Page:Dawn and the Dons.pdf/133



THE Spanish days in California were happy days. Want was unknown, and greed of gold was wholly absent. “They attached no value to money,” says Colton, “except as it administered to their pleasures. A fortune, with the facilities of enjoying it, was with them no object of emulation or envy. Their happiness flowed from a fount that had very little connection with their outward circumstances.”

They knew not the multiplied luxuries of today, but they had all for which they cared, or their tastes de They lived and loved; they danced and sang; manded.

they gamboled on their wonderful and delightful playground out of doors; they reveled. in frequent festivals, and found delight in ceremonious courtesies; they watched their flocks and herds fatten on nature’s bounty; and they were content. ELE