THE COUNTRY BOY 185 



were more drummers. Peanut butchers were 

 now selling oranges that had taken the place 

 of apples, and already you could notice quite 

 a California air. With the assurance of how 

 well they thought I'd do there and the sun- 

 shine that had taken the place of rain in 

 Oregon, I was being a better fellow than I 

 should, spending money more freely than I 

 really needed to. 



There was a gaiety in the smoking-car that 

 I wasn't used to. The through passengers 

 were all thoroughly acquainted with one an- 

 other, and the second night I couldn't really 

 sleep in upper eight. So I was thinking how 

 great San Francisco would look, of what art- 

 ists I would see there, and whether the general 

 body of people on the streets would look so 

 different from what they did in Portland. I 

 got up before daylight, and, as the gray dawn 

 came, I could see great streaks of yellow 

 flowers out in the fields we were running 

 through. The atmosphere was different, and 

 I actually felt like an artist, if I could only 

 draw. 



Finally the train ran on to a ponderous 

 ferry boat and was ferried across a river or 



