TABLE OF CONTENTS.
- [I. Squatter Darrell Reviews the Past.]
- [II. The Don's View of the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo.]
- [III. Pre-empting under the Law.]
- [IV. Efforts to Right the Wrong.]
- [V. The Don in his Broad Acres.]
- [VI. Naughty Dog Milord an Important Factor.]
- [VII. From Alameda to San Diego.]
- [VIII. Victoriano and His Sister.]
- [IX. Clarence is the Bearer of Joyful News.]
- [X. But Clarence Must Not be Encouraged.]
- [XI. George is a Christian Gentleman.]
- [XII. Why the Appeal was Not Dismissed.]
- [XIII. At San Francisco.]
- [XIV. Of Miscellaneous Incidents.]
- [XV. Journeying Overland.]
- [XVI. Spanish Land Grants Viewed Retrospectively.]
- [XVII. Doña Josefa at Home.]
- [XVIII. At Newport.]
- [XIX. In New York.]
- [XX. At the Capitol.]
- [XXI. Looking at the Receding Dome.]
- [XXII. Perplexities at Alamar.]
- [XXIII. Home Again.]
- [XXIV. The Brewers of Mischief.]
- [XXV. The Squatter and the Don.]
- [XXVI. Mrs. Darrell's View of Our Land Laws.]
- [XXVII. Darrell Astonishes Himself.]
- [XXVIII. Shall it be Forever?]
- [XXIX. Hasty Decisions Repented Leisurely.]
- [XXX. Effect of Bad Precept and Worse Example.]
- [XXXI. A Snow Storm.]
- [XXXII. A False Friend Sent to Deceive the Southerners.]
- [XXXIII. San Diego's Sentence is Irrevocable.]
- [XXXIV. The Sins of Our Legislators!]
- [XXXV. The Fashion of Justice in San Diego.]
- [XXXVI. Clarence and George with the Hod-carrier.]
- [XXXVII. Reunited at Last.]
- [CONCLUSION.—Out with the Invader.]
CHAPTER I.—Squatter Darrell Reviews the Past.
“To be guided by good advice, is to profit by the wisdom of others; to be guided by experience, is to profit by wisdom of our own,” said Mrs. Darrell to her husband, in her own sweet, winning way, as they sat alone in the sitting room of their Alameda farm house, having their last talk that evening, while she darned his stockings and sewed buttons on his shirts. The children (so-called, though the majority were grown up) had all retired for the night. Mr. and Mrs. Darrell sat up later, having much to talk about, as he would leave next day for Southern California, intending to locate—somewhere in a desirable neighborhood—a homestead claim.
“Therefore,” continued Mrs. Darrell, seeing that her husband smoked his pipe in silence, adding no observations to her own, “let us this time be guided by our own past history, William—our experience. In other words, let us be wise, my husband.”
“By way of variety, you mean,” said he smiling. “That is, as far as I am concerned, because I own, frankly, that had I been guided by your advice—your wisdom—we would be much better off to-day. You have a right to reproach me.”
“I do not wish to do anything of the kind. I think reproaches seldom do good.”
“No use in crying over spilt milk, eh?”
“That is not my idea, either. On the contrary, if by ‘milk’ it is meant all or any earthly good whatever, it is the ‘spilt milk’ that we should lament. There is no reason to cry for the milk that has not been wasted, the good that is not lost. So let us cry for the spilt milk, by all means, if by doing so we learn how to avoid spilling any more. Let us cry for the spilt milk, and remember how, and where, and when, and why, we spilt it. Much wisdom is learnt through tears, but none by forgetting our lessons.”
“But how can a man learn when he is born a fool?”