Produced by Sarah Sammis, Jen Haines, Roger Frank and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net A CALIFORNIA GIRL BY EDWARD ELDRIDGE The Abbey Press PUBLISHERS 114 FIFTH AVENUE NEW YORK London Montreal Copyright, 1902 by The Abbey Press CONTENTS CHAPTER PAGE Prologue 5 I. Clara Lawton 7 II. Ranch Talk 9 III. The Marriage of Charles Herne 21 IV. Julia Hammond 25 V. Ben West 35 VI. Stella Wheelwright 39 VII. Penloe 43 VIII. Ben West's Experience in the Klondike 54 IX. An Arrival 63 X. Mrs. Marston 70 XI. Saunders' Customers 85 XII. Penloe's Sermon 88 XIII. Return of Ben West 104 XIV. Five Years After Marriage 113 XV. A Conversation on the Porch 116 XVI. Tiestan 124 XVII. Penloe's Original Address 143 XVIII. Letters Received by Penloe 163 XIX. Mrs. West Relates Her Dream 170 XX. In the Mountains 174 XXI. A Wedding in Orangeville 184 XXII. The Herne Party 201 XXIII. A Visit from Barker and Brookes 218 XXIV. Out of Bondage 233 Epilogue 248 PROLOGUE. This book is not written for the specialist, but for that restless, seething multitude known as "the masses." It is written for busy people, for workers, such as the shop-girl, the factory-girl, the clerk, the mechanic, the farmer, the merchant, and the busy housewife; but ministers, lawyers, and doctors may find food for thought within its covers. My heart goes out to God's secular army, composed of those who have neither time nor opportunity to go through learned treatises and scholarly essays, yet whose natures are hungering for something better than they see and hear about them. So I have tried to weave into this story the best and latest thought that has been given to the world, believing it to be what the workers most need in the performance of their daily duties, and what will help them out of bondage.