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the eyes  of  competitors,  and  unostentatious  merit passed unnoticed ;  great  men,  if  success  can  be  called greatness, were  too  near  their  beginning  to  inspire that respect  necessary  to  the  formation  of  an  aris- tocracy in social  circles. There were  here  no  old families whose  merit,  wealth,  or  respectability  had long helfl  their  neighbors  in  esteem,  though  there were the  beginnings  of  many  such.

Woman played  her  part  in  early  California  annals, her influence  being  abnormal  as  much  by  reason  of  its absence as  its  presence. For the  absence  of  women had a  strange  effect  upon  the  men,  although  they themselves were  scarcely  aware  of  it. Religion they could do  well  enough  without,  while  dwelling  for  a time  in  this  wilderness,  but  that  their  life  should  be limited  to  a  community  of  men  was  indeed  a  new  ex- perience. It was  like  a  void  in  nature,  something dropped out  of  their  existence.

After all,  which  condition  was  the  harder:  her's whose  smile  dissembled  the  sinking  heart  on  parting ; her's whose  brave  words  belied  the  glistening  tear  that hung trembling  on  the  droopmg  eyelid  ;  hers  whose lot it  was,  all  through  the  cold  winter  with  him  away, to fight  the  hunger-wolf  that  prowled  about  the  door, and keep  her  little  ones  from  freezing,  or  his  who abandons all  for  the  hope  of  getting  gold?

There is  but  one  thing  this  side  of  heaven  lovelier than the  form  and  face  of  woman,  and  that  is  her heart-bloom. Fed by  the  veiled  virtues,  the  poetic courtesies, the  delicate  influences  and  affections,  with all the  tender  sacrifices  locked  within,  it  fills  the  at- mosphere with its  fragrance,  redeems  man  from  him- self, and makes  a  paradise  of  what  were  otherwise  a barren  waste. A thing  in  some  form  desired  by  all men, she  whose  heart  beats  true  to  the  coming  and going of  her  friends ;  she  whose  brain  was  all  ablaze with ten  thousand  tender  fantasies  ;  she  through  whose eyes  one  sees   her   heaven-lit  soul  i  she  whose   deft