Page:California Inter Pocula.djvu/388

 croakers

enough, who  saw  nothing  but  disastrous  terminations of a  social  organization  begun  on  such  a  low  and  sor- did basis; who  were  alwa^^s  pointing  to  haunts  of  li- centiousness, to drinking  and  gambling  saloons,  to ballot-box  stuffing,  public  debt,  political  wickedness, and vigilance  committees,  to  police  reports  and  all  the dismal paraphernalia  of  vice,  as  if  these  were  Califor- nia and the  basis  of  Californian  society.

Thus it  was  that  for  a  quarter  of  a  century  in foreign  parts  and  on  our  eastern  seaboard,  California was but  imperfectly  understood. After all  the  toning down and  polishing  up  which  society  was  destined here to  undergo,  in  the  minds  of  the  distant  multitude we were  still  the  same  lawless,  godless  crew  that enacted the  Inferno  of  1849. And we  asked  how long we  were  to  suffer  the  stigma  and  lie  under  the cloud ; how  long  our  elastic  energies  must  turn  and overturn before  our  foreign  friends  could  see  us  as  we were  ? We asked  the  question  in  the  fifties  and  received our answer  in  the  eig^hties. In this  continued  miscon- ception of  our  character  we  may,  however,  more  fully recognize how  deep  was  the  impression  made  by  the discovery of  gold. Roused to  its  remotest  corners  by the  mill-race  diggers'  shout,  the  world  in  one  glance fixed in  its  stolid  brain  the  shocking  nightmare  that followed, and  there  the  impression  remained. And in truth  enough  even  now  remains  of  the  old  sulphuric smells and  pitchy  infirmities  to  modify  somewhat  our pride ; but  in  that  great  day  when  our  friends  across the Atlantic  and  across  the  Pacific  shall  have  made white all  their  robes,  even  as  those  of  the  daughters of ^ger  and  Rana,  may  not  the  children  of  pioneers, and the  survivors  of  the  early  pandemonium  hope  to have  achieved  in  their  eyes  a  change  of  raiment?

We have  much  to  say  of  life  in  California ;  not  so much  of  death ;  and  yet  all  Californians  die. In early times rum,  exposure,  and  disease  not  being  sufficient, they all  used  to  carry  revolvers  to  kill  each  other with. Ask them  why  they  carried  the  man-killing