Page:California Inter Pocula.djvu/383



the eternal  seeds  of  misery,  despair  and  death  ever gnawing at  their  heart-strings,  the  unsuccessful  ones carry a  bold,  brave  front,  treating  lightly  misfortune. Melpomene's tragic  face  is  wreathed  in  laughing  ivy. They are  not  the  men  to  groan  over  sickness  and  mis- fortune. They toil  on,  bankrupt  in  everything  but hope, doubt  contending  with  expectation  as  the  pick, blow after  blow,  sinks  among  the  boulders,  with  no more  thought  of  giving  up  than  the  gambler  who loses a  bet. Their life  has  been  a  happy-go-lucky one; every  blow  they  struck  was  a  wager. No .won- der they used  to  bet  at  the  gaming  tables,  it  being  so much  easier  to  gamble  thus  than  to  bet  a  hard  da^^'s work  against  the  ten  dollars  that  they  would  get  or not  get. Thus we  see  how  money  which  comes  freely from river  bank  or  faro  bank  would  go  freely  ;  we  see how it  was  that  prodigality  would  follow  so  closely upon the  heels  of  avarice ;  we  see  how  infidelity springs from  hnpulse,  until  only  one  prayer  is  left  to the  miner. " Give  us,  O  God,  with  the  appetite,  the gold  to  satisfy  it.

In a  general  analysis  of  character  prevailing  in Californian  society  in  its  nascency,  we  must  not  lose sight of  its  composite  and  heterogenous  qualities. Each individual  member  of  society  was  a  particle, independent of  and  in  a  manner  antagonistic  to  every other particle. Notwithstanding the  general  homo- geneity of material,  there  were  antagonisms  of  inter- est, of disposition,  of  morals. Final concretion  had not yet  set  in. There was  then  an  absence  of  those clique-formations, political  coalescings,  and  little  society crystalizations which  have  since  become  so  marked  a feature  in  the  community;  and  when  organizations came, one  of  the  first  was  a  banding  of  villians  for purposes of  depredation. Every honest  man's  mind was intent  upon  its  own  affairs,  and  dwelt  little  on those  aff*ecting  others  or  the  public  weal,  except  where safety or  greater  gain  made  closer  communion  neces- sary. All were  strangers  to  each  other;  of  their  past