For grandpa in particular she professed a high
regard, because her husband had been his bartender, and as such had
earned money enough to bring his family from Europe, and also to pay
for the farm which had come to her at his death.
Mother and son felt quite at home, and in humor to enjoy their
self-appointed stay of two weeks. Despite her restless eye and sinister
smile, she could be affable; and although, at first, I felt an
indescribable misgiving in her presence, it wore away, and I often
amused Johnnie while she and grandma talked.
As if to hasten events, Mrs. Bergwald had sent for Georgia almost at
the beginning of the visit of the Steins; and after her departure, Mrs.
Stein insisted on helping me with the chores, and then on my sitting
with her during grandma's busiest hour.
She seemed deeply interested in California's early history, and when I
would stop talking, she would ply me with questions. So I told her how
poor everybody was before the discovery of gold; how mothers would send
their boys to grandma's early morning fire for live coals, because they
had no matches or tinder boxes; how neighbors brought their coffee and
spices to grind in her mills; how the women gathered in the afternoons
under her great oak tree, to talk, sew, and eagerly listen to the
reading of extracts from letters and papers that had come from friends
away back in the States. I told her how, in case of sickness, one
neighbor would slip over and cook the family breakfast for the sick
woman, others would drop in later, wash the dishes, and put the house
in order; and so by turns and shares, the washing, ironing, and mending
would be done, and by the time the sick woman would be up and around,
she would have no neglected work to discourage her.
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