"To my sister and me, the city of Panama was amazingly beautiful, with
its pearl oyster shells glittering on steeple and bell tower, and the
dress of the people as magnificent as the costumes described in the
'Arabian Nights.' In Panama we waited a long time for a steamer. The
town was crowded and many people were ill. My mother was constantly
helping some one until my father forbade her to visit any stranger,
because cholera had broken out and many were dying.
"It was a joyful morning when we boarded the steamer California, steamed
out on the blue Pacific, and headed northward. We had more comfortable
quarters and better food than when on the Atlantic; but never on the
steamer did we feel the sense of grandeur and power that came to us on
the brig when, with white sails all set, she rushed like a bird before
the wind.
"Toward the close of the voyage there was so much fog that our captain
did not know just whereabouts we were, and for that reason kept well out
to sea. One morning there came a rap at the stateroom door, and a loud
voice cried, 'Wake up, we shall be in San Francisco in less than an
hour.
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