THE SEARCH AND FINDING 



land stock, thrifty, shrewd, spurning all cour- 

 tesies, bound to push on in life ; a type of that 

 nervous unrest by which God has peopled the 

 West and California. Never gaining, but al- 

 ways despising, the calm that comes of satisfied 

 endeavor, whether in the establishment of a 

 home, or the accumulation of money, these 

 fast ones are very confident in their ability 

 withal, and in their judgment; making light 

 of difficulties, full of contempt for all know- 

 ledge which has not shown practical and palpa- 

 ble conquests. The owner had planted his 

 farm to vegetables— not an acre of it but 

 bristled with some marketable crop; nearness 

 to the city had warranted it, and "there was 

 money in the business." To talk with such a 

 man about comparative views, or situations, 

 would have been to talk French with him. An 

 unknown advertiser had demanded the very 

 features embraced in his farm ; there they were 

 — the sea, the brook, the wood, and slope. If 

 I wished them enough to pay his price, I could 

 have them. He felt quite sure that I should 

 find nothing that came nearer the mark, and 

 he argued the matter with a strenuous, earnest 

 vehemence, that fairly enchained my atten- 

 tion; and while my admiring aspect seemed to 

 yield assent to every presentation he made of 



35 



