Page:California Inter Pocula.djvu/380



guage of  Californian  philosophers,  it  will  be  observed, is more  forcible  than  elegant. " If  you  want  office," continued Pickett,  "cheat  at  poker,  brawl  o'  nights, murder  a  man  or  two,  show  your  breadth  at  bribery, — -anything  rather  than  display  such  weak  imperfec- tions as  honor,  honesty,  and  good  character.  Our letjislators  will  none  of  these."

Many a  walking  romance,  many  an  epic  m  flaunt- ing robes or  rags  has  wandered  these  hills. Far be- yond the limits  of  human  habitations,  on  the  top  of  a mound  surrounded  by  what  was  called  the  Doomed valley, there  once  lived  a  personage  known  as  the  Old Man of  the  Mountain. No one  knew  his  name,  or who  he  was,  or  whence  he  came. He was  absent  all day, no  one  knew  where,  returning  regularly  at  night, and he  was  never  seen  to  cook  or  eat  anything. The scattered cooking  utensils  appeared  never  to  have  been used by  him. Finally he  vanished  as  mysteriously  as he  had  come. How many  hermits  have  walked  the streets of  this  strange  city,  and  how  many  hermitages have there  been  in  unfurnished  rooms  and  boarding- house garrets !

In common  with  men  true  to  themselves,  the  intel- ligent, the honest,  the  faithful  of  every  nation, California became  the  rendezvous  of  prize-fighters, thieves, gamblers,  and  murderers. Convicts came over from  Australia,  bold  desperadoes  of  the  order  of Saint  Giles,  and  outlaws  from  various  parts. It was the paradise  of  the  disgraced,  the  bankrupt,  the  de- faulter, the felon. But happily  these  were  a  short- lived race, and  there  was  enough  of  a  difl'erent  element at first  to  leaven  the  mass,  and  finally,  in  the  shape  of vigilance  committees,  to  purify  it. Then there  were numberless intermediate  and  less  influential  grades, such as  would-be  leaders  of  cliques,-  who  conceived  it their  mission  to  enlighten  mankind  and  exalt  them- selves; exquisites, gentlemen  by  profession,  and  by profession  only,  whose  feathers  were  speedily  plucked by humbug-haters,  who  grew  apace  in  the  congenial