The hydraulic press., 1858-10-30

~ 40 - y S'AAAS ~ SHtOOf W 10 LOk W
nate in having correspondent of rare
ability, who writes often from Sierra
county over the nomme de plume of
Henry Jacob" His letters are
always worth reading-which is some
thing that cannot be said of most
mining correspondents-for, in addi-
ton to concise mining news, they
contain pertinent reflections, amusing
gossip, and sensible remarks upon
subjects which most letter-writes ig-
more. In recent letter he says:
Drunk, drunk-go where you
may, every little town is infested with
groggeries and drunkards; few old
men are to be seen, all young, rang
ing from twenty to forty-6ve. TWEEN
ty-6ve years hence, there will be
more old men in the State of Califor-
MIA than in any three States of the
Union; wifeless-and it may be said,
homeless. 1t is the duty Of every
man to be husband, and of every
woman to be wife. For every
creature there is mate, and for
every man of responsibility a wife,
and he should find her. Am not
right, old Jepha?' True, wives are
not to be easily found in California !;
they are not here to find, and in con-
sequence, thousands of young men
are growing old-fast old in vice and
dissipation. Your scribe would be
understood as referring in particular
to the mining community; the asri-
cultural classes are more civilized and
better off. There Is no such thing as
society in the mining regions any
drunken set of blackguards who have
money can rule those who pretend to
decency. There is no restraint, and
no example but that of rudsness, and
Of degrading tendency"
This is pretty severe on mining
communities, and, unfortunately, con-
tains great degree of truth. There
are thousands of young men fast
growing old in vice and dissipation"
Nowhere do young men look so old as
in California-not alone in the mining
communities, however-and drunken
ness and RIGHTEOUSNESS are doubtless
the chief causes of this. But there
are many towns in the mining regions
which are rapidly acquiring such a
condition of society as all good citi-
zens wish to see. The old days of
unbridled passion are really passing
away, and it is only in the remoter
mining camps that there still exists
the state of things so boldly described
by "Henry Jacob"
But the men without wives are not
the only guilty ones; woman's inAu-
ence, great as it is, does not seem
sufficient in every case to control
masculine proclivities to evil. 1t is
too common for men to desert the
domestic hearth for the ignoble joys
of drinking and gambling, and many
wife in California weeps night after
night over husbands degradation
and neglect. Such homes can exert
no beneficial influence in community ;
such men are the last ones to aid in
reforming it. There is no doubt but
what the domestic infelicity which
characterizes our State results, in a
great measure, from the above cause.
Hence it comes that "there is no such
thing as society" in many places out
of the mining regions as well as in
them hence it comes that the word
shome" is so often mere mockery,
and female virtue byword. Heads
Of families ought to shun the fascina-
tons of strong drink and cards, but
they sometimes do not; they ought to
be examples of correct department to
bachelor juniors, but they sometimes
are not.