Page:California Inter Pocula.djvu/279



taken. Excuse me,  sir;  won't  you  take  a  drink?" The  rider  dismounted,  tied  his  horse,  and  the  two found  a  drinking-saloon  near  by.  Entering  it  they called  for  their  respective  beverages,  talked  the  affair over  in  a  cool  common-place  manner,  and  parted friends.

Doctor Ver  Mehr  gives  to  C.  V.  Gillespie  the  credit of having  the  only  carriage  in  San  Francisco  in  Sep- tember 1849. Better still,  the  worthy  doctor  gives him the  credit  of  taking  him  and  his  family  up  in  it wlien  he  landed  on  the  beach  at  Montgomery  street, after a  seven  months'  voyage  round  Cape  Horn. A lady in  a  carriage  was  then  no  common  sight. Pass- ing up Washington  street  on  their  way  to  the  residence of Frank  Ward,  corner  of  Stockton  and  Green  streets, the new-comers  met  a  group  of  Frenchmen  straggling along the  uneven  ground  composing  the  sidewalk, when one  of  them,  pointing  to  the  plaza,  then  a  sandy lot, called  out  to  his  comrades,  "Voila,  messieurs,  la place  royale  ! "  Just  then  they  spied  the  carriage  with its fair  freight,  when  in  an  instant  off  went  their  hats, and all  shouted  simultaneously,  "Vi vent  les  dames  !"

Many theatres  and  other  places  of  amusement sprang up,  in  which  the  performance  and  attendance were both  good. The stock  companies  were  far  above the average  in  Europe  and  the  east. In California, poor acting,  like  poor  preaching,  or  poor  horse-racing, did not  pay ;  it  required  more  than  ordinary  ability among the  performers  to  hold  in  their  seats  for  two or three  hours  their  discriminatino:  and  restless  audi- ence. Somewhat expensive  it  was  for  the  young  mer- chant or salaried  clerk,  but  what  were  they  to  do  after work, with  no  home  and  no  congenial  female  society? Almost anything  was  better  than  loitering  about gambling saloons,  or  other  dens  of  vice,  with  which the town  was  filled,  and  which  it  was  difficult  always to escape.

So it  was  that  Callfornians  were  great  play-goers, and in  their  gatherings  might  be   seen   as