heart knows no alchemy that will turn it into gold.
There is a limit beyond which mere mental culture
and unaspiring industry, be they never so earnest and
patient, cannot broaden or deepen the soul. There
must be a little sentiment, a little feminine ambition,
a little womanly excitement other than that which a
purely money-making husband usually gives ; else the
tender harmony of the heart is silenced, and the deli-
cate flower withers and droops. California was no
place for a fastidious woman. She who could wash
best, iron best, or cook best, was the most independ-
ent, and the one to win fortune, and even happiness if
her nature admitted it. Nevertheless, there were
many whose hearts nothing but a golden key could
unlock.
It is not to be wondered at that intemperance in business and pleasure should result in social discord. Though the Yankee element predominated, there was in society at the first, scarcely what could be called a recognized or recognizable nationality ; California was then but a geographical expression — Vox et prseterea nihil.
The guests of a large dinner or supper party were as varied in character and qualities of mind as among the rich men of Rome, who had acquired wealth by disreputable means in the days of Pliny, though the San Francisco host did not carry the distinction so far as to serve up different qualities of food and wine to the different ofuests as in Rome.
