The Placer herald., 1872-05-18
Based with green hills and laced with crysta

As crown your slopes, "nere orange groves afioc
Whose sun-kissed fruitage with Hesperide's ves;
Where fg trees spread their broadly dentale
leaves.
And purpling globes Of nectar-sweetness weave
Where almonds lend to Spring roseate glow.
And farer fruits than Eastern States eau show
Drop from the boughs or crowd the graceful vine
In amber drops of promissory wine.
From sunny glades where weary Nature rests
'Tis but a glance to distant, snow-capped crests,
glance Of eye, lightning trick Of thought
Behold, the mountain Businesses are brought
And spread before rs, cahons peaks and cliffs,
The fairy dinSles and the earthquake riffs,
The solemn region Of eternal snow,
The deep hushcd valleys, warm with Summers
glow;
Yosemtes proud grandeur. domes and heights.
The airy beauty in those downward flights
OF eiddy rills and wildly venturous streams
Amid whose diamond drops the rainbow CLEANS,
The wondrous beauty of that broken line,
Sharp points and angles, curvinSs serpentine,
The wave Of beauty and the cliff wall sheer;
Enchanting solitude and desolation drear.
How sti the mounts when on their tops at night
The bright stars seem to linger, and each height
Holds to its heart the qnivering soft moonbeams,
And drowsy lakes reflect the camp-fire's CLEANS.
Then, when the morning dawns and shades their
peaks
With bushes soft as lie on beauty's checks,
While downward creep the sunbeams thick and
fast
Till on each tangled slope cool deep shadows
cast.
With what new strength the sweeping forests
ring,
And life seems nobler, for that far and outward
swing
OF thought over the dim blue reaches.
Yet not alone of beauty the mountain preaches.
Twas her deep hidden trcasures-heards Of gold
Filling the governed earth with wealth untold
The shining promise of the sluice and mine
That lured the pioneers Of forty nine
On barren sleeps, in cahons low and deep.
On many tortuous bed the bright grains Sleep
In pockets nuggets, dust and sprays so wrought
They equal works Of human care and thought.
Oh, God of Gold! of cunning, subtle art
Bestowng favors with a reckless heart
Luring the miner many a weary mile
With promises of finding soon his pile,
Seeing his fancied pile" grow small and beauti-
fully less,
Or, with sudden freak, generous mood,
Showing beneath its dim and earthly snood
gttering prize, whose worth in thousands
counts.
Repaying all the toll among these serricd mounts.
Once the great god, with trickful hand
Strewed er the surface gold like grains Of snnd,
d, like the story told in Grecian lore
When the sowp. field a crop of soldiers bore
This priceless seed to germinate began,
Up rose army 'quipped with pick and pm;
The earth was washed and cleaned. and washed
again,
Till scarce remained a solitary grain.
Then fast the god t. save his cherished wealth
Hid it in streams and creviccs, by stealth;
But man, insatiate, dug, prospected, prowled.
While Indians murdered, wild cayotes howled.
While all the comfort, love and cheer OF home
Were changed for miners camp and dingy cabin
lone,
Until these treasurehouses plundered lay.
And like poor Oliver yet "more " they say.
Now, wild and frightened at the havoc made
Among his ingots, thus for safety laid,
Once more tho god. with swift and dauntlcss
might,
Buried it deep. he thought. from human sight.
| But what can hide the root of good ard evil "
| When once its devotees have reached the "leyel?
| Deep shafts were sunk, the earth with tunnels
| bored,
And miles on miles Of precious "lsads explored;
Blasted and washed and crushed, assayed and
coined
Millions from out tho generous land purloned.
And still they toll. still search; and not in vain,
| For still rs ever, some their hopes attain;
While others find it all eludes their grasp
Fill want and work. and hope and lifs are passed.
What holds the future for this gifted State?
Tell US, O. seer for anxious hearts await
And on her welfare look with hearts elate.
On her, the fair young sister, nobly grown,
| Casped to the Union by its iron zone,
And rich in promise that the years may bring
Of prudent wisdom to her measures cling.
When riches, pomp and arrogance lose caste,
And equal rights to men bring blessings vast
| When honest. fearless men, stauncL hearts and
| true,
| Frame laws, and sanction them that have TO do
With the States greatest good. When from the
| stand
Point of the Golden Rule they sway the land
And rate their estimation of all men
| Not by their wealth but by their worth All, then
Will California be all that we hope and long to
| see
Yes, then will she with honor take the place
Her beauty and her strength so we'll could grace;
Sweet homes of love and happiness would rise
Where solitary wales now bask beneath the skies.
Cities and towns OF opulence and power
Would, pearl-like, dot her far extended shore;
From her clear lakes the crystal waters flow,
And public good in many channel glow;
Farms climb the hills and ranches skirt the
plains,
| Railroads, like life filled arteries and veins
Diverging from her busy, throbbing heart,
Join all the Eastern wealth with her great West.