In short, California is a man's land, with male standards of action - a
land where one must give and take, stand and fall, as a man. With the
growth of woman's realm of homes and houses, this will slowly change. It
is changing now, year by year, for good and ill; and soon California
will have a public opinion. Her sons will learn to fear "the rod behind
the looking-glass," and to shun evil not only because it is vile, but
because it is improper.

Contact with the facts of nature has taught the Californian something of
importance. To have elbow-room is to touch nature at more angles; and
whenever she is touched she is an insistent teacher. Whatever is to be
done, the typical Californian knows how to do it, and how to do it well.
He is equal to every occasion. He can cinch his own saddle, harness his
own team, bud his own grapevines, cook his own breakfast, paint his own
house; and because he cannot go to the market for every little service,
perforce he serves himself. In dealing with college students in
California, one is impressed by their boundless ingenuity. If anything
needs doing, some student can do it for you. Is it to sketch a
waterfall, to engrave a portrait, to write a sonnet, to mend a saddle,
to sing a song, to build an engine, or to "bust a bronco," there is
someone at hand who can do it, and do it artistically. Varied ingenuity
California demands of her pioneers. Their native originality has been
intensified by circumstances, until it has become a matter of tradition
and habit. The processes of natural selection have favored the survival
of the ingenious, and the quality of adequacy has become hereditary.

The possibility of the unearned increment is a great factor in the
social evolution of California. Its influence has been widespread,
persistent, and, in most regards, baneful. The Anglo-Saxon first came to