Page:California Inter Pocula.djvu/147



parcliment-armed dignitaries  fresh  from  Washington squabble and  bribery,  and  disappointed  office-seekers; Texan rangers  and  placeless  Mexico-fighters  with occupation gone ;  pompous,  portly  Britons ;  sarcastic, scheming, polite  Frenchmen ;  sagacious,  imperturbable Germans ; fiery  Castilians ;  omnipresent,  silent  Jews ; negroes, mulattoes,  and  quadroons, — mixtures  of every  shade  uniting  in  their  vain  affectation  and  pre- tentious disposition all  the  evils  of  their  diverse  an- cestry with few  inherited  good  qualities. And such diversity of  costume,  and  cast  of  countenance — the Broadwa}^ dandy  with  tight  pantaloons;  the  profes- sional in black  broadcloth,  high  shirf  collar,  and  tall hat; the  western  huntino'-shirt  and  wild-cat  head- dress, and  the  loose  butcher's  jacket  and  greasy  boots ; the boatman's  pea-jacket  and  nor'wester ;  the  Mexi- can's blanket and  sombrero,  and  all  profusely  orna- mented with pistols,  bowie-knives,  and  rifles  slung from belt  and  shoulder. Here is  a  man  with  musket and bayonet,  and  yonder  an  apparent  attache  of  some company organized  for  fighting  for  gold,  with  an alarm  trumpet  tied  to  his  neck. And in  their  feat- ures you may  read  of  wit  and  of  cloudy  brains,  of merriment  and  of  gravity,  of  piety  and  of  blasphemy, of honesty  and  of  speculation. Military officers  en- liven the scene  with  their  brass-buttoned  uniforms, and faces  glowing  under  the  influence  of  the  good things of  life.

One wonders  where  they  all  came  from. Evidently some are  fresh  from  the  soft  endearments  of  home, fresh from  the  embrace  of  mother,  sister,  or  newly made wife,  alone  in  that  motley  company  without  the dust of  distance  yet  upon  them,  whose  eyes  moisten, and cheeks  blanch,  and  hearts  sadden  at  thoughts of untried  waters  and  lands,  which  are  to  separate them from  loved  ones,  perhaps  forever;  others  are  as reckless  and  indifferent  to  their  future  as  the  hardened sinner is  of  heaven,  men  who  never  had  a  home  and  care little whether  their  feet  rest  on  ship  or  shore,  or  tread