Page:California Inter Pocula.djvu/386

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oftentimes dislionest  in  their  dealings,  they  were  not more so  than  other  men,  and  they  usually  managed to escajDe  detection  and  punishment. Seldom a  Jew was seen  in  jail,  or  in  a  mob,  or  intoxicated,  though upon the  slightest  pretext  many  of  them  would  fail  in business,  and  compromise  with  their  creditors.

Like the  Chinese,  they  lived  and  accumulated wealth where  more  lax  or  lavish  gentiles  starved. This was  to  their  honor,  and  to  the  shame  of  the spendthrifts. Often in  early  times  in  mhiing  districts, forgetting their  fathers  and  their  fathers'  faith,  they drank, and  gambled,  and  raced  horses,  and  swore,  and frequented houses  of  prostitution. Then they  were fine fellows,  and  the  noble  American  miner  voted  the Jew as  good  as  the  white  man. Then the  finger  of scorn  was  removed,  and  ostracism  no  longer  talked  of in  the  charmed  circles  of  commerce.

The Pike  county  man — which  term  was  finally  ap- plied indiscriminately to  emigrants  from  the  western states — could not  mingle  with  the  mixed  population of California  without  becoming  in  some  degree  toned down ; the  angles  of  the  New  Engiander  w^ere  in  like manner rounded  ;  even  the  Jew,  eschewing  old  clothes, was often  less  mercenary  than  his  neighbor,  and  at- tained a fair  degree  of  manhood. Indeed, there  are many Jews  in  California  to-day  who  are  far  above  the average American  or  European  in  liberality  and  high- minded public  spirit. But notwithstanding  the  tincture given to  society  by  the  Englishman,  the  Frenchman, the German,  Irish,  Scotch,  Swiss,  Spaniard,  Italian, and even  the  Chinaman,  the  Anglo-American  has ever been  the  dominant  mind. An intermixture  of European,  Asiatic,  and  African  elements  alone  never would have  made  a  Californian. It may  have  been  a staid  English  colony  like  Australia,  or  the  field  of unprogressive  fiery  revolutions,  like  Spanish  America, but it  never  would  have  experienced  that  season  of speculative  energy  which  has  driven  it  so  swiftly  on- ward. The European  is  sedate,  conservative,  method-