Page:California Inter Pocula.djvu/289



patiently these  last  had  toiled  and  suffered,  hope  and fear alternating:  between  fortune  and  disease,  unwillino- to give  themselves  the  needed  rest  and  care  with wealth and  happiness  just  within  their  grasp ;  and  so, with their  thin  pale  faces,  and  sunken  eyes,  and  hollow cheeks, they  feebly  drag  themselves  about  with  hope crushed, and  this  world  forever  lost  to  them. God grant that  they  may  find  some  soft  hand  and  sym- pathizing heart to  smooth  their  dying  days  I

The periodicit}^  of  this  business  phenomena  contrib- uted largely toward  a  fitful  and  spasmodic  progress. On these  occasions  the  past  and  future  seemed  to mingle  with  the  present,  and  hope,  regret,  and  dogged determination filled  the  heart  with  lono;ina;s  indescrib- able. Likewise the  custom  of  merchants,  and  indeed of all  classes,  of  making  frequent  or  occasional  trips  to the  east,  for  the  purpose  of  seeing  their  friends,  at- tending to business,  marrying,  or  bringing  out  a  family, exercised a  strong  influence  upon  the  development  of character  in  California. Even miners,  in  some  in- stances, would make  their  periodical  migrations,  spend- ing a season,  as  they  called  it,  in  the  mines,  and  then a period  of  rest  and  pleasure  at  home.

Torn suddenly  from  the  daily  monotonous  struggle, confined for  twenty  or  thirty  consecutive  days  within the narrow  limits  of  a  steamship,  there  was  nothing to be  done  but  to  sit  down  and  think,  or  read,  or talk;  and  this  meditation,  or  series  of  meditations, changed the  whole  course  of  many  a  life. Thoughts and aspirations  then  arose,  which,  but  for  this  isolation from business,  never  would  have  been  conceived; looking out  upon  the  sea,  time  and  eternity  seemed  to meet  on  the  distant  horizon,  the  windows  of  the  soul were opened,  and  God  and  nature  admitted  to  a  closer communion; the  ideal  of  manhood  was  elevated,  a taste  for  travel  and  improvement  was  engendered, fancy was  set  free,  the  mind  broadened,  and  the  whole nature of  the  man  enlarged  under  these  beneficent