At present the weather is so mild that it
is pleasanter as it is, though we have a fire in the mornings and
evenings, more, however, for luxury than because we really need it. For
my part, I almost hope that we shall not be able to get any glass, for
you will perhaps remember that it was a pet habit of mine, in my own
room, to sit by a great fire, in the depth of winter, with my window
open.

One of our friends had nailed up an immense quantity of unhemmed cotton
cloth--very coarse--in front of this opening, and as he evidently
prided himself upon the elegant style in which he had arranged the
drapery, it went to my heart to take it down and suspend in its place
some pretty blue linen curtains which I had brought from the valley. My
toilet-table is formed of a trunk elevated upon two claret-cases, and
by draping it with some more of the blue linen neatly fringed, it
really will look quite handsome, and when I have placed upon it my
rosewood workbox, a large cushion of crimson brocade, some Chinese
ornaments of exquisitely carved ivory, and two or three Bohemian-glass
cologne-stands, it would not disgrace a lady's chamber at home.

The looking-glass is one of those which come in paper cases for dolls'
houses. How different from the full-length psyches so almost
indispensable to a dressing-room in the States!

The wash-stand is another trunk, covered with a towel, upon which you
will see, for bowl, a large vegetable-dish, for ewer, a common-sized
dining-pitcher. Near this, upon a small cask, is placed a pail, which
is daily filled with water from the river. I brought with me from
Marysville a handsome carpet, a hair mattress, pillows, a profusion of
bed-linen, quilts, blankets, towels, etc., so that, in spite of the
oddity of most of my furniture, I am, in reality, as thoroughly
comfortable here as I could be in the most elegant palace.

We have four chairs, which were brought from the Empire. I seriously
proposed having three-legged stools. With my usual desire for symmetry,
I thought that they would be more in keeping; but as I was told that it
would be a great deal of trouble to get them made, I was fain to put up
with mere chairs. So you see that even in the land of gold itself one
cannot have everything that she desires. An ingenious individual in the
neighborhood, blessed with a large bump for mechanics, and good nature,
made me a sort of wide bench, which, covered with a neat plaid, looks
quite sofa-like. A lit