California as it is, and as it may be

by Felix Paul Wierzbicki

We touch here upon a subject which, if we allowed ourself to speak feelingly as a bachelor, we might be even eloquent, but in the position we find ourself as a writer, we are bound to speak philosophically only, viz: look upon the question before us with that cold eye of indifference or reserve which becomes an impartial judgment. We will, therefore, say nothing of ourself—we will speak of the situation of others; we will try to advocate the cause of poor and forlorn bachelors, and persuade some respectable heads of families that have daughters to settle in life, to come to California and build up the society, which, without woman, is like an edifice built on sand. Woman, to society, is like a cement to the building of stone; the society here has no such a cement; its elements float to and fro on the excited, turbulent, hurried life of California immigrants, or rather gold hunters, of all colors and shapes, without any affinity; such an aggregate or mass of human bodies have no souls; they are but a grand automaton, whose springs Mamon alone makes vibrate. Such is the society of San Francisco. But bring woman here, and at once the process of cristalization, if we may be permitted the expression, will set in in the society, by the natural affinities of the human heart. There are here many worthy men who have had the good luck to make a respectable competency, who would like to be married and settled in life, as honest and sensible men should do; but for want of the fair ones, they think only of getting away from here as soon as possible. Now, the country by this state of society, loses much in many respects, beside losing many valuable inhabitants; and those who stay behind intend to do the same when their turn comes. This would not be so if some pleasant families from the States, rich in nothing else but in intelligent, home educated daughters, they could well provide for all their members here with much more ease, as yet, than in any portion of the Union. These families must be easy in their circumstances, so that they may be able to buy farming lands where they could settle, and by the natural growth of landed property they would, in a few years, find themselves wealthy. This country is particularly fitted for that class of people who once knew what affluence was, and who by a sudden turn of the wheel of fortune, found their means reduced to mediocrity. Life in California, although it must have its inconveniences belonging to a thinly inhabited country, yet it cannot be compared to anything like life in new settlements in the Western States or Oregon. If people only were willing to take it easy, they would, ninety-nine out of a hundred, even like it. The population here is much more ready to take at once, or very soon, a more agreeable and polished form than could be expected in any other new country. There is something in the climate—we of course except San Francisco and the Valley of the Sacramento, which predisposes one to contentment. The sunny skies for so long a portion of the year have an exiliarating influence upon the mind, and so much so that we have known cases of Americans who were in the habit of carrying care-worn visages in their own country, acquire here smiling and contented countenances, smoothed by placidity. Indeed, we would recommend, as a medicine, to all vinegar-faced, care-corroded gentry, that are well to do in the world, to come and settle in the rich valleys of California, where good health and azure skies can be enjoyed; where winter does not touch you with its freezing hand.

The people of the country, of the Spanish race, possess a good deal of natural simplicity, but without that boorishness and grossness which characterizes the lower order of some of the European nations; they are ignorant for want of opportunities of learning, but nature has not refused them capacities for acquiring knowledge;—they are obliging in their disposition and hospitable; the latter virtue, however, already begins to undergo some changes since the arrival of so many foreigners; yet among themselves, or those upon whom they look favorably, they preserve their good old custom. Their women are healthy, robust, good looking and hard working as a general rule; kindness is a universal feature among them; and if one had to choose between them and ordinary women of some civilized portions of the world, we do not hesitate to say that the Californian women would receive the preference, although in point of information they are deficient.

Their men are somewhat disposed to idleness, but this may be owing partly to the facility with which they were in the habit of getting a living, and which now will have to undergo some modification. As a nation, they are lively, and cannot be said to be vicious; in fine, they have sufficient good qualities to make up for their deficiencies. Such as these good people are, they do not offer much temptation to foreigners who have seen higher forms of civilization to become commingled with them, but they have some good elements among them, and if respectable families from the States and Europe would come out here, the different races would soon be mixed up, and make before many years one of the most pleasant societies. By such an immigration the country would gain vastly; because then so many young men that have come here would form here their family ties, and would bind their interests with the interests and welfare of the country. But, as it is, California unavoidably must receive a check in its progress, as it will be only inhabited by passers-by, so to speak, who will have no permanent interest in the country.

The greatest privations that a bachelor is in this country exposed to, consist in not being able to furnish himself with clean linen when he desires, as domestic service is so difficult to be kept up here for want of working women. To induce some of the few women that are here to condescend to wash their linen for them, they have to court them besides paying six dollars a dozen.

We know an instance of an inveterate bachelor who married a spinster because she refused to wash his clothes for him, but he was determined she should do it at any price, as he was a great lover of cleanliness; in this dilema he resolved to pay her all he was worth, rather than forego his habit of cleanliness. He is in the habit of saying, “he who goes without a clean shirt on, keeps his conscience open to suspicion”—too severe a judgment upon us the inhabitants of this town.

When this uneven slope of the hill on which the town is situated shall be built up with fine and solid houses, what now looks dreary and desolate will then look very picturesque and smiling; so will it be with the society here; when elements that are now daily accumulating get through their fermentation and become settled, they also will present a smooth and transparent surface to the moral eye of the beholder, but as yet, one needs a little philosophy to bear him through the present that he may lean on the future.

In the moral aspect of the town, save some occurrences, there has been a good deal to wonder at—that in such a medley of races and tongues nothing very serious has happened to jeopardize its existence or to injure its prosperity, under existing circumstances, is very remarkable; its order and quiet has been only once disturbed for a few days by a set of men, chiefly from New York, who called themselves, very significantly, the “Hounds.” For a while they went parading the streets publicly, by day light, and breaking glass-ware in grog shops by night; when they commenced to commit outrages upon property, took the lives of some foreigners and violated the honor of some women, the citizens rose like one man, armed themselves and arrested them nearly all and put them in duress on board a man-of-war, to wait for their trial, after which they were disposed of according to their merits. Since that time order and quiet have prevailed, and more active measures have been taken to prevent another necessity to chase after any other pack of “hounds.”

The state of society in California has not yet arrived to that point of organized life where its most important movements can be stated, or represented in numbers for the especial satisfaction of the political economist. We will not therefore attempt anything of the kind, but we may however state in numbers a few facts in regard to the shipping in this port.

From the first of January, 1849, to the 30th of September of the same year, 509 vessels arrived in the harbor.

The sum total of passengers in the same space of time, 18,972.