he women, too, flashed their bright eyes less
angrily upon their invaders--accepted pleasant compliments without a
sneer, and even Dona Angustia Ximenes, who took a solemn oath upon her
missal a few months before, never to dance again, until she could wear a
necklace of Yankee ears, relented too, and not only swept gracefully
through waltz and contra danca, but when afterwards one of our young
officers became ill with fever, she had him carried from the tent to her
dwelling, watched him with all a woman's care and tenderness, as much as
though she had been the mother that bore him, until he was carried to
his last home. Yes, bella Senora, you may swear the same wicked oaths
forever, and still be forgiven by all those who witnessed your
disinterested devotion to poor Minor.

Gradually these good people became aware that the Yankees were not such
a vile pack of demonios as they first believed, and thus whenever
guitars were tinkling at the fandangos, or meals laid upon the board, we
were kindly welcomed, with the privilege of making as much love, and
devouring as many _frijoles_ as may have been polite or palatable. Upon
visiting the residences of the townspeople, true to the old Spanish
character there was no attempt made in show or ostentation--that is
always reserved for the street or alemeda, but a stranger is received
with cordiality, and a certain ease and propriety to which they seem to
the "manner born." With the denizens of Monterey, even the wealthiest,
cleanliness was an acquirement very little appreciated or practised, and
I should presume the commodity of soap to be an article "more honored in
the breach than the observance." For being given to cold water as a
principle of lady-like existence I was something shocked on one
occasion, to find a nice little Senorita, to whom I had been playing the
agreeable the night previous, with a chemisette of a chocolate hue
peeping through a slit in her sleeve; her soft, dimpled hands, too, made
me speculate mentally upon the appearance of her little feet, and I
forthwith resolved, in the event of becoming so deeply infatuated as to
induce her papa to permit a change of estate, to exact a change of
raiment in the marriage contract.

The occasion of inspecting the arena of this young woman's vestments was
during a visit to her portly mamma, and I may as well, by way of
example, describe my reception. The dwelling was a low, one story pile
of adobies, retaining the color of