nd beamed from his face.

He was baptized at night. The family had gathered in the room. In the
solemn hush of the occasion the whispers of the night-breeze could be
heard among the vines and flowers outside, and the rippling of the
sparkling waters of Santa Rosa Creek was audible. The sick man's face
was luminous with the light that was from within. The solemn rite was
finished, a tender and holy awe filled the room; it was the house of God
and the gate of heaven. The wife, who was sitting near a window, rose,
and noiselessly stepped to the bed, and without a word printed a kiss on
her husband's forehead, while the joy that flushed her features told
that the prayer of thirty years had been answered, We sung a hymn and
parted with tears of silent joy. In a little while he crossed the river
where we may mingle our voices again by and by. There is not money
enough in the California hills to buy the memory of that visit to Santa
Rosa.

End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of California Sketches, Second Series
by O. P. Fitzgerald

*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK CALIFORNIA SKETCHES, SECOND SERIES ***

***** This file should be named 12564.txt or 12564.zip *****
This and all associated files of various formats will be found in:
http://www.gutenberg.net/1/2/5/6/12564/

Produced by David A. Schwan <davidsch@earthlink.net>

Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions
will be renamed.

Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no
one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation
(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without
permission and without paying copyright royalties. Special rules,
set forth in the General Terms of Use part of this license, apply to
copying and distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works to
protect the PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm concept and trademark. Project
Gutenberg is a registered trademark, and may not be used if you
charge for the eBooks, unless you receive specific permission. If you
do not charge anything for copies of this eBook, complying with the
rules is very easy. You may use this eBook for nearly any purpose
such as creation of derivative works, reports, performances and
research. They may be modified and printed and given away--you may do
practically ANYTHING with public domain eBooks. Redistribution is
subject to the trademark license, especially commercial
redistributio