accustomed to moving, that she takes it as easily as
an Indian child would. A few days before we left, she gave me an account
of the moving of the man opposite, which was all accomplished before
breakfast in the morning. First, she said, he put all his things on a
wagon, and then took his house to pieces, and put that on; and then he
and the wagoner sat down and drank a pot of coffee together, and started
off, on their load.

We did not take our house with us, but found a rather dilapidated one,
in what is called Old Alameda. It is quite attractive, from the trees
and vines about it, and the spacious garden in which it stands. It is
owned by an old German woman, who lives next to us. She is rich now,
and owns the whole block, but still holds to her old peasant customs,
and wears wooden shoes. Opposite is a French family, who go off every
year to a vineyard, to make wine; and, next to them, a poor Spanish
family, who carry round mussels to sell.

MARCH 3, 1879.

We have had a real winter; not that it was very cold or snowy,--that it
never is here,--but so excessively rainy as to keep us a good deal
in-doors. The grass grew up in the house, and waved luxuriantly round
the edges of the rooms. The oak-trees surprised us by bursting out into
fresh young green, though we had not noticed that they had lost any of
their hard, evergreen leaves.

APRIL 10, 1879.

While we were crossing the ferry between San Francisco and Oakland one
day, a peculiar-looking person appeared on the deck of the boat, who
saluted the assembled company in a most impressive manner. He was a
large man, serene and self-possessed, with rather a handsome face. On
his broad shoulders he wore massive epaulets, a sword hung by his side,
and his hat was crowned with nodding peacock feathers. I noticed that he
passed the gates where the tickets are delivered, unquestioned, giving
only a courteous salute, instead of the customary passport. Upon
inquiry, I learned that he was the "Emperor Norton, ruler of
California," according to his fancy; and that he passed free wherever he
chose to go,--theatres opening their doors to him, railroads and
steamers conveying him without charge. He was an old pioneer, distraught
by misfortunes, and humored in this hallucination by the people. He was
in the habit of ordering daily telegraphic despatches sent to the
different crowned heads of Europe. He had once been known to draw his
sword upon his washer-woman, beca