Page:California Inter Pocula.djvu/123



THEORY  AND   PRACTICE   OF  ASSOCIATION. Ill

necessary for  the  journey,  either  by  land  or  water, would be  furnished  by  one  in  consideration  of  a  prom- ise from the  other  to  perform  a  certain  amount  cf labor,  or  to  divide  the  profits. But so  entirely  then was California  beyond  the  reach  of  law,  or  even  light, or restraint,  that  a  man  must  be  impregnated  with honesty and  conscience  in  a  remarkable  degree  long  to be  mindful  of  obligations  entered  into  with  those  who are never  to  know  if  he  keeps  them.

No sooner  was  a  family,  for  instance,  fairly  started overland, than  the  master  was  as  much  m  the  hands of the  man  as  the  man  was  in  those  of  the  master  ; and often  an  emigrant  was  obliged  to  submit  to  insult and wrong  heaped  upon  him  by  some  base-minded churl to  whom  he  was  doing  charity  All  the  em- ployer could do  in  such  cases  was  to  turn  the  man adrift, but  this  was  impracticable  in  the  middle  of  the plains with  teams  and  stock  to  be  attended  to. Moreover, such  action  might  be  exactly  what  the fellow would  like,  as  he  could  then  make  his  way  for- ward untrammeled, with  what  his  emploj^er  would  feel obliged to  give  him,  or  he  could  join  some  other band.

Often when  ready  to  start,  the  most  absurd  rumors were rife. Some would  say  that  the  Mormons,  ready to kill  or  convert  the  emigrants,  waited  and  watched for them  at  the  rivers ;  in  romantic  regions  savages lurked, if  so  be  they  should  escape  the  avenging saints ;  while  still  farther  west,  the  emissaries  of  per- fidious fur-companies had  penetrated  to  bribe  with rum or  blankets  the  unsophisticated  red  man,  and stir him  up  against  intruders  upon  the  game-filled park that  God  had  given  him.

Full of  fanciful  theories,  until  experience  beat  prac- tical common-sense into  them,  some  of  the  doinofs  of the  emigrants  were  most  childish. One company  a few  days  after  starting  was  struck  with  a  freak  of law-making ;  and  immediately  after  attempting  to  put in practice  the  new  regulations,  as  was  often  the