + +The first jury of the alcaldean court was empanelled in September, +1846. Justice flourished for about three years. In 1849 Bayard Taylor +wrote: "Monterey has the appearance of a deserted town: few people in +the streets, business suspended," etc. Rumors of gold had excited the +cupidity of the inhabitants, and the capital was deserted; elsewhere was +metal more attractive. The town never recovered from that shock. It +gradually declined until few, save Bohemian artists and Italian and +Chinese fishermen, took note of it. The settlement was obsolete in my +day; the survivors seemed to have lost their memories and their interest +in everything. Thrice in my early pilgrimages I asked where the Presidio +had stood; on these occasions did the oldest inhabitant and his +immediate juniors vaguely point me to three several quarters of the +town. I believe in my heart that the pasture in front of the old +church--then sacred to three cows and a calf--was the cradle of +civilization in the far West. + +[Illustration: San Carlos de Carmelo] + +The original custom-house--there was no mistaking it, for it was founded +on a rock--overhung the sea, while the waves broke gently at its base, +and rows of sea-gulls sat solemnly on the skeletons of stranded whales +scattered along the beach. A Captain Lambert dwelt on the first floor of +the building; a goat fed in the large hall--it bore the complexion of a +stable--where once the fashionable element tripped the light fantastic +toe. In those days the first theatre in the State was opened with +brilliant success, and the now long-forgotten Binghams appeared in that +long-forgotten drama, "Putnam, or the Lion Son of '76." The +never-to-be-discourteously-mentioned years of our pioneers, '49 and '50, +"were memorable eras in the Thespian records of Monterey," says the +guide-book. They were indeed; for Lieutenant Derby, known to the +literary world as "John Phoenix" and "Squibob," was one of the leading +spirits of the stage. But the Thespian records came to an untimely end, +and it must be confessed that Monterey no longer tempts the widely +strolling player. + +I saw her in decay, the once flourishing capital. The old convent was +windowless, and its halls half filled with hay; the barracks and the +calaboose, inglorious ruins; the Block House and the Fort, mere shadows +of their former selves. As for Colton Hall--the town-hall, named in +honor of its builder, the first alcalde,--it is a modern-looking +structure, that scarcely harmonizes with the picturesque adobes that +surround it. Colton said of it: "It has been erected out of the slender +proceeds of town lots, the labor of the convicts, taxes on liquor shops, +and fines on gamblers. The scheme was regarded with incredulity by many; +but the building is finished, and the citizens have assembled in it, and +christened it after my name, which will go down to posterity with the +odor of gamblers, convicts and tipplers." Bless his heart! he need not +have worried himself. No one seems to know or care how the building was +constructed; and as for the name it bears, it is as savory as any. + +The church was built in 1794, and dedicated as the parish church in +1834, when the missions were secularized and Carmelo abandoned. It is +the most interesting structure in the town. Much of the furniture of the +old mission is preserved here: the holy vessels beaten out of solid +silver; rude but not unattractive paintings by nameless artists--perhaps +by the friars themselves,--landmarks of a crusade that was gloriously +successful, but the records of which are fading from the face of the +earth. + +Doubtless the natives who had flourished under the nourishing care of +the mission in its palmy days, wagged their heads wittingly when the +brig _Natalia_ met her fate. Tradition says Napoleon I. made his escape +from Elba on that brig. It was by the _Natalia_ that Hijar, Director of +Colonization, arrived for the purpose of secularizing the missions; and +his scheme was soon accomplished. But the winds blew, and the waves rose +and beat upon the little brig, and laid her bones in the sands of +Monterey. It is whispered that when the sea is still and the water +clear, and the tide very, very low, one may catch faint glimpses of the +skeleton of the _Natalia_ swathed in its shroud of weeds. + +There are two attractions in the vicinity, without which I fear +Monterey would have ultimately passed from the memory of man. These are +the mission at Carmelo, and the Druid grove at Cypress Point. In the +edge of the town there is a cross which marks the spot where Padre +Junipero Serra sang his first Mass at Monterey. It was a desolate +picture when I last saw it. It stood but a few yards from the sea, in a +lonely hollow. It was a favorite subject with the artists who found +their way thither, and who were wont to paint it upon the sea-shells +that lay almost within reach. Now a marble statue of Junipero Serra, +erected by Mrs. Leland Stanford, marks the spot. + +Six miles away, beyond the hills, above the shallow river, in sight of +the sparkling sea, is the ruin of Carmelo. From the cross by the shore +to the church beyond the hills, one reads the sacred history of the +coast from _alpha_ to _omega_. This, the most famous, if not the most +beautiful, of all the Franciscan missions, has suffered the common fate. +In my day the roof was wanting; the stone arches were crumbling one +after another; the walls were tufted with sun-dried grass; everywhere +the hand of Vandalism had scrawled his initials or his name. The nave of +the church was crowded with neglected graves. Fifteen governors of the +territory mingle their dust with that consecrated earth, but there was +never so much as a pebble to mark the spot where they lie. Even the +saintly Padre Junipero, who founded the mission, and whose death was +grimly heroic, lay until recent years in an unknown tomb. Thanks to the +pious efforts of the late Father Cassanova, the precious remains of +Junipero Serra, together with those of three other friars of the +mission, were discovered, identified, and honorably reentombed. + +From 1770 to 1784 Padre Junipero Serra entered upon the parish record +all baptisms, marriages, and deaths. These ancient volumes are carefully +preserved, and are substantially bound in leather; the writing is bold +and legible, and each entry is signed "Fray Junipero Serra," with an odd +little flourish of the pen beneath. The last entry is dated July 30, +1784; then Fray Francesco Palou, an old schoolmate of Junipero Serra, +and a brother friar, records the death of his famous predecessor, and +with it a brief recital of his life work, and the circumstances at the +close of it. + +Junipero Serra took the habit of the order of St. Francis at the age of +seventeen; filled distinguished positions in Spain and Mexico before +going to California; refused many tempting and flattering honors; was +made president of the fifteen missions of Lower California--long since +abandoned; lived to see his last mission thrive mightily, and died at +the age of seventy--long before the fall of the crowning work of his +life. + +Feeling the approach of death, Junipero Serra confessed himself to Fray +Palou; went through the Church offices for the dying; joined in the hymn +_Tantum Ergo_ "with elevated and sonorous tones," saith the +chronicle,--the congregation, hearing him intone his death chaunt, were +awed into silence, so that the dying man's voice alone finished the +hymn; then he repaired to his cell, where he passed the night in prayer. +The following morning he received the captain and chaplain of a Spanish +vessel lying in the harbor, and said, cheerfully, he thanked God that +these visitors, who had traversed so much of sea and land, had come to +throw a little earth upon his body. Anon he asked for a cup of broth, +which he drank at the table in the refectory; was then assisted to his +bed, where he had scarcely touched the pillow when, without a murmur, he +expired. + +In anticipation of his death, he had ordered his own coffin to be made +by the mission carpenter; and his remains were at once deposited in it. +So precious was the memory of this man in his own day that it was with +the utmost difficulty his coffin was preserved from destruction; for the +populace, venerating even the wooden case that held the remains of their +spiritual Father, clamored for the smallest fragment; and, though a +strong body-guard watched over it until the interment, a portion of his +vestment was abstracted during the night. One thinks of this and of the +overwhelming sorrow that swept through the land when this saintly +pioneer fell at the head of his legion. + +The California mission reached the height of its prosperity forty years +later, when it owned 87,600 head of cattle, 60,000 sheep, 2,300 calves, +1,800 horses, 365 yoke of oxen, much merchandise, and $40,000 in specie. +Tradition hints that this money was buried when a certain +piratical-looking craft was seen hovering about the coast. + +This wealth is all gone now--scattered among the people who have allowed +the dear old mission to fall into sad decay. What a beautiful church it +must have been, with its quaint carvings, its star-window that seems to +have been blown out of shape in some wintry wind, and all its lines +hardened again in the sunshine of the long, long summer; with its +Saracenic door!--what memories the _Padres_ must have brought with them +of Spain and the Moorish seal that is set upon it! Here we have evidence +of it painfully wrought out by the hands of rude Indian artisans. The +ancient bells have been carried away into unknown parts; the owl hoots +in the belfry; the hills are shown of their conventual tenements; while +the wind and the rain and a whole heartless company of iconoclasts have +it all their own way. + +Once in the year, on San Carlos' Day, Mass is sung in the only +habitable corner of the ruin; the Indians and the natives gather from +all quarters, and light candles among the graves, and mourn and mourn +and make a strange picture of the place; then they go their way, and the +owl returns, and the weeds grow ranker, and every hour there is a +straining among the weakened joists, and a creaking and a crumbling in +many a nook and corner; and so the finest historical relic in the land +is suffered to fall into decay. Or, perhaps I should say, that was the +sorry state of Carmelo in my day. I am assured that every effort is now +being made to restore and preserve beautiful Carmelo. + + + + +III. + + +She was a dear old stupid town in my day. She boasted but half a dozen +thinly populated streets. One might pass through these streets almost +any day, at almost any hour of the day, footing it all the way from the +dismantled fort on the seaside to the ancient cemetery, grown to seed, +at the other extremity of the settlement, and not meet half a score of +people. + +Geese fed in the gutters, and hissed as I passed by; cows grazing by the +wayside eyed me in grave surprise; overhead, the snow-white sea-gulls +wheeled and cried peevishly; and on the heights that shelter the +ex-capital the pine-trees moaned and moaned, and often caught and held +the sea-fog among their branches, when the little town was basking in +the sunshine and dreaming its endless dream. + +How did a man kill time in those days? There was a studio on Alvarado +Street; it stood close to the post-office, in what may be generously +denominated as the busiest part of the town. The studio was the focus of +life and hope and love; some work was also supposed to be done there. It +was the headquarters of the idle and the hungry, and the seeker after +consolation in all its varied forms. Choice family groceries were +retailed three times a day in the rear of the establishment; and there +we often gathered about the Bohemian board, to celebrate whatever our +fancy painted. Now it was an imaginary birthday--a movable feast that +came to be very popular in our select artistic circle; again it was the +possible--dare I say probable?--sale of a picture at a quite +inconceivable price. There were always occasions enough. Would it had +been the case with the dinners! + +The studio was the thing,--the studio, decked with Indian trophies and +the bleached bones of sea birds and land beasts, and lined with studies +in all colors under heaven. Here was the oft-lighted peace-pipe; and +Orient rugs and wolf-skins for a _siesta_ when the beach yonder was a +blaze of white and blinding light, that made it blessed to close one's +eyes and shut out the glare--and to keep one's ears open to the lulling +song of the sea. + +Here we concocted a plan. It was to be kept a profound mystery; even the +butcher was unaware, and the baker in total darkness; as for the +wine-merchant, he was as blind as a bat. We were to give the banquet and +ball of the season. We went to the hall of our sisters,--scarcely kin +were they, but kinder never lived, and their house was at our disposal. +We threw out the furniture; we made a green bower of the adobe chamber. +One window, that bore upon the forlorn vacuum of the main street, was +speedily stained the deepest and most splendid dyes; from without, it +had a pleasing, not to say refining, medieval effect; from within, it +was likened unto the illuminated page of an antique antiphonary--in +flames; yes, positively in flames! + +A great board was laid the length of the room, a kind of Round +Table--with some few unavoidable innovations, such as a weak leg or two, +square corners, and an unexpected depression in the centre of it, where +the folding leaves sought in vain to join. From the wall depended the +elaborate _menu_, life-size and larger; and at every course a cartoon in +color more appetizing than the town market. The emblematic owl blinked +upon us from above the door. Invitations were hastily penned and sent +forth to a select few. Forgive us, Dona Jovita, if thy guest card was +redolent of tea or of brown soap; for it was penned in the privacy of +the pantry, and either upon the Scylla of the tea-caddy or the soapy +Charybdis it was sure to be dashed at last. + +It was rare fun, if I did say it from the foot of the flower-strewn +table, clad in an improvised toga, while a gentleman in Joss-like +vestments carved and complimented in a single breath at the top of the +Bohemian board. From the adjoining room came the music of hired +minstrels: the guitar, the violin, and blending voices--a piping tenor +and a soft Spanish _falsetto_. They chanted rhythmically to the clatter +of tongues, the ripple of laughter, and the clash of miscellaneous +cutlery. + +An unbidden multitude, gathered from the highways, and the byways, +loitered about the vicinity, patiently--O how patiently!--awaiting our +adjournment. The fandango naturally followed; and it enlivened the vast, +bare chambers of an adjoining adobe, whose walls had not echoed such +revelry since the time when Monterey was the chief port of the Northern +Pacific, and basked in the sunshine of a prosperous monopoly. A good +portion of the town was there that evening. Shadowy forms hovered in the +arbors of the rose garden; the city band appeared and rendered much +pleasing music,--though it was rendered somewhat too vigorously. That +band was composed of the bone and sinew of the town. Oft in the daytime +had I not heard the flageolet lifting its bird-like voice over the +counter of the juvenile jeweller, who wrought cunningly in the +shimmering abalone shells during the rests in his music? Did not the +trombone bray from beyond the meadow, where the cooper could not barrel +his aspiring soul? It was the French-horn at the butcher's, the fife at +the grocer's, the cornet in the chief saloon on the main street; while +at the edge of the town, from the soot and grime of the smithy, I heard +at intervals the boom of the explosive drum. It was thus they responded +to one another on that melodious shore, and with an ambitious diligence +worthy of the Royal Conservatory. + +There was nothing to disturb one in the land, after the musical mania, +save the clang of the combers on the long, lonely beach; the cry of the +sea-bird wheeling overhead, or the occasional bang of a rifle. Even the +narrow-gauge railway, that stopped discreetly just before reaching the +village, broke the monotony of local life but twice in the twenty-four +hours. The whistle of the arriving and departing train, the signal of +the occasional steamer--ah! but for these, what a sweet, sad, silent +spot were that! I used to believe that possibly some day the unbroken +stillness of the wilderness might again envelop it. The policy of the +people invited it. Anything like energy or progress was discouraged in +that latitude. When it was discovered that the daily mail per Narrow +Gauge was arriving regularly and usually on time, it began to look like +indecent haste on the part of the governmental agents. The beauty and +the chivalry that congregated at the post-office seemed to find too +speedy satisfaction at the general delivery window; and presently the +mail-bag for Monterey was dropped at another village, and later carted +twenty miles into town. The happy uncertainty of the mail's arrival +caused the post-office to become a kind of forum, where all the +grievances of the populace were turned loose and generally discussed. + +Then it seemed possible that the Narrow Gauge might be frowned down +altogether, and the locomotive warned to cease trespassing upon the +green pastures of the ex-capital. It even seemed possible that in course +of time all aliens might require a passport and a recommendation from +their last place before being permitted to enter in and enjoy the +society of the authorities brooding over that slumberous village. + +I have seen as many as six men and a boy standing upon one of the +half-dozen street corners of the town, watching, with a surprise that +bordered upon impertinence, a white pilgrim from San Francisco in an +ulster, innocently taking his way through the otherwise deserted +streets. The ulster was perhaps the chief object of interest. I have +seen three or four citizens sitting in a row, on a fence, like so many +rooks,--and sitting there for hours, as if waiting for something. For +what, pray? For the demented squaw, who revolved about the place, and +slept out of doors in all weathers, and muttered to herself incessantly +while she went to and fro, day after day, seeking the rest she could not +hope for this side the grave? Or for Murillo, the Indian, impudent +though harmless, full of fancies and fire-water? Or for the return of +the whale-boats, with their beautiful lateen-sails? Or for the gathering +of the Neapolitan fishermen down under the old Custom House, where they +sat at evening looking off upon the Bay, and perchance dreaming of Italy +and all that enchanted coast? Or for the rains that poured their sudden +and swift rivulets down the wooded slopes and filled the gorges that +gutted some of the streets? Was it the love of nature, or a belief in +fatalism, or sheer laziness, I wonder, that preserved to Monterey those +washouts, from two to five feet in depth, that were sometimes in the +very middle of the streets, and impassable save by an improvised +bridge--a single plank? + +Ah me! It is an ungracious task to prick the bubble reputation, had I +not been dazzled with dreams of Monterey from my youth up! Was I piqued +when I, then a citizen of San Francisco--one of the three hundred +thousand,--when I read in "The Handbook of Monterey" these lines: "San +Francisco is not too firmly fixed to fear the competition of Monterey"? + +Well, I may as well confess myself a false prophet. The town fell into +the hands of Croesus, and straightway lost its identity. It is now a +fashionable resort, and likely to remain one for some years to come. +Where now can one look for the privacy of old? Then, if one wished to +forget the world, he drove through a wilderness to Cypress Point. Now +'tis a perpetual picnic ground, and its fastnesses are threaded by a +drive which is one of the features of Del Monte Hotel life. It was +solemn enough of yore. The gaunt trees were hung with funereal mosses; +they had huge elbows and shoulders, and long, thin arms, with skeleton +fingers at the ends of them, that bore knots that looked like heads and +faces such as Doré portrayed in his fantastic illustrations. They were +like giants transformed,--they are still, no doubt; for the tide of +fashion is not likely to prevail against them. + +They stand upon the verge of the sea, where they have stood for ages, +defying the elements. The shadows that gather under their locked +branches are like caverns and dungeons and lairs. The fox steals +stealthily away as you grope among the roots, that writhe out of the +earth and strike into it again, like pythons in a rage. The coyote sits +in the edge of the dusk, and cries with a half-human cry--at least he +did in my dead day. And here are corpse-like trees, that have been naked +for ages; every angle of their lean, gray boughs seems to imply +something. Who will interpret these hieroglyphics? Blood-red sunsets +flood this haunted wood; there is a sound as of a deep-drawn sigh +passing through it at intervals. The moonlight fills it with mystery; +and along its rocky front, where the sea-flowers blossom and the +sea-grass waves its glossy locks, the soul of the poet and of the artist +meet and mingle between shadowless sea and cloudless sky, in the +unsearchable mystery of that cypress solitude. + +So have I seen it; so would I see it again. When I think on that beach +at Monterey--the silent streets, the walled, unweeded gardens--a wistful +Saturday-afternoon feeling comes over me. I hear again the incessant +roar of the surf; I see the wheeling gulls, the gray sand; the brown, +bleak meadows; the empty streets; the shops, tenantless sometimes--for +the tenant is at dinner or at dominos; the other shops that are locked +forever and the keys rusted away;--whenever I think of her I am reminded +of that episode in Coulton's diary, where he, as alcalde, was awakened +from a deep sleep at the dead of night by a guard, a novice, and a slave +to duty. With no little consternation, the alcalde hastened to unbar the +door. The guard, with a respectful salute, said: "The town, sir, is +perfectly quiet." + + + + +IN A CALIFORNIAN BUNGALOW + + +It was reception night at the Palace Hotel. As usual the floating +population of San Francisco had drifted into the huge court of that +luxurious caravansary, and was ebbing and eddying among the multitudes +of white and shining columns that support the six galleries under the +crystal roof. The band reveled in the last popular waltz, the hum of the +spectators was hushed, but among the galleries might be seen pairs of +adolescent youths and maidens swaying to the rhythmical melody. We were +taking wine and cigarettes with the Colonel. He was always at home to us +on Monday nights, and even our boisterous chat was suspended while the +blustering trumpeters in the court below blew out their delirious music. +It was at this moment that Bartholomew beckoned me to follow him from +the apartment. We quietly repaired to the gallery among the huge vases +of palms and creepers, and there, bluntly and without a moment's +warning, the dear fellow blurted out this startling revelation: "I have +made an engagement for you; be ready on Thursday next at 4 p.m.; meet me +here; all arrangements are effected; say not a word, but come; and I +promise you one of the jolliest experiences of the season." All this +was delivered in a high voice, to the accompaniment of drums and +cymbals; he concluded with the last flourish of the bandmaster's baton, +and the applause of the public followed. Certainly dramatic effect could +go no further. I was more than half persuaded, and yet, when the +applause had ceased, the dancers unwound themselves, and the low rumble +of a thousand restless feet rang on the marble pavement below, I found +voice sufficient to ask the all-important question, "But what is the +nature of this engagement?" To which he answered, "Oh, we're going down +the coast for a few days, you and I, and Alf and Croesus. A charming +bungalow by the sea; capital bathing, shooting, fishing; nice quiet time +generally; back Monday morning in season for biz!" This was certainly +satisfactory as far as it went, but I added, by way of parenthesis, "and +who else will be present?" knowing well enough that one uncongenial +spirit might be the undoing of us all. To this Bartholomew responded, +"No one but ourselves, old fellow; now don't be queer." He knew well +enough my aversion to certain elements unavoidable even in the best +society, and how I kept very much to myself, except on Monday nights +when we all smoked and laughed with the Colonel--whose uncommonly +charming wife was abroad for the summer; and on Tuesday and Saturday +nights, when I was at the club, and on Wednesdays, when I did the +theatricals of the town, and on Thursdays and Fridays--but never mind! +girls were out of the question in my case, and he knew that the bachelor +hall where I preside was as difficult of access as a cloister. I might +not have given my word without further deliberation, had not the +impetuous Colonel seized us bodily and borne us back into his +smoking-room, where he was about to shatter the wax on a flagon of wine, +a brand of fabulous age and excellence. Bartholomew nodded to Alf, Alf +passed the good news to Croesus, for we were all at the Colonel's by +common consent, and so it happened that the compact was made for +Thursday. + +That Thursday, at 4 p.m. we were on our way to the station at 4:30; the +town-houses were growing few and far between, as the wheels of the +coaches spun over the iron road. At five o'clock the green fields of the +departed spring, already grown bare and brown, rolled up between us and +the horizon. California is a naked land and no mistake, but how +beautiful in her nakedness! An hour later we descended at School-house +station; such is the matter-of-fact pet-name given to a cluster of dull +houses, once known by some melodious but forgotten Spanish appellation. +The ranch wagon awaited us; a huge springless affair, or if it had +springs they were of that aggravating stiffness that adds insult to +injury. Excellent beasts dragged us along a winding, dusty road, over +hill, down dale, into a land that grew more and more lonely; not exactly +"a land where it was always afternoon," but apparently always a little +later in the day, say 7 p.m. or thereabouts. We were rapidly wending our +way towards the coast, and on the breezy hill-top a white fold of +sea-fog swept over and swathed us in its impalpable snow. Oh! the chill, +the rapturous agony of that chill. Do you know what sea-fog is? It is +the bodily, spiritual and temporal life of California; it is the +immaculate mantle of the unclad coast; it feeds the hungry soil, gives +drink unto the thirsting corn, and clothes the nakedness of nature. It +is the ghost of unshed showers--atomized dew, precipitated in +life-bestowing avalanches upon a dewless and parched shore; it is the +good angel that stands between a careless people and contagion; it is +heaven-sent nourishment. It makes strong the weak; makes wise the +foolish--you don't go out a second time in midsummer without your +wraps--and it is altogether the freshest, purest, sweetest, most +picturesque, and most precious element in the physical geography of the +Pacific Slope. It is worth more to California than all her gold, and +silver, and copper, than all her corn and wine--in short, it is simply +indispensable. + +This is the fog that dashed under our hubs like noiseless surf, filled +up the valleys in our lee, shut the sea-view out entirely, and finally +left us on a mountaintop--our last ascension, thank Heaven!--with +nothing but clouds below us and about us, and we sky-high and drenched +to the very bone. + +The fog broke suddenly and rolled away, wrapped in pale and splendid +mystery; it broke for us as we were upon the edge of a bluff. For some +moments we had been listening to the ever-recurring sob of the sea. +There at our feet curled the huge breakers, shouldering the cliff as if +they would hurl it from its foundation. A little further on in the +gloaming was the last hill of all; from its smooth, short summit we +could look into the Delectable Land by candle light, and mark how +invitingly stands a bungalow by the sea's margin at the close of a dusty +day. + +On the summit we paused; certain unregistered packages under the wagon, +which had preyed at intervals upon the minds of Alf, Croesus, and +Bartholomew, were now drawn forth. Life is a series of surprises; +surprise No. 1, a brace of long, tapering javelins having +villainous-looking heads, i.e., two marine rockets, with which to rend +the heavens, and notify the vassals at the bungalow of our approach. One +of these rockets we planted with such care that having touched it off, +it could not free itself, but stood stock still and with vicious fury +blew off in a cloud of dazzling sparks. The dry grass flamed in a +circle about us; never before had we fought fire with wildly-waving +ulsters, but they prove excellent weapons in engagements of this +character, I assure you. Profiting by fatiguing experience, we poised +the second rocket so deftly that it could not fail to rise. On it we +hung our hopes, light enough burdens if they were all as faint as mine. +With the spurt of a match we touched it, a stream of flaky gold rushed +forth and then, as if waiting to gather strength, _biff_! and away she +went. Never before soared rocket so beautifully; it raked the very +stars; its awful voice died out in the dim distance; with infinite grace +it waved its trail of fire, and then spat forth such constellations of +variegated stars--you would have thought a rainbow had burst into a +million fragments--that shamed the very planets, and made us think +mighty well of ourselves and our achievement. There was still a long +dark mile between us and the bungalow; on this mile were strung a +fordable stream, a ragged village of Italian gardeners, some monstrous +looking hay-stacks, and troops of dogs that mouthed horribly as we +ploughed through the velvety dust. + +The bungalow at last! at the top of an avenue of trees--and such a +bungalow! A peaked roof that sheltered everything, even the deepest +verandas imaginable; the rooms few, but large and airy; everything wide +open and one glorious blaze of light. A table spread with the luxuries +of the season, which in California means four seasons massed in one. +Flowers on all sides; among these flowers Japanese lanterns of +inconceivable forms and colors. These hung two or three deep--without, +within, above, below; nothing but light and fragrance, and mirth and +song. We were howling a chorus as we drove up, and were received with a +musical welcome, bubbling over with laughter from the lips of three +pretty girls, dressed in white and pink--probably the whitest and +pinkest girls in all California; and this was surprise No. 2. + +Perfect strangers to me were these young ladies; but, like most +confirmed bachelors, I rather like being with the adorable sex, when I +find myself translated as if by magic. + +We were formed of the dust of the earth--there was no denying the fact, +and we speedily withdrew; but before our dinner toilets were completed, +such a collection of appetizers was sent in to us as must distinguish +forever the charming hostess who concocted them. I need not recall the +dinner. Have you ever observed that there is no real pleasure in +reviving the memory of something good to eat? Suffice it to state that +the dinner was such a one as was most likely to be laid for us under the +special supervision of three blooming maidens, who had come hither four +and twenty hours in advance of us for this special purpose. That night +we played for moderate stakes until the hours were too small to be +mentioned. I forget who won; but it was probably the girls, who were as +clever at cards as they were at everything else. We ultimately retired, +for the angel of sleep visits even a Californian bungalow, though his +hours are a trifle irregular. Our rooms, two large chambers, with +folding doors thrown back, making the two as one, contained four double +beds; in one of the rooms was a small altar, upon which stood a statue +of the Madonna, veiled in ample folds of lace and crowned with a coronet +of natural flowers; vases of flowers were at her feet, and lighted +tapers flickered on either hand. The apartment occupied by the young +ladies was at the other corner of the bungalow; the servants, a good old +couple, retainers in Alf's family, slept in a cottage adjoining. We +retired manfully; we had smoked our last smoke, and were not a little +fatigued; hence this readiness on our part to lay down the burdens and +cares of the day. When the lights were extinguished the moon, streaming +in at the seaward windows, flooded the long rooms. It was a glorious +night; no sound disturbed its exquisite serenity save the subdued murmur +of the waves, softened by an intervening hillock on which the cypress +trees stood like black and solemn sentinels of the night. + +[Illustration: "The Huge Court of that Luxurious Caravansary."] + +I think I must have dozed, for it first seemed like a dream--the +crouching figures that stole in Indian file along the carpet from bed to +bed; but soon enough I wakened to a reality, for the Phillistines were +upon us, and the pillows fell like aerolites out of space. The air was +dense with flying bed-clothes; the assailants, Bartholomew and Alf, his +right-hand man, fell upon us with school-boy fury; they made mad leaps, +and landed upon our stomachs. We grappled in deadly combat; not an +article of furniture was left unturned; not one mattress remained upon +another. We made night hideous for some moments. We roused the ladies +from their virgin sleep, but paid little heed to their piteous +pleadings. The treaty of peace, which followed none too soon--the +pillow-cases were like fringes and the sheets were linen +shreds--culminated in a round of night-caps which for potency and flavor +have, perhaps, never been equalled in the history of the vine. + +Then we _did_ sleep--the sleep of the just, who have earned their right +to it; the sleep of the horny-handed son of the soil, whose muscles +relax with a jerk that awakens the sleeper to a realizing sense that he +has been sleeping and is going to sleep again at his earliest +convenience: the sweet, intense, and gracious sleep of innocence--out of +which we were awakened just before breakfast time by the most +considerate of hostesses and her ladies of honor, who sent into us the +reviving cup, without which, I fear, we could not have begun the new day +in a spirit appropriate to the occasion. + +The first day at the bungalow was Friday and, of course, a fast day; we +observed the rule with a willingness which, I trust, the recording angel +made a note of. There was a bath at the beach toward mid-day, followed +by a cold collation in the shelter of a rude chalet, which served the +ladies in the absence of the customary bathing-machine. Lying upon rugs +spread over the sand we chatted until a drowsy mood persuaded us to +return to the bungalow and indulge in a _siesta_. It being summer, and a +California summer by the sea, a huge log fire blazed upon the evening +hearth; cards and the jingle of golden counters again kept us at the +table till the night was far spent. Need I add that the ladies presented +a petition with the customary night-cap, praying that the gentlemen in +the double-chamber would omit the midnight gymnastics upon retiring, and +go to sleep like "good boys." It had been our intention to do so; we +were not wholly restored, for the festivities of the night previous had +been prolonged and fatiguing. + +We began our preparations by wheeling the four bedsteads into one room. +It seemed to us cosier to be sleeping thus together; indeed, it was +quite a distance from the extremity of one room to the extremity of the +other. Resigning ourselves to the pillows, each desired his neighbor to +extinguish the lights; no one moved to perform this necessary duty. We +slept, or pretended to sleep, and for some moments the bungalow was +quiet as the grave. In the midst of this refreshing silence a panic +seized us; with one accord we sprang to arms; the pillows, stripped of +their cases on the night previous, again darkened the air. We leaped +gaily from bed to bed, and in turn, took every corner of the room by +storm; the shout of victory mingled with the cry for mercy. There was +one solitary voice for peace; it was the voice of the vexed hostess, and +it was followed by the suspension of hostilities and the instant +quenching of the four tapers, each blown by an individual mouth, after +which we groped back to our several couches in a state of charming +uncertainty as to which was which. + +Saturday followed, and, of all Saturdays in the year, it chanced to be +the vigil of a feast, and therefore a day of abstinence. The ladies held +the key of the larder, and held it, permit me to add, with a clenched +hand. It may be that all boys are not like our boys; that there are +those who, having ceased to elongate and increase in the extremities out +of all proportion, are willing to fast from day to day; who no longer +lust after the flesh-pots, and whose appetites are governable--but ours +were not. The accustomed fish of a Friday was welcome, but Saturday was +out of the question. "Something too much of this," said Croesus the +Sybarite. "Amen!" cried the affable Alf. There was an unwonted fire in +the eye of Bartholomew when he asked for a dispensation at the hands of +the hostess, and was refused. + +All day the maidens sought to lighten our burden of gloom; the sports in +the bath were more brilliant than usual. We adjourned to the hay-loft +and told stories till our very tongues were tired. It is true that +egg-nogg at intervals consoled us; but when we had awakened from a +refreshing sleep among the hay, and fought a battle that ended in +victory for the Amazons and our ignominious flight, we bore the scars of +burr and hay-seed for hours afterwards. Cold turkey and cranberry sauce +at midnight had been promised to us, yet how very distant that seemed. +Hunger cried loudly for beef and bouillon, and a strategic movement was +planned upon the spot. + +The gaming, which followed a slim supper, was not so interesting as +usual. At intervals we consulted the clock; how the hours lagged! +Croesus poured his gold upon the table in utter distraction. The +maidens, who sat in sack-cloth and ashes, sorrowing for our sins, left +the room at intervals to assure themselves that the larder was intact. +We, also, quietly withdrew from time to time. Once, all three of the +girls fled in consternation--the footsteps of Bartholomew had been heard +in the vicinity of the cupboard; but it was a false alarm, and the game +was at once resumed. Now, indeed, the hours seemed to fly. To our +surprise, upon referring to the clock, the hands stood at ten minutes to +twelve. So swiftly speed the moments when the light hearts of youth beat +joyously in the knowledge that it is almost time to eat! + +Twelve o'clock! Cold turkey, cranberry sauce, champagne, etc., and no +more fasting till the sixth day. Having devastated the board, we must +needs betray our folly by comparing the several timepieces. Alf stood at +five minutes to eleven; Bartholomew some minutes behind him; Croesus, +with his infallible repeater, was but 10:45; as for me, I had discreetly +run down. The secret was out. The clock had been tampered with, and the +trusting maids betrayed. At first they laughed with us; then they +sneered, and then they grew wroth, and went apart in deep dismay. The +dining-hall resounded with our hollow mirth; like the scriptural fool, +we were laughing at our own folly. The ladies solemnly re-entered; our +hostess, the spokeswoman, said, with the voice of an oracle, "You will +regret this before morning." Still feigning to be merry, we went +speedily to bed, but there was no night-cap sent to soothe us; and the +lights went out noiselessly and simultaneously. + +After the heavy and regular breathing had set in--I think all slept save +myself--light footsteps were heard without. Why should one turn a key in +a bungalow whose hospitality is only limited by the boundary line of the +county surveyor? Our keys were not turned, in fact,--too late--we +discovered there were no keys to turn. In the dim darkness--the moon +lent us little aid at the moment--our door was softly thrown open, and +the splash of fountains could be heard; it was the sound of many waters. +As I listened to it in a half dream, it fell upon my ear most musically, +and then it fell upon my nose, and eyes, and mouth; it seemed as if the +windows of heaven were opened, as if the dreadful deluge had come again. +I soon discovered what it was. I threw the damp bed clothes over my head +and awaited further developments. I began to think they never would +come--I mean the developments. Meanwhile the garden hose, in the hands +of the irate maidens, played briskly upon the four quarters of the +room--not a bed escaped the furious stream. Nothing was left that was +not saturated and soaked, sponge-full. The floor ran torrents; our boots +floated away upon the mimic tide. We lay like inundated mummies, but +spake never a word. Possibly the girls thought we were drowned; at all +events, they withdrew in consternation, leaving the hose so that it +still belched its unwelcome waters into the very centre of our drenched +apartment. + +Rising at last from our clammy shrouds, we gave chase; but the +water-nymphs had fled. Then we barricaded the bungalow, and held a +council of war. Sitting in moist conclave, we were again assailed and +driven back to our rooms, which might now be likened to a swimming bath +at low-tide. We shrieked for stimulants, but were stoutly denied, and +then we took to the woods in a fit of indignation, bordering closely +upon a state of nature. + +I thought to bury myself in the trackless wild; to end my days in the +depths of the primeval forest. But I remembered how a tiger-cat had been +lately seen emerging from these otherwise alluring haunts, and returned +at once to the open, where I glistened in the moonlight, now radiant, +and shivered at the thought of the possible snakes coiling about my +feet. My disgust of life was full; yet in the midst of it I saw the +reviving flames dancing upon the hearth-stone, and the click of glasses +recalled me to my senses. + +We returned in a body, a defeated brotherhood, accepting as a +peace-offering such life-giving draughts as compelled us, almost against +our will, to drink to the very dregs in token of full surrender. Then +rheumatism and I lay down together, and a little child might have +played with any two of us. I assured my miserable companions that "I was +not accustomed to such treatment." Alf added that "it was more than he +had bargained for." Bartholomew had neither speech nor language +wherewith to vent his spleen. As for the bland and blooming Croesus--he +who had been lapped in luxury and cradled in delight--it was his private +opinion, publicly expressed, that "the like of it was unknown in the +annals of social history." + +[Illustration: "The Gallery Among the Huge Vases of Palms and +Creepers."] + +Yet on the Sunday--our final day at the bungalow--you would have thought +that the gods had assembled together to hold sweet converse; and, when +we lounged in the shadow of the invisible Ida, never looked the earth +more fair to us. The whole land was in blossom from the summit to the +sea; the gardeners, as they walked among their vines, prated of Sicily +and sang songs of their Sun-land. There was no chapel at hand, and no +mass for the repose of souls that had been sorely troubled; but the +charm of those young women--they were salving our wounds as women know +how to do--and the voluptuous feast that was laid for us, when we +emptied the fatal larder; the music, and the thousand arts employed to +restore beauty and order out of the last night's chaos, made us better +than new men, and it taught us a lesson we never shall forget--though +from that hour to this, neither one nor the other of us, in any way, +shape, or fashion whatever, has referred in the remotest degree to that +eventful night in a Californian bungalow. + + + + +PRIMEVAL CALIFORNIA + + +"Primeval California" was inscribed on the knapsack of the Artist, on +the portmanteau of Foster, the Artist's chum, and on the fly-leaf of the +note-book of the Scribe. The luggage of the boisterous trio was checked +through to the heart of the Red Woods, where a vacation camp was +pitched. The expected "last man" leaped the chasm that was rapidly +widening between the city front of San Francisco and the steamer bound +for San Rafael, and approached us--the trio above referred to--with a +slip of paper in his hand. It was not a subpoena; it was not a dun; it +was a round-robin of farewells from a select circle of admirers, wishing +us joy, Godspeed, success in art and literature, and a safe return at +last. + +The wind blew fair; we were at liberty for an indefinite period. In +forty minutes we struck another shore and another clime. San Francisco +is original in its affectation of ugliness--it narrowly escaped being a +beautiful city--and its humble acceptation of a climate which is as +invigorating as it is unscrupulous, having a peculiar charm which is +seldom discovered until one is beyond its spell. Sailing into the +adjacent summer,--summer is intermittent in the green city of the +West,--we passed into the shadow of Mount Tamalpais, the great landmark +of the coast. The admirable outline of the mountain, however, was +partially obscured by the fog, already massing along its slopes. + +The narrow-gauge of the N.P.C.R.R. crawls like a snake from the ferry on +the bay to the roundhouse over and beyond the hills, but seven miles +from the sea-mouth of the Russian River. It turns very sharp corners, +and turns them every few minutes; it doubles in its own trail, runs over +fragile trestle-work, darts into holes and re-appears on the other side +of the mountains, roars through strips of redwoods like a rushing wind, +skirts the shore of bleak Tomales Bay, cuts across the potato district +and strikes the redwoods again, away up among the saw-mills at the +logging-camps, where it ends abruptly on a flat under a hill. And what a +flat it is!--enlivened with a first-class hotel, some questionable +hostelries, a country store, a post-office and livery-stable, and a +great mill buzzing in an artificial desert of worn brown sawdust. + +Here, after a five hours' ride, we alighted at Duncan's Mills, hard by +the river, and with a girdle of hills all about us--high, round hills, +as yellow as brass when they are not drenched with fog. In the twilight +we watched the fog roll in, trailing its lace-like skirts among the +highland forests. How still the river was! Not a ripple disturbed it; +there was no perceptible current, for after the winter floods subside, +the sea throws up a wall of sand that chokes the stream, and the waters +slowly gather until there is volume enough to clear it. Then come the +rains and the floods, in which rafts of drift-wood and even great logs +are carried twenty feet up the shore, and permanently lodged in +inextricable confusion. + +I remember the day when we had made a pilgrimage to the coast, when from +the rocky jaws of the river we looked up the still waters, and saw them +slowly gathering strength and volume. The sea was breaking upon the bar +without; Indian canoes swung on the tideless stream, filled with +industrious occupants taking the fish that await their first plunge into +salt water. Every morning we bathed in the unpolluted waters of the +river. How fresh and sweet they are--the filtered moisture of the hills, +mingled with the distillations from cedar-boughs drenched with fogs and +dew! + +Lounging upon the hotel veranda, turning our backs upon the last +vestiges of civilization in the shape of a few guests who dressed for +dinner as if it were imperative, we were greeted with mellow heartiness +by a hale old backwoodsman, a genuine representative of the primeval. It +was Ingram, of Ingram House, Austin Creek, Red Woods, Sonoma County, +Primeval California. It was he, with ranch-wagon and stalwart steeds. +The Artist, who was captain-general of the forces, at once held a +consultation with Ingram, whom we will henceforth call the Doctor, for +he is a doctor--minus the degrees--of divinity, medicine, and laws, and +master of all work; a deer-stalker, rancher, and general utility man; +the father of a clever family, and the head of a primeval house. + +In half an hour we were jolting, bag and baggage, body and soul, over +roads wherein the ruts were filled with dust as fine as flour, fording +trout-streams, and winding through wood and brake. We passed the old +logging-camp, with the hills about it blackened and disfigured for life; +and the new logging-camp, with its stumps still smoldering, its steep +slides smoking with the friction of swift-descending logs, the ring of +the ax and the vicious buzz of the saw mingled with the shouts of the +woodsmen. How industry is devastating that home of the primeval! + +Soon the road led us into the very heart of the redwoods, where superb +columns stood in groups, towering a hundred and even two hundred feet +above our heads! A dense undergrowth of light green foliage caught and +held the sunlight like so much spray; the air was charged with the +fragrance of wild honeysuckle and resiniferous trees; the jay-bird +darted through the boughs like a phosphorous flame, screaming his joy to +the skies; squirrels fled before us; quails beat a muffled tattoo in +the brush-snakes slid out of the road in season to escape destruction. + +We soon dropped into the bed of the stream Austin Creek, and rattled +over the broad, strong highway of the winter rains. We bent our heads +under low-hanging boughs, drove into patches of twilight, and out on the +other side into the waning afternoon; we came upon a deserted cottage +with a great javelin driven through the roof to the cellar; it had been +torn from one of the gigantic redwoods and hurled by a last winter's +gale into that solitary home. Fortunately no one had been injured, but +the inmates had fled in terror, lashed by the driving storm. + +We came to Ingram House in the dusk, out of the solitude of the forest +into a pine-and-oak opening, the monotony of which was enlivened with a +fair display of the primitive necessities of life--a vegetable garden on +the right, a rustic barn on the left, a house of "shakes" in the +distance, and nine deer-hounds braying a deep-mouthed welcome at our +approach. + +In the rises of the house on the hill-slope is a three-roomed bachelors' +hall; here, on the next day, we were cozily domiciled. There were a few +guests in the homestead. The boys slept in the granary. The deer-hounds +held high carnival under our cottage, charging at intervals during the +night upon imaginary intruders. We woke to the blustering music of the +beasts, and thought on the possible approach of bear, panther, +California lion, wild cat, 'coon, and polecat; but thought on it with +composure, for the hounds were famous hunters, and there was a whole +arsenal within reach. + +We were waked at 6:30, and come down to the front "stoop" of the +homestead. The structure was home-made, with rafters on the outside or +inside according to the fancy of the builder; sunshine and storm had +stained it grayish brown, and no tint could better harmonize with the +background and surroundings. In one corner of the stoop a tin wash-basin +stood under a waterspout in the sink; there swung the family towels; the +public comb, hanging by its teeth to a nail, had seen much service; a +piece of brown soap lay in an _abalone_ shell tacked to the wall; a +small mirror reflected kaleidoscopical sections of the face, and made up +for its want of compass by multiplying one or another feature. We never +before ate at the hour of seven as we ate then; then a pipe on the front +steps and a frolic with the boys or the dogs would follow, and digestion +was well under way before the day's work began. Then the Artist +shouldered his knapsack and departed; the lads trudged through the road +to school; the women went about the house with untiring energy; the +male hands were already making the anvil musical in the rustic smithy, +or dragging stock to the slaughter, or busy with the thousand and one +affairs that comprise the sum and substance of life in a self-sustaining +community. We were assured that were war to be declared between the +outer world and Ingram House, lying in ambush in the heart of our black +forest, we might withstand the siege indefinitely. All that was needful +lay at our hands, and yet, a stone's-throw away from our shake-built +citadel, one loses himself in a trackless wood, whose glades are still +untrodden by men, though one sometimes hears the light step of the +_bronco_ when Charlie rides forth in search of a strong bull. All work +was like play there, because of a picturesque element which predominated +over the practical. Wood-cutting under the window of the best room, +trying out fat in a caldron or an earth-oven against our cottage, +dragging sunburnt straw in a rude sledge down the hill-side road, +shoeing a neighbor's horse in a circle of homely gossips, hunting to +supply the domestic board at the distant market--is this all that Adam +and the children of Adam suffer in his fall? + +At noon a clarion voice resounded from the kitchen door and sent the +echoes up and down the creek. It was the hostess, who, having prepared +the dinner, was bidding the guests to the feast. The Artist came in +with his sketch, the Chum with his novel, the Scribe with his note-book, +followed by the horny-handed sons of toil, whose shoulders were a little +rounded and whose minds were seldom, if ever, occupied with any life +beyond the hills that walled us in. We sat down at a camp board and ate +with relish. The land was flowing with milk and honey; no sooner was the +pitcher drained or the plate emptied than each was replenished by the +willing hands of our hostess or her boys. + +Another smoke under the stoop followed, and then, perhaps, a doze at the +cottage, or in one of the dozen rocking-chairs about the house, or on +the rustic throne hewn from a stump in the grove between the house and +the barn. The sun flooded the cañon with hot and dazzling light; the air +was spiced with the pungent odor of shrubs; it was time to rest a little +before beginning the laborious sports of the afternoon. Later, we all +wandered on the banks of the creek and were sure to meet at the +swimming-pool about four o'clock. Meanwhile the Artist has laid in +another study. Foster has finished his tale, and is rocking in a hammock +of green boughs; the Scribe has booked a half-dozen fragmentary +sentences that will by and by grow into an article, and the boys have +come home from school. + +By and by we wanted change; the monotony of town life is always more or +less interesting; the monotony of country life palls after a season. +Change comes over us in a most unexpected guise. Our cañon was decked +with the flaming scarlet of the poison-oak; these brilliant bits of +foliage are the high-lights in almost every California landscape, and +must satisfy our love of color, in the absence of the Eastern autumnal +leaf. The gorgeous shrubs stand out like burning bushes by the roadside, +on the hill-slope, in the forest recesses, and almost everywhere. The +Artist's chum gave evidence of a special susceptibility to the poison by +a severe attack that prostrated him utterly for a while. Yet he stood by +us until his vacation came to an end, and, to the last, there was no +complaint heard from this martyr to circumstances. + +One day he left us--on mule-back, with nine dogs fawning upon his +stirrup, and amid a hundred good-byes wafted to him from the house, the +smithy, the barn, and the swimming-pool. He had orders to send in the +Kid, or his successor, immediately upon his arrival at the Bay. We must +needs have some one to indulge, some one whose interests were not +involved in the primeval farther than the pleasure it afforded for the +hour. The Kid was the very thing--a youngster with happiness in heart, +luster in his eye, and nothing more serious than peach-down on his lip; +yet there was gravity enough in his composition to carry him beneath the +mere surface of men and things. The Kid drove in one night with rifle +tall as himself, fishing-tackle, and entomological truck, wild with +enthusiasm and hungry as a carp. + +What days followed! Our little entomologist chased scarlet-winged +dragon-flies and descanted on the myriad forms of insect-life with +premature accomplishment. "Out of the mouths of babes and sucklings" we +heard revelations not unmixed with the ludicrous superstitions of the +nursery. + +There is a school-house a mile distant, on the forks of the creek; we +visited it one Friday, and saw six angular youths, the sum total of the +young ideas within range of the instructress, spelled down in +broadsides; and heard time-honored recitations delivered in the same old +sing-song that could only have been original with the sons of our first +parents. The school-mistress, with a sun-bonnet that buried her face +from the world, passed Ingram's ten times a week, footing it silently +along the dusty road, lunch-pail in hand. She lives in a lonely cabin on +the trail to the wilderness over the hill. + +The Kid sketched a little; indeed, the artistic fever spread to the +granary, where the boys spent some hours of each day restoring, not to +say improving, the tarnished color of certain face-cards of an imperfect +euchre deck, the refuse of the palette being carefully secreted to this +end; we never knew at what moment we might sit upon the improvised +color-box of some juvenile member of the family. + +But hunting was our delectable recreation; the Doctor would lead off on +a half-broken _bronco_, followed by a select few from the house or the +friendly camps, Fred bringing up the rear with a pack-mule. This was the +chief joy of the hounds; the old couple grew young at the scent of the +trail, and deserted their whining progeny with Indian stoicism. Two +nights and a day were enough for a single hunt,--one may in that time +scour the rocky fortresses of the Last Chance, or scale the formidable +slopes of the Devil's Ribs. + +The return from the hunt was a scene of picturesque interest: the +approach of the hunters at dusk, as they emerged one after another from +the dark wood; the pack-mule prancing proudly under a stark buck +weighing one hundred and thirty-three pounds, without its vitals; the +baby fawn slain by chance (for no one would acknowledge the criminal +slaughter); the final arrival of the fagged, sore-footed dogs, who were +wildly greeted by the puppies, and kissed on the mouth and banged about +by many a playful paw; the grouping under the trees in front of +Bachelors' Hall, where the buck was slung, head downward among green +leaves, and with stakes crossed between the gaping ribs; the light of +the flickering lantern; the dogs supping blood from the ground where it +had dripped; the satisfaction of the hunters; the admiration of the +women; the wild excitement of the boys, who all talked at once, at the +top of their voices, with gestures quicker than thought;--this was the +Carnival of the Primeval. + +One night, the Kid set out for the stubble-field and lay in wait for +wild rabbits; when he came in with his hands full of ears, the glow of +moonlight was in his eye, the flush of sunset on his cheek, the riotous +blood's best scarlet in his lips, and his laugh was triumphant; with a +discarded hat recalled for camp-duty, a blue shirt open at the throat, +hair very much tumbled, and no thoughts of self to detract from the +absolute grace of his pose. + +But all hunting-parties were not so successful. One of seven came home +empty-handed and disgusted. It became necessary, while the unlucky +huntsmen were under our roof, to give them festive welcome. Fred drew +out his fiddle; the Doctor gathered his strength and shook as lively a +shoe on the sanded floor of the best room as one will hear the clang of +in many a day. Clumsy joints grew supple; heavy boots made the splinters +fly; a fellow-townsman, like ourselves on a vacation tour, jigged with +the inimitable grace of a trained dancer. How few of our muscles are +aware of the joy of full development! From the wall of the best room the +"Family of Horace Greeley," in mezzotint, looked down through clouded +glass and a veneered frame. The county map hung _vis-à -vis_. A family +record, wherein a pale infant was cradled in saffron, and schooled in +pink, passing through a rainbow-tinted life that reached the climax of +color at the scarlet and gold bridal, and ended in a sea-green grave; +this record, with a tablet for appropriate inscriptions under each epoch +in the family history, was still further enriched with lids of stained +isinglass carefully placed over the domestic calendar, as much as to +say, "What is written here is not for the public eye." On the triangular +shelf in the corner, stood the condensed researches of all Arctic +explorers, in one obese volume; its twin contained the revelations of +African discoveries boiled down and embellished with numberless cuts; a +Family Physician, one volume of legislative documents, and three stray +magazines, with a Greek almanac, completed the library. So, even in the +primeval state, we were not without food for our minds as well as +exercise for our muscles. After a time, even the dance ceased to attract +us. The Artist had lined the walls of his chamber with brilliant +sketches; the kid clamored for home. + +I suppose we might have tarried a whole summer and still found some turn +in the brook, some vista in the wood, some cluster of isolated trees, to +hold us entranced; for the peculiar glory of the hour transfigured +them, and the same effect was never twice repeated. Moreover, we at last +grew intolerant of one great annoyance. You all have known it as we knew +it, and doubtless endured it with as little grace. Is there anything +more galling than the surpassing impudence of country flies? We resolved +to return to town, and returned close upon the heels of our resolution. +Again we threaded the dark windings of the wood, and bade farewell to +every object that had become endeared to us. We wondered how soon change +would lay its hand upon this primeval beauty. We approached the +logging-camp. Presto! in the brief interval since our first glimpse of +the forests above it, the hills had been shorn of their antique harvest, +and the valley was a place of desolation and of death. + +It seemed incredible that the dense growth of gigantic trees could be so +soon dragged to market. There was a famous tree--we saw the stump still +bleeding and oozing up--which, three feet from the ground, measured +eleven and a half feet one way by fourteen feet the other. When its doom +was sealed, a path was cut for it and a soft bed made for it to lie on. +The land was graded, and covered with a cushion of soft boughs. Had the +tree fallen on uneven ground, it would have been shattered; if it had +swerved to right or left, nothing but fire could have cleared the +wrecks. + +The making of the death-bed of this monster cost Mrs. Duncan forty +dollars. Then the work began. An ax in the hands of a skillful +wood-cutter threw the tree headlong to the earth. Then it was sawed +across, yielding eighteen logs, each sixteen feet in length, with a +diameter of four feet at the smallest end. The logs were put upon +wheels, and run over a light trestle-work to the mill, drawn thither by +a ridiculous dummy, which looked not unlike an old-fashioned tavern +store on its beam-ends, with an elbow in the air. At the mill, it was +sawed into eighty thousand feet of marketable lumber. + +Reaching the forest, on our way to the Mills, we found the river had +risen so that ten miles from the mouth we were obliged to climb upon the +wagon-seats, and hold our luggage above high-water mark. + +At Duncan's, on the home stretch, we made our final pilgrimage, to a +wild glen over the Russian River, where, a few weeks before, the +Bohemian Club had held high jinks. The forest had been a scene of +enchantment on that midsummer night; but now the tents were struck, the +Japanese lanterns were extinguished, and nothing was left to tell the +tale but the long tables of rough deal, where we had feasted. They were +covered with leaves and dust; spiders had draped them with filmy robes. +The quail piped, the jay-bird screamed, the dove sobbed, and a slim +snake, startled at the flight of a bounding hare, glided away among the +rustling leaves. So soon does this new land recover the primeval beauty +of eternal youth. + + + + +INLAND YACHTING + + +When your bosom friend seizes you by the arm, and says to you in that +seductive sotto voce which implies a great deal more than is confessed, +"Come, let us go down to the sea in ships, and do business in the great +waters," you generally go, if you are not previously engaged. At least, +I do. + +Much has been said in disfavor of yachting in San Francisco Bay. It is +inland yachting to begin with. The shelving shores prevent the +introduction of keel boats; flat and shallow hulls, with a great breadth +of beam, something able to battle with "lumpy" seas and carry plenty of +sail in rough weather, is the more practical and popular type. Atlantic +yachts, when they arrive in California waters, have their rigging cut +down one-third. Schooners and sloops with Bermudian mutton-leg sails +flourish. A modification of the English yawl is in vogue; but large +sloops are not handled conveniently in the strong currents, the chop +seas, the blustering winds, the summer fogs that make the harbor one of +the most treacherous of haunts for yachtsmen. + +Think of a race when the wind is blowing from twenty-five to +thirty-five miles an hour! The surface current at the Golden Gate runs +six miles per hour and the tide-rip is often troublesome; but there is +ample room for sport, and very wild sport at times. The total area of +the bay is four hundred and eighty square miles, and there are hundreds +of miles of navigable sloughs, rivers, and creeks. One may start from +Alviso, and sail in a general direction, almost without turning, one +hundred and fifty-five miles to Sacramento city. During the voyage he is +pretty sure to encounter all sorts of weather and nearly every sort of +climate, from the dense and chilly fogs of the lower bay to the +semi-tropics of the upper shores, where fogs are unknown, and where the +winds die away on the surface of beautiful waters as blue as the Bay of +Naples. + +There are amateur yachtsmen, a noble army of them, who charter a craft +for a day or two, and have more fun in a minute than they can recover +from in a month. I have sailed with these, at the urgent request of one +who has led me into temptation more than once, but who never deserted me +in an evil hour, even though he had to drag me out of it by the heels. I +am at this moment reminded of an episode which still tickles my memory, +and, much as a worthy yachtsman may scorn it, I confess that this moment +is more to me than that of any dash into deep water which I can at +present recall. + +It was a summer Saturday, the half-holiday that is the reward of a +week's hard labor. With the wise precaution which is a prominent +characteristic of my bosom friend, a small body of comrades was gathered +together on the end of Meigg's Wharf, simultaneously scanning, with +vigilant eyes, the fleets of sailing crafts as they swept into view on +the strong currents of the bay. It was a little company of youths, sick +of the world and its cares, and willing, nay eager, to embark for other +climes. They came not unfurnished. I beheld with joy numerous demijohns +with labels fluttering like ragged cravats from their long necks; +likewise stacks of vegetables, juicy joints, fruits, and more demijohns, +together with a small portable iceberg; blankets were there, also guns, +pistols, and fishing tackle. If one chooses to quit this world and its +follies, one must go suitably provided for the next. Experience teaches +these things. + +The breeze freshened; the crowd grew impatient; more fellows arrived; +another demijohn was seen in the distance swiftly bearing down upon us +from the upper end of the wharf, and at this moment a dainty yacht +skimmed gracefully around the point of Telegraph Hill, picking her way +among the thousand-masted fleet that whitened the blue surface of the +bay, and we at once knew her to be none other than the "Lotus," a crack +yacht, as swift as the wind itself. In fifteen minutes there was a +locker full of good things, and a deck of jolly fellows, and when we +cast off our bow-line, and ran up our canvas, we were probably the +neatest thing on the tide. I know that I felt very much like a lay +figure in somebody's marine picture, and it was quite wonderful to +behold how suddenly we all became sea-worthy and how hard we tried to +prove it. + +A heavy bank of cloud was piled up in the west, through which stole long +bars of sunshine, gilding the leaden waves. The "Lotus" bent lovingly to +the gale. Some of us went into the cabin, and tried to brace ourselves +in comfortable and secure corners--item--there are no comfortable or +secure seats at sea, and there will be none until there is a revolution +in ship-building. Our yachting afforded us an infinite variety of +experience in a very short time; we had a taste of the British Channel +as soon as we were clear of the end of the wharf. It was like rounding +Gibraltar to weather Alcatraz, and, as we skimmed over the smooth flood +in Raccoon Straits, I could think of nothing but the little end of the +Golden Horn. Why not? The very name of our yacht was suggestive of the +Orient. The sun was setting; the sky deeply flushed; the distance highly +idealized; homeward hastened a couple of Italian fishing boats, with +their lateen sails looking like triangular slices cut out of the full +moon; this sort of thing was very soothing. We all lighted our +cigarettes, and lapsed into dreamy silence, broken only by the plash of +ripples under our bow and the frequent sputter of matches quite +necessary to the complete consumption of our tobacco. + +[Illustration: Meigg's Wharf in 1856] + +About dusk our rakish cutter drifted into the shelter of the hills along +the north shore of the bay, and with a chorus of enthusiastic cheers we +dropped anchor in two fathoms of soft mud. We felt called upon to sing +such songs as marines are wont to sing upon the conclusion of a voyage, +and I believe our deck presented a tableau not less picturesque than +that in the last act of "Black-eyed Susan." Susan alone was wanting to +perfect our nautical happiness. + +How charming to pass one's life at sea, particularly when it is a calm +twilight, and the anchor is fast to the bottom: the sheltering shores +seem to brood over you; pathetic voices float out of the remote and +deepening shadows; and stars twinkle so naturally in both sea and sky +that a fellow scarcely knows which end he stands on. + +I have preserved a few leaves from a log written by my bosom friend. I +present them as he wrote them, although he apparently had "Happy +Thoughts" on the brain, and much Burnand had well nigh made him mad. + +THE LOG OF THE "LOTUS" + +9 p.m.--Dinner just over; part of our crew desirous of fishing during +the night; hooks lost, lines tangled, no bait; a row by moonlight +proposed. + +10 p.m.--The Irrepressibles still eager to fish; lines untangled, hooks +discovered; two fellows despatched with yawl in search of bait; a row by +moonlight again proposed; we take observation--no moon! + +11 p.m.--Two fellows returning from shore with hen; hen very tough and +noisy; tough hens not good for bait; fishing postponed till daybreak; +moonlight sail proposed as being a pleasant change; still no moon; half +the crew turn in for a night's rest; cabin very full of half-the-crew. + +Midnight.--Irrepressibles dance sailor's hornpipe on deck; half-the-crew +below awake from slumbers, and advise Irrepressibles to renew search for +bait. + +12:30 a.m.--Irrepressibles return to shore for bait. Loud breathing in +cabin; water swashing on rocks along the beach; very picturesque, but no +moon yet; voice in the distance says "Halloa!" Echo in the other +distance replies, "Halloa yourself, and see how you like it!" + +1 a.m.--Irrepressibles still absent on shore; a dog barks loudly in the +dark; a noise is heard in a far away hen-coop--Irrepressibles looking +diligently for bait. + +1:30 a.m.--Dog sitting on the shore howling; very heavy breathing in the +cabin; noise of oars in the rowlocks; music on the water, chorus of +youthful male voices, singing "A smuggler's life is a merry, merry, +life." Subdued noise of hens; dog still howling; no moon yet; more noise +of hens, bait rapidly approaching. + +2 a.m.--Irrepressibles try to row yawl through sternlights of "Lotus"; +grand collision of yawl at full speed and a rakish cutter at anchor. +Profane language in the cabin; sleepy crew, half awake, rush up the +hatchway, and denounce Irrepressibles. Irrepressibles sing "Smuggler's +Life," etc.; terrific noise of hens; half-the-crew invite the +Irrepressibles to "be as decent as they can." No moon yet; everybody +packed in the cabin. + +2:30 a.m.--Sudden squall. "Lotus," as usual, bends lovingly to the gale; +dramatic youth in his bunk says, in deep voice, "No sleep till morn!" +More dramatic youths say, "I heard a voice cry, 'Sleep no more'." Very +deep voice says, "Macbeth hath mur-r-r-r-dered sleep!" General confusion +in the cabin. Old commodore of the "Lotus" says, "Gentlemen, a little +less noise, if you please." Noise subsides. + +3 a.m.--Irrepressibles propose sleeping in binnacle; unfortunate +discovery--no binnacle on board. Half-the-crew turn over, and suggest +that the Irrepressibles take night-caps, and retire anywhere. Moved and +seconded, That the Irrepressibles take two night-caps, and retire in a +body--item: two heads better than one, two night-caps ditto, ditto. + +3:30 a.m.--Commotion in cabin. Irrepressibles find no place to lay their +weary heads. Moonlight sail proposed; observations on deck--no moon; +squall in the distance; air very chilly. Irrepressibles retire in a +body, and take night-caps. Song by Irrepressibles, "A Smuggler's Life." +Half-the-crew sit up and throw boots. Irrepressibles assault +half-the-crew, and take bunks by storm; great confusion; old commodore +of the "Lotus" says, "Gentlemen had better sleep a little, so as to be +in trim for fishing at daybreak," night-caps all round; order restored; +chorus of subdued voices, "A Smuggler's Life." + +4 a.m.--Signs of daybreak; thin blue mist over the water; white sea-bird +overhead, with bright light on its breast; flocks bleating on shore; +sloop becalmed under the lee of the land; fishermen casting nets; more +fishermen right under them, casting nets upside down. Everything very +fresh and shining; feel happy; think we must look like marine picture by +somebody. + +4:30 a.m.--Commodore of the "Lotus" comes on deck, and takes an +observation; all favorable; commodore draws bucket of water out of the +sea and makes toilet, white beard of the commodore waves gently in the +breeze; fine-looking old sea-dog that commodore of the "Lotus." + +Sunday Morning.--All quiet; air very clear and bracing. Shore resembles +new world. Feel like Christopher Columbus discovering America. Peaceful +and happy emotions animate bosom; think I hear Sabbath bells--evidently +don't: no Sabbath bells anywhere around. Penitentiary of San Quentin in +the distance; look at San Quentin, and feel emotion of sadness steal +over me; moral reflection to try and avoid San Quentin as long as +possible. + +5 a.m.--Noise in cabins; boots flying in the air; cries for mercy; +reconciliation and eye-openers all round. Everybody on deck; next minute +everybody overboard bathing; water very cold; teeth chattering; +something warming necessary for all hands. Yawl goes out fishing; two +small boats at the disposal of Irrepressibles; a row by sunlight; no +moon last night; funny boy says, "Bring moon along next time!" Everybody +sees San Quentin at the same moment; half-the-crew advise Irrepressibles +to "go home at once." Cries of "hi yi." Irrepressibles say "they will +inform on half-the-crew when they get there"; disturbance on deck in +consequence; Commodore suggests a new search for bait; order restored; +new search for bait instituted. Three fellows sing "Father, come home," +and look toward San Quentin. Bad jokes on the prison every ten minutes +throughout the day. Small fleet of stern-wheel ducks come alongside for +breakfast; ducks in great danger of the galley; flock of pelicans, with +tremendous bowsprits, fly overhead; pistol-shot carries away tail +feathers of pelican; order restored. + +8 a.m.--Irrepressibles propose naval engagement; three small boats armed +and equipped for the fray. Irrepressibles routed; some taken prisoners; +great excitement; quantities of water dashed in all directions; boats +rapidly filling; two fellows overboard; cries for help, "fellows can't +swim a stroke"; intense excitement; boat sinks in five feet of water and +two feet of mud; the fellows brought on board to be wrung out. +Irrepressibles hang everything in the rigging to dry. Imagination takes +her accustomed flight; good study of nude Irrepressibles in great +number; think we must resemble the barge of Cleopatra on the Nile! +unlucky thought; no Cleopatra on board. Subject reconsidered; lucky +fancy--the Greek gods on a yachting cruise. Sun very hot; another bath +all round; a drop of something, for fear of catching cold; the Greek +gods on deck indulge in negro dances; two men on shore look on, and +wonder what's up. Sun intensely hot; Greek gods turn in for a square +sleep! + +It becomes necessary to suppress the bosom friend, who, it is +superfluous to state, was one of the leaders of the Irrepressibles on +the memorable occasion--and the balance of his log is consigned to the +locker of oblivion. + +The cruise of the "Lotus" had its redeeming features, though they were +probably unrecorded at the time. There was fishing and boating; rambles +on shore over the grassy hills; a search for clams and a good +old-fashioned clam bake; to which the sharpest appetites did ample +justice; and there were quiet fellows, who stole apart from the rioters +and had hours of solid satisfaction. You may have rocked in a small +skiff yourself, casting your line in deep water, waiting and watching +for the cod to bite. It is pleasant sculling up to a distant point, and +sounding by the way so as to get off the sand and over the pebbly bottom +as soon as possible. It is pleasant to cast anchor and float a few rods +from shore, where the rocks are eaten away by the tides of numberless +centuries, where the swallows build and the goats climb, and the scrub +oaks look over into the sea, with half their hairy roots trailing in the +air. It is less pleasant to thread your hook with a piece of writhing +worm that is full of agonizing expression, though head and tail are both +missing and writhing on their own hooks, which are also attached to your +line. I wonder if one bit of worm on a hook recognizes a joint of itself +on the next hook, and says to it, in its own peculiar fashion, "Well, +are you alive yet?" + +The baiting accomplished, with a great flourish you throw your sinker, +and see it bury itself in the muddy water; then you listen intently, +for the least suggestion of a disturbance down there at the other end of +the line; the sinker thumps upon this rock and the next one, drops into +a hole and gets caught for a moment, but is loosened again, and then a +sort of galvanic shock thrills through your body; on guard! if you would +save your bait; another twinge, fainter than the first, and at last a +regular tug, and you haul in your line, which is jerking incessantly by +this time. The next moment the hooks come to the surface, and on one of +them you find a Lilliputian fish that is not yet old enough to feed +himself, and was probably caught by accident. + +Perhaps you haul in your line as fast as you can, bait it and throw it +in again as rapidly as convenient--for this is the sport that fishermen +love to boast of; perhaps you rock in your boat all day, and draw but a +half-dozen of these shiners out before their time, and waste your +precious worms to no purpose. + +It's hungry work, isn't it? and the summons to dinner that is by-and-by +sounded from the yacht is a pleasing excuse for deserting so profitless +a task. The right thing to do, however, is to put on an appearance of +immense success whenever a rival skiff comes within hail. You hold up +your largest fish several times in succession, so as to delude the +anxious inquirers in the other boat, who will of course think you have a +dozen of those big cod with a striking family resemblance. It is a very +successful ruse; all fishermen indulge in it, and you have as good a +right to play the pantomime as they. + +By-and-by we are glad to think of a return to town. Why is it that +pleasure excursions seem to ravel out? They never stop short after a +brilliant achievement nor conclude with an imposing tableau; they die +out gradually. Someone gets out here, some-one else falls off there, and +there is a general running down of the machinery that has propelled the +festival up to the last moment. They flatten unmistakably, and it is +almost a pity that some sort of climax cannot be engaged for each +occasion, in the midst of which everyone should disappear, in red fire +and a blaze of rockets. + +Our yachting cruise was very jolly. We hauled in our lines and our +anchors, and spread our canvas, while the wind was brisk and the evening +was coming on; white-caps danced and tumbled all over the bay. It looked +stormy far out in the open sea as we crossed the channel; thin tongues +of fog were lapping among the western hills, as though the town were +about to be devoured by some ghostly monster, and presently it was of +course. The spray leaped half-way up our jib, and our fore-sail was +dripping wet as we neared the town; there was a rolling up of blankets, +and a general clearing out of the debris that always accumulates in +small quarters. Everybody was a little tired, and a little hungry, and +a little sleepy, and quite glad to get home again, and when the "Lotus" +landed us on the old wharf at the north end of the town, we crept home +through the side streets for decency's sake. + +The young "Corinthian" would scorn to recognize a yachting exploit such +as I have depicted. The young "Corinthian" owns his yacht, and lives in +it a great part of the summer. He is the first to make his appearance +after the rainy season has begun to subside, and the last to be driven +into winter quarters at Oakland or Antioch, where the fleet is moored +during four or five months of the year. The "Corinthian" paints his boat +himself, and is an adept at every art necessary to the completeness of +yachting life. He can cook, sail his boat, repair damages of almost +every description; he sketches a little, writes a little, and is, in +fact, an amphibious Bohemian, the life of the regatta, whose enthusiasm +goes far towards sustaining the healthful and amiable rivalry of the two +yachting clubs. + +These clubs have charming club-houses at Saucelito, where many a "hop" +is given during the summer, and where, on one occasion, "H.M.S. +Pinafore" was sung with great effect on the deck of the "Vira," anchored +a few rods from the dock; the dock was, for the time being, transformed +into a dress-circle. Sir Joseph Porter, K.C.B., made his entree in a +steam launch, and all the effects were highly realistic. The only hitch +in the otherwise immensely successful representation was the +impossibility of securing a moon for the second act. + +The annual excursion of the two clubs is one of the social events of the +year. The favorite resort is Napa, a pretty little town in the lap of a +lovely valley, approached by a narrow stream that winds through meadow +lands and scattered groves of oak. The yachts are nearly all of them +there, from twenty-six to thirty, a flock of white wings that skim the +waters of San Pablo Bay, upward bound. At Vallejo and Mare Island they +exchange salutes, abreast of the naval station, and enter the mouth of +Napa Creek; it is broad and marshy for a time, but soon grows narrow, +and very crooked. More than once as we sailed we missed stays, and +drifted broadside upon a hayfield, and were obliged to pole one another +around the sharp turns in the creek; it is then that cheers and jeers +come over the meadows to us, from the lesser craft that are sailing +breast deep among the waving corn. All this time Napa, our destination, +is close at hand, but not likely to be reached for twenty or thirty +minutes to come. We turn and turn again, and are lost to sight among the +trees, or behind a barn, and are continually greeted by the citizens, +who have come overland to give us welcome. + +Riotous days follow: a ball that night, excursions on the morrow, and +on the second night a concert, perhaps two or three of them, on board +the larger vessels of the fleet. We are lying in a row, against a long +curve of the shore; chains of lanterns are hung from mast to mast, the +rigging is gay with evergreens and bunting. + +The revelry continues throughout the night; serenaders drift up and down +the stream at intervals until daybreak, when a procession is formed, a +steamer takes us in tow, and we are dragged silently down the tide, in +the grey light of the morning. At Vallejo, after a toilet and a +breakfast, which is immensely relished, we get into position. Every eye +is on the Commodore's signal; by-and-by it falls, bang goes a gun, and +in a moment all is commotion. The sails are trimmed, the light canvas +set, and away flies the fleet on the home stretch, to dance for an hour +or two in the sparkling sunshine of San Pablo Bay, then plunge into the +tumbling sea in the lower harbor, and at last end a three days' cruise +with unanimous and hearty congratulations. + +A week ago I could have added here that in the annals of the yacht clubs +of San Francisco there has never been a fatal accident, never a +drowning, nor a capsizing, nor a wreck, and this covers a period of +thirteen years; alas! in a single day, on a cruise such as I have been +writing of, there was a shocking death. One yacht nearly foundered, but +fortunately escaped into smooth water, another was dashed upon the +rocks, and is probably a total wreck; while a third lost her +centre-board over a mud bank, where it buried itself, and held the +little craft a helpless prisoner; the crew and guests of the latter took +to the small boats, pulled three miles in a squall, and were rescued by +a passing steamer when they were all drenched to the skin, and well-nigh +exhausted. + +You see that inland yachting is not child's play, nor are these inland +yachts without their romantic records. The flag of the San Francisco +yacht club has floated among the South Sea Islands; one of its boats has +beaten the German and English types in their own waters; one has been as +far as the Australian seas; one is a pearl fisher in the Gulf of +California, and another is coquetting with the doldrums along the +Mexican coast. They are staunch little beauties all, and it would be +neither courteous nor healthful to think otherwise in the presence of +inland yachtsmen. + +[Illustration: Telegraph Hill, 1855] + + + + +IN YOSEMITE SHADOWS + + +"Yosemite, Sept.--: Come at once--the year wanes; would you see the +wondrous transformation, the embalming of the dead Summer in windings of +purple and gold and bronze--come quickly, before the white pall covers +it--delay no longer. The waters are low and fordable, the snows +threaten, but the hours are yet propitious; and such a welcome waits you +as Solomon in all his glory could not have lavished on Sheba's +approaching queen. * * *" + +There was much more of the same sort of high-toned epistolary rhetoric, +written and sent by a dear hand, whose fanciful pen seemed touched by +the ambrosial tints of Autumn. So the year was going out in a gorgeous +carnival, before the Lent-like solemnity of Winter was assumed. + +I had only two things to consider now: First, was it already too late to +hasten thither, and enjoy the splendid spectacle so freely offered and +so alluring; secondly, could I, if yet in time, venture so boldly upon +the edge of Winter, and risk the possibility--nay, probability--of being +snow-bound for four or six months, 30 miles from any human habitation? + +I did not long consider. I felt every moment that the soul of Summer was +passing. I scented the ascending incense of smoking and crackling +boughs. What a requiem was being chanted by all the tremulous and broken +voices of Nature! Would I, could I, longer forbear to join the +passionate and tumultuous _miserere_? It seemed that I could not, for +gathering about me the voluminous furs of Siberia, I bade adieu to +friends, not without some forebodings awakened by the admonitions of my +elders, then, dropping all the folly of the world, like a monk I went +silently and alone into the monastery of a Sierran solitude, resigned, +trusting, prayerful. + +What an entering it was! With slow, devotional steps I approached the +valley. There was a thin veil of snow over the upper trail. It was +smooth and unbroken as I came upon it, following the blazed trees in my +way. Footprints of bear and fox, squirrel and coyote, were traceable. +The owl hooted at me, and the jay shot past me like a blue flash of +light, uttering her prolonged, shrill cry. As for the owl, I could not +see him, but I heard him at startling intervals give the challenge, "Who +are you?" so I advanced and gave the countersign. I don't believe it was +for his grave face alone that the owl was chosen symbol of Wisdom. + +Not too soon came the steep and perilous descent into the abysmal depths +of the mountain fastness. It is a shame that pilgrims who come up +thither do not time their steps so as to reach this _Ultima Thule_ of +old times and ways at sunset. Then the magnificence of the spectacle +culminates. That new world below there is illuminated with the soft +tints of Eden. What unutterable fullness of beauty pervades all. The +forests--those moss-like fields are forests, and mighty ones, too--are +all aflame with the burnished gold of sunset, brightening the gold of +autumn; for gold twice refined, as it were, gilds the splendid +landscape. Only think of that picture, shining through the mellow haze +of Indian Summer, and flashing with the lambent glimmer of a myriad +glassy leaves. You can not see them moving, yet they twinkle +incessantly, and the warm air trembles about them while you hang +bewildered from a toppling parapet, four thousand feet above them; birds +swing under you in mid-air, streams leap from the sharp cliff, and reel +in that sickening way through the air that your brain whirls after them. +One is tired, anyhow, by the time he has reached this far, and a night +camp in the cool rim of this world-to-come is just the panacea for any +sort of weariness. + +Take my advice: Sleep on it, and drop down on the wings of the morning, +while the sun is filling up this marvelous ravine with such lights and +shadows as are felt, yet scarcely understood. Refreshed, amazed, +bewildered, go down into that solemn place, and see if you are not more +saint-like than you dared to think yourself. When the times are out of +joint, as they frequently are, come up here, forget men and things; +don't imagine we are as bad as we seem, for it is quite certain we might +be a great deal worse if we tried. While you bemoan our earthliness, you +may not be the one saint among us. Coming down with the evening, I was +scarcely at the gates of the inner valley when night was on me. Of this +gate, it is formed of a ponderous monument on the right, called +Cathedral Rock, and on the left is the one bald spot in the Sierras, the +great El Capitan. The arch over this primeval threshold is the astral +dome of heaven, and the gates stand ever open. There is no toll taken in +any mansion of my Father's House, and this is one of them. Passing to +the door of my host, I lifted the latch noiselessly. Before me dawned +fresh experiences. At my back Night gathered deeper than ever, and all +around I seemed to read the rubric of Life's new lesson. + +We are a comfort to ourselves--six of us, all told. Summer invites our +little company into a breezy hotel, over in the shadow across the +valley. Winter suggests a log cabin, an expansive fireplace, plenty of +hickory, and as much sunshine as finds its way into our secluded +hermitage. So we are done up compactly, in between thick walls, our hard +finish being in the shape of mud cakes in the chinks of the logs, and a +very hard finish it is; but we take wondrous comfort withal. + +How do I pass the hours? Leaving my friends, I wander forth, after +breakfast, in any direction that pleases me. Take today this sheep path; +it leads me to a pebbly beach at a swift turn of the Merced. That clump +of trees produces the best harvest of frost-pointed leaves; there are +new varieties offered every day at an alarming sacrifice, and I invest +largely in these fragile wares. Tomorrow, I shall go yonder across three +tumultuous streams, upon three convenient logs, broad and mossy. Some +book or other goes with me, and is opened now and then. Such books as +Plant Life, The Sexuality of Nature, Studies in Animal Life, suggest +themselves. Open these anywhere, and each is annotated and illustrated +by the scene before me. Every page is a running text to the hour I +glorify. + +Perhaps a leaf falls into my lap as I sit over the brook, on a log--a +single leaf, gilded about its border, in the centre a crimson flush, +fast swallowing up the original greenness; the whole will presently be +bronzed and sombre. O, Leaf! how art thou mummified! We do not think of +these little things of Nature. Look at this leaf. What is its record? +How many generations, think you, are numbered in its ancestry? A +perpetual intermarriage has not weakened its fibres. The anatomy of this +leaf is perfect, and the sap of this oak flows from oak to acorn, from +acorn to oak, in an interminable and uninterrupted succession since the +first day. What are your titles and estates beside this representative? +What is your heraldry, with its two centuries of mold; your absurd and +confused genealogies, your escutcheons, blotted no doubt with crimes and +errors, when this scion, which I am permitted to entertain for a moment, +comes of a race whose record is spotless and without stain through ten +thousand eventful years. Why, Eve would recognize the original of this +stock from the mere family resemblance. + +Do you think these days tiresome? It is embarrassing for some people to +be left alone with themselves. They can no longer play a part, for there +are none like themselves to play to. The sun and stars know you well +enough--most likely, better than you yourselves do. I like this. I would +out and say to myself: "Here is a confidant. Day hides nothing from me, +or you; it expresses all, exposes all--even that which we might not ask +to see. It is best that we should see it; there are no errors in +Nature." + +Walking, the squirrel nods to me. I nod back; and why shouldn't I? +Nature has familiarly introduced us. Squirrel munches under his tail +canopy till I am out of sight, jabbering all the while. What sage little +fellows go on four feet! I believe an animal has all the instincts of +Adam. He should never be tamed, however, lest he lose his identity. +Civilization rubs down the points in our character. As the surf rounds +the pebble, the masses round us. We are polished and insufferably +proper, but have no angles left! It is the angles that give the diamond +its lustre. + +Are you hungry? When the index of shadow points out from the base of old +Sentinel Rock and touches that column of descending spray they call +Yosemite, I go to dinner. "The Fall of the Yosemite"--what a dream it +is. A dream of the lotus-eaters, and an aspiration of the Ideal in +Nature. You can not realize it; and yet, you will never forget it. Don't +take it too early in the Spring, when it is less ethereal--nay, somewhat +heavy; rather see it in summer after the rains, or in autumn, better +than all, when it is like a tissue of diamond dust shaken upon the air. +It really seems a labor for it to reach its foaming basin, it is so +filmy, spiritual, delicate. The very air wooes it from its perpetual +leap; sudden currents of wind catch it up and whirl it away in their +arms, a trembling captive, or dash it against the solemn and sad-looking +rock, where it clings for a moment, then trickles down the scarred and +rugged face of it, fading in its descent; sometimes it is waved back by +the elements, and almost seems to return into its cloudy nest up yonder +close under the sky. It only comes to us at last by impulses, and all +along its shining and vapory path rockets of spray shoot out like +pendants, dissolving singly and alone. + +But "to return to our muttons." My dial says 12 M. There is no winding +up and down of weights here; 12 M. it undoubtedly is, and mutton waits. +These muttons were begotten here of muttons begotten here to the third +or fourth generation. Their wool is clipped, larded, and spun here by +one who lives here and loves this valley. These mittens, that keep the +frost from my fingers, are among the comforting results of this domestic +economy. In the cabin, by the fireplace, stands the old-fashioned +spinning wheel; and the old-fashioned body who manipulates the wool so +skillfully is the light of our little household. The shadow has struck +twelve from old Sentinel; and I take the sun once a day, and no oftener. +A cool, bracing air, a sharp run over the meadows, for I see the hostess +waving a signal at me for my tardiness, and I am hungry on my own +account--such cliffs and vistas as one sees here make one hollow with +looking at them, and are calculated to keep a supply of appetite on +hand. Do you like good long strips of baked squash? How do you fancy +bowls of warm milk--milk that declares a creamy dividend before morning? +Here is a fine fowl of our own raising--one that has seen Yosemite in +its glory and in its gloom; it ought to be good eating, and I can affirm +that it is. That's a dinner for you, and one where you can begin on pie +the first thing, if your soul craves it, which it frequently does. + +A storm brewing, and rain in the lower valley. Never mind, there is no +hurry here; one blushes to be caught worrying in the august presence of +these mountains. + +What can I do this stormy afternoon? Stop within doors and sit at the +window; a small grossbeak overhead, and we two looking out upon the rain +and fog. It is a mile nearly to that wall opposite, but look up high as +I can from my window I see no strip of sky. Here is a precipice of +homely, almost hideous-looking rock, and above it a hanging garden; +those pines in that garden are a hundred feet and more in height: +measure the second cliff by their proportions--how far is it, think you, +to the garden above? A thousand feet, perhaps; and three, four--no, six +of these terraces before you touch blue sky. Oh, what a valley! and +where else under heaven are we sunk forty fathoms deep in shadow? But +the sun is up yet, and there floats an eagle in its golden ray. I like +to watch the last beams burn out in that upper gallery among the pines. +There is a moment given us at sunset when we may partly realize the +inexpressible sweetness of the eternal day that is promised us--a dim, +religious light. There is no screen or tint soft enough to render the +effect perfectly. Only these few seconds at sunset seem to hint +something of its surpassing tenderness. + +What cloud effects! Look up!--a break in the heavens, and beyond it the +shoulder of a peak weighing some billions of tons, but afloat now, as +soft in outline as the mists that envelop it. What masses of clouds +tumble in upon us! The sky is obscured, night is declared at once, and +the fowls go to roost at three P.M. How is the Fall in this weather? A +silver braid dropped from one cloud to another. Its strands parted and +joined again, lost and found in its own element. Leaping from its dizzy +eyrie in the clouds, itself most cloud-like, it is lost in a whirlwind +of foam. Now it is as a voice heard faintly above the wind, borne hither +and thither. Long, stinging nights, plenty of woolen blankets, and +delicious sleep. Then the evenings, so cosy around the fire. H---- reads +Scott; we listen and comment. Baby is abed long ago--little Baby, four +years old, born here also; knowing nothing of the beautiful world save +what is gathered in this gallery of beauties. Such a queer little child, +left to herself, no doubt thinking she is the only little one in +existence, contented to teeter for hours on a plank by the woodpile, +making long explorations by herself and returning, when we are all well +frightened, with a pocketful of lizards and a wasp in her fingers; +always talking of horned toads and heifers; not afraid of snakes, not +even the rattlers; mocking the birds when she is happy, and growling +bear-fashion to express her disapproval of any thing. + +When the snows come, there will be avalanches by day and night, rushing +into all parts of the valley. The Hermit hears a rumbling in the clouds, +as he hoes his potatoes. He looks; a granite pilaster, hewn out by the +hurricanes centuries ago, at last grown weary of clinging to that +precipitous bluff, lets go its hold, and is dashed from crag to crag in +a prolonged and horrible suicide. A pioneer once laid him out a garden, +and marked the plan of his cellar; he was to begin digging the next day: +that night, there leaped a boulder from under the brow of this cliff +right into the heart of the plantation. It dug his cellar for him, but +he never used it. It behooved him and others to get farther out from the +mountain that found this settler too familiar, and sent a random shot as +a sufficient hint to the intruder. + +In the trying times when the world was baking, what agony these +mountains must have endured. You see it in their faces, they are so +haggard and old-looking: time is swallowed up in victory, but it was a +desperate duel. There is a dome here that the ambitious foot of man has +never attempted. Tissayac allows no such liberty. Look up at that +rose-colored summit! The sun endows it with glory long after twilight +has shut us in. We are cheated of much daylight here--it comes later and +goes earlier with us; but we get hints of brighter hours, both morning +and evening, from those sparkling minarets now decked with snowy +arabesques. I have seen our canopy, the clouds, so crimsoned at this +hour that the valley seemed a grand oriental pavilion, whose silken roof +was illuminated with a million painted lamps. The golden woods of Autumn +detract nothing from the bizarre effect of the spectacle. To be sure, +these walls are rather sombre for a festival, but the sun does what it +can to enliven them, whilst the flame-colored oaks and blood-spotted +azaleas projecting on all sides from the shelving rocks resemble to a +startling degree galleries of blazing candelabra. Night dispels this +illusion, it is so very deep and mysterious here. The solemn procession +of the stars silently passes over us. I see Taurus pressing forward, and +anon Orion climbs on hand and knee over the mountain in hot pursuit. + +Does it tire you to look so long at a gigantic monument? I do not +wonder. The secret of self-esteem seems to lie in regarding our +inferiors; therefor let us talk of this frog. I have heard his chorus a +thousand times in the dark. His is one of the songs of the night. Just +watch him in the meadow pool. See the contentment in his double chin; +he flings out three links of hind leg and carries his elbows akimbo; his +attitudes are unconstrained; he is entirely without affectation; life +never bores him; he keeps his professional engagements to the letter, +and sings nightly through the season, whether hoarse or not. + +It is a good plan to portion off the glorious vistas of Yosemite, +allotting so many surprises to each day. Take, for instance, the ten +miles of valley, and passing slowly through the heart of it, allow a +tableau for every three hundred yards. You are sure of this variety, for +the trail winds among a galaxy of snowy peaks. Turn as you choose, it is +either a water-fall at a new angle, a cliff in profile, a reflection in +river or lake--the sudden appearance of the supreme peak of all, or +ravine, cañon, cavern, pine opening, grove or prairie. There is a point +from which you may count over a hundred rocky fangs, tearing the clouds +to tatters. I can not tell you the exact location of this terrific +climax of savage beauty; try to find it, and perhaps discover half a +dozen as singular scenic combinations for yourself. See all that you are +told must be seen, then go out alone and discover as much more for +yourself, and something no doubt dearer to your memory than any of the +more noted haunts. "See Mirror Lake on a still morning," they said to +me. I saw it, but went again in the evening, and saw a vision that the +reader may not expect to have reflected here. It was the picture of the +morning--so softened and refined a veil of enchantment seemed thrown +over it. Hamadryad or water nymph could not have startled me at that +moment: they belonged there, and were looked for. I shall hardly again +renew those impressions; it was all so unexpected, and one is not twice +surprised in the same manner. That wondrous amphitheatre was for once +made cheerful with the broad, horizontal bars of fire that shifted about +it, yet all its lights were mellowed in the purpling mists of evening, +and the whole was pictured in little on the surface of the lake. There +was nothing earthly visible, I thought then, for every thing seemed +transfigured, floating in a lucent atmosphere. It was the hour when the +birds are silent for the space of one intense moment, stopping with one +accord--perhaps holding their breath till the spell is broken. As I +stood entranced, a large golden leaf, ready and willing to die, let go +its hold on the top bough of a tree overhanging the water. From twig to +twig it swung. I heard every sound in its fall till it was out of the +congregation of its fellows, turning over and over in mid-air, sailing +toward the centre of the lake. There it hung on the rim of that +stainless crystal, while a thin ring of silver light noiselessly +expanded toward the shore. The sun was down. All the birds of heaven +said so with their bubbling throats. Bewildered with the delicious +conclusion of this illustration of still life, I turned homeward, +dispelling the mirage. Then such a ride home in the keen air, while a +pillar of smoke rose over the little cabin, telling me which of the +hundred bowers of autumn sheltered my nest. + +But, again and again, I have seen all. Pohono has breathed upon me with +its fatal breath, yet I survive. It is said that three Indian girls were +long ago bewitched by its waters, and now their perturbed spirits haunt +the place. Those perfectly round rainbows may form the nimbus for each +of the martyrs; they, at any rate, look supernatural enough for such an +office. The wildly wooded pass to the Vernal and Nevada Falls has echoed +to my tread. I have been sprayed upon till my spirit is never dry of the +life-giving waters that flow so freely. But I am just a little tired of +all this. I begin to breathe short, irregular breaths. The soul of this +mighty solitude oppresses me; I want more air of the common sort, and +less wisdom in daily talks and walks. I remember the pleasant nonsense +of life over the mountains, and sigh for those flesh-pots of Egypt once +in a while. These rocks are full of texts and teachings--these cliffs +are tables of stone, graven with laws and commandments. I read +everywhere mysterious cyphers and hieroglyphics; every changing season +offers to me a new palimpsest. I do not quite like to play here; I dare +not be simple; I'm altogether too good to last long. How many thousand +ascensions have been made in these worshipful days, I wonder; not merely +getting the body on to the tops of these wonderful peaks, but going +thither in spirit, as when the soul goes up into the mountains to pray? +This eye-climbing is as fatiguing and perilous as any. I feel the want +of some pure blue sky. + +A few farewell rambles associate themselves with packing up and plans of +desertion. Not sad farewells in this case, for if I never again meet +these individual mountains, I carry with me their memory, eternal and +incomparably glorious. Let us peep into this nook: I got plentiful +blackberries there in the spring, together with stains and thorny +scratches. I haul myself over the ferry and back, for old acquaintance' +sake; the current is so lazy, it seems incredible that the same waters +are almost impassable at some seasons. I succeed in wrecking a whole +armada of floating leaves with stems like a bowsprit. A few beetles take +passage in these gilded barges--no doubt, for the antipodes. + +Did you ever drive up the cattle at milking time? I have; but not +without endless trial and tribulation, for they spill off the path on +either side in a very remarkable way, and when I rush after one with a +flank movement, the column breaks and falls back utterly demoralized. A +little strategy on the part of their commander (which is myself) +triumphs in the end, for I privately reconstruct and march them all up +in detachments of one. I look after the little trees, the unbent twigs; +they are more interesting to me than your monsters. This nursery of +saplings sprang up in a night after a freshet: here are quivering aspens +trembling forever in penance for that one sin. They once were gravely +pointed out by the guide of a party of tourists as "shuddering asps." He +is doubtless the same who, being asked "what that was," (pointing to the +North Dome, six thousand feet in the air) said "he'd be hanged if he +knew; some knob or other." I recall ten thousand pleasant times as I +turn my face seaward; not only the great and omnipotent shadows under +the south wall of the valley, nor the continuous canticles of the +waters, but innumerable little things that fill up and make life +perfect. + +The talks, the walks with my friends here, the parrot "Sultan," fed +daily from the table, soliloquizing upon men and things in Arabic and +Hindostanee, for he scorns English and talks in his sleep. There is +_Bobby_, the grossbeak, brought to the door in pin feathers and skin +like oiled silk by an Indian. His history is tragic: this Indian brained +the whole family and an assortment of relatives; Bobby alone remaining +to brood over the massacre, was sold into bondage for two bits and a +tin dipper without the bottom. The sun seems to lift his gloom, for he +sings a little, sharpens his bill with great gusto and tomahawks a bit +of fruit, as though dealing vengeance upon the destroyer of his race. + +[Illustration: Sentinel Hotel, Yosemite, in 1869] + +When shall I see another such cabin as this--its great fireplaces, and +the loft heaping full of pumpkins? O, Yosemite! O, halcyon days, and +bed-time at eight P.M., tucking in for ten good hours and up again at +six; good eatings and drinkings day by day, mugs of milk and baked +squash forever, plenty of butter to our daily bread; letters at wide +intervals, and long, uninterrupted "thinks" about home and friends (as +the poet of the "Hermitage" writes in one of his letters). Shall I ever +again sit for two mortal hours hearing a housefly buzz in the window and +thinking it a pleasant voice! But alas! those restless days, when the +air was full of driving leaves and I could find nothing on earth to +comfort me. + +I leave this morning. Opportunity takes me by the hand and leads me +away. The heart leaps with emotion: everything is momentous in a quiet +life. This is the portal we entered one deepening dusk. Its threshold +will soon be cushioned with snow; let us hasten on. If I were asked when +is the time to visit Yosemite, I should reply: Go in the spring; see the +freshets and the waterfalls in their glory, and the valley in its fresh +and vivid greenness. Go again, by all means, in the autumn, when the +woods are powdered with gold dust and a dreamy haze sleeps in the long +ravines; when the stars sparkle like crystals and the mornings are +frosty; when the clouds visit us in person, and the trees look like +crayon sketches on a vapory background, and the cliffs like leaning +towers traced in sepia on a soft ground glass. Go in spring and autumn, +if possible. I should choose autumn of the two; but go at any hazard, +and do not rest till you have been. You can enter and go out at this +portal. Passing seaward, to the left, out of the gray and groping mists +a form, arises, monstrous and awful in its proportions; spurning the +very earth that crumbles at its very base as it towers to heaven. The +vapors of the air cleave to its massive front. The passing cloud is +caught and torn in the grand carvings of its capitals. Gaze upon it in +the solemnity of its sunlit surface. Impressive, impassive, magnetic; +having a pulse and the organs of life almost; terrible as the forehead +of a god. The full splendor of the noonday can not belittle it, night +can not compass it. The moon is paler in its presence and wastes her +lamp, the stars are hidden and lost over and beyond it. Across the face +of it is borne forever the shadowy semblance of a swift and flying +figure. Despair and desperation are in the nervous energy depicted in +this marvelous medallion. Surely, the Indian may look with a degree of +reverence upon that picture, painted by the morning light, fading in the +meridian day, and gone altogether by evening. A grand etching of +colossal proportions, representing the great chief Tutochanula in his +mysterious flight. The Wandering Jew might look upon it and behold his +traditional beard and flowing robes blown here by the winds in the +rapidity of his desperate haste. It is the last one sees of the valley, +as it is the last any have seen of Tutochanula. He fled into the west, +cycles ago, and I follow him now into the west, nest-building, and +getting into the shadow and resting after the door of the mountain is +passed, and my soul no longer beats impetuously against those stormy +walls. + +With uncovered head, having nothing between me and Saturn, wiser, I +trust, for my intercourse with these masters, purer in heart and holier +for my prolonged vigil, with careful and reverential steps I pass out of +Yosemite shadows. + + + + +AN AFFAIR OF THE MISTY CITY + +I. + +WHAT THE MOON SHONE ON + + +She was a smallish moon, looking very chaste and chilly and she peered +vaguely through folds of scurrying fog. She shone upon a silent street +that ran up a moderate hill between far-scattered corporation +gas-lamps--a street that having reached the hill top seemed to saunter +leisurely across a height which had once been the most aristocratic +quarter of the Misty City; the quarter was still pathetically +respectable, and for three squares at least its handsome residences +stared destiny in the face and stood in the midst of flower-bordered +lawns, unmindful of decay. Its fountains no longer played; even its once +pampered children had grown up, and the young of the present generation +were of a different cast; but the street seemed not to heed these +changes; indeed it was growing a little careless of itself and needed +replanking. Was it a realization of this fact, I wonder, that caused it +on a sudden to run violently down a steep place into the Bay, as if it +were possessed of Devils? Well it might be, for the human scum of the +town gathered about the base of the hill, and the nights there were +unutterably iniquitous. + +O that pale watcher, the Moon! She shone on a rude stairway leading up +to the bare face of a cliff that topped the hill; and five and forty +uncertain steps that had more than once slid down into the street below +along with the wreckage of the winter rains, for the cliff was of rock +and clay and though the rock may stand until the crack of Doom, the clay +mingles with the elements and an annual mud pudding, tons in weight, was +deposited on the pavement of the high street, to the joy of the +juveniles and the grief of the belated pedestrians. The cliff towering +at the junction of the two thoroughfares shared with each its generous +mud-flow and half of it descended in lavalike cascades into the depths +of a ravine that crossed the high street at right angles, passing under +a bridge still celebrated as a triumph of architectural ungainliness. + +She shone, my Lady Moon, into that deep ravine which was half filled +with shadow and made a weird picture of the place; it seemed like the +bed of some dark noiseless river, the source of which was still +undiscovered; and as for its mouth, no one would ever find it, or, +finding, tell of it, for the few who trusted themselves to its voiceless +and invisible current were heard of no more; sometimes a sharp cry for +help pierced the midnight silence, and it was known upon the hill that +murder was being done down yonder--that was all. Yet day by day the +great tide of traffic poured through this subterranean passage, with +muffled roar as of a distant sea. + +She shone on all that was left of a once beautiful and imposing mansion. +It crowned the very brow of the cliff; it proudly overlooked all the +neighbors; it was a Gothic ruin girded about with a mantle of ivy and +dense creepers, yet not all of the perennial leafage that clothed it, +even to the eaves, could disguise the fact that the major portion of the +mansion had been razed to the ground lest it should topple and go +crashing into that gulf below. There, once upon a time, in a Gothic +garden shaded by slender cypresses, walked the golden youth of the land; +there, feminine lunch parties, pink teas, highly exclusive musicales and +fashionable hops, flourished mightily; now the former side-door served +as the front entrance to all that was left of the mansion; the stone +that was rejected had become the headstone of the corner, as it were; it +was an abrupt corner to be sure, with the upper half of its narrow door +filled with small panes of glass; its modest threshold was somewhat +worn; but upon the platform before it a large egg-shaped jar of +unmistakable Chinese origin encased the roots of a flowing cactus that +might have added a grace to the proudest palace in the Misty City. This +was the modest portal of the Eyrie; ivy vines sheltered it like a dense +thatch; ivy vines clung fast to a deep bay window that nearly filled one +side of the library of the old mansion, now a living-room; ivy vines +curtained the glazed wall of a conservatory where some one slept as in a +bower. A weird dwelling place was this the moon shone upon, where +pigeons nested and cooed at intervals in all the green nooks thereof. + +She shone on the tall slim panes of glass in the bay window till they +shimmered like ice, and brightened the carpet on the floor of the +room--a carpet that was faded and frayed; she threw a soft glow upon the +three walls beyond the window; where were low, convenient shelves of +books; there were books, books, books everywhere--books of all +descriptions, neither creed nor caution limited their range. Many +pictures and sketches in oil or water-color--some of them unframed--were +upon the walls above the book-shelves; there were bronze statuettes, +graceful figures of lute-strumming troubadours upon the old-fashioned +marble mantel; there were busts and medallions in plaster, and a few +casts after the antique. Heaped in corners, and upon the tops of the +book-shelves lay bric-a-brac in hopeless confusion; toy canoes from +Kamchatka and the Southern seas; wooden masks from the burial places of +the Alaskan Indians and the Theban Tombs of the Nile Kings; rude +fish-hooks that had been dropped in the coral seas; sharks' teeth; and +the strong beak of an albatross whose webbed feet were tobacco pouches +and whose hollow wing-bones were the long jointed stem of a pipe; spears +and war-clubs were there, brought from the gleaming shores of +reef-girdled islands; a Florentine lamp; a roll of papyrus; an idol from +Easter Island, the eyes of which were two missionary shirt buttons of +mother-of-pearl, of the Puritan type; your practical cannibal, having +eaten his missionary, spits out the shirt buttons to be used as the eyes +which see not; carved gourds were there, and calabashes; Mexican +pottery; and some of the latest Pompeiian antiquities such as are +miraculously discovered in the presence of the amazed and delighted +tourist who secretly purchases the same for considerably more than a +song. + +There were pious objects, many of them resembling the Ex Votos at a +shrine; an ebony and bronzed indulgenced crucifix with a history, and +Sacred Hearts done in scarlet satin with flames of shining tinsel +flickering from their tops. + +There were vines creeping everywhere within the room, from jars that +stood on brackets and made hanging gardens of themselves; creepers, +yards in length that sprung from the mouths of water-pots hidden behind +objects of interest, and these framed the pictures in living green; a +huge wide-mouthed vase stood in the bay window filled with a great pulu +fern still nourished by its native soil--a veritable tropical island +this, now basking in the moonlight far from its native clime. Japanese +and Chinese lanterns were there; and an ostrich egg brought from Nubia +that hung like an alabaster lamp lit by a moonbeam; and fans, of course, +but quaint barbaric ones from the Orient and the Equatorial Isles; and +framed and unframed photographs of celebrities each bearing an original +autograph; and easy chairs, nothing but the easiest chairs from the very +far-reaching one with the long arms like a pair of oars over which one +throws his slippered feet, and lolls in his pajamas in memory of an East +Indian season of exile, to the deep nest-like sleepy hollow quite big +enough for two, in which one dozes and dreams, and out of which it is so +difficult for one to rise. Over all this picturesque confusion grinned a +fleshless human skull with its eye sockets and yawning jaws stuffed full +of faded boutonnieres. + +The moon shone, but paler now for it was growing late, on a closed coupe +that rolled rapidly from the Club House in the early morning after a +High Jinks night, and clattered through the streets accompanied by the +matutinal milk wagons with their frequent, intermittent pauses; thus it +rolled and rolled over the resounding pavement toward that house on the +hill top, The Eyrie. + +The vehicle zigzagged up the steep grade, and stopped at the foot of +the long stairway; some one alighted and exchanged a friendly word or +two with the driver, for in that lonely part of the town it was pleasant +to hear the sound of one's own voice even if one was guiltily conscious +of making conversation; then with a cheerful "Good-night," this some-one +climbed the steps while the vehicle hurried away with its jumble of +hoofs and wheels. A key was heard at the outer door; the door sagged a +little in common with everything about the house--and a tenant passed +into the Eyrie. + +Enter Paul Clitheroe, sole scion of that melancholy house whose +foundations had sunk under him, and left him, at the age of five and +twenty, master of himself, but slave to fortune. + +In the dim light he closed and fastened the outer door; from a hall +scarcely large enough for two people to pass in, he entered the inner +room with the confident step of a familiar. Having deposited hat, cane +and ulster in their respective places--there was a place for everything +or it would have been quite impossible to abide in that snuggery--he +sank into one of the easy chairs, rolled a cigarette with meditative +deliberation, lighted it and blew the smoke into the moonlight where it +assumed a thousand fantastic forms. + +The silence of the room seemed emphasized by the presence of its +occupant; he was one who under no circumstances was likely to disturb +the serenity of a house. In most cases a single room takes on the +character of the one who inhabits it; this is invariably the case where +the apartment is in the possession of a woman; but turn a man loose in a +room, and leave him to himself for a season, and he will have made of +that room a witness strong enough to condemn or condone him on the Last +Day; the whole character of the place will gradually change until it has +become an index to the man's nature; where this is not the case, the man +is without noticeable characteristics. + +Those who knew Paul Clitheroe, the solitary at the Eyrie, would at once +recognize this room as his abode; those of his friends who saw this room +for the first time, without knowing it to be his home, would say: "Paul +Clitheroe would fit in here." A kind of harmonious incongruity was the +chief characteristic of the man and his solitary lodging. + +He sat for some time as silent as the inanimate objects in that +singularly silent room. An occasional turn of the wrist, the momentary +flash of the ash at the end of his cigarette, the smoke-wreath floating +in space--those were all that gave assurance of life; for when this +solitary returned into his well-chosen solitude he seemed to shed all +that was of the earth earthy, and to become a kind of spectre in a +dream. + +Having finished his cigarette, Paul withdrew into the conservatory, his +sleeping room, half doll's house and half bower, where the ivy had crept +over the top of the casement and covered his ceiling with a web of +leaves. Shortly he was reposing upon his pillow, over which his +holy-water font--a large crimson heart of crystal with flames of +burnished gold, set upon a tablet of white marble--seemed almost to +pulsate in the exquisite half-lights of approaching dawn. + +It may not have been manly, or even masculine, for him thus literally to +curtain his sleep, like a faun, with ivy; it may not have been orthodox +for him to admit to his Valhalla some of the false Gods, and to honor +them after a fashion; the one true God was duly adored, and all his +saints appealed to in filial faith. That was his nature and past +changing; if he could not look upon God as a Jealous God visiting His +judgments with fanatical justice upon the witted and half-witted, it was +because his was a nature which had never been warped by the various +social moral and religious influences brought to bear upon it. + +He may have lacked judgment, in the eyes of the world, but he had never +suffered seriously in consequence. It may not have been wise for him to +fondly nourish tastes and tendencies that were usually quite beyond his +means; but he did it, and doing it afforded him the greatest pleasure in +life. + +You will pardon him all this; every one did sooner or later, even those +who discountenanced similar weaknesses or affectations--or whatever you +are pleased to call them--in anyone else, soon found an excuse for +overlooking them in his case. + +He was not, thank heaven, all things to all men; all things to a few, he +may have been--yea, even more than all else to some, so long as the +spell lasted; to the majority, however, he was probably nothing, and +less than nothing. And what of that? If he did little good in the world, +he certainly did less evil, and, as he lay in his bed, under a white +counterpane upon which the dawning light, sifting through the vines that +curtained the glazed front of his sleeping room, fell in a mottled +Japanese pattern, and while the ivy that covered the Gothic ceiling +trailed long tendrils of the palest and most delicate green, each leaf +glossed as if it had been varnished, this unheroic-hero, this +pantheistic-devotee, this heathenized-Christian, this +half-happy-go-lucky æthestic Bohemian, lay upon his pillow, the +incarnation of absolute repose. + +And so the morning broke, and the early birds began to chirp in the ivy +and to prune their plumage and flutter among the leaves; and down the +street tramped the feet of the toilers on their way to forge and dock. +Over the harbor came the daffodil light from the sun-tipped eastern +hills, and it painted the waves that lapped the sleek sides of a yacht +lying at anchor under the hill. A yacht that Paul had watched many a day +and dreamed of many a night; for he often longed with a great longing to +slip cable and hie away, even unto the uttermost parts. + + + + +II. + +WHAT THE SUN SHONE ON + + +He shone on the far side of the eastern azure hills and set all the tree +tops in the wood beyond the wold aflame; he looked over the silhouette +out of a cloudless sky upon a Bay whose breadth and beauty is one of the +seven hundred wonders of the world; he paved the waves with gold, a path +celestial that angels might not fear to tread. He touched the heights of +the Misty City and the sea-fog that had walled it in through the night +as with walls of unquarried marble--albeit the eaves had dripped in the +darkness as after a summer shower--and anon the opaque vapors dissolved +and fled away. There she lay, the Misty City, in all her wasted and +scattered beauty; she might have been a picture for Poets to dream on +and Artists to love--their wonder and their despair--but she is not; she +is hideous to look upon save in the sunset or the after-glow when you +cannot see her, but only the dim vision of what she might have been. + +He rose as a God refreshed with sleep and called the weary to their +work, and disturbed the slumbers of those that toil not and spin not, +and have nothing to do but sleep. + +There were no secrets from him now; every detail was discovered; and so +having gilded for a moment the mossy shingles of the Eyrie he stole into +the room where Paul Clitheroe passed most of his waking hours, and +through the curtain of ivy and geraniums that screened the conservatory +from the eyes of the curious world, and where Paul was at this moment +sleeping the sleep of the just. From the bed of the ravine below the +Eyrie rose the rumble and roar of traffic. The hours passed by. The +sleeper began to turn uneasily on his pillow. The sound of hurrying feet +was heard upon the board walks in front of the Eyrie-cliff; many voices, +youthful voices, swelled the chorus that told of the regiments of +children now hastening to school. From dreamland Paul returned by easy +stages to the work-a-day world. He arose, donned a trailing garment with +angel sleeves and a large crucifix embroidered in scarlet upon the +breast--that robe made of him a cross between a Monk and a +Marchioness--slipped his feet into sandals and entered the larger +chamber which was at once living-room and library. He opened the +shutters in the deep bay window and greeted the day with the silent +solemnity of a fire-worshipper; gave drink to his potted palms and ferns +and flowering plants; let his eye wander leisurely over the titles of +his books; lingered a little while over his favorites and patted some of +them fondly on the back. Taking a small key from its nail by the door he +opened the mail box without, carrying his letters to his writing table +and leaving them there unopened. He loved to speculate as to whom the +writers were and what they may have said to him. This piqued his +curiosity, and tided him over a scant breakfast at an inexpensive but +fly-blown restaurant where he was wont to eat or make a more or less +brave effort to eat whenever he had the wherewithal to settle for the +same. Breakfast over and gone the young man returned to his Eyrie, and +in due course was at his writing table, and at work upon the weekly +article that had been appearing in the Sunday issue of one of the +popular Dailies for an indefinite period, and the price of which had on +several occasions kept him from becoming a conspicuous object of +charity. + +Having written himself out for the day, as he was apt to in a few hours, +he wandered down to the Club for a bit of refreshment which was sure to +be forthcoming, for his friends there were ever ready to dine him, or +more frequently to wine him, merely for the pleasure of his company. + +[Illustration: San Francisco in 1856] + +So the afternoon waned and the dinner hour approached; fortunately this +hour was usually bespoken and for a little while at least he was lapped +in luxury. On his way home he was very apt to turn in at the wicker +gates of a typical German Rathskellar where he was unmolested; where the +blustering pipes of a colossal orchestrion brayed through an aria from +Trovatore with more sound than sentiment and all unmindful of +modulation. + +He was at home by midnight, for the beer and the bravura ceased to flow +at the witching hour. Then he lounged in the easy chair, gradually and +not unconsciously shedding all the worldly influences that had been +clothing him as with a hair-shirt even since he first went forth that +morning. Safely he sank into the silence of the place. Every breath he +drew was balm; every moment healing. So he passed into the silence, +enfolded by invisible arms that led him gently to his pillow where he +sank to sleep with the trustful resignation of a tired babe. + +If this routine was ever varied it was a variation with a vengeance. +"From grave to gay, from lively to severe" might have been engraved upon +his escutcheon. It chanced that the family motto was Festina Lente; this +also was appropriate; had he not all his life made haste slowly? For +this very reason he had been accounted one of the laziest of his kind; +his indolence was a byword merely because he did not throw himself into +an easy chair at the Club, of an evening, and bewail his fate; because +he did not puff and blow and talk often of the work he had +accomplished, was accomplishing, or hastening forward to accomplishment. +With all his faults, thank heaven, that sin cannot be charged against +him. + + + + +III. + +BALM OF HURT WOUNDS + + +He was scrimping in every way; his case was growing desperate. The +books, the pictures, the bric-a-brac so precious in his eyes, he was +loath to part with; moreover, he was well aware that if he were to +trundle his effects down to an auction-room they would not bring him +enough to cover his expenses for a single week. "Better to starve in the +midst of my household gods," thought he, "than to part with them for the +sake of prolonging this misery." The situation was in some respects +serio-comic. While he seemed to have everything, he really had almost +nothing; he was in a certain sense at the mercy of his friends and +dependent upon them. + +As the dinner hour approached, Paul was called upon to make choice of +the character of his table-talk; there were several standing invitations +to dine at the houses of old friends, and these were a boon to him, for +at such houses the homeless fellow felt much at home. There were special +invitations, sometimes an embarrassing profusion of them--all kindly, +some persistent, and some even imperative; thus the dinner was a fixed +fact; the mood alone was to be consulted in his choice of a table and +after all how much of the success of a dinner depends upon the mood of +the diner! + +Paul's income was uncertain; while he had written much, and traveled +much as a special correspondent, he had never regularly connected +himself with any journal, and he knew nothing of the routine of +office-work. Sometimes, I may say not infrequently, he could not write +at all; yet his pen was his only source of revenue, and often he was +without a copper to his credit. He was, therefore, constrained to dine +sumptuously with friends, when he would have found a solitary salad a +sweet alternative, and independence far more acceptable. The state of +the exchequer was very often alarming, and his predicament might have +cast a stronger man into the depths; but Paul could fast without +complaint, when necessary, for he had fasted often; and, to confess the +truth, he would much rather have fasted on and on, than parted with any +of the little souvenirs that made his surroundings charming in spite of +his privations. The friends who loved and fondled him were wont to send +messengers to his door with gifts of flowers, books, pictures and the +like, when soup-tickets would have been more serviceable, though by no +means more acceptable. It had happened to him more than once, that +having failed to break his fast--for he had a judicious horror of debt, +born of bitter experience--he received at a late hour as tokens of +sincere interest in his welfare, scarf pins, perfumery and scented soap; +or it may have been a silk handkerchief bearing the richly wrought +monogram of the happy but hungry recipient. At any rate these +testimonials of his popularity were never edible. Was this hard luck? He +went from one swell dinner to another, day after day, with never so much +as a crumb between meals. It of course made some difference to him--this +prolonged abstinence--but fortunately, or unfortunately, the effect upon +him mentally, morally and physically was hardly visible to the naked +eye. + +He had a dress coat of the strictly correct type, which he had worn but +a few times; he had lectured in it; once or twice, he had recited poems +in it to the audiences of admiring lady friends. It was of no use to him +now, and he felt that he should never need it again. On the street below +him was a small shop, kept by the customary Israelite. Again and again, +Paul had noted the sun-faded frock-coat swinging from a hook over the +sidewalk in front of this shop; he had said, "I will take this coat to +him; it is a costly garment; divide the original price of it by the +number of times I have worn it and I find it has cost me about ten +dollars an evening. Perhaps this old-clothes dealer will pay me a fair +price for it; Jew though he be, he may be possessed of the heart of a +Christian!" + +Alas and alack! All of Clitheroe's sufferings could be traced to the +cool, calculating hardness of the Christian's heart. Probably it was +prejudice alone that caused him to trust the Christian, and distrust the +Jew. + +From day to day he passed the shop, striving to muster courage enough to +enter and propose his bargain. At first he had imagined the dealer +offering him but ten dollars for the coat--it had cost him a goodly sum; +a little later he concluded that ten dollars was too little for any one +to offer him; he might take twenty; a day later thirty seemed to him a +probable offer, and shortly after he imagined himself consenting to +receive fifty dollars, since the coat was in such admirable repair. + +One day he took it to the dealer; he was not cordially welcomed by the +man in shirt sleeves, with whom of late he had held innumerable +imaginary conversations. The shop was extremely small and dark; the odor +of dead garments pervaded it. With an earnest and kindly glance, Paul +invited the sympathy of Abraham the son of Moses who was the son of +Isaac; he saw nothing but speculation in those eyes. His coat was +examined and tossed aside, as possessing few attractions. Clitheroe's +heart sunk within him; and it sank deeper and deeper as it began to +dawn upon him that the Hebrew had no wish to possess the garment, and, +if he did so, he did so only to oblige the Christian youth. A bargain +was at last struck; Paul departed with five dollars in his pocket--his +dress-coat was a thing of the past. + +What could he do next to extricate himself from his dubious dilemma? He +had a small gold watch, a precious souvenir: "Gold is gold," said he, +"and worth its weight in gold." He had the address of one who was known +far and wide as "Uncle." He had heard of persons of the highest +respectability seeking this uncle when close pressed, and there finding +temporary relief at the hands of one who is in some respects a good +Samaritan in disguise. Paul found it absolutely impossible for him to +enter the not unattractive front of this establishment but there was a +"private entrance" in a small dark alley-way; so delicate is the +consideration of an uncle whose business it is to nourish those in +distress. + +One night, it was late at night, Clitheroe stole guiltily in through the +private entrance, and sought succor of his uncle: this was an unctuous +uncle, who was as sympathetic and emotional as an undertaker. Paul +exhibited his watch; not for worlds would he part with it forever; money +he must have at once, and surely some good angel would come to his +assistance before many days; this state of affairs could not exist much +longer. Mine uncle examined the watch with kindly eyes; with a pathetic +shake of his head, a pitiful lifting of his bushy eyebrows, a +commiserating shrug of his fat shoulders, and a petulant pursing of his +plump lips as much as to say, "Well, it is a pity, but we must make the +best of it, you know"--he told Clitheroe he would advance him ten +dollars on the watch. For this the boy was to pay one dollar per week, +and in the end receive his watch, as good as new, for the sum of ten +dollars, as originally advanced. Paul hesitated, but consented since he +had no choice in the matter. + +"What name?" asked the Uncle, benevolently. + +"P. Clitheroe," said Paul under his breath, as if he feared the whole +world might know of his disgrace; he looked upon this transaction as +nothing short of disgrace, and he wished to keep it a profound secret. + +"Oh, yes; I know the name very well. Well, Mr. Clitheroe, here is your +ticket; take good care of it; and here is your money--you will always +pay your money in advance, and weekly, until you redeem your pledge. I +deduct the dollar for the first week." + +Clitheroe took the proffered money, and withdrew. To his surprise and +chagrin he found himself possessed of but nine dollars. "It will not go +far," thought he with a heavy sigh; "and where is the dollar to come +from? I don't see that I have gained much by this exchange." + +What he gained was this: for fifteen weeks he managed by the strictest +economy to pay his dollar. At the end of that time, he no longer found +it possible to even pay a dollar and the affair with the Uncle ended +with his having lost, not only his watch, but sixteen dollars into the +bargain. + + * * * * * + +A month has passed: the sun is streaming through the tall narrow windows +of a small chapel; the air is flooded with the music that floats from +the organ loft, the solemn strains of a requiem chanted by sweet +boy-voices; clouds of fragrant incense half obscure the altar, where the +priest in black vestments is offering the solemn sacrifice of the Mass +for the repose of the soul of one whom Paul had loved dearly ever since +he was a child. There is one chief mourner kneeling before the altar--it +is Paul Clitheroe. + +When the Mass is over, while the exquisite silence of the place is +broken only by the occasional note of some bird lodging in the branches +of the trees without, Paul lingers in profound meditation. He is not at +all the Paul whom we knew but a few months ago; through some mysterious +influence he seems to have cast off his careless youth, and to have +become a grave and thoughtful man. + +From the chapel he wanders into the quiet library on the opposite side +of a cloister, where the flowers grow in tangle, and a fountain splashes +musically night and day, and the birds build and the bees swarm among +the blossoms. Now we see him chatting with the Fathers as they stroll up +and down in the sunshine; now musing over the graves of the Franciscan +Friars who founded the early missions on the Coast; now dreaming in the +ruins of the orchard--wandering always apart from the novices and the +scholastics, who sometimes regard him curiously as if he were not wholly +human but a kind of shadow haunting the place. + +His heart grew warm and mellow as he sat by the adobe wall under the +red-baked Spanish tiles, richly mossed with age, and contemplated the +statue of the Madonna in the trellised shrine overgrown with passion +flowers. There were votive offerings of flowers at her feet, and he laid +his tribute there from day to day. Neither did he neglect to pay his +visit to the shrine of St. Joseph, in the cloister, or St. Anthony of +Padua, whom he loved best of all, and whose statue stood under the +willows by the great pool of gold fish. + +He used to count the hours and the quarter hours as they chimed in the +belfry and he was beginning to grow fond of the inexorable routine and +to find it passing sweet and restful. + +He was unconsciously falling into a mode of life such as he had never +known before, and he seemed to feel a growing repugnance to the world +without him; how very far away it seemed now! He realized an increasing +sense of security so long as he lodged within those gates. His dark +robed companions, the amiable Fathers, cheered him, comforted him, +strengthened him; and yet when his ghostly father one day sent word to +Clitheroe that he desired to see him immediately, and thereupon insisted +that the heart-broken boy accompany him to the retreat of his Order, he +had no thought other than to offer Paul the change of scene which alone +might help to tide the youth over the first crushing pangs of +bereavement. + +"Give me a week or two of your time," pleaded the good priest--"and I +will introduce you to a course of life such as you have never known; it +should interest and perhaps benefit you; possibly you may find it +delightful. At any rate you must be hastened out of the morbid mood +which now possesses you, even if we have to drag you by force." + +So Paul went with him, suddenly and in a kind of desperation: his visit +was prolonged from day to day, until some weeks had passed. Peace was +returning to him--peace such as he had never known before. + + * * * * * + +Meanwhile certain of the young poet's friends had called to see him at +the Eyrie, and to their amazement found his rooms deserted; in the +staring bay window with the inner blinds thrown wide open was notice "To +Let." His landlady knew nothing of his whereabouts. He had said good-bye +to no one. His disappearance was perhaps the most mysterious of +mysterious disappearances! + + * * * * * + +Now, what really happened was this. Having packed everything he valued +and seen it safely stored, he settled with his landlady and went down to +the Club. It was his P.P.C., though no one there suspected it, and with +just a touch of sentiment--he walked through the rooms alone; he saw at +a glance that the usual habitues of the place were employing themselves +in the same old way. Though he had not been there often of late, no one +seemed much surprised to see him; he passed through the suite of rooms +without addressing himself to any one in particular; a glance of +recognition here and there; a smile, a slight nod, now and again, this +was all. Having made the rounds he returned to the cloak-room, took his +hat and cane and departed. + +From that hour dated his disappearance. From that hour the Eyrie saw him +no more forever. + + * * * * * + + + + +IV. + +BY THE WORLD FORGOT + + +For a long while he had been listening to the moan of the sea--the wail +and the warning that rise from every reef in that wild waste of waters. +There was no moon, but the large stars cast each a wake upon the wave, +and the distant surf-lines were faintly illuminated by a phosphorescent +glow. + +There were reefs on every hand, and treacherous currents that would have +imperilled the ribs of any craft depending on the winds alone for its +salvation; but the "_Waring_," its pulse of steam throbbing with a slow +measured beat, picked its way in the glimmering night with a confidence +that made light of dangers past, present, and to come. + +It had struck eight-bells forward; midnight; the air was warm, moist, +caressing; it stole forth from invisible but not far distant vales +ladened with the unmistakable odor of the land--a fragrance that was at +times faint enough, but at other times was almost overwhelming; from the +heart of the tropics only, is such perfume distilled; few who inhale it +for the first time can resist its subtle charm; its influence once +yielded to, the soul is soon enslaved and the dreams that follow are +never to be forgotten. + +Eight-bells, and silence broken only by the swish of the propeller as it +ploughed slowly, deliberately, through the sea; the slap of the ripples +under the prow, and an occasional harp-like sigh of the zephyr in the +softly-vibrating shrouds; Paul Clitheroe had stolen out of the cabin and +was sitting by the companion-way on the port side. A small ladder still +hung there, for there had been boating and bathing just before dinner, +and there was sure to be more or less fishing whenever the weather was +favorable. Moreover, it must be acknowledged that the yacht was +liberty-hall afloat, yes, adrift, on a go-as-you-please cruise, and +things were not always in ship-shape. + +An old half-breed Trader, who knew these seas as the star-gazer knows +the skies, was in the wheelhouse; every wakeful eye among officers and +crew, was at the prow peering into the depth in search of +danger-signals; every ear was listening intently for an order from the +lips of the pilot, and for the first whisper of the wave upon the reef. +Meanwhile the vessel crept forward with utmost caution, barely ruffling +the water under her keel. + +_One Bell! Two Bells!_ Clitheroe had for a long time been sitting +unobserved by the companion-way. He had dined with a riotous company and +withdrew as soon after dinner as possible; this privilege was freely +accorded him, for he was at intervals gloomy, or silent, and his +companions were quite willing to dispense with his society. Hilarity had +ceased for the night, the fact was patent. The truth is, there was apt +to be something too much of it aboard that ship. When a young gentleman, +on the death of a distant relative, comes suddenly into an almost +fabulous fortune, he is apt to set about doing that which pleases him +best; in all probability he overdoes it. If he be fond of any society +and is willing to pay for the purchase of it, he will find no difficulty +in supplying himself, even to the verge of satiety. + +A certain gentleman who shall be nameless in these pages but who came to +be known among his followers as _The Commodore_, finding himself heir to +a fortune, chartered a yacht for a summer cruise, and invited his +friends to join him. The yacht had been for some weeks the scene of +unceasing festivity; the joyous party on board her had passed from +island to island, the feted guests of Kings and Queens and dusky Chiefs; +feasting, dancing, and the exchange of gifts--these were the order of +entertainment night and day. + +It was a novel life for most who were on board, filled with adventure +and spectacular surprises. The Commodore's hospitality was boundless; +the appetites of his guests insatiable. But Clitheroe had seen all this +from quite another point of view; he had been a native among the +natives; admitted into brotherhood with the tribe, he had lived the life +they lead until it had become as natural to him as if he had been born +to it. Their thoughts were his thoughts, their tongue, his tongue. He +was thinking of this as he sat by the companion-way, in the silence, +unobserved. + +_Three Bells!_ He rose and going to the open transom, looked down into +the cabin. The long dinner table had been relieved of dessert-dishes, +but the after-dinner bottles were there in profusion, and cigar-boxes +and cigarettes within convenient reach; it was an odd scene; a picture +of confusion in a dead calm. The lights were burning low and there was +no sound save the hoarse breathing of some of the revelers who had +subsided into uncomfortable positions and were too heavy with sleep to +seek easier ones. Clitheroe saw at the head of the table the Commodore, +stretched back in his easy chair; he was fast asleep; there was no doubt +about that. His guests one and all were dozing. The drowsy stupor that +follows a debauch pervaded the whole company. I venture the assurance +that not one person present could have been aroused in season to save +himself or herself had the ship at that moment struck a reef, and +foundered. + +There they were, dimly outlined under the cabin-lamps, the companions +with whom for a season Clitheroe had been more or less intimately +associated in the Misty City; the Bohemians who had found it an easy and +pleasant thing to flock upon the deck of the "_Waring_," one foggy +afternoon, and set sail on a summer cruise. The Commodore invited them +for his entertainment, and because he was a mighty good fellow and could +afford to. They went for a change of air and scene, in search of +adventure--and moreover they were sure of luxurious hospitality for at +least six months. Clitheroe joined the company, not only for the reason +that there seemed nothing else for him to do, but he was glad of the +opportunity of revisiting a quarter of the globe so very dear to him. +This voyage, he thought, might re-awaken his interest in life; at any +rate, he could lose nothing by taking it, and that settled the question +for him. + +The singers, the dancers, the painters and poets made life very lively +in that summer sea; it was a case of sweet idleness with wine, women and +wits, and all the world before them where to choose. It must be +confessed that Clitheroe had enjoyed himself in the society of these old +comrades--you would recognize most of them were he to name them; but +tonight, or rather this early morning he had begun to moralize, as he +peered down the transom upon the half-shadowy forms of those feasters +who had fallen by the way. He was asking himself if it paid--this +high-pressure happiness that knew no respite save temporary +insensibility? He began to think that it did not, and with a shrug of +his shoulders and a faint sigh, he turned away. He was about to resume +his solitary watch, for he could not sleep on such a night, when his eye +was attracted by a flitting shadow weaving to and fro astern; it seemed +to be soaring upon the face of the waters; was it some broad-winged +sea-bird following in their wake? He watched it as it drew near, growing +larger and larger every moment. No! it was not a bird; but it was the +next thing to one. + +Out of the darkness was evolved the slender hull of a canoe, the wide, +many ribbed sail, and the dusky forms of three naked islanders. They had +not yet taken note of him; with a sudden impulse, he stole up to the +transom, and standing over it so that the lights from the cabin-lamps +shone full upon him, he waved a signal to the savages, enjoining +silence, and bidding them approach with caution. + +In a few moments they had wafted themselves noiselessly up under the +companion ladder, and there, with suppressed excitement, he was +recognized. Old friends these, pals in the past, young chiefs from an +island he had loved and mourned. + +There was a moment of passionate greeting, and but a moment, in the +silence under the stars, then, with a sudden resolve, and with never a +glance backward, Clitheroe, descending the ladder, entered the canoe +and it swung off into the night. + +Two hours later, the "_Waring_," having run clear of the labyrinthine +reefs, steamed up and was out of sight before daybreak. + + * * * * * + +"_And what is left? Dust and Ash and a Tale--or not even a Tale_!" + +MARCUS AURELIUS. + + + + + + + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of In the Footprints of the Padres +by Charles Warren Stoddard + +*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 13321 *** diff --git a/13321-h/13321-h.htm b/13321-h/13321-h.htm new file mode 100644 index 0000000..ccb9365 --- /dev/null +++ b/13321-h/13321-h.htm @@ -0,0 +1,7089 @@ +<!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.01 Transitional//EN"> +<html> + <head> + <meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content= + "text/html; charset=UTF-8"> + <title> + The Project Gutenberg eBook of In the Footprints of the Padres, by Charles Warren Stoddard. + </title> + <style type="text/css"> +/*<![CDATA[ XML blockout */ +<!-- + P { margin-top: .75em; + text-align: justify; + margin-bottom: .75em; + } + H1,H2,H3,H4,H5,H6 { + text-align: center; /* all headings centered */ + } + HR { width: 33%; + margin-top: 1em; + margin-bottom: 5em; + } + BODY{margin-left: 10%; + margin-right: 10%; + } + .note {margin-left: 2em; margin-right: 2em; margin-bottom: 1em;} /* footnote */ + .blkquot {margin-left: 4em; margin-right: 4em;} /* block indent */ + + .poem {margin-left:30%; margin-right:10%; text-align: left;} + .poem br {display: none;} + .poem .stanza {margin: 1em 0em 1em 0em;} + .poem span {display: block; margin: 0; padding-left: 3em; text-indent: -3em;} + .poem span.i2 {display: block; margin-left: 2em;} + .poem span.i4 {display: block; margin-left: 4em;} + .poem span.i3 {display: block; margin-left: 3em;} + .poem span.i14 {display: block; margin-left: 14em;} + .poem span.i5 {display: block; margin-left: 5em;} + .poem span.i6 {display: block; margin-left: 6em;} + .poem .caesura {vertical-align: -200%;} + + .toc {margin-left:30%; margin-right:10%; text-align:left;} + .toc span {display: block; margin: 0; padding:0.25em; text-indent: -3em;} + .toc span.i4 {display: block; margin-left: 4em;} + + .sig {margin-left:10%; text-align:right;} + .sig span {display: block; margin: 0; padding:0.15em;} + + .date {text-align:left;} + .date span {display: block; margin: 0;} + .date span.i2 {display: block; margin-left: 2em;} + .date span.i4 {display: block; margin-left: 4em;} + + a:link {color:blue;} + a:visited {color:blue;} + + .cap {margin-left:20%; text-align:left;} + // --> + /* XML end ]]>*/ + </style> + </head> +<body> +<div>*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 13321 ***</div> + +<a name="image-1"><!-- Image 1 --></a> +<center> +<img src="images/illus-0000-2.jpg" height="400" width="685" +alt="Life at the Mission of Dolores, 1855"> +</center> + +<h4>Life at the Mission of Dolores, 1855</h4> +<br /><br /> + + +<h1>IN THE</h1> +<h1>FOOTPRINTS OF</h1> +<h1>THE PADRES</h1><br /> + +<h4>BY</h4> +<h2>CHARLES WARREN STODDARD</h2><br /> + + +<h4>NEW AND ENLARGED EDITION</h4> + +<h5>INTRODUCTION BY</h5> +<h3>CHARLES PHILLIPS</h3><br /> + + +<h4>SAN FRANCISCO<br /> +A.M. Robertson<br /> +MCMXII</h4><br /><br /> + + +<h4>TO MY FATHER<br /> +SAMUEL BURR STODDARD, ESQ.<br /> +FOR HALF A CENTURY<br /> +A CITIZEN OF SAN FRANCISCO</h4><br /><br /> + + +<h4>THOUGH THE KINDNESS OF THE EDITORS <br /> +OF THE SAN FRANCISCO CHRONICLE,<br /> +THE CENTURY MAGAZINE, THE <br /> +OVERLAND MONTHLY, THE <br /> +AVE MARIA, NOTRE DAME, INDIANA,<br /> +THE VICTORIAN REVIEW, MELBOURNE</h4><br /><br /> + + + + +<hr style='width: 65%;' /> +<h2>INTRODUCTION</h2> +<br /> + + +<p><img align="left" src="images/illus-s.png" height="77" width="75" +alt="S"> + +<b><big>INCE</big></b> the first and second editions of "In the Footprints of the +Padres" appeared, many things have transpired. San Francisco has been destroyed +and rebuilt, and in its holocaust most of the old landmarks mentioned in +the pages that follow as then existing, have been obliterated. Since +then, too, the gentle heart, much of whose story is told herein, has +been hushed in death. Charles Warren Stoddard has followed on in the +footprints of the Padres he loved so well. He abides with us no longer, +save in the sweetest of memories, memories which are kept ever new by +the unforgettable writings which he left behind him. He passed away +April 23, 1909, and lies sleeping now under the cypresses of his beloved +Monterey.</p> + +<p>Charles Warren Stoddard was possessed of unique literary gifts that were +all his own. These gifts shine out in the pages of this book. Here we +find that mustang humor of his forever kicking its silver heels with the +most upsetting suddenness into the honeyed sweetness of his flowing +poetry. Here, too, we find that gift of word-painting which makes all +his writings a brilliant gallery of rich-hued and soft-lighted wonder. +Of the green thickets of the redwood forests he says, in "Primeval +California": "A dense undergrowth of light green foliage caught and held +the sunlight like so much spray." So do Stoddard's pages catch and hold +the lights and shadows of a world which is the more beautiful because he +beheld it and sang of it—for sing he did. His prose is the essence of +poetry.</p> + +<p>In my autograph copy of "The Footprints of the Padres" Stoddard wrote: +"A new memory of Old Monterey is the richer for our meeting here for the +first time in the flesh. We have often met in spirit ere this." Whenever +we would go walking together, he and I, through the streets of that old +Monterey, old no longer save in memory, he would invariably take me to a +certain high board fence, and looking through an opening show me the +ruins of an adobe house—nothing but a broken fireplace left, moss-grown +and crumbling away. "That is my old California," he would say, while his +sweet voice was shaken with tears. That desolated hearth seemed to him +the symbol of the California which he had known and loved.... But no, +the old California that Stoddard loved lives on, and will, because he +caught and preserved its spirit and its coloring, its light and life and +music. As the redwood thicket holds the sunlight, so do Stoddard's words +keep bright and living, though viewed through a mist of tears, the +California of other days.</p> + +<p>In this new edition of "The Footprints" some changes will be found, +changes which all will agree make an improvement over the original +volume. "Primeval California," first published in October, 1881, in the +old Scribner's (now The Century) Magazine, when James G. Holland was its +editor, is at times Stoddard at his best. "In Yosemite Shadows" shows us +the young Stoddard full of boyish enthusiasm—he could not have been +more than twenty when it was written and published, in the old Overland, +then edited by Bret Harte. It is more than a gloriously poetic +description of Yosemite, when Yosemite still dreamed in its virgin +beauty; it is the revelation of a poet's beginnings, for it gives us in +the rough, just finding their way to the light, all those gifts which +later won Stoddard his fame.</p> + +<p>The third addition to this volume is "An Affair of the Misty City," a +valuable chapter, since it is wholly autobiographical, and at the same +time embodies pen portraits of all the celebrities of California's first +literary days, that famous group of which Stoddard was one. Of all the +group, Ina Coolbrith was closest and dearest to Stoddard's heart. The +beautiful abiding friendship which bound the souls of these two poets +together has not been surpassed in all the poetry and romance of the +world. These last added chapters are taken from "In the Pleasure of His +Company," which is out of print and may never be republished.</p> + +<p>The "Mysterious History," included in the original editions of "The +Footprints" has wisely been left out. It had no proper place in the +book: Stoddard himself felt that. The additions which have been supplied +by Mr. Robertson, who was for years Stoddard's publisher, and in whom +the author reposed the utmost confidence, make a real improvement on the +original book.</p> + +<p>"We have often met in spirit ere this," Stoddard wrote me. We had; and +we meet again and again. I feel him very near me as I write these words; +and I feel, too, that his gentle soul will visit everyone who reads the +chronicles he has here set down, so that even though no shaft rise in +marble glory to mark his last resting place, still in unnumbered hearts +his memory will be enshrined. With his poet friend, Thomas Walsh, well +may we say:</p> + +<div class='poem'><div class='stanza'> +<span>"Vain the laudation!—What are crowns and praise<br /></span> +<span class='i2'>To thee whom Youth anointed on the eyes?<br /></span> +<span class='i4'>We have but known the lesser heart of thee<br /></span> +<span>Whose spirit bloomed in lilies down the ways<br /></span> +<span class='i2'>Of Padua; whose voice perpetual sighs<br /></span> +<span class='i4'>On Molokai in tides of melody."<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<div class='sig'> +<span>CHARLES PHILLIPS.</span> +</div> + +<div class='date'> +<span>San Francisco,<br /></span> +<span class='i2'>September first,<br /></span> +<span class='i4'>Nineteen hundred and eleven.<br /></span> +</div> + + + + +<hr style='width: 65%;' /> +<h2>TABLE OF CONTENTS</h2> +<br /> + +<div class='toc'> +<a href='#OLD_DAYS_IN_EL_DORADO'><span>Old Days in El Dorado—</span></a> +<a href='#ODI'><span class='i4'>I. "Strange Countries for to See"</span></a> +<a href='#ODII'><span class='i4'>II. Crossing the Isthmus</span></a> +<a href='#ODIII'><span class='i4'>III. Along the Pacific Shore</span></a> +<a href='#ODIV'><span class='i4'>IV. In the Wake of Drake</span></a> +<a href='#ODV'><span class='i4'>V. Atop o' Telegraph Hill</span></a> +<a href='#ODVI'><span class='i4'>VI. Pavement Pictures</span></a> +<a href='#ODVII'><span class='i4'>VII. A Boy's Outing</span></a> +<a href='#ODVIII'><span class='i4'>VIII. The Mission Dolores</span></a> +<a href='#ODIX'><span class='i4'>IX. Social San Francisco</span></a> +<a href='#ODX'><span class='i4'>X. Happy Valley</span></a> +<a href='#ODXI'><span class='i4'>XI. The Vigilance Committee</span></a> +<a href='#ODXII'><span class='i4'>XII. The Survivor's Story</span></a> +<a href='#Old_China'><span>A Bit of Old China</span></a> +<a href='#Egg-Pickers'><span>With the Egg-Pickers of the Farallones</span></a> +<a href='#Memory'><span>A Memory of Monterey</span></a> +<a href='#Bungalow'><span>In a Californian Bungalow</span></a> +<a href='#Primeval'><span>Primeval California</span></a> +<a href='#Yachting'><span>Inland Yachting</span></a> +<a href='#Yosemite'><span>In Yosemite Shadows</span></a> +<a href='#Misty_City'><span>An Affair of the Misty City—</span></a> +<a href='#MCI'><span class='i4'>I. What the Moon Shone on</span></a> +<a href='#MCII'><span class='i4'>II. What the Sun Shone on</span></a> +<a href='#MCIII'><span class='i4'>III. Balm of Hurt Wounds</span></a> +<a href='#MCIV'><span class='i4'>IV. By the World Forgot</span></a> +</div> + + + + +<hr style='width: 65%;' /> +<h2>LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS</h2> +<br /> + +<div class='toc'> +<a href='#image-1'><span>Life at the Mission of Dolores, 1855<br /></span></a> +<a href='#image-2'><span>View of Montgomery, Post and Market Streets, San Francisco, 1858<br /></span></a> +<a href='#image-3'><span>Fort Point at the Golden Gate<br /></span></a> +<a href='#image-4'><span>The Outer Signal Station at the Golden Gate<br /></span></a> +<a href='#image-5'><span>City of Oakland in 1856<br /></span></a> +<a href='#image-6'><span>Interior of the El Dorado<br /></span></a> +<a href='#image-7'><span>Warner's at Meigg's Wharf<br /></span></a> +<a href='#image-8'><span>The Old Flume at Black Point, 1856<br /></span></a> +<a href='#image-9'><span>Lone Mountain, 1856<br /></span></a> +<a href='#image-10'><span>Russ Gardens, 1856<br /></span></a> +<a href='#image-11'><span>Certificate of Membership, Vigilance Committee, 1856<br /></span></a> +<a href='#image-12'><span>West from Black Point, 1856<br /></span></a> +<a href='#image-13'><span>"China is Not More Chinese than this Section of Our Christian City."<br /></span></a> +<a href='#image-14'><span>"Rag Alley" in Old Chinatown<br /></span></a> +<a href='#image-15'><span>The Farallones<br /></span></a> +<a href='#image-16'><span>Murre on their Nests, Farallone Islands<br /></span></a> +<a href='#image-17'><span>Monterey, 1850<br /></span></a> +<a href='#image-18'><span>San Carlos de Carmelo<br /></span></a> +<a href='#image-19'><span>"The Huge Court of that Luxurious Caravansary."<br /></span></a> +<a href='#image-20'><span>"The Gallery Among the Huge Vases of Palms and Creepers."<br /></span></a> +<a href='#image-21'><span>Meigg's Wharf in 1856<br /></span></a> +<a href='#image-22'><span>Telegraph Hill, 1855<br /></span></a> +<a href='#image-23'><span>Sentinel Hotel, Yosemite, in 1869<br /></span></a> +<a href='#image-24'><span>San Francisco in 1856<br /></span></a> +</div> + + + + +<hr style='width: 65%;' /> +<h2>THE BELLS OF SAN GABRIEL</h2> +<br /> + +<div class='cap'> +<img align="left" src="images/illus-t.png" height="75" width="77" +alt="T"></div> +<div class='poem'><div class='stanza'> +<span><b><big>HINE</big></b> was the corn and the wine,<br /></span> +<span class='i2'>The blood of the grape that nourished;<br /></span> +<span>The blossom and fruit of the vine<br /></span> +<span class='i2'>That was heralded far away.<br /></span> +<span>These were thy gifts; and thine,<br /></span> +<span class='i2'>When the vine and the fig-tree flourished,<br /></span> +<span>The promise of peace and of glad increase<br /></span> +<span class='i2'>Forever and ever and aye.<br /></span> +<span>What then wert thou, and what art now?<br /></span> +<span class='i2'>Answer me, O, I pray!<br /></span> +</div><div class='stanza'> +<span class='i4'>And every note of every bell<br /></span> +<span class='i4'>Sang Gabriel! Rang Gabriel!<br /></span> +<span class='i4'>In the tower that is left the tale to tell<br /></span> +<span class='i6'>Of Gabriel, the Archangel.<br /></span> +</div><div class='stanza'> +<span>Oil of the olive was thine;<br /></span> +<span class='i2'>Flood of the wine-press flowing;<br /></span> +<span>Blood o' the Christ was the wine—<br /></span> +<span class='i2'>Blood o' the Lamb that was slain.<br /></span> +<span>Thy gifts were fat o' the kine<br /></span> +<span class='i2'>Forever coming and going<br /></span> +<span>Far over the hills, the thousand hills—<br /></span> +<span class='i2'>Their lowing a soft refrain.<br /></span> +<span>What then wert thou, and what art now?<br /></span> +<span class='i2'>Answer me, once again!<br /></span> +</div><div class='stanza'> +<span class='i4'>And every note of every bell<br /></span> +<span class='i4'>Sang Gabriel! Rang Gabriel!<br /></span> +<span class='i4'>In the tower that is left the tale to tell<br /></span> +<span class='i6'>Of Gabriel, the Archangel.<br /></span> +</div><div class='stanza'> +<span>Seed o' the corn was thine—<br /></span> +<span class='i2'>Body of Him thus broken<br /></span> +<span>And mingled with blood o' the vine—<br /></span> +<span class='i2'>The bread and the wine of life;<br /></span> +<span>Out of the good sunshine<br /></span> +<span class='i2'>They were given to thee as a token—<br /></span> +<span>The body of Him, and the blood of Him,<br /></span> +<span class='i2'>When the gifts of God were rife.<br /></span> +<span>What then wert thou, and what art now,<br /></span> +<span class='i2'>After the weary strife?<br /></span> +</div><div class='stanza'> +<span class='i4'>And every note of every bell<br /></span> +<span class='i4'>Sang Gabriel! Rang Gabriel!<br /></span> +<span class='i4'>In the tower that is left the tale to tell<br /></span> +<span class='i6'>Of Gabriel, the Archangel.<br /></span> +</div><div class='stanza'> +<span>Where are they now, O, bells?<br /></span> +<span class='i2'>Where are the fruits o' the mission?<br /></span> +<span>Garnered, where no one dwells,<br /></span> +<span class='i2'>Shepherd and flock are fled.<br /></span> +<span>O'er the Lord's vineyard swells<br /></span> +<span class='i2'>The tide that with fell perdition<br /></span> +<span>Sounded their doom and fashioned their tomb<br /></span> +<span class='i2'>And buried them with the dead.<br /></span> +<span>What then wert thou, and what art now?—<br /></span> +<span class='i2'>The answer is still unsaid.<br /></span> +</div><div class='stanza'> +<span class='i4'>And every note of every bell<br /></span> +<span class='i4'>Sang Gabriel! Rang Gabriel!<br /></span> +<span class='i4'>In the tower that is left the tale to tell<br /></span> +<span class='i6'>Of Gabriel, the Archangel.<br /></span> +</div><div class='stanza'> +<span>Where are they now, O tower!<br /></span> +<span class='i2'>The locusts and wild honey?<br /></span> +<span>Where is the sacred dower<br /></span> +<span class='i2'>That the bride of Christ was given?<br /></span> +<span>Gone to the wielders of power,<br /></span> +<span class='i2'>The misers and minters of money;<br /></span> +<span>Gone for the greed that is their creed—<br /></span> +<span class='i2'>And these in the land have thriven.<br /></span> +<span>What then wer't thou, and what art now,<br /></span> +<span class='i2'>And wherefore hast thou striven?<br /></span> +</div><div class='stanza'> +<span class='i4'>And every note of every bell<br /></span> +<span class='i4'>Sang Gabriel! Rang Gabriel!<br /></span> +<span class='i4'>In the tower that is left the tale to tell<br /></span> +<span class='i6'>Of Gabriel, the Archangel.<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<div class='sig'> +<span>CHARLES WARREN STODDARD.</span> +</div> + + + +<hr style='width: 65%;' /> +<h2>IN THE FOOTPRINTS OF THE PADRES</h2> +<br /> +<hr style='width: 65%;' /><br /> + +<a name="image-2"><!-- Image 2 --></a> +<center> +<img src="images/illus-0001-2.jpg" height="400" width="729" +alt="View of Montgomery, Post and Market Streets, San Francisco, 1858"> +</center> +<h4>View of Montgomery, Post and Market Streets, San Francisco, 1858</h4> +<br /><br /> + +<a name='OLD_DAYS_IN_EL_DORADO'></a><h2>OLD DAYS IN EL DORADO</h2> + +<a name='ODI'></a><h2>I.</h2> + +<h3>"STRANGE COUNTRIES FOR TO SEE"</h3> +<br /> + +<p><img align="left" src="images/illus-n.png" height="75" width="77" +alt="N"> +<b><big>OW</big></b>, the very first book was called "Infancy"; and, having +finished it, I closed it with a bang! I was just twelve. 'Tis thus the +twelve-year-old is apt to close most books. Within those pages—perhaps +some day to be opened to the kindly inquiring eye—lie the records of a +quiet life, stirred at intervals by spasms of infantile intensity. There +are more days than one in a life that can be written of, and when the +clock strikes twelve the day is but half over.</p> + +<p>The clock struck twelve! We children had been watching and waiting for +it. The house had been stripped bare; many cases of goods were awaiting +shipment around Cape Horn to California. California! A land of fable! We +knew well enough that our father was there, and had been for two years +or more; and that we were at last to go to him, and dwell there with the +fabulous in a new home more or less fabulous,—yet we felt that it must +be altogether lovely. We said good-bye to everybody,—getting friends +and fellow-citizens more or less mixed as the hour of departure from our +native city drew near. We were very much hugged and very much kissed and +not a little cried over; and then at last, in a half, dazed condition, +we left Rochester, New York, for New York city, on our way to San +Francisco by the Nicaragua route. This was away back in 1855, when San +Francisco, it may be said, was only six years old.</p> + +<p>It seemed a supreme condescension on the part of our maternal +grandfather that he, who did not and could not for a moment countenance +the theatre, should voluntarily take us, one and all, to see an alleged +dramatic representation at Barnum's Museum—at that time one of the +features of New York city, and perhaps the most famous place of +amusement in the land. Four years later, when I was sixteen, very far +from home and under that good gentleman's watchful supervision, I asked +leave to witness a dramatic version of "Uncle Tom's Cabin," enacted by a +small company of strolling players in a canvas tent. There were no +blood-hounds in the cast, and mighty little scenery, or anything else +alluring; but I was led to believe that I had been trembling upon the +verge of something direful, and I was not allowed to go. What would that +pious man have said could he have seen me, a few years later, strutting +and fretting my hour upon the stage?</p> + +<p>Well, we all saw "Damon and Pythias" in Barnum's "Lecture Room," with +real scenery that split up the middle and slid apart over a carpet of +green baize. And 'twas a real play, played by real players,—at least +they were once real players, but that was long before. It may be their +antiquated and failing art rendered them harmless. And, then, those +beguiling words "Lecture Room" have such a soothing sound! They seemed +in those days to hallow the whole function, which was, of course, the +wily wish of the great moral entertainer; and his great moral +entertainment was even as "the cups that cheer but not inebriate." It +came near it in our case, however. It was our first matinee at the +theatre, and, oh, the joy we took of it! Years afterward did we children +in our playroom, clad in "the trailing garments of the night" in lieu of +togas, sink our identity for the moment and out-rant Damon and his +Pythias. Thrice happy days so long ago in California!</p> + +<p>There is no change like a sea change, no matter who suffers it; and +one's first sea voyage is a revelation. The mystery of it is usually not +unmixed with misery. Five and forty years ago it was a very serious +undertaking to uproot one's self, say good-bye to all that was nearest +and dearest, and go down beyond the horizon in an ill-smelling, +overcrowded, side-wheeled tub. Not a soul on the dock that day but fully +realized this. The dock and the deck ran rivers of tears, it seemed to +me; and when, after the lingering agony of farewells had reached the +climax, and the shore-lines were cast off, and the Star of the West +swung out into the stream, with great side-wheels fitfully revolving, a +shriek rent the air and froze my young blood. Some mother parting from a +son who was on board our vessel, no longer able to restrain her emotion, +was borne away, frantically raving in the delirium of grief. I have +never forgotten that agonizing scene, or the despairing wail that was +enough to pierce the hardest heart. I imagined my heart was about to +break; and when we put out to sea in a damp and dreary drizzle, and the +shore-line dissolved away, while on board there was overcrowding, and +confusion worse confounded in evidence everywhere,—perhaps it did +break, that overwrought heart of mine and has been a patched thing ever +since.</p> + +<p>We were a miserable lot that night, pitched to and fro and rolled from +side to side as if we were so much baggage. And there was a special +horror in the darkness, as well as in the wind that hissed through the +rigging, and in the waves that rushed past us, sheeted with foam that +faded ghostlike as we watched it,—faded ghostlike, leaving the +blackness of darkness to enfold us and swallow us up.</p> + +<p>Day after day for a dozen days we ploughed that restless sea. There were +days into which the sun shone not; when everybody and everything was +sticky with salty distillations; when half the passengers were sea-sick +and the other half sick of the sea. The decks were slimy, the cabins +stuffy and foul. The hours hung heavily, and the horizon line closed in +about us a gray wall of mist.</p> + +<p>Then I used to bury myself in my books and try to forget the world, now +lost to sight, and, as I sometimes feared, never to be found again. I +had brought my private library with me; it was complete in two volumes. +There was "Rollo Crossing the Atlantic," by dear old Jacob Abbot; and +this book of juvenile travel and adventure I read on the spot, as it +were,—read it carefully, critically; flattering myself that I was a lad +of experience, capable of detecting any nautical error which Jacob, one +of the most prolific authors of his day, might perchance have made. The +other volume was a pocket copy of "Robinson Crusoe," upon the fly-leaf +of which was scrawled, in an untutored hand, "Charley from +Freddy,"—this Freddy was my juvenile chum. I still have that little +treasure, with its inscription undimmed by time.</p> + +<p>Frequently I have thought that the reading of this charming book may +have been the predominating influence in the development of my taste and +temper; for it was while I was absorbed in the exquisitely pathetic +story of Robinson Crusoe that the first island I ever saw dawned upon my +enchanted vision. We had weathered Cape Sable and the Florida Keys. No +sky was ever more marvellously blue than the sea beneath us. The density +and the darkness that prevail in Northern waters had gone out of it; the +sun gilded it, the moon silvered it, and the great stars dropped their +pearl-plummets into it in the vain search for soundings.</p> + +<p>Sea gardens were there,—floating gardens adrift in the tropic gale; +pale green gardens of berry and leaf and long meandering vine, rocking +upon the waves that lapped the shores of the Antilles, feeding the +current of the warm Gulf Stream; and, forsooth, some of them to find +their way at last into the mazes of that mysterious, mighty, menacing +sargasso sea. Strange sea-monsters, more beautiful than monstrous, +sported in the foam about our prow, and at intervals dashed it with +color like animated rainbows. From wave to wave the flying fish skimmed +like winged arrows of silver. Sometimes a land-bird was blown across the +sky—the sea-birds we had always with us,—and ever the air was spicy +and the breeze like a breath of balm.</p> + +<p>One day a little cloud dawned upon our horizon. It was at first pale +and pearly, then pink like the hollow of a sea-shell, then misty +blue,—a darker blue, a deep blue dissolving into green, and the green +outlining itself in emerald, with many a shade of lighter or darker +green fretting its surface, throwing cliff and crest into high relief, +and hinting at misty and mysterious vales, as fair as fathomless. It +floated up like a cloud from the nether world, and was at first without +form and void, even as its fellows were; but as we drew nearer—for we +were steaming toward it across a sea of sapphire,—it brooded upon the +face of the water, while the clouds that had hung about it were +scattered and wafted away.</p> + +<p>Thus was an island born to us of sea and sky,—an island whose peak was +sky-kissed, whose vales were overshadowed by festoons of vapor, whose +heights were tipped with sunshine, and along whose shore the sea sang +softly, and the creaming breakers wreathed themselves, flashed like +snow-drifts, vanished and flashed again. The sea danced and sparkled; +the air quivered with vibrant light. Along the border of that island the +palm-trees towered and reeled, and all its gardens breathed perfume such +as I had never known or dreamed of.</p> + +<p>For a few hours only we basked in its beauty, rejoiced in it, gloried in +it; and then we passed it by. Even as it had risen from the sea it +returned into its bosom and was seen no more. Twilight stole in between +us, and the night blotted it out forever. Forever?</p> + +<p>I wonder what island it was? A pearl of the Antilles, surely; but its +name and fame, its history and mystery are lost to me. Its memory lives +and is as green as ever. No wintry blasts visit it; even the rich dyes +of autumn do not discolor it. It is perennial in its rare beauty, +unfading, unforgotten, unforgettable; a thing immutable, immemorial—I +had almost said immortal.</p> + +<p>Whence it came and whither it has gone I know not. It had its rising and +its setting; its day from dawn to dusk was perfect. Doubtless there are +those whose lives have been passed within its tranquil shade: from +generation to generation it has known all that they have known of joy or +sorrow. All the world that they have knowledge of has been compassed by +the far blue rim of the horizon. That sky-piercing peak was ever the +centre of their universe, and the wandering sea-bird has outflown their +thoughts.</p> + +<p>All this came to me as a child, when the first island "swam into my +ken." It was a great discovery—a revelation. Of it were born all the +islands that have been so much to me in later life. And even then I +seemed to comprehend the singular life that all islanders are forced to +live: the independence of that life—for a man's island is his fortress, +girded about with the fathomless moat of the sea; and the dependence of +it—for what is that island but an atom dotting watery space and so +easily cut off from communication with the world at large? Drought may +visit the islander, and he may be starved; the tornado may desolate his +shore; fever and famine and thirst may lie in wait for him; sickness and +sorrow and death abide with him. Thus is he dependent in his +independence.</p> + +<p>And he is insecluded in his seclusion, for he can not escape from the +intruder. He should have no wish that may not be satisfied, provided he +be native born; what can he wish for that is beyond the knowledge he has +gained from the objects within his reach? The world is his, so far as he +knows it; yet if he have one wish that calls for aught beyond his +limited horizon he rests unsatisfied.</p> + +<p>All that was lovely in that tropic isle appealed to me and filled me +with a great longing. I wanted to sing with the Beloved Bard:</p> + +<div class='poem'><div class='stanza'> +<span>Oh, had we some bright little isle of our own,<br /></span> +<span>In the blue summer ocean, far off and alone!<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p>And yet even then I felt its unutterable loneliness, as I have felt it a +thousand times since; the loneliness that starves the heart, tortures +the brain, and leaves the mind diseased; the loneliness that is +exemplified in the solitude of Alexander Selkirk.</p> + +<p>Robinson Crusoe lived in very truth for me the moment I saw and +comprehended that summer isle. He also is immortal. From that hour we +scoured the sea for islands: from dawn to dark we were on the watch. The +Caribbean Sea is well stocked with them. We were threading our way among +them, and might any day hear the glad cry of "Land ho!" But we heard it +not until the morning of the eleventh day out from New York. The sea +seemed more lonesome than ever when we lost our, island; the monotony of +our life was almost unbroken. We began to feel as prisoners must feel +whose <i>time</i> is near out. Oh, how the hours lagged!—but deliverance was +at hand. At last we gave a glad shout, for the land was ours again; we +were to disembark in the course of a few hours, and all was bustle and +confusion until we dropped anchor off the Mosquito Shore.</p> + + + +<hr style='width: 65%;' /> +<a name='ODII'></a><h2>II.</h2> + +<h3>CROSSING THE ISTHMUS</h3> +<br /> + +<p><img align="left" src="images/illus-w.png" height="75" width="77" +alt="W"> +<b><big>E</big></b> approached the Mosquito Shore timidly. The shallowing sea was of the +color of amber; the land so low and level that the foliage which covered +it seemed to be rooted in the water. We dropped anchor in the mouth of +the San Juan River. On our right lay the little Spanish village of San +Juan del Norte; its five hundred inhabitants may have been wading +through its one street at that moment, for aught we know; the place +seemed to be knee-deep in water. On our left was a long strip of +land—the depot and coaling station of the Vanderbilt Steamship Company.</p> + +<p>It did not appear to be much, that sandspit known as Punta Arenas, with +its row of sheds at the water's edge, and its scattering shrubs tossing +in the wind; but sovereignty over this very point was claimed by three +petty powers: Costa Rica, Nicaragua, and "Mosquito." Great Britain +backed the "Mosquito" claim; and, in virtue of certain privileges +granted by the "Mosquito" King, the authorities of San Juan del +Norte—the port better known in those days as Graytown, albeit 'twas as +green as grass—threatened to seize Punta Arenas for public use. +Thereupon Graytown was bombarded; but immediately rose, Phoenix-like, +from its ashes, and was flourishing when we arrived. The current number +of <i>Harper's Monthly</i>, a copy of which we brought on board when we +embarked at New York, contained an illustrated account of the +bombardment of Graytown, which added not a little to the interest of the +hour.</p> + +<p>While we were speculating as to the nature of our next experience, +suddenly a stern-wheel, flat-bottom boat backed up alongside of the Star +of the West. She was of the pattern of the small freight-boats that +still ply the Ohio and Mississippi rivers. If the Star of the West was +small, this stern-wheel scow was infinitely smaller. There was but one +cabin, and it was rendered insufferably hot by the boilers that were set +in the middle of it. There was one flush deck, with an awning stretched +above it that extended nearly to the prow of the boat. It was said our +passenger list numbered fourteen hundred. The gold boom in California +was still at fever heat. Every craft that set sail for the Isthmus by +the Nicaragua or Panama route, or by the weary route around Cape Horn, +was packed full of gold-seekers. It was the Golden Age of the Argonauts; +and, if my memory serves me well, there were no reserved seats worth the +price thereof.</p> + +<p>The first river boat at our disposal was for the exclusive accommodation +of the cabin passengers, or as many of them as could be crowded upon +her—and we were among them. Other steamers were to follow as soon as +practicable. Hours, even days, passed by, and the passengers on the +ocean steamers were sometimes kept waiting the arrival of the river +boats that were aground or had been belated up the stream.</p> + +<p>About two hundred of us boarded the first boat. Our luggage of the +larger sort was stowed away in barges and towed after us. The decks were +strewn with hand-bags, camp-stools, bundles, and rolls of rugs. The +lower deck was two feet above the water. As we looked back upon the Star +of the West, waving a glad farewell to the ship that had brought us more +than two thousand miles across the sea, she loomed like a Noah's Ark +above the flood, and we were quite proud of her—but not sorry to say +good-bye.</p> + +<p>And now away, into the very heart of a Central American forest! And hail +to the new life that lay all before us in El Dorado! The river was as +yellow as saffron; its shores were hidden in a dense growth of +underbrush that trailed its boughs in the water, and rose, a wall of +verdure, far above our smokestacks. As we ascended the stream the forest +deepened; the trees grew taller and taller; wide-spreading branches +hung over us; gigantic vines clambered everywhere and made huge hammocks +of themselves; they bridged the bayous, and made dark leafy caverns +wherein the shadows were forbidding; for the sunshine seemed never to +have penetrated them, and they were the haunts of weirdness and mystery +profound.</p> + +<p>Sometimes a tree that had fallen into the water and lay at a convenient +angle by the shore afforded the alligator a comfortable couch for his +sun-bath. Shall I ever forget the excitement occasioned by the discovery +of our first alligator! Not the ancient and honorable crocodile of the +Nile was ever greeted with greater enthusiasm; yet our sportsmen had +very little respect for him, and his sleep was disturbed by a shower of +bullets that spattered upon his hoary scales as harmlessly as rain.</p> + +<p>Though the alligator punctuated every adventurous hour of that memorable +voyage in Nicaragua, we children were more interested in our Darwinian +friends, the monkeys. They were of all shades and shapes and sizes; they +descended in troops among the trees by the river side; they called to us +and beckoned us shoreward; they cried to us, they laughed at us; they +reached out their bony arms, and stretched wide their slim, cold hands +to us, as if they would pluck us as we passed. We exchanged compliments +and clubs in a sham-battle that was immensely diverting; we returned +the missiles they threw at us as long as the ammunition held out, but +captured none of the enemy, nor did the slightest damage—as far as we +could ascertain.</p> + +<p>Often the parrots squalled at us, but their vocabulary was limited; for +they were untaught of men. Sometimes the magnificent macaw flew over us, +with its scarlet plumage flickering like flame. Oh, but those gorgeous +birds were splashes of splendid color in the intense green of that +tropical background!</p> + +<p>There were islands in this river,—islands that seemed to have no +shores, but lay half submerged in mid-stream, like huge water-logged +bouquets. There were sand-bars in the river, and upon these we sometimes +ran, and were brought to a sudden stand-still that startled us not a +little; then we backed off with what dignity we might, and gave the +unwelcome obstructions a wide berth.</p> + +<p>Perhaps the most interesting event of the voyage was "wooding up." A few +hours after we had entered the river our steamer made for the shore. +More than once in her course she had rounded points that seemed to block +the way; and occasionally there were bends so abrupt that we found +ourselves apparently land-locked in the depths of a wilderness which +might well be called prodigious. Now it was evident that we were heading +for the shore, and with a purpose, too. As we drew nearer, we saw among +the deep tangle of leaves and vines a primitive landing. It was a little +dock with a thatched lodge in the rear of it and a few cords of wood +stacked upon its end. There were some natives here—Indians +probably,—with dark skins bared from head to foot; they wore only the +breech-clout, and this of the briefest. Evidently they were children of +Nature.</p> + +<p>Having made fast to this dock, these woodmen speedily shouldered the +fuel and hurried it on board, while they chanted a rhythmical chant that +lent a charm to the scene. We were never weary of "wooding up," and were +always wondering where these gentle savages lived and how they escaped +with their lives from the thousand and one pests that haunted the forest +and lay in wait for them. Every biting and stinging thing was there. The +mosquitoes nearly devoured us, especially at night; while serpents, +scorpions, centipedes, possessed the jungle. There also was the lair of +larger game. It is said that sharks will pick a white man out of a crowd +of dark ones in the sea; not that he is a more tempting and toothsome +morsel—drenched with nicotine, he may indeed be less appetizing than +his dark-skinned, fruit-fed fellow,—but his silvery skin is a good +sea-mark, as the shark has often confirmed. So these dark ones in the +semi-darkness of the wood may, perhaps, pass with impunity where a +pale-face would fall an easy prey.</p> + +<p>At the Rapids of Machuca we debarked. Here was a miry portage about a +mile in length, through which we waded right merrily; for it seemed an +age since last we had set foot to earth. Our freight was pulled up the +Rapids in <i>bongas</i> (row-boats), manned by natives; but our steamer could +not pass, and so returned to the Star of the West for another load of +passengers.</p> + +<p>There was mire at Machuca, and steaming heat; but the path along the +river-bank was shaded by wondrous trees, and we were overwhelmed with +the offer of all the edible luxuries of the season at the most alarming +prices. There was no coin in circulation smaller than a dime. Everything +salable was worth a dime, or two or three, to the seller. It didn't seem +to make much difference what price was asked by the merchant: he got it, +or you went without refreshments. It was evident there was no market +between meals at Machuca Rapids, and steamer traffic enlivened it but +twice in the month.</p> + +<p>What oranges were there!—such as one seldom sees outside the tropics: +great globes of delicious dew shut in a pulpy crust half an inch in +thickness, of a pale green tinge, and oozing syrup and an oily spray +when they are broken. Bananas, mangoes, guavas, sugar-cane,—on these we +fed; and drank the cream of the young cocoanut, goat's milk, and the +juices of various luscious fruits served in carven gourds,—delectable +indeed, but the nature of which was past our speculation. It was enough +to eat and to drink and to wallow a muddy mile for the very joy of it, +after having been toeing the mark on a ship's deck for a dozen days or +less, and feeding on ship's fodder.</p> + +<p>Our second transport was scarcely an improvement on the first. Again we +threaded the river, which seemed to grow broader and deeper as we drew +near its fountain-head, Lake Nicaragua. Upon a height above the river +stood a military post, El Castillo, much fallen to decay. Here were +other rapids, and here we were transferred to a lake boat on which we +were to conclude our voyage. Those stern-wheel scows could never weather +the lake waters.</p> + +<p>We had passed a night on the river boat,—a night of picturesque +horrors. The cabin was impossible: nobody braved its heat. The deck was +littered with luggage and crowded with recumbent forms. A few fortunate +voyagers—men of wisdom and experience—were provided with comfortable +hammocks; and while most of us were squirming beneath them, they swung +in mid-air, under a breadth of mosquito netting, slumbering sonorously +and obviously oblivious of all our woes.</p> + +<p>If I forget not, I cared not to sleep. We were very soon to leave the +river and enter the lake. From the boughs of overarching trees swept +beards of dark gray moss some yards in length, that waved to and fro in +the gathering twilight like folds of funereal crape. There were +camp-fires at the wooding stations, the flames of which painted the +foliage extraordinary colors and spangled it with sparks. Great flocks +of unfamiliar birds flew over us, their brilliant plumage taking a +deeper dye as they flashed their wings in the firelight. The chattering +monkeys skirmished among the branches; sometimes a dull splash in the +water reminded us that the alligator was still our neighbor; and ever +there was the piping of wild birds whose notes we had never heard +before, and whose outlines were as fantastic as those of the bright +objects that glorify an antique Japanese screen.</p> + +<p>Once from the shore, a canoe shot out of the shadow and approached us. +It was a log hollowed out—only the shell remained. Within it sat two +Indians,—not the dark creatures we had grown familiar with down the +river; these also were nearly nude, but with the picturesque nudeness +that served only to set off the ornaments with which they had adorned +themselves—necklaces of shells, wristlets and armlets of bright metal, +wreaths of gorgeous flowers and the gaudy plumage of the flamingo. They +drew near us for a moment, only to greet us and turn away; and very +soon, with splash of dipping paddles, they vanished in the dusk.</p> + +<p>These were the flowers of the forest. All the winding way from the sea +the river walls had been decked with floral splendor. Gigantic blossoms +that might shame a rainbow starred the green spaces of the wood; but of +all we had seen or heard or felt or dreamed of, none has left an +impression so vivid, so inspiring, so instinct with the beauty and the +poetry and the music of the tropics, as those twilight mysteries that +smiled upon us for a moment and vanished, even as the great fire-flies +that paled like golden rockets in the dark.</p> + + + +<hr style='width: 65%;' /> +<a name='ODIII'></a><h2>III.</h2> + +<h3>ALONG THE PACIFIC SHORE</h3> +<br /> + +<p><img align="left" src="images/illus-a.png" height="75" width="77" +alt="A"> +<b><big>LL</big></b> night we tossed on the bosom of the lake between San Carlos, at the +source of the San Juan river, and Virgin Bay, on the opposite shore. The +lake is on a table-land a hundred feet or more above the sea; it is a +hundred miles in length and forty-five in width. Our track lay +diagonally across it, a stretch of eighty miles; and when the morning +broke upon us we were upon the point of dropping anchor under the cool +shadow of cloud-capped mountains and in a most refreshing temperature.</p> + +<p>Oh, the purple light of dawn that flooded the Bay of the Blessed Virgin! +Of course the night was a horror, and it was our second in transit; but +we were nearing the end of the journey across the Isthmus and were +shortly to embark for San Francisco. I fear we children regretted the +fact. Our life for three days had been like a veritable "Jungle Book." +It almost out-Kiplinged Kipling. We might never again float through +Monkey Land, with clouds of parrots hovering over us and a whole +menagerie of extraordinary creatures making side-shows of themselves on +every hand.</p> + +<p>At Virgin Bay we were crowded like sheep into lighters, that were +speedily overladen. Very serious accidents have happened in consequence. +A year before our journey an overcrowded barge was swamped at Virgin Bay +and four and twenty passengers were drowned. The "Transit Company," +supposed to be responsible for the life and safety of each one of us, +seemed to trouble itself very little concerning our fate. The truth was +they had been paid in full before we boarded the Star of the West at +Pier No. 2, North River.</p> + +<p>Having landed in safety, in spite of the negligence of the "Transit +Company," our next move was to secure some means of transportation over +the mountain and down to San Juan del Sur. We were each provided with a +ticket calling for a seat in the saddle or on a bench in a springless +wagon. Naturally, the women and children were relegated to the wagons, +and were there huddled together like so much live stock destined for the +market. The men scrambled and even fought for the diminutive donkeys +that were to bear them over the mountain pass. A circus knows no comedy +like ours on that occasion. It is true we had but twelve miles to +traverse, and some of these were level; but by and by the road dipped +and climbed and swerved and plunged into the depths, only to soar again +along the giddy verge of some precipice that overhung a fathomless +abyss. That is how it seemed to us as we clung to the hard benches of +our wagon with its four-mule attachment.</p> + +<p>Once a wagon just ahead of us, having refused to answer to its brakes, +went rushing down a fearful grade and was hurled into a tangle of +underbrush,—which is doubtless what saved the lives of its occupants, +for they landed as lightly as if on feather-beds. From that hour our +hearts were in our throats. Even the thatched lodges of the natives, +swarming with bare brown babies, and often having tame monkeys and +parrots in the doorways, could not beguile us; nor all the fruits, were +they never so tempting; nor the flowers, though they were past belief +for size and shape and color and perfume.</p> + +<p>Over the shining heights the wind scudded, behatting many a head that +went bare thereafter. Out of the gorges ascended the voice of the +waters, dashing noisily but invisibly on their joyous way to the sea. +From one of those heights, looking westward over groves of bread-fruit +trees and fixed fountains of feathery bamboo, over palms that towered +like plumes in space and made silhouettes against the sky, we saw a +long, level line of blue—as blue and bluer than the sky itself,—and we +knew it was the Pacific! We were little fellows in those days, we +children; yet I fancy that we felt not unlike Balboa when we knelt upon +that peak in Darien and thanked God that he had the glory of discovering +a new and unnamed ocean.</p> + +<p>Why, I wonder, did Keats, in his famous sonnet "On First Looking into +Chapman's Homer," make his historical mistake when he sang—</p> + +<div class='poem'><div class='stanza'> +<span>Then felt I like some watcher of the skies<br /></span> +<span class='i2'>When a new planet swims into his ken;<br /></span> +<span>Or like stout <i>Cortez</i> when with eagle eyes,<br /></span> +<span class='i2'>He stared at the Pacific,—and all his men<br /></span> +<span>Looked at each other with a wild surmise—<br /></span> +<span class='i2'>Silent, upon a peak in Darien.<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p>It mattered not to us whether our name was Cortez or Balboa. With any +other name we would have been just as jolly; for we were looking for the +first time upon a sea that was to us as good as undiscovered, and we +were shortly to brave it in a vessel bound for the Golden Gate. At our +time of life that smacked a little of circumnavigation.</p> + +<p>San Juan del Sur! It was scarcely to be called a village,—a mere +handful of huts scattered upon the shore of a small bay and almost +surrounded by mountains. It had no street, unless the sea sands it +fronted upon could be called such. It had no church, no school, no +public buildings. Its hotels were barns where the gold-seekers were fed +without ceremony on beans and hardtack. Fruits were plentiful, and that +was fortunate.</p> + +<p>There, as in every settlement in Central America, the eaves of the +dwellings were lined with Turkey buzzards. These huge birds are regarded +with something akin to veneration. They are never molested; indeed, like +the pariah dogs of the Orient, they have the right of way; and they are +evidently conscious of the fact, for they are tamer than barnyard fowls. +They are the scavengers of the tropics. They sit upon the housetop and +among the branches of the trees, awaiting the hour when the refuse of +the domestic meal is thrown into the street. There is no drainage in +those villages; strange to say, even in the larger cities there is none. +Offal of every description is cast forth into the highways and byways; +and at that moment, with one accord, down sweep the grim sentinels to +devour it. They feast upon carrion and every form of filth. They are +polution personified, and yet they are the salvation of the indolent +people, who would, but for the timely service of these ravenous birds, +soon be wallowing in fetid refuse and putrefaction under the fierce rays +of their merciless sun.</p> + +<p>In the twilight we wandered by a crescent shore that was thickly strewn +with shells. They were not the tribute of northern waters: they were as +delicately fashioned and as variously tinted as flowers. All that they +lacked was fragrance; and this we realized as we stored them carefully +away, resolving that they should become the nucleus of a museum of +natural history as soon as we got settled in our California home.</p> + +<p>We had crossed the Isthmus in safety. Yonder, in the offing, the ship +that was to carry us northward to San Francisco lay at anchor. For three +days we had suffered the joys of travel and adventure. On the San Juan +river we had again and again touched points along the varying routes +proposed, by the Maritime Canal Company of Nicaragua and the Walker +Commission, as being practical for the construction of a great ship +canal that shall join the Atlantic and the Pacific Oceans. We had passed +from sea to sea, a distance of about two hundred miles.</p> + +<p>The San Juan river, one hundred and twenty miles in length, has a fall +of one foot to the mile. This will necessitate the introduction of at +least six massive locks between the Atlantic and the lake. Sometimes the +river can be utilized, but not without dredging; for it is shallow from +beginning to end, and near its mouth is ribbed with sand-bars. For +seventy miles the lake is navigable for vessels of the heaviest draught. +Beyond the lake there must be a clean-cut over or through the mountains +to the Pacific, and here six locks are reckoned sufficient. Cross-cuts +from one bend in the river to another can be constructed at the rate of +two hundred and fifty thousand dollars, or less, per mile. The canal +must be sunk or raised at intervals; there will, therefore, at various +points be the need of a wall of great strength and durability, from one +hundred and thirty to three hundred feet in height or depth.</p> + +<p>The annual rain-fall in the river region between Lake Nicaragua and the +Caribbean Sea is twenty feet; annual evaporation, three feet. These +points must be considered in the construction and feeding of the canal, +even though it is to vary in width. The dimensions of the proposed +canal, as recommended by the Walker Government Commission, are as +follows: total length, one hundred and eighty-nine miles; minimum depth +of water at all stages, thirty feet; width, one hundred feet in +rock-cuts, elsewhere varying from one hundred and fifty to three hundred +feet—except in Lake Nicaragua, where one end of the channel will be +made six hundred feet wide.</p> + +<p>Nearly fifty years ago, when a canal was projected, the Childs survey +set the cost at thirty-seven million dollars. Now the commissioners +differ on the question of total cost, the several estimates ranging from +one hundred and eighteen million to one hundred and thirty-five million +dollars. The United States Congress at its last session authorized the +expenditure of one million by a new commission "to investigate the +merits of all suggested locations and develop a project for an Isthmus +Canal."</p> + +<p>And so we left the land of the lizard. What wonders they are! From an +inch to two feet in length, slim, slippery, and of many and changeful +colors, they literally inhabit the land, and are as much at home in a +house as out of it; indeed, the houses are never free of them. They +sailed up the river with us, and crossed the lake in our company, and +sat by the mountain wayside awaiting our arrival; for they are curious +and sociable little beasts. As for the San Juan river, 'tis like the +Ocklawaha of Florida many times multiplied, and with all its original +attractions in a state of perfect preservation.</p> + +<p>All the way up the coast we literally hugged the shore; only during the +hours when we were crossing the yawning mouth of the Gulf of California +were we for a single moment out of sight of land. I know not if this was +a saving in time and distance, and therefore a saving in fuel and +provender; or if our ship, the John L. Stevens, was thought to be +overloaded and unsafe, and was kept within easy reach of shore for fear +of accident. We steamed for two weeks between a landscape and a seascape +that afforded constant diversion. At night we sometimes saw flame-tipped +volcanoes; there was ever the undulating outline of the Sierra Nevada +Mountains through Central America, Mexico, and California.</p> + +<p>Just once did we pause on the way. One evening our ship turned in its +course and made directly for the land. It seemed that we must be dashed +upon the headlands we were approaching, but as we drew nearer they +parted, and we entered the land-locked harbor of Acapulco, the chief +Mexican port on the Pacific. It was an amphitheatre dotted with +twinkling lights. Our ship was speedily surrounded by small boats of all +descriptions, wherein sat merchants noisily calling upon us to purchase +their wares. They had abundant fruits, shells, corals, curios. They +flashed them in the light of their torches; they baited us to bargain +with them. It was a Venetian <i>fete</i> with a vengeance; for the hawkers +were sometimes more impertinent than polite. It was a feast of lanterns, +and not without the accompaniment of guitars and castanets, and rich, +soft voices.</p> + +<p>After that we were eager for the end of it all. There was Santa +Catalina, off the California coast, then an uninhabited island given +over to sunshine and wild goats, now one of the most popular and +populous of California summer and winter resorts—for 'tis all the same +on the Pacific coast; one season is damper than the other, that is the +only difference. The coast grew bare and bleak; the wind freshened and +we were glad to put on our wraps. And then at last, after a journey of +nearly five thousand miles, we slowed up in a fog so dense it dripped +from the scuppers of the ship; we heard the boom of the surf pounding +upon the invisible shore, and the hoarse bark of a chorus of sea-lions, +and were told we were at the threshold of the Golden Gate, and should +enter it as soon as the fog lifted and made room for us.</p> +<br /> +<a name="image-3"><!-- Image 3 --></a> +<center> +<img src="images/illus-0030-2.jpg" height="400" width="630" +alt="Fort Point at the Golden Gate"> +</center> + +<h4>Fort Point at the Golden Gate</h4> +<br /><br /> + + + +<hr style='width: 65%;' /> +<a name='ODIV'></a><h2>IV.</h2> + +<h3>IN THE WAKE OF DRAKE</h3> +<br /> + + +<p><img align="left" src="images/illus-w.png" height="75" width="77" +alt="W"> + +<b><big>E</big></b> were buried alive in fathomless depths of fog. We were a fixture +until that fog lifted. It was an impenetrable barrier. Upon the point of +entering one of the most wonderful harbors in the world, the glory of +the newest of new lands, we found ourselves prisoners, and for a time at +least involved in the mazes of ancient history.</p> + +<p>In 1535 Cortez coasted both sides of the Gulf of California—first +called the Sea of Cortez; or the Vermilion Sea, perhaps from its +resemblance to the Red Sea between Arabia and Egypt; or possibly from +the discoloration of its waters near the mouth of the Rio Colorado, or +Red River.</p> + +<p>In 1577 Captain Drake, even then distinguished as a navigator, fitted +out a buccaneering expedition against the Spaniards; it was a wild-goose +chase and led him round the globe. In those days the wealth of the +Philippines was shipped annually in a galleon from Manila to Acapulco, +Mexico, on its way to Europe. Drake hoped to intercept one of these +richly laden galleons, and he therefore threaded the Straits of +Magellan, and, sailing northward, found himself, in 1579, within sight +of the coast of California. All along the Pacific shore from Patagonia +to California he was busily occupied in capturing and plundering Spanish +settlements and Spanish ships. Wishing to turn home with his treasure, +and fearing he might be waylaid by his enemies if he were again to +thread the Straits of Magellan, he thought to reach England by the Cape +of Good Hope. This was in the autumn of 1579. To quote the language of +an old chronicler of the voyage:</p> + +<p>"He was obliged to sail toward the north; in which course having +continued six hundred leagues, and being got into forty-three degrees +north latitude, they found it intolerably cold; upon which they steered +southward till they got into thirty-eight degrees north latitude, where +they discovered a country which, from its white cliffs, they called Nova +Albion, though it is now known by the name of California.</p> + +<p>"They here discovered a bay, which entering with a favorable gale, they +found several huts by the waterside, well defended from the severity of +the weather. Going on shore, they found a fire in the middle of each +house, and the people lying around it upon rushes. The men go quite +naked, but the women have a deerskin over their shoulders, and round +their waist a covering of bulrushes after the manner of hemp.</p> + +<p>"These people bringing the Admiral [Captain Drake] a present of feathers +and cauls of network, he entertained them so kindly and generously that +they were extremely pleased; and afterward they sent him a present of +feathers and bags of tobacco. A number of them coming to deliver it, +gathered themselves together at the top of a small hill, from the +highest point of which one of them harangued the Admiral, whose tent was +placed at the bottom. When the speech was ended they laid down their +arms and came down, offering their presents; at the same time returning +what the Admiral had given them. The women remaining on the hill, +tearing their hair and making dreadful howlings, the Admiral supposed +they were engaged in making sacrifices, and thereupon ordered divine +service to be performed at his tent, at which these people attended with +astonishment.</p> + +<p>"The arrival of the English in California being soon known through the +country, two persons in the character of ambassadors came to the Admiral +and informed him, in the best manner they were able, that the king would +visit him, if he might be assured of coming in safety. Being satisfied +on this point, a numerous company soon appeared, in front of which was a +very comely person bearing a kind of sceptre, on which hung two crowns, +and three chains of great length. The chains were of bones, and the +crowns of network, curiously wrought with feathers of many colors.</p> + +<p>"Next to sceptre-bearer came the king, a handsome, majestic person, +surrounded by a number of tall men dressed in skins, who were followed +by the common people, who, to make the grander appearance, had painted +their faces of various colors; and all of them, even the children, being +loaded with presents.</p> + +<p>"The men being drawn up in line of battle, the Admiral stood ready to +receive the king within the fences of his tent. The company halted at a +distance, and the sceptre-bearer made a speech half an hour long; at the +end of which he began singing and dancing, in which he was followed by +the king and all the people; who, continuing to sing and dance, came +quite up to the tent; when, sitting down, the king took off his crown of +feathers, placed it on the Admiral's head, and put on him the other +ensigns of royalty; and it is said he made him a solemn tender of his +whole kingdom; all which the Admiral accepted in the name of the Queen +his sovereign, in hope that these proceedings might, one time or other, +contribute to the advantage of England.</p> + +<p>"The people, dispersing themselves among the Admiral's tents, professed +the utmost admiration and esteem for the English, whom they looked upon +as more than mortal; and accordingly prepared to offer sacrifices to +them, which the English rejected with abhorrence; directing them, by +various signs, that their religious worship was alone due to the supreme +Maker and Preserver of all things....</p> + +<p>"The Admiral, at his departure, set up a pillar with a large plate on +it, on which were engraved her Majesty's name, picture, arms, and title +to the country; together with the Admiral's name and the time of his +arrival there."</p> + +<p>Pinkerton says in his description of Drake's voyage: "The land is so +rich in gold and silver that upon the slightest turning it up with a +spade these rich materials plainly appear mixed with the mould." It is +not strange, if this were the case, that the natives—who, though +apparently gentle and well disposed, were barbarians—should naturally +have possessed the taste so characteristic of a barbarous people, and +have loved to decorate themselves even lavishly with ornaments rudely +fashioned in this rare metal. Yet they seemed to know little of its +value, and to care less for it than for fuss and feathers. Either they +were a singularly stupid race, simpler even than the child of ordinary +intelligence, or they scorned the allurements of a metal that so few are +able to resist.</p> + +<p>Drake was not the first navigator to touch upon those shores. The +explorer Juan Cabrillo, in 1542-43, visited the coast of Upper +California. A number of landings were made at different points along the +coast and on the islands near Santa Barbara. Cabrillo died during the +expedition; but his successor, Ferralo, continued the voyage as far +north as latitude 42°. Probably Drake had no knowledge of the discovery +of California by the Spaniards six and thirty years before he dropped +anchor in the bay that now bears his name, and for many years he was +looked upon as the first discoverer of the Golden State. Even to this +day there are those who give him all the credit. Queen Elizabeth +knighted him for his services in this and his previous expeditions; +telling him, as his chronicler records, "that his actions did him more +honor than his title." Her Majesty seems not to have been much impressed +by his tales of the riches of the New World—if, indeed, they ever came +to the royal ear,—for she made no effort to develop the resources of +her territory. No adventurous argonauts set sail for the Pacific coast +in search of gold till two hundred and seventy years later.</p> + +<p>There seems to have been a spell cast over the land and the sea. We are +sure that Sir Francis Drake did not enter the Bay of San Francisco, and +that he had no knowledge of its existence, though he was almost within +sight of it. In one of the records of his voyage we read of the chilly +air and of the dense fogs that prevailed in that region; of the "white +banks and cliffs which lie toward the sea"; and of islands which are +known as the Farallones, and which lie about thirty miles off the coast +and opposite the Golden Gate.</p> + +<p>In 1587 Captain Thomas Cavendish, afterward knighted by Queen Elizabeth, +touched upon Cape St. Lucas, at the extremity of Lower California. He +was a privateer lying in wait for the galleon laden with the wealth of +the Philippines and bound for Acapulco. When she hove in sight there was +a chase, a hot engagement, and a capture by the English Admiral. "This +prize," says the historian of the voyage, "contained one hundred and +twenty-two thousand <i>pesos</i> of gold, besides great quantities of rich +silks, satins, damasks, and musk, with a good stock of provisions." In +those romantic and adventurous days piracy was legalized by formal +license; the spoils were supposed to consist of gold and silver only, or +of light movable goods.</p> + +<p>The next English filibuster to visit the California coast was Captain +Woodes Rogers—arriving in November, 1709. He described the natives of +the California peninsula as being "quite naked, and strangers to the +European manner of trafficking. They lived in huts made of boughs and +leaves, erected in the form of bowers; with a fire before the door, +round which they lay and slept. Some of the women wore pearls about +their necks, which they fastened with a string of silk grass, having +first notched them round." Captain Rogers imagined that the wearers of +the pearls did not know how to bore them, and it is more than likely +that they did not. Neither did they know the value of these pearls; for +"they were mixed with sticks, bits of shells, and berries, which they +thought so great an ornament that they would not accept glass beads of +various colors, which the English offered them."</p> + +<p>The narrator says: "The men are straight and well built, having long +black hair, and are of a dark brown complexion. They live by hunting and +fishing. They use bows and arrows and are excellent marksmen. The women, +whose features are rather disagreeable, are employed in making +fishing-lines, or in gathering grain, which they grind upon a stone. The +people were willing to assist the English in filling water, and would +supply them with whatever they could get; they were a very honest +people, and would not take the least thing without permission."</p> + +<p>Such were the aborigines of California. Captain Woodes Rogers did not +hesitate to take whatever he could lay his hands on. He captured the +"great Manila ship," as the chronicle records. "The prize was called +Nuestra Señora de la Incarnacion, commanded by Sir John Pichberty, a +gallant Frenchman. The prisoners said that the cargo in India amounted +to two millions of dollars. She carried one hundred and ninety-three +men, and mounted twenty guns."</p> + +<p>The exact locality of Drake's Bay was for years a vexed question. So +able an authority as Alexander von Humboldt says: "The port of San +Francisco is frequently confounded by geographers with the Port of +Drake, farther north, under 38° 10' of latitude, called by the Spaniards +the Puerto de Bodega."</p> + +<p>The truth is, Bodega Bay lies some miles north of Drake's Bay—or Jack's +Harbor, as the sailors call it; the latter, according to the log of the +Admiral, may be found in latitude 37° 59' 5"; longitude 122° 57-1/2'. +The cliffs about Drake's Bay resemble in height and color, those of +Great Britain in the English Channel at Brighton and Dover; therefore it +seems quite natural that Sir Francis should have called the land New +Albion. As for the origin of the name California, some etymologists +contend that it is derived from two Latin words: <i>calida fornax</i>; or, as +the Spanish put it, <i>caliente fornalla</i>,—a hot furnace. Certainly it is +hot enough in the interior, though the coast is ever cool. The name +seems to have been applied to Lower California between 1535 and 1539. +Mr. Edward Everett Hale rediscovered in 1862 an old printed romance in +which the name California was, before the year 1520, applied to a +fabulous island that lay near the Indus and likewise "very near the +Terrestrial Paradise." The colonists under Cortez were perhaps the first +to apply it to Lower California, which was long thought to be an island.</p> + +<p>The name San Francisco was given to a port on the California coast for +the first time by Cermeñon, who ran ashore near Point Reyes, or in +Drake's Bay, when voyaging from the Philippines in 1595. At any rate, +the name was not given to the famous bay that now bears it before 1769, +and until that date it was unknown to the world. It is not true, as some +have conjectured, that the name San Francisco was given to any port in +memory of Sir Francis Drake. Spanish Catholics gave the name in honor of +St. Francis of Assisi. Drake was an Englishman and a freebooter, who had +no love for the saints.</p> + +<p>That the Bay of San Francisco should have so long remained undiscovered +is the more remarkable inasmuch as many efforts were made to survey and +settle the coast. California was looked upon as the El Dorado of New +Spain. It was believed that it abounded in pearls, gold, silver, and +other metals; and even in diamonds and precious stones. Fruitless +expeditions, private or royal, set forth in 1615, 1633 and 1634; 1640, +1642 and 1648; 1665 and 1668. But nothing came of these. A hundred years +later the Spanish friars established their peaceful missions, and in +1776 the mission church of San Francisco was dedicated.</p> +<br /> +<a name="image-4"><!-- Image 4 --></a> +<center> +<img src="images/illus-0040-2.jpg" height="400" width="621" +alt="The Outer Signal Station at the Golden Gate"> +</center> + +<h4>The Outer Signal Station at the Golden Gate</h4> +<br /> + +<hr style='width: 45%;' /> + +<p>At last the fog began to show signs of life and motion. Huge masses of +opaque mist, that had shut us in like walls of alabaster, were rent +asunder and noiselessly rolled away. The change was magical. In a few +moments we found ourselves under a cloudless sky, upon a sparkling sea, +flooded with sunshine, and the Golden Gate wide open to give us welcome.</p> + + + +<hr style='width: 65%;' /> +<a name='ODV'></a><h2>V.</h2> + +<h3>ATOP O' TELEGRAPH HILL</h3> +<br /> + + +<p><img align='left' src="images/illus-p.png" height="75" width="75" +alt="P"> + +<b><big>ERHAPS</big></b> it is a mile wide, that Golden Gate; and it is more bronze than +golden. A fort was on our right hand; one of those dear old brick +blockhouses that were formidable in their day, but now are as houses of +cards. Drop one shell within its hollow, and there will be nothing and +no one left to tell the tale.</p> + +<p>Down the misty coast, beyond the fort, was Point Lobos—a place where +wolves did once inhabit; farther south lie the semi-tropics and the +fragrant orange lands; while on our left, to the north, is Point +Bonita—pretty enough in the sunshine,—and thereabout is Drake's Bay. +Behind us, dimly outlined on the horizon, the Farallones lie faintly +blue, like exquisite cloud-islands. The north shore of the entrance to +the Bay was rather forbidding,—it always is. The whole California shore +line is bare, bleak, and unbeautiful. It is six miles from the Golden +Gate to the sea-wall of San Francisco. There was no sea-wall in those +days.</p> + +<p>We were steaming directly east, with the Pacific dead astern. Beyond the +fort were scantily furnished hill-slopes. That quadrangle, with a long +row of low white houses on three sides of it, is the <i>presidio</i>—the +barracks; a lorner or lonelier spot it were impossible to picture. There +were no trees there, no shrubs; nothing but grass, that was green enough +in the rainy winter season but as yellow as straw in the drouth of the +long summer. Beyond the <i>presidio</i> were the Lagoon and Washerwoman's +Bay. Black Point was the extremest suburb in the early days; and beyond +it Meigg's Wharf ran far into the North Bay, and was washed by the +swift-flowing tide.</p> + +<p>San Francisco has as many hills as Rome. The most conspicuous of these +stands at the northeast corner of the town; it is Telegraph Hill, upon +whose brawny shoulder stood the first home we knew in the young +Metropolis. After rounding Telegraph Hill, we saw all the city front, +and it was not much to see: a few wooden wharves crowded with shipping +and backed by a row of one or two-story frame buildings perched upon +piles. The harbor in front of the city—more like an open roadstead than +a harbor, for it was nearly a dozen miles to the opposite shore—was +dotted with sailing-vessels of almost every description, swinging at +anchor, and making it a pretty piece of navigation to pick one's way +amongst them in safety.</p> + +<p>As the John L. Stevens approached her dock we saw that an immense crowd +had gathered to give us welcome. The excitement on ship and shore was +very great. After a separation of perhaps years, husbands and wives and +families were about to be reunited. Our joy was boundless; for we soon +recognized our father in the waiting, welcoming throng. But there were +many whose disappointment was bitter indeed when they learned that their +loved ones were not on board. Often a ship brought letters instead of +the expected wife and family; for at the last moment some unforeseen +circumstance may have prevented the departure of the one so looked for +and so longed for. In the confusion of landing we nearly lost our wits, +and did not fully recover them until we found ourselves in our own new +home in the then youngest State in the Union.</p> + +<p>How well I remember it all! We were housed on Union Street, between +Montgomery and Kearny Streets, and directly opposite the public +school—a pretentious building for that period, inasmuch as it was built +of brick that was probably shipped around Cape Horn. California houses, +such as they were, used to come from very distant parts of the globe in +the early Fifties; some of them were portable, and had been sent across +the sea to be set up at the purchaser's convenience. They could be +pitched like tents on the shortest possible notice, and the fact was +evident in many cases.</p> + +<p>Our house—a double one of modest proportions—was of brick, and I +think the only one on our side of the street for a considerable +distance. There was a brick house over the way, on the corner of +Montgomery Street, with a balcony in front of it and a grocery on the +ground-floor. That grocery was like a country store: one could get +anything there; and from the balcony above there was a wonderful view. +Indeed that was one of the jumping-off places; for a steep stairway led +down the hill to the dock two hundred feet below. As for our neighbors, +they dwelt in frame houses, one or two stories in height; and his was +the happier house that had a little strip of flowery-land in front of +it, and a breathing space in the rear.</p> + +<p>The school—our first school in California—backed into the hill across +the street from us. The girls and the boys had each an inclosed space +for recreation. It could not be called a playground, for there was no +ground visible. It was a platform of wood heavily timbered beneath and +fenced in; from the front of it one might have cast one's self to the +street below, at the cost of a broken bone or two. In those days more +than one leg was fractured by an accidental fall from a soaring +sidewalk.</p> + +<p>Above and beyond the school-house Telegraph Hill rose a hundred feet or +more. Our street marked the snow-line, as it were; beyond it the Hill +was not inhabited save by flocks of goats that browsed there all the +year round, and the herds of boys that gave them chase, especially of a +holiday. The Hill was crowned by a shanty that had seen its best days. +It had been the lookout from the time when the Forty-Niners began to +watch for fresh arrivals. From the observatory on its roof—a primitive +affair—all ships were sighted as they neared the Golden Gate, and the +glad news was telegraphed by a system of signals to the citizens below. +Not a day, not an hour, but watchful eyes sought that signal in the hope +of reading there the glad tidings that their ship had come.</p> + +<p>The Hill sloped suddenly, from the signal station, on every side. On the +north and east it terminated abruptly in artificial cliffs of a dizzy +height. The rocks had been blasted from their bases to make room for a +steadily increasing commerce, and the débris was shipped away as ballast +in the vessels that were chartered to bring passengers and provision to +the coast, and found nothing in the line of freight to carry from it.</p> + +<p>Upon those northern and eastern slopes of the Hill a few venturesome +cottagers had built their nests. The cottages were indeed nestlike: they +were so small, so compact, so cosy, so overrun with vines and flowering +foliage. Usually of one story, or of a story and a half at most, they +clung to the hillside facing the water, and looking out upon its noble +expanse from tiny balconies as delicate and dainty as toys. Their +garden-plots were set on end; they must needs adapt themselves to the +angle of demarkation; they loomed above their front-yards while their +back-yards lorded it over their roofs. Indeed they were usually +approached by ascending or descending stairways, or perchance by airy +bridges that spanned little gullies where ran rivulets in the winter +season; and they were a trifle dangerous to encounter after dark. There +were parrots on perches at the doorways of those cottages; and +song-birds in cages that were hidden away in vines. There were pet +poodles there. I think there were more lap-dogs than watch-dogs in that +early California.</p> + +<p>And there were pleasant people within those hanging gardens,—people who +seemed to have drifted there and were living their lyrical if lonely +lives in semi-solitude on islands in the air. I always envied them. I +was sorry that we were housed like other folk, and fronted on a street +than which nothing could have been more commonplace or less interesting. +Its one redeeming feature in my eyes was its uncompromising steepness; +nothing that ran on wheels ever ran that way, but toiled painfully to +the top, tacking from side to side, forever and forever, all the way +up.</p> + +<p>Weary were the beasts of burden that ascended that hill of difficulty. +There was the itinerant marketer, with his overladen cart, and his white +horse, very much winded. He was a Yorkshire man, and he cried with a +loud voice his appetizing wares: "Cabbage, taters, onions, wild duck, +wild goose!" Well do I remember the refrain. Probably there were few +domestic fowls in the market then; moreover, even our drinking water was +peddled about the streets and sold to us by the huge pailful.</p> + +<p>The goats knew Saturday and Sunday by heart. Every Saturday we lads were +busier than bees. We had at intervals during the week collected what +empty tin cans we might have chanced upon, and you may be sure they were +not a few. The markets of California, in early times, were stocked with +canned goods. Flour came to us in large cans; probably the barrel would +not have been proof against mould during the long voyage around the +Horn. Everything eatable—I had almost said and drinkable—we had in +cans; and these cans when emptied were cast into the rubbish heap and +finally consigned to the dump-cart.</p> + +<p>We boys all became smelters, and for a very good reason. There was a +market for soft solder; we could dispose of it without difficulty; we +could in this way put money in our purse and experience the glorious +emotion awakened by the spirit of independence. With our own money, +earned in the sweat of our brows—it was pretty hot work melting the +solder out of the old cans and moulding it in little pig-leads of our +own invention,—we could do as we pleased and no questions asked. Oh, it +was a joy past words,—the kindling of the furnace fires, the adjusting +of the cans, the watching for the first movement of the melting solder! +It trickled down into the ashes like quicksilver, and there we let it +cool in shapeless masses; then we remelted it in skillets (usually +smuggled from the kitchen for that purpose), and ran the fused metal +into the moulds; and when it had cooled we were away in haste to dispose +of it.</p> + +<p>Some of us became expert amateur metallists, and made what we looked +upon as snug little fortunes; yet they did not go far or last us long. +The smallest coin in circulation was a dime. No one would accept a +five-cent piece. As for coppers, they are scarcely yet in vogue. Money +was made so easily and spent so carelessly in the early days the wonder +is that any one ever grew rich.</p> + +<p>A quarter of a dollar we called two "bits." If we wished to buy anything +the price of which was one bit and we had a dime in our pocket, we gave +the dime for the article, and the bargain was considered perfectly +satisfactory. If we had no dime, we gave a quarter of a dollar and +received in change a dime; we thus paid fifty per cent more for the +article than we should have done if we had given a dime for it. But that +made no difference: a quarter called for two bits' worth of anything on +sale. A dime was one bit, but two dimes were not two bits; and it was +only a very mean person—in our estimation—who would change his half +dollar into five dimes and get five bits' worth of goods for four bits' +worth of silver.</p> +<br /> +<a name="image-5"><!-- Image 5 --></a> +<center> +<img src="images/illus-0050-2.jpg" height="400" width="613" +alt="City of Oakland in 1856"> +</center> + +<h4>City of Oakland in 1856</h4> +<br /> + +<p>Sunday is ever the people's day, and a San Francisco Sunday used to be +as lively as the Lord's Day at any of the capitals of Europe. How the +town used to flock to Telegraph Hill on a Sunday in the olden time! They +were mostly quiet folk who went there, and they went to feast their eyes +upon one of the loveliest of landscapes or waterscapes. They probably +took their lunch with them, and their families—if they had them; though +families were infrequent in the Fifties. They wandered about until they +had chosen their point of view, and then they took possession of an +unclaimed portion of the Hill. They "squatted," as was the custom of the +time. The "squatter" claimed the right of sovereignty, and exercised it +so long as he was left unmolested.</p> + +<p>One man seemed to have as much right as another on Telegraph Hill. And +one right was always his: no one disputed him the right of vision; he +shared it with his neighbor, and was willing to share it with the whole +world. For generations he has held it, and he will probably continue to +hold it so long as the old Hill stands. From the heights his eye sweeps +a scene of beauty. There is the Golden Gate, bathed in sunset glories; +and there the northern shore line that climbs skyward where Mount +Tamalpais takes on his mantle of mist. There is Saucelito, with its +green terraces resting upon the tree-tops; and there the bit of +sheltered water that seems always steeped in sunshine,—now the haunt of +house boats, then the haven of a colony of Neapolitan fishermen; and +Angel Island, with its military post; and Fort Alcatraz, a rocky bubble +afloat in mid-channel and one mass of fortifications.</p> + +<p>What an inland sea it is—the Bay of San. Francisco, seventy miles in +length, from ten to twelve in width; dotted with islands, and capable of +harboring all the fleets of all the civilized or uncivilized worlds! The +northern part of it, beyond the narrows, is known as the Bay of San +Pablo; the Straits of Carquinez connect it with Suisun Bay, which is a +sleepy sheet of water fed by the Sacramento and San Joaquin Rivers.</p> + +<p>To the east is Yerba-Buena, vulgarly known as Goat Island; and beyond it +the Contra Costa, with its Alameda, Oakland, and Fruit Vale; then the +Coast Range; and atop of all and beyond all Mount Diablo, with its three +thousand eight hundred feet of perpendicularity, beyond whose summit +the sun rises, and from whose peaks almost half the State is visible and +almost half the sea,—or at least it seems so—but that's another +vision!</p> + + + +<hr style='width: 65%;' /> +<a name='ODVI'></a><h2>VI.</h2> + +<h3>PAVEMENT PICTURES</h3> +<br /> + + +<p><img align='left' src="images/illus-w.png" height="75" width="75" +alt="W"> + +<b><big>E</big></b> had been but a few days in San Francisco when a new-found friend, +scarcely my senior, but who was a comparatively old settler, took me by +the hand and led me forth to view the town. He was my neighbor, and a +right good fellow, with the surprising composure—for one of his +years—that is so early, so easily, and so naturally acquired by those +living in camps and border-lands.</p> + +<p>We descended Telegraph Hill by Dupont Street as far as Pacific Street. +So steep was the way that, at intervals, the modern fire-escape would +have been a welcome aid to our progress. Sidewalks, always of plank and +often not broader than two boards placed longitudinally, led on to steps +that plunged headlong from one terrace to another. From the veranda of +one house one might have leaped to the roof of the house just below—if +so disposed,—for the houses seemed to be set one upon another, so acute +was the angle of their base-line. The town stood on end just there, and +at the foot of it was a foreign quarter.</p> + +<p>In those days there were at least four foreign quarters—Spanish, +French, Italian, and Chinese. We knew the Spanish Quarter at the foot of +the hill by the human types that inhabited it; by the balconies like +hanging gardens, clamorous with parrots; and by the dark-eyed senoritas, +with lace mantillas drawn over their blue-black hair; by the shop +windows filled with Mexican pottery; the long strings of cardinal-red +peppers that swung under the awnings over the doors of the sellers of +spicy things; and also by the delicious odors that were wafted to us +from the tables where Mexicans, Spaniards, Chilians, Peruvians, and +Hispano-Americans were discussing the steaming <i>tamal</i>, the fragrant +<i>frijol</i>, and other fiery dishes that might put to the blush the +ineffectual pepper-pot.</p> + +<p>Everywhere we heard the most mellifluous of languages—the "lovely +lingo," we used to call it; everywhere we saw the people of the quarter +lounging in doorways or windows or on galleries, dressed as if they were +about to appear in a rendition of the opera of "The Barber of Seville," +or at a fancy-dress ball. Figaros were on every hand, and Rosinas and +Dons of all degrees. At times a magnificent Caballero dashed by on a +half-tamed bronco. He rode in the shade of a sombrero a yard wide, +crusted with silver embroidery. His Mexican saddle was embossed with +huge Mexican dollars; his jacket as gaily ornamented as a +bull-fighter's; his trousers open from the hip, and with a chain of +silver buttons down their flapping hems; his spurs, huge wheels with +murderous spikes, were fringed with little bells that jangled as he +rode,—and this to the accompaniment of much strumming of guitars and +the incense of cigarros.</p> + +<p>Near the Spanish Quarter ran the Barbary Coast. There were the dives +beneath the pavement, where it was not wise to enter; blood was on those +thresholds, and within hovered the shadow of death. Beyond, we entered +Chinatown, as rare a bit of old China as is to be found without the +Great Wall itself. Chinatown has grown amazingly within the last forty +years, but it has in reality gained little in interest. There is more of +it: that is the only difference; and what there is of it is more +difficult of approach. The Joss House, the theatre, with its great +original "continuous performance"—its tragedy half a year in +length,—flourished there. The glittering, spectacular restaurant was +wide open to the public, and so was everything else. That fact made all +the difference between Chinatown in the Fifties and Chinatown forty +years later.</p> + +<p>My companion and I tarried long on Dupont Street, between Pacific and +Sacramento Streets. The shops were like peep shows on a larger scale. +How bright they were! how gay with color! how rich with carvings and +curios. Each was like a set-scene on the stage. The shopkeepers and +their aids were like actors in a play. They seemed really to be playing +and not trying to engage in any serious business. Surely it would have +been quite beneath the dignity of such distinguished gentlemen to take +the smallest interest in the affairs of trade. They were clad in silks +and satins and furs of great value; they had a little finger-nail as +long as a slice of quill pen; they had tea on tables of carved teak; and +they had impossible pipes that breathed unspeakable odors. They wore +bracelets of priceless jade. They had private boxes, which hung from the +ceiling and looked like cages for some unclassified bird; and they could +go up into those boxes when life at the tea-table became tiresome, and +get quite another point of view. There they could look down upon the +world of traffic that never did anything in their shops, as far as we +could see; and, still murmuring to themselves in a tongue that sounds +untranslatable and a voice that was never known to rise above a stage +whisper, they could at one and the same moment regard with scorn the +Christian, keep an eye on the cash-boy, and make perfect pictures of +themselves.</p> +<br /> +<a name="image-6"><!-- Image 6 --></a> +<center> +<img src="images/illus-0056-2.jpg" height="400" width="440" +alt="Interior of the El Dorado"> +</center> + +<h4>Interior of the El Dorado</h4> +<br /> + +<p>In some parts of that strange street, where everybody was very busy but +apparently never accomplished anything, there were no fronts to the +rooms on the groundfloor. If those rooms were ever closed—it seemed to +me they never were,—some one kindly put up a long row of shutters, and +that end was accomplished. When the shutters were down the whole place +was wide open, and anybody, everybody, could enter and depart at his own +sweet will. This is exactly what he did; we did it ourselves, but we +didn't know why we did it. The others seemed to know all about it.</p> + +<p>There was a long table in the centre of each room; it was always +surrounded by swarms of Chinamen. Not a few foreigners of various +nationalities were there. They were all intensely interested in some +game that was being played upon that table. We heard the "chink" of +money; and as the players came and went some were glad and some were sad +and some were mad. These were the gambling halls of Chinatown. They were +not at all beautiful or alluring to the eye, but they cast a spell over +the minds and the pockets of men that was irresistible. Nowadays the +place is kept under lock and key, and you must give the countersign or +you will be turned away from the door thereof by a Chinaman whose face +is the image of injured innocence.</p> + +<p>The authors of the annals of San Francisco, 1854, say:</p> + +<p>"During 1853, most of the moral, intellectual, and social +characteristics of the inhabitants of San Francisco were nearly as +already described in the reviews of previous years. There was still the +old reckless energy, the old love of pleasure, the fast making and fast +spending of money; the old hard labor and wild delights; jobberies, +official and political corruption; thefts, robberies, and violent +assaults; murders, duels and suicides; gambling, drinking, and general +extravagance and dissipation.... The people had wealth at command, and +all the passions of youth were burning within them; and they often, +therefore, outraged public decency. Yet somehow the oldest residenters +and the very family-men loved the place, with all its brave wickedness +and splendid folly."</p> + +<p>I can testify that the town knew little or no change in the two years +that followed. The "El Dorado" on the plaza, and the "Arcade" and +"Polka" on Commercial Street, were still in full blast. How came I aware +of that fact? I was a child; my guide, philosopher and friend was a +child, and we were both as innocent as children should be. It is +written, "Children and fools speak the truth." I may add, "Children and +'fools rush in where angels fear to tread.'" The doors of "El Dorado," +of the "Arcade," and the "Polka" were ever open to the public. We saw +from the sidewalk gaily-decorated interiors; we heard enchanting music, +and there seemed to be a vast deal of jollity within. No one tried to +prevent our entering; we merely followed the others; and, indeed, it was +all a mystery to us. Cards were being dealt at the faro tables, and +dealt by beautiful women in bewildering attire. They also turned the +wheels of fortune or misfortune, and threw dice, and were skilled in all +the arts that beguile and betray the innocent. The town was filled with +such resorts; some were devoted to the patronage of the more exclusive +set; many were traps into which the miner from the mountain gulches fell +and where he soon lost his bag of "dust,"—his whole fortune, for which +he had been so long and so wearily toiling. There he was shoulder to +shoulder with the greaser and the lascar, the "shoulder-striker" and the +hoodlum; and they were all busy with monte, faro, rondo, and +rouge-et-noir.</p> + +<p>There was no limit to the gambling in those days. There was no question +of age or color or sex: opportunity lay in wait for inclination at the +street corners and in the highways and the byways. The wonder is that +there were not more victims driven to madness or suicide.</p> + +<p>The pictures were not all so gloomy. Six times San Francisco was +devastated by fire, and all within two years—or, to speak accurately, +within eighteen months. Many millions were lost; many enterprising and +successful citizens were in a few hours rendered penniless. Some were +again and again "burned out"; but they seemed to spring like the famed +bird, who shall for once be nameless, from their own ashes.</p> + +<p>It became evident that an efficient fire department was an immediate and +imperative necessity. The best men of the city—men prominent in every +trade, calling and profession—volunteered their services, and headed a +subscription list that swelled at once into the thousands. Perhaps there +never was a finer volunteer fire department than that which was for many +years the pride and glory of San Francisco. On the Fourth of July it was +the star feature of the procession; and it paraded most of the streets +that were level enough for wheels to run on—and when the mud was +navigable, for they turned out even in the rainy season on days of civic +festivity. Their engines and hose carts and hook and ladder trucks were +so lavishly ornamented with flowers, banners, streamers, and even pet +eagles, dogs, and other mascots, that they might without hesitation have +engaged in any floral battle on any Riviera and been sure of victory.</p> + +<p>The magnificence of the silver trumpets and the quantity and splendor of +the silver trappings of those fire companies pass all belief. It begins +to seem to me now, as I write, that I must have dreamed it,—it was all +so much too fine for any ordinary use. But I know that I did not dream +it; that there was never anything truer or better or more efficient +anywhere under the sun than the San Francisco fire department in the +brave days of old. Representatives of almost every nation on earth could +testify to this, and did repeatedly testify to it in almost every +language known to the human tongue; for there never was a more cosmical +commonwealth than sprang out of chaos on that Pacific coast; and there +never was a city less given to following in the footsteps of its elder +and more experienced sisters. Nor was there ever a more spontaneous +outburst of happy-go-luckiness than that which made of young San +Francisco a very Babel and a bouncing baby Babylon.</p> + + +<hr style='width: 65%;' /> + +<a name="image-7"><!-- Image 7 --></a> +<center> +<img src="images/illus-0062-2.jpg" height="400" width="519" +alt="Warner's at Meigg's Wharf"> +</center> + +<h4>Warner's at Meigg's Wharf</h4> +<br /><br /> + +<a name='ODVII'></a><h2>VII.</h2> + +<h3>A BOY'S OUTING</h3> +<br /> + + +<p><img align='left' src="images/illus-t.png" height="75" width="75" +alt="T"> + +<b><big>HERE</big></b> was joy in the heart, luncheon in the knapsack, and a sparkle in +the eye of each of us as we set forth on our exploring expedition, all +of a sunny Saturday. Outside of California there never were such +Saturdays as those. We were perfectly sure for eight months in the year +that it wouldn't rain a drop; and as for the other four months—well, +perhaps it wouldn't. It is true that Longfellow had sung, even in those +days:</p> + +<div class='poem'><div class='stanza'> +<span>Unto each life some rain must fall,<br /></span> +<span>Some days must be dark and dreary.<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p>Our days were not dark or dreary,—indeed, they could not possibly be in +the two-thirds-of-the-year-dry season. It did not rain so very much even +in the rainy season, when it had a perfect right to; therefore there was +joy in the heart and no umbrella anywhere about when we prepared to set +forth on our day of discovery.</p> + +<p>We began our adventure at Meigg's Wharf. We didn't go out to the end of +it, because there was nothing but crabs there, being hauled up at +frequent intervals by industrious crabbers, whose nets fairly fringed +the wharf. They lay on their backs by scores and hundreds, and waved +numberless legs in the air—I mean the crabs, not the crabbers. We used +to go crabbing ourselves when we felt like it, with a net made of a bit +of mosquito-bar stretched over an iron hoop, and with a piece of meat +tied securely in the middle of it. When we hauled up those home-made +hoop-nets—most everything seems to have been home-made in those +days—we used to find one, two, perhaps three huge crabs revolving +clumsily about the centre of attraction in the hollow of the net; and +then we shouted in glee and went almost wild with excitement.</p> + +<p>Just at the beginning of Meigg's Wharf there was a house of +entertainment that no doubt had a history and a mystery even in those +young days. We never quite comprehended it: we were too young for that, +and too shy and too well-bred to make curious or impertinent inquiry. We +sometimes stood at the wide doorway—it was forever invitingly open, +—and looked with awe and amazement at paintings richly framed and hung +so close together that no bit of the wall was visible. There was a bar +at the farther end of the long room,—there was always a bar somewhere +in those days; and there were cages filled with strange birds and +beasts,—as any one might know with his eyes shut, for the odor of it +all was repelling.</p> + +<p>The strangest feature of that most strange hostelry was the amazing +wealth of cobwebs that mantled it. Cobwebs as dense as crape waved in +dusty rags from the ceiling; they veiled the pictures and festooned the +picture-frames, that shone dimly through them. Not one of these cobwebs +was ever molested—or had been from the beginning of time, as it seemed +to us. A velvet carpet on the floor was worn smooth and almost no trace +of its rich flowery pattern was left; but there were many square boxes +filled with sand or sawdust and reeking with cigar stumps and tobacco +juice. Need I add that some of those pictures were such as our young and +innocent eyes ought never to have been laid on? Nor were they fit for +the eyes of others.</p> + +<p>There was something uncanny about that house. We never knew just what it +was, but we had a faint idea that the proprietor's wife or daughter was +a witch; and that she, being as cobwebby as the rest of its furnishings, +was never visible. The wharf in front of the house was a free menagerie. +There were bears and other beasts behind prison bars, a very populous +monkey cage, and the customary "happy family" looking as dreadfully +bored as usual. Then again there were whole rows of parrots and +cockatoos and macaws as splendid as rainbow tints could make them, and +with tails a yard long at least.</p> + +<p>From this bewildering pageant it was but a step to the beach below. +Indeed the water at high tide flowed under that house with much foam and +fury; for it was a house founded upon the sand, and it long since +toppled to its fall, as all such houses must. We followed the beach, +that rounded in a curve toward Black Point. Just before reaching the +Point there was a sandhill of no mean proportions; this, of course, we +climbed with pain, only to slide down with perspiration. It was our Alp, +and we ascended and descended it with a flood of emotion not unmixed +with sand.</p> + +<p>Near by was a wreck,—a veritable wreck; for a ship had been driven +ashore in the fog and she was left to her fate—and our mercy. Probably +it would not have paid to float her again; for of ships there were more +than enough. Everything worth while was coming into the harbor, and +almost nothing going out of it. We looked upon that old hulk as our +private and personal property. At low tide we could board her dry-shod; +at high tide we could wade out to her. We knew her intimately from stem +to stern, her several decks, her cabins, lockers, holds; we had counted +all her ribs over and over again, and paced her quarter-deck, and gazed +up at her stumpy masts—she had been well-nigh dismantled,—and given +sailing orders to our fellows amidships in the very ecstasy of +circumnavigation. She has gone, gone to her grave in the sea that +lapped her timbers as they lay a-rotting under the rocks; and now +pestiferous factories make hideous the landscape we found so fair.</p> + +<br /> +<a name="image-8"><!-- Image 8 --></a> +<center> +<img src="images/illus-0066-2.jpg" height="514" width="400" +alt="The Old Flume at Black Point, 1856"> +</center> + +<h4>The Old Flume at Black Point, 1856</h4> + +<p>As for Black Point, it was a wilderness of beauty in our eyes; a very +paradise of live-oak and scrub-oak, and of oak that had gone mad in the +whirlwinds and sandstorms that revelled there. Beyond Black Point we +climbed a trestle and mounted a flume that was our highway to the sea. +Through this flume the city was supplied with water. The flume was a +square trough, open at the top and several miles in length. It was cased +in a heavy frame; and along the timbers that crossed over it lay planks, +one after another, wherever the flume was uncovered. This narrow path, +intended for the convenience of the workmen who kept the flume in +repair, was our delight. We followed it in the full assurance that we +were running a great risk. Beneath us was the open trough, where the +water, two or three feet in depth, was rushing as in a mill-race. Had we +fallen, we must have been swept along with it, and perhaps to our doom. +Sometimes we were many feet in the air, crossing a cove where the sea +broke at high tide; sometimes we were in a cut among the rocks on a +jutting point; and sometimes the sand from the desert above us drifted +down and buried the flume, now roofed over, quite out of sight.</p> + +<p>So we came to Fort Point and the Golden Gate; and beyond the Fort there +was more flume and such a stretch of sea and shore and sunshine as +caused us to leap with gladness. We could follow the beach for miles; it +was like a pavement of varnished sand, cool to the foot and burnished to +the eye. And what sea-treasure lay strewn there! Mollusks, not so +delicate or so decorative as the shells we had brought with us from the +Southern Seas, but still delightful. Such starfish and cloudy, +starch-like jelly-fish, and all the livelier creeping and crawling +creatures that populate the shore! Brown sea-kelp and sea-green +sea-grass and the sea-anemone that are the floating gardens of the +sea-gods and sea-goddesses; sea-birds, soft-bosomed as doves and crying +with their ceaseless and sorrowful cry; and all they that are sea-borne +along the sea-board,—these were there in their glory.</p> + +<p>We hid in caverns and there dreamed our sea-dreams. We ate our lunches +and played at being smugglers; then we built fires of drift-wood to warn +the passing ships that we were castaways on a desert island; but when +they took no heed of our signals of distress we were not too sorry nor +in the least distressful.</p> + +<p>At the seal rocks we tarried long; for there are few spots within the +reach of the usual sight-seer where an enormous family of sea-lions can +be seen at home, sporting in their native element, and at liberty to +come and go in the wide Pacific at their own sweet wills. There they had +lived for numberless generations unmolested; there they still live, for +they are under the protection of the law.</p> + +<p>The famous Cliff House is built upon the cliff above them, and above it +is a garden bristling with statues. Thousands upon thousands of curious +idlers stare the sea-folks out of countenance—or try to; but they, the +sons of the salt sea and the daughters of the deep, climb into the +crevices of the rocks to sun themselves, unheeding; or leap into the +waves that girdle them and sport like the fabled monsters of marine +mythology. Seal, sea-leopard, or sea-lion—whatever they may be—they +cry with one voice night and day; and it is not a pleasant cry either, +though a far one, they mouth so horribly. Long ago it inspired a wit to +madness and he made a joke; the same old joke has been made by those who +followed after him. It will continue to be made with impertinent +impunity until the sea gives up its seals; for the temptation is there +daily and hourly, and the humorist is but human—he can not long resist +it; so he will buttonhole you on the veranda of the Cliff House and +whisper in your astonished ear as if he were imparting a state secret: +"Their bark is on the sea!"</p> + +<p>The way home was sometimes a weary one. After leaving the bluff above +the shore, we struck into an almost interminable succession of +sand-dunes. There was neither track nor trail there; there was no oasis +to gladden us with its vision of beauty. The pale poet of destiny and +despair has written:</p> + +<div class='poem'><div class='stanza'> +<span>In the desert a fountain is springing,<br /></span> +<span class='i2'>In the wide waste there still is a tree;<br /></span> +<span>And a bird in the solitude singing,<br /></span> +<span class='i2'>Which speaks to my spirit of thee.<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p>There was no fountain in our desert, and we knew it well enough; for we +had often braved its sands. In that wide waste there was not even the +solitary tree that moved the poet to song; nor a bird in our solitude, +save a sea-gull cutting across-lots from the ocean to the bay in search +of a dinner. There were some straggling vines on the edge of our desert, +thick-leaved and juicy; and these were doing their best to keep from +getting buried alive. The sand was always shifting out yonder, and there +was a square mile or two of it. We could easily have been lost in it but +for our two everlasting landmarks—Mount Tamalpais across the water to +the north, and in the south Lone Mountain. Lone Mountain was our +Calvary—a green hill that loomed above the graves where slept so many +who were dear to us. The cross upon its summit we had often visited in +our holiday pilgrimages. They were <i>holydays</i>, when our childish feet +toiled hopefully up that steep height; for that cross was the beacon +that lighted the world-weary to everlasting rest.</p> + +<p>And so we crossed the desert, over our shoetops in sand; climbing one +hill after another, only to slide or glide or ride down the yielding +slope on the farther side. Meanwhile the fog came in like a wet blanket. +It swathed all the landscape in impalpable snow; it chilled us and it +thrilled us, for there was danger of our going quite astray in it; but +by and by we got into the edge of the town, and what a very ragged edge +it was in the dim long ago! Once in the edge of the town, we were +masters of the situation: you couldn't lose us even in the dark. And so +ended the outing of our merry crew,—merry though weary and worn; yet +not so worn and weary but we could raise at parting a glad "Hoorah for +Health, Happiness, and the Hills of Home!"</p> + + + +<hr style='width: 65%;' /> +<a name='ODVIII'></a><h2>VIII.</h2> + +<h3>THE MISSION DOLORES</h3> +<br /> + + + +<p><img align='left' src="images/illus-i.png" height="75" width="78" +alt="I"> + +<b><big>HAVE</big></b> read somewhere in the pages of a veracious author how, five or +six years before my day, he had ridden through chaparral from Yerba +Buena to the Mission Dolores with the howl of the wolf for +accompaniment. Yerba Buena is now San Francisco, and the mission is a +part of the city; it is not even a suburb.</p> + +<p>In 1855 there were two plank-roads leading from the city to the Mission +Dolores; on each of these omnibuses ran every half hour. The plank-road +was a straight and narrow way, cut through acres of chaparral—thickets +of low evergreen oaks,—and leading over forbidding wastes of sand. To +stretch a figure, it was as if the sea-of-sand had been divided in the +midst, so that the children of Israel might have passed dry-shod, and +the Egyptians pursuing them might have been swallowed up in the billows +of sand that flowed over them at intervals.</p> + +<p>Somewhere among those treacherous dunes—of them it might indeed be said +that "the mountains skipped like rams and the little hills like +lambs,"—somewhere thereabout was located the once famous but now +fabulous Pipesville, the country-seat of my old friend, "Jeems Pipes of +Pipesville." He was longer and better known to the world as Stephen C. +Massett, composer of the words and music of that once most popular of +songs, "When the Moon on the Lake is Beaming," as well as many another +charming ballad.</p> + +<p>Stephen C. Massett, a most delightful companion and a famous diner-out, +give a concert of vocal music interspersed with recitations and +imitations, in the school-house that stood at the northwest corner of +the plaza. This was on Monday evening, June 22, 1849; and it was the +first public entertainment, the first regular amusement, ever given in +San Francisco. The only piano in the country was engaged for the +occasion; the tickets were three dollars each, and the proceeds yielded +over five hundred dollars; although it cost sixteen dollars to have the +piano used on the occasion moved from one side of the plaza, or +Portsmouth Square, to the other. On a copy of the programme which now +lies before me I find this line: "N.B.—Front seats reserved for +ladies!" History records that there were but four ladies +present—probably the only four in the town at the time. Massett died in +New York city a few months ago,—a man who had friends in every country +under the sun, and, I believe, no enemy.</p> + +<p>I remember the Mission Dolores as a detached settlement with a +pronounced Spanish flavor. There was one street worth mentioning, and +only one. It was lined with low-walled adobe houses, roofed with the red +curved tiles which add so much to the adobe houses that otherwise would +be far from picturesque. The adobe is a sun-baked brick; it is +mud-color; its walls look as if they were moulded of mud. The adobes +were the native California habitations. We spoke of them as adobes; +although it would probably be as correct, etymologically, to refer to +brick houses as bricks.</p> + +<p>There were a few ramshackle hotels at the mission; for in the early days +it seemed as if everybody either boarded or took in boarders, and many +families lived for years in hotels rather than attempt to keep house in +the wilds of San Francisco. The mission was about one house deep each +side of the main street. You might have turned a corner and found +yourself face to face with the cattle in the meadow. As for the goats, +they met you at the doorway and followed you down the street like dogs.</p> + +<p>At the top of this street stood the mission church and what few mission +buildings were left for the use of the Fathers. The church and the +grounds were the most interesting features of the place, and it was a +favorite resort of the citizens of San Francisco; yet it most likely +would not have been were the church the sole attraction. Here, in +appropriate enclosures, there were bull-fighting, bear-baiting, and +horse-racing. Many duels were fought here, and some of them were so well +advertised that they drew almost as well as a cock-fight. Cock-fighting +was a special Sunday diversion. Through the mission ran the highway to +the pleasant city of San José; it ran through a country unsurpassed in +beauty and fertility. Above the mission towered the mission peaks, and +about it the hillslopes were mantled with myriads of wild flowers, the +splendor and variety of which have added to the fame of California.</p> + +<p>The mission church was never handsome; but the facade with the old bells +hanging in their niches, and the almost naive simplicity of its +architectural adornment, are extremely pleasing. It is a long, narrow, +dingy nave one enters. Its walls of adobe do not retain their coats of +whitewash for any length of time; in the rainy season they are damp and +almost clammy. The floor is of beaten earth; the Stations upon the walls +of the rudest description; the narrow windows but dimly light the +interior, and rather add to than dispel the gloom that has been +gathering there for ages. The high altar is, of course, in striking +contrast with all that dark interior: it is over-decorated in the +Mexican manner—flowers, feathers, tinsel ornaments, tall candlesticks +elaborately gilded; all the statues examples of the primitive art that +appealed strongly to the uncultivated eye; and all the adornments gay, +gaudy, if not garish. Do you wonder at this? When you enter the old +church at the Mission Dolores you should recall its history, and picture +in your imagination the people for whom the mission was established.</p> + +<p>The Franciscans founded their first mission in California at San Diego +in 1769. The Mission Dolores was founded on St. Francis' Day, 1776. To +found a mission was a serious matter; yet one and twenty missions were +in the full tide of success before the good work was abandoned. The +friars were the first fathers of the land: they did whatever was done +for it and for the people who originally inhabited it. They explored the +country lying between the coast range and the sea. They set apart large +tracts of land for cultivation and for the pasturing of flocks and +herds. For a long time Old and New Spain contributed liberally to what +was known as the Pious Fund of California. The fund was managed by the +Convent of San Fernando and certain trustees in Mexico, and the proceeds +transmitted from the city of Mexico to the friars in California.</p> + +<p>The mission church was situated, as a rule, in the centre of the mission +lands, or reservations. The latter comprised several thousand acres of +land. With the money furnished by the Pious Fund of California the +church was erected, and surrounded by the various buildings occupied by +the Fathers, the retainers, and the employees who had been trained to +agriculture and the simple branches of mechanics. The presbytery, or the +rectory, was the chief guest-house in the land. There were no hotels in +the California of that day, but the traveller, the prospector, the +speculator, was ever welcome at the mission board; and it was a +bountiful board until the rapacity of the Federal Government laid it +waste. Alexander Forbes, in his "History of Upper and Lower California" +(London, 1839), states that the population of Upper California in 1831 +was a little over 23,000; of these 18,683 were Indians. It was for the +conversion of these Indians that the missions were first established; +for the bettering of their condition—mental, moral and physical—that +they were trained in the useful and industrial arts. That they labored +not in vain is evident. In less than fifty years from the day of its +foundation the Mission of San Francisco Dolores—that is in 1825—is +said to have possessed 76,000 head of cattle; 950 tame horses; 2,000 +breeding mares; 84 stud of choice breed; 820 mules; 79,000 sheep; 2,000 +hogs; 456 yoke of working oxen; 18,000 bushels of wheat and barley; +besides $35,000 in merchandise and $25,000 in specie.</p> + +<p>That was, indeed, the golden age of the California missions; everybody +was prosperous and proportionately happy. In 1826 the Mission of Soledad +owned more than 36,000 head of cattle, and a larger number of horses and +mares than any other mission in the country. These animals increased so +rapidly that they were given away in order to preserve the pasturage for +cattle and sheep. In 1822 the Spanish power in Mexico was overthrown; in +1824 a republican constitution was established. California, not then +having a population sufficient to admit it as one of the Federal States, +was made a territory, and as such had a representative in the Mexican +Congress; but he was not allowed a vote on any question, though he sat +in the assembly and shared in the debates.</p> + +<p>In 1826 the Federal Government began to meddle with the affairs of the +friars. The Indians "who had good characters, and were considered able +to maintain themselves, from having been taught the art of agriculture +or some trade," were manumitted; portions of land were allotted to them, +and the whole country was divided into parishes, under the +superintendence of curates. The zealous missionaries were no longer to +receive a salary—four hundred dollars a year had formerly been paid +them out of the national exchequer for developing the resources of the +State. Everybody and everything was now supposed to be self-sustaining, +and was left to take care of itself. It was a dream—and a bad one!</p> + +<br /> +<a name="image-9"><!-- Image 9 --></a> +<center> +<img src="images/illus-0078-2.jpg" height="400" width="640" +alt="Lone Mountain, 1856"> +</center> + +<h4>Lone Mountain, 1856</h4> + +<p>Within one year the Indians went to the dogs. They were cheated out of +their small possessions and were driven to beggary or plunder. The +Fathers were implored to take charge again of their helpless flock. +Meanwhile the Pious Fund of California had run dry, as its revenues had +been diverted into alien channels. The good friars resumed their +offices. Once more the missions were prosperous, but for a time only. It +was the beginning of the end. Year after year acts were passed in the +Mexican Congress so hampering the friars in their labors that they were +at last crippled and helpless. The year 1840 was specially disastrous; +and in 1845 the Franciscans the pioneer settlers and civilizers of +California, were completely denuded of both power and property.</p> + +<p>In that year a number of the missions were sold by public auction. The +Indian converts, formerly attached to some of the missions, but now +demoralized and wandering idly and miserably over the country, were +ordered to return within a month to the few remaining missions, <i>or +those also would be sold</i>. The Indians, having had enough of legislation +and knowing the white man pretty well by this time, no doubt having had +enough of him, returned not, and their missions were disposed of. Then +the remaining missions were rented and the remnants divided into three +parts: one kindly bestowed upon the missionaries, who were the founders +and rightful owners of the missions; one upon the converted Indians, who +seem to have vanished into thin air; one, the last, was supposed to be +converted into a new Pious Fund of California for the further education +and evangelization of the masses—whoever they might be. The general +government had long been in financial distress, and had often +borrowed—to put it mildly—from the friars in their more prosperous +days. In 1831 the Mexican Congress owed the missions of California +$450,000 of borrowed money; and in 1845 it left those missionaries +absolutely penniless.</p> + +<p>Let me not harp longer upon this theme, but end with a quotation from +the pages of a non-Catholic historian. Referring to the Franciscans and +their mission work on the Pacific coast, Josiah Joyce, assistant +professor of philosophy in Harvard College, says:<a name='FNanchor_1'></a> +<a href='#Footnote_1'><sup>[1]</sup></a></p> + +<p>"No one can question their motives, nor may one doubt that their +intentions were not only formally pious but truly humane. For the more +fatal diseases that so-called civilization introduced among the Indians, +only the soldiers and colonists of the presidios and pueblos were to +blame; and the Fathers, well knowing the evil results of a mixed +population, did their best to prevent these consequences, but in vain; +since the neighborhood of a presidio was often necessary for the safety +of a mission, and the introduction of a white colonist was an important +part of the intentions of the home government. But, after all, upon this +whole toil of the missions, considered in itself, one looks back with +regret, as upon one of the most devout and praiseworthy of mortal +efforts; and, in view of its avowed intentions, one of the most complete +and fruitless of human failures. The missions have meant, for modern +American California, little more than a memory, which now indeed is +lighted up by poetical legends of many sorts. But the chief significance +of the missions is simply that they first began the colonization of +California."</p> + +<p>The old mission church as I knew it four and forty years ago is still +standing and still an object of pious interest. The first families of +the faithful lie under its eaves in their long and peaceful sleep, +happily unmindful of the great changes that have come over the spirit of +all our dreams. The old adobes have returned to dust, even as the hands +of those who fashioned them more than a century ago. Very modern houses +have crowded upon the old church and churchyard, and they seem to have +become the merest shadows of their former selves; while the roof-tree +of the new church soars into space, and its wide walls—out of all +proportion with the Dolores of departed days—are but emblematic of the +new spirit of the age.</p> +<br /> + +<hr style='width: 65%;' /> +<a name='ODIX'></a><h2>IX.</h2> + +<h3>SOCIAL SAN FRANCISCO</h3> +<br /> + +<p><img align='left' src="images/illus-s.png" height="75" width="75" +alt="S"> + +<b><big>OCIAL</big></b> San Francisco during the early Fifties seems to have been a +conglomeration of unexpected externals and surprising interiors. It was +heterogeneous to the last degree. It was hail-fellow-well-met, with a +reservation; it asked no questions for conscience's sake; it would not +have been safe to do so. There were too many pasts in the first families +and too many possible futures to permit one to cast a shadow upon the +other. And after all is said, if sins may be forgiven and atoned for, +why should the memory of a shady past imperil the happiness and +prosperity of the future? All futures should be hopeful; they were +"promise-crammed" in that healthy and hearty city by the sea.</p> + +<p>It was impossible, not to say impolite, to inquire into your neighbors' +antecedents. It was currently believed that the mines were filled with +broken-down "divines," as if it were but a step from the pulpit to the +pickaxe. As for one's family, it was far better off in the old home so +long as the salary of a servant was seventy dollars a month, fresh eggs +a dollar and a quarter a dozen, turkeys ten dollars apiece, and coal +fifty dollars a ton.</p> + +<p>In 1854 and 1855 San Francisco had a monthly magazine that any city or +state might have been proud of; this was <i>The Pioneer</i>, edited by the +Rev. Ferdinand C. Ewer. In 1851, a lady, the wife of a physician, went +with her husband into the mines and settled at Rich Bar and Indian Bar, +two neighboring camps on the north fork of the Feather River. There were +but three or four other women in that part of the country, and one of +these died. This lady wrote frequent and lengthy descriptive letters to +a sister in New England, and these letters were afterward published +serially in <i>The Pioneer</i>. They picture life as a highly-accomplished +woman knew it in the camps and among the people whom Bret Harte has +immortalized. She called herself "Dame Shirley," and the "Shirley +Letters" in <i>The Pioneer</i> are the most picturesque, vivid, and valuable +record of life in a California mining camp that I know of. The wonder is +that they have never been collected and published in book form; for they +have become a part of the history of the development of the State.</p> + +<p>The life of a later period in San Francisco and Monterey has been +faithfully depicted by another hand. The life that was a mixture of +Gringo and diluted Castilian—a life that smacked of the presidio and +the hacienda,—that was a tale worth telling; and no one has told it so +freely, so fully or so well as Gertrude Franklin Atherton.</p> + +<p>"Dame Shirley" was Mrs. L.A.C. Clapp. When her husband died she went to +San Francisco and became a teacher in the Union Street public school. It +was this admirable lady who made literature my first love; and to her +tender mercies I confided my maiden efforts in the art of composition. +She readily forgave me then, and was the very first to offer me +encouragement; and from that hour to this she has been my faithful +friend and unfailing correspondent.</p> + +<p>South Park and Rincon Hill! Do the native sons of the golden West ever +recall those names and think what dignity they once conferred upon the +favored few who basked in the sunshine of their prosperity? South Park, +with its line of omnibuses running across the city to North Beach; its +long, narrow oval, filled with dusty foliage and offering a very weak +apology for a park; its two rows of houses with, a formal air, all +looking very much alike, and all evidently feeling their importance. +There were young people's "parties" in those days, and the height of +felicity was to be invited to them. As a height o'ertops a hollow, so +Rincon Hill looked down upon South Park. There was more elbow-room on +the breezy height; not that the height was so high or so broad, but it +<i>was</i> breezy; and there was room for the breeze to blow over gardens +that spread about the detached houses their wealth of color and perfume.</p> + +<p>How are the mighty fallen! The Hill, of course, had the farthest to +fall. South Parkites merely moved out: they went to another and a better +place. There was a decline in respectability and the rent-roll, and no +one thinks of South Park now,—at least no one speaks of it above a +whisper. As for the Hill, the Hillites hung on through everything; the +waves of commerce washed all about it and began gnawing at its base; a +deep gully was cut through it, and there a great tide of traffic ebbed +and flowed all day. At night it was dangerous to pass that way without a +revolver in one's hand; for that city is not a city in the barbarous +South Seas, whither preachers of the Gospel of peace are sent; but is a +civilized city and proportionately unsafe.</p> + +<p>A cross-street was lowered a little, and it leaped the chasm in an agony +of wood and iron, the most unlovely object in a city that is made up of +all unloveliness. The gutting of this Hill cost the city the fortunes of +several contractors, and it ruined the Hill forever. There is nothing +left to be done now but to cast it into the midst of the sea. I had +sported on the green with the goats of goatland ere ever the stately +mansion had been dreamed of; and it was my fate to set up my tabernacle +one day in the ruins of a house that even then stood upon the order of +its going,—it did go impulsively down into that "most unkindest cut," +the Second Street chasm. Even the place that once knew it has followed +after.</p> + +<p>The ruin I lived in had been a banker's Gothic home. When Rincon Hill +was spoiled by bloodless speculators, he abandoned it and took up his +abode in another city. A tenant was left to mourn there. Every summer +the wild winds shook that forlorn ruin to its foundations. Every winter +the rains beat upon it and drove through and through it, and undermined +it, and made a mush of the rock and soil about it; and later portions of +that real estate deposited themselves, pudding-fashion, in the yawning +abyss below.</p> + +<p>I sat within, patiently awaiting the day of doom; for well I knew that +my hour must come. I could not remain suspended in midair for any length +of time: the fall of the house at the northwest corner of Harrison and +Second Streets must mark my fall. While I was biding my time, there came +to me a lean, lithe stranger. I knew him for a poet by his unshorn locks +and his luminous eyes, the pallor of his face and his exquisitely +sensitive hands. As he looked about my eyrie with aesthetic glance, +almost his first words were: "What a background for a novel!" He seemed +to relish it all—the impending crag that might topple any day or hour; +the modest side door that had become my front door because the rest of +the building was gone; the ivy-roofed, geranium-walled conservatory +wherein I slept like a Babe in the Wood, but in densest solitude and +with never a robin to cover me.</p> + +<p>He liked the crumbling estate, and even as much of it as had gone down +into the depths forever. He liked the sagging and sighing cypresses, +with their roots in the air, that hung upon and clung upon the rugged +edge of the remainder. He liked the shaky stairway that led to it (when +it was not out of gear), and all that was irrelative and irrelevant; +what might have been irritating to another was to him singularly +appealing and engaging; for he was a poet and a romancer, and his name +was Robert Louis Stevenson. He used to come to that eyrie on Rincon Hill +to chat and to dream; he called it "the most San Francisco-ey part of +San Francisco," and so it was. It was the beginning and the end of the +first period of social development on the Pacific coast. There is a +picture of it, or of the South Park part of it, in Gertrude Atherton's +story, "The Californians." The little glimpse that Louis Stevenson had +of it in its decay gave him a few realistic pages for <i>The Wrecker</i>.</p> + +<p>I have referred to the surprising interiors of the city in the Fifties. +What I meant was this: there was not an alley so miserable and so muddy +but somewhere in it there was pretty sure to be a cottage as demure in +outward appearance as modesty itself. Nothing could be more unassuming: +it had not even the air of genteel poverty. I think such an air was not +to be thought of in those days: gentility kept very much to itself. As +for poverty, it was a game that any one might play at any moment, and +most had played at it.</p> + +<p>This cottage stood there—I think I will say <i>sat</i> there, it looked so +perfectly resigned,—and no doubt commanded a rent quite out of +proportion to its size. It had its shaky veranda and its French windows, +and was lined with canvas; for there was not a trowel full of plaster in +it. The ceiling bellied and flapped like an awning when the wind soughed +through the clapboards; and the walls sometimes visibly heaved a sigh; +but they were covered with panelled paper quite palatial in texture and +design, and that is one thing that made those interiors surprising.</p> + +<p>At the windows the voluminous lace draperies were almost overpowering. +Satin lambrequins were festooned with colossal cord and tassels of +bullion. A plate-glass mirror as wide as the mantel reflected the +Florentine gilt carving of its own elaborate frame. There were bronzes +on the mantel, and tall vases of Sévres, and statuettes of bisque +brilliantly tinted. At the two sides of the mantel stood pedestals of +Italian marble surmounted by urns of the most graceful and elegant +proportions, and profusely ornamented with sculptured fruits and +flowers. There was the old-fashioned square piano in its carven case, +and cabinets from China or East India; also a lacquered Japanese screen, +marble-topped tables of filigreed teek, brackets of inlaid ebony. Curios +there were galore. Some paintings there were, and these rocked softly +upon the gently-heaving walls. As for the velvet carpet, it was a bed of +gigantic roses that might easily put to the blush the prime of summer in +a queen's garden.</p> + +<p>I well remember another home in San Francisco, one that possessed for me +the strongest attraction. It was bosomed in the sandhills south of +Market Street,—I know not between what streets, for they had all been +blurred or quite obliterated by drifts of sifting sand. It was a small +house fenced about; but the fence was for the most part buried under +sand, and looked as if it were a rampart erected for the defense of this +isolated cot. Some few hardy flowers had been planted there, but they +were knee-deep in sand, and their petals were full of grit. One usually +blew into that house with a pinch of sand, but how good it was to be +there!</p> + +<p>Within those walls there was the unmistakable evidence of the feminine +touch, the aesthetic influence that refines and beautifies everything. +It was not difficult to idealize in that atmosphere. It was the home of +a lady who chose to conceal her identity, though her pen-name was a +household word from one end of the coast to the other. She was a star +contributor to the weekly columns of the <i>Golden Era,</i> a periodical we +all subscribed for and were immensely proud of. It was unique in its +way. Of late years I have found no literary journal to compare with it +at its best. It introduced Bret Harte, Mark Twain, Prentice Mulford, +Joaquin Miller, Ina Coolbrith, and many others, to their first circle of +admirers. In the large mail-box at its threshold—a threshold I dared +not cross for awe of it—I dropped my earliest efforts in verse, and +then ran for fear of being caught in the act.</p> + +<p>Imagine the joy of a lad whose ambition was to write something worth +printing, and whose wildest dream was to be named some day with those +who had won their laurels in the field of letters,—imagine his joy at +being petted in the sanctum of one who was in his worshipful eyes the +greatest lady in the land! About her were the trophies of her triumph, +though she was personally known to few. Each post brought her tribute +from the grateful hearts of her readers afar off in the mountain mining +camps, and perhaps from beyond the Rockies; or, it may have been, from +the unsuspecting admirer who lived just beyond the first sandhill. This +was another surprising interior. There was plain living and high +thinking in the midst of a wilderness that was, to say the least, +uninviting; the windows rattled and the sand peppered them. Without was +the abomination of desolation; but within the desert blossomed as the +rose.</p> + +<p>There were other homes as homely as the one I preferred—for there was +sand enough to go round. It went round and round, as God probably +intended it should, until a city sat upon it and kept it quiet. Some of +these homes were perched upon solitary hilltops, and were lost to sight +when the fog came in from the sea; and some were crowded into the thick +of the town, with all sorts of queer people for neighbors. You could, +had you chosen to, look out of a back window into a hollow square full +of cats and rats and tin cans; and upon the three sides of the +quadrangle which you were facing, you might have seen, unblushingly +revealed, all the mysteries and miseries of Europe, Asia, Africa, and +Oceanica; for they were all of them represented by delegates.</p> + +<p>Of course there were handsome residences (not so very many of them as +yet), where there was fine art—some of the finest. But often this art +was to be found in the saloons, and the subjects chosen would hardly +find entertainment elsewhere. The furnishing of the houses was within +the bounds of good taste. Monumental marbles were not erected by the +hearth-side; the window drapery was diaphanous rather than dense and +dowdy. The markets of San Francisco were much to blame for the +flashiness of the domestic interior: they were stocked with the gaudiest +fixtures and textures, and in the inspection of them the eye was +bewildered and the taste demoralized.</p> + +<p>Harmony survived the inharmonious, and it prevailed in the homes of the +better classes, as it was bound to do; for refinement had set its seal +there, and you can not counterfeit the seal of refinement. But I am +inclined to think that in the Fifties there was a natural tendency to +overdress, to over-decorate, to overdo almost everything. Indeed the day +was demonstrative; if the now celebrated climate had not yet been +elaborately advertised, no doubt there was something hi it singularly +bracing. The elixir of it got into the blood and the brain, and perhaps +the bones as well. The old felt younger than they did when they left +"the States,"—the territory from the Rockies to the Atlantic Ocean was +commonly known as "the States." The middle-aged renewed their youth, and +youth was wild with an exuberance of health and hope and happiness that +seemed to give promise of immortality.</p> + +<p>No wonder that it was thought an honor to be known as the first white +child born in San Francisco—I'd think it such myself,—and I'm proud to +state that all three claimants are my personal friends.</p> + + + +<hr style='width: 65%;' /> +<a name='ODX'></a><h2>X.</h2> + +<h3>HAPPY VALLEY</h3> +<br /> + +<p><img align='left' src="images/illus-h.png" height="75" width="75" +alt="H"> + +<b><big>OW</big></b> well I remember it—the Happy Valley of the days of old! It lay +between California Street and Rincon Point; was bounded on the east by +the Harbor of San Francisco, and on the west by the mission peaks. I +never knew just why it was called <i>happy</i>; I never saw any wildly-happy +inhabitants singing or dancing for joy on its sometimes rather +indefinite street corners. If there is happiness in sand, then, happily, +it was sandy. You might have climbed knee-deep up some parts of it and +slid down on the other side; you could have played at "hide-and-seek" +among its shifting undulations. From what is now known as Nob Hill you +could have looked across it to the heights of Rincon Point—and, +perchance, have looked in vain for happiness. Yet who or what is +happiness? A flying nymph whose airy steps even the sand can not stay +for long.</p> + +<p>Down through this Happy Valley ran Market Street, a bias cut across the +city that was to be. Market Street is about all that saved that city +from making a checker-board of its ground-plan. Market Street flew off +at a tangent and set all the south portion of the town at an angle that +is rather a relief than anything else that I know of. Who wants to go on +forever up one street and down another, and then across town at right +angles, as if life were a treadmill and there were no hope of change +until the great change comes?</p> + +<p>Happy Valley! I remember one cool twilight when a "prairie schooner," +that was time-worn and weather-beaten, drifted down Montgomery Street +from Market Street, and rounded the corner of Sutter Street, where it +hove to. You know the "prairie schooner" was the old-time emigrant wagon +that was forever crossing the plains in Forty-nine and the early +Fifties. It was scow-built, hooded from end to end, freighted with goods +and chattels; and therein the whole family lived and moved and had its +being during the long voyage to the Pacific Coast.</p> + +<p>On this twilight evening the captain of the schooner, assisted by a +portion of his crew, deliberately took down part of the fence which +enclosed a sand-lot bounded by Montgomery, Sutter and Post Streets; +driving into the centre of the lot; the horses—four jaded beasts—were +turned loose, and soon a camp-fire was lighted and the entire emigrant +family gathered about it to partake of the evening meal. On this lot now +stands the Lick House and the Masonic Hall—undreamed of in those days. +No one seemed in the least surprised to find in the very heart of the +city a scene such as one might naturally look for in the heart of the +Rocky Mountains and the wilds of the great desert, or the heights of the +Humboldt. No doubt they thought it a Happy Valley; and well they might, +for they had reached their journey's end.</p> + +<p>A stone's throw from that twilight camp, on the south side of Market +Street, stood old St. Patrick's Church. It was a most unpretending +structure, and was quite overshadowed by the R.C. Orphan Asylum close at +hand. Both were backed by sandhills; and both, together with the sand, +have been spirited away. The Palace and Grand Hotels now stand on the +spot. The original St. Patrick's still exists; and, after one or two +transportations, has come to a final halt near the Catholic cemetery +under the shadow of Lone Mountain. It must be ever dear to me, for +within its modest rectory I met the first Catholic clergyman I ever +became acquainted with; and within it I grew familiar with the offices +of the Church; though I was instructed by the Rev. Father Accolti, S.J., +at old St. Ignatius', on Market Street; and by him baptized at the St. +Mary's Cathedral, on the corner of California and Dupont Streets, now +the church of the Paulist Fathers. I have referred to dear old St. +Patrick's—which was dedicated on the first Sunday in September, +1851—in the story of my conversion, a little bit of autobiography +entitled "A Troubled Heart, and How It was Comforted at Last." The late +Peter H. Burnett, first Governor of California, was my godfather.</p> + +<p>In 1855 St. Mary's Cathedral was the handsomest house of worship in the +city. For the most part, the churches of all denominations were of the +plainest, not to say cheapest, order of architecture. As a youth, I sat +in the family pew in the First Presbyterian Church, situated on Stockton +Street, near Broadway. Well I remember my father, with others of the +congregation—all members of the Vigilance Committee,—at the sound of +the alarm-bell, rising in the midst of the sermon and striding out of +the house to take arms in defence of law and order.</p> + +<p>Perhaps the saddest sights in those early days were the neglected +cemeteries. There was one at North Beach, where before 1850 there were +eight hundred and forty interments. It was on the slope of Telegraph +Hill. The place was neglected; a street had been cut through it, and on +the banks of this street we could, at intervals, see the ends of coffins +protruding. Some were broken and falling apart; some were still sound. +It was a gruesome sight.</p> + +<p>There were a few Russian graves on Russian Hill, a forlorn spot in those +days; but perhaps the forlornest of all was Yerba Buena cemetery, where +previous to 1854 four thousand and five hundred bodies had been buried. +It was half-way between Happy Valley and the Mission Dolores. The sand +there was tossed in hillocks like the waves of a sandy sea. There the +chaparral grew thickest; and there the scrub-oaks shrugged their +shoulders and turned their backs to the wind, and grew all lopsided, +with leafage as dense as moss.</p> + +<p>No fence enclosed this weird spot. The sand sifted into it and through +it and out on the other, side; it made graves and uncovered them; it had +ever a new surprise for us. We boys haunted it in ghoulish pairs, and +whispered to each other as we found one more coffin coming to the +surface, or searched in vain for the one we had seen the week before; it +had been mercifully reburied by the winds. There were rude headboards, +painted in fading colors; and beneath them lay the dead of all nations, +soon to be nameless. By and by they were all carried hence; and those +that were far away, watching and waiting for the loved and absent +adventurers, watched and waited in vain. A change come o'er the spirit +of the place. The site is now marked by the New City Hall—in all +probability the most costly architectural monstrosity on this continent.</p> + +<p>"From grave to gay" is but a step; "from lively to severe," another,—I +know not which of the two is longer. It was literally from grave to gay +when the old San Franciscans used to wade through the sandy margin of +Yerba Buena cemetery in search of pleasure at Russ' Garden on the +mission road. It flourished in the early Fifties—this very German +garden, the pride and property of Mr. Christian Russ. It was a little +bit of the Fatherland, transported as if by magic and set down among the +hillocks toward the Mission Dolores. Well I remember being taken there +at intervals, to find little tables in artificial bowers, where sat +whole families as sedate, or merry, and as much at ease as if they were +in their own homes. They would spend Sunday there, after Mass. There was +always something to be seen, to be listened to, to be done. Meals were +served at all hours, and beer at all minutes; and the program contained +a long list of attractions,—enough to keep one interested till ten or +eleven o'clock at night.</p> + +<p>I can remember how scanty the foliage was—it resembled a little the +toy-villages that are made in the Tyrol, having each of them a handful +of impossible trees that breathe not balsam, but paint. I remember the +high wind that blew in bravely from the sea; the pavilion that was a +wonder-world of never-failing attractiveness; and how on a certain +occasion I watched with breathless anxiety and dumb amazement a man, +who seemed to have discarded every garment common to the race, wheel a +wheelbarrow with a grooved wheel up a tight rope stretched from the +ground to the outer peak of the pavilion; and all the time there was a +man in the wheelbarrow who seemed paralyzed with fright,—as no doubt he +was. The man who wheeled the barrow was the world-famous Blondin.</p> + +<br /> +<a name="image-10"><!-- Image 10 --></a> +<center> +<img src="images/illus-0100-2.jpg" height="400" width="654" +alt="Russ Gardens, 1856"> +</center> + +<h4>Russ Gardens, 1856</h4> + +<p>Another sylvan retreat was known as "The Willows." There were some +willows there, but I fear they were numbered; and there was an <i>al +fresco</i> theatre such as one sees in the Champs-Elysées; indeed, the +place had quite a Frenchy atmosphere, and was not at all German, as was +Russ' Garden. French singers sang French songs upon the stage—it was +not much larger than a sounding-board.</p> + +<p>An air of gaiety prevailed; for I imagine the majority of the <i>habitués</i> +were from the French Quarter of the city. Of course there were birds and +beasts, and cages populous with monkeys; and there was an emeu—the +weird bird that can not fly, the Australian cassowary. This bird +inspired Bret Harte to song, and in his early days he wrote "The Ballad +of the Emeu";</p> + +<div class='poem'><div class='stanza'> +<span>O say, have you seen at the willows so green,<br /></span> +<span class='i2'>So charming and rurally true,<br /></span> +<span>A singular bird, with the manner absurd,<br /></span> +<span class='i2'>Which they call the Australian emeu?<br /></span> +<span class='i14'>Have you<br /></span> +<span class='i2'>Ever seen this Australian emeu?<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p>I fear the poet was moved to sarcasm when he sang of "the willows so +green, so charming and rurally true." Surely they were greener than any +other trees we had in town; for we had almost none, save a few dark +evergreens. Well, the place was charming in its way, and as rurally true +as anything could be expected to be on that peninsula in its native +wilderness. The Willows and Russ' Garden had their day, and it was a +jolly day. They were good for the people—those rural resorts; they were +rest for the weary, refreshment for the hungry and thirsty—and they +have gone; even their very sites are now obliterated, and the new +generation has perhaps never even heard of them.</p> + +<p>How we wondered at and gloried in the Oriental Hotel! It was the queen +of Western hostelries, and stood at the corner of Battery and Bush +Streets. And the Tehama House, so famous in its day! It was Lieutenant +G.H. Derby, better known in letters as John Phoenix, and Squibob—names +delightfully associated with the early history of California,—it was +this Lieutenant Derby, one of the first and best of Western humorists, +who added interest to the hotel by writing "A Legend of the Tehama +House." It begins, chapter first:</p> + +<p>"It was evening at the Tehama. The apothecary, whose shop formed the +southeastern corner of that edifice, had lighted his lamps, which, +shining through those large glass bottles in the window, filled with +red and blue liquors—once supposed by this author, when young and +innocent, to be medicines of the most potent description,—lit up the +faces of the passers-by with an unearthly glare, and exaggerated the +general redness and blueness of their noses."</p> + +<p>The third and last chapter concludes with these words: "The Tehama House +is still there." The laughter-making and laughter-loving Phoenix has +long since gone to his reward. Of the Oriental Hotel scarcely a +tradition remains. The Tehama House—what there is left of it—has been +spirited to the north side of Broadway within a stone's-throw of the +city and county jail. The cliffs of Telegraph Hill browbeat it. It is, +one might say, the last of its race.</p> + +<p>Another hospice—if it <i>was</i> a hospice—I remember. It stood on the +corner of Clay and Sansome Streets, and was a very ordinary building, +erected over the hulk of a ship that had been stranded there in the days +of Forty-nine. I saw the building torn down and the bones of the hulk +disinterred years after the water lots that had been filled in for +several squares, between it and the old harbor, were covered with +substantial buildings. When that bark was buoyant it had weathered Cape +Horn with a small army of argonauts. They had gone their way to dusty +death; she had buried her nose on the water-front and had been +smothered to death in the mire. Docks, streets, grew up around her; a +building had snuffed her out of sight and mind. The old building gave +place to a new one; the bark was resurrected in order to lay a solid +foundation for the new block that was to be. In the hold of this +forgotten bark was discovered a forgotten case of champagne. It had been +sunk in mud and ooze for years. When the bottles were opened the corks +refused to pop, and nobody dared to touch the "bilge" that was within. +All this was on the happy hem of Happy Valley—and still I was not +happy.</p> + + + +<hr style='width: 65%;' /> +<a name='ODXI'></a><h2>XI.</h2> + +<h3>THE VIGILANCE COMMITTEE</h3> +<br /> + +<p><img align='left' src="images/illus-i.png" height="75" width="75" +alt="I"> + +<b><big>T</big></b> was May 14, 1856. I chanced to be standing at the northwest corner of +Washington and Montgomery Streets, watching the world go by. It was a +queer world: very much mixed, not a little fantastic in manner and +costume; just the kind of world to delight a boy, and no doubt I was +delighted.</p> + +<p>"Bang!" It was a pistol-shot, and very near me—not thirty feet away. I +turned and saw a man stagger and fall to the pavement. Then the streets +began to grow dark with people hurrying toward the scene of the tragedy. +I fled in fright; I had had my fill of horrors. The pistol-shot was +familiar enough: it punctuated the hours of day and night out yonder. +But I had never witnessed a murder, and this was evidently one.</p> + +<p>When I reached home I was dazed. On the witness stand, under oath, I +could have told nothing; but very shortly the whole town was aware that +James King—known as James King of William (i.e., William King was his +father)—the editor of the <i>Evening Bulletin</i> had been shot in cold +blood by James Casey, a supervisor, the editor of a local journal, an +unprincipled politician, an ex-convict, and a man whose past had been +exposed and his present publicly denounced in the editorial columns of +the <i>Bulletin</i>.</p> + +<p>This climax precipitated a general movement toward social and political +reform in San Francisco. It was James P. Casey, a graduate of the New +York state-prison at Sing Sing, who stuffed a ballot-box with tickets +bearing his own name upon them as candidate for supervisor, and as a +result of this stuffing declared himself elected. Casey was hurried off +to jail by his friends, lest the outraged populace should lynch him on +the spot. A mob gathered at the jail. The mayor of the city harangued +the people in favor of law and order. They jeered him and remained there +most of the night. One leading spirit might have roused the masses to +riot; but the hour was not yet ripe.</p> + +<p>In 1851 a Vigilance Committee had endeavored to purge the politics of +the town and rid it of the criminals who had foisted themselves into +office. Some ex-members of this committee became active members of the +committee of 1856. Chief among them was William T. Coleman, a name +deservedly honored in the annals of San Francisco.</p> + +<p>James King of William was shot on Tuesday, the 14th of May. He died on +the following Monday. That fatal shot was the turning-point in the +history of the metropolis of the Pacific. A meeting of the citizens was +immediately called; an executive committee was appointed; the work of +organization was distributed among the sub-committees. With amazing +rapidity three thousand citizens were armed, drilled, and established in +temporary armories; ample means were subscribed to cover all expenses. +Several companies of militia disbanded rather than run the risk of being +called into service against the Vigilantis; they then joined the +committee, armed with their own muskets. Arms were obtained from every +quarter, and soon there was an ample supply. A building on Sacramento +Street, below Battery, was secured and made headquarters of the +committee. A kind of fortification built of potato sacks filled with +sand was erected in front of it. It was known as Fort Gunny Bags. This +secured an open space before the building. The fort was patrolled by +sentinels night and day; military rule was strictly observed.</p> + +<p>All things having been arranged silently, secretly, decently and in +order—the members of the committee were under oath as well as under +arms—they decided to take matters into their own hands; and in order to +do this Casey must be removed from jail—peaceably if possible, forcibly +if necessary—and given a lodging and a trial at Fort Gunny Bags.</p> + +<p>On Sunday morning, the 19th of May, chancing be under the weather, and +consequently at home sitting by a window, I saw people flocking past the +house and hastening toward the jail. We were then living on Broadway, +below Montgomery Street; the jail was on Broadway, a square or two +farther up the street; between us was a shoulder of Telegraph Hill not +yet cut away, though it had been blasted out of shape and an attempt had +been made to tunnel it. The young Californian of that day was +keen-scented and lost no opportunity of seeing whatever was to be seen. +Forgetting my distemper, I grabbed my cap and joined the expectant +throngs. We went over the heights of the hill like a flock of goats: we +were used to climbing. On the other edge of the cliff, where we seemed +almost to overhang the jail and the street in front of it, we paused and +caught our breath. What a sight it was! It seems that on Saturday +twenty-four companies of Vigilantis were ordered to meet at their +respective armories, in various parts of the city, at nine o'clock on +Sunday morning. Orders were given to each captain to take up a certain +position near the jail. The jail was surrounded: no one could approach +it, no one escape from it, without leave of the commanders of the +committee.</p> + +<p>The streets glistened with bayonets. It was as if the city were in a +state of siege; so indeed it was. The companies marched silently, +ominously, without music or murmur, to their respective stations. +Citizens—non-combatants but all sympathizers—flocked in and covered +the housetops and the heights in the vicinity. A hollow square was +formed before the jail; an artillery company with a huge brass cannon +halted near it; the cannon was placed directly in front of the jail and +trained upon the gates. I remember how impressive the scene was: the +grim files of infantry; the gleaming brass of the cannon; one closed +carriage within the hollow square; the awful stillness that brooded over +all.</p> + +<br /> +<a name="image-11"><!-- Image 11 --></a> +<center> +<img src="images/illus-0108-2.jpg" height="551" width="400" +alt="Certificate of Membership, Vigilance Committee, 1856"> +</center> + +<h4>Certificate of Membership, Vigilance Committee, 1856</h4> + +<p>Two Vigilance officials went to the door of the jail and informed +Sheriff Scannell that they had come to take Casey with them. Resistance +was now useless; the door of the jail was thrown open to them and they +entered. At their approach Casey begged leave to speak for ten minutes +in his own defense,—he evidently expected to be executed on the +instant. He was assured that he should have a fair trial, and that his +testimony should be deliberately weighed in the balance. This act of an +outraged and disgusted people was one of the calmest, coolest, wisest, +most deliberate on record. Law, order, and justice were at bay. Casey, +under guard, walked quietly to the carriage and entered it. In the jail +at the time was Charles Cora, a man who had murdered United States +Marshal Richardson. He had been tried once; but then the jury +disagreed—as they nearly always agreed to in those barbarous days. +Hanging was almost out of the question. Cora was invited to enter the +carriage with Casey, and the two were driven under military escort to +Fort Gunny Bags.</p> + +<p>On the day following, Monday, James King of William died. On Tuesday +Casey was tried by the executive committee. John S. Hittell, the +historian of San Francisco, says:</p> + +<p>"No person was present at the trial save the accused, the members of the +Vigilance Committee, and witnesses. The testimony was given under oath, +though there was no lawful authority for its administration. Hearsay +testimony was excluded; the general rules of evidence observed in the +courts were adopted: the accused heard all the witnesses, cross-examined +those against him, summoned such as he wanted in his favor, had an +attorney to assist him, and was permitted to make an argument by himself +or his attorney, in his own defence."</p> + +<p>Casey and Cora were both convicted: their guilt was beyond the shadow of +a doubt.</p> + +<p>On Wednesday James King of William was laid to rest at Lone Mountain. +The whole city was draped in mourning; all business was suspended; the +citizens lined the streets through which the feral cortége proceeded, or +followed it until it seemed interminable.</p> + +<p>As that procession passed up Montgomery Street and crossed Sacramento +Street, those who were walking or driving in it looked down the latter +street and saw, two squares below, the lifeless bodies of James P. Casey +and Charles Cora dangling by the neck from two second-story windows of +the headquarters of the Vigilance Committee. Justice was enthroned at +last.</p> + +<p>"The Vigilance Committees of San Francisco in 1851 and 1856," as Hittell +says, "were in many important respects unlike any other extra-judicial +movement to administer justice. They were not common mobs: they were +organized for weeks or months of labor, deliberate in their movements, +careful to keep records of their proceedings, strictly attentive to the +rules of evidence and the penalties for crime accepted by civilized +nations; confident of their power, and of their justification by public +opinion; and not afraid of taking the public responsibility of their +acts."</p> + +<p>The committee of 1856 was never formally dissolved. The reformation it +had accomplished rendered it inactive. Some of the worst criminals in +California had been officials. A thousand homicides had been committed +in the city between 1849 and 1856, and there were but seven executions +in seven years.</p> + +<p>Richard Henry Dana, Jr., the author of "Two Years before the Mast," who +spent the greater portion of two years—1834-35—on the coast of +California, and who revisited the Pacific coast in 1859, observes:</p> + +<p>"And now the most quiet and well-governed city in the United States is +San Francisco. But it has been through its seasons of heaven-defying +crime and violence and blood; from which it was rescued and handed back +to soberness and morality and good government by that peculiar invention +of Anglo-Saxon republican America—the solemn, awe-inspiring Vigilance +Committee of the most grave and respectable citizens; the last resort of +the thinking and the good, taken only when vice, fraud, and ruffianism +had entrenched themselves behind the forms of law, suffrage, and +ballot."</p> + +<p>San Francisco was undoubtedly the most disreputable city in the Union. +It is now one of the most reputable. As I think of it to-day there is no +shudder in the thought. And yet I saw James King of William shot; I saw +Casey and Cora transferred from the jail to the headquarters of the +Vigilance Committee; and I saw them hanging as the body of James King of +William was being borne by a whole city, bowed in grief, to his last +resting-place. And my venerated father was a member of that +never-to-be-forgotten Vigilance Committee of San Francisco in the year +of Our Lord eighteen hundred and fifty-six.</p> + + + +<hr style='width: 65%;' /> +<a name='ODXII'></a><h2>XII.</h2> + +<h3>THE SURVIVOR'S STORY</h3> +<br /> + +<p><img align='left' src="images/illus-i.png" height="75" width="75" +alt="I"> + +<b><big>T</big></b> is not much of a story. It is only the mild adventure of a boy at +sea; and of a small, sad boy at that. This boy had an elder brother who +was ill; and the physicians in consultation had decided that a long +sea-voyage was his only hope, and that even in this case the hope was a +very faint one.</p> + +<p>There was a ship at anchor in the harbor of San Francisco,—a very +famous clipper, one of those sailors of the sea known as Ocean +Greyhounds. She was built for speed, and her record was a brilliant one; +under the guidance of her daring captain, she had again and again proved +herself worthy of her name. She was called the <i>Flying Cloud</i>. Her +cabins were luxuriously furnished; for in those days seafarers were +oftener blown about the world by the four winds of heaven than propelled +by steam. Yet when the <i>Flying Cloud</i>, one January day, tripped anchor +and set sail, there were but three strangers on the quarter-deck—a +middle-aged gentleman in search of health, the invalid brother, in his +eighteenth year, and the small, sad boy.</p> + +<br /> +<a name="image-12"><!-- Image 12 --></a> +<center> +<img src="images/illus-0114-2.jpg" height="400" width="652" +alt="West from Black Point, 1856"> +</center> + +<h4>West from Black Point, 1856</h4> + +<p>The captain's wife, a lady of Salem who had followed him from sea to +sea for many a year, was the joy and salvation of that forlorn little +company. How forlorn it was only the survivor knows, and he knows well +enough. Forty years have scarcely dimmed the memory of it. Through all +the wear and tear of time the remembrance of that voyage has at +intervals haunted him: the length of it, the weariness of it, and the +almost unbroken monotony stretching through the ninety odd days that +dawned and darkened between San Francisco and New York; the solitary +sail that was blown on and on, and becalmed and buffeted between the +blue waste of waters and the blue waste of sky; the lonesomeness of it +all—no land, no lights flashing across the sea in glad assurance; no +passing ships to hail us with faint-voiced "Ahoy!"—only the +ever-tossing waves, the trailing sea-gardens, the tireless birds of the +air and the monsters of the deep.</p> + +<p>Ah, well-a-day! There was a solemn and hushed circle listening to family +prayers that morning,—the morning of the 4th of January. The father's +voice trembled as he opened the Bible and read from that beautiful +psalm:</p> + +<p>"They that go down to the sea in ships, that do business in great +waters, these see the works of the Lord and His wonders in the deep. For +He commandeth and raiseth the stormy wind, which lifteth up the waves +thereof. They mount up to the heaven; they go down again to the depths; +their soul is melted because of trouble. They reel to and fro and +stagger like a drunken man, and are at their wit's end. Then they cry +unto the Lord in their trouble, and He bringeth them out of their +distresses. He maketh the storm a calm, so that the waves thereof are +still. Then are they glad because they be quiet; so He bringeth them +unto their desired haven. Oh, that men would praise the Lord for His +goodness and for His wonderful works to the children of men!"</p> + +<p>The small, sad boy looked smaller and sadder than ever as he stood on +the deck of the <i>Flying Cloud</i> and waved his last farewell. He tried his +best to be manly and to swallow the heart that was leaping in his +throat, and at the earliest possible moment he flew to his journal and +made his first entry there. He was going to keep a journal because his +brother kept one, and because it was the proper thing to keep a journal +at sea—no ship is complete without its log, you know; and, moreover, I +think it was a custom in that family to keep a journal; for it was, more +or less, a journalistic family.</p> + +<p>Now we are nearing the anniversary of that boy's journal: it runs +through January, February and March; it is more than forty years old +this minute. And because it is a boy's journal, and the boy was small +and sad, I'm going to peep into it and fish out a line or two. With an +effort he made this entry:</p> + +<div class='sig'> +<span>"CLIPPER SHIP, FLYING CLOUD,<br /></span> +<span>"January 4, 1857.<br /></span> +</div> + +<p>"I watched them till we were out of sight of them, and then began to +look about to see what I could see. It begins to get rough. I tried to +see home, but I could not. The pilot says he will take a letter ashore +for us. Now I will go to bed."</p> + + +<p>Then he cried unto the Lord in his trouble with a heart as heavy as +lead.</p> + +<p>"JAN. 5.—The day rather rough, with little squalls of rain. We are +passing the Farallone Islands, but I feel too bad to sketch them. I get +homesick when I think of the dear ones I left behind me. I hope I may +see them all in this world again."</p> + +<p>That was the gray beginning of a voyage that had very little color in +it. The coast-line sank apace; the gray rocks—the Farallones, the haunt +of the crying gull—dissolved in the gray mist. The hours were all +alike: all dismal and slow-footed.</p> + +<p>"I don't feel very well to-day," said the small, sad boy, quite +plaintively. On the 6th he brightens and begins to take notice. History +would have less to fasten on were there not some such entries as this:</p> + +<p>"A list of our live-stock: 17 pigs; 12 dozen hens and roosters; 3 +turkeys; 1 gobbler; a cockatoo and a wild-cat. We have a fair breeze, +and carry 26 sails.</p> + +<p>"JAN. 7.—The day is calm. I began to read 'Uncle Tom's Cabin.' I like +it. The captain's wife was going to train the wild-cat when it bit +her—but not very hard.</p> + +<p>"8.—There was not much wind to-day. We fished for sea-gulls and caught +four. I caught one and let it go again. Two hens flew overboard. The +sailors in a boat got one of them; the gulls killed one.</p> + +<p>"9.—The day has been rather gloomy. I caught another sea-gull but let +him go again. On deck nearly all day.</p> + +<p>"10.—The cockatoo sits on deck and talks and talks.</p> + +<p>"11.—It makes me feel bad when I think of home. I want to be there."</p> + +<p>The long, long weary days dragged on. It is thought worth while to note +that there were fresh eggs for breakfast, fresh pork for dinner, fresh +chicken for supper; that a porpoise had been captured, and that his +carcass yielded "three gallons of oil as good as sperm oil"; that no +ship had been seen—"no sail from day to day"; that they were in the +latitude of Panama; that it was squally or not squally, as the case +might be; that on one occasion they captured "four barrels of oil," the +flotsam of some ill-fated whaler, and that it all proved "very +exciting"; that a dolphin was captured, and that he died in splendor, +passing through the whole gamut of the rainbow—that the words of +tradition might be fulfilled; that the hens had suffered no sea-change, +but had contributed from a dozen to two dozen eggs per day. Still +stretched the immeasurable waste of waters to the horizon line on every +hand. Day by day the small boy made his entries; but he seemed to be +running down, like a clock, and needed winding up. This is how his +record dwindled:</p> + +<p>"JAN. 20.—The day is very pleasant, with some wind. We crossed the +equator. I sat up in one of the boats a long time. I wish my little +brothers were here to play with me.</p> + +<p>"21.—The day is very pleasant, with a good breeze. We are going ten or +eleven knots an hour.</p> + +<p>"22.—The day is very pleasant. A nine-knot breeze. Nothing new happened +to-day.</p> + +<p>"23.—The day is pleasant. Six-knot breeze."</p> + +<p>It came to pass that the small, sad boy, wearying of "Uncle Tom" and his +"cabin," was driven to extremes; and, having obtained leave of the +captain—who was autocrat of all his part of the world,—he climbed into +one of the ship's boats, as it hung in the davits over the side of the +vessel. It was an airy voyage he took there, sailing between sea and +sky, soaring up and down with the rolling vessel, like a bird upon the +wing.</p> + +<p>He rigged a tiny mast there—it was a walking-stick that ably served +this purpose; the captain's wife provided sails no larger than +handkerchiefs. With thread-like ropes and pencil spars he set his sails +for dreamland. One day the wind bothered him; he could not trim his +canvas, and in desperation he set it dead against the wind, and then the +sails were filled almost to bursting. But his navigation was at fault; +for he was heading in a direction quite opposite to the <i>Flying Cloud</i>.</p> + +<p>Then came a facetious sailor and whispered to him: "Do you want ever to +get to New York?"—"Yes, I do," said the little captain of the midair +craft.—"Well, then, you'd better haul in sail; for you're set dead agin +us now." The sails were struck on the instant and never unfurled again.</p> + +<p>I wonder why some people are so very inconsiderate when they speak to +children, especially to simple or sensitive children? The small, sad boy +took it greatly to heart, and was cast down because he feared that he +might have delayed the bark that bore him all too slowly toward the +far-distant port. This was indeed simplicity of the deepest dye, and +something of that simplicity the boy was never to escape unto the end +of time. We are as God made us, and we must in all cases put up with +ourselves.</p> + +<p>What a lonely voyage was that across the vast and vacant sea! Now and +then a distant sail glimmered upon the horizon, but disappeared like a +vanishing snowflake. The equator was crossed; the air grew colder; storm +and calm followed each other; the daily entry now becomes monotonous.</p> + +<p>"FEBRUARY 2.—To-day for the first time we saw an albatross.</p> + +<p>"7.—Rather rough and cold; I have spent all day in the cabin. It makes +me homesick to have such weather.</p> + +<p>"14.—I rose at five o'clock and went on deck, and before long saw land. +It was Terra del Fuego; it was a beautiful sight. Here lay a pretty +island, there a towering precipice, and over yonder a mountain covered +with snow. We made the fatal Cape Horn at two o'clock, and passed it at +four o'clock. Now we are in the Atlantic Ocean.</p> + +<p>"WASHINGTON'S BIRTHDAY.—Rough weather: a sixteen-knot breeze. To-day we +got our one thousandth egg, and the hens are doing well. At +twelve—eight bells—we saw a sail on our weather-bow: she was going the +same way as we were. At two, we overtook and spoke her. She was the +whaler <i>Scotland</i> from New Zealand, bound for New Bedford, with +thirty-five hundred barrels of oil. We soon passed her. I wish her good +luck."</p> + +<p>I will no longer stretch the small, sad boy upon the rack of his dull +journal. He had a glimpse at Juan Fernandez, but the island of his +dreams was so far off that he had to climb to the maintop in order to +get a sight of its shadowy outline. When it had faded away like the +clouds, the lonely little fellow cried himself to sleep for love of his +Robinson Crusoe.</p> + +<p>One night the moon—a large, mellow tropical one,—rose from a bank of +cloud so like a mountain's chain that the small one clapped his hands in +glee and cried: "Land ho!" But, alas! it was only cloud-land; and his +eyes, that were starving for a sight of God's green earth, were again +bedewed. Indeed he was bound for a distant shore, a voyage of ninety-one +days; and during all that voyage he was in sight of land for five days +only. It may be said that the port he was bound for, and where he was +destined to pass two years at school, four thousand miles from his own +people, may be called "The Vale of Tears."</p> + +<p>Off the Brazilian coast a head-wind forced the ship to tack repeatedly; +she was sometimes so near the land that people could be seen moving, +like black dots, along the shore. Native fishermen, mounted upon the +high seats of their catamarans—the frailest rafts,—drifted within +hailing distance; and over night the brave ship was within almost +speaking distance of Pernambuco. The lights of the city were like a bed +of glowworms,—but the small, sad boy was blown off into the sea again, +for his hour had not yet come.</p> + +<p>Here is the last entry I shall weary you with, for I would not abuse +your patience:</p> + +<p>"APRIL 5, 1857.—I was <i>awoke</i> this morning by the noise the pilot made +in getting on board. At ten o'clock the steam-tug Hercules took us in +tow. We had beautiful views of the shore [God knows how beautiful they +were in his eyes!], and at three o'clock we were at the Astor House, +with Captain and Mrs. Cresey, Mr. Connor, and the Stoddard boys—all of +the <i>Flying Cloud</i>,—where we retired to soft beds to spend the night."</p> + +<p>There is a plaintive touch in that reference to <i>soft beds</i> after three +months in the straight and narrow bunk of a ship. And there is more +pathos in all those childish pages than you wot of; for, alas and alas! +I am the sole survivor,—I was that small, sad boy; and I alone am left +to tell the tale.</p> + + + +<hr style='width: 65%;' /> +<a name='Old_China'></a><h2>A BIT OF OLD CHINA</h2> + +<br /> +<p><img align='left' src="images/illus-i.png" height="75" width="75" +alt="I"> + +<b><big>T</big></b> is but a step from Confucius to confusion," said I, in a brief +discussion of the Chinese question. "Then let us take it by all means," +replied the artist, who had been an indulgent listener for at least ten +minutes. We were strolling upon the verge of the Chinese Quarter in San +Francisco, and, turning aside from one of the chief thoroughfares of the +city, we plunged into the busiest portion of Chinatown. From our +standpoint—the corner of Kearny and Sacramento Streets—we got the most +favorable view of our Mongolian neighbors. Here is a goodly number of +merchant gentlemen of wealth and station, comfortably, if not elegantly, +housed on two sides of a street that climbs a low hill quite in the +manner of a tea-box landscape.</p> + +<p>A few of these gentlemen lodge on the upper floors of their business +houses, with Chinese wives, and quaint, old-fashioned children gaudily +dressed, looking like little idols, chatting glibly with one another, +and gracefully gesticulating with hands of exquisite slenderness. +Confucius, in his infancy, may have been like one of the least of these. +There are white draymen and porters in the employ of these shrewd and +civil merchants, and the outward appearance of traffic, as conducted in +the immediate vicinity, is rather American than otherwise.</p> + +<p>Farther up the hill, on Dupont Street, from California to Pacific +Streets, the five blocks are almost monopolized by the Chinese. There +is, at first, a sprinkling of small shops in the hands of Jews and +Gentiles, and a mingling of Chinese bazaars of the half-caste type, +where American and English goods are exposed in the show windows; but as +we pass on the Asiatic element increases, and finally every trace of +alien produce is withdrawn from the shelves and counters.</p> + +<p>Here little China flaunts her scarlet streamers overhead, and flanks her +doors with legends in saffron and gold; even its window panes have a +foreign look, and within is a glimmering of tinsel, a subdued light, and +china lamps flickering before graven images of barbaric hideousness. The +air is laden with the fumes of smoking sandal-wood and strange odors of +the East; and the streets, swarming with coolies, resound with the +echoes of an unknown tongue. There is hardly room for us to pass; we +pick our way, and are sometimes curiously regarded by slant-eyed pagans, +who bear us no good-will, if that shadow of scorn in the face has been +rightly interpreted. China is not more Chinese than this section of our +Christian city, nor the heart of Tartary less American.</p> + +<p>Turn which way we choose, within two blocks, on either hand we find +nothing but the infinitely small and astonishingly numerous forms of +traffic on which the hordes around us thrive. No corner is too cramped +for the squatting street cobbler; and as for the pipe cleaners, the +cigarette rollers, the venders of sweetmeats and conserves, they gather +on the curb or crouch under overhanging windows, and await custom with +the philosophical resignation of the Oriental.</p> + +<p>On Dupont Street, between Clay and Sacramento Streets—a single +block,—there are no less than five basement apartments devoted +exclusively to barbers. There are hosts of this profession in the +quarter. Look down the steep steps leading into the basement and see, at +any hour of the day, with what deft fingers the tonsorial operators +manipulate the devoted pagan head.</p> + +<p>There is no waste space in the quarter. In apartments not more than +fifteen feet square three or four different professions are often +represented, and these afford employment to ten or a dozen men. Here is +a druggist and herb-seller, with huge spectacles on his nose, at the +left of the main entrance; a butcher displays his meats in a show-window +on the right, serving his customers over the sill; a clothier is in the +rear of the shop, while a balcony filled with tailors or cigar-makers +hangs half-way to the ceiling.</p> + +<br /> +<a name="image-13"><!-- Image 13 --></a> +<center> +<img src="images/illus-0126-2.jpg" height="450" width="400" +alt="China is Not More Chinese than this Section of Our +Christian City."> +</center> + +<h4>"China is Not More Chinese than this Section of Our +Christian City."</h4> + +<p>Close about us there are over one hundred and fifty mercantile +establishments and numerous mechanical industries. The seventy-five +cigar factories employ eight thousand coolies, and these are huddled +into the closest quarters. In a single room, measuring twenty feet by +thirty feet, sixty men and boys have been discovered industriously +rolling <i>real</i> Havanas.</p> + +<p>The traffic which itinerant fish and vegetable venders drive in every +part of the city must be great, being as it is an extreme convenience +for lazy or thrifty housewives. A few of these basket men cultivate +gardens in the suburbs, but the majority seek their supplies in the city +markets. Wash-houses have been established in every part of the city, +and are supplied with two sets of laborers, who spend watch and watch on +duty, so that the establishment is never closed.</p> + +<p>One frequently meets a travelling bazaar—a coolie with his bundle of +fans and bric-a-brac, wandering from house to house, even in the +suburbs; and the old fellows, with a handful of sliced bamboos and +chairs swinging from the poles over their shoulders, are becoming quite +numerous; chair mending and reseating must be profitable. These little +rivulets, growing larger and more varied day by day, all spring from +that great fountain of Asiatic vitality—the Chinese Quarter. This +surface-skimming beguiles for an hour or two; but the stranger who +strolls through the streets of Chinatown, and retires dazed with the +thousand eccentricities of an unfamiliar people, knows little of the +mysterious life that surrounds him.</p> + +<p>Let us descend. We are piloted by a special policeman, one who is well +acquainted with the geography of the quarter. Provided with tapers, we +plunge into one of the several dark recesses at hand. Back of the highly +respectable brick buildings in Sacramento Street—the dwellings and +business places of the first-class Chinese merchants—there are pits and +deadfalls innumerable, and over all is the blackness of darkness; for +these human moles can work in the earth faster than the shade of the +murdered Dane. Here, from the noisome vats three stories underground to +the hanging gardens of the fish-dryers on the roofs, there is neither +nook nor corner but is populous with Mongolians of the lowest caste. The +better class have their reserved quarters; with them there is at least +room to stretch one's legs without barking the shins of one's neighbor; +but from this comparative comfort to the condensed discomfort of the +impoverished coolie, how sudden and great the change!</p> + +<p>Between brick walls we thread our way, and begin descending into the +abysmal darkness; the tapers, without which it were impossible to +proceed with safety, burn feebly in the double night of the +subterranean tenements. Most of the habitable quarters under the ground +are like so many pigeon-houses indiscriminately heaped together. If +there were only sunshine enough to drink up the slime that glosses every +plank, and fresh air enough to sweeten the mildewed kennels, this highly +eccentric style of architecture might charm for a time, by reason of its +novelty; there is, moreover, a suspicion of the picturesque lurking +about the place—but, heaven save us, how it smells!</p> + +<br /> +<a name="image-14"><!-- Image 14 --></a> +<center> +<img src="images/illus-0128-2.jpg" height="473" width="400" +alt=""Rag Alley" in Old Chinatown"> +</center> + +<h4>"Rag Alley" in Old Chinatown</h4> + +<p>We pass from one black hole to another. In the first there is a kind of +bin for ashes and coals, and there are pots and grills lying about—it +is the kitchen. A heap of fire kindling wood in one corner, a bench or +stool as black as soot can paint it, a few bowls, a few bits of rags, a +few fragments of food, and a coolie squatting over a struggling +fire,—coolie who rises out of the dim smoke like the evil <i>genii</i> in +the Arabian tale. There is no chimney, there is no window, there is no +drainage. We are in a cubic sink, where we can scarcely stand erect. +From the small door pours a dense volume of smoke, some of it stale +smoke, which our entry has forced out of the corners; the kitchen will +only hold so much smoke, and we have made havoc among the cubic inches. +Underfoot, the thin planks sag into standing pools, and there is a +glimmer of poisonous blue just along the base of the blackened walls; +thousands feed daily in troughs like these!</p> + +<p>The next apartment, smaller yet, and blacker and bluer, and more +slippery and slimy, is an uncovered cesspool, from which a sickening +stench exales continually. All about it are chambers—very small +ones,—state-rooms let me call them, opening upon narrow galleries that +run in various directions, sometimes bridging one another in a marvelous +and exceedingly ingenious economy of space. The majority of these +state-rooms are just long enough to lie down in, and just broad enough +to allow a narrow door to swing inward between two single beds, with two +sleepers in each bed. The doors are closed and bolted; there is often no +window, and always no ventilation.</p> + +<p>Our "special," by the authority vested in him, tries one door and +demands admittance. There is no response from within. A group of +coolies, who live in the vicinity and have followed close upon our heels +even since our descent into the under world, assure us in soothing tones +that the place is vacant. We are suspicious and persist in our +investigation; still no response. The door is then forced by the +"special," and behold four of the "seven sleepers" packed into this +air-tight compartment, and insensible even to the hearty greeting we +offer them!</p> + +<p>The air is absolutely overpowering. We hasten from the spot, but are +arrested in our flight by the "special," who leads us to the gate of the +catacombs, and bids us follow him. I know not to what extent the earth +has been riddled under the Chinese Quarter; probably no man knows save +he who has burrowed, like a gopher, from one living grave to another, +fleeing from taxation or the detective. I know that we thread dark +passages, so narrow that two of us may not cross tracks, so low that we +often crouch at the doorways that intercept pursuit at unexpected +intervals. Here the thief and the assassin seek sanctuary; it is a city +of refuge for lost souls.</p> + +<p>The numerous gambling houses are so cautiously guarded that only the +private police can ferret them out. Door upon door is shut against you; +or some ingenious panel is slid across your path, and you are +unconsciously spirited away through other avenues. The secret signals +that gave warning of your approach caused a sudden transformation in the +ground-plan of the establishment.</p> + +<p>Gambling and opium smoking are here the ruling passions. A coolie will +pawn anything and everything to obtain the means with which to indulge +these fascinations. There are many games played publicly at restaurants +and in the retiring rooms of mercantile establishments. Not only are +cards, dice, and dominos common, but sticks, straws, brass rings, etc., +are thrown in heaps upon the table, and the fate of the gamester hangs +literally upon a breath.</p> + +<p>These haunts are seldom visited by the officers of justice, for it is +almost impossible to storm the barriers in season to catch the criminals +in the very act. To-day you approach a gambling hell by this door, +to-morrow the inner passages of the house are mysteriously changed, and +it is impossible to track them without being frequently misled; +meanwhile the alarm is sounded throughout the building, and very +speedily every trace of guilt has disappeared. The lottery is another +popular temptation in the quarter. Most of the very numerous wash-houses +are said to be private agencies for the sale of lottery tickets. Put +your money, no matter how little it is, on certain of the characters +that cover a small sheet of paper, and your fate is soon decided; for +there is a drawing twice a day.</p> + +<p>Enter any one of the pawn-shops licensed by the city authorities, and +cast your eye over the motley collection of unredeemed articles. There +are pistols of every pattern and almost of every age, the majority of +them loaded. There are daggers in infinite variety, including the +ingenious fan stiletto, which, when sheathed, may be carried in the hand +without arousing suspicion; for the sheath and handle bear; an exact +resemblance to a closed fan. There are entire suits of clothes, beds and +bedding, tea, sugar, clocks—multitudes of them, a clock being one of +the Chinese hobbies, and no room is completely furnished without at +least a pair of them,—ornaments in profusion; everything, in fact, save +only the precious <i>queue</i>, without which no Chinaman may hope for honor +in this life or salvation in the next.</p> + +<p>The throngs of customers that keep the pawn-shops crowded with pledges +are probably most of them victims of the gambling table or the opium +den. They come from every house that employs them; your domestic is +impatient of delay, and hastens through his daily task in order that he +may nightly indulge his darling sin.</p> + +<p>The opium habit prevails to an alarming extent throughout the country, +but no race is so dependent on this seductive and fatal stimulant as the +Chinese. There are several hundred dens in San Francisco where, for a +very moderate sum, the coolie may repair, and revel in dreams that end +in a deathlike sleep.</p> + +<p>Let us pause at the entrance of one of these pleasure-houses. Through +devious ways we follow the leader, and come at last to a cavernous +retreat. The odors that salute us are offensive; on every hand there is +an accumulation of filth that should naturally, if it does not, breed +fever and death. Forms press about us in the darkness,—forms that +hasten like shadows toward that den of shades. We enter by a small door +that is open for a moment only, and find ourselves in an apartment +about fifteen feet square. We can touch the ceiling on tiptoe, yet there +are three tiers of bunks placed with head boards to the wall, and each +bunk just broad enough for two occupants. It is like the steerage in an +emigrant vessel, eminently shipshape. Every bunk is filled; some of the +smokers have had their dream and lie in grotesque attitudes, insensible, +ashen-pale, having the look of plague-stricken corpses.</p> + +<p>Some are dreaming; you see it in the vacant eye, the listless face, the +expression that betrays hopeless intoxication. Some are preparing the +enchanting pipe,—a laborious process, that reminds one of an +incantation. See those two votaries lying face to face, chatting in low +voices, each loading his pipe with a look of delicious expectation in +every feature. They recline at full-length; their heads rest upon blocks +of wood or some improvised pillow; a small oil lamp flickers between +them. Their pipes resemble flutes, with an inverted ink-bottle on the +side near the lower end. They are most of them of bamboo, and very often +are beautifully colored with the mellowest and richest tints of a wisely +smoked meerschaum. A small jar of prepared opium—a thick black paste +resembling tar—stands near the lamp.</p> + +<p>The smoker leisurely dips a wire into the paste; a few drops adhere to +it, and he twirls the wire in the flame of the lamp, where they fry and +bubble; he then draws them upon the rim of the clay pipe-bowl, and at +once inhales three or four mouthfuls of whitish smoke. This empties the +pipe, and the slow process of feeding the bowl is lazily repeated. It is +a labor of love; the eyes gloat upon the bubbling drug which shall anon +witch the soul of those emaciated toilers. They renew the pipe again and +again; their talk grows less frequent and dwindles to a whispered +soliloquy.</p> + +<p>We address them, and are smiled at by delirious eyes; but the ravenous +lips are sealed to that magic tube, from which they draw the breath of a +life we know not of. Their fingers relax; their heads sink upon the +pillows; they no longer respond, even by a glance, when we now appeal to +them. Here is the famous Malay, the fearful enemy of De Quincy, who +nightly drugged his master into Asiatic seas; and now himself is basking +in the tropical heats and vertical sunlight of Hindostan. Egypt and her +gods are his; for him the secret chambers of Cheops are unlocked; he +also is transfixed at the summit of pagodas; he is the idol, the priest, +the worshipped, the sacrificed. The wrath of Brahma pursues him through +the forests of Asia; he is the hated of Vishnu; Siva lies in wait for +him; Isis and Osiris confront him.</p> + +<p>What is this key which seems for a time to unlock the gates of heaven +and of hell? It is the most complicated drug in the pharmacopoeia. +Though apparently nothing more than a simple black, slimy paste, +analysis reveals the fact that it contains no less than five-and-twenty +elements, each one of them a compound by itself, and many of them among +the most complex compounds known to modern chemistry. This "dread agent +of unimaginable pleasure and pain," this author of an "Iliad of woes," +lies within reach of every creature in the commonwealth. As the most +enlightened and communicative of the opium eaters has observed: +"Happiness may be bought for a penny, and carried in the waistcoat +pocket; portable ecstasy may be had corked up in a pint bottle; peace of +mind may be set down in gallons by the mail-coach."</p> + +<p>This is the chief, the inevitable dissipation of our coolie tribes; this +is one of the evils with which we have to battle, and in comparison with +which the excessive indulgence in intoxicating liquors is no more than +what a bad dream is to hopeless insanity. See the hundred forms on opium +pillows already under the Circean spell; swarms are without the chambers +awaiting their turn to enter and enjoy the fictitious delights of this +paradise.</p> + +<p>While the opium habit is one that should be treated at once with wisdom +and severity, there is another point which seriously involves the +Chinese question, and, unhappily, it must be handled with gloves. +Nineteen-twentieths of the Chinese women in San Francisco are depraved!</p> + +<p>Not far from one of the pleasure-houses we intruded upon a domestic +hearth smelling of punk and pestilence. A child fled with a shrill +scream at our approach. This was the hospital of the quarter. Nine cases +of small-pox were once found within its narrow walls, and with no one to +care for them. As we explored its cramped wards our path was obstructed +by a body stretched upon a bench. The face was of that peculiar +smoke-color which we are obliged to accept as Chinese pallor; the trunk +was swathed like a mummy in folds of filthy rags; it was motionless as +stone, apparently insensible. Thus did an opium victim await his +dissolution.</p> + +<p>In the next room a rough deal burial case stood upon two stools; tapers +were flickering upon the floor; the fumes of burning punk freighted the +air and clouded the vision; the place was clean enough, for it was +perfectly bare, but it was eminently uninteresting. Close at hand stood +a second burial case, an empty one, with the cover standing against the +wall; a few hours more and it would find a tenant—he who was dying in +rags and filth in the room adjoining. This was the native hospital of +the quarter, and the mother of the child was the matron of the +establishment.</p> + +<p>I will cast but one more shadow on the coolie quarter, and then we will +search for sunshine. It is folly to attempt to ignore the fact that the +seeds of leprosy are sown among the Chinese. If you would have proof, +follow me. It is a dreary drive over the hills to the pest-house. +Imagine that we have dropped in upon the health officer at his city +office. Our proposed visitation has been telephoned to the resident +physician, who is a kind of prisoner with his leprous patients on the +lonesome slope of a suburban hill. As we get into the rugged edge of the +city, among half-graded streets, strips of marshland, and a semi-rustic +population, we ask our way to the pest-house. Yonder it lies, surrounded +by that high white fence on the hill-top, above a marsh once clouded +with clamorous water-fowl, but now all, all under the spell of the +quarantine, and desolate beyond description. Our road winds up the +hill-slope, sown thick with stones, and stops short at the great solid +gate in the high rabbit fence that walls in the devil's acre, if I may +so call it. We ring the dreadful bell—the passing-bell, that is seldom +rung save to announce the arrival of another fateful body clothed in +living death.</p> + +<p>The doctor welcomes us to an enclosure that is utterly whitewashed; the +detached houses within it are kept sweet and clean. Everything connected +with the lazaret is of the cheapest description; there is a primitive +simplicity, a modest nakedness, an insulated air about the place that +reminds one of a chill December in a desert island. Cheap as it is and +unhandsome, the hospital is sufficient to meet all the requirements of +the plague in its present stage of development. The doctor has weeded +out the enclosure, planted it, hedged it about with the fever-dispelling +eucalyptus, and has already a little plot of flowers by the office +window,—but this is not what we have come to see. One ward in the +pest-house is set apart for the exclusive use of the Chinese lepers, who +have but recently been isolated. We are introduced to the poor creatures +one after another, and then we take them all in at a glance, or group +them according to their various stages of decomposition, or the peculiar +character of their physical hideousness.</p> + +<p>They are not all alike; with some the flesh has begun to wither and to +slough off, yet they are comparatively cheerful; as fatalists, it makes +very little difference to them how soon or in what fashion they are +translated to the other life. There is one youth who doubtless suffers +some inconveniences from the clumsy development of his case. This lad, +about eighteen years of age, has a face that is swollen like a sponge +saturated with corruption; he can not raise his bloated eyelids, but, +with his head thrown back, looks downward over his cheeks. Two of these +lepers are as astonishing specimens as any that have ever come under my +observation, yet I have morbidly sought them from Palestine to Molokai. +In these cases the muscles are knotted, the blood curdled; masses of +unwholesome flesh cover them, lying fold upon fold; the lobes of their +ears hang almost to the shoulder; the eyes when visible have an inhuman +glance that transfixes you with horror. Their hands are shapeless stumps +that have lost all natural form or expression.</p> + +<p>Of old there was a law for the leprosy of a garment and of a house; yet, +in spite of the stringency of that Mosaic law, the isolation, the +purging with hyssop, and the cleansing by fire, St. Luke records: "There +met Him ten men who were lepers, who stood afar off; and they lifted up +their voices and cried, Jesus, Master, have mercy on us!" And to-day, +more than eighteen hundred years later, lepers gather on the slopes of +Mount Zion, and hover at the gates of Jerusalem, and crouch in the +shadow of the tomb of David, crying for the bread of mercy. Leprosy once +thoroughly engrafted on our nation, and nor cedar-wood, nor scarlet, nor +hyssop, nor clean birds, nor ewes of the first year, nor measures of +fine flour, nor offerings of any sort, shall cleanse us for evermore.</p> + +<p>Let us turn to pleasanter prospects—the Joss House, for instance, one +of the several temples whither the Chinese frequently repair to +propitiate the reposeful gods. It is an unpretentious building, with +nothing external to distinguish its facade from those adjoining, save +only a Chinese legend above the door. There are many crooks and turns +within it; shrines in a perpetual state of fumigation adorn its nooks +and corners; overhead swing shelves of images rehearsing historical +tableaux; there is much carving and gilding, and red and green paint. It +is the scene of a perennial feast of lanterns, and the worshipful enter +silently with burn-offerings and meat-offerings and drink-offerings, +which they spread before the altar under the feet of some colossal god; +then, with repeated genuflections, they retire. The thundering gong or +the screaming pipes startle us at intervals, and white-robed priests +pass in and out, droning their litanies.</p> + +<p>At this point the artist suggests refreshments; arm in arm we pass down +the street, surfeited with sight-seeing, weary of the multitudinous +bazaars, the swarming coolies, the boom of beehive industry. Swamped in +a surging crowd, we are cast upon the catafalque of the celestial dead. +The coffin lies under a canopy, surrounded by flambeaux, grave +offerings, guards and musicians.</p> + +<p>Chinatown has become sufficiently acclimatized to begin to put forth its +natural buds again as freely as if this were indeed the Flowery Land. +The funeral pageant moves,—a dozen carriages preceded by mourners on +foot, clad in white, their heads covered, their feet bare, their grief +insupportable, so that an attendant is at hand to sustain each mourner +howling at the wheels of the hearse. An orchestra heads the procession; +the air is flooded with paper prayers that are cast hither at you to +appease the troubled spirit. They are on their way to the cemetery among +the hills toward the sea, where the funeral rites are observed as +rigorously as they are on Asian soil.</p> + +<p>We are still unrefreshed and sorely in need of rest. Overhead swing huge +balloon lanterns and tufts of gold flecked scarlet streamers,—a sight +that maketh the palate of the hungry Asiatic to water; for within this +house may be had all the delicacies of the season, ranging from the +confections of the fond suckling to funeral bake-meats. Legends wrought +in tinsel decorate the walls. Here is a shrine with a vermilion-faced +god and a native lamp, and stalks of such hopelessly artificial flowers +as fortunately are unknown in nature. Saffron silks flutter their +fringes in the steams of nameless cookery—for all this is but the +kitchen, and the beginning of the end we aim at.</p> + +<p>A spiral staircase winds like a corkscrew from floor to floor; we ascend +by easy stages, through various grades of hunger, from the economic +appetite on the first floor, where the plebian stomach is stayed with +tea and lentils, even to the very house-top, where are administered +comforting syrups and a <i>menu</i> that is sweetened throughout its length +with the twang of lutes, the clash of cymbals, and the throb of the +shark-skin drum.</p> + +<p>Servants slip to and fro in sandals, offering edible birds'-nests, +sharks' fins, and <i>beche de mer</i>,—or are these unfamiliar dishes +snatched from some other kingdom? At any rate, they are native to the +strange people who have a little world of their own in our midst, and +who could, if they chose, declare their independence to-morrow.</p> + +<p>We see everywhere the component parts of a civilization separate and +distinct from our own. They have their exits and their entrances; their +religious life and burial; their imports, exports, diversions, +tribunals, punishments. They are all under the surveillance of the six +companies, the great six-headed supreme authority. They have laws within +our laws that to us are sealed volumes. Why should they not? Fifty years +ago there were scarcely a dozen Chinese in America. In 1851, inclusive, +not more than 4,000 had arrived; but the next year brought 18,000, +seized with the lust of gold. The incoming tide fluctuated, running as +low as 4,000 and as high as 15,000 per annum. Since, 1868 we have +received from 10,000 to 15,000 yearly.</p> + +<p>After supper we leaned from the high balcony, among flowers and +lanterns, and looked down upon the street below; it was midnight, yet +the pavements were not deserted, and there arose to our ears a murmur +as of a myriad humming bees shut in clustering hives; close about us +were housed near twenty thousand souls; shops were open; discordant +orchestras resounded from the theatres; in a dark passage we saw the +flames playing upon the thresholds of infamy to expel the evil shades.</p> + +<p>Away off in the Bay in the moonlight, glimmered the ribbed sail of a +fishing junk, and the air was heavy with an indefinable odor which to +this hour puzzles me; but it must be attributed either to sink or +sandal-wood—perchance to both!</p> + +<p>"It is a little bit of old China, this quarter of ours," said the +artist, rising to go. And so it is, saving only a noticeable lack of +dwarfed trees and pale pagodas and sprays of willowy bamboo; of clumsy +boats adrift on tideless streams; of toy-like tea gardens hanging among +artificial rocks, and of troops of flat-faced but complaisant people +posing grotesquely in ridiculous perspective.</p> + + + +<hr style='width: 65%;' /> +<br /> +<a name="image-15"><!-- Image 15 --></a> +<center> +<img src="images/illus-0144-2.jpg" height="400" width="701" +alt= "The Farallones"> +</center> + +<h4>The Farallones</h4> +<br /> +<a name='Egg-Pickers'></a><h2>WITH THE EGG-PICKERS OF THE FARALLONES</h2> +<br /> + + +<p><img align='left' src="images/illus-t.png" height="75" width="75" +alt= "T"> + +<b><big>HOSE</big></b> who have visited the markets of San Francisco during the egg +season may have noticed the abundance of large and singularly marked +eggs, that are offered for sale by the bushel. The shells of these eggs +are pear-shaped, parti-colored, and very thick. They range in color from +a light green to grey or brown, and are all of them profusely spotted, +or blotted, I might say spattered, with clots of black or brown. Some +are beautiful, with soft tints blended in a delicate lace-like pattern. +Some are very ugly, and look unclean. All are a trifle stale, with a +meat of coarse texture and gamy flavor. But the Italians and the Coolies +are fond of them, and doubtless many a gross finds its way into the +kitchens of the popular cheap restaurants, where, disguised in omelets +and puddings, the quantity compensates for the lack of quality, and the +palate of the rapid eater has not time to analyze the latter. These are +the eggs of the sea-gull, the gull that cries all day among the shipping +in the harbor, follows the river boats until meal-time, and feeds on the +bread that is cast upon the water.<a name='FNanchor_2'></a><a href='#Footnote_2'><sup>[2]</sup></a> +How true it is that this bread returns to us after many days!</p> + +<p>The gulls, during incubation, seek the solitude of the Farallones, a +group of desolate and weather-beaten rocks that tower out of the fog +about thirty miles distant from the mouth of the harbor of San +Francisco. Nothing can be more magnificently desolate than the aspect of +these islands. Scarcely a green blade finds root there. They are haunted +by sea-fowl of all feathers, and the boom of the breakers mingles with +the bark of the seals that have colonized on one of the most +inaccessible islands of the group. It is here that myriads of sea-birds +rear their young, here where the very cliffs tremble in the tempestuous +sea and are drenched with bitter spray, and where ships have been cast +into the frightful jaws of caverns and speedily ground into splinters.</p> + +<p>The profit on sea-eggs has increased from year to year, and of late +speculators have grown so venturesome that competition among +egg-gatherers has resulted in an annual naval engagement, known to the +press and the public as the egg-war. If two companies of egg-pickers +met, as was not unlikely, the contending factions fell upon one another +with their ill-gotten spoils—the islands are under the rule of the +United States, and no one has legal right to take from them so much as +one egg without license—and the defeated party was sure to retire from +the field under a heavy shower of shells, the contents of which, though +not fatal, were at least effective.</p> + +<p>I have before me the notes of a retired egg-picker; they record the +brief experience of one who was interested in the last campaign, which, +as it terminated the career of the egg-pirates, is not without +historical interest. I will at once introduce the historian, and let him +tell his own tale.</p> + +<div class='sig'> +<span>"On Board the Schooner 'Sierra.'—<br /></span> +<span>"Off the City Front.<br /></span> +<span>"May 4, 1881.<br /></span> +</div> + +<p>"5 p.m.—There are ten of us all told; most of us strangers to one +another, but Tom and Jim, and Fred, that's me, are pals, and have been +these many months. So we conclude to hang together, and make the most of +an adventure perfectly new to each. At our feet lie our traps; blankets, +woolen shirts, heavy boots, with huge nails in the soles of them, +tobacco in bulk, a few novels, a pack of cards, and a pocket flask, for +the stomach's sake. A jolly crew, to be sure, and jollily we bade adieu +to the fellows who had gathered in the dock to wish us God-speed. +Casting loose we swung into the stream, and then slowly and clumsily +made sail. The town never looked prettier; it is always the way and +always will be; towns, like blessings, brighten just as they get out of +reach. Drifting into the west we began to grow thoughtful; what had at +first seemed a lark may possibly prove to be a very serious matter. We +have to feed on rough rations, work in a rough locality, among rough +people, and our profits, or our share of the profits, will depend +entirely upon the fruitfulness of the egg-orchard, and the number of +hundred gross that we are able to get safely into the market. No news +from the town, save by the schooner that comes over at intervals to take +away our harvest. No society, save our own, good enough always, provided +we are not forcibly confined to it. No amusements beyond a novel, a +pipe, and a pack of cards. Ah well! it is only an experience after all, +and here goes!</p> + +<p>"Sea pretty high, as we get outside the Heads, and feel the long roll of +the Pacific. Wind, fresh and cold; we are to be out all night and +looking about for bunks, we find the schooner accommodations are +limited, and that the captain and his crew monopolize them. We sleep +anywhere, grateful that we are able to sleep at all.</p> + +<p>"10 p.m.—A blustering head wind, and sea increasing. What little supper +we were able to get on board was worse than none at all, for it did not +stay with us—anything but fun, this going to sea in a bowl, to rob +gull's nests, and smuggle eggs into market.</p> + +<div class='sig'> +<span>"May 5th.</span> +</div> + +<p>"Woke in the early dawn, everything moist and sticky, clammy is the +better word, and that embraces the whole case; stiff and sore in every +joint; bacon for dinner last night, more bacon for breakfast this +morning, and only half-cooked at that. Our delicate town-bred stomachs +rebel, and we conclude to fast until we reach the island. Have sighted +the Farallones, but are too miserable to express our gratitude; wind and +sea still rising; schooner on beam ends about once in forty seconds, +between times standing either on her head or her tail, and shaking +herself 'like a thing of life.'</p> + +<p>"At noon off the landing, a buoy bobbing in the billows, to which we are +expected to make fast the schooner, and get to shore in the exceedingly +small boat; captain fears to tarry on account of heavy weather; +concludes to return to the coast and bide his time; consequently makes +for Bolinas Bay, which we reach about 9 p.m., and drop anchor in +comparatively smooth water; glad enough to sleep on an even keel at +last; it seems at least six months since we left the shining shores of +San Francisco, yet it is scarce thirty hours—but such hours, ugh!</p> + +<div class='sig'> +<span>"Bolinas Bay, May 6th.</span> +</div> + +<p>"Wind blowing a perfect gale; we are lying under a long hill, and the +narrow bay is scarcely rippled by the blast that rushes over us, thick +with flying-scud. Captain resolves to await better weather; some of the +boys go on shore, and wander out to a kind of reef at the mouth of the +bay, where in a short time they succeed in gathering a fine mess of +mussels; the rest of us, the stay-on-boards, rig up a net and catch +fifteen large fat crabs; with these we cook a delicious dinner, which we +devour ravenously, like half-starved men; begin to realize how +storm-tossed mariners feel, and have been recounting hair-breadth +escapes, over our pipes on deck; there will be much to tell the fellows +on shore, if we are ever so fortunate as to get home again.</p> + +<div class='sig'> +<span>"May 7th.</span> +</div> + +<p>"Though the weather is still bad enough to discourage us landsmen, we +put to sea, and once more head for the Farallones. They are hidden in +mist, but we beat bravely about, and by-and-by distinguish the faint +outlines of the islands looming through the fog! We try to secure the +buoy, tacking to and fro; just at the wrong moment our main halyards +part, and the sail comes crashing to the deck. To avoid being cast on +the inhospitable shore, we put to sea under jib and foresail, and are +five miles away before damages are repaired and we dare venture to +return; head about, and make fast this time. Hurrah! After several trips +of the small boat, succeed in landing luggage and provisions above +high-water mark on the Farallones; each trip of the boat is an event, +for it comes in on a big breaker, and grounds in a torrent of foam and +sand.</p> + +<p>"We find two cabins at our disposal; the larger one containing +dining-room and kitchen, and chambers above; seven of our boys store +their blankets in the rude bunks that are drawn by lot. Tom, Jim, and I +secure the smaller cabin, a single room, with bunks on three sides, a +door on the fourth.</p> + +<p>"9 p.m.—We have dined and smoked and withdrawn to our respective +lodges; the wind moans without, a thin, cold fog envelopes us; the sea +breaking furiously, the night gloomy beyond conception, but the captain +and his crew on the little schooner are not so comfortable as the +egg-pickers whom they have left behind.</p> + +<div class='sig'> +<span>"May 8th.</span> +</div> + +<p>"We all rose much refreshed, and after a hearty breakfast, such as would +have done credit to a mining-camp in pioneer days, set forth on a rabbit +chase. The islands abound in rabbits. Where do they come from, and on +what do they feed? These are questions that puzzle us.</p> + +<p>"We resolve to attack them. Having armed ourselves with clubs about two +feet in length, we proceed in a body until a rabbit is sighted, then, +separating, we surround him and gradually close him in, pelt him with +stones or sticks until the poor fellow is secured; sometimes three or +four are run down together; it is cruel sport, but this is our only hope +of fresh meat during the sojourn on the islands; a fine stew for dinner, +and some speculation on the prospect of our egg-hunt to-morrow.</p> + +<div class='sig'> +<span>"May 9th.</span> +</div> + +<p>"We did the first work of the season to-day. At the west end of the +islands is a chasm, through which the wind whistles; the waves, rushing +in from both sides, meet at the centre and leap wildly into the air. +Across this chasm we threw a light suspension bridge about forty feet in +length and two in width; one crosses it by the aid of a life-line. On +the further rock the birds are nesting in large numbers, and to-morrow +we begin the wholesale robbery of their nests.</p> + +<p>"When the bridge was completed, being pretty well fagged and quite +famished, we returned to the cabin, lunched heartily, and spent the +afternoon in highly successful rabbit chasing. Plenty of stew for all of +us. If Robinson Crusoe had been cast ashore on this island, I wonder how +he would have lived? As it is, the rabbits sometimes succeed in escaping +us, and without powder and shot it would be quite impossible for one or +two persons to bag them. We are beginning to lose faith in the +delightful romances of our youth, and to realize what a desert island +is.</p> + +<div class='sig'> +<span>"May 10th.</span> +</div> + +<p>"In front of us we each carry a large sack in which to deposit eggs; our +boots are clumsy, and the heavy nails that fill their soles make them +heavy and difficult to walk in. We also carry a strong staff to aid us +in climbing the rugged slopes. About us is nothing but grey, +weather-stained rocks; there are few paths, and these we cannot follow, +for the sea-birds, though so unused to the presence of man, are wary and +shy of his tracks; the day's work has not proved profitable. Few of us +gathered any eggs; one who was more successful, and had secured enough +to make it extremely difficult for him to scale the rocks, slipped, fell +on his face, and scrambled all his store. His plight was laughable, but +he was scarcely in the mood to relish it, as he washed his sack and +blouse in cold water, while we indulged in cards.</p> + +<br /> +<a name="image-16"><!-- Image 16 --></a> +<center> +<img src="images/illus-0152-2.jpg" height="403" width="400" +alt= "Murre on their Nests, Farallone Islands"> +</center> + +<h4> Murre on their Nests, Farallone Islands</h4> + +<div class='sig'> +<span>"May 11th.</span> +</div> + +<p>"Built another bridge over a gap where the sea rushes, and which we call +the <i>Jordan</i>. If the real Jordan is as hard to cross, heaven help us. +Eggs not very plentiful as yet; we are rather early in the season, or +the crop is late this year. More rabbits in the p.m.; more wind, more +fog; and at night, pipes, cards, and a few choruses that sound strange +and weird in the fire lights on this lonely island.</p> + +<div class='sig'> +<span>"May 12th.</span> +</div> + +<p>"Eggs are so very scarce. The foreman advises our resting for a day. We +lounge about, looking off upon the sea; sometimes a sail blows by us, +but our islands are in such ill-repute with mariners, they usually give +us a wide berth, as they call it. A little homesick towards dusk; wonder +how the boys in San Francisco are killing time; it is time that is +killing us, out here in the wind and fog.</p> + +<div class='sig'> +<span>"May 13th.</span> +</div> + +<p>"Have been hunting abalones all day, and found but a baker's dozen; +their large, shallow shells are glued to the rock at the first approach +of danger, and unless we can steal upon these queer fish unawares, and +thrust something under their shells before they have shut down upon the +rock, it is almost impossible to pry them open. Some of the boys are +searching in the sea up to their waists—hard work when one considers +how tough the abalone is, and how tasteless.</p> + +<div class='sig'> +<span>"May 14th.</span> +</div> + +<p>"This morning all our egg-pickers were at work; took in the west end, +only the high rock beyond the first bridge; gathered about forty dozen +eggs, and got them safely back to camp; in some nests there were three +eggs, and these we did not gather, fearing they were stale. In the p.m. +tried to collect dry grass enough to make a thin mattress for my bunk; +barely succeeded; am more than ever convinced that desert islands are +delusions.</p> + +<div class='sig'> +<span>"May 15th.</span> +</div> + +<p>"It being Sunday, we rest from our labors; by way of varying the +monotony of island life, we climb up to the lighthouse, 300 feet above +sea level. The path is zig-zag across the cliff, and is extremely +fatiguing. While ascending, a large stone rolled under my foot, and +went thundering down the cliff. Jim, who was in the rear, heard it +coming, and dodged; it missed his head by about six inches. Had it +struck him, he would have been hurled into the sea that boiled below; we +were both faint with horror, after realizing the fate he had escaped. +Were cordially welcomed by the lighthouse keeper, his wife, and her +companion, a young woman who had come to share this banishment. The +keeper and his wife visit the mainland but twice a year. Everywhere we +saw evidence of the influence of these charming people. The house was +tidy—the paint snow-white. The brass-work shone like gold; the place +seemed a kind of Paradise to us; even the machinery of the revolving +light, the multitude of reflectors, etc., was enchanting. We dreaded to +return to our miserable cabins, but were soon compelled to, and the +afternoon was spent in the customary rabbit chase, ending with a stew of +no mean proportions.</p> + +<div class='sig'> +<span>"May 16th.</span> +</div> + +<p>"More eggs, and afterwards a fishing excursion, which furnished us +material for an excellent chowder. We are beginning to look for the +return of the schooner, and have been longing for news from shore.</p> + +<div class='sig'> +<span>"May 17th.</span> +</div> + +<p>"A great haul of abalones this p.m. We filled our baskets, slung them +on poles over our shoulders Coolie fashion, and slowly made our way back +to camp. The baskets weighed a ton each before we at last emptied them +by the cabin door. Built a huge fire under a cauldron, and left a mess +of fish to boil until morning. The abalones are as large as steaks, and +a great deal tougher. Smoke, cards, and to bed; used up.</p> + +<div class='sig'> +<span>"May 18th.</span> +</div> + +<p>"Same program as yesterday, only the novelty quite worn off, and this +kind of life becoming almost unendurable.</p> + +<div class='sig'> +<span>"May 19th.</span> +</div> + +<p>"More eggs, more abalones, more rabbits. No signs of schooner yet. +Wonder, had Crusoe kept a diary, how many days he would have kept it +before closing it with chagrin.</p> + +<div class='sig'> +<span>"May 20th.</span> +</div> + +<p>"Spent the p.m. in getting the abalone shells down to the egg-house at +the landing. We have cleaned them, and are hoping to find this +speculation profitable; for the shells, when polished and cut, are much +used in the market for inlaying and setting in cheap jewelry. We loaded +a small tram, pushed it to the top of an incline, and let it roll down +the other side to the landing, which it reached in safety. This is the +only labor-saving machine at our command.</p> + +<div class='sig'> +<span>"May 21st.</span> +</div> + +<p>"We seem to be going all to pieces. The day commenced badly. Two of the +boys inaugurated it by a violent set-to before breakfast—an old grudge +broke out afresh, or perhaps the life here has demoralized them. I have +lamed my foot. Tide too high for abalone fishing. Eggs growing scarce, +and the rabbits seem to have deserted the accessible parts of the +island. Everybody is disgusted. We are forgetting our table-manners, it +is 'first come first served' now-a-days. I wonder if Robinson—oh, no! +he had no one but his man Friday to contend against. No schooner; no +change in the weather; tobacco giving out, and not a grain of good humor +to be had in the market. To bed, very cross.</p> + +<div class='sig'> +<span>"May 22d.</span> +</div> + +<p>"No one felt like going to work this morning. Affairs began to look +mutinous. We have searched in vain for the schooner, now considerably +overdue, and are dreading the thought of having to fulfill a contract +which calls for six weeks' labor on these islands. Some of the other +islands are to be visited, and are accessible only in small boats over a +sea that is never even tolerably smooth. This expedition we all dread a +little—at least, I judge so from my own case—but we say nothing of it. +While thus gloomily brooding over our plight, smoke was sighted on the +horizon; we ascended the hill to watch it. A steamer, doubtless, bound +for a sunnier clime, for no clime can be less sunny than ours of the +past fortnight.... It was a steamer, a small Government steamer, making +directly for our island. We became greatly excited, for nothing of any +moment had occurred since our arrival. She drew in near shore and cast +anchor. We gathered at the landing-cove to give her welcome. A boat was +beached in safety. An officer of the law said, cheerfully, as if he were +playing a part in a nautical comedy, 'I must beg you, gentlemen, to step +on board the revenue cutter, and return to San Francisco.' We were so +surprised we could not speak; or were we all speechless with joy, I +wonder? He added, this very civil sheriff, 'If you do not care to +accompany me, I shall be obliged to order the marines on shore. You will +pardon me, but as these islands are Government property, you are +requested to immediately withdraw from them.' We withdrew. We steamed +away from the windy rocks, the howling caverns, the seething waves, the +frightful chasms, the seabirds, the abalones, the rabbits, the gloomy +cabins, and the pleasant people at the top of the cliff within the white +walls of the lighthouse. Joyfully we bounded over the glassy waves, that +grew beautiful as the Farallones faded in the misty distance, and, +having been courteously escorted to the city dock, we were bidden +farewell, and left to the diversions of the hour. Thus ended the last +siege of the Farallones by the egg-pickers of San Francisco. (Profits +<i>nil</i>.)"</p> + +<p>And thus I fear, inasmuch as the Government proposes to guard the +sea-birds until a suitable license is secured by legitimate egg-pickers, +the price of gulls' eggs will go up in proportion, and hereafter we +shall have to look upon them as luxuries, and content ourselves with the +more modest and milder-flavored but undecorated products of the less +romantic barn-yard fowl.</p> + + +<hr style='width: 65%;' /> +<a name='Memory'></a><h2>A MEMORY OF MONTEREY</h2> + +<h2>I</h2> +<br /> + + +<p><img align='left' src="images/illus-o.png" height="75" width="75" +alt= "O"> + +<b><big>LD</big></b> Monterey"? Yes, old Monterey; yet not so very old. Old, however, +inasmuch as she has been hopelessly modernized; the ancient virtue has +gone out of her; she is but a monument and a memory. It is the Monterey +of a dozen or fifteen years ago I write of; and of a brief sojourn after +the briefer voyage thither. The voyage is the same; yesterday, to-day +and forever it remains unchanged. The voyager may judge if I am right +when I say that the Pacific coast, or the coast of California, Oregon +and Washington, is the selvage side of the American continent. I believe +this is evidenced in the well-rounded lines of the shore; the smooth +meadow-lands that not infrequently lie next the sea, and the +comparatively few island-fragments that are discoverable between Alaska +and Mexico.</p> + +<p>I made that statement, in the presence of a select few, on the promenade +deck of a small coaster then plying between San Francisco and Monterey; +and proved it during the eight-hour passage, to the seeming edification +of my shipmates. Even the bluffs that occasionally jutted into the sea +did the picturesque in a half-theatrical fashion. Time and the elements +seemed to have toyed with them, and not fought with them, as is the +annual custom on the eastern coast of the United States. Flocks of sheep +fed in the salt pastures by the water's edge; ranch-houses were perched +on miniature cliffs, in the midst of summer-gardens that even through a +powerful field-glass showed few traces of wear and tear.</p> + +<p>And the climate? Well, the sunshine was like sunshine warmed over; and +there was a lurking chill in the air that made our quarters in the lee +of the smoke-stack preferable to the circular settee in the +stern-sheets. Yes, it was midsummer at heart, and the comfortable +midsummer ulster advertised the fact.</p> + +<p>What a long, lonesome coast it is! Erase the few evidences of life that +relieve the monotonous landscape at infrequent intervals, and you shall +see California exactly as Drake saw it more than four centuries ago, or +the Argonaut Friars saw it a century later, and as the improved races +will see it ages hence—a little bleak and utterly uninteresting.</p> + +<p>California secretes her treasures. As you approach her from the sea, you +would scarcely suspect her wealth; her lines, though fine and flowing, +are not voluptuous, and she certainly lacks color. This was also a part +of our steamer-talk under the lee of the smoke-stack; and while we were +talking we turned a sharp corner, ran into the Bay of Monterey, and +came suddenly face to face with Santa Cruz.</p> + +<p>Ah, there was richness! Perennial groves, dazzling white cottages +snow-flaking them with beauty; a beach with afternoon bathers; and two +straggling piers that had waded out into deep water and stuck fast in +the mud. A stroll through Santa Cruz does not dissipate the enchantment +usually borrowed from usurious distance; and the two-hours'-roll in the +deep furrows of the Bay, that the pilgrim to Monterey must suffer, is +apt to make him regret he left that pleasant port in the hope of finding +something pleasanter on the dim opposite shore.</p> + +<p>We re-embarked for Monterey at dusk, when the distant horn of the Bay +was totally obscured. It is seldom more than a half-imagined point, +jutting out into a haze between two shades of blue. Stars watched over +us,—sharp, clear stars, such as flare a little when the wind blows. But +the wind was not blowing for us. Showers of sparks spangled the +crape-like folds of smoke that trailed after us; the engine labored in +the hold, and the sea heaved as it is always heaving in that wide-open +Bay.</p> + +<p>In an hour we steamed into a fog-bank, so dense that even the head-light +of our ship was as a glowworm; and from that moment until we had come +within sound of voices on the undiscovered shore, it was all like a +voyage in the clouds. Whistles blew, bells rang, men shouted, and then +we listened with hungry ears. A whistle answered us from shore—a +piercing human whistle. Dim lights burned through the fog. We advanced +with fearful caution; and while voices out of the air were greeting us, +almost before we had got our reckoning, we drifted up under a dark pier, +on which ghastly figures seemed to be floating to and fro, bidding us +all-hail. And then and there the freedom of the city was extended to us, +saturated with salt-sea mist. Probably six times in ten the voyager +approaches Monterey in precisely this fashion. 'Tis true! 'Tis pity!</p> + +<p>Having been hoisted up out of our ship—the tide was exceeding low and +the dock high; having been embraced in turn by friends who had soaked +for an hour and a half on that desolate pier-head—for our ship was +belated, groping her way in the fog,—we were taken by the hand and led +cautiously into the sand-fields that lie between the city and the sea.</p> + +<p>Of course our plans had all miscarried. Our Bachelors' Hall fell with a +dull thud when we heard that the chief bachelor had turned benedict +three days before. But he was present with his bride, and he knew of a +haunt that would compensate us for all loss or disappointment. We +crossed the desert nursing a faint hope. We threaded one or two wide, +weedy, silent streets; not a soul was visible, though it was but nine +in the evening,—which was not to be wondered at, since the town was +divided against itself: the one half slept, the other half still sat +upon the pier, making a night of it; for old Monterey had but one shock +that betrayed it into some show of human weakness. The cause was the +Steam Navigation Co. The effect was a fatal fondness for tendering a +public reception to all steamers arriving from foreign ports, after +their sometimes tempestuous passages of from eight to ten hours. This +insured the inhabitants a more or less festive night about once every +week or ten days.</p> + +<p>With rioutous laughter, which sounded harsh, yea, sacrilegious, in the +sublime silence of that exceptional town, we were piloted into an +abysmal nook sacred to a cluster of rookeries haggard in the extreme. We +approached it by an improvised bridge two spans in breadth. The place +was buried under layers of mystery. It was silent, it was dark with the +blackness of darkness; it was like an unholy sepulchre that gave forth +no sound, though we beat upon its sodden door with its rusted knocker +until a dog howled dismally on the hillside afar off.</p> + +<p>Some one admitted us at the last moment, and left us standing in the +pitch-dark entrance while he went in search of candles, that apparently +fled at his approach. The great room was thrown open in due season and +with solemnity. It may have been the star-chamber in the days when +Monterey was the capital of the youngest and most promising State in the +Union; but it was somewhat out of date when we were ushered into it. A +bargain was hastily struck, and we repaired to damp chambers, where +every sound was shared in common, and nothing whatever was in the least +degree private or confidential. We slept at intervals, but in turn; so +that at least one good night's rest was shared by our company.</p> + +<br /> +<a name="image-17"><!-- Image 17 --></a> +<center> +<img src="images/illus-0164-2.jpg" height="400" width="631" +alt= "Monterey, 1850"> +</center> + +<h4>Monterey, 1850</h4> + +<p>At nine o' the clock next morning we were still enveloped in mist, but +the sun was struggling with it; and from my window I inspected Spanish +or Mexican, or Spanish-Mexican, California interiors, sprinkled with +empty tin cans, but redeemed by the more picturesque <i>débris</i> of the +early California settlement—dingy tiles, forlorn cypresses, and a +rosebush of gigantic body and prolific bloom.</p> + +<p>We breakfasted at Simoneau's, in the inner room, with its frescos done +in beer and shoeblacking by a brace of hungry Bohemians, who used to +frequent the place and thus settle their bill. Five of us sat at that +uninviting board and awaited our turn, while Simoneau hovered over a +stove that was by no means equal to the occasion. It was a breakfast +such as one is reduced to in a mountain camp, but which spoils the +moment it is removed from the charmed circle of ravenous foresters. We +paid three prices for it, but that was no consolation; and it was long +before we again entered the doors of one of the chief restaurants of old +Monterey.</p> + +<p>Before the thick fog lifted that morning we had scoured the town in +quest of lodgings. The hotels were uninviting. At the Washington the +rooms were not so large as the demands of the landlord. At the St. +Charles'—a summer-house without windows, save the one set in the door +of each chamber—we located for a brief season, and exchanged the +liveliest compliments with the lodgers at the extreme ends of the +building. A sneeze in the dead of night aroused the house; and during +one of the panics which were likely to follow, I peremptorily departed, +and found shelter at last in the large square chamber of an adobe +dwelling, the hospitable abode of one of the first families of Monterey. +Broad verandas surrounded us on four sides; the windows sunk in the +thick walls had seats deep enough to hold me and my lap tablet full in +the sunshine—whenever it leaked through the fog.</p> + +<p>Two of these windows opened upon a sandy street, beyond which was a +tangled garden of cacti and hollyhock and sunflowers, with a great wall +about it; but I could look over the wall and enjoy the privacy of that +sweet haunt. In that cloistered garden grew the obese roses of the far +West, that fairly burst upon their stem. Often did I exclaim: "O, for a +delicate blossom, whose exquisite breath savors not of the mold, and +whose sensitive petals are wafted down the invisible currents of the +wind like a fairy flotilla!" Beyond that garden, beyond the roofs of +this town, stretched the yellow sand-dunes; and in the distance towered +the mountains, painted with changeful lights. My other window looked +down the long, lonesome street to the blue Bay and the faint outline of +the coast range beyond it.</p> + +<p>Here I began to live; here I heard the harp-like tinkle of the first +piano brought to the California coast; here also the guitar was touched +skillfully by her grace the august lady of the house, who scorned the +English tongue—the more eloquent and rhythmical Spanish prevailed under +her roof. One of the members of the household was proud to recount the +history of the once brilliant capital of the State, and I listened by +the hour to a narrative that now reads to me like a fable.</p> + +<p>In the year of Our Lord 1602, when Don Sebastian Viscaino—dispatched by +the Viceroy of Mexico, acting under instructions from Philip III. of +Spain—touched these shores, Mass was celebrated, the country taken +possession of in the name of the Spanish King, and the spot christened +Monterey in honor of Gaspar de Zuniga, Count of Monterey, Viceroy of +Mexico. In eighteen days Viscaino again set sail, and the silence of the +forest and the sea fell upon that lonely shore. That silence was +unbroken by the voice of the stranger for one hundred and sixty-six +years. Then Gaspar de Portola, Governor of Lower California, +re-discovered Monterey, erected a cross upon the shore, and went his +way.</p> + +<p>In May, 1770, the final settlement took place. The packet <i>San Antonio</i>, +commanded by Don Juan Perez, came to anchor in the port, "which"—wrote +the leader of the expedition to Padre Francisco Palou—"is unadulterated +in any degree from what it was when visited by the expedition of Don +Sebastian Viscaino in 1602. After this"—the celebration of the Mass, +the <i>Salve</i> to Our Lady, and a <i>Te Deum,</i>—"the officers took possession +of the country in the name of the King (Charles III.) our lord, whom God +preserve. We all dined together in a shady place on the beach; the whole +ceremony being accompanied by many volleys and salutes by the troops and +vessels."</p> + +<p>When the <i>San Antonio</i> returned to Mexico, it left at Monterey Padre +Junipero Serra and five other priests, Lieutenant Pedro Fages and thirty +soldiers. The settlement was at once made capital of Alta California, +and Portola appointed the first governor. The Presidio (an enclosure +about three hundred yards square, containing a chapel, store-houses, +offices, residences, and a barracks) was the nucleus of the city; but +the mission was soon removed to a beautiful valley about six miles +distant, where there was more room, better shelter from the cold west +winds, and an unrivalled prospect. The valley is now known as Carmelo.</p> + +<p>A fort was built upon a little hill commanding the settlement, and life +began in good earnest. What followed? Mexico threw off the Spanish yoke; +California was hence forth subject to Mexico alone. The news spread; +vessels gathered in the harbor, and enormous profits were realized on +the sale and shipment of the hides of wild cattle lately roaming upon a +thousand hills.</p> + +<p>Then came gradual changes in the government; they culminated in 1846 +when Captain Mervin, at the head of two hundred and fifty men, raised +the Stars and Stripes over Monterey, and a proclamation was read +declaring California a portion of the United States.</p> + +<p>The Rev. Walter Colton, once chaplain of the United States frigate +<i>Congress</i>, was appointed first alcalde; and the result was the erection +of a stone courthouse, which was long the chief ornament of the town; +and, somewhat later, the publication of Alcalde Colton's highly +interesting volume, entitled "Three Years in California."</p> + + + +<hr style='width: 65%;' /> +<h2>II.</h2> +<br /> + + +<p><img align='left' src="images/illus-i.png" height="75" width="75" +alt= "I"> + +<b><big>N</big></b> 1829 Captain Robinson, the author of "Life in California" +in the good old mission days, wrote thus of his first sight of Monterey: "The sun +had just risen, and, glittering through the lofty pines that crowned the +summit of the eastern hills, threw its light upon the lawn beneath. On +our left was the Presidio, with its chapel dome and towering flag-staff +in conspicuous elevation. On the right, upon a rising ground, was seen +the <i>castillo</i>, or fort, surmounted by some ten or a dozen cannon. The +intervening space between these two points was enlivened by the hundred +scattered dwellings that form the town, and here and there groups of +cattle grazing.</p> + +<p>"After breakfast G. and myself went on shore, on a visit to the +Commandant, Don Marian Estrada, whose residence stood in the central +part of the town, in the usual route from the beach to the Presidio. In +external appearance, notwithstanding it was built of adobe—brick made +by the mixture of soft mud and straw, moulded and dried in the sun,—it +was not displeasing; for the outer walls had been plastered and +whitewashed, giving it a cheerful and inviting aspect. Like all +dwellings in the warm countries of America, it was but one story in +height, covered with tiles, and occupied, in its entire premises, an +extensive square.</p> + +<p>"Our Don was standing at his door; and as we approached, he sallied +forth to meet us with true Castilian courtesy; embraced G., shook me +cordially by the hand, then bowed us ceremoniously into the <i>sala</i>. Here +we seated ourselves upon a sofa at his right. During conversation +<i>cigarritos</i> passed freely; and, although thus early in the day, a +proffer was made of refreshments."</p> + +<p>In 1835 R.H. Dana, Jr., the author of "Two Years before the Mast," found +Monterey but little changed; some of the cannon were unmounted, but the +Presidio was still the centre of life on the Pacific coast, and the town +was apparently thriving. Day after day the small boats plied between +ship and shore, and the population gave themselves up to the delights of +shopping. Shopping was done on shipboard; each ship was a storehouse of +attractive and desirable merchandise, and the little boats were kept +busy all day long bearing customers to and fro.</p> + +<p>In 1846 prices were ruinously high, as the alcalde was free to +confess—he being a citizen of the United States and a clergyman into +the bargain. Unbleached cottons, worth 6 cents per yard in New York, +brought 50 cents, 60 cents, 75 cents in old Monterey. Cowhide shoes were +$10 per pair; the most ordinary knives and forks, $10 per dozen; poor +tea, $3 per pound; truck-wheels, $75 per pair. The revenue of these +enormous imposts passed into the hands of private individuals, who had +placed themselves by violence or fraud at the head of the Government.</p> + +<p>In those days a "blooded" horse and a pack of cards were thought to be +among the necessaries of life. One of the luxuries was a <i>rancho</i> sixty +miles in length, owned by Captain Sutter in the valley of the +Sacramento. Native prisoners, arrested for robbery and confined in the +adobe jail at Monterey, clamored for their guitars, and the nights were +filled with music until the rascals swung at half-mast.</p> + +<p>In August, 1846, <i>The Californian</i>, the first newspaper established on +the coast, was issued by Colton & Semple. The type and press were once +the property of the Franciscan friars, and used by them; and in the +absence of the English <i>w</i>, the compositors on <i>The Californian</i> doubled +the Spanish <i>v</i>. The journal was printed half in English and half in +Spanish, on cigarette paper about the size of a sheet of fools-cap. +Terms, $3 per year in advance; single copies, 12-1/2 cents each. Semple +was a man just suited to the newspaper office he occupied; he stood six +feet eight inches in moccasins, was dressed in buckskin, and wore a +foxskin cap.</p> + +<p>The first jury of the alcaldean court was empanelled in September, +1846. Justice flourished for about three years. In 1849 Bayard Taylor +wrote: "Monterey has the appearance of a deserted town: few people in +the streets, business suspended," etc. Rumors of gold had excited the +cupidity of the inhabitants, and the capital was deserted; elsewhere was +metal more attractive. The town never recovered from that shock. It +gradually declined until few, save Bohemian artists and Italian and +Chinese fishermen, took note of it. The settlement was obsolete in my +day; the survivors seemed to have lost their memories and their interest +in everything. Thrice in my early pilgrimages I asked where the Presidio +had stood; on these occasions did the oldest inhabitant and his +immediate juniors vaguely point me to three several quarters of the +town. I believe in my heart that the pasture in front of the old +church—then sacred to three cows and a calf—was the cradle of +civilization in the far West.</p> + +<br /> +<a name="image-18"><!-- Image 18 --></a> +<center> +<img src="images/illus-0172-2.jpg" height="400" width="678" +alt= "San Carlos de Carmelo"> +</center> + +<h4>San Carlos de Carmelo</h4> + +<p>The original custom-house—there was no mistaking it, for it was founded +on a rock—overhung the sea, while the waves broke gently at its base, +and rows of sea-gulls sat solemnly on the skeletons of stranded whales +scattered along the beach. A Captain Lambert dwelt on the first floor of +the building; a goat fed in the large hall—it bore the complexion of a +stable—where once the fashionable element tripped the light fantastic +toe. In those days the first theatre in the State was opened with +brilliant success, and the now long-forgotten Binghams appeared in that +long-forgotten drama, "Putnam, or the Lion Son of '76." The +never-to-be-discourteously-mentioned years of our pioneers, '49 and '50, +"were memorable eras in the Thespian records of Monterey," says the +guide-book. They were indeed; for Lieutenant Derby, known to the +literary world as "John Phoenix" and "Squibob," was one of the leading +spirits of the stage. But the Thespian records came to an untimely end, +and it must be confessed that Monterey no longer tempts the widely +strolling player.</p> + +<p>I saw her in decay, the once flourishing capital. The old convent was +windowless, and its halls half filled with hay; the barracks and the +calaboose, inglorious ruins; the Block House and the Fort, mere shadows +of their former selves. As for Colton Hall—the town-hall, named in +honor of its builder, the first alcalde,—it is a modern-looking +structure, that scarcely harmonizes with the picturesque adobes that +surround it. Colton said of it: "It has been erected out of the slender +proceeds of town lots, the labor of the convicts, taxes on liquor shops, +and fines on gamblers. The scheme was regarded with incredulity by many; +but the building is finished, and the citizens have assembled in it, and +christened it after my name, which will go down to posterity with the +odor of gamblers, convicts and tipplers." Bless his heart! he need not +have worried himself. No one seems to know or care how the building was +constructed; and as for the name it bears, it is as savory as any.</p> + +<p>The church was built in 1794, and dedicated as the parish church in +1834, when the missions were secularized and Carmelo abandoned. It is +the most interesting structure in the town. Much of the furniture of the +old mission is preserved here: the holy vessels beaten out of solid +silver; rude but not unattractive paintings by nameless artists—perhaps +by the friars themselves,—landmarks of a crusade that was gloriously +successful, but the records of which are fading from the face of the +earth.</p> + +<p>Doubtless the natives who had flourished under the nourishing care of +the mission in its palmy days, wagged their heads wittingly when the +brig <i>Natalia</i> met her fate. Tradition says Napoleon I. made his escape +from Elba on that brig. It was by the <i>Natalia</i> that Hijar, Director of +Colonization, arrived for the purpose of secularizing the missions; and +his scheme was soon accomplished. But the winds blew, and the waves rose +and beat upon the little brig, and laid her bones in the sands of +Monterey. It is whispered that when the sea is still and the water +clear, and the tide very, very low, one may catch faint glimpses of the +skeleton of the <i>Natalia</i> swathed in its shroud of weeds.</p> + +<p>There are two attractions in the vicinity, without which I fear +Monterey would have ultimately passed from the memory of man. These are +the mission at Carmelo, and the Druid grove at Cypress Point. In the +edge of the town there is a cross which marks the spot where Padre +Junipero Serra sang his first Mass at Monterey. It was a desolate +picture when I last saw it. It stood but a few yards from the sea, in a +lonely hollow. It was a favorite subject with the artists who found +their way thither, and who were wont to paint it upon the sea-shells +that lay almost within reach. Now a marble statue of Junipero Serra, +erected by Mrs. Leland Stanford, marks the spot.</p> + +<p>Six miles away, beyond the hills, above the shallow river, in sight of +the sparkling sea, is the ruin of Carmelo. From the cross by the shore +to the church beyond the hills, one reads the sacred history of the +coast from <i>alpha</i> to <i>omega</i>. This, the most famous, if not the most +beautiful, of all the Franciscan missions, has suffered the common fate. +In my day the roof was wanting; the stone arches were crumbling one +after another; the walls were tufted with sun-dried grass; everywhere +the hand of Vandalism had scrawled his initials or his name. The nave of +the church was crowded with neglected graves. Fifteen governors of the +territory mingle their dust with that consecrated earth, but there was +never so much as a pebble to mark the spot where they lie. Even the +saintly Padre Junipero, who founded the mission, and whose death was +grimly heroic, lay until recent years in an unknown tomb. Thanks to the +pious efforts of the late Father Cassanova, the precious remains of +Junipero Serra, together with those of three other friars of the +mission, were discovered, identified, and honorably reentombed.</p> + +<p>From 1770 to 1784 Padre Junipero Serra entered upon the parish record +all baptisms, marriages, and deaths. These ancient volumes are carefully +preserved, and are substantially bound in leather; the writing is bold +and legible, and each entry is signed "Fray Junipero Serra," with an odd +little flourish of the pen beneath. The last entry is dated July 30, +1784; then Fray Francesco Palou, an old schoolmate of Junipero Serra, +and a brother friar, records the death of his famous predecessor, and +with it a brief recital of his life work, and the circumstances at the +close of it.</p> + +<p>Junipero Serra took the habit of the order of St. Francis at the age of +seventeen; filled distinguished positions in Spain and Mexico before +going to California; refused many tempting and flattering honors; was +made president of the fifteen missions of Lower California—long since +abandoned; lived to see his last mission thrive mightily, and died at +the age of seventy—long before the fall of the crowning work of his +life.</p> + +<p>Feeling the approach of death, Junipero Serra confessed himself to Fray +Palou; went through the Church offices for the dying; joined in the hymn +<i>Tantum Ergo</i> "with elevated and sonorous tones," saith the +chronicle,—the congregation, hearing him intone his death chaunt, were +awed into silence, so that the dying man's voice alone finished the +hymn; then he repaired to his cell, where he passed the night in prayer. +The following morning he received the captain and chaplain of a Spanish +vessel lying in the harbor, and said, cheerfully, he thanked God that +these visitors, who had traversed so much of sea and land, had come to +throw a little earth upon his body. Anon he asked for a cup of broth, +which he drank at the table in the refectory; was then assisted to his +bed, where he had scarcely touched the pillow when, without a murmur, he +expired.</p> + +<p>In anticipation of his death, he had ordered his own coffin to be made +by the mission carpenter; and his remains were at once deposited in it. +So precious was the memory of this man in his own day that it was with +the utmost difficulty his coffin was preserved from destruction; for the +populace, venerating even the wooden case that held the remains of their +spiritual Father, clamored for the smallest fragment; and, though a +strong body-guard watched over it until the interment, a portion of his +vestment was abstracted during the night. One thinks of this and of the +overwhelming sorrow that swept through the land when this saintly +pioneer fell at the head of his legion.</p> + +<p>The California mission reached the height of its prosperity forty years +later, when it owned 87,600 head of cattle, 60,000 sheep, 2,300 calves, +1,800 horses, 365 yoke of oxen, much merchandise, and $40,000 in specie. +Tradition hints that this money was buried when a certain +piratical-looking craft was seen hovering about the coast.</p> + +<p>This wealth is all gone now—scattered among the people who have allowed +the dear old mission to fall into sad decay. What a beautiful church it +must have been, with its quaint carvings, its star-window that seems to +have been blown out of shape in some wintry wind, and all its lines +hardened again in the sunshine of the long, long summer; with its +Saracenic door!—what memories the <i>Padres</i> must have brought with them +of Spain and the Moorish seal that is set upon it! Here we have evidence +of it painfully wrought out by the hands of rude Indian artisans. The +ancient bells have been carried away into unknown parts; the owl hoots +in the belfry; the hills are shown of their conventual tenements; while +the wind and the rain and a whole heartless company of iconoclasts have +it all their own way.</p> + +<p>Once in the year, on San Carlos' Day, Mass is sung in the only +habitable corner of the ruin; the Indians and the natives gather from +all quarters, and light candles among the graves, and mourn and mourn +and make a strange picture of the place; then they go their way, and the +owl returns, and the weeds grow ranker, and every hour there is a +straining among the weakened joists, and a creaking and a crumbling in +many a nook and corner; and so the finest historical relic in the land +is suffered to fall into decay. Or, perhaps I should say, that was the +sorry state of Carmelo in my day. I am assured that every effort is now +being made to restore and preserve beautiful Carmelo.</p> + + + +<hr style='width: 65%;' /> +<h2>III.</h2> +<br /> + + +<p><img align='left' src="images/illus-s.png" height="75" width="75" +alt= "S"> + +<b><big>HE</big></b> was a dear old stupid town in my day. She boasted but half a dozen +thinly populated streets. One might pass through these streets almost +any day, at almost any hour of the day, footing it all the way from the +dismantled fort on the seaside to the ancient cemetery, grown to seed, +at the other extremity of the settlement, and not meet half a score of +people.</p> + +<p>Geese fed in the gutters, and hissed as I passed by; cows grazing by the +wayside eyed me in grave surprise; overhead, the snow-white sea-gulls +wheeled and cried peevishly; and on the heights that shelter the +ex-capital the pine-trees moaned and moaned, and often caught and held +the sea-fog among their branches, when the little town was basking in +the sunshine and dreaming its endless dream.</p> + +<p>How did a man kill time in those days? There was a studio on Alvarado +Street; it stood close to the post-office, in what may be generously +denominated as the busiest part of the town. The studio was the focus of +life and hope and love; some work was also supposed to be done there. It +was the headquarters of the idle and the hungry, and the seeker after +consolation in all its varied forms. Choice family groceries were +retailed three times a day in the rear of the establishment; and there +we often gathered about the Bohemian board, to celebrate whatever our +fancy painted. Now it was an imaginary birthday—a movable feast that +came to be very popular in our select artistic circle; again it was the +possible—dare I say probable?—sale of a picture at a quite +inconceivable price. There were always occasions enough. Would it had +been the case with the dinners!</p> + +<p>The studio was the thing,—the studio, decked with Indian trophies and +the bleached bones of sea birds and land beasts, and lined with studies +in all colors under heaven. Here was the oft-lighted peace-pipe; and +Orient rugs and wolf-skins for a <i>siesta</i> when the beach yonder was a +blaze of white and blinding light, that made it blessed to close one's +eyes and shut out the glare—and to keep one's ears open to the lulling +song of the sea.</p> + +<p>Here we concocted a plan. It was to be kept a profound mystery; even the +butcher was unaware, and the baker in total darkness; as for the +wine-merchant, he was as blind as a bat. We were to give the banquet and +ball of the season. We went to the hall of our sisters,—scarcely kin +were they, but kinder never lived, and their house was at our disposal. +We threw out the furniture; we made a green bower of the adobe chamber. +One window, that bore upon the forlorn vacuum of the main street, was +speedily stained the deepest and most splendid dyes; from without, it +had a pleasing, not to say refining, medieval effect; from within, it +was likened unto the illuminated page of an antique antiphonary—in +flames; yes, positively in flames!</p> + +<p>A great board was laid the length of the room, a kind of Round +Table—with some few unavoidable innovations, such as a weak leg or two, +square corners, and an unexpected depression in the centre of it, where +the folding leaves sought in vain to join. From the wall depended the +elaborate <i>menu</i>, life-size and larger; and at every course a cartoon in +color more appetizing than the town market. The emblematic owl blinked +upon us from above the door. Invitations were hastily penned and sent +forth to a select few. Forgive us, Dona Jovita, if thy guest card was +redolent of tea or of brown soap; for it was penned in the privacy of +the pantry, and either upon the Scylla of the tea-caddy or the soapy +Charybdis it was sure to be dashed at last.</p> + +<p>It was rare fun, if I did say it from the foot of the flower-strewn +table, clad in an improvised toga, while a gentleman in Joss-like +vestments carved and complimented in a single breath at the top of the +Bohemian board. From the adjoining room came the music of hired +minstrels: the guitar, the violin, and blending voices—a piping tenor +and a soft Spanish <i>falsetto</i>. They chanted rhythmically to the clatter +of tongues, the ripple of laughter, and the clash of miscellaneous +cutlery.</p> + +<p>An unbidden multitude, gathered from the highways, and the byways, +loitered about the vicinity, patiently—O how patiently!—awaiting our +adjournment. The fandango naturally followed; and it enlivened the vast, +bare chambers of an adjoining adobe, whose walls had not echoed such +revelry since the time when Monterey was the chief port of the Northern +Pacific, and basked in the sunshine of a prosperous monopoly. A good +portion of the town was there that evening. Shadowy forms hovered in the +arbors of the rose garden; the city band appeared and rendered much +pleasing music,—though it was rendered somewhat too vigorously. That +band was composed of the bone and sinew of the town. Oft in the daytime +had I not heard the flageolet lifting its bird-like voice over the +counter of the juvenile jeweller, who wrought cunningly in the +shimmering abalone shells during the rests in his music? Did not the +trombone bray from beyond the meadow, where the cooper could not barrel +his aspiring soul? It was the French-horn at the butcher's, the fife at +the grocer's, the cornet in the chief saloon on the main street; while +at the edge of the town, from the soot and grime of the smithy, I heard +at intervals the boom of the explosive drum. It was thus they responded +to one another on that melodious shore, and with an ambitious diligence +worthy of the Royal Conservatory.</p> + +<p>There was nothing to disturb one in the land, after the musical mania, +save the clang of the combers on the long, lonely beach; the cry of the +sea-bird wheeling overhead, or the occasional bang of a rifle. Even the +narrow-gauge railway, that stopped discreetly just before reaching the +village, broke the monotony of local life but twice in the twenty-four +hours. The whistle of the arriving and departing train, the signal of +the occasional steamer—ah! but for these, what a sweet, sad, silent +spot were that! I used to believe that possibly some day the unbroken +stillness of the wilderness might again envelop it. The policy of the +people invited it. Anything like energy or progress was discouraged in +that latitude. When it was discovered that the daily mail per Narrow +Gauge was arriving regularly and usually on time, it began to look like +indecent haste on the part of the governmental agents. The beauty and +the chivalry that congregated at the post-office seemed to find too +speedy satisfaction at the general delivery window; and presently the +mail-bag for Monterey was dropped at another village, and later carted +twenty miles into town. The happy uncertainty of the mail's arrival +caused the post-office to become a kind of forum, where all the +grievances of the populace were turned loose and generally discussed.</p> + +<p>Then it seemed possible that the Narrow Gauge might be frowned down +altogether, and the locomotive warned to cease trespassing upon the +green pastures of the ex-capital. It even seemed possible that in course +of time all aliens might require a passport and a recommendation from +their last place before being permitted to enter in and enjoy the +society of the authorities brooding over that slumberous village.</p> + +<p>I have seen as many as six men and a boy standing upon one of the +half-dozen street corners of the town, watching, with a surprise that +bordered upon impertinence, a white pilgrim from San Francisco in an +ulster, innocently taking his way through the otherwise deserted +streets. The ulster was perhaps the chief object of interest. I have +seen three or four citizens sitting in a row, on a fence, like so many +rooks,—and sitting there for hours, as if waiting for something. For +what, pray? For the demented squaw, who revolved about the place, and +slept out of doors in all weathers, and muttered to herself incessantly +while she went to and fro, day after day, seeking the rest she could not +hope for this side the grave? Or for Murillo, the Indian, impudent +though harmless, full of fancies and fire-water? Or for the return of +the whale-boats, with their beautiful lateen-sails? Or for the gathering +of the Neapolitan fishermen down under the old Custom House, where they +sat at evening looking off upon the Bay, and perchance dreaming of Italy +and all that enchanted coast? Or for the rains that poured their sudden +and swift rivulets down the wooded slopes and filled the gorges that +gutted some of the streets? Was it the love of nature, or a belief in +fatalism, or sheer laziness, I wonder, that preserved to Monterey those +washouts, from two to five feet in depth, that were sometimes in the +very middle of the streets, and impassable save by an improvised +bridge—a single plank?</p> + +<p>Ah me! It is an ungracious task to prick the bubble reputation, had I +not been dazzled with dreams of Monterey from my youth up! Was I piqued +when I, then a citizen of San Francisco—one of the three hundred +thousand,—when I read in "The Handbook of Monterey" these lines: "San +Francisco is not too firmly fixed to fear the competition of Monterey"?</p> + +<p>Well, I may as well confess myself a false prophet. The town fell into +the hands of Croesus, and straightway lost its identity. It is now a +fashionable resort, and likely to remain one for some years to come. +Where now can one look for the privacy of old? Then, if one wished to +forget the world, he drove through a wilderness to Cypress Point. Now +'tis a perpetual picnic ground, and its fastnesses are threaded by a +drive which is one of the features of Del Monte Hotel life. It was +solemn enough of yore. The gaunt trees were hung with funereal mosses; +they had huge elbows and shoulders, and long, thin arms, with skeleton +fingers at the ends of them, that bore knots that looked like heads and +faces such as Doré portrayed in his fantastic illustrations. They were +like giants transformed,—they are still, no doubt; for the tide of +fashion is not likely to prevail against them.</p> + +<p>They stand upon the verge of the sea, where they have stood for ages, +defying the elements. The shadows that gather under their locked +branches are like caverns and dungeons and lairs. The fox steals +stealthily away as you grope among the roots, that writhe out of the +earth and strike into it again, like pythons in a rage. The coyote sits +in the edge of the dusk, and cries with a half-human cry—at least he +did in my dead day. And here are corpse-like trees, that have been naked +for ages; every angle of their lean, gray boughs seems to imply +something. Who will interpret these hieroglyphics? Blood-red sunsets +flood this haunted wood; there is a sound as of a deep-drawn sigh +passing through it at intervals. The moonlight fills it with mystery; +and along its rocky front, where the sea-flowers blossom and the +sea-grass waves its glossy locks, the soul of the poet and of the artist +meet and mingle between shadowless sea and cloudless sky, in the +unsearchable mystery of that cypress solitude.</p> + +<p>So have I seen it; so would I see it again. When I think on that beach +at Monterey—the silent streets, the walled, unweeded gardens—a wistful +Saturday-afternoon feeling comes over me. I hear again the incessant +roar of the surf; I see the wheeling gulls, the gray sand; the brown, +bleak meadows; the empty streets; the shops, tenantless sometimes—for +the tenant is at dinner or at dominos; the other shops that are locked +forever and the keys rusted away;—whenever I think of her I am reminded +of that episode in Coulton's diary, where he, as alcalde, was awakened +from a deep sleep at the dead of night by a guard, a novice, and a slave +to duty. With no little consternation, the alcalde hastened to unbar the +door. The guard, with a respectful salute, said: "The town, sir, is +perfectly quiet."</p> + + + +<hr style='width: 65%;' /> +<a name='Bungalow'></a><h2>IN A CALIFORNIAN BUNGALOW</h2> +<br /> + +<p><img align='left' src="images/illus-i.png" height="75" width="75" +alt= "I"> + +<b><big>T</big></b> was reception night at the Palace Hotel. As usual the floating +population of San Francisco had drifted into the huge court of that +luxurious caravansary, and was ebbing and eddying among the multitudes +of white and shining columns that support the six galleries under the +crystal roof. The band reveled in the last popular waltz, the hum of the +spectators was hushed, but among the galleries might be seen pairs of +adolescent youths and maidens swaying to the rhythmical melody. We were +taking wine and cigarettes with the Colonel. He was always at home to us +on Monday nights, and even our boisterous chat was suspended while the +blustering trumpeters in the court below blew out their delirious music. +It was at this moment that Bartholomew beckoned me to follow him from +the apartment. We quietly repaired to the gallery among the huge vases +of palms and creepers, and there, bluntly and without a moment's +warning, the dear fellow blurted out this startling revelation: "I have +made an engagement for you; be ready on Thursday next at 4 p.m.; meet me +here; all arrangements are effected; say not a word, but come; and I +promise you one of the jolliest experiences of the season." All this +was delivered in a high voice, to the accompaniment of drums and +cymbals; he concluded with the last flourish of the bandmaster's baton, +and the applause of the public followed. Certainly dramatic effect could +go no further. I was more than half persuaded, and yet, when the +applause had ceased, the dancers unwound themselves, and the low rumble +of a thousand restless feet rang on the marble pavement below, I found +voice sufficient to ask the all-important question, "But what is the +nature of this engagement?" To which he answered, "Oh, we're going down +the coast for a few days, you and I, and Alf and Croesus. A charming +bungalow by the sea; capital bathing, shooting, fishing; nice quiet time +generally; back Monday morning in season for biz!" This was certainly +satisfactory as far as it went, but I added, by way of parenthesis, "and +who else will be present?" knowing well enough that one uncongenial +spirit might be the undoing of us all. To this Bartholomew responded, +"No one but ourselves, old fellow; now don't be queer." He knew well +enough my aversion to certain elements unavoidable even in the best +society, and how I kept very much to myself, except on Monday nights +when we all smoked and laughed with the Colonel—whose uncommonly +charming wife was abroad for the summer; and on Tuesday and Saturday +nights, when I was at the club, and on Wednesdays, when I did the +theatricals of the town, and on Thursdays and Fridays—but never mind! +girls were out of the question in my case, and he knew that the bachelor +hall where I preside was as difficult of access as a cloister. I might +not have given my word without further deliberation, had not the +impetuous Colonel seized us bodily and borne us back into his +smoking-room, where he was about to shatter the wax on a flagon of wine, +a brand of fabulous age and excellence. Bartholomew nodded to Alf, Alf +passed the good news to Croesus, for we were all at the Colonel's by +common consent, and so it happened that the compact was made for +Thursday.</p> + +<p>That Thursday, at 4 p.m. we were on our way to the station at 4:30; the +town-houses were growing few and far between, as the wheels of the +coaches spun over the iron road. At five o'clock the green fields of the +departed spring, already grown bare and brown, rolled up between us and +the horizon. California is a naked land and no mistake, but how +beautiful in her nakedness! An hour later we descended at School-house +station; such is the matter-of-fact pet-name given to a cluster of dull +houses, once known by some melodious but forgotten Spanish appellation. +The ranch wagon awaited us; a huge springless affair, or if it had +springs they were of that aggravating stiffness that adds insult to +injury. Excellent beasts dragged us along a winding, dusty road, over +hill, down dale, into a land that grew more and more lonely; not exactly +"a land where it was always afternoon," but apparently always a little +later in the day, say 7 p.m. or thereabouts. We were rapidly wending our +way towards the coast, and on the breezy hill-top a white fold of +sea-fog swept over and swathed us in its impalpable snow. Oh! the chill, +the rapturous agony of that chill. Do you know what sea-fog is? It is +the bodily, spiritual and temporal life of California; it is the +immaculate mantle of the unclad coast; it feeds the hungry soil, gives +drink unto the thirsting corn, and clothes the nakedness of nature. It +is the ghost of unshed showers—atomized dew, precipitated in +life-bestowing avalanches upon a dewless and parched shore; it is the +good angel that stands between a careless people and contagion; it is +heaven-sent nourishment. It makes strong the weak; makes wise the +foolish—you don't go out a second time in midsummer without your +wraps—and it is altogether the freshest, purest, sweetest, most +picturesque, and most precious element in the physical geography of the +Pacific Slope. It is worth more to California than all her gold, and +silver, and copper, than all her corn and wine—in short, it is simply +indispensable.</p> + +<p>This is the fog that dashed under our hubs like noiseless surf, filled +up the valleys in our lee, shut the sea-view out entirely, and finally +left us on a mountaintop—our last ascension, thank Heaven!—with +nothing but clouds below us and about us, and we sky-high and drenched +to the very bone.</p> + +<p>The fog broke suddenly and rolled away, wrapped in pale and splendid +mystery; it broke for us as we were upon the edge of a bluff. For some +moments we had been listening to the ever-recurring sob of the sea. +There at our feet curled the huge breakers, shouldering the cliff as if +they would hurl it from its foundation. A little further on in the +gloaming was the last hill of all; from its smooth, short summit we +could look into the Delectable Land by candle light, and mark how +invitingly stands a bungalow by the sea's margin at the close of a dusty +day.</p> + +<p>On the summit we paused; certain unregistered packages under the wagon, +which had preyed at intervals upon the minds of Alf, Croesus, and +Bartholomew, were now drawn forth. Life is a series of surprises; +surprise No. 1, a brace of long, tapering javelins having +villainous-looking heads, i.e., two marine rockets, with which to rend +the heavens, and notify the vassals at the bungalow of our approach. One +of these rockets we planted with such care that having touched it off, +it could not free itself, but stood stock still and with vicious fury +blew off in a cloud of dazzling sparks. The dry grass flamed in a +circle about us; never before had we fought fire with wildly-waving +ulsters, but they prove excellent weapons in engagements of this +character, I assure you. Profiting by fatiguing experience, we poised +the second rocket so deftly that it could not fail to rise. On it we +hung our hopes, light enough burdens if they were all as faint as mine. +With the spurt of a match we touched it, a stream of flaky gold rushed +forth and then, as if waiting to gather strength, <i>biff</i>! and away she +went. Never before soared rocket so beautifully; it raked the very +stars; its awful voice died out in the dim distance; with infinite grace +it waved its trail of fire, and then spat forth such constellations of +variegated stars—you would have thought a rainbow had burst into a +million fragments—that shamed the very planets, and made us think +mighty well of ourselves and our achievement. There was still a long +dark mile between us and the bungalow; on this mile were strung a +fordable stream, a ragged village of Italian gardeners, some monstrous +looking hay-stacks, and troops of dogs that mouthed horribly as we +ploughed through the velvety dust.</p> + +<p>The bungalow at last! at the top of an avenue of trees—and such a +bungalow! A peaked roof that sheltered everything, even the deepest +verandas imaginable; the rooms few, but large and airy; everything wide +open and one glorious blaze of light. A table spread with the luxuries +of the season, which in California means four seasons massed in one. +Flowers on all sides; among these flowers Japanese lanterns of +inconceivable forms and colors. These hung two or three deep—without, +within, above, below; nothing but light and fragrance, and mirth and +song. We were howling a chorus as we drove up, and were received with a +musical welcome, bubbling over with laughter from the lips of three +pretty girls, dressed in white and pink—probably the whitest and +pinkest girls in all California; and this was surprise No. 2.</p> + +<p>Perfect strangers to me were these young ladies; but, like most +confirmed bachelors, I rather like being with the adorable sex, when I +find myself translated as if by magic.</p> + +<p>We were formed of the dust of the earth—there was no denying the fact, +and we speedily withdrew; but before our dinner toilets were completed, +such a collection of appetizers was sent in to us as must distinguish +forever the charming hostess who concocted them. I need not recall the +dinner. Have you ever observed that there is no real pleasure in +reviving the memory of something good to eat? Suffice it to state that +the dinner was such a one as was most likely to be laid for us under the +special supervision of three blooming maidens, who had come hither four +and twenty hours in advance of us for this special purpose. That night +we played for moderate stakes until the hours were too small to be +mentioned. I forget who won; but it was probably the girls, who were as +clever at cards as they were at everything else. We ultimately retired, +for the angel of sleep visits even a Californian bungalow, though his +hours are a trifle irregular. Our rooms, two large chambers, with +folding doors thrown back, making the two as one, contained four double +beds; in one of the rooms was a small altar, upon which stood a statue +of the Madonna, veiled in ample folds of lace and crowned with a coronet +of natural flowers; vases of flowers were at her feet, and lighted +tapers flickered on either hand. The apartment occupied by the young +ladies was at the other corner of the bungalow; the servants, a good old +couple, retainers in Alf's family, slept in a cottage adjoining. We +retired manfully; we had smoked our last smoke, and were not a little +fatigued; hence this readiness on our part to lay down the burdens and +cares of the day. When the lights were extinguished the moon, streaming +in at the seaward windows, flooded the long rooms. It was a glorious +night; no sound disturbed its exquisite serenity save the subdued murmur +of the waves, softened by an intervening hillock on which the cypress +trees stood like black and solemn sentinels of the night.</p> + +<br /> +<a name="image-19"><!-- Image 19 --></a> +<center> +<img src="images/illus-0196-2.jpg" height="508" width="400" +alt= ""The Huge Court of that Luxurious Caravansary.""> +</center> + +<h4>"The Huge Court of that Luxurious Caravansary."</h4> + +<p>I think I must have dozed, for it first seemed like a dream—the +crouching figures that stole in Indian file along the carpet from bed to +bed; but soon enough I wakened to a reality, for the Phillistines were +upon us, and the pillows fell like aerolites out of space. The air was +dense with flying bed-clothes; the assailants, Bartholomew and Alf, his +right-hand man, fell upon us with school-boy fury; they made mad leaps, +and landed upon our stomachs. We grappled in deadly combat; not an +article of furniture was left unturned; not one mattress remained upon +another. We made night hideous for some moments. We roused the ladies +from their virgin sleep, but paid little heed to their piteous +pleadings. The treaty of peace, which followed none too soon—the +pillow-cases were like fringes and the sheets were linen +shreds—culminated in a round of night-caps which for potency and flavor +have, perhaps, never been equalled in the history of the vine.</p> + +<p>Then we <i>did</i> sleep—the sleep of the just, who have earned their right +to it; the sleep of the horny-handed son of the soil, whose muscles +relax with a jerk that awakens the sleeper to a realizing sense that he +has been sleeping and is going to sleep again at his earliest +convenience: the sweet, intense, and gracious sleep of innocence—out of +which we were awakened just before breakfast time by the most +considerate of hostesses and her ladies of honor, who sent into us the +reviving cup, without which, I fear, we could not have begun the new day +in a spirit appropriate to the occasion.</p> + +<p>The first day at the bungalow was Friday and, of course, a fast day; we +observed the rule with a willingness which, I trust, the recording angel +made a note of. There was a bath at the beach toward mid-day, followed +by a cold collation in the shelter of a rude chalet, which served the +ladies in the absence of the customary bathing-machine. Lying upon rugs +spread over the sand we chatted until a drowsy mood persuaded us to +return to the bungalow and indulge in a <i>siesta</i>. It being summer, and a +California summer by the sea, a huge log fire blazed upon the evening +hearth; cards and the jingle of golden counters again kept us at the +table till the night was far spent. Need I add that the ladies presented +a petition with the customary night-cap, praying that the gentlemen in +the double-chamber would omit the midnight gymnastics upon retiring, and +go to sleep like "good boys." It had been our intention to do so; we +were not wholly restored, for the festivities of the night previous had +been prolonged and fatiguing.</p> + +<p>We began our preparations by wheeling the four bedsteads into one room. +It seemed to us cosier to be sleeping thus together; indeed, it was +quite a distance from the extremity of one room to the extremity of the +other. Resigning ourselves to the pillows, each desired his neighbor to +extinguish the lights; no one moved to perform this necessary duty. We +slept, or pretended to sleep, and for some moments the bungalow was +quiet as the grave. In the midst of this refreshing silence a panic +seized us; with one accord we sprang to arms; the pillows, stripped of +their cases on the night previous, again darkened the air. We leaped +gaily from bed to bed, and in turn, took every corner of the room by +storm; the shout of victory mingled with the cry for mercy. There was +one solitary voice for peace; it was the voice of the vexed hostess, and +it was followed by the suspension of hostilities and the instant +quenching of the four tapers, each blown by an individual mouth, after +which we groped back to our several couches in a state of charming +uncertainty as to which was which.</p> + +<p>Saturday followed, and, of all Saturdays in the year, it chanced to be +the vigil of a feast, and therefore a day of abstinence. The ladies held +the key of the larder, and held it, permit me to add, with a clenched +hand. It may be that all boys are not like our boys; that there are +those who, having ceased to elongate and increase in the extremities out +of all proportion, are willing to fast from day to day; who no longer +lust after the flesh-pots, and whose appetites are governable—but ours +were not. The accustomed fish of a Friday was welcome, but Saturday was +out of the question. "Something too much of this," said Croesus the +Sybarite. "Amen!" cried the affable Alf. There was an unwonted fire in +the eye of Bartholomew when he asked for a dispensation at the hands of +the hostess, and was refused.</p> + +<p>All day the maidens sought to lighten our burden of gloom; the sports in +the bath were more brilliant than usual. We adjourned to the hay-loft +and told stories till our very tongues were tired. It is true that +egg-nogg at intervals consoled us; but when we had awakened from a +refreshing sleep among the hay, and fought a battle that ended in +victory for the Amazons and our ignominious flight, we bore the scars of +burr and hay-seed for hours afterwards. Cold turkey and cranberry sauce +at midnight had been promised to us, yet how very distant that seemed. +Hunger cried loudly for beef and bouillon, and a strategic movement was +planned upon the spot.</p> + +<p>The gaming, which followed a slim supper, was not so interesting as +usual. At intervals we consulted the clock; how the hours lagged! +Croesus poured his gold upon the table in utter distraction. The +maidens, who sat in sack-cloth and ashes, sorrowing for our sins, left +the room at intervals to assure themselves that the larder was intact. +We, also, quietly withdrew from time to time. Once, all three of the +girls fled in consternation—the footsteps of Bartholomew had been heard +in the vicinity of the cupboard; but it was a false alarm, and the game +was at once resumed. Now, indeed, the hours seemed to fly. To our +surprise, upon referring to the clock, the hands stood at ten minutes to +twelve. So swiftly speed the moments when the light hearts of youth beat +joyously in the knowledge that it is almost time to eat!</p> + +<p>Twelve o'clock! Cold turkey, cranberry sauce, champagne, etc., and no +more fasting till the sixth day. Having devastated the board, we must +needs betray our folly by comparing the several timepieces. Alf stood at +five minutes to eleven; Bartholomew some minutes behind him; Croesus, +with his infallible repeater, was but 10:45; as for me, I had discreetly +run down. The secret was out. The clock had been tampered with, and the +trusting maids betrayed. At first they laughed with us; then they +sneered, and then they grew wroth, and went apart in deep dismay. The +dining-hall resounded with our hollow mirth; like the scriptural fool, +we were laughing at our own folly. The ladies solemnly re-entered; our +hostess, the spokeswoman, said, with the voice of an oracle, "You will +regret this before morning." Still feigning to be merry, we went +speedily to bed, but there was no night-cap sent to soothe us; and the +lights went out noiselessly and simultaneously.</p> + +<p>After the heavy and regular breathing had set in—I think all slept save +myself—light footsteps were heard without. Why should one turn a key in +a bungalow whose hospitality is only limited by the boundary line of the +county surveyor? Our keys were not turned, in fact,—too late—we +discovered there were no keys to turn. In the dim darkness—the moon +lent us little aid at the moment—our door was softly thrown open, and +the splash of fountains could be heard; it was the sound of many waters. +As I listened to it in a half dream, it fell upon my ear most musically, +and then it fell upon my nose, and eyes, and mouth; it seemed as if the +windows of heaven were opened, as if the dreadful deluge had come again. +I soon discovered what it was. I threw the damp bed clothes over my head +and awaited further developments. I began to think they never would +come—I mean the developments. Meanwhile the garden hose, in the hands +of the irate maidens, played briskly upon the four quarters of the +room—not a bed escaped the furious stream. Nothing was left that was +not saturated and soaked, sponge-full. The floor ran torrents; our boots +floated away upon the mimic tide. We lay like inundated mummies, but +spake never a word. Possibly the girls thought we were drowned; at all +events, they withdrew in consternation, leaving the hose so that it +still belched its unwelcome waters into the very centre of our drenched +apartment.</p> + +<p>Rising at last from our clammy shrouds, we gave chase; but the +water-nymphs had fled. Then we barricaded the bungalow, and held a +council of war. Sitting in moist conclave, we were again assailed and +driven back to our rooms, which might now be likened to a swimming bath +at low-tide. We shrieked for stimulants, but were stoutly denied, and +then we took to the woods in a fit of indignation, bordering closely +upon a state of nature.</p> + +<p>I thought to bury myself in the trackless wild; to end my days in the +depths of the primeval forest. But I remembered how a tiger-cat had been +lately seen emerging from these otherwise alluring haunts, and returned +at once to the open, where I glistened in the moonlight, now radiant, +and shivered at the thought of the possible snakes coiling about my +feet. My disgust of life was full; yet in the midst of it I saw the +reviving flames dancing upon the hearth-stone, and the click of glasses +recalled me to my senses.</p> + +<p>We returned in a body, a defeated brotherhood, accepting as a +peace-offering such life-giving draughts as compelled us, almost against +our will, to drink to the very dregs in token of full surrender. Then +rheumatism and I lay down together, and a little child might have +played with any two of us. I assured my miserable companions that "I was +not accustomed to such treatment." Alf added that "it was more than he +had bargained for." Bartholomew had neither speech nor language +wherewith to vent his spleen. As for the bland and blooming Croesus—he +who had been lapped in luxury and cradled in delight—it was his private +opinion, publicly expressed, that "the like of it was unknown in the +annals of social history."</p> + +<br /> +<a name="image-20"><!-- Image 20 --></a> +<center> +<img src="images/illus-0204-2.jpg" height="400" width="521" +alt= ""The Gallery Among the Huge Vases of Palms and +Creepers.""> +</center> + +<h4>"The Gallery Among the Huge Vases of Palms and +Creepers."</h4> + +<p>Yet on the Sunday—our final day at the bungalow—you would have thought +that the gods had assembled together to hold sweet converse; and, when +we lounged in the shadow of the invisible Ida, never looked the earth +more fair to us. The whole land was in blossom from the summit to the +sea; the gardeners, as they walked among their vines, prated of Sicily +and sang songs of their Sun-land. There was no chapel at hand, and no +mass for the repose of souls that had been sorely troubled; but the +charm of those young women—they were salving our wounds as women know +how to do—and the voluptuous feast that was laid for us, when we +emptied the fatal larder; the music, and the thousand arts employed to +restore beauty and order out of the last night's chaos, made us better +than new men, and it taught us a lesson we never shall forget—though +from that hour to this, neither one nor the other of us, in any way, +shape, or fashion whatever, has referred in the remotest degree to that +eventful night in a Californian bungalow.</p> + + + +<hr style='width: 65%;' /> +<a name='Primeval'></a><h2>PRIMEVAL CALIFORNIA</h2> +<br /> + +<p><img align='left' src="images/illus-p.png" height="75" width="75" +alt= "P"> + +<b><big>RIMEVAL</big></b> California" was inscribed on the knapsack of the Artist, on +the portmanteau of Foster, the Artist's chum, and on the fly-leaf of the +note-book of the Scribe. The luggage of the boisterous trio was checked +through to the heart of the Red Woods, where a vacation camp was +pitched. The expected "last man" leaped the chasm that was rapidly +widening between the city front of San Francisco and the steamer bound +for San Rafael, and approached us—the trio above referred to—with a +slip of paper in his hand. It was not a subpoena; it was not a dun; it +was a round-robin of farewells from a select circle of admirers, wishing +us joy, Godspeed, success in art and literature, and a safe return at +last.</p> + +<p>The wind blew fair; we were at liberty for an indefinite period. In +forty minutes we struck another shore and another clime. San Francisco +is original in its affectation of ugliness—it narrowly escaped being a +beautiful city—and its humble acceptation of a climate which is as +invigorating as it is unscrupulous, having a peculiar charm which is +seldom discovered until one is beyond its spell. Sailing into the +adjacent summer,—summer is intermittent in the green city of the +West,—we passed into the shadow of Mount Tamalpais, the great landmark +of the coast. The admirable outline of the mountain, however, was +partially obscured by the fog, already massing along its slopes.</p> + +<p>The narrow-gauge of the N.P.C.R.R. crawls like a snake from the ferry on +the bay to the roundhouse over and beyond the hills, but seven miles +from the sea-mouth of the Russian River. It turns very sharp corners, +and turns them every few minutes; it doubles in its own trail, runs over +fragile trestle-work, darts into holes and re-appears on the other side +of the mountains, roars through strips of redwoods like a rushing wind, +skirts the shore of bleak Tomales Bay, cuts across the potato district +and strikes the redwoods again, away up among the saw-mills at the +logging-camps, where it ends abruptly on a flat under a hill. And what a +flat it is!—enlivened with a first-class hotel, some questionable +hostelries, a country store, a post-office and livery-stable, and a +great mill buzzing in an artificial desert of worn brown sawdust.</p> + +<p>Here, after a five hours' ride, we alighted at Duncan's Mills, hard by +the river, and with a girdle of hills all about us—high, round hills, +as yellow as brass when they are not drenched with fog. In the twilight +we watched the fog roll in, trailing its lace-like skirts among the +highland forests. How still the river was! Not a ripple disturbed it; +there was no perceptible current, for after the winter floods subside, +the sea throws up a wall of sand that chokes the stream, and the waters +slowly gather until there is volume enough to clear it. Then come the +rains and the floods, in which rafts of drift-wood and even great logs +are carried twenty feet up the shore, and permanently lodged in +inextricable confusion.</p> + +<p>I remember the day when we had made a pilgrimage to the coast, when from +the rocky jaws of the river we looked up the still waters, and saw them +slowly gathering strength and volume. The sea was breaking upon the bar +without; Indian canoes swung on the tideless stream, filled with +industrious occupants taking the fish that await their first plunge into +salt water. Every morning we bathed in the unpolluted waters of the +river. How fresh and sweet they are—the filtered moisture of the hills, +mingled with the distillations from cedar-boughs drenched with fogs and +dew!</p> + +<p>Lounging upon the hotel veranda, turning our backs upon the last +vestiges of civilization in the shape of a few guests who dressed for +dinner as if it were imperative, we were greeted with mellow heartiness +by a hale old backwoodsman, a genuine representative of the primeval. It +was Ingram, of Ingram House, Austin Creek, Red Woods, Sonoma County, +Primeval California. It was he, with ranch-wagon and stalwart steeds. +The Artist, who was captain-general of the forces, at once held a +consultation with Ingram, whom we will henceforth call the Doctor, for +he is a doctor—minus the degrees—of divinity, medicine, and laws, and +master of all work; a deer-stalker, rancher, and general utility man; +the father of a clever family, and the head of a primeval house.</p> + +<p>In half an hour we were jolting, bag and baggage, body and soul, over +roads wherein the ruts were filled with dust as fine as flour, fording +trout-streams, and winding through wood and brake. We passed the old +logging-camp, with the hills about it blackened and disfigured for life; +and the new logging-camp, with its stumps still smoldering, its steep +slides smoking with the friction of swift-descending logs, the ring of +the ax and the vicious buzz of the saw mingled with the shouts of the +woodsmen. How industry is devastating that home of the primeval!</p> + +<p>Soon the road led us into the very heart of the redwoods, where superb +columns stood in groups, towering a hundred and even two hundred feet +above our heads! A dense undergrowth of light green foliage caught and +held the sunlight like so much spray; the air was charged with the +fragrance of wild honeysuckle and resiniferous trees; the jay-bird +darted through the boughs like a phosphorous flame, screaming his joy to +the skies; squirrels fled before us; quails beat a muffled tattoo in +the brush-snakes slid out of the road in season to escape destruction.</p> + +<p>We soon dropped into the bed of the stream Austin Creek, and rattled +over the broad, strong highway of the winter rains. We bent our heads +under low-hanging boughs, drove into patches of twilight, and out on the +other side into the waning afternoon; we came upon a deserted cottage +with a great javelin driven through the roof to the cellar; it had been +torn from one of the gigantic redwoods and hurled by a last winter's +gale into that solitary home. Fortunately no one had been injured, but +the inmates had fled in terror, lashed by the driving storm.</p> + +<p>We came to Ingram House in the dusk, out of the solitude of the forest +into a pine-and-oak opening, the monotony of which was enlivened with a +fair display of the primitive necessities of life—a vegetable garden on +the right, a rustic barn on the left, a house of "shakes" in the +distance, and nine deer-hounds braying a deep-mouthed welcome at our +approach.</p> + +<p>In the rises of the house on the hill-slope is a three-roomed bachelors' +hall; here, on the next day, we were cozily domiciled. There were a few +guests in the homestead. The boys slept in the granary. The deer-hounds +held high carnival under our cottage, charging at intervals during the +night upon imaginary intruders. We woke to the blustering music of the +beasts, and thought on the possible approach of bear, panther, +California lion, wild cat, 'coon, and polecat; but thought on it with +composure, for the hounds were famous hunters, and there was a whole +arsenal within reach.</p> + +<p>We were waked at 6:30, and come down to the front "stoop" of the +homestead. The structure was home-made, with rafters on the outside or +inside according to the fancy of the builder; sunshine and storm had +stained it grayish brown, and no tint could better harmonize with the +background and surroundings. In one corner of the stoop a tin wash-basin +stood under a waterspout in the sink; there swung the family towels; the +public comb, hanging by its teeth to a nail, had seen much service; a +piece of brown soap lay in an <i>abalone</i> shell tacked to the wall; a +small mirror reflected kaleidoscopical sections of the face, and made up +for its want of compass by multiplying one or another feature. We never +before ate at the hour of seven as we ate then; then a pipe on the front +steps and a frolic with the boys or the dogs would follow, and digestion +was well under way before the day's work began. Then the Artist +shouldered his knapsack and departed; the lads trudged through the road +to school; the women went about the house with untiring energy; the +male hands were already making the anvil musical in the rustic smithy, +or dragging stock to the slaughter, or busy with the thousand and one +affairs that comprise the sum and substance of life in a self-sustaining +community. We were assured that were war to be declared between the +outer world and Ingram House, lying in ambush in the heart of our black +forest, we might withstand the siege indefinitely. All that was needful +lay at our hands, and yet, a stone's-throw away from our shake-built +citadel, one loses himself in a trackless wood, whose glades are still +untrodden by men, though one sometimes hears the light step of the +<i>bronco</i> when Charlie rides forth in search of a strong bull. All work +was like play there, because of a picturesque element which predominated +over the practical. Wood-cutting under the window of the best room, +trying out fat in a caldron or an earth-oven against our cottage, +dragging sunburnt straw in a rude sledge down the hill-side road, +shoeing a neighbor's horse in a circle of homely gossips, hunting to +supply the domestic board at the distant market—is this all that Adam +and the children of Adam suffer in his fall?</p> + +<p>At noon a clarion voice resounded from the kitchen door and sent the +echoes up and down the creek. It was the hostess, who, having prepared +the dinner, was bidding the guests to the feast. The Artist came in +with his sketch, the Chum with his novel, the Scribe with his note-book, +followed by the horny-handed sons of toil, whose shoulders were a little +rounded and whose minds were seldom, if ever, occupied with any life +beyond the hills that walled us in. We sat down at a camp board and ate +with relish. The land was flowing with milk and honey; no sooner was the +pitcher drained or the plate emptied than each was replenished by the +willing hands of our hostess or her boys.</p> + +<p>Another smoke under the stoop followed, and then, perhaps, a doze at the +cottage, or in one of the dozen rocking-chairs about the house, or on +the rustic throne hewn from a stump in the grove between the house and +the barn. The sun flooded the cañon with hot and dazzling light; the air +was spiced with the pungent odor of shrubs; it was time to rest a little +before beginning the laborious sports of the afternoon. Later, we all +wandered on the banks of the creek and were sure to meet at the +swimming-pool about four o'clock. Meanwhile the Artist has laid in +another study. Foster has finished his tale, and is rocking in a hammock +of green boughs; the Scribe has booked a half-dozen fragmentary +sentences that will by and by grow into an article, and the boys have +come home from school.</p> + +<p>By and by we wanted change; the monotony of town life is always more or +less interesting; the monotony of country life palls after a season. +Change comes over us in a most unexpected guise. Our cañon was decked +with the flaming scarlet of the poison-oak; these brilliant bits of +foliage are the high-lights in almost every California landscape, and +must satisfy our love of color, in the absence of the Eastern autumnal +leaf. The gorgeous shrubs stand out like burning bushes by the roadside, +on the hill-slope, in the forest recesses, and almost everywhere. The +Artist's chum gave evidence of a special susceptibility to the poison by +a severe attack that prostrated him utterly for a while. Yet he stood by +us until his vacation came to an end, and, to the last, there was no +complaint heard from this martyr to circumstances.</p> + +<p>One day he left us—on mule-back, with nine dogs fawning upon his +stirrup, and amid a hundred good-byes wafted to him from the house, the +smithy, the barn, and the swimming-pool. He had orders to send in the +Kid, or his successor, immediately upon his arrival at the Bay. We must +needs have some one to indulge, some one whose interests were not +involved in the primeval farther than the pleasure it afforded for the +hour. The Kid was the very thing—a youngster with happiness in heart, +luster in his eye, and nothing more serious than peach-down on his lip; +yet there was gravity enough in his composition to carry him beneath the +mere surface of men and things. The Kid drove in one night with rifle +tall as himself, fishing-tackle, and entomological truck, wild with +enthusiasm and hungry as a carp.</p> + +<p>What days followed! Our little entomologist chased scarlet-winged +dragon-flies and descanted on the myriad forms of insect-life with +premature accomplishment. "Out of the mouths of babes and sucklings" we +heard revelations not unmixed with the ludicrous superstitions of the +nursery.</p> + +<p>There is a school-house a mile distant, on the forks of the creek; we +visited it one Friday, and saw six angular youths, the sum total of the +young ideas within range of the instructress, spelled down in +broadsides; and heard time-honored recitations delivered in the same old +sing-song that could only have been original with the sons of our first +parents. The school-mistress, with a sun-bonnet that buried her face +from the world, passed Ingram's ten times a week, footing it silently +along the dusty road, lunch-pail in hand. She lives in a lonely cabin on +the trail to the wilderness over the hill.</p> + +<p>The Kid sketched a little; indeed, the artistic fever spread to the +granary, where the boys spent some hours of each day restoring, not to +say improving, the tarnished color of certain face-cards of an imperfect +euchre deck, the refuse of the palette being carefully secreted to this +end; we never knew at what moment we might sit upon the improvised +color-box of some juvenile member of the family.</p> + +<p>But hunting was our delectable recreation; the Doctor would lead off on +a half-broken <i>bronco</i>, followed by a select few from the house or the +friendly camps, Fred bringing up the rear with a pack-mule. This was the +chief joy of the hounds; the old couple grew young at the scent of the +trail, and deserted their whining progeny with Indian stoicism. Two +nights and a day were enough for a single hunt,—one may in that time +scour the rocky fortresses of the Last Chance, or scale the formidable +slopes of the Devil's Ribs.</p> + +<p>The return from the hunt was a scene of picturesque interest: the +approach of the hunters at dusk, as they emerged one after another from +the dark wood; the pack-mule prancing proudly under a stark buck +weighing one hundred and thirty-three pounds, without its vitals; the +baby fawn slain by chance (for no one would acknowledge the criminal +slaughter); the final arrival of the fagged, sore-footed dogs, who were +wildly greeted by the puppies, and kissed on the mouth and banged about +by many a playful paw; the grouping under the trees in front of +Bachelors' Hall, where the buck was slung, head downward among green +leaves, and with stakes crossed between the gaping ribs; the light of +the flickering lantern; the dogs supping blood from the ground where it +had dripped; the satisfaction of the hunters; the admiration of the +women; the wild excitement of the boys, who all talked at once, at the +top of their voices, with gestures quicker than thought;—this was the +Carnival of the Primeval.</p> + +<p>One night, the Kid set out for the stubble-field and lay in wait for +wild rabbits; when he came in with his hands full of ears, the glow of +moonlight was in his eye, the flush of sunset on his cheek, the riotous +blood's best scarlet in his lips, and his laugh was triumphant; with a +discarded hat recalled for camp-duty, a blue shirt open at the throat, +hair very much tumbled, and no thoughts of self to detract from the +absolute grace of his pose.</p> + +<p>But all hunting-parties were not so successful. One of seven came home +empty-handed and disgusted. It became necessary, while the unlucky +huntsmen were under our roof, to give them festive welcome. Fred drew +out his fiddle; the Doctor gathered his strength and shook as lively a +shoe on the sanded floor of the best room as one will hear the clang of +in many a day. Clumsy joints grew supple; heavy boots made the splinters +fly; a fellow-townsman, like ourselves on a vacation tour, jigged with +the inimitable grace of a trained dancer. How few of our muscles are +aware of the joy of full development! From the wall of the best room the +"Family of Horace Greeley," in mezzotint, looked down through clouded +glass and a veneered frame. The county map hung <i>vis-à-vis</i>. A family +record, wherein a pale infant was cradled in saffron, and schooled in +pink, passing through a rainbow-tinted life that reached the climax of +color at the scarlet and gold bridal, and ended in a sea-green grave; +this record, with a tablet for appropriate inscriptions under each epoch +in the family history, was still further enriched with lids of stained +isinglass carefully placed over the domestic calendar, as much as to +say, "What is written here is not for the public eye." On the triangular +shelf in the corner, stood the condensed researches of all Arctic +explorers, in one obese volume; its twin contained the revelations of +African discoveries boiled down and embellished with numberless cuts; a +Family Physician, one volume of legislative documents, and three stray +magazines, with a Greek almanac, completed the library. So, even in the +primeval state, we were not without food for our minds as well as +exercise for our muscles. After a time, even the dance ceased to attract +us. The Artist had lined the walls of his chamber with brilliant +sketches; the kid clamored for home.</p> + +<p>I suppose we might have tarried a whole summer and still found some turn +in the brook, some vista in the wood, some cluster of isolated trees, to +hold us entranced; for the peculiar glory of the hour transfigured +them, and the same effect was never twice repeated. Moreover, we at last +grew intolerant of one great annoyance. You all have known it as we knew +it, and doubtless endured it with as little grace. Is there anything +more galling than the surpassing impudence of country flies? We resolved +to return to town, and returned close upon the heels of our resolution. +Again we threaded the dark windings of the wood, and bade farewell to +every object that had become endeared to us. We wondered how soon change +would lay its hand upon this primeval beauty. We approached the +logging-camp. Presto! in the brief interval since our first glimpse of +the forests above it, the hills had been shorn of their antique harvest, +and the valley was a place of desolation and of death.</p> + +<p>It seemed incredible that the dense growth of gigantic trees could be so +soon dragged to market. There was a famous tree—we saw the stump still +bleeding and oozing up—which, three feet from the ground, measured +eleven and a half feet one way by fourteen feet the other. When its doom +was sealed, a path was cut for it and a soft bed made for it to lie on. +The land was graded, and covered with a cushion of soft boughs. Had the +tree fallen on uneven ground, it would have been shattered; if it had +swerved to right or left, nothing but fire could have cleared the +wrecks.</p> + +<p>The making of the death-bed of this monster cost Mrs. Duncan forty +dollars. Then the work began. An ax in the hands of a skillful +wood-cutter threw the tree headlong to the earth. Then it was sawed +across, yielding eighteen logs, each sixteen feet in length, with a +diameter of four feet at the smallest end. The logs were put upon +wheels, and run over a light trestle-work to the mill, drawn thither by +a ridiculous dummy, which looked not unlike an old-fashioned tavern +store on its beam-ends, with an elbow in the air. At the mill, it was +sawed into eighty thousand feet of marketable lumber.</p> + +<p>Reaching the forest, on our way to the Mills, we found the river had +risen so that ten miles from the mouth we were obliged to climb upon the +wagon-seats, and hold our luggage above high-water mark.</p> + +<p>At Duncan's, on the home stretch, we made our final pilgrimage, to a +wild glen over the Russian River, where, a few weeks before, the +Bohemian Club had held high jinks. The forest had been a scene of +enchantment on that midsummer night; but now the tents were struck, the +Japanese lanterns were extinguished, and nothing was left to tell the +tale but the long tables of rough deal, where we had feasted. They were +covered with leaves and dust; spiders had draped them with filmy robes. +The quail piped, the jay-bird screamed, the dove sobbed, and a slim +snake, startled at the flight of a bounding hare, glided away among the +rustling leaves. So soon does this new land recover the primeval beauty +of eternal youth.</p> + + + +<hr style='width: 65%;' /> +<a name='Yachting'></a><h2>INLAND YACHTING</h2> +<br /> + +<p><img align='left' src="images/illus-w.png" height="75" width="75" +alt= "W"> + +<b><big>HEN</big></b> your bosom friend seizes you by the arm, and says to you in that +seductive sotto voce which implies a great deal more than is confessed, +"Come, let us go down to the sea in ships, and do business in the great +waters," you generally go, if you are not previously engaged. At least, +I do.</p> + +<p>Much has been said in disfavor of yachting in San Francisco Bay. It is +inland yachting to begin with. The shelving shores prevent the +introduction of keel boats; flat and shallow hulls, with a great breadth +of beam, something able to battle with "lumpy" seas and carry plenty of +sail in rough weather, is the more practical and popular type. Atlantic +yachts, when they arrive in California waters, have their rigging cut +down one-third. Schooners and sloops with Bermudian mutton-leg sails +flourish. A modification of the English yawl is in vogue; but large +sloops are not handled conveniently in the strong currents, the chop +seas, the blustering winds, the summer fogs that make the harbor one of +the most treacherous of haunts for yachtsmen.</p> + +<p>Think of a race when the wind is blowing from twenty-five to +thirty-five miles an hour! The surface current at the Golden Gate runs +six miles per hour and the tide-rip is often troublesome; but there is +ample room for sport, and very wild sport at times. The total area of +the bay is four hundred and eighty square miles, and there are hundreds +of miles of navigable sloughs, rivers, and creeks. One may start from +Alviso, and sail in a general direction, almost without turning, one +hundred and fifty-five miles to Sacramento city. During the voyage he is +pretty sure to encounter all sorts of weather and nearly every sort of +climate, from the dense and chilly fogs of the lower bay to the +semi-tropics of the upper shores, where fogs are unknown, and where the +winds die away on the surface of beautiful waters as blue as the Bay of +Naples.</p> + +<p>There are amateur yachtsmen, a noble army of them, who charter a craft +for a day or two, and have more fun in a minute than they can recover +from in a month. I have sailed with these, at the urgent request of one +who has led me into temptation more than once, but who never deserted me +in an evil hour, even though he had to drag me out of it by the heels. I +am at this moment reminded of an episode which still tickles my memory, +and, much as a worthy yachtsman may scorn it, I confess that this moment +is more to me than that of any dash into deep water which I can at +present recall.</p> + +<p>It was a summer Saturday, the half-holiday that is the reward of a +week's hard labor. With the wise precaution which is a prominent +characteristic of my bosom friend, a small body of comrades was gathered +together on the end of Meigg's Wharf, simultaneously scanning, with +vigilant eyes, the fleets of sailing crafts as they swept into view on +the strong currents of the bay. It was a little company of youths, sick +of the world and its cares, and willing, nay eager, to embark for other +climes. They came not unfurnished. I beheld with joy numerous demijohns +with labels fluttering like ragged cravats from their long necks; +likewise stacks of vegetables, juicy joints, fruits, and more demijohns, +together with a small portable iceberg; blankets were there, also guns, +pistols, and fishing tackle. If one chooses to quit this world and its +follies, one must go suitably provided for the next. Experience teaches +these things.</p> + +<p>The breeze freshened; the crowd grew impatient; more fellows arrived; +another demijohn was seen in the distance swiftly bearing down upon us +from the upper end of the wharf, and at this moment a dainty yacht +skimmed gracefully around the point of Telegraph Hill, picking her way +among the thousand-masted fleet that whitened the blue surface of the +bay, and we at once knew her to be none other than the "Lotus," a crack +yacht, as swift as the wind itself. In fifteen minutes there was a +locker full of good things, and a deck of jolly fellows, and when we +cast off our bow-line, and ran up our canvas, we were probably the +neatest thing on the tide. I know that I felt very much like a lay +figure in somebody's marine picture, and it was quite wonderful to +behold how suddenly we all became sea-worthy and how hard we tried to +prove it.</p> + +<p>A heavy bank of cloud was piled up in the west, through which stole long +bars of sunshine, gilding the leaden waves. The "Lotus" bent lovingly to +the gale. Some of us went into the cabin, and tried to brace ourselves +in comfortable and secure corners—item—there are no comfortable or +secure seats at sea, and there will be none until there is a revolution +in ship-building. Our yachting afforded us an infinite variety of +experience in a very short time; we had a taste of the British Channel +as soon as we were clear of the end of the wharf. It was like rounding +Gibraltar to weather Alcatraz, and, as we skimmed over the smooth flood +in Raccoon Straits, I could think of nothing but the little end of the +Golden Horn. Why not? The very name of our yacht was suggestive of the +Orient. The sun was setting; the sky deeply flushed; the distance highly +idealized; homeward hastened a couple of Italian fishing boats, with +their lateen sails looking like triangular slices cut out of the full +moon; this sort of thing was very soothing. We all lighted our +cigarettes, and lapsed into dreamy silence, broken only by the plash of +ripples under our bow and the frequent sputter of matches quite +necessary to the complete consumption of our tobacco.</p> + +<br /> +<a name="image-21"><!-- Image 21 --></a> +<center> +<img src="images/illus-0226-2.jpg" height="400" width="653" +alt= "Meigg's Wharf in 1856"> +</center> + +<h4> Meigg's Wharf in 1856</h4> + +<p>About dusk our rakish cutter drifted into the shelter of the hills along +the north shore of the bay, and with a chorus of enthusiastic cheers we +dropped anchor in two fathoms of soft mud. We felt called upon to sing +such songs as marines are wont to sing upon the conclusion of a voyage, +and I believe our deck presented a tableau not less picturesque than +that in the last act of "Black-eyed Susan." Susan alone was wanting to +perfect our nautical happiness.</p> + +<p>How charming to pass one's life at sea, particularly when it is a calm +twilight, and the anchor is fast to the bottom: the sheltering shores +seem to brood over you; pathetic voices float out of the remote and +deepening shadows; and stars twinkle so naturally in both sea and sky +that a fellow scarcely knows which end he stands on.</p> + +<p>I have preserved a few leaves from a log written by my bosom friend. I +present them as he wrote them, although he apparently had "Happy +Thoughts" on the brain, and much Burnand had well nigh made him mad.</p> + +<div class='poem'> +<span>THE LOG OF THE "LOTUS"</span> +</div> + +<p>9 p.m.—Dinner just over; part of our crew desirous of fishing during +the night; hooks lost, lines tangled, no bait; a row by moonlight +proposed.</p> + +<p>10 p.m.—The Irrepressibles still eager to fish; lines untangled, hooks +discovered; two fellows despatched with yawl in search of bait; a row by +moonlight again proposed; we take observation—no moon!</p> + +<p>11 p.m.—Two fellows returning from shore with hen; hen very tough and +noisy; tough hens not good for bait; fishing postponed till daybreak; +moonlight sail proposed as being a pleasant change; still no moon; half +the crew turn in for a night's rest; cabin very full of half-the-crew.</p> + +<p>Midnight.—Irrepressibles dance sailor's hornpipe on deck; half-the-crew +below awake from slumbers, and advise Irrepressibles to renew search for +bait.</p> + +<p>12:30 a.m.—Irrepressibles return to shore for bait. Loud breathing in +cabin; water swashing on rocks along the beach; very picturesque, but no +moon yet; voice in the distance says "Halloa!" Echo in the other +distance replies, "Halloa yourself, and see how you like it!"</p> + +<p>1 a.m.—Irrepressibles still absent on shore; a dog barks loudly in the +dark; a noise is heard in a far away hen-coop—Irrepressibles looking +diligently for bait.</p> + +<p>1:30 a.m.—Dog sitting on the shore howling; very heavy breathing in the +cabin; noise of oars in the rowlocks; music on the water, chorus of +youthful male voices, singing "A smuggler's life is a merry, merry, +life." Subdued noise of hens; dog still howling; no moon yet; more noise +of hens, bait rapidly approaching.</p> + +<p>2 a.m.—Irrepressibles try to row yawl through sternlights of "Lotus"; +grand collision of yawl at full speed and a rakish cutter at anchor. +Profane language in the cabin; sleepy crew, half awake, rush up the +hatchway, and denounce Irrepressibles. Irrepressibles sing "Smuggler's +Life," etc.; terrific noise of hens; half-the-crew invite the +Irrepressibles to "be as decent as they can." No moon yet; everybody +packed in the cabin.</p> + +<p>2:30 a.m.—Sudden squall. "Lotus," as usual, bends lovingly to the gale; +dramatic youth in his bunk says, in deep voice, "No sleep till morn!" +More dramatic youths say, "I heard a voice cry, 'Sleep no more'." Very +deep voice says, "Macbeth hath mur-r-r-r-dered sleep!" General confusion +in the cabin. Old commodore of the "Lotus" says, "Gentlemen, a little +less noise, if you please." Noise subsides.</p> + +<p>3 a.m.—Irrepressibles propose sleeping in binnacle; unfortunate +discovery—no binnacle on board. Half-the-crew turn over, and suggest +that the Irrepressibles take night-caps, and retire anywhere. Moved and +seconded, That the Irrepressibles take two night-caps, and retire in a +body—item: two heads better than one, two night-caps ditto, ditto.</p> + +<p>3:30 a.m.—Commotion in cabin. Irrepressibles find no place to lay their +weary heads. Moonlight sail proposed; observations on deck—no moon; +squall in the distance; air very chilly. Irrepressibles retire in a +body, and take night-caps. Song by Irrepressibles, "A Smuggler's Life." +Half-the-crew sit up and throw boots. Irrepressibles assault +half-the-crew, and take bunks by storm; great confusion; old commodore +of the "Lotus" says, "Gentlemen had better sleep a little, so as to be +in trim for fishing at daybreak," night-caps all round; order restored; +chorus of subdued voices, "A Smuggler's Life."</p> + +<p>4 a.m.—Signs of daybreak; thin blue mist over the water; white sea-bird +overhead, with bright light on its breast; flocks bleating on shore; +sloop becalmed under the lee of the land; fishermen casting nets; more +fishermen right under them, casting nets upside down. Everything very +fresh and shining; feel happy; think we must look like marine picture by +somebody.</p> + +<p>4:30 a.m.—Commodore of the "Lotus" comes on deck, and takes an +observation; all favorable; commodore draws bucket of water out of the +sea and makes toilet, white beard of the commodore waves gently in the +breeze; fine-looking old sea-dog that commodore of the "Lotus."</p> + +<p>Sunday Morning.—All quiet; air very clear and bracing. Shore resembles +new world. Feel like Christopher Columbus discovering America. Peaceful +and happy emotions animate bosom; think I hear Sabbath bells—evidently +don't: no Sabbath bells anywhere around. Penitentiary of San Quentin in +the distance; look at San Quentin, and feel emotion of sadness steal +over me; moral reflection to try and avoid San Quentin as long as +possible.</p> + +<p>5 a.m.—Noise in cabins; boots flying in the air; cries for mercy; +reconciliation and eye-openers all round. Everybody on deck; next minute +everybody overboard bathing; water very cold; teeth chattering; +something warming necessary for all hands. Yawl goes out fishing; two +small boats at the disposal of Irrepressibles; a row by sunlight; no +moon last night; funny boy says, "Bring moon along next time!" Everybody +sees San Quentin at the same moment; half-the-crew advise Irrepressibles +to "go home at once." Cries of "hi yi." Irrepressibles say "they will +inform on half-the-crew when they get there"; disturbance on deck in +consequence; Commodore suggests a new search for bait; order restored; +new search for bait instituted. Three fellows sing "Father, come home," +and look toward San Quentin. Bad jokes on the prison every ten minutes +throughout the day. Small fleet of stern-wheel ducks come alongside for +breakfast; ducks in great danger of the galley; flock of pelicans, with +tremendous bowsprits, fly overhead; pistol-shot carries away tail +feathers of pelican; order restored.</p> + +<p>8 a.m.—Irrepressibles propose naval engagement; three small boats armed +and equipped for the fray. Irrepressibles routed; some taken prisoners; +great excitement; quantities of water dashed in all directions; boats +rapidly filling; two fellows overboard; cries for help, "fellows can't +swim a stroke"; intense excitement; boat sinks in five feet of water and +two feet of mud; the fellows brought on board to be wrung out. +Irrepressibles hang everything in the rigging to dry. Imagination takes +her accustomed flight; good study of nude Irrepressibles in great +number; think we must resemble the barge of Cleopatra on the Nile! +unlucky thought; no Cleopatra on board. Subject reconsidered; lucky +fancy—the Greek gods on a yachting cruise. Sun very hot; another bath +all round; a drop of something, for fear of catching cold; the Greek +gods on deck indulge in negro dances; two men on shore look on, and +wonder what's up. Sun intensely hot; Greek gods turn in for a square +sleep!</p> + +<p>It becomes necessary to suppress the bosom friend, who, it is +superfluous to state, was one of the leaders of the Irrepressibles on +the memorable occasion—and the balance of his log is consigned to the +locker of oblivion.</p> + +<p>The cruise of the "Lotus" had its redeeming features, though they were +probably unrecorded at the time. There was fishing and boating; rambles +on shore over the grassy hills; a search for clams and a good +old-fashioned clam bake; to which the sharpest appetites did ample +justice; and there were quiet fellows, who stole apart from the rioters +and had hours of solid satisfaction. You may have rocked in a small +skiff yourself, casting your line in deep water, waiting and watching +for the cod to bite. It is pleasant sculling up to a distant point, and +sounding by the way so as to get off the sand and over the pebbly bottom +as soon as possible. It is pleasant to cast anchor and float a few rods +from shore, where the rocks are eaten away by the tides of numberless +centuries, where the swallows build and the goats climb, and the scrub +oaks look over into the sea, with half their hairy roots trailing in the +air. It is less pleasant to thread your hook with a piece of writhing +worm that is full of agonizing expression, though head and tail are both +missing and writhing on their own hooks, which are also attached to your +line. I wonder if one bit of worm on a hook recognizes a joint of itself +on the next hook, and says to it, in its own peculiar fashion, "Well, +are you alive yet?"</p> + +<p>The baiting accomplished, with a great flourish you throw your sinker, +and see it bury itself in the muddy water; then you listen intently, +for the least suggestion of a disturbance down there at the other end of +the line; the sinker thumps upon this rock and the next one, drops into +a hole and gets caught for a moment, but is loosened again, and then a +sort of galvanic shock thrills through your body; on guard! if you would +save your bait; another twinge, fainter than the first, and at last a +regular tug, and you haul in your line, which is jerking incessantly by +this time. The next moment the hooks come to the surface, and on one of +them you find a Lilliputian fish that is not yet old enough to feed +himself, and was probably caught by accident.</p> + +<p>Perhaps you haul in your line as fast as you can, bait it and throw it +in again as rapidly as convenient—for this is the sport that fishermen +love to boast of; perhaps you rock in your boat all day, and draw but a +half-dozen of these shiners out before their time, and waste your +precious worms to no purpose.</p> + +<p>It's hungry work, isn't it? and the summons to dinner that is by-and-by +sounded from the yacht is a pleasing excuse for deserting so profitless +a task. The right thing to do, however, is to put on an appearance of +immense success whenever a rival skiff comes within hail. You hold up +your largest fish several times in succession, so as to delude the +anxious inquirers in the other boat, who will of course think you have a +dozen of those big cod with a striking family resemblance. It is a very +successful ruse; all fishermen indulge in it, and you have as good a +right to play the pantomime as they.</p> + +<p>By-and-by we are glad to think of a return to town. Why is it that +pleasure excursions seem to ravel out? They never stop short after a +brilliant achievement nor conclude with an imposing tableau; they die +out gradually. Someone gets out here, some-one else falls off there, and +there is a general running down of the machinery that has propelled the +festival up to the last moment. They flatten unmistakably, and it is +almost a pity that some sort of climax cannot be engaged for each +occasion, in the midst of which everyone should disappear, in red fire +and a blaze of rockets.</p> + +<p>Our yachting cruise was very jolly. We hauled in our lines and our +anchors, and spread our canvas, while the wind was brisk and the evening +was coming on; white-caps danced and tumbled all over the bay. It looked +stormy far out in the open sea as we crossed the channel; thin tongues +of fog were lapping among the western hills, as though the town were +about to be devoured by some ghostly monster, and presently it was of +course. The spray leaped half-way up our jib, and our fore-sail was +dripping wet as we neared the town; there was a rolling up of blankets, +and a general clearing out of the debris that always accumulates in +small quarters. Everybody was a little tired, and a little hungry, and +a little sleepy, and quite glad to get home again, and when the "Lotus" +landed us on the old wharf at the north end of the town, we crept home +through the side streets for decency's sake.</p> + +<p>The young "Corinthian" would scorn to recognize a yachting exploit such +as I have depicted. The young "Corinthian" owns his yacht, and lives in +it a great part of the summer. He is the first to make his appearance +after the rainy season has begun to subside, and the last to be driven +into winter quarters at Oakland or Antioch, where the fleet is moored +during four or five months of the year. The "Corinthian" paints his boat +himself, and is an adept at every art necessary to the completeness of +yachting life. He can cook, sail his boat, repair damages of almost +every description; he sketches a little, writes a little, and is, in +fact, an amphibious Bohemian, the life of the regatta, whose enthusiasm +goes far towards sustaining the healthful and amiable rivalry of the two +yachting clubs.</p> + +<p>These clubs have charming club-houses at Saucelito, where many a "hop" +is given during the summer, and where, on one occasion, "H.M.S. +Pinafore" was sung with great effect on the deck of the "Vira," anchored +a few rods from the dock; the dock was, for the time being, transformed +into a dress-circle. Sir Joseph Porter, K.C.B., made his entree in a +steam launch, and all the effects were highly realistic. The only hitch +in the otherwise immensely successful representation was the +impossibility of securing a moon for the second act.</p> + +<p>The annual excursion of the two clubs is one of the social events of the +year. The favorite resort is Napa, a pretty little town in the lap of a +lovely valley, approached by a narrow stream that winds through meadow +lands and scattered groves of oak. The yachts are nearly all of them +there, from twenty-six to thirty, a flock of white wings that skim the +waters of San Pablo Bay, upward bound. At Vallejo and Mare Island they +exchange salutes, abreast of the naval station, and enter the mouth of +Napa Creek; it is broad and marshy for a time, but soon grows narrow, +and very crooked. More than once as we sailed we missed stays, and +drifted broadside upon a hayfield, and were obliged to pole one another +around the sharp turns in the creek; it is then that cheers and jeers +come over the meadows to us, from the lesser craft that are sailing +breast deep among the waving corn. All this time Napa, our destination, +is close at hand, but not likely to be reached for twenty or thirty +minutes to come. We turn and turn again, and are lost to sight among the +trees, or behind a barn, and are continually greeted by the citizens, +who have come overland to give us welcome.</p> + +<p>Riotous days follow: a ball that night, excursions on the morrow, and +on the second night a concert, perhaps two or three of them, on board +the larger vessels of the fleet. We are lying in a row, against a long +curve of the shore; chains of lanterns are hung from mast to mast, the +rigging is gay with evergreens and bunting.</p> + +<p>The revelry continues throughout the night; serenaders drift up and down +the stream at intervals until daybreak, when a procession is formed, a +steamer takes us in tow, and we are dragged silently down the tide, in +the grey light of the morning. At Vallejo, after a toilet and a +breakfast, which is immensely relished, we get into position. Every eye +is on the Commodore's signal; by-and-by it falls, bang goes a gun, and +in a moment all is commotion. The sails are trimmed, the light canvas +set, and away flies the fleet on the home stretch, to dance for an hour +or two in the sparkling sunshine of San Pablo Bay, then plunge into the +tumbling sea in the lower harbor, and at last end a three days' cruise +with unanimous and hearty congratulations.</p> + +<p>A week ago I could have added here that in the annals of the yacht clubs +of San Francisco there has never been a fatal accident, never a +drowning, nor a capsizing, nor a wreck, and this covers a period of +thirteen years; alas! in a single day, on a cruise such as I have been +writing of, there was a shocking death. One yacht nearly foundered, but +fortunately escaped into smooth water, another was dashed upon the +rocks, and is probably a total wreck; while a third lost her +centre-board over a mud bank, where it buried itself, and held the +little craft a helpless prisoner; the crew and guests of the latter took +to the small boats, pulled three miles in a squall, and were rescued by +a passing steamer when they were all drenched to the skin, and well-nigh +exhausted.</p> + +<p>You see that inland yachting is not child's play, nor are these inland +yachts without their romantic records. The flag of the San Francisco +yacht club has floated among the South Sea Islands; one of its boats has +beaten the German and English types in their own waters; one has been as +far as the Australian seas; one is a pearl fisher in the Gulf of +California, and another is coquetting with the doldrums along the +Mexican coast. They are staunch little beauties all, and it would be +neither courteous nor healthful to think otherwise in the presence of +inland yachtsmen.</p> + +<br /> +<a name="image-22"><!-- Image 22 --></a> +<center> +<img src="images/illus-0238-2.jpg" height="654" width="400" +alt= "Telegraph Hill, 1855"> +</center> + +<h4>Telegraph Hill, 1855</h4> + +<hr style='width: 65%;' /> +<a name='Yosemite'></a><h2>IN YOSEMITE SHADOWS</h2> +<br /> + + +<p><img align='left' src="images/illus-y.png" height="75" width="75" +alt= "Y"> + +<b><big>OSEMITE</big></b>, Sept.—: Come at once—the year wanes; would you see the +wondrous transformation, the embalming of the dead Summer in windings of +purple and gold and bronze—come quickly, before the white pall covers +it—delay no longer. The waters are low and fordable, the snows +threaten, but the hours are yet propitious; and such a welcome waits you +as Solomon in all his glory could not have lavished on Sheba's +approaching queen. * * *"</p> + +<p>There was much more of the same sort of high-toned epistolary rhetoric, +written and sent by a dear hand, whose fanciful pen seemed touched by +the ambrosial tints of Autumn. So the year was going out in a gorgeous +carnival, before the Lent-like solemnity of Winter was assumed.</p> + +<p>I had only two things to consider now: First, was it already too late to +hasten thither, and enjoy the splendid spectacle so freely offered and +so alluring; secondly, could I, if yet in time, venture so boldly upon +the edge of Winter, and risk the possibility—nay, probability—of being +snow-bound for four or six months, 30 miles from any human habitation? </p> + +<p>I did not long consider. I felt every moment that the soul of Summer was +passing. I scented the ascending incense of smoking and crackling +boughs. What a requiem was being chanted by all the tremulous and broken +voices of Nature! Would I, could I, longer forbear to join the +passionate and tumultuous <i>miserere</i>? It seemed that I could not, for +gathering about me the voluminous furs of Siberia, I bade adieu to +friends, not without some forebodings awakened by the admonitions of my +elders, then, dropping all the folly of the world, like a monk I went +silently and alone into the monastery of a Sierran solitude, resigned, +trusting, prayerful.</p> + +<p>What an entering it was! With slow, devotional steps I approached the +valley. There was a thin veil of snow over the upper trail. It was +smooth and unbroken as I came upon it, following the blazed trees in my +way. Footprints of bear and fox, squirrel and coyote, were traceable. +The owl hooted at me, and the jay shot past me like a blue flash of +light, uttering her prolonged, shrill cry. As for the owl, I could not +see him, but I heard him at startling intervals give the challenge, "Who +are you?" so I advanced and gave the countersign. I don't believe it was +for his grave face alone that the owl was chosen symbol of Wisdom.</p> + +<p>Not too soon came the steep and perilous descent into the abysmal depths +of the mountain fastness. It is a shame that pilgrims who come up +thither do not time their steps so as to reach this <i>Ultima Thule</i> of +old times and ways at sunset. Then the magnificence of the spectacle +culminates. That new world below there is illuminated with the soft +tints of Eden. What unutterable fullness of beauty pervades all. The +forests—those moss-like fields are forests, and mighty ones, too—are +all aflame with the burnished gold of sunset, brightening the gold of +autumn; for gold twice refined, as it were, gilds the splendid +landscape. Only think of that picture, shining through the mellow haze +of Indian Summer, and flashing with the lambent glimmer of a myriad +glassy leaves. You can not see them moving, yet they twinkle +incessantly, and the warm air trembles about them while you hang +bewildered from a toppling parapet, four thousand feet above them; birds +swing under you in mid-air, streams leap from the sharp cliff, and reel +in that sickening way through the air that your brain whirls after them. +One is tired, anyhow, by the time he has reached this far, and a night +camp in the cool rim of this world-to-come is just the panacea for any +sort of weariness.</p> + +<p>Take my advice: Sleep on it, and drop down on the wings of the morning, +while the sun is filling up this marvelous ravine with such lights and +shadows as are felt, yet scarcely understood. Refreshed, amazed, +bewildered, go down into that solemn place, and see if you are not more +saint-like than you dared to think yourself. When the times are out of +joint, as they frequently are, come up here, forget men and things; +don't imagine we are as bad as we seem, for it is quite certain we might +be a great deal worse if we tried. While you bemoan our earthliness, you +may not be the one saint among us. Coming down with the evening, I was +scarcely at the gates of the inner valley when night was on me. Of this +gate, it is formed of a ponderous monument on the right, called +Cathedral Rock, and on the left is the one bald spot in the Sierras, the +great El Capitan. The arch over this primeval threshold is the astral +dome of heaven, and the gates stand ever open. There is no toll taken in +any mansion of my Father's House, and this is one of them. Passing to +the door of my host, I lifted the latch noiselessly. Before me dawned +fresh experiences. At my back Night gathered deeper than ever, and all +around I seemed to read the rubric of Life's new lesson.</p> + +<p>We are a comfort to ourselves—six of us, all told. Summer invites our +little company into a breezy hotel, over in the shadow across the +valley. Winter suggests a log cabin, an expansive fireplace, plenty of +hickory, and as much sunshine as finds its way into our secluded +hermitage. So we are done up compactly, in between thick walls, our hard +finish being in the shape of mud cakes in the chinks of the logs, and a +very hard finish it is; but we take wondrous comfort withal.</p> + +<p>How do I pass the hours? Leaving my friends, I wander forth, after +breakfast, in any direction that pleases me. Take today this sheep path; +it leads me to a pebbly beach at a swift turn of the Merced. That clump +of trees produces the best harvest of frost-pointed leaves; there are +new varieties offered every day at an alarming sacrifice, and I invest +largely in these fragile wares. Tomorrow, I shall go yonder across three +tumultuous streams, upon three convenient logs, broad and mossy. Some +book or other goes with me, and is opened now and then. Such books as +Plant Life, The Sexuality of Nature, Studies in Animal Life, suggest +themselves. Open these anywhere, and each is annotated and illustrated +by the scene before me. Every page is a running text to the hour I +glorify.</p> + +<p>Perhaps a leaf falls into my lap as I sit over the brook, on a log—a +single leaf, gilded about its border, in the centre a crimson flush, +fast swallowing up the original greenness; the whole will presently be +bronzed and sombre. O, Leaf! how art thou mummified! We do not think of +these little things of Nature. Look at this leaf. What is its record? +How many generations, think you, are numbered in its ancestry? A +perpetual intermarriage has not weakened its fibres. The anatomy of this +leaf is perfect, and the sap of this oak flows from oak to acorn, from +acorn to oak, in an interminable and uninterrupted succession since the +first day. What are your titles and estates beside this representative? +What is your heraldry, with its two centuries of mold; your absurd and +confused genealogies, your escutcheons, blotted no doubt with crimes and +errors, when this scion, which I am permitted to entertain for a moment, +comes of a race whose record is spotless and without stain through ten +thousand eventful years. Why, Eve would recognize the original of this +stock from the mere family resemblance.</p> + +<p>Do you think these days tiresome? It is embarrassing for some people to +be left alone with themselves. They can no longer play a part, for there +are none like themselves to play to. The sun and stars know you well +enough—most likely, better than you yourselves do. I like this. I would +out and say to myself: "Here is a confidant. Day hides nothing from me, +or you; it expresses all, exposes all—even that which we might not ask +to see. It is best that we should see it; there are no errors in +Nature."</p> + +<p>Walking, the squirrel nods to me. I nod back; and why shouldn't I? +Nature has familiarly introduced us. Squirrel munches under his tail +canopy till I am out of sight, jabbering all the while. What sage little +fellows go on four feet! I believe an animal has all the instincts of +Adam. He should never be tamed, however, lest he lose his identity. +Civilization rubs down the points in our character. As the surf rounds +the pebble, the masses round us. We are polished and insufferably +proper, but have no angles left! It is the angles that give the diamond +its lustre.</p> + +<p>Are you hungry? When the index of shadow points out from the base of old +Sentinel Rock and touches that column of descending spray they call +Yosemite, I go to dinner. "The Fall of the Yosemite"—what a dream it +is. A dream of the lotus-eaters, and an aspiration of the Ideal in +Nature. You can not realize it; and yet, you will never forget it. Don't +take it too early in the Spring, when it is less ethereal—nay, somewhat +heavy; rather see it in summer after the rains, or in autumn, better +than all, when it is like a tissue of diamond dust shaken upon the air. +It really seems a labor for it to reach its foaming basin, it is so +filmy, spiritual, delicate. The very air wooes it from its perpetual +leap; sudden currents of wind catch it up and whirl it away in their +arms, a trembling captive, or dash it against the solemn and sad-looking +rock, where it clings for a moment, then trickles down the scarred and +rugged face of it, fading in its descent; sometimes it is waved back by +the elements, and almost seems to return into its cloudy nest up yonder +close under the sky. It only comes to us at last by impulses, and all +along its shining and vapory path rockets of spray shoot out like +pendants, dissolving singly and alone.</p> + +<p>But "to return to our muttons." My dial says 12 M. There is no winding +up and down of weights here; 12 M. it undoubtedly is, and mutton waits. +These muttons were begotten here of muttons begotten here to the third +or fourth generation. Their wool is clipped, larded, and spun here by +one who lives here and loves this valley. These mittens, that keep the +frost from my fingers, are among the comforting results of this domestic +economy. In the cabin, by the fireplace, stands the old-fashioned +spinning wheel; and the old-fashioned body who manipulates the wool so +skillfully is the light of our little household. The shadow has struck +twelve from old Sentinel; and I take the sun once a day, and no oftener. +A cool, bracing air, a sharp run over the meadows, for I see the hostess +waving a signal at me for my tardiness, and I am hungry on my own +account—such cliffs and vistas as one sees here make one hollow with +looking at them, and are calculated to keep a supply of appetite on +hand. Do you like good long strips of baked squash? How do you fancy +bowls of warm milk—milk that declares a creamy dividend before morning? +Here is a fine fowl of our own raising—one that has seen Yosemite in +its glory and in its gloom; it ought to be good eating, and I can affirm +that it is. That's a dinner for you, and one where you can begin on pie +the first thing, if your soul craves it, which it frequently does.</p> + +<p>A storm brewing, and rain in the lower valley. Never mind, there is no +hurry here; one blushes to be caught worrying in the august presence of +these mountains.</p> + +<p>What can I do this stormy afternoon? Stop within doors and sit at the +window; a small grossbeak overhead, and we two looking out upon the rain +and fog. It is a mile nearly to that wall opposite, but look up high as +I can from my window I see no strip of sky. Here is a precipice of +homely, almost hideous-looking rock, and above it a hanging garden; +those pines in that garden are a hundred feet and more in height: +measure the second cliff by their proportions—how far is it, think you, +to the garden above? A thousand feet, perhaps; and three, four—no, six +of these terraces before you touch blue sky. Oh, what a valley! and +where else under heaven are we sunk forty fathoms deep in shadow? But +the sun is up yet, and there floats an eagle in its golden ray. I like +to watch the last beams burn out in that upper gallery among the pines. +There is a moment given us at sunset when we may partly realize the +inexpressible sweetness of the eternal day that is promised us—a dim, +religious light. There is no screen or tint soft enough to render the +effect perfectly. Only these few seconds at sunset seem to hint +something of its surpassing tenderness.</p> + +<p>What cloud effects! Look up!—a break in the heavens, and beyond it the +shoulder of a peak weighing some billions of tons, but afloat now, as +soft in outline as the mists that envelop it. What masses of clouds +tumble in upon us! The sky is obscured, night is declared at once, and +the fowls go to roost at three P.M. How is the Fall in this weather? A +silver braid dropped from one cloud to another. Its strands parted and +joined again, lost and found in its own element. Leaping from its dizzy +eyrie in the clouds, itself most cloud-like, it is lost in a whirlwind +of foam. Now it is as a voice heard faintly above the wind, borne hither +and thither. Long, stinging nights, plenty of woolen blankets, and +delicious sleep. Then the evenings, so cosy around the fire. H—— reads +Scott; we listen and comment. Baby is abed long ago—little Baby, four +years old, born here also; knowing nothing of the beautiful world save +what is gathered in this gallery of beauties. Such a queer little child, +left to herself, no doubt thinking she is the only little one in +existence, contented to teeter for hours on a plank by the woodpile, +making long explorations by herself and returning, when we are all well +frightened, with a pocketful of lizards and a wasp in her fingers; +always talking of horned toads and heifers; not afraid of snakes, not +even the rattlers; mocking the birds when she is happy, and growling +bear-fashion to express her disapproval of any thing.</p> + +<p>When the snows come, there will be avalanches by day and night, rushing +into all parts of the valley. The Hermit hears a rumbling in the clouds, +as he hoes his potatoes. He looks; a granite pilaster, hewn out by the +hurricanes centuries ago, at last grown weary of clinging to that +precipitous bluff, lets go its hold, and is dashed from crag to crag in +a prolonged and horrible suicide. A pioneer once laid him out a garden, +and marked the plan of his cellar; he was to begin digging the next day: +that night, there leaped a boulder from under the brow of this cliff +right into the heart of the plantation. It dug his cellar for him, but +he never used it. It behooved him and others to get farther out from the +mountain that found this settler too familiar, and sent a random shot as +a sufficient hint to the intruder.</p> + +<p>In the trying times when the world was baking, what agony these +mountains must have endured. You see it in their faces, they are so +haggard and old-looking: time is swallowed up in victory, but it was a +desperate duel. There is a dome here that the ambitious foot of man has +never attempted. Tissayac allows no such liberty. Look up at that +rose-colored summit! The sun endows it with glory long after twilight +has shut us in. We are cheated of much daylight here—it comes later and +goes earlier with us; but we get hints of brighter hours, both morning +and evening, from those sparkling minarets now decked with snowy +arabesques. I have seen our canopy, the clouds, so crimsoned at this +hour that the valley seemed a grand oriental pavilion, whose silken roof +was illuminated with a million painted lamps. The golden woods of Autumn +detract nothing from the bizarre effect of the spectacle. To be sure, +these walls are rather sombre for a festival, but the sun does what it +can to enliven them, whilst the flame-colored oaks and blood-spotted +azaleas projecting on all sides from the shelving rocks resemble to a +startling degree galleries of blazing candelabra. Night dispels this +illusion, it is so very deep and mysterious here. The solemn procession +of the stars silently passes over us. I see Taurus pressing forward, and +anon Orion climbs on hand and knee over the mountain in hot pursuit.</p> + +<p>Does it tire you to look so long at a gigantic monument? I do not +wonder. The secret of self-esteem seems to lie in regarding our +inferiors; therefor let us talk of this frog. I have heard his chorus a +thousand times in the dark. His is one of the songs of the night. Just +watch him in the meadow pool. See the contentment in his double chin; +he flings out three links of hind leg and carries his elbows akimbo; his +attitudes are unconstrained; he is entirely without affectation; life +never bores him; he keeps his professional engagements to the letter, +and sings nightly through the season, whether hoarse or not.</p> + +<p>It is a good plan to portion off the glorious vistas of Yosemite, +allotting so many surprises to each day. Take, for instance, the ten +miles of valley, and passing slowly through the heart of it, allow a +tableau for every three hundred yards. You are sure of this variety, for +the trail winds among a galaxy of snowy peaks. Turn as you choose, it is +either a water-fall at a new angle, a cliff in profile, a reflection in +river or lake—the sudden appearance of the supreme peak of all, or +ravine, cañon, cavern, pine opening, grove or prairie. There is a point +from which you may count over a hundred rocky fangs, tearing the clouds +to tatters. I can not tell you the exact location of this terrific +climax of savage beauty; try to find it, and perhaps discover half a +dozen as singular scenic combinations for yourself. See all that you are +told must be seen, then go out alone and discover as much more for +yourself, and something no doubt dearer to your memory than any of the +more noted haunts. "See Mirror Lake on a still morning," they said to +me. I saw it, but went again in the evening, and saw a vision that the +reader may not expect to have reflected here. It was the picture of the +morning—so softened and refined a veil of enchantment seemed thrown +over it. Hamadryad or water nymph could not have startled me at that +moment: they belonged there, and were looked for. I shall hardly again +renew those impressions; it was all so unexpected, and one is not twice +surprised in the same manner. That wondrous amphitheatre was for once +made cheerful with the broad, horizontal bars of fire that shifted about +it, yet all its lights were mellowed in the purpling mists of evening, +and the whole was pictured in little on the surface of the lake. There +was nothing earthly visible, I thought then, for every thing seemed +transfigured, floating in a lucent atmosphere. It was the hour when the +birds are silent for the space of one intense moment, stopping with one +accord—perhaps holding their breath till the spell is broken. As I +stood entranced, a large golden leaf, ready and willing to die, let go +its hold on the top bough of a tree overhanging the water. From twig to +twig it swung. I heard every sound in its fall till it was out of the +congregation of its fellows, turning over and over in mid-air, sailing +toward the centre of the lake. There it hung on the rim of that +stainless crystal, while a thin ring of silver light noiselessly +expanded toward the shore. The sun was down. All the birds of heaven +said so with their bubbling throats. Bewildered with the delicious +conclusion of this illustration of still life, I turned homeward, +dispelling the mirage. Then such a ride home in the keen air, while a +pillar of smoke rose over the little cabin, telling me which of the +hundred bowers of autumn sheltered my nest.</p> + +<p>But, again and again, I have seen all. Pohono has breathed upon me with +its fatal breath, yet I survive. It is said that three Indian girls were +long ago bewitched by its waters, and now their perturbed spirits haunt +the place. Those perfectly round rainbows may form the nimbus for each +of the martyrs; they, at any rate, look supernatural enough for such an +office. The wildly wooded pass to the Vernal and Nevada Falls has echoed +to my tread. I have been sprayed upon till my spirit is never dry of the +life-giving waters that flow so freely. But I am just a little tired of +all this. I begin to breathe short, irregular breaths. The soul of this +mighty solitude oppresses me; I want more air of the common sort, and +less wisdom in daily talks and walks. I remember the pleasant nonsense +of life over the mountains, and sigh for those flesh-pots of Egypt once +in a while. These rocks are full of texts and teachings—these cliffs +are tables of stone, graven with laws and commandments. I read +everywhere mysterious cyphers and hieroglyphics; every changing season +offers to me a new palimpsest. I do not quite like to play here; I dare +not be simple; I'm altogether too good to last long. How many thousand +ascensions have been made in these worshipful days, I wonder; not merely +getting the body on to the tops of these wonderful peaks, but going +thither in spirit, as when the soul goes up into the mountains to pray? +This eye-climbing is as fatiguing and perilous as any. I feel the want +of some pure blue sky.</p> + +<p>A few farewell rambles associate themselves with packing up and plans of +desertion. Not sad farewells in this case, for if I never again meet +these individual mountains, I carry with me their memory, eternal and +incomparably glorious. Let us peep into this nook: I got plentiful +blackberries there in the spring, together with stains and thorny +scratches. I haul myself over the ferry and back, for old acquaintance' +sake; the current is so lazy, it seems incredible that the same waters +are almost impassable at some seasons. I succeed in wrecking a whole +armada of floating leaves with stems like a bowsprit. A few beetles take +passage in these gilded barges—no doubt, for the antipodes.</p> + +<p>Did you ever drive up the cattle at milking time? I have; but not +without endless trial and tribulation, for they spill off the path on +either side in a very remarkable way, and when I rush after one with a +flank movement, the column breaks and falls back utterly demoralized. A +little strategy on the part of their commander (which is myself) +triumphs in the end, for I privately reconstruct and march them all up +in detachments of one. I look after the little trees, the unbent twigs; +they are more interesting to me than your monsters. This nursery of +saplings sprang up in a night after a freshet: here are quivering aspens +trembling forever in penance for that one sin. They once were gravely +pointed out by the guide of a party of tourists as "shuddering asps." He +is doubtless the same who, being asked "what that was," (pointing to the +North Dome, six thousand feet in the air) said "he'd be hanged if he +knew; some knob or other." I recall ten thousand pleasant times as I +turn my face seaward; not only the great and omnipotent shadows under +the south wall of the valley, nor the continuous canticles of the +waters, but innumerable little things that fill up and make life +perfect.</p> + +<p>The talks, the walks with my friends here, the parrot "Sultan," fed +daily from the table, soliloquizing upon men and things in Arabic and +Hindostanee, for he scorns English and talks in his sleep. There is +<i>Bobby</i>, the grossbeak, brought to the door in pin feathers and skin +like oiled silk by an Indian. His history is tragic: this Indian brained +the whole family and an assortment of relatives; Bobby alone remaining +to brood over the massacre, was sold into bondage for two bits and a +tin dipper without the bottom. The sun seems to lift his gloom, for he +sings a little, sharpens his bill with great gusto and tomahawks a bit +of fruit, as though dealing vengeance upon the destroyer of his race.</p> + +<br /> +<a name="image-23"><!-- Image 23 --></a> +<center> +<img src="images/illus-0256-2.jpg" height="410" width="400" +alt= "Sentinel Hotel, Yosemite, in 1869"> +</center> + +<h4>Sentinel Hotel, Yosemite, in 1869</h4> + +<p>When shall I see another such cabin as this—its great fireplaces, and +the loft heaping full of pumpkins? O, Yosemite! O, halcyon days, and +bed-time at eight P.M., tucking in for ten good hours and up again at +six; good eatings and drinkings day by day, mugs of milk and baked +squash forever, plenty of butter to our daily bread; letters at wide +intervals, and long, uninterrupted "thinks" about home and friends (as +the poet of the "Hermitage" writes in one of his letters). Shall I ever +again sit for two mortal hours hearing a housefly buzz in the window and +thinking it a pleasant voice! But alas! those restless days, when the +air was full of driving leaves and I could find nothing on earth to +comfort me.</p> + +<p>I leave this morning. Opportunity takes me by the hand and leads me +away. The heart leaps with emotion: everything is momentous in a quiet +life. This is the portal we entered one deepening dusk. Its threshold +will soon be cushioned with snow; let us hasten on. If I were asked when +is the time to visit Yosemite, I should reply: Go in the spring; see the +freshets and the waterfalls in their glory, and the valley in its fresh +and vivid greenness. Go again, by all means, in the autumn, when the +woods are powdered with gold dust and a dreamy haze sleeps in the long +ravines; when the stars sparkle like crystals and the mornings are +frosty; when the clouds visit us in person, and the trees look like +crayon sketches on a vapory background, and the cliffs like leaning +towers traced in sepia on a soft ground glass. Go in spring and autumn, +if possible. I should choose autumn of the two; but go at any hazard, +and do not rest till you have been. You can enter and go out at this +portal. Passing seaward, to the left, out of the gray and groping mists +a form, arises, monstrous and awful in its proportions; spurning the +very earth that crumbles at its very base as it towers to heaven. The +vapors of the air cleave to its massive front. The passing cloud is +caught and torn in the grand carvings of its capitals. Gaze upon it in +the solemnity of its sunlit surface. Impressive, impassive, magnetic; +having a pulse and the organs of life almost; terrible as the forehead +of a god. The full splendor of the noonday can not belittle it, night +can not compass it. The moon is paler in its presence and wastes her +lamp, the stars are hidden and lost over and beyond it. Across the face +of it is borne forever the shadowy semblance of a swift and flying +figure. Despair and desperation are in the nervous energy depicted in +this marvelous medallion. Surely, the Indian may look with a degree of +reverence upon that picture, painted by the morning light, fading in the +meridian day, and gone altogether by evening. A grand etching of +colossal proportions, representing the great chief Tutochanula in his +mysterious flight. The Wandering Jew might look upon it and behold his +traditional beard and flowing robes blown here by the winds in the +rapidity of his desperate haste. It is the last one sees of the valley, +as it is the last any have seen of Tutochanula. He fled into the west, +cycles ago, and I follow him now into the west, nest-building, and +getting into the shadow and resting after the door of the mountain is +passed, and my soul no longer beats impetuously against those stormy +walls.</p> + +<p>With uncovered head, having nothing between me and Saturn, wiser, I +trust, for my intercourse with these masters, purer in heart and holier +for my prolonged vigil, with careful and reverential steps I pass out of +Yosemite shadows.</p> + + + +<hr style='width: 65%;' /> +<a name='Misty_City'></a><h2>AN AFFAIR OF THE MISTY CITY</h2> + +<a name='MCI'></a><h2>I.</h2> + +<h3>WHAT THE MOON SHONE ON</h3> +<br /> + +<p><img align='left' src="images/illus-s.png" height="75" width="75" +alt= "S"> + +<b><big>HE</big></b> was a smallish moon, looking very chaste and chilly and she peered +vaguely through folds of scurrying fog. She shone upon a silent street +that ran up a moderate hill between far-scattered corporation +gas-lamps—a street that having reached the hill top seemed to saunter +leisurely across a height which had once been the most aristocratic +quarter of the Misty City; the quarter was still pathetically +respectable, and for three squares at least its handsome residences +stared destiny in the face and stood in the midst of flower-bordered +lawns, unmindful of decay. Its fountains no longer played; even its once +pampered children had grown up, and the young of the present generation +were of a different cast; but the street seemed not to heed these +changes; indeed it was growing a little careless of itself and needed +replanking. Was it a realization of this fact, I wonder, that caused it +on a sudden to run violently down a steep place into the Bay, as if it +were possessed of Devils? Well it might be, for the human scum of the +town gathered about the base of the hill, and the nights there were +unutterably iniquitous.</p> + +<p>O that pale watcher, the Moon! She shone on a rude stairway leading up +to the bare face of a cliff that topped the hill; and five and forty +uncertain steps that had more than once slid down into the street below +along with the wreckage of the winter rains, for the cliff was of rock +and clay and though the rock may stand until the crack of Doom, the clay +mingles with the elements and an annual mud pudding, tons in weight, was +deposited on the pavement of the high street, to the joy of the +juveniles and the grief of the belated pedestrians. The cliff towering +at the junction of the two thoroughfares shared with each its generous +mud-flow and half of it descended in lavalike cascades into the depths +of a ravine that crossed the high street at right angles, passing under +a bridge still celebrated as a triumph of architectural ungainliness.</p> + +<p>She shone, my Lady Moon, into that deep ravine which was half filled +with shadow and made a weird picture of the place; it seemed like the +bed of some dark noiseless river, the source of which was still +undiscovered; and as for its mouth, no one would ever find it, or, +finding, tell of it, for the few who trusted themselves to its voiceless +and invisible current were heard of no more; sometimes a sharp cry for +help pierced the midnight silence, and it was known upon the hill that +murder was being done down yonder—that was all. Yet day by day the +great tide of traffic poured through this subterranean passage, with +muffled roar as of a distant sea.</p> + +<p>She shone on all that was left of a once beautiful and imposing mansion. +It crowned the very brow of the cliff; it proudly overlooked all the +neighbors; it was a Gothic ruin girded about with a mantle of ivy and +dense creepers, yet not all of the perennial leafage that clothed it, +even to the eaves, could disguise the fact that the major portion of the +mansion had been razed to the ground lest it should topple and go +crashing into that gulf below. There, once upon a time, in a Gothic +garden shaded by slender cypresses, walked the golden youth of the land; +there, feminine lunch parties, pink teas, highly exclusive musicales and +fashionable hops, flourished mightily; now the former side-door served +as the front entrance to all that was left of the mansion; the stone +that was rejected had become the headstone of the corner, as it were; it +was an abrupt corner to be sure, with the upper half of its narrow door +filled with small panes of glass; its modest threshold was somewhat +worn; but upon the platform before it a large egg-shaped jar of +unmistakable Chinese origin encased the roots of a flowing cactus that +might have added a grace to the proudest palace in the Misty City. This +was the modest portal of the Eyrie; ivy vines sheltered it like a dense +thatch; ivy vines clung fast to a deep bay window that nearly filled one +side of the library of the old mansion, now a living-room; ivy vines +curtained the glazed wall of a conservatory where some one slept as in a +bower. A weird dwelling place was this the moon shone upon, where +pigeons nested and cooed at intervals in all the green nooks thereof.</p> + +<p>She shone on the tall slim panes of glass in the bay window till they +shimmered like ice, and brightened the carpet on the floor of the +room—a carpet that was faded and frayed; she threw a soft glow upon the +three walls beyond the window; where were low, convenient shelves of +books; there were books, books, books everywhere—books of all +descriptions, neither creed nor caution limited their range. Many +pictures and sketches in oil or water-color—some of them unframed—were +upon the walls above the book-shelves; there were bronze statuettes, +graceful figures of lute-strumming troubadours upon the old-fashioned +marble mantel; there were busts and medallions in plaster, and a few +casts after the antique. Heaped in corners, and upon the tops of the +book-shelves lay bric-a-brac in hopeless confusion; toy canoes from +Kamchatka and the Southern seas; wooden masks from the burial places of +the Alaskan Indians and the Theban Tombs of the Nile Kings; rude +fish-hooks that had been dropped in the coral seas; sharks' teeth; and +the strong beak of an albatross whose webbed feet were tobacco pouches +and whose hollow wing-bones were the long jointed stem of a pipe; spears +and war-clubs were there, brought from the gleaming shores of +reef-girdled islands; a Florentine lamp; a roll of papyrus; an idol from +Easter Island, the eyes of which were two missionary shirt buttons of +mother-of-pearl, of the Puritan type; your practical cannibal, having +eaten his missionary, spits out the shirt buttons to be used as the eyes +which see not; carved gourds were there, and calabashes; Mexican +pottery; and some of the latest Pompeiian antiquities such as are +miraculously discovered in the presence of the amazed and delighted +tourist who secretly purchases the same for considerably more than a +song.</p> + +<p>There were pious objects, many of them resembling the Ex Votos at a +shrine; an ebony and bronzed indulgenced crucifix with a history, and +Sacred Hearts done in scarlet satin with flames of shining tinsel +flickering from their tops.</p> + +<p>There were vines creeping everywhere within the room, from jars that +stood on brackets and made hanging gardens of themselves; creepers, +yards in length that sprung from the mouths of water-pots hidden behind +objects of interest, and these framed the pictures in living green; a +huge wide-mouthed vase stood in the bay window filled with a great pulu +fern still nourished by its native soil—a veritable tropical island +this, now basking in the moonlight far from its native clime. Japanese +and Chinese lanterns were there; and an ostrich egg brought from Nubia +that hung like an alabaster lamp lit by a moonbeam; and fans, of course, +but quaint barbaric ones from the Orient and the Equatorial Isles; and +framed and unframed photographs of celebrities each bearing an original +autograph; and easy chairs, nothing but the easiest chairs from the very +far-reaching one with the long arms like a pair of oars over which one +throws his slippered feet, and lolls in his pajamas in memory of an East +Indian season of exile, to the deep nest-like sleepy hollow quite big +enough for two, in which one dozes and dreams, and out of which it is so +difficult for one to rise. Over all this picturesque confusion grinned a +fleshless human skull with its eye sockets and yawning jaws stuffed full +of faded boutonnieres.</p> + +<p>The moon shone, but paler now for it was growing late, on a closed coupe +that rolled rapidly from the Club House in the early morning after a +High Jinks night, and clattered through the streets accompanied by the +matutinal milk wagons with their frequent, intermittent pauses; thus it +rolled and rolled over the resounding pavement toward that house on the +hill top, The Eyrie.</p> + +<p>The vehicle zigzagged up the steep grade, and stopped at the foot of +the long stairway; some one alighted and exchanged a friendly word or +two with the driver, for in that lonely part of the town it was pleasant +to hear the sound of one's own voice even if one was guiltily conscious +of making conversation; then with a cheerful "Good-night," this some-one +climbed the steps while the vehicle hurried away with its jumble of +hoofs and wheels. A key was heard at the outer door; the door sagged a +little in common with everything about the house—and a tenant passed +into the Eyrie.</p> + +<p>Enter Paul Clitheroe, sole scion of that melancholy house whose +foundations had sunk under him, and left him, at the age of five and +twenty, master of himself, but slave to fortune.</p> + +<p>In the dim light he closed and fastened the outer door; from a hall +scarcely large enough for two people to pass in, he entered the inner +room with the confident step of a familiar. Having deposited hat, cane +and ulster in their respective places—there was a place for everything +or it would have been quite impossible to abide in that snuggery—he +sank into one of the easy chairs, rolled a cigarette with meditative +deliberation, lighted it and blew the smoke into the moonlight where it +assumed a thousand fantastic forms.</p> + +<p>The silence of the room seemed emphasized by the presence of its +occupant; he was one who under no circumstances was likely to disturb +the serenity of a house. In most cases a single room takes on the +character of the one who inhabits it; this is invariably the case where +the apartment is in the possession of a woman; but turn a man loose in a +room, and leave him to himself for a season, and he will have made of +that room a witness strong enough to condemn or condone him on the Last +Day; the whole character of the place will gradually change until it has +become an index to the man's nature; where this is not the case, the man +is without noticeable characteristics.</p> + +<p>Those who knew Paul Clitheroe, the solitary at the Eyrie, would at once +recognize this room as his abode; those of his friends who saw this room +for the first time, without knowing it to be his home, would say: "Paul +Clitheroe would fit in here." A kind of harmonious incongruity was the +chief characteristic of the man and his solitary lodging.</p> + +<p>He sat for some time as silent as the inanimate objects in that +singularly silent room. An occasional turn of the wrist, the momentary +flash of the ash at the end of his cigarette, the smoke-wreath floating +in space—those were all that gave assurance of life; for when this +solitary returned into his well-chosen solitude he seemed to shed all +that was of the earth earthy, and to become a kind of spectre in a +dream.</p> + +<p>Having finished his cigarette, Paul withdrew into the conservatory, his +sleeping room, half doll's house and half bower, where the ivy had crept +over the top of the casement and covered his ceiling with a web of +leaves. Shortly he was reposing upon his pillow, over which his +holy-water font—a large crimson heart of crystal with flames of +burnished gold, set upon a tablet of white marble—seemed almost to +pulsate in the exquisite half-lights of approaching dawn.</p> + +<p>It may not have been manly, or even masculine, for him thus literally to +curtain his sleep, like a faun, with ivy; it may not have been orthodox +for him to admit to his Valhalla some of the false Gods, and to honor +them after a fashion; the one true God was duly adored, and all his +saints appealed to in filial faith. That was his nature and past +changing; if he could not look upon God as a Jealous God visiting His +judgments with fanatical justice upon the witted and half-witted, it was +because his was a nature which had never been warped by the various +social moral and religious influences brought to bear upon it.</p> + +<p>He may have lacked judgment, in the eyes of the world, but he had never +suffered seriously in consequence. It may not have been wise for him to +fondly nourish tastes and tendencies that were usually quite beyond his +means; but he did it, and doing it afforded him the greatest pleasure in +life.</p> + +<p>You will pardon him all this; every one did sooner or later, even those +who discountenanced similar weaknesses or affectations—or whatever you +are pleased to call them—in anyone else, soon found an excuse for +overlooking them in his case.</p> + +<p>He was not, thank heaven, all things to all men; all things to a few, he +may have been—yea, even more than all else to some, so long as the +spell lasted; to the majority, however, he was probably nothing, and +less than nothing. And what of that? If he did little good in the world, +he certainly did less evil, and, as he lay in his bed, under a white +counterpane upon which the dawning light, sifting through the vines that +curtained the glazed front of his sleeping room, fell in a mottled +Japanese pattern, and while the ivy that covered the Gothic ceiling +trailed long tendrils of the palest and most delicate green, each leaf +glossed as if it had been varnished, this unheroic-hero, this +pantheistic-devotee, this heathenized-Christian, this +half-happy-go-lucky æthestic Bohemian, lay upon his pillow, the +incarnation of absolute repose.</p> + +<p>And so the morning broke, and the early birds began to chirp in the ivy +and to prune their plumage and flutter among the leaves; and down the +street tramped the feet of the toilers on their way to forge and dock. +Over the harbor came the daffodil light from the sun-tipped eastern +hills, and it painted the waves that lapped the sleek sides of a yacht +lying at anchor under the hill. A yacht that Paul had watched many a day +and dreamed of many a night; for he often longed with a great longing to +slip cable and hie away, even unto the uttermost parts.</p> + + + +<hr style='width: 65%;' /> +<a name='MCII'></a><h2>II.</h2> + +<h3>WHAT THE SUN SHONE ON</h3> +<br /> + +<p><img align='left' src="images/illus-h.png" height="75" width="75" +alt= "H"> + +<b><big>E</big></b> shone on the far side of the eastern azure hills and set all the tree +tops in the wood beyond the wold aflame; he looked over the silhouette +out of a cloudless sky upon a Bay whose breadth and beauty is one of the +seven hundred wonders of the world; he paved the waves with gold, a path +celestial that angels might not fear to tread. He touched the heights of +the Misty City and the sea-fog that had walled it in through the night +as with walls of unquarried marble—albeit the eaves had dripped in the +darkness as after a summer shower—and anon the opaque vapors dissolved +and fled away. There she lay, the Misty City, in all her wasted and +scattered beauty; she might have been a picture for Poets to dream on +and Artists to love—their wonder and their despair—but she is not; she +is hideous to look upon save in the sunset or the after-glow when you +cannot see her, but only the dim vision of what she might have been.</p> + +<p>He rose as a God refreshed with sleep and called the weary to their +work, and disturbed the slumbers of those that toil not and spin not, +and have nothing to do but sleep.</p> + +<p>There were no secrets from him now; every detail was discovered; and so +having gilded for a moment the mossy shingles of the Eyrie he stole into +the room where Paul Clitheroe passed most of his waking hours, and +through the curtain of ivy and geraniums that screened the conservatory +from the eyes of the curious world, and where Paul was at this moment +sleeping the sleep of the just. From the bed of the ravine below the +Eyrie rose the rumble and roar of traffic. The hours passed by. The +sleeper began to turn uneasily on his pillow. The sound of hurrying feet +was heard upon the board walks in front of the Eyrie-cliff; many voices, +youthful voices, swelled the chorus that told of the regiments of +children now hastening to school. From dreamland Paul returned by easy +stages to the work-a-day world. He arose, donned a trailing garment with +angel sleeves and a large crucifix embroidered in scarlet upon the +breast—that robe made of him a cross between a Monk and a +Marchioness—slipped his feet into sandals and entered the larger +chamber which was at once living-room and library. He opened the +shutters in the deep bay window and greeted the day with the silent +solemnity of a fire-worshipper; gave drink to his potted palms and ferns +and flowering plants; let his eye wander leisurely over the titles of +his books; lingered a little while over his favorites and patted some of +them fondly on the back. Taking a small key from its nail by the door he +opened the mail box without, carrying his letters to his writing table +and leaving them there unopened. He loved to speculate as to whom the +writers were and what they may have said to him. This piqued his +curiosity, and tided him over a scant breakfast at an inexpensive but +fly-blown restaurant where he was wont to eat or make a more or less +brave effort to eat whenever he had the wherewithal to settle for the +same. Breakfast over and gone the young man returned to his Eyrie, and +in due course was at his writing table, and at work upon the weekly +article that had been appearing in the Sunday issue of one of the +popular Dailies for an indefinite period, and the price of which had on +several occasions kept him from becoming a conspicuous object of +charity.</p> + +<p>Having written himself out for the day, as he was apt to in a few hours, +he wandered down to the Club for a bit of refreshment which was sure to +be forthcoming, for his friends there were ever ready to dine him, or +more frequently to wine him, merely for the pleasure of his company.</p> + +<br /> +<a name="image-24"><!-- Image 24 --></a> +<center> +<img src="images/illus-0272-2.jpg" height="400" width="560" +alt= "San Francisco in 1856"> +</center> + +<h4>San Francisco in 1856</h4> + + +<p>So the afternoon waned and the dinner hour approached; fortunately this +hour was usually bespoken and for a little while at least he was lapped +in luxury. On his way home he was very apt to turn in at the wicker +gates of a typical German Rathskellar where he was unmolested; where the +blustering pipes of a colossal orchestrion brayed through an aria from +Trovatore with more sound than sentiment and all unmindful of +modulation.</p> + +<p>He was at home by midnight, for the beer and the bravura ceased to flow +at the witching hour. Then he lounged in the easy chair, gradually and +not unconsciously shedding all the worldly influences that had been +clothing him as with a hair-shirt even since he first went forth that +morning. Safely he sank into the silence of the place. Every breath he +drew was balm; every moment healing. So he passed into the silence, +enfolded by invisible arms that led him gently to his pillow where he +sank to sleep with the trustful resignation of a tired babe.</p> + +<p>If this routine was ever varied it was a variation with a vengeance. +"From grave to gay, from lively to severe" might have been engraved upon +his escutcheon. It chanced that the family motto was Festina Lente; this +also was appropriate; had he not all his life made haste slowly? For +this very reason he had been accounted one of the laziest of his kind; +his indolence was a byword merely because he did not throw himself into +an easy chair at the Club, of an evening, and bewail his fate; because +he did not puff and blow and talk often of the work he had +accomplished, was accomplishing, or hastening forward to accomplishment. +With all his faults, thank heaven, that sin cannot be charged against +him.</p> + + + +<hr style='width: 65%;' /> +<a name='MCIII'></a><h2>III.</h2> + +<h3>BALM OF HURT WOUNDS</h3> +<br /> + +<p><img align='left' src="images/illus-h.png" height="75" width="75" +alt= "H"> + +<b><big>E</big></b> was scrimping in every way; his case was growing desperate. The +books, the pictures, the bric-a-brac so precious in his eyes, he was +loath to part with; moreover, he was well aware that if he were to +trundle his effects down to an auction-room they would not bring him +enough to cover his expenses for a single week. "Better to starve in the +midst of my household gods," thought he, "than to part with them for the +sake of prolonging this misery." The situation was in some respects +serio-comic. While he seemed to have everything, he really had almost +nothing; he was in a certain sense at the mercy of his friends and +dependent upon them.</p> + +<p>As the dinner hour approached, Paul was called upon to make choice of +the character of his table-talk; there were several standing invitations +to dine at the houses of old friends, and these were a boon to him, for +at such houses the homeless fellow felt much at home. There were special +invitations, sometimes an embarrassing profusion of them—all kindly, +some persistent, and some even imperative; thus the dinner was a fixed +fact; the mood alone was to be consulted in his choice of a table and +after all how much of the success of a dinner depends upon the mood of +the diner!</p> + +<p>Paul's income was uncertain; while he had written much, and traveled +much as a special correspondent, he had never regularly connected +himself with any journal, and he knew nothing of the routine of +office-work. Sometimes, I may say not infrequently, he could not write +at all; yet his pen was his only source of revenue, and often he was +without a copper to his credit. He was, therefore, constrained to dine +sumptuously with friends, when he would have found a solitary salad a +sweet alternative, and independence far more acceptable. The state of +the exchequer was very often alarming, and his predicament might have +cast a stronger man into the depths; but Paul could fast without +complaint, when necessary, for he had fasted often; and, to confess the +truth, he would much rather have fasted on and on, than parted with any +of the little souvenirs that made his surroundings charming in spite of +his privations. The friends who loved and fondled him were wont to send +messengers to his door with gifts of flowers, books, pictures and the +like, when soup-tickets would have been more serviceable, though by no +means more acceptable. It had happened to him more than once, that +having failed to break his fast—for he had a judicious horror of debt, +born of bitter experience—he received at a late hour as tokens of +sincere interest in his welfare, scarf pins, perfumery and scented soap; +or it may have been a silk handkerchief bearing the richly wrought +monogram of the happy but hungry recipient. At any rate these +testimonials of his popularity were never edible. Was this hard luck? He +went from one swell dinner to another, day after day, with never so much +as a crumb between meals. It of course made some difference to him—this +prolonged abstinence—but fortunately, or unfortunately, the effect upon +him mentally, morally and physically was hardly visible to the naked +eye.</p> + +<p>He had a dress coat of the strictly correct type, which he had worn but +a few times; he had lectured in it; once or twice, he had recited poems +in it to the audiences of admiring lady friends. It was of no use to him +now, and he felt that he should never need it again. On the street below +him was a small shop, kept by the customary Israelite. Again and again, +Paul had noted the sun-faded frock-coat swinging from a hook over the +sidewalk in front of this shop; he had said, "I will take this coat to +him; it is a costly garment; divide the original price of it by the +number of times I have worn it and I find it has cost me about ten +dollars an evening. Perhaps this old-clothes dealer will pay me a fair +price for it; Jew though he be, he may be possessed of the heart of a +Christian!"</p> + +<p>Alas and alack! All of Clitheroe's sufferings could be traced to the +cool, calculating hardness of the Christian's heart. Probably it was +prejudice alone that caused him to trust the Christian, and distrust the +Jew.</p> + +<p>From day to day he passed the shop, striving to muster courage enough to +enter and propose his bargain. At first he had imagined the dealer +offering him but ten dollars for the coat—it had cost him a goodly sum; +a little later he concluded that ten dollars was too little for any one +to offer him; he might take twenty; a day later thirty seemed to him a +probable offer, and shortly after he imagined himself consenting to +receive fifty dollars, since the coat was in such admirable repair.</p> + +<p>One day he took it to the dealer; he was not cordially welcomed by the +man in shirt sleeves, with whom of late he had held innumerable +imaginary conversations. The shop was extremely small and dark; the odor +of dead garments pervaded it. With an earnest and kindly glance, Paul +invited the sympathy of Abraham the son of Moses who was the son of +Isaac; he saw nothing but speculation in those eyes. His coat was +examined and tossed aside, as possessing few attractions. Clitheroe's +heart sunk within him; and it sank deeper and deeper as it began to +dawn upon him that the Hebrew had no wish to possess the garment, and, +if he did so, he did so only to oblige the Christian youth. A bargain +was at last struck; Paul departed with five dollars in his pocket—his +dress-coat was a thing of the past.</p> + +<p>What could he do next to extricate himself from his dubious dilemma? He +had a small gold watch, a precious souvenir: "Gold is gold," said he, +"and worth its weight in gold." He had the address of one who was known +far and wide as "Uncle." He had heard of persons of the highest +respectability seeking this uncle when close pressed, and there finding +temporary relief at the hands of one who is in some respects a good +Samaritan in disguise. Paul found it absolutely impossible for him to +enter the not unattractive front of this establishment but there was a +"private entrance" in a small dark alley-way; so delicate is the +consideration of an uncle whose business it is to nourish those in +distress.</p> + +<p>One night, it was late at night, Clitheroe stole guiltily in through the +private entrance, and sought succor of his uncle: this was an unctuous +uncle, who was as sympathetic and emotional as an undertaker. Paul +exhibited his watch; not for worlds would he part with it forever; money +he must have at once, and surely some good angel would come to his +assistance before many days; this state of affairs could not exist much +longer. Mine uncle examined the watch with kindly eyes; with a pathetic +shake of his head, a pitiful lifting of his bushy eyebrows, a +commiserating shrug of his fat shoulders, and a petulant pursing of his +plump lips as much as to say, "Well, it is a pity, but we must make the +best of it, you know"—he told Clitheroe he would advance him ten +dollars on the watch. For this the boy was to pay one dollar per week, +and in the end receive his watch, as good as new, for the sum of ten +dollars, as originally advanced. Paul hesitated, but consented since he +had no choice in the matter.</p> + +<p>"What name?" asked the Uncle, benevolently.</p> + +<p>"P. Clitheroe," said Paul under his breath, as if he feared the whole +world might know of his disgrace; he looked upon this transaction as +nothing short of disgrace, and he wished to keep it a profound secret.</p> + +<p>"Oh, yes; I know the name very well. Well, Mr. Clitheroe, here is your +ticket; take good care of it; and here is your money—you will always +pay your money in advance, and weekly, until you redeem your pledge. I +deduct the dollar for the first week."</p> + +<p>Clitheroe took the proffered money, and withdrew. To his surprise and +chagrin he found himself possessed of but nine dollars. "It will not go +far," thought he with a heavy sigh; "and where is the dollar to come +from? I don't see that I have gained much by this exchange."</p> + +<p>What he gained was this: for fifteen weeks he managed by the strictest +economy to pay his dollar. At the end of that time, he no longer found +it possible to even pay a dollar and the affair with the Uncle ended +with his having lost, not only his watch, but sixteen dollars into the +bargain.</p> + +<hr style='width: 45%;' /> + +<p>A month has passed: the sun is streaming through the tall narrow windows +of a small chapel; the air is flooded with the music that floats from +the organ loft, the solemn strains of a requiem chanted by sweet +boy-voices; clouds of fragrant incense half obscure the altar, where the +priest in black vestments is offering the solemn sacrifice of the Mass +for the repose of the soul of one whom Paul had loved dearly ever since +he was a child. There is one chief mourner kneeling before the altar—it +is Paul Clitheroe.</p> + +<p>When the Mass is over, while the exquisite silence of the place is +broken only by the occasional note of some bird lodging in the branches +of the trees without, Paul lingers in profound meditation. He is not at +all the Paul whom we knew but a few months ago; through some mysterious +influence he seems to have cast off his careless youth, and to have +become a grave and thoughtful man.</p> + +<p>From the chapel he wanders into the quiet library on the opposite side +of a cloister, where the flowers grow in tangle, and a fountain splashes +musically night and day, and the birds build and the bees swarm among +the blossoms. Now we see him chatting with the Fathers as they stroll up +and down in the sunshine; now musing over the graves of the Franciscan +Friars who founded the early missions on the Coast; now dreaming in the +ruins of the orchard—wandering always apart from the novices and the +scholastics, who sometimes regard him curiously as if he were not wholly +human but a kind of shadow haunting the place.</p> + +<p>His heart grew warm and mellow as he sat by the adobe wall under the +red-baked Spanish tiles, richly mossed with age, and contemplated the +statue of the Madonna in the trellised shrine overgrown with passion +flowers. There were votive offerings of flowers at her feet, and he laid +his tribute there from day to day. Neither did he neglect to pay his +visit to the shrine of St. Joseph, in the cloister, or St. Anthony of +Padua, whom he loved best of all, and whose statue stood under the +willows by the great pool of gold fish.</p> + +<p>He used to count the hours and the quarter hours as they chimed in the +belfry and he was beginning to grow fond of the inexorable routine and +to find it passing sweet and restful.</p> + +<p>He was unconsciously falling into a mode of life such as he had never +known before, and he seemed to feel a growing repugnance to the world +without him; how very far away it seemed now! He realized an increasing +sense of security so long as he lodged within those gates. His dark +robed companions, the amiable Fathers, cheered him, comforted him, +strengthened him; and yet when his ghostly father one day sent word to +Clitheroe that he desired to see him immediately, and thereupon insisted +that the heart-broken boy accompany him to the retreat of his Order, he +had no thought other than to offer Paul the change of scene which alone +might help to tide the youth over the first crushing pangs of +bereavement.</p> + +<p>"Give me a week or two of your time," pleaded the good priest—"and I +will introduce you to a course of life such as you have never known; it +should interest and perhaps benefit you; possibly you may find it +delightful. At any rate you must be hastened out of the morbid mood +which now possesses you, even if we have to drag you by force."</p> + +<p>So Paul went with him, suddenly and in a kind of desperation: his visit +was prolonged from day to day, until some weeks had passed. Peace was +returning to him—peace such as he had never known before.</p> + +<hr style='width: 45%;' /> + +<p>Meanwhile certain of the young poet's friends had called to see him at +the Eyrie, and to their amazement found his rooms deserted; in the +staring bay window with the inner blinds thrown wide open was notice "To +Let." His landlady knew nothing of his whereabouts. He had said good-bye +to no one. His disappearance was perhaps the most mysterious of +mysterious disappearances!</p> + +<hr style='width: 45%;' /> + +<p>Now, what really happened was this. Having packed everything he valued +and seen it safely stored, he settled with his landlady and went down to +the Club. It was his P.P.C., though no one there suspected it, and with +just a touch of sentiment—he walked through the rooms alone; he saw at +a glance that the usual habitues of the place were employing themselves +in the same old way. Though he had not been there often of late, no one +seemed much surprised to see him; he passed through the suite of rooms +without addressing himself to any one in particular; a glance of +recognition here and there; a smile, a slight nod, now and again, this +was all. Having made the rounds he returned to the cloak-room, took his +hat and cane and departed.</p> + +<p>From that hour dated his disappearance. From that hour the Eyrie saw him +no more forever.</p> + +<hr style='width: 45%;' /> + + + +<hr style='width: 65%;' /> +<a name='MCIV'></a><h2>IV.</h2> + +<h3>BY THE WORLD FORGOT</h3> +<br /> + +<p><img align='left' src="images/illus-f.png" height="75" width="75" +alt= "F"> + +<b><big>OR</big></b> a long while he had been listening to the moan of the sea—the wail +and the warning that rise from every reef in that wild waste of waters. +There was no moon, but the large stars cast each a wake upon the wave, +and the distant surf-lines were faintly illuminated by a phosphorescent +glow.</p> + +<p>There were reefs on every hand, and treacherous currents that would have +imperilled the ribs of any craft depending on the winds alone for its +salvation; but the "<i>Waring</i>," its pulse of steam throbbing with a slow +measured beat, picked its way in the glimmering night with a confidence +that made light of dangers past, present, and to come.</p> + +<p>It had struck eight-bells forward; midnight; the air was warm, moist, +caressing; it stole forth from invisible but not far distant vales +ladened with the unmistakable odor of the land—a fragrance that was at +times faint enough, but at other times was almost overwhelming; from the +heart of the tropics only, is such perfume distilled; few who inhale it +for the first time can resist its subtle charm; its influence once +yielded to, the soul is soon enslaved and the dreams that follow are +never to be forgotten.</p> + +<p>Eight-bells, and silence broken only by the swish of the propeller as it +ploughed slowly, deliberately, through the sea; the slap of the ripples +under the prow, and an occasional harp-like sigh of the zephyr in the +softly-vibrating shrouds; Paul Clitheroe had stolen out of the cabin and +was sitting by the companion-way on the port side. A small ladder still +hung there, for there had been boating and bathing just before dinner, +and there was sure to be more or less fishing whenever the weather was +favorable. Moreover, it must be acknowledged that the yacht was +liberty-hall afloat, yes, adrift, on a go-as-you-please cruise, and +things were not always in ship-shape.</p> + +<p>An old half-breed Trader, who knew these seas as the star-gazer knows +the skies, was in the wheelhouse; every wakeful eye among officers and +crew, was at the prow peering into the depth in search of +danger-signals; every ear was listening intently for an order from the +lips of the pilot, and for the first whisper of the wave upon the reef. +Meanwhile the vessel crept forward with utmost caution, barely ruffling +the water under her keel.</p> + +<p><i>One Bell! Two Bells!</i> Clitheroe had for a long time been sitting +unobserved by the companion-way. He had dined with a riotous company and +withdrew as soon after dinner as possible; this privilege was freely +accorded him, for he was at intervals gloomy, or silent, and his +companions were quite willing to dispense with his society. Hilarity had +ceased for the night, the fact was patent. The truth is, there was apt +to be something too much of it aboard that ship. When a young gentleman, +on the death of a distant relative, comes suddenly into an almost +fabulous fortune, he is apt to set about doing that which pleases him +best; in all probability he overdoes it. If he be fond of any society +and is willing to pay for the purchase of it, he will find no difficulty +in supplying himself, even to the verge of satiety.</p> + +<p>A certain gentleman who shall be nameless in these pages but who came to +be known among his followers as <i>The Commodore</i>, finding himself heir to +a fortune, chartered a yacht for a summer cruise, and invited his +friends to join him. The yacht had been for some weeks the scene of +unceasing festivity; the joyous party on board her had passed from +island to island, the feted guests of Kings and Queens and dusky Chiefs; +feasting, dancing, and the exchange of gifts—these were the order of +entertainment night and day.</p> + +<p>It was a novel life for most who were on board, filled with adventure +and spectacular surprises. The Commodore's hospitality was boundless; +the appetites of his guests insatiable. But Clitheroe had seen all this +from quite another point of view; he had been a native among the +natives; admitted into brotherhood with the tribe, he had lived the life +they lead until it had become as natural to him as if he had been born +to it. Their thoughts were his thoughts, their tongue, his tongue. He +was thinking of this as he sat by the companion-way, in the silence, +unobserved.</p> + +<p><i>Three Bells!</i> He rose and going to the open transom, looked down into +the cabin. The long dinner table had been relieved of dessert-dishes, +but the after-dinner bottles were there in profusion, and cigar-boxes +and cigarettes within convenient reach; it was an odd scene; a picture +of confusion in a dead calm. The lights were burning low and there was +no sound save the hoarse breathing of some of the revelers who had +subsided into uncomfortable positions and were too heavy with sleep to +seek easier ones. Clitheroe saw at the head of the table the Commodore, +stretched back in his easy chair; he was fast asleep; there was no doubt +about that. His guests one and all were dozing. The drowsy stupor that +follows a debauch pervaded the whole company. I venture the assurance +that not one person present could have been aroused in season to save +himself or herself had the ship at that moment struck a reef, and +foundered.</p> + +<p>There they were, dimly outlined under the cabin-lamps, the companions +with whom for a season Clitheroe had been more or less intimately +associated in the Misty City; the Bohemians who had found it an easy and +pleasant thing to flock upon the deck of the "<i>Waring</i>," one foggy +afternoon, and set sail on a summer cruise. The Commodore invited them +for his entertainment, and because he was a mighty good fellow and could +afford to. They went for a change of air and scene, in search of +adventure—and moreover they were sure of luxurious hospitality for at +least six months. Clitheroe joined the company, not only for the reason +that there seemed nothing else for him to do, but he was glad of the +opportunity of revisiting a quarter of the globe so very dear to him. +This voyage, he thought, might re-awaken his interest in life; at any +rate, he could lose nothing by taking it, and that settled the question +for him.</p> + +<p>The singers, the dancers, the painters and poets made life very lively +in that summer sea; it was a case of sweet idleness with wine, women and +wits, and all the world before them where to choose. It must be +confessed that Clitheroe had enjoyed himself in the society of these old +comrades—you would recognize most of them were he to name them; but +tonight, or rather this early morning he had begun to moralize, as he +peered down the transom upon the half-shadowy forms of those feasters +who had fallen by the way. He was asking himself if it paid—this +high-pressure happiness that knew no respite save temporary +insensibility? He began to think that it did not, and with a shrug of +his shoulders and a faint sigh, he turned away. He was about to resume +his solitary watch, for he could not sleep on such a night, when his eye +was attracted by a flitting shadow weaving to and fro astern; it seemed +to be soaring upon the face of the waters; was it some broad-winged +sea-bird following in their wake? He watched it as it drew near, growing +larger and larger every moment. No! it was not a bird; but it was the +next thing to one.</p> + +<p>Out of the darkness was evolved the slender hull of a canoe, the wide, +many ribbed sail, and the dusky forms of three naked islanders. They had +not yet taken note of him; with a sudden impulse, he stole up to the +transom, and standing over it so that the lights from the cabin-lamps +shone full upon him, he waved a signal to the savages, enjoining +silence, and bidding them approach with caution.</p> + +<p>In a few moments they had wafted themselves noiselessly up under the +companion ladder, and there, with suppressed excitement, he was +recognized. Old friends these, pals in the past, young chiefs from an +island he had loved and mourned.</p> + +<p>There was a moment of passionate greeting, and but a moment, in the +silence under the stars, then, with a sudden resolve, and with never a +glance backward, Clitheroe, descending the ladder, entered the canoe +and it swung off into the night.</p> + +<p>Two hours later, the "<i>Waring</i>," having run clear of the labyrinthine +reefs, steamed up and was out of sight before daybreak.</p> + +<hr style='width: 45%;' /> + +<p>"<i>And what is left? Dust and Ash and a Tale—or not even a Tale</i>!"</p> + +<p>MARCUS AURELIUS.</p> + +<br /><br /> +<hr style='width: 45%;' /> + +<p>FOOTNOTES:</p> + +<a name='Footnote_1'></a><a href='#FNanchor_1'> +[1]</a><div class='note'><p> In "California," 1886,—one of the admirable American +Commonwealths Series.</p></div> + +<a name='Footnote_2'></a><a href='#FNanchor_2'>[2]</a><div class='note'><p> NOTE: +The author has confused the murre with the sea-gull. +It was the egg of the murre that was marketed.</p></div> + +<div>*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 13321 ***</div> +</body> +</html> + + + + + + + + + + diff --git a/13321-h/images/illus-0000-2.jpg b/13321-h/images/illus-0000-2.jpg Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..e6fddc3 --- /dev/null +++ b/13321-h/images/illus-0000-2.jpg diff --git a/13321-h/images/illus-0001-2.jpg b/13321-h/images/illus-0001-2.jpg Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..dd40428 --- /dev/null +++ b/13321-h/images/illus-0001-2.jpg 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Anyone seeking to utilize +this eBook outside of the United States should confirm copyright +status under the laws that apply to them. diff --git a/README.md b/README.md new file mode 100644 index 0000000..8ae07c8 --- /dev/null +++ b/README.md @@ -0,0 +1,2 @@ +Project Gutenberg (https://www.gutenberg.org) public repository for +eBook #13321 (https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/13321) diff --git a/old/13321-8.txt b/old/13321-8.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6e68a8b --- /dev/null +++ b/old/13321-8.txt @@ -0,0 +1,7105 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of In the Footprints of the Padres +by Charles Warren Stoddard + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: In the Footprints of the Padres + +Author: Charles Warren Stoddard + +Release Date: August 29, 2004 [EBook #13321] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK IN THE FOOTPRINTS OF THE PADRES *** + + + + +Produced by PG Distributed Proofreaders + + + + +[Illustration: Life at the Mission of Dolores, 1855] + + + IN THE + FOOTPRINTS OF + THE PADRES + + BY + CHARLES WARREN STODDARD + + + NEW AND ENLARGED EDITION + + + INTRODUCTION BY + CHARLES PHILLIPS + + + SAN FRANCISCO + A.M. Robertson + MCMXII + + + + + + TO MY FATHER + SAMUEL BURR STODDARD, ESQ. + FOR HALF A CENTURY + A CITIZEN OF SAN FRANCISCO + + + + + THOUGH THE KINDNESS OF THE EDITORS + OF THE SAN FRANCISCO CHRONICLE, + THE CENTURY MAGAZINE, THE + OVERLAND MONTHLY, THE + AVE MARIA, NOTRE DAME, INDIANA, + THE VICTORIAN REVIEW, MELBOURNE + + + + +INTRODUCTION + + +Since the first and second editions of "In the Footprints of the Padres" +appeared, many things have transpired. San Francisco has been destroyed +and rebuilt, and in its holocaust most of the old landmarks mentioned in +the pages that follow as then existing, have been obliterated. Since +then, too, the gentle heart, much of whose story is told herein, has +been hushed in death. Charles Warren Stoddard has followed on in the +footprints of the Padres he loved so well. He abides with us no longer, +save in the sweetest of memories, memories which are kept ever new by +the unforgettable writings which he left behind him. He passed away +April 23, 1909, and lies sleeping now under the cypresses of his beloved +Monterey. + +Charles Warren Stoddard was possessed of unique literary gifts that were +all his own. These gifts shine out in the pages of this book. Here we +find that mustang humor of his forever kicking its silver heels with the +most upsetting suddenness into the honeyed sweetness of his flowing +poetry. Here, too, we find that gift of word-painting which makes all +his writings a brilliant gallery of rich-hued and soft-lighted wonder. +Of the green thickets of the redwood forests he says, in "Primeval +California": "A dense undergrowth of light green foliage caught and held +the sunlight like so much spray." So do Stoddard's pages catch and hold +the lights and shadows of a world which is the more beautiful because he +beheld it and sang of it--for sing he did. His prose is the essence of +poetry. + +In my autograph copy of "The Footprints of the Padres" Stoddard wrote: +"A new memory of Old Monterey is the richer for our meeting here for the +first time in the flesh. We have often met in spirit ere this." Whenever +we would go walking together, he and I, through the streets of that old +Monterey, old no longer save in memory, he would invariably take me to a +certain high board fence, and looking through an opening show me the +ruins of an adobe house--nothing but a broken fireplace left, moss-grown +and crumbling away. "That is my old California," he would say, while his +sweet voice was shaken with tears. That desolated hearth seemed to him +the symbol of the California which he had known and loved.... But no, +the old California that Stoddard loved lives on, and will, because he +caught and preserved its spirit and its coloring, its light and life and +music. As the redwood thicket holds the sunlight, so do Stoddard's words +keep bright and living, though viewed through a mist of tears, the +California of other days. + +In this new edition of "The Footprints" some changes will be found, +changes which all will agree make an improvement over the original +volume. "Primeval California," first published in October, 1881, in the +old Scribner's (now The Century) Magazine, when James G. Holland was its +editor, is at times Stoddard at his best. "In Yosemite Shadows" shows us +the young Stoddard full of boyish enthusiasm--he could not have been +more than twenty when it was written and published, in the old Overland, +then edited by Bret Harte. It is more than a gloriously poetic +description of Yosemite, when Yosemite still dreamed in its virgin +beauty; it is the revelation of a poet's beginnings, for it gives us in +the rough, just finding their way to the light, all those gifts which +later won Stoddard his fame. + +The third addition to this volume is "An Affair of the Misty City," a +valuable chapter, since it is wholly autobiographical, and at the same +time embodies pen portraits of all the celebrities of California's first +literary days, that famous group of which Stoddard was one. Of all the +group, Ina Coolbrith was closest and dearest to Stoddard's heart. The +beautiful abiding friendship which bound the souls of these two poets +together has not been surpassed in all the poetry and romance of the +world. These last added chapters are taken from "In the Pleasure of His +Company," which is out of print and may never be republished. + +The "Mysterious History," included in the original editions of "The +Footprints" has wisely been left out. It had no proper place in the +book: Stoddard himself felt that. The additions which have been supplied +by Mr. Robertson, who was for years Stoddard's publisher, and in whom +the author reposed the utmost confidence, make a real improvement on the +original book. + +"We have often met in spirit ere this," Stoddard wrote me. We had; and +we meet again and again. I feel him very near me as I write these words; +and I feel, too, that his gentle soul will visit everyone who reads the +chronicles he has here set down, so that even though no shaft rise in +marble glory to mark his last resting place, still in unnumbered hearts +his memory will be enshrined. With his poet friend, Thomas Walsh, well +may we say: + + "Vain the laudation!--What are crowns and praise + To thee whom Youth anointed on the eyes? + We have but known the lesser heart of thee + Whose spirit bloomed in lilies down the ways + Of Padua; whose voice perpetual sighs + On Molokai in tides of melody." + +CHARLES PHILLIPS. + + San Francisco, + September first, + Nineteen hundred and eleven. + + + + +TABLE OF CONTENTS + + + Old Days in El Dorado-- + I. "Strange Countries for to See" + II. Crossing the Isthmus + III. Along the Pacific Shore + IV. In the Wake of Drake + V. Atop o' Telegraph Hill + VI. Pavement Pictures + VII. A Boy's Outing + VIII. The Mission Dolores + IX. Social San Francisco + X. Happy Valley + XI. The Vigilance Committee + XII. The Survivor's Story + + A Bit of Old China + + With the Egg-Pickers of the Farallones + + A Memory of Monterey + + In a Californian Bungalow + + Primeval California + + Inland Yachting + + In Yosemite Shadows + + An Affair of the Misty City-- + I. What the Moon Shone on + II. What the Sun Shone on + III. Balm of Hurt Wounds + IV. By the World Forgot + + + + + +LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS + + Life at the Mission of Dolores, 1855 + View of Montgomery, Post and Market Streets, San Francisco, 1858 + Fort Point at the Golden Gate + The Outer Signal Station at the Golden Gate + City of Oakland in 1856 + Interior of the El Dorado + Warner's at Meigg's Wharf + The Old Flume at Black Point, 1856 + Lone Mountain, 1856 + Russ Gardens, 1856 + Certificate of Membership, Vigilance Committee, 1856 + West from Black Point, 1856 + "China is Not More Chinese than this Section of Our Christian City." + "Rag Alley" in Old Chinatown + The Farallones + Murre on their Nests, Farallone Islands + Monterey, 1850 + San Carlos de Carmelo + "The Huge Court of that Luxurious Caravansary." + "The Gallery Among the Huge Vases of Palms and Creepers." + Meigg's Wharf in 1856 + Telegraph Hill, 1855 + Sentinel Hotel, Yosemite, in 1869 + San Francisco in 1856 + + + + + +THE BELLS OF SAN GABRIEL + + + Thine was the corn and the wine, + The blood of the grape that nourished; + The blossom and fruit of the vine + That was heralded far away. + These were thy gifts; and thine, + When the vine and the fig-tree flourished, + The promise of peace and of glad increase + Forever and ever and aye. + What then wert thou, and what art now? + Answer me, O, I pray! + + And every note of every bell + Sang Gabriel! Rang Gabriel! + In the tower that is left the tale to tell + Of Gabriel, the Archangel. + + Oil of the olive was thine; + Flood of the wine-press flowing; + Blood o' the Christ was the wine-- + Blood o' the Lamb that was slain. + Thy gifts were fat o' the kine + Forever coming and going + Far over the hills, the thousand hills-- + Their lowing a soft refrain. + What then wert thou, and what art now? + Answer me, once again! + + And every note of every bell + Sang Gabriel! Rang Gabriel! + In the tower that is left the tale to tell + Of Gabriel, the Archangel. + + Seed o' the corn was thine-- + Body of Him thus broken + And mingled with blood o' the vine-- + The bread and the wine of life; + Out of the good sunshine + They were given to thee as a token-- + The body of Him, and the blood of Him, + When the gifts of God were rife. + What then wert thou, and what art now, + After the weary strife? + + And every note of every bell + Sang Gabriel! Rang Gabriel! + In the tower that is left the tale to tell + Of Gabriel, the Archangel. + + Where are they now, O, bells? + Where are the fruits o' the mission? + Garnered, where no one dwells, + Shepherd and flock are fled. + O'er the Lord's vineyard swells + The tide that with fell perdition + Sounded their doom and fashioned their tomb + And buried them with the dead. + What then wert thou, and what art now?-- + The answer is still unsaid. + + And every note of every bell + Sang Gabriel! Rang Gabriel! + In the tower that is left the tale to tell + Of Gabriel, the Archangel. + + Where are they now, O tower! + The locusts and wild honey? + Where is the sacred dower + That the bride of Christ was given? + Gone to the wielders of power, + The misers and minters of money; + Gone for the greed that is their creed-- + And these in the land have thriven. + What then wer't thou, and what art now, + And wherefore hast thou striven? + + And every note of every bell + Sang Gabriel! Rang Gabriel! + In the tower that is left the tale to tell + Of Gabriel, the Archangel. + +CHARLES WARREN STODDARD. + + + + +IN THE FOOTPRINTS OF THE PADRES + + + + + +[Illustration: View of Montgomery, Post and Market Streets, San +Francisco, 1858] + + + + +OLD DAYS IN EL DORADO + +I. + +"STRANGE COUNTRIES FOR TO SEE" + + +Now, the very first book was called "Infancy"; and, having finished it, +I closed it with a bang! I was just twelve. 'Tis thus the +twelve-year-old is apt to close most books. Within those pages--perhaps +some day to be opened to the kindly inquiring eye--lie the records of a +quiet life, stirred at intervals by spasms of infantile intensity. There +are more days than one in a life that can be written of, and when the +clock strikes twelve the day is but half over. + +The clock struck twelve! We children had been watching and waiting for +it. The house had been stripped bare; many cases of goods were awaiting +shipment around Cape Horn to California. California! A land of fable! We +knew well enough that our father was there, and had been for two years +or more; and that we were at last to go to him, and dwell there with the +fabulous in a new home more or less fabulous,--yet we felt that it must +be altogether lovely. We said good-bye to everybody,--getting friends +and fellow-citizens more or less mixed as the hour of departure from our +native city drew near. We were very much hugged and very much kissed and +not a little cried over; and then at last, in a half, dazed condition, +we left Rochester, New York, for New York city, on our way to San +Francisco by the Nicaragua route. This was away back in 1855, when San +Francisco, it may be said, was only six years old. + +It seemed a supreme condescension on the part of our maternal +grandfather that he, who did not and could not for a moment countenance +the theatre, should voluntarily take us, one and all, to see an alleged +dramatic representation at Barnum's Museum--at that time one of the +features of New York city, and perhaps the most famous place of +amusement in the land. Four years later, when I was sixteen, very far +from home and under that good gentleman's watchful supervision, I asked +leave to witness a dramatic version of "Uncle Tom's Cabin," enacted by a +small company of strolling players in a canvas tent. There were no +blood-hounds in the cast, and mighty little scenery, or anything else +alluring; but I was led to believe that I had been trembling upon the +verge of something direful, and I was not allowed to go. What would that +pious man have said could he have seen me, a few years later, strutting +and fretting my hour upon the stage? + +Well, we all saw "Damon and Pythias" in Barnum's "Lecture Room," with +real scenery that split up the middle and slid apart over a carpet of +green baize. And 'twas a real play, played by real players,--at least +they were once real players, but that was long before. It may be their +antiquated and failing art rendered them harmless. And, then, those +beguiling words "Lecture Room" have such a soothing sound! They seemed +in those days to hallow the whole function, which was, of course, the +wily wish of the great moral entertainer; and his great moral +entertainment was even as "the cups that cheer but not inebriate." It +came near it in our case, however. It was our first matinee at the +theatre, and, oh, the joy we took of it! Years afterward did we children +in our playroom, clad in "the trailing garments of the night" in lieu of +togas, sink our identity for the moment and out-rant Damon and his +Pythias. Thrice happy days so long ago in California! + +There is no change like a sea change, no matter who suffers it; and +one's first sea voyage is a revelation. The mystery of it is usually not +unmixed with misery. Five and forty years ago it was a very serious +undertaking to uproot one's self, say good-bye to all that was nearest +and dearest, and go down beyond the horizon in an ill-smelling, +overcrowded, side-wheeled tub. Not a soul on the dock that day but fully +realized this. The dock and the deck ran rivers of tears, it seemed to +me; and when, after the lingering agony of farewells had reached the +climax, and the shore-lines were cast off, and the Star of the West +swung out into the stream, with great side-wheels fitfully revolving, a +shriek rent the air and froze my young blood. Some mother parting from a +son who was on board our vessel, no longer able to restrain her emotion, +was borne away, frantically raving in the delirium of grief. I have +never forgotten that agonizing scene, or the despairing wail that was +enough to pierce the hardest heart. I imagined my heart was about to +break; and when we put out to sea in a damp and dreary drizzle, and the +shore-line dissolved away, while on board there was overcrowding, and +confusion worse confounded in evidence everywhere,--perhaps it did +break, that overwrought heart of mine and has been a patched thing ever +since. + +We were a miserable lot that night, pitched to and fro and rolled from +side to side as if we were so much baggage. And there was a special +horror in the darkness, as well as in the wind that hissed through the +rigging, and in the waves that rushed past us, sheeted with foam that +faded ghostlike as we watched it,--faded ghostlike, leaving the +blackness of darkness to enfold us and swallow us up. + +Day after day for a dozen days we ploughed that restless sea. There were +days into which the sun shone not; when everybody and everything was +sticky with salty distillations; when half the passengers were sea-sick +and the other half sick of the sea. The decks were slimy, the cabins +stuffy and foul. The hours hung heavily, and the horizon line closed in +about us a gray wall of mist. + +Then I used to bury myself in my books and try to forget the world, now +lost to sight, and, as I sometimes feared, never to be found again. I +had brought my private library with me; it was complete in two volumes. +There was "Rollo Crossing the Atlantic," by dear old Jacob Abbot; and +this book of juvenile travel and adventure I read on the spot, as it +were,--read it carefully, critically; flattering myself that I was a lad +of experience, capable of detecting any nautical error which Jacob, one +of the most prolific authors of his day, might perchance have made. The +other volume was a pocket copy of "Robinson Crusoe," upon the fly-leaf +of which was scrawled, in an untutored hand, "Charley from +Freddy,"--this Freddy was my juvenile chum. I still have that little +treasure, with its inscription undimmed by time. + +Frequently I have thought that the reading of this charming book may +have been the predominating influence in the development of my taste and +temper; for it was while I was absorbed in the exquisitely pathetic +story of Robinson Crusoe that the first island I ever saw dawned upon my +enchanted vision. We had weathered Cape Sable and the Florida Keys. No +sky was ever more marvellously blue than the sea beneath us. The density +and the darkness that prevail in Northern waters had gone out of it; the +sun gilded it, the moon silvered it, and the great stars dropped their +pearl-plummets into it in the vain search for soundings. + +Sea gardens were there,--floating gardens adrift in the tropic gale; +pale green gardens of berry and leaf and long meandering vine, rocking +upon the waves that lapped the shores of the Antilles, feeding the +current of the warm Gulf Stream; and, forsooth, some of them to find +their way at last into the mazes of that mysterious, mighty, menacing +sargasso sea. Strange sea-monsters, more beautiful than monstrous, +sported in the foam about our prow, and at intervals dashed it with +color like animated rainbows. From wave to wave the flying fish skimmed +like winged arrows of silver. Sometimes a land-bird was blown across the +sky--the sea-birds we had always with us,--and ever the air was spicy +and the breeze like a breath of balm. + +One day a little cloud dawned upon our horizon. It was at first pale +and pearly, then pink like the hollow of a sea-shell, then misty +blue,--a darker blue, a deep blue dissolving into green, and the green +outlining itself in emerald, with many a shade of lighter or darker +green fretting its surface, throwing cliff and crest into high relief, +and hinting at misty and mysterious vales, as fair as fathomless. It +floated up like a cloud from the nether world, and was at first without +form and void, even as its fellows were; but as we drew nearer--for we +were steaming toward it across a sea of sapphire,--it brooded upon the +face of the water, while the clouds that had hung about it were +scattered and wafted away. + +Thus was an island born to us of sea and sky,--an island whose peak was +sky-kissed, whose vales were overshadowed by festoons of vapor, whose +heights were tipped with sunshine, and along whose shore the sea sang +softly, and the creaming breakers wreathed themselves, flashed like +snow-drifts, vanished and flashed again. The sea danced and sparkled; +the air quivered with vibrant light. Along the border of that island the +palm-trees towered and reeled, and all its gardens breathed perfume such +as I had never known or dreamed of. + +For a few hours only we basked in its beauty, rejoiced in it, gloried in +it; and then we passed it by. Even as it had risen from the sea it +returned into its bosom and was seen no more. Twilight stole in between +us, and the night blotted it out forever. Forever? + +I wonder what island it was? A pearl of the Antilles, surely; but its +name and fame, its history and mystery are lost to me. Its memory lives +and is as green as ever. No wintry blasts visit it; even the rich dyes +of autumn do not discolor it. It is perennial in its rare beauty, +unfading, unforgotten, unforgettable; a thing immutable, immemorial--I +had almost said immortal. + +Whence it came and whither it has gone I know not. It had its rising and +its setting; its day from dawn to dusk was perfect. Doubtless there are +those whose lives have been passed within its tranquil shade: from +generation to generation it has known all that they have known of joy or +sorrow. All the world that they have knowledge of has been compassed by +the far blue rim of the horizon. That sky-piercing peak was ever the +centre of their universe, and the wandering sea-bird has outflown their +thoughts. + +All this came to me as a child, when the first island "swam into my +ken." It was a great discovery--a revelation. Of it were born all the +islands that have been so much to me in later life. And even then I +seemed to comprehend the singular life that all islanders are forced to +live: the independence of that life--for a man's island is his fortress, +girded about with the fathomless moat of the sea; and the dependence of +it--for what is that island but an atom dotting watery space and so +easily cut off from communication with the world at large? Drought may +visit the islander, and he may be starved; the tornado may desolate his +shore; fever and famine and thirst may lie in wait for him; sickness and +sorrow and death abide with him. Thus is he dependent in his +independence. + +And he is insecluded in his seclusion, for he can not escape from the +intruder. He should have no wish that may not be satisfied, provided he +be native born; what can he wish for that is beyond the knowledge he has +gained from the objects within his reach? The world is his, so far as he +knows it; yet if he have one wish that calls for aught beyond his +limited horizon he rests unsatisfied. + +All that was lovely in that tropic isle appealed to me and filled me +with a great longing. I wanted to sing with the Beloved Bard: + + Oh, had we some bright little isle of our own, + In the blue summer ocean, far off and alone! + +And yet even then I felt its unutterable loneliness, as I have felt it a +thousand times since; the loneliness that starves the heart, tortures +the brain, and leaves the mind diseased; the loneliness that is +exemplified in the solitude of Alexander Selkirk. + +Robinson Crusoe lived in very truth for me the moment I saw and +comprehended that summer isle. He also is immortal. From that hour we +scoured the sea for islands: from dawn to dark we were on the watch. The +Caribbean Sea is well stocked with them. We were threading our way among +them, and might any day hear the glad cry of "Land ho!" But we heard it +not until the morning of the eleventh day out from New York. The sea +seemed more lonesome than ever when we lost our, island; the monotony of +our life was almost unbroken. We began to feel as prisoners must feel +whose _time_ is near out. Oh, how the hours lagged!--but deliverance was +at hand. At last we gave a glad shout, for the land was ours again; we +were to disembark in the course of a few hours, and all was bustle and +confusion until we dropped anchor off the Mosquito Shore. + + + + +II. + +CROSSING THE ISTHMUS + + +We approached the Mosquito Shore timidly. The shallowing sea was of the +color of amber; the land so low and level that the foliage which covered +it seemed to be rooted in the water. We dropped anchor in the mouth of +the San Juan River. On our right lay the little Spanish village of San +Juan del Norte; its five hundred inhabitants may have been wading +through its one street at that moment, for aught we know; the place +seemed to be knee-deep in water. On our left was a long strip of +land--the depot and coaling station of the Vanderbilt Steamship Company. + +It did not appear to be much, that sandspit known as Punta Arenas, with +its row of sheds at the water's edge, and its scattering shrubs tossing +in the wind; but sovereignty over this very point was claimed by three +petty powers: Costa Rica, Nicaragua, and "Mosquito." Great Britain +backed the "Mosquito" claim; and, in virtue of certain privileges +granted by the "Mosquito" King, the authorities of San Juan del +Norte--the port better known in those days as Graytown, albeit 'twas as +green as grass--threatened to seize Punta Arenas for public use. +Thereupon Graytown was bombarded; but immediately rose, Phoenix-like, +from its ashes, and was flourishing when we arrived. The current number +of _Harper's Monthly_, a copy of which we brought on board when we +embarked at New York, contained an illustrated account of the +bombardment of Graytown, which added not a little to the interest of the +hour. + +While we were speculating as to the nature of our next experience, +suddenly a stern-wheel, flat-bottom boat backed up alongside of the Star +of the West. She was of the pattern of the small freight-boats that +still ply the Ohio and Mississippi rivers. If the Star of the West was +small, this stern-wheel scow was infinitely smaller. There was but one +cabin, and it was rendered insufferably hot by the boilers that were set +in the middle of it. There was one flush deck, with an awning stretched +above it that extended nearly to the prow of the boat. It was said our +passenger list numbered fourteen hundred. The gold boom in California +was still at fever heat. Every craft that set sail for the Isthmus by +the Nicaragua or Panama route, or by the weary route around Cape Horn, +was packed full of gold-seekers. It was the Golden Age of the Argonauts; +and, if my memory serves me well, there were no reserved seats worth the +price thereof. + +The first river boat at our disposal was for the exclusive accommodation +of the cabin passengers, or as many of them as could be crowded upon +her--and we were among them. Other steamers were to follow as soon as +practicable. Hours, even days, passed by, and the passengers on the +ocean steamers were sometimes kept waiting the arrival of the river +boats that were aground or had been belated up the stream. + +About two hundred of us boarded the first boat. Our luggage of the +larger sort was stowed away in barges and towed after us. The decks were +strewn with hand-bags, camp-stools, bundles, and rolls of rugs. The +lower deck was two feet above the water. As we looked back upon the Star +of the West, waving a glad farewell to the ship that had brought us more +than two thousand miles across the sea, she loomed like a Noah's Ark +above the flood, and we were quite proud of her--but not sorry to say +good-bye. + +And now away, into the very heart of a Central American forest! And hail +to the new life that lay all before us in El Dorado! The river was as +yellow as saffron; its shores were hidden in a dense growth of +underbrush that trailed its boughs in the water, and rose, a wall of +verdure, far above our smokestacks. As we ascended the stream the forest +deepened; the trees grew taller and taller; wide-spreading branches +hung over us; gigantic vines clambered everywhere and made huge hammocks +of themselves; they bridged the bayous, and made dark leafy caverns +wherein the shadows were forbidding; for the sunshine seemed never to +have penetrated them, and they were the haunts of weirdness and mystery +profound. + +Sometimes a tree that had fallen into the water and lay at a convenient +angle by the shore afforded the alligator a comfortable couch for his +sun-bath. Shall I ever forget the excitement occasioned by the discovery +of our first alligator! Not the ancient and honorable crocodile of the +Nile was ever greeted with greater enthusiasm; yet our sportsmen had +very little respect for him, and his sleep was disturbed by a shower of +bullets that spattered upon his hoary scales as harmlessly as rain. + +Though the alligator punctuated every adventurous hour of that memorable +voyage in Nicaragua, we children were more interested in our Darwinian +friends, the monkeys. They were of all shades and shapes and sizes; they +descended in troops among the trees by the river side; they called to us +and beckoned us shoreward; they cried to us, they laughed at us; they +reached out their bony arms, and stretched wide their slim, cold hands +to us, as if they would pluck us as we passed. We exchanged compliments +and clubs in a sham-battle that was immensely diverting; we returned +the missiles they threw at us as long as the ammunition held out, but +captured none of the enemy, nor did the slightest damage--as far as we +could ascertain. + +Often the parrots squalled at us, but their vocabulary was limited; for +they were untaught of men. Sometimes the magnificent macaw flew over us, +with its scarlet plumage flickering like flame. Oh, but those gorgeous +birds were splashes of splendid color in the intense green of that +tropical background! + +There were islands in this river,--islands that seemed to have no +shores, but lay half submerged in mid-stream, like huge water-logged +bouquets. There were sand-bars in the river, and upon these we sometimes +ran, and were brought to a sudden stand-still that startled us not a +little; then we backed off with what dignity we might, and gave the +unwelcome obstructions a wide berth. + +Perhaps the most interesting event of the voyage was "wooding up." A few +hours after we had entered the river our steamer made for the shore. +More than once in her course she had rounded points that seemed to block +the way; and occasionally there were bends so abrupt that we found +ourselves apparently land-locked in the depths of a wilderness which +might well be called prodigious. Now it was evident that we were heading +for the shore, and with a purpose, too. As we drew nearer, we saw among +the deep tangle of leaves and vines a primitive landing. It was a little +dock with a thatched lodge in the rear of it and a few cords of wood +stacked upon its end. There were some natives here--Indians +probably,--with dark skins bared from head to foot; they wore only the +breech-clout, and this of the briefest. Evidently they were children of +Nature. + +Having made fast to this dock, these woodmen speedily shouldered the +fuel and hurried it on board, while they chanted a rhythmical chant that +lent a charm to the scene. We were never weary of "wooding up," and were +always wondering where these gentle savages lived and how they escaped +with their lives from the thousand and one pests that haunted the forest +and lay in wait for them. Every biting and stinging thing was there. The +mosquitoes nearly devoured us, especially at night; while serpents, +scorpions, centipedes, possessed the jungle. There also was the lair of +larger game. It is said that sharks will pick a white man out of a crowd +of dark ones in the sea; not that he is a more tempting and toothsome +morsel--drenched with nicotine, he may indeed be less appetizing than +his dark-skinned, fruit-fed fellow,--but his silvery skin is a good +sea-mark, as the shark has often confirmed. So these dark ones in the +semi-darkness of the wood may, perhaps, pass with impunity where a +pale-face would fall an easy prey. + +At the Rapids of Machuca we debarked. Here was a miry portage about a +mile in length, through which we waded right merrily; for it seemed an +age since last we had set foot to earth. Our freight was pulled up the +Rapids in _bongas_ (row-boats), manned by natives; but our steamer could +not pass, and so returned to the Star of the West for another load of +passengers. + +There was mire at Machuca, and steaming heat; but the path along the +river-bank was shaded by wondrous trees, and we were overwhelmed with +the offer of all the edible luxuries of the season at the most alarming +prices. There was no coin in circulation smaller than a dime. Everything +salable was worth a dime, or two or three, to the seller. It didn't seem +to make much difference what price was asked by the merchant: he got it, +or you went without refreshments. It was evident there was no market +between meals at Machuca Rapids, and steamer traffic enlivened it but +twice in the month. + +What oranges were there!--such as one seldom sees outside the tropics: +great globes of delicious dew shut in a pulpy crust half an inch in +thickness, of a pale green tinge, and oozing syrup and an oily spray +when they are broken. Bananas, mangoes, guavas, sugar-cane,--on these we +fed; and drank the cream of the young cocoanut, goat's milk, and the +juices of various luscious fruits served in carven gourds,--delectable +indeed, but the nature of which was past our speculation. It was enough +to eat and to drink and to wallow a muddy mile for the very joy of it, +after having been toeing the mark on a ship's deck for a dozen days or +less, and feeding on ship's fodder. + +Our second transport was scarcely an improvement on the first. Again we +threaded the river, which seemed to grow broader and deeper as we drew +near its fountain-head, Lake Nicaragua. Upon a height above the river +stood a military post, El Castillo, much fallen to decay. Here were +other rapids, and here we were transferred to a lake boat on which we +were to conclude our voyage. Those stern-wheel scows could never weather +the lake waters. + +We had passed a night on the river boat,--a night of picturesque +horrors. The cabin was impossible: nobody braved its heat. The deck was +littered with luggage and crowded with recumbent forms. A few fortunate +voyagers--men of wisdom and experience--were provided with comfortable +hammocks; and while most of us were squirming beneath them, they swung +in mid-air, under a breadth of mosquito netting, slumbering sonorously +and obviously oblivious of all our woes. + +If I forget not, I cared not to sleep. We were very soon to leave the +river and enter the lake. From the boughs of overarching trees swept +beards of dark gray moss some yards in length, that waved to and fro in +the gathering twilight like folds of funereal crape. There were +camp-fires at the wooding stations, the flames of which painted the +foliage extraordinary colors and spangled it with sparks. Great flocks +of unfamiliar birds flew over us, their brilliant plumage taking a +deeper dye as they flashed their wings in the firelight. The chattering +monkeys skirmished among the branches; sometimes a dull splash in the +water reminded us that the alligator was still our neighbor; and ever +there was the piping of wild birds whose notes we had never heard +before, and whose outlines were as fantastic as those of the bright +objects that glorify an antique Japanese screen. + +Once from the shore, a canoe shot out of the shadow and approached us. +It was a log hollowed out--only the shell remained. Within it sat two +Indians,--not the dark creatures we had grown familiar with down the +river; these also were nearly nude, but with the picturesque nudeness +that served only to set off the ornaments with which they had adorned +themselves--necklaces of shells, wristlets and armlets of bright metal, +wreaths of gorgeous flowers and the gaudy plumage of the flamingo. They +drew near us for a moment, only to greet us and turn away; and very +soon, with splash of dipping paddles, they vanished in the dusk. + +These were the flowers of the forest. All the winding way from the sea +the river walls had been decked with floral splendor. Gigantic blossoms +that might shame a rainbow starred the green spaces of the wood; but of +all we had seen or heard or felt or dreamed of, none has left an +impression so vivid, so inspiring, so instinct with the beauty and the +poetry and the music of the tropics, as those twilight mysteries that +smiled upon us for a moment and vanished, even as the great fire-flies +that paled like golden rockets in the dark. + + + + +III. + +ALONG THE PACIFIC SHORE + + +All night we tossed on the bosom of the lake between San Carlos, at the +source of the San Juan river, and Virgin Bay, on the opposite shore. The +lake is on a table-land a hundred feet or more above the sea; it is a +hundred miles in length and forty-five in width. Our track lay +diagonally across it, a stretch of eighty miles; and when the morning +broke upon us we were upon the point of dropping anchor under the cool +shadow of cloud-capped mountains and in a most refreshing temperature. + +Oh, the purple light of dawn that flooded the Bay of the Blessed Virgin! +Of course the night was a horror, and it was our second in transit; but +we were nearing the end of the journey across the Isthmus and were +shortly to embark for San Francisco. I fear we children regretted the +fact. Our life for three days had been like a veritable "Jungle Book." +It almost out-Kiplinged Kipling. We might never again float through +Monkey Land, with clouds of parrots hovering over us and a whole +menagerie of extraordinary creatures making side-shows of themselves on +every hand. + +At Virgin Bay we were crowded like sheep into lighters, that were +speedily overladen. Very serious accidents have happened in consequence. +A year before our journey an overcrowded barge was swamped at Virgin Bay +and four and twenty passengers were drowned. The "Transit Company," +supposed to be responsible for the life and safety of each one of us, +seemed to trouble itself very little concerning our fate. The truth was +they had been paid in full before we boarded the Star of the West at +Pier No. 2, North River. + +Having landed in safety, in spite of the negligence of the "Transit +Company," our next move was to secure some means of transportation over +the mountain and down to San Juan del Sur. We were each provided with a +ticket calling for a seat in the saddle or on a bench in a springless +wagon. Naturally, the women and children were relegated to the wagons, +and were there huddled together like so much live stock destined for the +market. The men scrambled and even fought for the diminutive donkeys +that were to bear them over the mountain pass. A circus knows no comedy +like ours on that occasion. It is true we had but twelve miles to +traverse, and some of these were level; but by and by the road dipped +and climbed and swerved and plunged into the depths, only to soar again +along the giddy verge of some precipice that overhung a fathomless +abyss. That is how it seemed to us as we clung to the hard benches of +our wagon with its four-mule attachment. + +Once a wagon just ahead of us, having refused to answer to its brakes, +went rushing down a fearful grade and was hurled into a tangle of +underbrush,--which is doubtless what saved the lives of its occupants, +for they landed as lightly as if on feather-beds. From that hour our +hearts were in our throats. Even the thatched lodges of the natives, +swarming with bare brown babies, and often having tame monkeys and +parrots in the doorways, could not beguile us; nor all the fruits, were +they never so tempting; nor the flowers, though they were past belief +for size and shape and color and perfume. + +Over the shining heights the wind scudded, behatting many a head that +went bare thereafter. Out of the gorges ascended the voice of the +waters, dashing noisily but invisibly on their joyous way to the sea. +From one of those heights, looking westward over groves of bread-fruit +trees and fixed fountains of feathery bamboo, over palms that towered +like plumes in space and made silhouettes against the sky, we saw a +long, level line of blue--as blue and bluer than the sky itself,--and we +knew it was the Pacific! We were little fellows in those days, we +children; yet I fancy that we felt not unlike Balboa when we knelt upon +that peak in Darien and thanked God that he had the glory of discovering +a new and unnamed ocean. + +Why, I wonder, did Keats, in his famous sonnet "On First Looking into +Chapman's Homer," make his historical mistake when he sang-- + + Then felt I like some watcher of the skies + When a new planet swims into his ken; + Or like stout _Cortez_ when with eagle eyes, + He stared at the Pacific,--and all his men + Looked at each other with a wild surmise-- + Silent, upon a peak in Darien. + +It mattered not to us whether our name was Cortez or Balboa. With any +other name we would have been just as jolly; for we were looking for the +first time upon a sea that was to us as good as undiscovered, and we +were shortly to brave it in a vessel bound for the Golden Gate. At our +time of life that smacked a little of circumnavigation. + +San Juan del Sur! It was scarcely to be called a village,--a mere +handful of huts scattered upon the shore of a small bay and almost +surrounded by mountains. It had no street, unless the sea sands it +fronted upon could be called such. It had no church, no school, no +public buildings. Its hotels were barns where the gold-seekers were fed +without ceremony on beans and hardtack. Fruits were plentiful, and that +was fortunate. + +There, as in every settlement in Central America, the eaves of the +dwellings were lined with Turkey buzzards. These huge birds are regarded +with something akin to veneration. They are never molested; indeed, like +the pariah dogs of the Orient, they have the right of way; and they are +evidently conscious of the fact, for they are tamer than barnyard fowls. +They are the scavengers of the tropics. They sit upon the housetop and +among the branches of the trees, awaiting the hour when the refuse of +the domestic meal is thrown into the street. There is no drainage in +those villages; strange to say, even in the larger cities there is none. +Offal of every description is cast forth into the highways and byways; +and at that moment, with one accord, down sweep the grim sentinels to +devour it. They feast upon carrion and every form of filth. They are +polution personified, and yet they are the salvation of the indolent +people, who would, but for the timely service of these ravenous birds, +soon be wallowing in fetid refuse and putrefaction under the fierce rays +of their merciless sun. + +In the twilight we wandered by a crescent shore that was thickly strewn +with shells. They were not the tribute of northern waters: they were as +delicately fashioned and as variously tinted as flowers. All that they +lacked was fragrance; and this we realized as we stored them carefully +away, resolving that they should become the nucleus of a museum of +natural history as soon as we got settled in our California home. + +We had crossed the Isthmus in safety. Yonder, in the offing, the ship +that was to carry us northward to San Francisco lay at anchor. For three +days we had suffered the joys of travel and adventure. On the San Juan +river we had again and again touched points along the varying routes +proposed, by the Maritime Canal Company of Nicaragua and the Walker +Commission, as being practical for the construction of a great ship +canal that shall join the Atlantic and the Pacific Oceans. We had passed +from sea to sea, a distance of about two hundred miles. + +The San Juan river, one hundred and twenty miles in length, has a fall +of one foot to the mile. This will necessitate the introduction of at +least six massive locks between the Atlantic and the lake. Sometimes the +river can be utilized, but not without dredging; for it is shallow from +beginning to end, and near its mouth is ribbed with sand-bars. For +seventy miles the lake is navigable for vessels of the heaviest draught. +Beyond the lake there must be a clean-cut over or through the mountains +to the Pacific, and here six locks are reckoned sufficient. Cross-cuts +from one bend in the river to another can be constructed at the rate of +two hundred and fifty thousand dollars, or less, per mile. The canal +must be sunk or raised at intervals; there will, therefore, at various +points be the need of a wall of great strength and durability, from one +hundred and thirty to three hundred feet in height or depth. + +The annual rain-fall in the river region between Lake Nicaragua and the +Caribbean Sea is twenty feet; annual evaporation, three feet. These +points must be considered in the construction and feeding of the canal, +even though it is to vary in width. The dimensions of the proposed +canal, as recommended by the Walker Government Commission, are as +follows: total length, one hundred and eighty-nine miles; minimum depth +of water at all stages, thirty feet; width, one hundred feet in +rock-cuts, elsewhere varying from one hundred and fifty to three hundred +feet--except in Lake Nicaragua, where one end of the channel will be +made six hundred feet wide. + +Nearly fifty years ago, when a canal was projected, the Childs survey +set the cost at thirty-seven million dollars. Now the commissioners +differ on the question of total cost, the several estimates ranging from +one hundred and eighteen million to one hundred and thirty-five million +dollars. The United States Congress at its last session authorized the +expenditure of one million by a new commission "to investigate the +merits of all suggested locations and develop a project for an Isthmus +Canal." + +And so we left the land of the lizard. What wonders they are! From an +inch to two feet in length, slim, slippery, and of many and changeful +colors, they literally inhabit the land, and are as much at home in a +house as out of it; indeed, the houses are never free of them. They +sailed up the river with us, and crossed the lake in our company, and +sat by the mountain wayside awaiting our arrival; for they are curious +and sociable little beasts. As for the San Juan river, 'tis like the +Ocklawaha of Florida many times multiplied, and with all its original +attractions in a state of perfect preservation. + +All the way up the coast we literally hugged the shore; only during the +hours when we were crossing the yawning mouth of the Gulf of California +were we for a single moment out of sight of land. I know not if this was +a saving in time and distance, and therefore a saving in fuel and +provender; or if our ship, the John L. Stevens, was thought to be +overloaded and unsafe, and was kept within easy reach of shore for fear +of accident. We steamed for two weeks between a landscape and a seascape +that afforded constant diversion. At night we sometimes saw flame-tipped +volcanoes; there was ever the undulating outline of the Sierra Nevada +Mountains through Central America, Mexico, and California. + +Just once did we pause on the way. One evening our ship turned in its +course and made directly for the land. It seemed that we must be dashed +upon the headlands we were approaching, but as we drew nearer they +parted, and we entered the land-locked harbor of Acapulco, the chief +Mexican port on the Pacific. It was an amphitheatre dotted with +twinkling lights. Our ship was speedily surrounded by small boats of all +descriptions, wherein sat merchants noisily calling upon us to purchase +their wares. They had abundant fruits, shells, corals, curios. They +flashed them in the light of their torches; they baited us to bargain +with them. It was a Venetian _fete_ with a vengeance; for the hawkers +were sometimes more impertinent than polite. It was a feast of lanterns, +and not without the accompaniment of guitars and castanets, and rich, +soft voices. + +After that we were eager for the end of it all. There was Santa +Catalina, off the California coast, then an uninhabited island given +over to sunshine and wild goats, now one of the most popular and +populous of California summer and winter resorts--for 'tis all the same +on the Pacific coast; one season is damper than the other, that is the +only difference. The coast grew bare and bleak; the wind freshened and +we were glad to put on our wraps. And then at last, after a journey of +nearly five thousand miles, we slowed up in a fog so dense it dripped +from the scuppers of the ship; we heard the boom of the surf pounding +upon the invisible shore, and the hoarse bark of a chorus of sea-lions, +and were told we were at the threshold of the Golden Gate, and should +enter it as soon as the fog lifted and made room for us. + +[Illustration: Fort Point at the Golden Gate] + + + + +IV. + +IN THE WAKE OF DRAKE + + +We were buried alive in fathomless depths of fog. We were a fixture +until that fog lifted. It was an impenetrable barrier. Upon the point of +entering one of the most wonderful harbors in the world, the glory of +the newest of new lands, we found ourselves prisoners, and for a time at +least involved in the mazes of ancient history. + +In 1535 Cortez coasted both sides of the Gulf of California--first +called the Sea of Cortez; or the Vermilion Sea, perhaps from its +resemblance to the Red Sea between Arabia and Egypt; or possibly from +the discoloration of its waters near the mouth of the Rio Colorado, or +Red River. + +In 1577 Captain Drake, even then distinguished as a navigator, fitted +out a buccaneering expedition against the Spaniards; it was a wild-goose +chase and led him round the globe. In those days the wealth of the +Philippines was shipped annually in a galleon from Manila to Acapulco, +Mexico, on its way to Europe. Drake hoped to intercept one of these +richly laden galleons, and he therefore threaded the Straits of +Magellan, and, sailing northward, found himself, in 1579, within sight +of the coast of California. All along the Pacific shore from Patagonia +to California he was busily occupied in capturing and plundering Spanish +settlements and Spanish ships. Wishing to turn home with his treasure, +and fearing he might be waylaid by his enemies if he were again to +thread the Straits of Magellan, he thought to reach England by the Cape +of Good Hope. This was in the autumn of 1579. To quote the language of +an old chronicler of the voyage: + +"He was obliged to sail toward the north; in which course having +continued six hundred leagues, and being got into forty-three degrees +north latitude, they found it intolerably cold; upon which they steered +southward till they got into thirty-eight degrees north latitude, where +they discovered a country which, from its white cliffs, they called Nova +Albion, though it is now known by the name of California. + +"They here discovered a bay, which entering with a favorable gale, they +found several huts by the waterside, well defended from the severity of +the weather. Going on shore, they found a fire in the middle of each +house, and the people lying around it upon rushes. The men go quite +naked, but the women have a deerskin over their shoulders, and round +their waist a covering of bulrushes after the manner of hemp. + +"These people bringing the Admiral [Captain Drake] a present of feathers +and cauls of network, he entertained them so kindly and generously that +they were extremely pleased; and afterward they sent him a present of +feathers and bags of tobacco. A number of them coming to deliver it, +gathered themselves together at the top of a small hill, from the +highest point of which one of them harangued the Admiral, whose tent was +placed at the bottom. When the speech was ended they laid down their +arms and came down, offering their presents; at the same time returning +what the Admiral had given them. The women remaining on the hill, +tearing their hair and making dreadful howlings, the Admiral supposed +they were engaged in making sacrifices, and thereupon ordered divine +service to be performed at his tent, at which these people attended with +astonishment. + +"The arrival of the English in California being soon known through the +country, two persons in the character of ambassadors came to the Admiral +and informed him, in the best manner they were able, that the king would +visit him, if he might be assured of coming in safety. Being satisfied +on this point, a numerous company soon appeared, in front of which was a +very comely person bearing a kind of sceptre, on which hung two crowns, +and three chains of great length. The chains were of bones, and the +crowns of network, curiously wrought with feathers of many colors. + +"Next to sceptre-bearer came the king, a handsome, majestic person, +surrounded by a number of tall men dressed in skins, who were followed +by the common people, who, to make the grander appearance, had painted +their faces of various colors; and all of them, even the children, being +loaded with presents. + +"The men being drawn up in line of battle, the Admiral stood ready to +receive the king within the fences of his tent. The company halted at a +distance, and the sceptre-bearer made a speech half an hour long; at the +end of which he began singing and dancing, in which he was followed by +the king and all the people; who, continuing to sing and dance, came +quite up to the tent; when, sitting down, the king took off his crown of +feathers, placed it on the Admiral's head, and put on him the other +ensigns of royalty; and it is said he made him a solemn tender of his +whole kingdom; all which the Admiral accepted in the name of the Queen +his sovereign, in hope that these proceedings might, one time or other, +contribute to the advantage of England. + +"The people, dispersing themselves among the Admiral's tents, professed +the utmost admiration and esteem for the English, whom they looked upon +as more than mortal; and accordingly prepared to offer sacrifices to +them, which the English rejected with abhorrence; directing them, by +various signs, that their religious worship was alone due to the supreme +Maker and Preserver of all things.... + +"The Admiral, at his departure, set up a pillar with a large plate on +it, on which were engraved her Majesty's name, picture, arms, and title +to the country; together with the Admiral's name and the time of his +arrival there." + +Pinkerton says in his description of Drake's voyage: "The land is so +rich in gold and silver that upon the slightest turning it up with a +spade these rich materials plainly appear mixed with the mould." It is +not strange, if this were the case, that the natives--who, though +apparently gentle and well disposed, were barbarians--should naturally +have possessed the taste so characteristic of a barbarous people, and +have loved to decorate themselves even lavishly with ornaments rudely +fashioned in this rare metal. Yet they seemed to know little of its +value, and to care less for it than for fuss and feathers. Either they +were a singularly stupid race, simpler even than the child of ordinary +intelligence, or they scorned the allurements of a metal that so few are +able to resist. + +Drake was not the first navigator to touch upon those shores. The +explorer Juan Cabrillo, in 1542-43, visited the coast of Upper +California. A number of landings were made at different points along the +coast and on the islands near Santa Barbara. Cabrillo died during the +expedition; but his successor, Ferralo, continued the voyage as far +north as latitude 42°. Probably Drake had no knowledge of the discovery +of California by the Spaniards six and thirty years before he dropped +anchor in the bay that now bears his name, and for many years he was +looked upon as the first discoverer of the Golden State. Even to this +day there are those who give him all the credit. Queen Elizabeth +knighted him for his services in this and his previous expeditions; +telling him, as his chronicler records, "that his actions did him more +honor than his title." Her Majesty seems not to have been much impressed +by his tales of the riches of the New World--if, indeed, they ever came +to the royal ear,--for she made no effort to develop the resources of +her territory. No adventurous argonauts set sail for the Pacific coast +in search of gold till two hundred and seventy years later. + +There seems to have been a spell cast over the land and the sea. We are +sure that Sir Francis Drake did not enter the Bay of San Francisco, and +that he had no knowledge of its existence, though he was almost within +sight of it. In one of the records of his voyage we read of the chilly +air and of the dense fogs that prevailed in that region; of the "white +banks and cliffs which lie toward the sea"; and of islands which are +known as the Farallones, and which lie about thirty miles off the coast +and opposite the Golden Gate. + +In 1587 Captain Thomas Cavendish, afterward knighted by Queen Elizabeth, +touched upon Cape St. Lucas, at the extremity of Lower California. He +was a privateer lying in wait for the galleon laden with the wealth of +the Philippines and bound for Acapulco. When she hove in sight there was +a chase, a hot engagement, and a capture by the English Admiral. "This +prize," says the historian of the voyage, "contained one hundred and +twenty-two thousand _pesos_ of gold, besides great quantities of rich +silks, satins, damasks, and musk, with a good stock of provisions." In +those romantic and adventurous days piracy was legalized by formal +license; the spoils were supposed to consist of gold and silver only, or +of light movable goods. + +The next English filibuster to visit the California coast was Captain +Woodes Rogers--arriving in November, 1709. He described the natives of +the California peninsula as being "quite naked, and strangers to the +European manner of trafficking. They lived in huts made of boughs and +leaves, erected in the form of bowers; with a fire before the door, +round which they lay and slept. Some of the women wore pearls about +their necks, which they fastened with a string of silk grass, having +first notched them round." Captain Rogers imagined that the wearers of +the pearls did not know how to bore them, and it is more than likely +that they did not. Neither did they know the value of these pearls; for +"they were mixed with sticks, bits of shells, and berries, which they +thought so great an ornament that they would not accept glass beads of +various colors, which the English offered them." + +The narrator says: "The men are straight and well built, having long +black hair, and are of a dark brown complexion. They live by hunting and +fishing. They use bows and arrows and are excellent marksmen. The women, +whose features are rather disagreeable, are employed in making +fishing-lines, or in gathering grain, which they grind upon a stone. The +people were willing to assist the English in filling water, and would +supply them with whatever they could get; they were a very honest +people, and would not take the least thing without permission." + +Such were the aborigines of California. Captain Woodes Rogers did not +hesitate to take whatever he could lay his hands on. He captured the +"great Manila ship," as the chronicle records. "The prize was called +Nuestra Señora de la Incarnacion, commanded by Sir John Pichberty, a +gallant Frenchman. The prisoners said that the cargo in India amounted +to two millions of dollars. She carried one hundred and ninety-three +men, and mounted twenty guns." + +The exact locality of Drake's Bay was for years a vexed question. So +able an authority as Alexander von Humboldt says: "The port of San +Francisco is frequently confounded by geographers with the Port of +Drake, farther north, under 38° 10' of latitude, called by the Spaniards +the Puerto de Bodega." + +The truth is, Bodega Bay lies some miles north of Drake's Bay--or Jack's +Harbor, as the sailors call it; the latter, according to the log of the +Admiral, may be found in latitude 37° 59' 5"; longitude 122° 57-1/2'. +The cliffs about Drake's Bay resemble in height and color, those of +Great Britain in the English Channel at Brighton and Dover; therefore it +seems quite natural that Sir Francis should have called the land New +Albion. As for the origin of the name California, some etymologists +contend that it is derived from two Latin words: _calida fornax_; or, as +the Spanish put it, _caliente fornalla_,--a hot furnace. Certainly it is +hot enough in the interior, though the coast is ever cool. The name +seems to have been applied to Lower California between 1535 and 1539. +Mr. Edward Everett Hale rediscovered in 1862 an old printed romance in +which the name California was, before the year 1520, applied to a +fabulous island that lay near the Indus and likewise "very near the +Terrestrial Paradise." The colonists under Cortez were perhaps the first +to apply it to Lower California, which was long thought to be an island. + +The name San Francisco was given to a port on the California coast for +the first time by Cermeñon, who ran ashore near Point Reyes, or in +Drake's Bay, when voyaging from the Philippines in 1595. At any rate, +the name was not given to the famous bay that now bears it before 1769, +and until that date it was unknown to the world. It is not true, as some +have conjectured, that the name San Francisco was given to any port in +memory of Sir Francis Drake. Spanish Catholics gave the name in honor of +St. Francis of Assisi. Drake was an Englishman and a freebooter, who had +no love for the saints. + +That the Bay of San Francisco should have so long remained undiscovered +is the more remarkable inasmuch as many efforts were made to survey and +settle the coast. California was looked upon as the El Dorado of New +Spain. It was believed that it abounded in pearls, gold, silver, and +other metals; and even in diamonds and precious stones. Fruitless +expeditions, private or royal, set forth in 1615, 1633 and 1634; 1640, +1642 and 1648; 1665 and 1668. But nothing came of these. A hundred years +later the Spanish friars established their peaceful missions, and in +1776 the mission church of San Francisco was dedicated. + +[Illustration: The Outer Signal Station at the Golden Gate] + + * * * * * + +At last the fog began to show signs of life and motion. Huge masses of +opaque mist, that had shut us in like walls of alabaster, were rent +asunder and noiselessly rolled away. The change was magical. In a few +moments we found ourselves under a cloudless sky, upon a sparkling sea, +flooded with sunshine, and the Golden Gate wide open to give us welcome. + + + + +V. + +ATOP O' TELEGRAPH HILL + + +Perhaps it is a mile wide, that Golden Gate; and it is more bronze than +golden. A fort was on our right hand; one of those dear old brick +blockhouses that were formidable in their day, but now are as houses of +cards. Drop one shell within its hollow, and there will be nothing and +no one left to tell the tale. + +Down the misty coast, beyond the fort, was Point Lobos--a place where +wolves did once inhabit; farther south lie the semi-tropics and the +fragrant orange lands; while on our left, to the north, is Point +Bonita--pretty enough in the sunshine,--and thereabout is Drake's Bay. +Behind us, dimly outlined on the horizon, the Farallones lie faintly +blue, like exquisite cloud-islands. The north shore of the entrance to +the Bay was rather forbidding,--it always is. The whole California shore +line is bare, bleak, and unbeautiful. It is six miles from the Golden +Gate to the sea-wall of San Francisco. There was no sea-wall in those +days. + +We were steaming directly east, with the Pacific dead astern. Beyond the +fort were scantily furnished hill-slopes. That quadrangle, with a long +row of low white houses on three sides of it, is the _presidio_--the +barracks; a lorner or lonelier spot it were impossible to picture. There +were no trees there, no shrubs; nothing but grass, that was green enough +in the rainy winter season but as yellow as straw in the drouth of the +long summer. Beyond the _presidio_ were the Lagoon and Washerwoman's +Bay. Black Point was the extremest suburb in the early days; and beyond +it Meigg's Wharf ran far into the North Bay, and was washed by the +swift-flowing tide. + +San Francisco has as many hills as Rome. The most conspicuous of these +stands at the northeast corner of the town; it is Telegraph Hill, upon +whose brawny shoulder stood the first home we knew in the young +Metropolis. After rounding Telegraph Hill, we saw all the city front, +and it was not much to see: a few wooden wharves crowded with shipping +and backed by a row of one or two-story frame buildings perched upon +piles. The harbor in front of the city--more like an open roadstead than +a harbor, for it was nearly a dozen miles to the opposite shore--was +dotted with sailing-vessels of almost every description, swinging at +anchor, and making it a pretty piece of navigation to pick one's way +amongst them in safety. + +As the John L. Stevens approached her dock we saw that an immense crowd +had gathered to give us welcome. The excitement on ship and shore was +very great. After a separation of perhaps years, husbands and wives and +families were about to be reunited. Our joy was boundless; for we soon +recognized our father in the waiting, welcoming throng. But there were +many whose disappointment was bitter indeed when they learned that their +loved ones were not on board. Often a ship brought letters instead of +the expected wife and family; for at the last moment some unforeseen +circumstance may have prevented the departure of the one so looked for +and so longed for. In the confusion of landing we nearly lost our wits, +and did not fully recover them until we found ourselves in our own new +home in the then youngest State in the Union. + +How well I remember it all! We were housed on Union Street, between +Montgomery and Kearny Streets, and directly opposite the public +school--a pretentious building for that period, inasmuch as it was built +of brick that was probably shipped around Cape Horn. California houses, +such as they were, used to come from very distant parts of the globe in +the early Fifties; some of them were portable, and had been sent across +the sea to be set up at the purchaser's convenience. They could be +pitched like tents on the shortest possible notice, and the fact was +evident in many cases. + +Our house--a double one of modest proportions--was of brick, and I +think the only one on our side of the street for a considerable +distance. There was a brick house over the way, on the corner of +Montgomery Street, with a balcony in front of it and a grocery on the +ground-floor. That grocery was like a country store: one could get +anything there; and from the balcony above there was a wonderful view. +Indeed that was one of the jumping-off places; for a steep stairway led +down the hill to the dock two hundred feet below. As for our neighbors, +they dwelt in frame houses, one or two stories in height; and his was +the happier house that had a little strip of flowery-land in front of +it, and a breathing space in the rear. + +The school--our first school in California--backed into the hill across +the street from us. The girls and the boys had each an inclosed space +for recreation. It could not be called a playground, for there was no +ground visible. It was a platform of wood heavily timbered beneath and +fenced in; from the front of it one might have cast one's self to the +street below, at the cost of a broken bone or two. In those days more +than one leg was fractured by an accidental fall from a soaring +sidewalk. + +Above and beyond the school-house Telegraph Hill rose a hundred feet or +more. Our street marked the snow-line, as it were; beyond it the Hill +was not inhabited save by flocks of goats that browsed there all the +year round, and the herds of boys that gave them chase, especially of a +holiday. The Hill was crowned by a shanty that had seen its best days. +It had been the lookout from the time when the Forty-Niners began to +watch for fresh arrivals. From the observatory on its roof--a primitive +affair--all ships were sighted as they neared the Golden Gate, and the +glad news was telegraphed by a system of signals to the citizens below. +Not a day, not an hour, but watchful eyes sought that signal in the hope +of reading there the glad tidings that their ship had come. + +The Hill sloped suddenly, from the signal station, on every side. On the +north and east it terminated abruptly in artificial cliffs of a dizzy +height. The rocks had been blasted from their bases to make room for a +steadily increasing commerce, and the débris was shipped away as ballast +in the vessels that were chartered to bring passengers and provision to +the coast, and found nothing in the line of freight to carry from it. + +Upon those northern and eastern slopes of the Hill a few venturesome +cottagers had built their nests. The cottages were indeed nestlike: they +were so small, so compact, so cosy, so overrun with vines and flowering +foliage. Usually of one story, or of a story and a half at most, they +clung to the hillside facing the water, and looking out upon its noble +expanse from tiny balconies as delicate and dainty as toys. Their +garden-plots were set on end; they must needs adapt themselves to the +angle of demarkation; they loomed above their front-yards while their +back-yards lorded it over their roofs. Indeed they were usually +approached by ascending or descending stairways, or perchance by airy +bridges that spanned little gullies where ran rivulets in the winter +season; and they were a trifle dangerous to encounter after dark. There +were parrots on perches at the doorways of those cottages; and +song-birds in cages that were hidden away in vines. There were pet +poodles there. I think there were more lap-dogs than watch-dogs in that +early California. + +And there were pleasant people within those hanging gardens,--people who +seemed to have drifted there and were living their lyrical if lonely +lives in semi-solitude on islands in the air. I always envied them. I +was sorry that we were housed like other folk, and fronted on a street +than which nothing could have been more commonplace or less interesting. +Its one redeeming feature in my eyes was its uncompromising steepness; +nothing that ran on wheels ever ran that way, but toiled painfully to +the top, tacking from side to side, forever and forever, all the way +up. + +Weary were the beasts of burden that ascended that hill of difficulty. +There was the itinerant marketer, with his overladen cart, and his white +horse, very much winded. He was a Yorkshire man, and he cried with a +loud voice his appetizing wares: "Cabbage, taters, onions, wild duck, +wild goose!" Well do I remember the refrain. Probably there were few +domestic fowls in the market then; moreover, even our drinking water was +peddled about the streets and sold to us by the huge pailful. + +The goats knew Saturday and Sunday by heart. Every Saturday we lads were +busier than bees. We had at intervals during the week collected what +empty tin cans we might have chanced upon, and you may be sure they were +not a few. The markets of California, in early times, were stocked with +canned goods. Flour came to us in large cans; probably the barrel would +not have been proof against mould during the long voyage around the +Horn. Everything eatable--I had almost said and drinkable--we had in +cans; and these cans when emptied were cast into the rubbish heap and +finally consigned to the dump-cart. + +We boys all became smelters, and for a very good reason. There was a +market for soft solder; we could dispose of it without difficulty; we +could in this way put money in our purse and experience the glorious +emotion awakened by the spirit of independence. With our own money, +earned in the sweat of our brows--it was pretty hot work melting the +solder out of the old cans and moulding it in little pig-leads of our +own invention,--we could do as we pleased and no questions asked. Oh, it +was a joy past words,--the kindling of the furnace fires, the adjusting +of the cans, the watching for the first movement of the melting solder! +It trickled down into the ashes like quicksilver, and there we let it +cool in shapeless masses; then we remelted it in skillets (usually +smuggled from the kitchen for that purpose), and ran the fused metal +into the moulds; and when it had cooled we were away in haste to dispose +of it. + +Some of us became expert amateur metallists, and made what we looked +upon as snug little fortunes; yet they did not go far or last us long. +The smallest coin in circulation was a dime. No one would accept a +five-cent piece. As for coppers, they are scarcely yet in vogue. Money +was made so easily and spent so carelessly in the early days the wonder +is that any one ever grew rich. + +A quarter of a dollar we called two "bits." If we wished to buy anything +the price of which was one bit and we had a dime in our pocket, we gave +the dime for the article, and the bargain was considered perfectly +satisfactory. If we had no dime, we gave a quarter of a dollar and +received in change a dime; we thus paid fifty per cent more for the +article than we should have done if we had given a dime for it. But that +made no difference: a quarter called for two bits' worth of anything on +sale. A dime was one bit, but two dimes were not two bits; and it was +only a very mean person--in our estimation--who would change his half +dollar into five dimes and get five bits' worth of goods for four bits' +worth of silver. + +[Illustration: City of Oakland in 1856] + +Sunday is ever the people's day, and a San Francisco Sunday used to be +as lively as the Lord's Day at any of the capitals of Europe. How the +town used to flock to Telegraph Hill on a Sunday in the olden time! They +were mostly quiet folk who went there, and they went to feast their eyes +upon one of the loveliest of landscapes or waterscapes. They probably +took their lunch with them, and their families--if they had them; though +families were infrequent in the Fifties. They wandered about until they +had chosen their point of view, and then they took possession of an +unclaimed portion of the Hill. They "squatted," as was the custom of the +time. The "squatter" claimed the right of sovereignty, and exercised it +so long as he was left unmolested. + +One man seemed to have as much right as another on Telegraph Hill. And +one right was always his: no one disputed him the right of vision; he +shared it with his neighbor, and was willing to share it with the whole +world. For generations he has held it, and he will probably continue to +hold it so long as the old Hill stands. From the heights his eye sweeps +a scene of beauty. There is the Golden Gate, bathed in sunset glories; +and there the northern shore line that climbs skyward where Mount +Tamalpais takes on his mantle of mist. There is Saucelito, with its +green terraces resting upon the tree-tops; and there the bit of +sheltered water that seems always steeped in sunshine,--now the haunt of +house boats, then the haven of a colony of Neapolitan fishermen; and +Angel Island, with its military post; and Fort Alcatraz, a rocky bubble +afloat in mid-channel and one mass of fortifications. + +What an inland sea it is--the Bay of San. Francisco, seventy miles in +length, from ten to twelve in width; dotted with islands, and capable of +harboring all the fleets of all the civilized or uncivilized worlds! The +northern part of it, beyond the narrows, is known as the Bay of San +Pablo; the Straits of Carquinez connect it with Suisun Bay, which is a +sleepy sheet of water fed by the Sacramento and San Joaquin Rivers. + +To the east is Yerba-Buena, vulgarly known as Goat Island; and beyond it +the Contra Costa, with its Alameda, Oakland, and Fruit Vale; then the +Coast Range; and atop of all and beyond all Mount Diablo, with its three +thousand eight hundred feet of perpendicularity, beyond whose summit +the sun rises, and from whose peaks almost half the State is visible and +almost half the sea,--or at least it seems so--but that's another +vision! + + + + +VI. + +PAVEMENT PICTURES + + +We had been but a few days in San Francisco when a new-found friend, +scarcely my senior, but who was a comparatively old settler, took me by +the hand and led me forth to view the town. He was my neighbor, and a +right good fellow, with the surprising composure--for one of his +years--that is so early, so easily, and so naturally acquired by those +living in camps and border-lands. + +We descended Telegraph Hill by Dupont Street as far as Pacific Street. +So steep was the way that, at intervals, the modern fire-escape would +have been a welcome aid to our progress. Sidewalks, always of plank and +often not broader than two boards placed longitudinally, led on to steps +that plunged headlong from one terrace to another. From the veranda of +one house one might have leaped to the roof of the house just below--if +so disposed,--for the houses seemed to be set one upon another, so acute +was the angle of their base-line. The town stood on end just there, and +at the foot of it was a foreign quarter. + +In those days there were at least four foreign quarters--Spanish, +French, Italian, and Chinese. We knew the Spanish Quarter at the foot of +the hill by the human types that inhabited it; by the balconies like +hanging gardens, clamorous with parrots; and by the dark-eyed senoritas, +with lace mantillas drawn over their blue-black hair; by the shop +windows filled with Mexican pottery; the long strings of cardinal-red +peppers that swung under the awnings over the doors of the sellers of +spicy things; and also by the delicious odors that were wafted to us +from the tables where Mexicans, Spaniards, Chilians, Peruvians, and +Hispano-Americans were discussing the steaming _tamal_, the fragrant +_frijol_, and other fiery dishes that might put to the blush the +ineffectual pepper-pot. + +Everywhere we heard the most mellifluous of languages--the "lovely +lingo," we used to call it; everywhere we saw the people of the quarter +lounging in doorways or windows or on galleries, dressed as if they were +about to appear in a rendition of the opera of "The Barber of Seville," +or at a fancy-dress ball. Figaros were on every hand, and Rosinas and +Dons of all degrees. At times a magnificent Caballero dashed by on a +half-tamed bronco. He rode in the shade of a sombrero a yard wide, +crusted with silver embroidery. His Mexican saddle was embossed with +huge Mexican dollars; his jacket as gaily ornamented as a +bull-fighter's; his trousers open from the hip, and with a chain of +silver buttons down their flapping hems; his spurs, huge wheels with +murderous spikes, were fringed with little bells that jangled as he +rode,--and this to the accompaniment of much strumming of guitars and +the incense of cigarros. + +Near the Spanish Quarter ran the Barbary Coast. There were the dives +beneath the pavement, where it was not wise to enter; blood was on those +thresholds, and within hovered the shadow of death. Beyond, we entered +Chinatown, as rare a bit of old China as is to be found without the +Great Wall itself. Chinatown has grown amazingly within the last forty +years, but it has in reality gained little in interest. There is more of +it: that is the only difference; and what there is of it is more +difficult of approach. The Joss House, the theatre, with its great +original "continuous performance"--its tragedy half a year in +length,--flourished there. The glittering, spectacular restaurant was +wide open to the public, and so was everything else. That fact made all +the difference between Chinatown in the Fifties and Chinatown forty +years later. + +My companion and I tarried long on Dupont Street, between Pacific and +Sacramento Streets. The shops were like peep shows on a larger scale. +How bright they were! how gay with color! how rich with carvings and +curios. Each was like a set-scene on the stage. The shopkeepers and +their aids were like actors in a play. They seemed really to be playing +and not trying to engage in any serious business. Surely it would have +been quite beneath the dignity of such distinguished gentlemen to take +the smallest interest in the affairs of trade. They were clad in silks +and satins and furs of great value; they had a little finger-nail as +long as a slice of quill pen; they had tea on tables of carved teak; and +they had impossible pipes that breathed unspeakable odors. They wore +bracelets of priceless jade. They had private boxes, which hung from the +ceiling and looked like cages for some unclassified bird; and they could +go up into those boxes when life at the tea-table became tiresome, and +get quite another point of view. There they could look down upon the +world of traffic that never did anything in their shops, as far as we +could see; and, still murmuring to themselves in a tongue that sounds +untranslatable and a voice that was never known to rise above a stage +whisper, they could at one and the same moment regard with scorn the +Christian, keep an eye on the cash-boy, and make perfect pictures of +themselves. + +[Illustration: Interior of the El Dorado] + +In some parts of that strange street, where everybody was very busy but +apparently never accomplished anything, there were no fronts to the +rooms on the groundfloor. If those rooms were ever closed--it seemed to +me they never were,--some one kindly put up a long row of shutters, and +that end was accomplished. When the shutters were down the whole place +was wide open, and anybody, everybody, could enter and depart at his own +sweet will. This is exactly what he did; we did it ourselves, but we +didn't know why we did it. The others seemed to know all about it. + +There was a long table in the centre of each room; it was always +surrounded by swarms of Chinamen. Not a few foreigners of various +nationalities were there. They were all intensely interested in some +game that was being played upon that table. We heard the "chink" of +money; and as the players came and went some were glad and some were sad +and some were mad. These were the gambling halls of Chinatown. They were +not at all beautiful or alluring to the eye, but they cast a spell over +the minds and the pockets of men that was irresistible. Nowadays the +place is kept under lock and key, and you must give the countersign or +you will be turned away from the door thereof by a Chinaman whose face +is the image of injured innocence. + +The authors of the annals of San Francisco, 1854, say: + +"During 1853, most of the moral, intellectual, and social +characteristics of the inhabitants of San Francisco were nearly as +already described in the reviews of previous years. There was still the +old reckless energy, the old love of pleasure, the fast making and fast +spending of money; the old hard labor and wild delights; jobberies, +official and political corruption; thefts, robberies, and violent +assaults; murders, duels and suicides; gambling, drinking, and general +extravagance and dissipation.... The people had wealth at command, and +all the passions of youth were burning within them; and they often, +therefore, outraged public decency. Yet somehow the oldest residenters +and the very family-men loved the place, with all its brave wickedness +and splendid folly." + +I can testify that the town knew little or no change in the two years +that followed. The "El Dorado" on the plaza, and the "Arcade" and +"Polka" on Commercial Street, were still in full blast. How came I aware +of that fact? I was a child; my guide, philosopher and friend was a +child, and we were both as innocent as children should be. It is +written, "Children and fools speak the truth." I may add, "Children and +'fools rush in where angels fear to tread.'" The doors of "El Dorado," +of the "Arcade," and the "Polka" were ever open to the public. We saw +from the sidewalk gaily-decorated interiors; we heard enchanting music, +and there seemed to be a vast deal of jollity within. No one tried to +prevent our entering; we merely followed the others; and, indeed, it was +all a mystery to us. Cards were being dealt at the faro tables, and +dealt by beautiful women in bewildering attire. They also turned the +wheels of fortune or misfortune, and threw dice, and were skilled in all +the arts that beguile and betray the innocent. The town was filled with +such resorts; some were devoted to the patronage of the more exclusive +set; many were traps into which the miner from the mountain gulches fell +and where he soon lost his bag of "dust,"--his whole fortune, for which +he had been so long and so wearily toiling. There he was shoulder to +shoulder with the greaser and the lascar, the "shoulder-striker" and the +hoodlum; and they were all busy with monte, faro, rondo, and +rouge-et-noir. + +There was no limit to the gambling in those days. There was no question +of age or color or sex: opportunity lay in wait for inclination at the +street corners and in the highways and the byways. The wonder is that +there were not more victims driven to madness or suicide. + +The pictures were not all so gloomy. Six times San Francisco was +devastated by fire, and all within two years--or, to speak accurately, +within eighteen months. Many millions were lost; many enterprising and +successful citizens were in a few hours rendered penniless. Some were +again and again "burned out"; but they seemed to spring like the famed +bird, who shall for once be nameless, from their own ashes. + +It became evident that an efficient fire department was an immediate and +imperative necessity. The best men of the city--men prominent in every +trade, calling and profession--volunteered their services, and headed a +subscription list that swelled at once into the thousands. Perhaps there +never was a finer volunteer fire department than that which was for many +years the pride and glory of San Francisco. On the Fourth of July it was +the star feature of the procession; and it paraded most of the streets +that were level enough for wheels to run on--and when the mud was +navigable, for they turned out even in the rainy season on days of civic +festivity. Their engines and hose carts and hook and ladder trucks were +so lavishly ornamented with flowers, banners, streamers, and even pet +eagles, dogs, and other mascots, that they might without hesitation have +engaged in any floral battle on any Riviera and been sure of victory. + +The magnificence of the silver trumpets and the quantity and splendor of +the silver trappings of those fire companies pass all belief. It begins +to seem to me now, as I write, that I must have dreamed it,--it was all +so much too fine for any ordinary use. But I know that I did not dream +it; that there was never anything truer or better or more efficient +anywhere under the sun than the San Francisco fire department in the +brave days of old. Representatives of almost every nation on earth could +testify to this, and did repeatedly testify to it in almost every +language known to the human tongue; for there never was a more cosmical +commonwealth than sprang out of chaos on that Pacific coast; and there +never was a city less given to following in the footsteps of its elder +and more experienced sisters. Nor was there ever a more spontaneous +outburst of happy-go-luckiness than that which made of young San +Francisco a very Babel and a bouncing baby Babylon. + +[Illustration: Warner's at Meigg's Wharf] + + + + +VII. + +A BOY'S OUTING + + +There was joy in the heart, luncheon in the knapsack, and a sparkle in +the eye of each of us as we set forth on our exploring expedition, all +of a sunny Saturday. Outside of California there never were such +Saturdays as those. We were perfectly sure for eight months in the year +that it wouldn't rain a drop; and as for the other four months--well, +perhaps it wouldn't. It is true that Longfellow had sung, even in those +days: + + Unto each life some rain must fall, + Some days must be dark and dreary. + +Our days were not dark or dreary,--indeed, they could not possibly be in +the two-thirds-of-the-year-dry season. It did not rain so very much even +in the rainy season, when it had a perfect right to; therefore there was +joy in the heart and no umbrella anywhere about when we prepared to set +forth on our day of discovery. + +We began our adventure at Meigg's Wharf. We didn't go out to the end of +it, because there was nothing but crabs there, being hauled up at +frequent intervals by industrious crabbers, whose nets fairly fringed +the wharf. They lay on their backs by scores and hundreds, and waved +numberless legs in the air--I mean the crabs, not the crabbers. We used +to go crabbing ourselves when we felt like it, with a net made of a bit +of mosquito-bar stretched over an iron hoop, and with a piece of meat +tied securely in the middle of it. When we hauled up those home-made +hoop-nets--most everything seems to have been home-made in those +days--we used to find one, two, perhaps three huge crabs revolving +clumsily about the centre of attraction in the hollow of the net; and +then we shouted in glee and went almost wild with excitement. + +Just at the beginning of Meigg's Wharf there was a house of +entertainment that no doubt had a history and a mystery even in those +young days. We never quite comprehended it: we were too young for that, +and too shy and too well-bred to make curious or impertinent inquiry. We +sometimes stood at the wide doorway--it was forever invitingly open, +--and looked with awe and amazement at paintings richly framed and hung +so close together that no bit of the wall was visible. There was a bar +at the farther end of the long room,--there was always a bar somewhere +in those days; and there were cages filled with strange birds and +beasts,--as any one might know with his eyes shut, for the odor of it +all was repelling. + +The strangest feature of that most strange hostelry was the amazing +wealth of cobwebs that mantled it. Cobwebs as dense as crape waved in +dusty rags from the ceiling; they veiled the pictures and festooned the +picture-frames, that shone dimly through them. Not one of these cobwebs +was ever molested--or had been from the beginning of time, as it seemed +to us. A velvet carpet on the floor was worn smooth and almost no trace +of its rich flowery pattern was left; but there were many square boxes +filled with sand or sawdust and reeking with cigar stumps and tobacco +juice. Need I add that some of those pictures were such as our young and +innocent eyes ought never to have been laid on? Nor were they fit for +the eyes of others. + +There was something uncanny about that house. We never knew just what it +was, but we had a faint idea that the proprietor's wife or daughter was +a witch; and that she, being as cobwebby as the rest of its furnishings, +was never visible. The wharf in front of the house was a free menagerie. +There were bears and other beasts behind prison bars, a very populous +monkey cage, and the customary "happy family" looking as dreadfully +bored as usual. Then again there were whole rows of parrots and +cockatoos and macaws as splendid as rainbow tints could make them, and +with tails a yard long at least. + +From this bewildering pageant it was but a step to the beach below. +Indeed the water at high tide flowed under that house with much foam and +fury; for it was a house founded upon the sand, and it long since +toppled to its fall, as all such houses must. We followed the beach, +that rounded in a curve toward Black Point. Just before reaching the +Point there was a sandhill of no mean proportions; this, of course, we +climbed with pain, only to slide down with perspiration. It was our Alp, +and we ascended and descended it with a flood of emotion not unmixed +with sand. + +Near by was a wreck,--a veritable wreck; for a ship had been driven +ashore in the fog and she was left to her fate--and our mercy. Probably +it would not have paid to float her again; for of ships there were more +than enough. Everything worth while was coming into the harbor, and +almost nothing going out of it. We looked upon that old hulk as our +private and personal property. At low tide we could board her dry-shod; +at high tide we could wade out to her. We knew her intimately from stem +to stern, her several decks, her cabins, lockers, holds; we had counted +all her ribs over and over again, and paced her quarter-deck, and gazed +up at her stumpy masts--she had been well-nigh dismantled,--and given +sailing orders to our fellows amidships in the very ecstasy of +circumnavigation. She has gone, gone to her grave in the sea that +lapped her timbers as they lay a-rotting under the rocks; and now +pestiferous factories make hideous the landscape we found so fair. + +[Illustration: The Old Flume at Black Point, 1856] + +As for Black Point, it was a wilderness of beauty in our eyes; a very +paradise of live-oak and scrub-oak, and of oak that had gone mad in the +whirlwinds and sandstorms that revelled there. Beyond Black Point we +climbed a trestle and mounted a flume that was our highway to the sea. +Through this flume the city was supplied with water. The flume was a +square trough, open at the top and several miles in length. It was cased +in a heavy frame; and along the timbers that crossed over it lay planks, +one after another, wherever the flume was uncovered. This narrow path, +intended for the convenience of the workmen who kept the flume in +repair, was our delight. We followed it in the full assurance that we +were running a great risk. Beneath us was the open trough, where the +water, two or three feet in depth, was rushing as in a mill-race. Had we +fallen, we must have been swept along with it, and perhaps to our doom. +Sometimes we were many feet in the air, crossing a cove where the sea +broke at high tide; sometimes we were in a cut among the rocks on a +jutting point; and sometimes the sand from the desert above us drifted +down and buried the flume, now roofed over, quite out of sight. + +So we came to Fort Point and the Golden Gate; and beyond the Fort there +was more flume and such a stretch of sea and shore and sunshine as +caused us to leap with gladness. We could follow the beach for miles; it +was like a pavement of varnished sand, cool to the foot and burnished to +the eye. And what sea-treasure lay strewn there! Mollusks, not so +delicate or so decorative as the shells we had brought with us from the +Southern Seas, but still delightful. Such starfish and cloudy, +starch-like jelly-fish, and all the livelier creeping and crawling +creatures that populate the shore! Brown sea-kelp and sea-green +sea-grass and the sea-anemone that are the floating gardens of the +sea-gods and sea-goddesses; sea-birds, soft-bosomed as doves and crying +with their ceaseless and sorrowful cry; and all they that are sea-borne +along the sea-board,--these were there in their glory. + +We hid in caverns and there dreamed our sea-dreams. We ate our lunches +and played at being smugglers; then we built fires of drift-wood to warn +the passing ships that we were castaways on a desert island; but when +they took no heed of our signals of distress we were not too sorry nor +in the least distressful. + +At the seal rocks we tarried long; for there are few spots within the +reach of the usual sight-seer where an enormous family of sea-lions can +be seen at home, sporting in their native element, and at liberty to +come and go in the wide Pacific at their own sweet wills. There they had +lived for numberless generations unmolested; there they still live, for +they are under the protection of the law. + +The famous Cliff House is built upon the cliff above them, and above it +is a garden bristling with statues. Thousands upon thousands of curious +idlers stare the sea-folks out of countenance--or try to; but they, the +sons of the salt sea and the daughters of the deep, climb into the +crevices of the rocks to sun themselves, unheeding; or leap into the +waves that girdle them and sport like the fabled monsters of marine +mythology. Seal, sea-leopard, or sea-lion--whatever they may be--they +cry with one voice night and day; and it is not a pleasant cry either, +though a far one, they mouth so horribly. Long ago it inspired a wit to +madness and he made a joke; the same old joke has been made by those who +followed after him. It will continue to be made with impertinent +impunity until the sea gives up its seals; for the temptation is there +daily and hourly, and the humorist is but human--he can not long resist +it; so he will buttonhole you on the veranda of the Cliff House and +whisper in your astonished ear as if he were imparting a state secret: +"Their bark is on the sea!" + +The way home was sometimes a weary one. After leaving the bluff above +the shore, we struck into an almost interminable succession of +sand-dunes. There was neither track nor trail there; there was no oasis +to gladden us with its vision of beauty. The pale poet of destiny and +despair has written: + + In the desert a fountain is springing, + In the wide waste there still is a tree; + And a bird in the solitude singing, + Which speaks to my spirit of thee. + +There was no fountain in our desert, and we knew it well enough; for we +had often braved its sands. In that wide waste there was not even the +solitary tree that moved the poet to song; nor a bird in our solitude, +save a sea-gull cutting across-lots from the ocean to the bay in search +of a dinner. There were some straggling vines on the edge of our desert, +thick-leaved and juicy; and these were doing their best to keep from +getting buried alive. The sand was always shifting out yonder, and there +was a square mile or two of it. We could easily have been lost in it but +for our two everlasting landmarks--Mount Tamalpais across the water to +the north, and in the south Lone Mountain. Lone Mountain was our +Calvary--a green hill that loomed above the graves where slept so many +who were dear to us. The cross upon its summit we had often visited in +our holiday pilgrimages. They were _holydays_, when our childish feet +toiled hopefully up that steep height; for that cross was the beacon +that lighted the world-weary to everlasting rest. + +And so we crossed the desert, over our shoetops in sand; climbing one +hill after another, only to slide or glide or ride down the yielding +slope on the farther side. Meanwhile the fog came in like a wet blanket. +It swathed all the landscape in impalpable snow; it chilled us and it +thrilled us, for there was danger of our going quite astray in it; but +by and by we got into the edge of the town, and what a very ragged edge +it was in the dim long ago! Once in the edge of the town, we were +masters of the situation: you couldn't lose us even in the dark. And so +ended the outing of our merry crew,--merry though weary and worn; yet +not so worn and weary but we could raise at parting a glad "Hoorah for +Health, Happiness, and the Hills of Home!" + + + + +VIII. + +THE MISSION DOLORES + + +I have read somewhere in the pages of a veracious author how, five or +six years before my day, he had ridden through chaparral from Yerba +Buena to the Mission Dolores with the howl of the wolf for +accompaniment. Yerba Buena is now San Francisco, and the mission is a +part of the city; it is not even a suburb. + +In 1855 there were two plank-roads leading from the city to the Mission +Dolores; on each of these omnibuses ran every half hour. The plank-road +was a straight and narrow way, cut through acres of chaparral--thickets +of low evergreen oaks,--and leading over forbidding wastes of sand. To +stretch a figure, it was as if the sea-of-sand had been divided in the +midst, so that the children of Israel might have passed dry-shod, and +the Egyptians pursuing them might have been swallowed up in the billows +of sand that flowed over them at intervals. + +Somewhere among those treacherous dunes--of them it might indeed be said +that "the mountains skipped like rams and the little hills like +lambs,"--somewhere thereabout was located the once famous but now +fabulous Pipesville, the country-seat of my old friend, "Jeems Pipes of +Pipesville." He was longer and better known to the world as Stephen C. +Massett, composer of the words and music of that once most popular of +songs, "When the Moon on the Lake is Beaming," as well as many another +charming ballad. + +Stephen C. Massett, a most delightful companion and a famous diner-out, +give a concert of vocal music interspersed with recitations and +imitations, in the school-house that stood at the northwest corner of +the plaza. This was on Monday evening, June 22, 1849; and it was the +first public entertainment, the first regular amusement, ever given in +San Francisco. The only piano in the country was engaged for the +occasion; the tickets were three dollars each, and the proceeds yielded +over five hundred dollars; although it cost sixteen dollars to have the +piano used on the occasion moved from one side of the plaza, or +Portsmouth Square, to the other. On a copy of the programme which now +lies before me I find this line: "N.B.--Front seats reserved for +ladies!" History records that there were but four ladies +present--probably the only four in the town at the time. Massett died in +New York city a few months ago,--a man who had friends in every country +under the sun, and, I believe, no enemy. + +I remember the Mission Dolores as a detached settlement with a +pronounced Spanish flavor. There was one street worth mentioning, and +only one. It was lined with low-walled adobe houses, roofed with the red +curved tiles which add so much to the adobe houses that otherwise would +be far from picturesque. The adobe is a sun-baked brick; it is +mud-color; its walls look as if they were moulded of mud. The adobes +were the native California habitations. We spoke of them as adobes; +although it would probably be as correct, etymologically, to refer to +brick houses as bricks. + +There were a few ramshackle hotels at the mission; for in the early days +it seemed as if everybody either boarded or took in boarders, and many +families lived for years in hotels rather than attempt to keep house in +the wilds of San Francisco. The mission was about one house deep each +side of the main street. You might have turned a corner and found +yourself face to face with the cattle in the meadow. As for the goats, +they met you at the doorway and followed you down the street like dogs. + +At the top of this street stood the mission church and what few mission +buildings were left for the use of the Fathers. The church and the +grounds were the most interesting features of the place, and it was a +favorite resort of the citizens of San Francisco; yet it most likely +would not have been were the church the sole attraction. Here, in +appropriate enclosures, there were bull-fighting, bear-baiting, and +horse-racing. Many duels were fought here, and some of them were so well +advertised that they drew almost as well as a cock-fight. Cock-fighting +was a special Sunday diversion. Through the mission ran the highway to +the pleasant city of San José; it ran through a country unsurpassed in +beauty and fertility. Above the mission towered the mission peaks, and +about it the hillslopes were mantled with myriads of wild flowers, the +splendor and variety of which have added to the fame of California. + +The mission church was never handsome; but the facade with the old bells +hanging in their niches, and the almost naive simplicity of its +architectural adornment, are extremely pleasing. It is a long, narrow, +dingy nave one enters. Its walls of adobe do not retain their coats of +whitewash for any length of time; in the rainy season they are damp and +almost clammy. The floor is of beaten earth; the Stations upon the walls +of the rudest description; the narrow windows but dimly light the +interior, and rather add to than dispel the gloom that has been +gathering there for ages. The high altar is, of course, in striking +contrast with all that dark interior: it is over-decorated in the +Mexican manner--flowers, feathers, tinsel ornaments, tall candlesticks +elaborately gilded; all the statues examples of the primitive art that +appealed strongly to the uncultivated eye; and all the adornments gay, +gaudy, if not garish. Do you wonder at this? When you enter the old +church at the Mission Dolores you should recall its history, and picture +in your imagination the people for whom the mission was established. + +The Franciscans founded their first mission in California at San Diego +in 1769. The Mission Dolores was founded on St. Francis' Day, 1776. To +found a mission was a serious matter; yet one and twenty missions were +in the full tide of success before the good work was abandoned. The +friars were the first fathers of the land: they did whatever was done +for it and for the people who originally inhabited it. They explored the +country lying between the coast range and the sea. They set apart large +tracts of land for cultivation and for the pasturing of flocks and +herds. For a long time Old and New Spain contributed liberally to what +was known as the Pious Fund of California. The fund was managed by the +Convent of San Fernando and certain trustees in Mexico, and the proceeds +transmitted from the city of Mexico to the friars in California. + +The mission church was situated, as a rule, in the centre of the mission +lands, or reservations. The latter comprised several thousand acres of +land. With the money furnished by the Pious Fund of California the +church was erected, and surrounded by the various buildings occupied by +the Fathers, the retainers, and the employees who had been trained to +agriculture and the simple branches of mechanics. The presbytery, or the +rectory, was the chief guest-house in the land. There were no hotels in +the California of that day, but the traveller, the prospector, the +speculator, was ever welcome at the mission board; and it was a +bountiful board until the rapacity of the Federal Government laid it +waste. Alexander Forbes, in his "History of Upper and Lower California" +(London, 1839), states that the population of Upper California in 1831 +was a little over 23,000; of these 18,683 were Indians. It was for the +conversion of these Indians that the missions were first established; +for the bettering of their condition--mental, moral and physical--that +they were trained in the useful and industrial arts. That they labored +not in vain is evident. In less than fifty years from the day of its +foundation the Mission of San Francisco Dolores--that is in 1825--is +said to have possessed 76,000 head of cattle; 950 tame horses; 2,000 +breeding mares; 84 stud of choice breed; 820 mules; 79,000 sheep; 2,000 +hogs; 456 yoke of working oxen; 18,000 bushels of wheat and barley; +besides $35,000 in merchandise and $25,000 in specie. + +That was, indeed, the golden age of the California missions; everybody +was prosperous and proportionately happy. In 1826 the Mission of Soledad +owned more than 36,000 head of cattle, and a larger number of horses and +mares than any other mission in the country. These animals increased so +rapidly that they were given away in order to preserve the pasturage for +cattle and sheep. In 1822 the Spanish power in Mexico was overthrown; in +1824 a republican constitution was established. California, not then +having a population sufficient to admit it as one of the Federal States, +was made a territory, and as such had a representative in the Mexican +Congress; but he was not allowed a vote on any question, though he sat +in the assembly and shared in the debates. + +In 1826 the Federal Government began to meddle with the affairs of the +friars. The Indians "who had good characters, and were considered able +to maintain themselves, from having been taught the art of agriculture +or some trade," were manumitted; portions of land were allotted to them, +and the whole country was divided into parishes, under the +superintendence of curates. The zealous missionaries were no longer to +receive a salary--four hundred dollars a year had formerly been paid +them out of the national exchequer for developing the resources of the +State. Everybody and everything was now supposed to be self-sustaining, +and was left to take care of itself. It was a dream--and a bad one! + +[Illustration: Lone Mountain, 1856] + +Within one year the Indians went to the dogs. They were cheated out of +their small possessions and were driven to beggary or plunder. The +Fathers were implored to take charge again of their helpless flock. +Meanwhile the Pious Fund of California had run dry, as its revenues had +been diverted into alien channels. The good friars resumed their +offices. Once more the missions were prosperous, but for a time only. It +was the beginning of the end. Year after year acts were passed in the +Mexican Congress so hampering the friars in their labors that they were +at last crippled and helpless. The year 1840 was specially disastrous; +and in 1845 the Franciscans the pioneer settlers and civilizers of +California, were completely denuded of both power and property. + +In that year a number of the missions were sold by public auction. The +Indian converts, formerly attached to some of the missions, but now +demoralized and wandering idly and miserably over the country, were +ordered to return within a month to the few remaining missions, _or +those also would be sold_. The Indians, having had enough of legislation +and knowing the white man pretty well by this time, no doubt having had +enough of him, returned not, and their missions were disposed of. Then +the remaining missions were rented and the remnants divided into three +parts: one kindly bestowed upon the missionaries, who were the founders +and rightful owners of the missions; one upon the converted Indians, who +seem to have vanished into thin air; one, the last, was supposed to be +converted into a new Pious Fund of California for the further education +and evangelization of the masses--whoever they might be. The general +government had long been in financial distress, and had often +borrowed--to put it mildly--from the friars in their more prosperous +days. In 1831 the Mexican Congress owed the missions of California +$450,000 of borrowed money; and in 1845 it left those missionaries +absolutely penniless. + +Let me not harp longer upon this theme, but end with a quotation from +the pages of a non-Catholic historian. Referring to the Franciscans and +their mission work on the Pacific coast, Josiah Joyce, assistant +professor of philosophy in Harvard College, says:[1] + +"No one can question their motives, nor may one doubt that their +intentions were not only formally pious but truly humane. For the more +fatal diseases that so-called civilization introduced among the Indians, +only the soldiers and colonists of the presidios and pueblos were to +blame; and the Fathers, well knowing the evil results of a mixed +population, did their best to prevent these consequences, but in vain; +since the neighborhood of a presidio was often necessary for the safety +of a mission, and the introduction of a white colonist was an important +part of the intentions of the home government. But, after all, upon this +whole toil of the missions, considered in itself, one looks back with +regret, as upon one of the most devout and praiseworthy of mortal +efforts; and, in view of its avowed intentions, one of the most complete +and fruitless of human failures. The missions have meant, for modern +American California, little more than a memory, which now indeed is +lighted up by poetical legends of many sorts. But the chief significance +of the missions is simply that they first began the colonization of +California." + +The old mission church as I knew it four and forty years ago is still +standing and still an object of pious interest. The first families of +the faithful lie under its eaves in their long and peaceful sleep, +happily unmindful of the great changes that have come over the spirit of +all our dreams. The old adobes have returned to dust, even as the hands +of those who fashioned them more than a century ago. Very modern houses +have crowded upon the old church and churchyard, and they seem to have +become the merest shadows of their former selves; while the roof-tree +of the new church soars into space, and its wide walls--out of all +proportion with the Dolores of departed days--are but emblematic of the +new spirit of the age. + +FOOTNOTES: + +[Footnote 1: In "California," 1886,--one of the admirable American +Commonwealths Series.] + + + + +IX. + +SOCIAL SAN FRANCISCO + + +Social San Francisco during the early Fifties seems to have been a +conglomeration of unexpected externals and surprising interiors. It was +heterogeneous to the last degree. It was hail-fellow-well-met, with a +reservation; it asked no questions for conscience's sake; it would not +have been safe to do so. There were too many pasts in the first families +and too many possible futures to permit one to cast a shadow upon the +other. And after all is said, if sins may be forgiven and atoned for, +why should the memory of a shady past imperil the happiness and +prosperity of the future? All futures should be hopeful; they were +"promise-crammed" in that healthy and hearty city by the sea. + +It was impossible, not to say impolite, to inquire into your neighbors' +antecedents. It was currently believed that the mines were filled with +broken-down "divines," as if it were but a step from the pulpit to the +pickaxe. As for one's family, it was far better off in the old home so +long as the salary of a servant was seventy dollars a month, fresh eggs +a dollar and a quarter a dozen, turkeys ten dollars apiece, and coal +fifty dollars a ton. + +In 1854 and 1855 San Francisco had a monthly magazine that any city or +state might have been proud of; this was _The Pioneer_, edited by the +Rev. Ferdinand C. Ewer. In 1851, a lady, the wife of a physician, went +with her husband into the mines and settled at Rich Bar and Indian Bar, +two neighboring camps on the north fork of the Feather River. There were +but three or four other women in that part of the country, and one of +these died. This lady wrote frequent and lengthy descriptive letters to +a sister in New England, and these letters were afterward published +serially in _The Pioneer_. They picture life as a highly-accomplished +woman knew it in the camps and among the people whom Bret Harte has +immortalized. She called herself "Dame Shirley," and the "Shirley +Letters" in _The Pioneer_ are the most picturesque, vivid, and valuable +record of life in a California mining camp that I know of. The wonder is +that they have never been collected and published in book form; for they +have become a part of the history of the development of the State. + +The life of a later period in San Francisco and Monterey has been +faithfully depicted by another hand. The life that was a mixture of +Gringo and diluted Castilian--a life that smacked of the presidio and +the hacienda,--that was a tale worth telling; and no one has told it so +freely, so fully or so well as Gertrude Franklin Atherton. + +"Dame Shirley" was Mrs. L.A.C. Clapp. When her husband died she went to +San Francisco and became a teacher in the Union Street public school. It +was this admirable lady who made literature my first love; and to her +tender mercies I confided my maiden efforts in the art of composition. +She readily forgave me then, and was the very first to offer me +encouragement; and from that hour to this she has been my faithful +friend and unfailing correspondent. + +South Park and Rincon Hill! Do the native sons of the golden West ever +recall those names and think what dignity they once conferred upon the +favored few who basked in the sunshine of their prosperity? South Park, +with its line of omnibuses running across the city to North Beach; its +long, narrow oval, filled with dusty foliage and offering a very weak +apology for a park; its two rows of houses with, a formal air, all +looking very much alike, and all evidently feeling their importance. +There were young people's "parties" in those days, and the height of +felicity was to be invited to them. As a height o'ertops a hollow, so +Rincon Hill looked down upon South Park. There was more elbow-room on +the breezy height; not that the height was so high or so broad, but it +_was_ breezy; and there was room for the breeze to blow over gardens +that spread about the detached houses their wealth of color and perfume. + +How are the mighty fallen! The Hill, of course, had the farthest to +fall. South Parkites merely moved out: they went to another and a better +place. There was a decline in respectability and the rent-roll, and no +one thinks of South Park now,--at least no one speaks of it above a +whisper. As for the Hill, the Hillites hung on through everything; the +waves of commerce washed all about it and began gnawing at its base; a +deep gully was cut through it, and there a great tide of traffic ebbed +and flowed all day. At night it was dangerous to pass that way without a +revolver in one's hand; for that city is not a city in the barbarous +South Seas, whither preachers of the Gospel of peace are sent; but is a +civilized city and proportionately unsafe. + +A cross-street was lowered a little, and it leaped the chasm in an agony +of wood and iron, the most unlovely object in a city that is made up of +all unloveliness. The gutting of this Hill cost the city the fortunes of +several contractors, and it ruined the Hill forever. There is nothing +left to be done now but to cast it into the midst of the sea. I had +sported on the green with the goats of goatland ere ever the stately +mansion had been dreamed of; and it was my fate to set up my tabernacle +one day in the ruins of a house that even then stood upon the order of +its going,--it did go impulsively down into that "most unkindest cut," +the Second Street chasm. Even the place that once knew it has followed +after. + +The ruin I lived in had been a banker's Gothic home. When Rincon Hill +was spoiled by bloodless speculators, he abandoned it and took up his +abode in another city. A tenant was left to mourn there. Every summer +the wild winds shook that forlorn ruin to its foundations. Every winter +the rains beat upon it and drove through and through it, and undermined +it, and made a mush of the rock and soil about it; and later portions of +that real estate deposited themselves, pudding-fashion, in the yawning +abyss below. + +I sat within, patiently awaiting the day of doom; for well I knew that +my hour must come. I could not remain suspended in midair for any length +of time: the fall of the house at the northwest corner of Harrison and +Second Streets must mark my fall. While I was biding my time, there came +to me a lean, lithe stranger. I knew him for a poet by his unshorn locks +and his luminous eyes, the pallor of his face and his exquisitely +sensitive hands. As he looked about my eyrie with aesthetic glance, +almost his first words were: "What a background for a novel!" He seemed +to relish it all--the impending crag that might topple any day or hour; +the modest side door that had become my front door because the rest of +the building was gone; the ivy-roofed, geranium-walled conservatory +wherein I slept like a Babe in the Wood, but in densest solitude and +with never a robin to cover me. + +He liked the crumbling estate, and even as much of it as had gone down +into the depths forever. He liked the sagging and sighing cypresses, +with their roots in the air, that hung upon and clung upon the rugged +edge of the remainder. He liked the shaky stairway that led to it (when +it was not out of gear), and all that was irrelative and irrelevant; +what might have been irritating to another was to him singularly +appealing and engaging; for he was a poet and a romancer, and his name +was Robert Louis Stevenson. He used to come to that eyrie on Rincon Hill +to chat and to dream; he called it "the most San Francisco-ey part of +San Francisco," and so it was. It was the beginning and the end of the +first period of social development on the Pacific coast. There is a +picture of it, or of the South Park part of it, in Gertrude Atherton's +story, "The Californians." The little glimpse that Louis Stevenson had +of it in its decay gave him a few realistic pages for _The Wrecker_. + +I have referred to the surprising interiors of the city in the Fifties. +What I meant was this: there was not an alley so miserable and so muddy +but somewhere in it there was pretty sure to be a cottage as demure in +outward appearance as modesty itself. Nothing could be more unassuming: +it had not even the air of genteel poverty. I think such an air was not +to be thought of in those days: gentility kept very much to itself. As +for poverty, it was a game that any one might play at any moment, and +most had played at it. + +This cottage stood there--I think I will say _sat_ there, it looked so +perfectly resigned,--and no doubt commanded a rent quite out of +proportion to its size. It had its shaky veranda and its French windows, +and was lined with canvas; for there was not a trowel full of plaster in +it. The ceiling bellied and flapped like an awning when the wind soughed +through the clapboards; and the walls sometimes visibly heaved a sigh; +but they were covered with panelled paper quite palatial in texture and +design, and that is one thing that made those interiors surprising. + +At the windows the voluminous lace draperies were almost overpowering. +Satin lambrequins were festooned with colossal cord and tassels of +bullion. A plate-glass mirror as wide as the mantel reflected the +Florentine gilt carving of its own elaborate frame. There were bronzes +on the mantel, and tall vases of Sévres, and statuettes of bisque +brilliantly tinted. At the two sides of the mantel stood pedestals of +Italian marble surmounted by urns of the most graceful and elegant +proportions, and profusely ornamented with sculptured fruits and +flowers. There was the old-fashioned square piano in its carven case, +and cabinets from China or East India; also a lacquered Japanese screen, +marble-topped tables of filigreed teek, brackets of inlaid ebony. Curios +there were galore. Some paintings there were, and these rocked softly +upon the gently-heaving walls. As for the velvet carpet, it was a bed of +gigantic roses that might easily put to the blush the prime of summer in +a queen's garden. + +I well remember another home in San Francisco, one that possessed for me +the strongest attraction. It was bosomed in the sandhills south of +Market Street,--I know not between what streets, for they had all been +blurred or quite obliterated by drifts of sifting sand. It was a small +house fenced about; but the fence was for the most part buried under +sand, and looked as if it were a rampart erected for the defense of this +isolated cot. Some few hardy flowers had been planted there, but they +were knee-deep in sand, and their petals were full of grit. One usually +blew into that house with a pinch of sand, but how good it was to be +there! + +Within those walls there was the unmistakable evidence of the feminine +touch, the aesthetic influence that refines and beautifies everything. +It was not difficult to idealize in that atmosphere. It was the home of +a lady who chose to conceal her identity, though her pen-name was a +household word from one end of the coast to the other. She was a star +contributor to the weekly columns of the _Golden Era,_ a periodical we +all subscribed for and were immensely proud of. It was unique in its +way. Of late years I have found no literary journal to compare with it +at its best. It introduced Bret Harte, Mark Twain, Prentice Mulford, +Joaquin Miller, Ina Coolbrith, and many others, to their first circle of +admirers. In the large mail-box at its threshold--a threshold I dared +not cross for awe of it--I dropped my earliest efforts in verse, and +then ran for fear of being caught in the act. + +Imagine the joy of a lad whose ambition was to write something worth +printing, and whose wildest dream was to be named some day with those +who had won their laurels in the field of letters,--imagine his joy at +being petted in the sanctum of one who was in his worshipful eyes the +greatest lady in the land! About her were the trophies of her triumph, +though she was personally known to few. Each post brought her tribute +from the grateful hearts of her readers afar off in the mountain mining +camps, and perhaps from beyond the Rockies; or, it may have been, from +the unsuspecting admirer who lived just beyond the first sandhill. This +was another surprising interior. There was plain living and high +thinking in the midst of a wilderness that was, to say the least, +uninviting; the windows rattled and the sand peppered them. Without was +the abomination of desolation; but within the desert blossomed as the +rose. + +There were other homes as homely as the one I preferred--for there was +sand enough to go round. It went round and round, as God probably +intended it should, until a city sat upon it and kept it quiet. Some of +these homes were perched upon solitary hilltops, and were lost to sight +when the fog came in from the sea; and some were crowded into the thick +of the town, with all sorts of queer people for neighbors. You could, +had you chosen to, look out of a back window into a hollow square full +of cats and rats and tin cans; and upon the three sides of the +quadrangle which you were facing, you might have seen, unblushingly +revealed, all the mysteries and miseries of Europe, Asia, Africa, and +Oceanica; for they were all of them represented by delegates. + +Of course there were handsome residences (not so very many of them as +yet), where there was fine art--some of the finest. But often this art +was to be found in the saloons, and the subjects chosen would hardly +find entertainment elsewhere. The furnishing of the houses was within +the bounds of good taste. Monumental marbles were not erected by the +hearth-side; the window drapery was diaphanous rather than dense and +dowdy. The markets of San Francisco were much to blame for the +flashiness of the domestic interior: they were stocked with the gaudiest +fixtures and textures, and in the inspection of them the eye was +bewildered and the taste demoralized. + +Harmony survived the inharmonious, and it prevailed in the homes of the +better classes, as it was bound to do; for refinement had set its seal +there, and you can not counterfeit the seal of refinement. But I am +inclined to think that in the Fifties there was a natural tendency to +overdress, to over-decorate, to overdo almost everything. Indeed the day +was demonstrative; if the now celebrated climate had not yet been +elaborately advertised, no doubt there was something hi it singularly +bracing. The elixir of it got into the blood and the brain, and perhaps +the bones as well. The old felt younger than they did when they left +"the States,"--the territory from the Rockies to the Atlantic Ocean was +commonly known as "the States." The middle-aged renewed their youth, and +youth was wild with an exuberance of health and hope and happiness that +seemed to give promise of immortality. + +No wonder that it was thought an honor to be known as the first white +child born in San Francisco--I'd think it such myself,--and I'm proud to +state that all three claimants are my personal friends. + + + + +X. + +HAPPY VALLEY + + +How well I remember it--the Happy Valley of the days of old! It lay +between California Street and Rincon Point; was bounded on the east by +the Harbor of San Francisco, and on the west by the mission peaks. I +never knew just why it was called _happy_; I never saw any wildly-happy +inhabitants singing or dancing for joy on its sometimes rather +indefinite street corners. If there is happiness in sand, then, happily, +it was sandy. You might have climbed knee-deep up some parts of it and +slid down on the other side; you could have played at "hide-and-seek" +among its shifting undulations. From what is now known as Nob Hill you +could have looked across it to the heights of Rincon Point--and, +perchance, have looked in vain for happiness. Yet who or what is +happiness? A flying nymph whose airy steps even the sand can not stay +for long. + +Down through this Happy Valley ran Market Street, a bias cut across the +city that was to be. Market Street is about all that saved that city +from making a checker-board of its ground-plan. Market Street flew off +at a tangent and set all the south portion of the town at an angle that +is rather a relief than anything else that I know of. Who wants to go on +forever up one street and down another, and then across town at right +angles, as if life were a treadmill and there were no hope of change +until the great change comes? + +Happy Valley! I remember one cool twilight when a "prairie schooner," +that was time-worn and weather-beaten, drifted down Montgomery Street +from Market Street, and rounded the corner of Sutter Street, where it +hove to. You know the "prairie schooner" was the old-time emigrant wagon +that was forever crossing the plains in Forty-nine and the early +Fifties. It was scow-built, hooded from end to end, freighted with goods +and chattels; and therein the whole family lived and moved and had its +being during the long voyage to the Pacific Coast. + +On this twilight evening the captain of the schooner, assisted by a +portion of his crew, deliberately took down part of the fence which +enclosed a sand-lot bounded by Montgomery, Sutter and Post Streets; +driving into the centre of the lot; the horses--four jaded beasts--were +turned loose, and soon a camp-fire was lighted and the entire emigrant +family gathered about it to partake of the evening meal. On this lot now +stands the Lick House and the Masonic Hall--undreamed of in those days. +No one seemed in the least surprised to find in the very heart of the +city a scene such as one might naturally look for in the heart of the +Rocky Mountains and the wilds of the great desert, or the heights of the +Humboldt. No doubt they thought it a Happy Valley; and well they might, +for they had reached their journey's end. + +A stone's throw from that twilight camp, on the south side of Market +Street, stood old St. Patrick's Church. It was a most unpretending +structure, and was quite overshadowed by the R.C. Orphan Asylum close at +hand. Both were backed by sandhills; and both, together with the sand, +have been spirited away. The Palace and Grand Hotels now stand on the +spot. The original St. Patrick's still exists; and, after one or two +transportations, has come to a final halt near the Catholic cemetery +under the shadow of Lone Mountain. It must be ever dear to me, for +within its modest rectory I met the first Catholic clergyman I ever +became acquainted with; and within it I grew familiar with the offices +of the Church; though I was instructed by the Rev. Father Accolti, S.J., +at old St. Ignatius', on Market Street; and by him baptized at the St. +Mary's Cathedral, on the corner of California and Dupont Streets, now +the church of the Paulist Fathers. I have referred to dear old St. +Patrick's--which was dedicated on the first Sunday in September, +1851--in the story of my conversion, a little bit of autobiography +entitled "A Troubled Heart, and How It was Comforted at Last." The late +Peter H. Burnett, first Governor of California, was my godfather. + +In 1855 St. Mary's Cathedral was the handsomest house of worship in the +city. For the most part, the churches of all denominations were of the +plainest, not to say cheapest, order of architecture. As a youth, I sat +in the family pew in the First Presbyterian Church, situated on Stockton +Street, near Broadway. Well I remember my father, with others of the +congregation--all members of the Vigilance Committee,--at the sound of +the alarm-bell, rising in the midst of the sermon and striding out of +the house to take arms in defence of law and order. + +Perhaps the saddest sights in those early days were the neglected +cemeteries. There was one at North Beach, where before 1850 there were +eight hundred and forty interments. It was on the slope of Telegraph +Hill. The place was neglected; a street had been cut through it, and on +the banks of this street we could, at intervals, see the ends of coffins +protruding. Some were broken and falling apart; some were still sound. +It was a gruesome sight. + +There were a few Russian graves on Russian Hill, a forlorn spot in those +days; but perhaps the forlornest of all was Yerba Buena cemetery, where +previous to 1854 four thousand and five hundred bodies had been buried. +It was half-way between Happy Valley and the Mission Dolores. The sand +there was tossed in hillocks like the waves of a sandy sea. There the +chaparral grew thickest; and there the scrub-oaks shrugged their +shoulders and turned their backs to the wind, and grew all lopsided, +with leafage as dense as moss. + +No fence enclosed this weird spot. The sand sifted into it and through +it and out on the other, side; it made graves and uncovered them; it had +ever a new surprise for us. We boys haunted it in ghoulish pairs, and +whispered to each other as we found one more coffin coming to the +surface, or searched in vain for the one we had seen the week before; it +had been mercifully reburied by the winds. There were rude headboards, +painted in fading colors; and beneath them lay the dead of all nations, +soon to be nameless. By and by they were all carried hence; and those +that were far away, watching and waiting for the loved and absent +adventurers, watched and waited in vain. A change come o'er the spirit +of the place. The site is now marked by the New City Hall--in all +probability the most costly architectural monstrosity on this continent. + +"From grave to gay" is but a step; "from lively to severe," another,--I +know not which of the two is longer. It was literally from grave to gay +when the old San Franciscans used to wade through the sandy margin of +Yerba Buena cemetery in search of pleasure at Russ' Garden on the +mission road. It flourished in the early Fifties--this very German +garden, the pride and property of Mr. Christian Russ. It was a little +bit of the Fatherland, transported as if by magic and set down among the +hillocks toward the Mission Dolores. Well I remember being taken there +at intervals, to find little tables in artificial bowers, where sat +whole families as sedate, or merry, and as much at ease as if they were +in their own homes. They would spend Sunday there, after Mass. There was +always something to be seen, to be listened to, to be done. Meals were +served at all hours, and beer at all minutes; and the program contained +a long list of attractions,--enough to keep one interested till ten or +eleven o'clock at night. + +I can remember how scanty the foliage was--it resembled a little the +toy-villages that are made in the Tyrol, having each of them a handful +of impossible trees that breathe not balsam, but paint. I remember the +high wind that blew in bravely from the sea; the pavilion that was a +wonder-world of never-failing attractiveness; and how on a certain +occasion I watched with breathless anxiety and dumb amazement a man, +who seemed to have discarded every garment common to the race, wheel a +wheelbarrow with a grooved wheel up a tight rope stretched from the +ground to the outer peak of the pavilion; and all the time there was a +man in the wheelbarrow who seemed paralyzed with fright,--as no doubt he +was. The man who wheeled the barrow was the world-famous Blondin. + +[Illustration: Russ Gardens, 1856] + +Another sylvan retreat was known as "The Willows." There were some +willows there, but I fear they were numbered; and there was an _al +fresco_ theatre such as one sees in the Champs-Elysées; indeed, the +place had quite a Frenchy atmosphere, and was not at all German, as was +Russ' Garden. French singers sang French songs upon the stage--it was +not much larger than a sounding-board. + +An air of gaiety prevailed; for I imagine the majority of the _habitués_ +were from the French Quarter of the city. Of course there were birds and +beasts, and cages populous with monkeys; and there was an emeu--the +weird bird that can not fly, the Australian cassowary. This bird +inspired Bret Harte to song, and in his early days he wrote "The Ballad +of the Emeu"; + + O say, have you seen at the willows so green, + So charming and rurally true, + A singular bird, with the manner absurd, + Which they call the Australian emeu? + Have you + Ever seen this Australian emeu? + +I fear the poet was moved to sarcasm when he sang of "the willows so +green, so charming and rurally true." Surely they were greener than any +other trees we had in town; for we had almost none, save a few dark +evergreens. Well, the place was charming in its way, and as rurally true +as anything could be expected to be on that peninsula in its native +wilderness. The Willows and Russ' Garden had their day, and it was a +jolly day. They were good for the people--those rural resorts; they were +rest for the weary, refreshment for the hungry and thirsty--and they +have gone; even their very sites are now obliterated, and the new +generation has perhaps never even heard of them. + +How we wondered at and gloried in the Oriental Hotel! It was the queen +of Western hostelries, and stood at the corner of Battery and Bush +Streets. And the Tehama House, so famous in its day! It was Lieutenant +G.H. Derby, better known in letters as John Phoenix, and Squibob--names +delightfully associated with the early history of California,--it was +this Lieutenant Derby, one of the first and best of Western humorists, +who added interest to the hotel by writing "A Legend of the Tehama +House." It begins, chapter first: + +"It was evening at the Tehama. The apothecary, whose shop formed the +southeastern corner of that edifice, had lighted his lamps, which, +shining through those large glass bottles in the window, filled with +red and blue liquors--once supposed by this author, when young and +innocent, to be medicines of the most potent description,--lit up the +faces of the passers-by with an unearthly glare, and exaggerated the +general redness and blueness of their noses." + +The third and last chapter concludes with these words: "The Tehama House +is still there." The laughter-making and laughter-loving Phoenix has +long since gone to his reward. Of the Oriental Hotel scarcely a +tradition remains. The Tehama House--what there is left of it--has been +spirited to the north side of Broadway within a stone's-throw of the +city and county jail. The cliffs of Telegraph Hill browbeat it. It is, +one might say, the last of its race. + +Another hospice--if it _was_ a hospice--I remember. It stood on the +corner of Clay and Sansome Streets, and was a very ordinary building, +erected over the hulk of a ship that had been stranded there in the days +of Forty-nine. I saw the building torn down and the bones of the hulk +disinterred years after the water lots that had been filled in for +several squares, between it and the old harbor, were covered with +substantial buildings. When that bark was buoyant it had weathered Cape +Horn with a small army of argonauts. They had gone their way to dusty +death; she had buried her nose on the water-front and had been +smothered to death in the mire. Docks, streets, grew up around her; a +building had snuffed her out of sight and mind. The old building gave +place to a new one; the bark was resurrected in order to lay a solid +foundation for the new block that was to be. In the hold of this +forgotten bark was discovered a forgotten case of champagne. It had been +sunk in mud and ooze for years. When the bottles were opened the corks +refused to pop, and nobody dared to touch the "bilge" that was within. +All this was on the happy hem of Happy Valley--and still I was not +happy. + + + + +XI. + +THE VIGILANCE COMMITTEE + + +It was May 14, 1856. I chanced to be standing at the northwest corner of +Washington and Montgomery Streets, watching the world go by. It was a +queer world: very much mixed, not a little fantastic in manner and +costume; just the kind of world to delight a boy, and no doubt I was +delighted. + +"Bang!" It was a pistol-shot, and very near me--not thirty feet away. I +turned and saw a man stagger and fall to the pavement. Then the streets +began to grow dark with people hurrying toward the scene of the tragedy. +I fled in fright; I had had my fill of horrors. The pistol-shot was +familiar enough: it punctuated the hours of day and night out yonder. +But I had never witnessed a murder, and this was evidently one. + +When I reached home I was dazed. On the witness stand, under oath, I +could have told nothing; but very shortly the whole town was aware that +James King--known as James King of William (i.e., William King was his +father)--the editor of the _Evening Bulletin_ had been shot in cold +blood by James Casey, a supervisor, the editor of a local journal, an +unprincipled politician, an ex-convict, and a man whose past had been +exposed and his present publicly denounced in the editorial columns of +the _Bulletin_. + +This climax precipitated a general movement toward social and political +reform in San Francisco. It was James P. Casey, a graduate of the New +York state-prison at Sing Sing, who stuffed a ballot-box with tickets +bearing his own name upon them as candidate for supervisor, and as a +result of this stuffing declared himself elected. Casey was hurried off +to jail by his friends, lest the outraged populace should lynch him on +the spot. A mob gathered at the jail. The mayor of the city harangued +the people in favor of law and order. They jeered him and remained there +most of the night. One leading spirit might have roused the masses to +riot; but the hour was not yet ripe. + +In 1851 a Vigilance Committee had endeavored to purge the politics of +the town and rid it of the criminals who had foisted themselves into +office. Some ex-members of this committee became active members of the +committee of 1856. Chief among them was William T. Coleman, a name +deservedly honored in the annals of San Francisco. + +James King of William was shot on Tuesday, the 14th of May. He died on +the following Monday. That fatal shot was the turning-point in the +history of the metropolis of the Pacific. A meeting of the citizens was +immediately called; an executive committee was appointed; the work of +organization was distributed among the sub-committees. With amazing +rapidity three thousand citizens were armed, drilled, and established in +temporary armories; ample means were subscribed to cover all expenses. +Several companies of militia disbanded rather than run the risk of being +called into service against the Vigilantis; they then joined the +committee, armed with their own muskets. Arms were obtained from every +quarter, and soon there was an ample supply. A building on Sacramento +Street, below Battery, was secured and made headquarters of the +committee. A kind of fortification built of potato sacks filled with +sand was erected in front of it. It was known as Fort Gunny Bags. This +secured an open space before the building. The fort was patrolled by +sentinels night and day; military rule was strictly observed. + +All things having been arranged silently, secretly, decently and in +order--the members of the committee were under oath as well as under +arms--they decided to take matters into their own hands; and in order to +do this Casey must be removed from jail--peaceably if possible, forcibly +if necessary--and given a lodging and a trial at Fort Gunny Bags. + +On Sunday morning, the 19th of May, chancing be under the weather, and +consequently at home sitting by a window, I saw people flocking past the +house and hastening toward the jail. We were then living on Broadway, +below Montgomery Street; the jail was on Broadway, a square or two +farther up the street; between us was a shoulder of Telegraph Hill not +yet cut away, though it had been blasted out of shape and an attempt had +been made to tunnel it. The young Californian of that day was +keen-scented and lost no opportunity of seeing whatever was to be seen. +Forgetting my distemper, I grabbed my cap and joined the expectant +throngs. We went over the heights of the hill like a flock of goats: we +were used to climbing. On the other edge of the cliff, where we seemed +almost to overhang the jail and the street in front of it, we paused and +caught our breath. What a sight it was! It seems that on Saturday +twenty-four companies of Vigilantis were ordered to meet at their +respective armories, in various parts of the city, at nine o'clock on +Sunday morning. Orders were given to each captain to take up a certain +position near the jail. The jail was surrounded: no one could approach +it, no one escape from it, without leave of the commanders of the +committee. + +The streets glistened with bayonets. It was as if the city were in a +state of siege; so indeed it was. The companies marched silently, +ominously, without music or murmur, to their respective stations. +Citizens--non-combatants but all sympathizers--flocked in and covered +the housetops and the heights in the vicinity. A hollow square was +formed before the jail; an artillery company with a huge brass cannon +halted near it; the cannon was placed directly in front of the jail and +trained upon the gates. I remember how impressive the scene was: the +grim files of infantry; the gleaming brass of the cannon; one closed +carriage within the hollow square; the awful stillness that brooded over +all. + +[Illustration: Certificate of Membership, Vigilance Committee, 1856] + +Two Vigilance officials went to the door of the jail and informed +Sheriff Scannell that they had come to take Casey with them. Resistance +was now useless; the door of the jail was thrown open to them and they +entered. At their approach Casey begged leave to speak for ten minutes +in his own defense,--he evidently expected to be executed on the +instant. He was assured that he should have a fair trial, and that his +testimony should be deliberately weighed in the balance. This act of an +outraged and disgusted people was one of the calmest, coolest, wisest, +most deliberate on record. Law, order, and justice were at bay. Casey, +under guard, walked quietly to the carriage and entered it. In the jail +at the time was Charles Cora, a man who had murdered United States +Marshal Richardson. He had been tried once; but then the jury +disagreed--as they nearly always agreed to in those barbarous days. +Hanging was almost out of the question. Cora was invited to enter the +carriage with Casey, and the two were driven under military escort to +Fort Gunny Bags. + +On the day following, Monday, James King of William died. On Tuesday +Casey was tried by the executive committee. John S. Hittell, the +historian of San Francisco, says: + +"No person was present at the trial save the accused, the members of the +Vigilance Committee, and witnesses. The testimony was given under oath, +though there was no lawful authority for its administration. Hearsay +testimony was excluded; the general rules of evidence observed in the +courts were adopted: the accused heard all the witnesses, cross-examined +those against him, summoned such as he wanted in his favor, had an +attorney to assist him, and was permitted to make an argument by himself +or his attorney, in his own defence." + +Casey and Cora were both convicted: their guilt was beyond the shadow of +a doubt. + +On Wednesday James King of William was laid to rest at Lone Mountain. +The whole city was draped in mourning; all business was suspended; the +citizens lined the streets through which the feral cortége proceeded, or +followed it until it seemed interminable. + +As that procession passed up Montgomery Street and crossed Sacramento +Street, those who were walking or driving in it looked down the latter +street and saw, two squares below, the lifeless bodies of James P. Casey +and Charles Cora dangling by the neck from two second-story windows of +the headquarters of the Vigilance Committee. Justice was enthroned at +last. + +"The Vigilance Committees of San Francisco in 1851 and 1856," as Hittell +says, "were in many important respects unlike any other extra-judicial +movement to administer justice. They were not common mobs: they were +organized for weeks or months of labor, deliberate in their movements, +careful to keep records of their proceedings, strictly attentive to the +rules of evidence and the penalties for crime accepted by civilized +nations; confident of their power, and of their justification by public +opinion; and not afraid of taking the public responsibility of their +acts." + +The committee of 1856 was never formally dissolved. The reformation it +had accomplished rendered it inactive. Some of the worst criminals in +California had been officials. A thousand homicides had been committed +in the city between 1849 and 1856, and there were but seven executions +in seven years. + +Richard Henry Dana, Jr., the author of "Two Years before the Mast," who +spent the greater portion of two years--1834-35--on the coast of +California, and who revisited the Pacific coast in 1859, observes: + +"And now the most quiet and well-governed city in the United States is +San Francisco. But it has been through its seasons of heaven-defying +crime and violence and blood; from which it was rescued and handed back +to soberness and morality and good government by that peculiar invention +of Anglo-Saxon republican America--the solemn, awe-inspiring Vigilance +Committee of the most grave and respectable citizens; the last resort of +the thinking and the good, taken only when vice, fraud, and ruffianism +had entrenched themselves behind the forms of law, suffrage, and +ballot." + +San Francisco was undoubtedly the most disreputable city in the Union. +It is now one of the most reputable. As I think of it to-day there is no +shudder in the thought. And yet I saw James King of William shot; I saw +Casey and Cora transferred from the jail to the headquarters of the +Vigilance Committee; and I saw them hanging as the body of James King of +William was being borne by a whole city, bowed in grief, to his last +resting-place. And my venerated father was a member of that +never-to-be-forgotten Vigilance Committee of San Francisco in the year +of Our Lord eighteen hundred and fifty-six. + + + + +XII. + +THE SURVIVOR'S STORY + + +It is not much of a story. It is only the mild adventure of a boy at +sea; and of a small, sad boy at that. This boy had an elder brother who +was ill; and the physicians in consultation had decided that a long +sea-voyage was his only hope, and that even in this case the hope was a +very faint one. + +There was a ship at anchor in the harbor of San Francisco,--a very +famous clipper, one of those sailors of the sea known as Ocean +Greyhounds. She was built for speed, and her record was a brilliant one; +under the guidance of her daring captain, she had again and again proved +herself worthy of her name. She was called the _Flying Cloud_. Her +cabins were luxuriously furnished; for in those days seafarers were +oftener blown about the world by the four winds of heaven than propelled +by steam. Yet when the _Flying Cloud_, one January day, tripped anchor +and set sail, there were but three strangers on the quarter-deck--a +middle-aged gentleman in search of health, the invalid brother, in his +eighteenth year, and the small, sad boy. + +[Illustration: West from Black Point, 1856] + +The captain's wife, a lady of Salem who had followed him from sea to +sea for many a year, was the joy and salvation of that forlorn little +company. How forlorn it was only the survivor knows, and he knows well +enough. Forty years have scarcely dimmed the memory of it. Through all +the wear and tear of time the remembrance of that voyage has at +intervals haunted him: the length of it, the weariness of it, and the +almost unbroken monotony stretching through the ninety odd days that +dawned and darkened between San Francisco and New York; the solitary +sail that was blown on and on, and becalmed and buffeted between the +blue waste of waters and the blue waste of sky; the lonesomeness of it +all--no land, no lights flashing across the sea in glad assurance; no +passing ships to hail us with faint-voiced "Ahoy!"--only the +ever-tossing waves, the trailing sea-gardens, the tireless birds of the +air and the monsters of the deep. + +Ah, well-a-day! There was a solemn and hushed circle listening to family +prayers that morning,--the morning of the 4th of January. The father's +voice trembled as he opened the Bible and read from that beautiful +psalm: + +"They that go down to the sea in ships, that do business in great +waters, these see the works of the Lord and His wonders in the deep. For +He commandeth and raiseth the stormy wind, which lifteth up the waves +thereof. They mount up to the heaven; they go down again to the depths; +their soul is melted because of trouble. They reel to and fro and +stagger like a drunken man, and are at their wit's end. Then they cry +unto the Lord in their trouble, and He bringeth them out of their +distresses. He maketh the storm a calm, so that the waves thereof are +still. Then are they glad because they be quiet; so He bringeth them +unto their desired haven. Oh, that men would praise the Lord for His +goodness and for His wonderful works to the children of men!" + +The small, sad boy looked smaller and sadder than ever as he stood on +the deck of the _Flying Cloud_ and waved his last farewell. He tried his +best to be manly and to swallow the heart that was leaping in his +throat, and at the earliest possible moment he flew to his journal and +made his first entry there. He was going to keep a journal because his +brother kept one, and because it was the proper thing to keep a journal +at sea--no ship is complete without its log, you know; and, moreover, I +think it was a custom in that family to keep a journal; for it was, more +or less, a journalistic family. + +Now we are nearing the anniversary of that boy's journal: it runs +through January, February and March; it is more than forty years old +this minute. And because it is a boy's journal, and the boy was small +and sad, I'm going to peep into it and fish out a line or two. With an +effort he made this entry: + +"CLIPPER SHIP, FLYING CLOUD, + "January 4, 1857. + +"I watched them till we were out of sight of them, and then began to +look about to see what I could see. It begins to get rough. I tried to +see home, but I could not. The pilot says he will take a letter ashore +for us. Now I will go to bed." + + +Then he cried unto the Lord in his trouble with a heart as heavy as +lead. + +"JAN. 5.--The day rather rough, with little squalls of rain. We are +passing the Farallone Islands, but I feel too bad to sketch them. I get +homesick when I think of the dear ones I left behind me. I hope I may +see them all in this world again." + +That was the gray beginning of a voyage that had very little color in +it. The coast-line sank apace; the gray rocks--the Farallones, the haunt +of the crying gull--dissolved in the gray mist. The hours were all +alike: all dismal and slow-footed. + +"I don't feel very well to-day," said the small, sad boy, quite +plaintively. On the 6th he brightens and begins to take notice. History +would have less to fasten on were there not some such entries as this: + +"A list of our live-stock: 17 pigs; 12 dozen hens and roosters; 3 +turkeys; 1 gobbler; a cockatoo and a wild-cat. We have a fair breeze, +and carry 26 sails. + +"JAN. 7.--The day is calm. I began to read 'Uncle Tom's Cabin.' I like +it. The captain's wife was going to train the wild-cat when it bit +her--but not very hard. + +"8.--There was not much wind to-day. We fished for sea-gulls and caught +four. I caught one and let it go again. Two hens flew overboard. The +sailors in a boat got one of them; the gulls killed one. + +"9.--The day has been rather gloomy. I caught another sea-gull but let +him go again. On deck nearly all day. + +"10.--The cockatoo sits on deck and talks and talks. + +"11.--It makes me feel bad when I think of home. I want to be there." + +The long, long weary days dragged on. It is thought worth while to note +that there were fresh eggs for breakfast, fresh pork for dinner, fresh +chicken for supper; that a porpoise had been captured, and that his +carcass yielded "three gallons of oil as good as sperm oil"; that no +ship had been seen--"no sail from day to day"; that they were in the +latitude of Panama; that it was squally or not squally, as the case +might be; that on one occasion they captured "four barrels of oil," the +flotsam of some ill-fated whaler, and that it all proved "very +exciting"; that a dolphin was captured, and that he died in splendor, +passing through the whole gamut of the rainbow--that the words of +tradition might be fulfilled; that the hens had suffered no sea-change, +but had contributed from a dozen to two dozen eggs per day. Still +stretched the immeasurable waste of waters to the horizon line on every +hand. Day by day the small boy made his entries; but he seemed to be +running down, like a clock, and needed winding up. This is how his +record dwindled: + +"JAN. 20.--The day is very pleasant, with some wind. We crossed the +equator. I sat up in one of the boats a long time. I wish my little +brothers were here to play with me. + +"21.--The day is very pleasant, with a good breeze. We are going ten or +eleven knots an hour. + +"22.--The day is very pleasant. A nine-knot breeze. Nothing new happened +to-day. + +"23.--The day is pleasant. Six-knot breeze." + +It came to pass that the small, sad boy, wearying of "Uncle Tom" and his +"cabin," was driven to extremes; and, having obtained leave of the +captain--who was autocrat of all his part of the world,--he climbed into +one of the ship's boats, as it hung in the davits over the side of the +vessel. It was an airy voyage he took there, sailing between sea and +sky, soaring up and down with the rolling vessel, like a bird upon the +wing. + +He rigged a tiny mast there--it was a walking-stick that ably served +this purpose; the captain's wife provided sails no larger than +handkerchiefs. With thread-like ropes and pencil spars he set his sails +for dreamland. One day the wind bothered him; he could not trim his +canvas, and in desperation he set it dead against the wind, and then the +sails were filled almost to bursting. But his navigation was at fault; +for he was heading in a direction quite opposite to the _Flying Cloud_. + +Then came a facetious sailor and whispered to him: "Do you want ever to +get to New York?"--"Yes, I do," said the little captain of the midair +craft.--"Well, then, you'd better haul in sail; for you're set dead agin +us now." The sails were struck on the instant and never unfurled again. + +I wonder why some people are so very inconsiderate when they speak to +children, especially to simple or sensitive children? The small, sad boy +took it greatly to heart, and was cast down because he feared that he +might have delayed the bark that bore him all too slowly toward the +far-distant port. This was indeed simplicity of the deepest dye, and +something of that simplicity the boy was never to escape unto the end +of time. We are as God made us, and we must in all cases put up with +ourselves. + +What a lonely voyage was that across the vast and vacant sea! Now and +then a distant sail glimmered upon the horizon, but disappeared like a +vanishing snowflake. The equator was crossed; the air grew colder; storm +and calm followed each other; the daily entry now becomes monotonous. + +"FEBRUARY 2.--To-day for the first time we saw an albatross. + +"7.--Rather rough and cold; I have spent all day in the cabin. It makes +me homesick to have such weather. + +"14.--I rose at five o'clock and went on deck, and before long saw land. +It was Terra del Fuego; it was a beautiful sight. Here lay a pretty +island, there a towering precipice, and over yonder a mountain covered +with snow. We made the fatal Cape Horn at two o'clock, and passed it at +four o'clock. Now we are in the Atlantic Ocean. + +"WASHINGTON'S BIRTHDAY.--Rough weather: a sixteen-knot breeze. To-day we +got our one thousandth egg, and the hens are doing well. At +twelve--eight bells--we saw a sail on our weather-bow: she was going the +same way as we were. At two, we overtook and spoke her. She was the +whaler _Scotland_ from New Zealand, bound for New Bedford, with +thirty-five hundred barrels of oil. We soon passed her. I wish her good +luck." + +I will no longer stretch the small, sad boy upon the rack of his dull +journal. He had a glimpse at Juan Fernandez, but the island of his +dreams was so far off that he had to climb to the maintop in order to +get a sight of its shadowy outline. When it had faded away like the +clouds, the lonely little fellow cried himself to sleep for love of his +Robinson Crusoe. + +One night the moon--a large, mellow tropical one,--rose from a bank of +cloud so like a mountain's chain that the small one clapped his hands in +glee and cried: "Land ho!" But, alas! it was only cloud-land; and his +eyes, that were starving for a sight of God's green earth, were again +bedewed. Indeed he was bound for a distant shore, a voyage of ninety-one +days; and during all that voyage he was in sight of land for five days +only. It may be said that the port he was bound for, and where he was +destined to pass two years at school, four thousand miles from his own +people, may be called "The Vale of Tears." + +Off the Brazilian coast a head-wind forced the ship to tack repeatedly; +she was sometimes so near the land that people could be seen moving, +like black dots, along the shore. Native fishermen, mounted upon the +high seats of their catamarans--the frailest rafts,--drifted within +hailing distance; and over night the brave ship was within almost +speaking distance of Pernambuco. The lights of the city were like a bed +of glowworms,--but the small, sad boy was blown off into the sea again, +for his hour had not yet come. + +Here is the last entry I shall weary you with, for I would not abuse +your patience: + +"APRIL 5, 1857.--I was _awoke_ this morning by the noise the pilot made +in getting on board. At ten o'clock the steam-tug Hercules took us in +tow. We had beautiful views of the shore [God knows how beautiful they +were in his eyes!], and at three o'clock we were at the Astor House, +with Captain and Mrs. Cresey, Mr. Connor, and the Stoddard boys--all of +the _Flying Cloud_,--where we retired to soft beds to spend the night." + +There is a plaintive touch in that reference to _soft beds_ after three +months in the straight and narrow bunk of a ship. And there is more +pathos in all those childish pages than you wot of; for, alas and alas! +I am the sole survivor,--I was that small, sad boy; and I alone am left +to tell the tale. + + + + +A BIT OF OLD CHINA + + +"It is but a step from Confucius to confusion," said I, in a brief +discussion of the Chinese question. "Then let us take it by all means," +replied the artist, who had been an indulgent listener for at least ten +minutes. We were strolling upon the verge of the Chinese Quarter in San +Francisco, and, turning aside from one of the chief thoroughfares of the +city, we plunged into the busiest portion of Chinatown. From our +standpoint--the corner of Kearny and Sacramento Streets--we got the most +favorable view of our Mongolian neighbors. Here is a goodly number of +merchant gentlemen of wealth and station, comfortably, if not elegantly, +housed on two sides of a street that climbs a low hill quite in the +manner of a tea-box landscape. + +A few of these gentlemen lodge on the upper floors of their business +houses, with Chinese wives, and quaint, old-fashioned children gaudily +dressed, looking like little idols, chatting glibly with one another, +and gracefully gesticulating with hands of exquisite slenderness. +Confucius, in his infancy, may have been like one of the least of these. +There are white draymen and porters in the employ of these shrewd and +civil merchants, and the outward appearance of traffic, as conducted in +the immediate vicinity, is rather American than otherwise. + +Farther up the hill, on Dupont Street, from California to Pacific +Streets, the five blocks are almost monopolized by the Chinese. There +is, at first, a sprinkling of small shops in the hands of Jews and +Gentiles, and a mingling of Chinese bazaars of the half-caste type, +where American and English goods are exposed in the show windows; but as +we pass on the Asiatic element increases, and finally every trace of +alien produce is withdrawn from the shelves and counters. + +Here little China flaunts her scarlet streamers overhead, and flanks her +doors with legends in saffron and gold; even its window panes have a +foreign look, and within is a glimmering of tinsel, a subdued light, and +china lamps flickering before graven images of barbaric hideousness. The +air is laden with the fumes of smoking sandal-wood and strange odors of +the East; and the streets, swarming with coolies, resound with the +echoes of an unknown tongue. There is hardly room for us to pass; we +pick our way, and are sometimes curiously regarded by slant-eyed pagans, +who bear us no good-will, if that shadow of scorn in the face has been +rightly interpreted. China is not more Chinese than this section of our +Christian city, nor the heart of Tartary less American. + +Turn which way we choose, within two blocks, on either hand we find +nothing but the infinitely small and astonishingly numerous forms of +traffic on which the hordes around us thrive. No corner is too cramped +for the squatting street cobbler; and as for the pipe cleaners, the +cigarette rollers, the venders of sweetmeats and conserves, they gather +on the curb or crouch under overhanging windows, and await custom with +the philosophical resignation of the Oriental. + +On Dupont Street, between Clay and Sacramento Streets--a single +block,--there are no less than five basement apartments devoted +exclusively to barbers. There are hosts of this profession in the +quarter. Look down the steep steps leading into the basement and see, at +any hour of the day, with what deft fingers the tonsorial operators +manipulate the devoted pagan head. + +There is no waste space in the quarter. In apartments not more than +fifteen feet square three or four different professions are often +represented, and these afford employment to ten or a dozen men. Here is +a druggist and herb-seller, with huge spectacles on his nose, at the +left of the main entrance; a butcher displays his meats in a show-window +on the right, serving his customers over the sill; a clothier is in the +rear of the shop, while a balcony filled with tailors or cigar-makers +hangs half-way to the ceiling. + +[Illustration: "China is Not More Chinese than this Section of Our +Christian City."] + +Close about us there are over one hundred and fifty mercantile +establishments and numerous mechanical industries. The seventy-five +cigar factories employ eight thousand coolies, and these are huddled +into the closest quarters. In a single room, measuring twenty feet by +thirty feet, sixty men and boys have been discovered industriously +rolling _real_ Havanas. + +The traffic which itinerant fish and vegetable venders drive in every +part of the city must be great, being as it is an extreme convenience +for lazy or thrifty housewives. A few of these basket men cultivate +gardens in the suburbs, but the majority seek their supplies in the city +markets. Wash-houses have been established in every part of the city, +and are supplied with two sets of laborers, who spend watch and watch on +duty, so that the establishment is never closed. + +One frequently meets a travelling bazaar--a coolie with his bundle of +fans and bric-a-brac, wandering from house to house, even in the +suburbs; and the old fellows, with a handful of sliced bamboos and +chairs swinging from the poles over their shoulders, are becoming quite +numerous; chair mending and reseating must be profitable. These little +rivulets, growing larger and more varied day by day, all spring from +that great fountain of Asiatic vitality--the Chinese Quarter. This +surface-skimming beguiles for an hour or two; but the stranger who +strolls through the streets of Chinatown, and retires dazed with the +thousand eccentricities of an unfamiliar people, knows little of the +mysterious life that surrounds him. + +Let us descend. We are piloted by a special policeman, one who is well +acquainted with the geography of the quarter. Provided with tapers, we +plunge into one of the several dark recesses at hand. Back of the highly +respectable brick buildings in Sacramento Street--the dwellings and +business places of the first-class Chinese merchants--there are pits and +deadfalls innumerable, and over all is the blackness of darkness; for +these human moles can work in the earth faster than the shade of the +murdered Dane. Here, from the noisome vats three stories underground to +the hanging gardens of the fish-dryers on the roofs, there is neither +nook nor corner but is populous with Mongolians of the lowest caste. The +better class have their reserved quarters; with them there is at least +room to stretch one's legs without barking the shins of one's neighbor; +but from this comparative comfort to the condensed discomfort of the +impoverished coolie, how sudden and great the change! + +Between brick walls we thread our way, and begin descending into the +abysmal darkness; the tapers, without which it were impossible to +proceed with safety, burn feebly in the double night of the +subterranean tenements. Most of the habitable quarters under the ground +are like so many pigeon-houses indiscriminately heaped together. If +there were only sunshine enough to drink up the slime that glosses every +plank, and fresh air enough to sweeten the mildewed kennels, this highly +eccentric style of architecture might charm for a time, by reason of its +novelty; there is, moreover, a suspicion of the picturesque lurking +about the place--but, heaven save us, how it smells! + +[Illustration: "Rag Alley" in Old Chinatown] + +We pass from one black hole to another. In the first there is a kind of +bin for ashes and coals, and there are pots and grills lying about--it +is the kitchen. A heap of fire kindling wood in one corner, a bench or +stool as black as soot can paint it, a few bowls, a few bits of rags, a +few fragments of food, and a coolie squatting over a struggling +fire,--coolie who rises out of the dim smoke like the evil _genii_ in +the Arabian tale. There is no chimney, there is no window, there is no +drainage. We are in a cubic sink, where we can scarcely stand erect. +From the small door pours a dense volume of smoke, some of it stale +smoke, which our entry has forced out of the corners; the kitchen will +only hold so much smoke, and we have made havoc among the cubic inches. +Underfoot, the thin planks sag into standing pools, and there is a +glimmer of poisonous blue just along the base of the blackened walls; +thousands feed daily in troughs like these! + +The next apartment, smaller yet, and blacker and bluer, and more +slippery and slimy, is an uncovered cesspool, from which a sickening +stench exales continually. All about it are chambers--very small +ones,--state-rooms let me call them, opening upon narrow galleries that +run in various directions, sometimes bridging one another in a marvelous +and exceedingly ingenious economy of space. The majority of these +state-rooms are just long enough to lie down in, and just broad enough +to allow a narrow door to swing inward between two single beds, with two +sleepers in each bed. The doors are closed and bolted; there is often no +window, and always no ventilation. + +Our "special," by the authority vested in him, tries one door and +demands admittance. There is no response from within. A group of +coolies, who live in the vicinity and have followed close upon our heels +even since our descent into the under world, assure us in soothing tones +that the place is vacant. We are suspicious and persist in our +investigation; still no response. The door is then forced by the +"special," and behold four of the "seven sleepers" packed into this +air-tight compartment, and insensible even to the hearty greeting we +offer them! + +The air is absolutely overpowering. We hasten from the spot, but are +arrested in our flight by the "special," who leads us to the gate of the +catacombs, and bids us follow him. I know not to what extent the earth +has been riddled under the Chinese Quarter; probably no man knows save +he who has burrowed, like a gopher, from one living grave to another, +fleeing from taxation or the detective. I know that we thread dark +passages, so narrow that two of us may not cross tracks, so low that we +often crouch at the doorways that intercept pursuit at unexpected +intervals. Here the thief and the assassin seek sanctuary; it is a city +of refuge for lost souls. + +The numerous gambling houses are so cautiously guarded that only the +private police can ferret them out. Door upon door is shut against you; +or some ingenious panel is slid across your path, and you are +unconsciously spirited away through other avenues. The secret signals +that gave warning of your approach caused a sudden transformation in the +ground-plan of the establishment. + +Gambling and opium smoking are here the ruling passions. A coolie will +pawn anything and everything to obtain the means with which to indulge +these fascinations. There are many games played publicly at restaurants +and in the retiring rooms of mercantile establishments. Not only are +cards, dice, and dominos common, but sticks, straws, brass rings, etc., +are thrown in heaps upon the table, and the fate of the gamester hangs +literally upon a breath. + +These haunts are seldom visited by the officers of justice, for it is +almost impossible to storm the barriers in season to catch the criminals +in the very act. To-day you approach a gambling hell by this door, +to-morrow the inner passages of the house are mysteriously changed, and +it is impossible to track them without being frequently misled; +meanwhile the alarm is sounded throughout the building, and very +speedily every trace of guilt has disappeared. The lottery is another +popular temptation in the quarter. Most of the very numerous wash-houses +are said to be private agencies for the sale of lottery tickets. Put +your money, no matter how little it is, on certain of the characters +that cover a small sheet of paper, and your fate is soon decided; for +there is a drawing twice a day. + +Enter any one of the pawn-shops licensed by the city authorities, and +cast your eye over the motley collection of unredeemed articles. There +are pistols of every pattern and almost of every age, the majority of +them loaded. There are daggers in infinite variety, including the +ingenious fan stiletto, which, when sheathed, may be carried in the hand +without arousing suspicion; for the sheath and handle bear; an exact +resemblance to a closed fan. There are entire suits of clothes, beds and +bedding, tea, sugar, clocks--multitudes of them, a clock being one of +the Chinese hobbies, and no room is completely furnished without at +least a pair of them,--ornaments in profusion; everything, in fact, save +only the precious _queue_, without which no Chinaman may hope for honor +in this life or salvation in the next. + +The throngs of customers that keep the pawn-shops crowded with pledges +are probably most of them victims of the gambling table or the opium +den. They come from every house that employs them; your domestic is +impatient of delay, and hastens through his daily task in order that he +may nightly indulge his darling sin. + +The opium habit prevails to an alarming extent throughout the country, +but no race is so dependent on this seductive and fatal stimulant as the +Chinese. There are several hundred dens in San Francisco where, for a +very moderate sum, the coolie may repair, and revel in dreams that end +in a deathlike sleep. + +Let us pause at the entrance of one of these pleasure-houses. Through +devious ways we follow the leader, and come at last to a cavernous +retreat. The odors that salute us are offensive; on every hand there is +an accumulation of filth that should naturally, if it does not, breed +fever and death. Forms press about us in the darkness,--forms that +hasten like shadows toward that den of shades. We enter by a small door +that is open for a moment only, and find ourselves in an apartment +about fifteen feet square. We can touch the ceiling on tiptoe, yet there +are three tiers of bunks placed with head boards to the wall, and each +bunk just broad enough for two occupants. It is like the steerage in an +emigrant vessel, eminently shipshape. Every bunk is filled; some of the +smokers have had their dream and lie in grotesque attitudes, insensible, +ashen-pale, having the look of plague-stricken corpses. + +Some are dreaming; you see it in the vacant eye, the listless face, the +expression that betrays hopeless intoxication. Some are preparing the +enchanting pipe,--a laborious process, that reminds one of an +incantation. See those two votaries lying face to face, chatting in low +voices, each loading his pipe with a look of delicious expectation in +every feature. They recline at full-length; their heads rest upon blocks +of wood or some improvised pillow; a small oil lamp flickers between +them. Their pipes resemble flutes, with an inverted ink-bottle on the +side near the lower end. They are most of them of bamboo, and very often +are beautifully colored with the mellowest and richest tints of a wisely +smoked meerschaum. A small jar of prepared opium--a thick black paste +resembling tar--stands near the lamp. + +The smoker leisurely dips a wire into the paste; a few drops adhere to +it, and he twirls the wire in the flame of the lamp, where they fry and +bubble; he then draws them upon the rim of the clay pipe-bowl, and at +once inhales three or four mouthfuls of whitish smoke. This empties the +pipe, and the slow process of feeding the bowl is lazily repeated. It is +a labor of love; the eyes gloat upon the bubbling drug which shall anon +witch the soul of those emaciated toilers. They renew the pipe again and +again; their talk grows less frequent and dwindles to a whispered +soliloquy. + +We address them, and are smiled at by delirious eyes; but the ravenous +lips are sealed to that magic tube, from which they draw the breath of a +life we know not of. Their fingers relax; their heads sink upon the +pillows; they no longer respond, even by a glance, when we now appeal to +them. Here is the famous Malay, the fearful enemy of De Quincy, who +nightly drugged his master into Asiatic seas; and now himself is basking +in the tropical heats and vertical sunlight of Hindostan. Egypt and her +gods are his; for him the secret chambers of Cheops are unlocked; he +also is transfixed at the summit of pagodas; he is the idol, the priest, +the worshipped, the sacrificed. The wrath of Brahma pursues him through +the forests of Asia; he is the hated of Vishnu; Siva lies in wait for +him; Isis and Osiris confront him. + +What is this key which seems for a time to unlock the gates of heaven +and of hell? It is the most complicated drug in the pharmacopoeia. +Though apparently nothing more than a simple black, slimy paste, +analysis reveals the fact that it contains no less than five-and-twenty +elements, each one of them a compound by itself, and many of them among +the most complex compounds known to modern chemistry. This "dread agent +of unimaginable pleasure and pain," this author of an "Iliad of woes," +lies within reach of every creature in the commonwealth. As the most +enlightened and communicative of the opium eaters has observed: +"Happiness may be bought for a penny, and carried in the waistcoat +pocket; portable ecstasy may be had corked up in a pint bottle; peace of +mind may be set down in gallons by the mail-coach." + +This is the chief, the inevitable dissipation of our coolie tribes; this +is one of the evils with which we have to battle, and in comparison with +which the excessive indulgence in intoxicating liquors is no more than +what a bad dream is to hopeless insanity. See the hundred forms on opium +pillows already under the Circean spell; swarms are without the chambers +awaiting their turn to enter and enjoy the fictitious delights of this +paradise. + +While the opium habit is one that should be treated at once with wisdom +and severity, there is another point which seriously involves the +Chinese question, and, unhappily, it must be handled with gloves. +Nineteen-twentieths of the Chinese women in San Francisco are depraved! + +Not far from one of the pleasure-houses we intruded upon a domestic +hearth smelling of punk and pestilence. A child fled with a shrill +scream at our approach. This was the hospital of the quarter. Nine cases +of small-pox were once found within its narrow walls, and with no one to +care for them. As we explored its cramped wards our path was obstructed +by a body stretched upon a bench. The face was of that peculiar +smoke-color which we are obliged to accept as Chinese pallor; the trunk +was swathed like a mummy in folds of filthy rags; it was motionless as +stone, apparently insensible. Thus did an opium victim await his +dissolution. + +In the next room a rough deal burial case stood upon two stools; tapers +were flickering upon the floor; the fumes of burning punk freighted the +air and clouded the vision; the place was clean enough, for it was +perfectly bare, but it was eminently uninteresting. Close at hand stood +a second burial case, an empty one, with the cover standing against the +wall; a few hours more and it would find a tenant--he who was dying in +rags and filth in the room adjoining. This was the native hospital of +the quarter, and the mother of the child was the matron of the +establishment. + +I will cast but one more shadow on the coolie quarter, and then we will +search for sunshine. It is folly to attempt to ignore the fact that the +seeds of leprosy are sown among the Chinese. If you would have proof, +follow me. It is a dreary drive over the hills to the pest-house. +Imagine that we have dropped in upon the health officer at his city +office. Our proposed visitation has been telephoned to the resident +physician, who is a kind of prisoner with his leprous patients on the +lonesome slope of a suburban hill. As we get into the rugged edge of the +city, among half-graded streets, strips of marshland, and a semi-rustic +population, we ask our way to the pest-house. Yonder it lies, surrounded +by that high white fence on the hill-top, above a marsh once clouded +with clamorous water-fowl, but now all, all under the spell of the +quarantine, and desolate beyond description. Our road winds up the +hill-slope, sown thick with stones, and stops short at the great solid +gate in the high rabbit fence that walls in the devil's acre, if I may +so call it. We ring the dreadful bell--the passing-bell, that is seldom +rung save to announce the arrival of another fateful body clothed in +living death. + +The doctor welcomes us to an enclosure that is utterly whitewashed; the +detached houses within it are kept sweet and clean. Everything connected +with the lazaret is of the cheapest description; there is a primitive +simplicity, a modest nakedness, an insulated air about the place that +reminds one of a chill December in a desert island. Cheap as it is and +unhandsome, the hospital is sufficient to meet all the requirements of +the plague in its present stage of development. The doctor has weeded +out the enclosure, planted it, hedged it about with the fever-dispelling +eucalyptus, and has already a little plot of flowers by the office +window,--but this is not what we have come to see. One ward in the +pest-house is set apart for the exclusive use of the Chinese lepers, who +have but recently been isolated. We are introduced to the poor creatures +one after another, and then we take them all in at a glance, or group +them according to their various stages of decomposition, or the peculiar +character of their physical hideousness. + +They are not all alike; with some the flesh has begun to wither and to +slough off, yet they are comparatively cheerful; as fatalists, it makes +very little difference to them how soon or in what fashion they are +translated to the other life. There is one youth who doubtless suffers +some inconveniences from the clumsy development of his case. This lad, +about eighteen years of age, has a face that is swollen like a sponge +saturated with corruption; he can not raise his bloated eyelids, but, +with his head thrown back, looks downward over his cheeks. Two of these +lepers are as astonishing specimens as any that have ever come under my +observation, yet I have morbidly sought them from Palestine to Molokai. +In these cases the muscles are knotted, the blood curdled; masses of +unwholesome flesh cover them, lying fold upon fold; the lobes of their +ears hang almost to the shoulder; the eyes when visible have an inhuman +glance that transfixes you with horror. Their hands are shapeless stumps +that have lost all natural form or expression. + +Of old there was a law for the leprosy of a garment and of a house; yet, +in spite of the stringency of that Mosaic law, the isolation, the +purging with hyssop, and the cleansing by fire, St. Luke records: "There +met Him ten men who were lepers, who stood afar off; and they lifted up +their voices and cried, Jesus, Master, have mercy on us!" And to-day, +more than eighteen hundred years later, lepers gather on the slopes of +Mount Zion, and hover at the gates of Jerusalem, and crouch in the +shadow of the tomb of David, crying for the bread of mercy. Leprosy once +thoroughly engrafted on our nation, and nor cedar-wood, nor scarlet, nor +hyssop, nor clean birds, nor ewes of the first year, nor measures of +fine flour, nor offerings of any sort, shall cleanse us for evermore. + +Let us turn to pleasanter prospects--the Joss House, for instance, one +of the several temples whither the Chinese frequently repair to +propitiate the reposeful gods. It is an unpretentious building, with +nothing external to distinguish its facade from those adjoining, save +only a Chinese legend above the door. There are many crooks and turns +within it; shrines in a perpetual state of fumigation adorn its nooks +and corners; overhead swing shelves of images rehearsing historical +tableaux; there is much carving and gilding, and red and green paint. It +is the scene of a perennial feast of lanterns, and the worshipful enter +silently with burn-offerings and meat-offerings and drink-offerings, +which they spread before the altar under the feet of some colossal god; +then, with repeated genuflections, they retire. The thundering gong or +the screaming pipes startle us at intervals, and white-robed priests +pass in and out, droning their litanies. + +At this point the artist suggests refreshments; arm in arm we pass down +the street, surfeited with sight-seeing, weary of the multitudinous +bazaars, the swarming coolies, the boom of beehive industry. Swamped in +a surging crowd, we are cast upon the catafalque of the celestial dead. +The coffin lies under a canopy, surrounded by flambeaux, grave +offerings, guards and musicians. + +Chinatown has become sufficiently acclimatized to begin to put forth its +natural buds again as freely as if this were indeed the Flowery Land. +The funeral pageant moves,--a dozen carriages preceded by mourners on +foot, clad in white, their heads covered, their feet bare, their grief +insupportable, so that an attendant is at hand to sustain each mourner +howling at the wheels of the hearse. An orchestra heads the procession; +the air is flooded with paper prayers that are cast hither at you to +appease the troubled spirit. They are on their way to the cemetery among +the hills toward the sea, where the funeral rites are observed as +rigorously as they are on Asian soil. + +We are still unrefreshed and sorely in need of rest. Overhead swing huge +balloon lanterns and tufts of gold flecked scarlet streamers,--a sight +that maketh the palate of the hungry Asiatic to water; for within this +house may be had all the delicacies of the season, ranging from the +confections of the fond suckling to funeral bake-meats. Legends wrought +in tinsel decorate the walls. Here is a shrine with a vermilion-faced +god and a native lamp, and stalks of such hopelessly artificial flowers +as fortunately are unknown in nature. Saffron silks flutter their +fringes in the steams of nameless cookery--for all this is but the +kitchen, and the beginning of the end we aim at. + +A spiral staircase winds like a corkscrew from floor to floor; we ascend +by easy stages, through various grades of hunger, from the economic +appetite on the first floor, where the plebian stomach is stayed with +tea and lentils, even to the very house-top, where are administered +comforting syrups and a _menu_ that is sweetened throughout its length +with the twang of lutes, the clash of cymbals, and the throb of the +shark-skin drum. + +Servants slip to and fro in sandals, offering edible birds'-nests, +sharks' fins, and _beche de mer_,--or are these unfamiliar dishes +snatched from some other kingdom? At any rate, they are native to the +strange people who have a little world of their own in our midst, and +who could, if they chose, declare their independence to-morrow. + +We see everywhere the component parts of a civilization separate and +distinct from our own. They have their exits and their entrances; their +religious life and burial; their imports, exports, diversions, +tribunals, punishments. They are all under the surveillance of the six +companies, the great six-headed supreme authority. They have laws within +our laws that to us are sealed volumes. Why should they not? Fifty years +ago there were scarcely a dozen Chinese in America. In 1851, inclusive, +not more than 4,000 had arrived; but the next year brought 18,000, +seized with the lust of gold. The incoming tide fluctuated, running as +low as 4,000 and as high as 15,000 per annum. Since, 1868 we have +received from 10,000 to 15,000 yearly. + +After supper we leaned from the high balcony, among flowers and +lanterns, and looked down upon the street below; it was midnight, yet +the pavements were not deserted, and there arose to our ears a murmur +as of a myriad humming bees shut in clustering hives; close about us +were housed near twenty thousand souls; shops were open; discordant +orchestras resounded from the theatres; in a dark passage we saw the +flames playing upon the thresholds of infamy to expel the evil shades. + +Away off in the Bay in the moonlight, glimmered the ribbed sail of a +fishing junk, and the air was heavy with an indefinable odor which to +this hour puzzles me; but it must be attributed either to sink or +sandal-wood--perchance to both! + +"It is a little bit of old China, this quarter of ours," said the +artist, rising to go. And so it is, saving only a noticeable lack of +dwarfed trees and pale pagodas and sprays of willowy bamboo; of clumsy +boats adrift on tideless streams; of toy-like tea gardens hanging among +artificial rocks, and of troops of flat-faced but complaisant people +posing grotesquely in ridiculous perspective. + +[Illustration: The Farallones] + + + + +WITH THE EGG-PICKERS OF THE FARALLONES + + +Those who have visited the markets of San Francisco during the egg +season may have noticed the abundance of large and singularly marked +eggs, that are offered for sale by the bushel. The shells of these eggs +are pear-shaped, parti-colored, and very thick. They range in color from +a light green to grey or brown, and are all of them profusely spotted, +or blotted, I might say spattered, with clots of black or brown. Some +are beautiful, with soft tints blended in a delicate lace-like pattern. +Some are very ugly, and look unclean. All are a trifle stale, with a +meat of coarse texture and gamy flavor. But the Italians and the Coolies +are fond of them, and doubtless many a gross finds its way into the +kitchens of the popular cheap restaurants, where, disguised in omelets +and puddings, the quantity compensates for the lack of quality, and the +palate of the rapid eater has not time to analyze the latter. These are +the eggs of the sea-gull, the gull that cries all day among the shipping +in the harbor, follows the river boats until meal-time, and feeds on the +bread that is cast upon the water.[2] How true it is that this bread +returns to us after many days! + +The gulls, during incubation, seek the solitude of the Farallones, a +group of desolate and weather-beaten rocks that tower out of the fog +about thirty miles distant from the mouth of the harbor of San +Francisco. Nothing can be more magnificently desolate than the aspect of +these islands. Scarcely a green blade finds root there. They are haunted +by sea-fowl of all feathers, and the boom of the breakers mingles with +the bark of the seals that have colonized on one of the most +inaccessible islands of the group. It is here that myriads of sea-birds +rear their young, here where the very cliffs tremble in the tempestuous +sea and are drenched with bitter spray, and where ships have been cast +into the frightful jaws of caverns and speedily ground into splinters. + +The profit on sea-eggs has increased from year to year, and of late +speculators have grown so venturesome that competition among +egg-gatherers has resulted in an annual naval engagement, known to the +press and the public as the egg-war. If two companies of egg-pickers +met, as was not unlikely, the contending factions fell upon one another +with their ill-gotten spoils--the islands are under the rule of the +United States, and no one has legal right to take from them so much as +one egg without license--and the defeated party was sure to retire from +the field under a heavy shower of shells, the contents of which, though +not fatal, were at least effective. + +I have before me the notes of a retired egg-picker; they record the +brief experience of one who was interested in the last campaign, which, +as it terminated the career of the egg-pirates, is not without +historical interest. I will at once introduce the historian, and let him +tell his own tale. + +"On Board the Schooner 'Sierra.'-- + "Off the City Front. + "May 4, 1881. + +"5 p.m.--There are ten of us all told; most of us strangers to one +another, but Tom and Jim, and Fred, that's me, are pals, and have been +these many months. So we conclude to hang together, and make the most of +an adventure perfectly new to each. At our feet lie our traps; blankets, +woolen shirts, heavy boots, with huge nails in the soles of them, +tobacco in bulk, a few novels, a pack of cards, and a pocket flask, for +the stomach's sake. A jolly crew, to be sure, and jollily we bade adieu +to the fellows who had gathered in the dock to wish us God-speed. +Casting loose we swung into the stream, and then slowly and clumsily +made sail. The town never looked prettier; it is always the way and +always will be; towns, like blessings, brighten just as they get out of +reach. Drifting into the west we began to grow thoughtful; what had at +first seemed a lark may possibly prove to be a very serious matter. We +have to feed on rough rations, work in a rough locality, among rough +people, and our profits, or our share of the profits, will depend +entirely upon the fruitfulness of the egg-orchard, and the number of +hundred gross that we are able to get safely into the market. No news +from the town, save by the schooner that comes over at intervals to take +away our harvest. No society, save our own, good enough always, provided +we are not forcibly confined to it. No amusements beyond a novel, a +pipe, and a pack of cards. Ah well! it is only an experience after all, +and here goes! + +"Sea pretty high, as we get outside the Heads, and feel the long roll of +the Pacific. Wind, fresh and cold; we are to be out all night and +looking about for bunks, we find the schooner accommodations are +limited, and that the captain and his crew monopolize them. We sleep +anywhere, grateful that we are able to sleep at all. + +"10 p.m.--A blustering head wind, and sea increasing. What little supper +we were able to get on board was worse than none at all, for it did not +stay with us--anything but fun, this going to sea in a bowl, to rob +gull's nests, and smuggle eggs into market. + +"May 5th. + +"Woke in the early dawn, everything moist and sticky, clammy is the +better word, and that embraces the whole case; stiff and sore in every +joint; bacon for dinner last night, more bacon for breakfast this +morning, and only half-cooked at that. Our delicate town-bred stomachs +rebel, and we conclude to fast until we reach the island. Have sighted +the Farallones, but are too miserable to express our gratitude; wind and +sea still rising; schooner on beam ends about once in forty seconds, +between times standing either on her head or her tail, and shaking +herself 'like a thing of life.' + +"At noon off the landing, a buoy bobbing in the billows, to which we are +expected to make fast the schooner, and get to shore in the exceedingly +small boat; captain fears to tarry on account of heavy weather; +concludes to return to the coast and bide his time; consequently makes +for Bolinas Bay, which we reach about 9 p.m., and drop anchor in +comparatively smooth water; glad enough to sleep on an even keel at +last; it seems at least six months since we left the shining shores of +San Francisco, yet it is scarce thirty hours--but such hours, ugh! + +"Bolinas Bay, May 6th. + +"Wind blowing a perfect gale; we are lying under a long hill, and the +narrow bay is scarcely rippled by the blast that rushes over us, thick +with flying-scud. Captain resolves to await better weather; some of the +boys go on shore, and wander out to a kind of reef at the mouth of the +bay, where in a short time they succeed in gathering a fine mess of +mussels; the rest of us, the stay-on-boards, rig up a net and catch +fifteen large fat crabs; with these we cook a delicious dinner, which we +devour ravenously, like half-starved men; begin to realize how +storm-tossed mariners feel, and have been recounting hair-breadth +escapes, over our pipes on deck; there will be much to tell the fellows +on shore, if we are ever so fortunate as to get home again. + +"May 7th. + +"Though the weather is still bad enough to discourage us landsmen, we +put to sea, and once more head for the Farallones. They are hidden in +mist, but we beat bravely about, and by-and-by distinguish the faint +outlines of the islands looming through the fog! We try to secure the +buoy, tacking to and fro; just at the wrong moment our main halyards +part, and the sail comes crashing to the deck. To avoid being cast on +the inhospitable shore, we put to sea under jib and foresail, and are +five miles away before damages are repaired and we dare venture to +return; head about, and make fast this time. Hurrah! After several trips +of the small boat, succeed in landing luggage and provisions above +high-water mark on the Farallones; each trip of the boat is an event, +for it comes in on a big breaker, and grounds in a torrent of foam and +sand. + +"We find two cabins at our disposal; the larger one containing +dining-room and kitchen, and chambers above; seven of our boys store +their blankets in the rude bunks that are drawn by lot. Tom, Jim, and I +secure the smaller cabin, a single room, with bunks on three sides, a +door on the fourth. + +"9 p.m.--We have dined and smoked and withdrawn to our respective +lodges; the wind moans without, a thin, cold fog envelopes us; the sea +breaking furiously, the night gloomy beyond conception, but the captain +and his crew on the little schooner are not so comfortable as the +egg-pickers whom they have left behind. + +"May 8th. + +"We all rose much refreshed, and after a hearty breakfast, such as would +have done credit to a mining-camp in pioneer days, set forth on a rabbit +chase. The islands abound in rabbits. Where do they come from, and on +what do they feed? These are questions that puzzle us. + +"We resolve to attack them. Having armed ourselves with clubs about two +feet in length, we proceed in a body until a rabbit is sighted, then, +separating, we surround him and gradually close him in, pelt him with +stones or sticks until the poor fellow is secured; sometimes three or +four are run down together; it is cruel sport, but this is our only hope +of fresh meat during the sojourn on the islands; a fine stew for dinner, +and some speculation on the prospect of our egg-hunt to-morrow. + +"May 9th. + +"We did the first work of the season to-day. At the west end of the +islands is a chasm, through which the wind whistles; the waves, rushing +in from both sides, meet at the centre and leap wildly into the air. +Across this chasm we threw a light suspension bridge about forty feet in +length and two in width; one crosses it by the aid of a life-line. On +the further rock the birds are nesting in large numbers, and to-morrow +we begin the wholesale robbery of their nests. + +"When the bridge was completed, being pretty well fagged and quite +famished, we returned to the cabin, lunched heartily, and spent the +afternoon in highly successful rabbit chasing. Plenty of stew for all of +us. If Robinson Crusoe had been cast ashore on this island, I wonder how +he would have lived? As it is, the rabbits sometimes succeed in escaping +us, and without powder and shot it would be quite impossible for one or +two persons to bag them. We are beginning to lose faith in the +delightful romances of our youth, and to realize what a desert island +is. + +"May 10th. + +"In front of us we each carry a large sack in which to deposit eggs; our +boots are clumsy, and the heavy nails that fill their soles make them +heavy and difficult to walk in. We also carry a strong staff to aid us +in climbing the rugged slopes. About us is nothing but grey, +weather-stained rocks; there are few paths, and these we cannot follow, +for the sea-birds, though so unused to the presence of man, are wary and +shy of his tracks; the day's work has not proved profitable. Few of us +gathered any eggs; one who was more successful, and had secured enough +to make it extremely difficult for him to scale the rocks, slipped, fell +on his face, and scrambled all his store. His plight was laughable, but +he was scarcely in the mood to relish it, as he washed his sack and +blouse in cold water, while we indulged in cards. + +[Illustration: Murre on their Nests, Farallone Islands] + +"May 11th. + +"Built another bridge over a gap where the sea rushes, and which we call +the _Jordan_. If the real Jordan is as hard to cross, heaven help us. +Eggs not very plentiful as yet; we are rather early in the season, or +the crop is late this year. More rabbits in the p.m.; more wind, more +fog; and at night, pipes, cards, and a few choruses that sound strange +and weird in the fire lights on this lonely island. + +"May 12th. + +"Eggs are so very scarce. The foreman advises our resting for a day. We +lounge about, looking off upon the sea; sometimes a sail blows by us, +but our islands are in such ill-repute with mariners, they usually give +us a wide berth, as they call it. A little homesick towards dusk; wonder +how the boys in San Francisco are killing time; it is time that is +killing us, out here in the wind and fog. + +"May 13th. + +"Have been hunting abalones all day, and found but a baker's dozen; +their large, shallow shells are glued to the rock at the first approach +of danger, and unless we can steal upon these queer fish unawares, and +thrust something under their shells before they have shut down upon the +rock, it is almost impossible to pry them open. Some of the boys are +searching in the sea up to their waists--hard work when one considers +how tough the abalone is, and how tasteless. + +"May 14th. + +"This morning all our egg-pickers were at work; took in the west end, +only the high rock beyond the first bridge; gathered about forty dozen +eggs, and got them safely back to camp; in some nests there were three +eggs, and these we did not gather, fearing they were stale. In the p.m. +tried to collect dry grass enough to make a thin mattress for my bunk; +barely succeeded; am more than ever convinced that desert islands are +delusions. + +"May 15th. + +"It being Sunday, we rest from our labors; by way of varying the +monotony of island life, we climb up to the lighthouse, 300 feet above +sea level. The path is zig-zag across the cliff, and is extremely +fatiguing. While ascending, a large stone rolled under my foot, and +went thundering down the cliff. Jim, who was in the rear, heard it +coming, and dodged; it missed his head by about six inches. Had it +struck him, he would have been hurled into the sea that boiled below; we +were both faint with horror, after realizing the fate he had escaped. +Were cordially welcomed by the lighthouse keeper, his wife, and her +companion, a young woman who had come to share this banishment. The +keeper and his wife visit the mainland but twice a year. Everywhere we +saw evidence of the influence of these charming people. The house was +tidy--the paint snow-white. The brass-work shone like gold; the place +seemed a kind of Paradise to us; even the machinery of the revolving +light, the multitude of reflectors, etc., was enchanting. We dreaded to +return to our miserable cabins, but were soon compelled to, and the +afternoon was spent in the customary rabbit chase, ending with a stew of +no mean proportions. + +"May 16th. + +"More eggs, and afterwards a fishing excursion, which furnished us +material for an excellent chowder. We are beginning to look for the +return of the schooner, and have been longing for news from shore. + +"May 17th. + +"A great haul of abalones this p.m. We filled our baskets, slung them +on poles over our shoulders Coolie fashion, and slowly made our way back +to camp. The baskets weighed a ton each before we at last emptied them +by the cabin door. Built a huge fire under a cauldron, and left a mess +of fish to boil until morning. The abalones are as large as steaks, and +a great deal tougher. Smoke, cards, and to bed; used up. + +"May 18th. + +"Same program as yesterday, only the novelty quite worn off, and this +kind of life becoming almost unendurable. + +"May 19th. + +"More eggs, more abalones, more rabbits. No signs of schooner yet. +Wonder, had Crusoe kept a diary, how many days he would have kept it +before closing it with chagrin. + +"May 20th. + +"Spent the p.m. in getting the abalone shells down to the egg-house at +the landing. We have cleaned them, and are hoping to find this +speculation profitable; for the shells, when polished and cut, are much +used in the market for inlaying and setting in cheap jewelry. We loaded +a small tram, pushed it to the top of an incline, and let it roll down +the other side to the landing, which it reached in safety. This is the +only labor-saving machine at our command. + +"May 21st. + +"We seem to be going all to pieces. The day commenced badly. Two of the +boys inaugurated it by a violent set-to before breakfast--an old grudge +broke out afresh, or perhaps the life here has demoralized them. I have +lamed my foot. Tide too high for abalone fishing. Eggs growing scarce, +and the rabbits seem to have deserted the accessible parts of the +island. Everybody is disgusted. We are forgetting our table-manners, it +is 'first come first served' now-a-days. I wonder if Robinson--oh, no! +he had no one but his man Friday to contend against. No schooner; no +change in the weather; tobacco giving out, and not a grain of good humor +to be had in the market. To bed, very cross. + +"May 22d. + +"No one felt like going to work this morning. Affairs began to look +mutinous. We have searched in vain for the schooner, now considerably +overdue, and are dreading the thought of having to fulfill a contract +which calls for six weeks' labor on these islands. Some of the other +islands are to be visited, and are accessible only in small boats over a +sea that is never even tolerably smooth. This expedition we all dread a +little--at least, I judge so from my own case--but we say nothing of it. +While thus gloomily brooding over our plight, smoke was sighted on the +horizon; we ascended the hill to watch it. A steamer, doubtless, bound +for a sunnier clime, for no clime can be less sunny than ours of the +past fortnight.... It was a steamer, a small Government steamer, making +directly for our island. We became greatly excited, for nothing of any +moment had occurred since our arrival. She drew in near shore and cast +anchor. We gathered at the landing-cove to give her welcome. A boat was +beached in safety. An officer of the law said, cheerfully, as if he were +playing a part in a nautical comedy, 'I must beg you, gentlemen, to step +on board the revenue cutter, and return to San Francisco.' We were so +surprised we could not speak; or were we all speechless with joy, I +wonder? He added, this very civil sheriff, 'If you do not care to +accompany me, I shall be obliged to order the marines on shore. You will +pardon me, but as these islands are Government property, you are +requested to immediately withdraw from them.' We withdrew. We steamed +away from the windy rocks, the howling caverns, the seething waves, the +frightful chasms, the seabirds, the abalones, the rabbits, the gloomy +cabins, and the pleasant people at the top of the cliff within the white +walls of the lighthouse. Joyfully we bounded over the glassy waves, that +grew beautiful as the Farallones faded in the misty distance, and, +having been courteously escorted to the city dock, we were bidden +farewell, and left to the diversions of the hour. Thus ended the last +siege of the Farallones by the egg-pickers of San Francisco. (Profits +_nil_.)" + +And thus I fear, inasmuch as the Government proposes to guard the +sea-birds until a suitable license is secured by legitimate egg-pickers, +the price of gulls' eggs will go up in proportion, and hereafter we +shall have to look upon them as luxuries, and content ourselves with the +more modest and milder-flavored but undecorated products of the less +romantic barn-yard fowl. + +FOOTNOTES: + +[Footnote 2: NOTE: The author has confused the murre with the sea-gull. +It was the egg of the murre that was marketed.] + + + + +A MEMORY OF MONTEREY + +I + + +"Old Monterey"? Yes, old Monterey; yet not so very old. Old, however, +inasmuch as she has been hopelessly modernized; the ancient virtue has +gone out of her; she is but a monument and a memory. It is the Monterey +of a dozen or fifteen years ago I write of; and of a brief sojourn after +the briefer voyage thither. The voyage is the same; yesterday, to-day +and forever it remains unchanged. The voyager may judge if I am right +when I say that the Pacific coast, or the coast of California, Oregon +and Washington, is the selvage side of the American continent. I believe +this is evidenced in the well-rounded lines of the shore; the smooth +meadow-lands that not infrequently lie next the sea, and the +comparatively few island-fragments that are discoverable between Alaska +and Mexico. + +I made that statement, in the presence of a select few, on the promenade +deck of a small coaster then plying between San Francisco and Monterey; +and proved it during the eight-hour passage, to the seeming edification +of my shipmates. Even the bluffs that occasionally jutted into the sea +did the picturesque in a half-theatrical fashion. Time and the elements +seemed to have toyed with them, and not fought with them, as is the +annual custom on the eastern coast of the United States. Flocks of sheep +fed in the salt pastures by the water's edge; ranch-houses were perched +on miniature cliffs, in the midst of summer-gardens that even through a +powerful field-glass showed few traces of wear and tear. + +And the climate? Well, the sunshine was like sunshine warmed over; and +there was a lurking chill in the air that made our quarters in the lee +of the smoke-stack preferable to the circular settee in the +stern-sheets. Yes, it was midsummer at heart, and the comfortable +midsummer ulster advertised the fact. + +What a long, lonesome coast it is! Erase the few evidences of life that +relieve the monotonous landscape at infrequent intervals, and you shall +see California exactly as Drake saw it more than four centuries ago, or +the Argonaut Friars saw it a century later, and as the improved races +will see it ages hence--a little bleak and utterly uninteresting. + +California secretes her treasures. As you approach her from the sea, you +would scarcely suspect her wealth; her lines, though fine and flowing, +are not voluptuous, and she certainly lacks color. This was also a part +of our steamer-talk under the lee of the smoke-stack; and while we were +talking we turned a sharp corner, ran into the Bay of Monterey, and +came suddenly face to face with Santa Cruz. + +Ah, there was richness! Perennial groves, dazzling white cottages +snow-flaking them with beauty; a beach with afternoon bathers; and two +straggling piers that had waded out into deep water and stuck fast in +the mud. A stroll through Santa Cruz does not dissipate the enchantment +usually borrowed from usurious distance; and the two-hours'-roll in the +deep furrows of the Bay, that the pilgrim to Monterey must suffer, is +apt to make him regret he left that pleasant port in the hope of finding +something pleasanter on the dim opposite shore. + +We re-embarked for Monterey at dusk, when the distant horn of the Bay +was totally obscured. It is seldom more than a half-imagined point, +jutting out into a haze between two shades of blue. Stars watched over +us,--sharp, clear stars, such as flare a little when the wind blows. But +the wind was not blowing for us. Showers of sparks spangled the +crape-like folds of smoke that trailed after us; the engine labored in +the hold, and the sea heaved as it is always heaving in that wide-open +Bay. + +In an hour we steamed into a fog-bank, so dense that even the head-light +of our ship was as a glowworm; and from that moment until we had come +within sound of voices on the undiscovered shore, it was all like a +voyage in the clouds. Whistles blew, bells rang, men shouted, and then +we listened with hungry ears. A whistle answered us from shore--a +piercing human whistle. Dim lights burned through the fog. We advanced +with fearful caution; and while voices out of the air were greeting us, +almost before we had got our reckoning, we drifted up under a dark pier, +on which ghastly figures seemed to be floating to and fro, bidding us +all-hail. And then and there the freedom of the city was extended to us, +saturated with salt-sea mist. Probably six times in ten the voyager +approaches Monterey in precisely this fashion. 'Tis true! 'Tis pity! + +Having been hoisted up out of our ship--the tide was exceeding low and +the dock high; having been embraced in turn by friends who had soaked +for an hour and a half on that desolate pier-head--for our ship was +belated, groping her way in the fog,--we were taken by the hand and led +cautiously into the sand-fields that lie between the city and the sea. + +Of course our plans had all miscarried. Our Bachelors' Hall fell with a +dull thud when we heard that the chief bachelor had turned benedict +three days before. But he was present with his bride, and he knew of a +haunt that would compensate us for all loss or disappointment. We +crossed the desert nursing a faint hope. We threaded one or two wide, +weedy, silent streets; not a soul was visible, though it was but nine +in the evening,--which was not to be wondered at, since the town was +divided against itself: the one half slept, the other half still sat +upon the pier, making a night of it; for old Monterey had but one shock +that betrayed it into some show of human weakness. The cause was the +Steam Navigation Co. The effect was a fatal fondness for tendering a +public reception to all steamers arriving from foreign ports, after +their sometimes tempestuous passages of from eight to ten hours. This +insured the inhabitants a more or less festive night about once every +week or ten days. + +With rioutous laughter, which sounded harsh, yea, sacrilegious, in the +sublime silence of that exceptional town, we were piloted into an +abysmal nook sacred to a cluster of rookeries haggard in the extreme. We +approached it by an improvised bridge two spans in breadth. The place +was buried under layers of mystery. It was silent, it was dark with the +blackness of darkness; it was like an unholy sepulchre that gave forth +no sound, though we beat upon its sodden door with its rusted knocker +until a dog howled dismally on the hillside afar off. + +Some one admitted us at the last moment, and left us standing in the +pitch-dark entrance while he went in search of candles, that apparently +fled at his approach. The great room was thrown open in due season and +with solemnity. It may have been the star-chamber in the days when +Monterey was the capital of the youngest and most promising State in the +Union; but it was somewhat out of date when we were ushered into it. A +bargain was hastily struck, and we repaired to damp chambers, where +every sound was shared in common, and nothing whatever was in the least +degree private or confidential. We slept at intervals, but in turn; so +that at least one good night's rest was shared by our company. + +[Illustration: Monterey, 1850] + +At nine o' the clock next morning we were still enveloped in mist, but +the sun was struggling with it; and from my window I inspected Spanish +or Mexican, or Spanish-Mexican, California interiors, sprinkled with +empty tin cans, but redeemed by the more picturesque _débris_ of the +early California settlement--dingy tiles, forlorn cypresses, and a +rosebush of gigantic body and prolific bloom. + +We breakfasted at Simoneau's, in the inner room, with its frescos done +in beer and shoeblacking by a brace of hungry Bohemians, who used to +frequent the place and thus settle their bill. Five of us sat at that +uninviting board and awaited our turn, while Simoneau hovered over a +stove that was by no means equal to the occasion. It was a breakfast +such as one is reduced to in a mountain camp, but which spoils the +moment it is removed from the charmed circle of ravenous foresters. We +paid three prices for it, but that was no consolation; and it was long +before we again entered the doors of one of the chief restaurants of old +Monterey. + +Before the thick fog lifted that morning we had scoured the town in +quest of lodgings. The hotels were uninviting. At the Washington the +rooms were not so large as the demands of the landlord. At the St. +Charles'--a summer-house without windows, save the one set in the door +of each chamber--we located for a brief season, and exchanged the +liveliest compliments with the lodgers at the extreme ends of the +building. A sneeze in the dead of night aroused the house; and during +one of the panics which were likely to follow, I peremptorily departed, +and found shelter at last in the large square chamber of an adobe +dwelling, the hospitable abode of one of the first families of Monterey. +Broad verandas surrounded us on four sides; the windows sunk in the +thick walls had seats deep enough to hold me and my lap tablet full in +the sunshine--whenever it leaked through the fog. + +Two of these windows opened upon a sandy street, beyond which was a +tangled garden of cacti and hollyhock and sunflowers, with a great wall +about it; but I could look over the wall and enjoy the privacy of that +sweet haunt. In that cloistered garden grew the obese roses of the far +West, that fairly burst upon their stem. Often did I exclaim: "O, for a +delicate blossom, whose exquisite breath savors not of the mold, and +whose sensitive petals are wafted down the invisible currents of the +wind like a fairy flotilla!" Beyond that garden, beyond the roofs of +this town, stretched the yellow sand-dunes; and in the distance towered +the mountains, painted with changeful lights. My other window looked +down the long, lonesome street to the blue Bay and the faint outline of +the coast range beyond it. + +Here I began to live; here I heard the harp-like tinkle of the first +piano brought to the California coast; here also the guitar was touched +skillfully by her grace the august lady of the house, who scorned the +English tongue--the more eloquent and rhythmical Spanish prevailed under +her roof. One of the members of the household was proud to recount the +history of the once brilliant capital of the State, and I listened by +the hour to a narrative that now reads to me like a fable. + +In the year of Our Lord 1602, when Don Sebastian Viscaino--dispatched by +the Viceroy of Mexico, acting under instructions from Philip III. of +Spain--touched these shores, Mass was celebrated, the country taken +possession of in the name of the Spanish King, and the spot christened +Monterey in honor of Gaspar de Zuniga, Count of Monterey, Viceroy of +Mexico. In eighteen days Viscaino again set sail, and the silence of the +forest and the sea fell upon that lonely shore. That silence was +unbroken by the voice of the stranger for one hundred and sixty-six +years. Then Gaspar de Portola, Governor of Lower California, +re-discovered Monterey, erected a cross upon the shore, and went his +way. + +In May, 1770, the final settlement took place. The packet _San Antonio_, +commanded by Don Juan Perez, came to anchor in the port, "which"--wrote +the leader of the expedition to Padre Francisco Palou--"is unadulterated +in any degree from what it was when visited by the expedition of Don +Sebastian Viscaino in 1602. After this"--the celebration of the Mass, +the _Salve_ to Our Lady, and a _Te Deum,_--"the officers took possession +of the country in the name of the King (Charles III.) our lord, whom God +preserve. We all dined together in a shady place on the beach; the whole +ceremony being accompanied by many volleys and salutes by the troops and +vessels." + +When the _San Antonio_ returned to Mexico, it left at Monterey Padre +Junipero Serra and five other priests, Lieutenant Pedro Fages and thirty +soldiers. The settlement was at once made capital of Alta California, +and Portola appointed the first governor. The Presidio (an enclosure +about three hundred yards square, containing a chapel, store-houses, +offices, residences, and a barracks) was the nucleus of the city; but +the mission was soon removed to a beautiful valley about six miles +distant, where there was more room, better shelter from the cold west +winds, and an unrivalled prospect. The valley is now known as Carmelo. + +A fort was built upon a little hill commanding the settlement, and life +began in good earnest. What followed? Mexico threw off the Spanish yoke; +California was hence forth subject to Mexico alone. The news spread; +vessels gathered in the harbor, and enormous profits were realized on +the sale and shipment of the hides of wild cattle lately roaming upon a +thousand hills. + +Then came gradual changes in the government; they culminated in 1846 +when Captain Mervin, at the head of two hundred and fifty men, raised +the Stars and Stripes over Monterey, and a proclamation was read +declaring California a portion of the United States. + +The Rev. Walter Colton, once chaplain of the United States frigate +_Congress_, was appointed first alcalde; and the result was the erection +of a stone courthouse, which was long the chief ornament of the town; +and, somewhat later, the publication of Alcalde Colton's highly +interesting volume, entitled "Three Years in California." + + + + +II. + + +In 1829 Captain Robinson, the author of "Life in California" in the good +old mission days, wrote thus of his first sight of Monterey: "The sun +had just risen, and, glittering through the lofty pines that crowned the +summit of the eastern hills, threw its light upon the lawn beneath. On +our left was the Presidio, with its chapel dome and towering flag-staff +in conspicuous elevation. On the right, upon a rising ground, was seen +the _castillo_, or fort, surmounted by some ten or a dozen cannon. The +intervening space between these two points was enlivened by the hundred +scattered dwellings that form the town, and here and there groups of +cattle grazing. + +"After breakfast G. and myself went on shore, on a visit to the +Commandant, Don Marian Estrada, whose residence stood in the central +part of the town, in the usual route from the beach to the Presidio. In +external appearance, notwithstanding it was built of adobe--brick made +by the mixture of soft mud and straw, moulded and dried in the sun,--it +was not displeasing; for the outer walls had been plastered and +whitewashed, giving it a cheerful and inviting aspect. Like all +dwellings in the warm countries of America, it was but one story in +height, covered with tiles, and occupied, in its entire premises, an +extensive square. + +"Our Don was standing at his door; and as we approached, he sallied +forth to meet us with true Castilian courtesy; embraced G., shook me +cordially by the hand, then bowed us ceremoniously into the _sala_. Here +we seated ourselves upon a sofa at his right. During conversation +_cigarritos_ passed freely; and, although thus early in the day, a +proffer was made of refreshments." + +In 1835 R.H. Dana, Jr., the author of "Two Years before the Mast," found +Monterey but little changed; some of the cannon were unmounted, but the +Presidio was still the centre of life on the Pacific coast, and the town +was apparently thriving. Day after day the small boats plied between +ship and shore, and the population gave themselves up to the delights of +shopping. Shopping was done on shipboard; each ship was a storehouse of +attractive and desirable merchandise, and the little boats were kept +busy all day long bearing customers to and fro. + +In 1846 prices were ruinously high, as the alcalde was free to +confess--he being a citizen of the United States and a clergyman into +the bargain. Unbleached cottons, worth 6 cents per yard in New York, +brought 50 cents, 60 cents, 75 cents in old Monterey. Cowhide shoes were +$10 per pair; the most ordinary knives and forks, $10 per dozen; poor +tea, $3 per pound; truck-wheels, $75 per pair. The revenue of these +enormous imposts passed into the hands of private individuals, who had +placed themselves by violence or fraud at the head of the Government. + +In those days a "blooded" horse and a pack of cards were thought to be +among the necessaries of life. One of the luxuries was a _rancho_ sixty +miles in length, owned by Captain Sutter in the valley of the +Sacramento. Native prisoners, arrested for robbery and confined in the +adobe jail at Monterey, clamored for their guitars, and the nights were +filled with music until the rascals swung at half-mast. + +In August, 1846, _The Californian_, the first newspaper established on +the coast, was issued by Colton & Semple. The type and press were once +the property of the Franciscan friars, and used by them; and in the +absence of the English _w_, the compositors on _The Californian_ doubled +the Spanish _v_. The journal was printed half in English and half in +Spanish, on cigarette paper about the size of a sheet of fools-cap. +Terms, $3 per year in advance; single copies, 12-1/2 cents each. Semple +was a man just suited to the newspaper office he occupied; he stood six +feet eight inches in moccasins, was dressed in buckskin, and wore a +foxskin cap. + +The first jury of the alcaldean court was empanelled in September, +1846. Justice flourished for about three years. In 1849 Bayard Taylor +wrote: "Monterey has the appearance of a deserted town: few people in +the streets, business suspended," etc. Rumors of gold had excited the +cupidity of the inhabitants, and the capital was deserted; elsewhere was +metal more attractive. The town never recovered from that shock. It +gradually declined until few, save Bohemian artists and Italian and +Chinese fishermen, took note of it. The settlement was obsolete in my +day; the survivors seemed to have lost their memories and their interest +in everything. Thrice in my early pilgrimages I asked where the Presidio +had stood; on these occasions did the oldest inhabitant and his +immediate juniors vaguely point me to three several quarters of the +town. I believe in my heart that the pasture in front of the old +church--then sacred to three cows and a calf--was the cradle of +civilization in the far West. + +[Illustration: San Carlos de Carmelo] + +The original custom-house--there was no mistaking it, for it was founded +on a rock--overhung the sea, while the waves broke gently at its base, +and rows of sea-gulls sat solemnly on the skeletons of stranded whales +scattered along the beach. A Captain Lambert dwelt on the first floor of +the building; a goat fed in the large hall--it bore the complexion of a +stable--where once the fashionable element tripped the light fantastic +toe. In those days the first theatre in the State was opened with +brilliant success, and the now long-forgotten Binghams appeared in that +long-forgotten drama, "Putnam, or the Lion Son of '76." The +never-to-be-discourteously-mentioned years of our pioneers, '49 and '50, +"were memorable eras in the Thespian records of Monterey," says the +guide-book. They were indeed; for Lieutenant Derby, known to the +literary world as "John Phoenix" and "Squibob," was one of the leading +spirits of the stage. But the Thespian records came to an untimely end, +and it must be confessed that Monterey no longer tempts the widely +strolling player. + +I saw her in decay, the once flourishing capital. The old convent was +windowless, and its halls half filled with hay; the barracks and the +calaboose, inglorious ruins; the Block House and the Fort, mere shadows +of their former selves. As for Colton Hall--the town-hall, named in +honor of its builder, the first alcalde,--it is a modern-looking +structure, that scarcely harmonizes with the picturesque adobes that +surround it. Colton said of it: "It has been erected out of the slender +proceeds of town lots, the labor of the convicts, taxes on liquor shops, +and fines on gamblers. The scheme was regarded with incredulity by many; +but the building is finished, and the citizens have assembled in it, and +christened it after my name, which will go down to posterity with the +odor of gamblers, convicts and tipplers." Bless his heart! he need not +have worried himself. No one seems to know or care how the building was +constructed; and as for the name it bears, it is as savory as any. + +The church was built in 1794, and dedicated as the parish church in +1834, when the missions were secularized and Carmelo abandoned. It is +the most interesting structure in the town. Much of the furniture of the +old mission is preserved here: the holy vessels beaten out of solid +silver; rude but not unattractive paintings by nameless artists--perhaps +by the friars themselves,--landmarks of a crusade that was gloriously +successful, but the records of which are fading from the face of the +earth. + +Doubtless the natives who had flourished under the nourishing care of +the mission in its palmy days, wagged their heads wittingly when the +brig _Natalia_ met her fate. Tradition says Napoleon I. made his escape +from Elba on that brig. It was by the _Natalia_ that Hijar, Director of +Colonization, arrived for the purpose of secularizing the missions; and +his scheme was soon accomplished. But the winds blew, and the waves rose +and beat upon the little brig, and laid her bones in the sands of +Monterey. It is whispered that when the sea is still and the water +clear, and the tide very, very low, one may catch faint glimpses of the +skeleton of the _Natalia_ swathed in its shroud of weeds. + +There are two attractions in the vicinity, without which I fear +Monterey would have ultimately passed from the memory of man. These are +the mission at Carmelo, and the Druid grove at Cypress Point. In the +edge of the town there is a cross which marks the spot where Padre +Junipero Serra sang his first Mass at Monterey. It was a desolate +picture when I last saw it. It stood but a few yards from the sea, in a +lonely hollow. It was a favorite subject with the artists who found +their way thither, and who were wont to paint it upon the sea-shells +that lay almost within reach. Now a marble statue of Junipero Serra, +erected by Mrs. Leland Stanford, marks the spot. + +Six miles away, beyond the hills, above the shallow river, in sight of +the sparkling sea, is the ruin of Carmelo. From the cross by the shore +to the church beyond the hills, one reads the sacred history of the +coast from _alpha_ to _omega_. This, the most famous, if not the most +beautiful, of all the Franciscan missions, has suffered the common fate. +In my day the roof was wanting; the stone arches were crumbling one +after another; the walls were tufted with sun-dried grass; everywhere +the hand of Vandalism had scrawled his initials or his name. The nave of +the church was crowded with neglected graves. Fifteen governors of the +territory mingle their dust with that consecrated earth, but there was +never so much as a pebble to mark the spot where they lie. Even the +saintly Padre Junipero, who founded the mission, and whose death was +grimly heroic, lay until recent years in an unknown tomb. Thanks to the +pious efforts of the late Father Cassanova, the precious remains of +Junipero Serra, together with those of three other friars of the +mission, were discovered, identified, and honorably reentombed. + +From 1770 to 1784 Padre Junipero Serra entered upon the parish record +all baptisms, marriages, and deaths. These ancient volumes are carefully +preserved, and are substantially bound in leather; the writing is bold +and legible, and each entry is signed "Fray Junipero Serra," with an odd +little flourish of the pen beneath. The last entry is dated July 30, +1784; then Fray Francesco Palou, an old schoolmate of Junipero Serra, +and a brother friar, records the death of his famous predecessor, and +with it a brief recital of his life work, and the circumstances at the +close of it. + +Junipero Serra took the habit of the order of St. Francis at the age of +seventeen; filled distinguished positions in Spain and Mexico before +going to California; refused many tempting and flattering honors; was +made president of the fifteen missions of Lower California--long since +abandoned; lived to see his last mission thrive mightily, and died at +the age of seventy--long before the fall of the crowning work of his +life. + +Feeling the approach of death, Junipero Serra confessed himself to Fray +Palou; went through the Church offices for the dying; joined in the hymn +_Tantum Ergo_ "with elevated and sonorous tones," saith the +chronicle,--the congregation, hearing him intone his death chaunt, were +awed into silence, so that the dying man's voice alone finished the +hymn; then he repaired to his cell, where he passed the night in prayer. +The following morning he received the captain and chaplain of a Spanish +vessel lying in the harbor, and said, cheerfully, he thanked God that +these visitors, who had traversed so much of sea and land, had come to +throw a little earth upon his body. Anon he asked for a cup of broth, +which he drank at the table in the refectory; was then assisted to his +bed, where he had scarcely touched the pillow when, without a murmur, he +expired. + +In anticipation of his death, he had ordered his own coffin to be made +by the mission carpenter; and his remains were at once deposited in it. +So precious was the memory of this man in his own day that it was with +the utmost difficulty his coffin was preserved from destruction; for the +populace, venerating even the wooden case that held the remains of their +spiritual Father, clamored for the smallest fragment; and, though a +strong body-guard watched over it until the interment, a portion of his +vestment was abstracted during the night. One thinks of this and of the +overwhelming sorrow that swept through the land when this saintly +pioneer fell at the head of his legion. + +The California mission reached the height of its prosperity forty years +later, when it owned 87,600 head of cattle, 60,000 sheep, 2,300 calves, +1,800 horses, 365 yoke of oxen, much merchandise, and $40,000 in specie. +Tradition hints that this money was buried when a certain +piratical-looking craft was seen hovering about the coast. + +This wealth is all gone now--scattered among the people who have allowed +the dear old mission to fall into sad decay. What a beautiful church it +must have been, with its quaint carvings, its star-window that seems to +have been blown out of shape in some wintry wind, and all its lines +hardened again in the sunshine of the long, long summer; with its +Saracenic door!--what memories the _Padres_ must have brought with them +of Spain and the Moorish seal that is set upon it! Here we have evidence +of it painfully wrought out by the hands of rude Indian artisans. The +ancient bells have been carried away into unknown parts; the owl hoots +in the belfry; the hills are shown of their conventual tenements; while +the wind and the rain and a whole heartless company of iconoclasts have +it all their own way. + +Once in the year, on San Carlos' Day, Mass is sung in the only +habitable corner of the ruin; the Indians and the natives gather from +all quarters, and light candles among the graves, and mourn and mourn +and make a strange picture of the place; then they go their way, and the +owl returns, and the weeds grow ranker, and every hour there is a +straining among the weakened joists, and a creaking and a crumbling in +many a nook and corner; and so the finest historical relic in the land +is suffered to fall into decay. Or, perhaps I should say, that was the +sorry state of Carmelo in my day. I am assured that every effort is now +being made to restore and preserve beautiful Carmelo. + + + + +III. + + +She was a dear old stupid town in my day. She boasted but half a dozen +thinly populated streets. One might pass through these streets almost +any day, at almost any hour of the day, footing it all the way from the +dismantled fort on the seaside to the ancient cemetery, grown to seed, +at the other extremity of the settlement, and not meet half a score of +people. + +Geese fed in the gutters, and hissed as I passed by; cows grazing by the +wayside eyed me in grave surprise; overhead, the snow-white sea-gulls +wheeled and cried peevishly; and on the heights that shelter the +ex-capital the pine-trees moaned and moaned, and often caught and held +the sea-fog among their branches, when the little town was basking in +the sunshine and dreaming its endless dream. + +How did a man kill time in those days? There was a studio on Alvarado +Street; it stood close to the post-office, in what may be generously +denominated as the busiest part of the town. The studio was the focus of +life and hope and love; some work was also supposed to be done there. It +was the headquarters of the idle and the hungry, and the seeker after +consolation in all its varied forms. Choice family groceries were +retailed three times a day in the rear of the establishment; and there +we often gathered about the Bohemian board, to celebrate whatever our +fancy painted. Now it was an imaginary birthday--a movable feast that +came to be very popular in our select artistic circle; again it was the +possible--dare I say probable?--sale of a picture at a quite +inconceivable price. There were always occasions enough. Would it had +been the case with the dinners! + +The studio was the thing,--the studio, decked with Indian trophies and +the bleached bones of sea birds and land beasts, and lined with studies +in all colors under heaven. Here was the oft-lighted peace-pipe; and +Orient rugs and wolf-skins for a _siesta_ when the beach yonder was a +blaze of white and blinding light, that made it blessed to close one's +eyes and shut out the glare--and to keep one's ears open to the lulling +song of the sea. + +Here we concocted a plan. It was to be kept a profound mystery; even the +butcher was unaware, and the baker in total darkness; as for the +wine-merchant, he was as blind as a bat. We were to give the banquet and +ball of the season. We went to the hall of our sisters,--scarcely kin +were they, but kinder never lived, and their house was at our disposal. +We threw out the furniture; we made a green bower of the adobe chamber. +One window, that bore upon the forlorn vacuum of the main street, was +speedily stained the deepest and most splendid dyes; from without, it +had a pleasing, not to say refining, medieval effect; from within, it +was likened unto the illuminated page of an antique antiphonary--in +flames; yes, positively in flames! + +A great board was laid the length of the room, a kind of Round +Table--with some few unavoidable innovations, such as a weak leg or two, +square corners, and an unexpected depression in the centre of it, where +the folding leaves sought in vain to join. From the wall depended the +elaborate _menu_, life-size and larger; and at every course a cartoon in +color more appetizing than the town market. The emblematic owl blinked +upon us from above the door. Invitations were hastily penned and sent +forth to a select few. Forgive us, Dona Jovita, if thy guest card was +redolent of tea or of brown soap; for it was penned in the privacy of +the pantry, and either upon the Scylla of the tea-caddy or the soapy +Charybdis it was sure to be dashed at last. + +It was rare fun, if I did say it from the foot of the flower-strewn +table, clad in an improvised toga, while a gentleman in Joss-like +vestments carved and complimented in a single breath at the top of the +Bohemian board. From the adjoining room came the music of hired +minstrels: the guitar, the violin, and blending voices--a piping tenor +and a soft Spanish _falsetto_. They chanted rhythmically to the clatter +of tongues, the ripple of laughter, and the clash of miscellaneous +cutlery. + +An unbidden multitude, gathered from the highways, and the byways, +loitered about the vicinity, patiently--O how patiently!--awaiting our +adjournment. The fandango naturally followed; and it enlivened the vast, +bare chambers of an adjoining adobe, whose walls had not echoed such +revelry since the time when Monterey was the chief port of the Northern +Pacific, and basked in the sunshine of a prosperous monopoly. A good +portion of the town was there that evening. Shadowy forms hovered in the +arbors of the rose garden; the city band appeared and rendered much +pleasing music,--though it was rendered somewhat too vigorously. That +band was composed of the bone and sinew of the town. Oft in the daytime +had I not heard the flageolet lifting its bird-like voice over the +counter of the juvenile jeweller, who wrought cunningly in the +shimmering abalone shells during the rests in his music? Did not the +trombone bray from beyond the meadow, where the cooper could not barrel +his aspiring soul? It was the French-horn at the butcher's, the fife at +the grocer's, the cornet in the chief saloon on the main street; while +at the edge of the town, from the soot and grime of the smithy, I heard +at intervals the boom of the explosive drum. It was thus they responded +to one another on that melodious shore, and with an ambitious diligence +worthy of the Royal Conservatory. + +There was nothing to disturb one in the land, after the musical mania, +save the clang of the combers on the long, lonely beach; the cry of the +sea-bird wheeling overhead, or the occasional bang of a rifle. Even the +narrow-gauge railway, that stopped discreetly just before reaching the +village, broke the monotony of local life but twice in the twenty-four +hours. The whistle of the arriving and departing train, the signal of +the occasional steamer--ah! but for these, what a sweet, sad, silent +spot were that! I used to believe that possibly some day the unbroken +stillness of the wilderness might again envelop it. The policy of the +people invited it. Anything like energy or progress was discouraged in +that latitude. When it was discovered that the daily mail per Narrow +Gauge was arriving regularly and usually on time, it began to look like +indecent haste on the part of the governmental agents. The beauty and +the chivalry that congregated at the post-office seemed to find too +speedy satisfaction at the general delivery window; and presently the +mail-bag for Monterey was dropped at another village, and later carted +twenty miles into town. The happy uncertainty of the mail's arrival +caused the post-office to become a kind of forum, where all the +grievances of the populace were turned loose and generally discussed. + +Then it seemed possible that the Narrow Gauge might be frowned down +altogether, and the locomotive warned to cease trespassing upon the +green pastures of the ex-capital. It even seemed possible that in course +of time all aliens might require a passport and a recommendation from +their last place before being permitted to enter in and enjoy the +society of the authorities brooding over that slumberous village. + +I have seen as many as six men and a boy standing upon one of the +half-dozen street corners of the town, watching, with a surprise that +bordered upon impertinence, a white pilgrim from San Francisco in an +ulster, innocently taking his way through the otherwise deserted +streets. The ulster was perhaps the chief object of interest. I have +seen three or four citizens sitting in a row, on a fence, like so many +rooks,--and sitting there for hours, as if waiting for something. For +what, pray? For the demented squaw, who revolved about the place, and +slept out of doors in all weathers, and muttered to herself incessantly +while she went to and fro, day after day, seeking the rest she could not +hope for this side the grave? Or for Murillo, the Indian, impudent +though harmless, full of fancies and fire-water? Or for the return of +the whale-boats, with their beautiful lateen-sails? Or for the gathering +of the Neapolitan fishermen down under the old Custom House, where they +sat at evening looking off upon the Bay, and perchance dreaming of Italy +and all that enchanted coast? Or for the rains that poured their sudden +and swift rivulets down the wooded slopes and filled the gorges that +gutted some of the streets? Was it the love of nature, or a belief in +fatalism, or sheer laziness, I wonder, that preserved to Monterey those +washouts, from two to five feet in depth, that were sometimes in the +very middle of the streets, and impassable save by an improvised +bridge--a single plank? + +Ah me! It is an ungracious task to prick the bubble reputation, had I +not been dazzled with dreams of Monterey from my youth up! Was I piqued +when I, then a citizen of San Francisco--one of the three hundred +thousand,--when I read in "The Handbook of Monterey" these lines: "San +Francisco is not too firmly fixed to fear the competition of Monterey"? + +Well, I may as well confess myself a false prophet. The town fell into +the hands of Croesus, and straightway lost its identity. It is now a +fashionable resort, and likely to remain one for some years to come. +Where now can one look for the privacy of old? Then, if one wished to +forget the world, he drove through a wilderness to Cypress Point. Now +'tis a perpetual picnic ground, and its fastnesses are threaded by a +drive which is one of the features of Del Monte Hotel life. It was +solemn enough of yore. The gaunt trees were hung with funereal mosses; +they had huge elbows and shoulders, and long, thin arms, with skeleton +fingers at the ends of them, that bore knots that looked like heads and +faces such as Doré portrayed in his fantastic illustrations. They were +like giants transformed,--they are still, no doubt; for the tide of +fashion is not likely to prevail against them. + +They stand upon the verge of the sea, where they have stood for ages, +defying the elements. The shadows that gather under their locked +branches are like caverns and dungeons and lairs. The fox steals +stealthily away as you grope among the roots, that writhe out of the +earth and strike into it again, like pythons in a rage. The coyote sits +in the edge of the dusk, and cries with a half-human cry--at least he +did in my dead day. And here are corpse-like trees, that have been naked +for ages; every angle of their lean, gray boughs seems to imply +something. Who will interpret these hieroglyphics? Blood-red sunsets +flood this haunted wood; there is a sound as of a deep-drawn sigh +passing through it at intervals. The moonlight fills it with mystery; +and along its rocky front, where the sea-flowers blossom and the +sea-grass waves its glossy locks, the soul of the poet and of the artist +meet and mingle between shadowless sea and cloudless sky, in the +unsearchable mystery of that cypress solitude. + +So have I seen it; so would I see it again. When I think on that beach +at Monterey--the silent streets, the walled, unweeded gardens--a wistful +Saturday-afternoon feeling comes over me. I hear again the incessant +roar of the surf; I see the wheeling gulls, the gray sand; the brown, +bleak meadows; the empty streets; the shops, tenantless sometimes--for +the tenant is at dinner or at dominos; the other shops that are locked +forever and the keys rusted away;--whenever I think of her I am reminded +of that episode in Coulton's diary, where he, as alcalde, was awakened +from a deep sleep at the dead of night by a guard, a novice, and a slave +to duty. With no little consternation, the alcalde hastened to unbar the +door. The guard, with a respectful salute, said: "The town, sir, is +perfectly quiet." + + + + +IN A CALIFORNIAN BUNGALOW + + +It was reception night at the Palace Hotel. As usual the floating +population of San Francisco had drifted into the huge court of that +luxurious caravansary, and was ebbing and eddying among the multitudes +of white and shining columns that support the six galleries under the +crystal roof. The band reveled in the last popular waltz, the hum of the +spectators was hushed, but among the galleries might be seen pairs of +adolescent youths and maidens swaying to the rhythmical melody. We were +taking wine and cigarettes with the Colonel. He was always at home to us +on Monday nights, and even our boisterous chat was suspended while the +blustering trumpeters in the court below blew out their delirious music. +It was at this moment that Bartholomew beckoned me to follow him from +the apartment. We quietly repaired to the gallery among the huge vases +of palms and creepers, and there, bluntly and without a moment's +warning, the dear fellow blurted out this startling revelation: "I have +made an engagement for you; be ready on Thursday next at 4 p.m.; meet me +here; all arrangements are effected; say not a word, but come; and I +promise you one of the jolliest experiences of the season." All this +was delivered in a high voice, to the accompaniment of drums and +cymbals; he concluded with the last flourish of the bandmaster's baton, +and the applause of the public followed. Certainly dramatic effect could +go no further. I was more than half persuaded, and yet, when the +applause had ceased, the dancers unwound themselves, and the low rumble +of a thousand restless feet rang on the marble pavement below, I found +voice sufficient to ask the all-important question, "But what is the +nature of this engagement?" To which he answered, "Oh, we're going down +the coast for a few days, you and I, and Alf and Croesus. A charming +bungalow by the sea; capital bathing, shooting, fishing; nice quiet time +generally; back Monday morning in season for biz!" This was certainly +satisfactory as far as it went, but I added, by way of parenthesis, "and +who else will be present?" knowing well enough that one uncongenial +spirit might be the undoing of us all. To this Bartholomew responded, +"No one but ourselves, old fellow; now don't be queer." He knew well +enough my aversion to certain elements unavoidable even in the best +society, and how I kept very much to myself, except on Monday nights +when we all smoked and laughed with the Colonel--whose uncommonly +charming wife was abroad for the summer; and on Tuesday and Saturday +nights, when I was at the club, and on Wednesdays, when I did the +theatricals of the town, and on Thursdays and Fridays--but never mind! +girls were out of the question in my case, and he knew that the bachelor +hall where I preside was as difficult of access as a cloister. I might +not have given my word without further deliberation, had not the +impetuous Colonel seized us bodily and borne us back into his +smoking-room, where he was about to shatter the wax on a flagon of wine, +a brand of fabulous age and excellence. Bartholomew nodded to Alf, Alf +passed the good news to Croesus, for we were all at the Colonel's by +common consent, and so it happened that the compact was made for +Thursday. + +That Thursday, at 4 p.m. we were on our way to the station at 4:30; the +town-houses were growing few and far between, as the wheels of the +coaches spun over the iron road. At five o'clock the green fields of the +departed spring, already grown bare and brown, rolled up between us and +the horizon. California is a naked land and no mistake, but how +beautiful in her nakedness! An hour later we descended at School-house +station; such is the matter-of-fact pet-name given to a cluster of dull +houses, once known by some melodious but forgotten Spanish appellation. +The ranch wagon awaited us; a huge springless affair, or if it had +springs they were of that aggravating stiffness that adds insult to +injury. Excellent beasts dragged us along a winding, dusty road, over +hill, down dale, into a land that grew more and more lonely; not exactly +"a land where it was always afternoon," but apparently always a little +later in the day, say 7 p.m. or thereabouts. We were rapidly wending our +way towards the coast, and on the breezy hill-top a white fold of +sea-fog swept over and swathed us in its impalpable snow. Oh! the chill, +the rapturous agony of that chill. Do you know what sea-fog is? It is +the bodily, spiritual and temporal life of California; it is the +immaculate mantle of the unclad coast; it feeds the hungry soil, gives +drink unto the thirsting corn, and clothes the nakedness of nature. It +is the ghost of unshed showers--atomized dew, precipitated in +life-bestowing avalanches upon a dewless and parched shore; it is the +good angel that stands between a careless people and contagion; it is +heaven-sent nourishment. It makes strong the weak; makes wise the +foolish--you don't go out a second time in midsummer without your +wraps--and it is altogether the freshest, purest, sweetest, most +picturesque, and most precious element in the physical geography of the +Pacific Slope. It is worth more to California than all her gold, and +silver, and copper, than all her corn and wine--in short, it is simply +indispensable. + +This is the fog that dashed under our hubs like noiseless surf, filled +up the valleys in our lee, shut the sea-view out entirely, and finally +left us on a mountaintop--our last ascension, thank Heaven!--with +nothing but clouds below us and about us, and we sky-high and drenched +to the very bone. + +The fog broke suddenly and rolled away, wrapped in pale and splendid +mystery; it broke for us as we were upon the edge of a bluff. For some +moments we had been listening to the ever-recurring sob of the sea. +There at our feet curled the huge breakers, shouldering the cliff as if +they would hurl it from its foundation. A little further on in the +gloaming was the last hill of all; from its smooth, short summit we +could look into the Delectable Land by candle light, and mark how +invitingly stands a bungalow by the sea's margin at the close of a dusty +day. + +On the summit we paused; certain unregistered packages under the wagon, +which had preyed at intervals upon the minds of Alf, Croesus, and +Bartholomew, were now drawn forth. Life is a series of surprises; +surprise No. 1, a brace of long, tapering javelins having +villainous-looking heads, i.e., two marine rockets, with which to rend +the heavens, and notify the vassals at the bungalow of our approach. One +of these rockets we planted with such care that having touched it off, +it could not free itself, but stood stock still and with vicious fury +blew off in a cloud of dazzling sparks. The dry grass flamed in a +circle about us; never before had we fought fire with wildly-waving +ulsters, but they prove excellent weapons in engagements of this +character, I assure you. Profiting by fatiguing experience, we poised +the second rocket so deftly that it could not fail to rise. On it we +hung our hopes, light enough burdens if they were all as faint as mine. +With the spurt of a match we touched it, a stream of flaky gold rushed +forth and then, as if waiting to gather strength, _biff_! and away she +went. Never before soared rocket so beautifully; it raked the very +stars; its awful voice died out in the dim distance; with infinite grace +it waved its trail of fire, and then spat forth such constellations of +variegated stars--you would have thought a rainbow had burst into a +million fragments--that shamed the very planets, and made us think +mighty well of ourselves and our achievement. There was still a long +dark mile between us and the bungalow; on this mile were strung a +fordable stream, a ragged village of Italian gardeners, some monstrous +looking hay-stacks, and troops of dogs that mouthed horribly as we +ploughed through the velvety dust. + +The bungalow at last! at the top of an avenue of trees--and such a +bungalow! A peaked roof that sheltered everything, even the deepest +verandas imaginable; the rooms few, but large and airy; everything wide +open and one glorious blaze of light. A table spread with the luxuries +of the season, which in California means four seasons massed in one. +Flowers on all sides; among these flowers Japanese lanterns of +inconceivable forms and colors. These hung two or three deep--without, +within, above, below; nothing but light and fragrance, and mirth and +song. We were howling a chorus as we drove up, and were received with a +musical welcome, bubbling over with laughter from the lips of three +pretty girls, dressed in white and pink--probably the whitest and +pinkest girls in all California; and this was surprise No. 2. + +Perfect strangers to me were these young ladies; but, like most +confirmed bachelors, I rather like being with the adorable sex, when I +find myself translated as if by magic. + +We were formed of the dust of the earth--there was no denying the fact, +and we speedily withdrew; but before our dinner toilets were completed, +such a collection of appetizers was sent in to us as must distinguish +forever the charming hostess who concocted them. I need not recall the +dinner. Have you ever observed that there is no real pleasure in +reviving the memory of something good to eat? Suffice it to state that +the dinner was such a one as was most likely to be laid for us under the +special supervision of three blooming maidens, who had come hither four +and twenty hours in advance of us for this special purpose. That night +we played for moderate stakes until the hours were too small to be +mentioned. I forget who won; but it was probably the girls, who were as +clever at cards as they were at everything else. We ultimately retired, +for the angel of sleep visits even a Californian bungalow, though his +hours are a trifle irregular. Our rooms, two large chambers, with +folding doors thrown back, making the two as one, contained four double +beds; in one of the rooms was a small altar, upon which stood a statue +of the Madonna, veiled in ample folds of lace and crowned with a coronet +of natural flowers; vases of flowers were at her feet, and lighted +tapers flickered on either hand. The apartment occupied by the young +ladies was at the other corner of the bungalow; the servants, a good old +couple, retainers in Alf's family, slept in a cottage adjoining. We +retired manfully; we had smoked our last smoke, and were not a little +fatigued; hence this readiness on our part to lay down the burdens and +cares of the day. When the lights were extinguished the moon, streaming +in at the seaward windows, flooded the long rooms. It was a glorious +night; no sound disturbed its exquisite serenity save the subdued murmur +of the waves, softened by an intervening hillock on which the cypress +trees stood like black and solemn sentinels of the night. + +[Illustration: "The Huge Court of that Luxurious Caravansary."] + +I think I must have dozed, for it first seemed like a dream--the +crouching figures that stole in Indian file along the carpet from bed to +bed; but soon enough I wakened to a reality, for the Phillistines were +upon us, and the pillows fell like aerolites out of space. The air was +dense with flying bed-clothes; the assailants, Bartholomew and Alf, his +right-hand man, fell upon us with school-boy fury; they made mad leaps, +and landed upon our stomachs. We grappled in deadly combat; not an +article of furniture was left unturned; not one mattress remained upon +another. We made night hideous for some moments. We roused the ladies +from their virgin sleep, but paid little heed to their piteous +pleadings. The treaty of peace, which followed none too soon--the +pillow-cases were like fringes and the sheets were linen +shreds--culminated in a round of night-caps which for potency and flavor +have, perhaps, never been equalled in the history of the vine. + +Then we _did_ sleep--the sleep of the just, who have earned their right +to it; the sleep of the horny-handed son of the soil, whose muscles +relax with a jerk that awakens the sleeper to a realizing sense that he +has been sleeping and is going to sleep again at his earliest +convenience: the sweet, intense, and gracious sleep of innocence--out of +which we were awakened just before breakfast time by the most +considerate of hostesses and her ladies of honor, who sent into us the +reviving cup, without which, I fear, we could not have begun the new day +in a spirit appropriate to the occasion. + +The first day at the bungalow was Friday and, of course, a fast day; we +observed the rule with a willingness which, I trust, the recording angel +made a note of. There was a bath at the beach toward mid-day, followed +by a cold collation in the shelter of a rude chalet, which served the +ladies in the absence of the customary bathing-machine. Lying upon rugs +spread over the sand we chatted until a drowsy mood persuaded us to +return to the bungalow and indulge in a _siesta_. It being summer, and a +California summer by the sea, a huge log fire blazed upon the evening +hearth; cards and the jingle of golden counters again kept us at the +table till the night was far spent. Need I add that the ladies presented +a petition with the customary night-cap, praying that the gentlemen in +the double-chamber would omit the midnight gymnastics upon retiring, and +go to sleep like "good boys." It had been our intention to do so; we +were not wholly restored, for the festivities of the night previous had +been prolonged and fatiguing. + +We began our preparations by wheeling the four bedsteads into one room. +It seemed to us cosier to be sleeping thus together; indeed, it was +quite a distance from the extremity of one room to the extremity of the +other. Resigning ourselves to the pillows, each desired his neighbor to +extinguish the lights; no one moved to perform this necessary duty. We +slept, or pretended to sleep, and for some moments the bungalow was +quiet as the grave. In the midst of this refreshing silence a panic +seized us; with one accord we sprang to arms; the pillows, stripped of +their cases on the night previous, again darkened the air. We leaped +gaily from bed to bed, and in turn, took every corner of the room by +storm; the shout of victory mingled with the cry for mercy. There was +one solitary voice for peace; it was the voice of the vexed hostess, and +it was followed by the suspension of hostilities and the instant +quenching of the four tapers, each blown by an individual mouth, after +which we groped back to our several couches in a state of charming +uncertainty as to which was which. + +Saturday followed, and, of all Saturdays in the year, it chanced to be +the vigil of a feast, and therefore a day of abstinence. The ladies held +the key of the larder, and held it, permit me to add, with a clenched +hand. It may be that all boys are not like our boys; that there are +those who, having ceased to elongate and increase in the extremities out +of all proportion, are willing to fast from day to day; who no longer +lust after the flesh-pots, and whose appetites are governable--but ours +were not. The accustomed fish of a Friday was welcome, but Saturday was +out of the question. "Something too much of this," said Croesus the +Sybarite. "Amen!" cried the affable Alf. There was an unwonted fire in +the eye of Bartholomew when he asked for a dispensation at the hands of +the hostess, and was refused. + +All day the maidens sought to lighten our burden of gloom; the sports in +the bath were more brilliant than usual. We adjourned to the hay-loft +and told stories till our very tongues were tired. It is true that +egg-nogg at intervals consoled us; but when we had awakened from a +refreshing sleep among the hay, and fought a battle that ended in +victory for the Amazons and our ignominious flight, we bore the scars of +burr and hay-seed for hours afterwards. Cold turkey and cranberry sauce +at midnight had been promised to us, yet how very distant that seemed. +Hunger cried loudly for beef and bouillon, and a strategic movement was +planned upon the spot. + +The gaming, which followed a slim supper, was not so interesting as +usual. At intervals we consulted the clock; how the hours lagged! +Croesus poured his gold upon the table in utter distraction. The +maidens, who sat in sack-cloth and ashes, sorrowing for our sins, left +the room at intervals to assure themselves that the larder was intact. +We, also, quietly withdrew from time to time. Once, all three of the +girls fled in consternation--the footsteps of Bartholomew had been heard +in the vicinity of the cupboard; but it was a false alarm, and the game +was at once resumed. Now, indeed, the hours seemed to fly. To our +surprise, upon referring to the clock, the hands stood at ten minutes to +twelve. So swiftly speed the moments when the light hearts of youth beat +joyously in the knowledge that it is almost time to eat! + +Twelve o'clock! Cold turkey, cranberry sauce, champagne, etc., and no +more fasting till the sixth day. Having devastated the board, we must +needs betray our folly by comparing the several timepieces. Alf stood at +five minutes to eleven; Bartholomew some minutes behind him; Croesus, +with his infallible repeater, was but 10:45; as for me, I had discreetly +run down. The secret was out. The clock had been tampered with, and the +trusting maids betrayed. At first they laughed with us; then they +sneered, and then they grew wroth, and went apart in deep dismay. The +dining-hall resounded with our hollow mirth; like the scriptural fool, +we were laughing at our own folly. The ladies solemnly re-entered; our +hostess, the spokeswoman, said, with the voice of an oracle, "You will +regret this before morning." Still feigning to be merry, we went +speedily to bed, but there was no night-cap sent to soothe us; and the +lights went out noiselessly and simultaneously. + +After the heavy and regular breathing had set in--I think all slept save +myself--light footsteps were heard without. Why should one turn a key in +a bungalow whose hospitality is only limited by the boundary line of the +county surveyor? Our keys were not turned, in fact,--too late--we +discovered there were no keys to turn. In the dim darkness--the moon +lent us little aid at the moment--our door was softly thrown open, and +the splash of fountains could be heard; it was the sound of many waters. +As I listened to it in a half dream, it fell upon my ear most musically, +and then it fell upon my nose, and eyes, and mouth; it seemed as if the +windows of heaven were opened, as if the dreadful deluge had come again. +I soon discovered what it was. I threw the damp bed clothes over my head +and awaited further developments. I began to think they never would +come--I mean the developments. Meanwhile the garden hose, in the hands +of the irate maidens, played briskly upon the four quarters of the +room--not a bed escaped the furious stream. Nothing was left that was +not saturated and soaked, sponge-full. The floor ran torrents; our boots +floated away upon the mimic tide. We lay like inundated mummies, but +spake never a word. Possibly the girls thought we were drowned; at all +events, they withdrew in consternation, leaving the hose so that it +still belched its unwelcome waters into the very centre of our drenched +apartment. + +Rising at last from our clammy shrouds, we gave chase; but the +water-nymphs had fled. Then we barricaded the bungalow, and held a +council of war. Sitting in moist conclave, we were again assailed and +driven back to our rooms, which might now be likened to a swimming bath +at low-tide. We shrieked for stimulants, but were stoutly denied, and +then we took to the woods in a fit of indignation, bordering closely +upon a state of nature. + +I thought to bury myself in the trackless wild; to end my days in the +depths of the primeval forest. But I remembered how a tiger-cat had been +lately seen emerging from these otherwise alluring haunts, and returned +at once to the open, where I glistened in the moonlight, now radiant, +and shivered at the thought of the possible snakes coiling about my +feet. My disgust of life was full; yet in the midst of it I saw the +reviving flames dancing upon the hearth-stone, and the click of glasses +recalled me to my senses. + +We returned in a body, a defeated brotherhood, accepting as a +peace-offering such life-giving draughts as compelled us, almost against +our will, to drink to the very dregs in token of full surrender. Then +rheumatism and I lay down together, and a little child might have +played with any two of us. I assured my miserable companions that "I was +not accustomed to such treatment." Alf added that "it was more than he +had bargained for." Bartholomew had neither speech nor language +wherewith to vent his spleen. As for the bland and blooming Croesus--he +who had been lapped in luxury and cradled in delight--it was his private +opinion, publicly expressed, that "the like of it was unknown in the +annals of social history." + +[Illustration: "The Gallery Among the Huge Vases of Palms and +Creepers."] + +Yet on the Sunday--our final day at the bungalow--you would have thought +that the gods had assembled together to hold sweet converse; and, when +we lounged in the shadow of the invisible Ida, never looked the earth +more fair to us. The whole land was in blossom from the summit to the +sea; the gardeners, as they walked among their vines, prated of Sicily +and sang songs of their Sun-land. There was no chapel at hand, and no +mass for the repose of souls that had been sorely troubled; but the +charm of those young women--they were salving our wounds as women know +how to do--and the voluptuous feast that was laid for us, when we +emptied the fatal larder; the music, and the thousand arts employed to +restore beauty and order out of the last night's chaos, made us better +than new men, and it taught us a lesson we never shall forget--though +from that hour to this, neither one nor the other of us, in any way, +shape, or fashion whatever, has referred in the remotest degree to that +eventful night in a Californian bungalow. + + + + +PRIMEVAL CALIFORNIA + + +"Primeval California" was inscribed on the knapsack of the Artist, on +the portmanteau of Foster, the Artist's chum, and on the fly-leaf of the +note-book of the Scribe. The luggage of the boisterous trio was checked +through to the heart of the Red Woods, where a vacation camp was +pitched. The expected "last man" leaped the chasm that was rapidly +widening between the city front of San Francisco and the steamer bound +for San Rafael, and approached us--the trio above referred to--with a +slip of paper in his hand. It was not a subpoena; it was not a dun; it +was a round-robin of farewells from a select circle of admirers, wishing +us joy, Godspeed, success in art and literature, and a safe return at +last. + +The wind blew fair; we were at liberty for an indefinite period. In +forty minutes we struck another shore and another clime. San Francisco +is original in its affectation of ugliness--it narrowly escaped being a +beautiful city--and its humble acceptation of a climate which is as +invigorating as it is unscrupulous, having a peculiar charm which is +seldom discovered until one is beyond its spell. Sailing into the +adjacent summer,--summer is intermittent in the green city of the +West,--we passed into the shadow of Mount Tamalpais, the great landmark +of the coast. The admirable outline of the mountain, however, was +partially obscured by the fog, already massing along its slopes. + +The narrow-gauge of the N.P.C.R.R. crawls like a snake from the ferry on +the bay to the roundhouse over and beyond the hills, but seven miles +from the sea-mouth of the Russian River. It turns very sharp corners, +and turns them every few minutes; it doubles in its own trail, runs over +fragile trestle-work, darts into holes and re-appears on the other side +of the mountains, roars through strips of redwoods like a rushing wind, +skirts the shore of bleak Tomales Bay, cuts across the potato district +and strikes the redwoods again, away up among the saw-mills at the +logging-camps, where it ends abruptly on a flat under a hill. And what a +flat it is!--enlivened with a first-class hotel, some questionable +hostelries, a country store, a post-office and livery-stable, and a +great mill buzzing in an artificial desert of worn brown sawdust. + +Here, after a five hours' ride, we alighted at Duncan's Mills, hard by +the river, and with a girdle of hills all about us--high, round hills, +as yellow as brass when they are not drenched with fog. In the twilight +we watched the fog roll in, trailing its lace-like skirts among the +highland forests. How still the river was! Not a ripple disturbed it; +there was no perceptible current, for after the winter floods subside, +the sea throws up a wall of sand that chokes the stream, and the waters +slowly gather until there is volume enough to clear it. Then come the +rains and the floods, in which rafts of drift-wood and even great logs +are carried twenty feet up the shore, and permanently lodged in +inextricable confusion. + +I remember the day when we had made a pilgrimage to the coast, when from +the rocky jaws of the river we looked up the still waters, and saw them +slowly gathering strength and volume. The sea was breaking upon the bar +without; Indian canoes swung on the tideless stream, filled with +industrious occupants taking the fish that await their first plunge into +salt water. Every morning we bathed in the unpolluted waters of the +river. How fresh and sweet they are--the filtered moisture of the hills, +mingled with the distillations from cedar-boughs drenched with fogs and +dew! + +Lounging upon the hotel veranda, turning our backs upon the last +vestiges of civilization in the shape of a few guests who dressed for +dinner as if it were imperative, we were greeted with mellow heartiness +by a hale old backwoodsman, a genuine representative of the primeval. It +was Ingram, of Ingram House, Austin Creek, Red Woods, Sonoma County, +Primeval California. It was he, with ranch-wagon and stalwart steeds. +The Artist, who was captain-general of the forces, at once held a +consultation with Ingram, whom we will henceforth call the Doctor, for +he is a doctor--minus the degrees--of divinity, medicine, and laws, and +master of all work; a deer-stalker, rancher, and general utility man; +the father of a clever family, and the head of a primeval house. + +In half an hour we were jolting, bag and baggage, body and soul, over +roads wherein the ruts were filled with dust as fine as flour, fording +trout-streams, and winding through wood and brake. We passed the old +logging-camp, with the hills about it blackened and disfigured for life; +and the new logging-camp, with its stumps still smoldering, its steep +slides smoking with the friction of swift-descending logs, the ring of +the ax and the vicious buzz of the saw mingled with the shouts of the +woodsmen. How industry is devastating that home of the primeval! + +Soon the road led us into the very heart of the redwoods, where superb +columns stood in groups, towering a hundred and even two hundred feet +above our heads! A dense undergrowth of light green foliage caught and +held the sunlight like so much spray; the air was charged with the +fragrance of wild honeysuckle and resiniferous trees; the jay-bird +darted through the boughs like a phosphorous flame, screaming his joy to +the skies; squirrels fled before us; quails beat a muffled tattoo in +the brush-snakes slid out of the road in season to escape destruction. + +We soon dropped into the bed of the stream Austin Creek, and rattled +over the broad, strong highway of the winter rains. We bent our heads +under low-hanging boughs, drove into patches of twilight, and out on the +other side into the waning afternoon; we came upon a deserted cottage +with a great javelin driven through the roof to the cellar; it had been +torn from one of the gigantic redwoods and hurled by a last winter's +gale into that solitary home. Fortunately no one had been injured, but +the inmates had fled in terror, lashed by the driving storm. + +We came to Ingram House in the dusk, out of the solitude of the forest +into a pine-and-oak opening, the monotony of which was enlivened with a +fair display of the primitive necessities of life--a vegetable garden on +the right, a rustic barn on the left, a house of "shakes" in the +distance, and nine deer-hounds braying a deep-mouthed welcome at our +approach. + +In the rises of the house on the hill-slope is a three-roomed bachelors' +hall; here, on the next day, we were cozily domiciled. There were a few +guests in the homestead. The boys slept in the granary. The deer-hounds +held high carnival under our cottage, charging at intervals during the +night upon imaginary intruders. We woke to the blustering music of the +beasts, and thought on the possible approach of bear, panther, +California lion, wild cat, 'coon, and polecat; but thought on it with +composure, for the hounds were famous hunters, and there was a whole +arsenal within reach. + +We were waked at 6:30, and come down to the front "stoop" of the +homestead. The structure was home-made, with rafters on the outside or +inside according to the fancy of the builder; sunshine and storm had +stained it grayish brown, and no tint could better harmonize with the +background and surroundings. In one corner of the stoop a tin wash-basin +stood under a waterspout in the sink; there swung the family towels; the +public comb, hanging by its teeth to a nail, had seen much service; a +piece of brown soap lay in an _abalone_ shell tacked to the wall; a +small mirror reflected kaleidoscopical sections of the face, and made up +for its want of compass by multiplying one or another feature. We never +before ate at the hour of seven as we ate then; then a pipe on the front +steps and a frolic with the boys or the dogs would follow, and digestion +was well under way before the day's work began. Then the Artist +shouldered his knapsack and departed; the lads trudged through the road +to school; the women went about the house with untiring energy; the +male hands were already making the anvil musical in the rustic smithy, +or dragging stock to the slaughter, or busy with the thousand and one +affairs that comprise the sum and substance of life in a self-sustaining +community. We were assured that were war to be declared between the +outer world and Ingram House, lying in ambush in the heart of our black +forest, we might withstand the siege indefinitely. All that was needful +lay at our hands, and yet, a stone's-throw away from our shake-built +citadel, one loses himself in a trackless wood, whose glades are still +untrodden by men, though one sometimes hears the light step of the +_bronco_ when Charlie rides forth in search of a strong bull. All work +was like play there, because of a picturesque element which predominated +over the practical. Wood-cutting under the window of the best room, +trying out fat in a caldron or an earth-oven against our cottage, +dragging sunburnt straw in a rude sledge down the hill-side road, +shoeing a neighbor's horse in a circle of homely gossips, hunting to +supply the domestic board at the distant market--is this all that Adam +and the children of Adam suffer in his fall? + +At noon a clarion voice resounded from the kitchen door and sent the +echoes up and down the creek. It was the hostess, who, having prepared +the dinner, was bidding the guests to the feast. The Artist came in +with his sketch, the Chum with his novel, the Scribe with his note-book, +followed by the horny-handed sons of toil, whose shoulders were a little +rounded and whose minds were seldom, if ever, occupied with any life +beyond the hills that walled us in. We sat down at a camp board and ate +with relish. The land was flowing with milk and honey; no sooner was the +pitcher drained or the plate emptied than each was replenished by the +willing hands of our hostess or her boys. + +Another smoke under the stoop followed, and then, perhaps, a doze at the +cottage, or in one of the dozen rocking-chairs about the house, or on +the rustic throne hewn from a stump in the grove between the house and +the barn. The sun flooded the cañon with hot and dazzling light; the air +was spiced with the pungent odor of shrubs; it was time to rest a little +before beginning the laborious sports of the afternoon. Later, we all +wandered on the banks of the creek and were sure to meet at the +swimming-pool about four o'clock. Meanwhile the Artist has laid in +another study. Foster has finished his tale, and is rocking in a hammock +of green boughs; the Scribe has booked a half-dozen fragmentary +sentences that will by and by grow into an article, and the boys have +come home from school. + +By and by we wanted change; the monotony of town life is always more or +less interesting; the monotony of country life palls after a season. +Change comes over us in a most unexpected guise. Our cañon was decked +with the flaming scarlet of the poison-oak; these brilliant bits of +foliage are the high-lights in almost every California landscape, and +must satisfy our love of color, in the absence of the Eastern autumnal +leaf. The gorgeous shrubs stand out like burning bushes by the roadside, +on the hill-slope, in the forest recesses, and almost everywhere. The +Artist's chum gave evidence of a special susceptibility to the poison by +a severe attack that prostrated him utterly for a while. Yet he stood by +us until his vacation came to an end, and, to the last, there was no +complaint heard from this martyr to circumstances. + +One day he left us--on mule-back, with nine dogs fawning upon his +stirrup, and amid a hundred good-byes wafted to him from the house, the +smithy, the barn, and the swimming-pool. He had orders to send in the +Kid, or his successor, immediately upon his arrival at the Bay. We must +needs have some one to indulge, some one whose interests were not +involved in the primeval farther than the pleasure it afforded for the +hour. The Kid was the very thing--a youngster with happiness in heart, +luster in his eye, and nothing more serious than peach-down on his lip; +yet there was gravity enough in his composition to carry him beneath the +mere surface of men and things. The Kid drove in one night with rifle +tall as himself, fishing-tackle, and entomological truck, wild with +enthusiasm and hungry as a carp. + +What days followed! Our little entomologist chased scarlet-winged +dragon-flies and descanted on the myriad forms of insect-life with +premature accomplishment. "Out of the mouths of babes and sucklings" we +heard revelations not unmixed with the ludicrous superstitions of the +nursery. + +There is a school-house a mile distant, on the forks of the creek; we +visited it one Friday, and saw six angular youths, the sum total of the +young ideas within range of the instructress, spelled down in +broadsides; and heard time-honored recitations delivered in the same old +sing-song that could only have been original with the sons of our first +parents. The school-mistress, with a sun-bonnet that buried her face +from the world, passed Ingram's ten times a week, footing it silently +along the dusty road, lunch-pail in hand. She lives in a lonely cabin on +the trail to the wilderness over the hill. + +The Kid sketched a little; indeed, the artistic fever spread to the +granary, where the boys spent some hours of each day restoring, not to +say improving, the tarnished color of certain face-cards of an imperfect +euchre deck, the refuse of the palette being carefully secreted to this +end; we never knew at what moment we might sit upon the improvised +color-box of some juvenile member of the family. + +But hunting was our delectable recreation; the Doctor would lead off on +a half-broken _bronco_, followed by a select few from the house or the +friendly camps, Fred bringing up the rear with a pack-mule. This was the +chief joy of the hounds; the old couple grew young at the scent of the +trail, and deserted their whining progeny with Indian stoicism. Two +nights and a day were enough for a single hunt,--one may in that time +scour the rocky fortresses of the Last Chance, or scale the formidable +slopes of the Devil's Ribs. + +The return from the hunt was a scene of picturesque interest: the +approach of the hunters at dusk, as they emerged one after another from +the dark wood; the pack-mule prancing proudly under a stark buck +weighing one hundred and thirty-three pounds, without its vitals; the +baby fawn slain by chance (for no one would acknowledge the criminal +slaughter); the final arrival of the fagged, sore-footed dogs, who were +wildly greeted by the puppies, and kissed on the mouth and banged about +by many a playful paw; the grouping under the trees in front of +Bachelors' Hall, where the buck was slung, head downward among green +leaves, and with stakes crossed between the gaping ribs; the light of +the flickering lantern; the dogs supping blood from the ground where it +had dripped; the satisfaction of the hunters; the admiration of the +women; the wild excitement of the boys, who all talked at once, at the +top of their voices, with gestures quicker than thought;--this was the +Carnival of the Primeval. + +One night, the Kid set out for the stubble-field and lay in wait for +wild rabbits; when he came in with his hands full of ears, the glow of +moonlight was in his eye, the flush of sunset on his cheek, the riotous +blood's best scarlet in his lips, and his laugh was triumphant; with a +discarded hat recalled for camp-duty, a blue shirt open at the throat, +hair very much tumbled, and no thoughts of self to detract from the +absolute grace of his pose. + +But all hunting-parties were not so successful. One of seven came home +empty-handed and disgusted. It became necessary, while the unlucky +huntsmen were under our roof, to give them festive welcome. Fred drew +out his fiddle; the Doctor gathered his strength and shook as lively a +shoe on the sanded floor of the best room as one will hear the clang of +in many a day. Clumsy joints grew supple; heavy boots made the splinters +fly; a fellow-townsman, like ourselves on a vacation tour, jigged with +the inimitable grace of a trained dancer. How few of our muscles are +aware of the joy of full development! From the wall of the best room the +"Family of Horace Greeley," in mezzotint, looked down through clouded +glass and a veneered frame. The county map hung _vis-à-vis_. A family +record, wherein a pale infant was cradled in saffron, and schooled in +pink, passing through a rainbow-tinted life that reached the climax of +color at the scarlet and gold bridal, and ended in a sea-green grave; +this record, with a tablet for appropriate inscriptions under each epoch +in the family history, was still further enriched with lids of stained +isinglass carefully placed over the domestic calendar, as much as to +say, "What is written here is not for the public eye." On the triangular +shelf in the corner, stood the condensed researches of all Arctic +explorers, in one obese volume; its twin contained the revelations of +African discoveries boiled down and embellished with numberless cuts; a +Family Physician, one volume of legislative documents, and three stray +magazines, with a Greek almanac, completed the library. So, even in the +primeval state, we were not without food for our minds as well as +exercise for our muscles. After a time, even the dance ceased to attract +us. The Artist had lined the walls of his chamber with brilliant +sketches; the kid clamored for home. + +I suppose we might have tarried a whole summer and still found some turn +in the brook, some vista in the wood, some cluster of isolated trees, to +hold us entranced; for the peculiar glory of the hour transfigured +them, and the same effect was never twice repeated. Moreover, we at last +grew intolerant of one great annoyance. You all have known it as we knew +it, and doubtless endured it with as little grace. Is there anything +more galling than the surpassing impudence of country flies? We resolved +to return to town, and returned close upon the heels of our resolution. +Again we threaded the dark windings of the wood, and bade farewell to +every object that had become endeared to us. We wondered how soon change +would lay its hand upon this primeval beauty. We approached the +logging-camp. Presto! in the brief interval since our first glimpse of +the forests above it, the hills had been shorn of their antique harvest, +and the valley was a place of desolation and of death. + +It seemed incredible that the dense growth of gigantic trees could be so +soon dragged to market. There was a famous tree--we saw the stump still +bleeding and oozing up--which, three feet from the ground, measured +eleven and a half feet one way by fourteen feet the other. When its doom +was sealed, a path was cut for it and a soft bed made for it to lie on. +The land was graded, and covered with a cushion of soft boughs. Had the +tree fallen on uneven ground, it would have been shattered; if it had +swerved to right or left, nothing but fire could have cleared the +wrecks. + +The making of the death-bed of this monster cost Mrs. Duncan forty +dollars. Then the work began. An ax in the hands of a skillful +wood-cutter threw the tree headlong to the earth. Then it was sawed +across, yielding eighteen logs, each sixteen feet in length, with a +diameter of four feet at the smallest end. The logs were put upon +wheels, and run over a light trestle-work to the mill, drawn thither by +a ridiculous dummy, which looked not unlike an old-fashioned tavern +store on its beam-ends, with an elbow in the air. At the mill, it was +sawed into eighty thousand feet of marketable lumber. + +Reaching the forest, on our way to the Mills, we found the river had +risen so that ten miles from the mouth we were obliged to climb upon the +wagon-seats, and hold our luggage above high-water mark. + +At Duncan's, on the home stretch, we made our final pilgrimage, to a +wild glen over the Russian River, where, a few weeks before, the +Bohemian Club had held high jinks. The forest had been a scene of +enchantment on that midsummer night; but now the tents were struck, the +Japanese lanterns were extinguished, and nothing was left to tell the +tale but the long tables of rough deal, where we had feasted. They were +covered with leaves and dust; spiders had draped them with filmy robes. +The quail piped, the jay-bird screamed, the dove sobbed, and a slim +snake, startled at the flight of a bounding hare, glided away among the +rustling leaves. So soon does this new land recover the primeval beauty +of eternal youth. + + + + +INLAND YACHTING + + +When your bosom friend seizes you by the arm, and says to you in that +seductive sotto voce which implies a great deal more than is confessed, +"Come, let us go down to the sea in ships, and do business in the great +waters," you generally go, if you are not previously engaged. At least, +I do. + +Much has been said in disfavor of yachting in San Francisco Bay. It is +inland yachting to begin with. The shelving shores prevent the +introduction of keel boats; flat and shallow hulls, with a great breadth +of beam, something able to battle with "lumpy" seas and carry plenty of +sail in rough weather, is the more practical and popular type. Atlantic +yachts, when they arrive in California waters, have their rigging cut +down one-third. Schooners and sloops with Bermudian mutton-leg sails +flourish. A modification of the English yawl is in vogue; but large +sloops are not handled conveniently in the strong currents, the chop +seas, the blustering winds, the summer fogs that make the harbor one of +the most treacherous of haunts for yachtsmen. + +Think of a race when the wind is blowing from twenty-five to +thirty-five miles an hour! The surface current at the Golden Gate runs +six miles per hour and the tide-rip is often troublesome; but there is +ample room for sport, and very wild sport at times. The total area of +the bay is four hundred and eighty square miles, and there are hundreds +of miles of navigable sloughs, rivers, and creeks. One may start from +Alviso, and sail in a general direction, almost without turning, one +hundred and fifty-five miles to Sacramento city. During the voyage he is +pretty sure to encounter all sorts of weather and nearly every sort of +climate, from the dense and chilly fogs of the lower bay to the +semi-tropics of the upper shores, where fogs are unknown, and where the +winds die away on the surface of beautiful waters as blue as the Bay of +Naples. + +There are amateur yachtsmen, a noble army of them, who charter a craft +for a day or two, and have more fun in a minute than they can recover +from in a month. I have sailed with these, at the urgent request of one +who has led me into temptation more than once, but who never deserted me +in an evil hour, even though he had to drag me out of it by the heels. I +am at this moment reminded of an episode which still tickles my memory, +and, much as a worthy yachtsman may scorn it, I confess that this moment +is more to me than that of any dash into deep water which I can at +present recall. + +It was a summer Saturday, the half-holiday that is the reward of a +week's hard labor. With the wise precaution which is a prominent +characteristic of my bosom friend, a small body of comrades was gathered +together on the end of Meigg's Wharf, simultaneously scanning, with +vigilant eyes, the fleets of sailing crafts as they swept into view on +the strong currents of the bay. It was a little company of youths, sick +of the world and its cares, and willing, nay eager, to embark for other +climes. They came not unfurnished. I beheld with joy numerous demijohns +with labels fluttering like ragged cravats from their long necks; +likewise stacks of vegetables, juicy joints, fruits, and more demijohns, +together with a small portable iceberg; blankets were there, also guns, +pistols, and fishing tackle. If one chooses to quit this world and its +follies, one must go suitably provided for the next. Experience teaches +these things. + +The breeze freshened; the crowd grew impatient; more fellows arrived; +another demijohn was seen in the distance swiftly bearing down upon us +from the upper end of the wharf, and at this moment a dainty yacht +skimmed gracefully around the point of Telegraph Hill, picking her way +among the thousand-masted fleet that whitened the blue surface of the +bay, and we at once knew her to be none other than the "Lotus," a crack +yacht, as swift as the wind itself. In fifteen minutes there was a +locker full of good things, and a deck of jolly fellows, and when we +cast off our bow-line, and ran up our canvas, we were probably the +neatest thing on the tide. I know that I felt very much like a lay +figure in somebody's marine picture, and it was quite wonderful to +behold how suddenly we all became sea-worthy and how hard we tried to +prove it. + +A heavy bank of cloud was piled up in the west, through which stole long +bars of sunshine, gilding the leaden waves. The "Lotus" bent lovingly to +the gale. Some of us went into the cabin, and tried to brace ourselves +in comfortable and secure corners--item--there are no comfortable or +secure seats at sea, and there will be none until there is a revolution +in ship-building. Our yachting afforded us an infinite variety of +experience in a very short time; we had a taste of the British Channel +as soon as we were clear of the end of the wharf. It was like rounding +Gibraltar to weather Alcatraz, and, as we skimmed over the smooth flood +in Raccoon Straits, I could think of nothing but the little end of the +Golden Horn. Why not? The very name of our yacht was suggestive of the +Orient. The sun was setting; the sky deeply flushed; the distance highly +idealized; homeward hastened a couple of Italian fishing boats, with +their lateen sails looking like triangular slices cut out of the full +moon; this sort of thing was very soothing. We all lighted our +cigarettes, and lapsed into dreamy silence, broken only by the plash of +ripples under our bow and the frequent sputter of matches quite +necessary to the complete consumption of our tobacco. + +[Illustration: Meigg's Wharf in 1856] + +About dusk our rakish cutter drifted into the shelter of the hills along +the north shore of the bay, and with a chorus of enthusiastic cheers we +dropped anchor in two fathoms of soft mud. We felt called upon to sing +such songs as marines are wont to sing upon the conclusion of a voyage, +and I believe our deck presented a tableau not less picturesque than +that in the last act of "Black-eyed Susan." Susan alone was wanting to +perfect our nautical happiness. + +How charming to pass one's life at sea, particularly when it is a calm +twilight, and the anchor is fast to the bottom: the sheltering shores +seem to brood over you; pathetic voices float out of the remote and +deepening shadows; and stars twinkle so naturally in both sea and sky +that a fellow scarcely knows which end he stands on. + +I have preserved a few leaves from a log written by my bosom friend. I +present them as he wrote them, although he apparently had "Happy +Thoughts" on the brain, and much Burnand had well nigh made him mad. + +THE LOG OF THE "LOTUS" + +9 p.m.--Dinner just over; part of our crew desirous of fishing during +the night; hooks lost, lines tangled, no bait; a row by moonlight +proposed. + +10 p.m.--The Irrepressibles still eager to fish; lines untangled, hooks +discovered; two fellows despatched with yawl in search of bait; a row by +moonlight again proposed; we take observation--no moon! + +11 p.m.--Two fellows returning from shore with hen; hen very tough and +noisy; tough hens not good for bait; fishing postponed till daybreak; +moonlight sail proposed as being a pleasant change; still no moon; half +the crew turn in for a night's rest; cabin very full of half-the-crew. + +Midnight.--Irrepressibles dance sailor's hornpipe on deck; half-the-crew +below awake from slumbers, and advise Irrepressibles to renew search for +bait. + +12:30 a.m.--Irrepressibles return to shore for bait. Loud breathing in +cabin; water swashing on rocks along the beach; very picturesque, but no +moon yet; voice in the distance says "Halloa!" Echo in the other +distance replies, "Halloa yourself, and see how you like it!" + +1 a.m.--Irrepressibles still absent on shore; a dog barks loudly in the +dark; a noise is heard in a far away hen-coop--Irrepressibles looking +diligently for bait. + +1:30 a.m.--Dog sitting on the shore howling; very heavy breathing in the +cabin; noise of oars in the rowlocks; music on the water, chorus of +youthful male voices, singing "A smuggler's life is a merry, merry, +life." Subdued noise of hens; dog still howling; no moon yet; more noise +of hens, bait rapidly approaching. + +2 a.m.--Irrepressibles try to row yawl through sternlights of "Lotus"; +grand collision of yawl at full speed and a rakish cutter at anchor. +Profane language in the cabin; sleepy crew, half awake, rush up the +hatchway, and denounce Irrepressibles. Irrepressibles sing "Smuggler's +Life," etc.; terrific noise of hens; half-the-crew invite the +Irrepressibles to "be as decent as they can." No moon yet; everybody +packed in the cabin. + +2:30 a.m.--Sudden squall. "Lotus," as usual, bends lovingly to the gale; +dramatic youth in his bunk says, in deep voice, "No sleep till morn!" +More dramatic youths say, "I heard a voice cry, 'Sleep no more'." Very +deep voice says, "Macbeth hath mur-r-r-r-dered sleep!" General confusion +in the cabin. Old commodore of the "Lotus" says, "Gentlemen, a little +less noise, if you please." Noise subsides. + +3 a.m.--Irrepressibles propose sleeping in binnacle; unfortunate +discovery--no binnacle on board. Half-the-crew turn over, and suggest +that the Irrepressibles take night-caps, and retire anywhere. Moved and +seconded, That the Irrepressibles take two night-caps, and retire in a +body--item: two heads better than one, two night-caps ditto, ditto. + +3:30 a.m.--Commotion in cabin. Irrepressibles find no place to lay their +weary heads. Moonlight sail proposed; observations on deck--no moon; +squall in the distance; air very chilly. Irrepressibles retire in a +body, and take night-caps. Song by Irrepressibles, "A Smuggler's Life." +Half-the-crew sit up and throw boots. Irrepressibles assault +half-the-crew, and take bunks by storm; great confusion; old commodore +of the "Lotus" says, "Gentlemen had better sleep a little, so as to be +in trim for fishing at daybreak," night-caps all round; order restored; +chorus of subdued voices, "A Smuggler's Life." + +4 a.m.--Signs of daybreak; thin blue mist over the water; white sea-bird +overhead, with bright light on its breast; flocks bleating on shore; +sloop becalmed under the lee of the land; fishermen casting nets; more +fishermen right under them, casting nets upside down. Everything very +fresh and shining; feel happy; think we must look like marine picture by +somebody. + +4:30 a.m.--Commodore of the "Lotus" comes on deck, and takes an +observation; all favorable; commodore draws bucket of water out of the +sea and makes toilet, white beard of the commodore waves gently in the +breeze; fine-looking old sea-dog that commodore of the "Lotus." + +Sunday Morning.--All quiet; air very clear and bracing. Shore resembles +new world. Feel like Christopher Columbus discovering America. Peaceful +and happy emotions animate bosom; think I hear Sabbath bells--evidently +don't: no Sabbath bells anywhere around. Penitentiary of San Quentin in +the distance; look at San Quentin, and feel emotion of sadness steal +over me; moral reflection to try and avoid San Quentin as long as +possible. + +5 a.m.--Noise in cabins; boots flying in the air; cries for mercy; +reconciliation and eye-openers all round. Everybody on deck; next minute +everybody overboard bathing; water very cold; teeth chattering; +something warming necessary for all hands. Yawl goes out fishing; two +small boats at the disposal of Irrepressibles; a row by sunlight; no +moon last night; funny boy says, "Bring moon along next time!" Everybody +sees San Quentin at the same moment; half-the-crew advise Irrepressibles +to "go home at once." Cries of "hi yi." Irrepressibles say "they will +inform on half-the-crew when they get there"; disturbance on deck in +consequence; Commodore suggests a new search for bait; order restored; +new search for bait instituted. Three fellows sing "Father, come home," +and look toward San Quentin. Bad jokes on the prison every ten minutes +throughout the day. Small fleet of stern-wheel ducks come alongside for +breakfast; ducks in great danger of the galley; flock of pelicans, with +tremendous bowsprits, fly overhead; pistol-shot carries away tail +feathers of pelican; order restored. + +8 a.m.--Irrepressibles propose naval engagement; three small boats armed +and equipped for the fray. Irrepressibles routed; some taken prisoners; +great excitement; quantities of water dashed in all directions; boats +rapidly filling; two fellows overboard; cries for help, "fellows can't +swim a stroke"; intense excitement; boat sinks in five feet of water and +two feet of mud; the fellows brought on board to be wrung out. +Irrepressibles hang everything in the rigging to dry. Imagination takes +her accustomed flight; good study of nude Irrepressibles in great +number; think we must resemble the barge of Cleopatra on the Nile! +unlucky thought; no Cleopatra on board. Subject reconsidered; lucky +fancy--the Greek gods on a yachting cruise. Sun very hot; another bath +all round; a drop of something, for fear of catching cold; the Greek +gods on deck indulge in negro dances; two men on shore look on, and +wonder what's up. Sun intensely hot; Greek gods turn in for a square +sleep! + +It becomes necessary to suppress the bosom friend, who, it is +superfluous to state, was one of the leaders of the Irrepressibles on +the memorable occasion--and the balance of his log is consigned to the +locker of oblivion. + +The cruise of the "Lotus" had its redeeming features, though they were +probably unrecorded at the time. There was fishing and boating; rambles +on shore over the grassy hills; a search for clams and a good +old-fashioned clam bake; to which the sharpest appetites did ample +justice; and there were quiet fellows, who stole apart from the rioters +and had hours of solid satisfaction. You may have rocked in a small +skiff yourself, casting your line in deep water, waiting and watching +for the cod to bite. It is pleasant sculling up to a distant point, and +sounding by the way so as to get off the sand and over the pebbly bottom +as soon as possible. It is pleasant to cast anchor and float a few rods +from shore, where the rocks are eaten away by the tides of numberless +centuries, where the swallows build and the goats climb, and the scrub +oaks look over into the sea, with half their hairy roots trailing in the +air. It is less pleasant to thread your hook with a piece of writhing +worm that is full of agonizing expression, though head and tail are both +missing and writhing on their own hooks, which are also attached to your +line. I wonder if one bit of worm on a hook recognizes a joint of itself +on the next hook, and says to it, in its own peculiar fashion, "Well, +are you alive yet?" + +The baiting accomplished, with a great flourish you throw your sinker, +and see it bury itself in the muddy water; then you listen intently, +for the least suggestion of a disturbance down there at the other end of +the line; the sinker thumps upon this rock and the next one, drops into +a hole and gets caught for a moment, but is loosened again, and then a +sort of galvanic shock thrills through your body; on guard! if you would +save your bait; another twinge, fainter than the first, and at last a +regular tug, and you haul in your line, which is jerking incessantly by +this time. The next moment the hooks come to the surface, and on one of +them you find a Lilliputian fish that is not yet old enough to feed +himself, and was probably caught by accident. + +Perhaps you haul in your line as fast as you can, bait it and throw it +in again as rapidly as convenient--for this is the sport that fishermen +love to boast of; perhaps you rock in your boat all day, and draw but a +half-dozen of these shiners out before their time, and waste your +precious worms to no purpose. + +It's hungry work, isn't it? and the summons to dinner that is by-and-by +sounded from the yacht is a pleasing excuse for deserting so profitless +a task. The right thing to do, however, is to put on an appearance of +immense success whenever a rival skiff comes within hail. You hold up +your largest fish several times in succession, so as to delude the +anxious inquirers in the other boat, who will of course think you have a +dozen of those big cod with a striking family resemblance. It is a very +successful ruse; all fishermen indulge in it, and you have as good a +right to play the pantomime as they. + +By-and-by we are glad to think of a return to town. Why is it that +pleasure excursions seem to ravel out? They never stop short after a +brilliant achievement nor conclude with an imposing tableau; they die +out gradually. Someone gets out here, some-one else falls off there, and +there is a general running down of the machinery that has propelled the +festival up to the last moment. They flatten unmistakably, and it is +almost a pity that some sort of climax cannot be engaged for each +occasion, in the midst of which everyone should disappear, in red fire +and a blaze of rockets. + +Our yachting cruise was very jolly. We hauled in our lines and our +anchors, and spread our canvas, while the wind was brisk and the evening +was coming on; white-caps danced and tumbled all over the bay. It looked +stormy far out in the open sea as we crossed the channel; thin tongues +of fog were lapping among the western hills, as though the town were +about to be devoured by some ghostly monster, and presently it was of +course. The spray leaped half-way up our jib, and our fore-sail was +dripping wet as we neared the town; there was a rolling up of blankets, +and a general clearing out of the debris that always accumulates in +small quarters. Everybody was a little tired, and a little hungry, and +a little sleepy, and quite glad to get home again, and when the "Lotus" +landed us on the old wharf at the north end of the town, we crept home +through the side streets for decency's sake. + +The young "Corinthian" would scorn to recognize a yachting exploit such +as I have depicted. The young "Corinthian" owns his yacht, and lives in +it a great part of the summer. He is the first to make his appearance +after the rainy season has begun to subside, and the last to be driven +into winter quarters at Oakland or Antioch, where the fleet is moored +during four or five months of the year. The "Corinthian" paints his boat +himself, and is an adept at every art necessary to the completeness of +yachting life. He can cook, sail his boat, repair damages of almost +every description; he sketches a little, writes a little, and is, in +fact, an amphibious Bohemian, the life of the regatta, whose enthusiasm +goes far towards sustaining the healthful and amiable rivalry of the two +yachting clubs. + +These clubs have charming club-houses at Saucelito, where many a "hop" +is given during the summer, and where, on one occasion, "H.M.S. +Pinafore" was sung with great effect on the deck of the "Vira," anchored +a few rods from the dock; the dock was, for the time being, transformed +into a dress-circle. Sir Joseph Porter, K.C.B., made his entree in a +steam launch, and all the effects were highly realistic. The only hitch +in the otherwise immensely successful representation was the +impossibility of securing a moon for the second act. + +The annual excursion of the two clubs is one of the social events of the +year. The favorite resort is Napa, a pretty little town in the lap of a +lovely valley, approached by a narrow stream that winds through meadow +lands and scattered groves of oak. The yachts are nearly all of them +there, from twenty-six to thirty, a flock of white wings that skim the +waters of San Pablo Bay, upward bound. At Vallejo and Mare Island they +exchange salutes, abreast of the naval station, and enter the mouth of +Napa Creek; it is broad and marshy for a time, but soon grows narrow, +and very crooked. More than once as we sailed we missed stays, and +drifted broadside upon a hayfield, and were obliged to pole one another +around the sharp turns in the creek; it is then that cheers and jeers +come over the meadows to us, from the lesser craft that are sailing +breast deep among the waving corn. All this time Napa, our destination, +is close at hand, but not likely to be reached for twenty or thirty +minutes to come. We turn and turn again, and are lost to sight among the +trees, or behind a barn, and are continually greeted by the citizens, +who have come overland to give us welcome. + +Riotous days follow: a ball that night, excursions on the morrow, and +on the second night a concert, perhaps two or three of them, on board +the larger vessels of the fleet. We are lying in a row, against a long +curve of the shore; chains of lanterns are hung from mast to mast, the +rigging is gay with evergreens and bunting. + +The revelry continues throughout the night; serenaders drift up and down +the stream at intervals until daybreak, when a procession is formed, a +steamer takes us in tow, and we are dragged silently down the tide, in +the grey light of the morning. At Vallejo, after a toilet and a +breakfast, which is immensely relished, we get into position. Every eye +is on the Commodore's signal; by-and-by it falls, bang goes a gun, and +in a moment all is commotion. The sails are trimmed, the light canvas +set, and away flies the fleet on the home stretch, to dance for an hour +or two in the sparkling sunshine of San Pablo Bay, then plunge into the +tumbling sea in the lower harbor, and at last end a three days' cruise +with unanimous and hearty congratulations. + +A week ago I could have added here that in the annals of the yacht clubs +of San Francisco there has never been a fatal accident, never a +drowning, nor a capsizing, nor a wreck, and this covers a period of +thirteen years; alas! in a single day, on a cruise such as I have been +writing of, there was a shocking death. One yacht nearly foundered, but +fortunately escaped into smooth water, another was dashed upon the +rocks, and is probably a total wreck; while a third lost her +centre-board over a mud bank, where it buried itself, and held the +little craft a helpless prisoner; the crew and guests of the latter took +to the small boats, pulled three miles in a squall, and were rescued by +a passing steamer when they were all drenched to the skin, and well-nigh +exhausted. + +You see that inland yachting is not child's play, nor are these inland +yachts without their romantic records. The flag of the San Francisco +yacht club has floated among the South Sea Islands; one of its boats has +beaten the German and English types in their own waters; one has been as +far as the Australian seas; one is a pearl fisher in the Gulf of +California, and another is coquetting with the doldrums along the +Mexican coast. They are staunch little beauties all, and it would be +neither courteous nor healthful to think otherwise in the presence of +inland yachtsmen. + +[Illustration: Telegraph Hill, 1855] + + + + +IN YOSEMITE SHADOWS + + +"Yosemite, Sept.--: Come at once--the year wanes; would you see the +wondrous transformation, the embalming of the dead Summer in windings of +purple and gold and bronze--come quickly, before the white pall covers +it--delay no longer. The waters are low and fordable, the snows +threaten, but the hours are yet propitious; and such a welcome waits you +as Solomon in all his glory could not have lavished on Sheba's +approaching queen. * * *" + +There was much more of the same sort of high-toned epistolary rhetoric, +written and sent by a dear hand, whose fanciful pen seemed touched by +the ambrosial tints of Autumn. So the year was going out in a gorgeous +carnival, before the Lent-like solemnity of Winter was assumed. + +I had only two things to consider now: First, was it already too late to +hasten thither, and enjoy the splendid spectacle so freely offered and +so alluring; secondly, could I, if yet in time, venture so boldly upon +the edge of Winter, and risk the possibility--nay, probability--of being +snow-bound for four or six months, 30 miles from any human habitation? + +I did not long consider. I felt every moment that the soul of Summer was +passing. I scented the ascending incense of smoking and crackling +boughs. What a requiem was being chanted by all the tremulous and broken +voices of Nature! Would I, could I, longer forbear to join the +passionate and tumultuous _miserere_? It seemed that I could not, for +gathering about me the voluminous furs of Siberia, I bade adieu to +friends, not without some forebodings awakened by the admonitions of my +elders, then, dropping all the folly of the world, like a monk I went +silently and alone into the monastery of a Sierran solitude, resigned, +trusting, prayerful. + +What an entering it was! With slow, devotional steps I approached the +valley. There was a thin veil of snow over the upper trail. It was +smooth and unbroken as I came upon it, following the blazed trees in my +way. Footprints of bear and fox, squirrel and coyote, were traceable. +The owl hooted at me, and the jay shot past me like a blue flash of +light, uttering her prolonged, shrill cry. As for the owl, I could not +see him, but I heard him at startling intervals give the challenge, "Who +are you?" so I advanced and gave the countersign. I don't believe it was +for his grave face alone that the owl was chosen symbol of Wisdom. + +Not too soon came the steep and perilous descent into the abysmal depths +of the mountain fastness. It is a shame that pilgrims who come up +thither do not time their steps so as to reach this _Ultima Thule_ of +old times and ways at sunset. Then the magnificence of the spectacle +culminates. That new world below there is illuminated with the soft +tints of Eden. What unutterable fullness of beauty pervades all. The +forests--those moss-like fields are forests, and mighty ones, too--are +all aflame with the burnished gold of sunset, brightening the gold of +autumn; for gold twice refined, as it were, gilds the splendid +landscape. Only think of that picture, shining through the mellow haze +of Indian Summer, and flashing with the lambent glimmer of a myriad +glassy leaves. You can not see them moving, yet they twinkle +incessantly, and the warm air trembles about them while you hang +bewildered from a toppling parapet, four thousand feet above them; birds +swing under you in mid-air, streams leap from the sharp cliff, and reel +in that sickening way through the air that your brain whirls after them. +One is tired, anyhow, by the time he has reached this far, and a night +camp in the cool rim of this world-to-come is just the panacea for any +sort of weariness. + +Take my advice: Sleep on it, and drop down on the wings of the morning, +while the sun is filling up this marvelous ravine with such lights and +shadows as are felt, yet scarcely understood. Refreshed, amazed, +bewildered, go down into that solemn place, and see if you are not more +saint-like than you dared to think yourself. When the times are out of +joint, as they frequently are, come up here, forget men and things; +don't imagine we are as bad as we seem, for it is quite certain we might +be a great deal worse if we tried. While you bemoan our earthliness, you +may not be the one saint among us. Coming down with the evening, I was +scarcely at the gates of the inner valley when night was on me. Of this +gate, it is formed of a ponderous monument on the right, called +Cathedral Rock, and on the left is the one bald spot in the Sierras, the +great El Capitan. The arch over this primeval threshold is the astral +dome of heaven, and the gates stand ever open. There is no toll taken in +any mansion of my Father's House, and this is one of them. Passing to +the door of my host, I lifted the latch noiselessly. Before me dawned +fresh experiences. At my back Night gathered deeper than ever, and all +around I seemed to read the rubric of Life's new lesson. + +We are a comfort to ourselves--six of us, all told. Summer invites our +little company into a breezy hotel, over in the shadow across the +valley. Winter suggests a log cabin, an expansive fireplace, plenty of +hickory, and as much sunshine as finds its way into our secluded +hermitage. So we are done up compactly, in between thick walls, our hard +finish being in the shape of mud cakes in the chinks of the logs, and a +very hard finish it is; but we take wondrous comfort withal. + +How do I pass the hours? Leaving my friends, I wander forth, after +breakfast, in any direction that pleases me. Take today this sheep path; +it leads me to a pebbly beach at a swift turn of the Merced. That clump +of trees produces the best harvest of frost-pointed leaves; there are +new varieties offered every day at an alarming sacrifice, and I invest +largely in these fragile wares. Tomorrow, I shall go yonder across three +tumultuous streams, upon three convenient logs, broad and mossy. Some +book or other goes with me, and is opened now and then. Such books as +Plant Life, The Sexuality of Nature, Studies in Animal Life, suggest +themselves. Open these anywhere, and each is annotated and illustrated +by the scene before me. Every page is a running text to the hour I +glorify. + +Perhaps a leaf falls into my lap as I sit over the brook, on a log--a +single leaf, gilded about its border, in the centre a crimson flush, +fast swallowing up the original greenness; the whole will presently be +bronzed and sombre. O, Leaf! how art thou mummified! We do not think of +these little things of Nature. Look at this leaf. What is its record? +How many generations, think you, are numbered in its ancestry? A +perpetual intermarriage has not weakened its fibres. The anatomy of this +leaf is perfect, and the sap of this oak flows from oak to acorn, from +acorn to oak, in an interminable and uninterrupted succession since the +first day. What are your titles and estates beside this representative? +What is your heraldry, with its two centuries of mold; your absurd and +confused genealogies, your escutcheons, blotted no doubt with crimes and +errors, when this scion, which I am permitted to entertain for a moment, +comes of a race whose record is spotless and without stain through ten +thousand eventful years. Why, Eve would recognize the original of this +stock from the mere family resemblance. + +Do you think these days tiresome? It is embarrassing for some people to +be left alone with themselves. They can no longer play a part, for there +are none like themselves to play to. The sun and stars know you well +enough--most likely, better than you yourselves do. I like this. I would +out and say to myself: "Here is a confidant. Day hides nothing from me, +or you; it expresses all, exposes all--even that which we might not ask +to see. It is best that we should see it; there are no errors in +Nature." + +Walking, the squirrel nods to me. I nod back; and why shouldn't I? +Nature has familiarly introduced us. Squirrel munches under his tail +canopy till I am out of sight, jabbering all the while. What sage little +fellows go on four feet! I believe an animal has all the instincts of +Adam. He should never be tamed, however, lest he lose his identity. +Civilization rubs down the points in our character. As the surf rounds +the pebble, the masses round us. We are polished and insufferably +proper, but have no angles left! It is the angles that give the diamond +its lustre. + +Are you hungry? When the index of shadow points out from the base of old +Sentinel Rock and touches that column of descending spray they call +Yosemite, I go to dinner. "The Fall of the Yosemite"--what a dream it +is. A dream of the lotus-eaters, and an aspiration of the Ideal in +Nature. You can not realize it; and yet, you will never forget it. Don't +take it too early in the Spring, when it is less ethereal--nay, somewhat +heavy; rather see it in summer after the rains, or in autumn, better +than all, when it is like a tissue of diamond dust shaken upon the air. +It really seems a labor for it to reach its foaming basin, it is so +filmy, spiritual, delicate. The very air wooes it from its perpetual +leap; sudden currents of wind catch it up and whirl it away in their +arms, a trembling captive, or dash it against the solemn and sad-looking +rock, where it clings for a moment, then trickles down the scarred and +rugged face of it, fading in its descent; sometimes it is waved back by +the elements, and almost seems to return into its cloudy nest up yonder +close under the sky. It only comes to us at last by impulses, and all +along its shining and vapory path rockets of spray shoot out like +pendants, dissolving singly and alone. + +But "to return to our muttons." My dial says 12 M. There is no winding +up and down of weights here; 12 M. it undoubtedly is, and mutton waits. +These muttons were begotten here of muttons begotten here to the third +or fourth generation. Their wool is clipped, larded, and spun here by +one who lives here and loves this valley. These mittens, that keep the +frost from my fingers, are among the comforting results of this domestic +economy. In the cabin, by the fireplace, stands the old-fashioned +spinning wheel; and the old-fashioned body who manipulates the wool so +skillfully is the light of our little household. The shadow has struck +twelve from old Sentinel; and I take the sun once a day, and no oftener. +A cool, bracing air, a sharp run over the meadows, for I see the hostess +waving a signal at me for my tardiness, and I am hungry on my own +account--such cliffs and vistas as one sees here make one hollow with +looking at them, and are calculated to keep a supply of appetite on +hand. Do you like good long strips of baked squash? How do you fancy +bowls of warm milk--milk that declares a creamy dividend before morning? +Here is a fine fowl of our own raising--one that has seen Yosemite in +its glory and in its gloom; it ought to be good eating, and I can affirm +that it is. That's a dinner for you, and one where you can begin on pie +the first thing, if your soul craves it, which it frequently does. + +A storm brewing, and rain in the lower valley. Never mind, there is no +hurry here; one blushes to be caught worrying in the august presence of +these mountains. + +What can I do this stormy afternoon? Stop within doors and sit at the +window; a small grossbeak overhead, and we two looking out upon the rain +and fog. It is a mile nearly to that wall opposite, but look up high as +I can from my window I see no strip of sky. Here is a precipice of +homely, almost hideous-looking rock, and above it a hanging garden; +those pines in that garden are a hundred feet and more in height: +measure the second cliff by their proportions--how far is it, think you, +to the garden above? A thousand feet, perhaps; and three, four--no, six +of these terraces before you touch blue sky. Oh, what a valley! and +where else under heaven are we sunk forty fathoms deep in shadow? But +the sun is up yet, and there floats an eagle in its golden ray. I like +to watch the last beams burn out in that upper gallery among the pines. +There is a moment given us at sunset when we may partly realize the +inexpressible sweetness of the eternal day that is promised us--a dim, +religious light. There is no screen or tint soft enough to render the +effect perfectly. Only these few seconds at sunset seem to hint +something of its surpassing tenderness. + +What cloud effects! Look up!--a break in the heavens, and beyond it the +shoulder of a peak weighing some billions of tons, but afloat now, as +soft in outline as the mists that envelop it. What masses of clouds +tumble in upon us! The sky is obscured, night is declared at once, and +the fowls go to roost at three P.M. How is the Fall in this weather? A +silver braid dropped from one cloud to another. Its strands parted and +joined again, lost and found in its own element. Leaping from its dizzy +eyrie in the clouds, itself most cloud-like, it is lost in a whirlwind +of foam. Now it is as a voice heard faintly above the wind, borne hither +and thither. Long, stinging nights, plenty of woolen blankets, and +delicious sleep. Then the evenings, so cosy around the fire. H---- reads +Scott; we listen and comment. Baby is abed long ago--little Baby, four +years old, born here also; knowing nothing of the beautiful world save +what is gathered in this gallery of beauties. Such a queer little child, +left to herself, no doubt thinking she is the only little one in +existence, contented to teeter for hours on a plank by the woodpile, +making long explorations by herself and returning, when we are all well +frightened, with a pocketful of lizards and a wasp in her fingers; +always talking of horned toads and heifers; not afraid of snakes, not +even the rattlers; mocking the birds when she is happy, and growling +bear-fashion to express her disapproval of any thing. + +When the snows come, there will be avalanches by day and night, rushing +into all parts of the valley. The Hermit hears a rumbling in the clouds, +as he hoes his potatoes. He looks; a granite pilaster, hewn out by the +hurricanes centuries ago, at last grown weary of clinging to that +precipitous bluff, lets go its hold, and is dashed from crag to crag in +a prolonged and horrible suicide. A pioneer once laid him out a garden, +and marked the plan of his cellar; he was to begin digging the next day: +that night, there leaped a boulder from under the brow of this cliff +right into the heart of the plantation. It dug his cellar for him, but +he never used it. It behooved him and others to get farther out from the +mountain that found this settler too familiar, and sent a random shot as +a sufficient hint to the intruder. + +In the trying times when the world was baking, what agony these +mountains must have endured. You see it in their faces, they are so +haggard and old-looking: time is swallowed up in victory, but it was a +desperate duel. There is a dome here that the ambitious foot of man has +never attempted. Tissayac allows no such liberty. Look up at that +rose-colored summit! The sun endows it with glory long after twilight +has shut us in. We are cheated of much daylight here--it comes later and +goes earlier with us; but we get hints of brighter hours, both morning +and evening, from those sparkling minarets now decked with snowy +arabesques. I have seen our canopy, the clouds, so crimsoned at this +hour that the valley seemed a grand oriental pavilion, whose silken roof +was illuminated with a million painted lamps. The golden woods of Autumn +detract nothing from the bizarre effect of the spectacle. To be sure, +these walls are rather sombre for a festival, but the sun does what it +can to enliven them, whilst the flame-colored oaks and blood-spotted +azaleas projecting on all sides from the shelving rocks resemble to a +startling degree galleries of blazing candelabra. Night dispels this +illusion, it is so very deep and mysterious here. The solemn procession +of the stars silently passes over us. I see Taurus pressing forward, and +anon Orion climbs on hand and knee over the mountain in hot pursuit. + +Does it tire you to look so long at a gigantic monument? I do not +wonder. The secret of self-esteem seems to lie in regarding our +inferiors; therefor let us talk of this frog. I have heard his chorus a +thousand times in the dark. His is one of the songs of the night. Just +watch him in the meadow pool. See the contentment in his double chin; +he flings out three links of hind leg and carries his elbows akimbo; his +attitudes are unconstrained; he is entirely without affectation; life +never bores him; he keeps his professional engagements to the letter, +and sings nightly through the season, whether hoarse or not. + +It is a good plan to portion off the glorious vistas of Yosemite, +allotting so many surprises to each day. Take, for instance, the ten +miles of valley, and passing slowly through the heart of it, allow a +tableau for every three hundred yards. You are sure of this variety, for +the trail winds among a galaxy of snowy peaks. Turn as you choose, it is +either a water-fall at a new angle, a cliff in profile, a reflection in +river or lake--the sudden appearance of the supreme peak of all, or +ravine, cañon, cavern, pine opening, grove or prairie. There is a point +from which you may count over a hundred rocky fangs, tearing the clouds +to tatters. I can not tell you the exact location of this terrific +climax of savage beauty; try to find it, and perhaps discover half a +dozen as singular scenic combinations for yourself. See all that you are +told must be seen, then go out alone and discover as much more for +yourself, and something no doubt dearer to your memory than any of the +more noted haunts. "See Mirror Lake on a still morning," they said to +me. I saw it, but went again in the evening, and saw a vision that the +reader may not expect to have reflected here. It was the picture of the +morning--so softened and refined a veil of enchantment seemed thrown +over it. Hamadryad or water nymph could not have startled me at that +moment: they belonged there, and were looked for. I shall hardly again +renew those impressions; it was all so unexpected, and one is not twice +surprised in the same manner. That wondrous amphitheatre was for once +made cheerful with the broad, horizontal bars of fire that shifted about +it, yet all its lights were mellowed in the purpling mists of evening, +and the whole was pictured in little on the surface of the lake. There +was nothing earthly visible, I thought then, for every thing seemed +transfigured, floating in a lucent atmosphere. It was the hour when the +birds are silent for the space of one intense moment, stopping with one +accord--perhaps holding their breath till the spell is broken. As I +stood entranced, a large golden leaf, ready and willing to die, let go +its hold on the top bough of a tree overhanging the water. From twig to +twig it swung. I heard every sound in its fall till it was out of the +congregation of its fellows, turning over and over in mid-air, sailing +toward the centre of the lake. There it hung on the rim of that +stainless crystal, while a thin ring of silver light noiselessly +expanded toward the shore. The sun was down. All the birds of heaven +said so with their bubbling throats. Bewildered with the delicious +conclusion of this illustration of still life, I turned homeward, +dispelling the mirage. Then such a ride home in the keen air, while a +pillar of smoke rose over the little cabin, telling me which of the +hundred bowers of autumn sheltered my nest. + +But, again and again, I have seen all. Pohono has breathed upon me with +its fatal breath, yet I survive. It is said that three Indian girls were +long ago bewitched by its waters, and now their perturbed spirits haunt +the place. Those perfectly round rainbows may form the nimbus for each +of the martyrs; they, at any rate, look supernatural enough for such an +office. The wildly wooded pass to the Vernal and Nevada Falls has echoed +to my tread. I have been sprayed upon till my spirit is never dry of the +life-giving waters that flow so freely. But I am just a little tired of +all this. I begin to breathe short, irregular breaths. The soul of this +mighty solitude oppresses me; I want more air of the common sort, and +less wisdom in daily talks and walks. I remember the pleasant nonsense +of life over the mountains, and sigh for those flesh-pots of Egypt once +in a while. These rocks are full of texts and teachings--these cliffs +are tables of stone, graven with laws and commandments. I read +everywhere mysterious cyphers and hieroglyphics; every changing season +offers to me a new palimpsest. I do not quite like to play here; I dare +not be simple; I'm altogether too good to last long. How many thousand +ascensions have been made in these worshipful days, I wonder; not merely +getting the body on to the tops of these wonderful peaks, but going +thither in spirit, as when the soul goes up into the mountains to pray? +This eye-climbing is as fatiguing and perilous as any. I feel the want +of some pure blue sky. + +A few farewell rambles associate themselves with packing up and plans of +desertion. Not sad farewells in this case, for if I never again meet +these individual mountains, I carry with me their memory, eternal and +incomparably glorious. Let us peep into this nook: I got plentiful +blackberries there in the spring, together with stains and thorny +scratches. I haul myself over the ferry and back, for old acquaintance' +sake; the current is so lazy, it seems incredible that the same waters +are almost impassable at some seasons. I succeed in wrecking a whole +armada of floating leaves with stems like a bowsprit. A few beetles take +passage in these gilded barges--no doubt, for the antipodes. + +Did you ever drive up the cattle at milking time? I have; but not +without endless trial and tribulation, for they spill off the path on +either side in a very remarkable way, and when I rush after one with a +flank movement, the column breaks and falls back utterly demoralized. A +little strategy on the part of their commander (which is myself) +triumphs in the end, for I privately reconstruct and march them all up +in detachments of one. I look after the little trees, the unbent twigs; +they are more interesting to me than your monsters. This nursery of +saplings sprang up in a night after a freshet: here are quivering aspens +trembling forever in penance for that one sin. They once were gravely +pointed out by the guide of a party of tourists as "shuddering asps." He +is doubtless the same who, being asked "what that was," (pointing to the +North Dome, six thousand feet in the air) said "he'd be hanged if he +knew; some knob or other." I recall ten thousand pleasant times as I +turn my face seaward; not only the great and omnipotent shadows under +the south wall of the valley, nor the continuous canticles of the +waters, but innumerable little things that fill up and make life +perfect. + +The talks, the walks with my friends here, the parrot "Sultan," fed +daily from the table, soliloquizing upon men and things in Arabic and +Hindostanee, for he scorns English and talks in his sleep. There is +_Bobby_, the grossbeak, brought to the door in pin feathers and skin +like oiled silk by an Indian. His history is tragic: this Indian brained +the whole family and an assortment of relatives; Bobby alone remaining +to brood over the massacre, was sold into bondage for two bits and a +tin dipper without the bottom. The sun seems to lift his gloom, for he +sings a little, sharpens his bill with great gusto and tomahawks a bit +of fruit, as though dealing vengeance upon the destroyer of his race. + +[Illustration: Sentinel Hotel, Yosemite, in 1869] + +When shall I see another such cabin as this--its great fireplaces, and +the loft heaping full of pumpkins? O, Yosemite! O, halcyon days, and +bed-time at eight P.M., tucking in for ten good hours and up again at +six; good eatings and drinkings day by day, mugs of milk and baked +squash forever, plenty of butter to our daily bread; letters at wide +intervals, and long, uninterrupted "thinks" about home and friends (as +the poet of the "Hermitage" writes in one of his letters). Shall I ever +again sit for two mortal hours hearing a housefly buzz in the window and +thinking it a pleasant voice! But alas! those restless days, when the +air was full of driving leaves and I could find nothing on earth to +comfort me. + +I leave this morning. Opportunity takes me by the hand and leads me +away. The heart leaps with emotion: everything is momentous in a quiet +life. This is the portal we entered one deepening dusk. Its threshold +will soon be cushioned with snow; let us hasten on. If I were asked when +is the time to visit Yosemite, I should reply: Go in the spring; see the +freshets and the waterfalls in their glory, and the valley in its fresh +and vivid greenness. Go again, by all means, in the autumn, when the +woods are powdered with gold dust and a dreamy haze sleeps in the long +ravines; when the stars sparkle like crystals and the mornings are +frosty; when the clouds visit us in person, and the trees look like +crayon sketches on a vapory background, and the cliffs like leaning +towers traced in sepia on a soft ground glass. Go in spring and autumn, +if possible. I should choose autumn of the two; but go at any hazard, +and do not rest till you have been. You can enter and go out at this +portal. Passing seaward, to the left, out of the gray and groping mists +a form, arises, monstrous and awful in its proportions; spurning the +very earth that crumbles at its very base as it towers to heaven. The +vapors of the air cleave to its massive front. The passing cloud is +caught and torn in the grand carvings of its capitals. Gaze upon it in +the solemnity of its sunlit surface. Impressive, impassive, magnetic; +having a pulse and the organs of life almost; terrible as the forehead +of a god. The full splendor of the noonday can not belittle it, night +can not compass it. The moon is paler in its presence and wastes her +lamp, the stars are hidden and lost over and beyond it. Across the face +of it is borne forever the shadowy semblance of a swift and flying +figure. Despair and desperation are in the nervous energy depicted in +this marvelous medallion. Surely, the Indian may look with a degree of +reverence upon that picture, painted by the morning light, fading in the +meridian day, and gone altogether by evening. A grand etching of +colossal proportions, representing the great chief Tutochanula in his +mysterious flight. The Wandering Jew might look upon it and behold his +traditional beard and flowing robes blown here by the winds in the +rapidity of his desperate haste. It is the last one sees of the valley, +as it is the last any have seen of Tutochanula. He fled into the west, +cycles ago, and I follow him now into the west, nest-building, and +getting into the shadow and resting after the door of the mountain is +passed, and my soul no longer beats impetuously against those stormy +walls. + +With uncovered head, having nothing between me and Saturn, wiser, I +trust, for my intercourse with these masters, purer in heart and holier +for my prolonged vigil, with careful and reverential steps I pass out of +Yosemite shadows. + + + + +AN AFFAIR OF THE MISTY CITY + +I. + +WHAT THE MOON SHONE ON + + +She was a smallish moon, looking very chaste and chilly and she peered +vaguely through folds of scurrying fog. She shone upon a silent street +that ran up a moderate hill between far-scattered corporation +gas-lamps--a street that having reached the hill top seemed to saunter +leisurely across a height which had once been the most aristocratic +quarter of the Misty City; the quarter was still pathetically +respectable, and for three squares at least its handsome residences +stared destiny in the face and stood in the midst of flower-bordered +lawns, unmindful of decay. Its fountains no longer played; even its once +pampered children had grown up, and the young of the present generation +were of a different cast; but the street seemed not to heed these +changes; indeed it was growing a little careless of itself and needed +replanking. Was it a realization of this fact, I wonder, that caused it +on a sudden to run violently down a steep place into the Bay, as if it +were possessed of Devils? Well it might be, for the human scum of the +town gathered about the base of the hill, and the nights there were +unutterably iniquitous. + +O that pale watcher, the Moon! She shone on a rude stairway leading up +to the bare face of a cliff that topped the hill; and five and forty +uncertain steps that had more than once slid down into the street below +along with the wreckage of the winter rains, for the cliff was of rock +and clay and though the rock may stand until the crack of Doom, the clay +mingles with the elements and an annual mud pudding, tons in weight, was +deposited on the pavement of the high street, to the joy of the +juveniles and the grief of the belated pedestrians. The cliff towering +at the junction of the two thoroughfares shared with each its generous +mud-flow and half of it descended in lavalike cascades into the depths +of a ravine that crossed the high street at right angles, passing under +a bridge still celebrated as a triumph of architectural ungainliness. + +She shone, my Lady Moon, into that deep ravine which was half filled +with shadow and made a weird picture of the place; it seemed like the +bed of some dark noiseless river, the source of which was still +undiscovered; and as for its mouth, no one would ever find it, or, +finding, tell of it, for the few who trusted themselves to its voiceless +and invisible current were heard of no more; sometimes a sharp cry for +help pierced the midnight silence, and it was known upon the hill that +murder was being done down yonder--that was all. Yet day by day the +great tide of traffic poured through this subterranean passage, with +muffled roar as of a distant sea. + +She shone on all that was left of a once beautiful and imposing mansion. +It crowned the very brow of the cliff; it proudly overlooked all the +neighbors; it was a Gothic ruin girded about with a mantle of ivy and +dense creepers, yet not all of the perennial leafage that clothed it, +even to the eaves, could disguise the fact that the major portion of the +mansion had been razed to the ground lest it should topple and go +crashing into that gulf below. There, once upon a time, in a Gothic +garden shaded by slender cypresses, walked the golden youth of the land; +there, feminine lunch parties, pink teas, highly exclusive musicales and +fashionable hops, flourished mightily; now the former side-door served +as the front entrance to all that was left of the mansion; the stone +that was rejected had become the headstone of the corner, as it were; it +was an abrupt corner to be sure, with the upper half of its narrow door +filled with small panes of glass; its modest threshold was somewhat +worn; but upon the platform before it a large egg-shaped jar of +unmistakable Chinese origin encased the roots of a flowing cactus that +might have added a grace to the proudest palace in the Misty City. This +was the modest portal of the Eyrie; ivy vines sheltered it like a dense +thatch; ivy vines clung fast to a deep bay window that nearly filled one +side of the library of the old mansion, now a living-room; ivy vines +curtained the glazed wall of a conservatory where some one slept as in a +bower. A weird dwelling place was this the moon shone upon, where +pigeons nested and cooed at intervals in all the green nooks thereof. + +She shone on the tall slim panes of glass in the bay window till they +shimmered like ice, and brightened the carpet on the floor of the +room--a carpet that was faded and frayed; she threw a soft glow upon the +three walls beyond the window; where were low, convenient shelves of +books; there were books, books, books everywhere--books of all +descriptions, neither creed nor caution limited their range. Many +pictures and sketches in oil or water-color--some of them unframed--were +upon the walls above the book-shelves; there were bronze statuettes, +graceful figures of lute-strumming troubadours upon the old-fashioned +marble mantel; there were busts and medallions in plaster, and a few +casts after the antique. Heaped in corners, and upon the tops of the +book-shelves lay bric-a-brac in hopeless confusion; toy canoes from +Kamchatka and the Southern seas; wooden masks from the burial places of +the Alaskan Indians and the Theban Tombs of the Nile Kings; rude +fish-hooks that had been dropped in the coral seas; sharks' teeth; and +the strong beak of an albatross whose webbed feet were tobacco pouches +and whose hollow wing-bones were the long jointed stem of a pipe; spears +and war-clubs were there, brought from the gleaming shores of +reef-girdled islands; a Florentine lamp; a roll of papyrus; an idol from +Easter Island, the eyes of which were two missionary shirt buttons of +mother-of-pearl, of the Puritan type; your practical cannibal, having +eaten his missionary, spits out the shirt buttons to be used as the eyes +which see not; carved gourds were there, and calabashes; Mexican +pottery; and some of the latest Pompeiian antiquities such as are +miraculously discovered in the presence of the amazed and delighted +tourist who secretly purchases the same for considerably more than a +song. + +There were pious objects, many of them resembling the Ex Votos at a +shrine; an ebony and bronzed indulgenced crucifix with a history, and +Sacred Hearts done in scarlet satin with flames of shining tinsel +flickering from their tops. + +There were vines creeping everywhere within the room, from jars that +stood on brackets and made hanging gardens of themselves; creepers, +yards in length that sprung from the mouths of water-pots hidden behind +objects of interest, and these framed the pictures in living green; a +huge wide-mouthed vase stood in the bay window filled with a great pulu +fern still nourished by its native soil--a veritable tropical island +this, now basking in the moonlight far from its native clime. Japanese +and Chinese lanterns were there; and an ostrich egg brought from Nubia +that hung like an alabaster lamp lit by a moonbeam; and fans, of course, +but quaint barbaric ones from the Orient and the Equatorial Isles; and +framed and unframed photographs of celebrities each bearing an original +autograph; and easy chairs, nothing but the easiest chairs from the very +far-reaching one with the long arms like a pair of oars over which one +throws his slippered feet, and lolls in his pajamas in memory of an East +Indian season of exile, to the deep nest-like sleepy hollow quite big +enough for two, in which one dozes and dreams, and out of which it is so +difficult for one to rise. Over all this picturesque confusion grinned a +fleshless human skull with its eye sockets and yawning jaws stuffed full +of faded boutonnieres. + +The moon shone, but paler now for it was growing late, on a closed coupe +that rolled rapidly from the Club House in the early morning after a +High Jinks night, and clattered through the streets accompanied by the +matutinal milk wagons with their frequent, intermittent pauses; thus it +rolled and rolled over the resounding pavement toward that house on the +hill top, The Eyrie. + +The vehicle zigzagged up the steep grade, and stopped at the foot of +the long stairway; some one alighted and exchanged a friendly word or +two with the driver, for in that lonely part of the town it was pleasant +to hear the sound of one's own voice even if one was guiltily conscious +of making conversation; then with a cheerful "Good-night," this some-one +climbed the steps while the vehicle hurried away with its jumble of +hoofs and wheels. A key was heard at the outer door; the door sagged a +little in common with everything about the house--and a tenant passed +into the Eyrie. + +Enter Paul Clitheroe, sole scion of that melancholy house whose +foundations had sunk under him, and left him, at the age of five and +twenty, master of himself, but slave to fortune. + +In the dim light he closed and fastened the outer door; from a hall +scarcely large enough for two people to pass in, he entered the inner +room with the confident step of a familiar. Having deposited hat, cane +and ulster in their respective places--there was a place for everything +or it would have been quite impossible to abide in that snuggery--he +sank into one of the easy chairs, rolled a cigarette with meditative +deliberation, lighted it and blew the smoke into the moonlight where it +assumed a thousand fantastic forms. + +The silence of the room seemed emphasized by the presence of its +occupant; he was one who under no circumstances was likely to disturb +the serenity of a house. In most cases a single room takes on the +character of the one who inhabits it; this is invariably the case where +the apartment is in the possession of a woman; but turn a man loose in a +room, and leave him to himself for a season, and he will have made of +that room a witness strong enough to condemn or condone him on the Last +Day; the whole character of the place will gradually change until it has +become an index to the man's nature; where this is not the case, the man +is without noticeable characteristics. + +Those who knew Paul Clitheroe, the solitary at the Eyrie, would at once +recognize this room as his abode; those of his friends who saw this room +for the first time, without knowing it to be his home, would say: "Paul +Clitheroe would fit in here." A kind of harmonious incongruity was the +chief characteristic of the man and his solitary lodging. + +He sat for some time as silent as the inanimate objects in that +singularly silent room. An occasional turn of the wrist, the momentary +flash of the ash at the end of his cigarette, the smoke-wreath floating +in space--those were all that gave assurance of life; for when this +solitary returned into his well-chosen solitude he seemed to shed all +that was of the earth earthy, and to become a kind of spectre in a +dream. + +Having finished his cigarette, Paul withdrew into the conservatory, his +sleeping room, half doll's house and half bower, where the ivy had crept +over the top of the casement and covered his ceiling with a web of +leaves. Shortly he was reposing upon his pillow, over which his +holy-water font--a large crimson heart of crystal with flames of +burnished gold, set upon a tablet of white marble--seemed almost to +pulsate in the exquisite half-lights of approaching dawn. + +It may not have been manly, or even masculine, for him thus literally to +curtain his sleep, like a faun, with ivy; it may not have been orthodox +for him to admit to his Valhalla some of the false Gods, and to honor +them after a fashion; the one true God was duly adored, and all his +saints appealed to in filial faith. That was his nature and past +changing; if he could not look upon God as a Jealous God visiting His +judgments with fanatical justice upon the witted and half-witted, it was +because his was a nature which had never been warped by the various +social moral and religious influences brought to bear upon it. + +He may have lacked judgment, in the eyes of the world, but he had never +suffered seriously in consequence. It may not have been wise for him to +fondly nourish tastes and tendencies that were usually quite beyond his +means; but he did it, and doing it afforded him the greatest pleasure in +life. + +You will pardon him all this; every one did sooner or later, even those +who discountenanced similar weaknesses or affectations--or whatever you +are pleased to call them--in anyone else, soon found an excuse for +overlooking them in his case. + +He was not, thank heaven, all things to all men; all things to a few, he +may have been--yea, even more than all else to some, so long as the +spell lasted; to the majority, however, he was probably nothing, and +less than nothing. And what of that? If he did little good in the world, +he certainly did less evil, and, as he lay in his bed, under a white +counterpane upon which the dawning light, sifting through the vines that +curtained the glazed front of his sleeping room, fell in a mottled +Japanese pattern, and while the ivy that covered the Gothic ceiling +trailed long tendrils of the palest and most delicate green, each leaf +glossed as if it had been varnished, this unheroic-hero, this +pantheistic-devotee, this heathenized-Christian, this +half-happy-go-lucky æthestic Bohemian, lay upon his pillow, the +incarnation of absolute repose. + +And so the morning broke, and the early birds began to chirp in the ivy +and to prune their plumage and flutter among the leaves; and down the +street tramped the feet of the toilers on their way to forge and dock. +Over the harbor came the daffodil light from the sun-tipped eastern +hills, and it painted the waves that lapped the sleek sides of a yacht +lying at anchor under the hill. A yacht that Paul had watched many a day +and dreamed of many a night; for he often longed with a great longing to +slip cable and hie away, even unto the uttermost parts. + + + + +II. + +WHAT THE SUN SHONE ON + + +He shone on the far side of the eastern azure hills and set all the tree +tops in the wood beyond the wold aflame; he looked over the silhouette +out of a cloudless sky upon a Bay whose breadth and beauty is one of the +seven hundred wonders of the world; he paved the waves with gold, a path +celestial that angels might not fear to tread. He touched the heights of +the Misty City and the sea-fog that had walled it in through the night +as with walls of unquarried marble--albeit the eaves had dripped in the +darkness as after a summer shower--and anon the opaque vapors dissolved +and fled away. There she lay, the Misty City, in all her wasted and +scattered beauty; she might have been a picture for Poets to dream on +and Artists to love--their wonder and their despair--but she is not; she +is hideous to look upon save in the sunset or the after-glow when you +cannot see her, but only the dim vision of what she might have been. + +He rose as a God refreshed with sleep and called the weary to their +work, and disturbed the slumbers of those that toil not and spin not, +and have nothing to do but sleep. + +There were no secrets from him now; every detail was discovered; and so +having gilded for a moment the mossy shingles of the Eyrie he stole into +the room where Paul Clitheroe passed most of his waking hours, and +through the curtain of ivy and geraniums that screened the conservatory +from the eyes of the curious world, and where Paul was at this moment +sleeping the sleep of the just. From the bed of the ravine below the +Eyrie rose the rumble and roar of traffic. The hours passed by. The +sleeper began to turn uneasily on his pillow. The sound of hurrying feet +was heard upon the board walks in front of the Eyrie-cliff; many voices, +youthful voices, swelled the chorus that told of the regiments of +children now hastening to school. From dreamland Paul returned by easy +stages to the work-a-day world. He arose, donned a trailing garment with +angel sleeves and a large crucifix embroidered in scarlet upon the +breast--that robe made of him a cross between a Monk and a +Marchioness--slipped his feet into sandals and entered the larger +chamber which was at once living-room and library. He opened the +shutters in the deep bay window and greeted the day with the silent +solemnity of a fire-worshipper; gave drink to his potted palms and ferns +and flowering plants; let his eye wander leisurely over the titles of +his books; lingered a little while over his favorites and patted some of +them fondly on the back. Taking a small key from its nail by the door he +opened the mail box without, carrying his letters to his writing table +and leaving them there unopened. He loved to speculate as to whom the +writers were and what they may have said to him. This piqued his +curiosity, and tided him over a scant breakfast at an inexpensive but +fly-blown restaurant where he was wont to eat or make a more or less +brave effort to eat whenever he had the wherewithal to settle for the +same. Breakfast over and gone the young man returned to his Eyrie, and +in due course was at his writing table, and at work upon the weekly +article that had been appearing in the Sunday issue of one of the +popular Dailies for an indefinite period, and the price of which had on +several occasions kept him from becoming a conspicuous object of +charity. + +Having written himself out for the day, as he was apt to in a few hours, +he wandered down to the Club for a bit of refreshment which was sure to +be forthcoming, for his friends there were ever ready to dine him, or +more frequently to wine him, merely for the pleasure of his company. + +[Illustration: San Francisco in 1856] + +So the afternoon waned and the dinner hour approached; fortunately this +hour was usually bespoken and for a little while at least he was lapped +in luxury. On his way home he was very apt to turn in at the wicker +gates of a typical German Rathskellar where he was unmolested; where the +blustering pipes of a colossal orchestrion brayed through an aria from +Trovatore with more sound than sentiment and all unmindful of +modulation. + +He was at home by midnight, for the beer and the bravura ceased to flow +at the witching hour. Then he lounged in the easy chair, gradually and +not unconsciously shedding all the worldly influences that had been +clothing him as with a hair-shirt even since he first went forth that +morning. Safely he sank into the silence of the place. Every breath he +drew was balm; every moment healing. So he passed into the silence, +enfolded by invisible arms that led him gently to his pillow where he +sank to sleep with the trustful resignation of a tired babe. + +If this routine was ever varied it was a variation with a vengeance. +"From grave to gay, from lively to severe" might have been engraved upon +his escutcheon. It chanced that the family motto was Festina Lente; this +also was appropriate; had he not all his life made haste slowly? For +this very reason he had been accounted one of the laziest of his kind; +his indolence was a byword merely because he did not throw himself into +an easy chair at the Club, of an evening, and bewail his fate; because +he did not puff and blow and talk often of the work he had +accomplished, was accomplishing, or hastening forward to accomplishment. +With all his faults, thank heaven, that sin cannot be charged against +him. + + + + +III. + +BALM OF HURT WOUNDS + + +He was scrimping in every way; his case was growing desperate. The +books, the pictures, the bric-a-brac so precious in his eyes, he was +loath to part with; moreover, he was well aware that if he were to +trundle his effects down to an auction-room they would not bring him +enough to cover his expenses for a single week. "Better to starve in the +midst of my household gods," thought he, "than to part with them for the +sake of prolonging this misery." The situation was in some respects +serio-comic. While he seemed to have everything, he really had almost +nothing; he was in a certain sense at the mercy of his friends and +dependent upon them. + +As the dinner hour approached, Paul was called upon to make choice of +the character of his table-talk; there were several standing invitations +to dine at the houses of old friends, and these were a boon to him, for +at such houses the homeless fellow felt much at home. There were special +invitations, sometimes an embarrassing profusion of them--all kindly, +some persistent, and some even imperative; thus the dinner was a fixed +fact; the mood alone was to be consulted in his choice of a table and +after all how much of the success of a dinner depends upon the mood of +the diner! + +Paul's income was uncertain; while he had written much, and traveled +much as a special correspondent, he had never regularly connected +himself with any journal, and he knew nothing of the routine of +office-work. Sometimes, I may say not infrequently, he could not write +at all; yet his pen was his only source of revenue, and often he was +without a copper to his credit. He was, therefore, constrained to dine +sumptuously with friends, when he would have found a solitary salad a +sweet alternative, and independence far more acceptable. The state of +the exchequer was very often alarming, and his predicament might have +cast a stronger man into the depths; but Paul could fast without +complaint, when necessary, for he had fasted often; and, to confess the +truth, he would much rather have fasted on and on, than parted with any +of the little souvenirs that made his surroundings charming in spite of +his privations. The friends who loved and fondled him were wont to send +messengers to his door with gifts of flowers, books, pictures and the +like, when soup-tickets would have been more serviceable, though by no +means more acceptable. It had happened to him more than once, that +having failed to break his fast--for he had a judicious horror of debt, +born of bitter experience--he received at a late hour as tokens of +sincere interest in his welfare, scarf pins, perfumery and scented soap; +or it may have been a silk handkerchief bearing the richly wrought +monogram of the happy but hungry recipient. At any rate these +testimonials of his popularity were never edible. Was this hard luck? He +went from one swell dinner to another, day after day, with never so much +as a crumb between meals. It of course made some difference to him--this +prolonged abstinence--but fortunately, or unfortunately, the effect upon +him mentally, morally and physically was hardly visible to the naked +eye. + +He had a dress coat of the strictly correct type, which he had worn but +a few times; he had lectured in it; once or twice, he had recited poems +in it to the audiences of admiring lady friends. It was of no use to him +now, and he felt that he should never need it again. On the street below +him was a small shop, kept by the customary Israelite. Again and again, +Paul had noted the sun-faded frock-coat swinging from a hook over the +sidewalk in front of this shop; he had said, "I will take this coat to +him; it is a costly garment; divide the original price of it by the +number of times I have worn it and I find it has cost me about ten +dollars an evening. Perhaps this old-clothes dealer will pay me a fair +price for it; Jew though he be, he may be possessed of the heart of a +Christian!" + +Alas and alack! All of Clitheroe's sufferings could be traced to the +cool, calculating hardness of the Christian's heart. Probably it was +prejudice alone that caused him to trust the Christian, and distrust the +Jew. + +From day to day he passed the shop, striving to muster courage enough to +enter and propose his bargain. At first he had imagined the dealer +offering him but ten dollars for the coat--it had cost him a goodly sum; +a little later he concluded that ten dollars was too little for any one +to offer him; he might take twenty; a day later thirty seemed to him a +probable offer, and shortly after he imagined himself consenting to +receive fifty dollars, since the coat was in such admirable repair. + +One day he took it to the dealer; he was not cordially welcomed by the +man in shirt sleeves, with whom of late he had held innumerable +imaginary conversations. The shop was extremely small and dark; the odor +of dead garments pervaded it. With an earnest and kindly glance, Paul +invited the sympathy of Abraham the son of Moses who was the son of +Isaac; he saw nothing but speculation in those eyes. His coat was +examined and tossed aside, as possessing few attractions. Clitheroe's +heart sunk within him; and it sank deeper and deeper as it began to +dawn upon him that the Hebrew had no wish to possess the garment, and, +if he did so, he did so only to oblige the Christian youth. A bargain +was at last struck; Paul departed with five dollars in his pocket--his +dress-coat was a thing of the past. + +What could he do next to extricate himself from his dubious dilemma? He +had a small gold watch, a precious souvenir: "Gold is gold," said he, +"and worth its weight in gold." He had the address of one who was known +far and wide as "Uncle." He had heard of persons of the highest +respectability seeking this uncle when close pressed, and there finding +temporary relief at the hands of one who is in some respects a good +Samaritan in disguise. Paul found it absolutely impossible for him to +enter the not unattractive front of this establishment but there was a +"private entrance" in a small dark alley-way; so delicate is the +consideration of an uncle whose business it is to nourish those in +distress. + +One night, it was late at night, Clitheroe stole guiltily in through the +private entrance, and sought succor of his uncle: this was an unctuous +uncle, who was as sympathetic and emotional as an undertaker. Paul +exhibited his watch; not for worlds would he part with it forever; money +he must have at once, and surely some good angel would come to his +assistance before many days; this state of affairs could not exist much +longer. Mine uncle examined the watch with kindly eyes; with a pathetic +shake of his head, a pitiful lifting of his bushy eyebrows, a +commiserating shrug of his fat shoulders, and a petulant pursing of his +plump lips as much as to say, "Well, it is a pity, but we must make the +best of it, you know"--he told Clitheroe he would advance him ten +dollars on the watch. For this the boy was to pay one dollar per week, +and in the end receive his watch, as good as new, for the sum of ten +dollars, as originally advanced. Paul hesitated, but consented since he +had no choice in the matter. + +"What name?" asked the Uncle, benevolently. + +"P. Clitheroe," said Paul under his breath, as if he feared the whole +world might know of his disgrace; he looked upon this transaction as +nothing short of disgrace, and he wished to keep it a profound secret. + +"Oh, yes; I know the name very well. Well, Mr. Clitheroe, here is your +ticket; take good care of it; and here is your money--you will always +pay your money in advance, and weekly, until you redeem your pledge. I +deduct the dollar for the first week." + +Clitheroe took the proffered money, and withdrew. To his surprise and +chagrin he found himself possessed of but nine dollars. "It will not go +far," thought he with a heavy sigh; "and where is the dollar to come +from? I don't see that I have gained much by this exchange." + +What he gained was this: for fifteen weeks he managed by the strictest +economy to pay his dollar. At the end of that time, he no longer found +it possible to even pay a dollar and the affair with the Uncle ended +with his having lost, not only his watch, but sixteen dollars into the +bargain. + + * * * * * + +A month has passed: the sun is streaming through the tall narrow windows +of a small chapel; the air is flooded with the music that floats from +the organ loft, the solemn strains of a requiem chanted by sweet +boy-voices; clouds of fragrant incense half obscure the altar, where the +priest in black vestments is offering the solemn sacrifice of the Mass +for the repose of the soul of one whom Paul had loved dearly ever since +he was a child. There is one chief mourner kneeling before the altar--it +is Paul Clitheroe. + +When the Mass is over, while the exquisite silence of the place is +broken only by the occasional note of some bird lodging in the branches +of the trees without, Paul lingers in profound meditation. He is not at +all the Paul whom we knew but a few months ago; through some mysterious +influence he seems to have cast off his careless youth, and to have +become a grave and thoughtful man. + +From the chapel he wanders into the quiet library on the opposite side +of a cloister, where the flowers grow in tangle, and a fountain splashes +musically night and day, and the birds build and the bees swarm among +the blossoms. Now we see him chatting with the Fathers as they stroll up +and down in the sunshine; now musing over the graves of the Franciscan +Friars who founded the early missions on the Coast; now dreaming in the +ruins of the orchard--wandering always apart from the novices and the +scholastics, who sometimes regard him curiously as if he were not wholly +human but a kind of shadow haunting the place. + +His heart grew warm and mellow as he sat by the adobe wall under the +red-baked Spanish tiles, richly mossed with age, and contemplated the +statue of the Madonna in the trellised shrine overgrown with passion +flowers. There were votive offerings of flowers at her feet, and he laid +his tribute there from day to day. Neither did he neglect to pay his +visit to the shrine of St. Joseph, in the cloister, or St. Anthony of +Padua, whom he loved best of all, and whose statue stood under the +willows by the great pool of gold fish. + +He used to count the hours and the quarter hours as they chimed in the +belfry and he was beginning to grow fond of the inexorable routine and +to find it passing sweet and restful. + +He was unconsciously falling into a mode of life such as he had never +known before, and he seemed to feel a growing repugnance to the world +without him; how very far away it seemed now! He realized an increasing +sense of security so long as he lodged within those gates. His dark +robed companions, the amiable Fathers, cheered him, comforted him, +strengthened him; and yet when his ghostly father one day sent word to +Clitheroe that he desired to see him immediately, and thereupon insisted +that the heart-broken boy accompany him to the retreat of his Order, he +had no thought other than to offer Paul the change of scene which alone +might help to tide the youth over the first crushing pangs of +bereavement. + +"Give me a week or two of your time," pleaded the good priest--"and I +will introduce you to a course of life such as you have never known; it +should interest and perhaps benefit you; possibly you may find it +delightful. At any rate you must be hastened out of the morbid mood +which now possesses you, even if we have to drag you by force." + +So Paul went with him, suddenly and in a kind of desperation: his visit +was prolonged from day to day, until some weeks had passed. Peace was +returning to him--peace such as he had never known before. + + * * * * * + +Meanwhile certain of the young poet's friends had called to see him at +the Eyrie, and to their amazement found his rooms deserted; in the +staring bay window with the inner blinds thrown wide open was notice "To +Let." His landlady knew nothing of his whereabouts. He had said good-bye +to no one. His disappearance was perhaps the most mysterious of +mysterious disappearances! + + * * * * * + +Now, what really happened was this. Having packed everything he valued +and seen it safely stored, he settled with his landlady and went down to +the Club. It was his P.P.C., though no one there suspected it, and with +just a touch of sentiment--he walked through the rooms alone; he saw at +a glance that the usual habitues of the place were employing themselves +in the same old way. Though he had not been there often of late, no one +seemed much surprised to see him; he passed through the suite of rooms +without addressing himself to any one in particular; a glance of +recognition here and there; a smile, a slight nod, now and again, this +was all. Having made the rounds he returned to the cloak-room, took his +hat and cane and departed. + +From that hour dated his disappearance. From that hour the Eyrie saw him +no more forever. + + * * * * * + + + + +IV. + +BY THE WORLD FORGOT + + +For a long while he had been listening to the moan of the sea--the wail +and the warning that rise from every reef in that wild waste of waters. +There was no moon, but the large stars cast each a wake upon the wave, +and the distant surf-lines were faintly illuminated by a phosphorescent +glow. + +There were reefs on every hand, and treacherous currents that would have +imperilled the ribs of any craft depending on the winds alone for its +salvation; but the "_Waring_," its pulse of steam throbbing with a slow +measured beat, picked its way in the glimmering night with a confidence +that made light of dangers past, present, and to come. + +It had struck eight-bells forward; midnight; the air was warm, moist, +caressing; it stole forth from invisible but not far distant vales +ladened with the unmistakable odor of the land--a fragrance that was at +times faint enough, but at other times was almost overwhelming; from the +heart of the tropics only, is such perfume distilled; few who inhale it +for the first time can resist its subtle charm; its influence once +yielded to, the soul is soon enslaved and the dreams that follow are +never to be forgotten. + +Eight-bells, and silence broken only by the swish of the propeller as it +ploughed slowly, deliberately, through the sea; the slap of the ripples +under the prow, and an occasional harp-like sigh of the zephyr in the +softly-vibrating shrouds; Paul Clitheroe had stolen out of the cabin and +was sitting by the companion-way on the port side. A small ladder still +hung there, for there had been boating and bathing just before dinner, +and there was sure to be more or less fishing whenever the weather was +favorable. Moreover, it must be acknowledged that the yacht was +liberty-hall afloat, yes, adrift, on a go-as-you-please cruise, and +things were not always in ship-shape. + +An old half-breed Trader, who knew these seas as the star-gazer knows +the skies, was in the wheelhouse; every wakeful eye among officers and +crew, was at the prow peering into the depth in search of +danger-signals; every ear was listening intently for an order from the +lips of the pilot, and for the first whisper of the wave upon the reef. +Meanwhile the vessel crept forward with utmost caution, barely ruffling +the water under her keel. + +_One Bell! Two Bells!_ Clitheroe had for a long time been sitting +unobserved by the companion-way. He had dined with a riotous company and +withdrew as soon after dinner as possible; this privilege was freely +accorded him, for he was at intervals gloomy, or silent, and his +companions were quite willing to dispense with his society. Hilarity had +ceased for the night, the fact was patent. The truth is, there was apt +to be something too much of it aboard that ship. When a young gentleman, +on the death of a distant relative, comes suddenly into an almost +fabulous fortune, he is apt to set about doing that which pleases him +best; in all probability he overdoes it. If he be fond of any society +and is willing to pay for the purchase of it, he will find no difficulty +in supplying himself, even to the verge of satiety. + +A certain gentleman who shall be nameless in these pages but who came to +be known among his followers as _The Commodore_, finding himself heir to +a fortune, chartered a yacht for a summer cruise, and invited his +friends to join him. The yacht had been for some weeks the scene of +unceasing festivity; the joyous party on board her had passed from +island to island, the feted guests of Kings and Queens and dusky Chiefs; +feasting, dancing, and the exchange of gifts--these were the order of +entertainment night and day. + +It was a novel life for most who were on board, filled with adventure +and spectacular surprises. The Commodore's hospitality was boundless; +the appetites of his guests insatiable. But Clitheroe had seen all this +from quite another point of view; he had been a native among the +natives; admitted into brotherhood with the tribe, he had lived the life +they lead until it had become as natural to him as if he had been born +to it. Their thoughts were his thoughts, their tongue, his tongue. He +was thinking of this as he sat by the companion-way, in the silence, +unobserved. + +_Three Bells!_ He rose and going to the open transom, looked down into +the cabin. The long dinner table had been relieved of dessert-dishes, +but the after-dinner bottles were there in profusion, and cigar-boxes +and cigarettes within convenient reach; it was an odd scene; a picture +of confusion in a dead calm. The lights were burning low and there was +no sound save the hoarse breathing of some of the revelers who had +subsided into uncomfortable positions and were too heavy with sleep to +seek easier ones. Clitheroe saw at the head of the table the Commodore, +stretched back in his easy chair; he was fast asleep; there was no doubt +about that. His guests one and all were dozing. The drowsy stupor that +follows a debauch pervaded the whole company. I venture the assurance +that not one person present could have been aroused in season to save +himself or herself had the ship at that moment struck a reef, and +foundered. + +There they were, dimly outlined under the cabin-lamps, the companions +with whom for a season Clitheroe had been more or less intimately +associated in the Misty City; the Bohemians who had found it an easy and +pleasant thing to flock upon the deck of the "_Waring_," one foggy +afternoon, and set sail on a summer cruise. The Commodore invited them +for his entertainment, and because he was a mighty good fellow and could +afford to. They went for a change of air and scene, in search of +adventure--and moreover they were sure of luxurious hospitality for at +least six months. Clitheroe joined the company, not only for the reason +that there seemed nothing else for him to do, but he was glad of the +opportunity of revisiting a quarter of the globe so very dear to him. +This voyage, he thought, might re-awaken his interest in life; at any +rate, he could lose nothing by taking it, and that settled the question +for him. + +The singers, the dancers, the painters and poets made life very lively +in that summer sea; it was a case of sweet idleness with wine, women and +wits, and all the world before them where to choose. It must be +confessed that Clitheroe had enjoyed himself in the society of these old +comrades--you would recognize most of them were he to name them; but +tonight, or rather this early morning he had begun to moralize, as he +peered down the transom upon the half-shadowy forms of those feasters +who had fallen by the way. He was asking himself if it paid--this +high-pressure happiness that knew no respite save temporary +insensibility? He began to think that it did not, and with a shrug of +his shoulders and a faint sigh, he turned away. He was about to resume +his solitary watch, for he could not sleep on such a night, when his eye +was attracted by a flitting shadow weaving to and fro astern; it seemed +to be soaring upon the face of the waters; was it some broad-winged +sea-bird following in their wake? He watched it as it drew near, growing +larger and larger every moment. No! it was not a bird; but it was the +next thing to one. + +Out of the darkness was evolved the slender hull of a canoe, the wide, +many ribbed sail, and the dusky forms of three naked islanders. They had +not yet taken note of him; with a sudden impulse, he stole up to the +transom, and standing over it so that the lights from the cabin-lamps +shone full upon him, he waved a signal to the savages, enjoining +silence, and bidding them approach with caution. + +In a few moments they had wafted themselves noiselessly up under the +companion ladder, and there, with suppressed excitement, he was +recognized. Old friends these, pals in the past, young chiefs from an +island he had loved and mourned. + +There was a moment of passionate greeting, and but a moment, in the +silence under the stars, then, with a sudden resolve, and with never a +glance backward, Clitheroe, descending the ladder, entered the canoe +and it swung off into the night. + +Two hours later, the "_Waring_," having run clear of the labyrinthine +reefs, steamed up and was out of sight before daybreak. + + * * * * * + +"_And what is left? Dust and Ash and a Tale--or not even a Tale_!" + +MARCUS AURELIUS. + + + + + + + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of In the Footprints of the Padres +by Charles Warren Stoddard + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK IN THE FOOTPRINTS OF THE PADRES *** + +***** This file should be named 13321-8.txt or 13321-8.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + https://www.gutenberg.org/1/3/3/2/13321/ + +Produced by PG Distributed Proofreaders + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: In the Footprints of the Padres + +Author: Charles Warren Stoddard + +Release Date: August 29, 2004 [EBook #13321] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK IN THE FOOTPRINTS OF THE PADRES *** + + + + +Produced by PG Distributed Proofreaders + + + + + +</pre> + +<a name="image-1"><!-- Image 1 --></a> +<center> +<img src="images/illus-0000-2.jpg" height="400" width="685" +alt="Life at the Mission of Dolores, 1855"> +</center> + +<h4>Life at the Mission of Dolores, 1855</h4> +<br /><br /> + + +<h1>IN THE</h1> +<h1>FOOTPRINTS OF</h1> +<h1>THE PADRES</h1><br /> + +<h4>BY</h4> +<h2>CHARLES WARREN STODDARD</h2><br /> + + +<h4>NEW AND ENLARGED EDITION</h4> + +<h5>INTRODUCTION BY</h5> +<h3>CHARLES PHILLIPS</h3><br /> + + +<h4>SAN FRANCISCO<br /> +A.M. Robertson<br /> +MCMXII</h4><br /><br /> + + +<h4>TO MY FATHER<br /> +SAMUEL BURR STODDARD, ESQ.<br /> +FOR HALF A CENTURY<br /> +A CITIZEN OF SAN FRANCISCO</h4><br /><br /> + + +<h4>THOUGH THE KINDNESS OF THE EDITORS <br /> +OF THE SAN FRANCISCO CHRONICLE,<br /> +THE CENTURY MAGAZINE, THE <br /> +OVERLAND MONTHLY, THE <br /> +AVE MARIA, NOTRE DAME, INDIANA,<br /> +THE VICTORIAN REVIEW, MELBOURNE</h4><br /><br /> + + + + +<hr style='width: 65%;' /> +<h2>INTRODUCTION</h2> +<br /> + + +<p><img align="left" src="images/illus-s.png" height="77" width="75" +alt="S"> + +<b><big>INCE</big></b> the first and second editions of "In the Footprints of the +Padres" appeared, many things have transpired. San Francisco has been destroyed +and rebuilt, and in its holocaust most of the old landmarks mentioned in +the pages that follow as then existing, have been obliterated. Since +then, too, the gentle heart, much of whose story is told herein, has +been hushed in death. Charles Warren Stoddard has followed on in the +footprints of the Padres he loved so well. He abides with us no longer, +save in the sweetest of memories, memories which are kept ever new by +the unforgettable writings which he left behind him. He passed away +April 23, 1909, and lies sleeping now under the cypresses of his beloved +Monterey.</p> + +<p>Charles Warren Stoddard was possessed of unique literary gifts that were +all his own. These gifts shine out in the pages of this book. Here we +find that mustang humor of his forever kicking its silver heels with the +most upsetting suddenness into the honeyed sweetness of his flowing +poetry. Here, too, we find that gift of word-painting which makes all +his writings a brilliant gallery of rich-hued and soft-lighted wonder. +Of the green thickets of the redwood forests he says, in "Primeval +California": "A dense undergrowth of light green foliage caught and held +the sunlight like so much spray." So do Stoddard's pages catch and hold +the lights and shadows of a world which is the more beautiful because he +beheld it and sang of it—for sing he did. His prose is the essence of +poetry.</p> + +<p>In my autograph copy of "The Footprints of the Padres" Stoddard wrote: +"A new memory of Old Monterey is the richer for our meeting here for the +first time in the flesh. We have often met in spirit ere this." Whenever +we would go walking together, he and I, through the streets of that old +Monterey, old no longer save in memory, he would invariably take me to a +certain high board fence, and looking through an opening show me the +ruins of an adobe house—nothing but a broken fireplace left, moss-grown +and crumbling away. "That is my old California," he would say, while his +sweet voice was shaken with tears. That desolated hearth seemed to him +the symbol of the California which he had known and loved.... But no, +the old California that Stoddard loved lives on, and will, because he +caught and preserved its spirit and its coloring, its light and life and +music. As the redwood thicket holds the sunlight, so do Stoddard's words +keep bright and living, though viewed through a mist of tears, the +California of other days.</p> + +<p>In this new edition of "The Footprints" some changes will be found, +changes which all will agree make an improvement over the original +volume. "Primeval California," first published in October, 1881, in the +old Scribner's (now The Century) Magazine, when James G. Holland was its +editor, is at times Stoddard at his best. "In Yosemite Shadows" shows us +the young Stoddard full of boyish enthusiasm—he could not have been +more than twenty when it was written and published, in the old Overland, +then edited by Bret Harte. It is more than a gloriously poetic +description of Yosemite, when Yosemite still dreamed in its virgin +beauty; it is the revelation of a poet's beginnings, for it gives us in +the rough, just finding their way to the light, all those gifts which +later won Stoddard his fame.</p> + +<p>The third addition to this volume is "An Affair of the Misty City," a +valuable chapter, since it is wholly autobiographical, and at the same +time embodies pen portraits of all the celebrities of California's first +literary days, that famous group of which Stoddard was one. Of all the +group, Ina Coolbrith was closest and dearest to Stoddard's heart. The +beautiful abiding friendship which bound the souls of these two poets +together has not been surpassed in all the poetry and romance of the +world. These last added chapters are taken from "In the Pleasure of His +Company," which is out of print and may never be republished.</p> + +<p>The "Mysterious History," included in the original editions of "The +Footprints" has wisely been left out. It had no proper place in the +book: Stoddard himself felt that. The additions which have been supplied +by Mr. Robertson, who was for years Stoddard's publisher, and in whom +the author reposed the utmost confidence, make a real improvement on the +original book.</p> + +<p>"We have often met in spirit ere this," Stoddard wrote me. We had; and +we meet again and again. I feel him very near me as I write these words; +and I feel, too, that his gentle soul will visit everyone who reads the +chronicles he has here set down, so that even though no shaft rise in +marble glory to mark his last resting place, still in unnumbered hearts +his memory will be enshrined. With his poet friend, Thomas Walsh, well +may we say:</p> + +<div class='poem'><div class='stanza'> +<span>"Vain the laudation!—What are crowns and praise<br /></span> +<span class='i2'>To thee whom Youth anointed on the eyes?<br /></span> +<span class='i4'>We have but known the lesser heart of thee<br /></span> +<span>Whose spirit bloomed in lilies down the ways<br /></span> +<span class='i2'>Of Padua; whose voice perpetual sighs<br /></span> +<span class='i4'>On Molokai in tides of melody."<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<div class='sig'> +<span>CHARLES PHILLIPS.</span> +</div> + +<div class='date'> +<span>San Francisco,<br /></span> +<span class='i2'>September first,<br /></span> +<span class='i4'>Nineteen hundred and eleven.<br /></span> +</div> + + + + +<hr style='width: 65%;' /> +<h2>TABLE OF CONTENTS</h2> +<br /> + +<div class='toc'> +<a href='#OLD_DAYS_IN_EL_DORADO'><span>Old Days in El Dorado—</span></a> +<a href='#ODI'><span class='i4'>I. "Strange Countries for to See"</span></a> +<a href='#ODII'><span class='i4'>II. Crossing the Isthmus</span></a> +<a href='#ODIII'><span class='i4'>III. Along the Pacific Shore</span></a> +<a href='#ODIV'><span class='i4'>IV. In the Wake of Drake</span></a> +<a href='#ODV'><span class='i4'>V. Atop o' Telegraph Hill</span></a> +<a href='#ODVI'><span class='i4'>VI. Pavement Pictures</span></a> +<a href='#ODVII'><span class='i4'>VII. A Boy's Outing</span></a> +<a href='#ODVIII'><span class='i4'>VIII. The Mission Dolores</span></a> +<a href='#ODIX'><span class='i4'>IX. Social San Francisco</span></a> +<a href='#ODX'><span class='i4'>X. Happy Valley</span></a> +<a href='#ODXI'><span class='i4'>XI. The Vigilance Committee</span></a> +<a href='#ODXII'><span class='i4'>XII. The Survivor's Story</span></a> +<a href='#Old_China'><span>A Bit of Old China</span></a> +<a href='#Egg-Pickers'><span>With the Egg-Pickers of the Farallones</span></a> +<a href='#Memory'><span>A Memory of Monterey</span></a> +<a href='#Bungalow'><span>In a Californian Bungalow</span></a> +<a href='#Primeval'><span>Primeval California</span></a> +<a href='#Yachting'><span>Inland Yachting</span></a> +<a href='#Yosemite'><span>In Yosemite Shadows</span></a> +<a href='#Misty_City'><span>An Affair of the Misty City—</span></a> +<a href='#MCI'><span class='i4'>I. What the Moon Shone on</span></a> +<a href='#MCII'><span class='i4'>II. What the Sun Shone on</span></a> +<a href='#MCIII'><span class='i4'>III. Balm of Hurt Wounds</span></a> +<a href='#MCIV'><span class='i4'>IV. By the World Forgot</span></a> +</div> + + + + +<hr style='width: 65%;' /> +<h2>LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS</h2> +<br /> + +<div class='toc'> +<a href='#image-1'><span>Life at the Mission of Dolores, 1855<br /></span></a> +<a href='#image-2'><span>View of Montgomery, Post and Market Streets, San Francisco, 1858<br /></span></a> +<a href='#image-3'><span>Fort Point at the Golden Gate<br /></span></a> +<a href='#image-4'><span>The Outer Signal Station at the Golden Gate<br /></span></a> +<a href='#image-5'><span>City of Oakland in 1856<br /></span></a> +<a href='#image-6'><span>Interior of the El Dorado<br /></span></a> +<a href='#image-7'><span>Warner's at Meigg's Wharf<br /></span></a> +<a href='#image-8'><span>The Old Flume at Black Point, 1856<br /></span></a> +<a href='#image-9'><span>Lone Mountain, 1856<br /></span></a> +<a href='#image-10'><span>Russ Gardens, 1856<br /></span></a> +<a href='#image-11'><span>Certificate of Membership, Vigilance Committee, 1856<br /></span></a> +<a href='#image-12'><span>West from Black Point, 1856<br /></span></a> +<a href='#image-13'><span>"China is Not More Chinese than this Section of Our Christian City."<br /></span></a> +<a href='#image-14'><span>"Rag Alley" in Old Chinatown<br /></span></a> +<a href='#image-15'><span>The Farallones<br /></span></a> +<a href='#image-16'><span>Murre on their Nests, Farallone Islands<br /></span></a> +<a href='#image-17'><span>Monterey, 1850<br /></span></a> +<a href='#image-18'><span>San Carlos de Carmelo<br /></span></a> +<a href='#image-19'><span>"The Huge Court of that Luxurious Caravansary."<br /></span></a> +<a href='#image-20'><span>"The Gallery Among the Huge Vases of Palms and Creepers."<br /></span></a> +<a href='#image-21'><span>Meigg's Wharf in 1856<br /></span></a> +<a href='#image-22'><span>Telegraph Hill, 1855<br /></span></a> +<a href='#image-23'><span>Sentinel Hotel, Yosemite, in 1869<br /></span></a> +<a href='#image-24'><span>San Francisco in 1856<br /></span></a> +</div> + + + + +<hr style='width: 65%;' /> +<h2>THE BELLS OF SAN GABRIEL</h2> +<br /> + +<div class='cap'> +<img align="left" src="images/illus-t.png" height="75" width="77" +alt="T"></div> +<div class='poem'><div class='stanza'> +<span><b><big>HINE</big></b> was the corn and the wine,<br /></span> +<span class='i2'>The blood of the grape that nourished;<br /></span> +<span>The blossom and fruit of the vine<br /></span> +<span class='i2'>That was heralded far away.<br /></span> +<span>These were thy gifts; and thine,<br /></span> +<span class='i2'>When the vine and the fig-tree flourished,<br /></span> +<span>The promise of peace and of glad increase<br /></span> +<span class='i2'>Forever and ever and aye.<br /></span> +<span>What then wert thou, and what art now?<br /></span> +<span class='i2'>Answer me, O, I pray!<br /></span> +</div><div class='stanza'> +<span class='i4'>And every note of every bell<br /></span> +<span class='i4'>Sang Gabriel! Rang Gabriel!<br /></span> +<span class='i4'>In the tower that is left the tale to tell<br /></span> +<span class='i6'>Of Gabriel, the Archangel.<br /></span> +</div><div class='stanza'> +<span>Oil of the olive was thine;<br /></span> +<span class='i2'>Flood of the wine-press flowing;<br /></span> +<span>Blood o' the Christ was the wine—<br /></span> +<span class='i2'>Blood o' the Lamb that was slain.<br /></span> +<span>Thy gifts were fat o' the kine<br /></span> +<span class='i2'>Forever coming and going<br /></span> +<span>Far over the hills, the thousand hills—<br /></span> +<span class='i2'>Their lowing a soft refrain.<br /></span> +<span>What then wert thou, and what art now?<br /></span> +<span class='i2'>Answer me, once again!<br /></span> +</div><div class='stanza'> +<span class='i4'>And every note of every bell<br /></span> +<span class='i4'>Sang Gabriel! Rang Gabriel!<br /></span> +<span class='i4'>In the tower that is left the tale to tell<br /></span> +<span class='i6'>Of Gabriel, the Archangel.<br /></span> +</div><div class='stanza'> +<span>Seed o' the corn was thine—<br /></span> +<span class='i2'>Body of Him thus broken<br /></span> +<span>And mingled with blood o' the vine—<br /></span> +<span class='i2'>The bread and the wine of life;<br /></span> +<span>Out of the good sunshine<br /></span> +<span class='i2'>They were given to thee as a token—<br /></span> +<span>The body of Him, and the blood of Him,<br /></span> +<span class='i2'>When the gifts of God were rife.<br /></span> +<span>What then wert thou, and what art now,<br /></span> +<span class='i2'>After the weary strife?<br /></span> +</div><div class='stanza'> +<span class='i4'>And every note of every bell<br /></span> +<span class='i4'>Sang Gabriel! Rang Gabriel!<br /></span> +<span class='i4'>In the tower that is left the tale to tell<br /></span> +<span class='i6'>Of Gabriel, the Archangel.<br /></span> +</div><div class='stanza'> +<span>Where are they now, O, bells?<br /></span> +<span class='i2'>Where are the fruits o' the mission?<br /></span> +<span>Garnered, where no one dwells,<br /></span> +<span class='i2'>Shepherd and flock are fled.<br /></span> +<span>O'er the Lord's vineyard swells<br /></span> +<span class='i2'>The tide that with fell perdition<br /></span> +<span>Sounded their doom and fashioned their tomb<br /></span> +<span class='i2'>And buried them with the dead.<br /></span> +<span>What then wert thou, and what art now?—<br /></span> +<span class='i2'>The answer is still unsaid.<br /></span> +</div><div class='stanza'> +<span class='i4'>And every note of every bell<br /></span> +<span class='i4'>Sang Gabriel! Rang Gabriel!<br /></span> +<span class='i4'>In the tower that is left the tale to tell<br /></span> +<span class='i6'>Of Gabriel, the Archangel.<br /></span> +</div><div class='stanza'> +<span>Where are they now, O tower!<br /></span> +<span class='i2'>The locusts and wild honey?<br /></span> +<span>Where is the sacred dower<br /></span> +<span class='i2'>That the bride of Christ was given?<br /></span> +<span>Gone to the wielders of power,<br /></span> +<span class='i2'>The misers and minters of money;<br /></span> +<span>Gone for the greed that is their creed—<br /></span> +<span class='i2'>And these in the land have thriven.<br /></span> +<span>What then wer't thou, and what art now,<br /></span> +<span class='i2'>And wherefore hast thou striven?<br /></span> +</div><div class='stanza'> +<span class='i4'>And every note of every bell<br /></span> +<span class='i4'>Sang Gabriel! Rang Gabriel!<br /></span> +<span class='i4'>In the tower that is left the tale to tell<br /></span> +<span class='i6'>Of Gabriel, the Archangel.<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<div class='sig'> +<span>CHARLES WARREN STODDARD.</span> +</div> + + + +<hr style='width: 65%;' /> +<h2>IN THE FOOTPRINTS OF THE PADRES</h2> +<br /> +<hr style='width: 65%;' /><br /> + +<a name="image-2"><!-- Image 2 --></a> +<center> +<img src="images/illus-0001-2.jpg" height="400" width="729" +alt="View of Montgomery, Post and Market Streets, San Francisco, 1858"> +</center> +<h4>View of Montgomery, Post and Market Streets, San Francisco, 1858</h4> +<br /><br /> + +<a name='OLD_DAYS_IN_EL_DORADO'></a><h2>OLD DAYS IN EL DORADO</h2> + +<a name='ODI'></a><h2>I.</h2> + +<h3>"STRANGE COUNTRIES FOR TO SEE"</h3> +<br /> + +<p><img align="left" src="images/illus-n.png" height="75" width="77" +alt="N"> +<b><big>OW</big></b>, the very first book was called "Infancy"; and, having +finished it, I closed it with a bang! I was just twelve. 'Tis thus the +twelve-year-old is apt to close most books. Within those pages—perhaps +some day to be opened to the kindly inquiring eye—lie the records of a +quiet life, stirred at intervals by spasms of infantile intensity. There +are more days than one in a life that can be written of, and when the +clock strikes twelve the day is but half over.</p> + +<p>The clock struck twelve! We children had been watching and waiting for +it. The house had been stripped bare; many cases of goods were awaiting +shipment around Cape Horn to California. California! A land of fable! We +knew well enough that our father was there, and had been for two years +or more; and that we were at last to go to him, and dwell there with the +fabulous in a new home more or less fabulous,—yet we felt that it must +be altogether lovely. We said good-bye to everybody,—getting friends +and fellow-citizens more or less mixed as the hour of departure from our +native city drew near. We were very much hugged and very much kissed and +not a little cried over; and then at last, in a half, dazed condition, +we left Rochester, New York, for New York city, on our way to San +Francisco by the Nicaragua route. This was away back in 1855, when San +Francisco, it may be said, was only six years old.</p> + +<p>It seemed a supreme condescension on the part of our maternal +grandfather that he, who did not and could not for a moment countenance +the theatre, should voluntarily take us, one and all, to see an alleged +dramatic representation at Barnum's Museum—at that time one of the +features of New York city, and perhaps the most famous place of +amusement in the land. Four years later, when I was sixteen, very far +from home and under that good gentleman's watchful supervision, I asked +leave to witness a dramatic version of "Uncle Tom's Cabin," enacted by a +small company of strolling players in a canvas tent. There were no +blood-hounds in the cast, and mighty little scenery, or anything else +alluring; but I was led to believe that I had been trembling upon the +verge of something direful, and I was not allowed to go. What would that +pious man have said could he have seen me, a few years later, strutting +and fretting my hour upon the stage?</p> + +<p>Well, we all saw "Damon and Pythias" in Barnum's "Lecture Room," with +real scenery that split up the middle and slid apart over a carpet of +green baize. And 'twas a real play, played by real players,—at least +they were once real players, but that was long before. It may be their +antiquated and failing art rendered them harmless. And, then, those +beguiling words "Lecture Room" have such a soothing sound! They seemed +in those days to hallow the whole function, which was, of course, the +wily wish of the great moral entertainer; and his great moral +entertainment was even as "the cups that cheer but not inebriate." It +came near it in our case, however. It was our first matinee at the +theatre, and, oh, the joy we took of it! Years afterward did we children +in our playroom, clad in "the trailing garments of the night" in lieu of +togas, sink our identity for the moment and out-rant Damon and his +Pythias. Thrice happy days so long ago in California!</p> + +<p>There is no change like a sea change, no matter who suffers it; and +one's first sea voyage is a revelation. The mystery of it is usually not +unmixed with misery. Five and forty years ago it was a very serious +undertaking to uproot one's self, say good-bye to all that was nearest +and dearest, and go down beyond the horizon in an ill-smelling, +overcrowded, side-wheeled tub. Not a soul on the dock that day but fully +realized this. The dock and the deck ran rivers of tears, it seemed to +me; and when, after the lingering agony of farewells had reached the +climax, and the shore-lines were cast off, and the Star of the West +swung out into the stream, with great side-wheels fitfully revolving, a +shriek rent the air and froze my young blood. Some mother parting from a +son who was on board our vessel, no longer able to restrain her emotion, +was borne away, frantically raving in the delirium of grief. I have +never forgotten that agonizing scene, or the despairing wail that was +enough to pierce the hardest heart. I imagined my heart was about to +break; and when we put out to sea in a damp and dreary drizzle, and the +shore-line dissolved away, while on board there was overcrowding, and +confusion worse confounded in evidence everywhere,—perhaps it did +break, that overwrought heart of mine and has been a patched thing ever +since.</p> + +<p>We were a miserable lot that night, pitched to and fro and rolled from +side to side as if we were so much baggage. And there was a special +horror in the darkness, as well as in the wind that hissed through the +rigging, and in the waves that rushed past us, sheeted with foam that +faded ghostlike as we watched it,—faded ghostlike, leaving the +blackness of darkness to enfold us and swallow us up.</p> + +<p>Day after day for a dozen days we ploughed that restless sea. There were +days into which the sun shone not; when everybody and everything was +sticky with salty distillations; when half the passengers were sea-sick +and the other half sick of the sea. The decks were slimy, the cabins +stuffy and foul. The hours hung heavily, and the horizon line closed in +about us a gray wall of mist.</p> + +<p>Then I used to bury myself in my books and try to forget the world, now +lost to sight, and, as I sometimes feared, never to be found again. I +had brought my private library with me; it was complete in two volumes. +There was "Rollo Crossing the Atlantic," by dear old Jacob Abbot; and +this book of juvenile travel and adventure I read on the spot, as it +were,—read it carefully, critically; flattering myself that I was a lad +of experience, capable of detecting any nautical error which Jacob, one +of the most prolific authors of his day, might perchance have made. The +other volume was a pocket copy of "Robinson Crusoe," upon the fly-leaf +of which was scrawled, in an untutored hand, "Charley from +Freddy,"—this Freddy was my juvenile chum. I still have that little +treasure, with its inscription undimmed by time.</p> + +<p>Frequently I have thought that the reading of this charming book may +have been the predominating influence in the development of my taste and +temper; for it was while I was absorbed in the exquisitely pathetic +story of Robinson Crusoe that the first island I ever saw dawned upon my +enchanted vision. We had weathered Cape Sable and the Florida Keys. No +sky was ever more marvellously blue than the sea beneath us. The density +and the darkness that prevail in Northern waters had gone out of it; the +sun gilded it, the moon silvered it, and the great stars dropped their +pearl-plummets into it in the vain search for soundings.</p> + +<p>Sea gardens were there,—floating gardens adrift in the tropic gale; +pale green gardens of berry and leaf and long meandering vine, rocking +upon the waves that lapped the shores of the Antilles, feeding the +current of the warm Gulf Stream; and, forsooth, some of them to find +their way at last into the mazes of that mysterious, mighty, menacing +sargasso sea. Strange sea-monsters, more beautiful than monstrous, +sported in the foam about our prow, and at intervals dashed it with +color like animated rainbows. From wave to wave the flying fish skimmed +like winged arrows of silver. Sometimes a land-bird was blown across the +sky—the sea-birds we had always with us,—and ever the air was spicy +and the breeze like a breath of balm.</p> + +<p>One day a little cloud dawned upon our horizon. It was at first pale +and pearly, then pink like the hollow of a sea-shell, then misty +blue,—a darker blue, a deep blue dissolving into green, and the green +outlining itself in emerald, with many a shade of lighter or darker +green fretting its surface, throwing cliff and crest into high relief, +and hinting at misty and mysterious vales, as fair as fathomless. It +floated up like a cloud from the nether world, and was at first without +form and void, even as its fellows were; but as we drew nearer—for we +were steaming toward it across a sea of sapphire,—it brooded upon the +face of the water, while the clouds that had hung about it were +scattered and wafted away.</p> + +<p>Thus was an island born to us of sea and sky,—an island whose peak was +sky-kissed, whose vales were overshadowed by festoons of vapor, whose +heights were tipped with sunshine, and along whose shore the sea sang +softly, and the creaming breakers wreathed themselves, flashed like +snow-drifts, vanished and flashed again. The sea danced and sparkled; +the air quivered with vibrant light. Along the border of that island the +palm-trees towered and reeled, and all its gardens breathed perfume such +as I had never known or dreamed of.</p> + +<p>For a few hours only we basked in its beauty, rejoiced in it, gloried in +it; and then we passed it by. Even as it had risen from the sea it +returned into its bosom and was seen no more. Twilight stole in between +us, and the night blotted it out forever. Forever?</p> + +<p>I wonder what island it was? A pearl of the Antilles, surely; but its +name and fame, its history and mystery are lost to me. Its memory lives +and is as green as ever. No wintry blasts visit it; even the rich dyes +of autumn do not discolor it. It is perennial in its rare beauty, +unfading, unforgotten, unforgettable; a thing immutable, immemorial—I +had almost said immortal.</p> + +<p>Whence it came and whither it has gone I know not. It had its rising and +its setting; its day from dawn to dusk was perfect. Doubtless there are +those whose lives have been passed within its tranquil shade: from +generation to generation it has known all that they have known of joy or +sorrow. All the world that they have knowledge of has been compassed by +the far blue rim of the horizon. That sky-piercing peak was ever the +centre of their universe, and the wandering sea-bird has outflown their +thoughts.</p> + +<p>All this came to me as a child, when the first island "swam into my +ken." It was a great discovery—a revelation. Of it were born all the +islands that have been so much to me in later life. And even then I +seemed to comprehend the singular life that all islanders are forced to +live: the independence of that life—for a man's island is his fortress, +girded about with the fathomless moat of the sea; and the dependence of +it—for what is that island but an atom dotting watery space and so +easily cut off from communication with the world at large? Drought may +visit the islander, and he may be starved; the tornado may desolate his +shore; fever and famine and thirst may lie in wait for him; sickness and +sorrow and death abide with him. Thus is he dependent in his +independence.</p> + +<p>And he is insecluded in his seclusion, for he can not escape from the +intruder. He should have no wish that may not be satisfied, provided he +be native born; what can he wish for that is beyond the knowledge he has +gained from the objects within his reach? The world is his, so far as he +knows it; yet if he have one wish that calls for aught beyond his +limited horizon he rests unsatisfied.</p> + +<p>All that was lovely in that tropic isle appealed to me and filled me +with a great longing. I wanted to sing with the Beloved Bard:</p> + +<div class='poem'><div class='stanza'> +<span>Oh, had we some bright little isle of our own,<br /></span> +<span>In the blue summer ocean, far off and alone!<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p>And yet even then I felt its unutterable loneliness, as I have felt it a +thousand times since; the loneliness that starves the heart, tortures +the brain, and leaves the mind diseased; the loneliness that is +exemplified in the solitude of Alexander Selkirk.</p> + +<p>Robinson Crusoe lived in very truth for me the moment I saw and +comprehended that summer isle. He also is immortal. From that hour we +scoured the sea for islands: from dawn to dark we were on the watch. The +Caribbean Sea is well stocked with them. We were threading our way among +them, and might any day hear the glad cry of "Land ho!" But we heard it +not until the morning of the eleventh day out from New York. The sea +seemed more lonesome than ever when we lost our, island; the monotony of +our life was almost unbroken. We began to feel as prisoners must feel +whose <i>time</i> is near out. Oh, how the hours lagged!—but deliverance was +at hand. At last we gave a glad shout, for the land was ours again; we +were to disembark in the course of a few hours, and all was bustle and +confusion until we dropped anchor off the Mosquito Shore.</p> + + + +<hr style='width: 65%;' /> +<a name='ODII'></a><h2>II.</h2> + +<h3>CROSSING THE ISTHMUS</h3> +<br /> + +<p><img align="left" src="images/illus-w.png" height="75" width="77" +alt="W"> +<b><big>E</big></b> approached the Mosquito Shore timidly. The shallowing sea was of the +color of amber; the land so low and level that the foliage which covered +it seemed to be rooted in the water. We dropped anchor in the mouth of +the San Juan River. On our right lay the little Spanish village of San +Juan del Norte; its five hundred inhabitants may have been wading +through its one street at that moment, for aught we know; the place +seemed to be knee-deep in water. On our left was a long strip of +land—the depot and coaling station of the Vanderbilt Steamship Company.</p> + +<p>It did not appear to be much, that sandspit known as Punta Arenas, with +its row of sheds at the water's edge, and its scattering shrubs tossing +in the wind; but sovereignty over this very point was claimed by three +petty powers: Costa Rica, Nicaragua, and "Mosquito." Great Britain +backed the "Mosquito" claim; and, in virtue of certain privileges +granted by the "Mosquito" King, the authorities of San Juan del +Norte—the port better known in those days as Graytown, albeit 'twas as +green as grass—threatened to seize Punta Arenas for public use. +Thereupon Graytown was bombarded; but immediately rose, Phoenix-like, +from its ashes, and was flourishing when we arrived. The current number +of <i>Harper's Monthly</i>, a copy of which we brought on board when we +embarked at New York, contained an illustrated account of the +bombardment of Graytown, which added not a little to the interest of the +hour.</p> + +<p>While we were speculating as to the nature of our next experience, +suddenly a stern-wheel, flat-bottom boat backed up alongside of the Star +of the West. She was of the pattern of the small freight-boats that +still ply the Ohio and Mississippi rivers. If the Star of the West was +small, this stern-wheel scow was infinitely smaller. There was but one +cabin, and it was rendered insufferably hot by the boilers that were set +in the middle of it. There was one flush deck, with an awning stretched +above it that extended nearly to the prow of the boat. It was said our +passenger list numbered fourteen hundred. The gold boom in California +was still at fever heat. Every craft that set sail for the Isthmus by +the Nicaragua or Panama route, or by the weary route around Cape Horn, +was packed full of gold-seekers. It was the Golden Age of the Argonauts; +and, if my memory serves me well, there were no reserved seats worth the +price thereof.</p> + +<p>The first river boat at our disposal was for the exclusive accommodation +of the cabin passengers, or as many of them as could be crowded upon +her—and we were among them. Other steamers were to follow as soon as +practicable. Hours, even days, passed by, and the passengers on the +ocean steamers were sometimes kept waiting the arrival of the river +boats that were aground or had been belated up the stream.</p> + +<p>About two hundred of us boarded the first boat. Our luggage of the +larger sort was stowed away in barges and towed after us. The decks were +strewn with hand-bags, camp-stools, bundles, and rolls of rugs. The +lower deck was two feet above the water. As we looked back upon the Star +of the West, waving a glad farewell to the ship that had brought us more +than two thousand miles across the sea, she loomed like a Noah's Ark +above the flood, and we were quite proud of her—but not sorry to say +good-bye.</p> + +<p>And now away, into the very heart of a Central American forest! And hail +to the new life that lay all before us in El Dorado! The river was as +yellow as saffron; its shores were hidden in a dense growth of +underbrush that trailed its boughs in the water, and rose, a wall of +verdure, far above our smokestacks. As we ascended the stream the forest +deepened; the trees grew taller and taller; wide-spreading branches +hung over us; gigantic vines clambered everywhere and made huge hammocks +of themselves; they bridged the bayous, and made dark leafy caverns +wherein the shadows were forbidding; for the sunshine seemed never to +have penetrated them, and they were the haunts of weirdness and mystery +profound.</p> + +<p>Sometimes a tree that had fallen into the water and lay at a convenient +angle by the shore afforded the alligator a comfortable couch for his +sun-bath. Shall I ever forget the excitement occasioned by the discovery +of our first alligator! Not the ancient and honorable crocodile of the +Nile was ever greeted with greater enthusiasm; yet our sportsmen had +very little respect for him, and his sleep was disturbed by a shower of +bullets that spattered upon his hoary scales as harmlessly as rain.</p> + +<p>Though the alligator punctuated every adventurous hour of that memorable +voyage in Nicaragua, we children were more interested in our Darwinian +friends, the monkeys. They were of all shades and shapes and sizes; they +descended in troops among the trees by the river side; they called to us +and beckoned us shoreward; they cried to us, they laughed at us; they +reached out their bony arms, and stretched wide their slim, cold hands +to us, as if they would pluck us as we passed. We exchanged compliments +and clubs in a sham-battle that was immensely diverting; we returned +the missiles they threw at us as long as the ammunition held out, but +captured none of the enemy, nor did the slightest damage—as far as we +could ascertain.</p> + +<p>Often the parrots squalled at us, but their vocabulary was limited; for +they were untaught of men. Sometimes the magnificent macaw flew over us, +with its scarlet plumage flickering like flame. Oh, but those gorgeous +birds were splashes of splendid color in the intense green of that +tropical background!</p> + +<p>There were islands in this river,—islands that seemed to have no +shores, but lay half submerged in mid-stream, like huge water-logged +bouquets. There were sand-bars in the river, and upon these we sometimes +ran, and were brought to a sudden stand-still that startled us not a +little; then we backed off with what dignity we might, and gave the +unwelcome obstructions a wide berth.</p> + +<p>Perhaps the most interesting event of the voyage was "wooding up." A few +hours after we had entered the river our steamer made for the shore. +More than once in her course she had rounded points that seemed to block +the way; and occasionally there were bends so abrupt that we found +ourselves apparently land-locked in the depths of a wilderness which +might well be called prodigious. Now it was evident that we were heading +for the shore, and with a purpose, too. As we drew nearer, we saw among +the deep tangle of leaves and vines a primitive landing. It was a little +dock with a thatched lodge in the rear of it and a few cords of wood +stacked upon its end. There were some natives here—Indians +probably,—with dark skins bared from head to foot; they wore only the +breech-clout, and this of the briefest. Evidently they were children of +Nature.</p> + +<p>Having made fast to this dock, these woodmen speedily shouldered the +fuel and hurried it on board, while they chanted a rhythmical chant that +lent a charm to the scene. We were never weary of "wooding up," and were +always wondering where these gentle savages lived and how they escaped +with their lives from the thousand and one pests that haunted the forest +and lay in wait for them. Every biting and stinging thing was there. The +mosquitoes nearly devoured us, especially at night; while serpents, +scorpions, centipedes, possessed the jungle. There also was the lair of +larger game. It is said that sharks will pick a white man out of a crowd +of dark ones in the sea; not that he is a more tempting and toothsome +morsel—drenched with nicotine, he may indeed be less appetizing than +his dark-skinned, fruit-fed fellow,—but his silvery skin is a good +sea-mark, as the shark has often confirmed. So these dark ones in the +semi-darkness of the wood may, perhaps, pass with impunity where a +pale-face would fall an easy prey.</p> + +<p>At the Rapids of Machuca we debarked. Here was a miry portage about a +mile in length, through which we waded right merrily; for it seemed an +age since last we had set foot to earth. Our freight was pulled up the +Rapids in <i>bongas</i> (row-boats), manned by natives; but our steamer could +not pass, and so returned to the Star of the West for another load of +passengers.</p> + +<p>There was mire at Machuca, and steaming heat; but the path along the +river-bank was shaded by wondrous trees, and we were overwhelmed with +the offer of all the edible luxuries of the season at the most alarming +prices. There was no coin in circulation smaller than a dime. Everything +salable was worth a dime, or two or three, to the seller. It didn't seem +to make much difference what price was asked by the merchant: he got it, +or you went without refreshments. It was evident there was no market +between meals at Machuca Rapids, and steamer traffic enlivened it but +twice in the month.</p> + +<p>What oranges were there!—such as one seldom sees outside the tropics: +great globes of delicious dew shut in a pulpy crust half an inch in +thickness, of a pale green tinge, and oozing syrup and an oily spray +when they are broken. Bananas, mangoes, guavas, sugar-cane,—on these we +fed; and drank the cream of the young cocoanut, goat's milk, and the +juices of various luscious fruits served in carven gourds,—delectable +indeed, but the nature of which was past our speculation. It was enough +to eat and to drink and to wallow a muddy mile for the very joy of it, +after having been toeing the mark on a ship's deck for a dozen days or +less, and feeding on ship's fodder.</p> + +<p>Our second transport was scarcely an improvement on the first. Again we +threaded the river, which seemed to grow broader and deeper as we drew +near its fountain-head, Lake Nicaragua. Upon a height above the river +stood a military post, El Castillo, much fallen to decay. Here were +other rapids, and here we were transferred to a lake boat on which we +were to conclude our voyage. Those stern-wheel scows could never weather +the lake waters.</p> + +<p>We had passed a night on the river boat,—a night of picturesque +horrors. The cabin was impossible: nobody braved its heat. The deck was +littered with luggage and crowded with recumbent forms. A few fortunate +voyagers—men of wisdom and experience—were provided with comfortable +hammocks; and while most of us were squirming beneath them, they swung +in mid-air, under a breadth of mosquito netting, slumbering sonorously +and obviously oblivious of all our woes.</p> + +<p>If I forget not, I cared not to sleep. We were very soon to leave the +river and enter the lake. From the boughs of overarching trees swept +beards of dark gray moss some yards in length, that waved to and fro in +the gathering twilight like folds of funereal crape. There were +camp-fires at the wooding stations, the flames of which painted the +foliage extraordinary colors and spangled it with sparks. Great flocks +of unfamiliar birds flew over us, their brilliant plumage taking a +deeper dye as they flashed their wings in the firelight. The chattering +monkeys skirmished among the branches; sometimes a dull splash in the +water reminded us that the alligator was still our neighbor; and ever +there was the piping of wild birds whose notes we had never heard +before, and whose outlines were as fantastic as those of the bright +objects that glorify an antique Japanese screen.</p> + +<p>Once from the shore, a canoe shot out of the shadow and approached us. +It was a log hollowed out—only the shell remained. Within it sat two +Indians,—not the dark creatures we had grown familiar with down the +river; these also were nearly nude, but with the picturesque nudeness +that served only to set off the ornaments with which they had adorned +themselves—necklaces of shells, wristlets and armlets of bright metal, +wreaths of gorgeous flowers and the gaudy plumage of the flamingo. They +drew near us for a moment, only to greet us and turn away; and very +soon, with splash of dipping paddles, they vanished in the dusk.</p> + +<p>These were the flowers of the forest. All the winding way from the sea +the river walls had been decked with floral splendor. Gigantic blossoms +that might shame a rainbow starred the green spaces of the wood; but of +all we had seen or heard or felt or dreamed of, none has left an +impression so vivid, so inspiring, so instinct with the beauty and the +poetry and the music of the tropics, as those twilight mysteries that +smiled upon us for a moment and vanished, even as the great fire-flies +that paled like golden rockets in the dark.</p> + + + +<hr style='width: 65%;' /> +<a name='ODIII'></a><h2>III.</h2> + +<h3>ALONG THE PACIFIC SHORE</h3> +<br /> + +<p><img align="left" src="images/illus-a.png" height="75" width="77" +alt="A"> +<b><big>LL</big></b> night we tossed on the bosom of the lake between San Carlos, at the +source of the San Juan river, and Virgin Bay, on the opposite shore. The +lake is on a table-land a hundred feet or more above the sea; it is a +hundred miles in length and forty-five in width. Our track lay +diagonally across it, a stretch of eighty miles; and when the morning +broke upon us we were upon the point of dropping anchor under the cool +shadow of cloud-capped mountains and in a most refreshing temperature.</p> + +<p>Oh, the purple light of dawn that flooded the Bay of the Blessed Virgin! +Of course the night was a horror, and it was our second in transit; but +we were nearing the end of the journey across the Isthmus and were +shortly to embark for San Francisco. I fear we children regretted the +fact. Our life for three days had been like a veritable "Jungle Book." +It almost out-Kiplinged Kipling. We might never again float through +Monkey Land, with clouds of parrots hovering over us and a whole +menagerie of extraordinary creatures making side-shows of themselves on +every hand.</p> + +<p>At Virgin Bay we were crowded like sheep into lighters, that were +speedily overladen. Very serious accidents have happened in consequence. +A year before our journey an overcrowded barge was swamped at Virgin Bay +and four and twenty passengers were drowned. The "Transit Company," +supposed to be responsible for the life and safety of each one of us, +seemed to trouble itself very little concerning our fate. The truth was +they had been paid in full before we boarded the Star of the West at +Pier No. 2, North River.</p> + +<p>Having landed in safety, in spite of the negligence of the "Transit +Company," our next move was to secure some means of transportation over +the mountain and down to San Juan del Sur. We were each provided with a +ticket calling for a seat in the saddle or on a bench in a springless +wagon. Naturally, the women and children were relegated to the wagons, +and were there huddled together like so much live stock destined for the +market. The men scrambled and even fought for the diminutive donkeys +that were to bear them over the mountain pass. A circus knows no comedy +like ours on that occasion. It is true we had but twelve miles to +traverse, and some of these were level; but by and by the road dipped +and climbed and swerved and plunged into the depths, only to soar again +along the giddy verge of some precipice that overhung a fathomless +abyss. That is how it seemed to us as we clung to the hard benches of +our wagon with its four-mule attachment.</p> + +<p>Once a wagon just ahead of us, having refused to answer to its brakes, +went rushing down a fearful grade and was hurled into a tangle of +underbrush,—which is doubtless what saved the lives of its occupants, +for they landed as lightly as if on feather-beds. From that hour our +hearts were in our throats. Even the thatched lodges of the natives, +swarming with bare brown babies, and often having tame monkeys and +parrots in the doorways, could not beguile us; nor all the fruits, were +they never so tempting; nor the flowers, though they were past belief +for size and shape and color and perfume.</p> + +<p>Over the shining heights the wind scudded, behatting many a head that +went bare thereafter. Out of the gorges ascended the voice of the +waters, dashing noisily but invisibly on their joyous way to the sea. +From one of those heights, looking westward over groves of bread-fruit +trees and fixed fountains of feathery bamboo, over palms that towered +like plumes in space and made silhouettes against the sky, we saw a +long, level line of blue—as blue and bluer than the sky itself,—and we +knew it was the Pacific! We were little fellows in those days, we +children; yet I fancy that we felt not unlike Balboa when we knelt upon +that peak in Darien and thanked God that he had the glory of discovering +a new and unnamed ocean.</p> + +<p>Why, I wonder, did Keats, in his famous sonnet "On First Looking into +Chapman's Homer," make his historical mistake when he sang—</p> + +<div class='poem'><div class='stanza'> +<span>Then felt I like some watcher of the skies<br /></span> +<span class='i2'>When a new planet swims into his ken;<br /></span> +<span>Or like stout <i>Cortez</i> when with eagle eyes,<br /></span> +<span class='i2'>He stared at the Pacific,—and all his men<br /></span> +<span>Looked at each other with a wild surmise—<br /></span> +<span class='i2'>Silent, upon a peak in Darien.<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p>It mattered not to us whether our name was Cortez or Balboa. With any +other name we would have been just as jolly; for we were looking for the +first time upon a sea that was to us as good as undiscovered, and we +were shortly to brave it in a vessel bound for the Golden Gate. At our +time of life that smacked a little of circumnavigation.</p> + +<p>San Juan del Sur! It was scarcely to be called a village,—a mere +handful of huts scattered upon the shore of a small bay and almost +surrounded by mountains. It had no street, unless the sea sands it +fronted upon could be called such. It had no church, no school, no +public buildings. Its hotels were barns where the gold-seekers were fed +without ceremony on beans and hardtack. Fruits were plentiful, and that +was fortunate.</p> + +<p>There, as in every settlement in Central America, the eaves of the +dwellings were lined with Turkey buzzards. These huge birds are regarded +with something akin to veneration. They are never molested; indeed, like +the pariah dogs of the Orient, they have the right of way; and they are +evidently conscious of the fact, for they are tamer than barnyard fowls. +They are the scavengers of the tropics. They sit upon the housetop and +among the branches of the trees, awaiting the hour when the refuse of +the domestic meal is thrown into the street. There is no drainage in +those villages; strange to say, even in the larger cities there is none. +Offal of every description is cast forth into the highways and byways; +and at that moment, with one accord, down sweep the grim sentinels to +devour it. They feast upon carrion and every form of filth. They are +polution personified, and yet they are the salvation of the indolent +people, who would, but for the timely service of these ravenous birds, +soon be wallowing in fetid refuse and putrefaction under the fierce rays +of their merciless sun.</p> + +<p>In the twilight we wandered by a crescent shore that was thickly strewn +with shells. They were not the tribute of northern waters: they were as +delicately fashioned and as variously tinted as flowers. All that they +lacked was fragrance; and this we realized as we stored them carefully +away, resolving that they should become the nucleus of a museum of +natural history as soon as we got settled in our California home.</p> + +<p>We had crossed the Isthmus in safety. Yonder, in the offing, the ship +that was to carry us northward to San Francisco lay at anchor. For three +days we had suffered the joys of travel and adventure. On the San Juan +river we had again and again touched points along the varying routes +proposed, by the Maritime Canal Company of Nicaragua and the Walker +Commission, as being practical for the construction of a great ship +canal that shall join the Atlantic and the Pacific Oceans. We had passed +from sea to sea, a distance of about two hundred miles.</p> + +<p>The San Juan river, one hundred and twenty miles in length, has a fall +of one foot to the mile. This will necessitate the introduction of at +least six massive locks between the Atlantic and the lake. Sometimes the +river can be utilized, but not without dredging; for it is shallow from +beginning to end, and near its mouth is ribbed with sand-bars. For +seventy miles the lake is navigable for vessels of the heaviest draught. +Beyond the lake there must be a clean-cut over or through the mountains +to the Pacific, and here six locks are reckoned sufficient. Cross-cuts +from one bend in the river to another can be constructed at the rate of +two hundred and fifty thousand dollars, or less, per mile. The canal +must be sunk or raised at intervals; there will, therefore, at various +points be the need of a wall of great strength and durability, from one +hundred and thirty to three hundred feet in height or depth.</p> + +<p>The annual rain-fall in the river region between Lake Nicaragua and the +Caribbean Sea is twenty feet; annual evaporation, three feet. These +points must be considered in the construction and feeding of the canal, +even though it is to vary in width. The dimensions of the proposed +canal, as recommended by the Walker Government Commission, are as +follows: total length, one hundred and eighty-nine miles; minimum depth +of water at all stages, thirty feet; width, one hundred feet in +rock-cuts, elsewhere varying from one hundred and fifty to three hundred +feet—except in Lake Nicaragua, where one end of the channel will be +made six hundred feet wide.</p> + +<p>Nearly fifty years ago, when a canal was projected, the Childs survey +set the cost at thirty-seven million dollars. Now the commissioners +differ on the question of total cost, the several estimates ranging from +one hundred and eighteen million to one hundred and thirty-five million +dollars. The United States Congress at its last session authorized the +expenditure of one million by a new commission "to investigate the +merits of all suggested locations and develop a project for an Isthmus +Canal."</p> + +<p>And so we left the land of the lizard. What wonders they are! From an +inch to two feet in length, slim, slippery, and of many and changeful +colors, they literally inhabit the land, and are as much at home in a +house as out of it; indeed, the houses are never free of them. They +sailed up the river with us, and crossed the lake in our company, and +sat by the mountain wayside awaiting our arrival; for they are curious +and sociable little beasts. As for the San Juan river, 'tis like the +Ocklawaha of Florida many times multiplied, and with all its original +attractions in a state of perfect preservation.</p> + +<p>All the way up the coast we literally hugged the shore; only during the +hours when we were crossing the yawning mouth of the Gulf of California +were we for a single moment out of sight of land. I know not if this was +a saving in time and distance, and therefore a saving in fuel and +provender; or if our ship, the John L. Stevens, was thought to be +overloaded and unsafe, and was kept within easy reach of shore for fear +of accident. We steamed for two weeks between a landscape and a seascape +that afforded constant diversion. At night we sometimes saw flame-tipped +volcanoes; there was ever the undulating outline of the Sierra Nevada +Mountains through Central America, Mexico, and California.</p> + +<p>Just once did we pause on the way. One evening our ship turned in its +course and made directly for the land. It seemed that we must be dashed +upon the headlands we were approaching, but as we drew nearer they +parted, and we entered the land-locked harbor of Acapulco, the chief +Mexican port on the Pacific. It was an amphitheatre dotted with +twinkling lights. Our ship was speedily surrounded by small boats of all +descriptions, wherein sat merchants noisily calling upon us to purchase +their wares. They had abundant fruits, shells, corals, curios. They +flashed them in the light of their torches; they baited us to bargain +with them. It was a Venetian <i>fete</i> with a vengeance; for the hawkers +were sometimes more impertinent than polite. It was a feast of lanterns, +and not without the accompaniment of guitars and castanets, and rich, +soft voices.</p> + +<p>After that we were eager for the end of it all. There was Santa +Catalina, off the California coast, then an uninhabited island given +over to sunshine and wild goats, now one of the most popular and +populous of California summer and winter resorts—for 'tis all the same +on the Pacific coast; one season is damper than the other, that is the +only difference. The coast grew bare and bleak; the wind freshened and +we were glad to put on our wraps. And then at last, after a journey of +nearly five thousand miles, we slowed up in a fog so dense it dripped +from the scuppers of the ship; we heard the boom of the surf pounding +upon the invisible shore, and the hoarse bark of a chorus of sea-lions, +and were told we were at the threshold of the Golden Gate, and should +enter it as soon as the fog lifted and made room for us.</p> +<br /> +<a name="image-3"><!-- Image 3 --></a> +<center> +<img src="images/illus-0030-2.jpg" height="400" width="630" +alt="Fort Point at the Golden Gate"> +</center> + +<h4>Fort Point at the Golden Gate</h4> +<br /><br /> + + + +<hr style='width: 65%;' /> +<a name='ODIV'></a><h2>IV.</h2> + +<h3>IN THE WAKE OF DRAKE</h3> +<br /> + + +<p><img align="left" src="images/illus-w.png" height="75" width="77" +alt="W"> + +<b><big>E</big></b> were buried alive in fathomless depths of fog. We were a fixture +until that fog lifted. It was an impenetrable barrier. Upon the point of +entering one of the most wonderful harbors in the world, the glory of +the newest of new lands, we found ourselves prisoners, and for a time at +least involved in the mazes of ancient history.</p> + +<p>In 1535 Cortez coasted both sides of the Gulf of California—first +called the Sea of Cortez; or the Vermilion Sea, perhaps from its +resemblance to the Red Sea between Arabia and Egypt; or possibly from +the discoloration of its waters near the mouth of the Rio Colorado, or +Red River.</p> + +<p>In 1577 Captain Drake, even then distinguished as a navigator, fitted +out a buccaneering expedition against the Spaniards; it was a wild-goose +chase and led him round the globe. In those days the wealth of the +Philippines was shipped annually in a galleon from Manila to Acapulco, +Mexico, on its way to Europe. Drake hoped to intercept one of these +richly laden galleons, and he therefore threaded the Straits of +Magellan, and, sailing northward, found himself, in 1579, within sight +of the coast of California. All along the Pacific shore from Patagonia +to California he was busily occupied in capturing and plundering Spanish +settlements and Spanish ships. Wishing to turn home with his treasure, +and fearing he might be waylaid by his enemies if he were again to +thread the Straits of Magellan, he thought to reach England by the Cape +of Good Hope. This was in the autumn of 1579. To quote the language of +an old chronicler of the voyage:</p> + +<p>"He was obliged to sail toward the north; in which course having +continued six hundred leagues, and being got into forty-three degrees +north latitude, they found it intolerably cold; upon which they steered +southward till they got into thirty-eight degrees north latitude, where +they discovered a country which, from its white cliffs, they called Nova +Albion, though it is now known by the name of California.</p> + +<p>"They here discovered a bay, which entering with a favorable gale, they +found several huts by the waterside, well defended from the severity of +the weather. Going on shore, they found a fire in the middle of each +house, and the people lying around it upon rushes. The men go quite +naked, but the women have a deerskin over their shoulders, and round +their waist a covering of bulrushes after the manner of hemp.</p> + +<p>"These people bringing the Admiral [Captain Drake] a present of feathers +and cauls of network, he entertained them so kindly and generously that +they were extremely pleased; and afterward they sent him a present of +feathers and bags of tobacco. A number of them coming to deliver it, +gathered themselves together at the top of a small hill, from the +highest point of which one of them harangued the Admiral, whose tent was +placed at the bottom. When the speech was ended they laid down their +arms and came down, offering their presents; at the same time returning +what the Admiral had given them. The women remaining on the hill, +tearing their hair and making dreadful howlings, the Admiral supposed +they were engaged in making sacrifices, and thereupon ordered divine +service to be performed at his tent, at which these people attended with +astonishment.</p> + +<p>"The arrival of the English in California being soon known through the +country, two persons in the character of ambassadors came to the Admiral +and informed him, in the best manner they were able, that the king would +visit him, if he might be assured of coming in safety. Being satisfied +on this point, a numerous company soon appeared, in front of which was a +very comely person bearing a kind of sceptre, on which hung two crowns, +and three chains of great length. The chains were of bones, and the +crowns of network, curiously wrought with feathers of many colors.</p> + +<p>"Next to sceptre-bearer came the king, a handsome, majestic person, +surrounded by a number of tall men dressed in skins, who were followed +by the common people, who, to make the grander appearance, had painted +their faces of various colors; and all of them, even the children, being +loaded with presents.</p> + +<p>"The men being drawn up in line of battle, the Admiral stood ready to +receive the king within the fences of his tent. The company halted at a +distance, and the sceptre-bearer made a speech half an hour long; at the +end of which he began singing and dancing, in which he was followed by +the king and all the people; who, continuing to sing and dance, came +quite up to the tent; when, sitting down, the king took off his crown of +feathers, placed it on the Admiral's head, and put on him the other +ensigns of royalty; and it is said he made him a solemn tender of his +whole kingdom; all which the Admiral accepted in the name of the Queen +his sovereign, in hope that these proceedings might, one time or other, +contribute to the advantage of England.</p> + +<p>"The people, dispersing themselves among the Admiral's tents, professed +the utmost admiration and esteem for the English, whom they looked upon +as more than mortal; and accordingly prepared to offer sacrifices to +them, which the English rejected with abhorrence; directing them, by +various signs, that their religious worship was alone due to the supreme +Maker and Preserver of all things....</p> + +<p>"The Admiral, at his departure, set up a pillar with a large plate on +it, on which were engraved her Majesty's name, picture, arms, and title +to the country; together with the Admiral's name and the time of his +arrival there."</p> + +<p>Pinkerton says in his description of Drake's voyage: "The land is so +rich in gold and silver that upon the slightest turning it up with a +spade these rich materials plainly appear mixed with the mould." It is +not strange, if this were the case, that the natives—who, though +apparently gentle and well disposed, were barbarians—should naturally +have possessed the taste so characteristic of a barbarous people, and +have loved to decorate themselves even lavishly with ornaments rudely +fashioned in this rare metal. Yet they seemed to know little of its +value, and to care less for it than for fuss and feathers. Either they +were a singularly stupid race, simpler even than the child of ordinary +intelligence, or they scorned the allurements of a metal that so few are +able to resist.</p> + +<p>Drake was not the first navigator to touch upon those shores. The +explorer Juan Cabrillo, in 1542-43, visited the coast of Upper +California. A number of landings were made at different points along the +coast and on the islands near Santa Barbara. Cabrillo died during the +expedition; but his successor, Ferralo, continued the voyage as far +north as latitude 42°. Probably Drake had no knowledge of the discovery +of California by the Spaniards six and thirty years before he dropped +anchor in the bay that now bears his name, and for many years he was +looked upon as the first discoverer of the Golden State. Even to this +day there are those who give him all the credit. Queen Elizabeth +knighted him for his services in this and his previous expeditions; +telling him, as his chronicler records, "that his actions did him more +honor than his title." Her Majesty seems not to have been much impressed +by his tales of the riches of the New World—if, indeed, they ever came +to the royal ear,—for she made no effort to develop the resources of +her territory. No adventurous argonauts set sail for the Pacific coast +in search of gold till two hundred and seventy years later.</p> + +<p>There seems to have been a spell cast over the land and the sea. We are +sure that Sir Francis Drake did not enter the Bay of San Francisco, and +that he had no knowledge of its existence, though he was almost within +sight of it. In one of the records of his voyage we read of the chilly +air and of the dense fogs that prevailed in that region; of the "white +banks and cliffs which lie toward the sea"; and of islands which are +known as the Farallones, and which lie about thirty miles off the coast +and opposite the Golden Gate.</p> + +<p>In 1587 Captain Thomas Cavendish, afterward knighted by Queen Elizabeth, +touched upon Cape St. Lucas, at the extremity of Lower California. He +was a privateer lying in wait for the galleon laden with the wealth of +the Philippines and bound for Acapulco. When she hove in sight there was +a chase, a hot engagement, and a capture by the English Admiral. "This +prize," says the historian of the voyage, "contained one hundred and +twenty-two thousand <i>pesos</i> of gold, besides great quantities of rich +silks, satins, damasks, and musk, with a good stock of provisions." In +those romantic and adventurous days piracy was legalized by formal +license; the spoils were supposed to consist of gold and silver only, or +of light movable goods.</p> + +<p>The next English filibuster to visit the California coast was Captain +Woodes Rogers—arriving in November, 1709. He described the natives of +the California peninsula as being "quite naked, and strangers to the +European manner of trafficking. They lived in huts made of boughs and +leaves, erected in the form of bowers; with a fire before the door, +round which they lay and slept. Some of the women wore pearls about +their necks, which they fastened with a string of silk grass, having +first notched them round." Captain Rogers imagined that the wearers of +the pearls did not know how to bore them, and it is more than likely +that they did not. Neither did they know the value of these pearls; for +"they were mixed with sticks, bits of shells, and berries, which they +thought so great an ornament that they would not accept glass beads of +various colors, which the English offered them."</p> + +<p>The narrator says: "The men are straight and well built, having long +black hair, and are of a dark brown complexion. They live by hunting and +fishing. They use bows and arrows and are excellent marksmen. The women, +whose features are rather disagreeable, are employed in making +fishing-lines, or in gathering grain, which they grind upon a stone. The +people were willing to assist the English in filling water, and would +supply them with whatever they could get; they were a very honest +people, and would not take the least thing without permission."</p> + +<p>Such were the aborigines of California. Captain Woodes Rogers did not +hesitate to take whatever he could lay his hands on. He captured the +"great Manila ship," as the chronicle records. "The prize was called +Nuestra Señora de la Incarnacion, commanded by Sir John Pichberty, a +gallant Frenchman. The prisoners said that the cargo in India amounted +to two millions of dollars. She carried one hundred and ninety-three +men, and mounted twenty guns."</p> + +<p>The exact locality of Drake's Bay was for years a vexed question. So +able an authority as Alexander von Humboldt says: "The port of San +Francisco is frequently confounded by geographers with the Port of +Drake, farther north, under 38° 10' of latitude, called by the Spaniards +the Puerto de Bodega."</p> + +<p>The truth is, Bodega Bay lies some miles north of Drake's Bay—or Jack's +Harbor, as the sailors call it; the latter, according to the log of the +Admiral, may be found in latitude 37° 59' 5"; longitude 122° 57-1/2'. +The cliffs about Drake's Bay resemble in height and color, those of +Great Britain in the English Channel at Brighton and Dover; therefore it +seems quite natural that Sir Francis should have called the land New +Albion. As for the origin of the name California, some etymologists +contend that it is derived from two Latin words: <i>calida fornax</i>; or, as +the Spanish put it, <i>caliente fornalla</i>,—a hot furnace. Certainly it is +hot enough in the interior, though the coast is ever cool. The name +seems to have been applied to Lower California between 1535 and 1539. +Mr. Edward Everett Hale rediscovered in 1862 an old printed romance in +which the name California was, before the year 1520, applied to a +fabulous island that lay near the Indus and likewise "very near the +Terrestrial Paradise." The colonists under Cortez were perhaps the first +to apply it to Lower California, which was long thought to be an island.</p> + +<p>The name San Francisco was given to a port on the California coast for +the first time by Cermeñon, who ran ashore near Point Reyes, or in +Drake's Bay, when voyaging from the Philippines in 1595. At any rate, +the name was not given to the famous bay that now bears it before 1769, +and until that date it was unknown to the world. It is not true, as some +have conjectured, that the name San Francisco was given to any port in +memory of Sir Francis Drake. Spanish Catholics gave the name in honor of +St. Francis of Assisi. Drake was an Englishman and a freebooter, who had +no love for the saints.</p> + +<p>That the Bay of San Francisco should have so long remained undiscovered +is the more remarkable inasmuch as many efforts were made to survey and +settle the coast. California was looked upon as the El Dorado of New +Spain. It was believed that it abounded in pearls, gold, silver, and +other metals; and even in diamonds and precious stones. Fruitless +expeditions, private or royal, set forth in 1615, 1633 and 1634; 1640, +1642 and 1648; 1665 and 1668. But nothing came of these. A hundred years +later the Spanish friars established their peaceful missions, and in +1776 the mission church of San Francisco was dedicated.</p> +<br /> +<a name="image-4"><!-- Image 4 --></a> +<center> +<img src="images/illus-0040-2.jpg" height="400" width="621" +alt="The Outer Signal Station at the Golden Gate"> +</center> + +<h4>The Outer Signal Station at the Golden Gate</h4> +<br /> + +<hr style='width: 45%;' /> + +<p>At last the fog began to show signs of life and motion. Huge masses of +opaque mist, that had shut us in like walls of alabaster, were rent +asunder and noiselessly rolled away. The change was magical. In a few +moments we found ourselves under a cloudless sky, upon a sparkling sea, +flooded with sunshine, and the Golden Gate wide open to give us welcome.</p> + + + +<hr style='width: 65%;' /> +<a name='ODV'></a><h2>V.</h2> + +<h3>ATOP O' TELEGRAPH HILL</h3> +<br /> + + +<p><img align='left' src="images/illus-p.png" height="75" width="75" +alt="P"> + +<b><big>ERHAPS</big></b> it is a mile wide, that Golden Gate; and it is more bronze than +golden. A fort was on our right hand; one of those dear old brick +blockhouses that were formidable in their day, but now are as houses of +cards. Drop one shell within its hollow, and there will be nothing and +no one left to tell the tale.</p> + +<p>Down the misty coast, beyond the fort, was Point Lobos—a place where +wolves did once inhabit; farther south lie the semi-tropics and the +fragrant orange lands; while on our left, to the north, is Point +Bonita—pretty enough in the sunshine,—and thereabout is Drake's Bay. +Behind us, dimly outlined on the horizon, the Farallones lie faintly +blue, like exquisite cloud-islands. The north shore of the entrance to +the Bay was rather forbidding,—it always is. The whole California shore +line is bare, bleak, and unbeautiful. It is six miles from the Golden +Gate to the sea-wall of San Francisco. There was no sea-wall in those +days.</p> + +<p>We were steaming directly east, with the Pacific dead astern. Beyond the +fort were scantily furnished hill-slopes. That quadrangle, with a long +row of low white houses on three sides of it, is the <i>presidio</i>—the +barracks; a lorner or lonelier spot it were impossible to picture. There +were no trees there, no shrubs; nothing but grass, that was green enough +in the rainy winter season but as yellow as straw in the drouth of the +long summer. Beyond the <i>presidio</i> were the Lagoon and Washerwoman's +Bay. Black Point was the extremest suburb in the early days; and beyond +it Meigg's Wharf ran far into the North Bay, and was washed by the +swift-flowing tide.</p> + +<p>San Francisco has as many hills as Rome. The most conspicuous of these +stands at the northeast corner of the town; it is Telegraph Hill, upon +whose brawny shoulder stood the first home we knew in the young +Metropolis. After rounding Telegraph Hill, we saw all the city front, +and it was not much to see: a few wooden wharves crowded with shipping +and backed by a row of one or two-story frame buildings perched upon +piles. The harbor in front of the city—more like an open roadstead than +a harbor, for it was nearly a dozen miles to the opposite shore—was +dotted with sailing-vessels of almost every description, swinging at +anchor, and making it a pretty piece of navigation to pick one's way +amongst them in safety.</p> + +<p>As the John L. Stevens approached her dock we saw that an immense crowd +had gathered to give us welcome. The excitement on ship and shore was +very great. After a separation of perhaps years, husbands and wives and +families were about to be reunited. Our joy was boundless; for we soon +recognized our father in the waiting, welcoming throng. But there were +many whose disappointment was bitter indeed when they learned that their +loved ones were not on board. Often a ship brought letters instead of +the expected wife and family; for at the last moment some unforeseen +circumstance may have prevented the departure of the one so looked for +and so longed for. In the confusion of landing we nearly lost our wits, +and did not fully recover them until we found ourselves in our own new +home in the then youngest State in the Union.</p> + +<p>How well I remember it all! We were housed on Union Street, between +Montgomery and Kearny Streets, and directly opposite the public +school—a pretentious building for that period, inasmuch as it was built +of brick that was probably shipped around Cape Horn. California houses, +such as they were, used to come from very distant parts of the globe in +the early Fifties; some of them were portable, and had been sent across +the sea to be set up at the purchaser's convenience. They could be +pitched like tents on the shortest possible notice, and the fact was +evident in many cases.</p> + +<p>Our house—a double one of modest proportions—was of brick, and I +think the only one on our side of the street for a considerable +distance. There was a brick house over the way, on the corner of +Montgomery Street, with a balcony in front of it and a grocery on the +ground-floor. That grocery was like a country store: one could get +anything there; and from the balcony above there was a wonderful view. +Indeed that was one of the jumping-off places; for a steep stairway led +down the hill to the dock two hundred feet below. As for our neighbors, +they dwelt in frame houses, one or two stories in height; and his was +the happier house that had a little strip of flowery-land in front of +it, and a breathing space in the rear.</p> + +<p>The school—our first school in California—backed into the hill across +the street from us. The girls and the boys had each an inclosed space +for recreation. It could not be called a playground, for there was no +ground visible. It was a platform of wood heavily timbered beneath and +fenced in; from the front of it one might have cast one's self to the +street below, at the cost of a broken bone or two. In those days more +than one leg was fractured by an accidental fall from a soaring +sidewalk.</p> + +<p>Above and beyond the school-house Telegraph Hill rose a hundred feet or +more. Our street marked the snow-line, as it were; beyond it the Hill +was not inhabited save by flocks of goats that browsed there all the +year round, and the herds of boys that gave them chase, especially of a +holiday. The Hill was crowned by a shanty that had seen its best days. +It had been the lookout from the time when the Forty-Niners began to +watch for fresh arrivals. From the observatory on its roof—a primitive +affair—all ships were sighted as they neared the Golden Gate, and the +glad news was telegraphed by a system of signals to the citizens below. +Not a day, not an hour, but watchful eyes sought that signal in the hope +of reading there the glad tidings that their ship had come.</p> + +<p>The Hill sloped suddenly, from the signal station, on every side. On the +north and east it terminated abruptly in artificial cliffs of a dizzy +height. The rocks had been blasted from their bases to make room for a +steadily increasing commerce, and the débris was shipped away as ballast +in the vessels that were chartered to bring passengers and provision to +the coast, and found nothing in the line of freight to carry from it.</p> + +<p>Upon those northern and eastern slopes of the Hill a few venturesome +cottagers had built their nests. The cottages were indeed nestlike: they +were so small, so compact, so cosy, so overrun with vines and flowering +foliage. Usually of one story, or of a story and a half at most, they +clung to the hillside facing the water, and looking out upon its noble +expanse from tiny balconies as delicate and dainty as toys. Their +garden-plots were set on end; they must needs adapt themselves to the +angle of demarkation; they loomed above their front-yards while their +back-yards lorded it over their roofs. Indeed they were usually +approached by ascending or descending stairways, or perchance by airy +bridges that spanned little gullies where ran rivulets in the winter +season; and they were a trifle dangerous to encounter after dark. There +were parrots on perches at the doorways of those cottages; and +song-birds in cages that were hidden away in vines. There were pet +poodles there. I think there were more lap-dogs than watch-dogs in that +early California.</p> + +<p>And there were pleasant people within those hanging gardens,—people who +seemed to have drifted there and were living their lyrical if lonely +lives in semi-solitude on islands in the air. I always envied them. I +was sorry that we were housed like other folk, and fronted on a street +than which nothing could have been more commonplace or less interesting. +Its one redeeming feature in my eyes was its uncompromising steepness; +nothing that ran on wheels ever ran that way, but toiled painfully to +the top, tacking from side to side, forever and forever, all the way +up.</p> + +<p>Weary were the beasts of burden that ascended that hill of difficulty. +There was the itinerant marketer, with his overladen cart, and his white +horse, very much winded. He was a Yorkshire man, and he cried with a +loud voice his appetizing wares: "Cabbage, taters, onions, wild duck, +wild goose!" Well do I remember the refrain. Probably there were few +domestic fowls in the market then; moreover, even our drinking water was +peddled about the streets and sold to us by the huge pailful.</p> + +<p>The goats knew Saturday and Sunday by heart. Every Saturday we lads were +busier than bees. We had at intervals during the week collected what +empty tin cans we might have chanced upon, and you may be sure they were +not a few. The markets of California, in early times, were stocked with +canned goods. Flour came to us in large cans; probably the barrel would +not have been proof against mould during the long voyage around the +Horn. Everything eatable—I had almost said and drinkable—we had in +cans; and these cans when emptied were cast into the rubbish heap and +finally consigned to the dump-cart.</p> + +<p>We boys all became smelters, and for a very good reason. There was a +market for soft solder; we could dispose of it without difficulty; we +could in this way put money in our purse and experience the glorious +emotion awakened by the spirit of independence. With our own money, +earned in the sweat of our brows—it was pretty hot work melting the +solder out of the old cans and moulding it in little pig-leads of our +own invention,—we could do as we pleased and no questions asked. Oh, it +was a joy past words,—the kindling of the furnace fires, the adjusting +of the cans, the watching for the first movement of the melting solder! +It trickled down into the ashes like quicksilver, and there we let it +cool in shapeless masses; then we remelted it in skillets (usually +smuggled from the kitchen for that purpose), and ran the fused metal +into the moulds; and when it had cooled we were away in haste to dispose +of it.</p> + +<p>Some of us became expert amateur metallists, and made what we looked +upon as snug little fortunes; yet they did not go far or last us long. +The smallest coin in circulation was a dime. No one would accept a +five-cent piece. As for coppers, they are scarcely yet in vogue. Money +was made so easily and spent so carelessly in the early days the wonder +is that any one ever grew rich.</p> + +<p>A quarter of a dollar we called two "bits." If we wished to buy anything +the price of which was one bit and we had a dime in our pocket, we gave +the dime for the article, and the bargain was considered perfectly +satisfactory. If we had no dime, we gave a quarter of a dollar and +received in change a dime; we thus paid fifty per cent more for the +article than we should have done if we had given a dime for it. But that +made no difference: a quarter called for two bits' worth of anything on +sale. A dime was one bit, but two dimes were not two bits; and it was +only a very mean person—in our estimation—who would change his half +dollar into five dimes and get five bits' worth of goods for four bits' +worth of silver.</p> +<br /> +<a name="image-5"><!-- Image 5 --></a> +<center> +<img src="images/illus-0050-2.jpg" height="400" width="613" +alt="City of Oakland in 1856"> +</center> + +<h4>City of Oakland in 1856</h4> +<br /> + +<p>Sunday is ever the people's day, and a San Francisco Sunday used to be +as lively as the Lord's Day at any of the capitals of Europe. How the +town used to flock to Telegraph Hill on a Sunday in the olden time! They +were mostly quiet folk who went there, and they went to feast their eyes +upon one of the loveliest of landscapes or waterscapes. They probably +took their lunch with them, and their families—if they had them; though +families were infrequent in the Fifties. They wandered about until they +had chosen their point of view, and then they took possession of an +unclaimed portion of the Hill. They "squatted," as was the custom of the +time. The "squatter" claimed the right of sovereignty, and exercised it +so long as he was left unmolested.</p> + +<p>One man seemed to have as much right as another on Telegraph Hill. And +one right was always his: no one disputed him the right of vision; he +shared it with his neighbor, and was willing to share it with the whole +world. For generations he has held it, and he will probably continue to +hold it so long as the old Hill stands. From the heights his eye sweeps +a scene of beauty. There is the Golden Gate, bathed in sunset glories; +and there the northern shore line that climbs skyward where Mount +Tamalpais takes on his mantle of mist. There is Saucelito, with its +green terraces resting upon the tree-tops; and there the bit of +sheltered water that seems always steeped in sunshine,—now the haunt of +house boats, then the haven of a colony of Neapolitan fishermen; and +Angel Island, with its military post; and Fort Alcatraz, a rocky bubble +afloat in mid-channel and one mass of fortifications.</p> + +<p>What an inland sea it is—the Bay of San. Francisco, seventy miles in +length, from ten to twelve in width; dotted with islands, and capable of +harboring all the fleets of all the civilized or uncivilized worlds! The +northern part of it, beyond the narrows, is known as the Bay of San +Pablo; the Straits of Carquinez connect it with Suisun Bay, which is a +sleepy sheet of water fed by the Sacramento and San Joaquin Rivers.</p> + +<p>To the east is Yerba-Buena, vulgarly known as Goat Island; and beyond it +the Contra Costa, with its Alameda, Oakland, and Fruit Vale; then the +Coast Range; and atop of all and beyond all Mount Diablo, with its three +thousand eight hundred feet of perpendicularity, beyond whose summit +the sun rises, and from whose peaks almost half the State is visible and +almost half the sea,—or at least it seems so—but that's another +vision!</p> + + + +<hr style='width: 65%;' /> +<a name='ODVI'></a><h2>VI.</h2> + +<h3>PAVEMENT PICTURES</h3> +<br /> + + +<p><img align='left' src="images/illus-w.png" height="75" width="75" +alt="W"> + +<b><big>E</big></b> had been but a few days in San Francisco when a new-found friend, +scarcely my senior, but who was a comparatively old settler, took me by +the hand and led me forth to view the town. He was my neighbor, and a +right good fellow, with the surprising composure—for one of his +years—that is so early, so easily, and so naturally acquired by those +living in camps and border-lands.</p> + +<p>We descended Telegraph Hill by Dupont Street as far as Pacific Street. +So steep was the way that, at intervals, the modern fire-escape would +have been a welcome aid to our progress. Sidewalks, always of plank and +often not broader than two boards placed longitudinally, led on to steps +that plunged headlong from one terrace to another. From the veranda of +one house one might have leaped to the roof of the house just below—if +so disposed,—for the houses seemed to be set one upon another, so acute +was the angle of their base-line. The town stood on end just there, and +at the foot of it was a foreign quarter.</p> + +<p>In those days there were at least four foreign quarters—Spanish, +French, Italian, and Chinese. We knew the Spanish Quarter at the foot of +the hill by the human types that inhabited it; by the balconies like +hanging gardens, clamorous with parrots; and by the dark-eyed senoritas, +with lace mantillas drawn over their blue-black hair; by the shop +windows filled with Mexican pottery; the long strings of cardinal-red +peppers that swung under the awnings over the doors of the sellers of +spicy things; and also by the delicious odors that were wafted to us +from the tables where Mexicans, Spaniards, Chilians, Peruvians, and +Hispano-Americans were discussing the steaming <i>tamal</i>, the fragrant +<i>frijol</i>, and other fiery dishes that might put to the blush the +ineffectual pepper-pot.</p> + +<p>Everywhere we heard the most mellifluous of languages—the "lovely +lingo," we used to call it; everywhere we saw the people of the quarter +lounging in doorways or windows or on galleries, dressed as if they were +about to appear in a rendition of the opera of "The Barber of Seville," +or at a fancy-dress ball. Figaros were on every hand, and Rosinas and +Dons of all degrees. At times a magnificent Caballero dashed by on a +half-tamed bronco. He rode in the shade of a sombrero a yard wide, +crusted with silver embroidery. His Mexican saddle was embossed with +huge Mexican dollars; his jacket as gaily ornamented as a +bull-fighter's; his trousers open from the hip, and with a chain of +silver buttons down their flapping hems; his spurs, huge wheels with +murderous spikes, were fringed with little bells that jangled as he +rode,—and this to the accompaniment of much strumming of guitars and +the incense of cigarros.</p> + +<p>Near the Spanish Quarter ran the Barbary Coast. There were the dives +beneath the pavement, where it was not wise to enter; blood was on those +thresholds, and within hovered the shadow of death. Beyond, we entered +Chinatown, as rare a bit of old China as is to be found without the +Great Wall itself. Chinatown has grown amazingly within the last forty +years, but it has in reality gained little in interest. There is more of +it: that is the only difference; and what there is of it is more +difficult of approach. The Joss House, the theatre, with its great +original "continuous performance"—its tragedy half a year in +length,—flourished there. The glittering, spectacular restaurant was +wide open to the public, and so was everything else. That fact made all +the difference between Chinatown in the Fifties and Chinatown forty +years later.</p> + +<p>My companion and I tarried long on Dupont Street, between Pacific and +Sacramento Streets. The shops were like peep shows on a larger scale. +How bright they were! how gay with color! how rich with carvings and +curios. Each was like a set-scene on the stage. The shopkeepers and +their aids were like actors in a play. They seemed really to be playing +and not trying to engage in any serious business. Surely it would have +been quite beneath the dignity of such distinguished gentlemen to take +the smallest interest in the affairs of trade. They were clad in silks +and satins and furs of great value; they had a little finger-nail as +long as a slice of quill pen; they had tea on tables of carved teak; and +they had impossible pipes that breathed unspeakable odors. They wore +bracelets of priceless jade. They had private boxes, which hung from the +ceiling and looked like cages for some unclassified bird; and they could +go up into those boxes when life at the tea-table became tiresome, and +get quite another point of view. There they could look down upon the +world of traffic that never did anything in their shops, as far as we +could see; and, still murmuring to themselves in a tongue that sounds +untranslatable and a voice that was never known to rise above a stage +whisper, they could at one and the same moment regard with scorn the +Christian, keep an eye on the cash-boy, and make perfect pictures of +themselves.</p> +<br /> +<a name="image-6"><!-- Image 6 --></a> +<center> +<img src="images/illus-0056-2.jpg" height="400" width="440" +alt="Interior of the El Dorado"> +</center> + +<h4>Interior of the El Dorado</h4> +<br /> + +<p>In some parts of that strange street, where everybody was very busy but +apparently never accomplished anything, there were no fronts to the +rooms on the groundfloor. If those rooms were ever closed—it seemed to +me they never were,—some one kindly put up a long row of shutters, and +that end was accomplished. When the shutters were down the whole place +was wide open, and anybody, everybody, could enter and depart at his own +sweet will. This is exactly what he did; we did it ourselves, but we +didn't know why we did it. The others seemed to know all about it.</p> + +<p>There was a long table in the centre of each room; it was always +surrounded by swarms of Chinamen. Not a few foreigners of various +nationalities were there. They were all intensely interested in some +game that was being played upon that table. We heard the "chink" of +money; and as the players came and went some were glad and some were sad +and some were mad. These were the gambling halls of Chinatown. They were +not at all beautiful or alluring to the eye, but they cast a spell over +the minds and the pockets of men that was irresistible. Nowadays the +place is kept under lock and key, and you must give the countersign or +you will be turned away from the door thereof by a Chinaman whose face +is the image of injured innocence.</p> + +<p>The authors of the annals of San Francisco, 1854, say:</p> + +<p>"During 1853, most of the moral, intellectual, and social +characteristics of the inhabitants of San Francisco were nearly as +already described in the reviews of previous years. There was still the +old reckless energy, the old love of pleasure, the fast making and fast +spending of money; the old hard labor and wild delights; jobberies, +official and political corruption; thefts, robberies, and violent +assaults; murders, duels and suicides; gambling, drinking, and general +extravagance and dissipation.... The people had wealth at command, and +all the passions of youth were burning within them; and they often, +therefore, outraged public decency. Yet somehow the oldest residenters +and the very family-men loved the place, with all its brave wickedness +and splendid folly."</p> + +<p>I can testify that the town knew little or no change in the two years +that followed. The "El Dorado" on the plaza, and the "Arcade" and +"Polka" on Commercial Street, were still in full blast. How came I aware +of that fact? I was a child; my guide, philosopher and friend was a +child, and we were both as innocent as children should be. It is +written, "Children and fools speak the truth." I may add, "Children and +'fools rush in where angels fear to tread.'" The doors of "El Dorado," +of the "Arcade," and the "Polka" were ever open to the public. We saw +from the sidewalk gaily-decorated interiors; we heard enchanting music, +and there seemed to be a vast deal of jollity within. No one tried to +prevent our entering; we merely followed the others; and, indeed, it was +all a mystery to us. Cards were being dealt at the faro tables, and +dealt by beautiful women in bewildering attire. They also turned the +wheels of fortune or misfortune, and threw dice, and were skilled in all +the arts that beguile and betray the innocent. The town was filled with +such resorts; some were devoted to the patronage of the more exclusive +set; many were traps into which the miner from the mountain gulches fell +and where he soon lost his bag of "dust,"—his whole fortune, for which +he had been so long and so wearily toiling. There he was shoulder to +shoulder with the greaser and the lascar, the "shoulder-striker" and the +hoodlum; and they were all busy with monte, faro, rondo, and +rouge-et-noir.</p> + +<p>There was no limit to the gambling in those days. There was no question +of age or color or sex: opportunity lay in wait for inclination at the +street corners and in the highways and the byways. The wonder is that +there were not more victims driven to madness or suicide.</p> + +<p>The pictures were not all so gloomy. Six times San Francisco was +devastated by fire, and all within two years—or, to speak accurately, +within eighteen months. Many millions were lost; many enterprising and +successful citizens were in a few hours rendered penniless. Some were +again and again "burned out"; but they seemed to spring like the famed +bird, who shall for once be nameless, from their own ashes.</p> + +<p>It became evident that an efficient fire department was an immediate and +imperative necessity. The best men of the city—men prominent in every +trade, calling and profession—volunteered their services, and headed a +subscription list that swelled at once into the thousands. Perhaps there +never was a finer volunteer fire department than that which was for many +years the pride and glory of San Francisco. On the Fourth of July it was +the star feature of the procession; and it paraded most of the streets +that were level enough for wheels to run on—and when the mud was +navigable, for they turned out even in the rainy season on days of civic +festivity. Their engines and hose carts and hook and ladder trucks were +so lavishly ornamented with flowers, banners, streamers, and even pet +eagles, dogs, and other mascots, that they might without hesitation have +engaged in any floral battle on any Riviera and been sure of victory.</p> + +<p>The magnificence of the silver trumpets and the quantity and splendor of +the silver trappings of those fire companies pass all belief. It begins +to seem to me now, as I write, that I must have dreamed it,—it was all +so much too fine for any ordinary use. But I know that I did not dream +it; that there was never anything truer or better or more efficient +anywhere under the sun than the San Francisco fire department in the +brave days of old. Representatives of almost every nation on earth could +testify to this, and did repeatedly testify to it in almost every +language known to the human tongue; for there never was a more cosmical +commonwealth than sprang out of chaos on that Pacific coast; and there +never was a city less given to following in the footsteps of its elder +and more experienced sisters. Nor was there ever a more spontaneous +outburst of happy-go-luckiness than that which made of young San +Francisco a very Babel and a bouncing baby Babylon.</p> + + +<hr style='width: 65%;' /> + +<a name="image-7"><!-- Image 7 --></a> +<center> +<img src="images/illus-0062-2.jpg" height="400" width="519" +alt="Warner's at Meigg's Wharf"> +</center> + +<h4>Warner's at Meigg's Wharf</h4> +<br /><br /> + +<a name='ODVII'></a><h2>VII.</h2> + +<h3>A BOY'S OUTING</h3> +<br /> + + +<p><img align='left' src="images/illus-t.png" height="75" width="75" +alt="T"> + +<b><big>HERE</big></b> was joy in the heart, luncheon in the knapsack, and a sparkle in +the eye of each of us as we set forth on our exploring expedition, all +of a sunny Saturday. Outside of California there never were such +Saturdays as those. We were perfectly sure for eight months in the year +that it wouldn't rain a drop; and as for the other four months—well, +perhaps it wouldn't. It is true that Longfellow had sung, even in those +days:</p> + +<div class='poem'><div class='stanza'> +<span>Unto each life some rain must fall,<br /></span> +<span>Some days must be dark and dreary.<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p>Our days were not dark or dreary,—indeed, they could not possibly be in +the two-thirds-of-the-year-dry season. It did not rain so very much even +in the rainy season, when it had a perfect right to; therefore there was +joy in the heart and no umbrella anywhere about when we prepared to set +forth on our day of discovery.</p> + +<p>We began our adventure at Meigg's Wharf. We didn't go out to the end of +it, because there was nothing but crabs there, being hauled up at +frequent intervals by industrious crabbers, whose nets fairly fringed +the wharf. They lay on their backs by scores and hundreds, and waved +numberless legs in the air—I mean the crabs, not the crabbers. We used +to go crabbing ourselves when we felt like it, with a net made of a bit +of mosquito-bar stretched over an iron hoop, and with a piece of meat +tied securely in the middle of it. When we hauled up those home-made +hoop-nets—most everything seems to have been home-made in those +days—we used to find one, two, perhaps three huge crabs revolving +clumsily about the centre of attraction in the hollow of the net; and +then we shouted in glee and went almost wild with excitement.</p> + +<p>Just at the beginning of Meigg's Wharf there was a house of +entertainment that no doubt had a history and a mystery even in those +young days. We never quite comprehended it: we were too young for that, +and too shy and too well-bred to make curious or impertinent inquiry. We +sometimes stood at the wide doorway—it was forever invitingly open, +—and looked with awe and amazement at paintings richly framed and hung +so close together that no bit of the wall was visible. There was a bar +at the farther end of the long room,—there was always a bar somewhere +in those days; and there were cages filled with strange birds and +beasts,—as any one might know with his eyes shut, for the odor of it +all was repelling.</p> + +<p>The strangest feature of that most strange hostelry was the amazing +wealth of cobwebs that mantled it. Cobwebs as dense as crape waved in +dusty rags from the ceiling; they veiled the pictures and festooned the +picture-frames, that shone dimly through them. Not one of these cobwebs +was ever molested—or had been from the beginning of time, as it seemed +to us. A velvet carpet on the floor was worn smooth and almost no trace +of its rich flowery pattern was left; but there were many square boxes +filled with sand or sawdust and reeking with cigar stumps and tobacco +juice. Need I add that some of those pictures were such as our young and +innocent eyes ought never to have been laid on? Nor were they fit for +the eyes of others.</p> + +<p>There was something uncanny about that house. We never knew just what it +was, but we had a faint idea that the proprietor's wife or daughter was +a witch; and that she, being as cobwebby as the rest of its furnishings, +was never visible. The wharf in front of the house was a free menagerie. +There were bears and other beasts behind prison bars, a very populous +monkey cage, and the customary "happy family" looking as dreadfully +bored as usual. Then again there were whole rows of parrots and +cockatoos and macaws as splendid as rainbow tints could make them, and +with tails a yard long at least.</p> + +<p>From this bewildering pageant it was but a step to the beach below. +Indeed the water at high tide flowed under that house with much foam and +fury; for it was a house founded upon the sand, and it long since +toppled to its fall, as all such houses must. We followed the beach, +that rounded in a curve toward Black Point. Just before reaching the +Point there was a sandhill of no mean proportions; this, of course, we +climbed with pain, only to slide down with perspiration. It was our Alp, +and we ascended and descended it with a flood of emotion not unmixed +with sand.</p> + +<p>Near by was a wreck,—a veritable wreck; for a ship had been driven +ashore in the fog and she was left to her fate—and our mercy. Probably +it would not have paid to float her again; for of ships there were more +than enough. Everything worth while was coming into the harbor, and +almost nothing going out of it. We looked upon that old hulk as our +private and personal property. At low tide we could board her dry-shod; +at high tide we could wade out to her. We knew her intimately from stem +to stern, her several decks, her cabins, lockers, holds; we had counted +all her ribs over and over again, and paced her quarter-deck, and gazed +up at her stumpy masts—she had been well-nigh dismantled,—and given +sailing orders to our fellows amidships in the very ecstasy of +circumnavigation. She has gone, gone to her grave in the sea that +lapped her timbers as they lay a-rotting under the rocks; and now +pestiferous factories make hideous the landscape we found so fair.</p> + +<br /> +<a name="image-8"><!-- Image 8 --></a> +<center> +<img src="images/illus-0066-2.jpg" height="514" width="400" +alt="The Old Flume at Black Point, 1856"> +</center> + +<h4>The Old Flume at Black Point, 1856</h4> + +<p>As for Black Point, it was a wilderness of beauty in our eyes; a very +paradise of live-oak and scrub-oak, and of oak that had gone mad in the +whirlwinds and sandstorms that revelled there. Beyond Black Point we +climbed a trestle and mounted a flume that was our highway to the sea. +Through this flume the city was supplied with water. The flume was a +square trough, open at the top and several miles in length. It was cased +in a heavy frame; and along the timbers that crossed over it lay planks, +one after another, wherever the flume was uncovered. This narrow path, +intended for the convenience of the workmen who kept the flume in +repair, was our delight. We followed it in the full assurance that we +were running a great risk. Beneath us was the open trough, where the +water, two or three feet in depth, was rushing as in a mill-race. Had we +fallen, we must have been swept along with it, and perhaps to our doom. +Sometimes we were many feet in the air, crossing a cove where the sea +broke at high tide; sometimes we were in a cut among the rocks on a +jutting point; and sometimes the sand from the desert above us drifted +down and buried the flume, now roofed over, quite out of sight.</p> + +<p>So we came to Fort Point and the Golden Gate; and beyond the Fort there +was more flume and such a stretch of sea and shore and sunshine as +caused us to leap with gladness. We could follow the beach for miles; it +was like a pavement of varnished sand, cool to the foot and burnished to +the eye. And what sea-treasure lay strewn there! Mollusks, not so +delicate or so decorative as the shells we had brought with us from the +Southern Seas, but still delightful. Such starfish and cloudy, +starch-like jelly-fish, and all the livelier creeping and crawling +creatures that populate the shore! Brown sea-kelp and sea-green +sea-grass and the sea-anemone that are the floating gardens of the +sea-gods and sea-goddesses; sea-birds, soft-bosomed as doves and crying +with their ceaseless and sorrowful cry; and all they that are sea-borne +along the sea-board,—these were there in their glory.</p> + +<p>We hid in caverns and there dreamed our sea-dreams. We ate our lunches +and played at being smugglers; then we built fires of drift-wood to warn +the passing ships that we were castaways on a desert island; but when +they took no heed of our signals of distress we were not too sorry nor +in the least distressful.</p> + +<p>At the seal rocks we tarried long; for there are few spots within the +reach of the usual sight-seer where an enormous family of sea-lions can +be seen at home, sporting in their native element, and at liberty to +come and go in the wide Pacific at their own sweet wills. There they had +lived for numberless generations unmolested; there they still live, for +they are under the protection of the law.</p> + +<p>The famous Cliff House is built upon the cliff above them, and above it +is a garden bristling with statues. Thousands upon thousands of curious +idlers stare the sea-folks out of countenance—or try to; but they, the +sons of the salt sea and the daughters of the deep, climb into the +crevices of the rocks to sun themselves, unheeding; or leap into the +waves that girdle them and sport like the fabled monsters of marine +mythology. Seal, sea-leopard, or sea-lion—whatever they may be—they +cry with one voice night and day; and it is not a pleasant cry either, +though a far one, they mouth so horribly. Long ago it inspired a wit to +madness and he made a joke; the same old joke has been made by those who +followed after him. It will continue to be made with impertinent +impunity until the sea gives up its seals; for the temptation is there +daily and hourly, and the humorist is but human—he can not long resist +it; so he will buttonhole you on the veranda of the Cliff House and +whisper in your astonished ear as if he were imparting a state secret: +"Their bark is on the sea!"</p> + +<p>The way home was sometimes a weary one. After leaving the bluff above +the shore, we struck into an almost interminable succession of +sand-dunes. There was neither track nor trail there; there was no oasis +to gladden us with its vision of beauty. The pale poet of destiny and +despair has written:</p> + +<div class='poem'><div class='stanza'> +<span>In the desert a fountain is springing,<br /></span> +<span class='i2'>In the wide waste there still is a tree;<br /></span> +<span>And a bird in the solitude singing,<br /></span> +<span class='i2'>Which speaks to my spirit of thee.<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p>There was no fountain in our desert, and we knew it well enough; for we +had often braved its sands. In that wide waste there was not even the +solitary tree that moved the poet to song; nor a bird in our solitude, +save a sea-gull cutting across-lots from the ocean to the bay in search +of a dinner. There were some straggling vines on the edge of our desert, +thick-leaved and juicy; and these were doing their best to keep from +getting buried alive. The sand was always shifting out yonder, and there +was a square mile or two of it. We could easily have been lost in it but +for our two everlasting landmarks—Mount Tamalpais across the water to +the north, and in the south Lone Mountain. Lone Mountain was our +Calvary—a green hill that loomed above the graves where slept so many +who were dear to us. The cross upon its summit we had often visited in +our holiday pilgrimages. They were <i>holydays</i>, when our childish feet +toiled hopefully up that steep height; for that cross was the beacon +that lighted the world-weary to everlasting rest.</p> + +<p>And so we crossed the desert, over our shoetops in sand; climbing one +hill after another, only to slide or glide or ride down the yielding +slope on the farther side. Meanwhile the fog came in like a wet blanket. +It swathed all the landscape in impalpable snow; it chilled us and it +thrilled us, for there was danger of our going quite astray in it; but +by and by we got into the edge of the town, and what a very ragged edge +it was in the dim long ago! Once in the edge of the town, we were +masters of the situation: you couldn't lose us even in the dark. And so +ended the outing of our merry crew,—merry though weary and worn; yet +not so worn and weary but we could raise at parting a glad "Hoorah for +Health, Happiness, and the Hills of Home!"</p> + + + +<hr style='width: 65%;' /> +<a name='ODVIII'></a><h2>VIII.</h2> + +<h3>THE MISSION DOLORES</h3> +<br /> + + + +<p><img align='left' src="images/illus-i.png" height="75" width="78" +alt="I"> + +<b><big>HAVE</big></b> read somewhere in the pages of a veracious author how, five or +six years before my day, he had ridden through chaparral from Yerba +Buena to the Mission Dolores with the howl of the wolf for +accompaniment. Yerba Buena is now San Francisco, and the mission is a +part of the city; it is not even a suburb.</p> + +<p>In 1855 there were two plank-roads leading from the city to the Mission +Dolores; on each of these omnibuses ran every half hour. The plank-road +was a straight and narrow way, cut through acres of chaparral—thickets +of low evergreen oaks,—and leading over forbidding wastes of sand. To +stretch a figure, it was as if the sea-of-sand had been divided in the +midst, so that the children of Israel might have passed dry-shod, and +the Egyptians pursuing them might have been swallowed up in the billows +of sand that flowed over them at intervals.</p> + +<p>Somewhere among those treacherous dunes—of them it might indeed be said +that "the mountains skipped like rams and the little hills like +lambs,"—somewhere thereabout was located the once famous but now +fabulous Pipesville, the country-seat of my old friend, "Jeems Pipes of +Pipesville." He was longer and better known to the world as Stephen C. +Massett, composer of the words and music of that once most popular of +songs, "When the Moon on the Lake is Beaming," as well as many another +charming ballad.</p> + +<p>Stephen C. Massett, a most delightful companion and a famous diner-out, +give a concert of vocal music interspersed with recitations and +imitations, in the school-house that stood at the northwest corner of +the plaza. This was on Monday evening, June 22, 1849; and it was the +first public entertainment, the first regular amusement, ever given in +San Francisco. The only piano in the country was engaged for the +occasion; the tickets were three dollars each, and the proceeds yielded +over five hundred dollars; although it cost sixteen dollars to have the +piano used on the occasion moved from one side of the plaza, or +Portsmouth Square, to the other. On a copy of the programme which now +lies before me I find this line: "N.B.—Front seats reserved for +ladies!" History records that there were but four ladies +present—probably the only four in the town at the time. Massett died in +New York city a few months ago,—a man who had friends in every country +under the sun, and, I believe, no enemy.</p> + +<p>I remember the Mission Dolores as a detached settlement with a +pronounced Spanish flavor. There was one street worth mentioning, and +only one. It was lined with low-walled adobe houses, roofed with the red +curved tiles which add so much to the adobe houses that otherwise would +be far from picturesque. The adobe is a sun-baked brick; it is +mud-color; its walls look as if they were moulded of mud. The adobes +were the native California habitations. We spoke of them as adobes; +although it would probably be as correct, etymologically, to refer to +brick houses as bricks.</p> + +<p>There were a few ramshackle hotels at the mission; for in the early days +it seemed as if everybody either boarded or took in boarders, and many +families lived for years in hotels rather than attempt to keep house in +the wilds of San Francisco. The mission was about one house deep each +side of the main street. You might have turned a corner and found +yourself face to face with the cattle in the meadow. As for the goats, +they met you at the doorway and followed you down the street like dogs.</p> + +<p>At the top of this street stood the mission church and what few mission +buildings were left for the use of the Fathers. The church and the +grounds were the most interesting features of the place, and it was a +favorite resort of the citizens of San Francisco; yet it most likely +would not have been were the church the sole attraction. Here, in +appropriate enclosures, there were bull-fighting, bear-baiting, and +horse-racing. Many duels were fought here, and some of them were so well +advertised that they drew almost as well as a cock-fight. Cock-fighting +was a special Sunday diversion. Through the mission ran the highway to +the pleasant city of San José; it ran through a country unsurpassed in +beauty and fertility. Above the mission towered the mission peaks, and +about it the hillslopes were mantled with myriads of wild flowers, the +splendor and variety of which have added to the fame of California.</p> + +<p>The mission church was never handsome; but the facade with the old bells +hanging in their niches, and the almost naive simplicity of its +architectural adornment, are extremely pleasing. It is a long, narrow, +dingy nave one enters. Its walls of adobe do not retain their coats of +whitewash for any length of time; in the rainy season they are damp and +almost clammy. The floor is of beaten earth; the Stations upon the walls +of the rudest description; the narrow windows but dimly light the +interior, and rather add to than dispel the gloom that has been +gathering there for ages. The high altar is, of course, in striking +contrast with all that dark interior: it is over-decorated in the +Mexican manner—flowers, feathers, tinsel ornaments, tall candlesticks +elaborately gilded; all the statues examples of the primitive art that +appealed strongly to the uncultivated eye; and all the adornments gay, +gaudy, if not garish. Do you wonder at this? When you enter the old +church at the Mission Dolores you should recall its history, and picture +in your imagination the people for whom the mission was established.</p> + +<p>The Franciscans founded their first mission in California at San Diego +in 1769. The Mission Dolores was founded on St. Francis' Day, 1776. To +found a mission was a serious matter; yet one and twenty missions were +in the full tide of success before the good work was abandoned. The +friars were the first fathers of the land: they did whatever was done +for it and for the people who originally inhabited it. They explored the +country lying between the coast range and the sea. They set apart large +tracts of land for cultivation and for the pasturing of flocks and +herds. For a long time Old and New Spain contributed liberally to what +was known as the Pious Fund of California. The fund was managed by the +Convent of San Fernando and certain trustees in Mexico, and the proceeds +transmitted from the city of Mexico to the friars in California.</p> + +<p>The mission church was situated, as a rule, in the centre of the mission +lands, or reservations. The latter comprised several thousand acres of +land. With the money furnished by the Pious Fund of California the +church was erected, and surrounded by the various buildings occupied by +the Fathers, the retainers, and the employees who had been trained to +agriculture and the simple branches of mechanics. The presbytery, or the +rectory, was the chief guest-house in the land. There were no hotels in +the California of that day, but the traveller, the prospector, the +speculator, was ever welcome at the mission board; and it was a +bountiful board until the rapacity of the Federal Government laid it +waste. Alexander Forbes, in his "History of Upper and Lower California" +(London, 1839), states that the population of Upper California in 1831 +was a little over 23,000; of these 18,683 were Indians. It was for the +conversion of these Indians that the missions were first established; +for the bettering of their condition—mental, moral and physical—that +they were trained in the useful and industrial arts. That they labored +not in vain is evident. In less than fifty years from the day of its +foundation the Mission of San Francisco Dolores—that is in 1825—is +said to have possessed 76,000 head of cattle; 950 tame horses; 2,000 +breeding mares; 84 stud of choice breed; 820 mules; 79,000 sheep; 2,000 +hogs; 456 yoke of working oxen; 18,000 bushels of wheat and barley; +besides $35,000 in merchandise and $25,000 in specie.</p> + +<p>That was, indeed, the golden age of the California missions; everybody +was prosperous and proportionately happy. In 1826 the Mission of Soledad +owned more than 36,000 head of cattle, and a larger number of horses and +mares than any other mission in the country. These animals increased so +rapidly that they were given away in order to preserve the pasturage for +cattle and sheep. In 1822 the Spanish power in Mexico was overthrown; in +1824 a republican constitution was established. California, not then +having a population sufficient to admit it as one of the Federal States, +was made a territory, and as such had a representative in the Mexican +Congress; but he was not allowed a vote on any question, though he sat +in the assembly and shared in the debates.</p> + +<p>In 1826 the Federal Government began to meddle with the affairs of the +friars. The Indians "who had good characters, and were considered able +to maintain themselves, from having been taught the art of agriculture +or some trade," were manumitted; portions of land were allotted to them, +and the whole country was divided into parishes, under the +superintendence of curates. The zealous missionaries were no longer to +receive a salary—four hundred dollars a year had formerly been paid +them out of the national exchequer for developing the resources of the +State. Everybody and everything was now supposed to be self-sustaining, +and was left to take care of itself. It was a dream—and a bad one!</p> + +<br /> +<a name="image-9"><!-- Image 9 --></a> +<center> +<img src="images/illus-0078-2.jpg" height="400" width="640" +alt="Lone Mountain, 1856"> +</center> + +<h4>Lone Mountain, 1856</h4> + +<p>Within one year the Indians went to the dogs. They were cheated out of +their small possessions and were driven to beggary or plunder. The +Fathers were implored to take charge again of their helpless flock. +Meanwhile the Pious Fund of California had run dry, as its revenues had +been diverted into alien channels. The good friars resumed their +offices. Once more the missions were prosperous, but for a time only. It +was the beginning of the end. Year after year acts were passed in the +Mexican Congress so hampering the friars in their labors that they were +at last crippled and helpless. The year 1840 was specially disastrous; +and in 1845 the Franciscans the pioneer settlers and civilizers of +California, were completely denuded of both power and property.</p> + +<p>In that year a number of the missions were sold by public auction. The +Indian converts, formerly attached to some of the missions, but now +demoralized and wandering idly and miserably over the country, were +ordered to return within a month to the few remaining missions, <i>or +those also would be sold</i>. The Indians, having had enough of legislation +and knowing the white man pretty well by this time, no doubt having had +enough of him, returned not, and their missions were disposed of. Then +the remaining missions were rented and the remnants divided into three +parts: one kindly bestowed upon the missionaries, who were the founders +and rightful owners of the missions; one upon the converted Indians, who +seem to have vanished into thin air; one, the last, was supposed to be +converted into a new Pious Fund of California for the further education +and evangelization of the masses—whoever they might be. The general +government had long been in financial distress, and had often +borrowed—to put it mildly—from the friars in their more prosperous +days. In 1831 the Mexican Congress owed the missions of California +$450,000 of borrowed money; and in 1845 it left those missionaries +absolutely penniless.</p> + +<p>Let me not harp longer upon this theme, but end with a quotation from +the pages of a non-Catholic historian. Referring to the Franciscans and +their mission work on the Pacific coast, Josiah Joyce, assistant +professor of philosophy in Harvard College, says:<a name='FNanchor_1'></a> +<a href='#Footnote_1'><sup>[1]</sup></a></p> + +<p>"No one can question their motives, nor may one doubt that their +intentions were not only formally pious but truly humane. For the more +fatal diseases that so-called civilization introduced among the Indians, +only the soldiers and colonists of the presidios and pueblos were to +blame; and the Fathers, well knowing the evil results of a mixed +population, did their best to prevent these consequences, but in vain; +since the neighborhood of a presidio was often necessary for the safety +of a mission, and the introduction of a white colonist was an important +part of the intentions of the home government. But, after all, upon this +whole toil of the missions, considered in itself, one looks back with +regret, as upon one of the most devout and praiseworthy of mortal +efforts; and, in view of its avowed intentions, one of the most complete +and fruitless of human failures. The missions have meant, for modern +American California, little more than a memory, which now indeed is +lighted up by poetical legends of many sorts. But the chief significance +of the missions is simply that they first began the colonization of +California."</p> + +<p>The old mission church as I knew it four and forty years ago is still +standing and still an object of pious interest. The first families of +the faithful lie under its eaves in their long and peaceful sleep, +happily unmindful of the great changes that have come over the spirit of +all our dreams. The old adobes have returned to dust, even as the hands +of those who fashioned them more than a century ago. Very modern houses +have crowded upon the old church and churchyard, and they seem to have +become the merest shadows of their former selves; while the roof-tree +of the new church soars into space, and its wide walls—out of all +proportion with the Dolores of departed days—are but emblematic of the +new spirit of the age.</p> +<br /> + +<hr style='width: 65%;' /> +<a name='ODIX'></a><h2>IX.</h2> + +<h3>SOCIAL SAN FRANCISCO</h3> +<br /> + +<p><img align='left' src="images/illus-s.png" height="75" width="75" +alt="S"> + +<b><big>OCIAL</big></b> San Francisco during the early Fifties seems to have been a +conglomeration of unexpected externals and surprising interiors. It was +heterogeneous to the last degree. It was hail-fellow-well-met, with a +reservation; it asked no questions for conscience's sake; it would not +have been safe to do so. There were too many pasts in the first families +and too many possible futures to permit one to cast a shadow upon the +other. And after all is said, if sins may be forgiven and atoned for, +why should the memory of a shady past imperil the happiness and +prosperity of the future? All futures should be hopeful; they were +"promise-crammed" in that healthy and hearty city by the sea.</p> + +<p>It was impossible, not to say impolite, to inquire into your neighbors' +antecedents. It was currently believed that the mines were filled with +broken-down "divines," as if it were but a step from the pulpit to the +pickaxe. As for one's family, it was far better off in the old home so +long as the salary of a servant was seventy dollars a month, fresh eggs +a dollar and a quarter a dozen, turkeys ten dollars apiece, and coal +fifty dollars a ton.</p> + +<p>In 1854 and 1855 San Francisco had a monthly magazine that any city or +state might have been proud of; this was <i>The Pioneer</i>, edited by the +Rev. Ferdinand C. Ewer. In 1851, a lady, the wife of a physician, went +with her husband into the mines and settled at Rich Bar and Indian Bar, +two neighboring camps on the north fork of the Feather River. There were +but three or four other women in that part of the country, and one of +these died. This lady wrote frequent and lengthy descriptive letters to +a sister in New England, and these letters were afterward published +serially in <i>The Pioneer</i>. They picture life as a highly-accomplished +woman knew it in the camps and among the people whom Bret Harte has +immortalized. She called herself "Dame Shirley," and the "Shirley +Letters" in <i>The Pioneer</i> are the most picturesque, vivid, and valuable +record of life in a California mining camp that I know of. The wonder is +that they have never been collected and published in book form; for they +have become a part of the history of the development of the State.</p> + +<p>The life of a later period in San Francisco and Monterey has been +faithfully depicted by another hand. The life that was a mixture of +Gringo and diluted Castilian—a life that smacked of the presidio and +the hacienda,—that was a tale worth telling; and no one has told it so +freely, so fully or so well as Gertrude Franklin Atherton.</p> + +<p>"Dame Shirley" was Mrs. L.A.C. Clapp. When her husband died she went to +San Francisco and became a teacher in the Union Street public school. It +was this admirable lady who made literature my first love; and to her +tender mercies I confided my maiden efforts in the art of composition. +She readily forgave me then, and was the very first to offer me +encouragement; and from that hour to this she has been my faithful +friend and unfailing correspondent.</p> + +<p>South Park and Rincon Hill! Do the native sons of the golden West ever +recall those names and think what dignity they once conferred upon the +favored few who basked in the sunshine of their prosperity? South Park, +with its line of omnibuses running across the city to North Beach; its +long, narrow oval, filled with dusty foliage and offering a very weak +apology for a park; its two rows of houses with, a formal air, all +looking very much alike, and all evidently feeling their importance. +There were young people's "parties" in those days, and the height of +felicity was to be invited to them. As a height o'ertops a hollow, so +Rincon Hill looked down upon South Park. There was more elbow-room on +the breezy height; not that the height was so high or so broad, but it +<i>was</i> breezy; and there was room for the breeze to blow over gardens +that spread about the detached houses their wealth of color and perfume.</p> + +<p>How are the mighty fallen! The Hill, of course, had the farthest to +fall. South Parkites merely moved out: they went to another and a better +place. There was a decline in respectability and the rent-roll, and no +one thinks of South Park now,—at least no one speaks of it above a +whisper. As for the Hill, the Hillites hung on through everything; the +waves of commerce washed all about it and began gnawing at its base; a +deep gully was cut through it, and there a great tide of traffic ebbed +and flowed all day. At night it was dangerous to pass that way without a +revolver in one's hand; for that city is not a city in the barbarous +South Seas, whither preachers of the Gospel of peace are sent; but is a +civilized city and proportionately unsafe.</p> + +<p>A cross-street was lowered a little, and it leaped the chasm in an agony +of wood and iron, the most unlovely object in a city that is made up of +all unloveliness. The gutting of this Hill cost the city the fortunes of +several contractors, and it ruined the Hill forever. There is nothing +left to be done now but to cast it into the midst of the sea. I had +sported on the green with the goats of goatland ere ever the stately +mansion had been dreamed of; and it was my fate to set up my tabernacle +one day in the ruins of a house that even then stood upon the order of +its going,—it did go impulsively down into that "most unkindest cut," +the Second Street chasm. Even the place that once knew it has followed +after.</p> + +<p>The ruin I lived in had been a banker's Gothic home. When Rincon Hill +was spoiled by bloodless speculators, he abandoned it and took up his +abode in another city. A tenant was left to mourn there. Every summer +the wild winds shook that forlorn ruin to its foundations. Every winter +the rains beat upon it and drove through and through it, and undermined +it, and made a mush of the rock and soil about it; and later portions of +that real estate deposited themselves, pudding-fashion, in the yawning +abyss below.</p> + +<p>I sat within, patiently awaiting the day of doom; for well I knew that +my hour must come. I could not remain suspended in midair for any length +of time: the fall of the house at the northwest corner of Harrison and +Second Streets must mark my fall. While I was biding my time, there came +to me a lean, lithe stranger. I knew him for a poet by his unshorn locks +and his luminous eyes, the pallor of his face and his exquisitely +sensitive hands. As he looked about my eyrie with aesthetic glance, +almost his first words were: "What a background for a novel!" He seemed +to relish it all—the impending crag that might topple any day or hour; +the modest side door that had become my front door because the rest of +the building was gone; the ivy-roofed, geranium-walled conservatory +wherein I slept like a Babe in the Wood, but in densest solitude and +with never a robin to cover me.</p> + +<p>He liked the crumbling estate, and even as much of it as had gone down +into the depths forever. He liked the sagging and sighing cypresses, +with their roots in the air, that hung upon and clung upon the rugged +edge of the remainder. He liked the shaky stairway that led to it (when +it was not out of gear), and all that was irrelative and irrelevant; +what might have been irritating to another was to him singularly +appealing and engaging; for he was a poet and a romancer, and his name +was Robert Louis Stevenson. He used to come to that eyrie on Rincon Hill +to chat and to dream; he called it "the most San Francisco-ey part of +San Francisco," and so it was. It was the beginning and the end of the +first period of social development on the Pacific coast. There is a +picture of it, or of the South Park part of it, in Gertrude Atherton's +story, "The Californians." The little glimpse that Louis Stevenson had +of it in its decay gave him a few realistic pages for <i>The Wrecker</i>.</p> + +<p>I have referred to the surprising interiors of the city in the Fifties. +What I meant was this: there was not an alley so miserable and so muddy +but somewhere in it there was pretty sure to be a cottage as demure in +outward appearance as modesty itself. Nothing could be more unassuming: +it had not even the air of genteel poverty. I think such an air was not +to be thought of in those days: gentility kept very much to itself. As +for poverty, it was a game that any one might play at any moment, and +most had played at it.</p> + +<p>This cottage stood there—I think I will say <i>sat</i> there, it looked so +perfectly resigned,—and no doubt commanded a rent quite out of +proportion to its size. It had its shaky veranda and its French windows, +and was lined with canvas; for there was not a trowel full of plaster in +it. The ceiling bellied and flapped like an awning when the wind soughed +through the clapboards; and the walls sometimes visibly heaved a sigh; +but they were covered with panelled paper quite palatial in texture and +design, and that is one thing that made those interiors surprising.</p> + +<p>At the windows the voluminous lace draperies were almost overpowering. +Satin lambrequins were festooned with colossal cord and tassels of +bullion. A plate-glass mirror as wide as the mantel reflected the +Florentine gilt carving of its own elaborate frame. There were bronzes +on the mantel, and tall vases of Sévres, and statuettes of bisque +brilliantly tinted. At the two sides of the mantel stood pedestals of +Italian marble surmounted by urns of the most graceful and elegant +proportions, and profusely ornamented with sculptured fruits and +flowers. There was the old-fashioned square piano in its carven case, +and cabinets from China or East India; also a lacquered Japanese screen, +marble-topped tables of filigreed teek, brackets of inlaid ebony. Curios +there were galore. Some paintings there were, and these rocked softly +upon the gently-heaving walls. As for the velvet carpet, it was a bed of +gigantic roses that might easily put to the blush the prime of summer in +a queen's garden.</p> + +<p>I well remember another home in San Francisco, one that possessed for me +the strongest attraction. It was bosomed in the sandhills south of +Market Street,—I know not between what streets, for they had all been +blurred or quite obliterated by drifts of sifting sand. It was a small +house fenced about; but the fence was for the most part buried under +sand, and looked as if it were a rampart erected for the defense of this +isolated cot. Some few hardy flowers had been planted there, but they +were knee-deep in sand, and their petals were full of grit. One usually +blew into that house with a pinch of sand, but how good it was to be +there!</p> + +<p>Within those walls there was the unmistakable evidence of the feminine +touch, the aesthetic influence that refines and beautifies everything. +It was not difficult to idealize in that atmosphere. It was the home of +a lady who chose to conceal her identity, though her pen-name was a +household word from one end of the coast to the other. She was a star +contributor to the weekly columns of the <i>Golden Era,</i> a periodical we +all subscribed for and were immensely proud of. It was unique in its +way. Of late years I have found no literary journal to compare with it +at its best. It introduced Bret Harte, Mark Twain, Prentice Mulford, +Joaquin Miller, Ina Coolbrith, and many others, to their first circle of +admirers. In the large mail-box at its threshold—a threshold I dared +not cross for awe of it—I dropped my earliest efforts in verse, and +then ran for fear of being caught in the act.</p> + +<p>Imagine the joy of a lad whose ambition was to write something worth +printing, and whose wildest dream was to be named some day with those +who had won their laurels in the field of letters,—imagine his joy at +being petted in the sanctum of one who was in his worshipful eyes the +greatest lady in the land! About her were the trophies of her triumph, +though she was personally known to few. Each post brought her tribute +from the grateful hearts of her readers afar off in the mountain mining +camps, and perhaps from beyond the Rockies; or, it may have been, from +the unsuspecting admirer who lived just beyond the first sandhill. This +was another surprising interior. There was plain living and high +thinking in the midst of a wilderness that was, to say the least, +uninviting; the windows rattled and the sand peppered them. Without was +the abomination of desolation; but within the desert blossomed as the +rose.</p> + +<p>There were other homes as homely as the one I preferred—for there was +sand enough to go round. It went round and round, as God probably +intended it should, until a city sat upon it and kept it quiet. Some of +these homes were perched upon solitary hilltops, and were lost to sight +when the fog came in from the sea; and some were crowded into the thick +of the town, with all sorts of queer people for neighbors. You could, +had you chosen to, look out of a back window into a hollow square full +of cats and rats and tin cans; and upon the three sides of the +quadrangle which you were facing, you might have seen, unblushingly +revealed, all the mysteries and miseries of Europe, Asia, Africa, and +Oceanica; for they were all of them represented by delegates.</p> + +<p>Of course there were handsome residences (not so very many of them as +yet), where there was fine art—some of the finest. But often this art +was to be found in the saloons, and the subjects chosen would hardly +find entertainment elsewhere. The furnishing of the houses was within +the bounds of good taste. Monumental marbles were not erected by the +hearth-side; the window drapery was diaphanous rather than dense and +dowdy. The markets of San Francisco were much to blame for the +flashiness of the domestic interior: they were stocked with the gaudiest +fixtures and textures, and in the inspection of them the eye was +bewildered and the taste demoralized.</p> + +<p>Harmony survived the inharmonious, and it prevailed in the homes of the +better classes, as it was bound to do; for refinement had set its seal +there, and you can not counterfeit the seal of refinement. But I am +inclined to think that in the Fifties there was a natural tendency to +overdress, to over-decorate, to overdo almost everything. Indeed the day +was demonstrative; if the now celebrated climate had not yet been +elaborately advertised, no doubt there was something hi it singularly +bracing. The elixir of it got into the blood and the brain, and perhaps +the bones as well. The old felt younger than they did when they left +"the States,"—the territory from the Rockies to the Atlantic Ocean was +commonly known as "the States." The middle-aged renewed their youth, and +youth was wild with an exuberance of health and hope and happiness that +seemed to give promise of immortality.</p> + +<p>No wonder that it was thought an honor to be known as the first white +child born in San Francisco—I'd think it such myself,—and I'm proud to +state that all three claimants are my personal friends.</p> + + + +<hr style='width: 65%;' /> +<a name='ODX'></a><h2>X.</h2> + +<h3>HAPPY VALLEY</h3> +<br /> + +<p><img align='left' src="images/illus-h.png" height="75" width="75" +alt="H"> + +<b><big>OW</big></b> well I remember it—the Happy Valley of the days of old! It lay +between California Street and Rincon Point; was bounded on the east by +the Harbor of San Francisco, and on the west by the mission peaks. I +never knew just why it was called <i>happy</i>; I never saw any wildly-happy +inhabitants singing or dancing for joy on its sometimes rather +indefinite street corners. If there is happiness in sand, then, happily, +it was sandy. You might have climbed knee-deep up some parts of it and +slid down on the other side; you could have played at "hide-and-seek" +among its shifting undulations. From what is now known as Nob Hill you +could have looked across it to the heights of Rincon Point—and, +perchance, have looked in vain for happiness. Yet who or what is +happiness? A flying nymph whose airy steps even the sand can not stay +for long.</p> + +<p>Down through this Happy Valley ran Market Street, a bias cut across the +city that was to be. Market Street is about all that saved that city +from making a checker-board of its ground-plan. Market Street flew off +at a tangent and set all the south portion of the town at an angle that +is rather a relief than anything else that I know of. Who wants to go on +forever up one street and down another, and then across town at right +angles, as if life were a treadmill and there were no hope of change +until the great change comes?</p> + +<p>Happy Valley! I remember one cool twilight when a "prairie schooner," +that was time-worn and weather-beaten, drifted down Montgomery Street +from Market Street, and rounded the corner of Sutter Street, where it +hove to. You know the "prairie schooner" was the old-time emigrant wagon +that was forever crossing the plains in Forty-nine and the early +Fifties. It was scow-built, hooded from end to end, freighted with goods +and chattels; and therein the whole family lived and moved and had its +being during the long voyage to the Pacific Coast.</p> + +<p>On this twilight evening the captain of the schooner, assisted by a +portion of his crew, deliberately took down part of the fence which +enclosed a sand-lot bounded by Montgomery, Sutter and Post Streets; +driving into the centre of the lot; the horses—four jaded beasts—were +turned loose, and soon a camp-fire was lighted and the entire emigrant +family gathered about it to partake of the evening meal. On this lot now +stands the Lick House and the Masonic Hall—undreamed of in those days. +No one seemed in the least surprised to find in the very heart of the +city a scene such as one might naturally look for in the heart of the +Rocky Mountains and the wilds of the great desert, or the heights of the +Humboldt. No doubt they thought it a Happy Valley; and well they might, +for they had reached their journey's end.</p> + +<p>A stone's throw from that twilight camp, on the south side of Market +Street, stood old St. Patrick's Church. It was a most unpretending +structure, and was quite overshadowed by the R.C. Orphan Asylum close at +hand. Both were backed by sandhills; and both, together with the sand, +have been spirited away. The Palace and Grand Hotels now stand on the +spot. The original St. Patrick's still exists; and, after one or two +transportations, has come to a final halt near the Catholic cemetery +under the shadow of Lone Mountain. It must be ever dear to me, for +within its modest rectory I met the first Catholic clergyman I ever +became acquainted with; and within it I grew familiar with the offices +of the Church; though I was instructed by the Rev. Father Accolti, S.J., +at old St. Ignatius', on Market Street; and by him baptized at the St. +Mary's Cathedral, on the corner of California and Dupont Streets, now +the church of the Paulist Fathers. I have referred to dear old St. +Patrick's—which was dedicated on the first Sunday in September, +1851—in the story of my conversion, a little bit of autobiography +entitled "A Troubled Heart, and How It was Comforted at Last." The late +Peter H. Burnett, first Governor of California, was my godfather.</p> + +<p>In 1855 St. Mary's Cathedral was the handsomest house of worship in the +city. For the most part, the churches of all denominations were of the +plainest, not to say cheapest, order of architecture. As a youth, I sat +in the family pew in the First Presbyterian Church, situated on Stockton +Street, near Broadway. Well I remember my father, with others of the +congregation—all members of the Vigilance Committee,—at the sound of +the alarm-bell, rising in the midst of the sermon and striding out of +the house to take arms in defence of law and order.</p> + +<p>Perhaps the saddest sights in those early days were the neglected +cemeteries. There was one at North Beach, where before 1850 there were +eight hundred and forty interments. It was on the slope of Telegraph +Hill. The place was neglected; a street had been cut through it, and on +the banks of this street we could, at intervals, see the ends of coffins +protruding. Some were broken and falling apart; some were still sound. +It was a gruesome sight.</p> + +<p>There were a few Russian graves on Russian Hill, a forlorn spot in those +days; but perhaps the forlornest of all was Yerba Buena cemetery, where +previous to 1854 four thousand and five hundred bodies had been buried. +It was half-way between Happy Valley and the Mission Dolores. The sand +there was tossed in hillocks like the waves of a sandy sea. There the +chaparral grew thickest; and there the scrub-oaks shrugged their +shoulders and turned their backs to the wind, and grew all lopsided, +with leafage as dense as moss.</p> + +<p>No fence enclosed this weird spot. The sand sifted into it and through +it and out on the other, side; it made graves and uncovered them; it had +ever a new surprise for us. We boys haunted it in ghoulish pairs, and +whispered to each other as we found one more coffin coming to the +surface, or searched in vain for the one we had seen the week before; it +had been mercifully reburied by the winds. There were rude headboards, +painted in fading colors; and beneath them lay the dead of all nations, +soon to be nameless. By and by they were all carried hence; and those +that were far away, watching and waiting for the loved and absent +adventurers, watched and waited in vain. A change come o'er the spirit +of the place. The site is now marked by the New City Hall—in all +probability the most costly architectural monstrosity on this continent.</p> + +<p>"From grave to gay" is but a step; "from lively to severe," another,—I +know not which of the two is longer. It was literally from grave to gay +when the old San Franciscans used to wade through the sandy margin of +Yerba Buena cemetery in search of pleasure at Russ' Garden on the +mission road. It flourished in the early Fifties—this very German +garden, the pride and property of Mr. Christian Russ. It was a little +bit of the Fatherland, transported as if by magic and set down among the +hillocks toward the Mission Dolores. Well I remember being taken there +at intervals, to find little tables in artificial bowers, where sat +whole families as sedate, or merry, and as much at ease as if they were +in their own homes. They would spend Sunday there, after Mass. There was +always something to be seen, to be listened to, to be done. Meals were +served at all hours, and beer at all minutes; and the program contained +a long list of attractions,—enough to keep one interested till ten or +eleven o'clock at night.</p> + +<p>I can remember how scanty the foliage was—it resembled a little the +toy-villages that are made in the Tyrol, having each of them a handful +of impossible trees that breathe not balsam, but paint. I remember the +high wind that blew in bravely from the sea; the pavilion that was a +wonder-world of never-failing attractiveness; and how on a certain +occasion I watched with breathless anxiety and dumb amazement a man, +who seemed to have discarded every garment common to the race, wheel a +wheelbarrow with a grooved wheel up a tight rope stretched from the +ground to the outer peak of the pavilion; and all the time there was a +man in the wheelbarrow who seemed paralyzed with fright,—as no doubt he +was. The man who wheeled the barrow was the world-famous Blondin.</p> + +<br /> +<a name="image-10"><!-- Image 10 --></a> +<center> +<img src="images/illus-0100-2.jpg" height="400" width="654" +alt="Russ Gardens, 1856"> +</center> + +<h4>Russ Gardens, 1856</h4> + +<p>Another sylvan retreat was known as "The Willows." There were some +willows there, but I fear they were numbered; and there was an <i>al +fresco</i> theatre such as one sees in the Champs-Elysées; indeed, the +place had quite a Frenchy atmosphere, and was not at all German, as was +Russ' Garden. French singers sang French songs upon the stage—it was +not much larger than a sounding-board.</p> + +<p>An air of gaiety prevailed; for I imagine the majority of the <i>habitués</i> +were from the French Quarter of the city. Of course there were birds and +beasts, and cages populous with monkeys; and there was an emeu—the +weird bird that can not fly, the Australian cassowary. This bird +inspired Bret Harte to song, and in his early days he wrote "The Ballad +of the Emeu";</p> + +<div class='poem'><div class='stanza'> +<span>O say, have you seen at the willows so green,<br /></span> +<span class='i2'>So charming and rurally true,<br /></span> +<span>A singular bird, with the manner absurd,<br /></span> +<span class='i2'>Which they call the Australian emeu?<br /></span> +<span class='i14'>Have you<br /></span> +<span class='i2'>Ever seen this Australian emeu?<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p>I fear the poet was moved to sarcasm when he sang of "the willows so +green, so charming and rurally true." Surely they were greener than any +other trees we had in town; for we had almost none, save a few dark +evergreens. Well, the place was charming in its way, and as rurally true +as anything could be expected to be on that peninsula in its native +wilderness. The Willows and Russ' Garden had their day, and it was a +jolly day. They were good for the people—those rural resorts; they were +rest for the weary, refreshment for the hungry and thirsty—and they +have gone; even their very sites are now obliterated, and the new +generation has perhaps never even heard of them.</p> + +<p>How we wondered at and gloried in the Oriental Hotel! It was the queen +of Western hostelries, and stood at the corner of Battery and Bush +Streets. And the Tehama House, so famous in its day! It was Lieutenant +G.H. Derby, better known in letters as John Phoenix, and Squibob—names +delightfully associated with the early history of California,—it was +this Lieutenant Derby, one of the first and best of Western humorists, +who added interest to the hotel by writing "A Legend of the Tehama +House." It begins, chapter first:</p> + +<p>"It was evening at the Tehama. The apothecary, whose shop formed the +southeastern corner of that edifice, had lighted his lamps, which, +shining through those large glass bottles in the window, filled with +red and blue liquors—once supposed by this author, when young and +innocent, to be medicines of the most potent description,—lit up the +faces of the passers-by with an unearthly glare, and exaggerated the +general redness and blueness of their noses."</p> + +<p>The third and last chapter concludes with these words: "The Tehama House +is still there." The laughter-making and laughter-loving Phoenix has +long since gone to his reward. Of the Oriental Hotel scarcely a +tradition remains. The Tehama House—what there is left of it—has been +spirited to the north side of Broadway within a stone's-throw of the +city and county jail. The cliffs of Telegraph Hill browbeat it. It is, +one might say, the last of its race.</p> + +<p>Another hospice—if it <i>was</i> a hospice—I remember. It stood on the +corner of Clay and Sansome Streets, and was a very ordinary building, +erected over the hulk of a ship that had been stranded there in the days +of Forty-nine. I saw the building torn down and the bones of the hulk +disinterred years after the water lots that had been filled in for +several squares, between it and the old harbor, were covered with +substantial buildings. When that bark was buoyant it had weathered Cape +Horn with a small army of argonauts. They had gone their way to dusty +death; she had buried her nose on the water-front and had been +smothered to death in the mire. Docks, streets, grew up around her; a +building had snuffed her out of sight and mind. The old building gave +place to a new one; the bark was resurrected in order to lay a solid +foundation for the new block that was to be. In the hold of this +forgotten bark was discovered a forgotten case of champagne. It had been +sunk in mud and ooze for years. When the bottles were opened the corks +refused to pop, and nobody dared to touch the "bilge" that was within. +All this was on the happy hem of Happy Valley—and still I was not +happy.</p> + + + +<hr style='width: 65%;' /> +<a name='ODXI'></a><h2>XI.</h2> + +<h3>THE VIGILANCE COMMITTEE</h3> +<br /> + +<p><img align='left' src="images/illus-i.png" height="75" width="75" +alt="I"> + +<b><big>T</big></b> was May 14, 1856. I chanced to be standing at the northwest corner of +Washington and Montgomery Streets, watching the world go by. It was a +queer world: very much mixed, not a little fantastic in manner and +costume; just the kind of world to delight a boy, and no doubt I was +delighted.</p> + +<p>"Bang!" It was a pistol-shot, and very near me—not thirty feet away. I +turned and saw a man stagger and fall to the pavement. Then the streets +began to grow dark with people hurrying toward the scene of the tragedy. +I fled in fright; I had had my fill of horrors. The pistol-shot was +familiar enough: it punctuated the hours of day and night out yonder. +But I had never witnessed a murder, and this was evidently one.</p> + +<p>When I reached home I was dazed. On the witness stand, under oath, I +could have told nothing; but very shortly the whole town was aware that +James King—known as James King of William (i.e., William King was his +father)—the editor of the <i>Evening Bulletin</i> had been shot in cold +blood by James Casey, a supervisor, the editor of a local journal, an +unprincipled politician, an ex-convict, and a man whose past had been +exposed and his present publicly denounced in the editorial columns of +the <i>Bulletin</i>.</p> + +<p>This climax precipitated a general movement toward social and political +reform in San Francisco. It was James P. Casey, a graduate of the New +York state-prison at Sing Sing, who stuffed a ballot-box with tickets +bearing his own name upon them as candidate for supervisor, and as a +result of this stuffing declared himself elected. Casey was hurried off +to jail by his friends, lest the outraged populace should lynch him on +the spot. A mob gathered at the jail. The mayor of the city harangued +the people in favor of law and order. They jeered him and remained there +most of the night. One leading spirit might have roused the masses to +riot; but the hour was not yet ripe.</p> + +<p>In 1851 a Vigilance Committee had endeavored to purge the politics of +the town and rid it of the criminals who had foisted themselves into +office. Some ex-members of this committee became active members of the +committee of 1856. Chief among them was William T. Coleman, a name +deservedly honored in the annals of San Francisco.</p> + +<p>James King of William was shot on Tuesday, the 14th of May. He died on +the following Monday. That fatal shot was the turning-point in the +history of the metropolis of the Pacific. A meeting of the citizens was +immediately called; an executive committee was appointed; the work of +organization was distributed among the sub-committees. With amazing +rapidity three thousand citizens were armed, drilled, and established in +temporary armories; ample means were subscribed to cover all expenses. +Several companies of militia disbanded rather than run the risk of being +called into service against the Vigilantis; they then joined the +committee, armed with their own muskets. Arms were obtained from every +quarter, and soon there was an ample supply. A building on Sacramento +Street, below Battery, was secured and made headquarters of the +committee. A kind of fortification built of potato sacks filled with +sand was erected in front of it. It was known as Fort Gunny Bags. This +secured an open space before the building. The fort was patrolled by +sentinels night and day; military rule was strictly observed.</p> + +<p>All things having been arranged silently, secretly, decently and in +order—the members of the committee were under oath as well as under +arms—they decided to take matters into their own hands; and in order to +do this Casey must be removed from jail—peaceably if possible, forcibly +if necessary—and given a lodging and a trial at Fort Gunny Bags.</p> + +<p>On Sunday morning, the 19th of May, chancing be under the weather, and +consequently at home sitting by a window, I saw people flocking past the +house and hastening toward the jail. We were then living on Broadway, +below Montgomery Street; the jail was on Broadway, a square or two +farther up the street; between us was a shoulder of Telegraph Hill not +yet cut away, though it had been blasted out of shape and an attempt had +been made to tunnel it. The young Californian of that day was +keen-scented and lost no opportunity of seeing whatever was to be seen. +Forgetting my distemper, I grabbed my cap and joined the expectant +throngs. We went over the heights of the hill like a flock of goats: we +were used to climbing. On the other edge of the cliff, where we seemed +almost to overhang the jail and the street in front of it, we paused and +caught our breath. What a sight it was! It seems that on Saturday +twenty-four companies of Vigilantis were ordered to meet at their +respective armories, in various parts of the city, at nine o'clock on +Sunday morning. Orders were given to each captain to take up a certain +position near the jail. The jail was surrounded: no one could approach +it, no one escape from it, without leave of the commanders of the +committee.</p> + +<p>The streets glistened with bayonets. It was as if the city were in a +state of siege; so indeed it was. The companies marched silently, +ominously, without music or murmur, to their respective stations. +Citizens—non-combatants but all sympathizers—flocked in and covered +the housetops and the heights in the vicinity. A hollow square was +formed before the jail; an artillery company with a huge brass cannon +halted near it; the cannon was placed directly in front of the jail and +trained upon the gates. I remember how impressive the scene was: the +grim files of infantry; the gleaming brass of the cannon; one closed +carriage within the hollow square; the awful stillness that brooded over +all.</p> + +<br /> +<a name="image-11"><!-- Image 11 --></a> +<center> +<img src="images/illus-0108-2.jpg" height="551" width="400" +alt="Certificate of Membership, Vigilance Committee, 1856"> +</center> + +<h4>Certificate of Membership, Vigilance Committee, 1856</h4> + +<p>Two Vigilance officials went to the door of the jail and informed +Sheriff Scannell that they had come to take Casey with them. Resistance +was now useless; the door of the jail was thrown open to them and they +entered. At their approach Casey begged leave to speak for ten minutes +in his own defense,—he evidently expected to be executed on the +instant. He was assured that he should have a fair trial, and that his +testimony should be deliberately weighed in the balance. This act of an +outraged and disgusted people was one of the calmest, coolest, wisest, +most deliberate on record. Law, order, and justice were at bay. Casey, +under guard, walked quietly to the carriage and entered it. In the jail +at the time was Charles Cora, a man who had murdered United States +Marshal Richardson. He had been tried once; but then the jury +disagreed—as they nearly always agreed to in those barbarous days. +Hanging was almost out of the question. Cora was invited to enter the +carriage with Casey, and the two were driven under military escort to +Fort Gunny Bags.</p> + +<p>On the day following, Monday, James King of William died. On Tuesday +Casey was tried by the executive committee. John S. Hittell, the +historian of San Francisco, says:</p> + +<p>"No person was present at the trial save the accused, the members of the +Vigilance Committee, and witnesses. The testimony was given under oath, +though there was no lawful authority for its administration. Hearsay +testimony was excluded; the general rules of evidence observed in the +courts were adopted: the accused heard all the witnesses, cross-examined +those against him, summoned such as he wanted in his favor, had an +attorney to assist him, and was permitted to make an argument by himself +or his attorney, in his own defence."</p> + +<p>Casey and Cora were both convicted: their guilt was beyond the shadow of +a doubt.</p> + +<p>On Wednesday James King of William was laid to rest at Lone Mountain. +The whole city was draped in mourning; all business was suspended; the +citizens lined the streets through which the feral cortége proceeded, or +followed it until it seemed interminable.</p> + +<p>As that procession passed up Montgomery Street and crossed Sacramento +Street, those who were walking or driving in it looked down the latter +street and saw, two squares below, the lifeless bodies of James P. Casey +and Charles Cora dangling by the neck from two second-story windows of +the headquarters of the Vigilance Committee. Justice was enthroned at +last.</p> + +<p>"The Vigilance Committees of San Francisco in 1851 and 1856," as Hittell +says, "were in many important respects unlike any other extra-judicial +movement to administer justice. They were not common mobs: they were +organized for weeks or months of labor, deliberate in their movements, +careful to keep records of their proceedings, strictly attentive to the +rules of evidence and the penalties for crime accepted by civilized +nations; confident of their power, and of their justification by public +opinion; and not afraid of taking the public responsibility of their +acts."</p> + +<p>The committee of 1856 was never formally dissolved. The reformation it +had accomplished rendered it inactive. Some of the worst criminals in +California had been officials. A thousand homicides had been committed +in the city between 1849 and 1856, and there were but seven executions +in seven years.</p> + +<p>Richard Henry Dana, Jr., the author of "Two Years before the Mast," who +spent the greater portion of two years—1834-35—on the coast of +California, and who revisited the Pacific coast in 1859, observes:</p> + +<p>"And now the most quiet and well-governed city in the United States is +San Francisco. But it has been through its seasons of heaven-defying +crime and violence and blood; from which it was rescued and handed back +to soberness and morality and good government by that peculiar invention +of Anglo-Saxon republican America—the solemn, awe-inspiring Vigilance +Committee of the most grave and respectable citizens; the last resort of +the thinking and the good, taken only when vice, fraud, and ruffianism +had entrenched themselves behind the forms of law, suffrage, and +ballot."</p> + +<p>San Francisco was undoubtedly the most disreputable city in the Union. +It is now one of the most reputable. As I think of it to-day there is no +shudder in the thought. And yet I saw James King of William shot; I saw +Casey and Cora transferred from the jail to the headquarters of the +Vigilance Committee; and I saw them hanging as the body of James King of +William was being borne by a whole city, bowed in grief, to his last +resting-place. And my venerated father was a member of that +never-to-be-forgotten Vigilance Committee of San Francisco in the year +of Our Lord eighteen hundred and fifty-six.</p> + + + +<hr style='width: 65%;' /> +<a name='ODXII'></a><h2>XII.</h2> + +<h3>THE SURVIVOR'S STORY</h3> +<br /> + +<p><img align='left' src="images/illus-i.png" height="75" width="75" +alt="I"> + +<b><big>T</big></b> is not much of a story. It is only the mild adventure of a boy at +sea; and of a small, sad boy at that. This boy had an elder brother who +was ill; and the physicians in consultation had decided that a long +sea-voyage was his only hope, and that even in this case the hope was a +very faint one.</p> + +<p>There was a ship at anchor in the harbor of San Francisco,—a very +famous clipper, one of those sailors of the sea known as Ocean +Greyhounds. She was built for speed, and her record was a brilliant one; +under the guidance of her daring captain, she had again and again proved +herself worthy of her name. She was called the <i>Flying Cloud</i>. Her +cabins were luxuriously furnished; for in those days seafarers were +oftener blown about the world by the four winds of heaven than propelled +by steam. Yet when the <i>Flying Cloud</i>, one January day, tripped anchor +and set sail, there were but three strangers on the quarter-deck—a +middle-aged gentleman in search of health, the invalid brother, in his +eighteenth year, and the small, sad boy.</p> + +<br /> +<a name="image-12"><!-- Image 12 --></a> +<center> +<img src="images/illus-0114-2.jpg" height="400" width="652" +alt="West from Black Point, 1856"> +</center> + +<h4>West from Black Point, 1856</h4> + +<p>The captain's wife, a lady of Salem who had followed him from sea to +sea for many a year, was the joy and salvation of that forlorn little +company. How forlorn it was only the survivor knows, and he knows well +enough. Forty years have scarcely dimmed the memory of it. Through all +the wear and tear of time the remembrance of that voyage has at +intervals haunted him: the length of it, the weariness of it, and the +almost unbroken monotony stretching through the ninety odd days that +dawned and darkened between San Francisco and New York; the solitary +sail that was blown on and on, and becalmed and buffeted between the +blue waste of waters and the blue waste of sky; the lonesomeness of it +all—no land, no lights flashing across the sea in glad assurance; no +passing ships to hail us with faint-voiced "Ahoy!"—only the +ever-tossing waves, the trailing sea-gardens, the tireless birds of the +air and the monsters of the deep.</p> + +<p>Ah, well-a-day! There was a solemn and hushed circle listening to family +prayers that morning,—the morning of the 4th of January. The father's +voice trembled as he opened the Bible and read from that beautiful +psalm:</p> + +<p>"They that go down to the sea in ships, that do business in great +waters, these see the works of the Lord and His wonders in the deep. For +He commandeth and raiseth the stormy wind, which lifteth up the waves +thereof. They mount up to the heaven; they go down again to the depths; +their soul is melted because of trouble. They reel to and fro and +stagger like a drunken man, and are at their wit's end. Then they cry +unto the Lord in their trouble, and He bringeth them out of their +distresses. He maketh the storm a calm, so that the waves thereof are +still. Then are they glad because they be quiet; so He bringeth them +unto their desired haven. Oh, that men would praise the Lord for His +goodness and for His wonderful works to the children of men!"</p> + +<p>The small, sad boy looked smaller and sadder than ever as he stood on +the deck of the <i>Flying Cloud</i> and waved his last farewell. He tried his +best to be manly and to swallow the heart that was leaping in his +throat, and at the earliest possible moment he flew to his journal and +made his first entry there. He was going to keep a journal because his +brother kept one, and because it was the proper thing to keep a journal +at sea—no ship is complete without its log, you know; and, moreover, I +think it was a custom in that family to keep a journal; for it was, more +or less, a journalistic family.</p> + +<p>Now we are nearing the anniversary of that boy's journal: it runs +through January, February and March; it is more than forty years old +this minute. And because it is a boy's journal, and the boy was small +and sad, I'm going to peep into it and fish out a line or two. With an +effort he made this entry:</p> + +<div class='sig'> +<span>"CLIPPER SHIP, FLYING CLOUD,<br /></span> +<span>"January 4, 1857.<br /></span> +</div> + +<p>"I watched them till we were out of sight of them, and then began to +look about to see what I could see. It begins to get rough. I tried to +see home, but I could not. The pilot says he will take a letter ashore +for us. Now I will go to bed."</p> + + +<p>Then he cried unto the Lord in his trouble with a heart as heavy as +lead.</p> + +<p>"JAN. 5.—The day rather rough, with little squalls of rain. We are +passing the Farallone Islands, but I feel too bad to sketch them. I get +homesick when I think of the dear ones I left behind me. I hope I may +see them all in this world again."</p> + +<p>That was the gray beginning of a voyage that had very little color in +it. The coast-line sank apace; the gray rocks—the Farallones, the haunt +of the crying gull—dissolved in the gray mist. The hours were all +alike: all dismal and slow-footed.</p> + +<p>"I don't feel very well to-day," said the small, sad boy, quite +plaintively. On the 6th he brightens and begins to take notice. History +would have less to fasten on were there not some such entries as this:</p> + +<p>"A list of our live-stock: 17 pigs; 12 dozen hens and roosters; 3 +turkeys; 1 gobbler; a cockatoo and a wild-cat. We have a fair breeze, +and carry 26 sails.</p> + +<p>"JAN. 7.—The day is calm. I began to read 'Uncle Tom's Cabin.' I like +it. The captain's wife was going to train the wild-cat when it bit +her—but not very hard.</p> + +<p>"8.—There was not much wind to-day. We fished for sea-gulls and caught +four. I caught one and let it go again. Two hens flew overboard. The +sailors in a boat got one of them; the gulls killed one.</p> + +<p>"9.—The day has been rather gloomy. I caught another sea-gull but let +him go again. On deck nearly all day.</p> + +<p>"10.—The cockatoo sits on deck and talks and talks.</p> + +<p>"11.—It makes me feel bad when I think of home. I want to be there."</p> + +<p>The long, long weary days dragged on. It is thought worth while to note +that there were fresh eggs for breakfast, fresh pork for dinner, fresh +chicken for supper; that a porpoise had been captured, and that his +carcass yielded "three gallons of oil as good as sperm oil"; that no +ship had been seen—"no sail from day to day"; that they were in the +latitude of Panama; that it was squally or not squally, as the case +might be; that on one occasion they captured "four barrels of oil," the +flotsam of some ill-fated whaler, and that it all proved "very +exciting"; that a dolphin was captured, and that he died in splendor, +passing through the whole gamut of the rainbow—that the words of +tradition might be fulfilled; that the hens had suffered no sea-change, +but had contributed from a dozen to two dozen eggs per day. Still +stretched the immeasurable waste of waters to the horizon line on every +hand. Day by day the small boy made his entries; but he seemed to be +running down, like a clock, and needed winding up. This is how his +record dwindled:</p> + +<p>"JAN. 20.—The day is very pleasant, with some wind. We crossed the +equator. I sat up in one of the boats a long time. I wish my little +brothers were here to play with me.</p> + +<p>"21.—The day is very pleasant, with a good breeze. We are going ten or +eleven knots an hour.</p> + +<p>"22.—The day is very pleasant. A nine-knot breeze. Nothing new happened +to-day.</p> + +<p>"23.—The day is pleasant. Six-knot breeze."</p> + +<p>It came to pass that the small, sad boy, wearying of "Uncle Tom" and his +"cabin," was driven to extremes; and, having obtained leave of the +captain—who was autocrat of all his part of the world,—he climbed into +one of the ship's boats, as it hung in the davits over the side of the +vessel. It was an airy voyage he took there, sailing between sea and +sky, soaring up and down with the rolling vessel, like a bird upon the +wing.</p> + +<p>He rigged a tiny mast there—it was a walking-stick that ably served +this purpose; the captain's wife provided sails no larger than +handkerchiefs. With thread-like ropes and pencil spars he set his sails +for dreamland. One day the wind bothered him; he could not trim his +canvas, and in desperation he set it dead against the wind, and then the +sails were filled almost to bursting. But his navigation was at fault; +for he was heading in a direction quite opposite to the <i>Flying Cloud</i>.</p> + +<p>Then came a facetious sailor and whispered to him: "Do you want ever to +get to New York?"—"Yes, I do," said the little captain of the midair +craft.—"Well, then, you'd better haul in sail; for you're set dead agin +us now." The sails were struck on the instant and never unfurled again.</p> + +<p>I wonder why some people are so very inconsiderate when they speak to +children, especially to simple or sensitive children? The small, sad boy +took it greatly to heart, and was cast down because he feared that he +might have delayed the bark that bore him all too slowly toward the +far-distant port. This was indeed simplicity of the deepest dye, and +something of that simplicity the boy was never to escape unto the end +of time. We are as God made us, and we must in all cases put up with +ourselves.</p> + +<p>What a lonely voyage was that across the vast and vacant sea! Now and +then a distant sail glimmered upon the horizon, but disappeared like a +vanishing snowflake. The equator was crossed; the air grew colder; storm +and calm followed each other; the daily entry now becomes monotonous.</p> + +<p>"FEBRUARY 2.—To-day for the first time we saw an albatross.</p> + +<p>"7.—Rather rough and cold; I have spent all day in the cabin. It makes +me homesick to have such weather.</p> + +<p>"14.—I rose at five o'clock and went on deck, and before long saw land. +It was Terra del Fuego; it was a beautiful sight. Here lay a pretty +island, there a towering precipice, and over yonder a mountain covered +with snow. We made the fatal Cape Horn at two o'clock, and passed it at +four o'clock. Now we are in the Atlantic Ocean.</p> + +<p>"WASHINGTON'S BIRTHDAY.—Rough weather: a sixteen-knot breeze. To-day we +got our one thousandth egg, and the hens are doing well. At +twelve—eight bells—we saw a sail on our weather-bow: she was going the +same way as we were. At two, we overtook and spoke her. She was the +whaler <i>Scotland</i> from New Zealand, bound for New Bedford, with +thirty-five hundred barrels of oil. We soon passed her. I wish her good +luck."</p> + +<p>I will no longer stretch the small, sad boy upon the rack of his dull +journal. He had a glimpse at Juan Fernandez, but the island of his +dreams was so far off that he had to climb to the maintop in order to +get a sight of its shadowy outline. When it had faded away like the +clouds, the lonely little fellow cried himself to sleep for love of his +Robinson Crusoe.</p> + +<p>One night the moon—a large, mellow tropical one,—rose from a bank of +cloud so like a mountain's chain that the small one clapped his hands in +glee and cried: "Land ho!" But, alas! it was only cloud-land; and his +eyes, that were starving for a sight of God's green earth, were again +bedewed. Indeed he was bound for a distant shore, a voyage of ninety-one +days; and during all that voyage he was in sight of land for five days +only. It may be said that the port he was bound for, and where he was +destined to pass two years at school, four thousand miles from his own +people, may be called "The Vale of Tears."</p> + +<p>Off the Brazilian coast a head-wind forced the ship to tack repeatedly; +she was sometimes so near the land that people could be seen moving, +like black dots, along the shore. Native fishermen, mounted upon the +high seats of their catamarans—the frailest rafts,—drifted within +hailing distance; and over night the brave ship was within almost +speaking distance of Pernambuco. The lights of the city were like a bed +of glowworms,—but the small, sad boy was blown off into the sea again, +for his hour had not yet come.</p> + +<p>Here is the last entry I shall weary you with, for I would not abuse +your patience:</p> + +<p>"APRIL 5, 1857.—I was <i>awoke</i> this morning by the noise the pilot made +in getting on board. At ten o'clock the steam-tug Hercules took us in +tow. We had beautiful views of the shore [God knows how beautiful they +were in his eyes!], and at three o'clock we were at the Astor House, +with Captain and Mrs. Cresey, Mr. Connor, and the Stoddard boys—all of +the <i>Flying Cloud</i>,—where we retired to soft beds to spend the night."</p> + +<p>There is a plaintive touch in that reference to <i>soft beds</i> after three +months in the straight and narrow bunk of a ship. And there is more +pathos in all those childish pages than you wot of; for, alas and alas! +I am the sole survivor,—I was that small, sad boy; and I alone am left +to tell the tale.</p> + + + +<hr style='width: 65%;' /> +<a name='Old_China'></a><h2>A BIT OF OLD CHINA</h2> + +<br /> +<p><img align='left' src="images/illus-i.png" height="75" width="75" +alt="I"> + +<b><big>T</big></b> is but a step from Confucius to confusion," said I, in a brief +discussion of the Chinese question. "Then let us take it by all means," +replied the artist, who had been an indulgent listener for at least ten +minutes. We were strolling upon the verge of the Chinese Quarter in San +Francisco, and, turning aside from one of the chief thoroughfares of the +city, we plunged into the busiest portion of Chinatown. From our +standpoint—the corner of Kearny and Sacramento Streets—we got the most +favorable view of our Mongolian neighbors. Here is a goodly number of +merchant gentlemen of wealth and station, comfortably, if not elegantly, +housed on two sides of a street that climbs a low hill quite in the +manner of a tea-box landscape.</p> + +<p>A few of these gentlemen lodge on the upper floors of their business +houses, with Chinese wives, and quaint, old-fashioned children gaudily +dressed, looking like little idols, chatting glibly with one another, +and gracefully gesticulating with hands of exquisite slenderness. +Confucius, in his infancy, may have been like one of the least of these. +There are white draymen and porters in the employ of these shrewd and +civil merchants, and the outward appearance of traffic, as conducted in +the immediate vicinity, is rather American than otherwise.</p> + +<p>Farther up the hill, on Dupont Street, from California to Pacific +Streets, the five blocks are almost monopolized by the Chinese. There +is, at first, a sprinkling of small shops in the hands of Jews and +Gentiles, and a mingling of Chinese bazaars of the half-caste type, +where American and English goods are exposed in the show windows; but as +we pass on the Asiatic element increases, and finally every trace of +alien produce is withdrawn from the shelves and counters.</p> + +<p>Here little China flaunts her scarlet streamers overhead, and flanks her +doors with legends in saffron and gold; even its window panes have a +foreign look, and within is a glimmering of tinsel, a subdued light, and +china lamps flickering before graven images of barbaric hideousness. The +air is laden with the fumes of smoking sandal-wood and strange odors of +the East; and the streets, swarming with coolies, resound with the +echoes of an unknown tongue. There is hardly room for us to pass; we +pick our way, and are sometimes curiously regarded by slant-eyed pagans, +who bear us no good-will, if that shadow of scorn in the face has been +rightly interpreted. China is not more Chinese than this section of our +Christian city, nor the heart of Tartary less American.</p> + +<p>Turn which way we choose, within two blocks, on either hand we find +nothing but the infinitely small and astonishingly numerous forms of +traffic on which the hordes around us thrive. No corner is too cramped +for the squatting street cobbler; and as for the pipe cleaners, the +cigarette rollers, the venders of sweetmeats and conserves, they gather +on the curb or crouch under overhanging windows, and await custom with +the philosophical resignation of the Oriental.</p> + +<p>On Dupont Street, between Clay and Sacramento Streets—a single +block,—there are no less than five basement apartments devoted +exclusively to barbers. There are hosts of this profession in the +quarter. Look down the steep steps leading into the basement and see, at +any hour of the day, with what deft fingers the tonsorial operators +manipulate the devoted pagan head.</p> + +<p>There is no waste space in the quarter. In apartments not more than +fifteen feet square three or four different professions are often +represented, and these afford employment to ten or a dozen men. Here is +a druggist and herb-seller, with huge spectacles on his nose, at the +left of the main entrance; a butcher displays his meats in a show-window +on the right, serving his customers over the sill; a clothier is in the +rear of the shop, while a balcony filled with tailors or cigar-makers +hangs half-way to the ceiling.</p> + +<br /> +<a name="image-13"><!-- Image 13 --></a> +<center> +<img src="images/illus-0126-2.jpg" height="450" width="400" +alt="China is Not More Chinese than this Section of Our +Christian City."> +</center> + +<h4>"China is Not More Chinese than this Section of Our +Christian City."</h4> + +<p>Close about us there are over one hundred and fifty mercantile +establishments and numerous mechanical industries. The seventy-five +cigar factories employ eight thousand coolies, and these are huddled +into the closest quarters. In a single room, measuring twenty feet by +thirty feet, sixty men and boys have been discovered industriously +rolling <i>real</i> Havanas.</p> + +<p>The traffic which itinerant fish and vegetable venders drive in every +part of the city must be great, being as it is an extreme convenience +for lazy or thrifty housewives. A few of these basket men cultivate +gardens in the suburbs, but the majority seek their supplies in the city +markets. Wash-houses have been established in every part of the city, +and are supplied with two sets of laborers, who spend watch and watch on +duty, so that the establishment is never closed.</p> + +<p>One frequently meets a travelling bazaar—a coolie with his bundle of +fans and bric-a-brac, wandering from house to house, even in the +suburbs; and the old fellows, with a handful of sliced bamboos and +chairs swinging from the poles over their shoulders, are becoming quite +numerous; chair mending and reseating must be profitable. These little +rivulets, growing larger and more varied day by day, all spring from +that great fountain of Asiatic vitality—the Chinese Quarter. This +surface-skimming beguiles for an hour or two; but the stranger who +strolls through the streets of Chinatown, and retires dazed with the +thousand eccentricities of an unfamiliar people, knows little of the +mysterious life that surrounds him.</p> + +<p>Let us descend. We are piloted by a special policeman, one who is well +acquainted with the geography of the quarter. Provided with tapers, we +plunge into one of the several dark recesses at hand. Back of the highly +respectable brick buildings in Sacramento Street—the dwellings and +business places of the first-class Chinese merchants—there are pits and +deadfalls innumerable, and over all is the blackness of darkness; for +these human moles can work in the earth faster than the shade of the +murdered Dane. Here, from the noisome vats three stories underground to +the hanging gardens of the fish-dryers on the roofs, there is neither +nook nor corner but is populous with Mongolians of the lowest caste. The +better class have their reserved quarters; with them there is at least +room to stretch one's legs without barking the shins of one's neighbor; +but from this comparative comfort to the condensed discomfort of the +impoverished coolie, how sudden and great the change!</p> + +<p>Between brick walls we thread our way, and begin descending into the +abysmal darkness; the tapers, without which it were impossible to +proceed with safety, burn feebly in the double night of the +subterranean tenements. Most of the habitable quarters under the ground +are like so many pigeon-houses indiscriminately heaped together. If +there were only sunshine enough to drink up the slime that glosses every +plank, and fresh air enough to sweeten the mildewed kennels, this highly +eccentric style of architecture might charm for a time, by reason of its +novelty; there is, moreover, a suspicion of the picturesque lurking +about the place—but, heaven save us, how it smells!</p> + +<br /> +<a name="image-14"><!-- Image 14 --></a> +<center> +<img src="images/illus-0128-2.jpg" height="473" width="400" +alt=""Rag Alley" in Old Chinatown"> +</center> + +<h4>"Rag Alley" in Old Chinatown</h4> + +<p>We pass from one black hole to another. In the first there is a kind of +bin for ashes and coals, and there are pots and grills lying about—it +is the kitchen. A heap of fire kindling wood in one corner, a bench or +stool as black as soot can paint it, a few bowls, a few bits of rags, a +few fragments of food, and a coolie squatting over a struggling +fire,—coolie who rises out of the dim smoke like the evil <i>genii</i> in +the Arabian tale. There is no chimney, there is no window, there is no +drainage. We are in a cubic sink, where we can scarcely stand erect. +From the small door pours a dense volume of smoke, some of it stale +smoke, which our entry has forced out of the corners; the kitchen will +only hold so much smoke, and we have made havoc among the cubic inches. +Underfoot, the thin planks sag into standing pools, and there is a +glimmer of poisonous blue just along the base of the blackened walls; +thousands feed daily in troughs like these!</p> + +<p>The next apartment, smaller yet, and blacker and bluer, and more +slippery and slimy, is an uncovered cesspool, from which a sickening +stench exales continually. All about it are chambers—very small +ones,—state-rooms let me call them, opening upon narrow galleries that +run in various directions, sometimes bridging one another in a marvelous +and exceedingly ingenious economy of space. The majority of these +state-rooms are just long enough to lie down in, and just broad enough +to allow a narrow door to swing inward between two single beds, with two +sleepers in each bed. The doors are closed and bolted; there is often no +window, and always no ventilation.</p> + +<p>Our "special," by the authority vested in him, tries one door and +demands admittance. There is no response from within. A group of +coolies, who live in the vicinity and have followed close upon our heels +even since our descent into the under world, assure us in soothing tones +that the place is vacant. We are suspicious and persist in our +investigation; still no response. The door is then forced by the +"special," and behold four of the "seven sleepers" packed into this +air-tight compartment, and insensible even to the hearty greeting we +offer them!</p> + +<p>The air is absolutely overpowering. We hasten from the spot, but are +arrested in our flight by the "special," who leads us to the gate of the +catacombs, and bids us follow him. I know not to what extent the earth +has been riddled under the Chinese Quarter; probably no man knows save +he who has burrowed, like a gopher, from one living grave to another, +fleeing from taxation or the detective. I know that we thread dark +passages, so narrow that two of us may not cross tracks, so low that we +often crouch at the doorways that intercept pursuit at unexpected +intervals. Here the thief and the assassin seek sanctuary; it is a city +of refuge for lost souls.</p> + +<p>The numerous gambling houses are so cautiously guarded that only the +private police can ferret them out. Door upon door is shut against you; +or some ingenious panel is slid across your path, and you are +unconsciously spirited away through other avenues. The secret signals +that gave warning of your approach caused a sudden transformation in the +ground-plan of the establishment.</p> + +<p>Gambling and opium smoking are here the ruling passions. A coolie will +pawn anything and everything to obtain the means with which to indulge +these fascinations. There are many games played publicly at restaurants +and in the retiring rooms of mercantile establishments. Not only are +cards, dice, and dominos common, but sticks, straws, brass rings, etc., +are thrown in heaps upon the table, and the fate of the gamester hangs +literally upon a breath.</p> + +<p>These haunts are seldom visited by the officers of justice, for it is +almost impossible to storm the barriers in season to catch the criminals +in the very act. To-day you approach a gambling hell by this door, +to-morrow the inner passages of the house are mysteriously changed, and +it is impossible to track them without being frequently misled; +meanwhile the alarm is sounded throughout the building, and very +speedily every trace of guilt has disappeared. The lottery is another +popular temptation in the quarter. Most of the very numerous wash-houses +are said to be private agencies for the sale of lottery tickets. Put +your money, no matter how little it is, on certain of the characters +that cover a small sheet of paper, and your fate is soon decided; for +there is a drawing twice a day.</p> + +<p>Enter any one of the pawn-shops licensed by the city authorities, and +cast your eye over the motley collection of unredeemed articles. There +are pistols of every pattern and almost of every age, the majority of +them loaded. There are daggers in infinite variety, including the +ingenious fan stiletto, which, when sheathed, may be carried in the hand +without arousing suspicion; for the sheath and handle bear; an exact +resemblance to a closed fan. There are entire suits of clothes, beds and +bedding, tea, sugar, clocks—multitudes of them, a clock being one of +the Chinese hobbies, and no room is completely furnished without at +least a pair of them,—ornaments in profusion; everything, in fact, save +only the precious <i>queue</i>, without which no Chinaman may hope for honor +in this life or salvation in the next.</p> + +<p>The throngs of customers that keep the pawn-shops crowded with pledges +are probably most of them victims of the gambling table or the opium +den. They come from every house that employs them; your domestic is +impatient of delay, and hastens through his daily task in order that he +may nightly indulge his darling sin.</p> + +<p>The opium habit prevails to an alarming extent throughout the country, +but no race is so dependent on this seductive and fatal stimulant as the +Chinese. There are several hundred dens in San Francisco where, for a +very moderate sum, the coolie may repair, and revel in dreams that end +in a deathlike sleep.</p> + +<p>Let us pause at the entrance of one of these pleasure-houses. Through +devious ways we follow the leader, and come at last to a cavernous +retreat. The odors that salute us are offensive; on every hand there is +an accumulation of filth that should naturally, if it does not, breed +fever and death. Forms press about us in the darkness,—forms that +hasten like shadows toward that den of shades. We enter by a small door +that is open for a moment only, and find ourselves in an apartment +about fifteen feet square. We can touch the ceiling on tiptoe, yet there +are three tiers of bunks placed with head boards to the wall, and each +bunk just broad enough for two occupants. It is like the steerage in an +emigrant vessel, eminently shipshape. Every bunk is filled; some of the +smokers have had their dream and lie in grotesque attitudes, insensible, +ashen-pale, having the look of plague-stricken corpses.</p> + +<p>Some are dreaming; you see it in the vacant eye, the listless face, the +expression that betrays hopeless intoxication. Some are preparing the +enchanting pipe,—a laborious process, that reminds one of an +incantation. See those two votaries lying face to face, chatting in low +voices, each loading his pipe with a look of delicious expectation in +every feature. They recline at full-length; their heads rest upon blocks +of wood or some improvised pillow; a small oil lamp flickers between +them. Their pipes resemble flutes, with an inverted ink-bottle on the +side near the lower end. They are most of them of bamboo, and very often +are beautifully colored with the mellowest and richest tints of a wisely +smoked meerschaum. A small jar of prepared opium—a thick black paste +resembling tar—stands near the lamp.</p> + +<p>The smoker leisurely dips a wire into the paste; a few drops adhere to +it, and he twirls the wire in the flame of the lamp, where they fry and +bubble; he then draws them upon the rim of the clay pipe-bowl, and at +once inhales three or four mouthfuls of whitish smoke. This empties the +pipe, and the slow process of feeding the bowl is lazily repeated. It is +a labor of love; the eyes gloat upon the bubbling drug which shall anon +witch the soul of those emaciated toilers. They renew the pipe again and +again; their talk grows less frequent and dwindles to a whispered +soliloquy.</p> + +<p>We address them, and are smiled at by delirious eyes; but the ravenous +lips are sealed to that magic tube, from which they draw the breath of a +life we know not of. Their fingers relax; their heads sink upon the +pillows; they no longer respond, even by a glance, when we now appeal to +them. Here is the famous Malay, the fearful enemy of De Quincy, who +nightly drugged his master into Asiatic seas; and now himself is basking +in the tropical heats and vertical sunlight of Hindostan. Egypt and her +gods are his; for him the secret chambers of Cheops are unlocked; he +also is transfixed at the summit of pagodas; he is the idol, the priest, +the worshipped, the sacrificed. The wrath of Brahma pursues him through +the forests of Asia; he is the hated of Vishnu; Siva lies in wait for +him; Isis and Osiris confront him.</p> + +<p>What is this key which seems for a time to unlock the gates of heaven +and of hell? It is the most complicated drug in the pharmacopoeia. +Though apparently nothing more than a simple black, slimy paste, +analysis reveals the fact that it contains no less than five-and-twenty +elements, each one of them a compound by itself, and many of them among +the most complex compounds known to modern chemistry. This "dread agent +of unimaginable pleasure and pain," this author of an "Iliad of woes," +lies within reach of every creature in the commonwealth. As the most +enlightened and communicative of the opium eaters has observed: +"Happiness may be bought for a penny, and carried in the waistcoat +pocket; portable ecstasy may be had corked up in a pint bottle; peace of +mind may be set down in gallons by the mail-coach."</p> + +<p>This is the chief, the inevitable dissipation of our coolie tribes; this +is one of the evils with which we have to battle, and in comparison with +which the excessive indulgence in intoxicating liquors is no more than +what a bad dream is to hopeless insanity. See the hundred forms on opium +pillows already under the Circean spell; swarms are without the chambers +awaiting their turn to enter and enjoy the fictitious delights of this +paradise.</p> + +<p>While the opium habit is one that should be treated at once with wisdom +and severity, there is another point which seriously involves the +Chinese question, and, unhappily, it must be handled with gloves. +Nineteen-twentieths of the Chinese women in San Francisco are depraved!</p> + +<p>Not far from one of the pleasure-houses we intruded upon a domestic +hearth smelling of punk and pestilence. A child fled with a shrill +scream at our approach. This was the hospital of the quarter. Nine cases +of small-pox were once found within its narrow walls, and with no one to +care for them. As we explored its cramped wards our path was obstructed +by a body stretched upon a bench. The face was of that peculiar +smoke-color which we are obliged to accept as Chinese pallor; the trunk +was swathed like a mummy in folds of filthy rags; it was motionless as +stone, apparently insensible. Thus did an opium victim await his +dissolution.</p> + +<p>In the next room a rough deal burial case stood upon two stools; tapers +were flickering upon the floor; the fumes of burning punk freighted the +air and clouded the vision; the place was clean enough, for it was +perfectly bare, but it was eminently uninteresting. Close at hand stood +a second burial case, an empty one, with the cover standing against the +wall; a few hours more and it would find a tenant—he who was dying in +rags and filth in the room adjoining. This was the native hospital of +the quarter, and the mother of the child was the matron of the +establishment.</p> + +<p>I will cast but one more shadow on the coolie quarter, and then we will +search for sunshine. It is folly to attempt to ignore the fact that the +seeds of leprosy are sown among the Chinese. If you would have proof, +follow me. It is a dreary drive over the hills to the pest-house. +Imagine that we have dropped in upon the health officer at his city +office. Our proposed visitation has been telephoned to the resident +physician, who is a kind of prisoner with his leprous patients on the +lonesome slope of a suburban hill. As we get into the rugged edge of the +city, among half-graded streets, strips of marshland, and a semi-rustic +population, we ask our way to the pest-house. Yonder it lies, surrounded +by that high white fence on the hill-top, above a marsh once clouded +with clamorous water-fowl, but now all, all under the spell of the +quarantine, and desolate beyond description. Our road winds up the +hill-slope, sown thick with stones, and stops short at the great solid +gate in the high rabbit fence that walls in the devil's acre, if I may +so call it. We ring the dreadful bell—the passing-bell, that is seldom +rung save to announce the arrival of another fateful body clothed in +living death.</p> + +<p>The doctor welcomes us to an enclosure that is utterly whitewashed; the +detached houses within it are kept sweet and clean. Everything connected +with the lazaret is of the cheapest description; there is a primitive +simplicity, a modest nakedness, an insulated air about the place that +reminds one of a chill December in a desert island. Cheap as it is and +unhandsome, the hospital is sufficient to meet all the requirements of +the plague in its present stage of development. The doctor has weeded +out the enclosure, planted it, hedged it about with the fever-dispelling +eucalyptus, and has already a little plot of flowers by the office +window,—but this is not what we have come to see. One ward in the +pest-house is set apart for the exclusive use of the Chinese lepers, who +have but recently been isolated. We are introduced to the poor creatures +one after another, and then we take them all in at a glance, or group +them according to their various stages of decomposition, or the peculiar +character of their physical hideousness.</p> + +<p>They are not all alike; with some the flesh has begun to wither and to +slough off, yet they are comparatively cheerful; as fatalists, it makes +very little difference to them how soon or in what fashion they are +translated to the other life. There is one youth who doubtless suffers +some inconveniences from the clumsy development of his case. This lad, +about eighteen years of age, has a face that is swollen like a sponge +saturated with corruption; he can not raise his bloated eyelids, but, +with his head thrown back, looks downward over his cheeks. Two of these +lepers are as astonishing specimens as any that have ever come under my +observation, yet I have morbidly sought them from Palestine to Molokai. +In these cases the muscles are knotted, the blood curdled; masses of +unwholesome flesh cover them, lying fold upon fold; the lobes of their +ears hang almost to the shoulder; the eyes when visible have an inhuman +glance that transfixes you with horror. Their hands are shapeless stumps +that have lost all natural form or expression.</p> + +<p>Of old there was a law for the leprosy of a garment and of a house; yet, +in spite of the stringency of that Mosaic law, the isolation, the +purging with hyssop, and the cleansing by fire, St. Luke records: "There +met Him ten men who were lepers, who stood afar off; and they lifted up +their voices and cried, Jesus, Master, have mercy on us!" And to-day, +more than eighteen hundred years later, lepers gather on the slopes of +Mount Zion, and hover at the gates of Jerusalem, and crouch in the +shadow of the tomb of David, crying for the bread of mercy. Leprosy once +thoroughly engrafted on our nation, and nor cedar-wood, nor scarlet, nor +hyssop, nor clean birds, nor ewes of the first year, nor measures of +fine flour, nor offerings of any sort, shall cleanse us for evermore.</p> + +<p>Let us turn to pleasanter prospects—the Joss House, for instance, one +of the several temples whither the Chinese frequently repair to +propitiate the reposeful gods. It is an unpretentious building, with +nothing external to distinguish its facade from those adjoining, save +only a Chinese legend above the door. There are many crooks and turns +within it; shrines in a perpetual state of fumigation adorn its nooks +and corners; overhead swing shelves of images rehearsing historical +tableaux; there is much carving and gilding, and red and green paint. It +is the scene of a perennial feast of lanterns, and the worshipful enter +silently with burn-offerings and meat-offerings and drink-offerings, +which they spread before the altar under the feet of some colossal god; +then, with repeated genuflections, they retire. The thundering gong or +the screaming pipes startle us at intervals, and white-robed priests +pass in and out, droning their litanies.</p> + +<p>At this point the artist suggests refreshments; arm in arm we pass down +the street, surfeited with sight-seeing, weary of the multitudinous +bazaars, the swarming coolies, the boom of beehive industry. Swamped in +a surging crowd, we are cast upon the catafalque of the celestial dead. +The coffin lies under a canopy, surrounded by flambeaux, grave +offerings, guards and musicians.</p> + +<p>Chinatown has become sufficiently acclimatized to begin to put forth its +natural buds again as freely as if this were indeed the Flowery Land. +The funeral pageant moves,—a dozen carriages preceded by mourners on +foot, clad in white, their heads covered, their feet bare, their grief +insupportable, so that an attendant is at hand to sustain each mourner +howling at the wheels of the hearse. An orchestra heads the procession; +the air is flooded with paper prayers that are cast hither at you to +appease the troubled spirit. They are on their way to the cemetery among +the hills toward the sea, where the funeral rites are observed as +rigorously as they are on Asian soil.</p> + +<p>We are still unrefreshed and sorely in need of rest. Overhead swing huge +balloon lanterns and tufts of gold flecked scarlet streamers,—a sight +that maketh the palate of the hungry Asiatic to water; for within this +house may be had all the delicacies of the season, ranging from the +confections of the fond suckling to funeral bake-meats. Legends wrought +in tinsel decorate the walls. Here is a shrine with a vermilion-faced +god and a native lamp, and stalks of such hopelessly artificial flowers +as fortunately are unknown in nature. Saffron silks flutter their +fringes in the steams of nameless cookery—for all this is but the +kitchen, and the beginning of the end we aim at.</p> + +<p>A spiral staircase winds like a corkscrew from floor to floor; we ascend +by easy stages, through various grades of hunger, from the economic +appetite on the first floor, where the plebian stomach is stayed with +tea and lentils, even to the very house-top, where are administered +comforting syrups and a <i>menu</i> that is sweetened throughout its length +with the twang of lutes, the clash of cymbals, and the throb of the +shark-skin drum.</p> + +<p>Servants slip to and fro in sandals, offering edible birds'-nests, +sharks' fins, and <i>beche de mer</i>,—or are these unfamiliar dishes +snatched from some other kingdom? At any rate, they are native to the +strange people who have a little world of their own in our midst, and +who could, if they chose, declare their independence to-morrow.</p> + +<p>We see everywhere the component parts of a civilization separate and +distinct from our own. They have their exits and their entrances; their +religious life and burial; their imports, exports, diversions, +tribunals, punishments. They are all under the surveillance of the six +companies, the great six-headed supreme authority. They have laws within +our laws that to us are sealed volumes. Why should they not? Fifty years +ago there were scarcely a dozen Chinese in America. In 1851, inclusive, +not more than 4,000 had arrived; but the next year brought 18,000, +seized with the lust of gold. The incoming tide fluctuated, running as +low as 4,000 and as high as 15,000 per annum. Since, 1868 we have +received from 10,000 to 15,000 yearly.</p> + +<p>After supper we leaned from the high balcony, among flowers and +lanterns, and looked down upon the street below; it was midnight, yet +the pavements were not deserted, and there arose to our ears a murmur +as of a myriad humming bees shut in clustering hives; close about us +were housed near twenty thousand souls; shops were open; discordant +orchestras resounded from the theatres; in a dark passage we saw the +flames playing upon the thresholds of infamy to expel the evil shades.</p> + +<p>Away off in the Bay in the moonlight, glimmered the ribbed sail of a +fishing junk, and the air was heavy with an indefinable odor which to +this hour puzzles me; but it must be attributed either to sink or +sandal-wood—perchance to both!</p> + +<p>"It is a little bit of old China, this quarter of ours," said the +artist, rising to go. And so it is, saving only a noticeable lack of +dwarfed trees and pale pagodas and sprays of willowy bamboo; of clumsy +boats adrift on tideless streams; of toy-like tea gardens hanging among +artificial rocks, and of troops of flat-faced but complaisant people +posing grotesquely in ridiculous perspective.</p> + + + +<hr style='width: 65%;' /> +<br /> +<a name="image-15"><!-- Image 15 --></a> +<center> +<img src="images/illus-0144-2.jpg" height="400" width="701" +alt= "The Farallones"> +</center> + +<h4>The Farallones</h4> +<br /> +<a name='Egg-Pickers'></a><h2>WITH THE EGG-PICKERS OF THE FARALLONES</h2> +<br /> + + +<p><img align='left' src="images/illus-t.png" height="75" width="75" +alt= "T"> + +<b><big>HOSE</big></b> who have visited the markets of San Francisco during the egg +season may have noticed the abundance of large and singularly marked +eggs, that are offered for sale by the bushel. The shells of these eggs +are pear-shaped, parti-colored, and very thick. They range in color from +a light green to grey or brown, and are all of them profusely spotted, +or blotted, I might say spattered, with clots of black or brown. Some +are beautiful, with soft tints blended in a delicate lace-like pattern. +Some are very ugly, and look unclean. All are a trifle stale, with a +meat of coarse texture and gamy flavor. But the Italians and the Coolies +are fond of them, and doubtless many a gross finds its way into the +kitchens of the popular cheap restaurants, where, disguised in omelets +and puddings, the quantity compensates for the lack of quality, and the +palate of the rapid eater has not time to analyze the latter. These are +the eggs of the sea-gull, the gull that cries all day among the shipping +in the harbor, follows the river boats until meal-time, and feeds on the +bread that is cast upon the water.<a name='FNanchor_2'></a><a href='#Footnote_2'><sup>[2]</sup></a> +How true it is that this bread returns to us after many days!</p> + +<p>The gulls, during incubation, seek the solitude of the Farallones, a +group of desolate and weather-beaten rocks that tower out of the fog +about thirty miles distant from the mouth of the harbor of San +Francisco. Nothing can be more magnificently desolate than the aspect of +these islands. Scarcely a green blade finds root there. They are haunted +by sea-fowl of all feathers, and the boom of the breakers mingles with +the bark of the seals that have colonized on one of the most +inaccessible islands of the group. It is here that myriads of sea-birds +rear their young, here where the very cliffs tremble in the tempestuous +sea and are drenched with bitter spray, and where ships have been cast +into the frightful jaws of caverns and speedily ground into splinters.</p> + +<p>The profit on sea-eggs has increased from year to year, and of late +speculators have grown so venturesome that competition among +egg-gatherers has resulted in an annual naval engagement, known to the +press and the public as the egg-war. If two companies of egg-pickers +met, as was not unlikely, the contending factions fell upon one another +with their ill-gotten spoils—the islands are under the rule of the +United States, and no one has legal right to take from them so much as +one egg without license—and the defeated party was sure to retire from +the field under a heavy shower of shells, the contents of which, though +not fatal, were at least effective.</p> + +<p>I have before me the notes of a retired egg-picker; they record the +brief experience of one who was interested in the last campaign, which, +as it terminated the career of the egg-pirates, is not without +historical interest. I will at once introduce the historian, and let him +tell his own tale.</p> + +<div class='sig'> +<span>"On Board the Schooner 'Sierra.'—<br /></span> +<span>"Off the City Front.<br /></span> +<span>"May 4, 1881.<br /></span> +</div> + +<p>"5 p.m.—There are ten of us all told; most of us strangers to one +another, but Tom and Jim, and Fred, that's me, are pals, and have been +these many months. So we conclude to hang together, and make the most of +an adventure perfectly new to each. At our feet lie our traps; blankets, +woolen shirts, heavy boots, with huge nails in the soles of them, +tobacco in bulk, a few novels, a pack of cards, and a pocket flask, for +the stomach's sake. A jolly crew, to be sure, and jollily we bade adieu +to the fellows who had gathered in the dock to wish us God-speed. +Casting loose we swung into the stream, and then slowly and clumsily +made sail. The town never looked prettier; it is always the way and +always will be; towns, like blessings, brighten just as they get out of +reach. Drifting into the west we began to grow thoughtful; what had at +first seemed a lark may possibly prove to be a very serious matter. We +have to feed on rough rations, work in a rough locality, among rough +people, and our profits, or our share of the profits, will depend +entirely upon the fruitfulness of the egg-orchard, and the number of +hundred gross that we are able to get safely into the market. No news +from the town, save by the schooner that comes over at intervals to take +away our harvest. No society, save our own, good enough always, provided +we are not forcibly confined to it. No amusements beyond a novel, a +pipe, and a pack of cards. Ah well! it is only an experience after all, +and here goes!</p> + +<p>"Sea pretty high, as we get outside the Heads, and feel the long roll of +the Pacific. Wind, fresh and cold; we are to be out all night and +looking about for bunks, we find the schooner accommodations are +limited, and that the captain and his crew monopolize them. We sleep +anywhere, grateful that we are able to sleep at all.</p> + +<p>"10 p.m.—A blustering head wind, and sea increasing. What little supper +we were able to get on board was worse than none at all, for it did not +stay with us—anything but fun, this going to sea in a bowl, to rob +gull's nests, and smuggle eggs into market.</p> + +<div class='sig'> +<span>"May 5th.</span> +</div> + +<p>"Woke in the early dawn, everything moist and sticky, clammy is the +better word, and that embraces the whole case; stiff and sore in every +joint; bacon for dinner last night, more bacon for breakfast this +morning, and only half-cooked at that. Our delicate town-bred stomachs +rebel, and we conclude to fast until we reach the island. Have sighted +the Farallones, but are too miserable to express our gratitude; wind and +sea still rising; schooner on beam ends about once in forty seconds, +between times standing either on her head or her tail, and shaking +herself 'like a thing of life.'</p> + +<p>"At noon off the landing, a buoy bobbing in the billows, to which we are +expected to make fast the schooner, and get to shore in the exceedingly +small boat; captain fears to tarry on account of heavy weather; +concludes to return to the coast and bide his time; consequently makes +for Bolinas Bay, which we reach about 9 p.m., and drop anchor in +comparatively smooth water; glad enough to sleep on an even keel at +last; it seems at least six months since we left the shining shores of +San Francisco, yet it is scarce thirty hours—but such hours, ugh!</p> + +<div class='sig'> +<span>"Bolinas Bay, May 6th.</span> +</div> + +<p>"Wind blowing a perfect gale; we are lying under a long hill, and the +narrow bay is scarcely rippled by the blast that rushes over us, thick +with flying-scud. Captain resolves to await better weather; some of the +boys go on shore, and wander out to a kind of reef at the mouth of the +bay, where in a short time they succeed in gathering a fine mess of +mussels; the rest of us, the stay-on-boards, rig up a net and catch +fifteen large fat crabs; with these we cook a delicious dinner, which we +devour ravenously, like half-starved men; begin to realize how +storm-tossed mariners feel, and have been recounting hair-breadth +escapes, over our pipes on deck; there will be much to tell the fellows +on shore, if we are ever so fortunate as to get home again.</p> + +<div class='sig'> +<span>"May 7th.</span> +</div> + +<p>"Though the weather is still bad enough to discourage us landsmen, we +put to sea, and once more head for the Farallones. They are hidden in +mist, but we beat bravely about, and by-and-by distinguish the faint +outlines of the islands looming through the fog! We try to secure the +buoy, tacking to and fro; just at the wrong moment our main halyards +part, and the sail comes crashing to the deck. To avoid being cast on +the inhospitable shore, we put to sea under jib and foresail, and are +five miles away before damages are repaired and we dare venture to +return; head about, and make fast this time. Hurrah! After several trips +of the small boat, succeed in landing luggage and provisions above +high-water mark on the Farallones; each trip of the boat is an event, +for it comes in on a big breaker, and grounds in a torrent of foam and +sand.</p> + +<p>"We find two cabins at our disposal; the larger one containing +dining-room and kitchen, and chambers above; seven of our boys store +their blankets in the rude bunks that are drawn by lot. Tom, Jim, and I +secure the smaller cabin, a single room, with bunks on three sides, a +door on the fourth.</p> + +<p>"9 p.m.—We have dined and smoked and withdrawn to our respective +lodges; the wind moans without, a thin, cold fog envelopes us; the sea +breaking furiously, the night gloomy beyond conception, but the captain +and his crew on the little schooner are not so comfortable as the +egg-pickers whom they have left behind.</p> + +<div class='sig'> +<span>"May 8th.</span> +</div> + +<p>"We all rose much refreshed, and after a hearty breakfast, such as would +have done credit to a mining-camp in pioneer days, set forth on a rabbit +chase. The islands abound in rabbits. Where do they come from, and on +what do they feed? These are questions that puzzle us.</p> + +<p>"We resolve to attack them. Having armed ourselves with clubs about two +feet in length, we proceed in a body until a rabbit is sighted, then, +separating, we surround him and gradually close him in, pelt him with +stones or sticks until the poor fellow is secured; sometimes three or +four are run down together; it is cruel sport, but this is our only hope +of fresh meat during the sojourn on the islands; a fine stew for dinner, +and some speculation on the prospect of our egg-hunt to-morrow.</p> + +<div class='sig'> +<span>"May 9th.</span> +</div> + +<p>"We did the first work of the season to-day. At the west end of the +islands is a chasm, through which the wind whistles; the waves, rushing +in from both sides, meet at the centre and leap wildly into the air. +Across this chasm we threw a light suspension bridge about forty feet in +length and two in width; one crosses it by the aid of a life-line. On +the further rock the birds are nesting in large numbers, and to-morrow +we begin the wholesale robbery of their nests.</p> + +<p>"When the bridge was completed, being pretty well fagged and quite +famished, we returned to the cabin, lunched heartily, and spent the +afternoon in highly successful rabbit chasing. Plenty of stew for all of +us. If Robinson Crusoe had been cast ashore on this island, I wonder how +he would have lived? As it is, the rabbits sometimes succeed in escaping +us, and without powder and shot it would be quite impossible for one or +two persons to bag them. We are beginning to lose faith in the +delightful romances of our youth, and to realize what a desert island +is.</p> + +<div class='sig'> +<span>"May 10th.</span> +</div> + +<p>"In front of us we each carry a large sack in which to deposit eggs; our +boots are clumsy, and the heavy nails that fill their soles make them +heavy and difficult to walk in. We also carry a strong staff to aid us +in climbing the rugged slopes. About us is nothing but grey, +weather-stained rocks; there are few paths, and these we cannot follow, +for the sea-birds, though so unused to the presence of man, are wary and +shy of his tracks; the day's work has not proved profitable. Few of us +gathered any eggs; one who was more successful, and had secured enough +to make it extremely difficult for him to scale the rocks, slipped, fell +on his face, and scrambled all his store. His plight was laughable, but +he was scarcely in the mood to relish it, as he washed his sack and +blouse in cold water, while we indulged in cards.</p> + +<br /> +<a name="image-16"><!-- Image 16 --></a> +<center> +<img src="images/illus-0152-2.jpg" height="403" width="400" +alt= "Murre on their Nests, Farallone Islands"> +</center> + +<h4> Murre on their Nests, Farallone Islands</h4> + +<div class='sig'> +<span>"May 11th.</span> +</div> + +<p>"Built another bridge over a gap where the sea rushes, and which we call +the <i>Jordan</i>. If the real Jordan is as hard to cross, heaven help us. +Eggs not very plentiful as yet; we are rather early in the season, or +the crop is late this year. More rabbits in the p.m.; more wind, more +fog; and at night, pipes, cards, and a few choruses that sound strange +and weird in the fire lights on this lonely island.</p> + +<div class='sig'> +<span>"May 12th.</span> +</div> + +<p>"Eggs are so very scarce. The foreman advises our resting for a day. We +lounge about, looking off upon the sea; sometimes a sail blows by us, +but our islands are in such ill-repute with mariners, they usually give +us a wide berth, as they call it. A little homesick towards dusk; wonder +how the boys in San Francisco are killing time; it is time that is +killing us, out here in the wind and fog.</p> + +<div class='sig'> +<span>"May 13th.</span> +</div> + +<p>"Have been hunting abalones all day, and found but a baker's dozen; +their large, shallow shells are glued to the rock at the first approach +of danger, and unless we can steal upon these queer fish unawares, and +thrust something under their shells before they have shut down upon the +rock, it is almost impossible to pry them open. Some of the boys are +searching in the sea up to their waists—hard work when one considers +how tough the abalone is, and how tasteless.</p> + +<div class='sig'> +<span>"May 14th.</span> +</div> + +<p>"This morning all our egg-pickers were at work; took in the west end, +only the high rock beyond the first bridge; gathered about forty dozen +eggs, and got them safely back to camp; in some nests there were three +eggs, and these we did not gather, fearing they were stale. In the p.m. +tried to collect dry grass enough to make a thin mattress for my bunk; +barely succeeded; am more than ever convinced that desert islands are +delusions.</p> + +<div class='sig'> +<span>"May 15th.</span> +</div> + +<p>"It being Sunday, we rest from our labors; by way of varying the +monotony of island life, we climb up to the lighthouse, 300 feet above +sea level. The path is zig-zag across the cliff, and is extremely +fatiguing. While ascending, a large stone rolled under my foot, and +went thundering down the cliff. Jim, who was in the rear, heard it +coming, and dodged; it missed his head by about six inches. Had it +struck him, he would have been hurled into the sea that boiled below; we +were both faint with horror, after realizing the fate he had escaped. +Were cordially welcomed by the lighthouse keeper, his wife, and her +companion, a young woman who had come to share this banishment. The +keeper and his wife visit the mainland but twice a year. Everywhere we +saw evidence of the influence of these charming people. The house was +tidy—the paint snow-white. The brass-work shone like gold; the place +seemed a kind of Paradise to us; even the machinery of the revolving +light, the multitude of reflectors, etc., was enchanting. We dreaded to +return to our miserable cabins, but were soon compelled to, and the +afternoon was spent in the customary rabbit chase, ending with a stew of +no mean proportions.</p> + +<div class='sig'> +<span>"May 16th.</span> +</div> + +<p>"More eggs, and afterwards a fishing excursion, which furnished us +material for an excellent chowder. We are beginning to look for the +return of the schooner, and have been longing for news from shore.</p> + +<div class='sig'> +<span>"May 17th.</span> +</div> + +<p>"A great haul of abalones this p.m. We filled our baskets, slung them +on poles over our shoulders Coolie fashion, and slowly made our way back +to camp. The baskets weighed a ton each before we at last emptied them +by the cabin door. Built a huge fire under a cauldron, and left a mess +of fish to boil until morning. The abalones are as large as steaks, and +a great deal tougher. Smoke, cards, and to bed; used up.</p> + +<div class='sig'> +<span>"May 18th.</span> +</div> + +<p>"Same program as yesterday, only the novelty quite worn off, and this +kind of life becoming almost unendurable.</p> + +<div class='sig'> +<span>"May 19th.</span> +</div> + +<p>"More eggs, more abalones, more rabbits. No signs of schooner yet. +Wonder, had Crusoe kept a diary, how many days he would have kept it +before closing it with chagrin.</p> + +<div class='sig'> +<span>"May 20th.</span> +</div> + +<p>"Spent the p.m. in getting the abalone shells down to the egg-house at +the landing. We have cleaned them, and are hoping to find this +speculation profitable; for the shells, when polished and cut, are much +used in the market for inlaying and setting in cheap jewelry. We loaded +a small tram, pushed it to the top of an incline, and let it roll down +the other side to the landing, which it reached in safety. This is the +only labor-saving machine at our command.</p> + +<div class='sig'> +<span>"May 21st.</span> +</div> + +<p>"We seem to be going all to pieces. The day commenced badly. Two of the +boys inaugurated it by a violent set-to before breakfast—an old grudge +broke out afresh, or perhaps the life here has demoralized them. I have +lamed my foot. Tide too high for abalone fishing. Eggs growing scarce, +and the rabbits seem to have deserted the accessible parts of the +island. Everybody is disgusted. We are forgetting our table-manners, it +is 'first come first served' now-a-days. I wonder if Robinson—oh, no! +he had no one but his man Friday to contend against. No schooner; no +change in the weather; tobacco giving out, and not a grain of good humor +to be had in the market. To bed, very cross.</p> + +<div class='sig'> +<span>"May 22d.</span> +</div> + +<p>"No one felt like going to work this morning. Affairs began to look +mutinous. We have searched in vain for the schooner, now considerably +overdue, and are dreading the thought of having to fulfill a contract +which calls for six weeks' labor on these islands. Some of the other +islands are to be visited, and are accessible only in small boats over a +sea that is never even tolerably smooth. This expedition we all dread a +little—at least, I judge so from my own case—but we say nothing of it. +While thus gloomily brooding over our plight, smoke was sighted on the +horizon; we ascended the hill to watch it. A steamer, doubtless, bound +for a sunnier clime, for no clime can be less sunny than ours of the +past fortnight.... It was a steamer, a small Government steamer, making +directly for our island. We became greatly excited, for nothing of any +moment had occurred since our arrival. She drew in near shore and cast +anchor. We gathered at the landing-cove to give her welcome. A boat was +beached in safety. An officer of the law said, cheerfully, as if he were +playing a part in a nautical comedy, 'I must beg you, gentlemen, to step +on board the revenue cutter, and return to San Francisco.' We were so +surprised we could not speak; or were we all speechless with joy, I +wonder? He added, this very civil sheriff, 'If you do not care to +accompany me, I shall be obliged to order the marines on shore. You will +pardon me, but as these islands are Government property, you are +requested to immediately withdraw from them.' We withdrew. We steamed +away from the windy rocks, the howling caverns, the seething waves, the +frightful chasms, the seabirds, the abalones, the rabbits, the gloomy +cabins, and the pleasant people at the top of the cliff within the white +walls of the lighthouse. Joyfully we bounded over the glassy waves, that +grew beautiful as the Farallones faded in the misty distance, and, +having been courteously escorted to the city dock, we were bidden +farewell, and left to the diversions of the hour. Thus ended the last +siege of the Farallones by the egg-pickers of San Francisco. (Profits +<i>nil</i>.)"</p> + +<p>And thus I fear, inasmuch as the Government proposes to guard the +sea-birds until a suitable license is secured by legitimate egg-pickers, +the price of gulls' eggs will go up in proportion, and hereafter we +shall have to look upon them as luxuries, and content ourselves with the +more modest and milder-flavored but undecorated products of the less +romantic barn-yard fowl.</p> + + +<hr style='width: 65%;' /> +<a name='Memory'></a><h2>A MEMORY OF MONTEREY</h2> + +<h2>I</h2> +<br /> + + +<p><img align='left' src="images/illus-o.png" height="75" width="75" +alt= "O"> + +<b><big>LD</big></b> Monterey"? Yes, old Monterey; yet not so very old. Old, however, +inasmuch as she has been hopelessly modernized; the ancient virtue has +gone out of her; she is but a monument and a memory. It is the Monterey +of a dozen or fifteen years ago I write of; and of a brief sojourn after +the briefer voyage thither. The voyage is the same; yesterday, to-day +and forever it remains unchanged. The voyager may judge if I am right +when I say that the Pacific coast, or the coast of California, Oregon +and Washington, is the selvage side of the American continent. I believe +this is evidenced in the well-rounded lines of the shore; the smooth +meadow-lands that not infrequently lie next the sea, and the +comparatively few island-fragments that are discoverable between Alaska +and Mexico.</p> + +<p>I made that statement, in the presence of a select few, on the promenade +deck of a small coaster then plying between San Francisco and Monterey; +and proved it during the eight-hour passage, to the seeming edification +of my shipmates. Even the bluffs that occasionally jutted into the sea +did the picturesque in a half-theatrical fashion. Time and the elements +seemed to have toyed with them, and not fought with them, as is the +annual custom on the eastern coast of the United States. Flocks of sheep +fed in the salt pastures by the water's edge; ranch-houses were perched +on miniature cliffs, in the midst of summer-gardens that even through a +powerful field-glass showed few traces of wear and tear.</p> + +<p>And the climate? Well, the sunshine was like sunshine warmed over; and +there was a lurking chill in the air that made our quarters in the lee +of the smoke-stack preferable to the circular settee in the +stern-sheets. Yes, it was midsummer at heart, and the comfortable +midsummer ulster advertised the fact.</p> + +<p>What a long, lonesome coast it is! Erase the few evidences of life that +relieve the monotonous landscape at infrequent intervals, and you shall +see California exactly as Drake saw it more than four centuries ago, or +the Argonaut Friars saw it a century later, and as the improved races +will see it ages hence—a little bleak and utterly uninteresting.</p> + +<p>California secretes her treasures. As you approach her from the sea, you +would scarcely suspect her wealth; her lines, though fine and flowing, +are not voluptuous, and she certainly lacks color. This was also a part +of our steamer-talk under the lee of the smoke-stack; and while we were +talking we turned a sharp corner, ran into the Bay of Monterey, and +came suddenly face to face with Santa Cruz.</p> + +<p>Ah, there was richness! Perennial groves, dazzling white cottages +snow-flaking them with beauty; a beach with afternoon bathers; and two +straggling piers that had waded out into deep water and stuck fast in +the mud. A stroll through Santa Cruz does not dissipate the enchantment +usually borrowed from usurious distance; and the two-hours'-roll in the +deep furrows of the Bay, that the pilgrim to Monterey must suffer, is +apt to make him regret he left that pleasant port in the hope of finding +something pleasanter on the dim opposite shore.</p> + +<p>We re-embarked for Monterey at dusk, when the distant horn of the Bay +was totally obscured. It is seldom more than a half-imagined point, +jutting out into a haze between two shades of blue. Stars watched over +us,—sharp, clear stars, such as flare a little when the wind blows. But +the wind was not blowing for us. Showers of sparks spangled the +crape-like folds of smoke that trailed after us; the engine labored in +the hold, and the sea heaved as it is always heaving in that wide-open +Bay.</p> + +<p>In an hour we steamed into a fog-bank, so dense that even the head-light +of our ship was as a glowworm; and from that moment until we had come +within sound of voices on the undiscovered shore, it was all like a +voyage in the clouds. Whistles blew, bells rang, men shouted, and then +we listened with hungry ears. A whistle answered us from shore—a +piercing human whistle. Dim lights burned through the fog. We advanced +with fearful caution; and while voices out of the air were greeting us, +almost before we had got our reckoning, we drifted up under a dark pier, +on which ghastly figures seemed to be floating to and fro, bidding us +all-hail. And then and there the freedom of the city was extended to us, +saturated with salt-sea mist. Probably six times in ten the voyager +approaches Monterey in precisely this fashion. 'Tis true! 'Tis pity!</p> + +<p>Having been hoisted up out of our ship—the tide was exceeding low and +the dock high; having been embraced in turn by friends who had soaked +for an hour and a half on that desolate pier-head—for our ship was +belated, groping her way in the fog,—we were taken by the hand and led +cautiously into the sand-fields that lie between the city and the sea.</p> + +<p>Of course our plans had all miscarried. Our Bachelors' Hall fell with a +dull thud when we heard that the chief bachelor had turned benedict +three days before. But he was present with his bride, and he knew of a +haunt that would compensate us for all loss or disappointment. We +crossed the desert nursing a faint hope. We threaded one or two wide, +weedy, silent streets; not a soul was visible, though it was but nine +in the evening,—which was not to be wondered at, since the town was +divided against itself: the one half slept, the other half still sat +upon the pier, making a night of it; for old Monterey had but one shock +that betrayed it into some show of human weakness. The cause was the +Steam Navigation Co. The effect was a fatal fondness for tendering a +public reception to all steamers arriving from foreign ports, after +their sometimes tempestuous passages of from eight to ten hours. This +insured the inhabitants a more or less festive night about once every +week or ten days.</p> + +<p>With rioutous laughter, which sounded harsh, yea, sacrilegious, in the +sublime silence of that exceptional town, we were piloted into an +abysmal nook sacred to a cluster of rookeries haggard in the extreme. We +approached it by an improvised bridge two spans in breadth. The place +was buried under layers of mystery. It was silent, it was dark with the +blackness of darkness; it was like an unholy sepulchre that gave forth +no sound, though we beat upon its sodden door with its rusted knocker +until a dog howled dismally on the hillside afar off.</p> + +<p>Some one admitted us at the last moment, and left us standing in the +pitch-dark entrance while he went in search of candles, that apparently +fled at his approach. The great room was thrown open in due season and +with solemnity. It may have been the star-chamber in the days when +Monterey was the capital of the youngest and most promising State in the +Union; but it was somewhat out of date when we were ushered into it. A +bargain was hastily struck, and we repaired to damp chambers, where +every sound was shared in common, and nothing whatever was in the least +degree private or confidential. We slept at intervals, but in turn; so +that at least one good night's rest was shared by our company.</p> + +<br /> +<a name="image-17"><!-- Image 17 --></a> +<center> +<img src="images/illus-0164-2.jpg" height="400" width="631" +alt= "Monterey, 1850"> +</center> + +<h4>Monterey, 1850</h4> + +<p>At nine o' the clock next morning we were still enveloped in mist, but +the sun was struggling with it; and from my window I inspected Spanish +or Mexican, or Spanish-Mexican, California interiors, sprinkled with +empty tin cans, but redeemed by the more picturesque <i>débris</i> of the +early California settlement—dingy tiles, forlorn cypresses, and a +rosebush of gigantic body and prolific bloom.</p> + +<p>We breakfasted at Simoneau's, in the inner room, with its frescos done +in beer and shoeblacking by a brace of hungry Bohemians, who used to +frequent the place and thus settle their bill. Five of us sat at that +uninviting board and awaited our turn, while Simoneau hovered over a +stove that was by no means equal to the occasion. It was a breakfast +such as one is reduced to in a mountain camp, but which spoils the +moment it is removed from the charmed circle of ravenous foresters. We +paid three prices for it, but that was no consolation; and it was long +before we again entered the doors of one of the chief restaurants of old +Monterey.</p> + +<p>Before the thick fog lifted that morning we had scoured the town in +quest of lodgings. The hotels were uninviting. At the Washington the +rooms were not so large as the demands of the landlord. At the St. +Charles'—a summer-house without windows, save the one set in the door +of each chamber—we located for a brief season, and exchanged the +liveliest compliments with the lodgers at the extreme ends of the +building. A sneeze in the dead of night aroused the house; and during +one of the panics which were likely to follow, I peremptorily departed, +and found shelter at last in the large square chamber of an adobe +dwelling, the hospitable abode of one of the first families of Monterey. +Broad verandas surrounded us on four sides; the windows sunk in the +thick walls had seats deep enough to hold me and my lap tablet full in +the sunshine—whenever it leaked through the fog.</p> + +<p>Two of these windows opened upon a sandy street, beyond which was a +tangled garden of cacti and hollyhock and sunflowers, with a great wall +about it; but I could look over the wall and enjoy the privacy of that +sweet haunt. In that cloistered garden grew the obese roses of the far +West, that fairly burst upon their stem. Often did I exclaim: "O, for a +delicate blossom, whose exquisite breath savors not of the mold, and +whose sensitive petals are wafted down the invisible currents of the +wind like a fairy flotilla!" Beyond that garden, beyond the roofs of +this town, stretched the yellow sand-dunes; and in the distance towered +the mountains, painted with changeful lights. My other window looked +down the long, lonesome street to the blue Bay and the faint outline of +the coast range beyond it.</p> + +<p>Here I began to live; here I heard the harp-like tinkle of the first +piano brought to the California coast; here also the guitar was touched +skillfully by her grace the august lady of the house, who scorned the +English tongue—the more eloquent and rhythmical Spanish prevailed under +her roof. One of the members of the household was proud to recount the +history of the once brilliant capital of the State, and I listened by +the hour to a narrative that now reads to me like a fable.</p> + +<p>In the year of Our Lord 1602, when Don Sebastian Viscaino—dispatched by +the Viceroy of Mexico, acting under instructions from Philip III. of +Spain—touched these shores, Mass was celebrated, the country taken +possession of in the name of the Spanish King, and the spot christened +Monterey in honor of Gaspar de Zuniga, Count of Monterey, Viceroy of +Mexico. In eighteen days Viscaino again set sail, and the silence of the +forest and the sea fell upon that lonely shore. That silence was +unbroken by the voice of the stranger for one hundred and sixty-six +years. Then Gaspar de Portola, Governor of Lower California, +re-discovered Monterey, erected a cross upon the shore, and went his +way.</p> + +<p>In May, 1770, the final settlement took place. The packet <i>San Antonio</i>, +commanded by Don Juan Perez, came to anchor in the port, "which"—wrote +the leader of the expedition to Padre Francisco Palou—"is unadulterated +in any degree from what it was when visited by the expedition of Don +Sebastian Viscaino in 1602. After this"—the celebration of the Mass, +the <i>Salve</i> to Our Lady, and a <i>Te Deum,</i>—"the officers took possession +of the country in the name of the King (Charles III.) our lord, whom God +preserve. We all dined together in a shady place on the beach; the whole +ceremony being accompanied by many volleys and salutes by the troops and +vessels."</p> + +<p>When the <i>San Antonio</i> returned to Mexico, it left at Monterey Padre +Junipero Serra and five other priests, Lieutenant Pedro Fages and thirty +soldiers. The settlement was at once made capital of Alta California, +and Portola appointed the first governor. The Presidio (an enclosure +about three hundred yards square, containing a chapel, store-houses, +offices, residences, and a barracks) was the nucleus of the city; but +the mission was soon removed to a beautiful valley about six miles +distant, where there was more room, better shelter from the cold west +winds, and an unrivalled prospect. The valley is now known as Carmelo.</p> + +<p>A fort was built upon a little hill commanding the settlement, and life +began in good earnest. What followed? Mexico threw off the Spanish yoke; +California was hence forth subject to Mexico alone. The news spread; +vessels gathered in the harbor, and enormous profits were realized on +the sale and shipment of the hides of wild cattle lately roaming upon a +thousand hills.</p> + +<p>Then came gradual changes in the government; they culminated in 1846 +when Captain Mervin, at the head of two hundred and fifty men, raised +the Stars and Stripes over Monterey, and a proclamation was read +declaring California a portion of the United States.</p> + +<p>The Rev. Walter Colton, once chaplain of the United States frigate +<i>Congress</i>, was appointed first alcalde; and the result was the erection +of a stone courthouse, which was long the chief ornament of the town; +and, somewhat later, the publication of Alcalde Colton's highly +interesting volume, entitled "Three Years in California."</p> + + + +<hr style='width: 65%;' /> +<h2>II.</h2> +<br /> + + +<p><img align='left' src="images/illus-i.png" height="75" width="75" +alt= "I"> + +<b><big>N</big></b> 1829 Captain Robinson, the author of "Life in California" +in the good old mission days, wrote thus of his first sight of Monterey: "The sun +had just risen, and, glittering through the lofty pines that crowned the +summit of the eastern hills, threw its light upon the lawn beneath. On +our left was the Presidio, with its chapel dome and towering flag-staff +in conspicuous elevation. On the right, upon a rising ground, was seen +the <i>castillo</i>, or fort, surmounted by some ten or a dozen cannon. The +intervening space between these two points was enlivened by the hundred +scattered dwellings that form the town, and here and there groups of +cattle grazing.</p> + +<p>"After breakfast G. and myself went on shore, on a visit to the +Commandant, Don Marian Estrada, whose residence stood in the central +part of the town, in the usual route from the beach to the Presidio. In +external appearance, notwithstanding it was built of adobe—brick made +by the mixture of soft mud and straw, moulded and dried in the sun,—it +was not displeasing; for the outer walls had been plastered and +whitewashed, giving it a cheerful and inviting aspect. Like all +dwellings in the warm countries of America, it was but one story in +height, covered with tiles, and occupied, in its entire premises, an +extensive square.</p> + +<p>"Our Don was standing at his door; and as we approached, he sallied +forth to meet us with true Castilian courtesy; embraced G., shook me +cordially by the hand, then bowed us ceremoniously into the <i>sala</i>. Here +we seated ourselves upon a sofa at his right. During conversation +<i>cigarritos</i> passed freely; and, although thus early in the day, a +proffer was made of refreshments."</p> + +<p>In 1835 R.H. Dana, Jr., the author of "Two Years before the Mast," found +Monterey but little changed; some of the cannon were unmounted, but the +Presidio was still the centre of life on the Pacific coast, and the town +was apparently thriving. Day after day the small boats plied between +ship and shore, and the population gave themselves up to the delights of +shopping. Shopping was done on shipboard; each ship was a storehouse of +attractive and desirable merchandise, and the little boats were kept +busy all day long bearing customers to and fro.</p> + +<p>In 1846 prices were ruinously high, as the alcalde was free to +confess—he being a citizen of the United States and a clergyman into +the bargain. Unbleached cottons, worth 6 cents per yard in New York, +brought 50 cents, 60 cents, 75 cents in old Monterey. Cowhide shoes were +$10 per pair; the most ordinary knives and forks, $10 per dozen; poor +tea, $3 per pound; truck-wheels, $75 per pair. The revenue of these +enormous imposts passed into the hands of private individuals, who had +placed themselves by violence or fraud at the head of the Government.</p> + +<p>In those days a "blooded" horse and a pack of cards were thought to be +among the necessaries of life. One of the luxuries was a <i>rancho</i> sixty +miles in length, owned by Captain Sutter in the valley of the +Sacramento. Native prisoners, arrested for robbery and confined in the +adobe jail at Monterey, clamored for their guitars, and the nights were +filled with music until the rascals swung at half-mast.</p> + +<p>In August, 1846, <i>The Californian</i>, the first newspaper established on +the coast, was issued by Colton & Semple. The type and press were once +the property of the Franciscan friars, and used by them; and in the +absence of the English <i>w</i>, the compositors on <i>The Californian</i> doubled +the Spanish <i>v</i>. The journal was printed half in English and half in +Spanish, on cigarette paper about the size of a sheet of fools-cap. +Terms, $3 per year in advance; single copies, 12-1/2 cents each. Semple +was a man just suited to the newspaper office he occupied; he stood six +feet eight inches in moccasins, was dressed in buckskin, and wore a +foxskin cap.</p> + +<p>The first jury of the alcaldean court was empanelled in September, +1846. Justice flourished for about three years. In 1849 Bayard Taylor +wrote: "Monterey has the appearance of a deserted town: few people in +the streets, business suspended," etc. Rumors of gold had excited the +cupidity of the inhabitants, and the capital was deserted; elsewhere was +metal more attractive. The town never recovered from that shock. It +gradually declined until few, save Bohemian artists and Italian and +Chinese fishermen, took note of it. The settlement was obsolete in my +day; the survivors seemed to have lost their memories and their interest +in everything. Thrice in my early pilgrimages I asked where the Presidio +had stood; on these occasions did the oldest inhabitant and his +immediate juniors vaguely point me to three several quarters of the +town. I believe in my heart that the pasture in front of the old +church—then sacred to three cows and a calf—was the cradle of +civilization in the far West.</p> + +<br /> +<a name="image-18"><!-- Image 18 --></a> +<center> +<img src="images/illus-0172-2.jpg" height="400" width="678" +alt= "San Carlos de Carmelo"> +</center> + +<h4>San Carlos de Carmelo</h4> + +<p>The original custom-house—there was no mistaking it, for it was founded +on a rock—overhung the sea, while the waves broke gently at its base, +and rows of sea-gulls sat solemnly on the skeletons of stranded whales +scattered along the beach. A Captain Lambert dwelt on the first floor of +the building; a goat fed in the large hall—it bore the complexion of a +stable—where once the fashionable element tripped the light fantastic +toe. In those days the first theatre in the State was opened with +brilliant success, and the now long-forgotten Binghams appeared in that +long-forgotten drama, "Putnam, or the Lion Son of '76." The +never-to-be-discourteously-mentioned years of our pioneers, '49 and '50, +"were memorable eras in the Thespian records of Monterey," says the +guide-book. They were indeed; for Lieutenant Derby, known to the +literary world as "John Phoenix" and "Squibob," was one of the leading +spirits of the stage. But the Thespian records came to an untimely end, +and it must be confessed that Monterey no longer tempts the widely +strolling player.</p> + +<p>I saw her in decay, the once flourishing capital. The old convent was +windowless, and its halls half filled with hay; the barracks and the +calaboose, inglorious ruins; the Block House and the Fort, mere shadows +of their former selves. As for Colton Hall—the town-hall, named in +honor of its builder, the first alcalde,—it is a modern-looking +structure, that scarcely harmonizes with the picturesque adobes that +surround it. Colton said of it: "It has been erected out of the slender +proceeds of town lots, the labor of the convicts, taxes on liquor shops, +and fines on gamblers. The scheme was regarded with incredulity by many; +but the building is finished, and the citizens have assembled in it, and +christened it after my name, which will go down to posterity with the +odor of gamblers, convicts and tipplers." Bless his heart! he need not +have worried himself. No one seems to know or care how the building was +constructed; and as for the name it bears, it is as savory as any.</p> + +<p>The church was built in 1794, and dedicated as the parish church in +1834, when the missions were secularized and Carmelo abandoned. It is +the most interesting structure in the town. Much of the furniture of the +old mission is preserved here: the holy vessels beaten out of solid +silver; rude but not unattractive paintings by nameless artists—perhaps +by the friars themselves,—landmarks of a crusade that was gloriously +successful, but the records of which are fading from the face of the +earth.</p> + +<p>Doubtless the natives who had flourished under the nourishing care of +the mission in its palmy days, wagged their heads wittingly when the +brig <i>Natalia</i> met her fate. Tradition says Napoleon I. made his escape +from Elba on that brig. It was by the <i>Natalia</i> that Hijar, Director of +Colonization, arrived for the purpose of secularizing the missions; and +his scheme was soon accomplished. But the winds blew, and the waves rose +and beat upon the little brig, and laid her bones in the sands of +Monterey. It is whispered that when the sea is still and the water +clear, and the tide very, very low, one may catch faint glimpses of the +skeleton of the <i>Natalia</i> swathed in its shroud of weeds.</p> + +<p>There are two attractions in the vicinity, without which I fear +Monterey would have ultimately passed from the memory of man. These are +the mission at Carmelo, and the Druid grove at Cypress Point. In the +edge of the town there is a cross which marks the spot where Padre +Junipero Serra sang his first Mass at Monterey. It was a desolate +picture when I last saw it. It stood but a few yards from the sea, in a +lonely hollow. It was a favorite subject with the artists who found +their way thither, and who were wont to paint it upon the sea-shells +that lay almost within reach. Now a marble statue of Junipero Serra, +erected by Mrs. Leland Stanford, marks the spot.</p> + +<p>Six miles away, beyond the hills, above the shallow river, in sight of +the sparkling sea, is the ruin of Carmelo. From the cross by the shore +to the church beyond the hills, one reads the sacred history of the +coast from <i>alpha</i> to <i>omega</i>. This, the most famous, if not the most +beautiful, of all the Franciscan missions, has suffered the common fate. +In my day the roof was wanting; the stone arches were crumbling one +after another; the walls were tufted with sun-dried grass; everywhere +the hand of Vandalism had scrawled his initials or his name. The nave of +the church was crowded with neglected graves. Fifteen governors of the +territory mingle their dust with that consecrated earth, but there was +never so much as a pebble to mark the spot where they lie. Even the +saintly Padre Junipero, who founded the mission, and whose death was +grimly heroic, lay until recent years in an unknown tomb. Thanks to the +pious efforts of the late Father Cassanova, the precious remains of +Junipero Serra, together with those of three other friars of the +mission, were discovered, identified, and honorably reentombed.</p> + +<p>From 1770 to 1784 Padre Junipero Serra entered upon the parish record +all baptisms, marriages, and deaths. These ancient volumes are carefully +preserved, and are substantially bound in leather; the writing is bold +and legible, and each entry is signed "Fray Junipero Serra," with an odd +little flourish of the pen beneath. The last entry is dated July 30, +1784; then Fray Francesco Palou, an old schoolmate of Junipero Serra, +and a brother friar, records the death of his famous predecessor, and +with it a brief recital of his life work, and the circumstances at the +close of it.</p> + +<p>Junipero Serra took the habit of the order of St. Francis at the age of +seventeen; filled distinguished positions in Spain and Mexico before +going to California; refused many tempting and flattering honors; was +made president of the fifteen missions of Lower California—long since +abandoned; lived to see his last mission thrive mightily, and died at +the age of seventy—long before the fall of the crowning work of his +life.</p> + +<p>Feeling the approach of death, Junipero Serra confessed himself to Fray +Palou; went through the Church offices for the dying; joined in the hymn +<i>Tantum Ergo</i> "with elevated and sonorous tones," saith the +chronicle,—the congregation, hearing him intone his death chaunt, were +awed into silence, so that the dying man's voice alone finished the +hymn; then he repaired to his cell, where he passed the night in prayer. +The following morning he received the captain and chaplain of a Spanish +vessel lying in the harbor, and said, cheerfully, he thanked God that +these visitors, who had traversed so much of sea and land, had come to +throw a little earth upon his body. Anon he asked for a cup of broth, +which he drank at the table in the refectory; was then assisted to his +bed, where he had scarcely touched the pillow when, without a murmur, he +expired.</p> + +<p>In anticipation of his death, he had ordered his own coffin to be made +by the mission carpenter; and his remains were at once deposited in it. +So precious was the memory of this man in his own day that it was with +the utmost difficulty his coffin was preserved from destruction; for the +populace, venerating even the wooden case that held the remains of their +spiritual Father, clamored for the smallest fragment; and, though a +strong body-guard watched over it until the interment, a portion of his +vestment was abstracted during the night. One thinks of this and of the +overwhelming sorrow that swept through the land when this saintly +pioneer fell at the head of his legion.</p> + +<p>The California mission reached the height of its prosperity forty years +later, when it owned 87,600 head of cattle, 60,000 sheep, 2,300 calves, +1,800 horses, 365 yoke of oxen, much merchandise, and $40,000 in specie. +Tradition hints that this money was buried when a certain +piratical-looking craft was seen hovering about the coast.</p> + +<p>This wealth is all gone now—scattered among the people who have allowed +the dear old mission to fall into sad decay. What a beautiful church it +must have been, with its quaint carvings, its star-window that seems to +have been blown out of shape in some wintry wind, and all its lines +hardened again in the sunshine of the long, long summer; with its +Saracenic door!—what memories the <i>Padres</i> must have brought with them +of Spain and the Moorish seal that is set upon it! Here we have evidence +of it painfully wrought out by the hands of rude Indian artisans. The +ancient bells have been carried away into unknown parts; the owl hoots +in the belfry; the hills are shown of their conventual tenements; while +the wind and the rain and a whole heartless company of iconoclasts have +it all their own way.</p> + +<p>Once in the year, on San Carlos' Day, Mass is sung in the only +habitable corner of the ruin; the Indians and the natives gather from +all quarters, and light candles among the graves, and mourn and mourn +and make a strange picture of the place; then they go their way, and the +owl returns, and the weeds grow ranker, and every hour there is a +straining among the weakened joists, and a creaking and a crumbling in +many a nook and corner; and so the finest historical relic in the land +is suffered to fall into decay. Or, perhaps I should say, that was the +sorry state of Carmelo in my day. I am assured that every effort is now +being made to restore and preserve beautiful Carmelo.</p> + + + +<hr style='width: 65%;' /> +<h2>III.</h2> +<br /> + + +<p><img align='left' src="images/illus-s.png" height="75" width="75" +alt= "S"> + +<b><big>HE</big></b> was a dear old stupid town in my day. She boasted but half a dozen +thinly populated streets. One might pass through these streets almost +any day, at almost any hour of the day, footing it all the way from the +dismantled fort on the seaside to the ancient cemetery, grown to seed, +at the other extremity of the settlement, and not meet half a score of +people.</p> + +<p>Geese fed in the gutters, and hissed as I passed by; cows grazing by the +wayside eyed me in grave surprise; overhead, the snow-white sea-gulls +wheeled and cried peevishly; and on the heights that shelter the +ex-capital the pine-trees moaned and moaned, and often caught and held +the sea-fog among their branches, when the little town was basking in +the sunshine and dreaming its endless dream.</p> + +<p>How did a man kill time in those days? There was a studio on Alvarado +Street; it stood close to the post-office, in what may be generously +denominated as the busiest part of the town. The studio was the focus of +life and hope and love; some work was also supposed to be done there. It +was the headquarters of the idle and the hungry, and the seeker after +consolation in all its varied forms. Choice family groceries were +retailed three times a day in the rear of the establishment; and there +we often gathered about the Bohemian board, to celebrate whatever our +fancy painted. Now it was an imaginary birthday—a movable feast that +came to be very popular in our select artistic circle; again it was the +possible—dare I say probable?—sale of a picture at a quite +inconceivable price. There were always occasions enough. Would it had +been the case with the dinners!</p> + +<p>The studio was the thing,—the studio, decked with Indian trophies and +the bleached bones of sea birds and land beasts, and lined with studies +in all colors under heaven. Here was the oft-lighted peace-pipe; and +Orient rugs and wolf-skins for a <i>siesta</i> when the beach yonder was a +blaze of white and blinding light, that made it blessed to close one's +eyes and shut out the glare—and to keep one's ears open to the lulling +song of the sea.</p> + +<p>Here we concocted a plan. It was to be kept a profound mystery; even the +butcher was unaware, and the baker in total darkness; as for the +wine-merchant, he was as blind as a bat. We were to give the banquet and +ball of the season. We went to the hall of our sisters,—scarcely kin +were they, but kinder never lived, and their house was at our disposal. +We threw out the furniture; we made a green bower of the adobe chamber. +One window, that bore upon the forlorn vacuum of the main street, was +speedily stained the deepest and most splendid dyes; from without, it +had a pleasing, not to say refining, medieval effect; from within, it +was likened unto the illuminated page of an antique antiphonary—in +flames; yes, positively in flames!</p> + +<p>A great board was laid the length of the room, a kind of Round +Table—with some few unavoidable innovations, such as a weak leg or two, +square corners, and an unexpected depression in the centre of it, where +the folding leaves sought in vain to join. From the wall depended the +elaborate <i>menu</i>, life-size and larger; and at every course a cartoon in +color more appetizing than the town market. The emblematic owl blinked +upon us from above the door. Invitations were hastily penned and sent +forth to a select few. Forgive us, Dona Jovita, if thy guest card was +redolent of tea or of brown soap; for it was penned in the privacy of +the pantry, and either upon the Scylla of the tea-caddy or the soapy +Charybdis it was sure to be dashed at last.</p> + +<p>It was rare fun, if I did say it from the foot of the flower-strewn +table, clad in an improvised toga, while a gentleman in Joss-like +vestments carved and complimented in a single breath at the top of the +Bohemian board. From the adjoining room came the music of hired +minstrels: the guitar, the violin, and blending voices—a piping tenor +and a soft Spanish <i>falsetto</i>. They chanted rhythmically to the clatter +of tongues, the ripple of laughter, and the clash of miscellaneous +cutlery.</p> + +<p>An unbidden multitude, gathered from the highways, and the byways, +loitered about the vicinity, patiently—O how patiently!—awaiting our +adjournment. The fandango naturally followed; and it enlivened the vast, +bare chambers of an adjoining adobe, whose walls had not echoed such +revelry since the time when Monterey was the chief port of the Northern +Pacific, and basked in the sunshine of a prosperous monopoly. A good +portion of the town was there that evening. Shadowy forms hovered in the +arbors of the rose garden; the city band appeared and rendered much +pleasing music,—though it was rendered somewhat too vigorously. That +band was composed of the bone and sinew of the town. Oft in the daytime +had I not heard the flageolet lifting its bird-like voice over the +counter of the juvenile jeweller, who wrought cunningly in the +shimmering abalone shells during the rests in his music? Did not the +trombone bray from beyond the meadow, where the cooper could not barrel +his aspiring soul? It was the French-horn at the butcher's, the fife at +the grocer's, the cornet in the chief saloon on the main street; while +at the edge of the town, from the soot and grime of the smithy, I heard +at intervals the boom of the explosive drum. It was thus they responded +to one another on that melodious shore, and with an ambitious diligence +worthy of the Royal Conservatory.</p> + +<p>There was nothing to disturb one in the land, after the musical mania, +save the clang of the combers on the long, lonely beach; the cry of the +sea-bird wheeling overhead, or the occasional bang of a rifle. Even the +narrow-gauge railway, that stopped discreetly just before reaching the +village, broke the monotony of local life but twice in the twenty-four +hours. The whistle of the arriving and departing train, the signal of +the occasional steamer—ah! but for these, what a sweet, sad, silent +spot were that! I used to believe that possibly some day the unbroken +stillness of the wilderness might again envelop it. The policy of the +people invited it. Anything like energy or progress was discouraged in +that latitude. When it was discovered that the daily mail per Narrow +Gauge was arriving regularly and usually on time, it began to look like +indecent haste on the part of the governmental agents. The beauty and +the chivalry that congregated at the post-office seemed to find too +speedy satisfaction at the general delivery window; and presently the +mail-bag for Monterey was dropped at another village, and later carted +twenty miles into town. The happy uncertainty of the mail's arrival +caused the post-office to become a kind of forum, where all the +grievances of the populace were turned loose and generally discussed.</p> + +<p>Then it seemed possible that the Narrow Gauge might be frowned down +altogether, and the locomotive warned to cease trespassing upon the +green pastures of the ex-capital. It even seemed possible that in course +of time all aliens might require a passport and a recommendation from +their last place before being permitted to enter in and enjoy the +society of the authorities brooding over that slumberous village.</p> + +<p>I have seen as many as six men and a boy standing upon one of the +half-dozen street corners of the town, watching, with a surprise that +bordered upon impertinence, a white pilgrim from San Francisco in an +ulster, innocently taking his way through the otherwise deserted +streets. The ulster was perhaps the chief object of interest. I have +seen three or four citizens sitting in a row, on a fence, like so many +rooks,—and sitting there for hours, as if waiting for something. For +what, pray? For the demented squaw, who revolved about the place, and +slept out of doors in all weathers, and muttered to herself incessantly +while she went to and fro, day after day, seeking the rest she could not +hope for this side the grave? Or for Murillo, the Indian, impudent +though harmless, full of fancies and fire-water? Or for the return of +the whale-boats, with their beautiful lateen-sails? Or for the gathering +of the Neapolitan fishermen down under the old Custom House, where they +sat at evening looking off upon the Bay, and perchance dreaming of Italy +and all that enchanted coast? Or for the rains that poured their sudden +and swift rivulets down the wooded slopes and filled the gorges that +gutted some of the streets? Was it the love of nature, or a belief in +fatalism, or sheer laziness, I wonder, that preserved to Monterey those +washouts, from two to five feet in depth, that were sometimes in the +very middle of the streets, and impassable save by an improvised +bridge—a single plank?</p> + +<p>Ah me! It is an ungracious task to prick the bubble reputation, had I +not been dazzled with dreams of Monterey from my youth up! Was I piqued +when I, then a citizen of San Francisco—one of the three hundred +thousand,—when I read in "The Handbook of Monterey" these lines: "San +Francisco is not too firmly fixed to fear the competition of Monterey"?</p> + +<p>Well, I may as well confess myself a false prophet. The town fell into +the hands of Croesus, and straightway lost its identity. It is now a +fashionable resort, and likely to remain one for some years to come. +Where now can one look for the privacy of old? Then, if one wished to +forget the world, he drove through a wilderness to Cypress Point. Now +'tis a perpetual picnic ground, and its fastnesses are threaded by a +drive which is one of the features of Del Monte Hotel life. It was +solemn enough of yore. The gaunt trees were hung with funereal mosses; +they had huge elbows and shoulders, and long, thin arms, with skeleton +fingers at the ends of them, that bore knots that looked like heads and +faces such as Doré portrayed in his fantastic illustrations. They were +like giants transformed,—they are still, no doubt; for the tide of +fashion is not likely to prevail against them.</p> + +<p>They stand upon the verge of the sea, where they have stood for ages, +defying the elements. The shadows that gather under their locked +branches are like caverns and dungeons and lairs. The fox steals +stealthily away as you grope among the roots, that writhe out of the +earth and strike into it again, like pythons in a rage. The coyote sits +in the edge of the dusk, and cries with a half-human cry—at least he +did in my dead day. And here are corpse-like trees, that have been naked +for ages; every angle of their lean, gray boughs seems to imply +something. Who will interpret these hieroglyphics? Blood-red sunsets +flood this haunted wood; there is a sound as of a deep-drawn sigh +passing through it at intervals. The moonlight fills it with mystery; +and along its rocky front, where the sea-flowers blossom and the +sea-grass waves its glossy locks, the soul of the poet and of the artist +meet and mingle between shadowless sea and cloudless sky, in the +unsearchable mystery of that cypress solitude.</p> + +<p>So have I seen it; so would I see it again. When I think on that beach +at Monterey—the silent streets, the walled, unweeded gardens—a wistful +Saturday-afternoon feeling comes over me. I hear again the incessant +roar of the surf; I see the wheeling gulls, the gray sand; the brown, +bleak meadows; the empty streets; the shops, tenantless sometimes—for +the tenant is at dinner or at dominos; the other shops that are locked +forever and the keys rusted away;—whenever I think of her I am reminded +of that episode in Coulton's diary, where he, as alcalde, was awakened +from a deep sleep at the dead of night by a guard, a novice, and a slave +to duty. With no little consternation, the alcalde hastened to unbar the +door. The guard, with a respectful salute, said: "The town, sir, is +perfectly quiet."</p> + + + +<hr style='width: 65%;' /> +<a name='Bungalow'></a><h2>IN A CALIFORNIAN BUNGALOW</h2> +<br /> + +<p><img align='left' src="images/illus-i.png" height="75" width="75" +alt= "I"> + +<b><big>T</big></b> was reception night at the Palace Hotel. As usual the floating +population of San Francisco had drifted into the huge court of that +luxurious caravansary, and was ebbing and eddying among the multitudes +of white and shining columns that support the six galleries under the +crystal roof. The band reveled in the last popular waltz, the hum of the +spectators was hushed, but among the galleries might be seen pairs of +adolescent youths and maidens swaying to the rhythmical melody. We were +taking wine and cigarettes with the Colonel. He was always at home to us +on Monday nights, and even our boisterous chat was suspended while the +blustering trumpeters in the court below blew out their delirious music. +It was at this moment that Bartholomew beckoned me to follow him from +the apartment. We quietly repaired to the gallery among the huge vases +of palms and creepers, and there, bluntly and without a moment's +warning, the dear fellow blurted out this startling revelation: "I have +made an engagement for you; be ready on Thursday next at 4 p.m.; meet me +here; all arrangements are effected; say not a word, but come; and I +promise you one of the jolliest experiences of the season." All this +was delivered in a high voice, to the accompaniment of drums and +cymbals; he concluded with the last flourish of the bandmaster's baton, +and the applause of the public followed. Certainly dramatic effect could +go no further. I was more than half persuaded, and yet, when the +applause had ceased, the dancers unwound themselves, and the low rumble +of a thousand restless feet rang on the marble pavement below, I found +voice sufficient to ask the all-important question, "But what is the +nature of this engagement?" To which he answered, "Oh, we're going down +the coast for a few days, you and I, and Alf and Croesus. A charming +bungalow by the sea; capital bathing, shooting, fishing; nice quiet time +generally; back Monday morning in season for biz!" This was certainly +satisfactory as far as it went, but I added, by way of parenthesis, "and +who else will be present?" knowing well enough that one uncongenial +spirit might be the undoing of us all. To this Bartholomew responded, +"No one but ourselves, old fellow; now don't be queer." He knew well +enough my aversion to certain elements unavoidable even in the best +society, and how I kept very much to myself, except on Monday nights +when we all smoked and laughed with the Colonel—whose uncommonly +charming wife was abroad for the summer; and on Tuesday and Saturday +nights, when I was at the club, and on Wednesdays, when I did the +theatricals of the town, and on Thursdays and Fridays—but never mind! +girls were out of the question in my case, and he knew that the bachelor +hall where I preside was as difficult of access as a cloister. I might +not have given my word without further deliberation, had not the +impetuous Colonel seized us bodily and borne us back into his +smoking-room, where he was about to shatter the wax on a flagon of wine, +a brand of fabulous age and excellence. Bartholomew nodded to Alf, Alf +passed the good news to Croesus, for we were all at the Colonel's by +common consent, and so it happened that the compact was made for +Thursday.</p> + +<p>That Thursday, at 4 p.m. we were on our way to the station at 4:30; the +town-houses were growing few and far between, as the wheels of the +coaches spun over the iron road. At five o'clock the green fields of the +departed spring, already grown bare and brown, rolled up between us and +the horizon. California is a naked land and no mistake, but how +beautiful in her nakedness! An hour later we descended at School-house +station; such is the matter-of-fact pet-name given to a cluster of dull +houses, once known by some melodious but forgotten Spanish appellation. +The ranch wagon awaited us; a huge springless affair, or if it had +springs they were of that aggravating stiffness that adds insult to +injury. Excellent beasts dragged us along a winding, dusty road, over +hill, down dale, into a land that grew more and more lonely; not exactly +"a land where it was always afternoon," but apparently always a little +later in the day, say 7 p.m. or thereabouts. We were rapidly wending our +way towards the coast, and on the breezy hill-top a white fold of +sea-fog swept over and swathed us in its impalpable snow. Oh! the chill, +the rapturous agony of that chill. Do you know what sea-fog is? It is +the bodily, spiritual and temporal life of California; it is the +immaculate mantle of the unclad coast; it feeds the hungry soil, gives +drink unto the thirsting corn, and clothes the nakedness of nature. It +is the ghost of unshed showers—atomized dew, precipitated in +life-bestowing avalanches upon a dewless and parched shore; it is the +good angel that stands between a careless people and contagion; it is +heaven-sent nourishment. It makes strong the weak; makes wise the +foolish—you don't go out a second time in midsummer without your +wraps—and it is altogether the freshest, purest, sweetest, most +picturesque, and most precious element in the physical geography of the +Pacific Slope. It is worth more to California than all her gold, and +silver, and copper, than all her corn and wine—in short, it is simply +indispensable.</p> + +<p>This is the fog that dashed under our hubs like noiseless surf, filled +up the valleys in our lee, shut the sea-view out entirely, and finally +left us on a mountaintop—our last ascension, thank Heaven!—with +nothing but clouds below us and about us, and we sky-high and drenched +to the very bone.</p> + +<p>The fog broke suddenly and rolled away, wrapped in pale and splendid +mystery; it broke for us as we were upon the edge of a bluff. For some +moments we had been listening to the ever-recurring sob of the sea. +There at our feet curled the huge breakers, shouldering the cliff as if +they would hurl it from its foundation. A little further on in the +gloaming was the last hill of all; from its smooth, short summit we +could look into the Delectable Land by candle light, and mark how +invitingly stands a bungalow by the sea's margin at the close of a dusty +day.</p> + +<p>On the summit we paused; certain unregistered packages under the wagon, +which had preyed at intervals upon the minds of Alf, Croesus, and +Bartholomew, were now drawn forth. Life is a series of surprises; +surprise No. 1, a brace of long, tapering javelins having +villainous-looking heads, i.e., two marine rockets, with which to rend +the heavens, and notify the vassals at the bungalow of our approach. One +of these rockets we planted with such care that having touched it off, +it could not free itself, but stood stock still and with vicious fury +blew off in a cloud of dazzling sparks. The dry grass flamed in a +circle about us; never before had we fought fire with wildly-waving +ulsters, but they prove excellent weapons in engagements of this +character, I assure you. Profiting by fatiguing experience, we poised +the second rocket so deftly that it could not fail to rise. On it we +hung our hopes, light enough burdens if they were all as faint as mine. +With the spurt of a match we touched it, a stream of flaky gold rushed +forth and then, as if waiting to gather strength, <i>biff</i>! and away she +went. Never before soared rocket so beautifully; it raked the very +stars; its awful voice died out in the dim distance; with infinite grace +it waved its trail of fire, and then spat forth such constellations of +variegated stars—you would have thought a rainbow had burst into a +million fragments—that shamed the very planets, and made us think +mighty well of ourselves and our achievement. There was still a long +dark mile between us and the bungalow; on this mile were strung a +fordable stream, a ragged village of Italian gardeners, some monstrous +looking hay-stacks, and troops of dogs that mouthed horribly as we +ploughed through the velvety dust.</p> + +<p>The bungalow at last! at the top of an avenue of trees—and such a +bungalow! A peaked roof that sheltered everything, even the deepest +verandas imaginable; the rooms few, but large and airy; everything wide +open and one glorious blaze of light. A table spread with the luxuries +of the season, which in California means four seasons massed in one. +Flowers on all sides; among these flowers Japanese lanterns of +inconceivable forms and colors. These hung two or three deep—without, +within, above, below; nothing but light and fragrance, and mirth and +song. We were howling a chorus as we drove up, and were received with a +musical welcome, bubbling over with laughter from the lips of three +pretty girls, dressed in white and pink—probably the whitest and +pinkest girls in all California; and this was surprise No. 2.</p> + +<p>Perfect strangers to me were these young ladies; but, like most +confirmed bachelors, I rather like being with the adorable sex, when I +find myself translated as if by magic.</p> + +<p>We were formed of the dust of the earth—there was no denying the fact, +and we speedily withdrew; but before our dinner toilets were completed, +such a collection of appetizers was sent in to us as must distinguish +forever the charming hostess who concocted them. I need not recall the +dinner. Have you ever observed that there is no real pleasure in +reviving the memory of something good to eat? Suffice it to state that +the dinner was such a one as was most likely to be laid for us under the +special supervision of three blooming maidens, who had come hither four +and twenty hours in advance of us for this special purpose. That night +we played for moderate stakes until the hours were too small to be +mentioned. I forget who won; but it was probably the girls, who were as +clever at cards as they were at everything else. We ultimately retired, +for the angel of sleep visits even a Californian bungalow, though his +hours are a trifle irregular. Our rooms, two large chambers, with +folding doors thrown back, making the two as one, contained four double +beds; in one of the rooms was a small altar, upon which stood a statue +of the Madonna, veiled in ample folds of lace and crowned with a coronet +of natural flowers; vases of flowers were at her feet, and lighted +tapers flickered on either hand. The apartment occupied by the young +ladies was at the other corner of the bungalow; the servants, a good old +couple, retainers in Alf's family, slept in a cottage adjoining. We +retired manfully; we had smoked our last smoke, and were not a little +fatigued; hence this readiness on our part to lay down the burdens and +cares of the day. When the lights were extinguished the moon, streaming +in at the seaward windows, flooded the long rooms. It was a glorious +night; no sound disturbed its exquisite serenity save the subdued murmur +of the waves, softened by an intervening hillock on which the cypress +trees stood like black and solemn sentinels of the night.</p> + +<br /> +<a name="image-19"><!-- Image 19 --></a> +<center> +<img src="images/illus-0196-2.jpg" height="508" width="400" +alt= ""The Huge Court of that Luxurious Caravansary.""> +</center> + +<h4>"The Huge Court of that Luxurious Caravansary."</h4> + +<p>I think I must have dozed, for it first seemed like a dream—the +crouching figures that stole in Indian file along the carpet from bed to +bed; but soon enough I wakened to a reality, for the Phillistines were +upon us, and the pillows fell like aerolites out of space. The air was +dense with flying bed-clothes; the assailants, Bartholomew and Alf, his +right-hand man, fell upon us with school-boy fury; they made mad leaps, +and landed upon our stomachs. We grappled in deadly combat; not an +article of furniture was left unturned; not one mattress remained upon +another. We made night hideous for some moments. We roused the ladies +from their virgin sleep, but paid little heed to their piteous +pleadings. The treaty of peace, which followed none too soon—the +pillow-cases were like fringes and the sheets were linen +shreds—culminated in a round of night-caps which for potency and flavor +have, perhaps, never been equalled in the history of the vine.</p> + +<p>Then we <i>did</i> sleep—the sleep of the just, who have earned their right +to it; the sleep of the horny-handed son of the soil, whose muscles +relax with a jerk that awakens the sleeper to a realizing sense that he +has been sleeping and is going to sleep again at his earliest +convenience: the sweet, intense, and gracious sleep of innocence—out of +which we were awakened just before breakfast time by the most +considerate of hostesses and her ladies of honor, who sent into us the +reviving cup, without which, I fear, we could not have begun the new day +in a spirit appropriate to the occasion.</p> + +<p>The first day at the bungalow was Friday and, of course, a fast day; we +observed the rule with a willingness which, I trust, the recording angel +made a note of. There was a bath at the beach toward mid-day, followed +by a cold collation in the shelter of a rude chalet, which served the +ladies in the absence of the customary bathing-machine. Lying upon rugs +spread over the sand we chatted until a drowsy mood persuaded us to +return to the bungalow and indulge in a <i>siesta</i>. It being summer, and a +California summer by the sea, a huge log fire blazed upon the evening +hearth; cards and the jingle of golden counters again kept us at the +table till the night was far spent. Need I add that the ladies presented +a petition with the customary night-cap, praying that the gentlemen in +the double-chamber would omit the midnight gymnastics upon retiring, and +go to sleep like "good boys." It had been our intention to do so; we +were not wholly restored, for the festivities of the night previous had +been prolonged and fatiguing.</p> + +<p>We began our preparations by wheeling the four bedsteads into one room. +It seemed to us cosier to be sleeping thus together; indeed, it was +quite a distance from the extremity of one room to the extremity of the +other. Resigning ourselves to the pillows, each desired his neighbor to +extinguish the lights; no one moved to perform this necessary duty. We +slept, or pretended to sleep, and for some moments the bungalow was +quiet as the grave. In the midst of this refreshing silence a panic +seized us; with one accord we sprang to arms; the pillows, stripped of +their cases on the night previous, again darkened the air. We leaped +gaily from bed to bed, and in turn, took every corner of the room by +storm; the shout of victory mingled with the cry for mercy. There was +one solitary voice for peace; it was the voice of the vexed hostess, and +it was followed by the suspension of hostilities and the instant +quenching of the four tapers, each blown by an individual mouth, after +which we groped back to our several couches in a state of charming +uncertainty as to which was which.</p> + +<p>Saturday followed, and, of all Saturdays in the year, it chanced to be +the vigil of a feast, and therefore a day of abstinence. The ladies held +the key of the larder, and held it, permit me to add, with a clenched +hand. It may be that all boys are not like our boys; that there are +those who, having ceased to elongate and increase in the extremities out +of all proportion, are willing to fast from day to day; who no longer +lust after the flesh-pots, and whose appetites are governable—but ours +were not. The accustomed fish of a Friday was welcome, but Saturday was +out of the question. "Something too much of this," said Croesus the +Sybarite. "Amen!" cried the affable Alf. There was an unwonted fire in +the eye of Bartholomew when he asked for a dispensation at the hands of +the hostess, and was refused.</p> + +<p>All day the maidens sought to lighten our burden of gloom; the sports in +the bath were more brilliant than usual. We adjourned to the hay-loft +and told stories till our very tongues were tired. It is true that +egg-nogg at intervals consoled us; but when we had awakened from a +refreshing sleep among the hay, and fought a battle that ended in +victory for the Amazons and our ignominious flight, we bore the scars of +burr and hay-seed for hours afterwards. Cold turkey and cranberry sauce +at midnight had been promised to us, yet how very distant that seemed. +Hunger cried loudly for beef and bouillon, and a strategic movement was +planned upon the spot.</p> + +<p>The gaming, which followed a slim supper, was not so interesting as +usual. At intervals we consulted the clock; how the hours lagged! +Croesus poured his gold upon the table in utter distraction. The +maidens, who sat in sack-cloth and ashes, sorrowing for our sins, left +the room at intervals to assure themselves that the larder was intact. +We, also, quietly withdrew from time to time. Once, all three of the +girls fled in consternation—the footsteps of Bartholomew had been heard +in the vicinity of the cupboard; but it was a false alarm, and the game +was at once resumed. Now, indeed, the hours seemed to fly. To our +surprise, upon referring to the clock, the hands stood at ten minutes to +twelve. So swiftly speed the moments when the light hearts of youth beat +joyously in the knowledge that it is almost time to eat!</p> + +<p>Twelve o'clock! Cold turkey, cranberry sauce, champagne, etc., and no +more fasting till the sixth day. Having devastated the board, we must +needs betray our folly by comparing the several timepieces. Alf stood at +five minutes to eleven; Bartholomew some minutes behind him; Croesus, +with his infallible repeater, was but 10:45; as for me, I had discreetly +run down. The secret was out. The clock had been tampered with, and the +trusting maids betrayed. At first they laughed with us; then they +sneered, and then they grew wroth, and went apart in deep dismay. The +dining-hall resounded with our hollow mirth; like the scriptural fool, +we were laughing at our own folly. The ladies solemnly re-entered; our +hostess, the spokeswoman, said, with the voice of an oracle, "You will +regret this before morning." Still feigning to be merry, we went +speedily to bed, but there was no night-cap sent to soothe us; and the +lights went out noiselessly and simultaneously.</p> + +<p>After the heavy and regular breathing had set in—I think all slept save +myself—light footsteps were heard without. Why should one turn a key in +a bungalow whose hospitality is only limited by the boundary line of the +county surveyor? Our keys were not turned, in fact,—too late—we +discovered there were no keys to turn. In the dim darkness—the moon +lent us little aid at the moment—our door was softly thrown open, and +the splash of fountains could be heard; it was the sound of many waters. +As I listened to it in a half dream, it fell upon my ear most musically, +and then it fell upon my nose, and eyes, and mouth; it seemed as if the +windows of heaven were opened, as if the dreadful deluge had come again. +I soon discovered what it was. I threw the damp bed clothes over my head +and awaited further developments. I began to think they never would +come—I mean the developments. Meanwhile the garden hose, in the hands +of the irate maidens, played briskly upon the four quarters of the +room—not a bed escaped the furious stream. Nothing was left that was +not saturated and soaked, sponge-full. The floor ran torrents; our boots +floated away upon the mimic tide. We lay like inundated mummies, but +spake never a word. Possibly the girls thought we were drowned; at all +events, they withdrew in consternation, leaving the hose so that it +still belched its unwelcome waters into the very centre of our drenched +apartment.</p> + +<p>Rising at last from our clammy shrouds, we gave chase; but the +water-nymphs had fled. Then we barricaded the bungalow, and held a +council of war. Sitting in moist conclave, we were again assailed and +driven back to our rooms, which might now be likened to a swimming bath +at low-tide. We shrieked for stimulants, but were stoutly denied, and +then we took to the woods in a fit of indignation, bordering closely +upon a state of nature.</p> + +<p>I thought to bury myself in the trackless wild; to end my days in the +depths of the primeval forest. But I remembered how a tiger-cat had been +lately seen emerging from these otherwise alluring haunts, and returned +at once to the open, where I glistened in the moonlight, now radiant, +and shivered at the thought of the possible snakes coiling about my +feet. My disgust of life was full; yet in the midst of it I saw the +reviving flames dancing upon the hearth-stone, and the click of glasses +recalled me to my senses.</p> + +<p>We returned in a body, a defeated brotherhood, accepting as a +peace-offering such life-giving draughts as compelled us, almost against +our will, to drink to the very dregs in token of full surrender. Then +rheumatism and I lay down together, and a little child might have +played with any two of us. I assured my miserable companions that "I was +not accustomed to such treatment." Alf added that "it was more than he +had bargained for." Bartholomew had neither speech nor language +wherewith to vent his spleen. As for the bland and blooming Croesus—he +who had been lapped in luxury and cradled in delight—it was his private +opinion, publicly expressed, that "the like of it was unknown in the +annals of social history."</p> + +<br /> +<a name="image-20"><!-- Image 20 --></a> +<center> +<img src="images/illus-0204-2.jpg" height="400" width="521" +alt= ""The Gallery Among the Huge Vases of Palms and +Creepers.""> +</center> + +<h4>"The Gallery Among the Huge Vases of Palms and +Creepers."</h4> + +<p>Yet on the Sunday—our final day at the bungalow—you would have thought +that the gods had assembled together to hold sweet converse; and, when +we lounged in the shadow of the invisible Ida, never looked the earth +more fair to us. The whole land was in blossom from the summit to the +sea; the gardeners, as they walked among their vines, prated of Sicily +and sang songs of their Sun-land. There was no chapel at hand, and no +mass for the repose of souls that had been sorely troubled; but the +charm of those young women—they were salving our wounds as women know +how to do—and the voluptuous feast that was laid for us, when we +emptied the fatal larder; the music, and the thousand arts employed to +restore beauty and order out of the last night's chaos, made us better +than new men, and it taught us a lesson we never shall forget—though +from that hour to this, neither one nor the other of us, in any way, +shape, or fashion whatever, has referred in the remotest degree to that +eventful night in a Californian bungalow.</p> + + + +<hr style='width: 65%;' /> +<a name='Primeval'></a><h2>PRIMEVAL CALIFORNIA</h2> +<br /> + +<p><img align='left' src="images/illus-p.png" height="75" width="75" +alt= "P"> + +<b><big>RIMEVAL</big></b> California" was inscribed on the knapsack of the Artist, on +the portmanteau of Foster, the Artist's chum, and on the fly-leaf of the +note-book of the Scribe. The luggage of the boisterous trio was checked +through to the heart of the Red Woods, where a vacation camp was +pitched. The expected "last man" leaped the chasm that was rapidly +widening between the city front of San Francisco and the steamer bound +for San Rafael, and approached us—the trio above referred to—with a +slip of paper in his hand. It was not a subpoena; it was not a dun; it +was a round-robin of farewells from a select circle of admirers, wishing +us joy, Godspeed, success in art and literature, and a safe return at +last.</p> + +<p>The wind blew fair; we were at liberty for an indefinite period. In +forty minutes we struck another shore and another clime. San Francisco +is original in its affectation of ugliness—it narrowly escaped being a +beautiful city—and its humble acceptation of a climate which is as +invigorating as it is unscrupulous, having a peculiar charm which is +seldom discovered until one is beyond its spell. Sailing into the +adjacent summer,—summer is intermittent in the green city of the +West,—we passed into the shadow of Mount Tamalpais, the great landmark +of the coast. The admirable outline of the mountain, however, was +partially obscured by the fog, already massing along its slopes.</p> + +<p>The narrow-gauge of the N.P.C.R.R. crawls like a snake from the ferry on +the bay to the roundhouse over and beyond the hills, but seven miles +from the sea-mouth of the Russian River. It turns very sharp corners, +and turns them every few minutes; it doubles in its own trail, runs over +fragile trestle-work, darts into holes and re-appears on the other side +of the mountains, roars through strips of redwoods like a rushing wind, +skirts the shore of bleak Tomales Bay, cuts across the potato district +and strikes the redwoods again, away up among the saw-mills at the +logging-camps, where it ends abruptly on a flat under a hill. And what a +flat it is!—enlivened with a first-class hotel, some questionable +hostelries, a country store, a post-office and livery-stable, and a +great mill buzzing in an artificial desert of worn brown sawdust.</p> + +<p>Here, after a five hours' ride, we alighted at Duncan's Mills, hard by +the river, and with a girdle of hills all about us—high, round hills, +as yellow as brass when they are not drenched with fog. In the twilight +we watched the fog roll in, trailing its lace-like skirts among the +highland forests. How still the river was! Not a ripple disturbed it; +there was no perceptible current, for after the winter floods subside, +the sea throws up a wall of sand that chokes the stream, and the waters +slowly gather until there is volume enough to clear it. Then come the +rains and the floods, in which rafts of drift-wood and even great logs +are carried twenty feet up the shore, and permanently lodged in +inextricable confusion.</p> + +<p>I remember the day when we had made a pilgrimage to the coast, when from +the rocky jaws of the river we looked up the still waters, and saw them +slowly gathering strength and volume. The sea was breaking upon the bar +without; Indian canoes swung on the tideless stream, filled with +industrious occupants taking the fish that await their first plunge into +salt water. Every morning we bathed in the unpolluted waters of the +river. How fresh and sweet they are—the filtered moisture of the hills, +mingled with the distillations from cedar-boughs drenched with fogs and +dew!</p> + +<p>Lounging upon the hotel veranda, turning our backs upon the last +vestiges of civilization in the shape of a few guests who dressed for +dinner as if it were imperative, we were greeted with mellow heartiness +by a hale old backwoodsman, a genuine representative of the primeval. It +was Ingram, of Ingram House, Austin Creek, Red Woods, Sonoma County, +Primeval California. It was he, with ranch-wagon and stalwart steeds. +The Artist, who was captain-general of the forces, at once held a +consultation with Ingram, whom we will henceforth call the Doctor, for +he is a doctor—minus the degrees—of divinity, medicine, and laws, and +master of all work; a deer-stalker, rancher, and general utility man; +the father of a clever family, and the head of a primeval house.</p> + +<p>In half an hour we were jolting, bag and baggage, body and soul, over +roads wherein the ruts were filled with dust as fine as flour, fording +trout-streams, and winding through wood and brake. We passed the old +logging-camp, with the hills about it blackened and disfigured for life; +and the new logging-camp, with its stumps still smoldering, its steep +slides smoking with the friction of swift-descending logs, the ring of +the ax and the vicious buzz of the saw mingled with the shouts of the +woodsmen. How industry is devastating that home of the primeval!</p> + +<p>Soon the road led us into the very heart of the redwoods, where superb +columns stood in groups, towering a hundred and even two hundred feet +above our heads! A dense undergrowth of light green foliage caught and +held the sunlight like so much spray; the air was charged with the +fragrance of wild honeysuckle and resiniferous trees; the jay-bird +darted through the boughs like a phosphorous flame, screaming his joy to +the skies; squirrels fled before us; quails beat a muffled tattoo in +the brush-snakes slid out of the road in season to escape destruction.</p> + +<p>We soon dropped into the bed of the stream Austin Creek, and rattled +over the broad, strong highway of the winter rains. We bent our heads +under low-hanging boughs, drove into patches of twilight, and out on the +other side into the waning afternoon; we came upon a deserted cottage +with a great javelin driven through the roof to the cellar; it had been +torn from one of the gigantic redwoods and hurled by a last winter's +gale into that solitary home. Fortunately no one had been injured, but +the inmates had fled in terror, lashed by the driving storm.</p> + +<p>We came to Ingram House in the dusk, out of the solitude of the forest +into a pine-and-oak opening, the monotony of which was enlivened with a +fair display of the primitive necessities of life—a vegetable garden on +the right, a rustic barn on the left, a house of "shakes" in the +distance, and nine deer-hounds braying a deep-mouthed welcome at our +approach.</p> + +<p>In the rises of the house on the hill-slope is a three-roomed bachelors' +hall; here, on the next day, we were cozily domiciled. There were a few +guests in the homestead. The boys slept in the granary. The deer-hounds +held high carnival under our cottage, charging at intervals during the +night upon imaginary intruders. We woke to the blustering music of the +beasts, and thought on the possible approach of bear, panther, +California lion, wild cat, 'coon, and polecat; but thought on it with +composure, for the hounds were famous hunters, and there was a whole +arsenal within reach.</p> + +<p>We were waked at 6:30, and come down to the front "stoop" of the +homestead. The structure was home-made, with rafters on the outside or +inside according to the fancy of the builder; sunshine and storm had +stained it grayish brown, and no tint could better harmonize with the +background and surroundings. In one corner of the stoop a tin wash-basin +stood under a waterspout in the sink; there swung the family towels; the +public comb, hanging by its teeth to a nail, had seen much service; a +piece of brown soap lay in an <i>abalone</i> shell tacked to the wall; a +small mirror reflected kaleidoscopical sections of the face, and made up +for its want of compass by multiplying one or another feature. We never +before ate at the hour of seven as we ate then; then a pipe on the front +steps and a frolic with the boys or the dogs would follow, and digestion +was well under way before the day's work began. Then the Artist +shouldered his knapsack and departed; the lads trudged through the road +to school; the women went about the house with untiring energy; the +male hands were already making the anvil musical in the rustic smithy, +or dragging stock to the slaughter, or busy with the thousand and one +affairs that comprise the sum and substance of life in a self-sustaining +community. We were assured that were war to be declared between the +outer world and Ingram House, lying in ambush in the heart of our black +forest, we might withstand the siege indefinitely. All that was needful +lay at our hands, and yet, a stone's-throw away from our shake-built +citadel, one loses himself in a trackless wood, whose glades are still +untrodden by men, though one sometimes hears the light step of the +<i>bronco</i> when Charlie rides forth in search of a strong bull. All work +was like play there, because of a picturesque element which predominated +over the practical. Wood-cutting under the window of the best room, +trying out fat in a caldron or an earth-oven against our cottage, +dragging sunburnt straw in a rude sledge down the hill-side road, +shoeing a neighbor's horse in a circle of homely gossips, hunting to +supply the domestic board at the distant market—is this all that Adam +and the children of Adam suffer in his fall?</p> + +<p>At noon a clarion voice resounded from the kitchen door and sent the +echoes up and down the creek. It was the hostess, who, having prepared +the dinner, was bidding the guests to the feast. The Artist came in +with his sketch, the Chum with his novel, the Scribe with his note-book, +followed by the horny-handed sons of toil, whose shoulders were a little +rounded and whose minds were seldom, if ever, occupied with any life +beyond the hills that walled us in. We sat down at a camp board and ate +with relish. The land was flowing with milk and honey; no sooner was the +pitcher drained or the plate emptied than each was replenished by the +willing hands of our hostess or her boys.</p> + +<p>Another smoke under the stoop followed, and then, perhaps, a doze at the +cottage, or in one of the dozen rocking-chairs about the house, or on +the rustic throne hewn from a stump in the grove between the house and +the barn. The sun flooded the cañon with hot and dazzling light; the air +was spiced with the pungent odor of shrubs; it was time to rest a little +before beginning the laborious sports of the afternoon. Later, we all +wandered on the banks of the creek and were sure to meet at the +swimming-pool about four o'clock. Meanwhile the Artist has laid in +another study. Foster has finished his tale, and is rocking in a hammock +of green boughs; the Scribe has booked a half-dozen fragmentary +sentences that will by and by grow into an article, and the boys have +come home from school.</p> + +<p>By and by we wanted change; the monotony of town life is always more or +less interesting; the monotony of country life palls after a season. +Change comes over us in a most unexpected guise. Our cañon was decked +with the flaming scarlet of the poison-oak; these brilliant bits of +foliage are the high-lights in almost every California landscape, and +must satisfy our love of color, in the absence of the Eastern autumnal +leaf. The gorgeous shrubs stand out like burning bushes by the roadside, +on the hill-slope, in the forest recesses, and almost everywhere. The +Artist's chum gave evidence of a special susceptibility to the poison by +a severe attack that prostrated him utterly for a while. Yet he stood by +us until his vacation came to an end, and, to the last, there was no +complaint heard from this martyr to circumstances.</p> + +<p>One day he left us—on mule-back, with nine dogs fawning upon his +stirrup, and amid a hundred good-byes wafted to him from the house, the +smithy, the barn, and the swimming-pool. He had orders to send in the +Kid, or his successor, immediately upon his arrival at the Bay. We must +needs have some one to indulge, some one whose interests were not +involved in the primeval farther than the pleasure it afforded for the +hour. The Kid was the very thing—a youngster with happiness in heart, +luster in his eye, and nothing more serious than peach-down on his lip; +yet there was gravity enough in his composition to carry him beneath the +mere surface of men and things. The Kid drove in one night with rifle +tall as himself, fishing-tackle, and entomological truck, wild with +enthusiasm and hungry as a carp.</p> + +<p>What days followed! Our little entomologist chased scarlet-winged +dragon-flies and descanted on the myriad forms of insect-life with +premature accomplishment. "Out of the mouths of babes and sucklings" we +heard revelations not unmixed with the ludicrous superstitions of the +nursery.</p> + +<p>There is a school-house a mile distant, on the forks of the creek; we +visited it one Friday, and saw six angular youths, the sum total of the +young ideas within range of the instructress, spelled down in +broadsides; and heard time-honored recitations delivered in the same old +sing-song that could only have been original with the sons of our first +parents. The school-mistress, with a sun-bonnet that buried her face +from the world, passed Ingram's ten times a week, footing it silently +along the dusty road, lunch-pail in hand. She lives in a lonely cabin on +the trail to the wilderness over the hill.</p> + +<p>The Kid sketched a little; indeed, the artistic fever spread to the +granary, where the boys spent some hours of each day restoring, not to +say improving, the tarnished color of certain face-cards of an imperfect +euchre deck, the refuse of the palette being carefully secreted to this +end; we never knew at what moment we might sit upon the improvised +color-box of some juvenile member of the family.</p> + +<p>But hunting was our delectable recreation; the Doctor would lead off on +a half-broken <i>bronco</i>, followed by a select few from the house or the +friendly camps, Fred bringing up the rear with a pack-mule. This was the +chief joy of the hounds; the old couple grew young at the scent of the +trail, and deserted their whining progeny with Indian stoicism. Two +nights and a day were enough for a single hunt,—one may in that time +scour the rocky fortresses of the Last Chance, or scale the formidable +slopes of the Devil's Ribs.</p> + +<p>The return from the hunt was a scene of picturesque interest: the +approach of the hunters at dusk, as they emerged one after another from +the dark wood; the pack-mule prancing proudly under a stark buck +weighing one hundred and thirty-three pounds, without its vitals; the +baby fawn slain by chance (for no one would acknowledge the criminal +slaughter); the final arrival of the fagged, sore-footed dogs, who were +wildly greeted by the puppies, and kissed on the mouth and banged about +by many a playful paw; the grouping under the trees in front of +Bachelors' Hall, where the buck was slung, head downward among green +leaves, and with stakes crossed between the gaping ribs; the light of +the flickering lantern; the dogs supping blood from the ground where it +had dripped; the satisfaction of the hunters; the admiration of the +women; the wild excitement of the boys, who all talked at once, at the +top of their voices, with gestures quicker than thought;—this was the +Carnival of the Primeval.</p> + +<p>One night, the Kid set out for the stubble-field and lay in wait for +wild rabbits; when he came in with his hands full of ears, the glow of +moonlight was in his eye, the flush of sunset on his cheek, the riotous +blood's best scarlet in his lips, and his laugh was triumphant; with a +discarded hat recalled for camp-duty, a blue shirt open at the throat, +hair very much tumbled, and no thoughts of self to detract from the +absolute grace of his pose.</p> + +<p>But all hunting-parties were not so successful. One of seven came home +empty-handed and disgusted. It became necessary, while the unlucky +huntsmen were under our roof, to give them festive welcome. Fred drew +out his fiddle; the Doctor gathered his strength and shook as lively a +shoe on the sanded floor of the best room as one will hear the clang of +in many a day. Clumsy joints grew supple; heavy boots made the splinters +fly; a fellow-townsman, like ourselves on a vacation tour, jigged with +the inimitable grace of a trained dancer. How few of our muscles are +aware of the joy of full development! From the wall of the best room the +"Family of Horace Greeley," in mezzotint, looked down through clouded +glass and a veneered frame. The county map hung <i>vis-à-vis</i>. A family +record, wherein a pale infant was cradled in saffron, and schooled in +pink, passing through a rainbow-tinted life that reached the climax of +color at the scarlet and gold bridal, and ended in a sea-green grave; +this record, with a tablet for appropriate inscriptions under each epoch +in the family history, was still further enriched with lids of stained +isinglass carefully placed over the domestic calendar, as much as to +say, "What is written here is not for the public eye." On the triangular +shelf in the corner, stood the condensed researches of all Arctic +explorers, in one obese volume; its twin contained the revelations of +African discoveries boiled down and embellished with numberless cuts; a +Family Physician, one volume of legislative documents, and three stray +magazines, with a Greek almanac, completed the library. So, even in the +primeval state, we were not without food for our minds as well as +exercise for our muscles. After a time, even the dance ceased to attract +us. The Artist had lined the walls of his chamber with brilliant +sketches; the kid clamored for home.</p> + +<p>I suppose we might have tarried a whole summer and still found some turn +in the brook, some vista in the wood, some cluster of isolated trees, to +hold us entranced; for the peculiar glory of the hour transfigured +them, and the same effect was never twice repeated. Moreover, we at last +grew intolerant of one great annoyance. You all have known it as we knew +it, and doubtless endured it with as little grace. Is there anything +more galling than the surpassing impudence of country flies? We resolved +to return to town, and returned close upon the heels of our resolution. +Again we threaded the dark windings of the wood, and bade farewell to +every object that had become endeared to us. We wondered how soon change +would lay its hand upon this primeval beauty. We approached the +logging-camp. Presto! in the brief interval since our first glimpse of +the forests above it, the hills had been shorn of their antique harvest, +and the valley was a place of desolation and of death.</p> + +<p>It seemed incredible that the dense growth of gigantic trees could be so +soon dragged to market. There was a famous tree—we saw the stump still +bleeding and oozing up—which, three feet from the ground, measured +eleven and a half feet one way by fourteen feet the other. When its doom +was sealed, a path was cut for it and a soft bed made for it to lie on. +The land was graded, and covered with a cushion of soft boughs. Had the +tree fallen on uneven ground, it would have been shattered; if it had +swerved to right or left, nothing but fire could have cleared the +wrecks.</p> + +<p>The making of the death-bed of this monster cost Mrs. Duncan forty +dollars. Then the work began. An ax in the hands of a skillful +wood-cutter threw the tree headlong to the earth. Then it was sawed +across, yielding eighteen logs, each sixteen feet in length, with a +diameter of four feet at the smallest end. The logs were put upon +wheels, and run over a light trestle-work to the mill, drawn thither by +a ridiculous dummy, which looked not unlike an old-fashioned tavern +store on its beam-ends, with an elbow in the air. At the mill, it was +sawed into eighty thousand feet of marketable lumber.</p> + +<p>Reaching the forest, on our way to the Mills, we found the river had +risen so that ten miles from the mouth we were obliged to climb upon the +wagon-seats, and hold our luggage above high-water mark.</p> + +<p>At Duncan's, on the home stretch, we made our final pilgrimage, to a +wild glen over the Russian River, where, a few weeks before, the +Bohemian Club had held high jinks. The forest had been a scene of +enchantment on that midsummer night; but now the tents were struck, the +Japanese lanterns were extinguished, and nothing was left to tell the +tale but the long tables of rough deal, where we had feasted. They were +covered with leaves and dust; spiders had draped them with filmy robes. +The quail piped, the jay-bird screamed, the dove sobbed, and a slim +snake, startled at the flight of a bounding hare, glided away among the +rustling leaves. So soon does this new land recover the primeval beauty +of eternal youth.</p> + + + +<hr style='width: 65%;' /> +<a name='Yachting'></a><h2>INLAND YACHTING</h2> +<br /> + +<p><img align='left' src="images/illus-w.png" height="75" width="75" +alt= "W"> + +<b><big>HEN</big></b> your bosom friend seizes you by the arm, and says to you in that +seductive sotto voce which implies a great deal more than is confessed, +"Come, let us go down to the sea in ships, and do business in the great +waters," you generally go, if you are not previously engaged. At least, +I do.</p> + +<p>Much has been said in disfavor of yachting in San Francisco Bay. It is +inland yachting to begin with. The shelving shores prevent the +introduction of keel boats; flat and shallow hulls, with a great breadth +of beam, something able to battle with "lumpy" seas and carry plenty of +sail in rough weather, is the more practical and popular type. Atlantic +yachts, when they arrive in California waters, have their rigging cut +down one-third. Schooners and sloops with Bermudian mutton-leg sails +flourish. A modification of the English yawl is in vogue; but large +sloops are not handled conveniently in the strong currents, the chop +seas, the blustering winds, the summer fogs that make the harbor one of +the most treacherous of haunts for yachtsmen.</p> + +<p>Think of a race when the wind is blowing from twenty-five to +thirty-five miles an hour! The surface current at the Golden Gate runs +six miles per hour and the tide-rip is often troublesome; but there is +ample room for sport, and very wild sport at times. The total area of +the bay is four hundred and eighty square miles, and there are hundreds +of miles of navigable sloughs, rivers, and creeks. One may start from +Alviso, and sail in a general direction, almost without turning, one +hundred and fifty-five miles to Sacramento city. During the voyage he is +pretty sure to encounter all sorts of weather and nearly every sort of +climate, from the dense and chilly fogs of the lower bay to the +semi-tropics of the upper shores, where fogs are unknown, and where the +winds die away on the surface of beautiful waters as blue as the Bay of +Naples.</p> + +<p>There are amateur yachtsmen, a noble army of them, who charter a craft +for a day or two, and have more fun in a minute than they can recover +from in a month. I have sailed with these, at the urgent request of one +who has led me into temptation more than once, but who never deserted me +in an evil hour, even though he had to drag me out of it by the heels. I +am at this moment reminded of an episode which still tickles my memory, +and, much as a worthy yachtsman may scorn it, I confess that this moment +is more to me than that of any dash into deep water which I can at +present recall.</p> + +<p>It was a summer Saturday, the half-holiday that is the reward of a +week's hard labor. With the wise precaution which is a prominent +characteristic of my bosom friend, a small body of comrades was gathered +together on the end of Meigg's Wharf, simultaneously scanning, with +vigilant eyes, the fleets of sailing crafts as they swept into view on +the strong currents of the bay. It was a little company of youths, sick +of the world and its cares, and willing, nay eager, to embark for other +climes. They came not unfurnished. I beheld with joy numerous demijohns +with labels fluttering like ragged cravats from their long necks; +likewise stacks of vegetables, juicy joints, fruits, and more demijohns, +together with a small portable iceberg; blankets were there, also guns, +pistols, and fishing tackle. If one chooses to quit this world and its +follies, one must go suitably provided for the next. Experience teaches +these things.</p> + +<p>The breeze freshened; the crowd grew impatient; more fellows arrived; +another demijohn was seen in the distance swiftly bearing down upon us +from the upper end of the wharf, and at this moment a dainty yacht +skimmed gracefully around the point of Telegraph Hill, picking her way +among the thousand-masted fleet that whitened the blue surface of the +bay, and we at once knew her to be none other than the "Lotus," a crack +yacht, as swift as the wind itself. In fifteen minutes there was a +locker full of good things, and a deck of jolly fellows, and when we +cast off our bow-line, and ran up our canvas, we were probably the +neatest thing on the tide. I know that I felt very much like a lay +figure in somebody's marine picture, and it was quite wonderful to +behold how suddenly we all became sea-worthy and how hard we tried to +prove it.</p> + +<p>A heavy bank of cloud was piled up in the west, through which stole long +bars of sunshine, gilding the leaden waves. The "Lotus" bent lovingly to +the gale. Some of us went into the cabin, and tried to brace ourselves +in comfortable and secure corners—item—there are no comfortable or +secure seats at sea, and there will be none until there is a revolution +in ship-building. Our yachting afforded us an infinite variety of +experience in a very short time; we had a taste of the British Channel +as soon as we were clear of the end of the wharf. It was like rounding +Gibraltar to weather Alcatraz, and, as we skimmed over the smooth flood +in Raccoon Straits, I could think of nothing but the little end of the +Golden Horn. Why not? The very name of our yacht was suggestive of the +Orient. The sun was setting; the sky deeply flushed; the distance highly +idealized; homeward hastened a couple of Italian fishing boats, with +their lateen sails looking like triangular slices cut out of the full +moon; this sort of thing was very soothing. We all lighted our +cigarettes, and lapsed into dreamy silence, broken only by the plash of +ripples under our bow and the frequent sputter of matches quite +necessary to the complete consumption of our tobacco.</p> + +<br /> +<a name="image-21"><!-- Image 21 --></a> +<center> +<img src="images/illus-0226-2.jpg" height="400" width="653" +alt= "Meigg's Wharf in 1856"> +</center> + +<h4> Meigg's Wharf in 1856</h4> + +<p>About dusk our rakish cutter drifted into the shelter of the hills along +the north shore of the bay, and with a chorus of enthusiastic cheers we +dropped anchor in two fathoms of soft mud. We felt called upon to sing +such songs as marines are wont to sing upon the conclusion of a voyage, +and I believe our deck presented a tableau not less picturesque than +that in the last act of "Black-eyed Susan." Susan alone was wanting to +perfect our nautical happiness.</p> + +<p>How charming to pass one's life at sea, particularly when it is a calm +twilight, and the anchor is fast to the bottom: the sheltering shores +seem to brood over you; pathetic voices float out of the remote and +deepening shadows; and stars twinkle so naturally in both sea and sky +that a fellow scarcely knows which end he stands on.</p> + +<p>I have preserved a few leaves from a log written by my bosom friend. I +present them as he wrote them, although he apparently had "Happy +Thoughts" on the brain, and much Burnand had well nigh made him mad.</p> + +<div class='poem'> +<span>THE LOG OF THE "LOTUS"</span> +</div> + +<p>9 p.m.—Dinner just over; part of our crew desirous of fishing during +the night; hooks lost, lines tangled, no bait; a row by moonlight +proposed.</p> + +<p>10 p.m.—The Irrepressibles still eager to fish; lines untangled, hooks +discovered; two fellows despatched with yawl in search of bait; a row by +moonlight again proposed; we take observation—no moon!</p> + +<p>11 p.m.—Two fellows returning from shore with hen; hen very tough and +noisy; tough hens not good for bait; fishing postponed till daybreak; +moonlight sail proposed as being a pleasant change; still no moon; half +the crew turn in for a night's rest; cabin very full of half-the-crew.</p> + +<p>Midnight.—Irrepressibles dance sailor's hornpipe on deck; half-the-crew +below awake from slumbers, and advise Irrepressibles to renew search for +bait.</p> + +<p>12:30 a.m.—Irrepressibles return to shore for bait. Loud breathing in +cabin; water swashing on rocks along the beach; very picturesque, but no +moon yet; voice in the distance says "Halloa!" Echo in the other +distance replies, "Halloa yourself, and see how you like it!"</p> + +<p>1 a.m.—Irrepressibles still absent on shore; a dog barks loudly in the +dark; a noise is heard in a far away hen-coop—Irrepressibles looking +diligently for bait.</p> + +<p>1:30 a.m.—Dog sitting on the shore howling; very heavy breathing in the +cabin; noise of oars in the rowlocks; music on the water, chorus of +youthful male voices, singing "A smuggler's life is a merry, merry, +life." Subdued noise of hens; dog still howling; no moon yet; more noise +of hens, bait rapidly approaching.</p> + +<p>2 a.m.—Irrepressibles try to row yawl through sternlights of "Lotus"; +grand collision of yawl at full speed and a rakish cutter at anchor. +Profane language in the cabin; sleepy crew, half awake, rush up the +hatchway, and denounce Irrepressibles. Irrepressibles sing "Smuggler's +Life," etc.; terrific noise of hens; half-the-crew invite the +Irrepressibles to "be as decent as they can." No moon yet; everybody +packed in the cabin.</p> + +<p>2:30 a.m.—Sudden squall. "Lotus," as usual, bends lovingly to the gale; +dramatic youth in his bunk says, in deep voice, "No sleep till morn!" +More dramatic youths say, "I heard a voice cry, 'Sleep no more'." Very +deep voice says, "Macbeth hath mur-r-r-r-dered sleep!" General confusion +in the cabin. Old commodore of the "Lotus" says, "Gentlemen, a little +less noise, if you please." Noise subsides.</p> + +<p>3 a.m.—Irrepressibles propose sleeping in binnacle; unfortunate +discovery—no binnacle on board. Half-the-crew turn over, and suggest +that the Irrepressibles take night-caps, and retire anywhere. Moved and +seconded, That the Irrepressibles take two night-caps, and retire in a +body—item: two heads better than one, two night-caps ditto, ditto.</p> + +<p>3:30 a.m.—Commotion in cabin. Irrepressibles find no place to lay their +weary heads. Moonlight sail proposed; observations on deck—no moon; +squall in the distance; air very chilly. Irrepressibles retire in a +body, and take night-caps. Song by Irrepressibles, "A Smuggler's Life." +Half-the-crew sit up and throw boots. Irrepressibles assault +half-the-crew, and take bunks by storm; great confusion; old commodore +of the "Lotus" says, "Gentlemen had better sleep a little, so as to be +in trim for fishing at daybreak," night-caps all round; order restored; +chorus of subdued voices, "A Smuggler's Life."</p> + +<p>4 a.m.—Signs of daybreak; thin blue mist over the water; white sea-bird +overhead, with bright light on its breast; flocks bleating on shore; +sloop becalmed under the lee of the land; fishermen casting nets; more +fishermen right under them, casting nets upside down. Everything very +fresh and shining; feel happy; think we must look like marine picture by +somebody.</p> + +<p>4:30 a.m.—Commodore of the "Lotus" comes on deck, and takes an +observation; all favorable; commodore draws bucket of water out of the +sea and makes toilet, white beard of the commodore waves gently in the +breeze; fine-looking old sea-dog that commodore of the "Lotus."</p> + +<p>Sunday Morning.—All quiet; air very clear and bracing. Shore resembles +new world. Feel like Christopher Columbus discovering America. Peaceful +and happy emotions animate bosom; think I hear Sabbath bells—evidently +don't: no Sabbath bells anywhere around. Penitentiary of San Quentin in +the distance; look at San Quentin, and feel emotion of sadness steal +over me; moral reflection to try and avoid San Quentin as long as +possible.</p> + +<p>5 a.m.—Noise in cabins; boots flying in the air; cries for mercy; +reconciliation and eye-openers all round. Everybody on deck; next minute +everybody overboard bathing; water very cold; teeth chattering; +something warming necessary for all hands. Yawl goes out fishing; two +small boats at the disposal of Irrepressibles; a row by sunlight; no +moon last night; funny boy says, "Bring moon along next time!" Everybody +sees San Quentin at the same moment; half-the-crew advise Irrepressibles +to "go home at once." Cries of "hi yi." Irrepressibles say "they will +inform on half-the-crew when they get there"; disturbance on deck in +consequence; Commodore suggests a new search for bait; order restored; +new search for bait instituted. Three fellows sing "Father, come home," +and look toward San Quentin. Bad jokes on the prison every ten minutes +throughout the day. Small fleet of stern-wheel ducks come alongside for +breakfast; ducks in great danger of the galley; flock of pelicans, with +tremendous bowsprits, fly overhead; pistol-shot carries away tail +feathers of pelican; order restored.</p> + +<p>8 a.m.—Irrepressibles propose naval engagement; three small boats armed +and equipped for the fray. Irrepressibles routed; some taken prisoners; +great excitement; quantities of water dashed in all directions; boats +rapidly filling; two fellows overboard; cries for help, "fellows can't +swim a stroke"; intense excitement; boat sinks in five feet of water and +two feet of mud; the fellows brought on board to be wrung out. +Irrepressibles hang everything in the rigging to dry. Imagination takes +her accustomed flight; good study of nude Irrepressibles in great +number; think we must resemble the barge of Cleopatra on the Nile! +unlucky thought; no Cleopatra on board. Subject reconsidered; lucky +fancy—the Greek gods on a yachting cruise. Sun very hot; another bath +all round; a drop of something, for fear of catching cold; the Greek +gods on deck indulge in negro dances; two men on shore look on, and +wonder what's up. Sun intensely hot; Greek gods turn in for a square +sleep!</p> + +<p>It becomes necessary to suppress the bosom friend, who, it is +superfluous to state, was one of the leaders of the Irrepressibles on +the memorable occasion—and the balance of his log is consigned to the +locker of oblivion.</p> + +<p>The cruise of the "Lotus" had its redeeming features, though they were +probably unrecorded at the time. There was fishing and boating; rambles +on shore over the grassy hills; a search for clams and a good +old-fashioned clam bake; to which the sharpest appetites did ample +justice; and there were quiet fellows, who stole apart from the rioters +and had hours of solid satisfaction. You may have rocked in a small +skiff yourself, casting your line in deep water, waiting and watching +for the cod to bite. It is pleasant sculling up to a distant point, and +sounding by the way so as to get off the sand and over the pebbly bottom +as soon as possible. It is pleasant to cast anchor and float a few rods +from shore, where the rocks are eaten away by the tides of numberless +centuries, where the swallows build and the goats climb, and the scrub +oaks look over into the sea, with half their hairy roots trailing in the +air. It is less pleasant to thread your hook with a piece of writhing +worm that is full of agonizing expression, though head and tail are both +missing and writhing on their own hooks, which are also attached to your +line. I wonder if one bit of worm on a hook recognizes a joint of itself +on the next hook, and says to it, in its own peculiar fashion, "Well, +are you alive yet?"</p> + +<p>The baiting accomplished, with a great flourish you throw your sinker, +and see it bury itself in the muddy water; then you listen intently, +for the least suggestion of a disturbance down there at the other end of +the line; the sinker thumps upon this rock and the next one, drops into +a hole and gets caught for a moment, but is loosened again, and then a +sort of galvanic shock thrills through your body; on guard! if you would +save your bait; another twinge, fainter than the first, and at last a +regular tug, and you haul in your line, which is jerking incessantly by +this time. The next moment the hooks come to the surface, and on one of +them you find a Lilliputian fish that is not yet old enough to feed +himself, and was probably caught by accident.</p> + +<p>Perhaps you haul in your line as fast as you can, bait it and throw it +in again as rapidly as convenient—for this is the sport that fishermen +love to boast of; perhaps you rock in your boat all day, and draw but a +half-dozen of these shiners out before their time, and waste your +precious worms to no purpose.</p> + +<p>It's hungry work, isn't it? and the summons to dinner that is by-and-by +sounded from the yacht is a pleasing excuse for deserting so profitless +a task. The right thing to do, however, is to put on an appearance of +immense success whenever a rival skiff comes within hail. You hold up +your largest fish several times in succession, so as to delude the +anxious inquirers in the other boat, who will of course think you have a +dozen of those big cod with a striking family resemblance. It is a very +successful ruse; all fishermen indulge in it, and you have as good a +right to play the pantomime as they.</p> + +<p>By-and-by we are glad to think of a return to town. Why is it that +pleasure excursions seem to ravel out? They never stop short after a +brilliant achievement nor conclude with an imposing tableau; they die +out gradually. Someone gets out here, some-one else falls off there, and +there is a general running down of the machinery that has propelled the +festival up to the last moment. They flatten unmistakably, and it is +almost a pity that some sort of climax cannot be engaged for each +occasion, in the midst of which everyone should disappear, in red fire +and a blaze of rockets.</p> + +<p>Our yachting cruise was very jolly. We hauled in our lines and our +anchors, and spread our canvas, while the wind was brisk and the evening +was coming on; white-caps danced and tumbled all over the bay. It looked +stormy far out in the open sea as we crossed the channel; thin tongues +of fog were lapping among the western hills, as though the town were +about to be devoured by some ghostly monster, and presently it was of +course. The spray leaped half-way up our jib, and our fore-sail was +dripping wet as we neared the town; there was a rolling up of blankets, +and a general clearing out of the debris that always accumulates in +small quarters. Everybody was a little tired, and a little hungry, and +a little sleepy, and quite glad to get home again, and when the "Lotus" +landed us on the old wharf at the north end of the town, we crept home +through the side streets for decency's sake.</p> + +<p>The young "Corinthian" would scorn to recognize a yachting exploit such +as I have depicted. The young "Corinthian" owns his yacht, and lives in +it a great part of the summer. He is the first to make his appearance +after the rainy season has begun to subside, and the last to be driven +into winter quarters at Oakland or Antioch, where the fleet is moored +during four or five months of the year. The "Corinthian" paints his boat +himself, and is an adept at every art necessary to the completeness of +yachting life. He can cook, sail his boat, repair damages of almost +every description; he sketches a little, writes a little, and is, in +fact, an amphibious Bohemian, the life of the regatta, whose enthusiasm +goes far towards sustaining the healthful and amiable rivalry of the two +yachting clubs.</p> + +<p>These clubs have charming club-houses at Saucelito, where many a "hop" +is given during the summer, and where, on one occasion, "H.M.S. +Pinafore" was sung with great effect on the deck of the "Vira," anchored +a few rods from the dock; the dock was, for the time being, transformed +into a dress-circle. Sir Joseph Porter, K.C.B., made his entree in a +steam launch, and all the effects were highly realistic. The only hitch +in the otherwise immensely successful representation was the +impossibility of securing a moon for the second act.</p> + +<p>The annual excursion of the two clubs is one of the social events of the +year. The favorite resort is Napa, a pretty little town in the lap of a +lovely valley, approached by a narrow stream that winds through meadow +lands and scattered groves of oak. The yachts are nearly all of them +there, from twenty-six to thirty, a flock of white wings that skim the +waters of San Pablo Bay, upward bound. At Vallejo and Mare Island they +exchange salutes, abreast of the naval station, and enter the mouth of +Napa Creek; it is broad and marshy for a time, but soon grows narrow, +and very crooked. More than once as we sailed we missed stays, and +drifted broadside upon a hayfield, and were obliged to pole one another +around the sharp turns in the creek; it is then that cheers and jeers +come over the meadows to us, from the lesser craft that are sailing +breast deep among the waving corn. All this time Napa, our destination, +is close at hand, but not likely to be reached for twenty or thirty +minutes to come. We turn and turn again, and are lost to sight among the +trees, or behind a barn, and are continually greeted by the citizens, +who have come overland to give us welcome.</p> + +<p>Riotous days follow: a ball that night, excursions on the morrow, and +on the second night a concert, perhaps two or three of them, on board +the larger vessels of the fleet. We are lying in a row, against a long +curve of the shore; chains of lanterns are hung from mast to mast, the +rigging is gay with evergreens and bunting.</p> + +<p>The revelry continues throughout the night; serenaders drift up and down +the stream at intervals until daybreak, when a procession is formed, a +steamer takes us in tow, and we are dragged silently down the tide, in +the grey light of the morning. At Vallejo, after a toilet and a +breakfast, which is immensely relished, we get into position. Every eye +is on the Commodore's signal; by-and-by it falls, bang goes a gun, and +in a moment all is commotion. The sails are trimmed, the light canvas +set, and away flies the fleet on the home stretch, to dance for an hour +or two in the sparkling sunshine of San Pablo Bay, then plunge into the +tumbling sea in the lower harbor, and at last end a three days' cruise +with unanimous and hearty congratulations.</p> + +<p>A week ago I could have added here that in the annals of the yacht clubs +of San Francisco there has never been a fatal accident, never a +drowning, nor a capsizing, nor a wreck, and this covers a period of +thirteen years; alas! in a single day, on a cruise such as I have been +writing of, there was a shocking death. One yacht nearly foundered, but +fortunately escaped into smooth water, another was dashed upon the +rocks, and is probably a total wreck; while a third lost her +centre-board over a mud bank, where it buried itself, and held the +little craft a helpless prisoner; the crew and guests of the latter took +to the small boats, pulled three miles in a squall, and were rescued by +a passing steamer when they were all drenched to the skin, and well-nigh +exhausted.</p> + +<p>You see that inland yachting is not child's play, nor are these inland +yachts without their romantic records. The flag of the San Francisco +yacht club has floated among the South Sea Islands; one of its boats has +beaten the German and English types in their own waters; one has been as +far as the Australian seas; one is a pearl fisher in the Gulf of +California, and another is coquetting with the doldrums along the +Mexican coast. They are staunch little beauties all, and it would be +neither courteous nor healthful to think otherwise in the presence of +inland yachtsmen.</p> + +<br /> +<a name="image-22"><!-- Image 22 --></a> +<center> +<img src="images/illus-0238-2.jpg" height="654" width="400" +alt= "Telegraph Hill, 1855"> +</center> + +<h4>Telegraph Hill, 1855</h4> + +<hr style='width: 65%;' /> +<a name='Yosemite'></a><h2>IN YOSEMITE SHADOWS</h2> +<br /> + + +<p><img align='left' src="images/illus-y.png" height="75" width="75" +alt= "Y"> + +<b><big>OSEMITE</big></b>, Sept.—: Come at once—the year wanes; would you see the +wondrous transformation, the embalming of the dead Summer in windings of +purple and gold and bronze—come quickly, before the white pall covers +it—delay no longer. The waters are low and fordable, the snows +threaten, but the hours are yet propitious; and such a welcome waits you +as Solomon in all his glory could not have lavished on Sheba's +approaching queen. * * *"</p> + +<p>There was much more of the same sort of high-toned epistolary rhetoric, +written and sent by a dear hand, whose fanciful pen seemed touched by +the ambrosial tints of Autumn. So the year was going out in a gorgeous +carnival, before the Lent-like solemnity of Winter was assumed.</p> + +<p>I had only two things to consider now: First, was it already too late to +hasten thither, and enjoy the splendid spectacle so freely offered and +so alluring; secondly, could I, if yet in time, venture so boldly upon +the edge of Winter, and risk the possibility—nay, probability—of being +snow-bound for four or six months, 30 miles from any human habitation? </p> + +<p>I did not long consider. I felt every moment that the soul of Summer was +passing. I scented the ascending incense of smoking and crackling +boughs. What a requiem was being chanted by all the tremulous and broken +voices of Nature! Would I, could I, longer forbear to join the +passionate and tumultuous <i>miserere</i>? It seemed that I could not, for +gathering about me the voluminous furs of Siberia, I bade adieu to +friends, not without some forebodings awakened by the admonitions of my +elders, then, dropping all the folly of the world, like a monk I went +silently and alone into the monastery of a Sierran solitude, resigned, +trusting, prayerful.</p> + +<p>What an entering it was! With slow, devotional steps I approached the +valley. There was a thin veil of snow over the upper trail. It was +smooth and unbroken as I came upon it, following the blazed trees in my +way. Footprints of bear and fox, squirrel and coyote, were traceable. +The owl hooted at me, and the jay shot past me like a blue flash of +light, uttering her prolonged, shrill cry. As for the owl, I could not +see him, but I heard him at startling intervals give the challenge, "Who +are you?" so I advanced and gave the countersign. I don't believe it was +for his grave face alone that the owl was chosen symbol of Wisdom.</p> + +<p>Not too soon came the steep and perilous descent into the abysmal depths +of the mountain fastness. It is a shame that pilgrims who come up +thither do not time their steps so as to reach this <i>Ultima Thule</i> of +old times and ways at sunset. Then the magnificence of the spectacle +culminates. That new world below there is illuminated with the soft +tints of Eden. What unutterable fullness of beauty pervades all. The +forests—those moss-like fields are forests, and mighty ones, too—are +all aflame with the burnished gold of sunset, brightening the gold of +autumn; for gold twice refined, as it were, gilds the splendid +landscape. Only think of that picture, shining through the mellow haze +of Indian Summer, and flashing with the lambent glimmer of a myriad +glassy leaves. You can not see them moving, yet they twinkle +incessantly, and the warm air trembles about them while you hang +bewildered from a toppling parapet, four thousand feet above them; birds +swing under you in mid-air, streams leap from the sharp cliff, and reel +in that sickening way through the air that your brain whirls after them. +One is tired, anyhow, by the time he has reached this far, and a night +camp in the cool rim of this world-to-come is just the panacea for any +sort of weariness.</p> + +<p>Take my advice: Sleep on it, and drop down on the wings of the morning, +while the sun is filling up this marvelous ravine with such lights and +shadows as are felt, yet scarcely understood. Refreshed, amazed, +bewildered, go down into that solemn place, and see if you are not more +saint-like than you dared to think yourself. When the times are out of +joint, as they frequently are, come up here, forget men and things; +don't imagine we are as bad as we seem, for it is quite certain we might +be a great deal worse if we tried. While you bemoan our earthliness, you +may not be the one saint among us. Coming down with the evening, I was +scarcely at the gates of the inner valley when night was on me. Of this +gate, it is formed of a ponderous monument on the right, called +Cathedral Rock, and on the left is the one bald spot in the Sierras, the +great El Capitan. The arch over this primeval threshold is the astral +dome of heaven, and the gates stand ever open. There is no toll taken in +any mansion of my Father's House, and this is one of them. Passing to +the door of my host, I lifted the latch noiselessly. Before me dawned +fresh experiences. At my back Night gathered deeper than ever, and all +around I seemed to read the rubric of Life's new lesson.</p> + +<p>We are a comfort to ourselves—six of us, all told. Summer invites our +little company into a breezy hotel, over in the shadow across the +valley. Winter suggests a log cabin, an expansive fireplace, plenty of +hickory, and as much sunshine as finds its way into our secluded +hermitage. So we are done up compactly, in between thick walls, our hard +finish being in the shape of mud cakes in the chinks of the logs, and a +very hard finish it is; but we take wondrous comfort withal.</p> + +<p>How do I pass the hours? Leaving my friends, I wander forth, after +breakfast, in any direction that pleases me. Take today this sheep path; +it leads me to a pebbly beach at a swift turn of the Merced. That clump +of trees produces the best harvest of frost-pointed leaves; there are +new varieties offered every day at an alarming sacrifice, and I invest +largely in these fragile wares. Tomorrow, I shall go yonder across three +tumultuous streams, upon three convenient logs, broad and mossy. Some +book or other goes with me, and is opened now and then. Such books as +Plant Life, The Sexuality of Nature, Studies in Animal Life, suggest +themselves. Open these anywhere, and each is annotated and illustrated +by the scene before me. Every page is a running text to the hour I +glorify.</p> + +<p>Perhaps a leaf falls into my lap as I sit over the brook, on a log—a +single leaf, gilded about its border, in the centre a crimson flush, +fast swallowing up the original greenness; the whole will presently be +bronzed and sombre. O, Leaf! how art thou mummified! We do not think of +these little things of Nature. Look at this leaf. What is its record? +How many generations, think you, are numbered in its ancestry? A +perpetual intermarriage has not weakened its fibres. The anatomy of this +leaf is perfect, and the sap of this oak flows from oak to acorn, from +acorn to oak, in an interminable and uninterrupted succession since the +first day. What are your titles and estates beside this representative? +What is your heraldry, with its two centuries of mold; your absurd and +confused genealogies, your escutcheons, blotted no doubt with crimes and +errors, when this scion, which I am permitted to entertain for a moment, +comes of a race whose record is spotless and without stain through ten +thousand eventful years. Why, Eve would recognize the original of this +stock from the mere family resemblance.</p> + +<p>Do you think these days tiresome? It is embarrassing for some people to +be left alone with themselves. They can no longer play a part, for there +are none like themselves to play to. The sun and stars know you well +enough—most likely, better than you yourselves do. I like this. I would +out and say to myself: "Here is a confidant. Day hides nothing from me, +or you; it expresses all, exposes all—even that which we might not ask +to see. It is best that we should see it; there are no errors in +Nature."</p> + +<p>Walking, the squirrel nods to me. I nod back; and why shouldn't I? +Nature has familiarly introduced us. Squirrel munches under his tail +canopy till I am out of sight, jabbering all the while. What sage little +fellows go on four feet! I believe an animal has all the instincts of +Adam. He should never be tamed, however, lest he lose his identity. +Civilization rubs down the points in our character. As the surf rounds +the pebble, the masses round us. We are polished and insufferably +proper, but have no angles left! It is the angles that give the diamond +its lustre.</p> + +<p>Are you hungry? When the index of shadow points out from the base of old +Sentinel Rock and touches that column of descending spray they call +Yosemite, I go to dinner. "The Fall of the Yosemite"—what a dream it +is. A dream of the lotus-eaters, and an aspiration of the Ideal in +Nature. You can not realize it; and yet, you will never forget it. Don't +take it too early in the Spring, when it is less ethereal—nay, somewhat +heavy; rather see it in summer after the rains, or in autumn, better +than all, when it is like a tissue of diamond dust shaken upon the air. +It really seems a labor for it to reach its foaming basin, it is so +filmy, spiritual, delicate. The very air wooes it from its perpetual +leap; sudden currents of wind catch it up and whirl it away in their +arms, a trembling captive, or dash it against the solemn and sad-looking +rock, where it clings for a moment, then trickles down the scarred and +rugged face of it, fading in its descent; sometimes it is waved back by +the elements, and almost seems to return into its cloudy nest up yonder +close under the sky. It only comes to us at last by impulses, and all +along its shining and vapory path rockets of spray shoot out like +pendants, dissolving singly and alone.</p> + +<p>But "to return to our muttons." My dial says 12 M. There is no winding +up and down of weights here; 12 M. it undoubtedly is, and mutton waits. +These muttons were begotten here of muttons begotten here to the third +or fourth generation. Their wool is clipped, larded, and spun here by +one who lives here and loves this valley. These mittens, that keep the +frost from my fingers, are among the comforting results of this domestic +economy. In the cabin, by the fireplace, stands the old-fashioned +spinning wheel; and the old-fashioned body who manipulates the wool so +skillfully is the light of our little household. The shadow has struck +twelve from old Sentinel; and I take the sun once a day, and no oftener. +A cool, bracing air, a sharp run over the meadows, for I see the hostess +waving a signal at me for my tardiness, and I am hungry on my own +account—such cliffs and vistas as one sees here make one hollow with +looking at them, and are calculated to keep a supply of appetite on +hand. Do you like good long strips of baked squash? How do you fancy +bowls of warm milk—milk that declares a creamy dividend before morning? +Here is a fine fowl of our own raising—one that has seen Yosemite in +its glory and in its gloom; it ought to be good eating, and I can affirm +that it is. That's a dinner for you, and one where you can begin on pie +the first thing, if your soul craves it, which it frequently does.</p> + +<p>A storm brewing, and rain in the lower valley. Never mind, there is no +hurry here; one blushes to be caught worrying in the august presence of +these mountains.</p> + +<p>What can I do this stormy afternoon? Stop within doors and sit at the +window; a small grossbeak overhead, and we two looking out upon the rain +and fog. It is a mile nearly to that wall opposite, but look up high as +I can from my window I see no strip of sky. Here is a precipice of +homely, almost hideous-looking rock, and above it a hanging garden; +those pines in that garden are a hundred feet and more in height: +measure the second cliff by their proportions—how far is it, think you, +to the garden above? A thousand feet, perhaps; and three, four—no, six +of these terraces before you touch blue sky. Oh, what a valley! and +where else under heaven are we sunk forty fathoms deep in shadow? But +the sun is up yet, and there floats an eagle in its golden ray. I like +to watch the last beams burn out in that upper gallery among the pines. +There is a moment given us at sunset when we may partly realize the +inexpressible sweetness of the eternal day that is promised us—a dim, +religious light. There is no screen or tint soft enough to render the +effect perfectly. Only these few seconds at sunset seem to hint +something of its surpassing tenderness.</p> + +<p>What cloud effects! Look up!—a break in the heavens, and beyond it the +shoulder of a peak weighing some billions of tons, but afloat now, as +soft in outline as the mists that envelop it. What masses of clouds +tumble in upon us! The sky is obscured, night is declared at once, and +the fowls go to roost at three P.M. How is the Fall in this weather? A +silver braid dropped from one cloud to another. Its strands parted and +joined again, lost and found in its own element. Leaping from its dizzy +eyrie in the clouds, itself most cloud-like, it is lost in a whirlwind +of foam. Now it is as a voice heard faintly above the wind, borne hither +and thither. Long, stinging nights, plenty of woolen blankets, and +delicious sleep. Then the evenings, so cosy around the fire. H—— reads +Scott; we listen and comment. Baby is abed long ago—little Baby, four +years old, born here also; knowing nothing of the beautiful world save +what is gathered in this gallery of beauties. Such a queer little child, +left to herself, no doubt thinking she is the only little one in +existence, contented to teeter for hours on a plank by the woodpile, +making long explorations by herself and returning, when we are all well +frightened, with a pocketful of lizards and a wasp in her fingers; +always talking of horned toads and heifers; not afraid of snakes, not +even the rattlers; mocking the birds when she is happy, and growling +bear-fashion to express her disapproval of any thing.</p> + +<p>When the snows come, there will be avalanches by day and night, rushing +into all parts of the valley. The Hermit hears a rumbling in the clouds, +as he hoes his potatoes. He looks; a granite pilaster, hewn out by the +hurricanes centuries ago, at last grown weary of clinging to that +precipitous bluff, lets go its hold, and is dashed from crag to crag in +a prolonged and horrible suicide. A pioneer once laid him out a garden, +and marked the plan of his cellar; he was to begin digging the next day: +that night, there leaped a boulder from under the brow of this cliff +right into the heart of the plantation. It dug his cellar for him, but +he never used it. It behooved him and others to get farther out from the +mountain that found this settler too familiar, and sent a random shot as +a sufficient hint to the intruder.</p> + +<p>In the trying times when the world was baking, what agony these +mountains must have endured. You see it in their faces, they are so +haggard and old-looking: time is swallowed up in victory, but it was a +desperate duel. There is a dome here that the ambitious foot of man has +never attempted. Tissayac allows no such liberty. Look up at that +rose-colored summit! The sun endows it with glory long after twilight +has shut us in. We are cheated of much daylight here—it comes later and +goes earlier with us; but we get hints of brighter hours, both morning +and evening, from those sparkling minarets now decked with snowy +arabesques. I have seen our canopy, the clouds, so crimsoned at this +hour that the valley seemed a grand oriental pavilion, whose silken roof +was illuminated with a million painted lamps. The golden woods of Autumn +detract nothing from the bizarre effect of the spectacle. To be sure, +these walls are rather sombre for a festival, but the sun does what it +can to enliven them, whilst the flame-colored oaks and blood-spotted +azaleas projecting on all sides from the shelving rocks resemble to a +startling degree galleries of blazing candelabra. Night dispels this +illusion, it is so very deep and mysterious here. The solemn procession +of the stars silently passes over us. I see Taurus pressing forward, and +anon Orion climbs on hand and knee over the mountain in hot pursuit.</p> + +<p>Does it tire you to look so long at a gigantic monument? I do not +wonder. The secret of self-esteem seems to lie in regarding our +inferiors; therefor let us talk of this frog. I have heard his chorus a +thousand times in the dark. His is one of the songs of the night. Just +watch him in the meadow pool. See the contentment in his double chin; +he flings out three links of hind leg and carries his elbows akimbo; his +attitudes are unconstrained; he is entirely without affectation; life +never bores him; he keeps his professional engagements to the letter, +and sings nightly through the season, whether hoarse or not.</p> + +<p>It is a good plan to portion off the glorious vistas of Yosemite, +allotting so many surprises to each day. Take, for instance, the ten +miles of valley, and passing slowly through the heart of it, allow a +tableau for every three hundred yards. You are sure of this variety, for +the trail winds among a galaxy of snowy peaks. Turn as you choose, it is +either a water-fall at a new angle, a cliff in profile, a reflection in +river or lake—the sudden appearance of the supreme peak of all, or +ravine, cañon, cavern, pine opening, grove or prairie. There is a point +from which you may count over a hundred rocky fangs, tearing the clouds +to tatters. I can not tell you the exact location of this terrific +climax of savage beauty; try to find it, and perhaps discover half a +dozen as singular scenic combinations for yourself. See all that you are +told must be seen, then go out alone and discover as much more for +yourself, and something no doubt dearer to your memory than any of the +more noted haunts. "See Mirror Lake on a still morning," they said to +me. I saw it, but went again in the evening, and saw a vision that the +reader may not expect to have reflected here. It was the picture of the +morning—so softened and refined a veil of enchantment seemed thrown +over it. Hamadryad or water nymph could not have startled me at that +moment: they belonged there, and were looked for. I shall hardly again +renew those impressions; it was all so unexpected, and one is not twice +surprised in the same manner. That wondrous amphitheatre was for once +made cheerful with the broad, horizontal bars of fire that shifted about +it, yet all its lights were mellowed in the purpling mists of evening, +and the whole was pictured in little on the surface of the lake. There +was nothing earthly visible, I thought then, for every thing seemed +transfigured, floating in a lucent atmosphere. It was the hour when the +birds are silent for the space of one intense moment, stopping with one +accord—perhaps holding their breath till the spell is broken. As I +stood entranced, a large golden leaf, ready and willing to die, let go +its hold on the top bough of a tree overhanging the water. From twig to +twig it swung. I heard every sound in its fall till it was out of the +congregation of its fellows, turning over and over in mid-air, sailing +toward the centre of the lake. There it hung on the rim of that +stainless crystal, while a thin ring of silver light noiselessly +expanded toward the shore. The sun was down. All the birds of heaven +said so with their bubbling throats. Bewildered with the delicious +conclusion of this illustration of still life, I turned homeward, +dispelling the mirage. Then such a ride home in the keen air, while a +pillar of smoke rose over the little cabin, telling me which of the +hundred bowers of autumn sheltered my nest.</p> + +<p>But, again and again, I have seen all. Pohono has breathed upon me with +its fatal breath, yet I survive. It is said that three Indian girls were +long ago bewitched by its waters, and now their perturbed spirits haunt +the place. Those perfectly round rainbows may form the nimbus for each +of the martyrs; they, at any rate, look supernatural enough for such an +office. The wildly wooded pass to the Vernal and Nevada Falls has echoed +to my tread. I have been sprayed upon till my spirit is never dry of the +life-giving waters that flow so freely. But I am just a little tired of +all this. I begin to breathe short, irregular breaths. The soul of this +mighty solitude oppresses me; I want more air of the common sort, and +less wisdom in daily talks and walks. I remember the pleasant nonsense +of life over the mountains, and sigh for those flesh-pots of Egypt once +in a while. These rocks are full of texts and teachings—these cliffs +are tables of stone, graven with laws and commandments. I read +everywhere mysterious cyphers and hieroglyphics; every changing season +offers to me a new palimpsest. I do not quite like to play here; I dare +not be simple; I'm altogether too good to last long. How many thousand +ascensions have been made in these worshipful days, I wonder; not merely +getting the body on to the tops of these wonderful peaks, but going +thither in spirit, as when the soul goes up into the mountains to pray? +This eye-climbing is as fatiguing and perilous as any. I feel the want +of some pure blue sky.</p> + +<p>A few farewell rambles associate themselves with packing up and plans of +desertion. Not sad farewells in this case, for if I never again meet +these individual mountains, I carry with me their memory, eternal and +incomparably glorious. Let us peep into this nook: I got plentiful +blackberries there in the spring, together with stains and thorny +scratches. I haul myself over the ferry and back, for old acquaintance' +sake; the current is so lazy, it seems incredible that the same waters +are almost impassable at some seasons. I succeed in wrecking a whole +armada of floating leaves with stems like a bowsprit. A few beetles take +passage in these gilded barges—no doubt, for the antipodes.</p> + +<p>Did you ever drive up the cattle at milking time? I have; but not +without endless trial and tribulation, for they spill off the path on +either side in a very remarkable way, and when I rush after one with a +flank movement, the column breaks and falls back utterly demoralized. A +little strategy on the part of their commander (which is myself) +triumphs in the end, for I privately reconstruct and march them all up +in detachments of one. I look after the little trees, the unbent twigs; +they are more interesting to me than your monsters. This nursery of +saplings sprang up in a night after a freshet: here are quivering aspens +trembling forever in penance for that one sin. They once were gravely +pointed out by the guide of a party of tourists as "shuddering asps." He +is doubtless the same who, being asked "what that was," (pointing to the +North Dome, six thousand feet in the air) said "he'd be hanged if he +knew; some knob or other." I recall ten thousand pleasant times as I +turn my face seaward; not only the great and omnipotent shadows under +the south wall of the valley, nor the continuous canticles of the +waters, but innumerable little things that fill up and make life +perfect.</p> + +<p>The talks, the walks with my friends here, the parrot "Sultan," fed +daily from the table, soliloquizing upon men and things in Arabic and +Hindostanee, for he scorns English and talks in his sleep. There is +<i>Bobby</i>, the grossbeak, brought to the door in pin feathers and skin +like oiled silk by an Indian. His history is tragic: this Indian brained +the whole family and an assortment of relatives; Bobby alone remaining +to brood over the massacre, was sold into bondage for two bits and a +tin dipper without the bottom. The sun seems to lift his gloom, for he +sings a little, sharpens his bill with great gusto and tomahawks a bit +of fruit, as though dealing vengeance upon the destroyer of his race.</p> + +<br /> +<a name="image-23"><!-- Image 23 --></a> +<center> +<img src="images/illus-0256-2.jpg" height="410" width="400" +alt= "Sentinel Hotel, Yosemite, in 1869"> +</center> + +<h4>Sentinel Hotel, Yosemite, in 1869</h4> + +<p>When shall I see another such cabin as this—its great fireplaces, and +the loft heaping full of pumpkins? O, Yosemite! O, halcyon days, and +bed-time at eight P.M., tucking in for ten good hours and up again at +six; good eatings and drinkings day by day, mugs of milk and baked +squash forever, plenty of butter to our daily bread; letters at wide +intervals, and long, uninterrupted "thinks" about home and friends (as +the poet of the "Hermitage" writes in one of his letters). Shall I ever +again sit for two mortal hours hearing a housefly buzz in the window and +thinking it a pleasant voice! But alas! those restless days, when the +air was full of driving leaves and I could find nothing on earth to +comfort me.</p> + +<p>I leave this morning. Opportunity takes me by the hand and leads me +away. The heart leaps with emotion: everything is momentous in a quiet +life. This is the portal we entered one deepening dusk. Its threshold +will soon be cushioned with snow; let us hasten on. If I were asked when +is the time to visit Yosemite, I should reply: Go in the spring; see the +freshets and the waterfalls in their glory, and the valley in its fresh +and vivid greenness. Go again, by all means, in the autumn, when the +woods are powdered with gold dust and a dreamy haze sleeps in the long +ravines; when the stars sparkle like crystals and the mornings are +frosty; when the clouds visit us in person, and the trees look like +crayon sketches on a vapory background, and the cliffs like leaning +towers traced in sepia on a soft ground glass. Go in spring and autumn, +if possible. I should choose autumn of the two; but go at any hazard, +and do not rest till you have been. You can enter and go out at this +portal. Passing seaward, to the left, out of the gray and groping mists +a form, arises, monstrous and awful in its proportions; spurning the +very earth that crumbles at its very base as it towers to heaven. The +vapors of the air cleave to its massive front. The passing cloud is +caught and torn in the grand carvings of its capitals. Gaze upon it in +the solemnity of its sunlit surface. Impressive, impassive, magnetic; +having a pulse and the organs of life almost; terrible as the forehead +of a god. The full splendor of the noonday can not belittle it, night +can not compass it. The moon is paler in its presence and wastes her +lamp, the stars are hidden and lost over and beyond it. Across the face +of it is borne forever the shadowy semblance of a swift and flying +figure. Despair and desperation are in the nervous energy depicted in +this marvelous medallion. Surely, the Indian may look with a degree of +reverence upon that picture, painted by the morning light, fading in the +meridian day, and gone altogether by evening. A grand etching of +colossal proportions, representing the great chief Tutochanula in his +mysterious flight. The Wandering Jew might look upon it and behold his +traditional beard and flowing robes blown here by the winds in the +rapidity of his desperate haste. It is the last one sees of the valley, +as it is the last any have seen of Tutochanula. He fled into the west, +cycles ago, and I follow him now into the west, nest-building, and +getting into the shadow and resting after the door of the mountain is +passed, and my soul no longer beats impetuously against those stormy +walls.</p> + +<p>With uncovered head, having nothing between me and Saturn, wiser, I +trust, for my intercourse with these masters, purer in heart and holier +for my prolonged vigil, with careful and reverential steps I pass out of +Yosemite shadows.</p> + + + +<hr style='width: 65%;' /> +<a name='Misty_City'></a><h2>AN AFFAIR OF THE MISTY CITY</h2> + +<a name='MCI'></a><h2>I.</h2> + +<h3>WHAT THE MOON SHONE ON</h3> +<br /> + +<p><img align='left' src="images/illus-s.png" height="75" width="75" +alt= "S"> + +<b><big>HE</big></b> was a smallish moon, looking very chaste and chilly and she peered +vaguely through folds of scurrying fog. She shone upon a silent street +that ran up a moderate hill between far-scattered corporation +gas-lamps—a street that having reached the hill top seemed to saunter +leisurely across a height which had once been the most aristocratic +quarter of the Misty City; the quarter was still pathetically +respectable, and for three squares at least its handsome residences +stared destiny in the face and stood in the midst of flower-bordered +lawns, unmindful of decay. Its fountains no longer played; even its once +pampered children had grown up, and the young of the present generation +were of a different cast; but the street seemed not to heed these +changes; indeed it was growing a little careless of itself and needed +replanking. Was it a realization of this fact, I wonder, that caused it +on a sudden to run violently down a steep place into the Bay, as if it +were possessed of Devils? Well it might be, for the human scum of the +town gathered about the base of the hill, and the nights there were +unutterably iniquitous.</p> + +<p>O that pale watcher, the Moon! She shone on a rude stairway leading up +to the bare face of a cliff that topped the hill; and five and forty +uncertain steps that had more than once slid down into the street below +along with the wreckage of the winter rains, for the cliff was of rock +and clay and though the rock may stand until the crack of Doom, the clay +mingles with the elements and an annual mud pudding, tons in weight, was +deposited on the pavement of the high street, to the joy of the +juveniles and the grief of the belated pedestrians. The cliff towering +at the junction of the two thoroughfares shared with each its generous +mud-flow and half of it descended in lavalike cascades into the depths +of a ravine that crossed the high street at right angles, passing under +a bridge still celebrated as a triumph of architectural ungainliness.</p> + +<p>She shone, my Lady Moon, into that deep ravine which was half filled +with shadow and made a weird picture of the place; it seemed like the +bed of some dark noiseless river, the source of which was still +undiscovered; and as for its mouth, no one would ever find it, or, +finding, tell of it, for the few who trusted themselves to its voiceless +and invisible current were heard of no more; sometimes a sharp cry for +help pierced the midnight silence, and it was known upon the hill that +murder was being done down yonder—that was all. Yet day by day the +great tide of traffic poured through this subterranean passage, with +muffled roar as of a distant sea.</p> + +<p>She shone on all that was left of a once beautiful and imposing mansion. +It crowned the very brow of the cliff; it proudly overlooked all the +neighbors; it was a Gothic ruin girded about with a mantle of ivy and +dense creepers, yet not all of the perennial leafage that clothed it, +even to the eaves, could disguise the fact that the major portion of the +mansion had been razed to the ground lest it should topple and go +crashing into that gulf below. There, once upon a time, in a Gothic +garden shaded by slender cypresses, walked the golden youth of the land; +there, feminine lunch parties, pink teas, highly exclusive musicales and +fashionable hops, flourished mightily; now the former side-door served +as the front entrance to all that was left of the mansion; the stone +that was rejected had become the headstone of the corner, as it were; it +was an abrupt corner to be sure, with the upper half of its narrow door +filled with small panes of glass; its modest threshold was somewhat +worn; but upon the platform before it a large egg-shaped jar of +unmistakable Chinese origin encased the roots of a flowing cactus that +might have added a grace to the proudest palace in the Misty City. This +was the modest portal of the Eyrie; ivy vines sheltered it like a dense +thatch; ivy vines clung fast to a deep bay window that nearly filled one +side of the library of the old mansion, now a living-room; ivy vines +curtained the glazed wall of a conservatory where some one slept as in a +bower. A weird dwelling place was this the moon shone upon, where +pigeons nested and cooed at intervals in all the green nooks thereof.</p> + +<p>She shone on the tall slim panes of glass in the bay window till they +shimmered like ice, and brightened the carpet on the floor of the +room—a carpet that was faded and frayed; she threw a soft glow upon the +three walls beyond the window; where were low, convenient shelves of +books; there were books, books, books everywhere—books of all +descriptions, neither creed nor caution limited their range. Many +pictures and sketches in oil or water-color—some of them unframed—were +upon the walls above the book-shelves; there were bronze statuettes, +graceful figures of lute-strumming troubadours upon the old-fashioned +marble mantel; there were busts and medallions in plaster, and a few +casts after the antique. Heaped in corners, and upon the tops of the +book-shelves lay bric-a-brac in hopeless confusion; toy canoes from +Kamchatka and the Southern seas; wooden masks from the burial places of +the Alaskan Indians and the Theban Tombs of the Nile Kings; rude +fish-hooks that had been dropped in the coral seas; sharks' teeth; and +the strong beak of an albatross whose webbed feet were tobacco pouches +and whose hollow wing-bones were the long jointed stem of a pipe; spears +and war-clubs were there, brought from the gleaming shores of +reef-girdled islands; a Florentine lamp; a roll of papyrus; an idol from +Easter Island, the eyes of which were two missionary shirt buttons of +mother-of-pearl, of the Puritan type; your practical cannibal, having +eaten his missionary, spits out the shirt buttons to be used as the eyes +which see not; carved gourds were there, and calabashes; Mexican +pottery; and some of the latest Pompeiian antiquities such as are +miraculously discovered in the presence of the amazed and delighted +tourist who secretly purchases the same for considerably more than a +song.</p> + +<p>There were pious objects, many of them resembling the Ex Votos at a +shrine; an ebony and bronzed indulgenced crucifix with a history, and +Sacred Hearts done in scarlet satin with flames of shining tinsel +flickering from their tops.</p> + +<p>There were vines creeping everywhere within the room, from jars that +stood on brackets and made hanging gardens of themselves; creepers, +yards in length that sprung from the mouths of water-pots hidden behind +objects of interest, and these framed the pictures in living green; a +huge wide-mouthed vase stood in the bay window filled with a great pulu +fern still nourished by its native soil—a veritable tropical island +this, now basking in the moonlight far from its native clime. Japanese +and Chinese lanterns were there; and an ostrich egg brought from Nubia +that hung like an alabaster lamp lit by a moonbeam; and fans, of course, +but quaint barbaric ones from the Orient and the Equatorial Isles; and +framed and unframed photographs of celebrities each bearing an original +autograph; and easy chairs, nothing but the easiest chairs from the very +far-reaching one with the long arms like a pair of oars over which one +throws his slippered feet, and lolls in his pajamas in memory of an East +Indian season of exile, to the deep nest-like sleepy hollow quite big +enough for two, in which one dozes and dreams, and out of which it is so +difficult for one to rise. Over all this picturesque confusion grinned a +fleshless human skull with its eye sockets and yawning jaws stuffed full +of faded boutonnieres.</p> + +<p>The moon shone, but paler now for it was growing late, on a closed coupe +that rolled rapidly from the Club House in the early morning after a +High Jinks night, and clattered through the streets accompanied by the +matutinal milk wagons with their frequent, intermittent pauses; thus it +rolled and rolled over the resounding pavement toward that house on the +hill top, The Eyrie.</p> + +<p>The vehicle zigzagged up the steep grade, and stopped at the foot of +the long stairway; some one alighted and exchanged a friendly word or +two with the driver, for in that lonely part of the town it was pleasant +to hear the sound of one's own voice even if one was guiltily conscious +of making conversation; then with a cheerful "Good-night," this some-one +climbed the steps while the vehicle hurried away with its jumble of +hoofs and wheels. A key was heard at the outer door; the door sagged a +little in common with everything about the house—and a tenant passed +into the Eyrie.</p> + +<p>Enter Paul Clitheroe, sole scion of that melancholy house whose +foundations had sunk under him, and left him, at the age of five and +twenty, master of himself, but slave to fortune.</p> + +<p>In the dim light he closed and fastened the outer door; from a hall +scarcely large enough for two people to pass in, he entered the inner +room with the confident step of a familiar. Having deposited hat, cane +and ulster in their respective places—there was a place for everything +or it would have been quite impossible to abide in that snuggery—he +sank into one of the easy chairs, rolled a cigarette with meditative +deliberation, lighted it and blew the smoke into the moonlight where it +assumed a thousand fantastic forms.</p> + +<p>The silence of the room seemed emphasized by the presence of its +occupant; he was one who under no circumstances was likely to disturb +the serenity of a house. In most cases a single room takes on the +character of the one who inhabits it; this is invariably the case where +the apartment is in the possession of a woman; but turn a man loose in a +room, and leave him to himself for a season, and he will have made of +that room a witness strong enough to condemn or condone him on the Last +Day; the whole character of the place will gradually change until it has +become an index to the man's nature; where this is not the case, the man +is without noticeable characteristics.</p> + +<p>Those who knew Paul Clitheroe, the solitary at the Eyrie, would at once +recognize this room as his abode; those of his friends who saw this room +for the first time, without knowing it to be his home, would say: "Paul +Clitheroe would fit in here." A kind of harmonious incongruity was the +chief characteristic of the man and his solitary lodging.</p> + +<p>He sat for some time as silent as the inanimate objects in that +singularly silent room. An occasional turn of the wrist, the momentary +flash of the ash at the end of his cigarette, the smoke-wreath floating +in space—those were all that gave assurance of life; for when this +solitary returned into his well-chosen solitude he seemed to shed all +that was of the earth earthy, and to become a kind of spectre in a +dream.</p> + +<p>Having finished his cigarette, Paul withdrew into the conservatory, his +sleeping room, half doll's house and half bower, where the ivy had crept +over the top of the casement and covered his ceiling with a web of +leaves. Shortly he was reposing upon his pillow, over which his +holy-water font—a large crimson heart of crystal with flames of +burnished gold, set upon a tablet of white marble—seemed almost to +pulsate in the exquisite half-lights of approaching dawn.</p> + +<p>It may not have been manly, or even masculine, for him thus literally to +curtain his sleep, like a faun, with ivy; it may not have been orthodox +for him to admit to his Valhalla some of the false Gods, and to honor +them after a fashion; the one true God was duly adored, and all his +saints appealed to in filial faith. That was his nature and past +changing; if he could not look upon God as a Jealous God visiting His +judgments with fanatical justice upon the witted and half-witted, it was +because his was a nature which had never been warped by the various +social moral and religious influences brought to bear upon it.</p> + +<p>He may have lacked judgment, in the eyes of the world, but he had never +suffered seriously in consequence. It may not have been wise for him to +fondly nourish tastes and tendencies that were usually quite beyond his +means; but he did it, and doing it afforded him the greatest pleasure in +life.</p> + +<p>You will pardon him all this; every one did sooner or later, even those +who discountenanced similar weaknesses or affectations—or whatever you +are pleased to call them—in anyone else, soon found an excuse for +overlooking them in his case.</p> + +<p>He was not, thank heaven, all things to all men; all things to a few, he +may have been—yea, even more than all else to some, so long as the +spell lasted; to the majority, however, he was probably nothing, and +less than nothing. And what of that? If he did little good in the world, +he certainly did less evil, and, as he lay in his bed, under a white +counterpane upon which the dawning light, sifting through the vines that +curtained the glazed front of his sleeping room, fell in a mottled +Japanese pattern, and while the ivy that covered the Gothic ceiling +trailed long tendrils of the palest and most delicate green, each leaf +glossed as if it had been varnished, this unheroic-hero, this +pantheistic-devotee, this heathenized-Christian, this +half-happy-go-lucky æthestic Bohemian, lay upon his pillow, the +incarnation of absolute repose.</p> + +<p>And so the morning broke, and the early birds began to chirp in the ivy +and to prune their plumage and flutter among the leaves; and down the +street tramped the feet of the toilers on their way to forge and dock. +Over the harbor came the daffodil light from the sun-tipped eastern +hills, and it painted the waves that lapped the sleek sides of a yacht +lying at anchor under the hill. A yacht that Paul had watched many a day +and dreamed of many a night; for he often longed with a great longing to +slip cable and hie away, even unto the uttermost parts.</p> + + + +<hr style='width: 65%;' /> +<a name='MCII'></a><h2>II.</h2> + +<h3>WHAT THE SUN SHONE ON</h3> +<br /> + +<p><img align='left' src="images/illus-h.png" height="75" width="75" +alt= "H"> + +<b><big>E</big></b> shone on the far side of the eastern azure hills and set all the tree +tops in the wood beyond the wold aflame; he looked over the silhouette +out of a cloudless sky upon a Bay whose breadth and beauty is one of the +seven hundred wonders of the world; he paved the waves with gold, a path +celestial that angels might not fear to tread. He touched the heights of +the Misty City and the sea-fog that had walled it in through the night +as with walls of unquarried marble—albeit the eaves had dripped in the +darkness as after a summer shower—and anon the opaque vapors dissolved +and fled away. There she lay, the Misty City, in all her wasted and +scattered beauty; she might have been a picture for Poets to dream on +and Artists to love—their wonder and their despair—but she is not; she +is hideous to look upon save in the sunset or the after-glow when you +cannot see her, but only the dim vision of what she might have been.</p> + +<p>He rose as a God refreshed with sleep and called the weary to their +work, and disturbed the slumbers of those that toil not and spin not, +and have nothing to do but sleep.</p> + +<p>There were no secrets from him now; every detail was discovered; and so +having gilded for a moment the mossy shingles of the Eyrie he stole into +the room where Paul Clitheroe passed most of his waking hours, and +through the curtain of ivy and geraniums that screened the conservatory +from the eyes of the curious world, and where Paul was at this moment +sleeping the sleep of the just. From the bed of the ravine below the +Eyrie rose the rumble and roar of traffic. The hours passed by. The +sleeper began to turn uneasily on his pillow. The sound of hurrying feet +was heard upon the board walks in front of the Eyrie-cliff; many voices, +youthful voices, swelled the chorus that told of the regiments of +children now hastening to school. From dreamland Paul returned by easy +stages to the work-a-day world. He arose, donned a trailing garment with +angel sleeves and a large crucifix embroidered in scarlet upon the +breast—that robe made of him a cross between a Monk and a +Marchioness—slipped his feet into sandals and entered the larger +chamber which was at once living-room and library. He opened the +shutters in the deep bay window and greeted the day with the silent +solemnity of a fire-worshipper; gave drink to his potted palms and ferns +and flowering plants; let his eye wander leisurely over the titles of +his books; lingered a little while over his favorites and patted some of +them fondly on the back. Taking a small key from its nail by the door he +opened the mail box without, carrying his letters to his writing table +and leaving them there unopened. He loved to speculate as to whom the +writers were and what they may have said to him. This piqued his +curiosity, and tided him over a scant breakfast at an inexpensive but +fly-blown restaurant where he was wont to eat or make a more or less +brave effort to eat whenever he had the wherewithal to settle for the +same. Breakfast over and gone the young man returned to his Eyrie, and +in due course was at his writing table, and at work upon the weekly +article that had been appearing in the Sunday issue of one of the +popular Dailies for an indefinite period, and the price of which had on +several occasions kept him from becoming a conspicuous object of +charity.</p> + +<p>Having written himself out for the day, as he was apt to in a few hours, +he wandered down to the Club for a bit of refreshment which was sure to +be forthcoming, for his friends there were ever ready to dine him, or +more frequently to wine him, merely for the pleasure of his company.</p> + +<br /> +<a name="image-24"><!-- Image 24 --></a> +<center> +<img src="images/illus-0272-2.jpg" height="400" width="560" +alt= "San Francisco in 1856"> +</center> + +<h4>San Francisco in 1856</h4> + + +<p>So the afternoon waned and the dinner hour approached; fortunately this +hour was usually bespoken and for a little while at least he was lapped +in luxury. On his way home he was very apt to turn in at the wicker +gates of a typical German Rathskellar where he was unmolested; where the +blustering pipes of a colossal orchestrion brayed through an aria from +Trovatore with more sound than sentiment and all unmindful of +modulation.</p> + +<p>He was at home by midnight, for the beer and the bravura ceased to flow +at the witching hour. Then he lounged in the easy chair, gradually and +not unconsciously shedding all the worldly influences that had been +clothing him as with a hair-shirt even since he first went forth that +morning. Safely he sank into the silence of the place. Every breath he +drew was balm; every moment healing. So he passed into the silence, +enfolded by invisible arms that led him gently to his pillow where he +sank to sleep with the trustful resignation of a tired babe.</p> + +<p>If this routine was ever varied it was a variation with a vengeance. +"From grave to gay, from lively to severe" might have been engraved upon +his escutcheon. It chanced that the family motto was Festina Lente; this +also was appropriate; had he not all his life made haste slowly? For +this very reason he had been accounted one of the laziest of his kind; +his indolence was a byword merely because he did not throw himself into +an easy chair at the Club, of an evening, and bewail his fate; because +he did not puff and blow and talk often of the work he had +accomplished, was accomplishing, or hastening forward to accomplishment. +With all his faults, thank heaven, that sin cannot be charged against +him.</p> + + + +<hr style='width: 65%;' /> +<a name='MCIII'></a><h2>III.</h2> + +<h3>BALM OF HURT WOUNDS</h3> +<br /> + +<p><img align='left' src="images/illus-h.png" height="75" width="75" +alt= "H"> + +<b><big>E</big></b> was scrimping in every way; his case was growing desperate. The +books, the pictures, the bric-a-brac so precious in his eyes, he was +loath to part with; moreover, he was well aware that if he were to +trundle his effects down to an auction-room they would not bring him +enough to cover his expenses for a single week. "Better to starve in the +midst of my household gods," thought he, "than to part with them for the +sake of prolonging this misery." The situation was in some respects +serio-comic. While he seemed to have everything, he really had almost +nothing; he was in a certain sense at the mercy of his friends and +dependent upon them.</p> + +<p>As the dinner hour approached, Paul was called upon to make choice of +the character of his table-talk; there were several standing invitations +to dine at the houses of old friends, and these were a boon to him, for +at such houses the homeless fellow felt much at home. There were special +invitations, sometimes an embarrassing profusion of them—all kindly, +some persistent, and some even imperative; thus the dinner was a fixed +fact; the mood alone was to be consulted in his choice of a table and +after all how much of the success of a dinner depends upon the mood of +the diner!</p> + +<p>Paul's income was uncertain; while he had written much, and traveled +much as a special correspondent, he had never regularly connected +himself with any journal, and he knew nothing of the routine of +office-work. Sometimes, I may say not infrequently, he could not write +at all; yet his pen was his only source of revenue, and often he was +without a copper to his credit. He was, therefore, constrained to dine +sumptuously with friends, when he would have found a solitary salad a +sweet alternative, and independence far more acceptable. The state of +the exchequer was very often alarming, and his predicament might have +cast a stronger man into the depths; but Paul could fast without +complaint, when necessary, for he had fasted often; and, to confess the +truth, he would much rather have fasted on and on, than parted with any +of the little souvenirs that made his surroundings charming in spite of +his privations. The friends who loved and fondled him were wont to send +messengers to his door with gifts of flowers, books, pictures and the +like, when soup-tickets would have been more serviceable, though by no +means more acceptable. It had happened to him more than once, that +having failed to break his fast—for he had a judicious horror of debt, +born of bitter experience—he received at a late hour as tokens of +sincere interest in his welfare, scarf pins, perfumery and scented soap; +or it may have been a silk handkerchief bearing the richly wrought +monogram of the happy but hungry recipient. At any rate these +testimonials of his popularity were never edible. Was this hard luck? He +went from one swell dinner to another, day after day, with never so much +as a crumb between meals. It of course made some difference to him—this +prolonged abstinence—but fortunately, or unfortunately, the effect upon +him mentally, morally and physically was hardly visible to the naked +eye.</p> + +<p>He had a dress coat of the strictly correct type, which he had worn but +a few times; he had lectured in it; once or twice, he had recited poems +in it to the audiences of admiring lady friends. It was of no use to him +now, and he felt that he should never need it again. On the street below +him was a small shop, kept by the customary Israelite. Again and again, +Paul had noted the sun-faded frock-coat swinging from a hook over the +sidewalk in front of this shop; he had said, "I will take this coat to +him; it is a costly garment; divide the original price of it by the +number of times I have worn it and I find it has cost me about ten +dollars an evening. Perhaps this old-clothes dealer will pay me a fair +price for it; Jew though he be, he may be possessed of the heart of a +Christian!"</p> + +<p>Alas and alack! All of Clitheroe's sufferings could be traced to the +cool, calculating hardness of the Christian's heart. Probably it was +prejudice alone that caused him to trust the Christian, and distrust the +Jew.</p> + +<p>From day to day he passed the shop, striving to muster courage enough to +enter and propose his bargain. At first he had imagined the dealer +offering him but ten dollars for the coat—it had cost him a goodly sum; +a little later he concluded that ten dollars was too little for any one +to offer him; he might take twenty; a day later thirty seemed to him a +probable offer, and shortly after he imagined himself consenting to +receive fifty dollars, since the coat was in such admirable repair.</p> + +<p>One day he took it to the dealer; he was not cordially welcomed by the +man in shirt sleeves, with whom of late he had held innumerable +imaginary conversations. The shop was extremely small and dark; the odor +of dead garments pervaded it. With an earnest and kindly glance, Paul +invited the sympathy of Abraham the son of Moses who was the son of +Isaac; he saw nothing but speculation in those eyes. His coat was +examined and tossed aside, as possessing few attractions. Clitheroe's +heart sunk within him; and it sank deeper and deeper as it began to +dawn upon him that the Hebrew had no wish to possess the garment, and, +if he did so, he did so only to oblige the Christian youth. A bargain +was at last struck; Paul departed with five dollars in his pocket—his +dress-coat was a thing of the past.</p> + +<p>What could he do next to extricate himself from his dubious dilemma? He +had a small gold watch, a precious souvenir: "Gold is gold," said he, +"and worth its weight in gold." He had the address of one who was known +far and wide as "Uncle." He had heard of persons of the highest +respectability seeking this uncle when close pressed, and there finding +temporary relief at the hands of one who is in some respects a good +Samaritan in disguise. Paul found it absolutely impossible for him to +enter the not unattractive front of this establishment but there was a +"private entrance" in a small dark alley-way; so delicate is the +consideration of an uncle whose business it is to nourish those in +distress.</p> + +<p>One night, it was late at night, Clitheroe stole guiltily in through the +private entrance, and sought succor of his uncle: this was an unctuous +uncle, who was as sympathetic and emotional as an undertaker. Paul +exhibited his watch; not for worlds would he part with it forever; money +he must have at once, and surely some good angel would come to his +assistance before many days; this state of affairs could not exist much +longer. Mine uncle examined the watch with kindly eyes; with a pathetic +shake of his head, a pitiful lifting of his bushy eyebrows, a +commiserating shrug of his fat shoulders, and a petulant pursing of his +plump lips as much as to say, "Well, it is a pity, but we must make the +best of it, you know"—he told Clitheroe he would advance him ten +dollars on the watch. For this the boy was to pay one dollar per week, +and in the end receive his watch, as good as new, for the sum of ten +dollars, as originally advanced. Paul hesitated, but consented since he +had no choice in the matter.</p> + +<p>"What name?" asked the Uncle, benevolently.</p> + +<p>"P. Clitheroe," said Paul under his breath, as if he feared the whole +world might know of his disgrace; he looked upon this transaction as +nothing short of disgrace, and he wished to keep it a profound secret.</p> + +<p>"Oh, yes; I know the name very well. Well, Mr. Clitheroe, here is your +ticket; take good care of it; and here is your money—you will always +pay your money in advance, and weekly, until you redeem your pledge. I +deduct the dollar for the first week."</p> + +<p>Clitheroe took the proffered money, and withdrew. To his surprise and +chagrin he found himself possessed of but nine dollars. "It will not go +far," thought he with a heavy sigh; "and where is the dollar to come +from? I don't see that I have gained much by this exchange."</p> + +<p>What he gained was this: for fifteen weeks he managed by the strictest +economy to pay his dollar. At the end of that time, he no longer found +it possible to even pay a dollar and the affair with the Uncle ended +with his having lost, not only his watch, but sixteen dollars into the +bargain.</p> + +<hr style='width: 45%;' /> + +<p>A month has passed: the sun is streaming through the tall narrow windows +of a small chapel; the air is flooded with the music that floats from +the organ loft, the solemn strains of a requiem chanted by sweet +boy-voices; clouds of fragrant incense half obscure the altar, where the +priest in black vestments is offering the solemn sacrifice of the Mass +for the repose of the soul of one whom Paul had loved dearly ever since +he was a child. There is one chief mourner kneeling before the altar—it +is Paul Clitheroe.</p> + +<p>When the Mass is over, while the exquisite silence of the place is +broken only by the occasional note of some bird lodging in the branches +of the trees without, Paul lingers in profound meditation. He is not at +all the Paul whom we knew but a few months ago; through some mysterious +influence he seems to have cast off his careless youth, and to have +become a grave and thoughtful man.</p> + +<p>From the chapel he wanders into the quiet library on the opposite side +of a cloister, where the flowers grow in tangle, and a fountain splashes +musically night and day, and the birds build and the bees swarm among +the blossoms. Now we see him chatting with the Fathers as they stroll up +and down in the sunshine; now musing over the graves of the Franciscan +Friars who founded the early missions on the Coast; now dreaming in the +ruins of the orchard—wandering always apart from the novices and the +scholastics, who sometimes regard him curiously as if he were not wholly +human but a kind of shadow haunting the place.</p> + +<p>His heart grew warm and mellow as he sat by the adobe wall under the +red-baked Spanish tiles, richly mossed with age, and contemplated the +statue of the Madonna in the trellised shrine overgrown with passion +flowers. There were votive offerings of flowers at her feet, and he laid +his tribute there from day to day. Neither did he neglect to pay his +visit to the shrine of St. Joseph, in the cloister, or St. Anthony of +Padua, whom he loved best of all, and whose statue stood under the +willows by the great pool of gold fish.</p> + +<p>He used to count the hours and the quarter hours as they chimed in the +belfry and he was beginning to grow fond of the inexorable routine and +to find it passing sweet and restful.</p> + +<p>He was unconsciously falling into a mode of life such as he had never +known before, and he seemed to feel a growing repugnance to the world +without him; how very far away it seemed now! He realized an increasing +sense of security so long as he lodged within those gates. His dark +robed companions, the amiable Fathers, cheered him, comforted him, +strengthened him; and yet when his ghostly father one day sent word to +Clitheroe that he desired to see him immediately, and thereupon insisted +that the heart-broken boy accompany him to the retreat of his Order, he +had no thought other than to offer Paul the change of scene which alone +might help to tide the youth over the first crushing pangs of +bereavement.</p> + +<p>"Give me a week or two of your time," pleaded the good priest—"and I +will introduce you to a course of life such as you have never known; it +should interest and perhaps benefit you; possibly you may find it +delightful. At any rate you must be hastened out of the morbid mood +which now possesses you, even if we have to drag you by force."</p> + +<p>So Paul went with him, suddenly and in a kind of desperation: his visit +was prolonged from day to day, until some weeks had passed. Peace was +returning to him—peace such as he had never known before.</p> + +<hr style='width: 45%;' /> + +<p>Meanwhile certain of the young poet's friends had called to see him at +the Eyrie, and to their amazement found his rooms deserted; in the +staring bay window with the inner blinds thrown wide open was notice "To +Let." His landlady knew nothing of his whereabouts. He had said good-bye +to no one. His disappearance was perhaps the most mysterious of +mysterious disappearances!</p> + +<hr style='width: 45%;' /> + +<p>Now, what really happened was this. Having packed everything he valued +and seen it safely stored, he settled with his landlady and went down to +the Club. It was his P.P.C., though no one there suspected it, and with +just a touch of sentiment—he walked through the rooms alone; he saw at +a glance that the usual habitues of the place were employing themselves +in the same old way. Though he had not been there often of late, no one +seemed much surprised to see him; he passed through the suite of rooms +without addressing himself to any one in particular; a glance of +recognition here and there; a smile, a slight nod, now and again, this +was all. Having made the rounds he returned to the cloak-room, took his +hat and cane and departed.</p> + +<p>From that hour dated his disappearance. From that hour the Eyrie saw him +no more forever.</p> + +<hr style='width: 45%;' /> + + + +<hr style='width: 65%;' /> +<a name='MCIV'></a><h2>IV.</h2> + +<h3>BY THE WORLD FORGOT</h3> +<br /> + +<p><img align='left' src="images/illus-f.png" height="75" width="75" +alt= "F"> + +<b><big>OR</big></b> a long while he had been listening to the moan of the sea—the wail +and the warning that rise from every reef in that wild waste of waters. +There was no moon, but the large stars cast each a wake upon the wave, +and the distant surf-lines were faintly illuminated by a phosphorescent +glow.</p> + +<p>There were reefs on every hand, and treacherous currents that would have +imperilled the ribs of any craft depending on the winds alone for its +salvation; but the "<i>Waring</i>," its pulse of steam throbbing with a slow +measured beat, picked its way in the glimmering night with a confidence +that made light of dangers past, present, and to come.</p> + +<p>It had struck eight-bells forward; midnight; the air was warm, moist, +caressing; it stole forth from invisible but not far distant vales +ladened with the unmistakable odor of the land—a fragrance that was at +times faint enough, but at other times was almost overwhelming; from the +heart of the tropics only, is such perfume distilled; few who inhale it +for the first time can resist its subtle charm; its influence once +yielded to, the soul is soon enslaved and the dreams that follow are +never to be forgotten.</p> + +<p>Eight-bells, and silence broken only by the swish of the propeller as it +ploughed slowly, deliberately, through the sea; the slap of the ripples +under the prow, and an occasional harp-like sigh of the zephyr in the +softly-vibrating shrouds; Paul Clitheroe had stolen out of the cabin and +was sitting by the companion-way on the port side. A small ladder still +hung there, for there had been boating and bathing just before dinner, +and there was sure to be more or less fishing whenever the weather was +favorable. Moreover, it must be acknowledged that the yacht was +liberty-hall afloat, yes, adrift, on a go-as-you-please cruise, and +things were not always in ship-shape.</p> + +<p>An old half-breed Trader, who knew these seas as the star-gazer knows +the skies, was in the wheelhouse; every wakeful eye among officers and +crew, was at the prow peering into the depth in search of +danger-signals; every ear was listening intently for an order from the +lips of the pilot, and for the first whisper of the wave upon the reef. +Meanwhile the vessel crept forward with utmost caution, barely ruffling +the water under her keel.</p> + +<p><i>One Bell! Two Bells!</i> Clitheroe had for a long time been sitting +unobserved by the companion-way. He had dined with a riotous company and +withdrew as soon after dinner as possible; this privilege was freely +accorded him, for he was at intervals gloomy, or silent, and his +companions were quite willing to dispense with his society. Hilarity had +ceased for the night, the fact was patent. The truth is, there was apt +to be something too much of it aboard that ship. When a young gentleman, +on the death of a distant relative, comes suddenly into an almost +fabulous fortune, he is apt to set about doing that which pleases him +best; in all probability he overdoes it. If he be fond of any society +and is willing to pay for the purchase of it, he will find no difficulty +in supplying himself, even to the verge of satiety.</p> + +<p>A certain gentleman who shall be nameless in these pages but who came to +be known among his followers as <i>The Commodore</i>, finding himself heir to +a fortune, chartered a yacht for a summer cruise, and invited his +friends to join him. The yacht had been for some weeks the scene of +unceasing festivity; the joyous party on board her had passed from +island to island, the feted guests of Kings and Queens and dusky Chiefs; +feasting, dancing, and the exchange of gifts—these were the order of +entertainment night and day.</p> + +<p>It was a novel life for most who were on board, filled with adventure +and spectacular surprises. The Commodore's hospitality was boundless; +the appetites of his guests insatiable. But Clitheroe had seen all this +from quite another point of view; he had been a native among the +natives; admitted into brotherhood with the tribe, he had lived the life +they lead until it had become as natural to him as if he had been born +to it. Their thoughts were his thoughts, their tongue, his tongue. He +was thinking of this as he sat by the companion-way, in the silence, +unobserved.</p> + +<p><i>Three Bells!</i> He rose and going to the open transom, looked down into +the cabin. The long dinner table had been relieved of dessert-dishes, +but the after-dinner bottles were there in profusion, and cigar-boxes +and cigarettes within convenient reach; it was an odd scene; a picture +of confusion in a dead calm. The lights were burning low and there was +no sound save the hoarse breathing of some of the revelers who had +subsided into uncomfortable positions and were too heavy with sleep to +seek easier ones. Clitheroe saw at the head of the table the Commodore, +stretched back in his easy chair; he was fast asleep; there was no doubt +about that. His guests one and all were dozing. The drowsy stupor that +follows a debauch pervaded the whole company. I venture the assurance +that not one person present could have been aroused in season to save +himself or herself had the ship at that moment struck a reef, and +foundered.</p> + +<p>There they were, dimly outlined under the cabin-lamps, the companions +with whom for a season Clitheroe had been more or less intimately +associated in the Misty City; the Bohemians who had found it an easy and +pleasant thing to flock upon the deck of the "<i>Waring</i>," one foggy +afternoon, and set sail on a summer cruise. The Commodore invited them +for his entertainment, and because he was a mighty good fellow and could +afford to. They went for a change of air and scene, in search of +adventure—and moreover they were sure of luxurious hospitality for at +least six months. Clitheroe joined the company, not only for the reason +that there seemed nothing else for him to do, but he was glad of the +opportunity of revisiting a quarter of the globe so very dear to him. +This voyage, he thought, might re-awaken his interest in life; at any +rate, he could lose nothing by taking it, and that settled the question +for him.</p> + +<p>The singers, the dancers, the painters and poets made life very lively +in that summer sea; it was a case of sweet idleness with wine, women and +wits, and all the world before them where to choose. It must be +confessed that Clitheroe had enjoyed himself in the society of these old +comrades—you would recognize most of them were he to name them; but +tonight, or rather this early morning he had begun to moralize, as he +peered down the transom upon the half-shadowy forms of those feasters +who had fallen by the way. He was asking himself if it paid—this +high-pressure happiness that knew no respite save temporary +insensibility? He began to think that it did not, and with a shrug of +his shoulders and a faint sigh, he turned away. He was about to resume +his solitary watch, for he could not sleep on such a night, when his eye +was attracted by a flitting shadow weaving to and fro astern; it seemed +to be soaring upon the face of the waters; was it some broad-winged +sea-bird following in their wake? He watched it as it drew near, growing +larger and larger every moment. No! it was not a bird; but it was the +next thing to one.</p> + +<p>Out of the darkness was evolved the slender hull of a canoe, the wide, +many ribbed sail, and the dusky forms of three naked islanders. They had +not yet taken note of him; with a sudden impulse, he stole up to the +transom, and standing over it so that the lights from the cabin-lamps +shone full upon him, he waved a signal to the savages, enjoining +silence, and bidding them approach with caution.</p> + +<p>In a few moments they had wafted themselves noiselessly up under the +companion ladder, and there, with suppressed excitement, he was +recognized. Old friends these, pals in the past, young chiefs from an +island he had loved and mourned.</p> + +<p>There was a moment of passionate greeting, and but a moment, in the +silence under the stars, then, with a sudden resolve, and with never a +glance backward, Clitheroe, descending the ladder, entered the canoe +and it swung off into the night.</p> + +<p>Two hours later, the "<i>Waring</i>," having run clear of the labyrinthine +reefs, steamed up and was out of sight before daybreak.</p> + +<hr style='width: 45%;' /> + +<p>"<i>And what is left? Dust and Ash and a Tale—or not even a Tale</i>!"</p> + +<p>MARCUS AURELIUS.</p> + +<br /><br /> +<hr style='width: 45%;' /> + +<p>FOOTNOTES:</p> + +<a name='Footnote_1'></a><a href='#FNanchor_1'> +[1]</a><div class='note'><p> In "California," 1886,—one of the admirable American +Commonwealths Series.</p></div> + +<a name='Footnote_2'></a><a href='#FNanchor_2'>[2]</a><div class='note'><p> NOTE: +The author has confused the murre with the sea-gull. +It was the egg of the murre that was marketed.</p></div> + + + + + + + + + +<pre> + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of In the Footprints of the Padres +by Charles Warren Stoddard + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK IN THE FOOTPRINTS OF THE PADRES *** + +***** This file should be named 13321-h.htm or 13321-h.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + https://www.gutenberg.org/1/3/3/2/13321/ + +Produced by PG Distributed Proofreaders + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: In the Footprints of the Padres + +Author: Charles Warren Stoddard + +Release Date: August 29, 2004 [EBook #13321] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK IN THE FOOTPRINTS OF THE PADRES *** + + + + +Produced by PG Distributed Proofreaders + + + + +[Illustration: Life at the Mission of Dolores, 1855] + + + IN THE + FOOTPRINTS OF + THE PADRES + + BY + CHARLES WARREN STODDARD + + + NEW AND ENLARGED EDITION + + + INTRODUCTION BY + CHARLES PHILLIPS + + + SAN FRANCISCO + A.M. Robertson + MCMXII + + + + + + TO MY FATHER + SAMUEL BURR STODDARD, ESQ. + FOR HALF A CENTURY + A CITIZEN OF SAN FRANCISCO + + + + + THOUGH THE KINDNESS OF THE EDITORS + OF THE SAN FRANCISCO CHRONICLE, + THE CENTURY MAGAZINE, THE + OVERLAND MONTHLY, THE + AVE MARIA, NOTRE DAME, INDIANA, + THE VICTORIAN REVIEW, MELBOURNE + + + + +INTRODUCTION + + +Since the first and second editions of "In the Footprints of the Padres" +appeared, many things have transpired. San Francisco has been destroyed +and rebuilt, and in its holocaust most of the old landmarks mentioned in +the pages that follow as then existing, have been obliterated. Since +then, too, the gentle heart, much of whose story is told herein, has +been hushed in death. Charles Warren Stoddard has followed on in the +footprints of the Padres he loved so well. He abides with us no longer, +save in the sweetest of memories, memories which are kept ever new by +the unforgettable writings which he left behind him. He passed away +April 23, 1909, and lies sleeping now under the cypresses of his beloved +Monterey. + +Charles Warren Stoddard was possessed of unique literary gifts that were +all his own. These gifts shine out in the pages of this book. Here we +find that mustang humor of his forever kicking its silver heels with the +most upsetting suddenness into the honeyed sweetness of his flowing +poetry. Here, too, we find that gift of word-painting which makes all +his writings a brilliant gallery of rich-hued and soft-lighted wonder. +Of the green thickets of the redwood forests he says, in "Primeval +California": "A dense undergrowth of light green foliage caught and held +the sunlight like so much spray." So do Stoddard's pages catch and hold +the lights and shadows of a world which is the more beautiful because he +beheld it and sang of it--for sing he did. His prose is the essence of +poetry. + +In my autograph copy of "The Footprints of the Padres" Stoddard wrote: +"A new memory of Old Monterey is the richer for our meeting here for the +first time in the flesh. We have often met in spirit ere this." Whenever +we would go walking together, he and I, through the streets of that old +Monterey, old no longer save in memory, he would invariably take me to a +certain high board fence, and looking through an opening show me the +ruins of an adobe house--nothing but a broken fireplace left, moss-grown +and crumbling away. "That is my old California," he would say, while his +sweet voice was shaken with tears. That desolated hearth seemed to him +the symbol of the California which he had known and loved.... But no, +the old California that Stoddard loved lives on, and will, because he +caught and preserved its spirit and its coloring, its light and life and +music. As the redwood thicket holds the sunlight, so do Stoddard's words +keep bright and living, though viewed through a mist of tears, the +California of other days. + +In this new edition of "The Footprints" some changes will be found, +changes which all will agree make an improvement over the original +volume. "Primeval California," first published in October, 1881, in the +old Scribner's (now The Century) Magazine, when James G. Holland was its +editor, is at times Stoddard at his best. "In Yosemite Shadows" shows us +the young Stoddard full of boyish enthusiasm--he could not have been +more than twenty when it was written and published, in the old Overland, +then edited by Bret Harte. It is more than a gloriously poetic +description of Yosemite, when Yosemite still dreamed in its virgin +beauty; it is the revelation of a poet's beginnings, for it gives us in +the rough, just finding their way to the light, all those gifts which +later won Stoddard his fame. + +The third addition to this volume is "An Affair of the Misty City," a +valuable chapter, since it is wholly autobiographical, and at the same +time embodies pen portraits of all the celebrities of California's first +literary days, that famous group of which Stoddard was one. Of all the +group, Ina Coolbrith was closest and dearest to Stoddard's heart. The +beautiful abiding friendship which bound the souls of these two poets +together has not been surpassed in all the poetry and romance of the +world. These last added chapters are taken from "In the Pleasure of His +Company," which is out of print and may never be republished. + +The "Mysterious History," included in the original editions of "The +Footprints" has wisely been left out. It had no proper place in the +book: Stoddard himself felt that. The additions which have been supplied +by Mr. Robertson, who was for years Stoddard's publisher, and in whom +the author reposed the utmost confidence, make a real improvement on the +original book. + +"We have often met in spirit ere this," Stoddard wrote me. We had; and +we meet again and again. I feel him very near me as I write these words; +and I feel, too, that his gentle soul will visit everyone who reads the +chronicles he has here set down, so that even though no shaft rise in +marble glory to mark his last resting place, still in unnumbered hearts +his memory will be enshrined. With his poet friend, Thomas Walsh, well +may we say: + + "Vain the laudation!--What are crowns and praise + To thee whom Youth anointed on the eyes? + We have but known the lesser heart of thee + Whose spirit bloomed in lilies down the ways + Of Padua; whose voice perpetual sighs + On Molokai in tides of melody." + +CHARLES PHILLIPS. + + San Francisco, + September first, + Nineteen hundred and eleven. + + + + +TABLE OF CONTENTS + + + Old Days in El Dorado-- + I. "Strange Countries for to See" + II. Crossing the Isthmus + III. Along the Pacific Shore + IV. In the Wake of Drake + V. Atop o' Telegraph Hill + VI. Pavement Pictures + VII. A Boy's Outing + VIII. The Mission Dolores + IX. Social San Francisco + X. Happy Valley + XI. The Vigilance Committee + XII. The Survivor's Story + + A Bit of Old China + + With the Egg-Pickers of the Farallones + + A Memory of Monterey + + In a Californian Bungalow + + Primeval California + + Inland Yachting + + In Yosemite Shadows + + An Affair of the Misty City-- + I. What the Moon Shone on + II. What the Sun Shone on + III. Balm of Hurt Wounds + IV. By the World Forgot + + + + + +LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS + + Life at the Mission of Dolores, 1855 + View of Montgomery, Post and Market Streets, San Francisco, 1858 + Fort Point at the Golden Gate + The Outer Signal Station at the Golden Gate + City of Oakland in 1856 + Interior of the El Dorado + Warner's at Meigg's Wharf + The Old Flume at Black Point, 1856 + Lone Mountain, 1856 + Russ Gardens, 1856 + Certificate of Membership, Vigilance Committee, 1856 + West from Black Point, 1856 + "China is Not More Chinese than this Section of Our Christian City." + "Rag Alley" in Old Chinatown + The Farallones + Murre on their Nests, Farallone Islands + Monterey, 1850 + San Carlos de Carmelo + "The Huge Court of that Luxurious Caravansary." + "The Gallery Among the Huge Vases of Palms and Creepers." + Meigg's Wharf in 1856 + Telegraph Hill, 1855 + Sentinel Hotel, Yosemite, in 1869 + San Francisco in 1856 + + + + + +THE BELLS OF SAN GABRIEL + + + Thine was the corn and the wine, + The blood of the grape that nourished; + The blossom and fruit of the vine + That was heralded far away. + These were thy gifts; and thine, + When the vine and the fig-tree flourished, + The promise of peace and of glad increase + Forever and ever and aye. + What then wert thou, and what art now? + Answer me, O, I pray! + + And every note of every bell + Sang Gabriel! Rang Gabriel! + In the tower that is left the tale to tell + Of Gabriel, the Archangel. + + Oil of the olive was thine; + Flood of the wine-press flowing; + Blood o' the Christ was the wine-- + Blood o' the Lamb that was slain. + Thy gifts were fat o' the kine + Forever coming and going + Far over the hills, the thousand hills-- + Their lowing a soft refrain. + What then wert thou, and what art now? + Answer me, once again! + + And every note of every bell + Sang Gabriel! Rang Gabriel! + In the tower that is left the tale to tell + Of Gabriel, the Archangel. + + Seed o' the corn was thine-- + Body of Him thus broken + And mingled with blood o' the vine-- + The bread and the wine of life; + Out of the good sunshine + They were given to thee as a token-- + The body of Him, and the blood of Him, + When the gifts of God were rife. + What then wert thou, and what art now, + After the weary strife? + + And every note of every bell + Sang Gabriel! Rang Gabriel! + In the tower that is left the tale to tell + Of Gabriel, the Archangel. + + Where are they now, O, bells? + Where are the fruits o' the mission? + Garnered, where no one dwells, + Shepherd and flock are fled. + O'er the Lord's vineyard swells + The tide that with fell perdition + Sounded their doom and fashioned their tomb + And buried them with the dead. + What then wert thou, and what art now?-- + The answer is still unsaid. + + And every note of every bell + Sang Gabriel! Rang Gabriel! + In the tower that is left the tale to tell + Of Gabriel, the Archangel. + + Where are they now, O tower! + The locusts and wild honey? + Where is the sacred dower + That the bride of Christ was given? + Gone to the wielders of power, + The misers and minters of money; + Gone for the greed that is their creed-- + And these in the land have thriven. + What then wer't thou, and what art now, + And wherefore hast thou striven? + + And every note of every bell + Sang Gabriel! Rang Gabriel! + In the tower that is left the tale to tell + Of Gabriel, the Archangel. + +CHARLES WARREN STODDARD. + + + + +IN THE FOOTPRINTS OF THE PADRES + + + + + +[Illustration: View of Montgomery, Post and Market Streets, San +Francisco, 1858] + + + + +OLD DAYS IN EL DORADO + +I. + +"STRANGE COUNTRIES FOR TO SEE" + + +Now, the very first book was called "Infancy"; and, having finished it, +I closed it with a bang! I was just twelve. 'Tis thus the +twelve-year-old is apt to close most books. Within those pages--perhaps +some day to be opened to the kindly inquiring eye--lie the records of a +quiet life, stirred at intervals by spasms of infantile intensity. There +are more days than one in a life that can be written of, and when the +clock strikes twelve the day is but half over. + +The clock struck twelve! We children had been watching and waiting for +it. The house had been stripped bare; many cases of goods were awaiting +shipment around Cape Horn to California. California! A land of fable! We +knew well enough that our father was there, and had been for two years +or more; and that we were at last to go to him, and dwell there with the +fabulous in a new home more or less fabulous,--yet we felt that it must +be altogether lovely. We said good-bye to everybody,--getting friends +and fellow-citizens more or less mixed as the hour of departure from our +native city drew near. We were very much hugged and very much kissed and +not a little cried over; and then at last, in a half, dazed condition, +we left Rochester, New York, for New York city, on our way to San +Francisco by the Nicaragua route. This was away back in 1855, when San +Francisco, it may be said, was only six years old. + +It seemed a supreme condescension on the part of our maternal +grandfather that he, who did not and could not for a moment countenance +the theatre, should voluntarily take us, one and all, to see an alleged +dramatic representation at Barnum's Museum--at that time one of the +features of New York city, and perhaps the most famous place of +amusement in the land. Four years later, when I was sixteen, very far +from home and under that good gentleman's watchful supervision, I asked +leave to witness a dramatic version of "Uncle Tom's Cabin," enacted by a +small company of strolling players in a canvas tent. There were no +blood-hounds in the cast, and mighty little scenery, or anything else +alluring; but I was led to believe that I had been trembling upon the +verge of something direful, and I was not allowed to go. What would that +pious man have said could he have seen me, a few years later, strutting +and fretting my hour upon the stage? + +Well, we all saw "Damon and Pythias" in Barnum's "Lecture Room," with +real scenery that split up the middle and slid apart over a carpet of +green baize. And 'twas a real play, played by real players,--at least +they were once real players, but that was long before. It may be their +antiquated and failing art rendered them harmless. And, then, those +beguiling words "Lecture Room" have such a soothing sound! They seemed +in those days to hallow the whole function, which was, of course, the +wily wish of the great moral entertainer; and his great moral +entertainment was even as "the cups that cheer but not inebriate." It +came near it in our case, however. It was our first matinee at the +theatre, and, oh, the joy we took of it! Years afterward did we children +in our playroom, clad in "the trailing garments of the night" in lieu of +togas, sink our identity for the moment and out-rant Damon and his +Pythias. Thrice happy days so long ago in California! + +There is no change like a sea change, no matter who suffers it; and +one's first sea voyage is a revelation. The mystery of it is usually not +unmixed with misery. Five and forty years ago it was a very serious +undertaking to uproot one's self, say good-bye to all that was nearest +and dearest, and go down beyond the horizon in an ill-smelling, +overcrowded, side-wheeled tub. Not a soul on the dock that day but fully +realized this. The dock and the deck ran rivers of tears, it seemed to +me; and when, after the lingering agony of farewells had reached the +climax, and the shore-lines were cast off, and the Star of the West +swung out into the stream, with great side-wheels fitfully revolving, a +shriek rent the air and froze my young blood. Some mother parting from a +son who was on board our vessel, no longer able to restrain her emotion, +was borne away, frantically raving in the delirium of grief. I have +never forgotten that agonizing scene, or the despairing wail that was +enough to pierce the hardest heart. I imagined my heart was about to +break; and when we put out to sea in a damp and dreary drizzle, and the +shore-line dissolved away, while on board there was overcrowding, and +confusion worse confounded in evidence everywhere,--perhaps it did +break, that overwrought heart of mine and has been a patched thing ever +since. + +We were a miserable lot that night, pitched to and fro and rolled from +side to side as if we were so much baggage. And there was a special +horror in the darkness, as well as in the wind that hissed through the +rigging, and in the waves that rushed past us, sheeted with foam that +faded ghostlike as we watched it,--faded ghostlike, leaving the +blackness of darkness to enfold us and swallow us up. + +Day after day for a dozen days we ploughed that restless sea. There were +days into which the sun shone not; when everybody and everything was +sticky with salty distillations; when half the passengers were sea-sick +and the other half sick of the sea. The decks were slimy, the cabins +stuffy and foul. The hours hung heavily, and the horizon line closed in +about us a gray wall of mist. + +Then I used to bury myself in my books and try to forget the world, now +lost to sight, and, as I sometimes feared, never to be found again. I +had brought my private library with me; it was complete in two volumes. +There was "Rollo Crossing the Atlantic," by dear old Jacob Abbot; and +this book of juvenile travel and adventure I read on the spot, as it +were,--read it carefully, critically; flattering myself that I was a lad +of experience, capable of detecting any nautical error which Jacob, one +of the most prolific authors of his day, might perchance have made. The +other volume was a pocket copy of "Robinson Crusoe," upon the fly-leaf +of which was scrawled, in an untutored hand, "Charley from +Freddy,"--this Freddy was my juvenile chum. I still have that little +treasure, with its inscription undimmed by time. + +Frequently I have thought that the reading of this charming book may +have been the predominating influence in the development of my taste and +temper; for it was while I was absorbed in the exquisitely pathetic +story of Robinson Crusoe that the first island I ever saw dawned upon my +enchanted vision. We had weathered Cape Sable and the Florida Keys. No +sky was ever more marvellously blue than the sea beneath us. The density +and the darkness that prevail in Northern waters had gone out of it; the +sun gilded it, the moon silvered it, and the great stars dropped their +pearl-plummets into it in the vain search for soundings. + +Sea gardens were there,--floating gardens adrift in the tropic gale; +pale green gardens of berry and leaf and long meandering vine, rocking +upon the waves that lapped the shores of the Antilles, feeding the +current of the warm Gulf Stream; and, forsooth, some of them to find +their way at last into the mazes of that mysterious, mighty, menacing +sargasso sea. Strange sea-monsters, more beautiful than monstrous, +sported in the foam about our prow, and at intervals dashed it with +color like animated rainbows. From wave to wave the flying fish skimmed +like winged arrows of silver. Sometimes a land-bird was blown across the +sky--the sea-birds we had always with us,--and ever the air was spicy +and the breeze like a breath of balm. + +One day a little cloud dawned upon our horizon. It was at first pale +and pearly, then pink like the hollow of a sea-shell, then misty +blue,--a darker blue, a deep blue dissolving into green, and the green +outlining itself in emerald, with many a shade of lighter or darker +green fretting its surface, throwing cliff and crest into high relief, +and hinting at misty and mysterious vales, as fair as fathomless. It +floated up like a cloud from the nether world, and was at first without +form and void, even as its fellows were; but as we drew nearer--for we +were steaming toward it across a sea of sapphire,--it brooded upon the +face of the water, while the clouds that had hung about it were +scattered and wafted away. + +Thus was an island born to us of sea and sky,--an island whose peak was +sky-kissed, whose vales were overshadowed by festoons of vapor, whose +heights were tipped with sunshine, and along whose shore the sea sang +softly, and the creaming breakers wreathed themselves, flashed like +snow-drifts, vanished and flashed again. The sea danced and sparkled; +the air quivered with vibrant light. Along the border of that island the +palm-trees towered and reeled, and all its gardens breathed perfume such +as I had never known or dreamed of. + +For a few hours only we basked in its beauty, rejoiced in it, gloried in +it; and then we passed it by. Even as it had risen from the sea it +returned into its bosom and was seen no more. Twilight stole in between +us, and the night blotted it out forever. Forever? + +I wonder what island it was? A pearl of the Antilles, surely; but its +name and fame, its history and mystery are lost to me. Its memory lives +and is as green as ever. No wintry blasts visit it; even the rich dyes +of autumn do not discolor it. It is perennial in its rare beauty, +unfading, unforgotten, unforgettable; a thing immutable, immemorial--I +had almost said immortal. + +Whence it came and whither it has gone I know not. It had its rising and +its setting; its day from dawn to dusk was perfect. Doubtless there are +those whose lives have been passed within its tranquil shade: from +generation to generation it has known all that they have known of joy or +sorrow. All the world that they have knowledge of has been compassed by +the far blue rim of the horizon. That sky-piercing peak was ever the +centre of their universe, and the wandering sea-bird has outflown their +thoughts. + +All this came to me as a child, when the first island "swam into my +ken." It was a great discovery--a revelation. Of it were born all the +islands that have been so much to me in later life. And even then I +seemed to comprehend the singular life that all islanders are forced to +live: the independence of that life--for a man's island is his fortress, +girded about with the fathomless moat of the sea; and the dependence of +it--for what is that island but an atom dotting watery space and so +easily cut off from communication with the world at large? Drought may +visit the islander, and he may be starved; the tornado may desolate his +shore; fever and famine and thirst may lie in wait for him; sickness and +sorrow and death abide with him. Thus is he dependent in his +independence. + +And he is insecluded in his seclusion, for he can not escape from the +intruder. He should have no wish that may not be satisfied, provided he +be native born; what can he wish for that is beyond the knowledge he has +gained from the objects within his reach? The world is his, so far as he +knows it; yet if he have one wish that calls for aught beyond his +limited horizon he rests unsatisfied. + +All that was lovely in that tropic isle appealed to me and filled me +with a great longing. I wanted to sing with the Beloved Bard: + + Oh, had we some bright little isle of our own, + In the blue summer ocean, far off and alone! + +And yet even then I felt its unutterable loneliness, as I have felt it a +thousand times since; the loneliness that starves the heart, tortures +the brain, and leaves the mind diseased; the loneliness that is +exemplified in the solitude of Alexander Selkirk. + +Robinson Crusoe lived in very truth for me the moment I saw and +comprehended that summer isle. He also is immortal. From that hour we +scoured the sea for islands: from dawn to dark we were on the watch. The +Caribbean Sea is well stocked with them. We were threading our way among +them, and might any day hear the glad cry of "Land ho!" But we heard it +not until the morning of the eleventh day out from New York. The sea +seemed more lonesome than ever when we lost our, island; the monotony of +our life was almost unbroken. We began to feel as prisoners must feel +whose _time_ is near out. Oh, how the hours lagged!--but deliverance was +at hand. At last we gave a glad shout, for the land was ours again; we +were to disembark in the course of a few hours, and all was bustle and +confusion until we dropped anchor off the Mosquito Shore. + + + + +II. + +CROSSING THE ISTHMUS + + +We approached the Mosquito Shore timidly. The shallowing sea was of the +color of amber; the land so low and level that the foliage which covered +it seemed to be rooted in the water. We dropped anchor in the mouth of +the San Juan River. On our right lay the little Spanish village of San +Juan del Norte; its five hundred inhabitants may have been wading +through its one street at that moment, for aught we know; the place +seemed to be knee-deep in water. On our left was a long strip of +land--the depot and coaling station of the Vanderbilt Steamship Company. + +It did not appear to be much, that sandspit known as Punta Arenas, with +its row of sheds at the water's edge, and its scattering shrubs tossing +in the wind; but sovereignty over this very point was claimed by three +petty powers: Costa Rica, Nicaragua, and "Mosquito." Great Britain +backed the "Mosquito" claim; and, in virtue of certain privileges +granted by the "Mosquito" King, the authorities of San Juan del +Norte--the port better known in those days as Graytown, albeit 'twas as +green as grass--threatened to seize Punta Arenas for public use. +Thereupon Graytown was bombarded; but immediately rose, Phoenix-like, +from its ashes, and was flourishing when we arrived. The current number +of _Harper's Monthly_, a copy of which we brought on board when we +embarked at New York, contained an illustrated account of the +bombardment of Graytown, which added not a little to the interest of the +hour. + +While we were speculating as to the nature of our next experience, +suddenly a stern-wheel, flat-bottom boat backed up alongside of the Star +of the West. She was of the pattern of the small freight-boats that +still ply the Ohio and Mississippi rivers. If the Star of the West was +small, this stern-wheel scow was infinitely smaller. There was but one +cabin, and it was rendered insufferably hot by the boilers that were set +in the middle of it. There was one flush deck, with an awning stretched +above it that extended nearly to the prow of the boat. It was said our +passenger list numbered fourteen hundred. The gold boom in California +was still at fever heat. Every craft that set sail for the Isthmus by +the Nicaragua or Panama route, or by the weary route around Cape Horn, +was packed full of gold-seekers. It was the Golden Age of the Argonauts; +and, if my memory serves me well, there were no reserved seats worth the +price thereof. + +The first river boat at our disposal was for the exclusive accommodation +of the cabin passengers, or as many of them as could be crowded upon +her--and we were among them. Other steamers were to follow as soon as +practicable. Hours, even days, passed by, and the passengers on the +ocean steamers were sometimes kept waiting the arrival of the river +boats that were aground or had been belated up the stream. + +About two hundred of us boarded the first boat. Our luggage of the +larger sort was stowed away in barges and towed after us. The decks were +strewn with hand-bags, camp-stools, bundles, and rolls of rugs. The +lower deck was two feet above the water. As we looked back upon the Star +of the West, waving a glad farewell to the ship that had brought us more +than two thousand miles across the sea, she loomed like a Noah's Ark +above the flood, and we were quite proud of her--but not sorry to say +good-bye. + +And now away, into the very heart of a Central American forest! And hail +to the new life that lay all before us in El Dorado! The river was as +yellow as saffron; its shores were hidden in a dense growth of +underbrush that trailed its boughs in the water, and rose, a wall of +verdure, far above our smokestacks. As we ascended the stream the forest +deepened; the trees grew taller and taller; wide-spreading branches +hung over us; gigantic vines clambered everywhere and made huge hammocks +of themselves; they bridged the bayous, and made dark leafy caverns +wherein the shadows were forbidding; for the sunshine seemed never to +have penetrated them, and they were the haunts of weirdness and mystery +profound. + +Sometimes a tree that had fallen into the water and lay at a convenient +angle by the shore afforded the alligator a comfortable couch for his +sun-bath. Shall I ever forget the excitement occasioned by the discovery +of our first alligator! Not the ancient and honorable crocodile of the +Nile was ever greeted with greater enthusiasm; yet our sportsmen had +very little respect for him, and his sleep was disturbed by a shower of +bullets that spattered upon his hoary scales as harmlessly as rain. + +Though the alligator punctuated every adventurous hour of that memorable +voyage in Nicaragua, we children were more interested in our Darwinian +friends, the monkeys. They were of all shades and shapes and sizes; they +descended in troops among the trees by the river side; they called to us +and beckoned us shoreward; they cried to us, they laughed at us; they +reached out their bony arms, and stretched wide their slim, cold hands +to us, as if they would pluck us as we passed. We exchanged compliments +and clubs in a sham-battle that was immensely diverting; we returned +the missiles they threw at us as long as the ammunition held out, but +captured none of the enemy, nor did the slightest damage--as far as we +could ascertain. + +Often the parrots squalled at us, but their vocabulary was limited; for +they were untaught of men. Sometimes the magnificent macaw flew over us, +with its scarlet plumage flickering like flame. Oh, but those gorgeous +birds were splashes of splendid color in the intense green of that +tropical background! + +There were islands in this river,--islands that seemed to have no +shores, but lay half submerged in mid-stream, like huge water-logged +bouquets. There were sand-bars in the river, and upon these we sometimes +ran, and were brought to a sudden stand-still that startled us not a +little; then we backed off with what dignity we might, and gave the +unwelcome obstructions a wide berth. + +Perhaps the most interesting event of the voyage was "wooding up." A few +hours after we had entered the river our steamer made for the shore. +More than once in her course she had rounded points that seemed to block +the way; and occasionally there were bends so abrupt that we found +ourselves apparently land-locked in the depths of a wilderness which +might well be called prodigious. Now it was evident that we were heading +for the shore, and with a purpose, too. As we drew nearer, we saw among +the deep tangle of leaves and vines a primitive landing. It was a little +dock with a thatched lodge in the rear of it and a few cords of wood +stacked upon its end. There were some natives here--Indians +probably,--with dark skins bared from head to foot; they wore only the +breech-clout, and this of the briefest. Evidently they were children of +Nature. + +Having made fast to this dock, these woodmen speedily shouldered the +fuel and hurried it on board, while they chanted a rhythmical chant that +lent a charm to the scene. We were never weary of "wooding up," and were +always wondering where these gentle savages lived and how they escaped +with their lives from the thousand and one pests that haunted the forest +and lay in wait for them. Every biting and stinging thing was there. The +mosquitoes nearly devoured us, especially at night; while serpents, +scorpions, centipedes, possessed the jungle. There also was the lair of +larger game. It is said that sharks will pick a white man out of a crowd +of dark ones in the sea; not that he is a more tempting and toothsome +morsel--drenched with nicotine, he may indeed be less appetizing than +his dark-skinned, fruit-fed fellow,--but his silvery skin is a good +sea-mark, as the shark has often confirmed. So these dark ones in the +semi-darkness of the wood may, perhaps, pass with impunity where a +pale-face would fall an easy prey. + +At the Rapids of Machuca we debarked. Here was a miry portage about a +mile in length, through which we waded right merrily; for it seemed an +age since last we had set foot to earth. Our freight was pulled up the +Rapids in _bongas_ (row-boats), manned by natives; but our steamer could +not pass, and so returned to the Star of the West for another load of +passengers. + +There was mire at Machuca, and steaming heat; but the path along the +river-bank was shaded by wondrous trees, and we were overwhelmed with +the offer of all the edible luxuries of the season at the most alarming +prices. There was no coin in circulation smaller than a dime. Everything +salable was worth a dime, or two or three, to the seller. It didn't seem +to make much difference what price was asked by the merchant: he got it, +or you went without refreshments. It was evident there was no market +between meals at Machuca Rapids, and steamer traffic enlivened it but +twice in the month. + +What oranges were there!--such as one seldom sees outside the tropics: +great globes of delicious dew shut in a pulpy crust half an inch in +thickness, of a pale green tinge, and oozing syrup and an oily spray +when they are broken. Bananas, mangoes, guavas, sugar-cane,--on these we +fed; and drank the cream of the young cocoanut, goat's milk, and the +juices of various luscious fruits served in carven gourds,--delectable +indeed, but the nature of which was past our speculation. It was enough +to eat and to drink and to wallow a muddy mile for the very joy of it, +after having been toeing the mark on a ship's deck for a dozen days or +less, and feeding on ship's fodder. + +Our second transport was scarcely an improvement on the first. Again we +threaded the river, which seemed to grow broader and deeper as we drew +near its fountain-head, Lake Nicaragua. Upon a height above the river +stood a military post, El Castillo, much fallen to decay. Here were +other rapids, and here we were transferred to a lake boat on which we +were to conclude our voyage. Those stern-wheel scows could never weather +the lake waters. + +We had passed a night on the river boat,--a night of picturesque +horrors. The cabin was impossible: nobody braved its heat. The deck was +littered with luggage and crowded with recumbent forms. A few fortunate +voyagers--men of wisdom and experience--were provided with comfortable +hammocks; and while most of us were squirming beneath them, they swung +in mid-air, under a breadth of mosquito netting, slumbering sonorously +and obviously oblivious of all our woes. + +If I forget not, I cared not to sleep. We were very soon to leave the +river and enter the lake. From the boughs of overarching trees swept +beards of dark gray moss some yards in length, that waved to and fro in +the gathering twilight like folds of funereal crape. There were +camp-fires at the wooding stations, the flames of which painted the +foliage extraordinary colors and spangled it with sparks. Great flocks +of unfamiliar birds flew over us, their brilliant plumage taking a +deeper dye as they flashed their wings in the firelight. The chattering +monkeys skirmished among the branches; sometimes a dull splash in the +water reminded us that the alligator was still our neighbor; and ever +there was the piping of wild birds whose notes we had never heard +before, and whose outlines were as fantastic as those of the bright +objects that glorify an antique Japanese screen. + +Once from the shore, a canoe shot out of the shadow and approached us. +It was a log hollowed out--only the shell remained. Within it sat two +Indians,--not the dark creatures we had grown familiar with down the +river; these also were nearly nude, but with the picturesque nudeness +that served only to set off the ornaments with which they had adorned +themselves--necklaces of shells, wristlets and armlets of bright metal, +wreaths of gorgeous flowers and the gaudy plumage of the flamingo. They +drew near us for a moment, only to greet us and turn away; and very +soon, with splash of dipping paddles, they vanished in the dusk. + +These were the flowers of the forest. All the winding way from the sea +the river walls had been decked with floral splendor. Gigantic blossoms +that might shame a rainbow starred the green spaces of the wood; but of +all we had seen or heard or felt or dreamed of, none has left an +impression so vivid, so inspiring, so instinct with the beauty and the +poetry and the music of the tropics, as those twilight mysteries that +smiled upon us for a moment and vanished, even as the great fire-flies +that paled like golden rockets in the dark. + + + + +III. + +ALONG THE PACIFIC SHORE + + +All night we tossed on the bosom of the lake between San Carlos, at the +source of the San Juan river, and Virgin Bay, on the opposite shore. The +lake is on a table-land a hundred feet or more above the sea; it is a +hundred miles in length and forty-five in width. Our track lay +diagonally across it, a stretch of eighty miles; and when the morning +broke upon us we were upon the point of dropping anchor under the cool +shadow of cloud-capped mountains and in a most refreshing temperature. + +Oh, the purple light of dawn that flooded the Bay of the Blessed Virgin! +Of course the night was a horror, and it was our second in transit; but +we were nearing the end of the journey across the Isthmus and were +shortly to embark for San Francisco. I fear we children regretted the +fact. Our life for three days had been like a veritable "Jungle Book." +It almost out-Kiplinged Kipling. We might never again float through +Monkey Land, with clouds of parrots hovering over us and a whole +menagerie of extraordinary creatures making side-shows of themselves on +every hand. + +At Virgin Bay we were crowded like sheep into lighters, that were +speedily overladen. Very serious accidents have happened in consequence. +A year before our journey an overcrowded barge was swamped at Virgin Bay +and four and twenty passengers were drowned. The "Transit Company," +supposed to be responsible for the life and safety of each one of us, +seemed to trouble itself very little concerning our fate. The truth was +they had been paid in full before we boarded the Star of the West at +Pier No. 2, North River. + +Having landed in safety, in spite of the negligence of the "Transit +Company," our next move was to secure some means of transportation over +the mountain and down to San Juan del Sur. We were each provided with a +ticket calling for a seat in the saddle or on a bench in a springless +wagon. Naturally, the women and children were relegated to the wagons, +and were there huddled together like so much live stock destined for the +market. The men scrambled and even fought for the diminutive donkeys +that were to bear them over the mountain pass. A circus knows no comedy +like ours on that occasion. It is true we had but twelve miles to +traverse, and some of these were level; but by and by the road dipped +and climbed and swerved and plunged into the depths, only to soar again +along the giddy verge of some precipice that overhung a fathomless +abyss. That is how it seemed to us as we clung to the hard benches of +our wagon with its four-mule attachment. + +Once a wagon just ahead of us, having refused to answer to its brakes, +went rushing down a fearful grade and was hurled into a tangle of +underbrush,--which is doubtless what saved the lives of its occupants, +for they landed as lightly as if on feather-beds. From that hour our +hearts were in our throats. Even the thatched lodges of the natives, +swarming with bare brown babies, and often having tame monkeys and +parrots in the doorways, could not beguile us; nor all the fruits, were +they never so tempting; nor the flowers, though they were past belief +for size and shape and color and perfume. + +Over the shining heights the wind scudded, behatting many a head that +went bare thereafter. Out of the gorges ascended the voice of the +waters, dashing noisily but invisibly on their joyous way to the sea. +From one of those heights, looking westward over groves of bread-fruit +trees and fixed fountains of feathery bamboo, over palms that towered +like plumes in space and made silhouettes against the sky, we saw a +long, level line of blue--as blue and bluer than the sky itself,--and we +knew it was the Pacific! We were little fellows in those days, we +children; yet I fancy that we felt not unlike Balboa when we knelt upon +that peak in Darien and thanked God that he had the glory of discovering +a new and unnamed ocean. + +Why, I wonder, did Keats, in his famous sonnet "On First Looking into +Chapman's Homer," make his historical mistake when he sang-- + + Then felt I like some watcher of the skies + When a new planet swims into his ken; + Or like stout _Cortez_ when with eagle eyes, + He stared at the Pacific,--and all his men + Looked at each other with a wild surmise-- + Silent, upon a peak in Darien. + +It mattered not to us whether our name was Cortez or Balboa. With any +other name we would have been just as jolly; for we were looking for the +first time upon a sea that was to us as good as undiscovered, and we +were shortly to brave it in a vessel bound for the Golden Gate. At our +time of life that smacked a little of circumnavigation. + +San Juan del Sur! It was scarcely to be called a village,--a mere +handful of huts scattered upon the shore of a small bay and almost +surrounded by mountains. It had no street, unless the sea sands it +fronted upon could be called such. It had no church, no school, no +public buildings. Its hotels were barns where the gold-seekers were fed +without ceremony on beans and hardtack. Fruits were plentiful, and that +was fortunate. + +There, as in every settlement in Central America, the eaves of the +dwellings were lined with Turkey buzzards. These huge birds are regarded +with something akin to veneration. They are never molested; indeed, like +the pariah dogs of the Orient, they have the right of way; and they are +evidently conscious of the fact, for they are tamer than barnyard fowls. +They are the scavengers of the tropics. They sit upon the housetop and +among the branches of the trees, awaiting the hour when the refuse of +the domestic meal is thrown into the street. There is no drainage in +those villages; strange to say, even in the larger cities there is none. +Offal of every description is cast forth into the highways and byways; +and at that moment, with one accord, down sweep the grim sentinels to +devour it. They feast upon carrion and every form of filth. They are +polution personified, and yet they are the salvation of the indolent +people, who would, but for the timely service of these ravenous birds, +soon be wallowing in fetid refuse and putrefaction under the fierce rays +of their merciless sun. + +In the twilight we wandered by a crescent shore that was thickly strewn +with shells. They were not the tribute of northern waters: they were as +delicately fashioned and as variously tinted as flowers. All that they +lacked was fragrance; and this we realized as we stored them carefully +away, resolving that they should become the nucleus of a museum of +natural history as soon as we got settled in our California home. + +We had crossed the Isthmus in safety. Yonder, in the offing, the ship +that was to carry us northward to San Francisco lay at anchor. For three +days we had suffered the joys of travel and adventure. On the San Juan +river we had again and again touched points along the varying routes +proposed, by the Maritime Canal Company of Nicaragua and the Walker +Commission, as being practical for the construction of a great ship +canal that shall join the Atlantic and the Pacific Oceans. We had passed +from sea to sea, a distance of about two hundred miles. + +The San Juan river, one hundred and twenty miles in length, has a fall +of one foot to the mile. This will necessitate the introduction of at +least six massive locks between the Atlantic and the lake. Sometimes the +river can be utilized, but not without dredging; for it is shallow from +beginning to end, and near its mouth is ribbed with sand-bars. For +seventy miles the lake is navigable for vessels of the heaviest draught. +Beyond the lake there must be a clean-cut over or through the mountains +to the Pacific, and here six locks are reckoned sufficient. Cross-cuts +from one bend in the river to another can be constructed at the rate of +two hundred and fifty thousand dollars, or less, per mile. The canal +must be sunk or raised at intervals; there will, therefore, at various +points be the need of a wall of great strength and durability, from one +hundred and thirty to three hundred feet in height or depth. + +The annual rain-fall in the river region between Lake Nicaragua and the +Caribbean Sea is twenty feet; annual evaporation, three feet. These +points must be considered in the construction and feeding of the canal, +even though it is to vary in width. The dimensions of the proposed +canal, as recommended by the Walker Government Commission, are as +follows: total length, one hundred and eighty-nine miles; minimum depth +of water at all stages, thirty feet; width, one hundred feet in +rock-cuts, elsewhere varying from one hundred and fifty to three hundred +feet--except in Lake Nicaragua, where one end of the channel will be +made six hundred feet wide. + +Nearly fifty years ago, when a canal was projected, the Childs survey +set the cost at thirty-seven million dollars. Now the commissioners +differ on the question of total cost, the several estimates ranging from +one hundred and eighteen million to one hundred and thirty-five million +dollars. The United States Congress at its last session authorized the +expenditure of one million by a new commission "to investigate the +merits of all suggested locations and develop a project for an Isthmus +Canal." + +And so we left the land of the lizard. What wonders they are! From an +inch to two feet in length, slim, slippery, and of many and changeful +colors, they literally inhabit the land, and are as much at home in a +house as out of it; indeed, the houses are never free of them. They +sailed up the river with us, and crossed the lake in our company, and +sat by the mountain wayside awaiting our arrival; for they are curious +and sociable little beasts. As for the San Juan river, 'tis like the +Ocklawaha of Florida many times multiplied, and with all its original +attractions in a state of perfect preservation. + +All the way up the coast we literally hugged the shore; only during the +hours when we were crossing the yawning mouth of the Gulf of California +were we for a single moment out of sight of land. I know not if this was +a saving in time and distance, and therefore a saving in fuel and +provender; or if our ship, the John L. Stevens, was thought to be +overloaded and unsafe, and was kept within easy reach of shore for fear +of accident. We steamed for two weeks between a landscape and a seascape +that afforded constant diversion. At night we sometimes saw flame-tipped +volcanoes; there was ever the undulating outline of the Sierra Nevada +Mountains through Central America, Mexico, and California. + +Just once did we pause on the way. One evening our ship turned in its +course and made directly for the land. It seemed that we must be dashed +upon the headlands we were approaching, but as we drew nearer they +parted, and we entered the land-locked harbor of Acapulco, the chief +Mexican port on the Pacific. It was an amphitheatre dotted with +twinkling lights. Our ship was speedily surrounded by small boats of all +descriptions, wherein sat merchants noisily calling upon us to purchase +their wares. They had abundant fruits, shells, corals, curios. They +flashed them in the light of their torches; they baited us to bargain +with them. It was a Venetian _fete_ with a vengeance; for the hawkers +were sometimes more impertinent than polite. It was a feast of lanterns, +and not without the accompaniment of guitars and castanets, and rich, +soft voices. + +After that we were eager for the end of it all. There was Santa +Catalina, off the California coast, then an uninhabited island given +over to sunshine and wild goats, now one of the most popular and +populous of California summer and winter resorts--for 'tis all the same +on the Pacific coast; one season is damper than the other, that is the +only difference. The coast grew bare and bleak; the wind freshened and +we were glad to put on our wraps. And then at last, after a journey of +nearly five thousand miles, we slowed up in a fog so dense it dripped +from the scuppers of the ship; we heard the boom of the surf pounding +upon the invisible shore, and the hoarse bark of a chorus of sea-lions, +and were told we were at the threshold of the Golden Gate, and should +enter it as soon as the fog lifted and made room for us. + +[Illustration: Fort Point at the Golden Gate] + + + + +IV. + +IN THE WAKE OF DRAKE + + +We were buried alive in fathomless depths of fog. We were a fixture +until that fog lifted. It was an impenetrable barrier. Upon the point of +entering one of the most wonderful harbors in the world, the glory of +the newest of new lands, we found ourselves prisoners, and for a time at +least involved in the mazes of ancient history. + +In 1535 Cortez coasted both sides of the Gulf of California--first +called the Sea of Cortez; or the Vermilion Sea, perhaps from its +resemblance to the Red Sea between Arabia and Egypt; or possibly from +the discoloration of its waters near the mouth of the Rio Colorado, or +Red River. + +In 1577 Captain Drake, even then distinguished as a navigator, fitted +out a buccaneering expedition against the Spaniards; it was a wild-goose +chase and led him round the globe. In those days the wealth of the +Philippines was shipped annually in a galleon from Manila to Acapulco, +Mexico, on its way to Europe. Drake hoped to intercept one of these +richly laden galleons, and he therefore threaded the Straits of +Magellan, and, sailing northward, found himself, in 1579, within sight +of the coast of California. All along the Pacific shore from Patagonia +to California he was busily occupied in capturing and plundering Spanish +settlements and Spanish ships. Wishing to turn home with his treasure, +and fearing he might be waylaid by his enemies if he were again to +thread the Straits of Magellan, he thought to reach England by the Cape +of Good Hope. This was in the autumn of 1579. To quote the language of +an old chronicler of the voyage: + +"He was obliged to sail toward the north; in which course having +continued six hundred leagues, and being got into forty-three degrees +north latitude, they found it intolerably cold; upon which they steered +southward till they got into thirty-eight degrees north latitude, where +they discovered a country which, from its white cliffs, they called Nova +Albion, though it is now known by the name of California. + +"They here discovered a bay, which entering with a favorable gale, they +found several huts by the waterside, well defended from the severity of +the weather. Going on shore, they found a fire in the middle of each +house, and the people lying around it upon rushes. The men go quite +naked, but the women have a deerskin over their shoulders, and round +their waist a covering of bulrushes after the manner of hemp. + +"These people bringing the Admiral [Captain Drake] a present of feathers +and cauls of network, he entertained them so kindly and generously that +they were extremely pleased; and afterward they sent him a present of +feathers and bags of tobacco. A number of them coming to deliver it, +gathered themselves together at the top of a small hill, from the +highest point of which one of them harangued the Admiral, whose tent was +placed at the bottom. When the speech was ended they laid down their +arms and came down, offering their presents; at the same time returning +what the Admiral had given them. The women remaining on the hill, +tearing their hair and making dreadful howlings, the Admiral supposed +they were engaged in making sacrifices, and thereupon ordered divine +service to be performed at his tent, at which these people attended with +astonishment. + +"The arrival of the English in California being soon known through the +country, two persons in the character of ambassadors came to the Admiral +and informed him, in the best manner they were able, that the king would +visit him, if he might be assured of coming in safety. Being satisfied +on this point, a numerous company soon appeared, in front of which was a +very comely person bearing a kind of sceptre, on which hung two crowns, +and three chains of great length. The chains were of bones, and the +crowns of network, curiously wrought with feathers of many colors. + +"Next to sceptre-bearer came the king, a handsome, majestic person, +surrounded by a number of tall men dressed in skins, who were followed +by the common people, who, to make the grander appearance, had painted +their faces of various colors; and all of them, even the children, being +loaded with presents. + +"The men being drawn up in line of battle, the Admiral stood ready to +receive the king within the fences of his tent. The company halted at a +distance, and the sceptre-bearer made a speech half an hour long; at the +end of which he began singing and dancing, in which he was followed by +the king and all the people; who, continuing to sing and dance, came +quite up to the tent; when, sitting down, the king took off his crown of +feathers, placed it on the Admiral's head, and put on him the other +ensigns of royalty; and it is said he made him a solemn tender of his +whole kingdom; all which the Admiral accepted in the name of the Queen +his sovereign, in hope that these proceedings might, one time or other, +contribute to the advantage of England. + +"The people, dispersing themselves among the Admiral's tents, professed +the utmost admiration and esteem for the English, whom they looked upon +as more than mortal; and accordingly prepared to offer sacrifices to +them, which the English rejected with abhorrence; directing them, by +various signs, that their religious worship was alone due to the supreme +Maker and Preserver of all things.... + +"The Admiral, at his departure, set up a pillar with a large plate on +it, on which were engraved her Majesty's name, picture, arms, and title +to the country; together with the Admiral's name and the time of his +arrival there." + +Pinkerton says in his description of Drake's voyage: "The land is so +rich in gold and silver that upon the slightest turning it up with a +spade these rich materials plainly appear mixed with the mould." It is +not strange, if this were the case, that the natives--who, though +apparently gentle and well disposed, were barbarians--should naturally +have possessed the taste so characteristic of a barbarous people, and +have loved to decorate themselves even lavishly with ornaments rudely +fashioned in this rare metal. Yet they seemed to know little of its +value, and to care less for it than for fuss and feathers. Either they +were a singularly stupid race, simpler even than the child of ordinary +intelligence, or they scorned the allurements of a metal that so few are +able to resist. + +Drake was not the first navigator to touch upon those shores. The +explorer Juan Cabrillo, in 1542-43, visited the coast of Upper +California. A number of landings were made at different points along the +coast and on the islands near Santa Barbara. Cabrillo died during the +expedition; but his successor, Ferralo, continued the voyage as far +north as latitude 42 deg.. Probably Drake had no knowledge of the discovery +of California by the Spaniards six and thirty years before he dropped +anchor in the bay that now bears his name, and for many years he was +looked upon as the first discoverer of the Golden State. Even to this +day there are those who give him all the credit. Queen Elizabeth +knighted him for his services in this and his previous expeditions; +telling him, as his chronicler records, "that his actions did him more +honor than his title." Her Majesty seems not to have been much impressed +by his tales of the riches of the New World--if, indeed, they ever came +to the royal ear,--for she made no effort to develop the resources of +her territory. No adventurous argonauts set sail for the Pacific coast +in search of gold till two hundred and seventy years later. + +There seems to have been a spell cast over the land and the sea. We are +sure that Sir Francis Drake did not enter the Bay of San Francisco, and +that he had no knowledge of its existence, though he was almost within +sight of it. In one of the records of his voyage we read of the chilly +air and of the dense fogs that prevailed in that region; of the "white +banks and cliffs which lie toward the sea"; and of islands which are +known as the Farallones, and which lie about thirty miles off the coast +and opposite the Golden Gate. + +In 1587 Captain Thomas Cavendish, afterward knighted by Queen Elizabeth, +touched upon Cape St. Lucas, at the extremity of Lower California. He +was a privateer lying in wait for the galleon laden with the wealth of +the Philippines and bound for Acapulco. When she hove in sight there was +a chase, a hot engagement, and a capture by the English Admiral. "This +prize," says the historian of the voyage, "contained one hundred and +twenty-two thousand _pesos_ of gold, besides great quantities of rich +silks, satins, damasks, and musk, with a good stock of provisions." In +those romantic and adventurous days piracy was legalized by formal +license; the spoils were supposed to consist of gold and silver only, or +of light movable goods. + +The next English filibuster to visit the California coast was Captain +Woodes Rogers--arriving in November, 1709. He described the natives of +the California peninsula as being "quite naked, and strangers to the +European manner of trafficking. They lived in huts made of boughs and +leaves, erected in the form of bowers; with a fire before the door, +round which they lay and slept. Some of the women wore pearls about +their necks, which they fastened with a string of silk grass, having +first notched them round." Captain Rogers imagined that the wearers of +the pearls did not know how to bore them, and it is more than likely +that they did not. Neither did they know the value of these pearls; for +"they were mixed with sticks, bits of shells, and berries, which they +thought so great an ornament that they would not accept glass beads of +various colors, which the English offered them." + +The narrator says: "The men are straight and well built, having long +black hair, and are of a dark brown complexion. They live by hunting and +fishing. They use bows and arrows and are excellent marksmen. The women, +whose features are rather disagreeable, are employed in making +fishing-lines, or in gathering grain, which they grind upon a stone. The +people were willing to assist the English in filling water, and would +supply them with whatever they could get; they were a very honest +people, and would not take the least thing without permission." + +Such were the aborigines of California. Captain Woodes Rogers did not +hesitate to take whatever he could lay his hands on. He captured the +"great Manila ship," as the chronicle records. "The prize was called +Nuestra Senora de la Incarnacion, commanded by Sir John Pichberty, a +gallant Frenchman. The prisoners said that the cargo in India amounted +to two millions of dollars. She carried one hundred and ninety-three +men, and mounted twenty guns." + +The exact locality of Drake's Bay was for years a vexed question. So +able an authority as Alexander von Humboldt says: "The port of San +Francisco is frequently confounded by geographers with the Port of +Drake, farther north, under 38 deg. 10' of latitude, called by the Spaniards +the Puerto de Bodega." + +The truth is, Bodega Bay lies some miles north of Drake's Bay--or Jack's +Harbor, as the sailors call it; the latter, according to the log of the +Admiral, may be found in latitude 37 deg. 59' 5"; longitude 122 deg. 57-1/2'. +The cliffs about Drake's Bay resemble in height and color, those of +Great Britain in the English Channel at Brighton and Dover; therefore it +seems quite natural that Sir Francis should have called the land New +Albion. As for the origin of the name California, some etymologists +contend that it is derived from two Latin words: _calida fornax_; or, as +the Spanish put it, _caliente fornalla_,--a hot furnace. Certainly it is +hot enough in the interior, though the coast is ever cool. The name +seems to have been applied to Lower California between 1535 and 1539. +Mr. Edward Everett Hale rediscovered in 1862 an old printed romance in +which the name California was, before the year 1520, applied to a +fabulous island that lay near the Indus and likewise "very near the +Terrestrial Paradise." The colonists under Cortez were perhaps the first +to apply it to Lower California, which was long thought to be an island. + +The name San Francisco was given to a port on the California coast for +the first time by Cermenon, who ran ashore near Point Reyes, or in +Drake's Bay, when voyaging from the Philippines in 1595. At any rate, +the name was not given to the famous bay that now bears it before 1769, +and until that date it was unknown to the world. It is not true, as some +have conjectured, that the name San Francisco was given to any port in +memory of Sir Francis Drake. Spanish Catholics gave the name in honor of +St. Francis of Assisi. Drake was an Englishman and a freebooter, who had +no love for the saints. + +That the Bay of San Francisco should have so long remained undiscovered +is the more remarkable inasmuch as many efforts were made to survey and +settle the coast. California was looked upon as the El Dorado of New +Spain. It was believed that it abounded in pearls, gold, silver, and +other metals; and even in diamonds and precious stones. Fruitless +expeditions, private or royal, set forth in 1615, 1633 and 1634; 1640, +1642 and 1648; 1665 and 1668. But nothing came of these. A hundred years +later the Spanish friars established their peaceful missions, and in +1776 the mission church of San Francisco was dedicated. + +[Illustration: The Outer Signal Station at the Golden Gate] + + * * * * * + +At last the fog began to show signs of life and motion. Huge masses of +opaque mist, that had shut us in like walls of alabaster, were rent +asunder and noiselessly rolled away. The change was magical. In a few +moments we found ourselves under a cloudless sky, upon a sparkling sea, +flooded with sunshine, and the Golden Gate wide open to give us welcome. + + + + +V. + +ATOP O' TELEGRAPH HILL + + +Perhaps it is a mile wide, that Golden Gate; and it is more bronze than +golden. A fort was on our right hand; one of those dear old brick +blockhouses that were formidable in their day, but now are as houses of +cards. Drop one shell within its hollow, and there will be nothing and +no one left to tell the tale. + +Down the misty coast, beyond the fort, was Point Lobos--a place where +wolves did once inhabit; farther south lie the semi-tropics and the +fragrant orange lands; while on our left, to the north, is Point +Bonita--pretty enough in the sunshine,--and thereabout is Drake's Bay. +Behind us, dimly outlined on the horizon, the Farallones lie faintly +blue, like exquisite cloud-islands. The north shore of the entrance to +the Bay was rather forbidding,--it always is. The whole California shore +line is bare, bleak, and unbeautiful. It is six miles from the Golden +Gate to the sea-wall of San Francisco. There was no sea-wall in those +days. + +We were steaming directly east, with the Pacific dead astern. Beyond the +fort were scantily furnished hill-slopes. That quadrangle, with a long +row of low white houses on three sides of it, is the _presidio_--the +barracks; a lorner or lonelier spot it were impossible to picture. There +were no trees there, no shrubs; nothing but grass, that was green enough +in the rainy winter season but as yellow as straw in the drouth of the +long summer. Beyond the _presidio_ were the Lagoon and Washerwoman's +Bay. Black Point was the extremest suburb in the early days; and beyond +it Meigg's Wharf ran far into the North Bay, and was washed by the +swift-flowing tide. + +San Francisco has as many hills as Rome. The most conspicuous of these +stands at the northeast corner of the town; it is Telegraph Hill, upon +whose brawny shoulder stood the first home we knew in the young +Metropolis. After rounding Telegraph Hill, we saw all the city front, +and it was not much to see: a few wooden wharves crowded with shipping +and backed by a row of one or two-story frame buildings perched upon +piles. The harbor in front of the city--more like an open roadstead than +a harbor, for it was nearly a dozen miles to the opposite shore--was +dotted with sailing-vessels of almost every description, swinging at +anchor, and making it a pretty piece of navigation to pick one's way +amongst them in safety. + +As the John L. Stevens approached her dock we saw that an immense crowd +had gathered to give us welcome. The excitement on ship and shore was +very great. After a separation of perhaps years, husbands and wives and +families were about to be reunited. Our joy was boundless; for we soon +recognized our father in the waiting, welcoming throng. But there were +many whose disappointment was bitter indeed when they learned that their +loved ones were not on board. Often a ship brought letters instead of +the expected wife and family; for at the last moment some unforeseen +circumstance may have prevented the departure of the one so looked for +and so longed for. In the confusion of landing we nearly lost our wits, +and did not fully recover them until we found ourselves in our own new +home in the then youngest State in the Union. + +How well I remember it all! We were housed on Union Street, between +Montgomery and Kearny Streets, and directly opposite the public +school--a pretentious building for that period, inasmuch as it was built +of brick that was probably shipped around Cape Horn. California houses, +such as they were, used to come from very distant parts of the globe in +the early Fifties; some of them were portable, and had been sent across +the sea to be set up at the purchaser's convenience. They could be +pitched like tents on the shortest possible notice, and the fact was +evident in many cases. + +Our house--a double one of modest proportions--was of brick, and I +think the only one on our side of the street for a considerable +distance. There was a brick house over the way, on the corner of +Montgomery Street, with a balcony in front of it and a grocery on the +ground-floor. That grocery was like a country store: one could get +anything there; and from the balcony above there was a wonderful view. +Indeed that was one of the jumping-off places; for a steep stairway led +down the hill to the dock two hundred feet below. As for our neighbors, +they dwelt in frame houses, one or two stories in height; and his was +the happier house that had a little strip of flowery-land in front of +it, and a breathing space in the rear. + +The school--our first school in California--backed into the hill across +the street from us. The girls and the boys had each an inclosed space +for recreation. It could not be called a playground, for there was no +ground visible. It was a platform of wood heavily timbered beneath and +fenced in; from the front of it one might have cast one's self to the +street below, at the cost of a broken bone or two. In those days more +than one leg was fractured by an accidental fall from a soaring +sidewalk. + +Above and beyond the school-house Telegraph Hill rose a hundred feet or +more. Our street marked the snow-line, as it were; beyond it the Hill +was not inhabited save by flocks of goats that browsed there all the +year round, and the herds of boys that gave them chase, especially of a +holiday. The Hill was crowned by a shanty that had seen its best days. +It had been the lookout from the time when the Forty-Niners began to +watch for fresh arrivals. From the observatory on its roof--a primitive +affair--all ships were sighted as they neared the Golden Gate, and the +glad news was telegraphed by a system of signals to the citizens below. +Not a day, not an hour, but watchful eyes sought that signal in the hope +of reading there the glad tidings that their ship had come. + +The Hill sloped suddenly, from the signal station, on every side. On the +north and east it terminated abruptly in artificial cliffs of a dizzy +height. The rocks had been blasted from their bases to make room for a +steadily increasing commerce, and the debris was shipped away as ballast +in the vessels that were chartered to bring passengers and provision to +the coast, and found nothing in the line of freight to carry from it. + +Upon those northern and eastern slopes of the Hill a few venturesome +cottagers had built their nests. The cottages were indeed nestlike: they +were so small, so compact, so cosy, so overrun with vines and flowering +foliage. Usually of one story, or of a story and a half at most, they +clung to the hillside facing the water, and looking out upon its noble +expanse from tiny balconies as delicate and dainty as toys. Their +garden-plots were set on end; they must needs adapt themselves to the +angle of demarkation; they loomed above their front-yards while their +back-yards lorded it over their roofs. Indeed they were usually +approached by ascending or descending stairways, or perchance by airy +bridges that spanned little gullies where ran rivulets in the winter +season; and they were a trifle dangerous to encounter after dark. There +were parrots on perches at the doorways of those cottages; and +song-birds in cages that were hidden away in vines. There were pet +poodles there. I think there were more lap-dogs than watch-dogs in that +early California. + +And there were pleasant people within those hanging gardens,--people who +seemed to have drifted there and were living their lyrical if lonely +lives in semi-solitude on islands in the air. I always envied them. I +was sorry that we were housed like other folk, and fronted on a street +than which nothing could have been more commonplace or less interesting. +Its one redeeming feature in my eyes was its uncompromising steepness; +nothing that ran on wheels ever ran that way, but toiled painfully to +the top, tacking from side to side, forever and forever, all the way +up. + +Weary were the beasts of burden that ascended that hill of difficulty. +There was the itinerant marketer, with his overladen cart, and his white +horse, very much winded. He was a Yorkshire man, and he cried with a +loud voice his appetizing wares: "Cabbage, taters, onions, wild duck, +wild goose!" Well do I remember the refrain. Probably there were few +domestic fowls in the market then; moreover, even our drinking water was +peddled about the streets and sold to us by the huge pailful. + +The goats knew Saturday and Sunday by heart. Every Saturday we lads were +busier than bees. We had at intervals during the week collected what +empty tin cans we might have chanced upon, and you may be sure they were +not a few. The markets of California, in early times, were stocked with +canned goods. Flour came to us in large cans; probably the barrel would +not have been proof against mould during the long voyage around the +Horn. Everything eatable--I had almost said and drinkable--we had in +cans; and these cans when emptied were cast into the rubbish heap and +finally consigned to the dump-cart. + +We boys all became smelters, and for a very good reason. There was a +market for soft solder; we could dispose of it without difficulty; we +could in this way put money in our purse and experience the glorious +emotion awakened by the spirit of independence. With our own money, +earned in the sweat of our brows--it was pretty hot work melting the +solder out of the old cans and moulding it in little pig-leads of our +own invention,--we could do as we pleased and no questions asked. Oh, it +was a joy past words,--the kindling of the furnace fires, the adjusting +of the cans, the watching for the first movement of the melting solder! +It trickled down into the ashes like quicksilver, and there we let it +cool in shapeless masses; then we remelted it in skillets (usually +smuggled from the kitchen for that purpose), and ran the fused metal +into the moulds; and when it had cooled we were away in haste to dispose +of it. + +Some of us became expert amateur metallists, and made what we looked +upon as snug little fortunes; yet they did not go far or last us long. +The smallest coin in circulation was a dime. No one would accept a +five-cent piece. As for coppers, they are scarcely yet in vogue. Money +was made so easily and spent so carelessly in the early days the wonder +is that any one ever grew rich. + +A quarter of a dollar we called two "bits." If we wished to buy anything +the price of which was one bit and we had a dime in our pocket, we gave +the dime for the article, and the bargain was considered perfectly +satisfactory. If we had no dime, we gave a quarter of a dollar and +received in change a dime; we thus paid fifty per cent more for the +article than we should have done if we had given a dime for it. But that +made no difference: a quarter called for two bits' worth of anything on +sale. A dime was one bit, but two dimes were not two bits; and it was +only a very mean person--in our estimation--who would change his half +dollar into five dimes and get five bits' worth of goods for four bits' +worth of silver. + +[Illustration: City of Oakland in 1856] + +Sunday is ever the people's day, and a San Francisco Sunday used to be +as lively as the Lord's Day at any of the capitals of Europe. How the +town used to flock to Telegraph Hill on a Sunday in the olden time! They +were mostly quiet folk who went there, and they went to feast their eyes +upon one of the loveliest of landscapes or waterscapes. They probably +took their lunch with them, and their families--if they had them; though +families were infrequent in the Fifties. They wandered about until they +had chosen their point of view, and then they took possession of an +unclaimed portion of the Hill. They "squatted," as was the custom of the +time. The "squatter" claimed the right of sovereignty, and exercised it +so long as he was left unmolested. + +One man seemed to have as much right as another on Telegraph Hill. And +one right was always his: no one disputed him the right of vision; he +shared it with his neighbor, and was willing to share it with the whole +world. For generations he has held it, and he will probably continue to +hold it so long as the old Hill stands. From the heights his eye sweeps +a scene of beauty. There is the Golden Gate, bathed in sunset glories; +and there the northern shore line that climbs skyward where Mount +Tamalpais takes on his mantle of mist. There is Saucelito, with its +green terraces resting upon the tree-tops; and there the bit of +sheltered water that seems always steeped in sunshine,--now the haunt of +house boats, then the haven of a colony of Neapolitan fishermen; and +Angel Island, with its military post; and Fort Alcatraz, a rocky bubble +afloat in mid-channel and one mass of fortifications. + +What an inland sea it is--the Bay of San. Francisco, seventy miles in +length, from ten to twelve in width; dotted with islands, and capable of +harboring all the fleets of all the civilized or uncivilized worlds! The +northern part of it, beyond the narrows, is known as the Bay of San +Pablo; the Straits of Carquinez connect it with Suisun Bay, which is a +sleepy sheet of water fed by the Sacramento and San Joaquin Rivers. + +To the east is Yerba-Buena, vulgarly known as Goat Island; and beyond it +the Contra Costa, with its Alameda, Oakland, and Fruit Vale; then the +Coast Range; and atop of all and beyond all Mount Diablo, with its three +thousand eight hundred feet of perpendicularity, beyond whose summit +the sun rises, and from whose peaks almost half the State is visible and +almost half the sea,--or at least it seems so--but that's another +vision! + + + + +VI. + +PAVEMENT PICTURES + + +We had been but a few days in San Francisco when a new-found friend, +scarcely my senior, but who was a comparatively old settler, took me by +the hand and led me forth to view the town. He was my neighbor, and a +right good fellow, with the surprising composure--for one of his +years--that is so early, so easily, and so naturally acquired by those +living in camps and border-lands. + +We descended Telegraph Hill by Dupont Street as far as Pacific Street. +So steep was the way that, at intervals, the modern fire-escape would +have been a welcome aid to our progress. Sidewalks, always of plank and +often not broader than two boards placed longitudinally, led on to steps +that plunged headlong from one terrace to another. From the veranda of +one house one might have leaped to the roof of the house just below--if +so disposed,--for the houses seemed to be set one upon another, so acute +was the angle of their base-line. The town stood on end just there, and +at the foot of it was a foreign quarter. + +In those days there were at least four foreign quarters--Spanish, +French, Italian, and Chinese. We knew the Spanish Quarter at the foot of +the hill by the human types that inhabited it; by the balconies like +hanging gardens, clamorous with parrots; and by the dark-eyed senoritas, +with lace mantillas drawn over their blue-black hair; by the shop +windows filled with Mexican pottery; the long strings of cardinal-red +peppers that swung under the awnings over the doors of the sellers of +spicy things; and also by the delicious odors that were wafted to us +from the tables where Mexicans, Spaniards, Chilians, Peruvians, and +Hispano-Americans were discussing the steaming _tamal_, the fragrant +_frijol_, and other fiery dishes that might put to the blush the +ineffectual pepper-pot. + +Everywhere we heard the most mellifluous of languages--the "lovely +lingo," we used to call it; everywhere we saw the people of the quarter +lounging in doorways or windows or on galleries, dressed as if they were +about to appear in a rendition of the opera of "The Barber of Seville," +or at a fancy-dress ball. Figaros were on every hand, and Rosinas and +Dons of all degrees. At times a magnificent Caballero dashed by on a +half-tamed bronco. He rode in the shade of a sombrero a yard wide, +crusted with silver embroidery. His Mexican saddle was embossed with +huge Mexican dollars; his jacket as gaily ornamented as a +bull-fighter's; his trousers open from the hip, and with a chain of +silver buttons down their flapping hems; his spurs, huge wheels with +murderous spikes, were fringed with little bells that jangled as he +rode,--and this to the accompaniment of much strumming of guitars and +the incense of cigarros. + +Near the Spanish Quarter ran the Barbary Coast. There were the dives +beneath the pavement, where it was not wise to enter; blood was on those +thresholds, and within hovered the shadow of death. Beyond, we entered +Chinatown, as rare a bit of old China as is to be found without the +Great Wall itself. Chinatown has grown amazingly within the last forty +years, but it has in reality gained little in interest. There is more of +it: that is the only difference; and what there is of it is more +difficult of approach. The Joss House, the theatre, with its great +original "continuous performance"--its tragedy half a year in +length,--flourished there. The glittering, spectacular restaurant was +wide open to the public, and so was everything else. That fact made all +the difference between Chinatown in the Fifties and Chinatown forty +years later. + +My companion and I tarried long on Dupont Street, between Pacific and +Sacramento Streets. The shops were like peep shows on a larger scale. +How bright they were! how gay with color! how rich with carvings and +curios. Each was like a set-scene on the stage. The shopkeepers and +their aids were like actors in a play. They seemed really to be playing +and not trying to engage in any serious business. Surely it would have +been quite beneath the dignity of such distinguished gentlemen to take +the smallest interest in the affairs of trade. They were clad in silks +and satins and furs of great value; they had a little finger-nail as +long as a slice of quill pen; they had tea on tables of carved teak; and +they had impossible pipes that breathed unspeakable odors. They wore +bracelets of priceless jade. They had private boxes, which hung from the +ceiling and looked like cages for some unclassified bird; and they could +go up into those boxes when life at the tea-table became tiresome, and +get quite another point of view. There they could look down upon the +world of traffic that never did anything in their shops, as far as we +could see; and, still murmuring to themselves in a tongue that sounds +untranslatable and a voice that was never known to rise above a stage +whisper, they could at one and the same moment regard with scorn the +Christian, keep an eye on the cash-boy, and make perfect pictures of +themselves. + +[Illustration: Interior of the El Dorado] + +In some parts of that strange street, where everybody was very busy but +apparently never accomplished anything, there were no fronts to the +rooms on the groundfloor. If those rooms were ever closed--it seemed to +me they never were,--some one kindly put up a long row of shutters, and +that end was accomplished. When the shutters were down the whole place +was wide open, and anybody, everybody, could enter and depart at his own +sweet will. This is exactly what he did; we did it ourselves, but we +didn't know why we did it. The others seemed to know all about it. + +There was a long table in the centre of each room; it was always +surrounded by swarms of Chinamen. Not a few foreigners of various +nationalities were there. They were all intensely interested in some +game that was being played upon that table. We heard the "chink" of +money; and as the players came and went some were glad and some were sad +and some were mad. These were the gambling halls of Chinatown. They were +not at all beautiful or alluring to the eye, but they cast a spell over +the minds and the pockets of men that was irresistible. Nowadays the +place is kept under lock and key, and you must give the countersign or +you will be turned away from the door thereof by a Chinaman whose face +is the image of injured innocence. + +The authors of the annals of San Francisco, 1854, say: + +"During 1853, most of the moral, intellectual, and social +characteristics of the inhabitants of San Francisco were nearly as +already described in the reviews of previous years. There was still the +old reckless energy, the old love of pleasure, the fast making and fast +spending of money; the old hard labor and wild delights; jobberies, +official and political corruption; thefts, robberies, and violent +assaults; murders, duels and suicides; gambling, drinking, and general +extravagance and dissipation.... The people had wealth at command, and +all the passions of youth were burning within them; and they often, +therefore, outraged public decency. Yet somehow the oldest residenters +and the very family-men loved the place, with all its brave wickedness +and splendid folly." + +I can testify that the town knew little or no change in the two years +that followed. The "El Dorado" on the plaza, and the "Arcade" and +"Polka" on Commercial Street, were still in full blast. How came I aware +of that fact? I was a child; my guide, philosopher and friend was a +child, and we were both as innocent as children should be. It is +written, "Children and fools speak the truth." I may add, "Children and +'fools rush in where angels fear to tread.'" The doors of "El Dorado," +of the "Arcade," and the "Polka" were ever open to the public. We saw +from the sidewalk gaily-decorated interiors; we heard enchanting music, +and there seemed to be a vast deal of jollity within. No one tried to +prevent our entering; we merely followed the others; and, indeed, it was +all a mystery to us. Cards were being dealt at the faro tables, and +dealt by beautiful women in bewildering attire. They also turned the +wheels of fortune or misfortune, and threw dice, and were skilled in all +the arts that beguile and betray the innocent. The town was filled with +such resorts; some were devoted to the patronage of the more exclusive +set; many were traps into which the miner from the mountain gulches fell +and where he soon lost his bag of "dust,"--his whole fortune, for which +he had been so long and so wearily toiling. There he was shoulder to +shoulder with the greaser and the lascar, the "shoulder-striker" and the +hoodlum; and they were all busy with monte, faro, rondo, and +rouge-et-noir. + +There was no limit to the gambling in those days. There was no question +of age or color or sex: opportunity lay in wait for inclination at the +street corners and in the highways and the byways. The wonder is that +there were not more victims driven to madness or suicide. + +The pictures were not all so gloomy. Six times San Francisco was +devastated by fire, and all within two years--or, to speak accurately, +within eighteen months. Many millions were lost; many enterprising and +successful citizens were in a few hours rendered penniless. Some were +again and again "burned out"; but they seemed to spring like the famed +bird, who shall for once be nameless, from their own ashes. + +It became evident that an efficient fire department was an immediate and +imperative necessity. The best men of the city--men prominent in every +trade, calling and profession--volunteered their services, and headed a +subscription list that swelled at once into the thousands. Perhaps there +never was a finer volunteer fire department than that which was for many +years the pride and glory of San Francisco. On the Fourth of July it was +the star feature of the procession; and it paraded most of the streets +that were level enough for wheels to run on--and when the mud was +navigable, for they turned out even in the rainy season on days of civic +festivity. Their engines and hose carts and hook and ladder trucks were +so lavishly ornamented with flowers, banners, streamers, and even pet +eagles, dogs, and other mascots, that they might without hesitation have +engaged in any floral battle on any Riviera and been sure of victory. + +The magnificence of the silver trumpets and the quantity and splendor of +the silver trappings of those fire companies pass all belief. It begins +to seem to me now, as I write, that I must have dreamed it,--it was all +so much too fine for any ordinary use. But I know that I did not dream +it; that there was never anything truer or better or more efficient +anywhere under the sun than the San Francisco fire department in the +brave days of old. Representatives of almost every nation on earth could +testify to this, and did repeatedly testify to it in almost every +language known to the human tongue; for there never was a more cosmical +commonwealth than sprang out of chaos on that Pacific coast; and there +never was a city less given to following in the footsteps of its elder +and more experienced sisters. Nor was there ever a more spontaneous +outburst of happy-go-luckiness than that which made of young San +Francisco a very Babel and a bouncing baby Babylon. + +[Illustration: Warner's at Meigg's Wharf] + + + + +VII. + +A BOY'S OUTING + + +There was joy in the heart, luncheon in the knapsack, and a sparkle in +the eye of each of us as we set forth on our exploring expedition, all +of a sunny Saturday. Outside of California there never were such +Saturdays as those. We were perfectly sure for eight months in the year +that it wouldn't rain a drop; and as for the other four months--well, +perhaps it wouldn't. It is true that Longfellow had sung, even in those +days: + + Unto each life some rain must fall, + Some days must be dark and dreary. + +Our days were not dark or dreary,--indeed, they could not possibly be in +the two-thirds-of-the-year-dry season. It did not rain so very much even +in the rainy season, when it had a perfect right to; therefore there was +joy in the heart and no umbrella anywhere about when we prepared to set +forth on our day of discovery. + +We began our adventure at Meigg's Wharf. We didn't go out to the end of +it, because there was nothing but crabs there, being hauled up at +frequent intervals by industrious crabbers, whose nets fairly fringed +the wharf. They lay on their backs by scores and hundreds, and waved +numberless legs in the air--I mean the crabs, not the crabbers. We used +to go crabbing ourselves when we felt like it, with a net made of a bit +of mosquito-bar stretched over an iron hoop, and with a piece of meat +tied securely in the middle of it. When we hauled up those home-made +hoop-nets--most everything seems to have been home-made in those +days--we used to find one, two, perhaps three huge crabs revolving +clumsily about the centre of attraction in the hollow of the net; and +then we shouted in glee and went almost wild with excitement. + +Just at the beginning of Meigg's Wharf there was a house of +entertainment that no doubt had a history and a mystery even in those +young days. We never quite comprehended it: we were too young for that, +and too shy and too well-bred to make curious or impertinent inquiry. We +sometimes stood at the wide doorway--it was forever invitingly open, +--and looked with awe and amazement at paintings richly framed and hung +so close together that no bit of the wall was visible. There was a bar +at the farther end of the long room,--there was always a bar somewhere +in those days; and there were cages filled with strange birds and +beasts,--as any one might know with his eyes shut, for the odor of it +all was repelling. + +The strangest feature of that most strange hostelry was the amazing +wealth of cobwebs that mantled it. Cobwebs as dense as crape waved in +dusty rags from the ceiling; they veiled the pictures and festooned the +picture-frames, that shone dimly through them. Not one of these cobwebs +was ever molested--or had been from the beginning of time, as it seemed +to us. A velvet carpet on the floor was worn smooth and almost no trace +of its rich flowery pattern was left; but there were many square boxes +filled with sand or sawdust and reeking with cigar stumps and tobacco +juice. Need I add that some of those pictures were such as our young and +innocent eyes ought never to have been laid on? Nor were they fit for +the eyes of others. + +There was something uncanny about that house. We never knew just what it +was, but we had a faint idea that the proprietor's wife or daughter was +a witch; and that she, being as cobwebby as the rest of its furnishings, +was never visible. The wharf in front of the house was a free menagerie. +There were bears and other beasts behind prison bars, a very populous +monkey cage, and the customary "happy family" looking as dreadfully +bored as usual. Then again there were whole rows of parrots and +cockatoos and macaws as splendid as rainbow tints could make them, and +with tails a yard long at least. + +From this bewildering pageant it was but a step to the beach below. +Indeed the water at high tide flowed under that house with much foam and +fury; for it was a house founded upon the sand, and it long since +toppled to its fall, as all such houses must. We followed the beach, +that rounded in a curve toward Black Point. Just before reaching the +Point there was a sandhill of no mean proportions; this, of course, we +climbed with pain, only to slide down with perspiration. It was our Alp, +and we ascended and descended it with a flood of emotion not unmixed +with sand. + +Near by was a wreck,--a veritable wreck; for a ship had been driven +ashore in the fog and she was left to her fate--and our mercy. Probably +it would not have paid to float her again; for of ships there were more +than enough. Everything worth while was coming into the harbor, and +almost nothing going out of it. We looked upon that old hulk as our +private and personal property. At low tide we could board her dry-shod; +at high tide we could wade out to her. We knew her intimately from stem +to stern, her several decks, her cabins, lockers, holds; we had counted +all her ribs over and over again, and paced her quarter-deck, and gazed +up at her stumpy masts--she had been well-nigh dismantled,--and given +sailing orders to our fellows amidships in the very ecstasy of +circumnavigation. She has gone, gone to her grave in the sea that +lapped her timbers as they lay a-rotting under the rocks; and now +pestiferous factories make hideous the landscape we found so fair. + +[Illustration: The Old Flume at Black Point, 1856] + +As for Black Point, it was a wilderness of beauty in our eyes; a very +paradise of live-oak and scrub-oak, and of oak that had gone mad in the +whirlwinds and sandstorms that revelled there. Beyond Black Point we +climbed a trestle and mounted a flume that was our highway to the sea. +Through this flume the city was supplied with water. The flume was a +square trough, open at the top and several miles in length. It was cased +in a heavy frame; and along the timbers that crossed over it lay planks, +one after another, wherever the flume was uncovered. This narrow path, +intended for the convenience of the workmen who kept the flume in +repair, was our delight. We followed it in the full assurance that we +were running a great risk. Beneath us was the open trough, where the +water, two or three feet in depth, was rushing as in a mill-race. Had we +fallen, we must have been swept along with it, and perhaps to our doom. +Sometimes we were many feet in the air, crossing a cove where the sea +broke at high tide; sometimes we were in a cut among the rocks on a +jutting point; and sometimes the sand from the desert above us drifted +down and buried the flume, now roofed over, quite out of sight. + +So we came to Fort Point and the Golden Gate; and beyond the Fort there +was more flume and such a stretch of sea and shore and sunshine as +caused us to leap with gladness. We could follow the beach for miles; it +was like a pavement of varnished sand, cool to the foot and burnished to +the eye. And what sea-treasure lay strewn there! Mollusks, not so +delicate or so decorative as the shells we had brought with us from the +Southern Seas, but still delightful. Such starfish and cloudy, +starch-like jelly-fish, and all the livelier creeping and crawling +creatures that populate the shore! Brown sea-kelp and sea-green +sea-grass and the sea-anemone that are the floating gardens of the +sea-gods and sea-goddesses; sea-birds, soft-bosomed as doves and crying +with their ceaseless and sorrowful cry; and all they that are sea-borne +along the sea-board,--these were there in their glory. + +We hid in caverns and there dreamed our sea-dreams. We ate our lunches +and played at being smugglers; then we built fires of drift-wood to warn +the passing ships that we were castaways on a desert island; but when +they took no heed of our signals of distress we were not too sorry nor +in the least distressful. + +At the seal rocks we tarried long; for there are few spots within the +reach of the usual sight-seer where an enormous family of sea-lions can +be seen at home, sporting in their native element, and at liberty to +come and go in the wide Pacific at their own sweet wills. There they had +lived for numberless generations unmolested; there they still live, for +they are under the protection of the law. + +The famous Cliff House is built upon the cliff above them, and above it +is a garden bristling with statues. Thousands upon thousands of curious +idlers stare the sea-folks out of countenance--or try to; but they, the +sons of the salt sea and the daughters of the deep, climb into the +crevices of the rocks to sun themselves, unheeding; or leap into the +waves that girdle them and sport like the fabled monsters of marine +mythology. Seal, sea-leopard, or sea-lion--whatever they may be--they +cry with one voice night and day; and it is not a pleasant cry either, +though a far one, they mouth so horribly. Long ago it inspired a wit to +madness and he made a joke; the same old joke has been made by those who +followed after him. It will continue to be made with impertinent +impunity until the sea gives up its seals; for the temptation is there +daily and hourly, and the humorist is but human--he can not long resist +it; so he will buttonhole you on the veranda of the Cliff House and +whisper in your astonished ear as if he were imparting a state secret: +"Their bark is on the sea!" + +The way home was sometimes a weary one. After leaving the bluff above +the shore, we struck into an almost interminable succession of +sand-dunes. There was neither track nor trail there; there was no oasis +to gladden us with its vision of beauty. The pale poet of destiny and +despair has written: + + In the desert a fountain is springing, + In the wide waste there still is a tree; + And a bird in the solitude singing, + Which speaks to my spirit of thee. + +There was no fountain in our desert, and we knew it well enough; for we +had often braved its sands. In that wide waste there was not even the +solitary tree that moved the poet to song; nor a bird in our solitude, +save a sea-gull cutting across-lots from the ocean to the bay in search +of a dinner. There were some straggling vines on the edge of our desert, +thick-leaved and juicy; and these were doing their best to keep from +getting buried alive. The sand was always shifting out yonder, and there +was a square mile or two of it. We could easily have been lost in it but +for our two everlasting landmarks--Mount Tamalpais across the water to +the north, and in the south Lone Mountain. Lone Mountain was our +Calvary--a green hill that loomed above the graves where slept so many +who were dear to us. The cross upon its summit we had often visited in +our holiday pilgrimages. They were _holydays_, when our childish feet +toiled hopefully up that steep height; for that cross was the beacon +that lighted the world-weary to everlasting rest. + +And so we crossed the desert, over our shoetops in sand; climbing one +hill after another, only to slide or glide or ride down the yielding +slope on the farther side. Meanwhile the fog came in like a wet blanket. +It swathed all the landscape in impalpable snow; it chilled us and it +thrilled us, for there was danger of our going quite astray in it; but +by and by we got into the edge of the town, and what a very ragged edge +it was in the dim long ago! Once in the edge of the town, we were +masters of the situation: you couldn't lose us even in the dark. And so +ended the outing of our merry crew,--merry though weary and worn; yet +not so worn and weary but we could raise at parting a glad "Hoorah for +Health, Happiness, and the Hills of Home!" + + + + +VIII. + +THE MISSION DOLORES + + +I have read somewhere in the pages of a veracious author how, five or +six years before my day, he had ridden through chaparral from Yerba +Buena to the Mission Dolores with the howl of the wolf for +accompaniment. Yerba Buena is now San Francisco, and the mission is a +part of the city; it is not even a suburb. + +In 1855 there were two plank-roads leading from the city to the Mission +Dolores; on each of these omnibuses ran every half hour. The plank-road +was a straight and narrow way, cut through acres of chaparral--thickets +of low evergreen oaks,--and leading over forbidding wastes of sand. To +stretch a figure, it was as if the sea-of-sand had been divided in the +midst, so that the children of Israel might have passed dry-shod, and +the Egyptians pursuing them might have been swallowed up in the billows +of sand that flowed over them at intervals. + +Somewhere among those treacherous dunes--of them it might indeed be said +that "the mountains skipped like rams and the little hills like +lambs,"--somewhere thereabout was located the once famous but now +fabulous Pipesville, the country-seat of my old friend, "Jeems Pipes of +Pipesville." He was longer and better known to the world as Stephen C. +Massett, composer of the words and music of that once most popular of +songs, "When the Moon on the Lake is Beaming," as well as many another +charming ballad. + +Stephen C. Massett, a most delightful companion and a famous diner-out, +give a concert of vocal music interspersed with recitations and +imitations, in the school-house that stood at the northwest corner of +the plaza. This was on Monday evening, June 22, 1849; and it was the +first public entertainment, the first regular amusement, ever given in +San Francisco. The only piano in the country was engaged for the +occasion; the tickets were three dollars each, and the proceeds yielded +over five hundred dollars; although it cost sixteen dollars to have the +piano used on the occasion moved from one side of the plaza, or +Portsmouth Square, to the other. On a copy of the programme which now +lies before me I find this line: "N.B.--Front seats reserved for +ladies!" History records that there were but four ladies +present--probably the only four in the town at the time. Massett died in +New York city a few months ago,--a man who had friends in every country +under the sun, and, I believe, no enemy. + +I remember the Mission Dolores as a detached settlement with a +pronounced Spanish flavor. There was one street worth mentioning, and +only one. It was lined with low-walled adobe houses, roofed with the red +curved tiles which add so much to the adobe houses that otherwise would +be far from picturesque. The adobe is a sun-baked brick; it is +mud-color; its walls look as if they were moulded of mud. The adobes +were the native California habitations. We spoke of them as adobes; +although it would probably be as correct, etymologically, to refer to +brick houses as bricks. + +There were a few ramshackle hotels at the mission; for in the early days +it seemed as if everybody either boarded or took in boarders, and many +families lived for years in hotels rather than attempt to keep house in +the wilds of San Francisco. The mission was about one house deep each +side of the main street. You might have turned a corner and found +yourself face to face with the cattle in the meadow. As for the goats, +they met you at the doorway and followed you down the street like dogs. + +At the top of this street stood the mission church and what few mission +buildings were left for the use of the Fathers. The church and the +grounds were the most interesting features of the place, and it was a +favorite resort of the citizens of San Francisco; yet it most likely +would not have been were the church the sole attraction. Here, in +appropriate enclosures, there were bull-fighting, bear-baiting, and +horse-racing. Many duels were fought here, and some of them were so well +advertised that they drew almost as well as a cock-fight. Cock-fighting +was a special Sunday diversion. Through the mission ran the highway to +the pleasant city of San Jose; it ran through a country unsurpassed in +beauty and fertility. Above the mission towered the mission peaks, and +about it the hillslopes were mantled with myriads of wild flowers, the +splendor and variety of which have added to the fame of California. + +The mission church was never handsome; but the facade with the old bells +hanging in their niches, and the almost naive simplicity of its +architectural adornment, are extremely pleasing. It is a long, narrow, +dingy nave one enters. Its walls of adobe do not retain their coats of +whitewash for any length of time; in the rainy season they are damp and +almost clammy. The floor is of beaten earth; the Stations upon the walls +of the rudest description; the narrow windows but dimly light the +interior, and rather add to than dispel the gloom that has been +gathering there for ages. The high altar is, of course, in striking +contrast with all that dark interior: it is over-decorated in the +Mexican manner--flowers, feathers, tinsel ornaments, tall candlesticks +elaborately gilded; all the statues examples of the primitive art that +appealed strongly to the uncultivated eye; and all the adornments gay, +gaudy, if not garish. Do you wonder at this? When you enter the old +church at the Mission Dolores you should recall its history, and picture +in your imagination the people for whom the mission was established. + +The Franciscans founded their first mission in California at San Diego +in 1769. The Mission Dolores was founded on St. Francis' Day, 1776. To +found a mission was a serious matter; yet one and twenty missions were +in the full tide of success before the good work was abandoned. The +friars were the first fathers of the land: they did whatever was done +for it and for the people who originally inhabited it. They explored the +country lying between the coast range and the sea. They set apart large +tracts of land for cultivation and for the pasturing of flocks and +herds. For a long time Old and New Spain contributed liberally to what +was known as the Pious Fund of California. The fund was managed by the +Convent of San Fernando and certain trustees in Mexico, and the proceeds +transmitted from the city of Mexico to the friars in California. + +The mission church was situated, as a rule, in the centre of the mission +lands, or reservations. The latter comprised several thousand acres of +land. With the money furnished by the Pious Fund of California the +church was erected, and surrounded by the various buildings occupied by +the Fathers, the retainers, and the employees who had been trained to +agriculture and the simple branches of mechanics. The presbytery, or the +rectory, was the chief guest-house in the land. There were no hotels in +the California of that day, but the traveller, the prospector, the +speculator, was ever welcome at the mission board; and it was a +bountiful board until the rapacity of the Federal Government laid it +waste. Alexander Forbes, in his "History of Upper and Lower California" +(London, 1839), states that the population of Upper California in 1831 +was a little over 23,000; of these 18,683 were Indians. It was for the +conversion of these Indians that the missions were first established; +for the bettering of their condition--mental, moral and physical--that +they were trained in the useful and industrial arts. That they labored +not in vain is evident. In less than fifty years from the day of its +foundation the Mission of San Francisco Dolores--that is in 1825--is +said to have possessed 76,000 head of cattle; 950 tame horses; 2,000 +breeding mares; 84 stud of choice breed; 820 mules; 79,000 sheep; 2,000 +hogs; 456 yoke of working oxen; 18,000 bushels of wheat and barley; +besides $35,000 in merchandise and $25,000 in specie. + +That was, indeed, the golden age of the California missions; everybody +was prosperous and proportionately happy. In 1826 the Mission of Soledad +owned more than 36,000 head of cattle, and a larger number of horses and +mares than any other mission in the country. These animals increased so +rapidly that they were given away in order to preserve the pasturage for +cattle and sheep. In 1822 the Spanish power in Mexico was overthrown; in +1824 a republican constitution was established. California, not then +having a population sufficient to admit it as one of the Federal States, +was made a territory, and as such had a representative in the Mexican +Congress; but he was not allowed a vote on any question, though he sat +in the assembly and shared in the debates. + +In 1826 the Federal Government began to meddle with the affairs of the +friars. The Indians "who had good characters, and were considered able +to maintain themselves, from having been taught the art of agriculture +or some trade," were manumitted; portions of land were allotted to them, +and the whole country was divided into parishes, under the +superintendence of curates. The zealous missionaries were no longer to +receive a salary--four hundred dollars a year had formerly been paid +them out of the national exchequer for developing the resources of the +State. Everybody and everything was now supposed to be self-sustaining, +and was left to take care of itself. It was a dream--and a bad one! + +[Illustration: Lone Mountain, 1856] + +Within one year the Indians went to the dogs. They were cheated out of +their small possessions and were driven to beggary or plunder. The +Fathers were implored to take charge again of their helpless flock. +Meanwhile the Pious Fund of California had run dry, as its revenues had +been diverted into alien channels. The good friars resumed their +offices. Once more the missions were prosperous, but for a time only. It +was the beginning of the end. Year after year acts were passed in the +Mexican Congress so hampering the friars in their labors that they were +at last crippled and helpless. The year 1840 was specially disastrous; +and in 1845 the Franciscans the pioneer settlers and civilizers of +California, were completely denuded of both power and property. + +In that year a number of the missions were sold by public auction. The +Indian converts, formerly attached to some of the missions, but now +demoralized and wandering idly and miserably over the country, were +ordered to return within a month to the few remaining missions, _or +those also would be sold_. The Indians, having had enough of legislation +and knowing the white man pretty well by this time, no doubt having had +enough of him, returned not, and their missions were disposed of. Then +the remaining missions were rented and the remnants divided into three +parts: one kindly bestowed upon the missionaries, who were the founders +and rightful owners of the missions; one upon the converted Indians, who +seem to have vanished into thin air; one, the last, was supposed to be +converted into a new Pious Fund of California for the further education +and evangelization of the masses--whoever they might be. The general +government had long been in financial distress, and had often +borrowed--to put it mildly--from the friars in their more prosperous +days. In 1831 the Mexican Congress owed the missions of California +$450,000 of borrowed money; and in 1845 it left those missionaries +absolutely penniless. + +Let me not harp longer upon this theme, but end with a quotation from +the pages of a non-Catholic historian. Referring to the Franciscans and +their mission work on the Pacific coast, Josiah Joyce, assistant +professor of philosophy in Harvard College, says:[1] + +"No one can question their motives, nor may one doubt that their +intentions were not only formally pious but truly humane. For the more +fatal diseases that so-called civilization introduced among the Indians, +only the soldiers and colonists of the presidios and pueblos were to +blame; and the Fathers, well knowing the evil results of a mixed +population, did their best to prevent these consequences, but in vain; +since the neighborhood of a presidio was often necessary for the safety +of a mission, and the introduction of a white colonist was an important +part of the intentions of the home government. But, after all, upon this +whole toil of the missions, considered in itself, one looks back with +regret, as upon one of the most devout and praiseworthy of mortal +efforts; and, in view of its avowed intentions, one of the most complete +and fruitless of human failures. The missions have meant, for modern +American California, little more than a memory, which now indeed is +lighted up by poetical legends of many sorts. But the chief significance +of the missions is simply that they first began the colonization of +California." + +The old mission church as I knew it four and forty years ago is still +standing and still an object of pious interest. The first families of +the faithful lie under its eaves in their long and peaceful sleep, +happily unmindful of the great changes that have come over the spirit of +all our dreams. The old adobes have returned to dust, even as the hands +of those who fashioned them more than a century ago. Very modern houses +have crowded upon the old church and churchyard, and they seem to have +become the merest shadows of their former selves; while the roof-tree +of the new church soars into space, and its wide walls--out of all +proportion with the Dolores of departed days--are but emblematic of the +new spirit of the age. + +FOOTNOTES: + +[Footnote 1: In "California," 1886,--one of the admirable American +Commonwealths Series.] + + + + +IX. + +SOCIAL SAN FRANCISCO + + +Social San Francisco during the early Fifties seems to have been a +conglomeration of unexpected externals and surprising interiors. It was +heterogeneous to the last degree. It was hail-fellow-well-met, with a +reservation; it asked no questions for conscience's sake; it would not +have been safe to do so. There were too many pasts in the first families +and too many possible futures to permit one to cast a shadow upon the +other. And after all is said, if sins may be forgiven and atoned for, +why should the memory of a shady past imperil the happiness and +prosperity of the future? All futures should be hopeful; they were +"promise-crammed" in that healthy and hearty city by the sea. + +It was impossible, not to say impolite, to inquire into your neighbors' +antecedents. It was currently believed that the mines were filled with +broken-down "divines," as if it were but a step from the pulpit to the +pickaxe. As for one's family, it was far better off in the old home so +long as the salary of a servant was seventy dollars a month, fresh eggs +a dollar and a quarter a dozen, turkeys ten dollars apiece, and coal +fifty dollars a ton. + +In 1854 and 1855 San Francisco had a monthly magazine that any city or +state might have been proud of; this was _The Pioneer_, edited by the +Rev. Ferdinand C. Ewer. In 1851, a lady, the wife of a physician, went +with her husband into the mines and settled at Rich Bar and Indian Bar, +two neighboring camps on the north fork of the Feather River. There were +but three or four other women in that part of the country, and one of +these died. This lady wrote frequent and lengthy descriptive letters to +a sister in New England, and these letters were afterward published +serially in _The Pioneer_. They picture life as a highly-accomplished +woman knew it in the camps and among the people whom Bret Harte has +immortalized. She called herself "Dame Shirley," and the "Shirley +Letters" in _The Pioneer_ are the most picturesque, vivid, and valuable +record of life in a California mining camp that I know of. The wonder is +that they have never been collected and published in book form; for they +have become a part of the history of the development of the State. + +The life of a later period in San Francisco and Monterey has been +faithfully depicted by another hand. The life that was a mixture of +Gringo and diluted Castilian--a life that smacked of the presidio and +the hacienda,--that was a tale worth telling; and no one has told it so +freely, so fully or so well as Gertrude Franklin Atherton. + +"Dame Shirley" was Mrs. L.A.C. Clapp. When her husband died she went to +San Francisco and became a teacher in the Union Street public school. It +was this admirable lady who made literature my first love; and to her +tender mercies I confided my maiden efforts in the art of composition. +She readily forgave me then, and was the very first to offer me +encouragement; and from that hour to this she has been my faithful +friend and unfailing correspondent. + +South Park and Rincon Hill! Do the native sons of the golden West ever +recall those names and think what dignity they once conferred upon the +favored few who basked in the sunshine of their prosperity? South Park, +with its line of omnibuses running across the city to North Beach; its +long, narrow oval, filled with dusty foliage and offering a very weak +apology for a park; its two rows of houses with, a formal air, all +looking very much alike, and all evidently feeling their importance. +There were young people's "parties" in those days, and the height of +felicity was to be invited to them. As a height o'ertops a hollow, so +Rincon Hill looked down upon South Park. There was more elbow-room on +the breezy height; not that the height was so high or so broad, but it +_was_ breezy; and there was room for the breeze to blow over gardens +that spread about the detached houses their wealth of color and perfume. + +How are the mighty fallen! The Hill, of course, had the farthest to +fall. South Parkites merely moved out: they went to another and a better +place. There was a decline in respectability and the rent-roll, and no +one thinks of South Park now,--at least no one speaks of it above a +whisper. As for the Hill, the Hillites hung on through everything; the +waves of commerce washed all about it and began gnawing at its base; a +deep gully was cut through it, and there a great tide of traffic ebbed +and flowed all day. At night it was dangerous to pass that way without a +revolver in one's hand; for that city is not a city in the barbarous +South Seas, whither preachers of the Gospel of peace are sent; but is a +civilized city and proportionately unsafe. + +A cross-street was lowered a little, and it leaped the chasm in an agony +of wood and iron, the most unlovely object in a city that is made up of +all unloveliness. The gutting of this Hill cost the city the fortunes of +several contractors, and it ruined the Hill forever. There is nothing +left to be done now but to cast it into the midst of the sea. I had +sported on the green with the goats of goatland ere ever the stately +mansion had been dreamed of; and it was my fate to set up my tabernacle +one day in the ruins of a house that even then stood upon the order of +its going,--it did go impulsively down into that "most unkindest cut," +the Second Street chasm. Even the place that once knew it has followed +after. + +The ruin I lived in had been a banker's Gothic home. When Rincon Hill +was spoiled by bloodless speculators, he abandoned it and took up his +abode in another city. A tenant was left to mourn there. Every summer +the wild winds shook that forlorn ruin to its foundations. Every winter +the rains beat upon it and drove through and through it, and undermined +it, and made a mush of the rock and soil about it; and later portions of +that real estate deposited themselves, pudding-fashion, in the yawning +abyss below. + +I sat within, patiently awaiting the day of doom; for well I knew that +my hour must come. I could not remain suspended in midair for any length +of time: the fall of the house at the northwest corner of Harrison and +Second Streets must mark my fall. While I was biding my time, there came +to me a lean, lithe stranger. I knew him for a poet by his unshorn locks +and his luminous eyes, the pallor of his face and his exquisitely +sensitive hands. As he looked about my eyrie with aesthetic glance, +almost his first words were: "What a background for a novel!" He seemed +to relish it all--the impending crag that might topple any day or hour; +the modest side door that had become my front door because the rest of +the building was gone; the ivy-roofed, geranium-walled conservatory +wherein I slept like a Babe in the Wood, but in densest solitude and +with never a robin to cover me. + +He liked the crumbling estate, and even as much of it as had gone down +into the depths forever. He liked the sagging and sighing cypresses, +with their roots in the air, that hung upon and clung upon the rugged +edge of the remainder. He liked the shaky stairway that led to it (when +it was not out of gear), and all that was irrelative and irrelevant; +what might have been irritating to another was to him singularly +appealing and engaging; for he was a poet and a romancer, and his name +was Robert Louis Stevenson. He used to come to that eyrie on Rincon Hill +to chat and to dream; he called it "the most San Francisco-ey part of +San Francisco," and so it was. It was the beginning and the end of the +first period of social development on the Pacific coast. There is a +picture of it, or of the South Park part of it, in Gertrude Atherton's +story, "The Californians." The little glimpse that Louis Stevenson had +of it in its decay gave him a few realistic pages for _The Wrecker_. + +I have referred to the surprising interiors of the city in the Fifties. +What I meant was this: there was not an alley so miserable and so muddy +but somewhere in it there was pretty sure to be a cottage as demure in +outward appearance as modesty itself. Nothing could be more unassuming: +it had not even the air of genteel poverty. I think such an air was not +to be thought of in those days: gentility kept very much to itself. As +for poverty, it was a game that any one might play at any moment, and +most had played at it. + +This cottage stood there--I think I will say _sat_ there, it looked so +perfectly resigned,--and no doubt commanded a rent quite out of +proportion to its size. It had its shaky veranda and its French windows, +and was lined with canvas; for there was not a trowel full of plaster in +it. The ceiling bellied and flapped like an awning when the wind soughed +through the clapboards; and the walls sometimes visibly heaved a sigh; +but they were covered with panelled paper quite palatial in texture and +design, and that is one thing that made those interiors surprising. + +At the windows the voluminous lace draperies were almost overpowering. +Satin lambrequins were festooned with colossal cord and tassels of +bullion. A plate-glass mirror as wide as the mantel reflected the +Florentine gilt carving of its own elaborate frame. There were bronzes +on the mantel, and tall vases of Sevres, and statuettes of bisque +brilliantly tinted. At the two sides of the mantel stood pedestals of +Italian marble surmounted by urns of the most graceful and elegant +proportions, and profusely ornamented with sculptured fruits and +flowers. There was the old-fashioned square piano in its carven case, +and cabinets from China or East India; also a lacquered Japanese screen, +marble-topped tables of filigreed teek, brackets of inlaid ebony. Curios +there were galore. Some paintings there were, and these rocked softly +upon the gently-heaving walls. As for the velvet carpet, it was a bed of +gigantic roses that might easily put to the blush the prime of summer in +a queen's garden. + +I well remember another home in San Francisco, one that possessed for me +the strongest attraction. It was bosomed in the sandhills south of +Market Street,--I know not between what streets, for they had all been +blurred or quite obliterated by drifts of sifting sand. It was a small +house fenced about; but the fence was for the most part buried under +sand, and looked as if it were a rampart erected for the defense of this +isolated cot. Some few hardy flowers had been planted there, but they +were knee-deep in sand, and their petals were full of grit. One usually +blew into that house with a pinch of sand, but how good it was to be +there! + +Within those walls there was the unmistakable evidence of the feminine +touch, the aesthetic influence that refines and beautifies everything. +It was not difficult to idealize in that atmosphere. It was the home of +a lady who chose to conceal her identity, though her pen-name was a +household word from one end of the coast to the other. She was a star +contributor to the weekly columns of the _Golden Era,_ a periodical we +all subscribed for and were immensely proud of. It was unique in its +way. Of late years I have found no literary journal to compare with it +at its best. It introduced Bret Harte, Mark Twain, Prentice Mulford, +Joaquin Miller, Ina Coolbrith, and many others, to their first circle of +admirers. In the large mail-box at its threshold--a threshold I dared +not cross for awe of it--I dropped my earliest efforts in verse, and +then ran for fear of being caught in the act. + +Imagine the joy of a lad whose ambition was to write something worth +printing, and whose wildest dream was to be named some day with those +who had won their laurels in the field of letters,--imagine his joy at +being petted in the sanctum of one who was in his worshipful eyes the +greatest lady in the land! About her were the trophies of her triumph, +though she was personally known to few. Each post brought her tribute +from the grateful hearts of her readers afar off in the mountain mining +camps, and perhaps from beyond the Rockies; or, it may have been, from +the unsuspecting admirer who lived just beyond the first sandhill. This +was another surprising interior. There was plain living and high +thinking in the midst of a wilderness that was, to say the least, +uninviting; the windows rattled and the sand peppered them. Without was +the abomination of desolation; but within the desert blossomed as the +rose. + +There were other homes as homely as the one I preferred--for there was +sand enough to go round. It went round and round, as God probably +intended it should, until a city sat upon it and kept it quiet. Some of +these homes were perched upon solitary hilltops, and were lost to sight +when the fog came in from the sea; and some were crowded into the thick +of the town, with all sorts of queer people for neighbors. You could, +had you chosen to, look out of a back window into a hollow square full +of cats and rats and tin cans; and upon the three sides of the +quadrangle which you were facing, you might have seen, unblushingly +revealed, all the mysteries and miseries of Europe, Asia, Africa, and +Oceanica; for they were all of them represented by delegates. + +Of course there were handsome residences (not so very many of them as +yet), where there was fine art--some of the finest. But often this art +was to be found in the saloons, and the subjects chosen would hardly +find entertainment elsewhere. The furnishing of the houses was within +the bounds of good taste. Monumental marbles were not erected by the +hearth-side; the window drapery was diaphanous rather than dense and +dowdy. The markets of San Francisco were much to blame for the +flashiness of the domestic interior: they were stocked with the gaudiest +fixtures and textures, and in the inspection of them the eye was +bewildered and the taste demoralized. + +Harmony survived the inharmonious, and it prevailed in the homes of the +better classes, as it was bound to do; for refinement had set its seal +there, and you can not counterfeit the seal of refinement. But I am +inclined to think that in the Fifties there was a natural tendency to +overdress, to over-decorate, to overdo almost everything. Indeed the day +was demonstrative; if the now celebrated climate had not yet been +elaborately advertised, no doubt there was something hi it singularly +bracing. The elixir of it got into the blood and the brain, and perhaps +the bones as well. The old felt younger than they did when they left +"the States,"--the territory from the Rockies to the Atlantic Ocean was +commonly known as "the States." The middle-aged renewed their youth, and +youth was wild with an exuberance of health and hope and happiness that +seemed to give promise of immortality. + +No wonder that it was thought an honor to be known as the first white +child born in San Francisco--I'd think it such myself,--and I'm proud to +state that all three claimants are my personal friends. + + + + +X. + +HAPPY VALLEY + + +How well I remember it--the Happy Valley of the days of old! It lay +between California Street and Rincon Point; was bounded on the east by +the Harbor of San Francisco, and on the west by the mission peaks. I +never knew just why it was called _happy_; I never saw any wildly-happy +inhabitants singing or dancing for joy on its sometimes rather +indefinite street corners. If there is happiness in sand, then, happily, +it was sandy. You might have climbed knee-deep up some parts of it and +slid down on the other side; you could have played at "hide-and-seek" +among its shifting undulations. From what is now known as Nob Hill you +could have looked across it to the heights of Rincon Point--and, +perchance, have looked in vain for happiness. Yet who or what is +happiness? A flying nymph whose airy steps even the sand can not stay +for long. + +Down through this Happy Valley ran Market Street, a bias cut across the +city that was to be. Market Street is about all that saved that city +from making a checker-board of its ground-plan. Market Street flew off +at a tangent and set all the south portion of the town at an angle that +is rather a relief than anything else that I know of. Who wants to go on +forever up one street and down another, and then across town at right +angles, as if life were a treadmill and there were no hope of change +until the great change comes? + +Happy Valley! I remember one cool twilight when a "prairie schooner," +that was time-worn and weather-beaten, drifted down Montgomery Street +from Market Street, and rounded the corner of Sutter Street, where it +hove to. You know the "prairie schooner" was the old-time emigrant wagon +that was forever crossing the plains in Forty-nine and the early +Fifties. It was scow-built, hooded from end to end, freighted with goods +and chattels; and therein the whole family lived and moved and had its +being during the long voyage to the Pacific Coast. + +On this twilight evening the captain of the schooner, assisted by a +portion of his crew, deliberately took down part of the fence which +enclosed a sand-lot bounded by Montgomery, Sutter and Post Streets; +driving into the centre of the lot; the horses--four jaded beasts--were +turned loose, and soon a camp-fire was lighted and the entire emigrant +family gathered about it to partake of the evening meal. On this lot now +stands the Lick House and the Masonic Hall--undreamed of in those days. +No one seemed in the least surprised to find in the very heart of the +city a scene such as one might naturally look for in the heart of the +Rocky Mountains and the wilds of the great desert, or the heights of the +Humboldt. No doubt they thought it a Happy Valley; and well they might, +for they had reached their journey's end. + +A stone's throw from that twilight camp, on the south side of Market +Street, stood old St. Patrick's Church. It was a most unpretending +structure, and was quite overshadowed by the R.C. Orphan Asylum close at +hand. Both were backed by sandhills; and both, together with the sand, +have been spirited away. The Palace and Grand Hotels now stand on the +spot. The original St. Patrick's still exists; and, after one or two +transportations, has come to a final halt near the Catholic cemetery +under the shadow of Lone Mountain. It must be ever dear to me, for +within its modest rectory I met the first Catholic clergyman I ever +became acquainted with; and within it I grew familiar with the offices +of the Church; though I was instructed by the Rev. Father Accolti, S.J., +at old St. Ignatius', on Market Street; and by him baptized at the St. +Mary's Cathedral, on the corner of California and Dupont Streets, now +the church of the Paulist Fathers. I have referred to dear old St. +Patrick's--which was dedicated on the first Sunday in September, +1851--in the story of my conversion, a little bit of autobiography +entitled "A Troubled Heart, and How It was Comforted at Last." The late +Peter H. Burnett, first Governor of California, was my godfather. + +In 1855 St. Mary's Cathedral was the handsomest house of worship in the +city. For the most part, the churches of all denominations were of the +plainest, not to say cheapest, order of architecture. As a youth, I sat +in the family pew in the First Presbyterian Church, situated on Stockton +Street, near Broadway. Well I remember my father, with others of the +congregation--all members of the Vigilance Committee,--at the sound of +the alarm-bell, rising in the midst of the sermon and striding out of +the house to take arms in defence of law and order. + +Perhaps the saddest sights in those early days were the neglected +cemeteries. There was one at North Beach, where before 1850 there were +eight hundred and forty interments. It was on the slope of Telegraph +Hill. The place was neglected; a street had been cut through it, and on +the banks of this street we could, at intervals, see the ends of coffins +protruding. Some were broken and falling apart; some were still sound. +It was a gruesome sight. + +There were a few Russian graves on Russian Hill, a forlorn spot in those +days; but perhaps the forlornest of all was Yerba Buena cemetery, where +previous to 1854 four thousand and five hundred bodies had been buried. +It was half-way between Happy Valley and the Mission Dolores. The sand +there was tossed in hillocks like the waves of a sandy sea. There the +chaparral grew thickest; and there the scrub-oaks shrugged their +shoulders and turned their backs to the wind, and grew all lopsided, +with leafage as dense as moss. + +No fence enclosed this weird spot. The sand sifted into it and through +it and out on the other, side; it made graves and uncovered them; it had +ever a new surprise for us. We boys haunted it in ghoulish pairs, and +whispered to each other as we found one more coffin coming to the +surface, or searched in vain for the one we had seen the week before; it +had been mercifully reburied by the winds. There were rude headboards, +painted in fading colors; and beneath them lay the dead of all nations, +soon to be nameless. By and by they were all carried hence; and those +that were far away, watching and waiting for the loved and absent +adventurers, watched and waited in vain. A change come o'er the spirit +of the place. The site is now marked by the New City Hall--in all +probability the most costly architectural monstrosity on this continent. + +"From grave to gay" is but a step; "from lively to severe," another,--I +know not which of the two is longer. It was literally from grave to gay +when the old San Franciscans used to wade through the sandy margin of +Yerba Buena cemetery in search of pleasure at Russ' Garden on the +mission road. It flourished in the early Fifties--this very German +garden, the pride and property of Mr. Christian Russ. It was a little +bit of the Fatherland, transported as if by magic and set down among the +hillocks toward the Mission Dolores. Well I remember being taken there +at intervals, to find little tables in artificial bowers, where sat +whole families as sedate, or merry, and as much at ease as if they were +in their own homes. They would spend Sunday there, after Mass. There was +always something to be seen, to be listened to, to be done. Meals were +served at all hours, and beer at all minutes; and the program contained +a long list of attractions,--enough to keep one interested till ten or +eleven o'clock at night. + +I can remember how scanty the foliage was--it resembled a little the +toy-villages that are made in the Tyrol, having each of them a handful +of impossible trees that breathe not balsam, but paint. I remember the +high wind that blew in bravely from the sea; the pavilion that was a +wonder-world of never-failing attractiveness; and how on a certain +occasion I watched with breathless anxiety and dumb amazement a man, +who seemed to have discarded every garment common to the race, wheel a +wheelbarrow with a grooved wheel up a tight rope stretched from the +ground to the outer peak of the pavilion; and all the time there was a +man in the wheelbarrow who seemed paralyzed with fright,--as no doubt he +was. The man who wheeled the barrow was the world-famous Blondin. + +[Illustration: Russ Gardens, 1856] + +Another sylvan retreat was known as "The Willows." There were some +willows there, but I fear they were numbered; and there was an _al +fresco_ theatre such as one sees in the Champs-Elysees; indeed, the +place had quite a Frenchy atmosphere, and was not at all German, as was +Russ' Garden. French singers sang French songs upon the stage--it was +not much larger than a sounding-board. + +An air of gaiety prevailed; for I imagine the majority of the _habitues_ +were from the French Quarter of the city. Of course there were birds and +beasts, and cages populous with monkeys; and there was an emeu--the +weird bird that can not fly, the Australian cassowary. This bird +inspired Bret Harte to song, and in his early days he wrote "The Ballad +of the Emeu"; + + O say, have you seen at the willows so green, + So charming and rurally true, + A singular bird, with the manner absurd, + Which they call the Australian emeu? + Have you + Ever seen this Australian emeu? + +I fear the poet was moved to sarcasm when he sang of "the willows so +green, so charming and rurally true." Surely they were greener than any +other trees we had in town; for we had almost none, save a few dark +evergreens. Well, the place was charming in its way, and as rurally true +as anything could be expected to be on that peninsula in its native +wilderness. The Willows and Russ' Garden had their day, and it was a +jolly day. They were good for the people--those rural resorts; they were +rest for the weary, refreshment for the hungry and thirsty--and they +have gone; even their very sites are now obliterated, and the new +generation has perhaps never even heard of them. + +How we wondered at and gloried in the Oriental Hotel! It was the queen +of Western hostelries, and stood at the corner of Battery and Bush +Streets. And the Tehama House, so famous in its day! It was Lieutenant +G.H. Derby, better known in letters as John Phoenix, and Squibob--names +delightfully associated with the early history of California,--it was +this Lieutenant Derby, one of the first and best of Western humorists, +who added interest to the hotel by writing "A Legend of the Tehama +House." It begins, chapter first: + +"It was evening at the Tehama. The apothecary, whose shop formed the +southeastern corner of that edifice, had lighted his lamps, which, +shining through those large glass bottles in the window, filled with +red and blue liquors--once supposed by this author, when young and +innocent, to be medicines of the most potent description,--lit up the +faces of the passers-by with an unearthly glare, and exaggerated the +general redness and blueness of their noses." + +The third and last chapter concludes with these words: "The Tehama House +is still there." The laughter-making and laughter-loving Phoenix has +long since gone to his reward. Of the Oriental Hotel scarcely a +tradition remains. The Tehama House--what there is left of it--has been +spirited to the north side of Broadway within a stone's-throw of the +city and county jail. The cliffs of Telegraph Hill browbeat it. It is, +one might say, the last of its race. + +Another hospice--if it _was_ a hospice--I remember. It stood on the +corner of Clay and Sansome Streets, and was a very ordinary building, +erected over the hulk of a ship that had been stranded there in the days +of Forty-nine. I saw the building torn down and the bones of the hulk +disinterred years after the water lots that had been filled in for +several squares, between it and the old harbor, were covered with +substantial buildings. When that bark was buoyant it had weathered Cape +Horn with a small army of argonauts. They had gone their way to dusty +death; she had buried her nose on the water-front and had been +smothered to death in the mire. Docks, streets, grew up around her; a +building had snuffed her out of sight and mind. The old building gave +place to a new one; the bark was resurrected in order to lay a solid +foundation for the new block that was to be. In the hold of this +forgotten bark was discovered a forgotten case of champagne. It had been +sunk in mud and ooze for years. When the bottles were opened the corks +refused to pop, and nobody dared to touch the "bilge" that was within. +All this was on the happy hem of Happy Valley--and still I was not +happy. + + + + +XI. + +THE VIGILANCE COMMITTEE + + +It was May 14, 1856. I chanced to be standing at the northwest corner of +Washington and Montgomery Streets, watching the world go by. It was a +queer world: very much mixed, not a little fantastic in manner and +costume; just the kind of world to delight a boy, and no doubt I was +delighted. + +"Bang!" It was a pistol-shot, and very near me--not thirty feet away. I +turned and saw a man stagger and fall to the pavement. Then the streets +began to grow dark with people hurrying toward the scene of the tragedy. +I fled in fright; I had had my fill of horrors. The pistol-shot was +familiar enough: it punctuated the hours of day and night out yonder. +But I had never witnessed a murder, and this was evidently one. + +When I reached home I was dazed. On the witness stand, under oath, I +could have told nothing; but very shortly the whole town was aware that +James King--known as James King of William (i.e., William King was his +father)--the editor of the _Evening Bulletin_ had been shot in cold +blood by James Casey, a supervisor, the editor of a local journal, an +unprincipled politician, an ex-convict, and a man whose past had been +exposed and his present publicly denounced in the editorial columns of +the _Bulletin_. + +This climax precipitated a general movement toward social and political +reform in San Francisco. It was James P. Casey, a graduate of the New +York state-prison at Sing Sing, who stuffed a ballot-box with tickets +bearing his own name upon them as candidate for supervisor, and as a +result of this stuffing declared himself elected. Casey was hurried off +to jail by his friends, lest the outraged populace should lynch him on +the spot. A mob gathered at the jail. The mayor of the city harangued +the people in favor of law and order. They jeered him and remained there +most of the night. One leading spirit might have roused the masses to +riot; but the hour was not yet ripe. + +In 1851 a Vigilance Committee had endeavored to purge the politics of +the town and rid it of the criminals who had foisted themselves into +office. Some ex-members of this committee became active members of the +committee of 1856. Chief among them was William T. Coleman, a name +deservedly honored in the annals of San Francisco. + +James King of William was shot on Tuesday, the 14th of May. He died on +the following Monday. That fatal shot was the turning-point in the +history of the metropolis of the Pacific. A meeting of the citizens was +immediately called; an executive committee was appointed; the work of +organization was distributed among the sub-committees. With amazing +rapidity three thousand citizens were armed, drilled, and established in +temporary armories; ample means were subscribed to cover all expenses. +Several companies of militia disbanded rather than run the risk of being +called into service against the Vigilantis; they then joined the +committee, armed with their own muskets. Arms were obtained from every +quarter, and soon there was an ample supply. A building on Sacramento +Street, below Battery, was secured and made headquarters of the +committee. A kind of fortification built of potato sacks filled with +sand was erected in front of it. It was known as Fort Gunny Bags. This +secured an open space before the building. The fort was patrolled by +sentinels night and day; military rule was strictly observed. + +All things having been arranged silently, secretly, decently and in +order--the members of the committee were under oath as well as under +arms--they decided to take matters into their own hands; and in order to +do this Casey must be removed from jail--peaceably if possible, forcibly +if necessary--and given a lodging and a trial at Fort Gunny Bags. + +On Sunday morning, the 19th of May, chancing be under the weather, and +consequently at home sitting by a window, I saw people flocking past the +house and hastening toward the jail. We were then living on Broadway, +below Montgomery Street; the jail was on Broadway, a square or two +farther up the street; between us was a shoulder of Telegraph Hill not +yet cut away, though it had been blasted out of shape and an attempt had +been made to tunnel it. The young Californian of that day was +keen-scented and lost no opportunity of seeing whatever was to be seen. +Forgetting my distemper, I grabbed my cap and joined the expectant +throngs. We went over the heights of the hill like a flock of goats: we +were used to climbing. On the other edge of the cliff, where we seemed +almost to overhang the jail and the street in front of it, we paused and +caught our breath. What a sight it was! It seems that on Saturday +twenty-four companies of Vigilantis were ordered to meet at their +respective armories, in various parts of the city, at nine o'clock on +Sunday morning. Orders were given to each captain to take up a certain +position near the jail. The jail was surrounded: no one could approach +it, no one escape from it, without leave of the commanders of the +committee. + +The streets glistened with bayonets. It was as if the city were in a +state of siege; so indeed it was. The companies marched silently, +ominously, without music or murmur, to their respective stations. +Citizens--non-combatants but all sympathizers--flocked in and covered +the housetops and the heights in the vicinity. A hollow square was +formed before the jail; an artillery company with a huge brass cannon +halted near it; the cannon was placed directly in front of the jail and +trained upon the gates. I remember how impressive the scene was: the +grim files of infantry; the gleaming brass of the cannon; one closed +carriage within the hollow square; the awful stillness that brooded over +all. + +[Illustration: Certificate of Membership, Vigilance Committee, 1856] + +Two Vigilance officials went to the door of the jail and informed +Sheriff Scannell that they had come to take Casey with them. Resistance +was now useless; the door of the jail was thrown open to them and they +entered. At their approach Casey begged leave to speak for ten minutes +in his own defense,--he evidently expected to be executed on the +instant. He was assured that he should have a fair trial, and that his +testimony should be deliberately weighed in the balance. This act of an +outraged and disgusted people was one of the calmest, coolest, wisest, +most deliberate on record. Law, order, and justice were at bay. Casey, +under guard, walked quietly to the carriage and entered it. In the jail +at the time was Charles Cora, a man who had murdered United States +Marshal Richardson. He had been tried once; but then the jury +disagreed--as they nearly always agreed to in those barbarous days. +Hanging was almost out of the question. Cora was invited to enter the +carriage with Casey, and the two were driven under military escort to +Fort Gunny Bags. + +On the day following, Monday, James King of William died. On Tuesday +Casey was tried by the executive committee. John S. Hittell, the +historian of San Francisco, says: + +"No person was present at the trial save the accused, the members of the +Vigilance Committee, and witnesses. The testimony was given under oath, +though there was no lawful authority for its administration. Hearsay +testimony was excluded; the general rules of evidence observed in the +courts were adopted: the accused heard all the witnesses, cross-examined +those against him, summoned such as he wanted in his favor, had an +attorney to assist him, and was permitted to make an argument by himself +or his attorney, in his own defence." + +Casey and Cora were both convicted: their guilt was beyond the shadow of +a doubt. + +On Wednesday James King of William was laid to rest at Lone Mountain. +The whole city was draped in mourning; all business was suspended; the +citizens lined the streets through which the feral cortege proceeded, or +followed it until it seemed interminable. + +As that procession passed up Montgomery Street and crossed Sacramento +Street, those who were walking or driving in it looked down the latter +street and saw, two squares below, the lifeless bodies of James P. Casey +and Charles Cora dangling by the neck from two second-story windows of +the headquarters of the Vigilance Committee. Justice was enthroned at +last. + +"The Vigilance Committees of San Francisco in 1851 and 1856," as Hittell +says, "were in many important respects unlike any other extra-judicial +movement to administer justice. They were not common mobs: they were +organized for weeks or months of labor, deliberate in their movements, +careful to keep records of their proceedings, strictly attentive to the +rules of evidence and the penalties for crime accepted by civilized +nations; confident of their power, and of their justification by public +opinion; and not afraid of taking the public responsibility of their +acts." + +The committee of 1856 was never formally dissolved. The reformation it +had accomplished rendered it inactive. Some of the worst criminals in +California had been officials. A thousand homicides had been committed +in the city between 1849 and 1856, and there were but seven executions +in seven years. + +Richard Henry Dana, Jr., the author of "Two Years before the Mast," who +spent the greater portion of two years--1834-35--on the coast of +California, and who revisited the Pacific coast in 1859, observes: + +"And now the most quiet and well-governed city in the United States is +San Francisco. But it has been through its seasons of heaven-defying +crime and violence and blood; from which it was rescued and handed back +to soberness and morality and good government by that peculiar invention +of Anglo-Saxon republican America--the solemn, awe-inspiring Vigilance +Committee of the most grave and respectable citizens; the last resort of +the thinking and the good, taken only when vice, fraud, and ruffianism +had entrenched themselves behind the forms of law, suffrage, and +ballot." + +San Francisco was undoubtedly the most disreputable city in the Union. +It is now one of the most reputable. As I think of it to-day there is no +shudder in the thought. And yet I saw James King of William shot; I saw +Casey and Cora transferred from the jail to the headquarters of the +Vigilance Committee; and I saw them hanging as the body of James King of +William was being borne by a whole city, bowed in grief, to his last +resting-place. And my venerated father was a member of that +never-to-be-forgotten Vigilance Committee of San Francisco in the year +of Our Lord eighteen hundred and fifty-six. + + + + +XII. + +THE SURVIVOR'S STORY + + +It is not much of a story. It is only the mild adventure of a boy at +sea; and of a small, sad boy at that. This boy had an elder brother who +was ill; and the physicians in consultation had decided that a long +sea-voyage was his only hope, and that even in this case the hope was a +very faint one. + +There was a ship at anchor in the harbor of San Francisco,--a very +famous clipper, one of those sailors of the sea known as Ocean +Greyhounds. She was built for speed, and her record was a brilliant one; +under the guidance of her daring captain, she had again and again proved +herself worthy of her name. She was called the _Flying Cloud_. Her +cabins were luxuriously furnished; for in those days seafarers were +oftener blown about the world by the four winds of heaven than propelled +by steam. Yet when the _Flying Cloud_, one January day, tripped anchor +and set sail, there were but three strangers on the quarter-deck--a +middle-aged gentleman in search of health, the invalid brother, in his +eighteenth year, and the small, sad boy. + +[Illustration: West from Black Point, 1856] + +The captain's wife, a lady of Salem who had followed him from sea to +sea for many a year, was the joy and salvation of that forlorn little +company. How forlorn it was only the survivor knows, and he knows well +enough. Forty years have scarcely dimmed the memory of it. Through all +the wear and tear of time the remembrance of that voyage has at +intervals haunted him: the length of it, the weariness of it, and the +almost unbroken monotony stretching through the ninety odd days that +dawned and darkened between San Francisco and New York; the solitary +sail that was blown on and on, and becalmed and buffeted between the +blue waste of waters and the blue waste of sky; the lonesomeness of it +all--no land, no lights flashing across the sea in glad assurance; no +passing ships to hail us with faint-voiced "Ahoy!"--only the +ever-tossing waves, the trailing sea-gardens, the tireless birds of the +air and the monsters of the deep. + +Ah, well-a-day! There was a solemn and hushed circle listening to family +prayers that morning,--the morning of the 4th of January. The father's +voice trembled as he opened the Bible and read from that beautiful +psalm: + +"They that go down to the sea in ships, that do business in great +waters, these see the works of the Lord and His wonders in the deep. For +He commandeth and raiseth the stormy wind, which lifteth up the waves +thereof. They mount up to the heaven; they go down again to the depths; +their soul is melted because of trouble. They reel to and fro and +stagger like a drunken man, and are at their wit's end. Then they cry +unto the Lord in their trouble, and He bringeth them out of their +distresses. He maketh the storm a calm, so that the waves thereof are +still. Then are they glad because they be quiet; so He bringeth them +unto their desired haven. Oh, that men would praise the Lord for His +goodness and for His wonderful works to the children of men!" + +The small, sad boy looked smaller and sadder than ever as he stood on +the deck of the _Flying Cloud_ and waved his last farewell. He tried his +best to be manly and to swallow the heart that was leaping in his +throat, and at the earliest possible moment he flew to his journal and +made his first entry there. He was going to keep a journal because his +brother kept one, and because it was the proper thing to keep a journal +at sea--no ship is complete without its log, you know; and, moreover, I +think it was a custom in that family to keep a journal; for it was, more +or less, a journalistic family. + +Now we are nearing the anniversary of that boy's journal: it runs +through January, February and March; it is more than forty years old +this minute. And because it is a boy's journal, and the boy was small +and sad, I'm going to peep into it and fish out a line or two. With an +effort he made this entry: + +"CLIPPER SHIP, FLYING CLOUD, + "January 4, 1857. + +"I watched them till we were out of sight of them, and then began to +look about to see what I could see. It begins to get rough. I tried to +see home, but I could not. The pilot says he will take a letter ashore +for us. Now I will go to bed." + + +Then he cried unto the Lord in his trouble with a heart as heavy as +lead. + +"JAN. 5.--The day rather rough, with little squalls of rain. We are +passing the Farallone Islands, but I feel too bad to sketch them. I get +homesick when I think of the dear ones I left behind me. I hope I may +see them all in this world again." + +That was the gray beginning of a voyage that had very little color in +it. The coast-line sank apace; the gray rocks--the Farallones, the haunt +of the crying gull--dissolved in the gray mist. The hours were all +alike: all dismal and slow-footed. + +"I don't feel very well to-day," said the small, sad boy, quite +plaintively. On the 6th he brightens and begins to take notice. History +would have less to fasten on were there not some such entries as this: + +"A list of our live-stock: 17 pigs; 12 dozen hens and roosters; 3 +turkeys; 1 gobbler; a cockatoo and a wild-cat. We have a fair breeze, +and carry 26 sails. + +"JAN. 7.--The day is calm. I began to read 'Uncle Tom's Cabin.' I like +it. The captain's wife was going to train the wild-cat when it bit +her--but not very hard. + +"8.--There was not much wind to-day. We fished for sea-gulls and caught +four. I caught one and let it go again. Two hens flew overboard. The +sailors in a boat got one of them; the gulls killed one. + +"9.--The day has been rather gloomy. I caught another sea-gull but let +him go again. On deck nearly all day. + +"10.--The cockatoo sits on deck and talks and talks. + +"11.--It makes me feel bad when I think of home. I want to be there." + +The long, long weary days dragged on. It is thought worth while to note +that there were fresh eggs for breakfast, fresh pork for dinner, fresh +chicken for supper; that a porpoise had been captured, and that his +carcass yielded "three gallons of oil as good as sperm oil"; that no +ship had been seen--"no sail from day to day"; that they were in the +latitude of Panama; that it was squally or not squally, as the case +might be; that on one occasion they captured "four barrels of oil," the +flotsam of some ill-fated whaler, and that it all proved "very +exciting"; that a dolphin was captured, and that he died in splendor, +passing through the whole gamut of the rainbow--that the words of +tradition might be fulfilled; that the hens had suffered no sea-change, +but had contributed from a dozen to two dozen eggs per day. Still +stretched the immeasurable waste of waters to the horizon line on every +hand. Day by day the small boy made his entries; but he seemed to be +running down, like a clock, and needed winding up. This is how his +record dwindled: + +"JAN. 20.--The day is very pleasant, with some wind. We crossed the +equator. I sat up in one of the boats a long time. I wish my little +brothers were here to play with me. + +"21.--The day is very pleasant, with a good breeze. We are going ten or +eleven knots an hour. + +"22.--The day is very pleasant. A nine-knot breeze. Nothing new happened +to-day. + +"23.--The day is pleasant. Six-knot breeze." + +It came to pass that the small, sad boy, wearying of "Uncle Tom" and his +"cabin," was driven to extremes; and, having obtained leave of the +captain--who was autocrat of all his part of the world,--he climbed into +one of the ship's boats, as it hung in the davits over the side of the +vessel. It was an airy voyage he took there, sailing between sea and +sky, soaring up and down with the rolling vessel, like a bird upon the +wing. + +He rigged a tiny mast there--it was a walking-stick that ably served +this purpose; the captain's wife provided sails no larger than +handkerchiefs. With thread-like ropes and pencil spars he set his sails +for dreamland. One day the wind bothered him; he could not trim his +canvas, and in desperation he set it dead against the wind, and then the +sails were filled almost to bursting. But his navigation was at fault; +for he was heading in a direction quite opposite to the _Flying Cloud_. + +Then came a facetious sailor and whispered to him: "Do you want ever to +get to New York?"--"Yes, I do," said the little captain of the midair +craft.--"Well, then, you'd better haul in sail; for you're set dead agin +us now." The sails were struck on the instant and never unfurled again. + +I wonder why some people are so very inconsiderate when they speak to +children, especially to simple or sensitive children? The small, sad boy +took it greatly to heart, and was cast down because he feared that he +might have delayed the bark that bore him all too slowly toward the +far-distant port. This was indeed simplicity of the deepest dye, and +something of that simplicity the boy was never to escape unto the end +of time. We are as God made us, and we must in all cases put up with +ourselves. + +What a lonely voyage was that across the vast and vacant sea! Now and +then a distant sail glimmered upon the horizon, but disappeared like a +vanishing snowflake. The equator was crossed; the air grew colder; storm +and calm followed each other; the daily entry now becomes monotonous. + +"FEBRUARY 2.--To-day for the first time we saw an albatross. + +"7.--Rather rough and cold; I have spent all day in the cabin. It makes +me homesick to have such weather. + +"14.--I rose at five o'clock and went on deck, and before long saw land. +It was Terra del Fuego; it was a beautiful sight. Here lay a pretty +island, there a towering precipice, and over yonder a mountain covered +with snow. We made the fatal Cape Horn at two o'clock, and passed it at +four o'clock. Now we are in the Atlantic Ocean. + +"WASHINGTON'S BIRTHDAY.--Rough weather: a sixteen-knot breeze. To-day we +got our one thousandth egg, and the hens are doing well. At +twelve--eight bells--we saw a sail on our weather-bow: she was going the +same way as we were. At two, we overtook and spoke her. She was the +whaler _Scotland_ from New Zealand, bound for New Bedford, with +thirty-five hundred barrels of oil. We soon passed her. I wish her good +luck." + +I will no longer stretch the small, sad boy upon the rack of his dull +journal. He had a glimpse at Juan Fernandez, but the island of his +dreams was so far off that he had to climb to the maintop in order to +get a sight of its shadowy outline. When it had faded away like the +clouds, the lonely little fellow cried himself to sleep for love of his +Robinson Crusoe. + +One night the moon--a large, mellow tropical one,--rose from a bank of +cloud so like a mountain's chain that the small one clapped his hands in +glee and cried: "Land ho!" But, alas! it was only cloud-land; and his +eyes, that were starving for a sight of God's green earth, were again +bedewed. Indeed he was bound for a distant shore, a voyage of ninety-one +days; and during all that voyage he was in sight of land for five days +only. It may be said that the port he was bound for, and where he was +destined to pass two years at school, four thousand miles from his own +people, may be called "The Vale of Tears." + +Off the Brazilian coast a head-wind forced the ship to tack repeatedly; +she was sometimes so near the land that people could be seen moving, +like black dots, along the shore. Native fishermen, mounted upon the +high seats of their catamarans--the frailest rafts,--drifted within +hailing distance; and over night the brave ship was within almost +speaking distance of Pernambuco. The lights of the city were like a bed +of glowworms,--but the small, sad boy was blown off into the sea again, +for his hour had not yet come. + +Here is the last entry I shall weary you with, for I would not abuse +your patience: + +"APRIL 5, 1857.--I was _awoke_ this morning by the noise the pilot made +in getting on board. At ten o'clock the steam-tug Hercules took us in +tow. We had beautiful views of the shore [God knows how beautiful they +were in his eyes!], and at three o'clock we were at the Astor House, +with Captain and Mrs. Cresey, Mr. Connor, and the Stoddard boys--all of +the _Flying Cloud_,--where we retired to soft beds to spend the night." + +There is a plaintive touch in that reference to _soft beds_ after three +months in the straight and narrow bunk of a ship. And there is more +pathos in all those childish pages than you wot of; for, alas and alas! +I am the sole survivor,--I was that small, sad boy; and I alone am left +to tell the tale. + + + + +A BIT OF OLD CHINA + + +"It is but a step from Confucius to confusion," said I, in a brief +discussion of the Chinese question. "Then let us take it by all means," +replied the artist, who had been an indulgent listener for at least ten +minutes. We were strolling upon the verge of the Chinese Quarter in San +Francisco, and, turning aside from one of the chief thoroughfares of the +city, we plunged into the busiest portion of Chinatown. From our +standpoint--the corner of Kearny and Sacramento Streets--we got the most +favorable view of our Mongolian neighbors. Here is a goodly number of +merchant gentlemen of wealth and station, comfortably, if not elegantly, +housed on two sides of a street that climbs a low hill quite in the +manner of a tea-box landscape. + +A few of these gentlemen lodge on the upper floors of their business +houses, with Chinese wives, and quaint, old-fashioned children gaudily +dressed, looking like little idols, chatting glibly with one another, +and gracefully gesticulating with hands of exquisite slenderness. +Confucius, in his infancy, may have been like one of the least of these. +There are white draymen and porters in the employ of these shrewd and +civil merchants, and the outward appearance of traffic, as conducted in +the immediate vicinity, is rather American than otherwise. + +Farther up the hill, on Dupont Street, from California to Pacific +Streets, the five blocks are almost monopolized by the Chinese. There +is, at first, a sprinkling of small shops in the hands of Jews and +Gentiles, and a mingling of Chinese bazaars of the half-caste type, +where American and English goods are exposed in the show windows; but as +we pass on the Asiatic element increases, and finally every trace of +alien produce is withdrawn from the shelves and counters. + +Here little China flaunts her scarlet streamers overhead, and flanks her +doors with legends in saffron and gold; even its window panes have a +foreign look, and within is a glimmering of tinsel, a subdued light, and +china lamps flickering before graven images of barbaric hideousness. The +air is laden with the fumes of smoking sandal-wood and strange odors of +the East; and the streets, swarming with coolies, resound with the +echoes of an unknown tongue. There is hardly room for us to pass; we +pick our way, and are sometimes curiously regarded by slant-eyed pagans, +who bear us no good-will, if that shadow of scorn in the face has been +rightly interpreted. China is not more Chinese than this section of our +Christian city, nor the heart of Tartary less American. + +Turn which way we choose, within two blocks, on either hand we find +nothing but the infinitely small and astonishingly numerous forms of +traffic on which the hordes around us thrive. No corner is too cramped +for the squatting street cobbler; and as for the pipe cleaners, the +cigarette rollers, the venders of sweetmeats and conserves, they gather +on the curb or crouch under overhanging windows, and await custom with +the philosophical resignation of the Oriental. + +On Dupont Street, between Clay and Sacramento Streets--a single +block,--there are no less than five basement apartments devoted +exclusively to barbers. There are hosts of this profession in the +quarter. Look down the steep steps leading into the basement and see, at +any hour of the day, with what deft fingers the tonsorial operators +manipulate the devoted pagan head. + +There is no waste space in the quarter. In apartments not more than +fifteen feet square three or four different professions are often +represented, and these afford employment to ten or a dozen men. Here is +a druggist and herb-seller, with huge spectacles on his nose, at the +left of the main entrance; a butcher displays his meats in a show-window +on the right, serving his customers over the sill; a clothier is in the +rear of the shop, while a balcony filled with tailors or cigar-makers +hangs half-way to the ceiling. + +[Illustration: "China is Not More Chinese than this Section of Our +Christian City."] + +Close about us there are over one hundred and fifty mercantile +establishments and numerous mechanical industries. The seventy-five +cigar factories employ eight thousand coolies, and these are huddled +into the closest quarters. In a single room, measuring twenty feet by +thirty feet, sixty men and boys have been discovered industriously +rolling _real_ Havanas. + +The traffic which itinerant fish and vegetable venders drive in every +part of the city must be great, being as it is an extreme convenience +for lazy or thrifty housewives. A few of these basket men cultivate +gardens in the suburbs, but the majority seek their supplies in the city +markets. Wash-houses have been established in every part of the city, +and are supplied with two sets of laborers, who spend watch and watch on +duty, so that the establishment is never closed. + +One frequently meets a travelling bazaar--a coolie with his bundle of +fans and bric-a-brac, wandering from house to house, even in the +suburbs; and the old fellows, with a handful of sliced bamboos and +chairs swinging from the poles over their shoulders, are becoming quite +numerous; chair mending and reseating must be profitable. These little +rivulets, growing larger and more varied day by day, all spring from +that great fountain of Asiatic vitality--the Chinese Quarter. This +surface-skimming beguiles for an hour or two; but the stranger who +strolls through the streets of Chinatown, and retires dazed with the +thousand eccentricities of an unfamiliar people, knows little of the +mysterious life that surrounds him. + +Let us descend. We are piloted by a special policeman, one who is well +acquainted with the geography of the quarter. Provided with tapers, we +plunge into one of the several dark recesses at hand. Back of the highly +respectable brick buildings in Sacramento Street--the dwellings and +business places of the first-class Chinese merchants--there are pits and +deadfalls innumerable, and over all is the blackness of darkness; for +these human moles can work in the earth faster than the shade of the +murdered Dane. Here, from the noisome vats three stories underground to +the hanging gardens of the fish-dryers on the roofs, there is neither +nook nor corner but is populous with Mongolians of the lowest caste. The +better class have their reserved quarters; with them there is at least +room to stretch one's legs without barking the shins of one's neighbor; +but from this comparative comfort to the condensed discomfort of the +impoverished coolie, how sudden and great the change! + +Between brick walls we thread our way, and begin descending into the +abysmal darkness; the tapers, without which it were impossible to +proceed with safety, burn feebly in the double night of the +subterranean tenements. Most of the habitable quarters under the ground +are like so many pigeon-houses indiscriminately heaped together. If +there were only sunshine enough to drink up the slime that glosses every +plank, and fresh air enough to sweeten the mildewed kennels, this highly +eccentric style of architecture might charm for a time, by reason of its +novelty; there is, moreover, a suspicion of the picturesque lurking +about the place--but, heaven save us, how it smells! + +[Illustration: "Rag Alley" in Old Chinatown] + +We pass from one black hole to another. In the first there is a kind of +bin for ashes and coals, and there are pots and grills lying about--it +is the kitchen. A heap of fire kindling wood in one corner, a bench or +stool as black as soot can paint it, a few bowls, a few bits of rags, a +few fragments of food, and a coolie squatting over a struggling +fire,--coolie who rises out of the dim smoke like the evil _genii_ in +the Arabian tale. There is no chimney, there is no window, there is no +drainage. We are in a cubic sink, where we can scarcely stand erect. +From the small door pours a dense volume of smoke, some of it stale +smoke, which our entry has forced out of the corners; the kitchen will +only hold so much smoke, and we have made havoc among the cubic inches. +Underfoot, the thin planks sag into standing pools, and there is a +glimmer of poisonous blue just along the base of the blackened walls; +thousands feed daily in troughs like these! + +The next apartment, smaller yet, and blacker and bluer, and more +slippery and slimy, is an uncovered cesspool, from which a sickening +stench exales continually. All about it are chambers--very small +ones,--state-rooms let me call them, opening upon narrow galleries that +run in various directions, sometimes bridging one another in a marvelous +and exceedingly ingenious economy of space. The majority of these +state-rooms are just long enough to lie down in, and just broad enough +to allow a narrow door to swing inward between two single beds, with two +sleepers in each bed. The doors are closed and bolted; there is often no +window, and always no ventilation. + +Our "special," by the authority vested in him, tries one door and +demands admittance. There is no response from within. A group of +coolies, who live in the vicinity and have followed close upon our heels +even since our descent into the under world, assure us in soothing tones +that the place is vacant. We are suspicious and persist in our +investigation; still no response. The door is then forced by the +"special," and behold four of the "seven sleepers" packed into this +air-tight compartment, and insensible even to the hearty greeting we +offer them! + +The air is absolutely overpowering. We hasten from the spot, but are +arrested in our flight by the "special," who leads us to the gate of the +catacombs, and bids us follow him. I know not to what extent the earth +has been riddled under the Chinese Quarter; probably no man knows save +he who has burrowed, like a gopher, from one living grave to another, +fleeing from taxation or the detective. I know that we thread dark +passages, so narrow that two of us may not cross tracks, so low that we +often crouch at the doorways that intercept pursuit at unexpected +intervals. Here the thief and the assassin seek sanctuary; it is a city +of refuge for lost souls. + +The numerous gambling houses are so cautiously guarded that only the +private police can ferret them out. Door upon door is shut against you; +or some ingenious panel is slid across your path, and you are +unconsciously spirited away through other avenues. The secret signals +that gave warning of your approach caused a sudden transformation in the +ground-plan of the establishment. + +Gambling and opium smoking are here the ruling passions. A coolie will +pawn anything and everything to obtain the means with which to indulge +these fascinations. There are many games played publicly at restaurants +and in the retiring rooms of mercantile establishments. Not only are +cards, dice, and dominos common, but sticks, straws, brass rings, etc., +are thrown in heaps upon the table, and the fate of the gamester hangs +literally upon a breath. + +These haunts are seldom visited by the officers of justice, for it is +almost impossible to storm the barriers in season to catch the criminals +in the very act. To-day you approach a gambling hell by this door, +to-morrow the inner passages of the house are mysteriously changed, and +it is impossible to track them without being frequently misled; +meanwhile the alarm is sounded throughout the building, and very +speedily every trace of guilt has disappeared. The lottery is another +popular temptation in the quarter. Most of the very numerous wash-houses +are said to be private agencies for the sale of lottery tickets. Put +your money, no matter how little it is, on certain of the characters +that cover a small sheet of paper, and your fate is soon decided; for +there is a drawing twice a day. + +Enter any one of the pawn-shops licensed by the city authorities, and +cast your eye over the motley collection of unredeemed articles. There +are pistols of every pattern and almost of every age, the majority of +them loaded. There are daggers in infinite variety, including the +ingenious fan stiletto, which, when sheathed, may be carried in the hand +without arousing suspicion; for the sheath and handle bear; an exact +resemblance to a closed fan. There are entire suits of clothes, beds and +bedding, tea, sugar, clocks--multitudes of them, a clock being one of +the Chinese hobbies, and no room is completely furnished without at +least a pair of them,--ornaments in profusion; everything, in fact, save +only the precious _queue_, without which no Chinaman may hope for honor +in this life or salvation in the next. + +The throngs of customers that keep the pawn-shops crowded with pledges +are probably most of them victims of the gambling table or the opium +den. They come from every house that employs them; your domestic is +impatient of delay, and hastens through his daily task in order that he +may nightly indulge his darling sin. + +The opium habit prevails to an alarming extent throughout the country, +but no race is so dependent on this seductive and fatal stimulant as the +Chinese. There are several hundred dens in San Francisco where, for a +very moderate sum, the coolie may repair, and revel in dreams that end +in a deathlike sleep. + +Let us pause at the entrance of one of these pleasure-houses. Through +devious ways we follow the leader, and come at last to a cavernous +retreat. The odors that salute us are offensive; on every hand there is +an accumulation of filth that should naturally, if it does not, breed +fever and death. Forms press about us in the darkness,--forms that +hasten like shadows toward that den of shades. We enter by a small door +that is open for a moment only, and find ourselves in an apartment +about fifteen feet square. We can touch the ceiling on tiptoe, yet there +are three tiers of bunks placed with head boards to the wall, and each +bunk just broad enough for two occupants. It is like the steerage in an +emigrant vessel, eminently shipshape. Every bunk is filled; some of the +smokers have had their dream and lie in grotesque attitudes, insensible, +ashen-pale, having the look of plague-stricken corpses. + +Some are dreaming; you see it in the vacant eye, the listless face, the +expression that betrays hopeless intoxication. Some are preparing the +enchanting pipe,--a laborious process, that reminds one of an +incantation. See those two votaries lying face to face, chatting in low +voices, each loading his pipe with a look of delicious expectation in +every feature. They recline at full-length; their heads rest upon blocks +of wood or some improvised pillow; a small oil lamp flickers between +them. Their pipes resemble flutes, with an inverted ink-bottle on the +side near the lower end. They are most of them of bamboo, and very often +are beautifully colored with the mellowest and richest tints of a wisely +smoked meerschaum. A small jar of prepared opium--a thick black paste +resembling tar--stands near the lamp. + +The smoker leisurely dips a wire into the paste; a few drops adhere to +it, and he twirls the wire in the flame of the lamp, where they fry and +bubble; he then draws them upon the rim of the clay pipe-bowl, and at +once inhales three or four mouthfuls of whitish smoke. This empties the +pipe, and the slow process of feeding the bowl is lazily repeated. It is +a labor of love; the eyes gloat upon the bubbling drug which shall anon +witch the soul of those emaciated toilers. They renew the pipe again and +again; their talk grows less frequent and dwindles to a whispered +soliloquy. + +We address them, and are smiled at by delirious eyes; but the ravenous +lips are sealed to that magic tube, from which they draw the breath of a +life we know not of. Their fingers relax; their heads sink upon the +pillows; they no longer respond, even by a glance, when we now appeal to +them. Here is the famous Malay, the fearful enemy of De Quincy, who +nightly drugged his master into Asiatic seas; and now himself is basking +in the tropical heats and vertical sunlight of Hindostan. Egypt and her +gods are his; for him the secret chambers of Cheops are unlocked; he +also is transfixed at the summit of pagodas; he is the idol, the priest, +the worshipped, the sacrificed. The wrath of Brahma pursues him through +the forests of Asia; he is the hated of Vishnu; Siva lies in wait for +him; Isis and Osiris confront him. + +What is this key which seems for a time to unlock the gates of heaven +and of hell? It is the most complicated drug in the pharmacopoeia. +Though apparently nothing more than a simple black, slimy paste, +analysis reveals the fact that it contains no less than five-and-twenty +elements, each one of them a compound by itself, and many of them among +the most complex compounds known to modern chemistry. This "dread agent +of unimaginable pleasure and pain," this author of an "Iliad of woes," +lies within reach of every creature in the commonwealth. As the most +enlightened and communicative of the opium eaters has observed: +"Happiness may be bought for a penny, and carried in the waistcoat +pocket; portable ecstasy may be had corked up in a pint bottle; peace of +mind may be set down in gallons by the mail-coach." + +This is the chief, the inevitable dissipation of our coolie tribes; this +is one of the evils with which we have to battle, and in comparison with +which the excessive indulgence in intoxicating liquors is no more than +what a bad dream is to hopeless insanity. See the hundred forms on opium +pillows already under the Circean spell; swarms are without the chambers +awaiting their turn to enter and enjoy the fictitious delights of this +paradise. + +While the opium habit is one that should be treated at once with wisdom +and severity, there is another point which seriously involves the +Chinese question, and, unhappily, it must be handled with gloves. +Nineteen-twentieths of the Chinese women in San Francisco are depraved! + +Not far from one of the pleasure-houses we intruded upon a domestic +hearth smelling of punk and pestilence. A child fled with a shrill +scream at our approach. This was the hospital of the quarter. Nine cases +of small-pox were once found within its narrow walls, and with no one to +care for them. As we explored its cramped wards our path was obstructed +by a body stretched upon a bench. The face was of that peculiar +smoke-color which we are obliged to accept as Chinese pallor; the trunk +was swathed like a mummy in folds of filthy rags; it was motionless as +stone, apparently insensible. Thus did an opium victim await his +dissolution. + +In the next room a rough deal burial case stood upon two stools; tapers +were flickering upon the floor; the fumes of burning punk freighted the +air and clouded the vision; the place was clean enough, for it was +perfectly bare, but it was eminently uninteresting. Close at hand stood +a second burial case, an empty one, with the cover standing against the +wall; a few hours more and it would find a tenant--he who was dying in +rags and filth in the room adjoining. This was the native hospital of +the quarter, and the mother of the child was the matron of the +establishment. + +I will cast but one more shadow on the coolie quarter, and then we will +search for sunshine. It is folly to attempt to ignore the fact that the +seeds of leprosy are sown among the Chinese. If you would have proof, +follow me. It is a dreary drive over the hills to the pest-house. +Imagine that we have dropped in upon the health officer at his city +office. Our proposed visitation has been telephoned to the resident +physician, who is a kind of prisoner with his leprous patients on the +lonesome slope of a suburban hill. As we get into the rugged edge of the +city, among half-graded streets, strips of marshland, and a semi-rustic +population, we ask our way to the pest-house. Yonder it lies, surrounded +by that high white fence on the hill-top, above a marsh once clouded +with clamorous water-fowl, but now all, all under the spell of the +quarantine, and desolate beyond description. Our road winds up the +hill-slope, sown thick with stones, and stops short at the great solid +gate in the high rabbit fence that walls in the devil's acre, if I may +so call it. We ring the dreadful bell--the passing-bell, that is seldom +rung save to announce the arrival of another fateful body clothed in +living death. + +The doctor welcomes us to an enclosure that is utterly whitewashed; the +detached houses within it are kept sweet and clean. Everything connected +with the lazaret is of the cheapest description; there is a primitive +simplicity, a modest nakedness, an insulated air about the place that +reminds one of a chill December in a desert island. Cheap as it is and +unhandsome, the hospital is sufficient to meet all the requirements of +the plague in its present stage of development. The doctor has weeded +out the enclosure, planted it, hedged it about with the fever-dispelling +eucalyptus, and has already a little plot of flowers by the office +window,--but this is not what we have come to see. One ward in the +pest-house is set apart for the exclusive use of the Chinese lepers, who +have but recently been isolated. We are introduced to the poor creatures +one after another, and then we take them all in at a glance, or group +them according to their various stages of decomposition, or the peculiar +character of their physical hideousness. + +They are not all alike; with some the flesh has begun to wither and to +slough off, yet they are comparatively cheerful; as fatalists, it makes +very little difference to them how soon or in what fashion they are +translated to the other life. There is one youth who doubtless suffers +some inconveniences from the clumsy development of his case. This lad, +about eighteen years of age, has a face that is swollen like a sponge +saturated with corruption; he can not raise his bloated eyelids, but, +with his head thrown back, looks downward over his cheeks. Two of these +lepers are as astonishing specimens as any that have ever come under my +observation, yet I have morbidly sought them from Palestine to Molokai. +In these cases the muscles are knotted, the blood curdled; masses of +unwholesome flesh cover them, lying fold upon fold; the lobes of their +ears hang almost to the shoulder; the eyes when visible have an inhuman +glance that transfixes you with horror. Their hands are shapeless stumps +that have lost all natural form or expression. + +Of old there was a law for the leprosy of a garment and of a house; yet, +in spite of the stringency of that Mosaic law, the isolation, the +purging with hyssop, and the cleansing by fire, St. Luke records: "There +met Him ten men who were lepers, who stood afar off; and they lifted up +their voices and cried, Jesus, Master, have mercy on us!" And to-day, +more than eighteen hundred years later, lepers gather on the slopes of +Mount Zion, and hover at the gates of Jerusalem, and crouch in the +shadow of the tomb of David, crying for the bread of mercy. Leprosy once +thoroughly engrafted on our nation, and nor cedar-wood, nor scarlet, nor +hyssop, nor clean birds, nor ewes of the first year, nor measures of +fine flour, nor offerings of any sort, shall cleanse us for evermore. + +Let us turn to pleasanter prospects--the Joss House, for instance, one +of the several temples whither the Chinese frequently repair to +propitiate the reposeful gods. It is an unpretentious building, with +nothing external to distinguish its facade from those adjoining, save +only a Chinese legend above the door. There are many crooks and turns +within it; shrines in a perpetual state of fumigation adorn its nooks +and corners; overhead swing shelves of images rehearsing historical +tableaux; there is much carving and gilding, and red and green paint. It +is the scene of a perennial feast of lanterns, and the worshipful enter +silently with burn-offerings and meat-offerings and drink-offerings, +which they spread before the altar under the feet of some colossal god; +then, with repeated genuflections, they retire. The thundering gong or +the screaming pipes startle us at intervals, and white-robed priests +pass in and out, droning their litanies. + +At this point the artist suggests refreshments; arm in arm we pass down +the street, surfeited with sight-seeing, weary of the multitudinous +bazaars, the swarming coolies, the boom of beehive industry. Swamped in +a surging crowd, we are cast upon the catafalque of the celestial dead. +The coffin lies under a canopy, surrounded by flambeaux, grave +offerings, guards and musicians. + +Chinatown has become sufficiently acclimatized to begin to put forth its +natural buds again as freely as if this were indeed the Flowery Land. +The funeral pageant moves,--a dozen carriages preceded by mourners on +foot, clad in white, their heads covered, their feet bare, their grief +insupportable, so that an attendant is at hand to sustain each mourner +howling at the wheels of the hearse. An orchestra heads the procession; +the air is flooded with paper prayers that are cast hither at you to +appease the troubled spirit. They are on their way to the cemetery among +the hills toward the sea, where the funeral rites are observed as +rigorously as they are on Asian soil. + +We are still unrefreshed and sorely in need of rest. Overhead swing huge +balloon lanterns and tufts of gold flecked scarlet streamers,--a sight +that maketh the palate of the hungry Asiatic to water; for within this +house may be had all the delicacies of the season, ranging from the +confections of the fond suckling to funeral bake-meats. Legends wrought +in tinsel decorate the walls. Here is a shrine with a vermilion-faced +god and a native lamp, and stalks of such hopelessly artificial flowers +as fortunately are unknown in nature. Saffron silks flutter their +fringes in the steams of nameless cookery--for all this is but the +kitchen, and the beginning of the end we aim at. + +A spiral staircase winds like a corkscrew from floor to floor; we ascend +by easy stages, through various grades of hunger, from the economic +appetite on the first floor, where the plebian stomach is stayed with +tea and lentils, even to the very house-top, where are administered +comforting syrups and a _menu_ that is sweetened throughout its length +with the twang of lutes, the clash of cymbals, and the throb of the +shark-skin drum. + +Servants slip to and fro in sandals, offering edible birds'-nests, +sharks' fins, and _beche de mer_,--or are these unfamiliar dishes +snatched from some other kingdom? At any rate, they are native to the +strange people who have a little world of their own in our midst, and +who could, if they chose, declare their independence to-morrow. + +We see everywhere the component parts of a civilization separate and +distinct from our own. They have their exits and their entrances; their +religious life and burial; their imports, exports, diversions, +tribunals, punishments. They are all under the surveillance of the six +companies, the great six-headed supreme authority. They have laws within +our laws that to us are sealed volumes. Why should they not? Fifty years +ago there were scarcely a dozen Chinese in America. In 1851, inclusive, +not more than 4,000 had arrived; but the next year brought 18,000, +seized with the lust of gold. The incoming tide fluctuated, running as +low as 4,000 and as high as 15,000 per annum. Since, 1868 we have +received from 10,000 to 15,000 yearly. + +After supper we leaned from the high balcony, among flowers and +lanterns, and looked down upon the street below; it was midnight, yet +the pavements were not deserted, and there arose to our ears a murmur +as of a myriad humming bees shut in clustering hives; close about us +were housed near twenty thousand souls; shops were open; discordant +orchestras resounded from the theatres; in a dark passage we saw the +flames playing upon the thresholds of infamy to expel the evil shades. + +Away off in the Bay in the moonlight, glimmered the ribbed sail of a +fishing junk, and the air was heavy with an indefinable odor which to +this hour puzzles me; but it must be attributed either to sink or +sandal-wood--perchance to both! + +"It is a little bit of old China, this quarter of ours," said the +artist, rising to go. And so it is, saving only a noticeable lack of +dwarfed trees and pale pagodas and sprays of willowy bamboo; of clumsy +boats adrift on tideless streams; of toy-like tea gardens hanging among +artificial rocks, and of troops of flat-faced but complaisant people +posing grotesquely in ridiculous perspective. + +[Illustration: The Farallones] + + + + +WITH THE EGG-PICKERS OF THE FARALLONES + + +Those who have visited the markets of San Francisco during the egg +season may have noticed the abundance of large and singularly marked +eggs, that are offered for sale by the bushel. The shells of these eggs +are pear-shaped, parti-colored, and very thick. They range in color from +a light green to grey or brown, and are all of them profusely spotted, +or blotted, I might say spattered, with clots of black or brown. Some +are beautiful, with soft tints blended in a delicate lace-like pattern. +Some are very ugly, and look unclean. All are a trifle stale, with a +meat of coarse texture and gamy flavor. But the Italians and the Coolies +are fond of them, and doubtless many a gross finds its way into the +kitchens of the popular cheap restaurants, where, disguised in omelets +and puddings, the quantity compensates for the lack of quality, and the +palate of the rapid eater has not time to analyze the latter. These are +the eggs of the sea-gull, the gull that cries all day among the shipping +in the harbor, follows the river boats until meal-time, and feeds on the +bread that is cast upon the water.[2] How true it is that this bread +returns to us after many days! + +The gulls, during incubation, seek the solitude of the Farallones, a +group of desolate and weather-beaten rocks that tower out of the fog +about thirty miles distant from the mouth of the harbor of San +Francisco. Nothing can be more magnificently desolate than the aspect of +these islands. Scarcely a green blade finds root there. They are haunted +by sea-fowl of all feathers, and the boom of the breakers mingles with +the bark of the seals that have colonized on one of the most +inaccessible islands of the group. It is here that myriads of sea-birds +rear their young, here where the very cliffs tremble in the tempestuous +sea and are drenched with bitter spray, and where ships have been cast +into the frightful jaws of caverns and speedily ground into splinters. + +The profit on sea-eggs has increased from year to year, and of late +speculators have grown so venturesome that competition among +egg-gatherers has resulted in an annual naval engagement, known to the +press and the public as the egg-war. If two companies of egg-pickers +met, as was not unlikely, the contending factions fell upon one another +with their ill-gotten spoils--the islands are under the rule of the +United States, and no one has legal right to take from them so much as +one egg without license--and the defeated party was sure to retire from +the field under a heavy shower of shells, the contents of which, though +not fatal, were at least effective. + +I have before me the notes of a retired egg-picker; they record the +brief experience of one who was interested in the last campaign, which, +as it terminated the career of the egg-pirates, is not without +historical interest. I will at once introduce the historian, and let him +tell his own tale. + +"On Board the Schooner 'Sierra.'-- + "Off the City Front. + "May 4, 1881. + +"5 p.m.--There are ten of us all told; most of us strangers to one +another, but Tom and Jim, and Fred, that's me, are pals, and have been +these many months. So we conclude to hang together, and make the most of +an adventure perfectly new to each. At our feet lie our traps; blankets, +woolen shirts, heavy boots, with huge nails in the soles of them, +tobacco in bulk, a few novels, a pack of cards, and a pocket flask, for +the stomach's sake. A jolly crew, to be sure, and jollily we bade adieu +to the fellows who had gathered in the dock to wish us God-speed. +Casting loose we swung into the stream, and then slowly and clumsily +made sail. The town never looked prettier; it is always the way and +always will be; towns, like blessings, brighten just as they get out of +reach. Drifting into the west we began to grow thoughtful; what had at +first seemed a lark may possibly prove to be a very serious matter. We +have to feed on rough rations, work in a rough locality, among rough +people, and our profits, or our share of the profits, will depend +entirely upon the fruitfulness of the egg-orchard, and the number of +hundred gross that we are able to get safely into the market. No news +from the town, save by the schooner that comes over at intervals to take +away our harvest. No society, save our own, good enough always, provided +we are not forcibly confined to it. No amusements beyond a novel, a +pipe, and a pack of cards. Ah well! it is only an experience after all, +and here goes! + +"Sea pretty high, as we get outside the Heads, and feel the long roll of +the Pacific. Wind, fresh and cold; we are to be out all night and +looking about for bunks, we find the schooner accommodations are +limited, and that the captain and his crew monopolize them. We sleep +anywhere, grateful that we are able to sleep at all. + +"10 p.m.--A blustering head wind, and sea increasing. What little supper +we were able to get on board was worse than none at all, for it did not +stay with us--anything but fun, this going to sea in a bowl, to rob +gull's nests, and smuggle eggs into market. + +"May 5th. + +"Woke in the early dawn, everything moist and sticky, clammy is the +better word, and that embraces the whole case; stiff and sore in every +joint; bacon for dinner last night, more bacon for breakfast this +morning, and only half-cooked at that. Our delicate town-bred stomachs +rebel, and we conclude to fast until we reach the island. Have sighted +the Farallones, but are too miserable to express our gratitude; wind and +sea still rising; schooner on beam ends about once in forty seconds, +between times standing either on her head or her tail, and shaking +herself 'like a thing of life.' + +"At noon off the landing, a buoy bobbing in the billows, to which we are +expected to make fast the schooner, and get to shore in the exceedingly +small boat; captain fears to tarry on account of heavy weather; +concludes to return to the coast and bide his time; consequently makes +for Bolinas Bay, which we reach about 9 p.m., and drop anchor in +comparatively smooth water; glad enough to sleep on an even keel at +last; it seems at least six months since we left the shining shores of +San Francisco, yet it is scarce thirty hours--but such hours, ugh! + +"Bolinas Bay, May 6th. + +"Wind blowing a perfect gale; we are lying under a long hill, and the +narrow bay is scarcely rippled by the blast that rushes over us, thick +with flying-scud. Captain resolves to await better weather; some of the +boys go on shore, and wander out to a kind of reef at the mouth of the +bay, where in a short time they succeed in gathering a fine mess of +mussels; the rest of us, the stay-on-boards, rig up a net and catch +fifteen large fat crabs; with these we cook a delicious dinner, which we +devour ravenously, like half-starved men; begin to realize how +storm-tossed mariners feel, and have been recounting hair-breadth +escapes, over our pipes on deck; there will be much to tell the fellows +on shore, if we are ever so fortunate as to get home again. + +"May 7th. + +"Though the weather is still bad enough to discourage us landsmen, we +put to sea, and once more head for the Farallones. They are hidden in +mist, but we beat bravely about, and by-and-by distinguish the faint +outlines of the islands looming through the fog! We try to secure the +buoy, tacking to and fro; just at the wrong moment our main halyards +part, and the sail comes crashing to the deck. To avoid being cast on +the inhospitable shore, we put to sea under jib and foresail, and are +five miles away before damages are repaired and we dare venture to +return; head about, and make fast this time. Hurrah! After several trips +of the small boat, succeed in landing luggage and provisions above +high-water mark on the Farallones; each trip of the boat is an event, +for it comes in on a big breaker, and grounds in a torrent of foam and +sand. + +"We find two cabins at our disposal; the larger one containing +dining-room and kitchen, and chambers above; seven of our boys store +their blankets in the rude bunks that are drawn by lot. Tom, Jim, and I +secure the smaller cabin, a single room, with bunks on three sides, a +door on the fourth. + +"9 p.m.--We have dined and smoked and withdrawn to our respective +lodges; the wind moans without, a thin, cold fog envelopes us; the sea +breaking furiously, the night gloomy beyond conception, but the captain +and his crew on the little schooner are not so comfortable as the +egg-pickers whom they have left behind. + +"May 8th. + +"We all rose much refreshed, and after a hearty breakfast, such as would +have done credit to a mining-camp in pioneer days, set forth on a rabbit +chase. The islands abound in rabbits. Where do they come from, and on +what do they feed? These are questions that puzzle us. + +"We resolve to attack them. Having armed ourselves with clubs about two +feet in length, we proceed in a body until a rabbit is sighted, then, +separating, we surround him and gradually close him in, pelt him with +stones or sticks until the poor fellow is secured; sometimes three or +four are run down together; it is cruel sport, but this is our only hope +of fresh meat during the sojourn on the islands; a fine stew for dinner, +and some speculation on the prospect of our egg-hunt to-morrow. + +"May 9th. + +"We did the first work of the season to-day. At the west end of the +islands is a chasm, through which the wind whistles; the waves, rushing +in from both sides, meet at the centre and leap wildly into the air. +Across this chasm we threw a light suspension bridge about forty feet in +length and two in width; one crosses it by the aid of a life-line. On +the further rock the birds are nesting in large numbers, and to-morrow +we begin the wholesale robbery of their nests. + +"When the bridge was completed, being pretty well fagged and quite +famished, we returned to the cabin, lunched heartily, and spent the +afternoon in highly successful rabbit chasing. Plenty of stew for all of +us. If Robinson Crusoe had been cast ashore on this island, I wonder how +he would have lived? As it is, the rabbits sometimes succeed in escaping +us, and without powder and shot it would be quite impossible for one or +two persons to bag them. We are beginning to lose faith in the +delightful romances of our youth, and to realize what a desert island +is. + +"May 10th. + +"In front of us we each carry a large sack in which to deposit eggs; our +boots are clumsy, and the heavy nails that fill their soles make them +heavy and difficult to walk in. We also carry a strong staff to aid us +in climbing the rugged slopes. About us is nothing but grey, +weather-stained rocks; there are few paths, and these we cannot follow, +for the sea-birds, though so unused to the presence of man, are wary and +shy of his tracks; the day's work has not proved profitable. Few of us +gathered any eggs; one who was more successful, and had secured enough +to make it extremely difficult for him to scale the rocks, slipped, fell +on his face, and scrambled all his store. His plight was laughable, but +he was scarcely in the mood to relish it, as he washed his sack and +blouse in cold water, while we indulged in cards. + +[Illustration: Murre on their Nests, Farallone Islands] + +"May 11th. + +"Built another bridge over a gap where the sea rushes, and which we call +the _Jordan_. If the real Jordan is as hard to cross, heaven help us. +Eggs not very plentiful as yet; we are rather early in the season, or +the crop is late this year. More rabbits in the p.m.; more wind, more +fog; and at night, pipes, cards, and a few choruses that sound strange +and weird in the fire lights on this lonely island. + +"May 12th. + +"Eggs are so very scarce. The foreman advises our resting for a day. We +lounge about, looking off upon the sea; sometimes a sail blows by us, +but our islands are in such ill-repute with mariners, they usually give +us a wide berth, as they call it. A little homesick towards dusk; wonder +how the boys in San Francisco are killing time; it is time that is +killing us, out here in the wind and fog. + +"May 13th. + +"Have been hunting abalones all day, and found but a baker's dozen; +their large, shallow shells are glued to the rock at the first approach +of danger, and unless we can steal upon these queer fish unawares, and +thrust something under their shells before they have shut down upon the +rock, it is almost impossible to pry them open. Some of the boys are +searching in the sea up to their waists--hard work when one considers +how tough the abalone is, and how tasteless. + +"May 14th. + +"This morning all our egg-pickers were at work; took in the west end, +only the high rock beyond the first bridge; gathered about forty dozen +eggs, and got them safely back to camp; in some nests there were three +eggs, and these we did not gather, fearing they were stale. In the p.m. +tried to collect dry grass enough to make a thin mattress for my bunk; +barely succeeded; am more than ever convinced that desert islands are +delusions. + +"May 15th. + +"It being Sunday, we rest from our labors; by way of varying the +monotony of island life, we climb up to the lighthouse, 300 feet above +sea level. The path is zig-zag across the cliff, and is extremely +fatiguing. While ascending, a large stone rolled under my foot, and +went thundering down the cliff. Jim, who was in the rear, heard it +coming, and dodged; it missed his head by about six inches. Had it +struck him, he would have been hurled into the sea that boiled below; we +were both faint with horror, after realizing the fate he had escaped. +Were cordially welcomed by the lighthouse keeper, his wife, and her +companion, a young woman who had come to share this banishment. The +keeper and his wife visit the mainland but twice a year. Everywhere we +saw evidence of the influence of these charming people. The house was +tidy--the paint snow-white. The brass-work shone like gold; the place +seemed a kind of Paradise to us; even the machinery of the revolving +light, the multitude of reflectors, etc., was enchanting. We dreaded to +return to our miserable cabins, but were soon compelled to, and the +afternoon was spent in the customary rabbit chase, ending with a stew of +no mean proportions. + +"May 16th. + +"More eggs, and afterwards a fishing excursion, which furnished us +material for an excellent chowder. We are beginning to look for the +return of the schooner, and have been longing for news from shore. + +"May 17th. + +"A great haul of abalones this p.m. We filled our baskets, slung them +on poles over our shoulders Coolie fashion, and slowly made our way back +to camp. The baskets weighed a ton each before we at last emptied them +by the cabin door. Built a huge fire under a cauldron, and left a mess +of fish to boil until morning. The abalones are as large as steaks, and +a great deal tougher. Smoke, cards, and to bed; used up. + +"May 18th. + +"Same program as yesterday, only the novelty quite worn off, and this +kind of life becoming almost unendurable. + +"May 19th. + +"More eggs, more abalones, more rabbits. No signs of schooner yet. +Wonder, had Crusoe kept a diary, how many days he would have kept it +before closing it with chagrin. + +"May 20th. + +"Spent the p.m. in getting the abalone shells down to the egg-house at +the landing. We have cleaned them, and are hoping to find this +speculation profitable; for the shells, when polished and cut, are much +used in the market for inlaying and setting in cheap jewelry. We loaded +a small tram, pushed it to the top of an incline, and let it roll down +the other side to the landing, which it reached in safety. This is the +only labor-saving machine at our command. + +"May 21st. + +"We seem to be going all to pieces. The day commenced badly. Two of the +boys inaugurated it by a violent set-to before breakfast--an old grudge +broke out afresh, or perhaps the life here has demoralized them. I have +lamed my foot. Tide too high for abalone fishing. Eggs growing scarce, +and the rabbits seem to have deserted the accessible parts of the +island. Everybody is disgusted. We are forgetting our table-manners, it +is 'first come first served' now-a-days. I wonder if Robinson--oh, no! +he had no one but his man Friday to contend against. No schooner; no +change in the weather; tobacco giving out, and not a grain of good humor +to be had in the market. To bed, very cross. + +"May 22d. + +"No one felt like going to work this morning. Affairs began to look +mutinous. We have searched in vain for the schooner, now considerably +overdue, and are dreading the thought of having to fulfill a contract +which calls for six weeks' labor on these islands. Some of the other +islands are to be visited, and are accessible only in small boats over a +sea that is never even tolerably smooth. This expedition we all dread a +little--at least, I judge so from my own case--but we say nothing of it. +While thus gloomily brooding over our plight, smoke was sighted on the +horizon; we ascended the hill to watch it. A steamer, doubtless, bound +for a sunnier clime, for no clime can be less sunny than ours of the +past fortnight.... It was a steamer, a small Government steamer, making +directly for our island. We became greatly excited, for nothing of any +moment had occurred since our arrival. She drew in near shore and cast +anchor. We gathered at the landing-cove to give her welcome. A boat was +beached in safety. An officer of the law said, cheerfully, as if he were +playing a part in a nautical comedy, 'I must beg you, gentlemen, to step +on board the revenue cutter, and return to San Francisco.' We were so +surprised we could not speak; or were we all speechless with joy, I +wonder? He added, this very civil sheriff, 'If you do not care to +accompany me, I shall be obliged to order the marines on shore. You will +pardon me, but as these islands are Government property, you are +requested to immediately withdraw from them.' We withdrew. We steamed +away from the windy rocks, the howling caverns, the seething waves, the +frightful chasms, the seabirds, the abalones, the rabbits, the gloomy +cabins, and the pleasant people at the top of the cliff within the white +walls of the lighthouse. Joyfully we bounded over the glassy waves, that +grew beautiful as the Farallones faded in the misty distance, and, +having been courteously escorted to the city dock, we were bidden +farewell, and left to the diversions of the hour. Thus ended the last +siege of the Farallones by the egg-pickers of San Francisco. (Profits +_nil_.)" + +And thus I fear, inasmuch as the Government proposes to guard the +sea-birds until a suitable license is secured by legitimate egg-pickers, +the price of gulls' eggs will go up in proportion, and hereafter we +shall have to look upon them as luxuries, and content ourselves with the +more modest and milder-flavored but undecorated products of the less +romantic barn-yard fowl. + +FOOTNOTES: + +[Footnote 2: NOTE: The author has confused the murre with the sea-gull. +It was the egg of the murre that was marketed.] + + + + +A MEMORY OF MONTEREY + +I + + +"Old Monterey"? Yes, old Monterey; yet not so very old. Old, however, +inasmuch as she has been hopelessly modernized; the ancient virtue has +gone out of her; she is but a monument and a memory. It is the Monterey +of a dozen or fifteen years ago I write of; and of a brief sojourn after +the briefer voyage thither. The voyage is the same; yesterday, to-day +and forever it remains unchanged. The voyager may judge if I am right +when I say that the Pacific coast, or the coast of California, Oregon +and Washington, is the selvage side of the American continent. I believe +this is evidenced in the well-rounded lines of the shore; the smooth +meadow-lands that not infrequently lie next the sea, and the +comparatively few island-fragments that are discoverable between Alaska +and Mexico. + +I made that statement, in the presence of a select few, on the promenade +deck of a small coaster then plying between San Francisco and Monterey; +and proved it during the eight-hour passage, to the seeming edification +of my shipmates. Even the bluffs that occasionally jutted into the sea +did the picturesque in a half-theatrical fashion. Time and the elements +seemed to have toyed with them, and not fought with them, as is the +annual custom on the eastern coast of the United States. Flocks of sheep +fed in the salt pastures by the water's edge; ranch-houses were perched +on miniature cliffs, in the midst of summer-gardens that even through a +powerful field-glass showed few traces of wear and tear. + +And the climate? Well, the sunshine was like sunshine warmed over; and +there was a lurking chill in the air that made our quarters in the lee +of the smoke-stack preferable to the circular settee in the +stern-sheets. Yes, it was midsummer at heart, and the comfortable +midsummer ulster advertised the fact. + +What a long, lonesome coast it is! Erase the few evidences of life that +relieve the monotonous landscape at infrequent intervals, and you shall +see California exactly as Drake saw it more than four centuries ago, or +the Argonaut Friars saw it a century later, and as the improved races +will see it ages hence--a little bleak and utterly uninteresting. + +California secretes her treasures. As you approach her from the sea, you +would scarcely suspect her wealth; her lines, though fine and flowing, +are not voluptuous, and she certainly lacks color. This was also a part +of our steamer-talk under the lee of the smoke-stack; and while we were +talking we turned a sharp corner, ran into the Bay of Monterey, and +came suddenly face to face with Santa Cruz. + +Ah, there was richness! Perennial groves, dazzling white cottages +snow-flaking them with beauty; a beach with afternoon bathers; and two +straggling piers that had waded out into deep water and stuck fast in +the mud. A stroll through Santa Cruz does not dissipate the enchantment +usually borrowed from usurious distance; and the two-hours'-roll in the +deep furrows of the Bay, that the pilgrim to Monterey must suffer, is +apt to make him regret he left that pleasant port in the hope of finding +something pleasanter on the dim opposite shore. + +We re-embarked for Monterey at dusk, when the distant horn of the Bay +was totally obscured. It is seldom more than a half-imagined point, +jutting out into a haze between two shades of blue. Stars watched over +us,--sharp, clear stars, such as flare a little when the wind blows. But +the wind was not blowing for us. Showers of sparks spangled the +crape-like folds of smoke that trailed after us; the engine labored in +the hold, and the sea heaved as it is always heaving in that wide-open +Bay. + +In an hour we steamed into a fog-bank, so dense that even the head-light +of our ship was as a glowworm; and from that moment until we had come +within sound of voices on the undiscovered shore, it was all like a +voyage in the clouds. Whistles blew, bells rang, men shouted, and then +we listened with hungry ears. A whistle answered us from shore--a +piercing human whistle. Dim lights burned through the fog. We advanced +with fearful caution; and while voices out of the air were greeting us, +almost before we had got our reckoning, we drifted up under a dark pier, +on which ghastly figures seemed to be floating to and fro, bidding us +all-hail. And then and there the freedom of the city was extended to us, +saturated with salt-sea mist. Probably six times in ten the voyager +approaches Monterey in precisely this fashion. 'Tis true! 'Tis pity! + +Having been hoisted up out of our ship--the tide was exceeding low and +the dock high; having been embraced in turn by friends who had soaked +for an hour and a half on that desolate pier-head--for our ship was +belated, groping her way in the fog,--we were taken by the hand and led +cautiously into the sand-fields that lie between the city and the sea. + +Of course our plans had all miscarried. Our Bachelors' Hall fell with a +dull thud when we heard that the chief bachelor had turned benedict +three days before. But he was present with his bride, and he knew of a +haunt that would compensate us for all loss or disappointment. We +crossed the desert nursing a faint hope. We threaded one or two wide, +weedy, silent streets; not a soul was visible, though it was but nine +in the evening,--which was not to be wondered at, since the town was +divided against itself: the one half slept, the other half still sat +upon the pier, making a night of it; for old Monterey had but one shock +that betrayed it into some show of human weakness. The cause was the +Steam Navigation Co. The effect was a fatal fondness for tendering a +public reception to all steamers arriving from foreign ports, after +their sometimes tempestuous passages of from eight to ten hours. This +insured the inhabitants a more or less festive night about once every +week or ten days. + +With rioutous laughter, which sounded harsh, yea, sacrilegious, in the +sublime silence of that exceptional town, we were piloted into an +abysmal nook sacred to a cluster of rookeries haggard in the extreme. We +approached it by an improvised bridge two spans in breadth. The place +was buried under layers of mystery. It was silent, it was dark with the +blackness of darkness; it was like an unholy sepulchre that gave forth +no sound, though we beat upon its sodden door with its rusted knocker +until a dog howled dismally on the hillside afar off. + +Some one admitted us at the last moment, and left us standing in the +pitch-dark entrance while he went in search of candles, that apparently +fled at his approach. The great room was thrown open in due season and +with solemnity. It may have been the star-chamber in the days when +Monterey was the capital of the youngest and most promising State in the +Union; but it was somewhat out of date when we were ushered into it. A +bargain was hastily struck, and we repaired to damp chambers, where +every sound was shared in common, and nothing whatever was in the least +degree private or confidential. We slept at intervals, but in turn; so +that at least one good night's rest was shared by our company. + +[Illustration: Monterey, 1850] + +At nine o' the clock next morning we were still enveloped in mist, but +the sun was struggling with it; and from my window I inspected Spanish +or Mexican, or Spanish-Mexican, California interiors, sprinkled with +empty tin cans, but redeemed by the more picturesque _debris_ of the +early California settlement--dingy tiles, forlorn cypresses, and a +rosebush of gigantic body and prolific bloom. + +We breakfasted at Simoneau's, in the inner room, with its frescos done +in beer and shoeblacking by a brace of hungry Bohemians, who used to +frequent the place and thus settle their bill. Five of us sat at that +uninviting board and awaited our turn, while Simoneau hovered over a +stove that was by no means equal to the occasion. It was a breakfast +such as one is reduced to in a mountain camp, but which spoils the +moment it is removed from the charmed circle of ravenous foresters. We +paid three prices for it, but that was no consolation; and it was long +before we again entered the doors of one of the chief restaurants of old +Monterey. + +Before the thick fog lifted that morning we had scoured the town in +quest of lodgings. The hotels were uninviting. At the Washington the +rooms were not so large as the demands of the landlord. At the St. +Charles'--a summer-house without windows, save the one set in the door +of each chamber--we located for a brief season, and exchanged the +liveliest compliments with the lodgers at the extreme ends of the +building. A sneeze in the dead of night aroused the house; and during +one of the panics which were likely to follow, I peremptorily departed, +and found shelter at last in the large square chamber of an adobe +dwelling, the hospitable abode of one of the first families of Monterey. +Broad verandas surrounded us on four sides; the windows sunk in the +thick walls had seats deep enough to hold me and my lap tablet full in +the sunshine--whenever it leaked through the fog. + +Two of these windows opened upon a sandy street, beyond which was a +tangled garden of cacti and hollyhock and sunflowers, with a great wall +about it; but I could look over the wall and enjoy the privacy of that +sweet haunt. In that cloistered garden grew the obese roses of the far +West, that fairly burst upon their stem. Often did I exclaim: "O, for a +delicate blossom, whose exquisite breath savors not of the mold, and +whose sensitive petals are wafted down the invisible currents of the +wind like a fairy flotilla!" Beyond that garden, beyond the roofs of +this town, stretched the yellow sand-dunes; and in the distance towered +the mountains, painted with changeful lights. My other window looked +down the long, lonesome street to the blue Bay and the faint outline of +the coast range beyond it. + +Here I began to live; here I heard the harp-like tinkle of the first +piano brought to the California coast; here also the guitar was touched +skillfully by her grace the august lady of the house, who scorned the +English tongue--the more eloquent and rhythmical Spanish prevailed under +her roof. One of the members of the household was proud to recount the +history of the once brilliant capital of the State, and I listened by +the hour to a narrative that now reads to me like a fable. + +In the year of Our Lord 1602, when Don Sebastian Viscaino--dispatched by +the Viceroy of Mexico, acting under instructions from Philip III. of +Spain--touched these shores, Mass was celebrated, the country taken +possession of in the name of the Spanish King, and the spot christened +Monterey in honor of Gaspar de Zuniga, Count of Monterey, Viceroy of +Mexico. In eighteen days Viscaino again set sail, and the silence of the +forest and the sea fell upon that lonely shore. That silence was +unbroken by the voice of the stranger for one hundred and sixty-six +years. Then Gaspar de Portola, Governor of Lower California, +re-discovered Monterey, erected a cross upon the shore, and went his +way. + +In May, 1770, the final settlement took place. The packet _San Antonio_, +commanded by Don Juan Perez, came to anchor in the port, "which"--wrote +the leader of the expedition to Padre Francisco Palou--"is unadulterated +in any degree from what it was when visited by the expedition of Don +Sebastian Viscaino in 1602. After this"--the celebration of the Mass, +the _Salve_ to Our Lady, and a _Te Deum,_--"the officers took possession +of the country in the name of the King (Charles III.) our lord, whom God +preserve. We all dined together in a shady place on the beach; the whole +ceremony being accompanied by many volleys and salutes by the troops and +vessels." + +When the _San Antonio_ returned to Mexico, it left at Monterey Padre +Junipero Serra and five other priests, Lieutenant Pedro Fages and thirty +soldiers. The settlement was at once made capital of Alta California, +and Portola appointed the first governor. The Presidio (an enclosure +about three hundred yards square, containing a chapel, store-houses, +offices, residences, and a barracks) was the nucleus of the city; but +the mission was soon removed to a beautiful valley about six miles +distant, where there was more room, better shelter from the cold west +winds, and an unrivalled prospect. The valley is now known as Carmelo. + +A fort was built upon a little hill commanding the settlement, and life +began in good earnest. What followed? Mexico threw off the Spanish yoke; +California was hence forth subject to Mexico alone. The news spread; +vessels gathered in the harbor, and enormous profits were realized on +the sale and shipment of the hides of wild cattle lately roaming upon a +thousand hills. + +Then came gradual changes in the government; they culminated in 1846 +when Captain Mervin, at the head of two hundred and fifty men, raised +the Stars and Stripes over Monterey, and a proclamation was read +declaring California a portion of the United States. + +The Rev. Walter Colton, once chaplain of the United States frigate +_Congress_, was appointed first alcalde; and the result was the erection +of a stone courthouse, which was long the chief ornament of the town; +and, somewhat later, the publication of Alcalde Colton's highly +interesting volume, entitled "Three Years in California." + + + + +II. + + +In 1829 Captain Robinson, the author of "Life in California" in the good +old mission days, wrote thus of his first sight of Monterey: "The sun +had just risen, and, glittering through the lofty pines that crowned the +summit of the eastern hills, threw its light upon the lawn beneath. On +our left was the Presidio, with its chapel dome and towering flag-staff +in conspicuous elevation. On the right, upon a rising ground, was seen +the _castillo_, or fort, surmounted by some ten or a dozen cannon. The +intervening space between these two points was enlivened by the hundred +scattered dwellings that form the town, and here and there groups of +cattle grazing. + +"After breakfast G. and myself went on shore, on a visit to the +Commandant, Don Marian Estrada, whose residence stood in the central +part of the town, in the usual route from the beach to the Presidio. In +external appearance, notwithstanding it was built of adobe--brick made +by the mixture of soft mud and straw, moulded and dried in the sun,--it +was not displeasing; for the outer walls had been plastered and +whitewashed, giving it a cheerful and inviting aspect. Like all +dwellings in the warm countries of America, it was but one story in +height, covered with tiles, and occupied, in its entire premises, an +extensive square. + +"Our Don was standing at his door; and as we approached, he sallied +forth to meet us with true Castilian courtesy; embraced G., shook me +cordially by the hand, then bowed us ceremoniously into the _sala_. Here +we seated ourselves upon a sofa at his right. During conversation +_cigarritos_ passed freely; and, although thus early in the day, a +proffer was made of refreshments." + +In 1835 R.H. Dana, Jr., the author of "Two Years before the Mast," found +Monterey but little changed; some of the cannon were unmounted, but the +Presidio was still the centre of life on the Pacific coast, and the town +was apparently thriving. Day after day the small boats plied between +ship and shore, and the population gave themselves up to the delights of +shopping. Shopping was done on shipboard; each ship was a storehouse of +attractive and desirable merchandise, and the little boats were kept +busy all day long bearing customers to and fro. + +In 1846 prices were ruinously high, as the alcalde was free to +confess--he being a citizen of the United States and a clergyman into +the bargain. Unbleached cottons, worth 6 cents per yard in New York, +brought 50 cents, 60 cents, 75 cents in old Monterey. Cowhide shoes were +$10 per pair; the most ordinary knives and forks, $10 per dozen; poor +tea, $3 per pound; truck-wheels, $75 per pair. The revenue of these +enormous imposts passed into the hands of private individuals, who had +placed themselves by violence or fraud at the head of the Government. + +In those days a "blooded" horse and a pack of cards were thought to be +among the necessaries of life. One of the luxuries was a _rancho_ sixty +miles in length, owned by Captain Sutter in the valley of the +Sacramento. Native prisoners, arrested for robbery and confined in the +adobe jail at Monterey, clamored for their guitars, and the nights were +filled with music until the rascals swung at half-mast. + +In August, 1846, _The Californian_, the first newspaper established on +the coast, was issued by Colton & Semple. The type and press were once +the property of the Franciscan friars, and used by them; and in the +absence of the English _w_, the compositors on _The Californian_ doubled +the Spanish _v_. The journal was printed half in English and half in +Spanish, on cigarette paper about the size of a sheet of fools-cap. +Terms, $3 per year in advance; single copies, 12-1/2 cents each. Semple +was a man just suited to the newspaper office he occupied; he stood six +feet eight inches in moccasins, was dressed in buckskin, and wore a +foxskin cap. + +The first jury of the alcaldean court was empanelled in September, +1846. Justice flourished for about three years. In 1849 Bayard Taylor +wrote: "Monterey has the appearance of a deserted town: few people in +the streets, business suspended," etc. Rumors of gold had excited the +cupidity of the inhabitants, and the capital was deserted; elsewhere was +metal more attractive. The town never recovered from that shock. It +gradually declined until few, save Bohemian artists and Italian and +Chinese fishermen, took note of it. The settlement was obsolete in my +day; the survivors seemed to have lost their memories and their interest +in everything. Thrice in my early pilgrimages I asked where the Presidio +had stood; on these occasions did the oldest inhabitant and his +immediate juniors vaguely point me to three several quarters of the +town. I believe in my heart that the pasture in front of the old +church--then sacred to three cows and a calf--was the cradle of +civilization in the far West. + +[Illustration: San Carlos de Carmelo] + +The original custom-house--there was no mistaking it, for it was founded +on a rock--overhung the sea, while the waves broke gently at its base, +and rows of sea-gulls sat solemnly on the skeletons of stranded whales +scattered along the beach. A Captain Lambert dwelt on the first floor of +the building; a goat fed in the large hall--it bore the complexion of a +stable--where once the fashionable element tripped the light fantastic +toe. In those days the first theatre in the State was opened with +brilliant success, and the now long-forgotten Binghams appeared in that +long-forgotten drama, "Putnam, or the Lion Son of '76." The +never-to-be-discourteously-mentioned years of our pioneers, '49 and '50, +"were memorable eras in the Thespian records of Monterey," says the +guide-book. They were indeed; for Lieutenant Derby, known to the +literary world as "John Phoenix" and "Squibob," was one of the leading +spirits of the stage. But the Thespian records came to an untimely end, +and it must be confessed that Monterey no longer tempts the widely +strolling player. + +I saw her in decay, the once flourishing capital. The old convent was +windowless, and its halls half filled with hay; the barracks and the +calaboose, inglorious ruins; the Block House and the Fort, mere shadows +of their former selves. As for Colton Hall--the town-hall, named in +honor of its builder, the first alcalde,--it is a modern-looking +structure, that scarcely harmonizes with the picturesque adobes that +surround it. Colton said of it: "It has been erected out of the slender +proceeds of town lots, the labor of the convicts, taxes on liquor shops, +and fines on gamblers. The scheme was regarded with incredulity by many; +but the building is finished, and the citizens have assembled in it, and +christened it after my name, which will go down to posterity with the +odor of gamblers, convicts and tipplers." Bless his heart! he need not +have worried himself. No one seems to know or care how the building was +constructed; and as for the name it bears, it is as savory as any. + +The church was built in 1794, and dedicated as the parish church in +1834, when the missions were secularized and Carmelo abandoned. It is +the most interesting structure in the town. Much of the furniture of the +old mission is preserved here: the holy vessels beaten out of solid +silver; rude but not unattractive paintings by nameless artists--perhaps +by the friars themselves,--landmarks of a crusade that was gloriously +successful, but the records of which are fading from the face of the +earth. + +Doubtless the natives who had flourished under the nourishing care of +the mission in its palmy days, wagged their heads wittingly when the +brig _Natalia_ met her fate. Tradition says Napoleon I. made his escape +from Elba on that brig. It was by the _Natalia_ that Hijar, Director of +Colonization, arrived for the purpose of secularizing the missions; and +his scheme was soon accomplished. But the winds blew, and the waves rose +and beat upon the little brig, and laid her bones in the sands of +Monterey. It is whispered that when the sea is still and the water +clear, and the tide very, very low, one may catch faint glimpses of the +skeleton of the _Natalia_ swathed in its shroud of weeds. + +There are two attractions in the vicinity, without which I fear +Monterey would have ultimately passed from the memory of man. These are +the mission at Carmelo, and the Druid grove at Cypress Point. In the +edge of the town there is a cross which marks the spot where Padre +Junipero Serra sang his first Mass at Monterey. It was a desolate +picture when I last saw it. It stood but a few yards from the sea, in a +lonely hollow. It was a favorite subject with the artists who found +their way thither, and who were wont to paint it upon the sea-shells +that lay almost within reach. Now a marble statue of Junipero Serra, +erected by Mrs. Leland Stanford, marks the spot. + +Six miles away, beyond the hills, above the shallow river, in sight of +the sparkling sea, is the ruin of Carmelo. From the cross by the shore +to the church beyond the hills, one reads the sacred history of the +coast from _alpha_ to _omega_. This, the most famous, if not the most +beautiful, of all the Franciscan missions, has suffered the common fate. +In my day the roof was wanting; the stone arches were crumbling one +after another; the walls were tufted with sun-dried grass; everywhere +the hand of Vandalism had scrawled his initials or his name. The nave of +the church was crowded with neglected graves. Fifteen governors of the +territory mingle their dust with that consecrated earth, but there was +never so much as a pebble to mark the spot where they lie. Even the +saintly Padre Junipero, who founded the mission, and whose death was +grimly heroic, lay until recent years in an unknown tomb. Thanks to the +pious efforts of the late Father Cassanova, the precious remains of +Junipero Serra, together with those of three other friars of the +mission, were discovered, identified, and honorably reentombed. + +From 1770 to 1784 Padre Junipero Serra entered upon the parish record +all baptisms, marriages, and deaths. These ancient volumes are carefully +preserved, and are substantially bound in leather; the writing is bold +and legible, and each entry is signed "Fray Junipero Serra," with an odd +little flourish of the pen beneath. The last entry is dated July 30, +1784; then Fray Francesco Palou, an old schoolmate of Junipero Serra, +and a brother friar, records the death of his famous predecessor, and +with it a brief recital of his life work, and the circumstances at the +close of it. + +Junipero Serra took the habit of the order of St. Francis at the age of +seventeen; filled distinguished positions in Spain and Mexico before +going to California; refused many tempting and flattering honors; was +made president of the fifteen missions of Lower California--long since +abandoned; lived to see his last mission thrive mightily, and died at +the age of seventy--long before the fall of the crowning work of his +life. + +Feeling the approach of death, Junipero Serra confessed himself to Fray +Palou; went through the Church offices for the dying; joined in the hymn +_Tantum Ergo_ "with elevated and sonorous tones," saith the +chronicle,--the congregation, hearing him intone his death chaunt, were +awed into silence, so that the dying man's voice alone finished the +hymn; then he repaired to his cell, where he passed the night in prayer. +The following morning he received the captain and chaplain of a Spanish +vessel lying in the harbor, and said, cheerfully, he thanked God that +these visitors, who had traversed so much of sea and land, had come to +throw a little earth upon his body. Anon he asked for a cup of broth, +which he drank at the table in the refectory; was then assisted to his +bed, where he had scarcely touched the pillow when, without a murmur, he +expired. + +In anticipation of his death, he had ordered his own coffin to be made +by the mission carpenter; and his remains were at once deposited in it. +So precious was the memory of this man in his own day that it was with +the utmost difficulty his coffin was preserved from destruction; for the +populace, venerating even the wooden case that held the remains of their +spiritual Father, clamored for the smallest fragment; and, though a +strong body-guard watched over it until the interment, a portion of his +vestment was abstracted during the night. One thinks of this and of the +overwhelming sorrow that swept through the land when this saintly +pioneer fell at the head of his legion. + +The California mission reached the height of its prosperity forty years +later, when it owned 87,600 head of cattle, 60,000 sheep, 2,300 calves, +1,800 horses, 365 yoke of oxen, much merchandise, and $40,000 in specie. +Tradition hints that this money was buried when a certain +piratical-looking craft was seen hovering about the coast. + +This wealth is all gone now--scattered among the people who have allowed +the dear old mission to fall into sad decay. What a beautiful church it +must have been, with its quaint carvings, its star-window that seems to +have been blown out of shape in some wintry wind, and all its lines +hardened again in the sunshine of the long, long summer; with its +Saracenic door!--what memories the _Padres_ must have brought with them +of Spain and the Moorish seal that is set upon it! Here we have evidence +of it painfully wrought out by the hands of rude Indian artisans. The +ancient bells have been carried away into unknown parts; the owl hoots +in the belfry; the hills are shown of their conventual tenements; while +the wind and the rain and a whole heartless company of iconoclasts have +it all their own way. + +Once in the year, on San Carlos' Day, Mass is sung in the only +habitable corner of the ruin; the Indians and the natives gather from +all quarters, and light candles among the graves, and mourn and mourn +and make a strange picture of the place; then they go their way, and the +owl returns, and the weeds grow ranker, and every hour there is a +straining among the weakened joists, and a creaking and a crumbling in +many a nook and corner; and so the finest historical relic in the land +is suffered to fall into decay. Or, perhaps I should say, that was the +sorry state of Carmelo in my day. I am assured that every effort is now +being made to restore and preserve beautiful Carmelo. + + + + +III. + + +She was a dear old stupid town in my day. She boasted but half a dozen +thinly populated streets. One might pass through these streets almost +any day, at almost any hour of the day, footing it all the way from the +dismantled fort on the seaside to the ancient cemetery, grown to seed, +at the other extremity of the settlement, and not meet half a score of +people. + +Geese fed in the gutters, and hissed as I passed by; cows grazing by the +wayside eyed me in grave surprise; overhead, the snow-white sea-gulls +wheeled and cried peevishly; and on the heights that shelter the +ex-capital the pine-trees moaned and moaned, and often caught and held +the sea-fog among their branches, when the little town was basking in +the sunshine and dreaming its endless dream. + +How did a man kill time in those days? There was a studio on Alvarado +Street; it stood close to the post-office, in what may be generously +denominated as the busiest part of the town. The studio was the focus of +life and hope and love; some work was also supposed to be done there. It +was the headquarters of the idle and the hungry, and the seeker after +consolation in all its varied forms. Choice family groceries were +retailed three times a day in the rear of the establishment; and there +we often gathered about the Bohemian board, to celebrate whatever our +fancy painted. Now it was an imaginary birthday--a movable feast that +came to be very popular in our select artistic circle; again it was the +possible--dare I say probable?--sale of a picture at a quite +inconceivable price. There were always occasions enough. Would it had +been the case with the dinners! + +The studio was the thing,--the studio, decked with Indian trophies and +the bleached bones of sea birds and land beasts, and lined with studies +in all colors under heaven. Here was the oft-lighted peace-pipe; and +Orient rugs and wolf-skins for a _siesta_ when the beach yonder was a +blaze of white and blinding light, that made it blessed to close one's +eyes and shut out the glare--and to keep one's ears open to the lulling +song of the sea. + +Here we concocted a plan. It was to be kept a profound mystery; even the +butcher was unaware, and the baker in total darkness; as for the +wine-merchant, he was as blind as a bat. We were to give the banquet and +ball of the season. We went to the hall of our sisters,--scarcely kin +were they, but kinder never lived, and their house was at our disposal. +We threw out the furniture; we made a green bower of the adobe chamber. +One window, that bore upon the forlorn vacuum of the main street, was +speedily stained the deepest and most splendid dyes; from without, it +had a pleasing, not to say refining, medieval effect; from within, it +was likened unto the illuminated page of an antique antiphonary--in +flames; yes, positively in flames! + +A great board was laid the length of the room, a kind of Round +Table--with some few unavoidable innovations, such as a weak leg or two, +square corners, and an unexpected depression in the centre of it, where +the folding leaves sought in vain to join. From the wall depended the +elaborate _menu_, life-size and larger; and at every course a cartoon in +color more appetizing than the town market. The emblematic owl blinked +upon us from above the door. Invitations were hastily penned and sent +forth to a select few. Forgive us, Dona Jovita, if thy guest card was +redolent of tea or of brown soap; for it was penned in the privacy of +the pantry, and either upon the Scylla of the tea-caddy or the soapy +Charybdis it was sure to be dashed at last. + +It was rare fun, if I did say it from the foot of the flower-strewn +table, clad in an improvised toga, while a gentleman in Joss-like +vestments carved and complimented in a single breath at the top of the +Bohemian board. From the adjoining room came the music of hired +minstrels: the guitar, the violin, and blending voices--a piping tenor +and a soft Spanish _falsetto_. They chanted rhythmically to the clatter +of tongues, the ripple of laughter, and the clash of miscellaneous +cutlery. + +An unbidden multitude, gathered from the highways, and the byways, +loitered about the vicinity, patiently--O how patiently!--awaiting our +adjournment. The fandango naturally followed; and it enlivened the vast, +bare chambers of an adjoining adobe, whose walls had not echoed such +revelry since the time when Monterey was the chief port of the Northern +Pacific, and basked in the sunshine of a prosperous monopoly. A good +portion of the town was there that evening. Shadowy forms hovered in the +arbors of the rose garden; the city band appeared and rendered much +pleasing music,--though it was rendered somewhat too vigorously. That +band was composed of the bone and sinew of the town. Oft in the daytime +had I not heard the flageolet lifting its bird-like voice over the +counter of the juvenile jeweller, who wrought cunningly in the +shimmering abalone shells during the rests in his music? Did not the +trombone bray from beyond the meadow, where the cooper could not barrel +his aspiring soul? It was the French-horn at the butcher's, the fife at +the grocer's, the cornet in the chief saloon on the main street; while +at the edge of the town, from the soot and grime of the smithy, I heard +at intervals the boom of the explosive drum. It was thus they responded +to one another on that melodious shore, and with an ambitious diligence +worthy of the Royal Conservatory. + +There was nothing to disturb one in the land, after the musical mania, +save the clang of the combers on the long, lonely beach; the cry of the +sea-bird wheeling overhead, or the occasional bang of a rifle. Even the +narrow-gauge railway, that stopped discreetly just before reaching the +village, broke the monotony of local life but twice in the twenty-four +hours. The whistle of the arriving and departing train, the signal of +the occasional steamer--ah! but for these, what a sweet, sad, silent +spot were that! I used to believe that possibly some day the unbroken +stillness of the wilderness might again envelop it. The policy of the +people invited it. Anything like energy or progress was discouraged in +that latitude. When it was discovered that the daily mail per Narrow +Gauge was arriving regularly and usually on time, it began to look like +indecent haste on the part of the governmental agents. The beauty and +the chivalry that congregated at the post-office seemed to find too +speedy satisfaction at the general delivery window; and presently the +mail-bag for Monterey was dropped at another village, and later carted +twenty miles into town. The happy uncertainty of the mail's arrival +caused the post-office to become a kind of forum, where all the +grievances of the populace were turned loose and generally discussed. + +Then it seemed possible that the Narrow Gauge might be frowned down +altogether, and the locomotive warned to cease trespassing upon the +green pastures of the ex-capital. It even seemed possible that in course +of time all aliens might require a passport and a recommendation from +their last place before being permitted to enter in and enjoy the +society of the authorities brooding over that slumberous village. + +I have seen as many as six men and a boy standing upon one of the +half-dozen street corners of the town, watching, with a surprise that +bordered upon impertinence, a white pilgrim from San Francisco in an +ulster, innocently taking his way through the otherwise deserted +streets. The ulster was perhaps the chief object of interest. I have +seen three or four citizens sitting in a row, on a fence, like so many +rooks,--and sitting there for hours, as if waiting for something. For +what, pray? For the demented squaw, who revolved about the place, and +slept out of doors in all weathers, and muttered to herself incessantly +while she went to and fro, day after day, seeking the rest she could not +hope for this side the grave? Or for Murillo, the Indian, impudent +though harmless, full of fancies and fire-water? Or for the return of +the whale-boats, with their beautiful lateen-sails? Or for the gathering +of the Neapolitan fishermen down under the old Custom House, where they +sat at evening looking off upon the Bay, and perchance dreaming of Italy +and all that enchanted coast? Or for the rains that poured their sudden +and swift rivulets down the wooded slopes and filled the gorges that +gutted some of the streets? Was it the love of nature, or a belief in +fatalism, or sheer laziness, I wonder, that preserved to Monterey those +washouts, from two to five feet in depth, that were sometimes in the +very middle of the streets, and impassable save by an improvised +bridge--a single plank? + +Ah me! It is an ungracious task to prick the bubble reputation, had I +not been dazzled with dreams of Monterey from my youth up! Was I piqued +when I, then a citizen of San Francisco--one of the three hundred +thousand,--when I read in "The Handbook of Monterey" these lines: "San +Francisco is not too firmly fixed to fear the competition of Monterey"? + +Well, I may as well confess myself a false prophet. The town fell into +the hands of Croesus, and straightway lost its identity. It is now a +fashionable resort, and likely to remain one for some years to come. +Where now can one look for the privacy of old? Then, if one wished to +forget the world, he drove through a wilderness to Cypress Point. Now +'tis a perpetual picnic ground, and its fastnesses are threaded by a +drive which is one of the features of Del Monte Hotel life. It was +solemn enough of yore. The gaunt trees were hung with funereal mosses; +they had huge elbows and shoulders, and long, thin arms, with skeleton +fingers at the ends of them, that bore knots that looked like heads and +faces such as Dore portrayed in his fantastic illustrations. They were +like giants transformed,--they are still, no doubt; for the tide of +fashion is not likely to prevail against them. + +They stand upon the verge of the sea, where they have stood for ages, +defying the elements. The shadows that gather under their locked +branches are like caverns and dungeons and lairs. The fox steals +stealthily away as you grope among the roots, that writhe out of the +earth and strike into it again, like pythons in a rage. The coyote sits +in the edge of the dusk, and cries with a half-human cry--at least he +did in my dead day. And here are corpse-like trees, that have been naked +for ages; every angle of their lean, gray boughs seems to imply +something. Who will interpret these hieroglyphics? Blood-red sunsets +flood this haunted wood; there is a sound as of a deep-drawn sigh +passing through it at intervals. The moonlight fills it with mystery; +and along its rocky front, where the sea-flowers blossom and the +sea-grass waves its glossy locks, the soul of the poet and of the artist +meet and mingle between shadowless sea and cloudless sky, in the +unsearchable mystery of that cypress solitude. + +So have I seen it; so would I see it again. When I think on that beach +at Monterey--the silent streets, the walled, unweeded gardens--a wistful +Saturday-afternoon feeling comes over me. I hear again the incessant +roar of the surf; I see the wheeling gulls, the gray sand; the brown, +bleak meadows; the empty streets; the shops, tenantless sometimes--for +the tenant is at dinner or at dominos; the other shops that are locked +forever and the keys rusted away;--whenever I think of her I am reminded +of that episode in Coulton's diary, where he, as alcalde, was awakened +from a deep sleep at the dead of night by a guard, a novice, and a slave +to duty. With no little consternation, the alcalde hastened to unbar the +door. The guard, with a respectful salute, said: "The town, sir, is +perfectly quiet." + + + + +IN A CALIFORNIAN BUNGALOW + + +It was reception night at the Palace Hotel. As usual the floating +population of San Francisco had drifted into the huge court of that +luxurious caravansary, and was ebbing and eddying among the multitudes +of white and shining columns that support the six galleries under the +crystal roof. The band reveled in the last popular waltz, the hum of the +spectators was hushed, but among the galleries might be seen pairs of +adolescent youths and maidens swaying to the rhythmical melody. We were +taking wine and cigarettes with the Colonel. He was always at home to us +on Monday nights, and even our boisterous chat was suspended while the +blustering trumpeters in the court below blew out their delirious music. +It was at this moment that Bartholomew beckoned me to follow him from +the apartment. We quietly repaired to the gallery among the huge vases +of palms and creepers, and there, bluntly and without a moment's +warning, the dear fellow blurted out this startling revelation: "I have +made an engagement for you; be ready on Thursday next at 4 p.m.; meet me +here; all arrangements are effected; say not a word, but come; and I +promise you one of the jolliest experiences of the season." All this +was delivered in a high voice, to the accompaniment of drums and +cymbals; he concluded with the last flourish of the bandmaster's baton, +and the applause of the public followed. Certainly dramatic effect could +go no further. I was more than half persuaded, and yet, when the +applause had ceased, the dancers unwound themselves, and the low rumble +of a thousand restless feet rang on the marble pavement below, I found +voice sufficient to ask the all-important question, "But what is the +nature of this engagement?" To which he answered, "Oh, we're going down +the coast for a few days, you and I, and Alf and Croesus. A charming +bungalow by the sea; capital bathing, shooting, fishing; nice quiet time +generally; back Monday morning in season for biz!" This was certainly +satisfactory as far as it went, but I added, by way of parenthesis, "and +who else will be present?" knowing well enough that one uncongenial +spirit might be the undoing of us all. To this Bartholomew responded, +"No one but ourselves, old fellow; now don't be queer." He knew well +enough my aversion to certain elements unavoidable even in the best +society, and how I kept very much to myself, except on Monday nights +when we all smoked and laughed with the Colonel--whose uncommonly +charming wife was abroad for the summer; and on Tuesday and Saturday +nights, when I was at the club, and on Wednesdays, when I did the +theatricals of the town, and on Thursdays and Fridays--but never mind! +girls were out of the question in my case, and he knew that the bachelor +hall where I preside was as difficult of access as a cloister. I might +not have given my word without further deliberation, had not the +impetuous Colonel seized us bodily and borne us back into his +smoking-room, where he was about to shatter the wax on a flagon of wine, +a brand of fabulous age and excellence. Bartholomew nodded to Alf, Alf +passed the good news to Croesus, for we were all at the Colonel's by +common consent, and so it happened that the compact was made for +Thursday. + +That Thursday, at 4 p.m. we were on our way to the station at 4:30; the +town-houses were growing few and far between, as the wheels of the +coaches spun over the iron road. At five o'clock the green fields of the +departed spring, already grown bare and brown, rolled up between us and +the horizon. California is a naked land and no mistake, but how +beautiful in her nakedness! An hour later we descended at School-house +station; such is the matter-of-fact pet-name given to a cluster of dull +houses, once known by some melodious but forgotten Spanish appellation. +The ranch wagon awaited us; a huge springless affair, or if it had +springs they were of that aggravating stiffness that adds insult to +injury. Excellent beasts dragged us along a winding, dusty road, over +hill, down dale, into a land that grew more and more lonely; not exactly +"a land where it was always afternoon," but apparently always a little +later in the day, say 7 p.m. or thereabouts. We were rapidly wending our +way towards the coast, and on the breezy hill-top a white fold of +sea-fog swept over and swathed us in its impalpable snow. Oh! the chill, +the rapturous agony of that chill. Do you know what sea-fog is? It is +the bodily, spiritual and temporal life of California; it is the +immaculate mantle of the unclad coast; it feeds the hungry soil, gives +drink unto the thirsting corn, and clothes the nakedness of nature. It +is the ghost of unshed showers--atomized dew, precipitated in +life-bestowing avalanches upon a dewless and parched shore; it is the +good angel that stands between a careless people and contagion; it is +heaven-sent nourishment. It makes strong the weak; makes wise the +foolish--you don't go out a second time in midsummer without your +wraps--and it is altogether the freshest, purest, sweetest, most +picturesque, and most precious element in the physical geography of the +Pacific Slope. It is worth more to California than all her gold, and +silver, and copper, than all her corn and wine--in short, it is simply +indispensable. + +This is the fog that dashed under our hubs like noiseless surf, filled +up the valleys in our lee, shut the sea-view out entirely, and finally +left us on a mountaintop--our last ascension, thank Heaven!--with +nothing but clouds below us and about us, and we sky-high and drenched +to the very bone. + +The fog broke suddenly and rolled away, wrapped in pale and splendid +mystery; it broke for us as we were upon the edge of a bluff. For some +moments we had been listening to the ever-recurring sob of the sea. +There at our feet curled the huge breakers, shouldering the cliff as if +they would hurl it from its foundation. A little further on in the +gloaming was the last hill of all; from its smooth, short summit we +could look into the Delectable Land by candle light, and mark how +invitingly stands a bungalow by the sea's margin at the close of a dusty +day. + +On the summit we paused; certain unregistered packages under the wagon, +which had preyed at intervals upon the minds of Alf, Croesus, and +Bartholomew, were now drawn forth. Life is a series of surprises; +surprise No. 1, a brace of long, tapering javelins having +villainous-looking heads, i.e., two marine rockets, with which to rend +the heavens, and notify the vassals at the bungalow of our approach. One +of these rockets we planted with such care that having touched it off, +it could not free itself, but stood stock still and with vicious fury +blew off in a cloud of dazzling sparks. The dry grass flamed in a +circle about us; never before had we fought fire with wildly-waving +ulsters, but they prove excellent weapons in engagements of this +character, I assure you. Profiting by fatiguing experience, we poised +the second rocket so deftly that it could not fail to rise. On it we +hung our hopes, light enough burdens if they were all as faint as mine. +With the spurt of a match we touched it, a stream of flaky gold rushed +forth and then, as if waiting to gather strength, _biff_! and away she +went. Never before soared rocket so beautifully; it raked the very +stars; its awful voice died out in the dim distance; with infinite grace +it waved its trail of fire, and then spat forth such constellations of +variegated stars--you would have thought a rainbow had burst into a +million fragments--that shamed the very planets, and made us think +mighty well of ourselves and our achievement. There was still a long +dark mile between us and the bungalow; on this mile were strung a +fordable stream, a ragged village of Italian gardeners, some monstrous +looking hay-stacks, and troops of dogs that mouthed horribly as we +ploughed through the velvety dust. + +The bungalow at last! at the top of an avenue of trees--and such a +bungalow! A peaked roof that sheltered everything, even the deepest +verandas imaginable; the rooms few, but large and airy; everything wide +open and one glorious blaze of light. A table spread with the luxuries +of the season, which in California means four seasons massed in one. +Flowers on all sides; among these flowers Japanese lanterns of +inconceivable forms and colors. These hung two or three deep--without, +within, above, below; nothing but light and fragrance, and mirth and +song. We were howling a chorus as we drove up, and were received with a +musical welcome, bubbling over with laughter from the lips of three +pretty girls, dressed in white and pink--probably the whitest and +pinkest girls in all California; and this was surprise No. 2. + +Perfect strangers to me were these young ladies; but, like most +confirmed bachelors, I rather like being with the adorable sex, when I +find myself translated as if by magic. + +We were formed of the dust of the earth--there was no denying the fact, +and we speedily withdrew; but before our dinner toilets were completed, +such a collection of appetizers was sent in to us as must distinguish +forever the charming hostess who concocted them. I need not recall the +dinner. Have you ever observed that there is no real pleasure in +reviving the memory of something good to eat? Suffice it to state that +the dinner was such a one as was most likely to be laid for us under the +special supervision of three blooming maidens, who had come hither four +and twenty hours in advance of us for this special purpose. That night +we played for moderate stakes until the hours were too small to be +mentioned. I forget who won; but it was probably the girls, who were as +clever at cards as they were at everything else. We ultimately retired, +for the angel of sleep visits even a Californian bungalow, though his +hours are a trifle irregular. Our rooms, two large chambers, with +folding doors thrown back, making the two as one, contained four double +beds; in one of the rooms was a small altar, upon which stood a statue +of the Madonna, veiled in ample folds of lace and crowned with a coronet +of natural flowers; vases of flowers were at her feet, and lighted +tapers flickered on either hand. The apartment occupied by the young +ladies was at the other corner of the bungalow; the servants, a good old +couple, retainers in Alf's family, slept in a cottage adjoining. We +retired manfully; we had smoked our last smoke, and were not a little +fatigued; hence this readiness on our part to lay down the burdens and +cares of the day. When the lights were extinguished the moon, streaming +in at the seaward windows, flooded the long rooms. It was a glorious +night; no sound disturbed its exquisite serenity save the subdued murmur +of the waves, softened by an intervening hillock on which the cypress +trees stood like black and solemn sentinels of the night. + +[Illustration: "The Huge Court of that Luxurious Caravansary."] + +I think I must have dozed, for it first seemed like a dream--the +crouching figures that stole in Indian file along the carpet from bed to +bed; but soon enough I wakened to a reality, for the Phillistines were +upon us, and the pillows fell like aerolites out of space. The air was +dense with flying bed-clothes; the assailants, Bartholomew and Alf, his +right-hand man, fell upon us with school-boy fury; they made mad leaps, +and landed upon our stomachs. We grappled in deadly combat; not an +article of furniture was left unturned; not one mattress remained upon +another. We made night hideous for some moments. We roused the ladies +from their virgin sleep, but paid little heed to their piteous +pleadings. The treaty of peace, which followed none too soon--the +pillow-cases were like fringes and the sheets were linen +shreds--culminated in a round of night-caps which for potency and flavor +have, perhaps, never been equalled in the history of the vine. + +Then we _did_ sleep--the sleep of the just, who have earned their right +to it; the sleep of the horny-handed son of the soil, whose muscles +relax with a jerk that awakens the sleeper to a realizing sense that he +has been sleeping and is going to sleep again at his earliest +convenience: the sweet, intense, and gracious sleep of innocence--out of +which we were awakened just before breakfast time by the most +considerate of hostesses and her ladies of honor, who sent into us the +reviving cup, without which, I fear, we could not have begun the new day +in a spirit appropriate to the occasion. + +The first day at the bungalow was Friday and, of course, a fast day; we +observed the rule with a willingness which, I trust, the recording angel +made a note of. There was a bath at the beach toward mid-day, followed +by a cold collation in the shelter of a rude chalet, which served the +ladies in the absence of the customary bathing-machine. Lying upon rugs +spread over the sand we chatted until a drowsy mood persuaded us to +return to the bungalow and indulge in a _siesta_. It being summer, and a +California summer by the sea, a huge log fire blazed upon the evening +hearth; cards and the jingle of golden counters again kept us at the +table till the night was far spent. Need I add that the ladies presented +a petition with the customary night-cap, praying that the gentlemen in +the double-chamber would omit the midnight gymnastics upon retiring, and +go to sleep like "good boys." It had been our intention to do so; we +were not wholly restored, for the festivities of the night previous had +been prolonged and fatiguing. + +We began our preparations by wheeling the four bedsteads into one room. +It seemed to us cosier to be sleeping thus together; indeed, it was +quite a distance from the extremity of one room to the extremity of the +other. Resigning ourselves to the pillows, each desired his neighbor to +extinguish the lights; no one moved to perform this necessary duty. We +slept, or pretended to sleep, and for some moments the bungalow was +quiet as the grave. In the midst of this refreshing silence a panic +seized us; with one accord we sprang to arms; the pillows, stripped of +their cases on the night previous, again darkened the air. We leaped +gaily from bed to bed, and in turn, took every corner of the room by +storm; the shout of victory mingled with the cry for mercy. There was +one solitary voice for peace; it was the voice of the vexed hostess, and +it was followed by the suspension of hostilities and the instant +quenching of the four tapers, each blown by an individual mouth, after +which we groped back to our several couches in a state of charming +uncertainty as to which was which. + +Saturday followed, and, of all Saturdays in the year, it chanced to be +the vigil of a feast, and therefore a day of abstinence. The ladies held +the key of the larder, and held it, permit me to add, with a clenched +hand. It may be that all boys are not like our boys; that there are +those who, having ceased to elongate and increase in the extremities out +of all proportion, are willing to fast from day to day; who no longer +lust after the flesh-pots, and whose appetites are governable--but ours +were not. The accustomed fish of a Friday was welcome, but Saturday was +out of the question. "Something too much of this," said Croesus the +Sybarite. "Amen!" cried the affable Alf. There was an unwonted fire in +the eye of Bartholomew when he asked for a dispensation at the hands of +the hostess, and was refused. + +All day the maidens sought to lighten our burden of gloom; the sports in +the bath were more brilliant than usual. We adjourned to the hay-loft +and told stories till our very tongues were tired. It is true that +egg-nogg at intervals consoled us; but when we had awakened from a +refreshing sleep among the hay, and fought a battle that ended in +victory for the Amazons and our ignominious flight, we bore the scars of +burr and hay-seed for hours afterwards. Cold turkey and cranberry sauce +at midnight had been promised to us, yet how very distant that seemed. +Hunger cried loudly for beef and bouillon, and a strategic movement was +planned upon the spot. + +The gaming, which followed a slim supper, was not so interesting as +usual. At intervals we consulted the clock; how the hours lagged! +Croesus poured his gold upon the table in utter distraction. The +maidens, who sat in sack-cloth and ashes, sorrowing for our sins, left +the room at intervals to assure themselves that the larder was intact. +We, also, quietly withdrew from time to time. Once, all three of the +girls fled in consternation--the footsteps of Bartholomew had been heard +in the vicinity of the cupboard; but it was a false alarm, and the game +was at once resumed. Now, indeed, the hours seemed to fly. To our +surprise, upon referring to the clock, the hands stood at ten minutes to +twelve. So swiftly speed the moments when the light hearts of youth beat +joyously in the knowledge that it is almost time to eat! + +Twelve o'clock! Cold turkey, cranberry sauce, champagne, etc., and no +more fasting till the sixth day. Having devastated the board, we must +needs betray our folly by comparing the several timepieces. Alf stood at +five minutes to eleven; Bartholomew some minutes behind him; Croesus, +with his infallible repeater, was but 10:45; as for me, I had discreetly +run down. The secret was out. The clock had been tampered with, and the +trusting maids betrayed. At first they laughed with us; then they +sneered, and then they grew wroth, and went apart in deep dismay. The +dining-hall resounded with our hollow mirth; like the scriptural fool, +we were laughing at our own folly. The ladies solemnly re-entered; our +hostess, the spokeswoman, said, with the voice of an oracle, "You will +regret this before morning." Still feigning to be merry, we went +speedily to bed, but there was no night-cap sent to soothe us; and the +lights went out noiselessly and simultaneously. + +After the heavy and regular breathing had set in--I think all slept save +myself--light footsteps were heard without. Why should one turn a key in +a bungalow whose hospitality is only limited by the boundary line of the +county surveyor? Our keys were not turned, in fact,--too late--we +discovered there were no keys to turn. In the dim darkness--the moon +lent us little aid at the moment--our door was softly thrown open, and +the splash of fountains could be heard; it was the sound of many waters. +As I listened to it in a half dream, it fell upon my ear most musically, +and then it fell upon my nose, and eyes, and mouth; it seemed as if the +windows of heaven were opened, as if the dreadful deluge had come again. +I soon discovered what it was. I threw the damp bed clothes over my head +and awaited further developments. I began to think they never would +come--I mean the developments. Meanwhile the garden hose, in the hands +of the irate maidens, played briskly upon the four quarters of the +room--not a bed escaped the furious stream. Nothing was left that was +not saturated and soaked, sponge-full. The floor ran torrents; our boots +floated away upon the mimic tide. We lay like inundated mummies, but +spake never a word. Possibly the girls thought we were drowned; at all +events, they withdrew in consternation, leaving the hose so that it +still belched its unwelcome waters into the very centre of our drenched +apartment. + +Rising at last from our clammy shrouds, we gave chase; but the +water-nymphs had fled. Then we barricaded the bungalow, and held a +council of war. Sitting in moist conclave, we were again assailed and +driven back to our rooms, which might now be likened to a swimming bath +at low-tide. We shrieked for stimulants, but were stoutly denied, and +then we took to the woods in a fit of indignation, bordering closely +upon a state of nature. + +I thought to bury myself in the trackless wild; to end my days in the +depths of the primeval forest. But I remembered how a tiger-cat had been +lately seen emerging from these otherwise alluring haunts, and returned +at once to the open, where I glistened in the moonlight, now radiant, +and shivered at the thought of the possible snakes coiling about my +feet. My disgust of life was full; yet in the midst of it I saw the +reviving flames dancing upon the hearth-stone, and the click of glasses +recalled me to my senses. + +We returned in a body, a defeated brotherhood, accepting as a +peace-offering such life-giving draughts as compelled us, almost against +our will, to drink to the very dregs in token of full surrender. Then +rheumatism and I lay down together, and a little child might have +played with any two of us. I assured my miserable companions that "I was +not accustomed to such treatment." Alf added that "it was more than he +had bargained for." Bartholomew had neither speech nor language +wherewith to vent his spleen. As for the bland and blooming Croesus--he +who had been lapped in luxury and cradled in delight--it was his private +opinion, publicly expressed, that "the like of it was unknown in the +annals of social history." + +[Illustration: "The Gallery Among the Huge Vases of Palms and +Creepers."] + +Yet on the Sunday--our final day at the bungalow--you would have thought +that the gods had assembled together to hold sweet converse; and, when +we lounged in the shadow of the invisible Ida, never looked the earth +more fair to us. The whole land was in blossom from the summit to the +sea; the gardeners, as they walked among their vines, prated of Sicily +and sang songs of their Sun-land. There was no chapel at hand, and no +mass for the repose of souls that had been sorely troubled; but the +charm of those young women--they were salving our wounds as women know +how to do--and the voluptuous feast that was laid for us, when we +emptied the fatal larder; the music, and the thousand arts employed to +restore beauty and order out of the last night's chaos, made us better +than new men, and it taught us a lesson we never shall forget--though +from that hour to this, neither one nor the other of us, in any way, +shape, or fashion whatever, has referred in the remotest degree to that +eventful night in a Californian bungalow. + + + + +PRIMEVAL CALIFORNIA + + +"Primeval California" was inscribed on the knapsack of the Artist, on +the portmanteau of Foster, the Artist's chum, and on the fly-leaf of the +note-book of the Scribe. The luggage of the boisterous trio was checked +through to the heart of the Red Woods, where a vacation camp was +pitched. The expected "last man" leaped the chasm that was rapidly +widening between the city front of San Francisco and the steamer bound +for San Rafael, and approached us--the trio above referred to--with a +slip of paper in his hand. It was not a subpoena; it was not a dun; it +was a round-robin of farewells from a select circle of admirers, wishing +us joy, Godspeed, success in art and literature, and a safe return at +last. + +The wind blew fair; we were at liberty for an indefinite period. In +forty minutes we struck another shore and another clime. San Francisco +is original in its affectation of ugliness--it narrowly escaped being a +beautiful city--and its humble acceptation of a climate which is as +invigorating as it is unscrupulous, having a peculiar charm which is +seldom discovered until one is beyond its spell. Sailing into the +adjacent summer,--summer is intermittent in the green city of the +West,--we passed into the shadow of Mount Tamalpais, the great landmark +of the coast. The admirable outline of the mountain, however, was +partially obscured by the fog, already massing along its slopes. + +The narrow-gauge of the N.P.C.R.R. crawls like a snake from the ferry on +the bay to the roundhouse over and beyond the hills, but seven miles +from the sea-mouth of the Russian River. It turns very sharp corners, +and turns them every few minutes; it doubles in its own trail, runs over +fragile trestle-work, darts into holes and re-appears on the other side +of the mountains, roars through strips of redwoods like a rushing wind, +skirts the shore of bleak Tomales Bay, cuts across the potato district +and strikes the redwoods again, away up among the saw-mills at the +logging-camps, where it ends abruptly on a flat under a hill. And what a +flat it is!--enlivened with a first-class hotel, some questionable +hostelries, a country store, a post-office and livery-stable, and a +great mill buzzing in an artificial desert of worn brown sawdust. + +Here, after a five hours' ride, we alighted at Duncan's Mills, hard by +the river, and with a girdle of hills all about us--high, round hills, +as yellow as brass when they are not drenched with fog. In the twilight +we watched the fog roll in, trailing its lace-like skirts among the +highland forests. How still the river was! Not a ripple disturbed it; +there was no perceptible current, for after the winter floods subside, +the sea throws up a wall of sand that chokes the stream, and the waters +slowly gather until there is volume enough to clear it. Then come the +rains and the floods, in which rafts of drift-wood and even great logs +are carried twenty feet up the shore, and permanently lodged in +inextricable confusion. + +I remember the day when we had made a pilgrimage to the coast, when from +the rocky jaws of the river we looked up the still waters, and saw them +slowly gathering strength and volume. The sea was breaking upon the bar +without; Indian canoes swung on the tideless stream, filled with +industrious occupants taking the fish that await their first plunge into +salt water. Every morning we bathed in the unpolluted waters of the +river. How fresh and sweet they are--the filtered moisture of the hills, +mingled with the distillations from cedar-boughs drenched with fogs and +dew! + +Lounging upon the hotel veranda, turning our backs upon the last +vestiges of civilization in the shape of a few guests who dressed for +dinner as if it were imperative, we were greeted with mellow heartiness +by a hale old backwoodsman, a genuine representative of the primeval. It +was Ingram, of Ingram House, Austin Creek, Red Woods, Sonoma County, +Primeval California. It was he, with ranch-wagon and stalwart steeds. +The Artist, who was captain-general of the forces, at once held a +consultation with Ingram, whom we will henceforth call the Doctor, for +he is a doctor--minus the degrees--of divinity, medicine, and laws, and +master of all work; a deer-stalker, rancher, and general utility man; +the father of a clever family, and the head of a primeval house. + +In half an hour we were jolting, bag and baggage, body and soul, over +roads wherein the ruts were filled with dust as fine as flour, fording +trout-streams, and winding through wood and brake. We passed the old +logging-camp, with the hills about it blackened and disfigured for life; +and the new logging-camp, with its stumps still smoldering, its steep +slides smoking with the friction of swift-descending logs, the ring of +the ax and the vicious buzz of the saw mingled with the shouts of the +woodsmen. How industry is devastating that home of the primeval! + +Soon the road led us into the very heart of the redwoods, where superb +columns stood in groups, towering a hundred and even two hundred feet +above our heads! A dense undergrowth of light green foliage caught and +held the sunlight like so much spray; the air was charged with the +fragrance of wild honeysuckle and resiniferous trees; the jay-bird +darted through the boughs like a phosphorous flame, screaming his joy to +the skies; squirrels fled before us; quails beat a muffled tattoo in +the brush-snakes slid out of the road in season to escape destruction. + +We soon dropped into the bed of the stream Austin Creek, and rattled +over the broad, strong highway of the winter rains. We bent our heads +under low-hanging boughs, drove into patches of twilight, and out on the +other side into the waning afternoon; we came upon a deserted cottage +with a great javelin driven through the roof to the cellar; it had been +torn from one of the gigantic redwoods and hurled by a last winter's +gale into that solitary home. Fortunately no one had been injured, but +the inmates had fled in terror, lashed by the driving storm. + +We came to Ingram House in the dusk, out of the solitude of the forest +into a pine-and-oak opening, the monotony of which was enlivened with a +fair display of the primitive necessities of life--a vegetable garden on +the right, a rustic barn on the left, a house of "shakes" in the +distance, and nine deer-hounds braying a deep-mouthed welcome at our +approach. + +In the rises of the house on the hill-slope is a three-roomed bachelors' +hall; here, on the next day, we were cozily domiciled. There were a few +guests in the homestead. The boys slept in the granary. The deer-hounds +held high carnival under our cottage, charging at intervals during the +night upon imaginary intruders. We woke to the blustering music of the +beasts, and thought on the possible approach of bear, panther, +California lion, wild cat, 'coon, and polecat; but thought on it with +composure, for the hounds were famous hunters, and there was a whole +arsenal within reach. + +We were waked at 6:30, and come down to the front "stoop" of the +homestead. The structure was home-made, with rafters on the outside or +inside according to the fancy of the builder; sunshine and storm had +stained it grayish brown, and no tint could better harmonize with the +background and surroundings. In one corner of the stoop a tin wash-basin +stood under a waterspout in the sink; there swung the family towels; the +public comb, hanging by its teeth to a nail, had seen much service; a +piece of brown soap lay in an _abalone_ shell tacked to the wall; a +small mirror reflected kaleidoscopical sections of the face, and made up +for its want of compass by multiplying one or another feature. We never +before ate at the hour of seven as we ate then; then a pipe on the front +steps and a frolic with the boys or the dogs would follow, and digestion +was well under way before the day's work began. Then the Artist +shouldered his knapsack and departed; the lads trudged through the road +to school; the women went about the house with untiring energy; the +male hands were already making the anvil musical in the rustic smithy, +or dragging stock to the slaughter, or busy with the thousand and one +affairs that comprise the sum and substance of life in a self-sustaining +community. We were assured that were war to be declared between the +outer world and Ingram House, lying in ambush in the heart of our black +forest, we might withstand the siege indefinitely. All that was needful +lay at our hands, and yet, a stone's-throw away from our shake-built +citadel, one loses himself in a trackless wood, whose glades are still +untrodden by men, though one sometimes hears the light step of the +_bronco_ when Charlie rides forth in search of a strong bull. All work +was like play there, because of a picturesque element which predominated +over the practical. Wood-cutting under the window of the best room, +trying out fat in a caldron or an earth-oven against our cottage, +dragging sunburnt straw in a rude sledge down the hill-side road, +shoeing a neighbor's horse in a circle of homely gossips, hunting to +supply the domestic board at the distant market--is this all that Adam +and the children of Adam suffer in his fall? + +At noon a clarion voice resounded from the kitchen door and sent the +echoes up and down the creek. It was the hostess, who, having prepared +the dinner, was bidding the guests to the feast. The Artist came in +with his sketch, the Chum with his novel, the Scribe with his note-book, +followed by the horny-handed sons of toil, whose shoulders were a little +rounded and whose minds were seldom, if ever, occupied with any life +beyond the hills that walled us in. We sat down at a camp board and ate +with relish. The land was flowing with milk and honey; no sooner was the +pitcher drained or the plate emptied than each was replenished by the +willing hands of our hostess or her boys. + +Another smoke under the stoop followed, and then, perhaps, a doze at the +cottage, or in one of the dozen rocking-chairs about the house, or on +the rustic throne hewn from a stump in the grove between the house and +the barn. The sun flooded the canon with hot and dazzling light; the air +was spiced with the pungent odor of shrubs; it was time to rest a little +before beginning the laborious sports of the afternoon. Later, we all +wandered on the banks of the creek and were sure to meet at the +swimming-pool about four o'clock. Meanwhile the Artist has laid in +another study. Foster has finished his tale, and is rocking in a hammock +of green boughs; the Scribe has booked a half-dozen fragmentary +sentences that will by and by grow into an article, and the boys have +come home from school. + +By and by we wanted change; the monotony of town life is always more or +less interesting; the monotony of country life palls after a season. +Change comes over us in a most unexpected guise. Our canon was decked +with the flaming scarlet of the poison-oak; these brilliant bits of +foliage are the high-lights in almost every California landscape, and +must satisfy our love of color, in the absence of the Eastern autumnal +leaf. The gorgeous shrubs stand out like burning bushes by the roadside, +on the hill-slope, in the forest recesses, and almost everywhere. The +Artist's chum gave evidence of a special susceptibility to the poison by +a severe attack that prostrated him utterly for a while. Yet he stood by +us until his vacation came to an end, and, to the last, there was no +complaint heard from this martyr to circumstances. + +One day he left us--on mule-back, with nine dogs fawning upon his +stirrup, and amid a hundred good-byes wafted to him from the house, the +smithy, the barn, and the swimming-pool. He had orders to send in the +Kid, or his successor, immediately upon his arrival at the Bay. We must +needs have some one to indulge, some one whose interests were not +involved in the primeval farther than the pleasure it afforded for the +hour. The Kid was the very thing--a youngster with happiness in heart, +luster in his eye, and nothing more serious than peach-down on his lip; +yet there was gravity enough in his composition to carry him beneath the +mere surface of men and things. The Kid drove in one night with rifle +tall as himself, fishing-tackle, and entomological truck, wild with +enthusiasm and hungry as a carp. + +What days followed! Our little entomologist chased scarlet-winged +dragon-flies and descanted on the myriad forms of insect-life with +premature accomplishment. "Out of the mouths of babes and sucklings" we +heard revelations not unmixed with the ludicrous superstitions of the +nursery. + +There is a school-house a mile distant, on the forks of the creek; we +visited it one Friday, and saw six angular youths, the sum total of the +young ideas within range of the instructress, spelled down in +broadsides; and heard time-honored recitations delivered in the same old +sing-song that could only have been original with the sons of our first +parents. The school-mistress, with a sun-bonnet that buried her face +from the world, passed Ingram's ten times a week, footing it silently +along the dusty road, lunch-pail in hand. She lives in a lonely cabin on +the trail to the wilderness over the hill. + +The Kid sketched a little; indeed, the artistic fever spread to the +granary, where the boys spent some hours of each day restoring, not to +say improving, the tarnished color of certain face-cards of an imperfect +euchre deck, the refuse of the palette being carefully secreted to this +end; we never knew at what moment we might sit upon the improvised +color-box of some juvenile member of the family. + +But hunting was our delectable recreation; the Doctor would lead off on +a half-broken _bronco_, followed by a select few from the house or the +friendly camps, Fred bringing up the rear with a pack-mule. This was the +chief joy of the hounds; the old couple grew young at the scent of the +trail, and deserted their whining progeny with Indian stoicism. Two +nights and a day were enough for a single hunt,--one may in that time +scour the rocky fortresses of the Last Chance, or scale the formidable +slopes of the Devil's Ribs. + +The return from the hunt was a scene of picturesque interest: the +approach of the hunters at dusk, as they emerged one after another from +the dark wood; the pack-mule prancing proudly under a stark buck +weighing one hundred and thirty-three pounds, without its vitals; the +baby fawn slain by chance (for no one would acknowledge the criminal +slaughter); the final arrival of the fagged, sore-footed dogs, who were +wildly greeted by the puppies, and kissed on the mouth and banged about +by many a playful paw; the grouping under the trees in front of +Bachelors' Hall, where the buck was slung, head downward among green +leaves, and with stakes crossed between the gaping ribs; the light of +the flickering lantern; the dogs supping blood from the ground where it +had dripped; the satisfaction of the hunters; the admiration of the +women; the wild excitement of the boys, who all talked at once, at the +top of their voices, with gestures quicker than thought;--this was the +Carnival of the Primeval. + +One night, the Kid set out for the stubble-field and lay in wait for +wild rabbits; when he came in with his hands full of ears, the glow of +moonlight was in his eye, the flush of sunset on his cheek, the riotous +blood's best scarlet in his lips, and his laugh was triumphant; with a +discarded hat recalled for camp-duty, a blue shirt open at the throat, +hair very much tumbled, and no thoughts of self to detract from the +absolute grace of his pose. + +But all hunting-parties were not so successful. One of seven came home +empty-handed and disgusted. It became necessary, while the unlucky +huntsmen were under our roof, to give them festive welcome. Fred drew +out his fiddle; the Doctor gathered his strength and shook as lively a +shoe on the sanded floor of the best room as one will hear the clang of +in many a day. Clumsy joints grew supple; heavy boots made the splinters +fly; a fellow-townsman, like ourselves on a vacation tour, jigged with +the inimitable grace of a trained dancer. How few of our muscles are +aware of the joy of full development! From the wall of the best room the +"Family of Horace Greeley," in mezzotint, looked down through clouded +glass and a veneered frame. The county map hung _vis-a-vis_. A family +record, wherein a pale infant was cradled in saffron, and schooled in +pink, passing through a rainbow-tinted life that reached the climax of +color at the scarlet and gold bridal, and ended in a sea-green grave; +this record, with a tablet for appropriate inscriptions under each epoch +in the family history, was still further enriched with lids of stained +isinglass carefully placed over the domestic calendar, as much as to +say, "What is written here is not for the public eye." On the triangular +shelf in the corner, stood the condensed researches of all Arctic +explorers, in one obese volume; its twin contained the revelations of +African discoveries boiled down and embellished with numberless cuts; a +Family Physician, one volume of legislative documents, and three stray +magazines, with a Greek almanac, completed the library. So, even in the +primeval state, we were not without food for our minds as well as +exercise for our muscles. After a time, even the dance ceased to attract +us. The Artist had lined the walls of his chamber with brilliant +sketches; the kid clamored for home. + +I suppose we might have tarried a whole summer and still found some turn +in the brook, some vista in the wood, some cluster of isolated trees, to +hold us entranced; for the peculiar glory of the hour transfigured +them, and the same effect was never twice repeated. Moreover, we at last +grew intolerant of one great annoyance. You all have known it as we knew +it, and doubtless endured it with as little grace. Is there anything +more galling than the surpassing impudence of country flies? We resolved +to return to town, and returned close upon the heels of our resolution. +Again we threaded the dark windings of the wood, and bade farewell to +every object that had become endeared to us. We wondered how soon change +would lay its hand upon this primeval beauty. We approached the +logging-camp. Presto! in the brief interval since our first glimpse of +the forests above it, the hills had been shorn of their antique harvest, +and the valley was a place of desolation and of death. + +It seemed incredible that the dense growth of gigantic trees could be so +soon dragged to market. There was a famous tree--we saw the stump still +bleeding and oozing up--which, three feet from the ground, measured +eleven and a half feet one way by fourteen feet the other. When its doom +was sealed, a path was cut for it and a soft bed made for it to lie on. +The land was graded, and covered with a cushion of soft boughs. Had the +tree fallen on uneven ground, it would have been shattered; if it had +swerved to right or left, nothing but fire could have cleared the +wrecks. + +The making of the death-bed of this monster cost Mrs. Duncan forty +dollars. Then the work began. An ax in the hands of a skillful +wood-cutter threw the tree headlong to the earth. Then it was sawed +across, yielding eighteen logs, each sixteen feet in length, with a +diameter of four feet at the smallest end. The logs were put upon +wheels, and run over a light trestle-work to the mill, drawn thither by +a ridiculous dummy, which looked not unlike an old-fashioned tavern +store on its beam-ends, with an elbow in the air. At the mill, it was +sawed into eighty thousand feet of marketable lumber. + +Reaching the forest, on our way to the Mills, we found the river had +risen so that ten miles from the mouth we were obliged to climb upon the +wagon-seats, and hold our luggage above high-water mark. + +At Duncan's, on the home stretch, we made our final pilgrimage, to a +wild glen over the Russian River, where, a few weeks before, the +Bohemian Club had held high jinks. The forest had been a scene of +enchantment on that midsummer night; but now the tents were struck, the +Japanese lanterns were extinguished, and nothing was left to tell the +tale but the long tables of rough deal, where we had feasted. They were +covered with leaves and dust; spiders had draped them with filmy robes. +The quail piped, the jay-bird screamed, the dove sobbed, and a slim +snake, startled at the flight of a bounding hare, glided away among the +rustling leaves. So soon does this new land recover the primeval beauty +of eternal youth. + + + + +INLAND YACHTING + + +When your bosom friend seizes you by the arm, and says to you in that +seductive sotto voce which implies a great deal more than is confessed, +"Come, let us go down to the sea in ships, and do business in the great +waters," you generally go, if you are not previously engaged. At least, +I do. + +Much has been said in disfavor of yachting in San Francisco Bay. It is +inland yachting to begin with. The shelving shores prevent the +introduction of keel boats; flat and shallow hulls, with a great breadth +of beam, something able to battle with "lumpy" seas and carry plenty of +sail in rough weather, is the more practical and popular type. Atlantic +yachts, when they arrive in California waters, have their rigging cut +down one-third. Schooners and sloops with Bermudian mutton-leg sails +flourish. A modification of the English yawl is in vogue; but large +sloops are not handled conveniently in the strong currents, the chop +seas, the blustering winds, the summer fogs that make the harbor one of +the most treacherous of haunts for yachtsmen. + +Think of a race when the wind is blowing from twenty-five to +thirty-five miles an hour! The surface current at the Golden Gate runs +six miles per hour and the tide-rip is often troublesome; but there is +ample room for sport, and very wild sport at times. The total area of +the bay is four hundred and eighty square miles, and there are hundreds +of miles of navigable sloughs, rivers, and creeks. One may start from +Alviso, and sail in a general direction, almost without turning, one +hundred and fifty-five miles to Sacramento city. During the voyage he is +pretty sure to encounter all sorts of weather and nearly every sort of +climate, from the dense and chilly fogs of the lower bay to the +semi-tropics of the upper shores, where fogs are unknown, and where the +winds die away on the surface of beautiful waters as blue as the Bay of +Naples. + +There are amateur yachtsmen, a noble army of them, who charter a craft +for a day or two, and have more fun in a minute than they can recover +from in a month. I have sailed with these, at the urgent request of one +who has led me into temptation more than once, but who never deserted me +in an evil hour, even though he had to drag me out of it by the heels. I +am at this moment reminded of an episode which still tickles my memory, +and, much as a worthy yachtsman may scorn it, I confess that this moment +is more to me than that of any dash into deep water which I can at +present recall. + +It was a summer Saturday, the half-holiday that is the reward of a +week's hard labor. With the wise precaution which is a prominent +characteristic of my bosom friend, a small body of comrades was gathered +together on the end of Meigg's Wharf, simultaneously scanning, with +vigilant eyes, the fleets of sailing crafts as they swept into view on +the strong currents of the bay. It was a little company of youths, sick +of the world and its cares, and willing, nay eager, to embark for other +climes. They came not unfurnished. I beheld with joy numerous demijohns +with labels fluttering like ragged cravats from their long necks; +likewise stacks of vegetables, juicy joints, fruits, and more demijohns, +together with a small portable iceberg; blankets were there, also guns, +pistols, and fishing tackle. If one chooses to quit this world and its +follies, one must go suitably provided for the next. Experience teaches +these things. + +The breeze freshened; the crowd grew impatient; more fellows arrived; +another demijohn was seen in the distance swiftly bearing down upon us +from the upper end of the wharf, and at this moment a dainty yacht +skimmed gracefully around the point of Telegraph Hill, picking her way +among the thousand-masted fleet that whitened the blue surface of the +bay, and we at once knew her to be none other than the "Lotus," a crack +yacht, as swift as the wind itself. In fifteen minutes there was a +locker full of good things, and a deck of jolly fellows, and when we +cast off our bow-line, and ran up our canvas, we were probably the +neatest thing on the tide. I know that I felt very much like a lay +figure in somebody's marine picture, and it was quite wonderful to +behold how suddenly we all became sea-worthy and how hard we tried to +prove it. + +A heavy bank of cloud was piled up in the west, through which stole long +bars of sunshine, gilding the leaden waves. The "Lotus" bent lovingly to +the gale. Some of us went into the cabin, and tried to brace ourselves +in comfortable and secure corners--item--there are no comfortable or +secure seats at sea, and there will be none until there is a revolution +in ship-building. Our yachting afforded us an infinite variety of +experience in a very short time; we had a taste of the British Channel +as soon as we were clear of the end of the wharf. It was like rounding +Gibraltar to weather Alcatraz, and, as we skimmed over the smooth flood +in Raccoon Straits, I could think of nothing but the little end of the +Golden Horn. Why not? The very name of our yacht was suggestive of the +Orient. The sun was setting; the sky deeply flushed; the distance highly +idealized; homeward hastened a couple of Italian fishing boats, with +their lateen sails looking like triangular slices cut out of the full +moon; this sort of thing was very soothing. We all lighted our +cigarettes, and lapsed into dreamy silence, broken only by the plash of +ripples under our bow and the frequent sputter of matches quite +necessary to the complete consumption of our tobacco. + +[Illustration: Meigg's Wharf in 1856] + +About dusk our rakish cutter drifted into the shelter of the hills along +the north shore of the bay, and with a chorus of enthusiastic cheers we +dropped anchor in two fathoms of soft mud. We felt called upon to sing +such songs as marines are wont to sing upon the conclusion of a voyage, +and I believe our deck presented a tableau not less picturesque than +that in the last act of "Black-eyed Susan." Susan alone was wanting to +perfect our nautical happiness. + +How charming to pass one's life at sea, particularly when it is a calm +twilight, and the anchor is fast to the bottom: the sheltering shores +seem to brood over you; pathetic voices float out of the remote and +deepening shadows; and stars twinkle so naturally in both sea and sky +that a fellow scarcely knows which end he stands on. + +I have preserved a few leaves from a log written by my bosom friend. I +present them as he wrote them, although he apparently had "Happy +Thoughts" on the brain, and much Burnand had well nigh made him mad. + +THE LOG OF THE "LOTUS" + +9 p.m.--Dinner just over; part of our crew desirous of fishing during +the night; hooks lost, lines tangled, no bait; a row by moonlight +proposed. + +10 p.m.--The Irrepressibles still eager to fish; lines untangled, hooks +discovered; two fellows despatched with yawl in search of bait; a row by +moonlight again proposed; we take observation--no moon! + +11 p.m.--Two fellows returning from shore with hen; hen very tough and +noisy; tough hens not good for bait; fishing postponed till daybreak; +moonlight sail proposed as being a pleasant change; still no moon; half +the crew turn in for a night's rest; cabin very full of half-the-crew. + +Midnight.--Irrepressibles dance sailor's hornpipe on deck; half-the-crew +below awake from slumbers, and advise Irrepressibles to renew search for +bait. + +12:30 a.m.--Irrepressibles return to shore for bait. Loud breathing in +cabin; water swashing on rocks along the beach; very picturesque, but no +moon yet; voice in the distance says "Halloa!" Echo in the other +distance replies, "Halloa yourself, and see how you like it!" + +1 a.m.--Irrepressibles still absent on shore; a dog barks loudly in the +dark; a noise is heard in a far away hen-coop--Irrepressibles looking +diligently for bait. + +1:30 a.m.--Dog sitting on the shore howling; very heavy breathing in the +cabin; noise of oars in the rowlocks; music on the water, chorus of +youthful male voices, singing "A smuggler's life is a merry, merry, +life." Subdued noise of hens; dog still howling; no moon yet; more noise +of hens, bait rapidly approaching. + +2 a.m.--Irrepressibles try to row yawl through sternlights of "Lotus"; +grand collision of yawl at full speed and a rakish cutter at anchor. +Profane language in the cabin; sleepy crew, half awake, rush up the +hatchway, and denounce Irrepressibles. Irrepressibles sing "Smuggler's +Life," etc.; terrific noise of hens; half-the-crew invite the +Irrepressibles to "be as decent as they can." No moon yet; everybody +packed in the cabin. + +2:30 a.m.--Sudden squall. "Lotus," as usual, bends lovingly to the gale; +dramatic youth in his bunk says, in deep voice, "No sleep till morn!" +More dramatic youths say, "I heard a voice cry, 'Sleep no more'." Very +deep voice says, "Macbeth hath mur-r-r-r-dered sleep!" General confusion +in the cabin. Old commodore of the "Lotus" says, "Gentlemen, a little +less noise, if you please." Noise subsides. + +3 a.m.--Irrepressibles propose sleeping in binnacle; unfortunate +discovery--no binnacle on board. Half-the-crew turn over, and suggest +that the Irrepressibles take night-caps, and retire anywhere. Moved and +seconded, That the Irrepressibles take two night-caps, and retire in a +body--item: two heads better than one, two night-caps ditto, ditto. + +3:30 a.m.--Commotion in cabin. Irrepressibles find no place to lay their +weary heads. Moonlight sail proposed; observations on deck--no moon; +squall in the distance; air very chilly. Irrepressibles retire in a +body, and take night-caps. Song by Irrepressibles, "A Smuggler's Life." +Half-the-crew sit up and throw boots. Irrepressibles assault +half-the-crew, and take bunks by storm; great confusion; old commodore +of the "Lotus" says, "Gentlemen had better sleep a little, so as to be +in trim for fishing at daybreak," night-caps all round; order restored; +chorus of subdued voices, "A Smuggler's Life." + +4 a.m.--Signs of daybreak; thin blue mist over the water; white sea-bird +overhead, with bright light on its breast; flocks bleating on shore; +sloop becalmed under the lee of the land; fishermen casting nets; more +fishermen right under them, casting nets upside down. Everything very +fresh and shining; feel happy; think we must look like marine picture by +somebody. + +4:30 a.m.--Commodore of the "Lotus" comes on deck, and takes an +observation; all favorable; commodore draws bucket of water out of the +sea and makes toilet, white beard of the commodore waves gently in the +breeze; fine-looking old sea-dog that commodore of the "Lotus." + +Sunday Morning.--All quiet; air very clear and bracing. Shore resembles +new world. Feel like Christopher Columbus discovering America. Peaceful +and happy emotions animate bosom; think I hear Sabbath bells--evidently +don't: no Sabbath bells anywhere around. Penitentiary of San Quentin in +the distance; look at San Quentin, and feel emotion of sadness steal +over me; moral reflection to try and avoid San Quentin as long as +possible. + +5 a.m.--Noise in cabins; boots flying in the air; cries for mercy; +reconciliation and eye-openers all round. Everybody on deck; next minute +everybody overboard bathing; water very cold; teeth chattering; +something warming necessary for all hands. Yawl goes out fishing; two +small boats at the disposal of Irrepressibles; a row by sunlight; no +moon last night; funny boy says, "Bring moon along next time!" Everybody +sees San Quentin at the same moment; half-the-crew advise Irrepressibles +to "go home at once." Cries of "hi yi." Irrepressibles say "they will +inform on half-the-crew when they get there"; disturbance on deck in +consequence; Commodore suggests a new search for bait; order restored; +new search for bait instituted. Three fellows sing "Father, come home," +and look toward San Quentin. Bad jokes on the prison every ten minutes +throughout the day. Small fleet of stern-wheel ducks come alongside for +breakfast; ducks in great danger of the galley; flock of pelicans, with +tremendous bowsprits, fly overhead; pistol-shot carries away tail +feathers of pelican; order restored. + +8 a.m.--Irrepressibles propose naval engagement; three small boats armed +and equipped for the fray. Irrepressibles routed; some taken prisoners; +great excitement; quantities of water dashed in all directions; boats +rapidly filling; two fellows overboard; cries for help, "fellows can't +swim a stroke"; intense excitement; boat sinks in five feet of water and +two feet of mud; the fellows brought on board to be wrung out. +Irrepressibles hang everything in the rigging to dry. Imagination takes +her accustomed flight; good study of nude Irrepressibles in great +number; think we must resemble the barge of Cleopatra on the Nile! +unlucky thought; no Cleopatra on board. Subject reconsidered; lucky +fancy--the Greek gods on a yachting cruise. Sun very hot; another bath +all round; a drop of something, for fear of catching cold; the Greek +gods on deck indulge in negro dances; two men on shore look on, and +wonder what's up. Sun intensely hot; Greek gods turn in for a square +sleep! + +It becomes necessary to suppress the bosom friend, who, it is +superfluous to state, was one of the leaders of the Irrepressibles on +the memorable occasion--and the balance of his log is consigned to the +locker of oblivion. + +The cruise of the "Lotus" had its redeeming features, though they were +probably unrecorded at the time. There was fishing and boating; rambles +on shore over the grassy hills; a search for clams and a good +old-fashioned clam bake; to which the sharpest appetites did ample +justice; and there were quiet fellows, who stole apart from the rioters +and had hours of solid satisfaction. You may have rocked in a small +skiff yourself, casting your line in deep water, waiting and watching +for the cod to bite. It is pleasant sculling up to a distant point, and +sounding by the way so as to get off the sand and over the pebbly bottom +as soon as possible. It is pleasant to cast anchor and float a few rods +from shore, where the rocks are eaten away by the tides of numberless +centuries, where the swallows build and the goats climb, and the scrub +oaks look over into the sea, with half their hairy roots trailing in the +air. It is less pleasant to thread your hook with a piece of writhing +worm that is full of agonizing expression, though head and tail are both +missing and writhing on their own hooks, which are also attached to your +line. I wonder if one bit of worm on a hook recognizes a joint of itself +on the next hook, and says to it, in its own peculiar fashion, "Well, +are you alive yet?" + +The baiting accomplished, with a great flourish you throw your sinker, +and see it bury itself in the muddy water; then you listen intently, +for the least suggestion of a disturbance down there at the other end of +the line; the sinker thumps upon this rock and the next one, drops into +a hole and gets caught for a moment, but is loosened again, and then a +sort of galvanic shock thrills through your body; on guard! if you would +save your bait; another twinge, fainter than the first, and at last a +regular tug, and you haul in your line, which is jerking incessantly by +this time. The next moment the hooks come to the surface, and on one of +them you find a Lilliputian fish that is not yet old enough to feed +himself, and was probably caught by accident. + +Perhaps you haul in your line as fast as you can, bait it and throw it +in again as rapidly as convenient--for this is the sport that fishermen +love to boast of; perhaps you rock in your boat all day, and draw but a +half-dozen of these shiners out before their time, and waste your +precious worms to no purpose. + +It's hungry work, isn't it? and the summons to dinner that is by-and-by +sounded from the yacht is a pleasing excuse for deserting so profitless +a task. The right thing to do, however, is to put on an appearance of +immense success whenever a rival skiff comes within hail. You hold up +your largest fish several times in succession, so as to delude the +anxious inquirers in the other boat, who will of course think you have a +dozen of those big cod with a striking family resemblance. It is a very +successful ruse; all fishermen indulge in it, and you have as good a +right to play the pantomime as they. + +By-and-by we are glad to think of a return to town. Why is it that +pleasure excursions seem to ravel out? They never stop short after a +brilliant achievement nor conclude with an imposing tableau; they die +out gradually. Someone gets out here, some-one else falls off there, and +there is a general running down of the machinery that has propelled the +festival up to the last moment. They flatten unmistakably, and it is +almost a pity that some sort of climax cannot be engaged for each +occasion, in the midst of which everyone should disappear, in red fire +and a blaze of rockets. + +Our yachting cruise was very jolly. We hauled in our lines and our +anchors, and spread our canvas, while the wind was brisk and the evening +was coming on; white-caps danced and tumbled all over the bay. It looked +stormy far out in the open sea as we crossed the channel; thin tongues +of fog were lapping among the western hills, as though the town were +about to be devoured by some ghostly monster, and presently it was of +course. The spray leaped half-way up our jib, and our fore-sail was +dripping wet as we neared the town; there was a rolling up of blankets, +and a general clearing out of the debris that always accumulates in +small quarters. Everybody was a little tired, and a little hungry, and +a little sleepy, and quite glad to get home again, and when the "Lotus" +landed us on the old wharf at the north end of the town, we crept home +through the side streets for decency's sake. + +The young "Corinthian" would scorn to recognize a yachting exploit such +as I have depicted. The young "Corinthian" owns his yacht, and lives in +it a great part of the summer. He is the first to make his appearance +after the rainy season has begun to subside, and the last to be driven +into winter quarters at Oakland or Antioch, where the fleet is moored +during four or five months of the year. The "Corinthian" paints his boat +himself, and is an adept at every art necessary to the completeness of +yachting life. He can cook, sail his boat, repair damages of almost +every description; he sketches a little, writes a little, and is, in +fact, an amphibious Bohemian, the life of the regatta, whose enthusiasm +goes far towards sustaining the healthful and amiable rivalry of the two +yachting clubs. + +These clubs have charming club-houses at Saucelito, where many a "hop" +is given during the summer, and where, on one occasion, "H.M.S. +Pinafore" was sung with great effect on the deck of the "Vira," anchored +a few rods from the dock; the dock was, for the time being, transformed +into a dress-circle. Sir Joseph Porter, K.C.B., made his entree in a +steam launch, and all the effects were highly realistic. The only hitch +in the otherwise immensely successful representation was the +impossibility of securing a moon for the second act. + +The annual excursion of the two clubs is one of the social events of the +year. The favorite resort is Napa, a pretty little town in the lap of a +lovely valley, approached by a narrow stream that winds through meadow +lands and scattered groves of oak. The yachts are nearly all of them +there, from twenty-six to thirty, a flock of white wings that skim the +waters of San Pablo Bay, upward bound. At Vallejo and Mare Island they +exchange salutes, abreast of the naval station, and enter the mouth of +Napa Creek; it is broad and marshy for a time, but soon grows narrow, +and very crooked. More than once as we sailed we missed stays, and +drifted broadside upon a hayfield, and were obliged to pole one another +around the sharp turns in the creek; it is then that cheers and jeers +come over the meadows to us, from the lesser craft that are sailing +breast deep among the waving corn. All this time Napa, our destination, +is close at hand, but not likely to be reached for twenty or thirty +minutes to come. We turn and turn again, and are lost to sight among the +trees, or behind a barn, and are continually greeted by the citizens, +who have come overland to give us welcome. + +Riotous days follow: a ball that night, excursions on the morrow, and +on the second night a concert, perhaps two or three of them, on board +the larger vessels of the fleet. We are lying in a row, against a long +curve of the shore; chains of lanterns are hung from mast to mast, the +rigging is gay with evergreens and bunting. + +The revelry continues throughout the night; serenaders drift up and down +the stream at intervals until daybreak, when a procession is formed, a +steamer takes us in tow, and we are dragged silently down the tide, in +the grey light of the morning. At Vallejo, after a toilet and a +breakfast, which is immensely relished, we get into position. Every eye +is on the Commodore's signal; by-and-by it falls, bang goes a gun, and +in a moment all is commotion. The sails are trimmed, the light canvas +set, and away flies the fleet on the home stretch, to dance for an hour +or two in the sparkling sunshine of San Pablo Bay, then plunge into the +tumbling sea in the lower harbor, and at last end a three days' cruise +with unanimous and hearty congratulations. + +A week ago I could have added here that in the annals of the yacht clubs +of San Francisco there has never been a fatal accident, never a +drowning, nor a capsizing, nor a wreck, and this covers a period of +thirteen years; alas! in a single day, on a cruise such as I have been +writing of, there was a shocking death. One yacht nearly foundered, but +fortunately escaped into smooth water, another was dashed upon the +rocks, and is probably a total wreck; while a third lost her +centre-board over a mud bank, where it buried itself, and held the +little craft a helpless prisoner; the crew and guests of the latter took +to the small boats, pulled three miles in a squall, and were rescued by +a passing steamer when they were all drenched to the skin, and well-nigh +exhausted. + +You see that inland yachting is not child's play, nor are these inland +yachts without their romantic records. The flag of the San Francisco +yacht club has floated among the South Sea Islands; one of its boats has +beaten the German and English types in their own waters; one has been as +far as the Australian seas; one is a pearl fisher in the Gulf of +California, and another is coquetting with the doldrums along the +Mexican coast. They are staunch little beauties all, and it would be +neither courteous nor healthful to think otherwise in the presence of +inland yachtsmen. + +[Illustration: Telegraph Hill, 1855] + + + + +IN YOSEMITE SHADOWS + + +"Yosemite, Sept.--: Come at once--the year wanes; would you see the +wondrous transformation, the embalming of the dead Summer in windings of +purple and gold and bronze--come quickly, before the white pall covers +it--delay no longer. The waters are low and fordable, the snows +threaten, but the hours are yet propitious; and such a welcome waits you +as Solomon in all his glory could not have lavished on Sheba's +approaching queen. * * *" + +There was much more of the same sort of high-toned epistolary rhetoric, +written and sent by a dear hand, whose fanciful pen seemed touched by +the ambrosial tints of Autumn. So the year was going out in a gorgeous +carnival, before the Lent-like solemnity of Winter was assumed. + +I had only two things to consider now: First, was it already too late to +hasten thither, and enjoy the splendid spectacle so freely offered and +so alluring; secondly, could I, if yet in time, venture so boldly upon +the edge of Winter, and risk the possibility--nay, probability--of being +snow-bound for four or six months, 30 miles from any human habitation? + +I did not long consider. I felt every moment that the soul of Summer was +passing. I scented the ascending incense of smoking and crackling +boughs. What a requiem was being chanted by all the tremulous and broken +voices of Nature! Would I, could I, longer forbear to join the +passionate and tumultuous _miserere_? It seemed that I could not, for +gathering about me the voluminous furs of Siberia, I bade adieu to +friends, not without some forebodings awakened by the admonitions of my +elders, then, dropping all the folly of the world, like a monk I went +silently and alone into the monastery of a Sierran solitude, resigned, +trusting, prayerful. + +What an entering it was! With slow, devotional steps I approached the +valley. There was a thin veil of snow over the upper trail. It was +smooth and unbroken as I came upon it, following the blazed trees in my +way. Footprints of bear and fox, squirrel and coyote, were traceable. +The owl hooted at me, and the jay shot past me like a blue flash of +light, uttering her prolonged, shrill cry. As for the owl, I could not +see him, but I heard him at startling intervals give the challenge, "Who +are you?" so I advanced and gave the countersign. I don't believe it was +for his grave face alone that the owl was chosen symbol of Wisdom. + +Not too soon came the steep and perilous descent into the abysmal depths +of the mountain fastness. It is a shame that pilgrims who come up +thither do not time their steps so as to reach this _Ultima Thule_ of +old times and ways at sunset. Then the magnificence of the spectacle +culminates. That new world below there is illuminated with the soft +tints of Eden. What unutterable fullness of beauty pervades all. The +forests--those moss-like fields are forests, and mighty ones, too--are +all aflame with the burnished gold of sunset, brightening the gold of +autumn; for gold twice refined, as it were, gilds the splendid +landscape. Only think of that picture, shining through the mellow haze +of Indian Summer, and flashing with the lambent glimmer of a myriad +glassy leaves. You can not see them moving, yet they twinkle +incessantly, and the warm air trembles about them while you hang +bewildered from a toppling parapet, four thousand feet above them; birds +swing under you in mid-air, streams leap from the sharp cliff, and reel +in that sickening way through the air that your brain whirls after them. +One is tired, anyhow, by the time he has reached this far, and a night +camp in the cool rim of this world-to-come is just the panacea for any +sort of weariness. + +Take my advice: Sleep on it, and drop down on the wings of the morning, +while the sun is filling up this marvelous ravine with such lights and +shadows as are felt, yet scarcely understood. Refreshed, amazed, +bewildered, go down into that solemn place, and see if you are not more +saint-like than you dared to think yourself. When the times are out of +joint, as they frequently are, come up here, forget men and things; +don't imagine we are as bad as we seem, for it is quite certain we might +be a great deal worse if we tried. While you bemoan our earthliness, you +may not be the one saint among us. Coming down with the evening, I was +scarcely at the gates of the inner valley when night was on me. Of this +gate, it is formed of a ponderous monument on the right, called +Cathedral Rock, and on the left is the one bald spot in the Sierras, the +great El Capitan. The arch over this primeval threshold is the astral +dome of heaven, and the gates stand ever open. There is no toll taken in +any mansion of my Father's House, and this is one of them. Passing to +the door of my host, I lifted the latch noiselessly. Before me dawned +fresh experiences. At my back Night gathered deeper than ever, and all +around I seemed to read the rubric of Life's new lesson. + +We are a comfort to ourselves--six of us, all told. Summer invites our +little company into a breezy hotel, over in the shadow across the +valley. Winter suggests a log cabin, an expansive fireplace, plenty of +hickory, and as much sunshine as finds its way into our secluded +hermitage. So we are done up compactly, in between thick walls, our hard +finish being in the shape of mud cakes in the chinks of the logs, and a +very hard finish it is; but we take wondrous comfort withal. + +How do I pass the hours? Leaving my friends, I wander forth, after +breakfast, in any direction that pleases me. Take today this sheep path; +it leads me to a pebbly beach at a swift turn of the Merced. That clump +of trees produces the best harvest of frost-pointed leaves; there are +new varieties offered every day at an alarming sacrifice, and I invest +largely in these fragile wares. Tomorrow, I shall go yonder across three +tumultuous streams, upon three convenient logs, broad and mossy. Some +book or other goes with me, and is opened now and then. Such books as +Plant Life, The Sexuality of Nature, Studies in Animal Life, suggest +themselves. Open these anywhere, and each is annotated and illustrated +by the scene before me. Every page is a running text to the hour I +glorify. + +Perhaps a leaf falls into my lap as I sit over the brook, on a log--a +single leaf, gilded about its border, in the centre a crimson flush, +fast swallowing up the original greenness; the whole will presently be +bronzed and sombre. O, Leaf! how art thou mummified! We do not think of +these little things of Nature. Look at this leaf. What is its record? +How many generations, think you, are numbered in its ancestry? A +perpetual intermarriage has not weakened its fibres. The anatomy of this +leaf is perfect, and the sap of this oak flows from oak to acorn, from +acorn to oak, in an interminable and uninterrupted succession since the +first day. What are your titles and estates beside this representative? +What is your heraldry, with its two centuries of mold; your absurd and +confused genealogies, your escutcheons, blotted no doubt with crimes and +errors, when this scion, which I am permitted to entertain for a moment, +comes of a race whose record is spotless and without stain through ten +thousand eventful years. Why, Eve would recognize the original of this +stock from the mere family resemblance. + +Do you think these days tiresome? It is embarrassing for some people to +be left alone with themselves. They can no longer play a part, for there +are none like themselves to play to. The sun and stars know you well +enough--most likely, better than you yourselves do. I like this. I would +out and say to myself: "Here is a confidant. Day hides nothing from me, +or you; it expresses all, exposes all--even that which we might not ask +to see. It is best that we should see it; there are no errors in +Nature." + +Walking, the squirrel nods to me. I nod back; and why shouldn't I? +Nature has familiarly introduced us. Squirrel munches under his tail +canopy till I am out of sight, jabbering all the while. What sage little +fellows go on four feet! I believe an animal has all the instincts of +Adam. He should never be tamed, however, lest he lose his identity. +Civilization rubs down the points in our character. As the surf rounds +the pebble, the masses round us. We are polished and insufferably +proper, but have no angles left! It is the angles that give the diamond +its lustre. + +Are you hungry? When the index of shadow points out from the base of old +Sentinel Rock and touches that column of descending spray they call +Yosemite, I go to dinner. "The Fall of the Yosemite"--what a dream it +is. A dream of the lotus-eaters, and an aspiration of the Ideal in +Nature. You can not realize it; and yet, you will never forget it. Don't +take it too early in the Spring, when it is less ethereal--nay, somewhat +heavy; rather see it in summer after the rains, or in autumn, better +than all, when it is like a tissue of diamond dust shaken upon the air. +It really seems a labor for it to reach its foaming basin, it is so +filmy, spiritual, delicate. The very air wooes it from its perpetual +leap; sudden currents of wind catch it up and whirl it away in their +arms, a trembling captive, or dash it against the solemn and sad-looking +rock, where it clings for a moment, then trickles down the scarred and +rugged face of it, fading in its descent; sometimes it is waved back by +the elements, and almost seems to return into its cloudy nest up yonder +close under the sky. It only comes to us at last by impulses, and all +along its shining and vapory path rockets of spray shoot out like +pendants, dissolving singly and alone. + +But "to return to our muttons." My dial says 12 M. There is no winding +up and down of weights here; 12 M. it undoubtedly is, and mutton waits. +These muttons were begotten here of muttons begotten here to the third +or fourth generation. Their wool is clipped, larded, and spun here by +one who lives here and loves this valley. These mittens, that keep the +frost from my fingers, are among the comforting results of this domestic +economy. In the cabin, by the fireplace, stands the old-fashioned +spinning wheel; and the old-fashioned body who manipulates the wool so +skillfully is the light of our little household. The shadow has struck +twelve from old Sentinel; and I take the sun once a day, and no oftener. +A cool, bracing air, a sharp run over the meadows, for I see the hostess +waving a signal at me for my tardiness, and I am hungry on my own +account--such cliffs and vistas as one sees here make one hollow with +looking at them, and are calculated to keep a supply of appetite on +hand. Do you like good long strips of baked squash? How do you fancy +bowls of warm milk--milk that declares a creamy dividend before morning? +Here is a fine fowl of our own raising--one that has seen Yosemite in +its glory and in its gloom; it ought to be good eating, and I can affirm +that it is. That's a dinner for you, and one where you can begin on pie +the first thing, if your soul craves it, which it frequently does. + +A storm brewing, and rain in the lower valley. Never mind, there is no +hurry here; one blushes to be caught worrying in the august presence of +these mountains. + +What can I do this stormy afternoon? Stop within doors and sit at the +window; a small grossbeak overhead, and we two looking out upon the rain +and fog. It is a mile nearly to that wall opposite, but look up high as +I can from my window I see no strip of sky. Here is a precipice of +homely, almost hideous-looking rock, and above it a hanging garden; +those pines in that garden are a hundred feet and more in height: +measure the second cliff by their proportions--how far is it, think you, +to the garden above? A thousand feet, perhaps; and three, four--no, six +of these terraces before you touch blue sky. Oh, what a valley! and +where else under heaven are we sunk forty fathoms deep in shadow? But +the sun is up yet, and there floats an eagle in its golden ray. I like +to watch the last beams burn out in that upper gallery among the pines. +There is a moment given us at sunset when we may partly realize the +inexpressible sweetness of the eternal day that is promised us--a dim, +religious light. There is no screen or tint soft enough to render the +effect perfectly. Only these few seconds at sunset seem to hint +something of its surpassing tenderness. + +What cloud effects! Look up!--a break in the heavens, and beyond it the +shoulder of a peak weighing some billions of tons, but afloat now, as +soft in outline as the mists that envelop it. What masses of clouds +tumble in upon us! The sky is obscured, night is declared at once, and +the fowls go to roost at three P.M. How is the Fall in this weather? A +silver braid dropped from one cloud to another. Its strands parted and +joined again, lost and found in its own element. Leaping from its dizzy +eyrie in the clouds, itself most cloud-like, it is lost in a whirlwind +of foam. Now it is as a voice heard faintly above the wind, borne hither +and thither. Long, stinging nights, plenty of woolen blankets, and +delicious sleep. Then the evenings, so cosy around the fire. H---- reads +Scott; we listen and comment. Baby is abed long ago--little Baby, four +years old, born here also; knowing nothing of the beautiful world save +what is gathered in this gallery of beauties. Such a queer little child, +left to herself, no doubt thinking she is the only little one in +existence, contented to teeter for hours on a plank by the woodpile, +making long explorations by herself and returning, when we are all well +frightened, with a pocketful of lizards and a wasp in her fingers; +always talking of horned toads and heifers; not afraid of snakes, not +even the rattlers; mocking the birds when she is happy, and growling +bear-fashion to express her disapproval of any thing. + +When the snows come, there will be avalanches by day and night, rushing +into all parts of the valley. The Hermit hears a rumbling in the clouds, +as he hoes his potatoes. He looks; a granite pilaster, hewn out by the +hurricanes centuries ago, at last grown weary of clinging to that +precipitous bluff, lets go its hold, and is dashed from crag to crag in +a prolonged and horrible suicide. A pioneer once laid him out a garden, +and marked the plan of his cellar; he was to begin digging the next day: +that night, there leaped a boulder from under the brow of this cliff +right into the heart of the plantation. It dug his cellar for him, but +he never used it. It behooved him and others to get farther out from the +mountain that found this settler too familiar, and sent a random shot as +a sufficient hint to the intruder. + +In the trying times when the world was baking, what agony these +mountains must have endured. You see it in their faces, they are so +haggard and old-looking: time is swallowed up in victory, but it was a +desperate duel. There is a dome here that the ambitious foot of man has +never attempted. Tissayac allows no such liberty. Look up at that +rose-colored summit! The sun endows it with glory long after twilight +has shut us in. We are cheated of much daylight here--it comes later and +goes earlier with us; but we get hints of brighter hours, both morning +and evening, from those sparkling minarets now decked with snowy +arabesques. I have seen our canopy, the clouds, so crimsoned at this +hour that the valley seemed a grand oriental pavilion, whose silken roof +was illuminated with a million painted lamps. The golden woods of Autumn +detract nothing from the bizarre effect of the spectacle. To be sure, +these walls are rather sombre for a festival, but the sun does what it +can to enliven them, whilst the flame-colored oaks and blood-spotted +azaleas projecting on all sides from the shelving rocks resemble to a +startling degree galleries of blazing candelabra. Night dispels this +illusion, it is so very deep and mysterious here. The solemn procession +of the stars silently passes over us. I see Taurus pressing forward, and +anon Orion climbs on hand and knee over the mountain in hot pursuit. + +Does it tire you to look so long at a gigantic monument? I do not +wonder. The secret of self-esteem seems to lie in regarding our +inferiors; therefor let us talk of this frog. I have heard his chorus a +thousand times in the dark. His is one of the songs of the night. Just +watch him in the meadow pool. See the contentment in his double chin; +he flings out three links of hind leg and carries his elbows akimbo; his +attitudes are unconstrained; he is entirely without affectation; life +never bores him; he keeps his professional engagements to the letter, +and sings nightly through the season, whether hoarse or not. + +It is a good plan to portion off the glorious vistas of Yosemite, +allotting so many surprises to each day. Take, for instance, the ten +miles of valley, and passing slowly through the heart of it, allow a +tableau for every three hundred yards. You are sure of this variety, for +the trail winds among a galaxy of snowy peaks. Turn as you choose, it is +either a water-fall at a new angle, a cliff in profile, a reflection in +river or lake--the sudden appearance of the supreme peak of all, or +ravine, canon, cavern, pine opening, grove or prairie. There is a point +from which you may count over a hundred rocky fangs, tearing the clouds +to tatters. I can not tell you the exact location of this terrific +climax of savage beauty; try to find it, and perhaps discover half a +dozen as singular scenic combinations for yourself. See all that you are +told must be seen, then go out alone and discover as much more for +yourself, and something no doubt dearer to your memory than any of the +more noted haunts. "See Mirror Lake on a still morning," they said to +me. I saw it, but went again in the evening, and saw a vision that the +reader may not expect to have reflected here. It was the picture of the +morning--so softened and refined a veil of enchantment seemed thrown +over it. Hamadryad or water nymph could not have startled me at that +moment: they belonged there, and were looked for. I shall hardly again +renew those impressions; it was all so unexpected, and one is not twice +surprised in the same manner. That wondrous amphitheatre was for once +made cheerful with the broad, horizontal bars of fire that shifted about +it, yet all its lights were mellowed in the purpling mists of evening, +and the whole was pictured in little on the surface of the lake. There +was nothing earthly visible, I thought then, for every thing seemed +transfigured, floating in a lucent atmosphere. It was the hour when the +birds are silent for the space of one intense moment, stopping with one +accord--perhaps holding their breath till the spell is broken. As I +stood entranced, a large golden leaf, ready and willing to die, let go +its hold on the top bough of a tree overhanging the water. From twig to +twig it swung. I heard every sound in its fall till it was out of the +congregation of its fellows, turning over and over in mid-air, sailing +toward the centre of the lake. There it hung on the rim of that +stainless crystal, while a thin ring of silver light noiselessly +expanded toward the shore. The sun was down. All the birds of heaven +said so with their bubbling throats. Bewildered with the delicious +conclusion of this illustration of still life, I turned homeward, +dispelling the mirage. Then such a ride home in the keen air, while a +pillar of smoke rose over the little cabin, telling me which of the +hundred bowers of autumn sheltered my nest. + +But, again and again, I have seen all. Pohono has breathed upon me with +its fatal breath, yet I survive. It is said that three Indian girls were +long ago bewitched by its waters, and now their perturbed spirits haunt +the place. Those perfectly round rainbows may form the nimbus for each +of the martyrs; they, at any rate, look supernatural enough for such an +office. The wildly wooded pass to the Vernal and Nevada Falls has echoed +to my tread. I have been sprayed upon till my spirit is never dry of the +life-giving waters that flow so freely. But I am just a little tired of +all this. I begin to breathe short, irregular breaths. The soul of this +mighty solitude oppresses me; I want more air of the common sort, and +less wisdom in daily talks and walks. I remember the pleasant nonsense +of life over the mountains, and sigh for those flesh-pots of Egypt once +in a while. These rocks are full of texts and teachings--these cliffs +are tables of stone, graven with laws and commandments. I read +everywhere mysterious cyphers and hieroglyphics; every changing season +offers to me a new palimpsest. I do not quite like to play here; I dare +not be simple; I'm altogether too good to last long. How many thousand +ascensions have been made in these worshipful days, I wonder; not merely +getting the body on to the tops of these wonderful peaks, but going +thither in spirit, as when the soul goes up into the mountains to pray? +This eye-climbing is as fatiguing and perilous as any. I feel the want +of some pure blue sky. + +A few farewell rambles associate themselves with packing up and plans of +desertion. Not sad farewells in this case, for if I never again meet +these individual mountains, I carry with me their memory, eternal and +incomparably glorious. Let us peep into this nook: I got plentiful +blackberries there in the spring, together with stains and thorny +scratches. I haul myself over the ferry and back, for old acquaintance' +sake; the current is so lazy, it seems incredible that the same waters +are almost impassable at some seasons. I succeed in wrecking a whole +armada of floating leaves with stems like a bowsprit. A few beetles take +passage in these gilded barges--no doubt, for the antipodes. + +Did you ever drive up the cattle at milking time? I have; but not +without endless trial and tribulation, for they spill off the path on +either side in a very remarkable way, and when I rush after one with a +flank movement, the column breaks and falls back utterly demoralized. A +little strategy on the part of their commander (which is myself) +triumphs in the end, for I privately reconstruct and march them all up +in detachments of one. I look after the little trees, the unbent twigs; +they are more interesting to me than your monsters. This nursery of +saplings sprang up in a night after a freshet: here are quivering aspens +trembling forever in penance for that one sin. They once were gravely +pointed out by the guide of a party of tourists as "shuddering asps." He +is doubtless the same who, being asked "what that was," (pointing to the +North Dome, six thousand feet in the air) said "he'd be hanged if he +knew; some knob or other." I recall ten thousand pleasant times as I +turn my face seaward; not only the great and omnipotent shadows under +the south wall of the valley, nor the continuous canticles of the +waters, but innumerable little things that fill up and make life +perfect. + +The talks, the walks with my friends here, the parrot "Sultan," fed +daily from the table, soliloquizing upon men and things in Arabic and +Hindostanee, for he scorns English and talks in his sleep. There is +_Bobby_, the grossbeak, brought to the door in pin feathers and skin +like oiled silk by an Indian. His history is tragic: this Indian brained +the whole family and an assortment of relatives; Bobby alone remaining +to brood over the massacre, was sold into bondage for two bits and a +tin dipper without the bottom. The sun seems to lift his gloom, for he +sings a little, sharpens his bill with great gusto and tomahawks a bit +of fruit, as though dealing vengeance upon the destroyer of his race. + +[Illustration: Sentinel Hotel, Yosemite, in 1869] + +When shall I see another such cabin as this--its great fireplaces, and +the loft heaping full of pumpkins? O, Yosemite! O, halcyon days, and +bed-time at eight P.M., tucking in for ten good hours and up again at +six; good eatings and drinkings day by day, mugs of milk and baked +squash forever, plenty of butter to our daily bread; letters at wide +intervals, and long, uninterrupted "thinks" about home and friends (as +the poet of the "Hermitage" writes in one of his letters). Shall I ever +again sit for two mortal hours hearing a housefly buzz in the window and +thinking it a pleasant voice! But alas! those restless days, when the +air was full of driving leaves and I could find nothing on earth to +comfort me. + +I leave this morning. Opportunity takes me by the hand and leads me +away. The heart leaps with emotion: everything is momentous in a quiet +life. This is the portal we entered one deepening dusk. Its threshold +will soon be cushioned with snow; let us hasten on. If I were asked when +is the time to visit Yosemite, I should reply: Go in the spring; see the +freshets and the waterfalls in their glory, and the valley in its fresh +and vivid greenness. Go again, by all means, in the autumn, when the +woods are powdered with gold dust and a dreamy haze sleeps in the long +ravines; when the stars sparkle like crystals and the mornings are +frosty; when the clouds visit us in person, and the trees look like +crayon sketches on a vapory background, and the cliffs like leaning +towers traced in sepia on a soft ground glass. Go in spring and autumn, +if possible. I should choose autumn of the two; but go at any hazard, +and do not rest till you have been. You can enter and go out at this +portal. Passing seaward, to the left, out of the gray and groping mists +a form, arises, monstrous and awful in its proportions; spurning the +very earth that crumbles at its very base as it towers to heaven. The +vapors of the air cleave to its massive front. The passing cloud is +caught and torn in the grand carvings of its capitals. Gaze upon it in +the solemnity of its sunlit surface. Impressive, impassive, magnetic; +having a pulse and the organs of life almost; terrible as the forehead +of a god. The full splendor of the noonday can not belittle it, night +can not compass it. The moon is paler in its presence and wastes her +lamp, the stars are hidden and lost over and beyond it. Across the face +of it is borne forever the shadowy semblance of a swift and flying +figure. Despair and desperation are in the nervous energy depicted in +this marvelous medallion. Surely, the Indian may look with a degree of +reverence upon that picture, painted by the morning light, fading in the +meridian day, and gone altogether by evening. A grand etching of +colossal proportions, representing the great chief Tutochanula in his +mysterious flight. The Wandering Jew might look upon it and behold his +traditional beard and flowing robes blown here by the winds in the +rapidity of his desperate haste. It is the last one sees of the valley, +as it is the last any have seen of Tutochanula. He fled into the west, +cycles ago, and I follow him now into the west, nest-building, and +getting into the shadow and resting after the door of the mountain is +passed, and my soul no longer beats impetuously against those stormy +walls. + +With uncovered head, having nothing between me and Saturn, wiser, I +trust, for my intercourse with these masters, purer in heart and holier +for my prolonged vigil, with careful and reverential steps I pass out of +Yosemite shadows. + + + + +AN AFFAIR OF THE MISTY CITY + +I. + +WHAT THE MOON SHONE ON + + +She was a smallish moon, looking very chaste and chilly and she peered +vaguely through folds of scurrying fog. She shone upon a silent street +that ran up a moderate hill between far-scattered corporation +gas-lamps--a street that having reached the hill top seemed to saunter +leisurely across a height which had once been the most aristocratic +quarter of the Misty City; the quarter was still pathetically +respectable, and for three squares at least its handsome residences +stared destiny in the face and stood in the midst of flower-bordered +lawns, unmindful of decay. Its fountains no longer played; even its once +pampered children had grown up, and the young of the present generation +were of a different cast; but the street seemed not to heed these +changes; indeed it was growing a little careless of itself and needed +replanking. Was it a realization of this fact, I wonder, that caused it +on a sudden to run violently down a steep place into the Bay, as if it +were possessed of Devils? Well it might be, for the human scum of the +town gathered about the base of the hill, and the nights there were +unutterably iniquitous. + +O that pale watcher, the Moon! She shone on a rude stairway leading up +to the bare face of a cliff that topped the hill; and five and forty +uncertain steps that had more than once slid down into the street below +along with the wreckage of the winter rains, for the cliff was of rock +and clay and though the rock may stand until the crack of Doom, the clay +mingles with the elements and an annual mud pudding, tons in weight, was +deposited on the pavement of the high street, to the joy of the +juveniles and the grief of the belated pedestrians. The cliff towering +at the junction of the two thoroughfares shared with each its generous +mud-flow and half of it descended in lavalike cascades into the depths +of a ravine that crossed the high street at right angles, passing under +a bridge still celebrated as a triumph of architectural ungainliness. + +She shone, my Lady Moon, into that deep ravine which was half filled +with shadow and made a weird picture of the place; it seemed like the +bed of some dark noiseless river, the source of which was still +undiscovered; and as for its mouth, no one would ever find it, or, +finding, tell of it, for the few who trusted themselves to its voiceless +and invisible current were heard of no more; sometimes a sharp cry for +help pierced the midnight silence, and it was known upon the hill that +murder was being done down yonder--that was all. Yet day by day the +great tide of traffic poured through this subterranean passage, with +muffled roar as of a distant sea. + +She shone on all that was left of a once beautiful and imposing mansion. +It crowned the very brow of the cliff; it proudly overlooked all the +neighbors; it was a Gothic ruin girded about with a mantle of ivy and +dense creepers, yet not all of the perennial leafage that clothed it, +even to the eaves, could disguise the fact that the major portion of the +mansion had been razed to the ground lest it should topple and go +crashing into that gulf below. There, once upon a time, in a Gothic +garden shaded by slender cypresses, walked the golden youth of the land; +there, feminine lunch parties, pink teas, highly exclusive musicales and +fashionable hops, flourished mightily; now the former side-door served +as the front entrance to all that was left of the mansion; the stone +that was rejected had become the headstone of the corner, as it were; it +was an abrupt corner to be sure, with the upper half of its narrow door +filled with small panes of glass; its modest threshold was somewhat +worn; but upon the platform before it a large egg-shaped jar of +unmistakable Chinese origin encased the roots of a flowing cactus that +might have added a grace to the proudest palace in the Misty City. This +was the modest portal of the Eyrie; ivy vines sheltered it like a dense +thatch; ivy vines clung fast to a deep bay window that nearly filled one +side of the library of the old mansion, now a living-room; ivy vines +curtained the glazed wall of a conservatory where some one slept as in a +bower. A weird dwelling place was this the moon shone upon, where +pigeons nested and cooed at intervals in all the green nooks thereof. + +She shone on the tall slim panes of glass in the bay window till they +shimmered like ice, and brightened the carpet on the floor of the +room--a carpet that was faded and frayed; she threw a soft glow upon the +three walls beyond the window; where were low, convenient shelves of +books; there were books, books, books everywhere--books of all +descriptions, neither creed nor caution limited their range. Many +pictures and sketches in oil or water-color--some of them unframed--were +upon the walls above the book-shelves; there were bronze statuettes, +graceful figures of lute-strumming troubadours upon the old-fashioned +marble mantel; there were busts and medallions in plaster, and a few +casts after the antique. Heaped in corners, and upon the tops of the +book-shelves lay bric-a-brac in hopeless confusion; toy canoes from +Kamchatka and the Southern seas; wooden masks from the burial places of +the Alaskan Indians and the Theban Tombs of the Nile Kings; rude +fish-hooks that had been dropped in the coral seas; sharks' teeth; and +the strong beak of an albatross whose webbed feet were tobacco pouches +and whose hollow wing-bones were the long jointed stem of a pipe; spears +and war-clubs were there, brought from the gleaming shores of +reef-girdled islands; a Florentine lamp; a roll of papyrus; an idol from +Easter Island, the eyes of which were two missionary shirt buttons of +mother-of-pearl, of the Puritan type; your practical cannibal, having +eaten his missionary, spits out the shirt buttons to be used as the eyes +which see not; carved gourds were there, and calabashes; Mexican +pottery; and some of the latest Pompeiian antiquities such as are +miraculously discovered in the presence of the amazed and delighted +tourist who secretly purchases the same for considerably more than a +song. + +There were pious objects, many of them resembling the Ex Votos at a +shrine; an ebony and bronzed indulgenced crucifix with a history, and +Sacred Hearts done in scarlet satin with flames of shining tinsel +flickering from their tops. + +There were vines creeping everywhere within the room, from jars that +stood on brackets and made hanging gardens of themselves; creepers, +yards in length that sprung from the mouths of water-pots hidden behind +objects of interest, and these framed the pictures in living green; a +huge wide-mouthed vase stood in the bay window filled with a great pulu +fern still nourished by its native soil--a veritable tropical island +this, now basking in the moonlight far from its native clime. Japanese +and Chinese lanterns were there; and an ostrich egg brought from Nubia +that hung like an alabaster lamp lit by a moonbeam; and fans, of course, +but quaint barbaric ones from the Orient and the Equatorial Isles; and +framed and unframed photographs of celebrities each bearing an original +autograph; and easy chairs, nothing but the easiest chairs from the very +far-reaching one with the long arms like a pair of oars over which one +throws his slippered feet, and lolls in his pajamas in memory of an East +Indian season of exile, to the deep nest-like sleepy hollow quite big +enough for two, in which one dozes and dreams, and out of which it is so +difficult for one to rise. Over all this picturesque confusion grinned a +fleshless human skull with its eye sockets and yawning jaws stuffed full +of faded boutonnieres. + +The moon shone, but paler now for it was growing late, on a closed coupe +that rolled rapidly from the Club House in the early morning after a +High Jinks night, and clattered through the streets accompanied by the +matutinal milk wagons with their frequent, intermittent pauses; thus it +rolled and rolled over the resounding pavement toward that house on the +hill top, The Eyrie. + +The vehicle zigzagged up the steep grade, and stopped at the foot of +the long stairway; some one alighted and exchanged a friendly word or +two with the driver, for in that lonely part of the town it was pleasant +to hear the sound of one's own voice even if one was guiltily conscious +of making conversation; then with a cheerful "Good-night," this some-one +climbed the steps while the vehicle hurried away with its jumble of +hoofs and wheels. A key was heard at the outer door; the door sagged a +little in common with everything about the house--and a tenant passed +into the Eyrie. + +Enter Paul Clitheroe, sole scion of that melancholy house whose +foundations had sunk under him, and left him, at the age of five and +twenty, master of himself, but slave to fortune. + +In the dim light he closed and fastened the outer door; from a hall +scarcely large enough for two people to pass in, he entered the inner +room with the confident step of a familiar. Having deposited hat, cane +and ulster in their respective places--there was a place for everything +or it would have been quite impossible to abide in that snuggery--he +sank into one of the easy chairs, rolled a cigarette with meditative +deliberation, lighted it and blew the smoke into the moonlight where it +assumed a thousand fantastic forms. + +The silence of the room seemed emphasized by the presence of its +occupant; he was one who under no circumstances was likely to disturb +the serenity of a house. In most cases a single room takes on the +character of the one who inhabits it; this is invariably the case where +the apartment is in the possession of a woman; but turn a man loose in a +room, and leave him to himself for a season, and he will have made of +that room a witness strong enough to condemn or condone him on the Last +Day; the whole character of the place will gradually change until it has +become an index to the man's nature; where this is not the case, the man +is without noticeable characteristics. + +Those who knew Paul Clitheroe, the solitary at the Eyrie, would at once +recognize this room as his abode; those of his friends who saw this room +for the first time, without knowing it to be his home, would say: "Paul +Clitheroe would fit in here." A kind of harmonious incongruity was the +chief characteristic of the man and his solitary lodging. + +He sat for some time as silent as the inanimate objects in that +singularly silent room. An occasional turn of the wrist, the momentary +flash of the ash at the end of his cigarette, the smoke-wreath floating +in space--those were all that gave assurance of life; for when this +solitary returned into his well-chosen solitude he seemed to shed all +that was of the earth earthy, and to become a kind of spectre in a +dream. + +Having finished his cigarette, Paul withdrew into the conservatory, his +sleeping room, half doll's house and half bower, where the ivy had crept +over the top of the casement and covered his ceiling with a web of +leaves. Shortly he was reposing upon his pillow, over which his +holy-water font--a large crimson heart of crystal with flames of +burnished gold, set upon a tablet of white marble--seemed almost to +pulsate in the exquisite half-lights of approaching dawn. + +It may not have been manly, or even masculine, for him thus literally to +curtain his sleep, like a faun, with ivy; it may not have been orthodox +for him to admit to his Valhalla some of the false Gods, and to honor +them after a fashion; the one true God was duly adored, and all his +saints appealed to in filial faith. That was his nature and past +changing; if he could not look upon God as a Jealous God visiting His +judgments with fanatical justice upon the witted and half-witted, it was +because his was a nature which had never been warped by the various +social moral and religious influences brought to bear upon it. + +He may have lacked judgment, in the eyes of the world, but he had never +suffered seriously in consequence. It may not have been wise for him to +fondly nourish tastes and tendencies that were usually quite beyond his +means; but he did it, and doing it afforded him the greatest pleasure in +life. + +You will pardon him all this; every one did sooner or later, even those +who discountenanced similar weaknesses or affectations--or whatever you +are pleased to call them--in anyone else, soon found an excuse for +overlooking them in his case. + +He was not, thank heaven, all things to all men; all things to a few, he +may have been--yea, even more than all else to some, so long as the +spell lasted; to the majority, however, he was probably nothing, and +less than nothing. And what of that? If he did little good in the world, +he certainly did less evil, and, as he lay in his bed, under a white +counterpane upon which the dawning light, sifting through the vines that +curtained the glazed front of his sleeping room, fell in a mottled +Japanese pattern, and while the ivy that covered the Gothic ceiling +trailed long tendrils of the palest and most delicate green, each leaf +glossed as if it had been varnished, this unheroic-hero, this +pantheistic-devotee, this heathenized-Christian, this +half-happy-go-lucky aethestic Bohemian, lay upon his pillow, the +incarnation of absolute repose. + +And so the morning broke, and the early birds began to chirp in the ivy +and to prune their plumage and flutter among the leaves; and down the +street tramped the feet of the toilers on their way to forge and dock. +Over the harbor came the daffodil light from the sun-tipped eastern +hills, and it painted the waves that lapped the sleek sides of a yacht +lying at anchor under the hill. A yacht that Paul had watched many a day +and dreamed of many a night; for he often longed with a great longing to +slip cable and hie away, even unto the uttermost parts. + + + + +II. + +WHAT THE SUN SHONE ON + + +He shone on the far side of the eastern azure hills and set all the tree +tops in the wood beyond the wold aflame; he looked over the silhouette +out of a cloudless sky upon a Bay whose breadth and beauty is one of the +seven hundred wonders of the world; he paved the waves with gold, a path +celestial that angels might not fear to tread. He touched the heights of +the Misty City and the sea-fog that had walled it in through the night +as with walls of unquarried marble--albeit the eaves had dripped in the +darkness as after a summer shower--and anon the opaque vapors dissolved +and fled away. There she lay, the Misty City, in all her wasted and +scattered beauty; she might have been a picture for Poets to dream on +and Artists to love--their wonder and their despair--but she is not; she +is hideous to look upon save in the sunset or the after-glow when you +cannot see her, but only the dim vision of what she might have been. + +He rose as a God refreshed with sleep and called the weary to their +work, and disturbed the slumbers of those that toil not and spin not, +and have nothing to do but sleep. + +There were no secrets from him now; every detail was discovered; and so +having gilded for a moment the mossy shingles of the Eyrie he stole into +the room where Paul Clitheroe passed most of his waking hours, and +through the curtain of ivy and geraniums that screened the conservatory +from the eyes of the curious world, and where Paul was at this moment +sleeping the sleep of the just. From the bed of the ravine below the +Eyrie rose the rumble and roar of traffic. The hours passed by. The +sleeper began to turn uneasily on his pillow. The sound of hurrying feet +was heard upon the board walks in front of the Eyrie-cliff; many voices, +youthful voices, swelled the chorus that told of the regiments of +children now hastening to school. From dreamland Paul returned by easy +stages to the work-a-day world. He arose, donned a trailing garment with +angel sleeves and a large crucifix embroidered in scarlet upon the +breast--that robe made of him a cross between a Monk and a +Marchioness--slipped his feet into sandals and entered the larger +chamber which was at once living-room and library. He opened the +shutters in the deep bay window and greeted the day with the silent +solemnity of a fire-worshipper; gave drink to his potted palms and ferns +and flowering plants; let his eye wander leisurely over the titles of +his books; lingered a little while over his favorites and patted some of +them fondly on the back. Taking a small key from its nail by the door he +opened the mail box without, carrying his letters to his writing table +and leaving them there unopened. He loved to speculate as to whom the +writers were and what they may have said to him. This piqued his +curiosity, and tided him over a scant breakfast at an inexpensive but +fly-blown restaurant where he was wont to eat or make a more or less +brave effort to eat whenever he had the wherewithal to settle for the +same. Breakfast over and gone the young man returned to his Eyrie, and +in due course was at his writing table, and at work upon the weekly +article that had been appearing in the Sunday issue of one of the +popular Dailies for an indefinite period, and the price of which had on +several occasions kept him from becoming a conspicuous object of +charity. + +Having written himself out for the day, as he was apt to in a few hours, +he wandered down to the Club for a bit of refreshment which was sure to +be forthcoming, for his friends there were ever ready to dine him, or +more frequently to wine him, merely for the pleasure of his company. + +[Illustration: San Francisco in 1856] + +So the afternoon waned and the dinner hour approached; fortunately this +hour was usually bespoken and for a little while at least he was lapped +in luxury. On his way home he was very apt to turn in at the wicker +gates of a typical German Rathskellar where he was unmolested; where the +blustering pipes of a colossal orchestrion brayed through an aria from +Trovatore with more sound than sentiment and all unmindful of +modulation. + +He was at home by midnight, for the beer and the bravura ceased to flow +at the witching hour. Then he lounged in the easy chair, gradually and +not unconsciously shedding all the worldly influences that had been +clothing him as with a hair-shirt even since he first went forth that +morning. Safely he sank into the silence of the place. Every breath he +drew was balm; every moment healing. So he passed into the silence, +enfolded by invisible arms that led him gently to his pillow where he +sank to sleep with the trustful resignation of a tired babe. + +If this routine was ever varied it was a variation with a vengeance. +"From grave to gay, from lively to severe" might have been engraved upon +his escutcheon. It chanced that the family motto was Festina Lente; this +also was appropriate; had he not all his life made haste slowly? For +this very reason he had been accounted one of the laziest of his kind; +his indolence was a byword merely because he did not throw himself into +an easy chair at the Club, of an evening, and bewail his fate; because +he did not puff and blow and talk often of the work he had +accomplished, was accomplishing, or hastening forward to accomplishment. +With all his faults, thank heaven, that sin cannot be charged against +him. + + + + +III. + +BALM OF HURT WOUNDS + + +He was scrimping in every way; his case was growing desperate. The +books, the pictures, the bric-a-brac so precious in his eyes, he was +loath to part with; moreover, he was well aware that if he were to +trundle his effects down to an auction-room they would not bring him +enough to cover his expenses for a single week. "Better to starve in the +midst of my household gods," thought he, "than to part with them for the +sake of prolonging this misery." The situation was in some respects +serio-comic. While he seemed to have everything, he really had almost +nothing; he was in a certain sense at the mercy of his friends and +dependent upon them. + +As the dinner hour approached, Paul was called upon to make choice of +the character of his table-talk; there were several standing invitations +to dine at the houses of old friends, and these were a boon to him, for +at such houses the homeless fellow felt much at home. There were special +invitations, sometimes an embarrassing profusion of them--all kindly, +some persistent, and some even imperative; thus the dinner was a fixed +fact; the mood alone was to be consulted in his choice of a table and +after all how much of the success of a dinner depends upon the mood of +the diner! + +Paul's income was uncertain; while he had written much, and traveled +much as a special correspondent, he had never regularly connected +himself with any journal, and he knew nothing of the routine of +office-work. Sometimes, I may say not infrequently, he could not write +at all; yet his pen was his only source of revenue, and often he was +without a copper to his credit. He was, therefore, constrained to dine +sumptuously with friends, when he would have found a solitary salad a +sweet alternative, and independence far more acceptable. The state of +the exchequer was very often alarming, and his predicament might have +cast a stronger man into the depths; but Paul could fast without +complaint, when necessary, for he had fasted often; and, to confess the +truth, he would much rather have fasted on and on, than parted with any +of the little souvenirs that made his surroundings charming in spite of +his privations. The friends who loved and fondled him were wont to send +messengers to his door with gifts of flowers, books, pictures and the +like, when soup-tickets would have been more serviceable, though by no +means more acceptable. It had happened to him more than once, that +having failed to break his fast--for he had a judicious horror of debt, +born of bitter experience--he received at a late hour as tokens of +sincere interest in his welfare, scarf pins, perfumery and scented soap; +or it may have been a silk handkerchief bearing the richly wrought +monogram of the happy but hungry recipient. At any rate these +testimonials of his popularity were never edible. Was this hard luck? He +went from one swell dinner to another, day after day, with never so much +as a crumb between meals. It of course made some difference to him--this +prolonged abstinence--but fortunately, or unfortunately, the effect upon +him mentally, morally and physically was hardly visible to the naked +eye. + +He had a dress coat of the strictly correct type, which he had worn but +a few times; he had lectured in it; once or twice, he had recited poems +in it to the audiences of admiring lady friends. It was of no use to him +now, and he felt that he should never need it again. On the street below +him was a small shop, kept by the customary Israelite. Again and again, +Paul had noted the sun-faded frock-coat swinging from a hook over the +sidewalk in front of this shop; he had said, "I will take this coat to +him; it is a costly garment; divide the original price of it by the +number of times I have worn it and I find it has cost me about ten +dollars an evening. Perhaps this old-clothes dealer will pay me a fair +price for it; Jew though he be, he may be possessed of the heart of a +Christian!" + +Alas and alack! All of Clitheroe's sufferings could be traced to the +cool, calculating hardness of the Christian's heart. Probably it was +prejudice alone that caused him to trust the Christian, and distrust the +Jew. + +From day to day he passed the shop, striving to muster courage enough to +enter and propose his bargain. At first he had imagined the dealer +offering him but ten dollars for the coat--it had cost him a goodly sum; +a little later he concluded that ten dollars was too little for any one +to offer him; he might take twenty; a day later thirty seemed to him a +probable offer, and shortly after he imagined himself consenting to +receive fifty dollars, since the coat was in such admirable repair. + +One day he took it to the dealer; he was not cordially welcomed by the +man in shirt sleeves, with whom of late he had held innumerable +imaginary conversations. The shop was extremely small and dark; the odor +of dead garments pervaded it. With an earnest and kindly glance, Paul +invited the sympathy of Abraham the son of Moses who was the son of +Isaac; he saw nothing but speculation in those eyes. His coat was +examined and tossed aside, as possessing few attractions. Clitheroe's +heart sunk within him; and it sank deeper and deeper as it began to +dawn upon him that the Hebrew had no wish to possess the garment, and, +if he did so, he did so only to oblige the Christian youth. A bargain +was at last struck; Paul departed with five dollars in his pocket--his +dress-coat was a thing of the past. + +What could he do next to extricate himself from his dubious dilemma? He +had a small gold watch, a precious souvenir: "Gold is gold," said he, +"and worth its weight in gold." He had the address of one who was known +far and wide as "Uncle." He had heard of persons of the highest +respectability seeking this uncle when close pressed, and there finding +temporary relief at the hands of one who is in some respects a good +Samaritan in disguise. Paul found it absolutely impossible for him to +enter the not unattractive front of this establishment but there was a +"private entrance" in a small dark alley-way; so delicate is the +consideration of an uncle whose business it is to nourish those in +distress. + +One night, it was late at night, Clitheroe stole guiltily in through the +private entrance, and sought succor of his uncle: this was an unctuous +uncle, who was as sympathetic and emotional as an undertaker. Paul +exhibited his watch; not for worlds would he part with it forever; money +he must have at once, and surely some good angel would come to his +assistance before many days; this state of affairs could not exist much +longer. Mine uncle examined the watch with kindly eyes; with a pathetic +shake of his head, a pitiful lifting of his bushy eyebrows, a +commiserating shrug of his fat shoulders, and a petulant pursing of his +plump lips as much as to say, "Well, it is a pity, but we must make the +best of it, you know"--he told Clitheroe he would advance him ten +dollars on the watch. For this the boy was to pay one dollar per week, +and in the end receive his watch, as good as new, for the sum of ten +dollars, as originally advanced. Paul hesitated, but consented since he +had no choice in the matter. + +"What name?" asked the Uncle, benevolently. + +"P. Clitheroe," said Paul under his breath, as if he feared the whole +world might know of his disgrace; he looked upon this transaction as +nothing short of disgrace, and he wished to keep it a profound secret. + +"Oh, yes; I know the name very well. Well, Mr. Clitheroe, here is your +ticket; take good care of it; and here is your money--you will always +pay your money in advance, and weekly, until you redeem your pledge. I +deduct the dollar for the first week." + +Clitheroe took the proffered money, and withdrew. To his surprise and +chagrin he found himself possessed of but nine dollars. "It will not go +far," thought he with a heavy sigh; "and where is the dollar to come +from? I don't see that I have gained much by this exchange." + +What he gained was this: for fifteen weeks he managed by the strictest +economy to pay his dollar. At the end of that time, he no longer found +it possible to even pay a dollar and the affair with the Uncle ended +with his having lost, not only his watch, but sixteen dollars into the +bargain. + + * * * * * + +A month has passed: the sun is streaming through the tall narrow windows +of a small chapel; the air is flooded with the music that floats from +the organ loft, the solemn strains of a requiem chanted by sweet +boy-voices; clouds of fragrant incense half obscure the altar, where the +priest in black vestments is offering the solemn sacrifice of the Mass +for the repose of the soul of one whom Paul had loved dearly ever since +he was a child. There is one chief mourner kneeling before the altar--it +is Paul Clitheroe. + +When the Mass is over, while the exquisite silence of the place is +broken only by the occasional note of some bird lodging in the branches +of the trees without, Paul lingers in profound meditation. He is not at +all the Paul whom we knew but a few months ago; through some mysterious +influence he seems to have cast off his careless youth, and to have +become a grave and thoughtful man. + +From the chapel he wanders into the quiet library on the opposite side +of a cloister, where the flowers grow in tangle, and a fountain splashes +musically night and day, and the birds build and the bees swarm among +the blossoms. Now we see him chatting with the Fathers as they stroll up +and down in the sunshine; now musing over the graves of the Franciscan +Friars who founded the early missions on the Coast; now dreaming in the +ruins of the orchard--wandering always apart from the novices and the +scholastics, who sometimes regard him curiously as if he were not wholly +human but a kind of shadow haunting the place. + +His heart grew warm and mellow as he sat by the adobe wall under the +red-baked Spanish tiles, richly mossed with age, and contemplated the +statue of the Madonna in the trellised shrine overgrown with passion +flowers. There were votive offerings of flowers at her feet, and he laid +his tribute there from day to day. Neither did he neglect to pay his +visit to the shrine of St. Joseph, in the cloister, or St. Anthony of +Padua, whom he loved best of all, and whose statue stood under the +willows by the great pool of gold fish. + +He used to count the hours and the quarter hours as they chimed in the +belfry and he was beginning to grow fond of the inexorable routine and +to find it passing sweet and restful. + +He was unconsciously falling into a mode of life such as he had never +known before, and he seemed to feel a growing repugnance to the world +without him; how very far away it seemed now! He realized an increasing +sense of security so long as he lodged within those gates. His dark +robed companions, the amiable Fathers, cheered him, comforted him, +strengthened him; and yet when his ghostly father one day sent word to +Clitheroe that he desired to see him immediately, and thereupon insisted +that the heart-broken boy accompany him to the retreat of his Order, he +had no thought other than to offer Paul the change of scene which alone +might help to tide the youth over the first crushing pangs of +bereavement. + +"Give me a week or two of your time," pleaded the good priest--"and I +will introduce you to a course of life such as you have never known; it +should interest and perhaps benefit you; possibly you may find it +delightful. At any rate you must be hastened out of the morbid mood +which now possesses you, even if we have to drag you by force." + +So Paul went with him, suddenly and in a kind of desperation: his visit +was prolonged from day to day, until some weeks had passed. Peace was +returning to him--peace such as he had never known before. + + * * * * * + +Meanwhile certain of the young poet's friends had called to see him at +the Eyrie, and to their amazement found his rooms deserted; in the +staring bay window with the inner blinds thrown wide open was notice "To +Let." His landlady knew nothing of his whereabouts. He had said good-bye +to no one. His disappearance was perhaps the most mysterious of +mysterious disappearances! + + * * * * * + +Now, what really happened was this. Having packed everything he valued +and seen it safely stored, he settled with his landlady and went down to +the Club. It was his P.P.C., though no one there suspected it, and with +just a touch of sentiment--he walked through the rooms alone; he saw at +a glance that the usual habitues of the place were employing themselves +in the same old way. Though he had not been there often of late, no one +seemed much surprised to see him; he passed through the suite of rooms +without addressing himself to any one in particular; a glance of +recognition here and there; a smile, a slight nod, now and again, this +was all. Having made the rounds he returned to the cloak-room, took his +hat and cane and departed. + +From that hour dated his disappearance. From that hour the Eyrie saw him +no more forever. + + * * * * * + + + + +IV. + +BY THE WORLD FORGOT + + +For a long while he had been listening to the moan of the sea--the wail +and the warning that rise from every reef in that wild waste of waters. +There was no moon, but the large stars cast each a wake upon the wave, +and the distant surf-lines were faintly illuminated by a phosphorescent +glow. + +There were reefs on every hand, and treacherous currents that would have +imperilled the ribs of any craft depending on the winds alone for its +salvation; but the "_Waring_," its pulse of steam throbbing with a slow +measured beat, picked its way in the glimmering night with a confidence +that made light of dangers past, present, and to come. + +It had struck eight-bells forward; midnight; the air was warm, moist, +caressing; it stole forth from invisible but not far distant vales +ladened with the unmistakable odor of the land--a fragrance that was at +times faint enough, but at other times was almost overwhelming; from the +heart of the tropics only, is such perfume distilled; few who inhale it +for the first time can resist its subtle charm; its influence once +yielded to, the soul is soon enslaved and the dreams that follow are +never to be forgotten. + +Eight-bells, and silence broken only by the swish of the propeller as it +ploughed slowly, deliberately, through the sea; the slap of the ripples +under the prow, and an occasional harp-like sigh of the zephyr in the +softly-vibrating shrouds; Paul Clitheroe had stolen out of the cabin and +was sitting by the companion-way on the port side. A small ladder still +hung there, for there had been boating and bathing just before dinner, +and there was sure to be more or less fishing whenever the weather was +favorable. Moreover, it must be acknowledged that the yacht was +liberty-hall afloat, yes, adrift, on a go-as-you-please cruise, and +things were not always in ship-shape. + +An old half-breed Trader, who knew these seas as the star-gazer knows +the skies, was in the wheelhouse; every wakeful eye among officers and +crew, was at the prow peering into the depth in search of +danger-signals; every ear was listening intently for an order from the +lips of the pilot, and for the first whisper of the wave upon the reef. +Meanwhile the vessel crept forward with utmost caution, barely ruffling +the water under her keel. + +_One Bell! Two Bells!_ Clitheroe had for a long time been sitting +unobserved by the companion-way. He had dined with a riotous company and +withdrew as soon after dinner as possible; this privilege was freely +accorded him, for he was at intervals gloomy, or silent, and his +companions were quite willing to dispense with his society. Hilarity had +ceased for the night, the fact was patent. The truth is, there was apt +to be something too much of it aboard that ship. When a young gentleman, +on the death of a distant relative, comes suddenly into an almost +fabulous fortune, he is apt to set about doing that which pleases him +best; in all probability he overdoes it. If he be fond of any society +and is willing to pay for the purchase of it, he will find no difficulty +in supplying himself, even to the verge of satiety. + +A certain gentleman who shall be nameless in these pages but who came to +be known among his followers as _The Commodore_, finding himself heir to +a fortune, chartered a yacht for a summer cruise, and invited his +friends to join him. The yacht had been for some weeks the scene of +unceasing festivity; the joyous party on board her had passed from +island to island, the feted guests of Kings and Queens and dusky Chiefs; +feasting, dancing, and the exchange of gifts--these were the order of +entertainment night and day. + +It was a novel life for most who were on board, filled with adventure +and spectacular surprises. The Commodore's hospitality was boundless; +the appetites of his guests insatiable. But Clitheroe had seen all this +from quite another point of view; he had been a native among the +natives; admitted into brotherhood with the tribe, he had lived the life +they lead until it had become as natural to him as if he had been born +to it. Their thoughts were his thoughts, their tongue, his tongue. He +was thinking of this as he sat by the companion-way, in the silence, +unobserved. + +_Three Bells!_ He rose and going to the open transom, looked down into +the cabin. The long dinner table had been relieved of dessert-dishes, +but the after-dinner bottles were there in profusion, and cigar-boxes +and cigarettes within convenient reach; it was an odd scene; a picture +of confusion in a dead calm. The lights were burning low and there was +no sound save the hoarse breathing of some of the revelers who had +subsided into uncomfortable positions and were too heavy with sleep to +seek easier ones. Clitheroe saw at the head of the table the Commodore, +stretched back in his easy chair; he was fast asleep; there was no doubt +about that. His guests one and all were dozing. The drowsy stupor that +follows a debauch pervaded the whole company. I venture the assurance +that not one person present could have been aroused in season to save +himself or herself had the ship at that moment struck a reef, and +foundered. + +There they were, dimly outlined under the cabin-lamps, the companions +with whom for a season Clitheroe had been more or less intimately +associated in the Misty City; the Bohemians who had found it an easy and +pleasant thing to flock upon the deck of the "_Waring_," one foggy +afternoon, and set sail on a summer cruise. The Commodore invited them +for his entertainment, and because he was a mighty good fellow and could +afford to. They went for a change of air and scene, in search of +adventure--and moreover they were sure of luxurious hospitality for at +least six months. Clitheroe joined the company, not only for the reason +that there seemed nothing else for him to do, but he was glad of the +opportunity of revisiting a quarter of the globe so very dear to him. +This voyage, he thought, might re-awaken his interest in life; at any +rate, he could lose nothing by taking it, and that settled the question +for him. + +The singers, the dancers, the painters and poets made life very lively +in that summer sea; it was a case of sweet idleness with wine, women and +wits, and all the world before them where to choose. It must be +confessed that Clitheroe had enjoyed himself in the society of these old +comrades--you would recognize most of them were he to name them; but +tonight, or rather this early morning he had begun to moralize, as he +peered down the transom upon the half-shadowy forms of those feasters +who had fallen by the way. He was asking himself if it paid--this +high-pressure happiness that knew no respite save temporary +insensibility? He began to think that it did not, and with a shrug of +his shoulders and a faint sigh, he turned away. He was about to resume +his solitary watch, for he could not sleep on such a night, when his eye +was attracted by a flitting shadow weaving to and fro astern; it seemed +to be soaring upon the face of the waters; was it some broad-winged +sea-bird following in their wake? He watched it as it drew near, growing +larger and larger every moment. No! it was not a bird; but it was the +next thing to one. + +Out of the darkness was evolved the slender hull of a canoe, the wide, +many ribbed sail, and the dusky forms of three naked islanders. They had +not yet taken note of him; with a sudden impulse, he stole up to the +transom, and standing over it so that the lights from the cabin-lamps +shone full upon him, he waved a signal to the savages, enjoining +silence, and bidding them approach with caution. + +In a few moments they had wafted themselves noiselessly up under the +companion ladder, and there, with suppressed excitement, he was +recognized. Old friends these, pals in the past, young chiefs from an +island he had loved and mourned. + +There was a moment of passionate greeting, and but a moment, in the +silence under the stars, then, with a sudden resolve, and with never a +glance backward, Clitheroe, descending the ladder, entered the canoe +and it swung off into the night. + +Two hours later, the "_Waring_," having run clear of the labyrinthine +reefs, steamed up and was out of sight before daybreak. + + * * * * * + +"_And what is left? Dust and Ash and a Tale--or not even a Tale_!" + +MARCUS AURELIUS. + + + + + + + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of In the Footprints of the Padres +by Charles Warren Stoddard + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK IN THE FOOTPRINTS OF THE PADRES *** + +***** This file should be named 13321.txt or 13321.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + https://www.gutenberg.org/1/3/3/2/13321/ + +Produced by PG Distributed Proofreaders + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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