Page:California Inter Pocula.djvu/292



2S0 SAN  FRANCISCO.

being covered. Another week  will  put  them  out  of sight.

"It is  melancholy  to  see  these  old,  well-known relics  disappearing  from  our  midst.  How  many  a hopeful  man  has  landed  on  those  stairs,  whose  bones lie  bleaching  on  the  plains  or  in  the  ravines  of  the  in- hospitable Sierra!  How  many  a  sanguine  youth,  the joy  and  hope  of  a  loving  family,  has  bounded  up  them, buoyant  with  hopes  never  destined  to  be  realized! Great  hearts  have  passed  those  steps ;  honest  hearts, big  with  determination  to  win  a  fortune  in  this  golden land,  not  for  themselves,  but  for  those  whom  they loved  better  than  life.  Alas  !  many  such  are  broken with  grief  ere  this.

"We well  remember  the  scenes  which  used  to  be enacted  on  those  steps  in  olden  times,  at  the  arrival of  the  monthly  steamer.  The  crowd  of  emigrants gazing  in  astonishment  at  everything  they  saw ;  the few  females  who  did  arrive  shrinkinor  in  terror  from the  red-shirted  men,  bearded  like  pards,  whom  they saw  around  them ;  the  eager  and  heated  boatmen, pushing,  tugging,  and  swearing,  in  order  to  get  first to  the  steps;  the  news-venders,  with  their  dollar Heralds  and  Tribunes!  Ah!  those  were  fine  old  times, after  all.

"But think  of  the  treasure  which  has  gone  down those  steps!  The  millions  and  millions  of  dollars, when  the  steamers  were  about  to  leave!  Rough, plain,  and  unfurnished  as  they  were,  none  have  ever borne  one  half  the  treasure  which  has  passed  down them  unnoticed.  They  have  been  the  funnel  through which  all  the  gold  of  California  has  been  poured  upon the  world.

"A fairer  mornings  never  rose  on  earth.  The  clear blue  sky  hung  above,  and  the  pure  atmosphere, through  which  the  mountains  twenty  miles  away could  be  traced  to  their  every  furrow,  enveloped  the city  when  she  arrived,  a  girl  of  eighteen  summers,  as beautiful  as  the  day  itself,  clad  in  her  bridal robes.