Excerpt from The Associated Pioneers of the Territorial Days of California, in the City of New York: Organized February 11th, 1875 In rising on this delightful occasion, the re-union of so many old Californians at this sumptuous banquet in this great city on the Atlantic, after a lapse of so many years, my mind is filled with past reminiscences. The presence of the men who surround me, the decorations of this room, commemorate and awaken such stirring recollections of the early American military occupation of California, and its subsequent acquisition and marvel ous growth, so overwhelm me with circumstances and exciting incidents, that I find it difficult to say what should be said in honor of the toast to which you call upon'me to respond. Indeed I feel like getting off by playing the dodge that the distinguished comedian Barney Williams sometimes does when similarly situated, by singing a song, or by telling the story of his country man who was thrown violently from his horse. Upon being assisted by a fellow countryman, he was asked whether he was dead. N 0, not dead but spaclzless was the reply. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.