vy and my brain was weary.
However, a good sleep under the roof of those whom I loved was all the
tonic I needed to prepare me for a fair start in the new career, and
grandma's assurance, "This be your home so long as you be good," filled
me with such gladness that, childlike, I promised to be good always and
to do everything that should be required of me.

Most of the emigrants in and around the Pueblo of Sonoma were Americans
from the western frontiers of the United States. They had reached the
province in the Summer or early Autumn of 1846, and for safety had
settled near this United States Army post. Here they had bought land
and made homes within neighboring distance of each other and begun life
anew in simple, happy, pioneer fashion. The Brunners were a different
type. They had immigrated from Switzerland and settled in New Orleans,
Louisiana, when young, and by toil and economy had saved the snug sum
of money which they brought to invest in California enterprises.

They could speak and read French and German, and had some knowledge of
figures. Being skilled in the preparation of all the delicacies of the
meat market, and the products of the dairy, they had brought across the
plains the necessary equipment for both branches of business, and had
already established a butcher shop in the town and a dairy on the
farm, less than a mile from it.

Jakie was busy and useful at both places, but grandpa was owner of the
shop, and grandma of the dairy. Her hand had the cunning of the Swiss
cheese-maker, and the deftness of the artist in butter moulding. She
was also an experienced cook, and had many household commodities
usually unknown to pioneer homes. They were thus eminently fitted for
life in a crude new settlement, and occupied an important place in the
community.

A public road cut their land into two unequal parts. The cattle corrals
and sheds were grouped on one side of the road, and the family
accommodations on the other. Three magnificent oaks and a weird,
blackened tree-trunk added picturesqueness to the ground upon which the
log cabin and outbuildings stood. The trim live oak shaded the adobe
milk-room and smoke-house, while the grand old white oak spread its
far-reaching boughs over the curbed well and front dooryard.

[Illustration: PLAZA AND BARRACKS OF SONOMA]

[Illustration: ONE OF THE OLDEST BUILDINGS IN SONOMA]

The log cabin was a substantial three-roomed structure. Its two outer
doors opened wi