"Samuel C. Upham," frontispiece for Notes of a voyage to California, 1878. Larger.
Pioneer days of San Francisco were marked by the daily exchanges of commerce. But mixed with the vicissitudes of business, literary creativity was found in unexpected places.
Gilbert C. Weld died shortly after the untimely death of his daughter. In a poetic obituary for Weld, the journalist F.C. Ewer pays tribute to her.
Thy last sweet letter, treasured as a prize,
I daily read, and think of thee, dear Mary;
Of all thy beauties, all thy virtues rare,
Thy lustrous, bright blue eyes, thy golden tresses,
Thy matchless features, and thy seraph voice,
Thy tender, loving, sympathizing heart—
I think of these, and thousand other graces,
And then my stubborn will, prone to rebel,
Curses the hand which laid thee low in death,
And robbed thy father of his choicest blessing!
But thou art gone! Why should I wish thee back?
Thy sufferings are ended—thou art saved!
Saved from the sins, the sufferings of earth,
The woes, the griefs which rack thy father's heart;
Freed from temptation, trouble, care and pain!
Saved with a full salvation, rich and free;
Boundless as God's benevolence can give,
And lasting as the Giver.
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