IMAGE EVALUATION TEST TARGET (MT-3) /. /^. 1.0 I.I 1.25 21 IIIM 1.8 U IIIIII.6 ^ /a 'c>l ^^ %. >;-' *5«* oi;* %' y /^ Photographic Sciences Corporation 33 WIST MAIN STRHT WEBSTER, N.Y. M580 (716) 872-4503 <^ o .., XX.ID. f/^ ./}. / ^ »4! ll* ^^■Q *>]".'".•> THOMAS m:ls()\ and sons i.oihion, luiinbiiri^h, a>td Xc-a< \\)ik 1890 GENERAL VIEW OF THE YOSEMI VIFW OF THE YOSEMITE VALLEY •;k P^hi r f /./... I rcfacc. -M- s O^FE portions of what follows have alroacly appeared ill the form of letters, partly in ouo journal, partly in anotlier. ]Many frirnds, interested in what they read there, have expressed a desire to have a more fidl and connected i-ecord of my tour, T haN'e therefore r(>cast the whole, and added nearly as much as was contained in the original pa]-)(>rs, krcping- up the style of easy letters, so that the wliolc might l>e regarded as written (as much of it was) in th(> railway carriage. The ])Ook is neither more nor less than ii(;tes of a holiday tri]); and I cuniot hope hy means of it: to do moi-e than enahle others to share tlu^ information and tlu^ pleasure which the tri[) imparted to the travellers themselves, and ])erhaps add a litth; tihunent to the cord of interest nnd regard that binds together the two great sections of the Anglo-Saxon familv. & * 4 CS'ontcnto. I. KI>INi;i'KGH TO rmi.ADELPIlIA, H. ISALTIMOUK TO {'IIICAOO, III. I'llAIIUE, AMI COLOKAOO UOCKIKS, ... ]V. SALT LAKH CITY AND THE MOUMONS, V. THE YOSEMITE VALLEY, VI. LOS an<;eles, VIL hfOUTHEUX CALIEORNLV AS A FIELD I'OK EMlCiiATluX, Vlll. "OUT AND ABOUT," IX. SEASIDE ON THE PACIFIC, ... X. SAN FKANCIHCO, XI. NORTHWARDS TO BRITISH COLUMIUA, XII. THE CREAT CANADIAN HIGHLANDS, XUI. THE NORTH-WEST, MANITOBA, AND TcHiONTO, XIV. NIAilARA, XV, NDRTHFIELD AND HOMK, APPENDIX— PROHIBITION IN THE UNITED STATES, 9 '22 oS ... 4-2 ... BJ i;i SI) ... 89 ... 97 ... V.)fj ... ilf) ... 1-2G ... loO ... 1C8 ... lU ... 1-19 I o O O o I I SUM AI KR SUNS rN° THE FAR WEST. CHAPTEU J. EDIXnURGlI TO riJlLAIMLLriJIA. IT was on a elioqiu'vcd day of ^Vpril 1889 tliat, leaving lionie for a long furlong! i, my wife and T got on board the Furws/ia at Greenock, amid tlu^ usual excitement over luggage, and the terror lest some package intended for })res- ent use should lose its way and wander into the liold. An Edinburgh winter is a somewhat serious thing both for men and women wlio are not altogether backward in the service of the public, and a long holiday seemed vc^y desirable for both, if we were to return to harness, and siiend the eveninsf 'J. o of life in activ(> s(>rvice. Having a married son near Los Angeles, in South(>rn California, we determined to direct our footste])s thither and S})end a few weeks in that semi-fabulous region. Some of our worthy friends thought that, being well on in the sixties, we were tit for the lunatic asylum in under- taking such a journey at our time of life, ^^"e pointed out that modci'ii ti-avej had b(>en reduced to the simplest of arts : that we had just to go on Itoai'd the steamer at Greenock and M 10 EDlXnURGII TO VUILADELVUtA. \' t! conio out of it at New Yoi-k ; that it' a\'c pleased we iiiiijflit then go on board a Pullman ear at New York, loll in nn easy- chair 1)}' (lay and repose in a sleeping-berth by night, and couie out six days after at Los Angeles ; and that the I'isks incuri-ed were really not niueli greater than in tlie Morning- side street car, or the ferry-boat to Ijurntisland. Still, wise people shook their heads. And very eni})liatieally the direc- tors of an insui'anco company sliook their corporate head, when r v.'ishcd to purch.ase from them a couple of accident })olicies. After extra pi'ciiuiims had been clapped on for travelling in /Vmerica, and other adjustments made, the ar- rangement suddenly colla})sed at the eleventh iiour. Tt tui'ned out that at our age accident policies wouhl not be granted on any terms ! No wise com]iany would vouch for such decrepit lives. I confess 1 was more amused than disappointed at tlie extraordinary caution of the worthy directors, though there was no tiuie to ifplv elsewhere. We were led to think more of the uiis"eii Trotectoi-. Anyhow, we did not uiind the refusal ; possibly because grapes ha\e a way of turning sour when you cannot reach tliem. Happily our luggage eauie togelhej- all right, and our berths were fairly couifoi'tai»le; but it was midnight before we weighed anchor, and the working of the engine and rattling of the chains, as the crew kept lowering tlie cargo, gave us a concert of the most hideous music undei' which weary pil- griuis (>\er tried to woo sleejt. ]\le»'ning, as usual, found us at .Moville, on the uorth coast of Ireli.nd, where we took on board our Celtic contingent in wonderfully good condition. TwicM! befoiv I had witnessed \\\(\ same process at (Queens- town ; but whethei- if, was that Moville is in ristei-, or that theeomlition of the Iri^h pe;isaniry lias improxcd, our ]iivs- I'Ut eungrant cargo Mas by far th- best -conditioned I had ever seen. I )vmeiii]i«r noticing once at (,^>ueensl(»wn that though numberless girls were almost in ra<% there was EDixBunan To niiLADKLPjfiA. n *1 '* I none tli;it wanted a guni-tlower ; and the toilet of one poor girl attracted my special notice, she having a boot on one foot and a shoe on the other. There was nothinu" of this sort on board the Fnrnessia. All told, we were more than twelve hundred souls on board, and on the whole v/e were a ha])py family. The weather was cold but not rough, and thcrt' was a minimum amount of sea-sickness. We "-ot very friendly with one another : it is wonderful how friendly you become during a voyage ; and, alas ! it is wonderful how soon your fi-icndships pass out of mind. There is not much variety of scenery on the Atlantic. Oui- one excitement was a shoal of big whales, some of which came so near the ship that we were almost able to make their individual acquaintance. Sunday brings a change — a l)leasant change, 1 cannot hel)) thinking, to most. I con- ducted service on both Sundays, both in the saloon and on the foredeck. Good Friday seemed likely to pass without any recognition, till a deputation from the intermediate cabin came to me and ask(>d me to hold service tliere. It was an awkv.ard })lace, but t'nc service was tlu; heartiest of any we held, 'i'ljore can b(^ little privacy for intermediate and steer- age [)assengers; and each evening the intermediates had a con- cert, or recitations, or something of that sort, in their dining- room r triumph of in- dustry and ai't. Tliere us(h1 to be a story of a Po[)(! asking an American ]iili;riiii to the Vatican whethei- the aborigines or the English were the more numerous in Is'ew York ! lUit we must I'ass in haste from (he sentimental to the battle of life, and submit the contents of our ti'avelling-boxes to the ke(m (ye of the custom-bouse olllcer. Whether he was oxci'- awed by our resj)ectabiliry, or otherwise impressed in our favour, we kuuw not. but he gave us a xci-v ( iisv insoection. We bade a hasty adieu to our fellow passengers— such of them as were within reach- and in half-jin-hour were comfortably quartered in the (Irand I'liion Ilotel. Aly long and well-known connection with the (lenei-al Presbyterian Alliance (called by the pul)lic the '' l*an Pres- byterian," and by the i)rofam! (he "I'an"), whi.-li brings Americans and Scotsmen into right friendly I'clations, pi'o- curod for me an unexpected weh-onu'. Px'foi-" I h;id left the steamei", a minute of the Anu'ivican brancli was placed in my hands, couched in very complimentary terms, welcoming me to America, and appointing my dear friend I >r. Sehall" and tliree other fi'i(«nds to loek aft( r m(> in New ^^)rk, and iiold some kind of publii- meeting. The public nieetinn' was out of the (piestion, for I was unable to rem lin Ion"- enough in EDrxncnaiJ T(t ptjjladi:lpiita. 13 4 it !l New York ; ))ut T)r. Scliaff wns l-rind onoiiuli to invito some fi'iciids to his house, uiid we had a most pleasant evening. In a New Yorlc paper, Tlt^ Scaf/is/i Anwrican, t1u> company was given, all well-known in New York — Dr. and 3Irs. Tal- ipot Chambers, Dr. and .Mrs. duhn Hall, Dr. and Mrs. Cnyler, Tiy. and .Mrs. Waters, Dr. and .Mrs. J. S. Hamilton, Dr. and ]\lis. I'^llinwood, Professors Bhedd, Briggs, Hastings, 15rown, and \'incent; S. K Drownell, Esq., Dr. Field, and many others. I could only utter my hearty thanks for so kind a welcome, all the more that I was travelling in an eiitirely private capacity, and the last thing 1. was looking for was such a recognition. it was a good opportunity for express- ing what has long heen one of my vei-y earnest feelings — the desire that nothing may (!ver hap})en to disturh the friendly relations of the two great hranches of the English people, as Pi'ofessor Ereeman has called them, hut that r»ritain and the Unit(>d States may ever move on hand in hand, united and coi'dial, in every measure iitted to advance the civiliza- tion and the Christianization of the world. New York was all astir with preparations for the celebra- tion of the Washington (Vnteiuiial, which canu; oil' about this time. lUit it would detain me too long to describe' that or any other New \'oik scene. ! was greatly interested in the sermon of llishop Potter, in which he made a hold and cMi'iiest ellbi't to r(>Htore (he iiolitical life of the countiy lo the state of purity it enjoyed when it bore the; impress of Washington's nobh^ character. It was amusing to watch the newsj)ape]' war which followed. It was too strong a dose f(ii- those patriots who can stomach nothing ])ut eulogy and adnnration ; but it struck a deep <'hord in all (he nobler souls of the country. 'I'he universal iuid simultaneous honour paid to the meuiory of Washington by so many millions of people could hardly fail of good result. It could not but be us(>ful to r(Mnend)er that the one thing that made him great was his i 14 innxFjURoir to pniiABEiniJA. lioncst and ])rofound regard for tlie welfare of his peopl(\ and that what endeared his nieniory to millions, and made them proud of him, was his patient devotion to duty, his saerilice of self, his indiir(M'<'nce to wealth, honour, and pleasure— his one object in life to serve his country. " Go, and do thou likewise," ^"citied the ajtpropriate a})})lication to e\(>ry i>ul)lic man in America of every oration, sermon, or speech delivered on the occasion. Among the objects which I was anxious to accomplish dur- ing this visit, one was to get at tlie truth respecting the pro- hibition movement in the country. One hears such oi)[)Osite opinions. "A great success and blessing," say some; "an utter failure," say others. " As much drink consumed under nominal prohibition as Ix'forc with th(» addition that the law is brought into eontemj)t. and with the further addition that the di'ink is dearer in price and worse in (piality." "A won- derful increase of both material and moral prosperity." The truth, r knew, must He l)etween these extremes, but whi're- about between '< Within the last fi^w days the state of ^iassachusetts iiad voted decid('(lly against prohibition, as the state of Pennsyl- vania did afterwards, when the question was tried thei'(> in June. 1 eallcreased. My. Maynard had begun I EnixnuRon to viiiladelpjtia. 15 a series of articles in the Nev^ York Observer j-ivino- the re- suits of his inquiry. T asked him what he thought of the Massachusetts vote. He said he was not in the least sur- ])rised. Prohibition was a very strong measure, and like the abolition of slavery, it would cost many a battle to achieve it. He had tlie iirmest conlidonce that in the course of time it would prevail universally in America, and would be as decidedly held to be the right thing as the abolition of slavery was now. I asked him about the highdicense system which now exists in some states. Licenses in some instances cannot be got undcT £200. Mr. Maynard did not think they had done any such good as to render the agitation for prohi- l)ition superfluous. Other friends whom I have consulted are more friendly to the high-license system. It has shut up an iunnense luurber of low drinking saloons, but of course it has brought increased custom to the richer drink-sellers. One thing J see very clearly : one must make careful discrimina- tion between one place and another in deciding what measures are best for temperance i-eform. Short though our time was in New York, we resolved to have a glance at two things—the Central Park and the P>rooklyn Bridge. Nineteen years ago T had visited the Park, which was then only beginning to awake to a con- sciousness of what it might become. T well remember the (juai-ry hoU^s, the heaps of rubl)ish, and profusion of ungainly things scattered abroad. But this wilderness has blossomed as i\\{\ rose. In a f)'iend\s carriage we drove luxuriously over the gravel paths, through gi'oves of greenery tastefully brightened by the blaze of (lowers and the gleam of marble statuary. The carriage di'ives were dottcnl with mounted police, ti'ained to catch runaway horses wheth( r attached to carriages o)- loose. Tlu; gallery of art and the mus(>um of natural history have been placed in the Park, as well as the zoological coll(>ctioi), as inducements to the citizens to make 16 I-DlNnURCnr to VIIfLADELPIlIX li'll it a place of frequent resort. Perhaps some of our coq^ora- tions at home luighi take a hint from thi^. As for iJrooklyn liridu-e, it is a marvellous structure to be hunp;- on a cou^de of chains. Nine years ago, if T rememhcr rightly, a slim lino like a spider's thread \vas all that ^vas visible— a small hv- cinninu- for so wonderful a result. I found it diilicult to convince Americans that our Forth P>ridgv was a vaster undertaking, and that they would need to apply themselves to something still greater if they asi)ired to own the most notable bridge in the world. Though California was our destination, we had so many kind friends in some of the eastern states that we arranged to spend a few days at Philadelphia, Baltimore, Cincinnati, and Chicago on our westward way. And everywhere we were received with such hospitality that our great difficulty was to break away. We had to complain that, tliougli going ahead was the great feature of the country, they would not let us go ahead. Philadelphia had a special intei'est ; for it was there the reunited General Assemblv, to which 1 was sent as a dele- gate from the Free Church, was hekl in 1S70; and it was there, too, tliat the second (leneral Presl)yterian (Council ((he "Pan") met in 1S80. Alas! not a few of our dearest friends lioth in Phihulelphia and New York liad passed away in the interval. It was pleasant to see that, as tljc old stanilard- bearers fell, there were other men to take the colours. The Women's Foreign JNIissionary Society, a grc^it institution, which has llourished wonderfully, and greatly [)romoted the mission cause, Avas holding its annuid meeting, attend(Hl ])y moi-(! than live hundred woukmi. My wife was carried ott' to the nuM-ting, and received a most gratifying recc'ption. Sh(> was nmch struck by the business cajiacity and great energy of the Ajnerican women. During the year they have collected 1-15,000 dollars— say nearlv X30,0U0. EnrxBunaii to piulabel'piua. 17 They have one hundred and forty-six missionaries in foreign countries, of whom seventy have been sent out during the year. It would be worth while to give a full statement of their work, as contained in their annual report, and, what would be even more interesting, a statement of their methods. But space forbids further reference. One of the secretaries of the society was the daughter of our host. A son in the same family was secretary to the Christian Endeavour Society. This is a society having objects some- what similar to that of our guilds at home. But while the society is so far denominational that each congregation has its own branch, the whole is united in one great con- federation, somewhat like the Presbyterian Alliance. The society holds a great annual meeting, which took place this year at Philadelphia. My friend was busy with prepara- tions. It was expected that four thousand at least would be present — not all as delegates. I think the actual number was between six and seven thousand. There were members present fi'om California and otlier far-distant parts of the country. Distance is no buc-bear to American travellers. Philadelphia is building a magnificent city hall, on a mag- nificent site at the union of Broad, and High Streets. The only pity is that the building obstructs the continuous view which there used to be from end to end of these fine streets. The new erection is of marble ; and as it lias to wait for annual approi)riations of money from the city, it advances but slowly towards completion. A new feature of Phila- delphia, as also of New York, is the immense blocks of offices and other business chambers, for which eight stories is now a moderate height. The enormous cost of building areas necessitates this arrangement. The old Edinburgh houses of ten or twelve stories are being left behind. I heard an American repeat the somewhat apocryphal story of a man who, one of the tall Edinbur;2:h houses, 'P (107) •V~i 18 EDIXBUROH TO rillLADELPHlA, passed a servant girl cleaning a window about the fifth story, and remarked to her, '•' Eh, lassie, sic a clype I'm gaein' to get ;" but it iiiis^ht be fathered now on Kew York or Phila- delphia. There is no trouble getting to the top of these Titanic houses, for they are all furnished with one or more " elevators," oi-, as we should call them, " lifts," which land you in a few seconds in any story you wish to visit. Hy- draulic pressure furnishes the power, and the only drawback to your satisfaction is pity for the monotonous life of the man or boy in charge, engaged all day long in working the apparatus. The Amerirnns have a wonderful way of scenting out meii (and women too) who are supposed to be able to speak in public. Professor Shaw of Lincoln University, son-in-law of an old friend (his wife is a dau^'hter of the late Rev. William Arnot of Ediubui-gh), found us out at Philadelphia, and invited us to pay a visit to his college. Mr. Shaw being an old student of mine at EiUnburgh, and his wife an old friend of us lioth, brief though our time was, we could not but accept the invitation. Lincoln L'niversity is situated between Philadelphia and Baltimore, and is designed for training m(>n of colour for the ministry. It is of recent origin ; and though it has made excellent progress during its short career, the term "universitv" (as in many other in- stances in America) denotes not what it already is, but what it aspires to be. Though under Presbyterian aus})ic(;s, it is open to young men of all evangelical denominations; and it has no fewer than one hundred and sixty students. The only department of the university thoroughly equipped is the theological. Professor Shaw lias the chair of Hebrew, and he maintains stoutly that negro students are as capable as any other of proficiency in Hebrew, and indeed in all other branches of liberal study. He maintains that the mixture of blood is not the expl.i nation of this, inasmuch as 3 .a w. .r-& EDIXBURGH TO PHILADELPHIA. 19 )liia, liaw ^vife we y is ned cnt its in- liat t is id it The is ew, ible all I the 1 as students of pure blood are just as capable as those of mixed. This, I know, is not the universal opinion ; for instance, Mr. INroody, who has a great power of knowing men, does not regard the negro as equal in capacity to other races. Of course there was a reception, and I was introduced to the professors and tlieir wives, and to some of the ministers and residents in the surrounding district. One gentleman introduced himself to me as the first professor of the English Bible in an^^ college in the world. He drills the students in the Bible, making them comir^'t to memory many suitable passages, and sustain examinations on important portions of it. Men of colour are not the only students who would be better for this exercise. Before T got to Lincoln, Professor Shaw had wired me for a "talk." I agreed to irive a lecture on Livino-stone and Africa, though I had no written materials, and happily it interested them quite remarkably. Some of them were pre- paring for ser\'ice in Africa, and the name of Livingstone was dear to them all. In fact, the hall in which I lectured was called Livingstone Hall, having been the gift of an admirei of the great missionary. A 1)1 ack student opened with an excellent prayer, and another closed. In a Presby- terian divinity colleger there is little scope for negro eccen- tricity, such as we ofttMi hear of. The men work for their maintenance during the recess, and for the most part pay the cost of board. They are not at all particular as to what they work at. At Professor Shaw's we were served by a coloured waiter in full black dress and copious linen breast. He was one of the students, or "boys," as the professor called them, and his business was that of a waiter. In towns like Balti- more it is said that some negroes iiave made a little fortune by " waiting." Thore arc two points connected with the negro race on which I was desirous to get information — negro religion and 20 EDJXBURGH TO PHILADELPHIA. M negro social prospects. It is well known that the great majority of i\w negroes, especially down south, are either Baptists or :\[ethoclists. Vncler the shadow of these systems they have more scope to indulge their native tastes. The element that predominates in their religion is the emotional. They are fond of singing hymns, of appeals to the senses and the imagination, but do not usually care for appeals to the intellect and the conscience. I was told, for instance, of a native preacher who had given out one of the commandments for his text, when a liearer rose up and told him, " We don't want to hear notliing of that sort here ; you stop, and give us the gospel." It reminded me of what T had heard of a negro woman who had stolen a goose but would not own it, that on(3 Sab])at]i morning she informed her mistress that she was ffoinii; to the conmnmion. Ifer mistress remon- strated, as she had never " 'fessed the goose." "Well, madam," she said, '* I don't deny that I did take it; but if you suppose that for the matter of one goose I am going to deny my Saviour, you are much mistaken." On a certain plantation there was a most eloquent and powerful negro preacher. There had been much depredation on the planta- tion, and it occurred to the owner to enlist the services of the preacher to deliver a sermon against stealing. He said he understood he was a vcTy imprc^ssive preacher. The negro in reply "guessed he could do it pretty smart." He then asked him to preach a sermon on honesty. The preacher's face assumed a strange look. No, he said, he could not do that; for if he gave out such a subject, it would throw quite a chill over the congregation. On the other hand, I have heard of negroes and negro preachers as blameless and pure of life as the whitest of the wliite. And some of them are powerful preachers, despite their grotesque com- position and pronunciation. At Lincoln University, and I have no doul)t at otlier seminaries, the tone of instruc- EDiXBunair to puiladelpiiia. 21 lers not (row ki land of tom- and ruc- tion reives an emphatic chock to any divorce of religion and morality. With regard to negro social prospects, tlie proLlem of the future is just where it was. No appreciable progress has been made in the way of amalgamating the two races with each other. The churches are feeling themselves obliged to agree to some compromise on the subject. The difficulty of brincfiniif black and white into one baffles all of them. Coloured peo}»le don't commonly like white ministers, and white people have still more determined objections to black pastors. When a Synod or an Assembly meets at any place, no white family will take in a coloured delegate. The con- sequence is that virtually separate churches have to be formed for white and black. The ]\Ietliodist Church has a coloured Conference, and the Southern Presbyterian Church has a coloured Synod. In some sense these are parts of the white organization, but otherwise they are separate. When I was in Baltimore I found that two of mv friends in that city — Dr. Jose]>h Smith, and Dr. Leftwich, of the First Presbyterian Cliureh, for both of whom I officiated — had just been south, conferring with delegates from the Southern Church on co-operation in work among the negroes, and it was in this direction that their proposals ran. It is dis- appointing to find that we are so far fi'oiu a satisfactory solution of the problem ; but it is a characteristic of the American people not to wait till they can secure the optimist arrangement of any question, but to do the best they can in the circumstances. If America had not made good use of this rule, it would never have been the country that it is. CTIAPTKR TT. BALTIMORE TO CHICAGO. OUn next visit was to Baltimore. It is a line city, v.'itli more of the air of Old Enirland about it than most cities in the States. It derives its name from an English nobleman, and traditions of tlu; olden time H(>eiii to hover over it, as if loath to depart. AVe had a particularly warm reception from the friends who entertained us in Baltimore. They re^^resented a family of some mark that had been long settled in the city. We luu' made tht ir ac([uaintanc(' in Switzerland some years before. We could not but recall the family of Philij) the evangelist, but instead of four d.iughters who were virgins our host had s('^•en, and instead of prophesy- ing they were all busily engaged in Christian labours of love. The city has a wonderfully fine park — Druid 1 lill. It was in great beauty, greatly improved since our first visit. I believe it was formerly the pro}>erty of som(3 scrubby old man that would let nobody into it ; now it belongs to the citizens, and they do enjoy it, from the least even to the greatest. A well- frequented park has a great social effect, drawing a com- munity togethei', and forming a bond between rich and poor. And the gold of the evening sun, stealing through leafy thickets, and transfigui'ing all with heavenly glory, has a thrilling eirect, one would ho))e a good effect, sluggish though human beings are to respond to the silent influences of nature. BALTDfonr: to cure ago. 23 The sensution of JJaltimore was over the approaching opening of the Johns-Hopkins Hospital. It must be ex- phiined that Mr. Johns-Hopkins was a very rich merchant, far from open-handed in his lifetime, who, when he could keep his seven millions of dollars no longer, left them to found two institutions — a university and a hospital. Through the kindness of President Gillman we were shown over the university buildings ; and another officer showed us the hospital, which was opened publicly the day after we left. Both arc on a very high scale, especially the hospital. Every contrivance for the benefit of the sick and for the efficient carrying on of the work of the hospital that modern skill has discovered is brought into full play in the arrangements. I believe the arcliitect was sent over the world to inspect all the chief hospitals in existence, and get from them every arrangement that experience had devised for their efficient management. The university has been chiefly distinguished for physical research. Its many publications have already procured for it a distinguished place, and it seems likely that it will accomplish much more. 1 found considerable anxiety prevailing in Christian families on account of the appoint- ment of some ])rofessors whose views inclined to scepticism. Christian parents did not like to place thfjir sons under the shadow of unbelievers, whatever might be the branch of study, and some young men had gone to Princeton who would naturally have studied at the Johns-Hopkins. It is believed, however, that the trustees will be more careful in future appointments. The college is undenominational, and, like other American colleges, is governed by a body of trustees, the first having been named by the testator. The hospital is a fine and imposing building; but the university is scat- tered over a considerable number of separate erections, and none of fliem is sufficiently imposing to correspond to the importance of the institution. » 24 BALTIMORE TO CHICAGO. n Some of tlie marble houses of Baltimore are very beautiful. But there is a green-stone in the neighbourhood with which architects are but too prone to play fantastic tricks. A church which presents sundry stripes of this green-stone has gained from an irreverent public the name of " The Church of the Holy Zebra.' It brought to mind a church in another city, with a tall and very narrow spire, which has suggested the name of "The Church of the Sacred Toothpick." We cannot linger over the institutions of Baltimore, but the Peabody Institute, with its large library and art collection, deserves special notice — a link of connection between the old country and the now, and a token of that cordial feeling which made ]\Ir. Peabody the benefactor of both. Our friends at Baltimore had ari-anged for us a day's pleasant excursion to Washington. We were greatly struck with the improvement of the capital during the last nineteen years. Thackerav's designation " the citv of niai>-nilicent distances " is ap})licable no longer. Its vacant stances are now occupied by handsome public buildings and private residences. The trees lining the residential streets, that were mere sa])lings in our recollection, are now of tolerable size. The carriage-ways, that used to be so rugged, are paved with asphalt. Foi' once in an American city you see not a few symbols of royalty, but it is over the doors of the foreign embassies. Great Britain of course mounts the lion and the unicorn over her embassy — a respectable residence with very little style. The most remarkable chang(^ in ^^^ashington is the completion of the National Monunnmt. It is a plain obelisk, towering to the height of above live hundred feet, traversed in tlie intei'ior by an eleN'ator, wliidi, if you can secure a place in it, will carry you to the top in less than ten minutes. There you will find a magnilicent \i(;\v of the meandering Potomac at your feet, and of the other ol)jects of interest about Washington, round and round. If you I '■X I BALTIMORE TO CHICAGO, 25 I descend hy the stair, j'-ou will find an opportunity of reading the names of the states, cities, companies, Sabbath schools, societies, and individuals that contributed to the building of the monument. I could not but think of the cjreat Christian temple of the apostle, that glorious edifice to the erection of which all tribes and peoples and tongues arc to contribute their share. We had hoped to have a private interview with the President, but by some unexpected contretemps we did not succeed. So we went with all the world to the White House at one o'clock, merely to shake hands. As soon as the clock struck, the worthy gentleman came into the room l)y a door in the farther end, as quietly as possil:)le, and stood rather helplessly near it, as the citizens crowded past. He looked substantial, but l)y no means brilliant. There was no little business power evinced in his face, such as you miglit expect in a successful Indianapolis lawyer, who had the reputation of having seldom or never lost a case. H(^ is an elder of the Presl)yterian Church, and at Indianapolis was actively interested in church work. His father-in-law, the Rev. Dr. Scott, a ^■(>ry aged man, resides with the family. ]\Ir. Harri- son has laid down a nde for hiuisi^lf that he will do no busi- ness on Sundav. He claims it as the dnv of rest, niid main- tains that the President needs rest as much as the poorest mechanic. Anothei' step in the direction of Sabbath rest lias bpou taken by ]\Ir. Wanamakcn*, the postmaster-general. Tlie dooi's of the Washington oilice are closed eveiy Sunday. r am hiippy to say that there seems to be a general move- ment in t!i(^ country at present in favour of a better observ- ance of the Lord's day. Many of the railway companies are reducing the number of freight trains and excursion trains. The want, of a Sabbath in many parts of the country is recognized by tlu^n as hurtful to the [ihysical welfare of the peojOe, as it is by others to their moral and spiritual good. 26 BALTIMORE TO CHICAGO. I The civil service of the United States has got into such a bad groove that it must be extremely difficult for any President to move it into a better. Innumerable situations throughout the whole country are thrown vacant at every presidential election, and it has been too much the practice of the new President to rcwanl liis friends by the gift of these. As far as I could learn, the new President is honestly trying to continue ellicieiit men of whatever party in office, and remove those only whose qualifications are deficient, or who w re placed in office for mere political ends. But the matter is often complicated, and probably he will not fully please either party. Dr. Hamlin, minister of a very handsome Presbyterian church, called the Cluirch of the Covenant, had asked me to take part in his service next day, but previous (mgagements prevented. The President holds a pew there, JNlr. Secretary Blaine another. Secretary of Treasury ^^'indom a tliird, and Postmaster ^\'anamaker a fourth, it might almost 1)0 called the Church of the Cabinet, ft is ;i recent erection, and cost upwards of '200,000 dollars. ()n(> day the spire subsided; it did not (>V('U fall over on the I'oad, but simply sat down, having been badly built. A good many thousand dollars were needed to build it uj). It is on(^ proof of the greater w(>alth of America that sums are often (expended on cliurch buikling that would simply overwhehu us in Scotland. It must be remembered that a ('om[)lete eluuvli establishment embraces not oidy the church proper, but a cliapel for lesser gather- ings. Sabbath-school l)uildings to any amount, j)arlours for committee and other meetings, a ])astor"s study and a pastor's house, all fitted up with handsome carpets and other furni- ture, the cost of the whole probably (k)uble that of a chui-ch alone, (,'hristifui liberality is a mnr\('l to tlu! world, (\\va\ though it has far from reached the limit of its ea}tacity. From Baltimore our destination was Cincinnati, cMstant i BALTIMORE TO CHICAGO. 27 six hundred miles. We had to find our way through the Alleghany Mountains, and far from an easy way it was for the railway. But the route from Harrisburg to Pittsburg, which occupies the greater part of the day, is extremely beautiful. Along sweet river -sides and through wooded mountains, by banks and braes that are well deserving of a poet's song, you are whirled along in a constant succession of beauty. At the famous "horse-shoe" the line has to double ii})on itself — an operation of which we afterwards came on some much more extensive specimens. Among the towns we passed was ill-fated Johnstown, reposing softly in the mellow sunshine, witli its busy population of 30,000. Had we only known what was to happen, we should not have been satisfied with the cursory, careless look that hardly impressed its features on our memory. It was but a week or two after tliat a dam burst a few miles higher up the valley, creating a tragedy of destruction hardly ]iaralleled. in history, the loss of life being variously stated between fifteen thousand and three thousand. At the time of the accident we wer(» ne;iT Los Angeles, and from one of its ministers, the lie^ . J. L. llussell, who had quite recently been transferred from Altona, in the innnediate neiglibourhood of Johnstown, and who was intimately ac- quainted with many of the suiiercrs, we learned some sad particulars that had not appeared in the newspapers. Among these was the case of a young lady who had been borne away on a piece of wreck, and remained in the water sixteen hours, terribly bud'eted. Her clothes were torn off her, and she was utterly exhausted when she was found by her brother. He had to clothe lier with some of his own garments, and carry her on his back yix miles before he could get any- thing done for her. Some peojile were reported dead, or at least mad, who were really safi;. Among these was a INTr. Fulton, a gentleman in good business, and president of the i^ ; .■ m 28 BALTIMORE TO CHICAGO. Amendment Committee— that is, the committee that was then trying to get prohibition carried in Pennsylvania. A friend meeting him congratulated liim on being alive, and alluded to the rumour that he was dead. "Did you not know," said ho, ''that I could not die before the 18th of June 1 ■' That was to be the great voting day. The news- papers were full of tales, all tales of tragedy, but many of heroism and noble effort. Conspicuous among these was the case of an unknown horseman, who, when he saw the v-'ater beginning to rush out at tlu^ bottom of the (>mbankment, galloped down the valley, exhorting nil to escape to the mountains, but was himself swept away and swallowed up in the roaring flood. We reached Cincinnati after a night in the sleeping cars. Under the kind cliargc^ of Dr. Morris of Lane I'heological Seminary, we had a most agreeable ^'is^t here — '' n, good time," though hurried — were introduced to many of the citizens, and f(>asted l)v a brother Scot who rejoices in the title of the "oil-king." Cincinnati is a prosperous and remarkable city, was once the rival of Chicago, but lias been outstripjied in the rare by its old competitor. I cannot but ]iote a little fact that gave me no ordinary satisfaction. A poor boy, whn had been a scholar in tlu! Sunday school at Pilrig when I was minister there, had found his way to (Cin- cinnati, and having procured for himself a training as a lawyer, was now one of the foremost lawyers, and one of the most exemplary and lilxn-ai Christians, of the city. Well do 1 remember i\w. dingy house in which liis family lived, in that same dingy street, then called JNIoray Street (Spey Street now), where Thomas Carlyle sjient some years of his Eilin- burgh life; and well do 1 remember the feelings with which 1 used to call on that boy's mother, and another worthy motlu^r in the same stair, lioth struggling hard to bring up BALTIMORE TO CHICAGO. 29 large families aright, amid great difficulty and much sorrow. They did need comfort, for they were fighting a hard but noble battle ; and both of them had great cause to thank God for his blessing, which in the evening of their life came in more forms than one. Bread cast on the water is found after many days. Apart from the personal aspect of the case, I looked on it as a remarkable illustration of the open- ness of the path to success and distinction in the United States. Tlie poorest boy (James Garfit^ld, for instance) may find his way to the very toj) of the ladder. Cincinnati brought me another joy. An esteemed minister told me he knew of two, if not three, young men who had been led to devote themselves to foreign missions through reading the "Personal Life of Livingstone.'' !., From Cincinnati a day's travelling brought us to Chicago. Chicago is everywhere a household word, the symbol of mar- vellous progress and extraordinary enterprise. But every one knows about Chicago. Two pleasant visits were paid to the Presbyterian and Congregational theological seminaries, in the latter of which I found an old student of New Col- lege, Edinburgh — Professor Scott — enjoying a high reputa- tion both as a professor and a pi'eachei-. The Presbyterian seminary owes not a little to the late JMr. M'Cormick, after whom it is named, well known among our farmers in con- nection with the M'Cormick niaping-machine ; and it is a pleasure to add that his son is following in his steps. Part of our little time at Chicago was spent under the roof of the widow of one of the earliest traders in the place — the late Mr. Hubbard, who settled at Fort Dearborn when there were but two housc^s in the neighbourhood. He became a very prosperous citi/en, and owned a fine house and garden in the city. When the great fin* broke out on tlu; other side of the river, there was no idea that it would cross over In 30 BALTIMORE TO CITICAGO. t 1 ' I. to his neighbourhood. After it had burned for many hours, his wife at night was looking sadly out at the blazing city, and seeing an unusual brightness, begged Mr, Hubbard (who was in bed) to come and look at it. Seeing the direction the fire was taking, he became alarmed, roused his liousehold, filled liis carriages with books, pictures, and whatever else of value was portable, and sent the whole to the houses of friends at a distance. Ere long the house was burned to the ground. Some of his furniture was stolen, Inif was after- wards discovered in a house in th(> suburbs, and recovered by its rightful owner. ]Mi". Ilubbai'd never rebuilt his house, and the site on wlii';h it stood, with a cavity in the centre, stands to this day, a touching mf>morial of one of the greatest calamities that have happened in modern times. Flow many stories of the like kind might Cliicago tell ! The chief interest of mv visit to Chicago was in connection with ]Mr. Moody, lie was just at the end of a month's labour in his own church, which is situated in tlic nortli end of the town, in the immediate neighbourhood of Mrs. Hub- bard's house, not far from the site of Dearborn Fort. The spot where he counnenced his home mission work when an employe in a slioe-store is not far oil'. It was a great pleasure to meet again the prince of evangelists, and find him directing all his energies to make his work more aggres- sive, and to train agents to go to the h.aunts of sinners and urge the careless to come in. It seemed to me that uncon- sciously, perhaps, h(^ was taking a lesson from Dr. Chalmers. He was very particular in urging that, when the careless did come in, they should get a repast suited to their wants, and not be chilled by that cold formality which seemed to him the bane of all the churches. I was twic(> in his churcli, on a week-day and o)i the Sabbaih. T.oth tim.'s li(> constrained me to give a woi-d. I heard him give a li-eture on the thirteenth chapter of 1st Corinthians, and afterwards at BALTIMORE TO CHICAGO, 31 Northfield I heard him preach on subjects equally practical. I asked him whethei he was not preaching more than he used to do on the application of Christianity to daily life. *' Yes, I am," he replied. The readiness of human nature to abuse free grace had impressed itself on him, and the need of "line upon line, precept upon precept," had become a burn- ing conviction. But Moody knew well what many do not know — how to connect the inculcation of a thorough obedience in every-day life with living faith in Christ, and not doom poor weak human nature to struggles and burdens for which its strength is quite unequal. I was more than ever impressed with the fact that Moody is a man sui (jeneris. Tliore will never be a school of Mood vs. His methods will i)ot be carried out in full by other men. But besides the success of his evangelistic work, he will always be remarkable for tlie impulse which he imparts to Christian workers towards ])lainnoss of speech, earnestness, and consecration. There will lil:ewise be a constant increase of reverence for the Bible under his in- structions and example. Moody is a man of one book, and it is a singular testimony to the everlasting freshness and fulness of the Bible that everything which he ever has taught, or ever will teach, is derived from it alone. I rather think that now that he is entering on the work of permanent organization he will find that what to liim has been a strong point hitherto is really a weak point — I mean his being un- connected officially with any branch of the Church, and his acting solely on his own responsibility. We had no time to see much more of Chicago on this occasion than a saunter through the streets and a drive through its fine Lincoln Park and other suburbs allowed. One institution, however, did connnand our special attention — the Women's Christian Temperance Union. I^ xS always known as tlie W.C.T.U., letters of wliich the saloon-keepers li '' ! >5 r I 1 , 32 BALTIMORE TO CHICAGO. have their own interpretation — *' Women constantly torment us." Its office is in one of the largest blocks in one of the chief commercial streets. The building — it all belongs to the W.C.T.U.— cost 800,000 dollars, but a great part of it is let out for offices and warerooms, tlio rent going to pay interest on mortgages. But the temperance women liave very large accommodation for themselves. They have business offices, and editorial sanctums, and an entire printing and publish- ing establishment. The lady secretaries and the lady editor seem quite at home in tlu-ir places of business and in the whole round of their work. The weekly temperance journal, the Union J:^U/}ia/, with a circulation of abo\'e fifty thousand copies, is edited and published by chem. The president of the Union is j\Iiss Willard, usually regarded as the most eloquent woman in America. ]\[iss Willard is one of those who have strongly urged the formation of ''a third party," — that is, a party whose one object shall be to secure pro- hibition, and which will support any prohibitionist candidate, be he republican or democratic. This action, however, does not meet with the a})pro\'al of all the temperance party (and I agree with them), both because they dislike mixing up their cause with party politics, and because they do not con- sider the policy in itself to be the best for the temperance cause. But the women's establishment looks like business, and shrewd vigorous women they seemed who were at worl: within its walls. I '* f I CHAPTER III. PRAIRIE AND COLORADO ROCKIES. 4 ,1 WE took our tickets by tlie Chicago and Union Pacific line riglit from Chicago to our final destination, Los Angeles, with "stop-over" rights by the way; and I have to acknowledge the courtesy of the railway authorities, b(^th of this and other American lines, in allowing me to travel at the rates which clergymen of the country are usually charg(^d. We left Chicago about mid-day, and no- thing could have been more delightful than the motion of the Pullman car in which we had our seats. Whether it had more india-rubber in its construction than other cars, or whether the level surface of the prairie made it run more smoothly, certain it is that its motion was hardly more perceptible than that of the (>arth itself. We moved all afternoon and evening through the i)leasant prairie country, admiring the level fic^lds, and the soil as rich and soft and loose as if it were all mole-heaps, looking as if the plough might glide through it as easily as a boat through water. It was easy now to understand how these prairies were so ad- mirably adapted for raising grain and cattle. About seven in the evening we came on the Mississippi. It was our first sight of th(^ king of waters. 1 am afraid I am of very gross teinporament, for the sight impressed me but little. There was of course a large body of water, but what one missed I II 11 34 rilMIUF. AM) COLO/tADO ROrix/I^S. was somo visiMo mark of imperial grandeur. Tliere were no high banks like those of the liliine, no impetuous defiant rush like the rapids of Niagara, no visible memorials of majesty and jjower. You need to draw on your logical faculty, your multiplication table, and your imagination to realize the vastness of the JMississippi, and its claim as king of waters. But it is truly a grand river, and a man feels himself bigger after he has seen it. Most of the state of Towa we traversed during the night, it is in(>vitable in American travelling that you lose a good deal by travelling in the dark. There is some fine scenery, I believe, near Des Moines, the capital of Iowa, but most of the road is over prairie. In the morning we were approach- ing another great river, tlu^ Missouri. The "blufls" in the Missouri valley are conspicuous and attractive. "Council J>lufts" is the name of a thriving little city. On the other side of the Missouri is the (juite recent and very flourishing city of Omaha, the capital of another state, Nebraska, which is separated from Jowa by the river. Not very many yea; ago, " west of the ^Missouri " meant something like "the back o' b(»yont," in old country phrase. Lt is here that "new America" begins. Professor F'leeman might have added another England to bis list, and found four Englands instead of three. F used often when in America to repeat his remark that the I'higlish wer(> all one ])eople; that wherever they lived was England; that the first England was the little territory lu^tween Denmark and Prussia whence the Angli sprang ; the second England the island in the (^ei-man Ocean where tlu^ first set of emigrants settled ; and the third, connnonly called New England, the shores of the continent where another body of emiirrants of the same stock made their home. What 1 claim as the fourth England is the region west of the Missouri, peopled substantially by the same race. And without prejudice to I VllAIRlE AND COLOR AT)(> llOL'KIEi^. 35 it the merits of all tli(; e.arlicr Englunds, tliese "new En- glanders," as tliey may emphatically be called, who have made their home in this far west, have got a country that for gifts of nature may hold its head as high, if not higher, than any of them. We knew that a group of half-CJerman half-Scotch cousins, who were settled some forty miles from Omaha, would give us a very cordial welcome, and we resolved to spend a day with them. Before our train started, we had time to take "a hack" and drive through Omaha and its suburbs. I need not say it was a place undreamt of wlien I learned my geography, liut in truth what could geography say, in my day, of that chain of remarkable cities — Chicago, Omaha, Denver, and Salt Lake City — that are the gi-eat landmarks between New York and San Francisco ? AVhat could it say of San Francisco itself? Omaha has been made by the Pacific Railway Com[)any. The bluffs about it afford amphi variety of ground, and form ihw sites for public buildings and private villas. 1 do not know whether the massive nuTcantile blocks in the centre of such towns or the beauti- ful villas in the suburbs give on(^ the more vivid idea of pros})erity. It struck me, not with reference to Omaha merely, but the suburbs of other cities, that American archi- tects nmst have been giving great attention of late to villa architecture. Many a chaste and beautiful design we saw from first to last; but as all the villas, at least with very few exceptions, are of wood, the architect has a more pliable material to deal with than in the old country, and yet I should think that he is far from having exhausted the forms of which villa architecture is susceptible in wood. Our cousins were settled some live miles from a station called Newaka, on a new line of railway. Meeting us was the inevitable "buggy," and we drove pleasantly over primi- tive roads, very agreeable when not too dusty, utterly inno- n ti f] [ M- • )■•! tl 1 ■!: i ; 11 36 I'llA //://: AM) C(>LOnAn() ROCKIES, ■•] i I! cent of macadainizin.ij: or any such barbarous procoss ; tirst because thoro were no stones to nuieadaniize with, and second, because the tralhe was not ,i;reat enough to require it, Tl\e ijroup of cousins embraced three families, two of tliem farmei's, tlic tliird, who i)ri(h'(l himself on bearing the very name of tju- Ii-isli Secretary, Arthur James Balfour, was postmaster. All of them were living simple, pi'imitive, unconventional lives, the farmers their own landlords and their own tenants and servants too ; for unless a man have a larirer farm than the ordinarv, he has to do liis own work outside, while the womankind in like manner liave to do all within. Whcthei' the outcome of this mode of living shall be comfortable or comfortless, is by no means certain, but, as we say, (h'pends. Diligence thrives, idleness wastes. C)ne of the houses was a model of good ordc^r and comfort, 'i'he owner, still a youngish man, emigrated in childhood with his family from Germany; and his father having died from wounds received in the civil war, our fi'iend began life on his own account witli but a handful of dollars. JUit he was careful, steady, and laborious, and worked his way ui)wards till now he lias a very desirable farm and a most comfortable establishment. This gentleman told us that to save house- building when he had no money to spare for it, he hd lived at tirst in a sort of cave hollowed out from a steej* hillside. After occupying this mansion for a while, a spring of water sprang up in the bottom of it, and however he might dodg(^ it, or coax it to run off, or place big stones on the floor on which to step, the thing became too bad, and he had to abandon it for another dwelling. Prosperous men like our friend have a handy way of immortalizing themselves. Some l)ublisher or speculator will get up a county history in a large quarto volume. Yes; v.ven there, there are already county histories. A canvasser goes round the county, and to every man who subscribes five dollars promises a notice iJ VnMlUE AXD COLO/IADO ROCKIES. 37 of his farm, while twenty or twenty-five dollars insures a l)lace in the volume for the likeness of the subscriber. If you are not acquainted with this private arrangement, you will be at a loss to understand how these undistinguished prairies should possess so many distinguished men. Next afternoon W(! return from Newaka to Omaha, and in the evening ^^•e are again in motion for Denver, the capital of Colorado. Again the night hides from us the prairies ot Nebraska, as it had hid those of Iowa. The fine agricultural land of the east gives place after a time to tlie rich grazing country of the west, till next day we get among the " sand-hills " of Colorado, and liave our first experi- ence of the desert. Jt was a dreary day. Sometimes no more than a single shanty could Vje discerned all around. At other times, through some mysterious cause, probably the neighbourhood of a mine, we came on quite a little town, it was strange in such a situation to find a large wooden l)uilding surmounted in bold lettei's with the words " Theatre " or " Opera Ifouse,"' indicating tlie iri'epressible love of amusement, made more intense no doul)t by the monotony all around. More interesting to us was the bel- fry of the village school, or the spire of the village; church. Very eloquent in such a place is the littk; home of the Christian Church. It attests the presence of men and women to whom ijettinj'' rich is not the chief end of life, or who, at least, are conscious that it ought not so to be. We silently blessed the men who liad i)lanted it ; and there arose a prayer from our hearts that these dwelh^rs in the wildenif^ss, who seemed to have so little to vary their earthly life, might <'njoy much fell()wshi[) with Heaven, and lind tlieir souls refreshed, Sabbath by Sabbath, from the river that makes glad the city of our (iod. But the longest lane has its turning. The Kocky Moun- tains heave in sight, and thrill you with a new sensation. I ,1 1' 1 J1 I t ill I ■;' I f 38 PRAinrE AND COLORADO ROCK/iy. i I*. 1 i ) And at last vou are in Denver, and find handsome and com- fortable quarters in tlie Lincoln Hotel. Denver is quite a remarkable city. Its prosperity is due mainly to the mineral treasures of Colorado ; but its singularly exhilarating atmosphere and the glorious scenery of the Rocky Mountains all around have helped it on. It is finely situ- ated on connnanding plateaus; has wide strtM'ts and handsome blocks of warehouses and stores, and no end of pretty villas in the suburbs. W(5 si)ent an afternoon riding through its streets and suburbs ; but we were unfortunate in weather, for the I'vening was wet, and on the following morning there was snow. Tln^ wet weather In'oughl out in perfection one of the outstanding feattUTs of Denv(^r — its muddy streets. It was certainly a i)eeuliar experience to find a city of some one hundred thousand iidiabitants, with nund)erless tokens of prosperity and progress, in which the carriage-way of the streets was in a state of nature, and no lady could cross without having lici- boots encased in nuid. We were u'lad to know that the Denver authorities had wakened up to this condition of things, and that stejis were about to be taken for having the stnjets " fixed." Denver was inundated that eveninu' bv a swarm of rail- way conductors, who were holding a convention and enjoy- ing an excursion. "Conductors'' are gnviter men than railway guards are with us. Mysterious badges worn by half the ladies and gentlemen in the Lincoln Hotel resohed thems(>lves into svnd>ols of (his frat(M'ni(v. We i-eali/.ed the signilicance of this con\enlion the following night, for wlien we W(Mit to the i'ullma-n otliee to secure sleeping-berths, we found U) ..111- disgust thai all Mere taken. And when we got- into the (rain next morning, we could liardly get })laces anv where. J)enver is not only the capital of the great mining indus- tries of Colorado, but also a centre of wonderfully line; vnMiui-: A XI) colon A DO ra^cKiEs. 30 scenery. Wl liud taken our tickets by the Ilio Grande route, because it passes over the suljlimest scenery of the llocky Mountains ; and during the whole of the day our course lay through a constant succession of grandeur and glory. Happily, at a junction not very far from Denver, many of our fello\v-[)assengers left us, so that we had room enough during the remainder of our journey. Now we would dash through canyons or gorges, wild as the Devil's Bridge in Switzerland, formed by a narrow slit in tliC mountain, with high perpendicular precipices on either side ; and now through passes beautiful as that of Kil- liecrankie, but of a vastness and variety that dwarfed all other scenery. 'J'he engine rushed wildly into the canyons, dragging the train after it, even though it might seem that our further progress was absolutely barred ]>y the meeting of the rocks; but it found a way of winding through, though at timers tlie road had to be supported on brackets fastened to the rock, and at other times kept in position by stanchions fixed overhead on the other wall of the chasm. So wonder- ful ar(> tlie passes through which tlu^ line is carried that th(^ train obligingly stops at various points to giv(! you a more deliberate view ; at one place you change into what is calh:d a "))rospeet" or ojx'n carriage, in order to have a bjtter view of the wonderful scenery. Further on in the day, the train begins to eliml* the mountains until it ivaches an altitude of n(>arly ten thousand feet above the sea-l(;vel. The gi'itdients are so steep that it has to be dividc^l in two, anil an c^xtra engine attached to the bigg( r part of it. It is (ilen Ogle multiplii>d a hundredfold. Never does the iron horse appear se) noble an animal as when ho dashes at the mountnin side, and tears along its ])recipices, dragging his load a,ft(M' him iis if it were but a feather; then turns and doubles on himself, zig-zagging his course, till lui lias carried you to the top of 'lu! first height, and looking down you see 1 MJj It 'S ill 1 \ i 1 1 \ : 1 t ■ ■ ' 1 iJ -♦i 40 PRAUIIE A XL) COLORADO ROCKIES. i ^;r the wonderful succession of terraces along Avliieh he has borno yvw. Without stopping to draw breath, he plunges, like Fitz-James's stag, into a bosky thicket, whirls you round a corner, and bravely sets himself to drag yo-.i up another reach of the mighty mountain, and so on until he has reached the top. Nightfall comes before the marvellous scenery is exhausted ; but if you rre favoured with moonlight you can see that your course is still through precipitous gorges and along banks of mou}itain streams, making you wish that, as in Joshua's days, the sun had only stood still for an hour or two to make their beauties more ap^iarent. At last you take to your night quarters. You look out in the morning — and where are you? Tn a very wilderm^ss of sand ! Nothing can exceed the desolation. And through this wikhn-ness you are carried most of the day, but with new features of woiidei' breaki)ig in u])on you. For not only do you see against the sky a waving lin(* of s. lOw-clad summits, but nearer you the sandstom hills are rising in every variety of picturesque form, great ranges of Salisbury Crags, often with level battlements piled atop, and natural bits of crag that look lik(? Tantallan Castles, or the ruined fortresses on " the castellated Rhine." Your engine needs to make another series of great efforts to pull you over tlu; mountains ; but at last, as e\ ening again draws on, you ai'c in the plain of Utah. That lake gleaming brigVitly on your left is Utah Lake — not the Halt Lake, liowever, whicli is considerably more to the north. You think of the poor IMormon pilgrims who had to do this iourney on foot tin'ou'di weary weeks and months;, amid heat and thirst and })ain. The traditions are yet fr(>sh of that terrible journey. A friend wlio has lived long in Salt Lake City told us of on(^ poor >v^oman who suiVered fearfully from an internal ailment, but was whipped oil' if she ventured even to lay lier hand on a waggon ; and of another who lost the [)()wer of her limbs, PRATRTE AXD COLORADO ROCKIES. 41 and had to be cari-ied by one of her companions on her back. All accounts testify to the !N'apoleon-like ability of Brigliam Young, controlling and directing not only this march, but the whole operations of the colony, by liis marvellous sagacity and inflexible will. But. Utah and Salt Lake City must be reserved for an- other chapter. m ,-1 ■iii I ! 11 W^\ I CITAPTKll IV. S.ILT LAKE CITY AND THE MOJ^MONS. THE vulloy (jf Utali has beenjiiHy called an oasis in the desert. It is surrniinded for tlu! most part by lofty mountains, which seem to shut it out from the rest of the world ; and foi- this reason the ^Mormons claim for their capital the di\iue jjrotection which was signified by the mountains round about J(>rusalem. It was in the hope of l)eing left in peace to dexclop his peculiar institutions that jb'i^ham ^'(lun^ chose this \all(>y for tlie settlement of his people. Jjut the construction of the Pacilic llailway, which passes throui,di the territory of I (ah, put an (nid to their isolation, ;uid l)roui;-hi them into the very juuhway of conti- nental travel. When I was in this country nineteen years ago I met Air. (/(»lfaN, then vice-President of the United States, and on my asking how (lie (Jovernment meant to deal with Moi monism, his I'eply (o me was, " I guess the Pacific Railroad will pretty well settle that (piestion." Ft is oft«>n boasted that I'tah was ])ut a desert when taken posses- sion of, and that i( is Mormon skill and labour that have turned it into a garden. l>ut tliis is a great exaggeration. JJ(Mng oh\ iously th<' bed of an ancient lake, the ])lain has mostly a good soil, and it needed only cultivation and irriga- tion to make it productive. Idleness is strongly denounced by th(i Mormon authorities, and not wiiolly on disinterested ^ALT LAKE CITY AXD THE JKjILWXS. 43 grcuiids. One-tenth of the entire produce of every kind is remorselessly claimed by the Church, and idleness would not be a good contributor to the sustentution fund. The IMor- mons have certainly done well as farmers, but no better than the Gentiles in many other parts of the country. The settlement was begun in 1817, and Salt Lake City dates from that time. It is now a city of 30,000 inhabitants, but nothing like Omaha or Denver. Brick and timber are nearly the only building materials, and even in the best streets wooden shanties are interspersed with tall brick erections in the way that shows that the stage has not been reached when taste asserts its claims as well as utility. -The oidy remarkable buildings are the Tabernacle, the Assembly Hall, and the Temple — all adjacent. The Tabernacle is a huge, featureless building, like the l)ack of a turtle or an oblong dish-cov(>r : the profane call it "The Church of the llolv Turtle." It is said to be seated for 12,000. The Assembly Hall is a more architectural erection, and was designed for use in winter, when the consi'reiiations are smaller. Tlie Temple is a huge structun^, not yet com- pleted, built, you might suj)i)0se, of Aberdeen granite, and when iliiishcd will be by far the most imjtosing edifice in all Utah. It is to 1)0 used for inaugurations, marriages, or other occasions to which the pro/inmni vvJf/iis nrc not ad- mitted. It is an imposing structure, but wants luirmony and rejjose, the parts cohering ratluM' than forming a har- monious whole, and the general impri'ssion garish rathri- than venerable. 'i'lie ])o})ulation of l^tah territory is about two hundred thousand, of whom some fifty thousand are "(ientiles," the rest Mormons. At lirst there were no Centiles, and it is certainly not with the goodwill of the INIormons that iliey are now so numerous. A friend in Xcw Voi-k, Dr. VAVm- wood of the IVesbyterlan Mission Hoard, t(jld nic lie hud i ii 1 I r. I 91 (I i ' I (^ i: i , :<\ f f ! 44 SALT LAKE CITY ASD THE MOtUfOXS. : \ been tlirco tinu'S in Utali. The first time lie dared hardly to peep or mutter against IMormonism ; the second time he had for a fellow-traveller Brigham Younsf's nineteenth wife on \\ov way to the city to expose and denounce Mormonism ; on the third he found the Christian Churches, represented by active organizations, doing a great amount of good. Many causes ha\'e contributed to luring respectable Gen- tiles to Utah. Ogden, which stands a few miles to the north of Salt Lake City, is a great railway centre ; there are many minerals in the territory which the saints cannot develop; some are always r(>nouncing Mormonism; and the capabilities of the valley have atti'acted outside capitalists, who say, in American ph7'as(>, "there are millions in it." If the ellbrt to be made at the elections next February shall succeed, Salt Lake will bceonK", us Ogden has become, "an American city,"' the Moniions will be dispossessed of its governmont. and then its develo|)ment is expected to go on very ipiickly. This consummation is not unlikely, for the recent action of the Federal Covernment has (k^[)rived all [)olygamists of the fi-anchise, anrl a woman's suHrage tliat heli)ed the Mormons greatly has been ab(»lished. Moreover, (here arc iiKiiiy of tlu; saints themselves who in their secret iiearts would not ivgret a measufe that would hasten tin; " boom ' under wliich ilieir property would ])erha]is doubhi its value. One of the most outstanding and wealthy families of the city - the Walkers -are ]>erverts from Mormonism. The Walker House is th(> best hotel in the place, and the Walker Store is a vast establishment. Old Mr. Walker, i am sorry to say, was a Scotsman, who turned Mormon ; but being called on by Ih-igham Young to pay a tithe which iu^ thought too higii, he abandoned tin- connection. His sons, 1 believ(>, are all men of wealth and inlluence. The Mormon '-reed is \ovy skilfully constructed. 1 1 ])rofe.sses to conserve the whole Bible, the whole'doctrines of Christ ianity, I I SALT LAKE CITY ASl) THE MORMONS. 45 uiid the moral law. To this it adds, as if it were an innocent supplement, faith in the Book of IMormon, in the divine mission of Joe Smith, and in the doctrine that Clod continues to hold direct intercourse with the head of the Church, thus making him infallible, and making resistance to liis orders an un- pardonable sin against earth and heaven. The IMormon Goveriiment is ostensibly dual — namely, civil and ecclesias- tical. i>ut, in point of fact, the rulers of the Church are also the civil rulers and judges of the territory, and this makes their power enormous. Besides the president of the Church (at present Wilfrid Woodruff, a coarse-looking old man, with a most unspiritual face), there are twelve apostles, and a body of elders distributed over the whole Church. There are two hundred and seventy wards in the territory, each of which has its presiding otlicer ; and the wards are subdivided into small districts, superintended in like manner. Thus it happens that the rulers of the Church have the most minute acquaintance with the ailairs of every m('ml)er. Every transaction of buying or selling, every cent of income, every dollar of profit is known, and a tenth nuist be most religiously paid to the Church, which thus becomes very rich. Nay, the president may aimounce that he has divine authority for demanding a man's house, or his land, or what- soever he has. A woman may be told that she is to marry some fellow who already has a dozen wives. If she refuse, she cannot get to heaven. Into how many other matters of pi'ivate life this system of tyranny has penetrated we can- not tell. The Church has a supreme belief in her missionary func- tion, and in her destiny as the centre of the Cliurch of the future, when all the world shall be converted to INlormon- ism. Her characteristic hymns arc full of this expectation, and no doubt many of h(>r more ignorant people devoutly believe in it. Slu; can requisition foreign missionaries, so i f" I if fill I li.j i \ H 46 SM/r LAKI-: CITY A XI) T/ffJ }[ninf(L\S. many from <'\ory ward ; niul Mherovcr these arc sent, tliey must go at their own cost, and occupy themselves wholly in makinjj cun\crts. Fsuidly they go ahont their work very quietly. Again and again f have heard it remarked as strange that so manv Seotsmeji are ^Mormons. But I do not wonder. They are not typical Scotsmen. The missionaries go ahout the slums of our cities, or our mining villages, express nuicl) concern for the hai'd conditions of labour, perhaps dui'ing a strike, tli-^n picture to them Utah as a land flowing with milk and honey, tell them their expi'ns6>s will he paid out to the ])lace (to he repaid afterwards), they will get fifteen or twenty acr(\s free, and will rapidly rise to prosperity anrl wealth. Tliey do ^lot tell them that in other parts of the United States they may liave a hundi-ed and sixty acres free, without heing suhject to the ap[)ropriation of a tenth of the produce to the ("liurcli. To the religiously disposed they read fi'om the Knglish Bible, sing evangelical hynnis, and leave the im])ression that .Mormonism is a peculiarly de\'oiit foi'ui of Christianity. Often the converts have been tohl nothing of jiolygamy ; and it is only after their an-ival that tliey have found that neither theii' bodies nor their souls are their own. On the othei- hand, the JMor- mons have the character of being kind, neighboui-ly, and considerate^ towards one another ; and every effort is made by the Church to stinndate tlu^ ctiprit de corps, and keep the sect united and hearty. Although the t(M'ritory of Utah is their chief settlement, they are by no means confined to it. They have colonies in most of the INIountain States ; and they are very astute in political matters, not attaching them- selves formally to either party, but hohling the balance be- tween the two. The ablest man among them is said to bo a Mr. Buchanan, who was tlieir representative in tlie Senate, and who is extremely skilful in those wire-i)ulling opera- tions that may conduce to their advantage. ^MT LAKE CITY AX/) TUB AfO/LVOXS. 47 But the political tide has been against them for some years, and is likely to be a^jainst them still more in the future. In 1862 Congress declared polygamy to be unla%v- f ul ; but as there were neither judges nor juries disposed to enforce that law, it became only an example of the folly of laws which are not supported by the general sentiment of a people. It was not till 1882 that more decided steps were taken. The " Edmunds " law of that year was a very stringent one. A body of United States commissioners was appointed to settle the affairs of the territory; and there was established a military fort, Fort Douglass, with a de- tachment of United States troops, and artillery pointed at the great INIormon buildings, ready, in case of necessity, to reduce them to ruins. Since that time open polygamy has ceased to be known. Both polygamy and cohabitation with a ])lurality of women or qunt^i wives were declared criminal (tlie former having the severer penalty), and al- ready some threes hundred men have l)een conmiitted to prison, mostly for the latter otfence. (Others have had to take to the " underground railway," or to commit their extra wive^ to its care — in other words, to hide. If you ask where Mr. So-and-So is, it is common to hear that he is " ni the underground." The practice of avowed ])olygamy is now a tradition of the ])ast. As you ride through Salt Ijak(? City, you are shown the house where Brigham Young lived and died. Adjacent to it is his civil olllce, and next to it his ecclesiastical. ()})posite is the Amelia Palace, a more handsome house, the abode of his favourite wife, I Fere and there are other houses which used to be occu])ied 1 v other wives. One large house shows a long range of gabl(>s — one. it is said, for every wife that lived in it. In spite of the largeness of his family he died immensely rich. It does not appear that his sons or his daughters have come to honour. ill ,1 1 I ( tii I h % 'I !l '¥.< \ I'l 4 11 I ! ;' ;! 'I ill 48 SALT LAKE CITY AX I) Till': MiHiMOX.S. The moj'al cflVct of tlie system is such as nii^ht be easily foreseen. Avowedly it was devised for the purpose of plac- iiiii' under resjulation those tendencies which elsewhere lead to all mannei- of licentious irregulai'ity. The hymns sun,i( in worshi}) contrast it triumphantly with such practices. Ihit the effect has heen the very o[»i)ositc. What, indeed, can be th(; elh'ct on young men when they see their father ,i4oin (jven where it was notorious, the witnesses swore the other way. The scene within the Tabernach; on a Sunday afternoon is very striking. All the congregations meet in their parish churches in the morning ; but in the afternoon there is a mass meeting in the Tabernacle, where they celebrate their comnmnion. The galleries were unoccupied, but the vast area was filled. T should suppose there nn'ght be seven thou- sand present. One could ]iot but be struck with the plain- ness of their appearance. They evidently belonged to the hard-working classes, and the less cultivated of them, for there was hardly an intellectual countenance among the whole. The rulers iA the ("hurcli occupied benches on a platform, where the d(!sk and books were placed. The ser- vices, as in other churches, were singing, pi'ayer, preaching, and tile communion. There wen; two preachers, both ener- getic and eliective. Their sermons were apologetic, for there ♦ / »r |e la SALT LAKE CITY AXD THE MOILWiXS. 49 Nvoro soveii liuiulrod oxciu-sionists that day in tlie city, and many of tlioso woro present. 1 sliould rather have heard a sermon from the ]]ook of Mormon, and exhortations such as one is told are often addressed to the peculiar people to keep them stanch and lirm. The communion was a painful spec- tacle. Bread and water were handed round the immense audi- ence, and partaken of with the utmost nonchalance, no token of rev'erence being apparent even on the benches occuj^ied by apostles and elders. The children partook along with their parents, and were even obliged to do so. A poor child in front of me, tortured with ophthalmia, struggled hard to keep down her head, but her mother would not allow her, and shook her into compliance. When I went to call on the Presbyterian minister, I found him occupying as his study an apartment which had formerly been occu}>ied by one of the three wives of a polygamist. He took down four well-scored books from his shelves, and asked me if T knew them. Two of these were Mr. Stalker's books on the " Life of our Lord " and the " Life of St. Paul," for the latter of which he had an extraordinary appreciation. Another was the " Personal Life of David Livingstone," whom he regarded as the greatest missionary since St. Paul. The fourth w.ii "The Public Ministry and Pastoral INlethods of our Lord."' T could not but express a strange pleasure at lindilig my books doing duty in the citadel of the Mormons, r told liim that T had been disappointed that the book on our Lord's ministry, which T had thought would be a useful one, had fullcn dead at home : but that I ha'^ found compen- sation for that disappointment in many testimonies I had re- ceived from ministers in the ITnited States and prof(^ssors of |>ristoral tlu^ology, including Dr. Hastings of Union Seminary, New York, and President Fisk of Chica-vO, to the interest with which they had read it. Dr. INl'Xiece (surely this must be a corruption of INI'Niesh) occupies a good position and I : A % J. 50 SALT LAKE CTTV AXP Tiri- }fOR.]rOXS. 1:1 -I exercises an exccllont influoncp. "We attciulcd liis cliunli on Sunday morning, iiml 1 })roaclie(l for liim in tlie evening. There av;is a second Presbyterian eliureli in tlio city in tlie course of formation. ]\[ost of tlie (Jentilc cliui'ches seem to lit' in a vigorous state. These churcli<'s are doing good work also through their schools. The puhlic schools and school- books are pervaded by jMormonism, Denominational schools are inevitable, and they apjtear to l)e very ellicient. One of these which 1 saw was a collegiate institution, under charge of the Presbyterian Church, admirably conducted, a sort of secondary school, with from two to three hundred young persons. Altogether from lifteen hundred to two thousand children are being taught in them, antl T was informed that forty per cent, of these: wert^ of Mormon origin, but very likelv to al>andon the system altogether. If polygamy dies out, will ]\Iormonism survive ? Possibly it will, and it may give no little trouble. The essence of ^lormonism is that it is a priestly government, subordinating the political to the spiritual, and bringing to bear on its ob- jects a power which is virtually that of spiritual infallibility. It has intrenched itself very strongly, 1 i? ac(iuired great wealth, is very intolerant, and has inspired the mass of its people with a wonderful faith in the rtvdity of its claims. Such a system will not easily jiass away. Its mischievous influence may be per[)<'tuated for a long time to come. It is like one of those noxious weeds that have their roots d(>ep in the ground, and that are e\'er cropping u\) on every side, let the farmer do what he may. A drive through Salt Lake City and its suburbs, including Fort Douglass, is exceedingly enjoyable. The ranges of snow- clad mountains that close in the view gleam brightly in the sunshine, and the green plain all around is full of tranquil beauty. Certainly " every prospect pleases — " Is it necessary to complete the cou] ilef? I I lie C'JLVPTEU V. m T//E YO SEMITE VALLEY, ■at its ns. >us is ill let ug llil liy LEAVING Salt Lake City on a Monday aftornoon, we first had a glimpse of the Salt Lake itself. Fain would we have made a run to the fashionable watering-place on the Salt Lake, and had a dip in those waters which are niorr impregnated witli salt than tip; Dead Sea, and equally destitute of iish, and which buoy one up so wonderfully that sinking in them is a kind of impossibility. We passed through Ogden, the second city of Utah, a railway junction, and likely to grow in population and importance. Then we committed ourseh'es to our sleeping-berths. Next morning we looked out on what proved a weary wilderness — the desert of Nevada. Perhaps some readers may be interested to know a little of life in the cars. The cars are always like long rooms, with a passage running longitudinally, and seats holding two on eitlun' side. Tf two persons are trav(>lling together, they usually get "a section" of the Pullman — that is, two seats which by day may be placed so that the occupants sit opposite to each other. As bedtime draws near, the porter, usually a coloured man, comes along and prepares the bcnls. First the two seats are drawn together, a mattress and other gear placed over them, and the lower bed prei)ared. Then, turning a screw, he folds down something like a broad shelf, attached ii ir I I i 52 THE VOSEMITE V ALLEY. I i) I ! i » by a liiiige to tlio slopiii.j;,' roof of the cnr, and this, with bed- gear eorres})ondin<;', forms the u]>])er bed. Curtains are then attached to a rod tliat runs along the top of the car, closing in })oth beds, and the process is coinplete. You smuggle your- self somehow into bed, and divest yourself of your clothing as best you may. It is not an easy process, for the roof is very low. In the morning you are probaldy awakened by tlie porter calling out, " Breakfast i]i lialf-an-hour." You know that that is an announcement not to be triHed with. You wriggle Jiastily into your clothes, jump up, then move along to the end of the car, where there is a lavatory with a very small basin ; and waiting your turn, you get your face and hands dipped and cleansed. Ladies are better off; they liavo a little room. Returning to your berth, y m move through the narrow avenue, amid shoulders, elbows, and knees ouij,. .nit against the curtains, re})resenting the con- tortions of youi- l,K'lat(Hl fellow-travellers who are yet strug- gling to got inside their garments. The porter is already busy "fixing" tlu^ vacated berths. It may be that your br(!akfast is at a roadside station, and in that case you leave the car. Ihit it may also be that there is no hotel or restau- rant for hundrcKls of miles; in these circumstances a "dining- car" is hooked on to the train, and you pass along to it for your meal. Th(> fare is wonderfully good, and by no means cheap ; but often the car sways about so vehemently that eating is far from pleasant. The hours of the day jmss wearily to some, and the pack of cards— symbol so often of poor resources elsewhci-c — is produced \(>ry early. For the victims of tobacco, then^ is a suiall smoking i-oom, generally in good demand. Thosi; who eschew both cai'ds and tobacco, when tliey tire of their book will i\\i\ their fellow-passeng(TS very willing for conversation ; oi-, if they want fresh air, may stand a little on the platform at the end of the cai-. AVhei'ii there is varied and beautiful scenerv, and tlie smoke is not THE YO^EMITE VALLEY. 53 t- : y rs iiy ot lilowii in your face, this is delightful ; but where there is nothing but wilderness, the attraction is small. And wilderness it was all that day, as we moved through the state of Nevada. We were not sorry when nidit came on and we betook ourselves again to our sleeping -berths. When we got up next morning, we were close to Sacramento, the state capital of California. The scene had undergone a delightful change. We were among groves of greenery, and saw for the fi^'st time the orange-tree in its native clime, luxu- riating in the sunshine and loaded with its apples of gold. We could not but recall lines written of another land, " far, far away " : — " Know yo %\w, land of the cedar and vine, Wliere the flowers ever blossom, the beams ever shine ; Wliero the light winj^s of zephyr, oppressed with ])erfunie, Wax faint o'er the gard(>ns of Oul [the rose] in her bloom ; Wliere the eitron and t)live are fairest of fruit, And the voice of tlie nightingale never is mute ; Where the tints oi tlie earth and tlie hues of tlie sky, In colour thougli varied, in beauty may vie, And the purpk- of ocean is deejiest in dye ? " We had an hour to spend in Sacramento, and by the aid of the street car we were soon among its lions. Its Capitol is very handsome, a kind of miniature of that of Washington, and the Roman Catholic cathedral is massive and stately. In other respects the city is ordinary enough. It tlnds it too hard to compete with San Francisco, and, wisely, it does not try. Our plan was to defer our visit to San Francisco until our return /journey, and spend that week in the Yosemite Valley. We wen^ still in llowery ^May, and if we had d(^ ferre.l the Yosemite trip we should have found the flowers all gone and the waterfalls all dry. Though we hardly knew wliiit we were to encounter, we were very thankful that wo made this arrangement, for we had an admirable opportunity of seeing the valley. II 'M lfl!l I ! II Ill «l liii ,)|;i ill; 54 Till': y OS EM IT E VALLEY. Lvinir in tlu^ heart of the Sierra Nevada, the Yosemite VaUcy is one of the most remarkable and interesting l)its of American scenery. It is reached most easily, if the word easily may be used in suth a connection, from the station of lierenda, on the Southern Paciiic Railway, about a hundred miles from San Fi-ancisco on the north, and between three and four hundred from Los Angeles on the south. The ser- vice of trains on that line is very limited ; for though we arrived at Berenda at four in the afternoon, there was no means of getting further till five next morning. Berenda is one of those stations in the midst of the wilderness where art seems to have vied with nature to make the place the very climax of desolation ; for with all its gorgeous beauty in many j)ai'ts, California is but a waste, howling wikhnuiess in others. For acconuiiodation in a wretched hotel you pay at the same rat(> as in the best of the country; and indeed you may reckon as the usual charge all the time you are in the valley a ilolhir a meal and a dollar a bed, save in one or two instances where }0u get a rapid meal for three-quarters. The charge for convevance is also higli : "the round" from Berenda and back is forty-tive dollai-s ; and if to the hotel charg(^s you add something for a carriage; drive here, or a saddle horse there, you will find that a week in the Yosemite costs for each person not much und(>r twenty pounds. At five in the morning you go on board the cars on a branch railway, and in an hour and a half you are carried to Raymond, where the tug-of-war, in tlu; form of stage-coach lighting with the mountain i)asses, begins. After br(>akfast you are allocated to a place in one; of the stage-coaches (of which there may be half-a-dozen); and as there was a party of the name of Stewart tVom Los Angeles, and two of the seats in their stage wen; not reijuired by them, the ch^k setMus to have thought that the couple from Scotland might lind fittest acconnnodation there. A most agreeable party it was, and ; THK YOSEMITb: VALLEY, 55 the easy and kindly manners of California enabled the people from the old country very soon to feel themselves at home. Before starting on the stage Ave were already pretty high up among the mountains, for the railway has the steepest gradient in California, and does its very best to carry us up. And we were in a very ditierent scene from that which we left at ]j(>renda. The weary sage-brush which dots the wil- derness with awful monotony had entirely disappeared, and we were already in the region of most beautiful trees and flowers. This, perhaps, is the lirsL feature that strikes the stranger. You see in the woods flowering trees covered with blossoms, as if they were huge rose l)ushes in full bloom ; while at your feet you have masses of flowers, pink, blue, purple, scarlet, as if the blaze of Dirleton garden had been scattered over acres and miles. You have only to get down as the horses are changed, and in five minutes you have gath- ered a bouquet lit for a bride. And yet T do not know that the effect is more jtlcasing than that of our own laburnums, chestnuts, and hawthorn, and charming banks and meadows of daisy, primrose, and »;attercup. 'J'he distance you have to travel the first day (to Wawona) is about forty miles, but it occupies the whole day till nightfall. We had live changes of hoi'ses during the day, so that in all twenty horses were needed to haul eleven jiersons along. The lower ranges of the Sierra Nevada are striking and beautiful. The outlines of the hills, and the far-reaching glimpses one gets from time to time, remind one of the Clrarapians near J^lair Athole, while the rich clothing of pine and oak and other trees seems to recall the scenery of Dunkeld. The whole was set forth to pt>rfection by the brightest sun that ever shone and the ])urest sky that ever gleamed. The eflect of the climate was wond(>rfully invigorating ; the party were all in the best of ■spirits, entering with all their hearts into the l)eauty of the scone. The only drawbacks were the excessive heat and the 1 11^ \\\- .! t '1 1 I h(lWTi.nJi.>1*'- 56 THE YOSEMITI-: VALLEY. i| M excessive dust, of botli of which we may truly say that it was impossible to contend with tliem ; the only alternative was to submit as gracefully as possible to their absolute control. As we got more into the heart of the mountains, the trees became more striking. We were not y«^t among tJie big trees, but we wiM'e aiiiouLf biifiifer trees than we had cH'er seen. Very striking was the aspect of the ordinary pine- trees, especially as they rose from the valleys, some two hun- dred feet in heiglit, pointing to heaven as straight as arrows, and displaying in branches and leafag(>, the most i)erfect sym- metry. It seemed hardly possible for any one to escape the moral lesson — it would be well for us if we rose to heaven as straight and direct as tliese noble trees. American forest roads are not pi>rfection. But th(; wonder is that in such a region of hill and A'allev there are earriaue- roads at all. in few cases has more been done than to clear a path ; and oftcni the ruts remind you of the entrance! to a stone-quari-y, or the track formed by cart-wlieels in ex- cavating the foundations of a house. While the coach as- cends, the movement is very slow, but it is safe and com- fortable ; but woe betide you when it plunges downhill, determined to make up for timc^ lost in the ascent ! Let no lady or oth(M' mortal dream of attempting this journey who cannot stand being knocked and tossed hither and tliither, especially wlien the coach strikes on a stone or a conceaUul row of logs, and bumps you up and down half-a-dozen times in succession, as if you were dancing a jig. For this same movement must be undergone for several days, and for deli- cate ladies it is certainly too much. Evening brings you to the hotel at Wawona. You are still half a day's journey from the Yosemite Valley, l)ut you are comparatively near the celebrated "big trees," and it is convenient to visit them from this place. Wawona in tlie .; THE YOSEMITE VALLEY. 57 nativo tongue means "big trees." The distance to and from is but seventeen miles, but it occupies about four or five hours. As you penetrate into the forest you ol)serve, in addition to the tall pines and arbor vitses to wliich you have been accustomed, a new variety, of unprecedented thick- ness, and bright russet stems, having a look of very hoary antiquity. It is the tree known among us but as a shrub, the Wellingtonia f/i(/antea, as we call it, but the WasJdnytonia (jigantea of the Americans. Both of these names, however, bid fair to be superseded by the term Slquoia (jujantea, applied by a recent Government botanist, who observed that this was but a variety of the big redwood trees of the coast, to which the nanu^ Siquoia sempervirens had already been given. Tn these mountains this tree grows to a size unprece- dented in any other i)art of the globe. It is a clannish tree, and even here is found only in certain bits of the forest. How it comes to grow here to such prodigious proportions we cannot tell, except that the soil, the climate, and the shelter of the Mariposa county must be highly favourable to its growth. Tiie more striking trees have got peculiar names, appro- priate to their appearance. There is tlie Grizzly Giant, the Three Graces, the Graceful Couple, Uncle Tom's Cabin, and the like. The thickest tree in the grove is the Grizzly CJiant. Some young persons bi-ought a ball of twine and put it round liim. They included a projecting root which they should have omitted ; this made the length of the piece of twine between thirty and forty yards. Another tree has a passage scooped out at the root, through which the stage-coach with its four hoi'S(>s (>asily pas^^es ; but this tuiuu^l seems in no degree to interfen; with the welfare of the tree. Near when* we stopped to rest our horses occurs a remarkable pi'ostrate tree. Jt, is some tliree hundred feet long. It is so high that a ladder is needed for you to get on it, and the tirst t ! 'Ml 1^1 •1 II I 58 THE YOSEMITI-: VALL/jy. hiinclrod feet might, be scooped out to form a coiibideraWe slii}). The rest of the tree contained timber more than enough to stock a hirge timber-yard. It is no myth tliat is told of a farmer who had acquired a liundred and sixty acres of Land, that out of one tree lie got timber enough to buihl his house and barns, and to enclose the whole of his farm, and had a large quantity over for such other purposes as he i'e(juired it. .V tree on the border of a county so fell that whiles its root was in one county its stem was in another. The number of such stories told of the big trees is very great. Next morning we bid farewell for a time to Wawona, which is cliarmingly situated in an amphitheatre of hills, with a clt^ar I'apid stream flowing past. With our stage and four horses we penetrated still further into the Sierra, [Tp the steep ascents, in which wt? had occasionally to double ujion ourselves, our rate of progress was sometimes not more than three miles an hour, and oft(m we had to paus(^ to give the poor horses their bi'eath. Every here and there we would reach a. connnanding point, from which we looked out on a scene of wonderful sylvan beauty. < )ne of th(\se is named "Oh My Point,'" because no American can look out from it without indulging his characteristic exclamation, " Oh my ! " At last, about mid-day, \\o reached the far-famed " Inspira- tion Point,*' and paused to look down on the glories of Yosemite. It is a very striking view. About ten or twelve miles of narrow valley spi-ead out before us, enclosed in abrupt almost peri)endicular mountains, rising to the lieight of some four thousand feet, broken at tlie sunmiits into every variety of picturesfpie form, and gleaming with silver streaks of wat(>rfalls so steep that the water is dashed to spray long before it reaches (ho bottom, and when the sun is behind the spectator, shines in the tints of the rainbow. Inspira- tion Point commands a splendid view of El Oapitan, the i f I ^'A i THE YOSEMITE VALLEY. 59 boldest of the cliffs, and the Lridal Veil, perhaps the tiiiest of the waterfalls. As we move downwards, and get into the valley, its other fine features appear. Among the most striking of these are Sentinel Cliff, Cathedral Spires, the Three Brothers, the Three Graces, the Half Dome, and the North Dome. Cathe- dral Spires is the name of two pointed spires that rise six or seven hundred feet above the general sunnnit, having a striking resemblance to the object from which they derive their name. The Half Dome is a huge mass of dome-shaped rock, that in some convulsion of nature has been split in two, leaving the question a puzzle for mankind — What be- came of the other half? But of all the rocks El Capitan is the most wonderful. He rises in almost sheer perpendicular height thr(^e thousand three hundred feet, with correspond- ing breadth, and so far as you can see there is not a seam or division in the vast mass of granite. Of the waterfalls, tlie Bridal Veil (the name explains itself) is sweet and beautiful, Ijut the Nevada Falls have more variety of form and a larger mass of water. Everywhere the pine is at home. It often finds for itself a home in the very face of the rocks, or crowns their very summits. Seen from any connnandiiig point, under the bluest of skies and the brightest of sunshine, the valley is wonderfully grand. The surface is level and very rich, evidently the bottom of a lake in former times. But the glorious amphi- theatre of nearly perpendicular rocks is what makes if so unique and so sublime. It is really something for Americans to be proud of, and in all likelihood it is unexani})led in tlus world. Yet I nmst confess I like some of tlu^ Swiss valleys better. Amid all the grandeur of Yosemit/', there is a want of that softness of beauty which sets oil' S(i well the sub- limities of the Alps. And we want the snowy summits piercing the heavens and mingling with them, and speaking '111 :il fti - 1 lit 1 ^ il GO THE yOSIJMITE VALLEF. '\., ii I to us so expressively of the union of earth and heaven. l>ut mass and magnitude are very expressive to the Amer- ican mind, and 1 have no doubt that those who have trav- elled far are sincere in declarininj. as they often do most enthnsiasticallv, tliat then^ is nothinir like the Yoscmite in all the world. There are two hotels in the valley — Barnard's and tlio Stoneman llouse, We were reconnnended to take the former, which is also the oldei', and we were glad that we did 80. it is charmingly situatiMl, and our bedroom window, and the veranda on wliich it opened, commanded a delightful view of the Yosemite Fall, a cascade in three leaps, the tall- est of which is sonu; fifteen hundred feet, and the whole, I think, about two thousand six hundred. Nothing could be more charming than to sit iiL the evening and gaze on the stream of virgin silver losing itself in foam, but quickly pulling itself together for another leap. We had the plea- sure to be much in contact 'A'ith Mr. ]\l'Cord, the guardian or Clovernment otiicial of the valley, and to receive from him much information and attention. We weri^ ^'^ppy to be able to repay him in some degree l»y taking the Sunday service in the chapel, of which he takes charge. We nmst mention another inhabitant, Mr. Galen ('lark, the discoverer of the big trees, a. man full of intelligence and scientific knowledge, and whom, after all he lias done for the valley, it is a pain to see living alone in liis old age, and earning a humble living by hiring a carriage for the \im of visitors. [Hardly had I written these lines when the ])olitical whirligig l)rought a rapid change. Mr. INl'Cord was sent adrift, and Mr. Clark appointed guardian. As in most cases in Amer- ica, politics did it. We were glad that Mr. Clark was pro- moted, but vexed for iNlr. ]\l'Cord.] The Stoneman House, a mile and a quarter further up the vall(>y, is a large three-storied building, named after f I r THE YOSEMITE VALLEY 61 some Governor Stoiieman, but is muoli less foitunato in its situation tlian Barnard's. Tlioro aro sovoral weeks in winter avIkmi the sun can be seen for little more than an hour. P>ut here, as elsewhere, people coini)lain of the way in which things ;ir(^ done by the authorities. The valley is the pro- perty of the United States, but is under the charge of the state of California, who ;ippoint a body of connnissioners to look after it. I'liese commissioners will pay it a visit now and then, and on one of these occasions they resolved to build this Stoneman iFott^l, witliout having consultation with the few residents, and without being aware of tlie strong objections to the situation. The history of the valley is not uninteresting. During the whole period of th(^ Spanish occupation of California it seems to have been unknown. It was in a somewhat accidental way that it was discovered by the Americans in the early days of tlie gold enterprise. The county of Mari- posa, in which both the valley and the big trees are situated, has some valuable gold mines. The miners were ever and anon having depredations committed on them l)y Indians, whose whereabouts could not be discovered. At lemjth it was found that their home was in a valley to which all access was impossible save at one or two points, which thev carefully guarded. War ensued, and it ended in the Indians being dispossessed. There is a dispute whether the true name of the valley, which in the Indian language is said to mean, " The home of the grizzly bear," ought to be Yosemite or Yoliamite. Usage has settled the question in favour of the former, l»ut it is apt to suggest tlie idea of Shem dwelling in the tents of 11am. For a few vears after the discoverv of the valley it remained unfrequented. A gentleman who was about to publish a work on ''Picturesque California" remembered that he had heard of a waterfnll in the valley ci.elf as a \)Yo- fessor of mathematics in. Massachusetts, sojourning in Cali- fornia for his iK'alth. lie had just be(Mi preparing notes of my sermon for the lot*al pa}>ei', and wished to read them over to me. "The local paper," I said; "what do you mean?" "Oh, there's a ])rinter in cam}) here, who brought with him a ]M'intiiig machine and set of types, and every week h(^ [irints the Yosemift'. Oaifffn.^' ]Most thoroughly American I Am(nncans can make newspapers live where then^ seems as little to live on as for the pines on the face of the rock. And sometimes there are two ri\al ])ap(^i's wliere there is hardly a decent house. And these c-'ai abuse each otlier as roundly as the famous new.spapers of h^atanswill. The newspaper is a wonderful institution in America. On the following (l;;y w(j had a pleasant drive in ^NFr. Clark's conveyance, first to the Mirro!" Lake, and thereaftev a >li ^'V THE YO^EMITE V ALLEY C3 all down and up tlu! valley. The effects of the tossing in the sta<]je- coaches i)revented one of our pai'ty from atteniptini,' more. I>ut some of the waterfalls T readied on foot. It was interesting to look over the ofllcial list of visitors in the guardian's book. Among the earliest was Charles Kingsley, whose name was entered without notf^ or comment. i\nown names occurred from time to time. The latest name of all was that of a family from Edinburgh, of whoso existence I had never lieard. Of the glacial condition of the valley and of the Sierra Nevada at one period there seems to be no doubt. But how these mighty masses of rock came into their pr^ccnt position no mortal can tell. The impression one is apt to have is, that at one time the opposite^ sides met, and that they were severed l)y some unexampled explosive force that tossed them asunder as if they were the playthings of a child. Anyhow, they form now the Titanic battlements of a valley which well repays the visit of the tourist. Nowhere does nature appear greater, or man more feeble and depen- dent. And yet man continues to subdue even this valley to liis purposes. A railway has already been surveyed between Kaymond and Wawona, and we shall be much surprised if American enterprise does not succeed ultimately in carrying the rails into the valley itself, and thereafter in laying a mountain line, hardly, indeed, to the summit of El Capitan, but possibly to the Glacier Point, or some other eminence that connnands the whole. I If lii II 1^ ti 11 w\ \ h \ !•■! ruAi'TEPv vr. LOS AXGELES, ON our return journey wo again spent a night and part of two clays at Wawona. From AVawona to Ray- mond we had a very li^•e]y ride. Not only had we lively company, but we Jiad a remarkable coachman. A theological topic started in conversation set him off at the nail. He not only undtM-stood theology, but he know the Bible, and ho could give his objections to current theological dogmas with areat felicity and force. There was more than one clergy- man ])eside him, and laymen wlio were quite an fait in the discussion ; but lie spok(^ as well as any of them, and, witli- out being offensive, with all that self-possession and self- respect which Americans feel in talking to persons who (ac- cording to our notion) an; socially abovt.i them. Some one tried to give a practical turn to the discussion by dropping a remark about minding the life to come. "It's not easy to mind the life to come," he said, "and drive a stage." He said this in a regretful tone. Hi; had no Sal)bath and no church, and those among whom he lived were in the same predica- ment. The mystery of his controversial power was solved when we learned that ho had been a Baptist minister, but had abandoned that calling. In the States ex-clergymen have often to resort to strange occujnitions. But this is in- finitely less thought of there than it would be witli us. LOS JXGELES, G5 'UT- but ion in- Aiid really these coachmen have a difficult task ; but thoy seemed all steady and capable men. There are hundreds of places where want of care and vigilance might overturn the coach and cost many lives. A combination of dash and caution is neede .1, which does not often occur. I could not help recalling an incident in my visit to the White Moun- tains nine years before. ]My wife and daughter had gone with me in the railway to the top of ]\[ount Washington, where we spent the night. Next morning my daughter and T decided to descend on foot, while the elder lady took a place on the stage. After the coach passed us pedestrians, and we saw the break-neck precipices along which it had frequently to go, we became somewhat alarmed about its safety. I comforted myself with the thought that I had seen no place on ]\Ioiint Washington where the driver could have got drink, and that therefore he could not but be sober. We "forgathered"' an itli an American gentleman who knew the road well. At a turn of it, in a wood, I observed a strange gap and signs of smash-up among the trees. " Do you know the cause of that?" I asked. "Yes, sir. The coach was uj^set tliero a month ago, and the coachman and one of the passengers were killed." "But how could the coach be u])set in such a place ? " " I believe, sir, fhn man loas dm III' f^^ At Raymond we liad our third meal. You may call the meals breakfast, dinnei', and tea or supper if you like, but really they are pretty much the same, and to us they were rather much of a good thing. In one of our journeys afterwards we sympathized with the remark of an eminent medical gentlfMuan, who, like ourselves, had omitted the middle meal, " 1 cannot eat three dinners a day." From Iv.ivmond aijain to Berenda in the train. Another lonii ^vait at Berenda, from dusk to four o'clock next morn- ing ; but instead of revisiting tleared to us raw enough, and the country bleak enough ; ncvei'theless i! maintiiined I wo weekly newspapers, of ono LOS ANGELES. 67 of which we possessed ourselves, and found it rather at a loss for topics, except when it had occasion to pound away at its rival. Then we passed throu,i,'li a prettier valley, and at seven o'clock we reached Los Angeles. The railway station had been moved, just a little before, from the near to the far end of tlic town ; but in America railways have no scruple running along the ijtreets, without fence or guard, counting it enough to ring a bell — an ari'angement which may do well enough in tlie daytime, but is sometimes very disastrous by night. As we moved along we had a good view of the older part of Los Angeles, and also of its China- town, the Chinese hieroglyphics ami strange names, " Ling Lung Le(/s Laundry," " Wun Lung," and what not, being new to us, and therefore interesting. Before speaking of the city, it will ije well to go back a littl'' and glance at the history of the country. It needs to be remcmbei'cd that California is a very large stat(>, and that the whole of California is not in the state. The most southerly ])art, known as Lower Califoi-nia, is still )iart of IMexico. But even American California is e(jual in area to eight other states coml)ined, and some of them big ones — Nr V York, New .Jersey, .Massachusetts, Vermont, Elaine, Xew llam])shire, Connecticut, and Ohio. If it were asked what its si/e is relativ(! to (Ireat Britain, I should be re- minde(l of a i-emark of my friend, (Jeorge II. Stuart of T^hila- delpliia, when ])resi(ling some years ago at a meeting in T.iris held to commemorate the succt;ss of the IMiIe kiosk at one of the Kxhibitions. lie began by reie.arking that he came from America; that America was a verv lame eounirv, much larger than iMigland, much largei' e\cn than Fi'ancc^ — all which remai'ks (except the last) weic well received. It is so big, he continued, that if you cut the ai<'a of France and England out of it, it would never be miss(>d. The translator fancied his meaning to be that Anierica was so great a coun- I . !l« !i Ill I' M 68 LOS ANGELES, try that if you blotted England and France out of existence they would never be missed, and he sternly refused to trans- late so atrocious a remark ! But it is literally true that the area of England might be cut out of California, and if you cut it out of the mountainous and desert tracts, it would hardly be missed. In the distant past California was peopled tliinly enough by a race respecting the origin of which our learned men are much puzzled. Jlunil)oldt reckoned the population in his day at fifteen thousand live hundred natives and thirteen hundred of other races. It comes into the sphere of history in the days of the Spanish occupation. Tht^ most notable fact connected with that period is the mission of Jesuit fathers, undertaken with a vitnv to the conversion of the natives to Christianity. But Spain fell out with the Jesuits, who were (wpelled from all her borders, and the California mission was transferred to the Franciscans. How little permanent mark the original inhabitants left on the country is apparent from the fact tliat almost everywhere, at least in Southern California, the nativ«' names of places have given way to those introduced by the mission fatliers. There is liardly a [tlace but bears the name of some saint or saintess. Sc'in Francisco is named after the great founder of tlie ordiM", and San Diego, San rtMb-o, San Gabriel, Santa Paula, Santa I'arbara, Santa Anna, Santa Monica, and a hundred more, are all taken from the cahMidar. Certainly if sacred names could makt^ a sacred land, California should be a holv countrv. As for Los Angeles, it was judged too heavenly a ])lace to bear the name of any mere saint, its full name is said to be "La Ciudad de la Keina do los Angeles'" — the city of the (lueen of the angels. This, however, is sliortened into J^os Angeles. According to the Spanisli pronunciation, which the older inhabitants retain, the '*o'' in Los is sounded distinctly, but not too long; " ang " is soundetl as in iL'ie. LOS AXGELES. 09 and with a nasal intonation as in Spanish, The old native name was Yang Na, and the river on which it is situated, now also called the Los Angeles, was Porcuincula. Under the mission fathers the country was but little changed. The natives came to profess Christianity of a sort, but re- mained little civilized. Tiie fathers introduced good breeds of shec}), oxen, and horses on the hills, and near the villages the grape and other fruit trees; and to this day a kind of grape, excellent for wine but not for raisins, is called the mission-grape. Of late years, however, a strange blight has fallen upon the whole of this species, and it looks as if it would be exterminated. Then came the time, early in this century, when Mexico revolted from Spain and set rp for itself. California was in turn a department of the INIexican empire and a province in the Mexican republic. And during this period the INIexi- can Governmt lit came down heavily on the missions. These missions had got possession of large and valuable lands. The iNIexican Government secularized a great part of them. The missions were reduced to comparative poverty, and now they are insignificant factors in the history of the country. Now, also, although there are some families of pure Spanish blood, the S})aniards and the aborigines have got mixed together. They form a mixed race, usually called Mexicans, who forty years ago were the chief inhal»itants of the country, but are now almost buried under the Anglo-Saxon invasion. jNlore than forty years ago the United Stat(\s were at war with ^Mexico. The dispute arose about Texas, which, l)efore Joining the Union, had been ^Mexican territory. In 1848, wlicii the war was brought to a close, California was ceded to the States on their paying fifteen million dollars, and takiuii over debts of three or four millions more. Mexico was not able to hold it, and once there was some word of its passing into the hands of Great Britain. But the American il ' 70 LOS ASCELES. (I Government Nvas desirous to have a hold on the Pacific coast, and on this account boui^dit the countiy, little dream- ing what a \aluahle ])ossession tjicy would be found to have obtained when the rt 'sources of ( alit'ornia should be laid bare. Up to this time the visits of the Anglo-Saxon to California liad been few and far between. The adventurous fur-trader or the daring sportsman might occasionally cross tlie IJocky ^Mountains, or the hardy sailor from the isthnnis of Panama mi^ht anchor in the bav of San Diego or of San I'rancisco : and, mor(^ rarely, the agi'iculturist might acquire a ranch and devote himself to the breeding of cattle. After the country became American, many ^[exicans were ready to dis])ose of their ranches and mijve southwards to what still remained INIexican soil. ]\lore American settlers thus came to California. 'V\\v discoveiy of gold at Sutter Mills, in the north, the year after it was ceded to America, brought avast mass of p(>ople to the northern part of the state, mongrel enough in many ways, Itut all with a raging gold-hunger. To Southern ('aliforni;i the steps of a (piieter race of settlers were directed by the cheapness of land which .Mexican owners wovo willing to dispose of. There are traditions that these American settlers behaved very cruelly and unjustly to the ]\[exican owners. Tales of flagrant wrong and cruel eviction were <'verywhere in ^Mexican mouths. T liave been told that this may partly be accounted for by the fact that the Mexicans, who were an easy-going people and cai'(dess financiers, would borrow money on mortgage over their properties, and failing io pay interest, became legally liable to the loss of llieir property, of which the l(>nder took pos- session. I'ut we all know that under colour of law there may be great injustice done in this way to (he poor and helpless, and it is (piite likely tJiat Mexicans sull'ered bitterly. A novel called " Kamona," which has been very extensively read, has for its object to expose the cruel wrongs which LOS AXGELES. ri were inflicted on the oripjinal inhabitants. It is a power- fully-written romance, and one feels that if the half of it be true the Mexicans must have had hard lines. And now, as we have said, the INIexica: are hardly an appreciable part of the population. There are yet settle- ments of them, as at San Gabriel, near Los Angeles, the oldest of the mi.ssion stations ; and if one desires to see IVIexicanism in full l)lay, to study the INIexican face and character, or to examine the old Mexican church, and sundry other memorials of the olden time, let him bend his footsteps thither. But the INIexicans were not a vigorous race. Th(^y just dodged along. INIany of tlicm had joined the vices of Spain to their own. AN'hcn Los Angeles was a Mexican town (which it was less than twenty years ago), its tastes were low and its manners rowdy. Sunday was the great day for jollity and revelry. Jf an American should show himself on tlie streets, h(^ was liable to be surrounded by Mexicans threatening to shoot him if he did not take them into a saloon and treat tlicm. Though California is all one state to-day, it seems very likely that, like Dakota, it will one day be cut in two. It is inconvenient to have the capital, Sacramento, five hundred miles distant from San Diego, the most southern town. And, really, the two parts of the state are sufliciently diverse to call for separation. 1'1h' great features of Southern Cali- fornia are its fruit and its climate. In both of these; respects it surpasses the north. It draws to itself a class of people of a somewhat dill'erent type, 'i'he seven count ii>s reckoned to Southern Califoi-nia liave an area of above lifty-six tliou- sand scpiare miles, and an estimated population of three liundriMl and lwelv(> thousand. Tlic; otliei" day the county of Los Angeles was divided, and a new county, Oranges — a suggestive nanu; — was made ou( of it. Here is tli(> area and the population of the seven counties : — I ! ; !•! I ■• m 72 LOS AXGELES. Counlios. Siiuiiri,' Miles. I'oiiulntion. San Luirs Obispo ;5,r.7cS 20,000 Kern 8,100 10,000 Santa Barl.ara l.'.2(;r) 25,000 Vuntura 1,(>S2. 12,000 Los An^a'k'.s 4,S12 lO-^OOO San LVrnardino 21,171 30,000 San Dieyo 14,ii(;8 50,000 The population is sulllcicnt for ti state, and there is spirit enough in Los AngeU^s to as[)ire to the distinction. But I suppose that when that dignity is obtained not a little ex- pense must be incurred in the erection of a State House and all the rest of it; and as the present times are not very pros- perous linancially, it seems prudent in the southerners to delay proceedings in that direction. Los Angeles has a tine situation. It is Iniilt on heights rising from the Los Angeles river, street rising above street; and while some of the suburbs spread over spacious meadows, others, as is indicated in such names as Anirclina Heights, Boyle Pleights, etc., stragglt^ over gentle hills, while the hori- zon is splenditlly bounded by a higli, picturesipie mountain- range. The city itself is more than a hundred years old ; but as a thing of life, its origin is within the last twenty. So late as 1880 its po})ulation was only twelve; thousand; now it is variously reckoned at from lifly thousand to eighty thou.sand. Its rapid rise was due to an extraordinary "boom" al)Out three years ago, which canu; on the place like a great e})idemic, and for the tinu; being adlicted the whole people with a speculative madness. It was not the first "boom," however. I was told by an old inhabitant (that is, one who had been tln're about a dozen years) that soon after he came tliere was a similar "boom," which seemed likely to " boom " the place out of existence. The reaction was very serious : the principal l)ank failed ; many of the leading people failed ; and the stat*,' of Arizona coming into notice, with its mineral treasures, seemed likelv to drain tho LOS AXGELES. 73 \ place of all its people. But Los Angeles picked itself up again even after that disaster, and it lias not gone down in any such way after the recent "boom." There have not heen many failures ; the price of real estate, though lower, shows no plunge downwards ; and many buildings and other operations are going on that indicate a steady progressive movement. There is still enough to show what the old ^lexican city was like, stretching along a single line of unpaved, unlighted street, with its one-storied oflohc cottages, and its long, low- roofed, very plain Roman Catholic church. I made it a business to find out the oldest American inhabitant who had been born in the city, I think I discovered this interesting object in the i)erson of a young married lady of twenty-five. She remembered quite well the little Mexican city with but one two-storied house. One thing that contributed in a considerable degree to the rapid imj»rovement of the place was the ambition of leading citizens to rear " blocks," called after their name, thnt woidd rival, if not eclipse, all that their neighbours had built. You have the Temple Block and the Nadeau Block, and all manner of other l)locks. And a fine city they have made of it. It has quite a character of its own — is not a mere little Chicago, or a lesser San Fran- cisco, but just itself. Probably the finest feature is tlie suburlis. Villas shaded by leafy groves, or adorned by palms and bananas, with l)right green lawns kept verdant by the daily play of the hose, greet you in many directions. You see a greater regard to taste than in many new cities of America, and more respect to the fovf enseiithJc^ to a certain harmony of the parts, though, of course, this last is not easily realized. Two or three of the subordinate features of Los Angeles .'ire well worth attention. One is the street cars. Except n\ the case of San Francisco, I have seen no town with such i I !l m Tv'' f il I. n <» i HS t-, ¥ II I 74 ZO^S" AXGELES. a service of cable-cars. And cable-cars, when they are safe, are far the nicest, iso smoke or smell of engine, no sight of panting and smoking horses, no slow, wearied pull uphill, or sound of hissing brake as you go down, ever distresses you. You travel as fast up the steep(;st hill as on level ground, and it makes no ditlei-ence whether the car be empty, or the very platform be so crowded as to double the natural number of passengers. Los Angeles is bei.ntifully and plentifully serve 1 with cars of vari'.-i: f- •,>-— norse-cars, donkey-cars, mule-cars — in every direc*.:^^ When I was there, a com- pany, sai«l to consist of Ciiica.. gt-n. '' -iien, had just expended two million doHars in cable-lines — a proof that they had confidence in the growing prosp(>rity of the city. Then there is the telephone system. The multitude of wires overhead reminds one of C'liicago or Kew York, except that in New Y^ork they are no\v laying the wir(\s underground. In fact, as we passed through New York we witnessed a somewhat difficult operation — the hewing down of telephone -posts, calling to one's mind the early days when clearing away the forests was the first step of civilization. And lastly, the electric-lighting of the city. This is splendidly done, and at no little cost. The lights surmount huge poles, that look like the masts of a man-of-war, and must have been fur- nished from the matchless forests of jNIariposa or Oregon. At night you see them at the distance of many miles with a lustre that eclipses stars of the first magnitude, and makes you think what a blessing it would be if the light of truth and holiness streamed forth from Los Angeles with corre- spending brightness. And this brings me to the Churches. There arc no very imposing church buildings, but in the newer erections (all are of wood) there is manifest improvenuiut. I had the j)leasure of becoming acquainted with most of the leading clergy, and found them to l)e earnest men, for the most part LOS AXiJELES. 75 lively prcacliers, and with catholic hearts. Tliorc is no little vigour, too, ill tlio undertakings which ilow out of the Cliurches. Tiio Young Men's Christian Association has just entered a large and very liandsonie building. There is a feeling prevalent among American gentlemen of influence that this is a proper and necessary adjunct of a largo city, and out of a kind of national pride, as well as from higher motives, tluy are ready to contribute much larger sums for tliis purpos(» than our people give. Then there is a very liandsoinc temperance temple. There are missions to the CJiincse carried on l»y the Churches with a fair measure of success, and some of the Chinese are members of tJK ~>rdin- ary congregations of the city. There is no little acti.it^ m the part of the Christian women in various directif. -■ lie prayer-meetings arc much better attended tha: /n i us. The tirst meeting I attended was the week-ni'dit prayer- meeting of the First Presbvterian Church, whe. Tie were nearly two hundred present. I oliserved that most of the oflice-bearers were present, and a full choir. The meeting was warm and cordial. The provision for education in California is excellent. The school buildings are large and handsome, and fitted up, as is usual in America, in a much more comfortable style than is usual in our country. 11ie education, as every one knows, is free, and even the ad\anced classes are attended by botli sexes alike. The salaries of teachers and assistants range from some three thousand dollars to one thousand. The schools were in vacation most of the time I was in the country, but I had some opportunities of seeing the work. 1 was much struck with the cpiiet orderliness of the classes, and especially with the great skill of some of tli(> female teachers teaching Orc^ek or mathematics, and the pi'ofound respect with which they were listened to even by moustached young men. il til ! I j i 70 LOS AXGELES. % ' i 'ill w, 1 ;< ! In 8outlu'rn California not r uch has been clone as yet for university education. The foremost body in this dt'i)artnient are the ^letliodists. They have l)een working for some years at "Tlic University of Southern California." They have reared colleges in live or six ditlrrcnt })laces, united into a university. For example^, tluy have an agricultural college at Ontario. They have ;i theological college, if 1 remember rightly, at Sau Diego. Their department of arts and litera- ture is in the suburbs of Los Angeles, I had the pleasure of being invited to tlu^ trustees' meeting, and of being asked to address a larire asseniblaw in the hall of the university. Of students, the female part seemed considerably to out- number the male. Among others whom 1 had the pleasure of meeting on that occasion was a very di.stinguishcd man, now well-otricken in years, (Jeiural John C Fremont, who many years before was emplowd by the Government to make the (irst survey of the region of the Rocky Mountains and all the country to the west. The results of this und(>rtaking are given in two largi^ quarto volumes, in the form of the General's Life ; a work full of interest, but ratiier long for the general reader, Fi'emont had an active part, too, in the Mexican war, and I think he fell under censure^, not for lack of service, but for the very opposite reason. He was of a daring and independent spirit, and soniewliat like Lord Nelson when he put the telescope to his blind eye and d(»- elared he could not sih? the signal ! His wife .shared his love of enterprist', though his expedition separated her from him almost inMiiediateJy after their uiarriMue. There is a story tlKi.% after he w^as appointed, and when all Ins arrangements had been made, there came a letter from Government recalling the expedition. His wife opened th(^ letter, and, seeing what it was, took care not to let him have it till several days after he had set out, so that he could tell th.e Government with a good conscience that lu^ had not crot their letter till it was too late! t LOS AXGELKS. 77 I cannot say a great deal for the nowspapers of Los Angeles. There are four daily and some weekly papers. They are very loyal to their city, and do their host to pro- mote its material welfare ; but there is too much of the sensational in them. Robberies, murders, and scandals are too conspicuous. A tone of exaggeration marks the narra- tives, making it dithcult to rely on the statements. Three of the four, [ deeply regret to say, are published on Sundays as well as week-days. They sometimes try to get clergymen to write serious articles for the Sundays; a wretched device, when the obvious tendency of the Sunday publication is to obliterate all traces of the sanctity of the day. To me per- sonally the editors were very kind, and some of them would fain that I should contribute to their papers, but with this request T did not comply. So far as I had an opi)ort unity of mixing with the society of Los Angeles, T found it very kind and hearty. Several of our fellow-travellers in the Yosemit6 Valley were exceed- ingly hospitable. T could almost wish to record the names of three whose kind attentions exceeded all we could liave looked for. Some of them boarded in the Lincoln Hotel, and our head-quarters being in the country they made us as welcome to its accommodation from time to time as if it had been their private house and wt^ their oldest friends, i can- not help expressing special acknowledgments to the Cale- donian Club and its excellent president, ]Mr. J. O. Alaeleaii. We wei-e always welcome there. Hardly had 1 ari'iv(>d when ]Mr. Maclean arranged that I should meet the club, and, by way of '■ talk," give my lecture on the Life of Livingstone, which 1 did to a large jind very interested audience. And when my worthy friend, the llev. Dr. Ormiston of New York (a native of Lanarkshire) came t(< the city, a few weeks later, a grand reception was given to us both. Clergymen of all denominations and representative ii I'i i' 1" i 78 LOS AXUKLES. laymoTi sounded the praisos of Scotland. And, of courso, Dr. Orniiston and [ wore nuide out to bo Scotsmen of tho very liigliest order. I took it all ciun notxi, discounting everything l»y al»out ninety-five per cent. But it was amus- ing ([)erhai>s in a quiet way gratifying) to see what a wonder- ful people the Scots wei-e held liy the Americans lo be. Tho amusing thing was that every one claimed to havo some con- nection with the country. An Episcopal clergyman said ho was proud to pay honour to Scotsmen, because the Hrst bishoj) of the American Episcopal Church had been consecrated in Scotland, when they would not consecrate one in England. And at the end the hand-shaking was wonderful. " Let me shake hands with you, for my wife's grandmother was Scotch." " I'm from Nova Scotia, and my people came originally from Scotland." " I'm a J/^''-." "My name is Burns, and my boy is Robbie." It was very funny ; but we were very hn))py. I wished that we were worthy of the half of it, for W(^ did seem rather much of a mutual-admiration society. At least, 1 could not help feeling next morning that more might have been said to stimulate tho Scotch and all the Chris- tian people of Los Angeles to new exertions on behalf of their Sabbath, which in that city, and in tlu; community at large, needs ureatlv to be contended for. \ have refeirecl to tho Sunday newspapers. TIktc are Sunday theatres, Sunday sa,loons, Sunday excursion-trains, and Sunday picnics without number. While we were there n (laring advertisement ap- peared on the streets that foi- ;i succession of Sundays a certain aeronaut would ascend in his lialloon at Santa Monica, a seaside })lace some sixteen or twenty miles oil, and come down in his parachute. The railways ran trains to the place as quickly as they could provide them to carry the thousands that hurried to see the sight. What the ollect must have been in dissipating serious impressions, if any of tlu; spec- tators should have been at church in the morning, and LOS ANGELES. 79 stimulating vanity -'uid frivolity, I need not say. Both in preaching and writing I took occasion to press the serious obligation on all the Cliristian people of the state to be on their guard against the lowering inlluences of what was the common custom, and to charge themselves with a sacred mission — that of testifying for God's truth and man's duty, and striving in every way to elevate the religious standard. One must remember that many of the Christian people have arrived but recently, that they are impei-fectly accjuainted with one another, and that they have been much occupied in building churches, and in other work needing and almost absorbing their immediate attention. The old ^Mexican spirit has not died out, and the usual disorder of new communities has not passed away, great though the improvement be on former days. There is still need of something like a solemn league and covenant to storm the intrenchments of the enemy and gain California to Christ.* * r am tempted to introduce here jiiirt of a letter from 11. M. Stiinloy to myself whieh 1 referred to at Los Angeles in my lecture on Livini,'stone, all the more etfectively that Stanley is the counectin;,' Unit between America and Livingstone. When Stanley was in Kdinhurgii, after beinir at IJerlin at the concocting of the Congo treaty, he told Dr. Livingstone's dauglitir (Mrs. A. L. liruce) tliat he iiad road the " I'ersonal Life" at l!t'rliii, and that it had brought Livingstone so deaiiy before him tliat ho felt new vigour in )>leading for his i)lans. I had occasion to write to Mr. Stanley soon afterwards, and 1 asked him if ho would be good enough to tidl me whether he thoutrlit I had done justice to Livingstone. The following is from his reidy: — "I read tlie 'I'ersonal Life of Livingstone' on tlie Congf) witli very great iilcasnro, and as I ch>sed the book I was convinced that it would be almost impossible io jjroduce a more vivid or truthful jiictureof the good man than can be i;atiiered by reading your book from lieginiung to end. 'I'here i.s no strain- ing of tiie effect in it, but tlie Life reads smootldy as tliou^li writ by a master's hand. \\'e see the jioor factiry boy at his ill i>aid work grow into manly fulness; th.iice we follow him throjigh a strange life's jirobation in wild lands and the troubh'd period of it, and the lomr, i>atici\t strmrgles of tlio heroi(! spirit to do its part w. 11 and l)ravel\ ntil it is lin.illy worn out, and the silver cord of life has snajiped, and the well crited eternal rest has been won. It is a iioem, sir, of whicii you, till' narrator of it, may well be jiroud of tlie privilege of having told it. Good-bve, and many thaiiK- for vour kinil words to me. — Yours faithfully, "11i:ni!V M. Stanley." ' i' < IP' if if ti I i t i:JI I t\ ■ CIIArTEll VII. 4 if SOUTJlERy CAI.IFORNTA AS A FIELD FOR EMJGRATFOX. ITIIIXK i: may I)p usofiil aiid not unintcrostinijf l\oro to put down sonic facts on tlio suitalilciiess of Soutlioni California as a field for oniiuration. It is still true, as iii the days of .Martin (iiuzzlowit, that very misleading state- nu'iits are ))ut forth hy interested parties to induce the un- wary to emiurate to colonial and other settlements, and many an lionest man has heri'liend(M| that it is from seven to eii^ht hundi'ed miles in length, and fi'oni l\\(» to three hundi'etl in hreailth. When the disco\erv of ir<>ld was made some forty years au'o in the northern ])art of the stale, it was to that |iart of it ehielly that the rn-li of emigrants took place. it was San Francisco, in the north, that snddi idy heeame a L'reat and wealtliy ei';erous fellowship. Even in the mining districts of Northern California, however, thin:L;s are now much chani^'eil for the better. There is still a rowdy element, as there is in most of the new states of America; l»ut it is couliued to a limited class — the fre([ueuters of saloons, the })ri/.e-riiiir, and the vile dens of sin— and re- sjH'Ctahle men who mind their own business, and It ad a quiet and i)eaceal)le life, may enjoy throughout the state the same sense of security and tranciuillity that is to bo found in most other civilized parts of tlu; globe. About twenty y(!ars ago two things began to attract the attention of Americans to Southern California — its wonder- ful climate and its magnificent fruits. These two things ai-e now doing for Soutlwi-n California what its gold-mines did forty years ago for Northern. They are drawing to it a ra})idly-increasing ]>opulation, but in a much ([uieter way, and of a mucli more varied character than that which th(^ gold-mines drew to the nortliern part of the state. Kirst, as to tiie climate, it is hai'dly j)ossil»l(' to exaggerate its qualities. During the summei- h;df of the year little or no rain falls, ai;d you liaAc an almost unbroken succession of bright, sunny (.. ys. Tlie heat is considerable, esjx'cially in inland places — from f^O' to DO' is not unconnnon ; but near tiie coast it is delightfully temjH'red by a refi'eshing l)i'ee/e from the se;i, and, unlike most tropical countries, the nights are compai'atively cool. I found myself able to walk' consider- able distanc(\s in the middle of the day, not only witliout exhaustion, but with somewhat of the exhilai'ation that one feels in Switzerland. ^Vork, too, can be done in the lields with a very high thei-mometer. Sunsti-okc is unknown, so is dog-nia soothing, balmy iidluence of this splendid spell of genial sunuuer weather is fell by vwvy one, and it makes life sensiblv briuhtei" and cheerier. One sometimes \\ ' I ' I (l'.»7) c !f i I I \S Mi 82 A rrnLD FOR ICMia RATIO X. tliiiiks with :i cliill shudder of the c'lstfru winds and cold fos^s that Jirc not unknown ovon in sununor in one's native hind. Not that you vtMjuire no jd'eoautions against cold ; the changes of temperature, as the daily ftvj^s fall and vise, are consider.ihh', and have i^-iven rise to a saying that you I'atch I'old in Los Ang(des twice a day. I hit it is winter which gives its hest feature to the climato of California. Kxci[)t wjien it is raining, winter is like sum- mer. 'I'he nights are colder, but there is not much dili'eronce in the days. And ihis is the great attraction to the people of the eastern states and of ( *anada, many of whom are ]ioui'ing into Southei-n California. They got tired of the severity of the eastern and northern winter. Once in Cali- fornia, tiny are h)ath to leave it. Kor consum})tive })eo]ih' it is like till' elixir of lif(\ Every second person you meet tells you he came to Southern California for the health of some nimiher of iiis family, and in almost e\'ei'y case the hcnclit wa^ irmarkahle. With siynie precautions against the change of temperature between day and night, and with due arrangements for exercise in the fresh air and abstinence from exhausting t(/il, prisons of weak chests and throats ai'c »Miabled to liv(^ comfortably, ami if the disease has not gone too far, they lia\e r\-eiy chanc<' of recoNcry. For fruit, Lower Crdit'ornia seems (h'stinecl to be the orchard of the woi'hi. (!rapes, oranges, melons, apricots, peaches, plums, pomegranates, lemons, citrons, ligs, walnuts, (•lives, and I know not what all besides, lloui'isli amaz- ingly. Of course, not all ecpially in eveiy place. Then^ art^ conditions of particular distrii-ts, to be learned only by ex- ]>erien<'e, eminently favourable to some kinds, and perhaps unfavourable to othei's. Iiut on the whole it is an unrivalh'd fruit region. If one kind of fruit be sjiecilied for which it is ])re-eminent, it is the uraiiu'e; and experience; is now showing tliat a partieular kind of oi'ange, called the AVashingtoii A FIELD FOR FMIGRATIOX, 83 ou b I Tiavol, is tlio very best that iifrows. It is to l)o noticed, as iiioclifyinn- the t^'ardou cliaractcr of th(^ state, tliat Southern California presents a veniarkahle combination of mountain and valley. Ft is in tlie \alleys thnt fruit is so flourisliing. 'i'he soil, f(M'ined a])parently in the lied of ancient lakes, is mar\ f'llou.sly fertile. 'I'Ik' rich vegetable mould extends in some places many feet — some say hundreds of feet — below the surface. Y<'ar after year crops are raised — not of fruit only, but of wheat, <^rass, and vegetables — without manure. ff irrigation be applied, two crops of grain may be got in one season, and of alfalfa grass from three to eight. The soil is well adapted for farm }>roduce as well as fruit. In the larger ranches (the old Spanish word is in constant use) cattle, sheep, and Jiorses are reared, and ordinary farm produce is raised. It is moin* in the neighbourhood of towns that tlu; culture of fruit jti-evails. The (juantity of fruit pi-oduced is far gn-ater than is required to supply the wants of the population. TIk^ less perishable kinds are trans- ported far and wide. Every ellbrt is made to convert what is ]ierishable into durable forms l)y diying and by canning. b^or some years back graphs have been so abundant that th(! wlioh^salo price has hai'dly ])aid tlie cost o*' labour. A cent (halfpenny) a pound is considered a good wholesale price. An acre of vineyard usually produces from thi'ee to eight tons of grapes, lUit it is a trouljlesonie ero)) to rear, and involves a great deal of labour, it is much moi-e prolit- able to turn th(» grapes into i-aisins, but this recjuires a dry elimate, at some distance from the sea. vniallected by the fogs. Hie orange is jtrobably the mosi lucrative crop, on ground well adapted for it. i>ut ^\\v orange does not bear well till about its eighth year, wliereas vines lia\e a fair croj* in their third or fourth. We liave yet t(» mention the most outstanding peculiarity of Southern Calii'oi'nia, viewed as a field for farming, and I .■ ! ■• til> ') 1? 84 A ftf:ld for F}ffORATmy. i i I ospoeially for horticulture. AVc refer to the extraordinary (listrilnition of water. Of rivers, streams, or surface run- ning' water of any kind, tiie supply is most limited. (Ireat tracts exist where there is none. This is the more remark- ahle tli!)t the country presents .ureat mountain i-aiiLjes, which are among the most striking ohjects in ti»e landscap<', I' rom the peculiarity of the soil, the water gets helow the surface ; sometimes it is within a few fe(^t of it, and at other places you liavc to descend hundi'cds of feet hefore you come to it. If the wHtc)' is n<'ar the sui'face. the trees any capillaiy atti'ac'tion, hut does not evaporate from the top. In the driest w<';itlier the soil is moist a few im-hes under the sui'face. N'ines do not netnl to lie watei'ed. The ojiijnon has hitherto pre\;iiled that oranges need an artitlcial -upply : hut this opinion seems to he undergoing a change. In many ]>Iaces cro]is (;f wheat and grass are also oht allied without artitlcial irrigation. Insomc^ disti'icts, and especially wliere more than one croj) in the year is .sought, ai'tilicial methods of irrigation .are resorted to; and one of iliese, I regret to say, is tlx' employment of town ^ewage water. whi(li in hot weather i,, most, danger- ous, and in the neighhoinhood of Los Angeles has gi\('n rise to se\eral cases of typhoid fexcr. Artesian wells are not, uncommon, and tli"y yield a large* "^^M*!*')'- '''"' American (loxcrnment is at present desoting earnest atteiitioi! to the liest ways of dealing with "arid tracts," and trying to de\ ise i''"thods of liriiii^iiig sueh wat.er as is a\ailaMe to hear on (he \asi d!stri(!is of desert that exist in some parts of the coiinlrv. If ;!i WiJ. r dilHeult v c(udd he successfully dealt with, Sou !ie"n ''dil'oniia ,soidd hecome more almndantly produi 1 • t, ii'i ]•■ rhap: rwy ulli> < part of the glohe. 'f A FIKJ.D FOR i: Mia RAT J OX. 85 Now, "just liciv," as tlu! Ainoricans say, is tlie point where eniip'aiits an; most liable to be misled. I have before me a flamimj advertiseiiH'iit respecting the land in a certain valley, which is offered at from eight to fifty dollars an acre. The land, ii is said, has grown the premium wheat in the worl ' ; \h has grown ])arsnips seven inches in diameter ; it lias grown eight crojis of alfalfa in one year; it has grown two liundn.-d and eighteen tons of sugar-be(>ts to the acre;; it has giown deciduous fruits of all kinds and vegetabh^s of every \ariety in the greatest abundance and tiie finest liloom; and it is cipable of growing cotton, tobacco, ])ea-nuts, and cliampagne and raisin graju-s. The situation of tlie \alley is hiij;h ; it is free from fogs, and emineiitlv faxourablc foi- (^ ttlers in Southern ( 'alifornia who have been fortunate in wat<'r arranc-^ lents lia\<' done well, and some who have liad to wait ma\ y-i b(» aided by (Jovernnieid measures and enjoy final success. But in many cases the want of watci' has proved a fii want, and it is well for settlers to find this out in tiu' . and act upon it before they are jienniless. Ilefore answering the «|uestion, What scut of emigi-ants sliotdd go to Som hern ( 'alitoniia? it is necessary t< bear in nnnd the etl'eets of the "lioom'"of two or three years ago, and the inllueiice it liai'. on the jtrice of land. I Hiring the il ' «1L . £ n J \% w 8i A FIELD rOli tLVKUiATKLW i I fi.l li)^ II boom, ull iiuiiiiior of artiliciiil moans were taken to raiso tlio valiU! of land. Syndicates would buy uj) a large rancli, lay it out like a town in blocks and streets, build a large hotel, run a tram-line or a brancli of a railwa}- to it, and invito the worlil to buy it U[) in detail. Sometimes the scheme took, at other times it was a deatl failure. But the etl'ect of this was to run up the ])rice of the best land mcry where to a vei'v high ligure ; and, though it has fallcMi since that time, bargains in land are not easily (o be hatl now. The expecta- tion prevails thui tliei-e will be another booin soon ; l)ut the wisest lu'ads w ill do their best to prevent i( acipiiring (he wild iirojxirtions of thn^t; years ago. The country is bound to prosper, foi' if there were nothing el.se to niake it atti'active, its wonderful projierties as a health-resort will always bring to it. a great intlux of people. |>ut in time the mining re.souives of the state will be deNflopcd ; manufactories will be established to supply the jieople willi many articles now itrought from Chicago mi- St. I^ouis ; th( fian't industry will be phiced on a more sysiem;.! ir and produtli\e footing; p»ssibly a eonsiih'rable shi|>))ing trade will be established, especially if a project now talked of be caiM'ied out, to make San l)i<'go the Pacitlc port for the large steamers that trade at present between China and San Francisco. No part of the woj'ld seems moi'e sure of futur(> increase aiul jtrosperity than Southern ( 'jdit'oiaiia. ^\'ho, then, should emigrate to it? Oertaiidy not all an Ills a IC .1 r//:/J) /'Vy/.' h\\/ /(.'/! AT/n.\\ 87 " bursted," tlicy may ^M't no wages at all. Fariuors who mean to grow grain and raise stock must jturchase a ranch, which can now Ix; got at a reasonable rate only in a some- what out-of-the-way ])lace, and if it has never been cultivated, can yield but little for a time. Probably the kind of thing that would suit the majority of emigrants Ijest would Ix' a small fruit-ranch of some ten or more acres in the vicinity of a town. Half of this miirht be an orchard ; th(^ othei* Ijnlf would b ill dt I siiKiil jiouirrv and dairy 1 dt fi II'MI. Tt wou Id 1 )(! amply sulVicient to maintain a liorsc, two cows, and a flock of poultry. A comfortable wooden house may b(^ built for fj'om jtlUO to £200. A well and windnull to i-aisc water for domestic and ordinary farm }turpos('s, with barn, etc., might cost other £S0. Tlu^ land (near town) might I'un from ,£20 to .1*100 an acre or more. '!".ei'e is always ready sale foi* eggs and liuttei'. 'i'lie conditions of life ;ire easy : litth' fuel is needed, and little clothing; and the climate is so dry and warm that, cattle hardly need ar v lieltei-, and buildings do not readily decay. A frugal pi'oprietor might almost live on the produce of his dairy and i)Oullry, and lia\e the value of his fi'uit crop over and abo\-e. Servici; costs a great deal, and is dilllcult, almost impossible, to be had. Four or live p(ninds a month, with boaj'd, is the wages of a ftjmale servant ; farm labourers liave more. Settlers must be aliundantly able to help themsehcs. In (In' great majority of fai'udiouses no servant is kept. Tlu're is but a \ei'y limited demand for chu'ks or professional men. Southern California is not the countiy for loafers or for .shift le.ss fellows. Sharp men, who see what is needed, and can adapt themsolv(\s readily to the ci''cumstances of a new country, are the men to ^d on. As in most othei- new counti'ies, an emigrant ought not to be in haste to settle; if lie can spi'iul a little time in looking about him and studying the situation, bo much the better. i I 1 J !ji 1 •: 1 ! r J 1 'l w' i i K 88 A FIELD FOR FMKinATKLW The authorities iiiul<I-.' generally attend the ciiurcli ot tin; denomination which liappent'd to he first in the tlcld. The settlers are commonly most n(>ighl)Ourly and obliging ; and as to honesty, the risk of losing anything by stealing in rural districts is \irtually nil. It hardly matters whether the liouse-door is locked at night. A settler may shut up his house, leave his live stock in charge of .> neighboui', be absent for raise of a climate wliich probably, if both summer and winter be taken into account, lias no superior on the face of tlio earth. ( 'il- >^' y ClIArTKU VIIT. "(;67' j\/) Anovrr NT Y soii'is fruit raiicli is situated about (ivr miles from X Los Angeles, in the neiglibourliood of the village of Florence. Florence is hut a straggling hamlet, and what there is save the glorious sky above it to entitle it to tlin name of tlie Tuscan capital it would be liai'd to say. There is no want of roads in tliese parts, for the whole country is laid out in rectangles, and usually at every lialf mile there are roads, broad antl treedined, crossing each other at right angles. The quantity is ample, the t[uality — une autre chose. Kear town the roads are properly built, but a few miles out thoy know nothing of road-metal, but consist simply of the native soil ; and wliere there is much tralVic, they are beaten and pounded in the drought of summer into sheer beds of dust. In winter, when the dust has becomes mud, the resi- dents turn out and mend their ways by shovelling the mud from the sides on to the middle. At otiier times an (^Hbrt will occasionally be nuide to contend with the dust by spreading straw over it, or eucalyptus leaves, or any otlier axailable rubbish. I'ut really, when you consider all that the settlers have had to do, the wond<'r is that they \\\\\r roads at all. I I'emember tra\(lliiig some years ago on a stage-coach b(>tween lii\-ersnai(l and Loch Katrine in com- pany with some Americans, who were in a boastful vein, and I i\ 1)'' 111 ' 90 ''OCT wh Miorr.'' dispobotl to run (lf»\vii evcrytlnng in Scotliind. Cnniparod with Anirii^'a, tlic hikes Mere small, tho niountai'.ib low, tlif^ liorses poor, the stage-coach paltry. "Well, gentlemen," I said, "you will admit we liave lirtter loads." — "Little thanks to you, " was tiie reply; "you have had two thousand years to make them." The country ahout Florence, as in many othi r places, is mo.stlv laid out in vinevards and orchai'ds. Some ai-c larijo, covei'ini; huntlreds of acres, hut most of them are from ii\'(^ or ten acres ujAvards. The Na^leau \ incyard, for example, is ;i larijc one. The tirst ownei- made money in the frei'dit transportation or carrying liusiness — conveying goods over th(^ desert befon tin- days of the railway — a rough and risky business in those days. liuying land cheap, he accjuirc'd a large quantity, ot which his fannly now reaj) the benefit. The country is ton (lal and fertile to ha\"e much jticturesque beauty, but the range of mountains in the horizon is always grand. The charm is in f he cliiiiale. It is (piite luxurious to lind da\ after day the most glorious w.ather a blue sky without a cloud, ami in the e\eniiig that tender " after-glow " that .st'ems to lu'eathe the spirit of hea\(ii. The vegetation is wonderfully rich. \ very little laliour and care will secure a most beautiful uardeii. Roses tloweriiiLr all the year round, white lilies of incomparable ])urity, bushes of carnations with hundreds of flowers on eacli, marguerites with thousands, geraniums like trees, a hedge of blazing sunflowers twelve feet high, annuals in richest bloom, mad(! our little cottage appear a corner of paradise. It was such a contrast to Edinburgh gardens, where all the labour you can expend is so little productive. The flowers seemed to say, .lust stick us in th<> ground and gi\e us a droj) of water — it's all we ask. 1 was favourably impressed with the people who own and cultiMite the farms and orchards in the neighbourhood. Of 'fl "orr .i.\7> MVirr:' 91 course tlicro wvro exc'('}»tions, l)ut tukr tlu'iii all in ull tlicy were n'spoctablo, serious, and noi^hbourly — j)i'o|ilr that Avould not see a neiglibour in trouMe witliout lending a lielpinL( liand. At Florence tlieic is a little Methodist; church, with a very worthy and earnest minister. Wlun J jtreached, tlie whole iieiglibourhood seemed to turn out, and there was a hapjiy family feeling pervading the assemhly. At Vernon, in another direction, there is a Congregational cliurcli, tiie minister of it a (h;vout, cultivate(l, and \vv\ agrei;- ai)h? man. Here I was ( sen more at liome. In these |)laces peo})le for tlie most pait seem to be church going, though there is a proportion of the careless and unbelieving. Tliere ai'e su})erior schools at l)oth places. At Vernon, a new school was in the course of erection — a huge and liandsome building, tluit in oui- country would have cost from XI, 500 to £'1,000. It must always be said in honour of Americans that they do not starve their schools. Shall we now make a little excursion of ten or twelve miles in the direction of the mountains, and bei-ome ac- ([uaiidiMl with L^isachMia? II is a flourishing town, only se\('n years of age, with a i>o})ulation estimated at 1 1,000. There is not much of the appearance of town about it — only a street or two, the rest lieing suburbs, dotte(l all over with villas and cottages. It is more a winter than a sunnner i'(>sidence ; in fact, that hug(! hotel, tlie Raymond, dominat- ing the town from a conunanding height, shuts uj) its IInc hundred a})artnients in summer, and takes in guests in winter only. The winter climati' is s})leiiditl for invalids. The hotel is named afti;r a brotherhood that, like Cook and Son in England, organize excursions, and labour to make traA'elling easy. Pasadena is a choice spot, having many families in easy circumstances, whom the charm of its winter climati! has induced to settle ther(\ Like most otlu'r places, it has its jirojjortion of Scotsmen. 1 met them in dozens in ii i1 '■■'M i X ! IMAGE EVALUATION TEST TARGET (MT-3) // ^/ 4> J^^^ ^Ji .<> 4f. 1.0 [.I 1.25 |2.8 J.2 163 ^ 1^ 2.5 2.2 12.0 1.8 U III 1.6 p% . r^ r? o / s Photographic Sciences Corporation 4, ^ \\ lV ^^ ^. ^ 33 WEST AAAIN STREET WEBSTER, N.Y. MSBO (716) 872-4S03 6^ S" MP. %' Jp M uf 92 "orr Ay/) about:' I li !M the very large and liandsoiiie Presbyterian church where I otl^iciated. Sauntering along the principal street, I observed a store called "The Lon- Accord Emporium," or some such name. My heart gave a little leap at the word " Bon- Accord," the motto of my native city. I went up to the owner and said, " Mr. lU'ebner, are you not, like myself, from Aberdeen?" — "Yes," he said. "Did you know my father, an elder of the Free Church in TurritlT' I knew him more than forty years ago, having been then minister in a neighbouring parish ; and in those days, just after the Dis- ruption of th(! Church, every man who was so useful as Mr, Brebner was honoured by us all. From one of our friends in Pasadena we got a little chapter of family history which shows vividly how some men get on. A relation of my friend's, with an ailment of the throat, had come with his wife from one of the middle states in search of health. Their means were small, and before they could make up their minds what to do, or where to settle, everything was spent. Thereupon, in order to get daily l»read, the wife had to resort to teaching in Los Angeles, and by this means she kept the family alive. A friend sent him eightetni liundnvl dollars to invest ; \w became the borrowc^r, and undertook to pay something like eighteen per cent, interest upon the loan. He bought seven acres at Pasadena, improving them with his own hand, and by-and-by selling at a considerable profit, which enabled him to repay tlit^ \oau and buy other fifteen acres. These in like manner he improved, and was able to sell at a profit, and from this he went on till ho has now very extensive |)rop(!rty and ample means. But let no man reckon on repeating such an experiment. It suc- ceeded simply Ix'cause the gentleman came in the very nick o ft nne We h lear much of successful cases of this soi-t; but )orious and ptM'severing, has struggled and sti'Uffu'h'd and failed, because he lost the tide which bore m.'my n iii;ni, just as "OO" ''OUT AND about:' 93 tho otlinr to fortune. Success is blazoned abroad ; failure, tliough far more fr(!qu:int, lurks concealed. With another friend we made an interesting excursion among the mountains, having our picnic in a beautiful canyon in the Sierra. Our more immediate object was to call on a gentleman named Brown, son of the famous John Brown of Harper's F'erry, who lost his life in the cause of the slave, and has, most deservedly, been a hero with the negroes ever since. It was a ditlicult matter to get up the steep i^ass, for tli(^ I'oads were very rough and the day was very hot. And ]\Ir. I'rown's shanty was high up among the mountains — why so high it was hard to tell. Such as the road was it had been constructed with much hard manual labour by him and a brother recently dead, in whose memory a tombstone had just been erected on the crest of a neigh- l)Ouring height, llnfoi-tunately w(^ did not find ]Mr. Brown at home, and we had to content ourselves with carrying off two magniticent stems of Yucca yloriosa from tli(^ mountain side. We regretted much that we liad not seen him, for he is said personally to bi; a most interesting man, and he could have told us many things about his father. Near to his house, and built on land that once belonged to him, is a sanitarium, presid<.'d over by a lady-doctor. Tliis lady we afterwards m(;t in a railway-car a long way off. She told us iiUich of th(» singularly unseHlsli and benevolent character of tlie two brothers, who seemed to lead such a recluse life. 1 cannot repeat what was not meant for the public, and might be distast(>ful to the man in whose praise it was uttered. lUit it surpassed the old story of the dying Sir riiilip Sydney handing his cup of water to the common soldier beside him, with the r(>mark, "Thy necessity is great(>r than mine." Poor though these Ih'owns were, when they had any money it was wretcluHJ negroes and jMexicans that got the ben<'(lt of it. One .seemed to understand better the character of (lie { ■I S?: AS TDK ON THE PACIFIC. 99 of the place, it is greatly missed. But tliere are numerous boarding-Iiou.ses for tlie accommodation of the public. One of our party being rather feeble, my son brought his horses and buggy, that we might drive about. It may show the free- and-easy treatment to which horses are accustomed in Cali- fornia, that though there was a staljle attached to the board- ing-house, he thought it better to tie the horses to posts outside and lay down their hay beside them. Hay there is not like hay here ; it is wheat cut green and allowed to dry, and seems to serve the purpose of hay and oats combined. There was a beautiful drive on the beach, eight miles long, with a surface as smooth as a table, and firm enough to bear the wheels without sinking. The fresh sea-breeze was always delightful and exhilarating ; it was hardly possible for in- valids to breathe it without becoming stronger. The whole of Long Beach is on the property of one gentle- man who owns an immense tract in the neighbourhood. Many years ago two brothers purchased two great INIexican ranches of many thousand acres, for which the price was only seventy- five cents an acre. I have no doubt that in tlie neighbour- hood of Long Beach the land would now fetch hundreds of dollars per acre. The owners of these ranches, which still bear the Spanish names of Alamitos and Seritos, were kind enough to invite us to see their jilaces. We went with the more pleasure that they were good specimens of the old Mexican ranch, and that the old adobe houses wei-e still standing. The houses are more quaint than comfortable. The walls are of immense thickness, and the rooms of con- siderable size ; but the Mexicans seem to have had peculiar ideas on the subject of windows. In their time the windows seem to have been mere holes near the top of the wall ; these liad to 1)0 lengthened towards the ground by the present owners. One of th(^ ranches has a fnmous dairy, with a prodigious stock of cheese; and, oddly enough, the men in charge of it I M'v M-i iuii ' ( .11 I 100 SEASIDE OX THE PACIFIC. \ ! I I :jii ill I \ I I't \i \ aro Italians. Tlie otlior is celebrated for its sheep. Tn " Ramona" there is a graphic description of what the sheep- shearing used to be in the old Mexican times, and of the mar- ^■ollous ex})edition with which some of the Indians could per- form the opeiution. They told me that the sheep-shearing was carried on in much the same manner still. I was reminded of what a beloved son, now no more, who had been at Buenos Ayres for health, used to tell us of the incredible ceh^rity with which oxen were killed, flayed, and otherwise dis- posed of by the natives in the Liebig yards of that city. Nothing astonishes vou more than to see great Hocks of sheep grazing in apparent content on plains where all vege- tation seems as much dried up as if it had been baked in an oven. But the sheep discover a little berry like a burr, the fruit of a very abundant plant, on which they can not only live, but thrive and fatten. At Seritos there is a fine garden — at least, it used to be fine — and I could hardly forgive the proprietor for suffering it to fall into decay. The house, however, was old, and he wished to rear a lietter one in a different situation. In a country wdiich has no real antiquities, these old ranch houses and gardens are the only places that go back beyond the existing generation. I should have thought the proprietors, wlio have profited so greatly by the rise of prices, would have been eager to keep them up precisely as they were in the olden time, w4th their spacious verandas, their vine-covered arcades and trellises, their magnificent trees, and all else that told of the earlier history. But antiquarianism does not pay. While we were at Long Beach, the " Alliance Assembly " was holding its annual gathering there. The meetings last in all about a month. The prototype of this congress is the famous (Jhatauqua Assembly in the state of New York. The idea is to utilize the holiday season, in accordance witli 111 of SEASIDE OX THE PACIFIC. 101 American habits, for promoting the spiritual, intellectual, and social welfare and enjoyment of the peo})le gathered at the seaside. The Long Beach Alliance Assembly is under the auspices of the INIethodist Episcopal Church ; but a catholic character is sought to be imparted to it by the in- vitation of ministers and members of other Churches to take part in it. There is a large tabernacle for the meetings ; they begin at eight in the morning, and they go on till about ten at night. It may seem to our sober Scottish view rather a strange thing to combine prayer-meetings and class-meetings and revival-meetings with lectures on popular oi' scientitic subjects, and with concerts, where Jubilee Singers do not exclude even their comic songs. Yet in the Life of the late Dr. Begg it will be seen that he highly approved of Saturday evening concerts, and we know that he was not the man to think badly of the play of humour. The idea is that man has a complex natun^, and that if you honestly try to exer- cise and develop every part of it, even if you do so sinuilta- neously, the effect is good. And my judgment is, that for people in holiday humour, sauntering by the seaside in the usual somewhat careless spirit of holiday-makers, the social effect is good ; but that not much, if anything, is done for the positive advancement of religion. vVt the request of the superintendent, I gave my lecture one evening on the Life of Livincrstone ; and one forenoon T conducted a service for young men and women, s]_)eaking to thorn of the character of Christ. It is remarkable how large and steady the various attendances were. '^rh(>re was a meeting for children every morning at nine o'clock in the Presbyterian church, and the littU^ building was always full. The Methodists always strive to kindle emotion, and herein are a great contrast to us. INLethodist religion is pre-eminently a religion of feeling, with very little of docti'inal teaching. And 1 noticed — what pains one so often in America — a want of reverence. 1 heard 1 ll t; t ' 1 i| 1 ■ 1 ■ i 1 !!■ ill' In, i ll ;l 1' • I [ I r' it 102 F^E ASIDE OX THE IWCIEfC. \ ill illljil i i ])aiiiful instances at the Assembly of tin; evil habit of using Scripture language to point a jest. One of the funny features of the gathering was the "camping out." You see a space allotted for "camping," and you find all manner of })Cople dwelling happily in tents, with their horse and buggy at hand, the horse " hitched " to a tree, and never dreaming of the luxury of a stable. And then when it suits them the friends can have a nice drive along the beach, or wherever else they choose. If you like, we shall make a call at that tent in the corner, where an excellent INIethodist minister, a friend of ours, resides. Tlie minister's wife receives us, and conducts us over her " house." TIu^ floor is covered with a carpet, brought from the manse. In ont; corner is a sofa ; that is the drawinix- room. In another, a cooking-stove ; that is the kitchen. In another, a table; that is the dining-room. In another, a shake-down ; that is the bedroom. But the ground is so dry, and the air so fresh, and the warmth so genial, that it is nice and pleasant. The cooking-sto\e is seldom needed ; and the fuel being wood, the lin; is easily kindled and easily extinguished, without turning the tent into an oven. And I must add this about Long Beach, that no liquor is sold in it. By appointment of its jjromoters, it is a teetotal town. I need not say that it is the most tranquil and orderly place you can conceive. Even with all the excur- sionists that the trains bring to it, such a thing as drunken- ness is unknown. T never saw a policeman in it, nor found a police-ofhce. People smile when you ask if there be such. What use would there be for them? At Long Beach I was presented by an accomplished lady with a copy of a book which every one was reading— "Look- ing Backward." It was in its loOth thousand. A book with a very absurd plot, and, I am afraid I must add, an absurd drift. Its autiior is an able aenthnnan of Boston, a sin^ til 1 1 SEASIDE OX socialist ; and its purpose is to p which socialism has triumphed, and blessings on every side. I read the because I am very desirous to obtain light iroi on social problems, but I must add with great disappointment. The plot turns on a sup})Osed case of mesmeric sleep, passed through by a young gentleman of Boston, who fell asleep in 1887 and awoke all right in 2000 ! He looks round him on his native city, and finds it entirely transformed. An entirely new state of society has come to pass. There are no rich and poor, no drones that toil not neither do they spin, no private property, no grinding competition in business, no strikes or lock-outs, no greed, no selfishness, no money 1 Everything is the property of the State, and all labour, all business, all everything is managed by the State. And every one is easy, contented, blessed. Labour ends at the ago of forty-five; after that you simply enjoy yourself. In place of money, you get a ticket which enables you to get all you want at the public stores, the store-keeper making a punch-mark in your ticket for what you get. And society has not reached this condition by a violent revolution; it has just peaceably slid into it, in accordance with the policy which is every day absorbing private and smaller enterprises and converting them into a few great concerns. It is almost incredible that a man in his senses should imagine that some of the strongest imj)ulses of human nature would be quietly annihilated before a pleasing picture ; that men would all of a sudden cease to struggle every one for himself, and devote himself heart and soul to the public good. Environments will do much, but will they ever eradicate the greed, the selfishness, the ambition of our nature? I grant that in " Lookinir Backward " there is much ti'ue benevolence and a fine sympathy with the children of laboui- ; and the author does not plead for confiscation, nor write as one who would 11 I ji V:l\ ) i ! n "i \n r .11 104 tSE ASIDE ON THE VACIEIC, resort to violence. But the marvel is, to fancy that without violence this age of gold will come of itself ! to ignore the great problem of human corru^jtion, and take no account of the only means ever devised for solving that ! " To think — T hav«^ a ])attorn on my nail, And 1 will carve the world new after it, And solve so these hard social questions — nay, Impossible social c|iiestions, since their roots Strike dee]) iu E\ ii s own existence here, Wliich God permits." — Aurora Ltujli^ As to socialisDi, T do not think many Americans proper have much tendency towards it ; it is the foreigners that uphold it. And T agr(x; with those who think that for a hundred vears there will not be much serious trouble with socialism in the country, because there are so many outlets for the growing population. But when America is as densely peopled as Europe, with many more overcrowded cities and complaining, half-starveil citizens, then will come the tug-of-war. ,)■■■ ' ! ptt ■• «.i„ . <» CHAPTER X. SAA FRANCISCO. HAYING completed our visit to the family of our son, Ave next proceeded l)y sea to 8an Francisco. We did not fancy the jNIojave desert again, especially as on the 1st August it would be much warmer than we found it on the 31st May, when it was quite warm enough. Wc; em- harked on board the Santa Rosa steamer at San Pedro, the port of Los Angeles. The steamer was most comfortable, but not the ocean. In the evening we stopped for a few liours at Santa Barbara, a delightful and thriving seaside town, and liad a most pleasant little visit at the house of Mr. Alex- ander, whom we had known in former days at Toronto. Feeble health liad In'ought him to the Pacific coast, and he was both benelited and charmed by Santa Barbara. Ue- embarking at night, our next stoppage", on the following d.'iy, was at Port Hai'ford, tin? seaport for San Luis Oliispo, about a dozen miles inland. Here, too, we had friends, to whom also we paid a pleasant visit. San Luis is a thriving city, in tli(^ midst of a tine agricultural district. When we got l.«ack into the wide Pacific, wo got far from a pacific recep- tion. A nasty side swell was per[)etually hitting our vessel and causing a most disagreeable motion. It gav(^ us a miser- able night, altliough we had no sickness; and we were in no ordinary degree relieved and gladdened when getting up in 106 /S'^LV FtlA::(1TSC0. t A \V\ f. i wm 11 the morning we found ourselves entering the Golden Gate, and in a little set foot on ^err« Jirma on the wharf at San Francisco. We drove to the Palace Hotel. It is one of the phenomena of San Francisco, and a comfortable house. It is one of the hotels where you may pay for your bedroom only, and take your meals at a restaurant connected with it, or wherever else you may please. The higher you go the cheaper your bedroom; and as you are always carried up in the elevator, height is a matter of little consequence. No doubt there is one article in high rooms which startles you a little — a coil of thick rope close to the window, to give you the chance of escape if the house should take fire ! It is a gruesome thing to look at. I was assured, however, that the risk of fire was infinitesimally small, as the hotel is watched by night, and lire could not break out without being discovered in a very brief time. A word on American ck^vators. The elevator is one of the characteristic features of American civilization. It is said that there are quite different types of elevator, as of character, in New York, Philadelphia, and Chicago. It is in the newest cities that the elevator prevails most, because all the hotels, banks, warehouses, and other buildings using it were erected after the elevator had come into general use. Chicago is said to have the fastest, its elevators running usu- ally at tlu; rate of four hundred feet a minute, and the (juick- est at five hundred ! This is too fast even for some Americans themselves. In New York the number of elevators amounts to three thousand five hundred, in Chicago to four thousand. The highest of all elevators is that of the Washington INlonu- ment (which is five liundred feet high) ; but it goes very slowly, at the sober rate of one hundred feet a minute. In private houses the ele\al(fr is becoming common. It is not only an American article, as being us.'d cliielly in that ' >S'yliV FRANCISCO. 10- San country, but the contriving and improving of all its parts and methods of work have been almost exclusively the work of Americans. The department of the patent office in ^Yash- ington devoted to it is said to be quite a study. As a com- paratively new city, San Francisco is great in elevatory, and in many a big building the stair might almost be dis- pensed with. The common sights of San Francisco have been so often described that I do not intend to repeat the operation. The bay is very tine; the Golden Gate a stately entrance; the rock covered with seals basking in the sun a rare curiosity; the public park a wonderful transformation of what a few years ago were sandy hills. Oakland, too, across the ferry, is an interesting place, an oflslioot from San Francisco, but it seems to have hardly interfered with the rapidity of its growth. The city is conspicuous for its connnercial architec- ture, many warehouses and hotels being themselves a study ; otherwise its edifices are not very striking. San Francisco must always be interesting to us as the iirst great American city on the Pacific coast, the first great settlement of the Anglo-Saxon race in what is virtually a new country- Western America ; the first spot, in what is destined to bo a great empire, where the virtues and the vices of our civili- zation began to spread abroad. We had the pleasure to make the acquaintance of Dr. INfackenzie, minister of th(> First Presbyterian Churcli, an active and most estimable pastor, enjoying the esteem of the whole community ; and no one could have done more to make our stay agreeable and prolilal)l(\ During our four days' stay in San Francisco, I prcacheil in his church, and in that of Dr. Gornelins, formerly of Pasadena ; T delivered a lecture; on the Pan-Presbyterian Alliance in Calvary Church, and also in the church of my friend. Rev. Dr. ITor- ton of Oakland ; T addressed a ladies' missionary meeting ; ii M ■iti :ll m if f 108 SAN FRAXCtSCO. I ; 111 ' ' i I IM and I performed the ceremony of marriage, the bi'ide being an old serv^ant of our own, and the bridegroom an excellent specimen of a Scotsman. But at the same time I contrived to see a good deal. We naturally felt a great interest in the Chinese in San Francisco. The Chinese have already contrived to dispossess the barbarians. Just as the woody particles of a tree are supplanted by the stony material which fossilizes it, so the first town of San Francisco has been gradually transformed, and is now fully occupied by tlie Chinese. Ten blocks, forming the hrst San Francisco, where stood the first count- ing-houses, the first banks, the first town house, the first churches, have been transformed into Chinatown ; they are occupied by some say forty thousand, others thirty thou- sand Chinese ; no one else will dwell in them, and if the Chinese should finally be expelled, they would have to be rel)uilt before any other race would settle in them. The Chinese question is one of the American difficulties. At first they were welcomed to America as much as any other foreign people ; but the case is very different now. I re- member some years ago hearing Dr. Talmage preach on the Chinese question in his Brooklyn tabernacle. He was indig- nant at the feeling that Avas getting up against them, and ridiculed the elian<>'e that had come over the AnuM'ican l)e()})le from the time when thev invited them so cordially to come and help them to settU; the west- " You dear Chiiu'c, do come over and see us, (did hriixj your work wiUi you. We shall be so delighttnl to have you with us!" But now the Californian Government has passed a law forbidding them to eome into their state, and the Suprem(>, Coui't of the ITuited States has declared the law compc'tent What is urged in favour of this course is that the Chinese will not amalgamate; with the American nation as all other foreigner's have dom*, and notably the Ja}»anese. 'I'hey conic over ^S'J.V FRANCISCO. 109 without their wives, not to settle Imt to make money ; they go back as soon as they have made tlieir pile ; tliey wear their own dress, even the pigtail, live and eat in their o\\ n fashion, speak their own tongue, worship their own idols, import all they use, food and dress, from China, and take no interest whatever in anything American. I think there is much force in all this ; although it is true that had they been treated at first with more kindness and consideration, the case might have been difi'erent now. Dr. Mackenzie kindly took me to see Chinatown. Ac- companied by a guide, about eleven o'clock at night we vis- ited some of the haunts of the Chinese : sauntered through characteristic streets, had a cup of tea (served with an egg) in a restaurant, peeped into some of their opium-smoking d nis, saw them worshipping in their joss-house, and ended by a visit to their theatre. Late though the hour was, everything was in full play. The Chinese constitution seems to require little sleep ; hence their ability for extra- ordinarily long hours of labour, — they are said to be able to work eleven days in the week. Cliinatown, on the whole, is a miserable place, for the Chinese in America will spend hardly a cent they can help. They are a remarkably handy, industrious, and sober people, and make excellent servants, both in the house and in the field. But the absence of married women and of family life makes Cliinatown very squalid and repulsive. What women there are are mostly shive-girls, owned by wretches who turn them to the vilest purposes, inhabiting certain alleys wliich at night are openly Ldven over to vice. There is a good tleal of mission work done among the Chinese, and with a fair amount of success ; and the missionaries, mah; and female, speak of the Chinese as an interesting people. Those of them who are ( 'hristian are hated by their brethren, and are allowed as little inter- course as pussiV)le with them. We visited a Chinese school, \- hi If s; !!' ! I'in 112 SAy FRAXCrSCO. ill the nogativ(» Tt is said that ho has groat clilliciilty in finding a president. The site is a very choice one — elevated, spacious, airy, ^vith a sufficient amount of grown timber to take off the look of bareness that used to strike an Edinburgh eye in Donahl- son's Hospital or Fettes College. A railway station will make the communication easy witli San Francisco and other parts ; and though no ground will be permanently alienated, facilities will be uiven for buildin2; dwellinu'-houses to accom- modate parents or friends of the pupils. It is not easy to say what will be the result of this undertaking ; probably some of us may think that the plan of combining every stage of education in the same institution, and confining young persons to the same spot from first to last, is somewhat arfi- ficial and of doubtful expediency. While I was in California, and especially in San Francisco, I found consideral)le excitement prevailing in connection with excursion trips that had been organized to Alaska, the latest territory that has been acquired by the United States, pur- chased by them about twenty years ago from the Russian Government at a cost of seven million dollars. Every one who had gone this trip was enthusiastic over it, and when- ever a stranger like myself fell into their hands, the most urgent representations were made that, at all cost, it should be undertaken. Alaska is the north-west corner of North America, and lies to the north-west of our Canadian do- minions. It was a/;quired by the United States on the advice of INIr. W. II. Seward. Mr. Seward was ridiculed for his action in regard to what was said to be a mere collection of glaciers and icebergs ; but its mines, its seals, its fishings, and its furs have already made it a most valuable acquisition. One is almost proNoked at its passing into American hands. It ought beyond doubt to have belonged to Canada. Many SAIV FJMNCrSCO. 113 'i-y, • a representation, I liave been told, was made to this effect to our Government by our friends in British Columbia, who knew the value of Alaska, but in vain. The Government had no fancy for icebergs and glaciers. But now Alaska, apart from its strategic value, is becoming a centre of an important traffic; and as a most picturesque and interesting country is becoming to tourists in America nmch as Norway is to tourists in Europe. One tiling that 1 was told about Alaska T found hard to believe. I thought an r iperiment was being tried upon my credulity when I was assured that the territory of the United States extended farther west from San Francisco than the distance between it and New York on the east. But when I examined the map, and observed the longitude of the most westerly of a long string of islands included in Alaska, I found that what had been told me was literally true. After some hesitation, I decided, on considerations of time, not to go to Alaska. But I have heard much about it. At Long Beach, I met with a Presbyterian minister who had been for ten years a missionary to the natives — a race supposed to be of Japanese origin. The superstitions of the natives were very gross and very cruel, especially in connection with their belief in witches. But in that respect there is a manifest improvement. The United States Government neglected the place utterly for some years after acquiring it, and liave only recently begun to attend to it. Its great attraction to tourists, besides the beauty of its shores and islands, is its glaciers and icebergs. The late Principal Forbes of St. Andrews would have enjoyed a rare treat had he known of them and seen them, for they seem to throw no little addi- tional light on the formation and history of glaciers. The trip to and fro is usually performed in about three weeks. Steam-boats go on purpose, and the tourist is carried without trouble from place to place; but no doubt some would like (197) 8 UTIt' 1 i' t ;l! il: *;!■*. 114 iS'J.V FRAXCISCO. more freedom. Visitors to the Pacific coast would do well to include this excursion in their plans. A more direct starting-point than San Francisco is Victoria, in British Columbia, and this is easily reached by the Canadian Pacific Railway. I do not think I can bid farewell to San Francisco without saying a word about its cable-cars. For the most part, in other cities cable-cars have been limited to short and easy distances; but now in San Francisco they take the longest and the wildest flights. Yet, a priori, one would have said that San Francisco, with its steep and far-extended hills, was utterly unsuited for that form of movement. In the city itself another view has prevailed. The streets are now all alive with them, some running in one direction and some in another, often following each other at intervals of a minute or two minutes, and seldom more than five. Usually two cars are joined together, one open and the other closed — the open one like an Irish car, with low seats running length- ways, making it remarkably easy to get off or on. Till one gets used to the sight, it is like magic to see them bowling along in meek silence, with no visible motive force, this way and that way, backwards and forwards, stop[)ing at the beck of any passenger, white, black, or yellow, and performing every motion with the ease and regularity of the solar system. The marvel is how one rope can stretch so far; how it can turn abrupt corners, climb high hills, scud along crowded streets — all apparently without hitch or accident. Yet so it is. And the result is cjoing to be a great extension of San Francisco in the direction of its high hills. The ent(?rpriso of these Californians is a contrast to the slow caution of our people at liome ; as is also the emotion with which we have to witness the struggles of panting horses to the nonchalance and sense of ease that dominate the cable-car system. ki CHAPTER XT. NORTHWARDS TO BRITISH COLUMBIA. FRO]\I San Francisco you may reach the Atlantic coast either by the Northern Pacific Pvailroad, which is the more direct route, or l)y the Canadian Pacific, to reach the terminus of which, at Vancouver, you have a preliminary journey of eight hundred and ninety miles, through the northern part of California, the state of Oregon, and Wash- ington Territory. For various reasons I preferred the latter route. The first part of the railway run has some glorious scenery. The Sierra Nevada on the east and the Coast Range on the west are running towards each other ; the railway runs between them, skirting for a long stretch the banks of the river, passing through wooded ravines and rocky oforofes and green meadows in endless succession ; while in the background a chain of mountains as high as the Alps towers heavenward — Mount Shasta, the queen of the range, being about the same height as Mont Blanc, although to my eye far from as interesting or impressive. At one point the train obligingly stops to give you the opportunity of drinking a glass of soda-water from the soda-si)rings which you see bursting quite near out of the side of the hill, and rolling to the river in clear, cool streams. The state of Oregon and Washington Territory are inter- esting, chiefly from their endless forests. Here certainly you \\\ I ■ 1 ■ i ; > If- 1 ' i!\ r ; ) IPfi n IPfi ; 116 NORTinVAlWS TO URITTSII COLUMBIA. must be about the licarl-quartors of the lumber world. The railroad has made these timber treasures of priceless value, and has placed the remark of the English commissionaire, tliat these territories were not worth a plack, on a level with that of the French general Avho ceded Canada to Britain, that he had given up only some acres of snow. But even to the rapid railway traveller these forests are apt to be- come a little monotonous, though single trees are often a study, from their vast magnitude and perfection of form ; and the mountains are wildly picturesque. But very often the havoc of forest fires makes black and ugly gaps along the line, and the eye longs for a change. There is little cause for the most patriotic Briton regretting that these territories are not in the British Empire ; for British Columbia is not loss abundant in timber treasure, and for beauty of scenery it beats them all. Forest fires arc picturesque enough to see by night ; the clear, bright blaze contrap^s splendidly with the surrounding- darkness, and it is pretty to see the nimble flame running up the tree so deftly, and leaping from branch to branch, as if it were possessed by the spirit of the squirrel. But they have their drawbacks too. The day may come Avhen the vast amount of wasted timber will be grievously deplored, although as yet it is not missed. But the day has come when the smoke of these fires so clouds the atmosphere in the heat of summer that the beauty of the distant scenery is lost to the traveller. This was our unhappy experience. While quite able to appreciate the nearer l)eauty, all that lay be- yond a mile or two was lost in the haze. AVo never had a glimpse of the far-famed Mount Baker or Mount Tacoma ; for about a week we had to deplore the smoke. From Tacoma to Yictfo'ia we expected a sail of surpassing beauty through the wooded banks of Puget Sound : we seldom even saw the shore-line. Passing Seattle, the town recently re- NORTinVARDS TO nRITISH COT.CMniA. 117 The ducccl to ashes (as our insurance companies know too well), we expected a sensation in the sight of the new city rising from the ashes of the okl : for anything we saw we might have passed it at midnight. As we drew near toward Victoria, on the third day of our journey, the atmosphere cleared considerahly, and we could set; the Union Jack wav- ing a good way off! And pleasant though our three months' stay in tlie United States had been, and little though we had found to remind us of a foreign country, it was with a peculiar feeling of satisfaction that we stepped on British soil, and, though still six thousand miles from our father- land, seemed to smell the freshness of our native air. Victoria, the capital of British Columbia, is a beautiful and thriving little city, not on the mainland, but on the island of Vancouver. Till the Canadian Pacific Railway was opened in 1885, it was so remote and inaccessible as to have little or no vital connection either with the rest of Canada or the rest of the British Empire. This was indeed true of all British Columbia. Being on an island, Victoria is a few hours from the terminus of the railway, which is at the town of Vancouver, on the mainland. It enjoys a splendid har- bour, the Esquimalt, and will soon, doubtless, command an immense traffic with Japan, China, and the whole east coast of Asia. This traffic has already begun. The route to Japan and China is shorter than from San Francisco, while tlie land journey from the east is also considerably less. The inexhaustible lumber stores of British Columbia, the mass of valuable minerals, the agricultural produce of the numer- ous districts which are adapted to farming, indicate plainly enough what its destiny must be. Of all the places I had seen on the American continent, Victoria seemed the city where it would be most pleasant to live. The climate is charming, with hardly any winter ; the sea comes rolling in among the wooded bays and headlands !- \i i I r n n I I H !i ii ., V ] I 'Vi 118 NORTHWARDS TO BRITISH COLUMBIA. with a refreshing breeze which carries no bitterness in its blast, and answers to that sea-loving taste which seems natural to us islanders. The whole look-out is bright and lively. Scotsmen have had a good share of the prosperity of Victoria. I am afraid that they have not kept themselves in all cases unspotted by the vices to which a new place is subject, far off from civilizing and Christianizing influences. Being so much cut olT from the Old World, Victoria, in its early days, followed in the wake of the cities of the American Pacific in certain habits which have not been for its good. Of "ecent years there has been a moral advance which is very gratifying, and encourages the hope that it will have a bright future in all that makes for the prosperity of a conmiunity. There are two other towns in this part of British Columbia, close to the western terminus of the Canadian Pacific, that deserve a passing notice. New Westminster, on the Fraser River, besides its great sawmills, enjoys a pre-eminence as the centre of the salmon canning business. Apropos of sawmills, I ought to say something of the marvellous timber produce of these regions. It is not merely the abundance but the excellent quality of the timber that is so marvellous. A gentleman told me that near Seattle he had seen a plank, to be mad(^ use of in the palace at Honolulu, upwards of a hundred feet long, that was in its entire length absolut(!ly without flaw. A single sawmill in that region cuts up thn^e hundred thousand cubic feet a day. If ever nature formed ground for trees, it is in these regions of the west. As for the salmon, I hardly expect that the statements I am to make will be believed. I did not do what a fellow-traveller did — put down certain facts in a note-book, and get two fellow-travellers to sign an alHdavit that they were correct. On the wharf of a cannery at New Westminster I saw salmon piled much as herring are piled at home after a good NORTHWARDS TO BRITISJI COLUMBIA. 110 night's tisliing, and T was told that twelve thousand had been caught that day. In the cannery itself fifty thousand cans are filled daily by a large staff" of workers, some Cana- dian, »ome Indian, but chiefly Chinese. I did not feel that my lo^e for canned salmon was greatly stimulated by the sight oi the process. I was told that the owner of the can- nery wculd probably net £20,000 as this year's profit. But the most remarkable fact T have to mention is that, as we passed aong the banks of the Fraser River by the Canadian Pacific Aailway, we saw the water literally l)lack with salmon br about a hundred miles. It is their hal)it, in going up the river, to keep near its edge ; and whenever a piec( of rock projects from the bank and makes Ijroken wat;r, the salmon, instead of going round it, go right through the foam with a leap and a splash, while a shoal are gathered in the rear waiting their turn. At other places you see slKals moving slowly upward. The quality of the lish at ths season is not very good. What we got at the liotols ws generally of very inferior flavour to the salmon at home. I ,m told, however, that earlier in th(^ season the flavour is exellent. It is said, too, that such as they an; in summer, tl3y are better adapted for canning than the other fish. Vancouver is the youngest city of the tliree. Its sit(; was uimitigated forest in 1885, and in June 1886 every building tat had been t^rected was burned to i\w ground. The city i literally only three years old. And much though 1 hav(> Imui used to the sight of cities of j-apid growth, T must say fiat Vancouver beats them all. It is already a city of long sr(!ets, big blocks, handsome churches, and elegant villiis. "he Vancouver Hotel, built by the Canadian Pacific Hail- my, is as commodious and handsome a house as you could .esire. INIany persons connected with that railway ha\-e )0ULdit lots and built blocks in Vancouver, of course with ihe object of " booming " the place. And now the price of 1 l: If 120 NORTinVARDS TO BRITISH COLUMBIA. ii if I ' 1 h :r land is simply ridiculous. T was told of a couple of buildifig stances that had been sokl lately for thirty-two thousand dollars. Whether this boom will last is doubtful ; but the town seems to grow apace meanwhile. More thai one church is in its second edition, the first having proved too small. It is difficult to tell the present population of Van- couver — probably twelve thousand. It is not any special industry, but the fact of its being the terminus of ^he rail- way, that has given birth to it. It seems to me .hat this interesting young city Avill be moulded more acco.'ding to the wholesome pattern of tlu; Canadian cities than Hie more excited and feverish example of San Francisco. It^ zeal for churches is very remarkable. Besides the Presl)yteTian, there are ISIethodist, Independent, Episcopal, Baptist, md Roman Catholic churches in it ; and it will not be behnd other places in the quality of its schools. In all tliese three cities I was able to do a little service. The minister of the Reformed Central Presbyterian Chui-h in Victoria, Rev. P. ]\I. jMacleod, was an old student ai;l personal friend. T preached in his church, and likewise ii that of the Rev. I\Ir. Fraser; and in Victoria, New Wes- minster, and Vancouver I'espectively T gave; a lecture on tb Pan-Presbyterian Alliance. I am happy to say that this leo ture was well attended and well received in all these places the more especially that [ sought to divest it of all sectariai tendency, and to direct it not merely to making the audience better Presbyterians but better men. The people had much to learn both of the history of Presbyterianism since the Reformation and of the extent and ditfusion of the Presby- terian Church. I always tried to impress on them that we lay under great res})onsibilities in lieing members of the Presbyterian confederation — members of a Church of such extent, and that had no cause to be ashamed of its history, no caus(! to be ashamed of its martyrs, no cause to be \ \\. NORTHWARDS TO BRITISH COLUMBIA. 121 ashamed of its leading ministers and missionaries and lay- men ; and that we ought all to feel impelled by this con- sideration to walk worthy of our brotlierhood and our ancestry, and strive to emulate them in self-denying efforts to advance the glory of God and the welfare of men. In most cases, ministers of other denominations were present, and thanked me cordially at the end. In one case, the Prime Minister of the Province, a zealous Presbyterian, moved a vote of thanks. All the Presbyterian ministers I met seemed to be active and earnest men : three out of five had got, or were getting, new churches built; and their Hocks appeared to be in sympathy with their spirit. Before bidding a final adieu to the Pacific coast, I must emphasize what I have hinted at before as to the great im- portance which this region seems certain to attain in the not very distant future. It is hardly to be questioned that in a few generations hereafter the shores of the Pacific — both American and Canadian — will be as densely peopled as the shores of the Atlantic have been, and will be the homes of peoples not lesF prosperous, not less intelligent, not less important as factors in the history of the world. This be- lief rests on obvious considerations. Nature has been far more bountiful on the western seaboard. These mountains are full of treasures of which but a fraction has yet come to light. In British Columbia, Washington Territory, and Oregon, you have forests of the finest timber, so inexhaust- ible that though enormous tracts liave been destroyed by forest tires, the loss hitherto has not been so much as felt. Throughout these regions you have many tracts remarkably adapted for agriculture. The Pacific coast — especially the Canadian part of it -has admirable harl)ours. Tlu^ fishing- grounds, as we hav(? seen, are unrivalli'd. Southern Cali- fornia is unsurpassed for its climate and its fruits. On many of these parts the chill lingers of frost are seldom or nc\er n: 1 I ■4 : ll 1 \r i' H i ; ill i I. III! 122 NORTIiWAltDS TO BRITISH COLUMBIA. laid — the ricjours of winter are unknown. A ladv in Vic- toria informed me that her maid-servant (who had been brought up near the moors of Carnwath) asked her, some- where about the month of February or March, at what season of the year it was winter there, as it had been noth- ing but summer since she came ! Regions like these must have a remarkable future. The only unfavourable consider- ation is, that the very luxuriance of nature and the very sweetness of the climate; may enervate the inhabitants, and keep down the spirit of enterprise and perseverance that bleaker climates and more barren soils have had not a little to do in stimulating. Then the question presses itself on one. What will be the moral and religious future of this region? Now, if the be- ginning were to be held necessarily to represent the future, there would not be much to encourage one in dealing with this question. The beginning of Northern California was the gold discovery, with all its habits of rowdyism, ungodli- ness, and immorality. Wo have seen how unworthily the Sabbath is kept in Southern California. And British Columbia likewise had a poor beginning. It was long before any provision was made for religious ordinances. 1 regret to say that some Scotsmen in these parts became notorious above others for habits the very opposite of those in which they were trained at home. Sabl)ath-breaking, drinking, and licentiousness wore often found linked together, like a three- fold cord not easily l^roken. But on the other hand one is encouraged at the testimony one hears on every side that a great improvement has taken rface in recent years. Whatever may be the state of San Francisco to-day, it is not as it was in earlier years, when a murder a day indicated the temperature of crime. If there was little salt in the early community, a good deal has been in recent vears. This is the hope of the Paciiic iportc yean lope KOPxTIIWARDS TO BRITISH COLCMBIA. 123 V' the be- coast. The emigration of recent years has poured into New America hosts of the best Christian families from the eastern states, from the east of Canada, and from other countries. A new leaven has come in to leaven the lump. Already in many instances the change has become quite apparent. Except in saloons and other dens of sensuality, life and property are as secure in these parts as in the most orderly regions at home. Churches abound ; and though there are too many instances of ministers coming there who have been failures or worse at home, there arc; many of them full of earnestness and activity. When IVIr. ]\Ioody was in these parts his meetings were thronged by eager multitudes, and a great impression was made. Such of the week-day prayer- meetings as I attended had, in proportion to the congregations, a much larger percentage present than at home. All this gives encouragement ; and yet one has the feeling tliat unless a more aggressive and powerful combination of forces is brought to bear on the citadels of evil, their power will not 1)0 broken. What, then, is the prospect of such a combination ? The zeal for ordinary church arrangements has been great, but I confess I did not find the clergy and other earnest Christian people I met with in a very aggressive mood. But one must remember two things. In tin* first place, there has been an innnense amount of effort employed recently in church- building, in paying up debt, and other necessary arrange- ments for Church work in a new community. And in th(; second place, every second minister and every second inhabi- tant has but come the other day. This is especially true of cities like Los Angeles that have sprung up like Jonah's gourd. INLost of the people are new-comers, and total strangers to the rest. Few ministers have been there more than fiv(! or six years. Tt is rare to find a settler of twelve years' standing. In Los Angeles, after preaching to some seven or I I 1 . . i' i ! >! - ! Im i n in; I fl 1 ;i! ' •\ 1 ' 124 NORTHWARDS TO BRITISH COLUMBIA. eight hundred people, I asked the minister whether one in twenty would be a native of the state. Not one in fifty, was the reply. This makes all slow to accept responsibility, or to look all round and devise measures for the good of the whole community. I cherish the hope that in a few years tliere will be more mutual acquaintance, more mutual con- fidence, and more sense of responsibility. On one point there is special need of concentrated attention — the state of the Sabbath. Unfortunately, unlike the other states, Cali- fornia has no Sabbath law. Nor will it be easy to secure such a law. In Oakland, which is to San Francisco what Birkenhead 11'. to Liverpool, a meeting was lately held on the subject of a Sabbath law. When the meeting divided, one hundred and five were against any such thing, and only ninety-six in favour. The hundred and five included several members of a sect called "Seventh -day Adventists," who believe in the second advent and in the seventh day of the week as the true Sabbath. There are many Jews in San Francisco who are against the Christian Sabbath. There are many Germans who are pract'cally the same. There are many Irish Catholics who despatch religion in the morn- ing, and care not what they do after that. Tliere are many nominal and indiff'erent Protestants. The true lovers of the Sabbath are but a fraction of the population. I have been urging on the ministers that even where success is for the present hopeless, they ought to try to keep alive the con- sciences of their people on the sanctity of the Sabbath. And I had a striking proof of the benefit of this from a brother who, soon after being settled, found a Sunday trip advertised by a company of which some of his own people were leading members. He forthwith preached on the claims of the Sabbath, and though he did not defeat the trip, he killed it, very few having gone, and he made it impossible that such a thing should be proposed again. I 1 NORTHWARDS TO BRITISH COLUMBIA. 125 Two thiiii. , I think, must be apparent from this sketch — the vast importance of tlie whole Pacific coast, and the ditti- cultios that exist in thoroughly Christianizing it. I hope our people at home will think of these things, and as they sing and pray, "Jesus shall reign where'er the sun," will bear in mind the sunny shores of the Pacilic. 1 : if! h It! , I J t ill CHAPTER XII. THE GREAT CANADIAN HIGHLANDS, FRO]M Vancouver we took places in the Canadian Pacific, leaving at noon on a Friday, with the purpose of reaching Banff about midniglit on Saturday, and of spending the Sunday tliere, the most attractive spot in the Canadian Rockies. We had not gone far when we wore struck witli wonder at tho marvels of the railway. Tt is not possible to conceive a tract of country less adapted for such a road. Along the banks of the Fraser River, and far beyond, it is carried over the wildest and roughest country you can con- ceive. It is one continuous series of excavations alonjj the sides of mountains, of high trestle bridges over ravines and chasms, tunnels through projecting shoulders of rock, with hardly a chance of any of nature's levels. And this really goes on for more than six hundred miles, until the prairie is reached, east of the Rockies. The succession of beauty and interest is endless, and the wooded mountains are magnificent. One does not know the grandeur of the British Empire until one has been vhirled in the railway across British Columbia. Without disparagement of our Scottish mountainous regions, they must yield th(^ i)alm to these magnificent stretches of highland scenery. You do not ascend any point as high as Sheppard's Pass in the Colorado Rockies, of which T have spoken, although you have to "loo))" the line at one point THE GREAT CAXABTAX HTGITLANDS. 127 and get to the watershed by the " circumljondibus '' process. The greater part of the six hundred miles is abnost without inhabitants, with the exception of those whom the railway itself has brought. And the railway villages are generally very rude and primitive. 1 believe that to tourists and sportsmen the country is exceedingly attractive, and doubt- less it will fill up in many ways as time rolls on. Glacier Point is a most interesting spot, about five hun- dred miles east of Vancouver. I wished much to spend a day liere, but could not have done so without trespassing on the Sabbath rest. Extraordinary exaggerations have been circulated about the glacier, which some would make out to be larger than all the Swiss glaciers put together. This is out of the question, but all accounts testify that it is one of extraordinary magnitude and interest. I heard a great deal of it from fellow-travellers, but need not produce their accounts at second-hand. A few stages beyond Glacier Point is Banff, often called Banff Springs and Banfi' National Park. This is worthy of an ampler description. Banff is situated very near the eastern edge of the Rocky Mountains, and was named after the little county town at the mouth of the Deveron through the influence of Sir George Steven, one of the railway magnates, who was a native of the place, or at least of the county. We cannot erudse this distinction to Banff; but if the character of the scenery had determined the name, Braemar would have been more appropriate. Its situation is superb. Th(^ Bow River, passing through the Rockies, affords to the railway a means of penetrating the mountains at about 4,000 feet above the sea-level. The domain which has been constituted a National Park for Canada is upwards of twenty miles in one direction and ten in another ; but the Canadian Pacific Hotel may be taken as the centre of the Park, and the view from it is superb. The Bow enlivens and beautifies the wooded strath, ! I i! I t i| I ''f^! r 128 THE GREAT CAXADTAX UTGULANBS. % hi •' h : li:i ;i ; from which ranges of mountains rise to great heights on either side. But, indeed, on all sides there is quite an amphitheatre of mountains, some clothed with pine almost to their tops, but most of them conspicuous for their masses of bare rock, suggesting the origin of the name "Rockies." When we reached Banti' we were afraid that the haze which liad shut out so many tine mountains from our view v.as to play us the like trick again. But a heavy rain had fallen between Saturday and Sunday, and when we came out of the little church on Sunday — where, by the way, we heard a most ex- cellent sermon — the whole sky had cleared wonderfully, and the sun, shining in all his strength, poured his glory on the wonderful panorama that stretched on all sides around us. And this weather continued till we left the Rockies, and in a great degree reconciled us to the loss of the " Selkirks " and of other ranges that ought to have been seen, some of them in the glitter of their perpetual snow. Undoubtedly, Banff' is a place of unrivalled capabilities, and in days to come will be looked on with delight by many a Canadian and other eye. The Sulphur Springs which gush from the rock near it are said to be a powerful remedy for rheumatism; but it is the lovers of wild, lovely, picturesque nature that will form its great constituency. The Dominion Government is liberally disposed towards it, but even the handsome grant of 25,000 dollars at a time cannot do much in the way of constructing mountain roads and otherwise opening up the glories of the scenery. We look forward to a time when the Avhole Park will be intersected with beautiful drives, and the place visited by hundreds of thousands. Al- ready one pretty drive of ten or twelve miles has been opened to Miniwonga, " the lake of the evil spirit," roughly rendered in common parlance "the devil's lake." It is said to be a fine lake for fishing. This year the medical men of Canada chose Banff for their annual congress. Between one % THE GREAT CAXADfAX TIIGHLANDS. 120 ;h gush and two huiulrecl attended, ju«t about the time of our visit. We met many of them, all very kind and pleasant, and we heard no difference of opinion as to the unrivalled beauty and interest of tlie place. As we arrived only at midnight on Saturday, there was no time for the minister to discover me, and for once I had the privilege of hearing a scn-mon. The entire service was very admirable — devotional exercises, .sermon, and delivery being nearly all that one could desire, ISIr. ]Macleod is a young man, but seems admirably fitted for tlie place. The stated membership of the congregation is but fifteen ; the rest come from the hotels. 1 should have thought his situation rather trying, especially as there was no manse, and he and the schoolmaster lived together in very plain lodgings. But I was delighted to find the minister in excellent spirits. As a Canadian student he had been accustomed to a pioneer ministry, and now he felt quite at home. His presbytery extends from east to west five hundred miles, and in the other direction its limit is the Nortli Pole ! The secret of his happiness is his public spirit, his interest in his work, and readiness for every feasible undertaking. Besides Banff, he had other stations to supply. The nearest of these was fifteen miles off. He usually had evening service there, and the only way of reaching it was by walking along the railway track. Another station was seventy miles away. At one time he had to supply a vacant charge more than a hundred miles distant; but Canadian energy thinks nothing of a hundred miles. This young congregation showed a catholicity of spirit not always to be found. There are some Episcopalians at Banff who as yet have no church. The ]\[ethodist congregation accommodates them in the mornins; and the Presbvterian in the evening. Where can the mother country produce such an instance of the brotherly spirit? (lor) 9 M i I II 1 ■!' :, 1 1 " . iii ' 1 CHAPTER XIll. THE NORTH-WEST, MANITOUA, AND TORONTO. AFTER Ave left Bmiir (at midnight), and emerged from the Rocky ]Mountains, we found ourselves at daybreak on the vast prairie that stretches across the Korth-West Territories and the province of Manitoba on to Winnipeg. The first part of the prairie is rather desolate. The soil is thin, and at some places so impregnated with alkali that in the distance you would suppose you saw a lake of milk or a meadow of snow. It is here that one might have expected to see the buffalo, of which there were myriads a few years ago. But the buffalo is rapidly approaching to the condition of an extinct animal. There were plenty of bleac. ^1 buffalo bones gathered in heaps by the Indians to be nsed by the sugar- refiners, and at some stations there were sets of buffalo horns for sale by Indians, who seemed to be doing a very good business in the article ; but of live animals we saw none. The farms at first are few and far between, although I believe that much of these Korth-West Territories (Alberta, Athanaska, Assiniboia, and Saskatchewan) is admirably adapted for agriculture. After a day and night of hard travellinc:, we were in Manitoba. This is the vast agri- cultural region which is believed to be capal)le of supporting millions. The outlook was different now. Neat farm-houses, THE NORTH-WEST, ETC, 131 region well-tilled farms, churches, and towns indicated a much further advanced. The great drawback is the severity of the winter ; but many people say tliat they get used to the cold, and that many places are colder. Our destination was Winnipeg, the capital of Manitoba. It is a city of between twenty and thirty thousand inhabitants, very recently begun, but a most thriving and attractive place. 1'he unusual width of its streets — one hundred and twenty feet, if I remember right — gives them a spacious and distinguished appearance. A few years ago Winnipeg was the scene of one of those gambling " booms " which are sure to be followed by a great reaction. Capitalists at a distance ran up the price of land to a ridiculous figure, and when the illusion was scattered many were ruined. Crowds came to Winnipeg only to be disappointed, and were obliged to leave it, go where they might. The city now seems to have recovered from the effects of that movement, and is advancing at a sure and steady pace. I was delighted to see the orderliness of Winnipeg, and especially its high standard of church-going and Sabbath observance. I preached (as usual) in two of the churches — St. Andrew's and Knox's. In both I had congregations of from one thousand to twelve hundred ; and I understand that this was not much in excess of the usual. Manitoba College, founded by the Presbyterians almost as soon as Winnipeg itself, is the most considerable nistitu- tion for advanced instruction in the province. Along with an Episcopal, a Roman Catholic, and now (I believe) a Me- thodist college, it forms the University of Manitoba, and has contributed more graduates than all the others put to- gether. In Manitoba a great struggle has just begun for another object. When " confederation " took place, it became legal for the Roman Catholics to have separate schools supported if If l> ■ ! - t ; '' ' ■ ^ii Is 'i ;• 1! ' I 132 THE North-west, etc. by rates, and it also became legal to make use of the French language in these schools. Against this arrangement a strong resistance has arisen, as being likely to perpetuate a condition of things which in Quebec has been very disastrous. I have a strong conviction that that resistance will prevail, and that the unfair advantages to Roman Catholics and the un- patriotic use of the French language, which in a province like Manitoba are entirely out of the question, will soon cease and determine. Hospitality in Winnipeg took the form of carriage drives. Our landlord of the Clarendon Hotel, Mr. Bennett, an en- thusiastic Scotsman, took us to the gate of Fort Garry, the only remains of the station of the Hudson Bay Company before Winnipeg was built, and to the suburb of St. Boniface, where the Roman Catholic colony of French Canadians have their schools an<1 other establishments. Professor Bryce took us to Kildonan, the old Sutherlandshire settlement, peopled by Highlanders about the beginning of the century, under the auspices of the Earl of Selkirk ; and the Rev. Mr. Hogg took us to Sir Donald Smith's, where there is a small herd of living buffaloes that, in the absence of the wild animal, every traveller likes to see. There was an entertainment going on in the city of a peculiar kind. A hall, beautifully decorated with flowers and evergreens, was given over for each evening of the week to one or other of the congregations of the city, who undertook to provide songs, recitations, piano and other performances, for the enjoyment of the audience. On the night when we were there the great sensation was a Japanese marriage. Some thirty young men and young ladies of the church were dressed in Japanese dresses, and went through the ceremony with great cor- rectness. The presents to the bride were not very costly, generally toys, but every person brought something. The object was to provide funds for m children's liome, and if all THE NORTlf]] EST, ETC. 133 the meetings were as crowded as the one we attended, tlie success must have been great. In the North- West Territories and in Manitoba the law of prohibition prevails. I understand that this arrangement was adopted first with a view to the Indians, who would have ruined themselves, body and soul, if they had had free access to liquor. The law, I believe, has had an excellent effect on the whole, esp(>cially in new mining connnunities, where the temptation to drunkenness is usually so great. There seem to be some exceptions, however, to its enforce- ment. The Canadian Pacific Hotel at Banff, for example, has a license, obtained through the influence of the railway company, to which it belongs. What precisely is the law in Winnipeg I am not quite sure. I have heaid that the Lieutenant-Governor of Manitoba has power to confer licenses in exceptional cases. Certainly there are very few saloons in the city. I was told that if a license were asked for a particular place, and five out of the twenty nearest inhabitants objected, the license was refused. This gives rise to some murmuring against the power conferred on minorities; but it keeps down the number of licenses, and it contributes to the peace, the good order, and the prosperity of the city. It is a long cry from Winnipeg to Toronto. First a land journey of more than twenty-four hours through a rich and interesting region to Port Arthur, then a day's sail through Lake Superior, another through Lake Huron, and four hours of land journey to Toronto. The, lake see. i> ry was sometimes beautiful, especially that of Lake Huron; and the j)as.sage throuuli the canal that connects the two lakea, with the setting sun illuminating the two villages — the American Sault Ste. INlarie on the one side, and the Canadian Sault Ste. Marie on tlie otlier— was extiuisite. Pi-oviiieially " Sault " is pro- I'll ■it 1 1 ] !l m i 131 Tif/-: yoRTir-WEST, etc. nounced Soo, and the passage is always spoken of as going through the Soo. One experience of an unusual kind may be noted. In the mi -Idle of the night, in the first part of the journey, we came to a trestle bridge wliicli had in some degree suljsided. The authorities knew of it, but not the passengers. To those of us who were struggling hard to woo sleeji, it was hard to be constantly conscious of something impeding our progress — going forward a little bit and back a little bit, as if our engine were disabled and could not drag its load. The ex- planation M'e got in the morning was that the carriages had been detached from the engine, which had been placed behind and had pushed them on to the edge of the bridge. Then a wire rope had been attached to the carriages and fastened to an engine on the other side of the bridge, which slowly drew them over. Two or three hours wen consumed in this operation, but we had cause t) thiidc oui'selves fortunate in comparison of some previous passengers wlio had had to walk over, and otluM's who had been detained for many hours. The Canadian Pacilic Railway crosses hundreds of trestle bridges ; and I have counted as many as ten stories of trestles, one above the other. Every bridge is watched and examined daily, which makes travelling over iliem com- paratively safe. If an unobserved subsidence should take place the consequences might be awful. As you draw near to ray dashes with more vehemence, and the (>ddies at the bottom are more wild and tumultuous. In tlie sunshine, when the air is full of vapour, a splendid rainbow spans the fall. But what is it that gives Niagara such a charm ? It is not, as we have remarked, the surrounding scenery. The height is not remarkable — only a hundred and fifty-eight feet on the Canadian side, and a hundred and sixty-four on the American. Thtj Staubbach is five times its height ; the Yo- semite Fall many times uioit. What, then, gives Niagara such imperial pre-eminence? 1. In the first place, there is the wonderful /'Inij ol' life, extending over the whole length and breadth of the cascade (the breadth of the one fall is one thousand one hundred, and of the other two thousand two hundred feet); the quick, darting movement of the wai.'rs, leaping in a marvellous state of exhilaration down the height. Tliis rapidity of motion gratifies and charms one of the most powerful in- 140 NTAdARA. M! \ \ Ml ' i ;! ' ; 1 stiiicts of our nature. For there is nothing tliat has more attraction for liuinan eyes or more interest for tlie human mind than tlie vii^orous play of life. Be it the horse racing on tlie turf, or the rocket Hying in the air, or the forked tongue of tlie liglitning, or a ship sliding ii'oni a slip into the water, or tli(> express train whirling past us, or the collision of armies, or the collision of intellect in Parliament or Church court all are attracti\e because of the display of living energy. Now, ahout Niagara, every tiling is instinct with V\ii\ Such an immense^ body of water, (\stimated at a million and a half tons j)er minute, Hinging itself over more than half a mile of precipices, is a marvellous display of " ani- mattnl nature." First, there is the ])reparation for the leap — the gatluM'ing of the waters at the " Raj)ids," a little above the Falls, as if making ready for a tremendous etibrt. And really, if there w(M'e nothing else, the l\a})ids are a wonderful sight ; the water rushes past the " Three Sisters " with such arrowy swiftness that you can hardly follow the wild, per- })»>tual motion. Then, when the i\V^v is reached, there is the unhesitating, fearless plunge, as if the water enjoyed the somersault and did not care one straw for the consequences. if you fix your eye more powerfully on a portion of the waters in their dtvscent, you observ(^ that the desperate ear- nestnt>ss of the great movenuMit is combined with innumtT- able littli^ touches of frolic and merriment. Every filament of th(^ stream setMus to have a life of its own. Everywhere the water is Icajung, laughing, (huu'ing, dashing, Hying, evi- dently in the highest spirits. It is as if all the nymphs and naiads of classic story were collected together for some wild frolic, anil were entering into it with the keenest enthusiasm. And as fast as one set of naiads plunges into the caldron, there comes another and another in everlasting succession. 2. But while this is your impression as you watch the separate streamlets ^as it wore), you get a marvellous idea AUAOARA. 141 am- i of majesty when you survey the whole. You are awod 1»y the spectacle of such a vast body of water rolling over, as if in the consciousness of imperial will and resistless might. It is the very emblem of Sovereignty, moving for ever with a force to which any n.'sistance that could be offered would not have the weight of a feather. An unwearied life too, like that of Him who fainteth not, neither is weary. This idea of pre-eminence and majcisty is one of the great- est elements of impression, and grows on you as you give a little scope to your imagination. For all this has l)een going on hour after hour, year after y^nr, century after century, in daylight and in darkness, in summer and in winter, in war and in peace, if not since t\w, beginning of the world, at least throughout the whole period of history. AVheri; else shall the mind find sucli a display of the unwijaricd activity and irresistible will of the Sovereign Croatoi'? 3. Then there is the beautiful dis])lay of colour. One of the first thincs to catch the eye on a sunnv dav is tlio Itright blue of the water as it curls over the precipic(;. You see the same shade of blu(^ at the seaside on a sunny day, whon the neck of a wave catches the sunbeam, just as it turns over to break. You see also the lily whitem.'ss of the foam ; but vou do not see at the seaside the peai-ly lustre of tlifs water as it rushes past you in its fall. Lower down, the water assumes a sea-green colour. Blue, white, green, the waters gleam before you in vast masses of colour; and if it is summer or autumn, you have, in addition, tlie colours of the surrounding woods and fiflds, and the azuro of the sky above. And if the rainbow sheds its gleam, you have all the colours, and most conspicuous of all tlu; red, whieli they tell us is never wanting in a perfect picture. 4. Nor must we omit mention of the sound. It is true, many are disappointed with tliis. They expected a noise of thunder: they find little more than a solemn murmur. But 1 I' •■I ■ !■ ■■ i i 142 NIAGARA. watch the murmur, and it will gain upon you ; it will by-anrl- by sound like a psalm, like the song of creation to Him who made the heaven and the earth, the sea and the fountains of waters. Then you remember that that psalm has been going up unceasingly from the beginning — before human foot trod the earth, before Red Indian flourished his tomahawk. You try to catch the burden of the psalm : it gives praise to God from everlasting to everlasting. How it contrasts with the broken tribute of our lives, and with our songs of praise so few and so feeble, so little worthy of the great Being, our Creator, Redeemer, Lord, and Father, our Portion, our God for ever ! 5. And this leads to yet another view of Niagara — its symbolism. It is a sermon as well as a psalm. Ever since the globe assumed its present form it has been the same. The stream has been flowing on, as we have said, without cessation and without interruption. Could there be a fitter emblem of the grace of God and the love of the Lord Jesus Christ? Could any material thing more fitly portray the endless stream of the divine mercy in Christ, bearing down all opposition and defying all efTorts to exhaust it ? Does it not seem to echo that beautiful psalm : " Thy mercy, O Lord, is in the heavens ; and thy faithfulness reacheth unto the clouds. Thy righteousness is like the great mountains ; thy judgments are a great deep : O Lord, thou preservest man and beast. How excellent is thy lovingkindness, God ! therefore the children of men put their trust under the shadow of thy wings. They shall be abundantly satisfied with the fatness of thy house ; and thou shalt make them drink of the river of thy pleasures. For with thee is the fountain of life : in thy light we shall see light." We cannot put up with the impertinences practised on Niagara. The men that trifle with its majesty are not only fools, but impudent knaves. But in this respect things are NIAOARA. 143 not so bad as is sometiiues represented. On the morning of the day when we reached Niagara, we had read in a Toronto newspaper an elaborate account of a wonderful feat said to have taken place the day before : how a certain American cooper had got into a barrel which he had contrived for the purpose, and being duly stra])pcd inside of it, and the barrel well secured with two padlocks, had been thrown into the river, and after an hour carried over the precipice ; how the barrel came to land, and l>eing opened by a friend, the cooper was found to be stunned, but after a copious draught of whisky came all riglit, and proceeded quietly to his home ! Strolling along the Queen Victoria Park, we came on a park-keeper, and on being asked how much truth there was in the para- graph, he simply stared and said, "Not one word." And the landlord of the Clifton corroborated ! Of course the absurd story went the round of the world, though it was afterwards contradicted. That any one could have believed it is hardly credible ; but how it could have got into the columns of a sober Toronto journal passes belief. I : ' I i .! tit Hi in 1 1 fi'i I ! i CHAPTER XY. NORTHFIELD AXD HOME. F^RO]M Niagara we struck eastwards for a few days* visit to Mr. D. L. Moody, wlio was taking a kind of holiday at Northtield. Northtield, in the west of Massa- chusetts, is ]\[r. Moody's birthphice ; a quiet New England village, very heautifully situated, commanding a fine view of the Connecticut River and Valley and the mountains be- yond. I call it a village, speaking in the English fashion, but in America it is a town, or rather a township. It is seven miles in length ; tho"^ is to say, there are houses dotted over seven miles, mostly embosomed in trees, and with the appearance of a sparse city suburb. About a mile from what may be called the centre of the town is a plain but bright-looking wooden house, with its screen of line maple trees in front — the summer home of the great evangelist. A little higher is a smaller and j)lainer house — Moody's birth- place and the residence of his old mother. When I was last here, nine years before, there had been built by ]\[r. I\Ioody, a few hundred yards from his house, a large college, with accommodation for some sixty girls. It was designed for the teaching and training of young women, so as to fit them for situations of usefulness — as teachers, missionaries, or otherwise. That was the day of small things ; the change from then to now is cnonnous. Instead of one, tliere are ^; ^■^■^ NORTH FIELD AXD HOME. 145 w days' kind of Massa- Eiigland ne view tains be- fasliion, It is s dotted ,vitli the le from lain but maple list. A s birth- ^vas last Ivloody, H', with ned for to fit onaries, change ere are now five large buildings and six or seven smaller; a fine park of some two hundred acres has been acquired, and its well-kept lawns and undulating surface dotted with trees make it a charming campus for the academical buildings scu'"tered over it. Instead of sixtv, there are now three hundi'^d young ladies. And four miles away, on the other side of the Connecticut River, is a similar college for young men. A similar group of buildings, large and small, pro- vides accomn. jdation for three hundred. It happened that while we were there the pupils had just assembled for the work of the session. These buildings represented an outlay of about a million dollars, a large part of which arose from royalties on the sale of hymn-books. jNIr. Moody was engaged in a great effort to raise a capital sum, the income of which would provide for the expenditure of the two colleges. And being one of those men who do not begin what they do not see their way to tinish, he will doubtless, at no distant period, succeed in obtaining :.ls desire. ]\[r. Moody, we cannot help thinking, has followed a sound policy in having his colleges separate, each for a single sex. There are many questions at the present day about the higher education in America, both of men and women, and one of these is, whether it is right to allow both sexes to study t0'---3ther at the same college, and to be members of the same classes. For our part, we have a decided conviction that it is not. Anything that tends to obliterate the distinctive qualities of the sexes must be injurious. We cannot but think that this evil result must take place when they study in the same rooms and hear the same lectures — medical lec- tures, it may he, on subjects of delicacy. We conceive, there- fore, that in separating the two schools, ^Mr. Moody has not only done right, but set a good example to his countrymen. The colleges are conducted on the principle of self-help. Each student pays a sum of money, but not the whole sum (197) 10 i tf^ •;i < 146 NORTH FIELD AND HOME. I, h"i IF if ,1! i . ^ expended on him. In the male college every youth has to give two hours' labour on the farm. In the college for girls there are no servants ; the work of the house is done by the young women themselves, INIr. Moody dift'ers from nearly all the eviingelists we have known in his intense concern for the permanent outcome of his labours, and his most careful endeavour to prevent the spirit kindled at his meetings from evaporating in tem- porary excitement. These colleges are one proof of his de- sire to build up, to establish Christian habits of life, to set young men and young women to work that will exercise and develop and strengthen feelings that might otherwise be fitful and evanescent. And the great aggressive enterprise with which he is now grappling in Chicago is anot er evi- . . ; of his love of complete and solid work. He is training an agency for going out to the highways and the hedges, for pervading all of Chicago that is neglecting the things that pertain to its peace, and constraining such to come in that the house may be filled. With all his evangelistic ardour, ]\Ir. Moody has no sympathy with fanaticism. His singular Christian shrewdness gives a wide berth to fads. At Northfield i\[r. Moody takes his holiday. The fashion of it is rather peculiar. I asked the man that takes charge of his horses how often they were out. Sometimes, he said, he will require a conveyance at five in the morning, and two or three times during the day, and perhaps till late at night. He would be out before breakfast to confer with workmen a,bout something needed for the schools. The fore- noon would be occupied in answering a great correspondence and despatching letters with reference to his engagements and his institutions. In the afternoon, perhaps, he would be acting the peacemaker at some parish meeting, trying to settle an angry quarrel about a public road that threatened a bitter law plea. In the evening he would be away to \Ml. - NORTHFIELD AND HOM::. U\ . has to for girls 3 by the \ve have Dutcome prevent in tem- [ his de- 3, to set cise and wise be iterprise L er evi- training ilges, for ncfs that in that ardcvir, singular ! fashion s charge mes, he )iorning, till late fer witli 'he fore- )ondence gementa v'oukl be -ying to roatoned lawav to Mount Hermon to preach to "the boys." On the Sunday, he would preach in the church which he has built partly for his schools and partly for the neighbourhood, gathering a great congregation round him. In the intervals of em- ployment he would be bright, cheerful, full of fun. He is now the great man of the place, yet is as neighbourly and unaffected and brotherly as in the days when he was a school-boy or a worker on his mother's farm. Nor does he Fset-m a whit more elated by the marvellous influence he has acquired the world o\"er, and the blessed work he has done. Oidy an instrument in other hands. No man would sing more heartily the 115th Psalm, or more cordially take for his motto, Lcms Deo. We are yet more than three thousand miles from home ; but I am tired writing, and " it is fit the s})ell should break of this protracted dream." From Northfield to New York we had a peep of New England, particularly Northampton, Hartford, and Newhaven, much regretting that we wcto obliged this time to pass over the great cradle of the Ameri- can republic. At New York we tarried but a day. There had been rain for a week, and there was rain still, and the newspapers were having leaders, "Will it ever stop?" Worse than that, there had been a terrific storm at sea, and the coast-line of New York State had been fearfully injured. It was a gruesome pros])ect to take to the sea in such weather; but, much to our satisfaction, we learned that the stcrm had been confined to the shore, and did not extend to the ocean. On a Saturday morning we got on board our old ship the Fiiniessia, and were met by a warm and excellent friend. General Swi.yuc, whose a('(iuaintance we had made in the train between Victoria and Winnipeg, who presented us with a eliarmlng basket of fruit, and a bundle of illustrated journals and magazines, to refresh !iiind and body by the way. Half an hour after leaving New York * h I 148 NORTH FIELD AND HOME. we were involved in mist ; we had to cast anchor in the bay, and did not get it lifted for forty-eight hours ; but when we did get off we pegged steadily away. At last the welcome shores of old Ireland greeted us, and by-and-by the Mull of Cantire and the green fields and white cottages of Arran. On a gloomy forenoon we sailed up the Clyde all the way to Glasgow. The first thing that caught my eye was a placard — "The late Dr. Somerville." So he, too, had gone where we should see his beaming face no more. At last we found ourselves at home, and with nothing but good news awaiting us. We had gone out under the shadow of the psalm, " I will lift up mine eyes unto the hills." We now, after traversing fifteen thousand miles, returned with a new sense of its reality, and with a new interest in the question, " What shall I render to the Lord for all his benefits towards me?"' ill t APPENDIX. -M- PROHIBITION IN THE UNITED STATES. 1HAVE said that one of the objects I had in view in my \isit to America was to get authentic information on the working of prohibition, and the regulation of the drink traffic generally. I will put down in this Appendix the chief results of my inquiries, although they are yet somewhat imperfect. But, first, I must refer to a document which I consider to be of no little value, in virtue of the source from which it comes. It is entitled " Report on Liquor Traffic Legislation in the United K'ates, issued during the recess, and presented to both House; or Parliament, by command of Her jMajesty. London, 1888." This report, requested no doubt by the Marquis of Salisbury, is forwarded to him by Sir L. S. Sack- ville West, our Minister at Washington, and bears to have been drafted by Mr. Edwardes, the Secretary of Legation. iMr. Edwardes obtained very full information from her Majesty's consuls in the United States, and, as Sir L. West remarks, the report is \Try interesting, and has been com- piled with great care. In several instances an opinion is exj)ressed as to the working of the liquor laws of the several states, and Mr. Edwardes says that these ojjinions " are those of persons occupying high positions, the duties of which give them due r)pportunities of being earnest and impartial judges on this all-imi)ortant suliject." In these circumstances the judgment so expressed may well be accepted by the people of this country as trustworthy and conclusive. I will !'!; i I' 150 APPENDIX. extract so much as will show the state of the case in the states where prohibition has been the law in whole or in part. Maine (population, 648,936). — "The manufacture, sale, and keeping for sale, of intoxicating liquors are forbidden in Maine by a law passed in 1851, and by the Constitution of 1884, the Organic Law being amended by the adoption of prohibition in that year by a large majority of the popular vote. " The results of prohibition in this state are looked upon by prohibitionists as most satisfactory, and there is no move- ment in favour of a repeal of the law. All breweries and distilleries have been suppressed ; the liquor traffic has been reduced to one-twentieth of its former proportions. Grog shops are unknown in smaller towns and villages. It is said that 12,000,000 dollars are saved annually which would have been spent in drink. " The extension of the industries in this state is attributed by some to prohibition. It is, however, still impossible to suppress entirely tlie liquor traffic in the larger towns, the penalties for keeping liquor for sale and other offences against the law being insuthcient to prevent the traffic from being carried on with profit." [We commend this report on Maine to the careful study of the Earl of Wemyss. If we mistake not, it was just about the date of the report that his lordship publicly declared that prohibition was a dead letter in IMaine, that there was no diminution of drii:l.Iiij4, ."^nd no benefit but much harm from the Act. Compare this with the statements — " The liquor traffic has been reduced to one-twentieth of its former pro- portions." "It is said that 12,000,000 dollars are saved annually which would have been s)K?nt in drink."] Veumun'T (population, 332,286). — " A prohibitory provi- sion became law in this state in 1852. By it no one can A PPEXDIX, 151 Grog being manufacture or sell spirituous liquors, with a very few ex- ceptions. It is generally held that intemperance has decreased in this state since the passing of this Act." Georgia (population, 1,542,180).— "The liquor traffic in this state is regulated by an Act by which each county votes whether liquors shall be sold or not. Eleccions for this purpose can be held once every three years. Out of 136 counties in the state, 101 have voted in favour of prohibition. "It is reported that in the counties where prohibition exists, generally known as 'dry' counties, the result has been excellent. High license has been tried in some coun- ties, but the results not having given satisfaction, that system has been abandoned for prohibition. " It is held that though the revenue has sulFered from pro- hibition in the counties, the opening up of new enterprise, and the general prosperity of the people at large, tend to the belief that a few years under the present system of prohibi- tion will rather add to than diminish the revenue." Alabama (population, 1,262,585). — ''\n the fourth Con- gressional District of this state, where prohibition was en- acted, the benefits to the population (the negroes being four-fifths of the whole number) have been so great that the former opponents to the law have changed their opinion, and now assist in its enforcement. It is allewd that crime is diminislied one-third since the existence of prohibition." Kansas (iod could be liversal pro- ohibition in to try what is explained Dr. Cuvler ?, were not monwealth, u put it on hat carried lly. Then towns now *e shut up 11 nothinij, tVlt there 3d ; at anv thoy voted refused to Ljainst our amendment. The highly-cultured religious town of Newton, that generally votes a thousand against license, and has not an open rum-shop in it, gave five hundred majority against the amendment. Brother Moody's own town of Xorthfield gave nearly a hundred majority against the amendment. Why 1 Because those people were in favour of rum ? No ; but according to their way of looking at it, they thought it was better to leave thint's as they were. I am not savin^' they are right or wrong, but I do stand up for this, that the verdict of the people of ^Massachusetts is not to be construed in favour of the unrestricted license and sale of intoxicants. Nor is it the victory of the dram-shop that a great many people over the land mistakenly imagine ; for be it observed that the forces of temperance were divided and the saloon powers were united." I can fully corroborate what Dr. Cuyler says of Northlield. "While there, I never saw a vestige of a drink-shop in it, and a more orderly or industrious community it would not be easy to find. Then with regard to Pennsylvania. That great state has quite recently begun to try the system of high license. Many of the friends of temperance judged it unwise to press for prohibition until they should have time to make a proper trial of the other system. It was known that under high license hundreds of the lower class of saloons had succumbed and passed away. It seemed of very doubtful expediency to set this method aside so soon, and adopt one which in such a city as Philadelphia all experience showed it would be very ditlicult to work. In these circumstances the adverse vote on the question of prohibition need surprise no one ; the won- der rather is that its friends should have mustered so strong. Many excellent friends of temperance prefer the high- license plan, as being more practicable than prohibition. The great Catholic Congress at Baltimore supported it very l\ iff \ 11 • . (1 ' ^ 1' ,' : 1 l' i I ''i nl Ml li ■ it h i f • :, i !!f' ' r Pi if i 160 APPENDIX. cordially, and obtained for this the thanks of the highly Protestant and evangelical New York Observer. In tli£ body of this little book references will be found to Long J.-"ach and Pasadena in Southern California, and to the North- West Territories and Manitoba in Canada. The sum of the whole matter seems to be — 1. That if every one would agree to prohibition, it would be a vast benetit, would sweep away unnumbered evils, and bring to a community no ordinary measure of peace and prosperity. \ That where all do not agree, prohibition to be successful needs two things — (1) the hearty support of the majority, and (2) energetic measures to enforce it on the part of the magis- trates, police autiiorities, and other persons of influence. 3. That the chief dilliculty in the way of prohibition is in large cities and old states, where the drink interest is strong, and where drinking -habits have been almost inextricably mixed up with the social life of the community. It is here that liiijfh license finds its chief advocates. 4. That its best prospect is in comparatively new localities, or sparsely-peopled districts. It will be of singular lu'netit to have the problem worked out more fully in sucii states as Kansas, Iowa, and Maine. If such happy results as those already found in Kansas snould be fully contirmed, and the state should be seen to enjoy quite an exceptional prosperity, others might be per- suaded to follow her examph-, and even the old citadels, now so inveterate in their resistance, might be constrained to yield. Tni: KM>. ^ highly ound to d to the ,vould be nd bring osperity. uccessful rity, and le niagis- nce. tion is in is strong, xtricably t is here \ localities, 11 worked id Maine. II Kansas le seen to it be por- idels, now >d to yield.