Excerpt from California Sketches: New and Old My motive in publishing in this form is not a bad one. It is not literary ambition; for I am conscious that the risk is equal to the possible gain in that direction. It is not to put a shadow upon the memory of the dead, or to inflict a pang upon a living soul. My motive is such as all noble Spirits would approve, but which need not be stated here. With these words I send forth my little book, leaving it to its fate. One of these chapters is from a different hand. Which one it is, is left to the discrimination of the critical reader. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.