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Collection: Books and Periodicals
Three Years in California by John D. Borthwick (1857)(LoC) (423 pages)
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Page: of 423
46 HOUSEKEEPING.
tion of stone, and nearly every one of them was a
gambling-house.
Scattered over the hills overhanging the town,
apparently at random, but all on specified lots, on
streets which as yet were only defined by rude fences,
were habitations of various descriptions, handsome
wooden houses of three or four storeys, neat little
cottages, iron houses, and tents innumerable.
Rents were exorbitantly high, and servants were
hardly to be had for money ; housekeeping was consequently only undertaken by those who did not fear
the expense, and who were so fortunate as to have
their families with them. The population, however,
consisted chiefly of single men, and the usual style of
living was to have some sort of room to sleep in, and
to board at a restaurant. But even a room to oneself was an expensive luxury, and it was more usual
for men to sleep in their stores or offices. As for a
bed, no one was particular about that; a shakedown on a table, or on the floor, was as common as
anything else, and sheets were a luxury but little
thought of. Every man was his own servant, and
his own porter besides. It was nothing unusual to
see a respectable old gentleman, perhaps some old
paterfamilias, who at home would have been horrified
at the idea of doing stich a thing, open his store in
the morning himself, take a broom and sweep it out,
and then proceed to blacken his boots.
The boot-blacking trade, however, was one which
sprung up and flourished. rapidly, It was monopo-