The California Birthday Book

The Project Gutenberg EBook of The California Birthday Book, by 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
? 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 slopes of the mountains, and when I first saw it, its beauty was entrancing. Away to the south, on its borders, were hills of purple, each reflected as clearly as though photographed, and still beyond rose the caps