The Days of a Man X^'^9^ 



The names of many other fine and devoted spirits 

 crowd on the mind, but space is limited and I must 

 pass on. 



2 



In the '90's San Francisco was still the literary 

 center of California, although Los Angeles was 

 rapidly forging forward. But as a city the latter 

 was very young, for at the time of my visit in 1880 

 it was only a half-Mexican village. Pasadena was 

 then still known as the ''Indiana Colony," and 

 Riverside had just received its picturesque but not 

 too appropriate name. 



The era of Bret Harte, the first outbreak of 

 Overland literature, was long since past, but the 

 creative impulse remained vigorous here. More- 

 over, if poetry and the arts draw inspiration from 

 varied and beautiful surroundings, they will ever 

 find a natural home in California. 

 ne singer Easily the most picturesque personality on the 

 ^/^^ coast when we came was Joaquin Miller, a unique 

 figure — tall, straight, broad-shouldered, long-haired, 

 and "bearded like a pard." A big, soft sombrero^ 

 high top boots, and coat to match completed the 

 picture. A poseur undoubtedly, but simple-hearted 

 as a child and altogether delightful. He was, more- 

 over, a true poet, with a fine sense of word 

 color and rhythmical values, as some of his verses, 

 particularly those on Egypt, Columbus, and Walker 

 in Nicaragua, amply testify. 



In December, 1891, I invited him to address our n 

 students. On arriving, he explained that when he 

 spoke before an audience, he always wore a white 

 rose in his buttonhole. To me it was a new idea 



C 454 3 



