The California Birthday Book

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Various
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Title: The California Birthday Book
Author: Various
Release Date: August 27, 2004 [EBook #13298]
Language: English
Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1
0. START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE
CALIFORNIA BIRTHDAY BOOK ***
Produced by The Online Distributed Proofreading Team.
THE CALIFORNIA BIRTHDAY BOOK
Prose and Poetical Selections from
the Writings of Living California
Authors
with a Brief Biographical Sketch of each
Edited and Arranged, with an Introduction, by
GEORGE WHARTON JAMES
Arroyo Guild Press
Los Angeles, California
1909
To the dearest and best
Literary Partner
man ever had:
MY WIFE

whose critical discernment and fine judgment
have materially aided
in making the
selections for this book.
CALIFORNIA--GOD'S COUNTRY.
California--land of the brightest dreams of our childhood; of the
passionate longings of our youth; of the most splendid triumphs of our
manhood. California--land of golden thoughts, of golden hills, of
golden mines, and of golden deeds.
INTRODUCTORY
This book, as its title-page states, is made up of selections from the
writings of California authors. Most of the selections refer to
California--her scenic glories, mountains, valleys, skies, canyons,
Yosemites, islands, foothills, plains, deserts, shoreline; her climatic
charms, her flora and fauna, her varied population, her marvellous
progress, her wonderful achievements, her diverse industries. Told by
different authors, in both prose and poetry, the book is a unique
presentation both of California and California writers. The Appendix
gives further information (often asked for in vain) about the authors
themselves and their work. It is the hope of the compiler that the taste
given in these selections may lead many Californians to take a greater
interest in the writings of their fellow citizens, and no interest pleases
an author more than the purchase, commendation, and distribution of
his book.
If this unpretentious book gives satisfaction to the lovers of California,
both in and out of the State, the compiler will reap his highest reward.
If any suitable author has been left out the omission was inadvertent,
and will gladly be remedied in future editions.
GEORGE WHARTON JAMES.
1098 North Raymond Avenue

Pasadena, California.
October, 1909.
THE CALIFORNIA BIRTHDAY BOOK
CALIFORNIA.

Hearken, how many years
I sat alone, I sat alone and heard
Only the
silence stirred
By wind and leaf, by clash of grassy spears,
And
singing bird that called to singing bird.
Heard but the savage tongue

Of my brown savage children, that among
The hills and valleys
chased the buck and doe,
And round the wigwam fires
Chanted
wild songs of their wild savage sires,
And danced their wild, weird
dances to and fro,
And wrought their beaded robes of buffalo.
Day
following upon day,
Saw but the panther crouched upon the limb,

Smooth serpents, swift and slim,
Slip through the reeds and grasses,
and the bear
Crush through his tangled lair
Of chaparral, upon the
startled prey!
Listen, how I have seen
Flash of strange fires in gorge
and black ravine;
Heard the sharp clang of steel, that came to drain

The mountain's golden vein
And laughed and sang, and sang and
laughed again,
Because that "Now," I said, "I shall be known!
I
shall not sit alone,
But shall reach my hands into my sister lands!

And they? Will they not turn
Old, wondering dim eyes to me and
yearn--
Aye, they will yearn, in sooth,
To my glad beauty, and my
glad, fresh youth."
INA D. COOLBRITH,
in Songs from the Golden Gate.
LET US MAKE EACH DAY OUR BIRTHDAY.
WRITTEN ESPECIALLY FOR THE CALIFORNIA BIRTHDAY
BOOK.
Let us make each day our birthday,
As with each new dawn we rise,

To the glory and the gladness
Of God's calm, o'erbending skies;

To the soul-uplifting anthems
Of Creation's swelling strains,

Chanted by the towering mountains,
Surging sea, and sweeping
plains.
Let us make each day our birthday--

Every morning life is new,

With the splendors of the sunrise,
And the baptism of the dew;


With the glisten of the woodlands,
And the radiance of the flowers,

And the birds' exultant matins,
In the young day's wakening hours.
Let us make each day our birthday,
To a newer, holier life,
Rousing
to some high endeavor,
Arming for a nobler strife,
Toiling upward,
looking Godward,
Lest our poor lives be as discords,
In Heaven's
symphony of love.
S.A.R.,
College Notre Dame, San Jose, Cal.
JANUARY 1.
A NEW YEAR'S WISH.
May each day bring thee something
Fair to hold in memory--
Some
true light to shine
Upon thee in the after days.
May each night bring
thee peace,
As when the dove broods o'er
The young she loves;
may day
And night the circle of
A rich experience weave
About
thy life, and make
It rich with knowledge, but radiant
With Love,
whose blossoms shall be
Tender deeds.
HELEN VAN ANDERSON GORDON.
JANUARY 2.
THE MIRAGE ON THE CALIFORNIA DESERT.
To the south the eye rests upon a vast lake, which can be seen ten or
twelve miles distant from the