rate, not until both are appeased. With the
black coffee and cigar, you can tip your chair at a comfortable angle
against the wall, and watching the delicate wreaths of smoke in their
spiral upward course, previous to final disintegration, smile at the
persistent energy with which an hour ago you systematically worked the
town from end to end, anxiously peering in the windows of uninviting
restaurants until you finally found that little "hole in the wall" for
which you were looking, with the bottle of Tipo Chianti, the succulent
chops and the big red tomatoes, in the window. It is always to be found
if you have the necessary perseverance. The genial Italian proprietor,
with the innate politeness of his countrymen, will not bore you with
questions as to where you have come from, whither you are going, or
what you are walking for, anyway, etc., etc. He accepts you just as you
are--haversack, camera, big stick and all, hanging them without comment
on the hook behind your head; while you simply tell him you want a good
dinner, the best he can give you, but to include the chops, tomatoes and
Tipo Chianti. With a smile and that artistic flip of the napkin under
his arm, which only he can achieve, he sets about giving his orders.
Later on, after a hot bath, a shave and the luxury of a clean shirt,
feeling at peace with the world and refreshed in body and soul, you set
out to examine the town in comfort and at your leisure.

In the mining days, Marysville ranked next to San Francisco, Sacramento
and possibly Stockton, not only in interest but in actual volume of
business transacted. It was the natural outlet for all the foot-hill
country tributary to Grass Valley, Nevada City, and Smartsville. There
the miners outfitted and there, when they had "made their pile,"
they began the process--subsequently completed in Sacramento and San
Francisco--of reducing it to a negligible quantity. That, of course, is
merely a reminiscence, but as the center of one of the most prosperous
grain and fruit-raising sections of the Sacramento Valley, Marysville is
still a place of considerable importance. The old town is very much in
evidence; so much so that, in spite of the numerous modern buildings,
the general effect produced is of age, as age is understood in
California. I doubt if San Francisco before the fire, or Sacramento
today, could show as many substantial, solid buildings dating back to
the fifties.

Chapter IX

Bayard Taylor