Records of a California Family - Pages 98-138



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The next vessel was a large one from Java, bound for Amsterdam. I wish we 
could meet an Indiaman bound for New York. I doubt if we can send any 
letters home, before we get there, as it is very unusual to stop vessels 
long enough. We shan't do it unless we can throw them on board. So I 
shan't write very long letters, but rather closely, and shall send after I 
get there. 

We have come very fast, thirty-five hundred miles in twenty-two days. We 
were in longitude 28.25, latitude 9.56 today at noon. If we go as fast for 
the next four days, we shall get up to the "line." But the sun is some ten 
degrees south of the line, so we have as yet cool winds. I have to wear my 
fur cape every day, and put on thread stockings for the first time today. 
The dew falls even in the daytime. The sun was out today, and yet by half 
past four the decks were quite wet. And this is mildew. It has turned the 
paint and sails black. The baby's shoes show it plainly. We feel the heat 
at night. I cannot keep anything but a sheet over me, and the door of the 
children's room and the outside one are open all night. 

February 29, Friday. The last day of the month, and so warm, like June. 
Hardly any wind today; only made forty-seven miles. I changed my clothes 
to the old muslin-delaine gown and a thin petticoat, and changed the 
children's too. They do get so dirty; the sun draws out the tar and it 
sticks to their clothes and shoes. 

I feel quite well today. I can eat with better appetite. We had boiled 
salt beef and ham--very nice indeed-beets, turnips, parsnips, baked beans, 
bean soup, potatoes, cranberry sauce, pickles, bread, boiled rice, and 
apple pudding with sauce, and raw tomatoes too--all that for 

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dinner! For tea we have chocolate, water, hot and cold bread, butter, 
cheese, cranberry, cold meats, crackers, and sometimes tarts, cake, or 
pie! 

Saw a ship today, but it did not come near. We live outdoors all the time, 
it is so warm. Today our longitude is 26.25 and latitude 5.49. 

March 1, Saturday. We have not had any rain for over two weeks till today, 
and it came down by pailfuls. Mr. Grover got out his pitcher, Mrs. Bray 
her pail. and I my tub, to get some fresh water, and after it was over we 
all washed out a few things. I only washed my calicoes today, and put my 
white things in soak for Monday. The sailors had a wash, too, and you 
would have laughed to see the lines of clothes; theirs were hung "fore" 
and ours "aft." There were white, blue, striped, checked, and calico 
shirts, to say nothing about the grey ones. We were glad to have some 
fresh water to bathe with, too, for the salt water doesn't take off the 
dirt. It is now seven o'clock, and the children, washed very clean, are in 
bed, and I feel quite well and hope to continue so. 

We had brown-bread cakes, rye and Indian, for supper. Mrs. Bray made them 
and they were elegant--tasted like home. Our butter is soft, but sweet and 
good, and our water excellent, just exactly like yours in hot weather. We 
want ice in it. The Captain sometimes calls for lemon and cider, and we 
all have a nice drink. On the whole we have plenty of everything, and very 
good, all but the flour bread. The flour is not good, and Mrs. Bray says 
she told Mr. Coffin so, and yet he got twelve barrels, enough to last a 
year. Then the bread is so salt--I never eat a bit of it. We have Indian 
bannock, and mush, and crackers and cake 

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and pie, and I leave the white bread for those who like it. The air is 
nice and cool now; the damp which came on every afternoon has not at 
visited us today. The sun came out at noon after the rain and the clouds 
at sundown were beautiful. 

Do you remember reading about the bright light seen in the wake of vessels 
in the warm regions? We often see it. It sparkles and glows like thousands 
of diamonds. There will be long, broad masses of it, with brighter stars 
scattered through. Colton says it is caused by dolphins chasing other 
fish, but no fish can be seen. It lasted all one night, growing brighter 
at intervals as the ship moved up and down in the water. 

One of the sailors got a dolphin today with a spear. It is about as large 
as a shad, and when it dies, it turns different colors. "You ought to see 
it, Marm; it's the prettiest fish you ever saw die," said the steward; but 
it was dead before I got a sight of it. The sailors had it for supper. 

We had boiled rice today with dried apple in it; it is a great 
improvement, at least at sea. Have just been to see the bright light at 
the fore end of the ship, and had to climb up the highest places. Mr. 
Bragdon pushed me, and the Captain pulled me, and I got up onto the edge 
of the vessel on my knees and looked over. It was magnificent, and if the 
stars had not been very bright, it would have been more so. As the vessel 
rose and fell and pushed the waves from her, bright sparks, brighter than 
the stars, flew in every direction. 

We often go out to look at the stars. We have a map of the heavens, and 
Mr. Grover finds the stars, and we all look for them in the sky. The 
Captain knows them very well. 

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I must tell you what great friends Mr. Bragdon and Lizzie are. He takes 
her to see the pigs and chickens almost every day. She loves him very 
much, and always calls out "Mr. Bragdon" when she sees him. When she wants 
me to tell her about "home," it is always about Mamma Wright. She and 
Chester often have a talk by themselves about old times. He will ask her 
if she remembers each of you, and she says, "Yes, I does." 

I must tell you about the cake; I have not been able to eat it before, but 
today it tasted very good, and I gave some to each of the children, and 
they were delighted because you made it for them. Mrs. Bray says preserves 
will keep at sea just twenty-four hours after they are opened. So I shall 
not open any of mine. I have not looked into the chest yet nor taken off 
the rope. Things are likely to keep well in it. They cannot be shaken 
about; Hannah took care of that when she packed it. 

March 9, Sunday. We crossed "the line" last Friday at two o'clock. I was 
not very well and was down stairs at the time, so I did not see it. 
However, as we cross it again, I may see it then. It is quite warm, 
thermometer about 80 degrees for the past week. We had a two-days' calm, 
and then it was very hot indeed, but when we have a good wind and are 
going fast, it is cool out of the sun. We have made about three hundred 
and twenty miles since we crossed the line, and are running down as near 
the coast of South America as we can, about three hundred miles off. We 
have had N.E. trade winds since we were in latitude 30, until Thursday and 
Friday when it was calm. Now we have S.E. trade winds. Usually ships do 
not keep the N.E. trades so long and have to run out toward the coast of 
Africa; we 

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have come faster in consequence. Our baby is a pet with everybody. The 
steward says she is worth her weight in gold, the best child that ever 
was. I put her to bed tonight, and as she was calling to Sarah not to make 
so much noise, and was very still, I looked in soon after, thinking to 
find her asleep. And there she was, sitting in bed and putting little 
strips of paper which she was wetting with her tongue all along the side 
of her bed. When I looked again, she had fallen asleep with her hands 
folded on her bosom, and a little strip of paper beside them. When I asked 
her this morning where you were, she said, "In the kitchen making pies!" 
That was something she was particularly interested in. 

I have done but little sewing for every time it is rough I feel not 
exactly sick, but not far off. I hope we shall have a short passage. I 
washed last Monday again, had two dozen pieces. I soaked them all Sunday 
and changed the water at night. My washing was nearly all done before 
eight o'clock breakfast. Though I had only two waters, both of them cold 
and fresh, the clothes looked better than I expected. I shall not wash 
again till we have more fresh water. We have plenty of showers, but they 
last only a few minutes. Our drinking water, though warm, is still good 
and sweet. We have lemonade or lemon syrup almost every day. Besides we 
have walnuts and apples and raisins. We have no milk, but something that 
they mix with water and use in chocolate. It looks like milk and tastes 
like it in the chocolate. Today we had roast goose for dinner with beets 
and potatoes; all our other vegetables have spoiled. We also had baked 
plum pudding. 

March 16, Sunday Evening. We have warm weather but good winds, and on the 
house in the open air we can 

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keep cool. The sun is very hot, and the tar boils up out of the seams 
between the boards, and the children have got it on their clothes, of 
course. Mrs. Bray has it on hers, too, but I have escaped so far, except 
for the soles of my shoes. I feel much better than I did, id this week I 
have done a good deal of sewing. We have had no rain for a week and I long 
for some. I want to wash. 

Yesterday I wanted to see how the things in the closet were, and I pulled 
them all out. I opened the larger cake box for the first time, and I found 
it looked just as nice and tasted just as good as when we packed it in 
Philadelphia. I cut off a little piece and put it in the box with the 
gingerbread, which is also in excellent order, and then I covered it up 
well and put a paper over it and shut it down tight, and I shan't touch it 
again very soon. The apples and lemons are getting low, so we may want the 
cake more later than we do now; moreover, I want to try to keep some till 
the last, to see how well it will keep. 

We have seen several vessels the past week, one English, going from South 
America to Denmark. We asked her to report us. There is another English 
ship in sight now which has been alongside and behind us for several days. 
She is going round the Cape to Valparaiso. Our time now is three hours 
later than yours. 

Our Captain is one who commands, and no mistake, and he uses language that 
maybe slips out before he means it shall--anyhow it comes out. He is quick 
and gets angry in a minute, and loses command of his temper. 

We saw the Southern Cross even before we reached the equator, very low in 
the sky. It is not a perfect cross; it was on its side, as you might say, 
when we first saw it; but, now 

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it is high, it looks right. Tonight, as Douglas was getting into his 
berth, he said, "Mother, I see a cross in the sky." He had not heard about 
it before. We have beautiful moonlight now; you could read very well, even 
fine print, it is so light. 

March 29. Lat. 29.42, long. 42. For the past four days we have not gone 
over 50 miles a day, and today we have not gone at all. That is, we have 
gone back just as fast as we have gone forward. I dislike these calms, for 
the ship rolls about and It makes me dizzy. I have had two seasick times, 
one pretty bad one, since I last wrote. A gale commenced on Tuesday at 
noon and lasted till Friday, and we tossed about in fine order. We could 
neither stand nor sit and of course must lie down. I read some, and kept 
the children quiet. Chester and Sarah were a little sick. Sarah and Lizzie 
got into my berth and played babies. We could not go to the table. The 
children sat against the side of the cabin, and held their plates in their 
laps, and half the time one would spill his water or lose his spoon or 
tumble over the other. I went to the table once, and my tumbler turned 
over, and rolled down and upset the salt, and cavorted against a plate, 
and was at last caught by the steward. You can't keep hold of your things-
they will move off. And you can no more walk, if you are on your feet and 
there comes a sudden lurch, than you can fly. Down, down you slide till 
you land against the wall, and there you are fast at last and must try it 
over again. 

The Captain was up all Tuesday night, and it was very rough. You could not 
lie still a minute, and when you feel sick is the time you want to keep 
quiet. Now my head was nicely fixed in one way, and in an instant it was 
turned 

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right over. Now my feet were up, and now my head, now I would roll on one 
side, and now on the other--and feeling sick all the time. What with the 
noise of the men pulling the ropes and taking in sail, and the dashing of 
the sea as it came over the vessel with great violence, there was of 
course no such thing as quiet sleep. The only interesting thing was the 
singing of the sailors as they pulled any very heavy ropes. With the light 
ones they only call out "Ho, hi, heap!" that all may pull together; but 
when they go at the big ones, one will sing a line, and then all will join 
in, and such hearty singing you never heard. When they pull the "bowline," 
a large rope which runs through a black tarred block and pulls the 
mainsail (the middle sail in the ship), then the song is "Oh the bowlin', 
the big-bellied (or black tarred, or triangled, or what not) bowlin'!" One 
sings that alone, while all hold the rope; then all join in and sing, "The 
bowlin', bowlin', the black tarred bowlin';" then all pull at once; then 
stop and sing again, and another pull, till the Captain calls "Belay!" 
which means stop and make the rope tight around one of the belaying pins. 
We have the greatest times when we "tack ship," which means to turn the 
ship around. If she won't "keep" after she is turned, but turns right back 
again, as she often does because the wind is not just right, all the work 
is to be gone over, every sail is to be shifted again, and it is no small 
job; such running and calling and "yoho"-ing! I have finished seven shirts 
except the collars, and mended the children's clothes, and almost made 
Lewis' loose-gown. We have had hot weather, one day 88 degrees in the 
shade, but it is cooler now and we have had to put on thicker clothes. 
Sarah's and Lizzie's hair curl all over 

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their heads. We shall keep along the coast of South America; have been 
only one hundred and twenty miles off and are not much farther now. The 
sun sets at six o'clock and the days are growing shorter. No moon now, but 
Jupiter is splendid. Every night the boys have a great time looking at the 
stars, and the baby says, "Stars all about;" she loves to see them. When 
it was so very hot, I let her stay up till seven, and the others till 
eight. I wonder if you have got a long letter started off for me; I hope 
so. Good night. 

April 27. It is a month since I wrote any; I thought my letters would grow 
too long. We expected by this time to be quite round the Cape, but here we 
are, lat. 55.15, long. 61, some two hundred miles from it. Since I last 
wrote we have had all kinds of weather, and such fogs I never saw or felt. 
Everything was damp; sheets so wet that when you got into bed it it was 
just like "taking a wet sheet," only you took two instead of one and a 
pillow besides. And your clothes when you dressed were as damp as if they 
had been wrung Out of water the night before. Even when the sun is out 
this dampness is felt, and in the shade the decks are quite wet. This is 
the real "Cape Horn weather ;" the dampness continues, but the fog is not 
quite so heavy. During the past week we have seen several vessels, but 
none near enough to speak. 

We have had contrary winds almost ever since we crossed the line. The 
tenth of April, when about eight hundred miles from here, a storm began 
which lasted ten days. The roaring of the sea was like a thousand dragons, 
and we were under close-reefed topsails for a week. A large boat which, 
only a few weeks before, had been put in complete order by the carpenter, 
and lashed with large ropes and irons to the 

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side of the vessel, was broken by the violence of the wind and went down. 
Such waves! To use Captain Bray's expression, "It was an infernal, mad 
sea!" It was quite cold, thermometer about 45. Ne could not go to the 
table for two days, the ship polled so. One day even the Captain could not 
sit at the table; nothing could be placed on it. A piece of carpet was put 
over the carpet in the cabin at dinner time, and the pots in which the sea-
pie and the rice were cooked were set on it, the dishes and bread were set 
against the wall, and the steward's boy stood by with knives and forks. 
The Captain sat down with a dish of boiled tongue between his legs, and 
cut it up, and he and Mr. Bragdon had dinner. Mrs. Bray did not get up, 
nor did Mr. Grover until noon. I got up and dressed, but it was as much as 
I could do: As the girls would not lie quiet, I dressed them; but they 
were on my bed most of the time, since none Of us could stand or even sit 
up. The boys got up on Douglas' bed, and so we ate all our meals for three 
days! The Captain would fill two soup plates, and the steward brought them 
to us. I fed Sarah and Lizzie out of my plate, and the two boys ate out of 
one. "Sea-pie" was the order of the day for dinner. Sometimes it was made 
of goose or chicken, or of chicken and fresh pork. It is a thick soup or 
gravy, with dumplings and potatoes and the meat cut in small pieces; it is 
very good indeed. 

I had tough work to keep the children quiet. You must know that the mates 
both sleep in the daytime, as they must watch all night. One sleeps in the 
forenoon, and the other in the afternoon, four hours each. And often the 
Captain takes a whole afternoon nap. As we are all very near, we have to 
be quite still, and it is very hard for the children 

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to keep still for eight hours. But if they are not like mice, they have 
"to take it," especially when the Captain sleeps. I gave them books and 
slates and dolls and papers, and read to them when I could; we could not 
see very well. 

I looked over some Freemans and Newburyport Heralds. I kept the door of my 
stateroom Open, for the window id blind had to be closed as the water came 
in there. One day I got tired waiting for the steward to come for my plate 
after dinner and thought I would carry it to the other side of the cabin 
myself; so I got up and ventured out, but just then the ship rolled a 
little more than usual, and across the room I went quick enough, and bang 
I came up against the other wall. I put my plates down and got back, and 
into my berth, and I did not venture Out again that day. But I was not 
sick, and for that I was thankful. I only feel a little bad now, in 
storms, and I know that Mrs. Bray is sometimes worse. 

It grows colder; the thermometer is now 38 degrees. I have chilblains on 
my hands and so have the boys. We have seen Cape-hens and pigeons, 
beauties; they keep on the water, flocks of them all around the vessel. We 
have also seen whales at a distance. I don't know when we shall get round 
the Cape, we have such constant head winds, often going back. One day we 
went back thirty miles, and we do not average over fifty miles in twenty-
four hours. 

We have had some of the most awful flour; it looked like rye, and the 
bread was almost black. It was kiln-dried, for the California market. What 
we have now is very good and white and makes good bread. The steward makes 
elegant tea-cakes, and we have pretty good dried apple pies. One night Mr. 
Bragdon brought out some frosted plum cake 

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and put it on the table. It had been in an air-tight box for six months 
and was very good, only too Strong of cloves. -Mrs. Bray said it would not 
have kept if the box had not been air-tight; but my box is not, and my 
cake has been made for five months, and if is just as good as ever. Some 
day I am going to bring mine out. Captain Bray wants apples stewed in 
molasses, and I think they are awful. But the stewed cranberries are not 
sweet enough, and I put more sugar on them, for myself and the children. I 
know the Captain does not like it, but I have paid for it and mean to have 
it. May 3, Sunday. Lat. 57, Long. 78. Last Friday we had a sight of Cape 
Horn, which is a very small island. We could see the high mountains with 
snow on the sides. We shall go through the Straits of Magellan. The 
prevailing winds are still southeast, and as we want to go northwest, we 
often go back as we go forward. It is as cold as the first of December, 
and we have no fire. We are almost Out of coal, and the cook uses wood 
with it. We hope in a few days to be where it is warmer. Mrs. Bray feels 
the cold very much indeed. The children feel it very little; even the baby 
wants to go out and run with the rest. I let the boys play outdoors as 
much as they please. The baby thinks she is going to see Mamma Wright. 
Almost every morning she says to me, "I love you so much, and I love Mamma 
Wright, two mammas! My owny, downy Mamma Wright. I her darling, peshus 
baby. She says so, and she give me sugar plums, and I make cakes with 
her." I made Sarah a lot of rag babies, and they all get into Douglas' bed 
these cold days to play with them. They have named them Jane and Hannah 
and Mary. 

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I long to get off this vessel! It is most tedious now, for we can't walk 
or sit on deck, it is so cold and windy. It often rains and snows, but we 
have seen no ice as yet. The lowest temperature has been 38 degrees. The 
average is 45, which is not so very cold, after all. I cannot sew fast 
because my fingers are so cold, but since I got over my first seasickness 
I have lost but few days for sewing. And I do not sit on the floor now to 
sew, but on the sofa. 

Today I looked at my cake again; the plum cake is as nice as ever but 
there was a little mould on the plain one. I could not get at the brandy 
so I washed over the top with a little alcohol. I mean to give the folks 
some slices from the small loaf which I have cut for them. I shan't put it 
on the table, but will take it out this evening. As Mr. Bragdon never 
comes into the cabin, I shall give him some by himself. We had roast pork 
for dinner today, also boiled beef, boiled rice, and plum pudding. 

I long to hear from you! It will be five months and likely six before I 
do, and seven or eight before you hear from me. I often wish I could eat 
supper with you--it is almost supper time now. The sun set last night at 
eight minutes after four o'clock. Captain and Mrs. Bray go to bed at 
eight, and sometimes at half past seven, and Mr. Grover goes at half past 
eight. I won't. I read or sew. Mr. Grover has plenty of books, and I am 
reading Macaulay's History of England which he lent me. He is a sober, 
steady, quiet body, talks little and likes to read. He is walking up and 
down now, goes like an old granddaddy. We have good drinking water still. 

May 18, Pacific Ocean. Long. 77, lat. 47. We thought we should soon have 
warmer weather and a nice quiet time 

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when we got into the Pacific Ocean, but we have had head-on seas and winds 
and it is still cold. This is the warmest day, thermometer 52 degrees. The 
eleventh of May, when we were in the Straits, use had a storm which lasted 
three days. Such seas! One burst through the side of the vessel and did 
damage to the extent of $500. The plank it burst through was of oak, five 
inches thick and sixteen wide. The rush of the sea over the vessel was 
terrible. The sailors have not had dry clothes or beds for a month, and 
their feet and hands are sort from the effects of the cold. But it is now 
getting warmer. While the drinking water still tastes good, it looks thick 
and yellow. Last night we had another gale but it is over now. 

I wonder how you all are and am so anxious to hear from you. We shan't get 
to San Francisco in less than five months, for we have now been out over 
100 days. We have had a tedious time with head-winds and head-seas which 
are worse. Our potatoes, geese, and ducks are all gone, but we have some 
chickens and pigs left, and some cabbage that was put down in salt, and 
rice and macaroni to eat with our meat. The flour we have now is much 
better than we had at first, and our bread and pies are good, though you 
would not think so if put beside yours, nor do I. I must tell you that the 
folks liked the cake very much. The Captain got out a bottle of cider and 
we had a nice time. 

May 21, Wednesday. We have had such a high sea that we have been obliged 
to stay in the house for the last six weeks. Except when it was so rough 
that I had to keep my berth, I have been sitting on the sofa next the 
dining room, in the corner where mother sat that first day when we all 
came down to see the vessel. I am sitting there now, writing 

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at the table, and Sarah is drawing a picture. Lizzie has my bandbox cover 
and a walnut. She has it on her lap, sitting in a chair with her feet in 
another, and she is playing have tea. I asked whom she wanted to see most, 
and she looked sober as a judge, thought a moment, and said, "Mamma 
Wright." I asked, "What does she wear?" She said "glass," meaning 
spectacles. She still thinks she is going to see you and says, "Won't we 
have dand (grand) times when we get to Californer!" 

I must tell you how I spend every day. We get through breakfast about nine 
o'clock. I make the beds myself, and sit down on the sofa to sew, and the 
children have their lessons. Douglas has arithmetic, grammar, and 
physiology, and three or four times a week he writes a composition. 
Chester has spelling, and geography out of a book which Ann Eliza Cook 
gave him. It was all to pieces, but I have mended it nicely and he likes 
it Very much indeed, and he has his multiplications. Sarah spells words of 
three letters and reads, and she begins to read pretty well. These lessons 
are in the forenoon; in the afternoon they run out the back door. They are 
not allowed to go out the other, or to go around among the men. 

Douglas has been nervous at night only once. Mr. Bragdon showed the torch-
light to a vessel that was passing, and the torch had spirits on it and 
smelt Outrageous. Everybody had gone to bed but me. Douglas called out, 
"Mother, what is it? Is the ship on fire?" and I heard Mrs. Bray say, 
"What is it"." The Captain jumped up and dressed and looked about. Mrs. 
Bray still kept wondering, and Douglas insisting that it was fire. He 
opened his window and looked out, and wanted me to step out the back door, 
because he 

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was sure it looked very light that way. Mr. Grover called Out that the 
smell came from the store-room under the Captain's stateroom, so he opened 
the trapdoor but found nothing of course; and then he went out on deck and 
found Mr. Bragdon and his torch, and came in and told us that the wind 
blew the smell in! It was about ten o'clock. 'ye often have hard gales at 
night, and night before last it lightened for a long time. Douglas was not 
asleep. He told me about it, but did not seem the least afraid and soon 
went to sleep. When it storms in the daytime, I get the children around 
me, and tell stories and read and laugh, and never let them see I have the 
least fear. 

Do you remember, Hannah, that you put two jars of jelly into the blue 
chest? I went to get out some work and saw that the cork of one was a 
little loose, so I tasted it. It is plum, and just as nice as when it was 
put up, only sugared a little on top. I put it back, and shall use it when 
our water gets bad. If it were going to spoil, it would have done so when 
we crossed the line. I am sure now that the rest are good. I guess my 
preserves are superior to Mrs. Bray's, or else it is because they were 
boiled so much. 

I am so tired of this ship I don't know what to do! I wish we would get up 
to warmer parts where the days are longer. Now the sun sets at five, but I 
cannot see to sew in the cabin much after four o'clock. I must stop now 
and read to the children. I read some every day. 

May 26, Monday. Lat. 49.19. This is the first really pleasant day we have 
had since we left the same latitude on the Atlantic side. We are now about 
four hundred and fifty miles from Valparaiso, and the Captain thinks we 
shall stop there for water and wood. I am sorry, as it will 

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detain us; otherwise I should not care. We have been twenty-six days 
coming from Cape Horn and sometimes vessels make the distance in eight 
days. For dinner yesterday we had stewed fresh beets and mashed potatoes. 
They had been cooked and put up in air-tight cases and were very good 
indeed. In the evening Mrs. Bray gave us some plum cake which had been 
done up in an air-tight box, very good, but not a bit like yours--about a 
third as many plums, and light colored. 

I don't think I shall send any letters home from Valparaiso, for they may 
be as long going back as we have been in coming. And when we are Out of 
the influence of Cape Horn weather, we shall probably make the rest of the 
voyage very quickly. We have very little wood or water left. It has been 
as cold as November, but today is like the last of September. We are now 
in the same longitude as Philadelphia, and the sun sets tonight at twelve 
minutes before five. 

Something is the matter with my watch, I cannot wind it. Mr. Grover says 
the main-spring is broken. We had a violent gale Saturday evening and the 
children were quite alarmed, Sarah particularly. It began about five and 
lasted till ten, and the sea was very rough all night. 

May 27, Tuesday. Mr. Grover says there is a steamer from Valparaiso to 
Panama once a month. If one should leave just when we get there, we could 
send letters, and you would get them six weeks earlier than if we wait to 
send them from San Francisco; so I think I shall have my letters ready. We 
do not go up to the city, but boats come out to us. We may get there in 
two days, and it may take us a week. 

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June 7. We are about one hundred and fifty miles from Valparaiso and may 
get in tomorrow. For ten days we have not made over one hundred miles. and 
in eight of them we did not go over fifty. You see we take it gradually 
and by degree--no hurry, time enough. My sewing is not all done yet. I am 
making muslin nightgowns now. Today I washed about a dozen pieces. I had 
had no chance for a long time. Indeed it has rained every day for ten 
days, until today, and it rained very hard at five this morning. It was 
good to see the sun come out brightly after that, to have sunshine nearly 
all day, and to sit in it. It is cold, thermometer 56. The sun goes faster 
than we do, and if we stay here, as I fear we shall with such head-winds 
and seas, it will begin to come back to us. The 21st of June is the 
longest day with you and with us the shortest. I am quite downhearted at 
this slow way of getting on; but then I think I ought to be thankful that 
none of us have been sick, and that we have done so well, and that I have 
never felt any fear in any gales. Perhaps you will say they were not 
dangerous enough, but I guess Hannah would have called "Marm!" once at 
least, and mother would now and then have asked the Captain if he did not 
think there was danger, etc. But I never asked him about matters in a 
gale, for to see him was enough. He is as full of business as possible, 
and very careful about sails, etc. He won't let the ship be lost if he can 
help it. But he would not like to have anybody question him. He takes his 
own way in everything, and has it. 

Our Lizzie has almost worn out the doll baby she brought to sea, and 
Chester told her one day she should have his, as he was almost too old to 
play with it. She has named it Zane (Jane) and Sarah's doll Honah 
(Hannah), and she 

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doesn't like it at all if I do not give them a little of everything we 
have to eat--cake or nuts. The Captain's nuts are all mouldy, but mine are 
good and sweet. I give the children two or three at a time and they like 
it just as well as if they had a dozen. I just had to eat a bit of cake 
today, and it was moist and elegant. So it won't go whole to Sonora, and I 
don't know as any of it will get there, if we poke along in this way; but 
I do want to keep some just to see how good it will be after six months at 
sea. 

It is Saturday night and the children are in bed, and every one else 
except the watch. I am fatter than I was when I left you, I thought you 
would like to know, and my hair has grown longer but no thicker, and I 
have plenty of white hairs in my head. I shall be as old as the poles 
before I get home again. The Captain says we shall be five years getting 
to California at this rate; it makes him cross. I have written my letter 
to Peter and one to Lewis, and done them up to mail. I am going to bed. I 
don't like these beds one bit--I long to lie in my own. You folks could 
not subsist on shipboard. If you eat a peck of dirt on land, it is bushels 
at sea. 

Valparaiso, June 10. In sight of port last night, and came in at nine this 
morning. It is very different from what I had expected, very hilly, with 
not a tree to be seen anywhere. We are so far from the city that we cannot 
see well without our glass. In town the houses are close together, but 
outside they are scattered about the edges of the hills and in little 
groups. There are no trees about them except some round shrubs like 
evergreens. The hills are covered with grass and low bushes. The harbor is 
full of vessels; there are four men-of-war. There is one little brown 
house I have 

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looked at so often today; there are two women and some children running in 
and Out. Mrs. Bray saw one of the women with a baby in her arms. Captain 
and Mr. Grover went ashore; they say the streets art like cow-paths. 
Beyond the hills are the peaks of the Andes covered with snow. You cannot 
think how good it was to see land and grass once more. I have had a feast 
of looking, and my eyes ache for it. It was so warm, we could sit out on 
the house all day. The children were greatly interested, Lizzie as much as 
the others. 

You know I thought of sending a letter to Peter, but as I must pay fifty 
cents to send a letter, large or small, to Panama, I thought I would send 
his from San Francisco. You should get this at least a month before we get 
to San Francisco, even if we are sixty days, the usual time. Captain 
brought us some papers, and in them we have California news but none from 
Philadelphia. There is an account in one of them of three vessels which 
were burnt. They were loaded with bituminous coal and bound for San 
Francisco from Baltimore. A lady writes the account; she was on board each 
one of the vessels! No doubt you have read about it. 

We had nice potatoes and fresh beef for dinner today We have taken in all 
the water we need, and the Captain thinks we do not need any wood, and 
hopes to get off tomorrow. 

I see the cheap postage bill has passed, so my letters will not cost so 
much. You could have sent me a letter to Valparaiso if we had known we 
should stop here. I hope you will send me nice long letters. I wish when I 
get them I could sit down in mother's chamber and read them in the quiet. 
But 

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I shall most likely read them on board this vessel, and if it is in the 
evening, all will be as quiet as it is now; no sound to be heard but my 
pen and Grover's. Give my love to Peter and tell him I shall send him a 
long letter soon; I have four pages written already. Give my love to 
everybody in Philadelphia. The children wanted to write too, but I thought 
they had better wait a little while longer. A vessel bound from Boston to 
San Francisco went to pieces in this harbor a week ago, struck on a rock 
in a storm. I think we ought to be thankful for having been permitted to 
come thus far in safety, and I hope we are, and also that we shall get to 
San Francisco in as good condition. 

I have just been out to hear the music on the men-of-war, and to see two 
English vessels come up and anchor beside.us. I shall begin another letter 
as soon as we get away and shall write no more now. Don't forget to send 
me long letters! We are all very well indeed, and "hope these few lines 
will find you enjoying the same blessing.".......... LIZZIE 

July 2. We are now going only four or five miles an hour and are about 
twenty-five hundred miles from San Francisco. We may get there in far 
weeks, or more likely in five. It is evening; Captain and Mr. Grover are 
playing backgammon as usual, Mrs. Bray is knitting, Douglas is reading, 
and Chester is washing his feet. The boys have not worn stockings for 
several weeks and now they begin to go without shoes. Sarah and Lizzie are 
asleep. I get them to bed and to sleep before I let the boys in. I have 
got off my knit petticoat--it was too warm-but as it is still cool on the 
house I wear that quilted coat of Mary's. 

Now you are hot enough and too hot, I dare say! Day after tomorrow will be 
Fourth of July, but it doesn't seem 

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a bit like it here. I remember the last very well, and I guess you do--the 
children and the noise. You will talk it over and so will we. That was a 
very pleasant day. 

Mr. Grover and I sit on the sofa by the table, evenings; the Captain has a 
stool and Mrs. Bray her rocking chair. When it is very rough she cannot 
use it and generally goes to bed the sooner. Mr. Grover has a nice white 
linen coat which he puts on about ten o'clock, but about four in the 
afternoon be takes it off and puts on his old calico wrapper. His shirts 
are blue and white twill, and he has an old black satin vest and boots he 
has mended himself. The Captain's shirts are red flannel in cold weather, 
and white cotton or linen in warm, and he wears all sorts of old coats and 
wrappers in turn. Today Mr. Grover washed a shirt by "towing it;" that is, 
he tied it to a rope and put it over the side of the vessel for an hour, 
and then he rubbed it out and hung it up. Captain and the sailors always 
tow theirs, but Mrs. Bray washes Captain's white ones. 

My large pieces of sewing are all done. I had lace enough for the necks of 
all my fine night-dresses, but lack it for the sleeves of one. Well, I 
suppose I can get some; according to a San Francisco paper which we got in 
Valparaiso, there is everything there, and much cheaper than in 
Valparaiso. Potatoes are a dollar a bushel in Valparaiso and everything 
else accordingly. 

It is very warm at night now. I put Lizzie at the bottom of the bed, and 
it is cooler for us both. She often lies awake after she goes to bed and 
talks to herself. She hears the man at the wheel answer the Captain, when 
he asks which way we are heading, and repeats "Nor, nor east, Sir," or 
"Sou, sou west, Sir." She is quite large and strong. She says, "I 

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used to have a wolling pin, and Mamma Wright had a wolling pin, and we 
used to make cakes togever, that's what we do!" and the idea will make her 
laugh and jump and clap her hands, as she tells of it, and that is very 
often. 

I wonder where you think we are. It will be fully six months before we get 
to California. My little work basket does not seem as strong as expected. 
It is wearing Out around the bottom edge and Mrs. Bray has given me a 
piece of kid to bind it with. We have now the same dampness I told you of 
when we were in the tropics before; everything is damp and sticky Out of 
the sun. I don't like the sea one bit to live on! It has just struck 
"three bells" and all the folks have gone to bed. We have two bells, one 
by the wheel, "aft," and the other beyond the quarter-deck where the 
sailors are, "forward." The one at the wheel is small and is always struck 
first, every half hour. There are eight bells at 8 o'clock, one at 8:30, 
two at 9, three at 9:30, four at 10, five at 10:30, six at 11, seven at 
11:30, and eight at 12, and so on, all around. "Eight bells" are struck 
six times in twenty-four hours. I was a long time finding it out. The 
"forward" bell is a large one, and sounds like a meeting- house bell. I 
love to hear it. They take hold of a short string that is tied to a 
clapper and strike it against the bell. "Your bells," ten o'clock, and I 
will say good night. 

July 6, Sunday evening. All the folks have gone to bed, and it is just 
half past eight, two hours earlier than it is with you. Fourth of July was 
as still as a Sunday; the men had the day and enjoyed themselves sitting 
about. Two or three of them tried to spear a fish that kept at the side of 
the vessel all day, and indeed all the night before (at least we thought 
it was the same one) but it was not near enough. 

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Today with a hook they caught two, which we enjoyed for supper. I 
sometimes feel that the Captain is a very disagreeable sort of a man. I 
know I must consider that he does not like children very well, and hates 
any noise, and that they do sometimes get into mischief. Lizzie was once 
talking in a low tone to me, but she talked for a long time. He was in his 
room. When he came out with a chart, and put it on the table to look at, 
he said in a very unpleasant tone, "I'll put a blister: the end of your 
tongue if you talk so much !" the first intimation I had that he minded 
her prattle. One day he told Sarah she was always laughing, and if she did 
not stop he would "hit her a clip on the side of her head," a thing he did 
not mean to do at all when he said it. He often tells the boys he will 
cram a hot potato into their mouths. Now why can't he just say, "Children, 
you trouble me, and you must stop talking?" He will say what he likes and 
will not be contradicted. I talk very little with him. Sometimes he is 
polite, and then again as glum and rough as a bulldog, just the same to 
everybody. He evidently thinks women are beneath men in every respect; he 
shows that in the way he acts toward his wife. He and Mr. Grover talk 
considerably at table if the Captain feels like it. If not, Mr. Grover 
keeps still, and we often eat without one word being said, except when we 
ask for things. Mr. Bragdon never on any occasion makes a remark unless 
the Captain talks to him about his work; maybe he is not permitted to by 
the rules. He cannot come into the inner cabin to sit down and always sits 
in the outer one. The second mate and carpenter eat at the second table 
and they, with the steward, have a jolly time. He often sits down and eats 
with them, and his boy eats in the pantry. 

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It is very hot this evening and it rains fast. We have come more than half 
the distance from Valparaiso to San Francisco, and should the winds hold 
Out, may get there in fifteen days. We have had an excellent run thus far. 
Every day we fear head-winds and calms. 

Do you remember how Mrs. Bray said she liked to sit and let the spray come 
over her? She has never done it since we came to sea; and what is more, 
the spray never comes over unless there is a storm, and all our storms 
have been in cold weather, when she would not be out--but between you and 
me, I don't believe she would do it in a storm in warm weather! 

July 12, Saturday. I don't know our latitude and longitude. It is half 
past eight, and all abed, so I can't ask, but we are probably within two 
weeks of San Francisco! It is not uncomfortably warm outdoors, but hot 
enough to melt indoors. I get up about half past five. I love to get out 
into the air and see the sunrise, but I have to be as quiet as a mouse 
with the children and Captain and Mrs. Bray all sound asleep. This morning 
I was up before five, and washed a few clothes, and hung them out before 
breakfast--had it all done about seven. I told the steward I must have 
some fresh water, and he said I should. He is very kind and obliging, 
always, at all times. Mr. Grover gets up early, too. One morning I was 
walking as I always do on the house before breakfast, and he came up. He 
is usually as silent and quiet as an old man of ninety, unless the Captain 
is there to talk. This morning he said, "Don't you think, Mrs. Gunn, that 
this is the finest part of the day?" "Certainly I do. The air is so fresh 
and the sun just unit is so cool and pleasant." "Yes," he said, "I don't 
see how 

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Mrs. Bray can endure to stay in bed all these fine mornings. If I were her 
husband, I would have her up. Why, she goes to bed sometimes at seven and 
lies till seven, and that is twelve hours!" I was quite astonished to bear 
the man; it is the first time he has said anything about the Brays. And 
today I was sitting on the house sewing, and Grover was there reading a 
law book, and he said. "I don't see why people can't iron at sea. Did you 
ever see a box iron?" I said, "Yes." He went on, "There is no room for 
other irons when there is cooking going on, and they would get dirty, but 
a box iron is not in the way at all. Mrs. Bray says she can't iron at sea, 
but she gets notions and can think only just so; we might iron as well as 
not." I think so, too, and our clothes would look and smell nicer for it, 
but I only agreed with him that it might be done. 

We are having the most splendid moonlight nights I ever saw in all my 
life, almost as light as day. I like to sit on the side of the vessel and 
look over the water. I often sit there by myself after the children are 
gone to bed. Captain and Mrs. Bray always go up on the house now after 
tea, and Grover goes and talks with them, or "forward" with Bragdon, and 
then "aft" to chat with me. He talks more than he did and takes more 
notice of the children. He and Sarah have had some runs together on the 
house, but I had to stop it because she is so noisy. One reason he does 
not play with them is that the Captain is so cross if any noise is made. 
It is true enough that Mrs. Bray often laughs and talks very loud, but it 
is because she is deaf and does not know how loud it sounds. The children 
often say, "Mrs. Bray talks loud enough. Why can't we?" I shall be 
"powerful glad" to get off this vessel, for I have been on the rack, as it 
were, 

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except at night, ever since we left Philadelphia. The children grow 
wilder, I think, and more full of fun than ever. They laugh and talk and 
run, unless I am right at their side every minute. The Captain puts it 
into them very often. He is all the time telling them not to touch the 
ropes. So many as there are, it is almost impossible for them to let them 
alone. At last I told them, the boys particularly, that if they played 
with them they would have to stay away from the table. It is the greatest 
punishment I can give them, because every one sees they are not there, and 
the children think they inquire why. No one does but the steward, but it 
is as well the boys should think so. Chester doesn't like dry crackers, 
and that is all they have if they stay away. Those who go to table often 
save a bit of cake or pie or bread and butter for the one who stays away. 
It is their own notion and sometimes I let them do it. 

Does it seem as if we should get to California in two weeks more? I can't 
believe it! I can hardly write tonight, for the wind blows so that I have 
to hold my band-box cover before the lamp with one hid, and write with the 
other, and now and then the light is almost out, so I have to hurry for 
fear it will go out entirely. No more writing in the daytime now, because 
the children want to be on deck and I must be with them. When it was cold, 
I could sit in the cabin and give Sarah and Lizzie a paper and pencil or 
paper and scissors to amuse them, and the boys could be out, and the 
Captain would keep them from doing anything he did not wish; but now it is 
warm, the girls are unwilling to stay in, and I want to be out too. So I 
must write evenings. I don't suppose it is very agreeable to "the powers 
that be," but I can't help that. I have the power of doing as 

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I please, and I have the will, and so I please myself! My sewing work is 
almost all done up. 

Oh, dear, how I long to jump into your bath-tub this very minute. This is 
such a sticky, heat! I do bathe every night, but we have rain water that 
has been kept till it has a bad smell, and I don't greatly admire such 
water; and then I have to be so quiet for fear of waking the sleepers, and 
I have such a hot little nutshell to move about in. 

I must tell you about our calm, which we expected and dreaded when we got 
to the Equator. It came last Monday, and it was very calm, and we made up 
our minds that it would last one week. Monday night it rained as I never 
remember to have heard it before; it came down in sheets and it lasted 
eight hours, and the water stood in a bucket, in a place where the water 
could run off into it, eight inches deep. The next day early in the 
morning it was as calm as at eight o'clock the night before, but between 
seven and eight the wind began to blow, and has continued ever since, 
changing a point or two now and then. It is the N.E. trade wind, and the 
Captain says we may have it up to 25 N. lat. Then other winds will take us 
to California. We are now about sixteen hundred miles from there. Now I 
will go to bed, for I am tired. It is nine o'clock here, and eleven with 
you. What nice baths you have all had tonight, and are now in bed and 
asleep, I guess. Good night. 

July 22, Tuesday afternoon. It is ten days since I last wrote. A week ago, 
Saturday night, I wrote until ten o'clock, and then as it was a beautiful 
night, I thought I would step out before I went to bed and look at the 
moon. It was very clear all around it, no clouds near, but on the lower 
part was a dark spot. It was Mr. Bragdon's watch, so 

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I went to him and asked him to look. I thought at once It must be an 
eclipse. He went to look at the almanac, but found nothing about an 
eclipse on the 12th of July. As the dark spot increased, I told him I was 
sure it must be an eclipse and he had better call up Mr. Grover, as he 
might like to see it. So he did, and then went for the Captain. They both 
came out, and the Captain found in his American Almanac that an eclipse 
was due at that time. He got out his glass to look at it, but soon went 
off to bed. Mr. Grover, Bragdon, and I sat up till twelve o'clock, and saw 
it through. But it was not quite total. It was cool before I went out and 
grew cooler, and I put on Mr. Bragdon's pea-jacket. The day had been quite 
warm. Since then it has been at times really cold. I am wearing Molly's 
quilted petticoat. We are now within ten or twelve day's sail of San 
Francisco, and all the warm weather we have had since we left Valparaiso 
was between the 20th of June and the 12th of July, and I don't believe we 
shall have any more. We got Out of the tropics yesterday. We had contrary 
winds for a week. Are now going very well, but the sea is so high that 
yesterday and this morning I felt a little seasick. Eating, strange as it 
may seem, carries it off. I had heard others say so, but did not believe 
it till I found it to be true. 

The steward killed a large pig last Saturday and made sausages, with the 
help of Captain and Mrs. Bray. The steward chopped the meat, and they put 
in sage and salt, and they put in a lot, I can tell you. Then she ran up 
long bags, about six inches wide and two or three feet long, and filled 
them with the meat. She says she has kept sausage meat from fall till the 
next June that way, and it has been 

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perfectly good. When you cook it, you cut off as much as you please 
through the cloth. She also made some head-cheese, "brawn," she called it. 
She did not come out the night of the eclipse. She said she took a peep 
out of the window and went back to bed. I dare say she looked a dozen 
times to see whether '1 r. Grover and I were talking together. He said to 
me one day, "'Irs. Bray is so jealous if I speak to you, that sometimes I 
have thought you would think me impolite." I did not tell him so, but 
sometimes I have thought, when he came in to ask her to look at the sky or 
clouds or something else, he might have asked Mrs. Gunn, too, but I am 
glad, very, that he did not. He likes to sit down and talk to me, but she 
is always looking after us, and keeps at him so that he is tired out with 
her. So he reads and seldom says anything. That night of the eclipse, 
after Bragdon had gone in (he went a little before us), he spoke of the 
Captain's manner to the children. He did not like it. He said I had gotten 
along better than he had expected I should, when we first came to sea. He 
did not like to interfere, but he thought the Captain had treated the 
children badly, but said any other captain might have been as rough, 
particularly if, like Captain Bray, he had been brought up to a sea life. 
I do not know, but I seem to think that he has in some way, by hints or 
remarks, induced the Captain to let the children alone when they play, at 
times when no one is asleep. 

I declare it is as much as I can do to write, for Lizzie is at my hair, 
and pulls me so I can't do anything. She has got up on the table, and the 
others are talking and fixing strings. I can't write evenings, the wind 
blows the light so. Lizzie has run out, and now I will tell you of one 
thing Mrs. Bray 

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used to do, when the pleasant weather carne a after we first got to sea. 
She and the Captain used to walk on the house early in the evening. As the 
children were awake and often calling, I would sit down and read in the 
cabin, which is near enough to our stateroom for me to hear them. After a 
while Mr. Grover would come in with a book, and often not a word would 
pass between us. Often he would sit on a stool and I on my little chair. 
She would say when she came in, and sometimes would call down through the 
sky-light, "Mr. Grover, Mrs. Gunn, I have been looking to see what you are 
doing. I have been all around the sky-light, but I can't see you both, 
etc." And so she would go on, and other similar remarks which I have 
forgotten, all implying that Mr. Grover and I were attentive to each 
other. I had almost forgotten it, till the other day he mentioned it, and 
said she would not have said anything if he had not caught her looking 
down. She had no other way of turning it off, and was ashamed that he 
should look up and see her looking down. The idea never came into my head 
that she would look down, but I behaved just as I should if all the world 
had been there to see. 

The Captain told Mr. Grover that he, the Captain, had grown ten years 
older this voyage. I'm sure his wife has. She is as thin as a knitting 
needle. I forgot to tell you that I have grown fat-I must have gained six 
or seven pounds. Mr. Grover was weighed in Valparaiso and he had gained 
six pounds. He says that he and I and the children seem to be the gainers. 
Douglas is almost as tall as I am, and has grown so that a jacket which I 
made not long before we left Philadelphia I had to open in the sleeves 
today, it was so tight. And so with Chester, his arms are a good way out 
of 

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his sleeves. Sarah's gowns are up to her knees, and Lizzie's too. I long 
for the children's sake to be off the vessel, and I also long for my own 
sake, and Mr. Grover says he longs to be off; so we shall all be glad. 

When the ship has "tacked" and some of the ropes are hanging, the sailors 
let the children help put them on the belaying pins. They rush to do it, 
you may be sure, particularly if the Captain is not there. You would laugh 
to see Sarah. We "tacked ship" the other night, just after tea, and when 
the sailors went round to put up the ropes, she ran first to Bill, and by 
the time he had hung one rope, had done the next one to it. And then she 
ran to Tom and began one with him. He did his as fast as he could, calling 
to her, "Quick, quick"--and the way she did it! The pin was above her head 
so she had to jump on a spar every time she put it over, the wind blowing 
her curls all over her face. As it was after sundown, her bonnet must be 
off. She would race the ship from end to end, the whole time, but they are 
not allowed to go beyond "the house," and the end of the house is "mid-
ships." Once one of the sailors took her forward, and another gave her 
some beautiful shells. She was delighted with this visit, which was 
against the law. Sometimes the sailors give the children bits of twine, 
but the Captain won't let them have it because they are apt to leave it 
about, and the deck of the vessel must be kept just like the floor of a 
house. If he asks Sarah where she got it and begins to scold, she stands 
and takes the lecture but never tells him how she came by it. 

The sailors have been tarring all the large ropes. It is done once every 
year. You must keep a sharp look Out or you will get tar on you, as I did, 
and the Captain, too. Mr. 

Page 130

Grover took good care to "stand from under." I must stop; it is almost 
supper time. 

July 27, Sunday evening. Our nice wind has left us, and what wind we have 
had has been almost dead ahead. Today it is quite calm; we scarcely move. 
You can't think how still it is in a calm; unless you speak very low, 
every word is heard all over the ship. I have enough to do such days, to 
try and keep the children quiet. This morning some large birds came near, 
and the Captain got out his hook and line, but it was "no go." They ate 
off the pork fast enough, but would not take the hook. After tea this 
evening two of the men went overboard for a bath. One, a boy, had just 
taken hold of the rope to come up when a shark was seen. He came up 
quickly enough, but the other did not see it till they called to him. 
Before he got to the rope, the shark was within a yard of him. A moment 
more and probably it would have been too late. All hands were out with 
hooks and spears, but the shark would not be caught and they had to give 
it up. 

There will be an eclipse of the sun tomorrow. Here, if we see it at all, 
it will be at half past five in the morning. As we have had cloudy 
mornings for more than a month, very likely it will be So tomorrow. I hope 
not, and I mean to get up early at all events. 

I have been packing up all my trunks but one, began yesterday. You 
remember I had two large bags and a bandbox. I shall have but one bag, and 
the bandbox is in it. As we have worn out our clothes, they have "gone 
over," especially the boys' things. Sarah's last good pair of muslin-
delaine pantelets will do for just this week, but I have kept Out a pair 
like her blue plaid gown, to put on when we "get 

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there." I can't believe that we shall not spend another Sabbath on board, 
but I hope we shall not. It is quite warm today, as there is sunshine and 
no wind. I guess you are saying tonight, "I wonder if our Lizzie and the 
children are there--it is six months now! Well, if they are, we shall have 
a letter in two months!" I wish I could be sure that you will. You ought 
to have it in August when it is vacation, it will take so long to read. 
Instead you will get it in October; but maybe Hannah will have a holiday 
on some Quaker meeting day, and Mary some excuse--a rain perhaps--and if 
so you won't have to try your eyes reading at night. Did you go to meeting 
today, mother g, I have read in the Bible some, and walked up and down, 
and run after the children--now hushing this one, and calling to that one, 
and fixing another, and reading to another. It is hard work, I can tell 
you, and with all my talking and going after and seeing to them, I can't 
always keep them in order. "Miss Lizzie," the Captain says, "I will put 
you in the pig-pen if you make so much noise!" but he has said it so often 
that now she takes it for talk, and her tongue runs like a mill-clack. 

I washed on Saturday--two dozen pieces. Mr. Grover said it is the last 
washing I shall do on board, but I think I shall wash out a few aprons. I 
shan't have any dirty clothes to take along, or not many at any rate. The 
children will get into the tar; they get "spun yarn" (tarred twine which 
the sailors spin on a wheel) and it is dirty stuff. They try to fish with 
it, and today Douglas caught a crab, a little thing, blue in color and 
about as big as a bug. 

August 8. Here we are, almost but not quite there, about eighty or ninety 
miles off. We shall make port sometime 

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tomorrow! We have had light and changing winds for two weeks. It is as 
cold as November and grows colder all the time. My hands are so stiff that 
I can't write with comfort. If this is summer, what will winter be? 

Mrs. Bray expects to go to meeting on Sunday, and she has her bettermost 
dress hanging on a line, to let the wind "blow out the rumples." She puts 
up her hair in curl papers as soon as breakfast is over. 

I have my trunks almost all packed. I put what cake I have left (almost a 
whole loaf of plum, and it is perfectly good) into the little tin box, and 
filled up the large cake box with work, sheets, etc., that I have made. I 
have spent the last week cutting out patchwork for Sarah. I cut up all the 
stuff I had, and it will last her two years at least. I have used Grover's 
ink all the voyage, and today I told him he should have my inkstand. He 
says he will take it and use it when he writes his law papers. 

The eclipse of the sun did not turn out to be much of an eclipse. No one 
got up to see it but me, and soon after sunrise just at the time when it 
should have been seen, the sun went into a cloud. 

I long for your letters. I hope I shall get them tomorrow. Then on Sunday 
I shall read and answer all I can of them. 

The children are all on tiptoe now. The carpenter is making a boat ready 
to go ashore in. I wish we could get there today and I would have my 
letters tomorrow! Maybe I shall, if we arrive in the morning. If only the 
wind does not die away about noon, as it has every day almost! There go 
seven bells, half past eleven. By the way, Grover told me that he knew 
Margaret Robinson well--he boarded opposite the school. He has lived in 
Philadelphia four years 

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and is twenty-six years old. There, all my news is written out now. I will 
only say that we are all well and we have not been obliged to take a drop 
of medicine since we got over our seasickness, five months ago. 

August 10, Sunday. San Francisco. Here we are! We got in last night 
between five and six, and it was cold like the dead of winter. I had on my 
cloak and was hardly able to stay out even with that on. And it was damp 
like a fine rain. I did not enjoy it at all. 

This morning, just after I got up, and while the children were still 
asleep, the steward came to the door and said, "Somebody wants to see you, 
Madame," and Lewis said, "Yes, I am here." I opened the door, and he came 
in, and we were glad indeed to see each other! Soon one and another looked 
up, and called out "Father!" and a nice time they had. He was here all the 
morning, and as for Lizzie, she would be with him all the time. We have 
had company enough-that Mr. and Miss Jones, who were hurt on board their 
vessel, and several other Newburyport people. Mrs. Bray got several 
letters and has told me the Newburyport news. 

Lewis was here to dinner, went away to tea, and has come back and is 
writing to the New York folks, and I am writing to you. Wasn't it nice 
that he should be here! He came down a week ago, to attend an editors' 
convention. It will close in two or three days. We shall go up to Sonora 
as soon as we can get our boxes; but when that will be I cannot tell, 
because there are other goods to be taken Out of the hold first. But I 
hope soon. 

Lewis says he will send you his paper regularly, and prepay the postage. 

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We anchored off last night and came up to the city today. Lewis got the 
boys some caps, and tomorrow I am going out to take a view of this 
elegantly dismal, cold place. It is almost cold enough for a fire. 

August 12, Tuesday. Ship Bengal. We leave here tomorrow in a steamboat for 
Stockton, thence by stage to Sonora, sixty-five miles I believe. We cannot 
have our boxes; they begin to take out things tomorrow but ours can't be 
got out till the last of next week. I expected to find a letter here from 
you, but was disappointed. Lewis says he got one in June. As my envelope 
is full, I told Lewis he could not put any in here, so he wrote a line in 
Peter's and also to the New York folks. I shall have Lewis' letter from 
you to read when I get home, but I expected one all to myself. Lewis says 
it may have been sent to the dead letter office in Washington. * LIZZIE 

Mother's letter stopped abruptly; the last page was written by my father. 
August 10. San Francisco. Last night, about ten o'clock, I was informed of 
the arrival of the Bengal, and that all were safe and sound. Owing to the 
fog, I could not go on board until this morning at daybreak. I found all 
well and hearty, and fat as pigs. The baby, now three years old, says she 
loves Father, and sticks by me all the while. She is a precious and 
beautiful child. All the children behave very well. Elizabeth never looked 
better. It so happened that I was in San Francisco, attending an editors' 
convention. Wasn't it lucky? I tell you, there are several happy hearts 
just now in San Francisco that a few days ago were somewhat troubled from 
constant expectation. As soon as the vessel has unloaded, we shall go to 
Sonora. We take a 

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steamboat for Stockton at four in the afternoon, reach the latter place 
the next morning, and jump into a stage coach which gets us to Sonora by 
sunset. 

My own health is excellent, and my prospects very encouraging. 

Remember me to all, Your affectionate brother,.......... L. C. GUNN 

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