come up to New York, and fallen a prey to a designing sharper. Now,
on the other side of the continent, he was master of a business and
owner of real estate.

The day has passed for such rapid progress. California is no longer
a new country, and the conditions of living closely approximate those
in the East. I am careful to say this because I don't wish to
mislead my young readers. Success is always attainable by pluck and
persistency, but the degree is dependent on circumstances.

"How have you made out?" asked Joe of his visitor.

"I've had hard luck," grumbled Hogan, "I went to the mines, but I
wasn't lucky."

"Was that the case with other miners?" asked Joe, who had a shrewd
suspicion that Hogan's ill luck was largely the result of his
laziness and want of application.

"No," said Hogan. "Other men around me were lucky, but I wasn't."

"Perhaps your claim was a poor one."

"It was, as long as I had anything to do with it," said Hogan. "I
sold it out for a trifle and the next day the other man found a
nugget. Wasn't that cursed hard?" he grumbled.

"You ought to have kept on. Then you would have found the nugget."

"No, I shouldn't. I am too unlucky. If I had held on, it wouldn't