, 1868-08-21
The Sprines Of CaIifornIa.

is on our table, and like its predecessor is store
with much pleasant reading. A rbyming Articl
on the Springs of California will bear re
printing:
TIE ARsENIcAL SPRING OF SAN JOAQUIN.
Of all the fountains that poets sing
Crystal, thermal or mineral spring,
Ponce de Icons Fount of Youth
Wells-with bottoms of doubtful truth
ln short, of all the springs of Time
That were ever flowing in fact or rhyme,
That were ever tasted, felt or seen,
There were none like the Spring of San Joaquin
ARno DOmini Eighteen.Se
Father Dominguez (now in Heaven
O6it, Eighteen tweuty-seven)
Found the spring, and found it too
By his mules miraculous cast of q shoe.
For his beast-a descendant of Balaam's ass
Stopped on the instant, and would not pass.
The Padre thought the omen good,
And bent his lips to the trickling food;
Then-as the chronicles declare,
On the honest faith of true believer
His cheeks, though wasted, lank aud bare,
Filled like withered russetp pear
In the vacuum of glass receiver,
And the SHOWS that seventy winters bring
Melted away in that magic spring.
Such, at least, was the wondrous news
1 ue duTe brought luIO OdnIa OTuL.
The Church, OF course, had its own views
Of who were worthiest to use
The magic spring; but the prior claim
Fell to the aged, sick and lame.
Far and wide the people came:
Some from the healthful Aptos creek
fastened to bring their helpless sick
Even the fishers of rude Sequel
Suddenly found they were far from well
The brawny dwelers Of San Lorenzo
Said, in fact, they had never been so
And all were ailing-strange to say
From Pascadero to Monterey.
Over the mountain they poured in
With leathern bottles and bags of skin,
Through the canons a motley throng
Trotted, hobbled and limped along.
The fathers gazed at the moving scene
With pious joy and with souls serene,
Aud then--a result perhaps foreseen-
They laid out the Mission of San joaquin.
Not in the eyes OF Faith alone
The good effects of the waters shone;
But skins grew rosy, eyes waxed clear,
Of rough vaquero and muleteer.
Angular forms were rounded out,
Limbs grew supple, and waists grew stout;
And as for the girls-for miles about
They had no equal To this day,
From Pescadero to Monterey,
You'll still find eyes in which are seen
The liquid graces of San Joaquin.
There is limit to human bliss,
And the Mission TO San Joaquin had this:
None went abroad to roam or stay,
But they fell sick in the queerest way
A singular sort Of ma'dde du pays
With gastric symptoms SO they spent
Their days in a ensuous content,
Caring little for thugs unseen
Beyond their bowers of living green
Beyond the mountains that lay between
The world and the Mission of San joaquin.
Winter passed. and the summer came;
| The trunks of mddroHe, all ahame,
Here and there through the underwood
Like pillars of fire starkly stood.
All of the breezy solitude
Was filled with the spiclng of pine and bay
And resinous odors mixed and blended,
And dim aud ghost like far away
The smoke of the burning woods ascended.
Thel of a sudden the mountains swan,
The rivers piled their floods in a dam;
The ridge above Los Gatos creek
Arched its spine in a feline fashion
The forests waltzed till they grew sick,
And nature shook in a speechless passion
And, swallowed up in the earthquakes spleen,
The wonderful Spring of San Joaquin
Vanished, and never more was seen
Two days passed the Mission folk
In languid patience bore their yoke;
Some of them looked trile white,
But that, no doubt, was from earthkuake fright
Three days: there was sore disIress,
Headache, nausea, giddiness.
Four days fainting, tenderness
OF the mouth and fauces, and in less
Than one week-here the story closes
We wont continue the prognosis-
Enough that now no trace is seen
OF Spring or Mission of San Joaquin.
MORAL.
You see the point? Don't be too quick
To break bad habits-better stick,
Like the Mission folk, to your arsenic!