Page:California Inter Pocula.djvu/278



the convicts  from  the  British  penal  colonies,  should not be  permitted  to  mar  the  fair  prospects  of  the state, which  sentiment  led  to  popular  tribunals,  des- cribed in another  volume.

Hundreds of  Micawbers  were  always  waiting  for something, anything,  to  come  along — waiting  about the post-office,  custom-house,  and  other  federal  and municipal free-soup  houses  ;  standing  in  auction  rooms, and strollino;  down  Lono;  Wharf

The country  was  filled  with  would-be  great  men — men who  measured  the  greatness  of  their  own  worth by the  fancied  littleness  of  their  neighbor. Every bosom beat  high  with  aspirations.

I have  said  that  in  the  absence  of  old-time  associa- tions, some were  disposed  to  be  lonely  at  times,  to  the damag^e of  their  morals. While this  was  true,  it  was likewise true  that,  although  in  a  strange  land,  isolated, without friends  or  female  companions,  exposed  to temptations,  reverses  and  hardships,  the  'forty-niner found much  in  the  form  of  a  substitute  for  ennui. There was  an  indescribable  stimulant  in  the  business atmosphere, in  mingling  with  men,  not  unlike  that  so often  glorified  in  the  physical,  which  chased  away  lone- liness, generated excitement,  stripped  time  of  its  mo- notony, and glued  the  heart  of  the  adventurer  forever to the  soil

A German  editor  of  San  Francisco  is  responsible for the  following,  which  he  tells  for  a  true  story : One day  a  German  was  leisurely  riding  along  Sansome street, near  Sacramento,  when  he  heard  a  pistol  shot behind him,  heard  the  whizzing  of  a  ball,  and  felt  it strike  his  hat. Turning about  he  saw  a  man  with  a revolver  in  his  hand,  and  taking  off  his  hat  he  found a bullet  hole  in  it. "Did you  shoot  at  me  ?" he asked. "Yes," replied  the  other,  "that  is  my  horse;  it  was stolen  from  me  a  short  time  ago." "You must  be mistaken,"  said  the  German,  "I  have  owned  this horse  for  three  years." "Well," exclaimed  the  other, " now  that  I  come  to  look  at  it,  I  believe  I  am  mis-