The herald. [microfilm reel] (Los Angeles [Calif.]) 1893-1900, 1898-08-14
THE HERHLD'S MUSE


Fen to its utmost, unknown bounds
Fen California.
Lo, on its farthest western strand,
The padres found cline so fair
They raised the cross and claimed the land,
Which they, with their discernment rare
Named California
Here built they of the sunburnt clay,
The quaint old missions for their seat,
And taught their neophytes to pray.
And vesper bells each eve rang sweet
Thro' California.
All then it was worth while to be,
When all sought love, or fought like
men
The blood of Spain flows warm and free
All, days like those are not again
For California.
The dark-eyed dona's amorous glance,
The caballero's soft guitar,
The Hastings, revelry and dance.
Gay life of Spain, all banished are
From California.
At length beneath thy armored breast
Thy heart was touched, twas found of
gold;
For men no longer peace and rest,
When was thy long-kept secret told.
oh, California.
From where the wild Atlantic roars,
Zen from the woods of farthest Maine,
An army, ever-swelling, pours
To seek the gold and wrest from Spain,
Thee, California.
An endless stretch Of wagon-trains;
For those who cannot keep the pace,
An unmarked grave upon the plains;
Toward setting sun zach living face;
Ho, California!
What found they there? A land unblessed,
And speedily to be accursed;
Greed of the gold hid in thy breast
Competed inhuman, insane thirst.
All, California.
Great scorchng plains and desert wastes,
Where all vile creeping creatures crept;
Where whirling sandstorms raced and
chased
And savage foe menaced who slept
In California.
The scorpions sting, the rattler's strike,
Tarantula and centipede;
The carrion buzzard and the shrike,
All eager for an evil deed
'Gainst California.
The wildcats shrek midst mountain lairs,
Coyotes echoing, mournful bowls,
That fright to earth the timid hares,
The mountain lion on its prowls;
Woe, California.
Where rocky precipices rise,
Or chaparral and grea sewood hem.
Where the Sierras daunt the skies,
There roamed thy statehood's grim en-
blem
Old California.
But 10, where'er the Saxon race
Hath carried freedom, note a change,
A change for veal, in natures face,
BY sea coast desert, mountain range,
All California.
The panorama swiftly turns,
The missions fade, the padres de-
A race is doomed, new faith burns,
A new nag Is un1urled on nigh
Ger California.
The rod of empire hold its sway
Westward until there's no more west,
And takes its stand beside the bay
That knows the broad Pacific's breast,
By California.
The mining days of forty-nine,
Belong unto another age;
Where blood once flowed now flows the
wine
And orchards bend where once but sage
Decked California
Midst chapparal still pipes the quail,
The dove its lonesome love-note means,
The giant pines the chipmunks scale,
The lark yet trills through upper zones,
My California
But where the wildcats shrek once rose.
Imprisoned steam salutes mans power;
Where grizzly monarch dared all foes,
Lies chained the great electric dover
OF California.
Thy mountains, peaked, ravined and
dragged.
Bemantled in their ermined fold,
Which once to death the pioneer dragged,
The source of all thy wealth now hold,
Fair California.
The heart from which the life-tide swells,
Through veins to do the will divine;
Behold the favored race that dwells
Under their fig-tree and their vine,
In California.
From Shasta's peak to Whitney's spire,
BY Coronado's lovely shore,
Where towers the huge sequoias higher,
Where peoples blush the plains all DER
Broad California.
From where Yosemite, the grand,
Reveals the sculpture nature hews,
BY San Diego's southern strand,
Beside the surf of Santa Cruz.
Through California.
All wonders of this glorious land
Attest the splendors that await
The riches, powers, honors grand;
The future opens the Golden Gate;
Hail! California.
CHARLES e. JENNEY.
Fresno, Cal, Aug. u, 1885,
Even Then
Once, in a prehistoric bog,
Tbara dualt a Young and friSky frog.