X. I think in the next stanza I'll begin The threads of thought from off the secret shelf XI. I love to see the first faint streaks of dawn, His beams transcendent o'er the earth and skies, XII. I love the splendor of the dewey grass, XIII. I like the budding beauties of sweet spring, I like to hear the birds so sweetly sing, I love each feature of fair nature's face, XVII. I love the human form and face divine, XVIII. O, friendship, love, and purity and truth, XIX. What follies lead our wavering hearts astray, 'Tis past the midnight's quiet solemn hour, For there the Almighty's power and love I trace. Bring Lethe's cup and bid the tumult cease. XIV. I love the radiance of the sun at noon, XV. I love to see the mountain rise sublime, XVI. I love to sail upon the boundless sea, And view its ever restless billows roll; "Tis earth's best emblem of eternity, And a fit type of every human soul," Which sinks and swells, striving in vain to free Itself from earth's strong fetters which control, "Till the freed spirit on the eternal shore Finds a sweet rest where storms shall come no more. XXI. My song is hushed, and on the air of night From these my midnight musings; it is right Good night! good night! till we shall meet again. (Continued.) A GOOD RULE FOR PARENTS AND TEACHERS.-Never ask anything of a child at any time that is the least unreasonable-but always demand, and without hesitation, that what you do ask shall be promptly attended to. "Editing a newspaper or magazine is a good deal like making a fire. Everybody supposes he can do it a little better than anybody else.' We have seen people doubt their fitness for apple-peddling, driving oxen, counting lath, and hoeing turnips, but, in all our experience, we never yet met with that individual who did not think he could 'double the circulation' of any paper or periodical in two months." THREE YEARS IN CALIFORNIA. | themselves in any way, quite regardless of BY J. D. BORTHWICK. CHAPTER IV. SCARCITY OF LABORING MEN-HIGH WAGES- man preconceived ideas of their own dignity. It was one intense scramble for dollars -the man who got most was the best - how he got them had nothing to do with it. No occupation was considered at all derogatory, and, in fact, every one was too much occupied with his own affairs to trouble himself in the smallest degree about his neighbour. A man's actions and conduct were totally unrestrained by the ordinary conventionalities of civilized life, and, so long as he did not interfere with the rights of others MISSION DOLORES- SAN he could follow his own course, for good or for evil, with the utmost freedom. A most useful quality for a California emigrant was one which the Americans possess in a pre-eminent degree-a natural versatility of disposition, and adaptability to every description of pursuit or occupa tion. The numbers of the different classes forming the community were not in the proportion requisite to preserve its equilibrium. Transplanting one's self to California from any part of the world, involved an outlay beyond the means of the bulk of the labouring classes; and to those who did come to the country, the mines were of course the great point of attraction; so that in San Francisco the numbers of the labouring and of the working classes generally, were not nearly equal to the demand. The consequence was that labourers' and mechanics' wages were ridiculously high; and, as a general thing, the lower the description of the labour, or of service, required, the more extravagant in proportion were the wages paid. Sailors' wages were two and three hundred dollars per month, and there were hundreds of ships lying idle in the bay for the want of crews to man them even at these rates. Every ship on her arrival, was immediately deserted by all hands; for, of all people, sailors were the most unrestrainable in their determination to go to the diggings; and it was there a common saying, of the truth of which I saw myself many examples, that sailors, niggers, and Dutchmen, were the luckiest men in the mines: a very drunken old salt was always particularly lucky. There was a great overplus of young men of education, who had never dreamed of manual labour, and who found that their services in their wonted capacities were not required in such a rough-and-ready, every-man-for-himself sort of a place. Hard work, however, was generally better paid than head work, and men employed Among so many temptations to err, thrust prominently in one's way, without any social restraint to counteract them, it was not surprising that many men were too weak for such a trial, and, to use an expressive, though not very elegant phrase, went to the devil. The community was composed of isolated individuals, each quite regardless of the good opinion of his neighbors. There were, however, bright examples of the contrary. If there was a lavish expenditure in ministering to vice, there was also munificence in the bestowing of charity. Though there were gorgeous temples for the worship of mammon, there was a sufficiency of schools and churches for every denomination; while, under the influence of the constantly-increasing numbers of virtuous women, the standard of morals was steadily improving, and society, as it assumed a shape and form, began to assert its claims to respect. Although employment, of one sort or another, and good pay, were to be had by all who were able and willing to work, there was nevertheless a vast amount of misery and destitution. Many men had come to the country with their expectations raised to an unwarrantable pitch, imagining that the mere fact of emigration to California would insure them a rapid fortune; but when they came to experience the severe competition in every branch of trade, their hopes were gradually destroyed by the difficulties of the reality. Every kind of business, custom, and employment, was solicited with an importunity little known in old countries, where the course of all such things is in so wellworn a channel, that it is not easily diverted. But here the field was open, and every one was striving for what seemed to be within the reach of all- - a foremost rank in his own sphere. To keep one's Francisco, where the plainest dinner any man could eat cost a dollar, it did seem strange that such goodly fare should be provided gratuitously for all and sundry. It showed, however, what immense profits were made at the bars to allow of such an outlay, and gave an idea of the rivalry which existed even in that line of business. place in the crowd required an unremitted | New Orleans; but in a place like San exercise of the same vigour and energy which were necessary to obtain it; and many a man, though possessed of qualities which would have enabled him to distinguish himself in the quiet routine life of old countries, was crowded out of his place by the multitude of competitors, whose deficiency of merit in other respects was more than counterbalanced by an excess of unscrupulous boldness and physical energy. A polished education was of little service unless accompanied by an unwonted amount of democratic feeling; for the extreme sensitiveness which it is otherwise apt to produce, unfitted a man for taking part in such a hand-to-hand struggle with his fellow-man. Drinking was the great consolation for those who had not moral strength to bear up under their disapointments. Some men gradually obscured their intellects by increased habits of drinking, and, equally gradually, reached the lowest stage of misery and want; while others went at it with more force, and drank themselves into delirium tremens before they knew where they were. There is something in the climate which superinduces it with less provocation than in other countries. But, though drunkenness was common enough, the number of drunken men one saw was small, considering the enormous consumption of liquor. In San Francisco, where the ordinary rate of existance was even faster than in the Atlantic States, men required an extra amount of stimulant to keep it up, and this fashion of drinking was carried to excess. The saloons were crowded from early morning till late at night; and in each, two or three bar-keepers were kept unceasingly at work, mixing drinks for expectant groups of customers. They had no time even to sell segars, which were most frequently dispensed at a minature tobacconist's shop in another part of the saloon. Among the proprietors of saloons, or bars, the competition was so great, that, from having, as is usual, merely a plate of crackers and cheese on the counter, they got the length of laying out, for several hours in the forenoon, and again in the evening, a table covered with a most sump. tuous lunch of soups, cold meats, fish, and so on, with two or three waiters to attend to it. This was all free- there was nothing to pay for it: it was only expected that no one would partake of the good things without taking a "drink" afterwards. This sort of thing is common enough in - The immigration of Frenchmen had been so large that some parts of the city were completely French in appearance; the shops, restaurants, and estaminets, being painted according to French taste, and exhibiting French signs, the very letters of which had a French look about them. The names of some of the restaurants were rather ambitious as the Trois Frères, the Café de Paris, and suchlike; but these were second and third-rate places; those which courted the patronage of the upper classes of all nations, assumed names more calculated to tickle the American ear, -such as the Jackson House and the Lafayette. They were presided over by elegantly dressed dames du comptoir, and all the arrangements were in Parisian style. The principal American houses were equally good; and there were also an abundance of places where those who delighted in corn-bread, buckwheat cakes, pickles, grease, molasses, apple-sauce, and pumpkin pie, could gratify their taste to the fullest extent. There was nothing particularly English about any of the eating houses; but there were numbers of second-rate English drinking-shops, where John Bull could smoke his pipe and swig his ale cooly and calmly, without having to gulp it down and move off to make way for others, as at the bar of the American saloons. The Germans too had their lager bier cellars, but the noise and smoke which came up from them was enough to deter any but a German from venturing in. There was also a Mexican quarter of the town where there were greasy-looking Mexican fondas, and crowds of lazy Mexicans lying about, wrapt up in their blankets, smoking cigaritas. In another quarter, the Chinese most did congregate. Here the majority of the houses were of Chinese importation, and were stores, stocked with hams, tea, dried fish, dried ducks, and other very nasty-looking Chinese eatables, besides copper-pots and kettles, fans, shawls, chessmen, and all sorts of curiosities. Suspended over the doors were brilliantly-colored boards, about the size and shape of a head-board over a grave, covered with Chinese characters, and with several yards of red ribbon streaming from them; while the streets were thronged with long-tailed Celestials, chattering vociferously as they rushed about from store to store, or standing in groups studying the Chinese bills posted up in the shop windows, which may have been playbills, for there was a Chinese theatre, or perhaps advertisements informing the public where the best rat-pies were to be had. A peculiarly nasty smell pervaded this locality, and it was generally believed that rats were not so numerous here as elsewhere. Owing to the great scarcity of washerwomen, Chinese energy had ample room to display itself in the washing and ironing business. Throughout the town might be seen occasionally over some small house a large American sign, intimating that Ching Sing, Wong Choo, or Ki-Cheng did washing and ironing at five dollars a dozen. Inside these places one found two or three Chinamen ironing shirts with large flat-bottomed copper pots full of burning charcoal, and, buried in heaps of dirty clothes, half-a-dozen more, smoking, and drinking tea. The Chinese tried to keep pace with the rest of the world. They had their theatre and their gambling rooms, the latter being small dirty places, badly lighted with Chinese paper lamps. They played a pecuhar game. The dealer placed on the table several handful's of small copper coins, with square holes in them. Bets were made by placing the stake on one of four divisions, marked in the middle of the table, and the dealer, drawing the coins away from the heap, four at a time, the bets were decided according to whether one, two, three, or four remained at the last. They are great gamblers, and, when their last dollar is gone, will stake anything they possess: numbers of watches, rings, and such articles, were always lying in pawn on the table. The Chinese theatre was a curious pagoda-looking edifice, built by them expressy for theatrical purposes, and painted, outside and in, in an extraordinary manner. The performances went on day and night, without intermission, and consisted principally of juggling and feats of dexterity. The most exciting part of the exhibition was when one man, and decidedly a man of some little nerve, made a spread eagle of himself and stood up against a door, while half-a-dozen others, at a distance of fifteen or twenty feet, pelted the door with sharp-pointed bowie-knives, putting a knife into every square inch of the door, but never touching the man. It is very pleasant to see, from the unflinching way in which the fellow stood it out, the confidence he placed in the infallibility of his brethren. They had also short dramatic performances, which were quite unintelligible to outside barbarians. The only point of interest about them was the extraordinary gorgeous dresses of the actors; but the incessant noise they made with gongs and kettle-drums was so discordant and deafening that a few minutes at a time was as long as any one could stay in the place. There were several very good American theatres, a French theatre, and an Italian opera, besides concerts, masquerades, a circus, and other public amusements. The most curious were certainly the masquerades. They were generally given in one of the large gambling saloons, and in the placards announcing that they were to come off, appeared conspicuously also the intimation of "No weapons admitted;" "A strong police will be in attendance." The company was just such as might be seen in any gambling-room; and, beyond the presence of half-a-dozen masks in female attire, there was nothing to carry out the idea of a ball or a masquerade at all; but it was worth while to go, if only to watch the company arrive, and to see the practical enforcement of the weapon clause in the announcements. Several doorkeepers were in attendance, to whom each man as he entered delivered up his knife or his pistol, receiving a check for it, just as one does for his cane or umbrella at the door of a picture-gallery. Most men draw a pistol from behind their back, and very often a knife along with it; some carried their bowie-knife down the back of their neck, or in their breast; demure, piouslooking men, in white neckcloths, lifted up the bottom of their waistcoat, and revealed the butt of a revolver; others, after having already disgorged a pistol, pulled up the leg of their trousers, and abstracted a huge bowie-knife from their boot; and there were men, terrible fellows, no doubt, but who were more likely to frighten themselves than any one else, who produced a revolver from each trouser-pocket, and a bowieknife from their belt. If any man declared that he had no weapon, the statement was so incredible that he had to submit to be searched; an operation which was performed by the doorkeepers, who, I observed, were occasionally rewarded for their diligence by the discovery of a pistol | but on coming up to it, one would find secreted in some unusual part of the dress. that, though closely packed together, the Some of the shops were very magnifi- people were all in six strings, twisted up cently got up. The watchmakers' and and down in all directions, the commencejewellers' shops especially were very ment of them being the lucky individuals numerous, and made a great display of who had been first on the ground, and immense gold watches, enormous gold taken up their position at their respective rings and chains, with gold-headed canes, windows, while each new-comer had to and diamond pins and brooches of a most fall in behind those already waiting. Notformidable size. With numbers of men, withstanding the value of time, and the who found themselves possessed of an impatience felt by every individual, the amount of money which they had never most perfect order prevailed: there was before dreamed of, and which they had no no such thing as a man attempting to push idea what to do with, the purchase of gold himself ahead of those already waiting, watches and diamond pins was a very fa- nor was there the slightest respect of pervorite mode of getting rid of their spare sons; every new-comer quietly took his cash. Laboring men fastened their coarse position, and had to make the best of it, dirty shirts with a cluster of diamonds the with the prospect of waiting for hours size of a shilling, wore colossal gold rings before he could hope to reach the window. on their fingers, and displayed a massive Smoking and chewing tobacco were great gold chain and seals from their watch- aids in passing the time, and many came pocket; while hardly a man of any conse- provided with books and newspapers, quence returned to the Atlantic States, which they could read in perfect tranquil without receiving from some one of his ity, as there was no uncecessary crowding friends a huge gold-headed cane, with all or jostling. The principle of "first come his virtues and good qualities engraved first served was strictly adhered to, and upon it. any attempt to infringe the established rule would have been promptly put down by the omnipotent majority. A large business was also done in Chinese shawls, and various Chinese curiosities. It was greatly the fashion for men, returning home, to take with them a quantity of such articles, as presents for their friends. In fact a gorgeous Chinese shawl seemed to be as necessary for the returning Californian, as a revolver and bowie knife for the California emigrant. On the arrival of the fortnightly steamer from Panama with the mails from the Atlantic States and from Europe, the distribution of letters at the post-office occasioned a very singular scene. In San Francisco no such thing existed as a postman; every one had to call at the postoffice for his letters. The mail usually consisted of several wagon-loads of letterbags; and on its being received, notice was given at the post-office, at what hour the delivery would commence, a whole day being frequently required to sort the letters, which were then delivered from a row of half-a-dozen windows, lettered A to E, F to K, and so on through the alphabet. Independently of the immense mercantile correspondence, of course every man in the city was anxiously expecting letters from home; and for hours before the appointed time for opening the windows, a dense crowd of people collected, almost blocking up the two streets which gave access to the post-office, and having the appearance at a distance of being a mob; A man's place in the line was his individual property, more or less valuable according to his distance from the window, and, like any other piece of property, it was bought and sold, and converted into cash. Those who had plenty of dollars to spare, but could not afford much time, could buy out some one who had already spent several hours in keeping his place. Ten or fifteen dollars were frequently paid for a good position, and some men went there early, and waited patiently, without any expectation of getting letters, but for the chance of turning their acquired advantage into cash. The post-office clerks got through their work briskly enough when once they commenced the delivery, the alphabetical system of arrangement enabling them to produce the letters immediately on the name being given. One was not kept long in suspense, and many a poor fellow's face lengthened out into a doleful expression of disbelief and disappointment, as, scarcely had he uttered his name, when he was promptly told there was nothing for him. This was a sentence from which there was no appeal, however incredulous one might be; and every man was incredulous; for during the hour or two he had been waiting, he had become firmly convinced in his own mind that there must be a letter |