to congratulate him."

She was not anxious to die; very few people are. So she listened, and
allowed herself to be over-ruled. She was really proud of her son's
manliness, though she would not have admitted it. They went off to stay
a fortnight, and both improved so much they remained a whole month.

Janey and Polly Odell and another cousin came to visit Hanny, and had a
fine time seeing the city sights. Then Daisy came home, school began,
and wonderful events were happening all the time.

The old story of Eldorado repeated itself. Strange rumours ran about
like wildfire in meadow grass. A Captain Sutter was having his mill-race
on one of the forks of the Sacramento River deepened and repaired, when
a workman accidently discovered a shining nugget that proved to be gold.
Crowds flocked to the spot: men who had been in the army, adventurers
who had followed Fremont in his prospecting journeys; and they found
gold on every hand.

When Congress opened, President Polk proudly announced the wealth of our
new possessions. It was Mexico and Peru over again. The Spaniards had
not despoiled the whole earth.

Men talked themselves up to fever-heat. Why plod along years making a
fortune, when here you could dig it out of the ground in a few months!
As if wealth was the great and only good to mankind.

Now, when one flies across the continent in a palace-car, it seems
strange indeed to think of the long journey of these pilgrims to the
land of Ophir, as it was called. The overland route, that across Mexico,
or the isthmus, comprised the sail to Vera Cruz, and then up the Pacific
coast, and was costly. That around Cape Horn took five months. Yet men
were selling their property or business that they had been years in
building up, leaving their families, and hurrying off, promising to be
back in a few years, millionaires perhaps.

The Underhills were not seized with the mania. There were several other
matters that occupied their attention. John was to be married in
January, and to go in business with his employer, who would be his
father-in-law. And in December, two granddaughters were added to the
family.

Hanny was quite dazed with the conflicting claims. Margaret's little
girl had large dark eyes like Dr. Hoffman, and dark, silky hair; while
Dolly's daughter was fair. Margaret's baby was really beautiful.

But in her secret heart the little girl thought no baby in the world
could ever be the sweet and joyful surprise tha