CALIFORNIA TAN.
“So you 've been to Californy,” said Mrs. Partington,
with animation, as Smith the younger returned from
the land of gold, with a new suit of clothes on his back,
and enough hair on his face to stuff a mattress with;
“so you 've been to Californy, and they say you have
amazed a fortin.” He assured her, with a twist of his
long beard, and a half-smile, that was a half-affirmative,
that there was not a grain of truth in it; but that he
had picked up a little. “Well, I 'm glad of it, and, if
you 've amazed anything, it is more than I thought you
ever would; but you have paid terrible dear for it, if
you have got to look all your lifetime as bad as you do
now. Dear soul! How terribly you are tanned!”
She said this without her specs, the dark hair having
deceived her, while Ike, more observing, sat watching
his opening mouth as he spoke, wondering if he ever
attempted to eat anything with that arrangement
about it.
