Rutland weekly herald. [volume] (Rutland, Vt.) 1859-1877, 1871-03-23
From the spsinsasd Rsraslic.ni
California and Her 8lisdnsss,

CaliSornia and Fer 0ltcdnoss.
"Man cannot live by bread aione," and
it is time for California to begin to think
OF other elements, In growth and great.
ness. than her gold mines. her wheat CROP.
and her mammoth squashes. Her msteri Al.
Ism has had It's abundant justification.
hitherto. In the absorbing necessities of
the nYht Tor existence, ~ we'll as in the
fascinations OF her boun'ifu nature and
strange gifts of wealth. When people
nave their stomschs to fa, and their
homes to make, and the raw elements for
both lie about them In the grandest pro.
fusion, 1t is not strange that they forget
sentiment, and are deaf TO cultur., aud
come to put a good bank account before q
library, and find more to charm them 10
the lower depths of the Q ,m-tock lode
than in the glorious nights of the Tose-
mite.
But now that California has become
not only the great gold but the great
wheat producing State of the Z aion, and
her commerce goes ont to all the world
now that the wealth Of m.t-riali-m
sbounds throughout her borders. is gar.
nered in warehouses;. spelled out Ia title
deeds and sealed with mining patents. Ii
is time. surely, that she began to cultivate
the graces, and to see at least, the oom-
mercial value of beauty, of art aud of
literature. Doubtless she Is opening her
eyes in this direction, for no people are
more ambitious than hers to Compass the
best gifts of civilization, or more greedy
of the highest praise of mankind. Bat
two conspicuous indifference, shsming
her sense of the higher elements of life
just now impress us and stimulate this
Gliding. The Yosemite valley aud Bret
Harte are the very different objec's of this
common uuappreciativeness. California
has always seemed strangely blind to that
marvellous creation of nature in her noun
tains, that has attracted TO her borders
the most cultivated curiosity of the world.
She went thither with great eagerness. ii
is true. to kill her Indians and 10 hunt for
gold, but the one gone, and the other
wanting, ehe has subsidized iuto almost
srolid indifference to It's existence, either
AS appealing to her own sentiment
for nature, or as servant OF
profit through its appeal to that sentiment
in others. Though Congress voted her
the gift of the valley as public reserva-
ton, and she accepted II, she has taken
little pains to maintain and develop the
trust, and is now encouraging sQuatters
to possess and despoil all the better parts
of the sacred ground They come east,
with her endorsement, to poster Congress
into the practical surrender OF the
thoughtful dedication. She has cOnfded
the valley, il is true,t to wi-e commissioners
but che binders their Offices and defeats
their plane. and in every way seems not
to recognize that, in this gift OF Nature
and of Congress, she bss wealth Of
strange beauty and grandeur worth more
to her. even in money, for all time. than
the best gold mine within her borders.
So of the unique author, Bret Harte,
who has grown 10 manhood, and drawn
the inspiration of a rare observation aud
a rarer expression, amid her strange
nature and her curious social develop
ments. His voice has carried California
further and wider than that of ary other
man. His editorship has given cosmo.
politan character and circulation 20 Its
Overland Magazine and through that
brought TO thousands OF homes and
Thousands of minds in the East, snd IN
England, first intimate knowledge OF
Pacific coast life, opportunities and prom
Uses, No other map, save Starr King, and
in many respects he not so much, has 20
widely represented California 10 the in
tellectual and cultured circles Of he
world. Yet she has been strangely slow
to recognize bis quality, and almost Ffu-
pidly Indifferent To the value be was alike
to her literary growth and Der material
fame. His local reputation l. bnt the
faint refrx of bis foreign; and now she
has suffered him, in the very hight of
bis popul ,riry, when be was beginning 20
be most useful to Ler as an intellectual
critic and leader, and has medium Of
advertising her very material attractions
to be bought away from his true home by
the greedy rivalry of eastern publishers.
There never WIS greater mistake, in
a mere pecuniary point If view, than this
California indifference 10 the quality and
usefulness of Bret Harte. Thousands
know Oaliforpi,, and Thousands would
be attracted to Californis, only through
him and his writings; and, Is mere
commercial investment, bis continued
presence and labor among them would be
of more value TO the Califoruians than
thrice the living which she has denied 10
him. He represents TO them, not only adj
vanced culrure and literary taste, truer
self-knowledge and a more intelligent
modesty, which they need above all other
graces, but he stands as well for generous
balances In the bank of Califorais, for ele-
CANT man,ions on RIncon Hill, for vine
yards in Sonoma, for wheat fields in San
Ia Clara, and for more and deeper mines
in the foothills, that would come with the
men and the women and the wealth, that
his charmed writings, ind the circulate n
their fame clone gives the California ma
gHzIpe, would continually attract. The
worst thing that California has dIne tor
her own best interests has b-eu the letting
him 20. The best thing she can d. for
them is to call him back; be is cheap toT
her at any price. If she cannot appreciate
him as a teacher in all the refnemepts OF
she ought not Ia BE- 20 blind
to his virtues as a COMMERCIAL traveller.