Why it is so, it is not my purpose now to inquire; but such is the fact, that in California there are circumstances which render vice very attractive and alluring, and which, unless resolutely resisted, draw the mind to become familiar with it, and in the end to embrace it. The man esteemed virtuous at home becomes profligate, the honest man dishonest, and the clergyman sometimes a profane gambler; while, on the contrary, the cases are not few of those who were idle or profligate at home, who come here to be reformed. It can not be known what influence such trials and temptations will exert upon the character till they are tried. If they are resisted, the character is strengthened; if they are not resisted, the propensity to vice is proportionally increased. But not only does vice seem more alluring here--it comes, from the very circumstances in which the miner is placed, to be a substitute for common amusement. He has not the society of the home circle to cheer and enliven him. Disheartened, often reduced to the depths of melancholy, he has no longer the friends--the innocent recreations to which he has been accustomed. On the Sabbath morning, no church is open for the sad and dispirited wanderer, self-exiled from his father’s house! No mother, or sisters, or beloved wife can cheer him by their conversation and smiles. Is it to be wondered at, then, that in his gloom he listens to the voice of the Syren, and turns away to seek those broken cisterns which can hold no water? Do you not perceive that he is exposed to peculiar and great danger? But recollect, if the danger is great, so much greater is the virtue of overcoming it. If the trial is severe, so much stronger the energy and resolution which is requisite to vanquish it. And if the temptation is resisted, the moral principles are strengthened just in proportion to the degree of temptation. The young man who returns home from California untainted, and of whom it may be said, “Among the faithless, faithful he,” may ever after be trusted. He has been tried as gold is tried, and the trial has but served to exhibit the excellence of his character; and well may his friends esteem and love him more, even if he returns to them without an ounce of gold, than if he came home with his thousands with a ruined character.