Page:California Inter Pocula.djvu/373



CHAPTEK  XV.

ILLUSTRATIONS OF  LIFE  AND   CHARACTER.

Al mondo  mal  non  e  senza  rimedio.

— Sannazaro.

In newly-settled  regions  rural  simplicity  is  rare. Ignorance, stupidity,  bigotry  there  may  be  in  abund- ance, but that  innocence  which  arises  from  isolation, from the  absence  of  the  contaminating:  influences  of fashion,  frivolity,  falsity,  from  the  arts  and  humbug of hicrh  life,  and  from  the  demoralizins;  tendencies  of social  intermixtures,  leading  to  deceit  and  dissipation, is seldom  found  in  rural  districts  recently  occupied. For the  harassing  cares,  the  asperities,  the  trials  of temper  attending  family  migrations,  the  clearing  of  a wilderness,  and  the  planting  of  a  home  are  not  such as foster  single-mindedness,  domestic  religion,  and  the tenderer graces.

As time  went  by,  the  moral  and  social  condition  of the  mining  towns  greatly  improved. There was  an industrious,  orderly,  and  intelligent  population,  with wives and  sisters;  there  were  churches,  and  schools, and libraries,  and  newspapers;  there  were  well-filled shops, and  money  enough  to  patronize  them,  but  yet they were  far  from  being  like  the  clean  quiet  villages of New  York  or  New  England. The stores  were open on  Sunday,  and  the  saloons  were  better  filled than the  churches. The door  of  the  harlot  opened upon the  most  public  thoroughfare,  and  from  within might be  heard  by  the  passer-by  the  ribald  oath  and obscene jest,  and  the  chinking  of  the  gambler's  checks.