"We have often met in spirit ere this," Stoddard wrote me. We had; and we meet again and again. I feel him very near me as I write these words; and I feel, too, that his gentle soul will visit everyone who reads the chronicles he has here set down, so that even though no shaft rise in marble glory to mark his last resting place, still in unnumbered hearts his memory will be enshrined. With his poet friend, Thomas Walsh, well may we say: "Vain the laudation!--What are crowns and praise To thee whom Youth anointed on the eyes? We have but known the lesser heart of thee Whose spirit bloomed in lilies down the ways Of Padua; whose voice perpetual sighs On Molokai in tides of melody." CHARLES PHILLIPS. San Francisco, September first, Nineteen hundred and eleven. TABLE OF CONTENTS Old Days in El Dorado-- I. "Strange Countries for to See" II. Crossing the Isthmus III. Along the Pacific Shore IV. In the Wake of Drake V. Atop o' Telegraph Hill VI. Pavement Pictures VII. A Boy's Outing VIII. The Mission Dolores IX. Social San Francisco X. Happy Valley XI. The Vigilance Committee XII. The Survivor's Story A Bit of Old China With the Egg-Pickers of the Farallones A Memory of Monterey In a Californian Bungalow Primeval California Inland Yachting In Yosemite Shadows An Affair of the Misty City-- I. What the Moon Shone on II. What the Sun Shone on III. Balm of Hurt Wounds IV. By the World Forgot LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS Life at the Mission of Dolores, 1855 View of Montgomery, Post and Market Streets, San Francisco, 1858 Fort Point at the Golden Gate The Outer Signal Station at the Golden Gate City of Oakland in 1856 Interior of the El Dorado Warner's at Meigg's Wharf The Old Flume at Black Point, 1856 Lone Mountain, 1856 Russ Gardens, 1856 Certificate of Membership, Vigilance Committee, 1856 West from Black Point, 1856 "China is Not More Chinese than this Section of Our Christian City." "Rag Alley" in Old Chinatown The Farallones Murre on their Nests, Farallone Islands Monterey, 1850 San Carlos de Carmelo "The Huge Court of that Luxurious Caravansary." "The Gallery Among the Huge Vases of Palms and Creepers." Meigg's Wharf in 1856 Telegraph Hill, 1855 Sentinel Hotel, Yosemite, in 1869 San Francisco in 1856 THE BELLS OF SAN GABRIEL Thine was the corn and the wine, The blood of the grape that nourished; The blossom and fruit of the vine That was heralded far away. These were thy gifts; and thine, When the vine and the fig-tree flourished, The promise of peace and of glad increase Forever and ever and aye. What then wert thou, and what art now? Answer me, O, I pray!