Queen city of California! to me there is poetry in thy very name, and so
would it be to all who delight in honesty, bonhommie, simplicity and the
dolce far niente.
Notwithstanding the many solicitations we received, Padre Marini went to
the convent, and I took up my quarters with the old governor.
All was new to me, and pleasant too, for I was not eighteen; and at such
a time one has strange dreams and fancies of small waists, and pretty
faces, smiling cunningly. My mind had sometimes reverted to former
scenes, when I had a mother and a sister. I had sighed for a partner to
dance or waltz with on the green, while our old servant was playing on
his violin some antiquated en avant deux.
Now I had found all that, and a merry time I had of it. True, the sack
of doubloons helped me wonderfully. Within a week after my arrival, I
had a magnificent saddle embossed with silver, velvet breeches instead
of cloth leggings, a hat and feathers, glossy pumps, red sash, velvet
round-about, and the large cape or cloak, the eternal, and sometimes the
only garment of a western Mexican grandee, in winter or in summer, by
night or by day. I say it was a merry time, and it agreed well with me.
Dance I did! and sing and court too. My old travelling companion, the
missionary, remonstrated a little, but the girls laughed at him, and I
clearly pointed out to him that he was wrong.
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