Eulalia Callis de Fages, a beautiful young woman from Spain, was married to the much older Pedro Fages, the soldier who became the first Governor of California. Leaving a plush life in Mexico City to make an arduous journey over sea and land by ship, mule and foot, she eventually reached Monterey to discover a primitive dusty settlement with buildings made of mud and straw.* * *She huddled into as small a bundle as she could as the lancha pulled rapidly away from the unfriendly harbor. Between the oarsmen bent to their long sweeps she could glimpse the warehouses, the ribs of a ship under construction. Her tear-filled eyes watched her lovely coach on the shore. One window sent a glancing wink as a ray of the westering sun struck its glass. The flash blinded her.She buried her face in her hands and wept for the velvet upholstery, the silver lanterns, the cushions, the twinkling wheels
About the Author: Virginia Stivers Bartlett was born in Langdon, North Dakota. Later the Stivers moved to California, which became Ginie's home for the rest of her life. Schooled in Alaska and California, Ginie attended the University of Southern California, writing for college papers, newspapers, and other publications in Los Angeles, Alhambra and Pasadena-including Sunset magazine, Touring Topics for the Automobile Club of Southern California, and the Los Angeles Times Magazine. She also wrote for radio broadcasts, and collaborated with her native Californian husband, Lanier Bartlett, on the book Adios!-based on the life and adventures of Joaquin Murrieta. The couple then wrote a screenplay from the book that was made into the Warner Bros. movie "The Lash." ("The film did okay in the States," she said, "and even better overseas.") When asked how she happened to write Mistress of Monterey, Ginie told of studying a great deal of California history while writing Adios! "Time after time I ran across references to don Pedro Fages and his spitfire wife. All California historians have sentimentalized about Junípero Serra; I wanted to treat him humanly and psychologically." Her love for the culture of early California contributed to her own lifestyle, and the authenticity of her writings. "I've done a lot of talking and singing of the old Spanish songs for clubs," she wrote. "Made quite a study of the old native music, and educated all my native California children [Charles Noël, Natalie St.Cyr, and Warren Stivers] in the history of their State. Love to wear the Spanish costume, and to cook the Mexican and California cookery as well as to eat it. Large circle of friends among Spanish and Mexicans here." Ginie also said she'd enjoyed "Very wild and thrilling times in Lower California, being entertained by Mexican generals and other officials, with balls and 'box fights' given in my honor. Haven't seen a bullfight, but hope to." At the time Mistress of Monterey was first published, Ginie was living in a hillside cabin under a California live oak, and speaking California Spanish. During the War Years, she served in the American Red Cross. [Provenance: The above information was extracted from the Author's Questionnaire Ginie completed for the initial Bobbs-Merrill publication of Mistress of Monterey.]