Year: 1860




casionaly,) we came across the following sensible
editorial remarks, which sound so mnch like old
times that we shall take the liberty of accreditng
LAWRENCE, the returned wanderer, with the
authorship. The Era is admirably conducted,
now is an excellent family newspaper, as we'll
as one devoted to every interest of the State in
and with which it has grown to occupy its present
enviable position in California literature As
proof of the soundness of its editorial views.
read the following. 1t is friendly advice to the
Responding stranger


Do not disparage California but go to work
A stout fellow met us the other day Look
you" says he, ''your California is an intense
humbug.' So he went on to deprecate the State
aud to thrust himself in prominent illustration of
pervading poverty and inability to ferret out
employment We shall use our stout friend as
warp around which to weave a woof of earnest
eXhortation.


The skillful creation of the French romancist
is typical of large class of the population Of
our older States. The story is of an Israelitq
doomed to perpetual wandering because he
mocked the blessed Jesus on his way to woful
cruciixion. Dynasties fall and races are crushed
out Old continents are submerged, and new
ones spring up from mid ocean. Antiquarians
are recreated from the dust of their predecessors;
yet that ieerng Hebrew, according TO the legend,
restless and tireess, marches on and on, eernaly.
The parallel is not inapt to the unsettled and
migratory character of the people located along
our Atlantic seaboard. A somewhat dense popu-
lation and the choked avenues Of mart aud OF
the learned professions and manual toll are somo
of the provocativcs to this extraordinary restless
ness. But apart from the fierce rage for accumu
laton charac teristic OF the present generation,
we may trace the moodiness and discomfort that
float our people into constant travel and adven-
Tuna 10 MOI al rpl n ~
education and the diffusion of universal inlorma-
tion. The Russian serf, drunk with slavery, is
satisfied in the home aud drudgery Of his crouch
ing ancestors. The informed American, nervous
and distempered, is constantly coursng over tho
world


Standing on mountain top, the traveller wit
nesses a delightful perspective of CLASSY lake
aud regularity of greenwood growth and luXuri-
ant vale If his journey urges bin through the
Joyous scenes his eye has rested upon with 80
much pleasure, he will encounter many craggy
obstacle, fallen trees obstructing his pathway,
and treacherous quagmires. There is much In
the past history Of California to iascnate the
uuwary aud incousidcrate. Its territory secured
to our conlederacy in lazy barter with Mexico,
with little object besides the attainment of
Pacific port-the discovery Of gold within its
borders gave it a sudden Importance. With
rapidity uuexampled, its wild wastes resounded
with groans of labor. Its virgin soil yielded



spread many marvellous tale among the gaping
ones, of its immeasurable richness. Those wild
legends are still floating around the credulous
masses to the east OF us Upon them, Ossa ana
Peliou, are piled stories Of wonderful horticul-
tural and cereal yield-are told too, strange
marvels of the salubrity of our cline, aud fables
of vast and quick increment from trade.


If men and women contemplate change OF
residence elsewhere than to California, they dis
creetly husband their resources. and present
themselves in their new home with some provis-
ion for future that may be perverse and frown-
ing. They properly surmise that time and means
are requisite for the securement of new friends
and a substratum for successful business venture.
But each ocean steamer and desert caravansary
tumble its thousands in our midst without one
precaution The day Of their arrival are they as
penniless as Lazarus. In such bankrupt condi-
tiou do they find themselves in this city of ours.
That stout friend Of ours who provokes this ad
monition, is soured and sullen in disappointed
hopes. Unless he bestrs himself he will yet
weep tears Of blood, as numbers have done before
him. The charity of a metropolis Is aggregate.
If he is in absolute want, people here have no
time to discriminate between him and the pro-
fessional beggar.


Thus it is then that so large body Of both
sexes aud all ages thrust themselves upon us
without even the means for present subsistence
or of penetration to other portions Of the STAGE.
And thus it is that starving men and women cry



that desires their presence and earnest appropri-
alton. California has not been entirely exag-
gerated to those dropping souls Within its
borders are every phase and variety OF climate.
Not exactly spontaneous, but with how little
labor does this teemiug soil Of ours shoot forth
in widest luxurance the choicest productions of
every land and cline. The herdsman has little
care over his roaming hocks lie gamers for
them no wintry food. Then in there impreguated
in proiusion in every section and depth and
character of our land the rich metal which enters
so largely in the currency of the world. Caliior-
MIA yet beckons to its bosom the restless and i'm
proverished of other lands. 1t has verge and
room enough for fifty times its present popula-
tion. Yet it summons the needy to toll. 1t has
drones enough aud to spare. 1t rewards the
busy and earnest. 1t SCOTS and laughs at the
inert aud careless and improvdent So we tell
the many who have resolved to test THIS shore
that they must exercise the same discretion
which characterizes their change of residence in
the older States. They must import hither
sufiiciency for immediate and perhaps protracted
sustenance They must determine on continu-
Gus labor This is no Paradise for pleasant dis
porting in arbors amid the caroling OF birds.
They must fur her resolve on premanency OF
residence, if they would win success. The time
has past for the vagrant insect to pluck store
of sweets and fly away. We tell those who have
reached this Pacific metropolis that the continu-
GUS thrush of humanity for the last ten years mas
completely absorbed each avenue OF CITY TRADE
and employment. This is no place for the
stranger. Let him hurry, as did Lot Of old, TO
the mountains II he likes not the laborious
dolving for the precious ore let him sally forth
to the agricultural region. We tell him further
more that the grumbler and disparager meets no
sympathy in this land OF effort and plenty. No
one asked him to come here. His arrival is
matter of his own voition. Since he is here, if
he would meet with pleasant intercourse and
eventual success, he must conform to the energy
aud struggle and hope and buoyancy of his Cali
forna fellows. When thus engaged our stout
friend will cease TO pronounce California " an
intense humbug.'