aper-knife, or an inlaid table. His orders come from all parts of the
world, and are often very large, mounting up to hundreds of dollars. He
is a simple-hearted student of nature, and a thorough workman. I enjoyed
a brief visit to Chinatown and Spanishtown close by, where I saw a woman
scrubbing clothes on a long flat board, with a piece of soap in each
hand, standing in a hut made of poles covered with brush, and noticed an
old oven outdoors and the meat hung up in strips to dry. I enjoyed also
a call on the old fellow who "catcha de fisha."

And now, looking back as we are whirled away, I find I am repeating
those lines from Shelley which so exactly reproduce the picture:

"The earth and ocean seem
To sleep in one another's arms and dream
Of waves, flowers, clouds, woods, rocks, and all that we
Read in their smiles, and call reality."

CHAPTER XIV.

AU REVOIR.

Just as a woman is leaving her friends she ever has the most to chatter
about. How can I say _au revoir_ briefly when there is so much more to
tell? I so earnestly want to give California _en verdad_, or in truth.
There has been too much bragging from the settlers, as in 1887 the Los
Angeles _Herald_ said that "New York would soon be excelled by that
city." There is a general desire to surpass all the rest of the world in
as many ways as possible, and a general belief that it can easily be
done. And visitors have omitted all that was unpleasant, and exaggerated
the good points, so that one Californian speaks "of the dancing
dervishes of travel, singing insanely from the moment they come to us."

There is so much that is novel in this wonderland that it is hard to
keep cool and look at all sides. In 1870 all vegetables and grain were
imported. Mr. Webster declared long ago in Congress that California was
absolutely worthless except for mining and grazing. The rancheros
thought the land only fit for sheep to roam over. Now great train-loads
of vegetables and grain leave daily for the East; all the earliest fruit
of New York, Boston, and Chicago comes from this State, and ships are
carrying all these products to all parts of the world. From north to
south the State measures over 800 miles--as far as from New York to
Florida--with an area of 189,000 square miles--as much as New England
and the Middle States combined, throwing in Maryland. The northern and
southern portions are as unlike as Massachusetts and Florida, a