The Splendid Idle Forties — Gertrude Atherton

This volume of short stories forms a very complete picture, or collection of pictures, of the social life of California under the Spanish and Mexican rule, true to the traditions and customs of those fine old days, when the whole fabric of the life was, as it were, part and parcel of what can only now be seen in some of the remoter parts of old Mexico.The Pearls of Loreto -- The Ears of Twenty Americans -- The Wash-Tub Mail -- The Conquest of Doña Jacoba -- A Ramble with Eulogia -- The Isle of Skulls -- The Head of A Priest -- La Pérdida -- Lukari's Story -- Natalie Ivanhoff: A Memory of Fort Ross -- The Vengeance of Padre Arroyo -- The Bells of San Gabriel -- When the Devil was Well