CA L I FO ] N IA.
A
PLEASURE
NEW YORK TO SAN FRANCISCO.
TRIP
FROM 
I I. 
a A L I FO  1 N I A
A
PLEASURE
FROM
GOTHAM TO THE GOLDEN GATE.
(APRIL, MAY, JUNE, 1877.)
BY
MRS. FRANK LESLIE.
PR OF USEL Y ILL USTRA TED.
NEW YORK:
G. TV. Carleton & Co., Publishers.
LONDON: S. LOW, SON & CO.
MDCCCLXXVII.
TRIP
l
' "?i
.?I% 
COPYRIGHT, I877,
BY
MRS. FRANK LESLIE.
. I..
TRow's
PRINTING AND BOOKBINDING COMPANY,
205-213 East T2tkh St.,
NEW YORK.
I
4 
i)-  - $?
-. Ace 4
PREFATORY, TO THE READER.,,
..~~~~~~
EAR five hundred friends already mine, and five hundred
hundred more, who will, as I fondly dream, become mine
through these pages, let me disarm criticism beforehand by assuring you that nobody could point out a fault or a shortcoming in
this little book, which I do not know all about and deplore most
modestly beforehand. In fact I have my doubts as to calling
it a book at all, that title implying a purpose, and deliberateness, and method, which are n fmy circle, although regarded
by me with respectful adm(i;    No, let us rather say, that
this work of mine is a veh  leog'h  which, with feminine
longing for sympathy, I conVey-t6 you my pleasures, annoyances, and experiences in the journey it narrates; or, if you like
better, it is a casket, enshrining the memory of many a pleasant
hour made bright and indelible by your companionship, your
kindness, your attention and hospitality.
/11.    The world is so exigeant, and Time the Effacer is so ruthless,
that one  loves sometimes  to "materialize" those pleasant,
C    or more than pleasant recollections, and so put them not only
I
Ir
k 
, PRFFATORY, TO THE READER.
beyond the risk of loss from one's own memory, but in such
form that they can be communicated anew to those who originally shared them.
Tale then my embodied recollections, dear friends, and each
of you find among them the one memory distinctively your
own, and believe that round that central point all the rest are
constellated; and for you, 0 critics! if you will indeed attempt to bind a butterfly upon the wheel, or anatomize the
vapory visions of a woman's memory, remember that in all
courtesy you should deal gently and generously with a work
proclaiming itself from the outset not so much a book as a long
gossipy letter to one's friends, and an amiable attempt to convey to the rest of the world some of the delight it commemorates, and if you do not find a great deal in it, dear critic,
remember that to competently judge a woman's letter or a
woman's book, one must have learned to read between the
lines and find there the pith and meaning of the whole.
M. FLORENCE LESLIE.
NEW YORK, November, 1877.
a 
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS. 4
ON THE ICE UNDER NIAGARA FALLS................................. 23
GRAND PACIFIC HOTEL, CHICAGO.................................... 34
CROSSING DALE CREEK BRIDGE-130 FEET HIGH..................... 38
ON THE INCLINED RAILWAY TO THE FOOT OF NIAGARA FALLS....... 41
STARTING FOR THE BLACK HILLS FROM CHEYENNE....................48
INTERIOR OF THE THEATRE AT CHEYENNE............................ 50
GAMBLING BOOTHS IN THE EARLY YEARS OF THE RAILROADS........ 52
EVADING THE LIQUOR LAW AT COLORADO SPRINGS.................. 56
MANITOU SPRINGS, COLORADO........................................ 56
PETRIFIED FORMS OF WONDER, COLORADO........................... 60
CROSSING THE MISSISSIPPI........................................... 63
PRAIRIE DOG TOWN................................................. 71
COOPERATIVE UNION BUILDING, SALT LAKE CITY.................. 80
THE "TWINS," MARIPOSA GROVE.................................... 90
SOME OF THE LATE BRIGHAM YOUNG'S RESIDENCES IN SALT LAKE
CITY............................................................. 93
TATKING LEAVE OF BRIGHAM YOUNG................................. 102
NEW MORMON TEMPLE AS IT WILL APPEAR WHEN COMPLETED...... 103
HUMBOLDT RIVER AND CANON....................................... 104
THE GOLDEN GATE-THE ENTRANCE TO THE HARBOR OF SAN FRAN
CISCO............................................................. 113
THE " NOBLE SAVAGE".............................................. 114
PAGZ
. 23 
LIST OP ILLUSTRATIONS.
PAGE
BELMONT, THE COUNTRY-SEAT OF THE LATE W. A. RALSTON........ 125
SALMON FISHING, SACRAMENTO RIVER............................... 128
SWEETMEAT VENDER, CHINESE THEATRE, SAN FRANCISCO............ 136
PROPITIATING FORTUNE BEFORE SPECULATING....................... 142
STREET IN THE CHINESE QUARTER, SAN FRANCISCO.................. 145
A PERIPATETIC COBBLER............................................. 145
CHINESE Joss HOUSE, SAN FRANCISCO................................. 148
CHINESE BARBER, SAN FRANCISCO.................................... 154
OUR " IIIGH CASTE" CHINESE ACCOUNTANT..........................  162
POISON OAK, CAL...................................... 167
A CHINESE GOLDSMITH.............................................. 169
CHINESE PASTRY COOK............................................... 171
THE INEVITABLE WINDMILL..................................... 174
THE CLIFF HOUSE.................................................. 178
SEAL ROCKS, HARBOR OF SAN FRANCISCO............................ 180
SETTLERS IN ECHO CANON............................................ 193
THE WITCHES' CAULDRON, CAL....................................... 205
A DRIVE WITH FOSSE OF FOSSEVILL................................   212
ON THE ROAD TO THE "BIG TREES "................................ 217
MAKING A NIGHT OF IT........................................... 227
EN ROUTE FOR THE YOSE     MITE....................... w..........  231
ASCENDING THE "FALLEN MONARCH"............................... 244
CUTTING DOWN ONE OF THE BIG TREES..............................246
THE OLDEST WOMAN IN THE WORLD............................... 259
CUTTING BARK AND CONES AS MEMENTOES OF THE MARIPOSA GROVE. 276
THE CALIFORNIA OR MOUNTAIN LIONS AT GREEN RIVER STATION.... 284
FAITHFUL FOLLETTE............................... 286
viii 
CONTENTS.
CHAPTER IL
TIHE BEGINNING.
PAGS
Our temporary Home.-Sweet Sleep. -Niagara in View.-The in   clined Railway.-An improvised Repast.-A word of Caution..17-23
CHAPTER II.
THE TAGUS AND LAKE ERIE.
The Office of the "Toledo Blade."-First impressions of Prairie.
Chicago Explored. -Mr. Pullman's palatial House.-The Stew   arts of Chicago.-Academy of Fine Arts.-A twelve-year-old
Artist.-Chicago's Water Works.-Chicago a thing of Promise.
-The Grand Pacific Hotel................................ 24-34
CHAPTER III.
HOTEL CARS ver8us EMIGRANT TRAINS.
A Delmonican Repast.-Poetic Fancies.-The City of Omaha.-Mot   ley groups of People.-A party of Emigrants.-A homely
Dinner................................................. 3541
CHAPTER IV.
THE UNMENTIONABLE PLACE.
An early Awakening.-Delayed by an Accident.-The Magic City
of the Plains.-Cheyenne a true Frontier Town.-Salubrity of
Cheyenne. -Courtesy of Frontiersmen. - Conductor "Jim
Cahoon."-Theatre and Gambling Saloon.-The Opera House.
— Study for Archeologists................................. 4-52 
CONTETS. ~
CHAPTER V.
THE GARDEN OF THE GODS.
PAGE
An agreeable Entertainments-Colorado Springs.-Residence of
Helen Hunt, "H. H."-Grace  Greenwood's Home.-" The
Garden of the Gods."-A Scene for an Artist.-Petrified forms
of Wonder.-A Treasure rarer than Gold.-Detained by a high
Wind.-The best remains Behind......................... 53-63
CHAPTER VI.
CATIHEDRALS, CASTLES, CITIES NOT BUILT BY HANDS.
The Playground of forgotten Titans.-A Miracle of Engineering.
Action of Weather and Time.-Slender and fantastic Rocks.   The 1,000 mile Tree.-Utah, the Land of Thrift.-Advanced
Civilization..............................................64-71
CHAPTER VII.
SALT LAKE CITY.  MRS. AMELIA'S PICTURES.  MISS SNOW.
A Fragment of a Sermon.-The City of the Saints.-Cleanliness of
Salt Lake City.-Sensitiveness of Mormon Ladies. -Brigham
Young's favorite Wife.-Manufactures of Mormon Women.   Training the rising Generation.-Miss Snow and her chosen
Peop]e..............................................72 40
CHAPTER VIII.
A FIRST-CLASS MORMON INTERIOR.
Elevation of Mormon Women.-Are Mormon Women a jealous Race?
" Sealing," a mere Marriage of Time. -Mr. Young, a Patron
of the Drama -The true Woman view of Polygamy.-Polygamy
discussed. -Utah Women on a par with the Men.-The Mor   mons' Religion their Stronghold.-The Tabernacle and the
President...............................................  81-90
CHAPTER IX.
A LION TIAT WE SAW AND A LION TIAT WE HEARD.
Description of the Tabernacle.-The President's House.-Moham.
medanism and Mormonism.-Amelia's Palace.-Interview with
Mr. Yotmg.-His strength and earnestness.-Joseph Smith in   spired.-Ann Eliza the recreant Spouse.-Domestic Harmony.
-Mormon impartiality.-Mormon Children a fine Race.-Death
of-Brigham Young............................. 91-103
X 
CONTENTS.
CHAPTER X.
PHILOSOPHY, SHOSHONES, AND PIUTES.
PAGE
"Up boys, and at them."-Contemplating the noble Savage. -
Habiliments of "the Braves."-The passage of the Sierras.
Impressive grandeur of the Scenery. -Invocation to Tourists. -
The wonderful power of Water.-Man's greed of Gain. -Sacra   mento a gigantic Bouquet.-Rest and comfort............ 104-114
CHAPTER XI.
THE PALACE HOTEL, PHOTOGRAPHY AND THE STREETS.
Magnificence of the Palace Hotel. -The Architecture of San Fran    cisco.-High prices prevail.-An exhilarating Climate.-Cos   mopolitanism of the Population.-Social Law in San Fran   cisco.-Ascendancy of the Romish Faith.-The Sabbath in San
Francisco............................................. 115-123
CHAPTER XII.
A PRINCE AND A PALACE.
The princely W. A. Ralston. -The days of Belmont's glory. -Death
of Mr. Ralston. -Sorrow for Mr. Ralston................124-128
CHAPTER XIIL
A MEMORABLE VISIT.
The Scenery around Belmont.-Belmont an Architect's Vision.   Interior elegance of Belmont.-A Sketch of Mr. Sharon.-An
Evening's Entertainment.-The chill and damp Sea Wind.-Our
leave-taking...........................................129-136
CHAPTER XIV.
THE BROKER'S BOARD AND  THE  CITY PRISOFN.
The San Francisco Board of Brokers. -The Barbary Coast explored.
-The County Jail in San Francisco.-Characteristics of the
Prisoners.-Need for another Elizabeth Fry..............137-142
CHAPTER XV.
THE WAYS THAT ARE DARK.
The Mongolian Merchants.-The Shopkeepers in China town.   China town in the Evening.-Expressionless Features of the
Chinese.-Joss-houses and Joss-sticks.-The Shrines of the
xi 
CONTENTS.
PAGE
Devotees.-Ceremony of Chmchinning Joss.-Divinities of the
Chinese.-Curiosity of the Street Crowd.-The  Chinaman's
Tonsorial Luxury.-Domestic Peculiarities of the Chinese. 143-154
CHAPTER XVI.
ACT LIII.-SCENE 102.-AN OPIUM DEN.
Theatrical Performances. -Grotesqueness of the Actors.-Acrobatic
Agility.-An Opium Den.-How Opium is smoked. -Effects of
Opium Smoking.-Use of Opium by White People......... 155-162
CHAPTER XVII.
WORSE THAN DEATIH.
"No, No, Me no Mally, no Wife! "-Women Sacrificed to Lives of
Infamy.-Revolting Feminine Traffic.-A Humiliating Con   fession............................................. 163-167
CHAPTER XVIII.
SUPPER AT A CELESTIAL RESTAURANT.
Midnight Wanderings.-The Genuine National Cuisine. -The Ban   quet and the Viands.-Chinese  Servants.-Chinese Labor
Excellent and Reliable.-John is a fixed Fact in California..168-174
CHAPTER XIX.
WOODWARD'S GARDEN AND SEAL ROCKS.
A Fine Zoological Collection.-Social Courtesies.-The Cliff House
a Popular Resort.-Golden Gate Park.-The Discordant Sea   lions.-The Cemeteries at Lone Mountain................ 175-181
CHAPTER XX.
TIE TIES OF CALIFORNIA BUSINESS PARTNERSHIPS.
Architecture of San Francisco. -Ornate Residences on the Cliffs.    The Mission Dolores.-Clay Hill Elevated Railway........ 182-186
CHAPTER XXI,
SAN RAFAEL AND MR. COLEMAN'S GROUNDS.
San Rafael and its Environs.-Floricultural Gems.- Chinese
Shrimp Fishermen.-Ex-Governor Stanford's Palatial Home.
Mr. Baldwin's Model Hotel.-Its Interior Appointments... 187-193
X11 
CONTENTS.
CHAPTER XXIt.
THE ROSES OF SANTA ROSA.
PAGE
An American Saint.-A Modern Eden.-The Great Red-wood
Trees.-The Country Inns of California.-A Terrific Drive.   Our Driver.-A Bridal Party.-Acoustic Properties of the
HoteL................................................ t94-202
CHAPTER XXIII.
THE GEYSERS AND FOSSE OF FOSSEVILLE.
A Scene of Desolation.-The Witches' Cauldron.-Over a Volcano.   The Indian Vapor Baths.-A Sublime View.-Poetic Pine
Flat.-An Aggressive Autocrat.-Behind a "Six in Hand."   The Napa Valley..................................... 203-212
CHAPTER XXIV.
LAST DAYS IN SAN FRANCISCO.
A Chinese Beauty.-The French Quarter.-A Lunch with the
Mayor.-Peripatetic Flower Stands.................... 213-217
CHAPTER XXV.
A LODGE IN A VAST WILDERNESS.
In the Wake of Locusts. -Too Little Rain and too Much. -Boot   Jack Hollow.-A Settlement of Two Houses and a Watering
Trough-A Novel Experience.-One Bed for Sixteen.-An
Impromptu Supper.-A Treasure Trove.-Sleep under Diffi   culties.-A Widower and a Waist.-To the Manner Born.-A
Murder and Arrest.-The Merced River................. 218-231
CHAPTER XXVI.
THE YOSEMITE VALLEY.
El Capitan, King of the Va]ley.-Inspiration Point.-The South
Dome.-The Yosemite Falls.-Glacier Point.-The Mecca of
the Morning's Pilgrimage.-A Cleft in the Plateau of the
Sierras.-Avalanches and Slides of Rock.-A Life-long De   light.................................................. 232-241
CHAPTER XXVII.
THE MARIPOSA BIG TREES.
Big Tree Station.-The Fallen Monarch.-A Modern Blind Sam   son.-Ravages of Fire..................................242-246
xiii 
CONTEiTS.
CHAPTER XXVIII.
THE QUEEN OF THE ANGELS.
PAGE
The Robbers' Roost. —A Spanish-looking Town.-The Fountain of
Perpetual Youth.-Founding of the Town. -A "Live" Ameri   can City.-When to " Sit" for a Photograph.............. 247-253
CHAPTER XXIX.
BALDWIN'S RANCHE OF SANTA ANITA.
The Wine Houses.-California Racers.-Orange Groves.-A Haunt   ed House.............................................. 254-258
CHAPTER XXX.
A VERY OLD WOMAN AND A VERY OLD CHURCH.
The Oldest Woman in the World. -Her Proposed Visit to the Cen   tennial.-The Spanish Mission.-Curious Bells and Doors.   The Mission Orchards.-A Spanish Padre.-Tasteful Bald   win.-Inside!a Spanish Hut.-A Fiery Mustang. -Peculiar
Pets................................................. 259-269
CHAPTER XXXI.
SANTA MONACA.
An Audacious Seal.-Visit to a Bee Ranch.-A Drive around Stock   ton.-Sacramento and the Shakes. -The "Tailing" Process.   From Carson to Virginia City........................... 270-276
CHAPTER XXXII.
VIRGINIA CITY AND THE BIG BONANZA.
One Church versms Forty-nine Gambling Saloons.-The California
or Bonanza Mine.-Extracting the Ore.-A Happy Hit.-Down
the Shaft.-A Dark Mysterious Pit......................277-283
CHAPTER XXXIII.
HOMEWARD BOUND.
Sydney and Detroit.-Go West...............................284-286
xiv 
FROM GOTHAM TO FRISCO
CHAPTER I.
THE BEGINNING.
OES anybody like the beginning of anything.?
To our mind the well-known French proverb
about the first step bears a deeper meaning than is
usually attributed to it, and is intended not so much
as an encouragement to doubters as for a Hafiz-like
warning against the folly of ever beginning anything
after the inevitable annoyance of beginning one's life.
The beginning of a dinner, of a ball, of a play, of a
day, of an acquaintance, of a book, of a pair of bootsj
does anybody like any of these? Even the beginning
of a love, can it compare with its earliest noontide?
And as for the beginning of an end, whether of lives
or empires, who can doubt that Ariadne's death-blow
fell when Perseus cast his first wistful glance toward
the open sea, and that Moscow was a feller stroke to
the great Emperor than St. Helena.
So let us hasten over the beginning of our journey
toward the Gdlden Gate, artfully promising for those
who shall patiently begin and continue as we began
and continued, richer and fairer things are reserved
in the end.  -
Briefly, then, we state that, passing from the chilly: 
O0UR TEMPORARY HOME.
gloom of an April night of this present year of grace
into the terminus of the N. Y. Central R. R., twelve
somewhat wearied, somewhat nervous, very expectant
persons, accompanied by the friends to whom William
Vanderbilt Rex had issued an ukase permitting them
to pass the dismal gates which  ordinarily divide,
rigidly as that of death, the outward-bound passenger
from those he loves and leaves, found prepared for
them a special and magnificent car, named  by Mr.
Wagner for the Chief of our party, took possession,
went through the round of leave-takings, from the
tremulous silent embrace and last, deep look, to the
cheery, careless hand pressure and gay parting word,
heard the conductor's warning cry of "Time's up," and
were off, amid the reverberating roar of the fusilade
arranged by Mr. Wagner as a parting compliment to
his friends, and the hearty cheers of the escorting party
left upon the platform.
A few tears quietly brushed away, some clearing of
suddenly husky throats, and the travelers begin to
look about them at the quarters already representing
home and home comforts to wearied minds and bodies.
And here let us suggest, that added inducements to
timid and conservative tourists could be held forth by
changing the name of such a cosmos as this car of ours
from "palace" or "drawing - room" to "home" cars, or
some equivalent title, for who that has wintered in
Italy would be tempted to accept a palace as his
perpetual residence, and who would desire to sit for a
week in a drawing-room, clad in body and mind as befits the ceremonious reception of the world, with one's
18 
SWEET SLEEP.
mask well tied on, and one's skeleton safely locked
away!
So the charming little residence in which we found
ourselves shall be called a home, and very soon as  sumed the pleasant aspect suggested by the word, as
the bouquets, shawls, rugs, sofa-cushions, and various
personalities of th.e three ladies of the party were de veloped and arranged upon or around a table in the
central division of the car, which was to represent the
general salon, our end being partitioned off by curtains
to serve as bowers for such of the party as had given
hostages to society in the shape of husband or wife;
while the other end, also screened by curtains, became
a pleasant Bohemia where the artists, littgrateurs and
photographers of the party sleep and work.
Bed seems a good place to everybody at an early
hour in this beginning evening, for bed is one of the
few exceptions to the great rule laid down in our first
sentences, and to a weary traveler it is pleasanter to lie
down at night than to rise up in the morning; unless,
indeed, at the Yosemite, and that is not yet.
So we watch with interest the lowering of the ornamental panels behind which are stowed capital mattresses, gay blankets, sufficient pillows and snowy
linen, admire the deft dexterity of the pleasant official
who, with these, converts our sofas into cozy, curtained
couches, and presentlyretire to find within their shades
the sweet sleep which never comes too soon or stays
too late.
The conductor has warned us we shall find our
breakfast at Rochester about half - past ten in the
19 
'IAGARA IN VIEW.
morning, and although the gay Bohemians at the other
end of the car have seized all earlier opportunity of
breaking their fast, we, the graver portions )f the
party, decorously restrain our unwonted appeai5es until
the appointed hour and place, when we are,ewarded
by so enjoyable a meal that, whether it were the lateness of the hour, the merit of the viands, or the
unusual fatigue and excitement which gave it zest,
deserves and shall receive a red-letter mark in these
annals.
At Rochester our car is switched off and connected
with a train bound for Niagara, and presently the Suspension Bridge and mighty Cataract are in view. Of
course we pause to visit the Falls; for some of our
party have never seen them, and the rest are but too
happy to see them as often as possible. Passing
quickly through the poor little town, whose closed
hotels and desolate shops look forlorn and hopeless in
this dull season, we reach the Park, and presently stand
beside the mighty mass of moving waters, whose slow,
resistless sweep, "not hasting or resting," calm in the
magnitude of their power, relentless as death to those
who affront them, careless as Destiny of those who do
not venture within their grasp, solemn as eternity,
terrible and beautiful as life; so the vast waters pour
their ceaseless flood century after century, while generations of mortals stand beside them, gaze, wonder,
make their idle comments, and pass away to die and
be forgotten, while still the mighty flood sweeps on
and down changeless and immortal.
It is finally conceded that the best effects of color
2) 
TIlE INCLINiED RAIL WAY.
are to be obtained at Prospect Point, close beside the
American Fall; there one may admire the profound
blue-green, like the finest turquoise, of the deep and
narrow stream; the clear, cold beryl tint of the Fall
itself, and the snow-white steam and vapor and spray
lighting up the whole.
Just to the right of the Fall, at its foot, lay a great,
rounded hill of ice, the accumulation of the Winter's
frozen spray,'and close beside this hill runs down, at
an angle of thirty-three degrees, the steep plane of the
inclined railway. We took passage in its queer cars,
arranged like a series of carpeted stairs, and were
wheeled down at terrific speed to a point where an
admirable upward view of the Cataract was to be
obtained, but as the snow still lingering on the ground
was of a melting and penetrating mood, we did not
linger long, but, crossing over the Suspension Bridge
to the Canada side, the familiar view of the Horseshoe
Fall came in sight, and we looked down into the blue
depths of the channel, two hundred and four feet at
this point, according to our driver.
Upon the Canada side it is quite easy to distinguish
the voices of the two Falls-the deep, thunderous roar
of the Horseshoe Fall, and the more rippling and
silvery voice of the American; and after one has passed
the wonder and excitement of a first visit to this great
marvel of Nature in listening silently and alone to this
vast antiphony of the two wonderful voices, and in
contemplating the mighty march of the unhastening,
unresting flood, now sliding along a solid mass of
sapphire waters, just flecked here and there with foam,
21 
AN IMPRO VISED REPAST.
and anon hurled into the abyss below, whence the voice
of its torment for ever ascends, while in the dense cloud
of glittering white vapor above, one may fancy the
wailing spirit of the flood to shroud herself from
mortal gaze.
No wonder that Niagara is, or should be, the despair
of painters: they may give its height and width and
form, even its coloring, but they cannot even suggest
that slow majesty of motion, that wonderful harmony
of sound.
Returning to our Wagner home we cast fond and
searching looks toward the hampers provided for our
refreshment by attentive friends, and from them are
presently produced a chicken, some ham, beef, and
various accessories; the table is spread and our artist
dispatched in search of bread. I say our artist, for,
although  several are with us, H         is ours, par
excellence, not only because he has grown up beneath
the eye of our Chief, but from his thoroughly
sympathetic nature, combining the ability of a man
with the winning qualities of a boy; the enfant gate
of our office-the enfant terrible, occasionally, of our
party.
The bread is produced, but where are the plates?
Echo answers, where! but paper is voted an excellent
substitute, and, at least, we are rich in knives and
forks, for did not our Chief himself visit the Meriden
Britannia Co., on the day of our departure, and, with
his own hands bear home the shining parcel, now
hopefully, and now despairingly, sought for in bags,
vahlises, baskets, even in shawl-straps and pockets,
22 
1 WORD OF CA UTION.
and finally decided to be in a trunk on its way to
San Francisco.
And here let me pause to say a word to my longsuffering sex bound upon voyaging, near or far: do
not consent to share bag or valise with  any man
unless you wish to find collars, cuffs, and ruffles
crushed into a corner beneath a pair of boots, your
tooth-brush saturated with liquid blacking, and the
contents of your powder-box distributed throughout
the whole, ready to fly out at any moment, proving
that even your complexion is not a right that anybody
is bound to respect!
The merry pic-nic was just concluded when the
conductor appeared, loaded with plates, knives, forks,
etc., and it was speedily voted that the repast already
taken was but a lunch, and all found appetite, after
an amazingly short interval, for a dinner fit, as some
enthusiastically  declared, for the Gods  on Mount
Olympus.
ON THE ICE UNDER NIAGARA FALLS.  Page 21.
d3 
CHAPTER II.
THE  TAGUS AND LAKE ERIE.
NE would not wish to be unpatriotic, but certainly
the approach to the City of Toledo, Ohio, does not
compare favorably with that of its namesake upon
the golden-sanded Tagus. Mile after mile of ragged
woodland, mile after mile of roughly cleared fields
dotted with charred stumps, mile after mile of sawmills and lumber-yards, brought us finally to the
town, over which hung a cloud of dull brown smoke,
with great buildings looming out of it, which we
were informed were the largest grain elevators in the
United States, built upon piles on the shores of the
lake, or rather of the estuary leading to it.
This mode of building seems nearly as popular in
Toledo as in Amsterdam, and so large a portion of the
environs of the city seems wading out into the adjacent
swamps and marshes that one looks for malaria and
similar evils, as a matter of course, but is informed by
the inhabitants that their excellent system of drainage
obviates the trouble entirely. As we walked through
the town, which, although only about twenty years old,
boasts 55,000 inhabitants, we were struck by the air of
alertness and busy prosperity everywhere visible, even
at the uncomfortably early hour of our promenade, and
while our companions noted with approval the blocks
of handsome warehouses and shops in the main street
1
I
,W
I
11 
THE OFFICE OF THE "TOLEDO BLADE."
we pondered pensively on the apothegm: "It is the
early bird that gets the worm"; with its appropriate
retort: "And serves the worm right for being out at
such an hour!" The morning wore on, however, and
in due time we presented ourselves at the establishment
of the Toledo Blade. The building is fine and imposing,
so also is its editor-in-chief, Dr. Miller; and after an
interchange of courtesies and compliments we were
indulged with a sight of that wonderful sword with its
Toledo blade, presented by his Supreme and Royal
Highness, King Alfonso, of Spain, through his Royal
Commissioners to the Centennial Exposition, to the
representative journal of America, all of which
information and much more, we found inscribed in
stately and graceful periods of the purest Castilian in
the testimonial accompanying the sword, which was
ceremoniously unfolded from a gorgeous Spanish flag
whose brilliant red and yellow seemed gairish and
tawdry within-doors, although so rich and imposing
when draped above a balcony filled with dark-eyed
Senoritas, and waved by the perfume-laden breezes of
its native land.
The sword itself seems in size and weight better
fitted for the hand of Orlando, or Charlemagne, or
Cceur de Lion, than any less stalwart champion, but
the hilt was magnificently incrusted with gold and
silver, and the blade was proved to possess the marvelous suppleness and tenacity traditionally belonging to its family, and although we insisted that
Dr. Miller should not run the remotest chance of
accident by putting it to the test of bending the tip'to
25 
FIRST IMPRESSIONS OF PRAIRIE.
touch the hilt, we are firm in the faith that it could
have been triumphantly achieved.
Leaving Toledo at one o'clock, we sped into Indiana
and gained our first impression of prairie, or, as
Westerners like to call it, per-air-ry, country, and, while
here, record a conclusion arrived at after seeing
whatever lies between the Atlantic and Pacific, that the
prairie, like the Red man, requires to be seen in a state
of savage nature to be at all interesting, and that
neither is to be thus seen without considerable risk of
life to the spectator. Cultivated Indians are loathsome,
cultivated prairies are stupid; and the scenery of
northern Indiana is cultivated prairie. We dined at
Elkhart, and found a bit of an oasis in the shape of
a host, whose cultivation and refinement pleasantly
prepared us for an interview with his wife, whose
appearance and manners would have graced any Fifth
Avenue drawing-room. She kindly invited us into her
private apartments, which proved models of taste and
elegance, although the house itself was neither better
nor worse than the average Western railway refectory,
The table was served by young women, and among
them one of so striking and Juno-like an aspect that
"our artist " sacrificed his dinner to the pleasure of
sketching her, while she willingly abandoned her
usual duties to serve as model.
Toward night, we catch a glimpse of Lake Michigan
and its foam-crested waves dashing against the stone
wall which restrains their incursions upon the city, and
could fancy that we saw the broad Atlantic stretching
before us, instead of merely an inland lake. And now
26 
CHI(,AGO EXPLORED.
we are in Chicago, and at the Grand Pacific Hotel,
and, after eagerly devoting a few minutes to a basin
of fair water, which none but travelers can appreciate,
assemble in the supper-room, a superb hall light,
bright, and marvelous in frescoing and gilding. As for
the meal itself, a week of such sumptuous fare would
be enough to derange one's digestion for life.
Tired Nature's sweet restorer was sought with
wonderful unanimity at an early hour, and the next
morning, having breakfasted as admirably as we had
supped, we made ready to explore the wonders of
Chicago; for, like most other Americans, we knew less
of our own country than of many others, and we
determined to correct our ignorance without delay.
We found the fashionable avenues, Wabash, Calmut,
Prairie and Michigan, wide, straight, and interesting as
drives, from the number and diversity of handsome
private dwellings, generally detached, and built in all
varieties of styles and ornamentation; even the frame
buildings are costly and ornate, and the brick richly
decorated with brown-stone copings and carvings. A
favorite material, also, is a soft, creamy, yellow stone,
similar to that so popular in Paris, and, possibly, the
association, recalling the good-natured satire that good
Chicagoeans, when they die, go to Paris, may have
added to the pleasing effect.
The wooden pavements of the streets, although
smoother to drive upon than stone, are the cause of a
great deal of dust; and there still exists a difference
of opinion between street and sidewalk, as to level,
necessitating a system of steps, descending from the
27 
MR. PULLMAN'S PALATIAL HOME.
latter to the former, a little startling to evening
promenaders. This, however, is in course of alteration,
as the entire level of the city is being raised several
feet since the fire, and a great many streets of fine
warehouses and shops have been erected on the new
basis.
There are very few trees, except along Dearborne
Street, and the northerly part of Michigan Avenue,
where the great fire did not reach, and where the
houses are nearly all of wood and detached. On Prairie
Avenue we were shown a stately and magnificent
mansion of brown-stone, standing in the midst of
spacious grounds, and fronting on the avenue from the
lake.  Our driver informed us that "Mr. Pullman was
five years a-building it," and we gratefully hoped that
the aggregate comfort conferred on the traveling public
during those five years, by hotel and palace cars, had
been built and cemented in those brown-stone walls.
The piercing wind from the lake, which is at once a
blessing and a nuisance to Chicago, tempering the heat
in mid-summer, but a little disagreeable in April,
especially when laden with clouds of dust, made us
glad to turn our backs and return to the more sheltered
portions of the city. State Street reminded us of
Broadway, although with more uniformly fine and
solid blocks of buildings, nearly all of yellow brownstone. Clark Street is its rival; property-holders in
each street vieing with each other since the fire, in the
attempt to make their own street the centre of
importance.  The same  rivalry exists between  the
avenues of private residences, and from this laudable
28 
THE STEWARTS OF CHICAGO.
ambition, probably, arises the reported fact that every
rich man in Chicago is involved in debt.
In State Street we paused at the Corn Exchange, a
fine building, per se, but evidently seldom profaned by
the use of the scrubbing-brush or broom. The sales
for the day were just over, and the brokers and dealers
swarming out of the door, and in the lobbies, with the
noise and hilarity of schoolboys just released from
their lessons. We went into the hall where the sales
are made-a fine, large chamber, with a clicking of
telegraphic machines on every side, and piles of corn,
torn papers and rubbish, inches high in places. From
a careful study of the bulletins posted on tall, black
frames, here and there, we gathered that "Liverpool
wheat was dejected, and corn stiff," and in unsympathetic glee took our leave of the Corn Exchange, and
went our way to Feild, Leiter & Co., the Stewarts of
Chicago. We found a large, but not imposing establishment, presenting rather an excess of thread and
needle and small ware counters, but having a novel
and excellent system of checks. The first salesman of
whom one makes a purchase, noting it upon a blank
memorandum which the buyer takes to the next
counter, has the purchase recorded, and so on, until
payment of the whole is made at the last counter;
thus saving much time, noisy shouting of "Cash!"
and the annoyance of awaiting the arrival of the erratic imps generally answering to that cognomen.
Our next visit was to the Academy of Fine Arts,
which we found up-stairs in a big stone building,
devoted, as it seemed, to almost everything else under
29 
ACADEMY OF FTNE ART,q.
the sun, and satisfied to squeeze the Fine Arts away in a
corner as an after-thought. The establishment is rather
languishing, as its patrons, a few of the wealthy men
of Chicago, have lately felt unable to do very much for
its support, and we all know that the higher and more
esthetic needs of human nature are the first to be
pinched by a deficiency in the supplies.
The Academy possesses but two rooms, in which
students in oils, water-colors, crayons, still-life and
portraits are jumbled promiscuously together. There
is no life-school proper, although a few were drawing
and painting from the model-only the head, however-and most of the drawing is from the flat.
From these rooms we visited a few studios, finding
the majority of them not much in advance of the
Academy. In one, however, we encountered a lady
whose olive-tinted skin and dark eyes proclaimed her
of the Latin race. She was working industriously at a
pastel head of a beautiful young girl, and with the
vigorous and rapid touch of a sure and experienced
artist. The imperfect English and marked coldness of
the few words our remarks elicited induced us to
address her in Italian, and the advance was met by a
vivid upward flash of the dark eyes, that wonderful
brightening of the skin so much more striking in an
olive complexion than the pink blush of the Saxon, and
the breathless reply: "No, I am Parisian; perhaps
Madame speaks French?" We replied in the affirmative, and then came such a torrent of words instead of
the icy monosyllables of the first few moments, and in
five minutes we listened to a dissertation on Art in
30 
A TWELVE-YEAR. OLD ARTIST.
Chicago, Art in Paris, Art all over the world, in fact;
and then a brief outline of the artist's own personal
history, a delicate probing of our own, and finally such
handshakings, such tender adieux, and such reluctance
to part company at the ultimate confines of the
Academy of Fine Arts, that one felt, with a pitying
sympathy, how starved the poor exiled soul must have
become in its expatriation, when the accents of its
native tongue, even from stranger's lips, could raise
such a whirlwind of excitement and delight.
Next we visited another studio, also that of a lady,
but this time a landscape-painter; the artist herself
was absent, but the honors were done by the quaintest
little object in life, whom we found encased in an
immense pinafore, perched upon a high stool and
working away for dear life upon a brilliantly colored
picture. He announced himself as twelve years old,
although that number of years seemed altogether too
liberal an allowance, and stated that the spirit of an
artist burned in his bosom, and he was one of Madame's
pupils. His idea of art seemed to be the getting over
the largest amount possible of canvas in the least
possible time, and his faith in his preceptress in this
line was unbounded. After a brief inspection of the
other treasures of the studio, we took leave of our
Michael Angelo in embryo, wishing him, a little sadly,
the  realization  of  all his brilliant  dreams.   He
responded confidently, andcl we left him scrambling up
to his perch again, to resume work upon the big, bright
picture.
The next afternoon we started for a survey of the
31 
GCHIOAGO'S WA TER WTORKS.
north end of the city, Dearborn Avenue, the Water
Works, and Lincoln Park.  The Water Works are new
and beautiful, and eccentric in architecture, like most
of the town, and with a wild excess of tower and but tress and queer little points and pinnacles everywhere,
cheerfully relieving the solemn gray of the rough hewn granite blocks of the main edifice.  From this
point we drove along the lake shore upon a road artificially filled in upon swamp land. The lake itself
wore a sombre hue, yellowish-gray in color, and rather
tea-like in effect, but the waves dashed in very
respectable surf upon the sea-wall and the little jetties
thrown out here and there.
It was Sunday afternoon, and the respectable bourgeoisie and family men of Chicago were out with wives
and olive-branches, in wagons of every pattern and
degree, in spite of the piercing wind and blinding dust.
The more aristocratic part of the population was not
visible, and one wondered whether the New England
element in Chicago is strong enough to render Sunday
driving unpopular, or whether the glite preferred
staying at home to dream of the Champs Elysies.
The Shore Road led us into the Park, just now in
the same embryotic condition New Yorkers can recall
as prevalent some dozen years ago in Central Park, and
let us hope as glorious a result is in store for the
former as well as the latter creation. There is the
beginning here of a zoological collection, already quite
rich in birds.
On our way home we saw the large frame house -
which, oddly enough, was the only one left standing in
32 
CHICAGO A THING OY PROMISE.
that district, while the flames destroyed everything
about it. We saw also the Roman Catholic Cathedral,
a superb white marble building, with the padded doors
so common on the European continent.
Relics of the fire meet one at every turn; lots piled
up with blackened brick and stone and dismal rubbish,
and sometimes the picturesque shell of a ruin. We
were shown the small block of dwelling-houses used,
as a hotel after the fire, when every hotel in Chicago
was burned.
Aldene Square, probably called square because it is
round, is a charming little park, containing drives, trees,
flowers, fountains, etc., and nearly surrounded by a
series of houses, various in size and construction, but
of equal elegance, and all built by a single man.
To sum up the impression produced by a careful
study of Chicago, it is a city of magnificent beginnings,
a thing of promise. Few American cities can boast so
many noticeably handsome dwellings, or such massive
blocks of stone along the business streets, but the
crudity of youth is as inextricably mingled with the
promise of maturity as in a big-boned boy of eighteen,
or a blushing girl of thirteen, from whom one parts
with resignation for a time, looking pleasurably forward
to renewed intercourse a few years later.
We remarked, that physicians' names, instead of
appearing on the door-plates, as with us, were lettered
in black or gold on the glass light above the front
door, and along with the number, a great facility, one
would imagine, for those seeking medical services
after nightfall, but, per contra, the names of streets
33 
THlE GRAND PACIFIC HOTEL.
are mysteriously printed just above, instead of upon,
the glass of the gas-lights.
We sit down to our last meal at the Grand Pacific
Hotel, cast a final admiring glance at its cheerful
parlors, wide corridors, superb dining-hall, murmur a
grateful acknowledgment of the faultless cuisine and perfect system of attendance, which render this hotel one of
the most comfortable houses in the country, and then,
not without a certain excitement, prepare to resume our
journey, now about to develop more characteristic
features, since where breathes the man who has not
been in Chicago? while only a select few of the sons of
Adam have personally compared the crisp waves of
the Atlantic with the grander and more rhythmic swell
of the Pacific.
GRAND PACIFIC HOTEL, CHICAGO.
34 
CHAPTER III.
HOTEL CARS versus EMIGRANT TRAINS.
N arriving at the station, we find that we have
exchanged our beloved Wagner Home for the
famous Pullman Hotel Car, exhibited at the Centennial
Exposition, and built at a cost of $35,000.  We  are
greeted on entering, by two superb pyramids of flowers,
one from Mr. Potter Palmer, and the other with compliments of the Pullman Car Co.; then new - found
Chicago friends arrive in rapid succession, to wish us
God-speed, and, in the midst of a cheerful bustle and
excitement, we are off, and able to look about us at our
new home. First, we are impressed with the smooth
and delightful motion, and are told it is owing to a new
invention, in the shape of paper wheels applied to this
car, and incredible though the information sounds,
meekly accept it, and proceed to explore the internal
resources of our kingdom. We find everything closely
resembling our late home, except that one end of the
car is partitioned off and fitted up as a kitchen, storeroom, scullery-reminding one, in their compactness
and variety, of the little Parisian cuisines, where every
inch of space is utilized, and where such a modicum of
wood and charcoal produces such marvelous results.
Our chef, of ebon color, and proportions suggesting
a liberal sampling of the good things he prepares, wears
the regulation snow-white apron and cap, and gives us 
A DELMONICAN REPAST.
cordial welcome and information; showing us, among
other things, that his refrigerator and larder are boxes
adroitly arranged beneath the car, secured by lock and
key, and accessible at every station.  At six the tables
are laid for two each, with dainty linen, and the finest
of glass and china, and we presently sit down to dinner.
Our repast is Delmonican in its nature and style, consisting of soup, fish, entrees, roast meat and vegetables,
followed by the conventional dessert and the essential
spoonful of black coffee.
We are not a late party that night, retiring at ten,
and in the morning are startled by an announcement
from the "Sultana," a tall, willowy woman, with dark,
almond-shaped eyes, who affects brilliant tints, and
lounges among her cushions and wraps of crimson and
gold, with a grace peculiarly her own, and with a luxuriance so Eastern, as to have won for her the sobriquet
of Sultana. We are startled by the announcement that
her rest had been disturbed by the howling of wolves I
The young lady who does the romantic for our party
turns pale with envy, especially when the brakeman,
appealed to as authority, admits that there is a small
coyote wolf about the prairies, even so far East, which
might possibly have been heard. All day, until sunset,
we sweep along over rolling prairie lands of a rich,
tawny yellow, with here and there a tiny town, and
liere and there a lonely settler's cabin, with a little
winding footpath stretching up to it.
At Dixon, the train stopped for the passengers'
supper, and we stole away for a little exercise and
solitude. A storm was imminent, the distant thunder
36 
POETIC -rANrCIES.
muttered ominously, the lightning came in pulses, and
from the far, dusky reaches of the prairie, blew a wind
stronger and freer, yet softer, than other winds, with a
fragrance sweeter than flowers on its breath. Some
strange, wild influence in the scene sent a new sensation tingling through one's blood. All sorts of poetic
fancies and inspirations seemed hovering close above
one's head, when a dash of rain recalled the realism of
life, and sent us hastening back to the car, where all
the lamps were lighted and the tables laid for dinner.
"What a dismal scene!" exclaimed some one, looking out of the window.
"We are very fortunate to be snugly ensconced, with
plenty of lights and dinner in prospect," replied the
Sultana, drawing her cashmere about her shoulders.
By breakfast-time the scenery had changed, the
rolling prairie giving place to a succession of low
bluffs-steep, hilly, brown, and infinitely wild; then
came a quiet little lake, dotted over with wild ducks;
more hills growing green in the hollows; swampwillows budding redly; herds of grazing cattle and
wild, shaggy horses; until, at last, we roll into a long,
flat, straggling town, and are told it is Council Bluffs.
"And why Council Bluffs?" we suavely inquire of
the wise man who gives us this information.
"Because, on these bluffs the Indians assembled
in council; also because, beneath the shadow of
the Bluffs in 1853, a little company of enterprising
spirits'held a council as to the propriety of building
the City of Omaha, upon the opposite shores of the
Missouri; also because the Conductor counsels us to
'7
V 
TIHE CITY OF O4MAHA.
re-enter the car, as the train is about to start;
also     "
"Enough! enough! your last reason is conclusive."
And a few minutes later we are rolling over the magnificent bridge, said to be one of the finest in the
world, and almost a thousand feet in length. The
stream - weak coffee as to complexion, pea - soup as
to consistence - rolls sluggishly between its iron
piers. As for the bridge itself, its cost, its construction,
its ingenuity, is it not written in all the guide-books, all
the travels, all the diaries of all the voyageurs? and to
these various sources the statistical reader is referred
for information
Arrived in Omaha, the true beginning, perhaps, of our
California trip, we took a carriage, and set forth to view
the town. We found it big, lazy, and apathetic: the
streets dirty and ill-payed; the clocks without hands
to point out the useless time; the shops, whose signs
mostly bore German names, deserted of customers,
while principals and clerks lounged together in the
doorways, listless and idle. This depressing state
of affairs is, presumably, temporary, for we were told
that, two years ago, Omaha was one of the most
thriving and busy cities of the West, claiming for
itself, indeed, a place as first commercial emporium
of that vast section; and, certainly, its position at the
terminus of the three great Eastern roads, and the
beginning of the one great Western one, would naturally
entitle it to that pre-eminence, when aided by the enterprise and the dollars of such men as have, in twenty
years, built a great city from a wayside settlement.
38 
I
'\~~.'~~~.  \       I      ~
,1,~~~~~~~~~~- 
c!(~I
to~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~*I          I///,//    I     ~     ff   f~
0~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Ii
rt_~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~iI/
- v                                                   Ifl
(Z~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ff        i~f1          "
t~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ffI
f f
-7 
I 
MOTLEY GROUPS OP PEOPLE.
Doubtless, when the hard times, which seem to affect
everybody and everything, from the baby's Christmas
toys to the statesman's visions of international commerce, are over, Omaha will shake off the lethargy
depressing her at present, and rise to the position her
citizens fondly claim for her. We saw some tasteful
private residences, with conservatories and stables; the
High School building, which might justly be called a
palace of learning; the military headquarters, and barracks of the armory of the State; the Grand Central
Hotel, a large and imposing edifice, admirably conducted; and also the less imposing, but more remarkable house erected by the brilliant and erratic George
Francis Train, who, arriving at Omaha one day, was
told there was no accommodation to be had for his
party.
No rooms to be had!" exclaimed he. "Then I'll
build me a hotel!"-and he did, within six weeks.
Returning to the station, we found the platform
crowded with the strangest and most motley groups of
people it has ever been our fortune to encounter. Men
in alligator boots, and loose overcoats made of blankets
and wagon rugs, with wild, unkempt hair and beards,
and bright, resolute eyes, almost all well-looking, but
wild and strange as denizens of another world.
The women looked tired and sad, almost all of them,
and were queerly dressed, in gowns that must have been
old on their grandmothers, and with handkerchiefs
tied over their heads in place of hats; the children
were bundled up anyhow, in garments of nondescript
purpose and size, but were generally chubby, neat
39 
A PARTY OF EMIGRANTS.
and gay, as they frolicked in and out among the boxes,
baskets, bundles, bedding, babies'-chairs, etc., piled
waist high on various parts of the platform.  Mingling
with them, and making some inquiries, we found that
these were emigrants, bound for the Black Hills, by
rail to Cheyenne and Sioux City, and after that by
wagon trains. A family of French attracted attention
by the air of innate refinement and fitness which seems
to attach to every grade of society in la belle France,
and we chatted with them for some moments. A great
many families claimed German nationality, and Ireland,
England and Scotland were represented, as well as our
own country. One bright little creature - perhaps
three years of age-was quite insulted at being called
a baby, and exclaimed, indignantly:
"No, no, me not baby!"
"What are you, then? A young lady?" we inquired.
",No, me'ittle woman. Me helps mammy sweep,"
replied the mite; and apologizing for our blunder, we
handed her some silver for candy, which she accepted
with alacrity; and as we watched her setting off on her
shopping expedition, a neat, pretty old lady, perched
upon a big bundle, said, with much conscious pride:
"That's my grandchild, ma'am."
We congratulated her, and passed on, to visit the
emigrant lodging-house and outfitting-shop adjoining
the station. The shop, although large, was crowded,
and the air insufferably close; long counters ran across
the room, and upon them, and upon lines stretched
above, lay or hung, every variety of equipment desirable
for pioneer life-clothes, blankets, mats, tins, hats,
40 
A HIOMELY DINNER.
shoes, babies' rattles, impartially mixed and exhibited,
while some attention to the esthetic needs of humanity
was shown, in various stuffed heads of moose and
deer, with quails perched upon their antlers.
In the eating-room we "assisted," by inspection, at
a good, substantial, homely dinner, neatly served at
twenty-five cents a plate, and a placard informed the
guests that children occupying seats at table would
be charged full price; a precautionary measure not
unreasonable, as it seemed to us, in view of the swarms
of innocents who had certainly never encountered a
Herod!
Lodging is the same price as dinner, and the superintendent of this part of the house  triumphantly
informed us that the sheets were chalnged every
night.
ON THE INCLINED RAILWAY TO THE FOOT OF NIAGARA FALLS.  Page 21.
41 
CHAPTER IV.
THE UNMENTIONABLE PLACE.
FTER passing North Bend, we came upon an In      dian camp belonging to a portion of the Omahaw
tribe. The lodges - five or six in number - were of
white skin, and picturesque in shape; their occupants
gathered around a small camp - fire-the men, tall,
straight, dark and dignified, wrapped in toga-like
blankets; the women, dirty and degraded, with their
pappooses bundled on their backs, the queer, little
dark faces peeping out like prairie dogs from their burrows. Further on we met a second band half a dozen
men on horseback-carrying their lodges bundled up
and driving a little herd of shaggy Indian ponies. It
was a wonderfully new picture for us, the great plains
rolling away on either side in apparently illimitable
extent, clad in their richest shades of russet and tawny
gold in the distance, and the tender grass and moist
black earth close at hand, a wild mass of thunderclouds crowding up from the south, and the low-hanging
trail of smoke from our engine sweeping away northward like a troop of spirits, and this little, lonely band
of Omahaws riding slowly away into the storm, casting
uneasy glances backward at the flying train. A second
picture to place beside that of Niagara in memory's
gallery, a second proof that the foremost of human
ilL7-~:V==-fig,,I_!I IiIltil~~ 
AN EARLY AWAKENING.
artists is, after all, but the feeblest copyist of the
Artist whose name is Wonderful.
The old emigrant trail here runs southward beside
the track, and we had the luck to pass two real emigrant wagons: one, white-topped and rather neat-looking, had halted for the night, with the horses picketed
out to graze, and the camp-fire lighted; while the
other, dark, weather-beaten and forlorn, was doggedly
making its way forward.
Our train stopped for supper at Grand Island, a
considerable place, and, like most Western places, confidently expecting to be larger when the time arrived.
We dismounted to look at our first specimens of buffalo
grass, a short, dry, tufted herbage, said to be the
especial dainty of not only buffalo, but of all grazing
creatures, who leave all other food for it, and unhesitatingly as a gourmand accepts fresh truffles. In front
of the station was a little inclosure with a most
spasmodic fountain, beside which we lingered for some
moments and then returned with alacrity to our Pullman Home.
Very early in the next morning we were awakened
by the stopping of the train, r the gentle and constant
motion had already become as essential to our repose
as that  of his ship to the sailor.   The conductor
presently appeared to warn us that the detention was
likely to be one of several hours, as an accident had
happened to the freight train some five miles in advance, and the track was both encumbered and injured.
The prospect was not cheering, as the rain fell in
torrents, and the prairie, sodden and gray in the chill
43 
DELAYED BY AN ACCIDEVT.
morning light, had lost all the beauty of its sunset garb,
presenting one flat, dull expanse, innocent of house,
tree, shrub, moving creature, or any point of interest
-a perfect picture of desolation.
The several hours of the conductor extended to eight,
and required all the attractive powers of the Sultana,
all the condensed result of her husband's journalistic
and statistical studies, all the young lady's romantic
fervor about the plains, and all the fun of the Bohemians, to fill them pleasantly. However, " All things
come round to him who will but wait," and to us came
at last the delightful jerk of the train, as the iron horse
straightened his traces and, with a shriek of exultation,
started again upon his journey.
Arrived at the scene of disaster, we  could not
wonder at the length of the detention, for a herd of cattle,
attempting to try conclusions with a steam engine, had
been forced to retreat, leaving six of their number on
the field of battle; and so inextricably had the poor
creatures become wedged in the complicated machinery
of the locomotive, that it was hard to decide where the
one ended and where the other began, or which had
suffered most in the encounter. The cars lay scattered
along the track, all more or less wrecked, and the engine,
completely dislodged from the rails, lay beside them, a
mass of ruin. During our long delay a wrecker train
had been engaged in laying a new section of track, and
over this we slowly passed, resuming presently our
usual rate of speed, which, however, rarely exceeds
twenty-two or three miles an hour, that being conceded
as the rate best adapted to economy, safety and comfort
44 
THE "MANIC CITY OF THE PLAINS."
in long distances, and certainly resulting in a smooth ness and ease delightfully contrasting with the rush,
rattle and jar of the Lightning Express.
Soon after this we passed through our first snow shed, very like a covered bridge or wooden tunnel in
effect, and were informed that the U. P. R. R. had been
obliged to construct hundreds of miles of these, and
stone fences at different points of the road, to obviat3
the drifting of snow banks, capable of not only de taining, but of burying, a train.
And now, not without some little excitement, we
arrived at Cheyenne, as it is styled upon the maps, the
Magic City of the Plains, the City on Wheels, the Town
of a Day, as romancists call it, or in yet more vigorous
vernacular, H-11 on Wheels, which latter is, perhaps,
its most popular name among its own inhabitants.  In
view of this reputation, our conductor strongly advised
against any night exploration, at least by the ladies of
the party, of the streets and shops of Cheyenne, stating
that the town swarmed with miners en route for, or re turning from, the Black Hills, many of them despe radoes, and all utterly reckless in the use of the bowie knife and pistol; or, at the very least, in the practice
of language quite unfit for ears polite, although well
adapted to a place which they themselves had dubbed
with so suggestive a name. This opposition, was, of
course, decisive; and the three ladies, as one man, de clared fear was a word unknown in their vocabulary, that
purchases essential to their comfort were to be made,
and that exercise was absolutely necessary to their
health. Under such stress of argument the masculine
45 
46     CHEYENNE A TR [E FRONTIER TOWN.
mind gave way perforce, and not only the sworn beau
of the party, but most of the other gentlemen, indorsed
the movement and volunteered to act as escort, producing, loading, and flourishing such an arsenal of weapons
as they did so that their valiant charges huddled
together, far more afrighted at their friends than their
enemies, and piteously imploring  that the firearms
should be safely hidden until needed; the order was
obeyed, and at about half-past nine P.m. the exploring
party set forth.
Cheyenne proved itself a fresh and vigorous experience of a true frontier town-streets dark and suggestive of all sorts of fierce experiences connected with
the swarms of swarthy, rough-clad men, who lounged
at every corner and filled every shop, yet never offered
to molest the visitors by word, act or look, although
evidently "taking stock" and remarking upon their
unfamiliar appearance. Our first visit was to an ammunition shop to lay in supplies for a pistol presented
to "our" artist upon his journey, that first pistol which
is to every young man now - a - days what the toga
virilis was to the Roman youth. In this establishment
we had an opportunity of examining the outfit deemed
requisite for a visit to the Black Hills, in the shape of
horribly keen and deadly knives, and firearms of every
size and variety. In fact, it was decided by the experts
of the party that in this one shop was condensed a
larger assortment, and more complete arsenal, of deadly
weapons than is to be found in any New York establishment.
From this warehouse of death we passed to more 
SAL UBRITY OF CHEYENNE.
cheerful scenes, and noticing, by the way, the curious
effect in the dark streets of the transparencies hung
out as signs by many of the shops. The druggist's and
jeweler's impressed us as by far the best stocked we had
seen since leaving home, unless in Chicago.  Especially
we expressed surprise at the value and beauty of the
diamonds and other jewels exposed for sale, and were
informed that these found a ready market, not only
among the successful miners, who, returning from the
Black Hills, are tempted to an immediate enjoyment
of their new fortunes, but by the herdsmen, who bring
immense quantities of cattle to Cheyenne, en route for
the East, and, having made  a large and successful
sale, are very apt to invest part of the proceeds in
gifts to wife or sweetheart-a custom too laudable to
be confined to Cheyenne. 
Much  was  confided to us of the history, past,
present and future, of this peripatetic and Hadean city,
and also many assertions as to the unusual salubrity of
the atmosphere and its virtues in all chest diseases; for
it stands almost at the highest point of the long ascent
we had been climbing ever since crossing the Mississippi, and is, to be statistical, 6,041 feet above the sea
level. Certainly there is a fine tingling touch as this
ratified air reaches our lungs, and no doubt a residence
in it might be beneficial; the per contra being the doubt
as to whether we lived at all with the atmosphere so
full of glistening blades and whistling bullets as report
rather than our experience describes.
It is as well, perhaps, here to put on record the
result of certain subsequent investigations of ours in
47 
COUR TTESY O_ FRONTIERSMEN.
Cheyenne, after our return from Denver. Between
the two visits we had diligently read some interesting
guide - books, which set forth the City built in a Day
-so called because most of the houses were trundled
hither on wheels  from Julesburg  as the terminus
of the railway advanced-as a moral, decorous, and
highly desirable abode; so the second arrival being in
the morning, we spent half the day in searching for
the City of the Guide-books, as we propose redubbing
this child of many names, and found, as we had foreseen, nothing more than the typical frontier town we
had glanced at by gaslight; a straggling settlement of
wooden houses, minus good streets, and not a private
residence worthy the name; the streets crowded with
every variety of wild, rough frontiersmen- miners,
teamsters, drovers, Mexicans, scouts, ferocious to look
upon, but lamb-like in demeanor toward quiet strangers,
stepping courteously aside to let us pass, respectful
toward women, of whom, by-the-way, there was scarcely
one to be seen in the streets of Cheyenne, and even
when openly, perhaps rudely, stared at, refraining from
returning the incivility. We saw an emigrant train of
several wagons starting for the Black Hills, one of
the wagons being drawn by eight mules, whose driver
managed them by a single rein.   A scout in a full
suit of fringed buckskin was lounging about-a handsome man with long, dark curls falling from beneath
his seal-skin cap, who treated our open and admiring
curiosity with true aboriginal indifference. Another
galloped by dressed in a blue cloak over a purple
jacket, high cavalry boots, and a sombrero, beneath
48 
IU-O
0 -
ST&ItTING FOR THE BLACK HILLS FIOM CHEYENNE. Page 48.
t
I I
e, - 4 
i 
CONXDUCTOR "JZM COHOON."
which his hair flew wildly back as he dashed past,
guiding  his horse from the neck in true Mexican
fashion.
As an instance of the peaceful order now reigning
in the City on Wheels, we may mention that the night
before our arrival a murder had been committed by
which a wife and children were left desolate; a subscription was going the rounds for their relief, and had
already reached one hundred and fifty dollars; another
mnan had been garroted and relieved of seventy dollars,
and a large shop robbed of a considerable amount. Our
conductor, named Jim Cohoon, in telling of these
things, casually mentioned that a few years ago, while
fishing in a small creek near Cheyenne, with his two
brothers, they had been attacked by Indians, riddled
with arrows, scalped, and left for dead. The two
brothers were indeed so, but he, with seven arrows in
his body and without his scalp, had managed to crawl
three miles for help, and had entirely recovered.  He
was a fine, handsome - looking young fellow, and so
arranged h.is hair that the injury he had received was
not apparent  With some diffidence he exhibited his
head to; the gentlemen of the party, who explained to
us that the scalping was not, as we had supposed, on
the crown of the head, but considerably below, at the
back, and -as heart-shaped
Th - public buildings of the City of the Guidebook were: A goodl brick hotel, five churches, a courthQ1,se and jail, a City Hall and schoollhouse, two
theatres, and such a number of establishments openly
proclaiming themselves concert and gambling saloons,
49 
50       THEATRE AND GAMBLING SALOON.
that we ceased to count them, ancl proposed instead to
visit them.
Obtaining permission and escort, we first turned
our steps to McDaniel's Theatre, conspicuously adver ti —cl as offering a "Great Moral Show," but whether
permanently or for that evening only was not mentioned.
Passing through a bar gorgeous with frescoed views of
Vesuvius and the Bay of Naples, and remarkable for
its cleanliness, we found ourselves in the parquette, so to
speak, of the theatre-a large room fitted up with chairs
and tables, for the use of convivial parties, and servedcl
by pretty waiter girls. The stage was narrow, the dropcurtain exceedingly gorgeous, and statues of the Venus
de Medici, and another undressed lady of colossal proportions, posed strikingly at either wing. At each side
of the hall are tiers of boxes, so called, reached by long
narrow flights of stairs from the parquette; these boxes
are closed in, and have each a window, through which
the inmates must project head and shoulders if curious
to witness the performance on the stage; but, as they
contain tables and chairs, it is possible that a glass of
wine or lager and social intercourse may be more the
object than spectacular entertainment.
.t the head of the stairs is a small bar bearing the
notice: "No drinks retailed here"; and above, there is
printed in large letters: "Gents, be liberal."
Returning through the bar, we passed into the
gambling saloon-a large room, exquisitely clean and
orderly, with a bar at the end, and long tables at each
side, arranged for Rouge et Noir, Roulette, Keno, and
our national game of Biblical memory. Behind each was 
__________                                                 C)
OR OF TIEE THIEATRE AT CIIEYENNE.  Page a0.
I -'9#lc
ti  
THIE OPERA HO USE.
hung upon the wall a neat placard bearing the rules of
the game, price of checks, etc., and, conspicuous by their
tasteful frames, the various licenses, costing, as the
proprietor pathetically informed us, $600 for every three
months. Over the door of this room was printed, in
fancy letters, the word "Welcome!" reminding one
drolly of the Sunday-school Festivals and similar occasions when such inscriptions are usually met with.
But if McDaniel's Theatre and gambling saloon is a
whited sepulchre, let us do it the justice to say that it
is very white indeed, and nearly the cleanest place,
materially speaking, that we were ever in.
From there we went to the Opera House, owned by
the same proprietor, and closely resembling the theatre,
except in being more nicely furnished and without a
bar or gambling saloon. It boasts a band of eight
pieces, and a troupe of twenty-five performers.
A little fatigued with our search for the "far-off, the
unattainable, the dim," in the City of the Guide-book,
we returned to our car, and found the Sultana, unlike
her Eastern prototypes, making herself useful as well as
ornamental, by the aid of the contents of a little workbox, with whose shining implements she deftly repaired
"the rent the envious nail" had made on our last
stroll The sight was homelike and tasteful, and a
wholesome antidote to the Great Moral Show we had
been witnessing; although inspiring some passing
thought of envy and doubt in the mind of one more
used to wield the pen than the needle, and just then
forced by the pitiless logic of events to confess that
although the pen may be mightier than the sword,
51 
A STUDY FOR ARC./EOLOGISTS.
there are moments in life when the needle is mightier
than either.
This chapter closes with a transcript of one of the
signs of the Magic City of the Plains, which transcript
is offered to the study of archaeologists and hieroglyphists:
- -
L      
GAMBLING BOOTHS IN THE EARLY YEARS OF THIE RAILROADS.
52 
CHAPTER V.
THE GARDEN OF THE GODS.
GOING to sleep in Cheyenne we awoke in Denver,
our car having been attached during the night
to a train upon the Denver Pacific R. R. south from
Cheyenne to Denver. We breakfasted, and were still
occupied in that pleasing duty when friends old and
new appeared, intent upon hospitality, ciceroneship, and
the giving and receiving of news. Carriages were in
waiting, and with little delay we set out to view the
city. It lies broadly and generously upon a great
plain, sloping toward the South Platte, with the grand
sweep of the Rocky Mountain chain almost surrounding
it; suggesting by its lofty and snow-capped summits
Alpine scenery in a softer and more genial climate than
that of chilly Switzerland. A large number of handsome houses have already been built on the western
side of the city, facing the mountain view, and one foresees that when Denver shall be forty, instead of twenty,
years old, this will become the fashionable and charming quarter; and, by the way, can any one explain what
point of the eternal fitness of things is involved in
the western side of so many cities being the aristocratic
one? In Denver it will be the Rocky Mountains, but
in London, in New York, in Boston, there are no Rocky
Mountains, and-but this subject is too wide for further
!111TI I il    f It'    i    I'l  I I' 
AN AGREEABLEE ENTERTAINMENtT.
handling just here- so we return to our muttons in
the shape of rows upon rows of cottonwood trees
transplanted from their native groves to the streets of
Denver, and kept alive by the system of irrigating
ditches beside the street, here seen for the first time,
but a noticeable feature in our travels farther west.
The streets themselves, as well as the roads leading out
of town, are as fine as the drives in Central Parksolid, hard, and never muddy, with the advantage of
being perfectly natural; the soil being an apparently
indigenous Macadam. The style of building is different
from that of the East, it being the fashion to construct
bed, dressing and bath-rooms on the ground floor, as
well as parlor, library, and dining - room; verandas
are popular, and nearly every house has a little garden
in front.
The shops are spacious, well stocked, and city like,
and there is the usual number of churches, schoolhouses, city halls, etc., indispensable to a thriving,
growing, American city.
We spent the evening pleasantly at the residence of
a member of the Colorado Legislature and a prominent
citizen of Denver, who had kindly invited a number of
the dignitaries of the State to meet us; and these gentlemen, almost without exception, impressed us not only
as men of strength, purpose, and ability, but conspicuous for that genial heartiness of manner, and the gentle
kindness ot feeling which make the Western gentleman
a new and charming type of his class. Without trenching too far on private grounds, one may venture,
perhaps, to say, that never was this genial manner and
54 
COLOPRADO SPRINGS.
fine feeling better exemplified than in the Governor of
the Centennial State; while his young wife has been
gifted with a grand dignity of manner and appearance
well befitting her position, and blending gracefully with
gentleness and refinement.
The following morning we started with our hosts of
the previous evening for a visit to Colorado Springs
and its adjacent wonders. Leaving our own car in
Denver, we took passage upon the narrow-gauge railway called the Denver and Rio Grande R. R., running
south from that city, and immediately began the steady
upward grade by which it climbs the "divide" between
the South Platte and Arkansas rivers. We soon began
to see snow upon the track, and the temperature of the
outer air had sensibly changed. At the highest point
lies Summit Lake, a narrow little stream of water, lying
in the shadow of a great sugar-loaf mountain, with a
background of purple foot hills and the snows of Pike's
Peak, which dominate all this region, and are the central
point of nearly every view. The waters of this little
lake run impartially north and south, and in descending from its level we soon bade good-by to the snow,
and welcomed the buffalo grass and cactus plants telling
of a higher temperature. We were now in the region
of buttes, and saw ourselves surrounded on every side
by their weird, fantastic forms-turrets, winged castles,
needle-like shafts, heaped piles that might have been
the home of ghoul or sprite of the desert, and detached
columns of red sandstone capped with cold gray rock
of every height and proportion, from a toadstool to a
Corinthian pillar.
55 
56       RESIDENCE OF HELEN HUNT, " H. H."
Colorado Springs, presumably so called because the
Springs are five miles away, is not without its attrac tions. There are five roads leading away from it;
Pike's Peak looks condescendingly down on it. The air
is said to be excellent for asthmatics, who  therefore
abound here, and its morals are guarded by the sternest
of liquor laws, which is met by the following humorous
device. A visitor consumed by illegal thirst is shown
into a small, bare room, at one end of which is a closed
window, with a shelf inside like a ticket - office, but
having revolving properties. The applicant approaches
this window, beside which there is a slit in the wall, and
passing through this latter ten or twenty-five cents, as
the case may be, sighs audibly: "How I wish I had a
glass of ale," or, "If I only had some whisky I should
feel better," and presto! the window shelf is turned by
some mysterious hand, and presently on it rests a mug
of foaming ale or a modicum of spirits; the window
is then hermetically closed, and law and order reigns
supreme.
Manitou Springs, five miles farther on, is a different
style of place, for now we are fairly in the region of the
beautiful and strange, and at every moment the exclamations of one or other of the party summoned attention to a new point of interest, while the unsatisfied
gaze was never ready to turn from the last.
At Colorado and Manitou Springs are the cottages
of two of our most cherished American female authors,
Helen Hunt, " H. H.," and Grace Greenwood; the former
cozy and attractive, with a huge bay window, brilliant
with flowers, attesting the taste of the owner, whom one 
40
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~~~#$~~~~~'Ii4 ><~~~~~~~~~~~~~ $i\ ~;;;.~ ~ ~ ~~~~~~~~~~:t
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GRACE GREEV'WOOD'S HOME.
is glad to know has no longer the right to utter those
lonely and longing notes whose music found echo in so
many hearts. Grace Greenwood's home is also characteristic and tasteful, with some branching antlers above
the door, like a forester's house in Tyrol. Here, too,
are the residences of some English gentlemen, where
nature and art blend promiscuously in rustic bridges
across wild mountain fissures, summer-houses perched
upon needle-like aeries, and masses of brilliant flowers
contrasting with the savage strength of rock and evergreen.  At some little distance from here we heard of
the daughter and sons of the late Canon Kingsley
making a home in the heart of the wilderness, and, as
may be fancied, finding a piquant delight in the vivid
contrast of the most artificial grade of English life, and
the utter naturalness of the American desert, which
may yet be taught tc blossom like the rose.
There are some fine hotels at Manitou, and several
Mineral Springs of varying degrees of unsavoriness, as
at Saratoga.  The one near Grace Greenwood's cottage
flows into a stone basinl by the wayside, and bubbles
joyously over with a musical invitation to the thirsty
visitor not justified by the flavor of its alkaline waters.
From here we drive up the Ute Pass, a canion popular with those peaceful savages, perhaps for its beauty,
more probably for its directness. The narrow roadway
climbs up between high walls of red sandstone, zigzaging its way beneath the shadow of stupendous cliffs,
with a lovely little stream foaming and brawling far
below, leaping down now and again into two lovely
cascades whose voice is the only sound in these eternal
57 
"TIHE GARDEN OF THE GODS."
solitudes. Clumps of dark evergreen, cedar, and fir are
fringed with the tender green of budding willows, and
the tourist might look for hours in quiet delight at moun tain torrent and snowy waterfall and contrasting foliage
but for the stupendous and oppressive grandeur of the
heaven-piercing crags above, the dizzy abyss below, the
glimpses of distant mountain peaks, and an undefined
sense of might and majesty everywhere, which makes the
beholder feel that humanity is but a mere impertinent
intrusion upon the scene-a pygmy, whom the slightest
movement of nature might crush in the midst of its
impertinent admiration.
No finer effect, no more impressive scene, is to be
found among Alps or Andes, and so, by-and-by, the
restless world will know, and the Ute Pass will grow
as vulgar as Chamouni.
Returning to Manitou, we branch off into a new
direction, to visit the Garden of the Gods, whose happy,
if not especially appropriate, name has lured us on
through days of expectation, now to be rewarded with a
fullness seldom vouchsafed to grand and indefinite
hope. The hard, red road along which our fleet little
horses spatter so gayly, winds suddenly into a wooded
hollow, a "park," as the Westerners call it, and we
presently pause before a stupendous gateway, formed
of two great parallel masses of sandstone-smooth,
shining, and glowing in the sun with a vividness of
color grandly shown out by the dazzling white of the
quartz ridge, which lies like an outer wall of marble
just outside all this dull red gold.  These  colossal
gates rise to a height of three hundred and fifty feet,
58 
A SCENE FOR AN ARTIST! "
and leave an entrance of two hundred feet in width
through which some gorgeous Pharaonic procession
may be imagined passing, with chariots and horsemen
and barbaric fanfare of brazen instruments, and captive
kings, whom some grim enchanter will presently transform into the grotesque figures crowding the scene
beyond.  But the Pharaonic pageant fades, and gazing
through the gateway and across the garden of these
strange gods we see Pike's Peak in the far distance, its
snow-clad crest glowing like burnished silver against
the pure blue of the sky, and close at hand the sharp
spires and minarets of the "Cathedral Rocks," while a
little further on sits the "Nun," who has strayedl out
for some open air devotions. The garden contains about
fifty acres of land, its floor of finely disintegrated red
sandstone partially covered with thickly tufted buffalo
grass, and silvery gray sage brush, while the hanging
slopes and gentle rises are dotted with evergreen trees
whose sombre green adds the shadow needed to sustain
this riot of color and warmth and glow, which fairly
makes the blood tingle in its excess; for surely never
was sky so blue as that which bent above the Garden
of the Gods, never was sunshine so yellow, never were
snow-clad peaks and quartz cliffs so dazzlingly white,
never red sandstone, whether of olcl or new formation,
so richly red and glowing. "A scene for an artist!"
exclaimed a litterateur, and an artist at his elbow
exclaimed, in quiet scorn: "When the Creator wants
this painted I suppose he'll make an artist on purpose
to do it.  He certainly hasn't yet!"  But still one longs
to plant Gustave I)ore' in the midst of that fantastic
59 
PETRIFIED FORMS OF WONDER.
scene, whose greatest wonder is the vague, half formed
ideas, similes, suggestions it awakens in every sensitive
mind, and which persons try to communicate to each
other, only to find once more'how inadequate is human
language to represent the human thought.
Our guide, well up in the office, glibly catalogued this
and that formation: this was the "Seal" and that the
"Scotch Giant," the "Camel," the "Frog," the "Lion";
and pointed out how the strata of the detached rocks
followed the same inclination, and ran parallel with
the gentle slope of the ground; but having meekly
received as much information as our shallow brain
would contain, we drew back within ourselves to gaze
in silent, ignorant delight, at these petrified forms of
wonder- representatives left behind, as it were, by
some unremembered age and race  foretaste, perhaps,
of wonders yet to come, when our age and race shall be
the unremembered ones! From dreams like these we
are recalled by the Chief's cheerful voice, and again we
pass the beautiful gate and enter once more the familiar
cold gray of the landscape of the plains, where even the
sky is less blue and the sunshine less golden.  Twisting our necks for one last glimpse, we photograph on
our brain in a never-to-be-forgotten picture, the grand
gateway, with its gorgeous color sharply drawn against
the vivid blue, the great, snow- clad peak in the far
distance, and the hooded Nun who seems bending forward to look after us as we are very reluctantly borne
away.
Our next point is Glen Eyrie, a formation similar to,
but much less wonderful than, the Garden of the Gods.
60 
O NDER, COLOITADO. Page
J~ETR/IFIED) OR OF{~-~U 
... 
A TREASURE RARER THAN GOLD.
.Like that, it is entered between two gigantic portals,
curiously composite in color of garnet, green, crimson and
purple upon the outer face, while the inner displays
every shade of a warm, yellow green Inside are some
grand red sandstone buttes, towering like sentinels, a
wilderness of cottonwood and fir trees, a pretty running
stream and fine distant views of the snow-cladcl
mountains and purple-tinted foot-hills. This glen is
the property of General Palmer, and in its midst stands
the handsome villa built to welcome his young bride,
under whose direction the house was pulled to pieces
several times in the building before it became the ideal
home of which every bride may dream, but very few so
fortunately possess.
The return from this region of enchantment to common-place Colorado Springs was over the flattest,
grayest, most mountainous of prairie country, and in
the teeth of such a wind as is only possible upon the
plains, where neither tree, nor shrub, nor hillock breaks
its force. The chill and exhaustion after a morning of
such excitement proved too much for flesh too weak to
obey the willing spirit, and by the time we reached the
Crawford Rouse, whtere a good dinner awaited us, the
writer was seriously ill, and spent a bad half of an hour
while the others dined. But yet, this experience is
among the most precious of all that Western tour, for
it gave us a treasure rarer than all the gold of the
Black Hills-it gave us a friend.
Having already seen and admired her as our hostess
of the preceding evening, we had quietly noted in her
beautiful house the selection of pictures, engravings,
61 
DETAINED B Y A HIGH WIND.
books, and objects d'art, which proclaimed their mistress
a person of high literary culture, artistic taste, and
extended travel; we had marked with admiration the
fine manners, the tone of the best society, the ease,
cordiality, and aplomb which made every one of her
guests the object of special attention, while never
neglecting the rest; but now, beneath the touchstone of
sickness and suffering we saw developed traits of tenderness, unselfishness, of combined wisdom and gentleness
befitting a Sister of Mercy rather than a woman of society; and as her gentle touch, kindly eyes and assuring
voice smoothed away the pain and terror and weariness
just now so overpowering, a sentiment sprang into
being whose life will only end with our own, and all
the rest of life will be stronger and better for that hour
in which an angel stirred the waters and love rose from
their depths.
And now the dinner is concluded, the invalid on her
feet again, and we are at the station, but are there
informed that the wind is so high that it is not deemed
prudent to start the train upon this narrow gauge road.
We pass an hour and a half in great anxiety, as we
have calculated our day's excursion so as to return just
in time to connect our car with the outward-bound train
at Denver, and we are now afraid of losing it; but presently arrives a telegram with the cheering assurance
that the train shall be detained until our arrival, which
comfortable arrangement is carried out, not too greatly
to the discomfiture, let us charitably hope, of the punctual passengers already on the ground, and obliged to
await our arrival another exemplification, by the way,
62 
"TtE BEST RE.[AIA.S BEtIN-D!" I
of the adage quoted at Toledo, "Served the bird right
for being out so early!"
And so we leave Colorado, enchanted with what we
have seen, yet reluctant as the child who perforce
must leave the feast while any dainties remain
untouched; for we have heard of Grey's Peak, that
mighty Dome of the Continent, with its wonderful views
of the great Arkansas Canion, from whose height one
may gaze dizzily down at the river, two thousand feet
below, silently flowing between mile after mile of sheer
precipice. We have heard of the mountain of the Holy
Cross, where the sacred emblem has been set by God's
own hand upon the face of an all-but- inaccessible
mountain, the eternal snows that designate its form
shining clear and white from the gray rock in which it
is set, and visible at a distance of eighty miles. We
have heard of wild passes not yet fully explored, which
may lead to wonders greater than any of these; of pos sible gold mines not yet opened; of traditional hoards
made by the red masters of these hills, who, conquered,
yet unsubdued, have died and made no sign; of all of
these and more we hear, and yet, hurried by relentless
Time and Steam, we turn our backs and depart, mur muring with Scherezade: "The best remains behind!"
.ROSSING THE MIISSISSIPPI.
63
a 
CHAPTER VI.
OATHEDRALS, CASTLES, CITIES, NOT BUILT BY
HANDS.
EXT day about noon we once more start upon
our Westward journey, pass through numberless
snow-sheds and over a country more utterly desolate
than anything we have yet seen, and reminding us
forcibly of the Peruvian deserts; the only point of
advantage being the thick mat of buffalo grass which,
unpromising as it looks, is, we are informed, the favorite
food of all cattle, and retaining its sweetness even
when apparently utterly dry and withered. To add to
the discomfort of the scene, a blinding snow storm
came on about dark, so that we were glad to draw down
the shades, have the lamps lighted earlier than usual,
and with dinner, cards, conversation and music pass as
pleasant and cheery an evening as if the howl of the
coyote did not mingle with the shriek of the wind and
the fierce lashing of the snow against our windows.
Late in the afternoon of the next day the storm
subsided, and the clouds rolling away like the vast
curtains of Nature's grandest theatre, displayed a scene
so magnificent, so novel, and so utterly changed from
that we had shut out the night before, that we seemed
to have passed through that snow storm from one
world into another. We had entered the region of the
Uintah Mountains, and are about to cross Green River,
,,.,.Ii,:...... ,:  1  1,'  "  4.I..    i  i.:.. I I I li.
. I 
THE PLAYGROUND OF FORGOTTEN TITANS.
whose vivid and poisonous-looking waters take their
color from arsenical and copper deposits washed from
the green shale abounding on its rocky banks. But we
have no time for geological or scientific studies just
now, and give but a distracted attention to the lecture
of the savant at our elbow-whom the youth of the
party irreverently denominate "The bureau of information"-while the rapidly moving train whirls us on
through this region, where Nature seems to have
indulged herself in mad, purposeless exercise of her
vastest powers, with little heed for man's approval or
convenience. In fact, so far from calling this country
a new one, it impressed us as the playground of forgotten Titans: such lavish waste of color, of form, of power;
such gigantic forces brought to bear, and the result left
idle, a mere waste of supernatural energy; its only
effect upon the world the blank astonishment and awe
with which we-the nineteenth century flies upon the
coach-wheel-stare, and gape, and shiver, and exclaim.
To describe these wonders, to chronicle them even, is
not our purpose; are not the Guide Books intended for
just that, and are they not excellent of their kind?
What matter, then, whether the grand mass of castellated, turretted rock one admires, with its low-browed
gateway, its long, dark shot windows, whence Rebecca
might even now be peeping to watch the siege of
Torquilstone for Ivanhoe's benefit, be called Petrified
Fish Cut, or the Giant's Teapot, or the Devil's Tavern,
or the Tower of London? For our part, we call them
all the Castle of St. John, in memory of the enchanted
tower described by the Wizard of the North, which
E
65 
A MIRACLE OF ENGINEERING.
was now a castle full of wonders and delights, and ladie
fayre and belted knight, and now was but a mass of
cold, gray rock, according to the humor of the enchanter
and the character of the spectator. The Church Buttes,
for instance, may suggest ecclesiastical architecture to
some minds, but to ours the name seemed dwarfing
and unworthy; since no cathedral built by human
hands, not St. Peter's itself, could for a moment bear
comparison with some of the Titanic piles here
upreared-could seem other than a paltry and puny
attempt of man to mimic LNature.
And now we reach Echo Canion, and with batedc
breath and a zest of terrible delight tingling in our
veins we sweep down with a grand rush and roar
between beetling crags, and toppling crests, and sheer
precipices, which now seem planted directly across our
path, as if in reaching them the solid wall must open to
admit us, or else we, striking full upon that impassive
barrier, must be hurled back to the opposite wall, like
the shuttlecock in a demnoniac game of battledore. But
the road winds, and doubles, and curves, and twists like
a snake-s miracle of enyin3eriiug, as the Chief informs
us, but one has no thought for that just now; indeed,
as the full breath of the mountain sweeps past and over
our car we seem lifted upon its wings, and fly exultingly
downward and onward, oblivious of engines and rails
and pounds of steam, which, nevertheless, like the
poet's roast beef, are the essential foundation of this
rare and aesthetic delight. Speaking of wings, we well
remember a formation called the Winged Rock, where
a pair of eagle-like pinions seem struggling painfully
66 
" THE THOUSAND MILE TREE."
!                                   $
.........
I
\
I4  
ACTION OF WEATHER AND TIME.
out of the face of a precipice, and we can easily fancy
how the poor bird of Jove was caught there just a
moment too late, and petrified in his last wild struggle
for freedom. Whether the shock deprived him of his
head, or if he has since been decapitated by the
elements, no man can say; but, certes, he is headless.
Alany of these cliffs are curiously honeycombed by
the action of weather and time, some of them appearing
almost sponge-like in their reticulation; and we were
grieved at being informed by our savant that, like most
other peculiarities of this world, the buttes of this
wonder region are doomed to be smoothed away by the
hand of civilization; for the presence of such quantities
of iron as go to the formation of the railway, and more
especially the wires of the magnetic telegraph, have
such attractions for the storm clouds that formerly
swept harmlessly, or rather dryly, over this region, that
the rainfall and the general humidity of the atmosphere
have sensibly increased, and just in proportion the sharp
outlines of cathedral  spire, of witches' needles, of
Titanic face, or soldierly sentinel have softened and
crumbled, and "effaced" themselves, until some points
of interest are already lost, others have altered to
commonplace, and our savant, with a relish for which
we could have set Follette at him, gave the region
something over half a century to have lost every one of
its special features. If ever poor Louis XV.'s bon mot is
justifiable, is it not in the face of such a prophecy?
"Apres moi le deluge!"
On the overhanging edge of a cliff, high above our
heads, appeared some mounds of apparently small
67 
SLENDER AND FANTASTIC ROCKS.
stones, collected by the Mormons in 1857 to serve as
missiles of war against the U.S. troops under General
Johnson, who was then marching against them. IHe
did not, however, pass through the Canion that season,
and before another the domestic differences of Utah
and her mamma were so far adjusted that the piles of
stones remained. Beyond here we are called to observe
the resemblance of a huge mountain shoulder to the
prow of a steamship, and the resemblance is enhanced
by the waving top of a little cedar tree, obligingly growing in the place of a flag. They call it the Great
Eastern; but considering the green banner, one must
conclude it an Irish emigrant ship, which, in some
forgotten age undertook to sail to America by way of
Japan and the Overland Route, and got caught in the
same fashion as the eagle. Why cannot some publicspirited man quarry the mountain from above, in search
of the bodies of the hapless crew and passengers?
And now a group of slender and fantastic rocks, surnamed the Witches, appear, remarkable not only for
their weird shapes, but for the new combinations of
color exhibited in their snowwhite surface, banded
with red and yellow. Why some other rocks are
called the Witches' Bottles we know not, unless Mr.
Gough may have been this way and deduced from
petrified witches and petrified bottles a grand moral
tradition in the interests of total abstinence.
From Echo Cainon we sweep into Weber Cainon, and
are immediately struck both with the contrast of form
and color; for here the detached and fantastic buttes
give place to grand sweeps of mountain sides, and bold
C)8 
THE TO USAND I.-MILE TREE.
masses of rock, no longer of rich red sandstone, but of
all shades of gray, from a tender, greenish tinge to a
sombre lhue just losing itself in black. The little Weber
river, gray-green itself in color, winds timidly along at
the feet of these overpowering crags, scarcely daring to
murmur at the gloomy shadow which at some points
forever excludes any ray of sunshine from its life, and
yet. she seems content.
Near the crest. of one gray cragwe were- slhown some
little apertures,. said to be the entrances to caves where,.
year after year,. the eagles. build. ancl rear their young,,
defiant of their enemy, man,, who  has. yet found no
means to scale this. aerie..  Let us. hope he never may,
and that the bird of freedom may scream back for centuries. an insulting; echo- to the, train- whirling like
children's toys hundreds. of feet below his home.
Presently- we pass. the Thousand-Mile tree, Nature's
landmark-for the round thousand miles west of Omaha;,
and here, a little farther on,. upon, a- smooth mountain
side, we see one of her' very oddest. freaks, in this, her
old-time playground Two. parallel ledges of granite,.
in places fifty feet in height,, crop out. from the hillside,,
and, holding a uniform: distance of about fourteen feet,.
extend eight hundred! feet; downward to its base, where;
they-disappear in a little sheet. of water.  It is calle'd
the Devil's Slide, and it would be amusing; certainly, on
a Winter's night, to see his. Infernal Majesty disporting:
himself there in company with the harlequin Witches;
of Echo. Canon and their gray-clad sisters of Webher..
And now a. grand, snow.-cladl' mountain. rears. itself
across. our path, apparently foricling, all exit from the'
69 
UTAH, THE LAND OF THRIFT.
vast prison house through which we have been borne;
but a nearer approach shows a huge natural portal,
formed perhaps, for us, perhaps for the little river
which here suddenly throws off its late submissive
aspect, and after some wild plunges hither and thither,
sees its way of escape, and, rushing forth, becomes, in
later life, as commonplace and quiet a river as ever
turned a miller's wheel or floated logs to a lumber
yard.
Following the strange instinct which leads so many
of the godfathers of Nature's children to name them
after the Prince of Darkness, this mountain is called
Devil's Gate MIountain, and these portals the Devil's
Gate. Gliding through, we cross the Weber River once
more upon a trestle bridge, with the waters roaring
fifty feet beneath, and get a last view of it twirling past
a huge gray wall of rock, in whose sunless shadows its
waters, but now so bright, show cold and green, and then
we look back at the crowding and apparently imperious
mountain range we have just passed, admire once more
their grand and snow-clad summits, piercing the cold
blue sky and frowning defiance on men whose puny
strength has conquered their inmost fastnesses, and
evaded their grimmest terrors; and so we glide out
into the level plain, draw a calmer and freer breath,
and gaze around on scenes more familiar to our eyes
than the wonders so lately gazed upon; for we are
in Utah, the land of thrift and industry, of agriculture and irrigation. We have been appalled by Nature
in her unconquered might, in her resistless grandeur;
we are now to admire her placidly yielding to man's
70 
AD YANCED CIVILIZATION.
dominion, and  lending  her  creative  forces  to  his
guidance andl direction.
The barren plains become verdant fields, the squalid
cabin of the usual Western settler becomes a neat cottage, with flowers and garden-produce growing at its
doors; the odious sage-brush disappears before the
system of irrigation, which it dislikes as much as the
more human indigenes of the prairies; men, women,
and children are better fed, better dressed, and better
mannered; in fact, as we stop in the first Mormon
village, above whose single store are inscribed the
mystic letters Z. C. AI. I. (Zion's Co-operative Mercantile Institution), we feel a vague doubt and bewilderment stealing over our prejudices, not to say our
principles, and are disposed to murmur, "Certainly,
polygamy is very wrong, but roses are better than
sage-brush, and potatoes and peas preferable as diet
to buffalo grass. Also school-houses, with cleanly and
comfortable troops of children about them, are a symptom of more advanced civilization than lonely shanties
with only fever-and-ague and whisky therein. Why is
nothing quite harmonious, quite consistent, quite perfect in this world?" and Echo Cainon echoes "Why?"
==~!....-D..........               --, -..L...
HA
PRAIRIE Doo TOWN.
71 
CHAPTER VII.
SALT LAKE CITY; MRS. AM{ELIA'S PICTUrE; MIISS
SN OW.
GDEN, a city not otherwise remarkable, is the
junction of the two great railways that unite sea
to sea-the clasp upon the belt, so to speak, by which
the continent is girdled.  In point of fact, the junction
was effected at a place called Promontory, some fifty
mniles west of Ogden, and readers of the illustrated
papers  eight years ago may recall the poetic and
picturesque interest attaching to the scene that took
place when an engine upon the Union Pacific road, and
another upon the Central Pacific approached, the one
from the East and the other from the West, until they
actually touched, while a libation of wine was poured
upon the last tie, the golden and silver spikes were
driven by the hand of Governor Stamford, representing
the C. P. R.  R., and Dr. Durant of the U. P. R. R., and a
prayer was offered by a Massachusetts clergyman-a
combination of heathen, Christian and civil rites, charaeteristic enough of our great Republic, and also of a work
carried on and completed by Europeans and Asiatics,
with Americans directing  both.  Ogden is also the
terminus, or rather starting point, of the UHtai  Central
road, running south to Salt LIke City and beyond, and
of the Utah Northern, running nonvhere iu particular as
yet.  These two great and two, little radds have amic
,-.,,'..' i
11      li~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~!1 
A FRA  MENT OF A SERMON
ably agreed to build a large Union depot, to be occupied
in common.
Our car being detached from the Union Pacific
train, was connected with one waiting upon the Utah
Central road, becoming, during that process, the nucleus
of an inquiring group of Mormon and Gentile youth,
and we were not sorry to find ourselves presently
steaming southward  at full speed, and  enjoying  a
beautiful sunset scene, where the Wahsatch Mountains
at the East and the Great Salt Lake at the West, with a
smiling and fertile country between, make up a landscape one longs for time to dwell upon. The distance
from Ogden to Salt Lake City is thirty-six miles, and
we arrive at the terminus a little before nine o'clock,
just in time to hear the last part of a service in one of
the small churches scattered over the city, to servo
when the weather is too cold to use the Tabernacle,
which, from its vast size, cannot be artificially heated.
The fragment of a sermon to which we listened seemed
rather of a denunciatory than a benevolent nature, and
turned upon the wrath of God toward apostates, and
the propriety of rooting out those who had gone
astray after Amalek. We wondered whether this
meant Ann Eliza, but could not determine!
Those familiar with Mormon doctrines and preachlng, although not of the faith, aver that the more usual
Christian teaching of charity, humility, patience and
forgiveness of enemies is rarely if ever made the leading
topic of any sermon; but that, as the Mormons are fond
of likening themselves to tle children of Israel and a
People Peculiar to the Lord, their texts and lessons are
73 
THE CITY OF THE SAINTS.
generally drawn from the denunciations of the Prophets, whom they interpret with a literalness not found
in other forms of faith.
The next morning we sallied forth to view the City
of the Saints, with the same odd sort of excitement and
vague expectation one must experience in Constantinople or Tangiers, or several other places which stand
out in a traveler's memory as typical of a state of
society utterly alien to his own. Nothing peculiar
appeared at the outset, however, except that here for
the first time did we perceive about the poorer houses
that attempt at decoration, that consciousness that "a
thing of beauty is a joy forever," which makes the
difference between poverty and squalor; which shows
that penury has neither broken the spirit nor crushed
out the taste for refinement.  Every house, however
small or poor, had its little garden in front, filled with
flowering shrubs or plants, many of them fruit trees, in
this Spring time of the year rosy or white with bloom.
Everywhere was thrift, care, the evidence of hard work,
and a pride of ownership; and oddly enough, these
homes of rigid, yet tasteful and dignified poverty,
reminded me of nothing so much as a Shaker village,
visited not long since-a place where nobody was rich,
nobody poor, nobody idle, nobody overworked, and
where a certain prim love of the beautiful everywhere
gilded the necessity of the useful. Is it that a strong
religious conviction pervading a community, a religion
that permeates every phase of life, has this effect upon
outward forms of living? We present the question to
the psychologists.  As for the better houses, they were
74 
GLEANLIN-E'S OF SALT LAKE CIT,
many of them elegant, all of them comely and substantial; mostly built of yellow brick or stuccoed with
yellow or white plaster, very few of wood; all had
their own grounds, large or small, well cared for,
and thoroughly irrigated by means of the streams of
pure, bright water running  along each  street, and
applied through branchi ducts as required, to private
grounds. These roadside streams also water the roots
of the cottonwood and poplar trees which line the street
on either side, and keep the grass vividly bright and
green.  There was no dust, no mud, no litter of any
kind. Arrived at the main street, we noticed the Merchant's Co-operative Union Building, or" Co-op," as it
is facetiously and popularly termed, with its inscription
of "Holiness to the Lord," in black and gold above
the door; a profusion of neat shops of all sorts, but
more especially well-stocked and flourishing millinery
establishments, and several fine book and stationery
shop                                                 d
Reaching the principal photographer, who was an
old acquaintance of our Chief's, we paid him a visit,
and found a good assortment of views of the city and
its surroundings, and a very civil and gentleman-like
proprietor, who seemed quite amiably willing to impart
the information we were thirsting to obtain.  He freely
admitted himself to be a Mormon, somewhat defiantly
stating that he had nailed his colors to the mast. A
picture of the Beehive, Brigham Young's principal
residence, easily led to a discussion of Mormon houses
and Mormon domesticity.  But our new friend considered it very unlikely that we, even the women of the
7 -0 
76        SENSITIVENESS OF MORMON LADIES.
party, would be able to "interview" any of the upper
class of Mormon wives. "The ladies here don't like
being made subjects of curiosity," said he. "Their
homes are just as sacred to them as yours in the East
are to you, and they are very sensitive about being
questioned."  Then  he cited, evidently as a timely
warning, the case of a titled English  lady recently
passing through Utah, and remarkable, as our photographer seemed to think, in possessing more than the
usual amount of cheek-" as much cheek as a government mule "-some artistic effect of which feature
probably attracted his professional eye. This lady, as
it seemed, possessed the troublesome characteristic of
"wanting to know, you know," and attempted to gratify
it in an artless manner by calling upon several of the
Mormon ladies, and putting them to their catechism
with the vigorous candor of a parish visitor. The
consequence was that MIiladi got terribly snubbed,
and what was perhaps worse, learned nothing, and went
away next day to make up her notes of travel as best
she could.  Having furnished this little narrative, our
friend paused significantly, with a "HGecfabula docet "
air, and then indulgently added: "But I'll give you an
introduction to the leading Mormon editor of the city,
and you can see what he will do for you." Then he
showed us some portraits of the various MIesdames
Young, first of the recreant Ann Eliza, who "bolted,"
as he phrased it, upon the very day the President was
about to present her with the title-deeds of the house
she lived in. "And here's the house," continued he,
producing a picture of a neat little villa;" that's the 
BBIGHAM  YO UNG'S FAVORITE WIFE.
hovel she talks about in the East." When President
Young was informed that she was gone, or at least had
removed with all her effects to the Walker House-the
Gentile hotel, you know-he just opened his desk, took
out the "title - deeds," and, tearing them across, said,
quietly: "So much saved!"
The next picture represented a lady of about thirty,
well dressed, a little stout, with a strong, sensible,
pleasing face, and something of a stylish air. This was
Mrs. Amelia, said to be Mr. Young's favorite wife, but
this assumption our photographer scouted indignantly.
"That was only Eastern talk; there was a lot of nonsense talked in the East about the Mormons, and Ann
Eliza had set a whole raft of stories afloat, but all about
it was that Mrs. Amelia was a born nurse, and had
taken care of Mr. Young through some bad times, and
so he always took her traveling with him and liked to
have her near him at home." To a delicate suggestion
about selling Amelia's picture, the artist shook his
head; no, he couldn't sell that or the picture of any
private lady. He had been offered a hundred dollars
for it, but it was not for sale. We appreciated the fine
feeling of this little speech, and mentally wondered
how long our frienld's position in Salt Lake City would
be tenable if he offended Mrs. Amelia, and whether a
hundred dollars would make up his loss in that case.
On the whole, we concluded that he was a wise as
well as an amusing and instructive photographer, and
so took our leave.
The editor of the Mormon paper proved a very
intelligent and cultured man, and after a little talk he
77 
78      -l/ANUF-AzCTUl?ES OF 3~ORMON TVOM'EN.
escorted us to see some of the lions of the place, first to
the "Woman's Union," a large establishment, where
the work of the women of Utah is collected and offered
for sale.  It is under the charge of a lady called MIiss
Snow-although she i, one of Brigham Young's wives
-two of his daughters, and Sirs. Davis. The large
room on the ground floor was decorated with the
American flag, and three large mottoes done in white
on a blue ground, to wit:
"Knowledge is Power."
"In Union is Strength."
"Success to Industry."
The goods consisted of every sort of home manufacture:
clothes of all descriptions, shoes, bonnets, straw hats,
artificial  flowers,  laces,  including  some  beautiful
wrought HIoniton, andl a piece of the first silk manufactured in Utah- a silver-gray fabric, resembling
Japanese  silk.  3Iiss Snow presently entered,  andcl
greeted us pleasantly; she is a lady considerably past
middle age, with a good and pleasing face, a quiet,
refined manner, although cold and reserved, and a very
precise and deliberate mode of speech.  She seemed
perfectly willing to talk upon any subject which we
introduced, and quite able to give information in any
direction indicated.  She had been abroad, and told me
she took cocoons of their own raising to Palestine, to
compare with those of that country, and that the Utah
article was pronounced fully equal to that of Oriental
growth. She quietly acknowledged herself the principal mover in the Woman's Union, the object of which 
TRAINING THE RISING GENERATION.
is to encourage self reliance, and perfect independence
of the outside world, and added, with a smile of conscious strength and power: "We consider ourselves
among the finest women in the world, and aim to compete with our sisters elsewhere in every pursuit and
every branch of education."  Women, she said, had as
much interest as man in the prosperity of the territory,
and their rights and privileges were equal. At the two
colleges of Utah the course of stuldy was the same for
male and female students, and the progress of the
latter was fully equal to the former. Education had
necessarily been neglected among them in the first
hard years of struggle, when every one had to labor for
the means of bare existence; but now good schools
were established everywhere, and the rising generation
would be admirably trained.
In this connection she spoke of the hard journey
across the plains thirty years ago, when, on the twelfth
of June, leaving the place where Omaha now stands,
they did not arrive at Salt Lake until the second
day of October.
We touched slightly upon the peculiar institution
of Utah, and I inquired if the various wives of one
husband got along amicably among themselves, to
which  she decisively replied:  "Perfectly so,  their
religion inculcates it; and besides, their work is so
large, and their aims so high, that they have no time
and no capacity for petty jealousies."
While talking we turned over some of the books by
Mormon authors for sale here, and noticed a volume of
Voyages by Miss Snow, and also a collection of poems,
79 
80      M[ISS SNOT AND HTER  CITOSEN PEOPLE.
but she herself was more interesting than her books,
and seemed so strong and earnest, and full of ideas and
aspirations, and plans for the widee,t good of her chosen
people, that we left her with real regret.
CO-OPEl.1TIVE UNION BUILDING, SALT LAKE CITY.  Page 75.
If 
CHIAPTER  III.
A FI R ST-CLASS MO RI MON INTERIOlR.
ROM  the Woman's Union our cicerone led us to
the Deseret National Bank, a substantial brick
building, and presented us to Elder H, president of
that institution, and twice Representative from Utah to
Washington, where he gave such satisfaction to his
constituents as to win a most enthusiastic welcome on
his return. We found him a fine-looking man, with
marvelously expressive eyes, and as courtly and imposing in manner as appearance, and spent a pleasant
hour as his guests in the bank parlor.
Mr. H     spoke freely upon Utah matters, especially of its faith, professing himself a Mormon, but not a
polygamist; having always, as he said, respected his
wife's feelings too much to take another. In fact, he
declared very few polygamic marriages now took place
in the city, although still common enough through the
rest of the Territory. Hie did not hear ot more than
half a dozen in the course of the year, and it was amusing to find this decadence from the primitive custom
attributed to the same cause which excuses our city
youth from taking matrimonial chains upon themselves, viz.: the increased cost of living, and growing
demands of the fair sex.  Formerly, as the Elder
gravely asserted, polygamy had been a different matter,
more patriarchal in its nature than was now possible; 
ELEVATION OF MORMON WOMhV.
the women had been content with the simple necessaries of life, and each had borne her share in the
hardships and toil of the infant settlement, but now   "But now," we interposed, "the railway has come
and brought a whole train of French milliners and
fashion plates."
"Yes," replied he, with a good-humored twinkle of
the eye, "harbingers of a higher civilization I suppose
you think."
"Yes," we responded, boldly, "for before them the
evil of polygamy will melt away as it never would
have done before either civil or moral legislation.
Don't you think so?"
"Perhaps, perhaps," replied the Elder, stirring a
little uneasily in his chair, and adding, cautiously,
"that is, if it be an evil at all."
He then spoke of the position of women in Utah as
being unusually elevated and respected; their actions
were free, their opinions sought and regarded, and they
had been offered the privilege of a vote on polygamy,
which, however, they had declined to accept; they hal
the right of legislation in school matters, however, and
could obtain almost any position they chose to claim
and try for. Sounding him upon the subject of
domestic peace in polygamic families, we received
much the same answer as from MIiss Snow; certainly
the wives harmonized, why should they not? Each, if
she chose, had her own house, where she lived in perfect
privacy with her children; or, if they preferred, all
combined in one united household. Pushing the
matter home, we inquired if he would be willing to see
82 
ARE MORMON WOMEN A JEALOUS RACE?
his own daughters become wives of husbands already
married, and he replied he should not seek to control
their own choice in the matter. He might prefer to see
them the sole wives of their husbands, but it would be
as God willed and they chose.
At this moment a genial, hearty gentleman entered
the room, and Mr. H       at once presented him.  He
is, as we afterward learned, one of the principal merchants of Salt Lake City, and a man of large means;
an Englishman, with the home accent still lingering in
his merry voice, but quite free from English reserve
and offishness; joining at once in the conversation, and
speaking with enthusiasm of the beauty and charm of
the women of Salt Lake City.
"Madame wishes to know if they are a jealous
race?" said Mir. H, with evident enjoyment of the
idea of seeing some one else put through the same
inquisitorial questionings, ordinary and extraordinary,
to which he had just been subjected.
"Jealous!" exclaimed Mr. J, "not they;  they
have no time for such nonsense. They have their
houses, their children, their sewing, their affairs to
attend to, andc if idleness is the mother of mischief,
occupation is the parent of contentment. Look at my
wife, for instance: to be sure, she is an only wife, but if
she were not, what time would she have for jealous
fancies, with a large household, a family of fourteen
children, their governess, and four servants to look
after?"
"Fourteen children!" we echoed, involuntarily.
"Yes" replied Mr. J, with pious fervor; "we
83 
84    "SEALING," A MERE MARRIAGE OF TIME.
hold, with the psalmist, that' children are an heritage
of the Lord,' and man can have no surer sign of God's
approval and kindness than a large family."
Mr. J      mentioned that he had been seventeen
years in this country, that he was the only Mormon in
his family, and that he had never regretted the choice
he had made in joining the sect. A short time since
he took his two elder daughters and revisited the old
country, spending some time upon the Continent, and
bringing home a French governess for the younger
children.
We spoke of Aliss Snow, her remarkable intelligence and attainments, and, after heartily endorsing
our encomiums, he remarked that she was one ol
Brigham  Young's wives, but  that she was  merely
"sealed to him for time," having been the widow of
Joseph Smith, whose wife she would be in the next
world. In fact, she had long since ceased to live
among the President's wives, but maintained the most
friendly relations with him and them. Inquiring into
the nature of this temporary contract, we were informed
that a woman once sealed or married to the man of
her choice, was his to all eternity. So long as he lived
she could think of no other partner, but after his death
she might, if she chose, seal herself to another for the
remainder of her mortal existence; a mere marriage of
time, not at all to the prejudice of those eternal relations to be resumed at her own decease. One point
striking us very forcibly in this exposition was the
positive faith in another existence, implied by making
such definite arrangements for its duties and pleasures. 
alR. YOUNG A PATRON OF THE DRAMA.
Divorce is possible under the Mormon law, but is
seldom applied for, and never granted except in case of
ill-treatment, flagrant neglect, or the gravest offenses,
and is not considered creditable to either party.    -
Mr. J     closed by inviting us to call and see his
wife in the afternoon, which we gladly promised to do;
feeling that at last our fondest hopes were about to be
realized, and we were actually to see the interior of a
Mormon home and converse with a lMormon wife and
lady.
While waiting for the hour appointed for this call
we visited the theatre, where we found Neilson-the
beautiful-rehearsing. It is about the size of the Fifth
Avenue Theatre of New York, neatly, but not very
expensively, decorated; the colors pink and gray. We
did not see the rocking-chair in which M1Ir. Young is
fond of sitting in one of the aisles to witness the
performance, but two of the four proscenium boxes, we
were informed, belonged to him, and some members of
his family are generally to be seen there, as he is a
zealous patron of the drama, and encourages a large
attendance. We went behind the scenes, and found
the green room spacious and comfortable, furnished
with piano, sofa, chairs, and a long mirror; the dressing rooms  commodious,  and  the "star"  chamber
luxuriously furnished.
From the theatre we drive to Mr. J's house, a
really superb villa; the fine sweep of the carriage
drive cuts a lawn of emerald-green velvet, and is
bordered with symmetrical beds of tulips, geraniums, and
other brilliant flowers, and although iot so remarkable
85 
86    THE TR PUE WOMAN VIEW OF POLYGAMY.
here as in the humbler houses, we could but admire
the exquisite neatness and precision of everything we
saw.  Upon the doorstep we are met by our genial
host, who conducts us into a drawing-room noticeable
in any city for its elegant and tasteful furniture, ornaments and mirrors, and presents us to Mrs. J, a
fine-looking, dignifiedcl English matron, surrounded by
several of her children-two young ladies elegantly
dressed and perfect in manner; a young girl of twelve,
very pretty and stylish in her polonaise of brown
velvet; a little boy of about three; and a toddling
baby, sweet and dainty in its Yalenciennes lace and
soft blue ribbons. The other nine children did not
appear.
Mrs. J     conversed much as any other cultivated
lady might do, upon all sorts of subjects, until the
gentlemen departed, ent masse, for a visit to the stables
and conservatories, when, with much circumspection,
we introduced the subject of polygamy, and instead of
being snubbed, as our photographer warned us would
be the case, found our hostess as pleasantly willing to
converse upon that as all other subjects; giving us such
information as we asked in a quiet and courteous manner, saying neither too much nor too little, but holding
herself so accurately within the golden mean as to give
all her words an additional force and weight; convincing us that here, at least, we had the true woman view
of this great and vexed question. And still the quiet
assertion was made that there was little or no dissension between the wives of the same household, but that
all united harmoniously in the eflort to make the home 
POL YGAMY.DISCUSSED.
a happy one for the husband and a good one for his
children.
Remarking, somewhat impetuously, that we could
scarcely imagine such a state of thiings, and that we
were sure no "Gentile" wives could live thus together,
3Irs. J    replied, with quiet significance:
"We control ourselves, and make it a duty to subdclue all jealousies and tempers that would injure the
harmony of our home."
"But are there no women among you of such dclisposition and temperament that they cannot endure a
rival in the affections of their husband?" we asked;
and Birs. J      replied, with  an  exceedingly subtle
smile:
"If there are, and if they have auce ted polygamy
as part of their religion, that religion steadily trains
them in the duties it involves, andcl enables them to
carry out whatever it teaches."
"But does not the favorite wife assume authority
and privileges which the others are slow to admit?"
we persistently interrogated.
"Oh, there are no favorites," replied the lady, confidently, andcl then  added, a  little dubiously:  "or
at least there should be none; it is especially inlculcated, that if the husbandcl has any preference he
should be very careful not to show it; and if a wife
suspects herself to be the object of more than her due
share of regard she should keep the suspicion strictly
to herself."
"That is a very fine theory, Mrs. J," we declared,
laughingly, as we remembered Mr. J's declaration of
87 
88 UTAH WO-VEIV 0N A PAR WITII THE MEN.
monogamy. " But you have never tried it personally,
and cannot be sure."
"Yes, but I have tried it, and am very sure," replied
our hostess, as courteously as ever, and, turning with an
affectionate smile to the eldest daughter, she added:
"Jennie's mother and I lived in the same house for
years, and were always the best of friends!"
The confusion at finding into what a horrible
blunder we had been led, baffles all description. No
doubt our hostess perceived it, but with perfect tact
she went on speaking, without waiting for questioning,
and we presently recovered ourself enough to listen.
"The women of Utah," she said, "considered themselves quite on a par with the men in all respects, with
equal interests and equal labor to perform for the
welfare of the colony, education of the children, social
growth and public refinement and elevation.  These
great aims naturally enlarged and strengthened their
whole nature, and not only could they live happily and
peaceably with each other, but they were faithful and
devoted wives and intelligent and affectionate mothers.
IL is the duty or the privilege of the first wife to present
the new-comer to her husband, and if she is an elderly
and motherly person, she generally helps and guides the
junior, instructs her in household matters, advises her
in the conduct of her new life, and sustains and encourages her in every way. And I speak of these matters
from experience," added Mrs. J         quietly, as she
finished this little dissertation; and the writer, still a
little nervous in pursuing this branch of the subject
with her, turned to the young ladies, and inquired what 
THE MORMONS' RELIGIOt THEIR STRONGHOLD.  89
were their views of Mormon life and Mormon marriages.
They replied readily enough, and with the gay insouciance of youth, that they enjoyed themselves very much
at Salt Lake, for the present at least; andcl as to the
future, perhaps they should never marry at all, although
it was evident they had no horror of polygamic union.
Their mother, however, remarked, that although she
should never interfere with the girls' own inclinations,
she should prefer to see them each the only wife of a
good husband. If otherwise, she had no doubt their
religion would prove strong enough to enable them to
bear cheerfully and patiently whatever might be in
store for them.
The gentlemen here returned, and the conversation
took a different turn, but in reca'ling it minutely aft-rward, it seemed to me that in spite of all Mrs. J's
insistance upon  the enviable position of Mormon
women, and the charms and advantages of their institutions, the keynote of the whole system, so far as it
related to women, was struck when she said:
"It is ordained by their religion, and their religion
enables them to bear it!"
Cake and champagne were served, andcl the young
gentleman  of three proved himself a hero in the demolition of the former, somewhat to the distress of his
sister. One of the young ladies cut us some beautiful
flowers, and we took leave after a long and most
delightful call, feeling that we had at last gained some
reliable information and experience in the ways of
Mormon homes and the feeling of intelligent MIormon
women. 
90     THE TABERNACLE ANVD THE PRESIDENT.
"And now," said the Chief, as we drove down tihe
pretty sweep and out at the handsome entrance, "we
have to do the Tabernacle, and pay our respects to hL is
excellency the President, and we are done witli Utahl."
THrE "' TWINS," M.AiRIPOSA GROVE. 
CHAPTER IX.
A LION THAT WVE SAW AND A LION THAT WE HEARD.
OLLOWING  the suggestion  of the Chief, we
hastened from Mr. J's residence to Temple
street, where, behind a plastered wall twenty feet in
height, we found, not that gigantic monster of architecture, but the foundations of the new Temple which is to
replace it as the scene of all the functional rites and
ceremonies of the Mormon Church, such as ordination,
baptism," sealing" or marriage-both monogamic and
polygamic-ancld burial; the Tabernacle to be reserved
simply for preaching. This new building is planned in
a very ornate and imposing style, and is built from
white granite quarried in the northern part of the
Territory; teams of oxen were dragging in great blocks
of stone, and a score of workmen were busily hammering them into shape during our visit. But although
five years and a good deal of money have already been
expended upon this building, its walls are as yet only
about ten feet above the ground, and the date of its
completion is not named. One cause, if not the cause of
its delay, may be found in the fact, that it is built
entirely by voluntary contribution, and even Brigham's
earnest desire to see the work completed has not
brought in the funds with sufficient rapidity for any
very rapid results.
The Tabernacle itself, as nearly all of us know from 
DESCRIPTION OF THE TABERNACLE.
pictures, if not personal survey, is a huge, bare, and
very ugy building, with an oval, tiled roof, brick pillars,
andi no attempt at decoration outwardly.  Inside it is
quite as ugly, but a little less monotonous, for in the
centre is a fountain with four couchant lions in plaster
about it, and from the dreary expanse of white plastered
ceiling, certainly concave, yet scarcely a dome, hangs a
great star, with pendants of artificial flowers.  Galleries supported by three rows of pillars, painted
to imitate marble, extend along the sides, and the whole
floor inclines like that of a theatre. The seating
capacity of the building reaches twelve thousand, yet
so fine are the acoustic properties that a speaker
upon the rostrum is audible in any part of the house.
In this respect the Mormons claim the Tabernacle to
be unsurpassed by any building in the world.
At the end of this great hall, two hundred and fifty
feet long, by one hundred and fifty wide, and eighty feet
high, hung a monstrous blue banner, blazoned with a
golden bee-hive and the inscription:
"Deseret Sunday-school Union."
At the other end was the great organ, of which the
Mormons are justly proud, as it is said to be only
second in size to the Boston organ-which is taller,
but not quite so wide-and possesses a sweetness of
tone really wonderful when the visitor is told that it is
of absolute home manufacture, the wood and most of the
other materials the growth of Utah, and the plan and
construction are due to an English convert named
Ridges, who prepared and built it in the Tabernacle
92 
<~                         __
~'~
4
j(,''
JI                                        ___
~~;                           J  F
,BltlGIIAM YOLJN(,"S ITEb'I)ENCES IN S           AI, T C,!K   IlTY.  JL'age 9  
THE PRESIDiN,T'S tIO USE.
It contains twelve hundred pipes, and the case,
although only of stained pine, is elegant in design.
Between the organ and the auditorium, as it might be
called, are the seats for the elders, and the leaders of
the congregation: first and highest a little desk, with
an ancient blue sofa behind it, used by Brigham Young
and his two councillors; below this a long straight
bench and a small semicircular one, to accommodate the
twelve apostles; and below this again a similar arrangement, where the elders sit and speak; other seats
around the organ may be used by the choir and dignitaries of the Church. Altogether, the Tabernacle
impressed us as quite the sort of place where we would
rather not spend the hours of a rainy Sunday in November; and having conscientiously looked it through
we gladly turned our backs upon it, viewed the Endowment House in the same enclosure, where the ceremonies of the Church are celebrated, and where preaching
went, on until the Tabernacle was built, and then went
to deliver a letter of introduction to Brigham Young
himself, who had signified his readiness to receive us at
his office at a fixed hour, now approaching.
We found the President's houses and other building,s enclosed by a high stone wall, well filled-in with
adobe, with arched gateways and wooden gates before
each building; over that leading to the factories,
stables, etc., is a double arch, surmounted by a beehive
in the clasp of a monstrous eagle. The largest building,
occupied by a dozen or so of the Mesdames Young, is
also distinguished by a beehive over the door, and is
called the "Beehive  House."  The other principal
93 
91        MOIiAMMIAI SM AEDA       MOMNISM AND MORMOISM
residence is called the Lion House, and Mr. Young
generally breakfasts at the one and takes dinner or tea
at the other, except when lie visits either of his wives
living in a house by herself; for each wife, we were
informed, had the title-deeds of a house of her own, if
she chose to accept the documents, and several of tlhel
having rural tastes live upon farms a short distance
from Salt Lake City, and raise vegetables, etc., for the
tables of the others.
The schoolhouse for the President's seventy children
stands  next  the  Beehive,  and all these buildings,
finished in smooth yellow plaster, with white trimmings
and green blinds, are crowded close behind the high
stone wall, shielding them from the street; in fact, we
could think of nothing but the closely guarded seraglios
of some Turkish Prince, and an odd desire to inlvestigate the likeness and differences of ]NIohammedanism
and Mormonism, the two polygamic religions of the
earth, seized upon the writer, and may yet insist on
gratification.  Following this vagary of tile mind came
an overpowering sense of the rapidity with which this
poor old world of ours is losing the romance of her
youth, and how realistic is the spirit of her present
epoch.  In the days when the "Arabian Nights" were
written, or rather orally handed down, what rapture it
would have been to find one's self inside the precincts of
the Harem of Haroun el R.;schid, or even of the King
of Oude; what heart-throbbings of excitement, what
thrills of mysterious delight one can imagine, or can
remember one's self capable of imagining. But change
the scene from Stambout or Hiindostan to these United 
AMELIL4'S PALACE.
States of America, Territory of Utah; for Haroun the
Magnificent or the Royalty of Oude substitute Mr.
Brigham Young; for Zoraide, Zuleika and Dinorzade,
read Ann and Harriet and Susan; and it will be more
difficult to write a Thousand and One American Nights'
Entertainments than a new bible called the Book of
Mormon. 
But apologizing for the digression, let us return to
our tour, and look in at the Tithing House, whither in
true biblical style, the people come, year by year,
bringcing literal tithes of all they possess, of whatever
nature, and pay them into the common treasury.  But
the finest building within many hundred miles, perhaps,
is the Amelia Palace, a really magnificent house, nearly
finished, and designed for tlhe wife whom our photographer sternly denies to be the favorite, and whose
name it bears. It is really a splendid edifice.
Having looked at everythling from the outside, we,
entered the Office, a large unattractive room, with a
private sanctum railed off at the end, plainly furnished
as a business room, and hung with portraits of thefounders and leaders of Mormonism; among others
that of Joseph Smith, who may be called the Father of
that religion, although it is unfortunate that so blindly
was it revealed to him, that one of the first laws laidl
down by him as an inspired direction to himself andl
his followers, was a stern prohibition of polygamy or
concubinage, and his name is still on record as a President of the Church of Latter Day Saints in Nauvoo,
Lapeer County, Michigan, excommunicating a certain
Hiram Brown for preaching polygamy and "other
95 
INTERVIEW WITR MR. YO UN7g.
false and corrupt doctrine"; but in three years from
that time Smith and nearly all the Mormon leaders
were living in authorized and undenied polygamy.
But leaving the vexed question of Smith's first and
second revelations, and the glaring inconsistencies of
their record, which must be thorns in the side of those
whose duty it is to uphold and explain Mormonism, we
will speak of its present apostle, President  (of the
Church) Young, whom'e found standing in the middle
of his Office to receive us, with an expression of weary
fortitude upon his face, and a perfunctoriness of manner, suggesting that parties of Eastern visitors, curiosity seekers, and interviewers might possibly have
become a trifle tedious in Salt Lake City and the Office
of the President.
"How do you do! glad to see you! pass on, if you
please!" was the salutation, accompanied with a touch
of the hand as each guest was presented and named
and when nearly all had passed on and sat down, and
the host resumed his own seat, an awful pause feil upon
the assembled company, broken presently by a sonorous
assertion from the President that it was a pleasant
day. This was eagerly assented to by the Chief, who
added that the weather had been fine for some days,
and the conversation flowed on in tihis agreeable
strain for some moments, during which time -e studied
the personal appearance of the lion we had come out
for to see. We found it both formidable and attractive:
a fine, tall, well developed figure; a fresh, ruddy
complexion almost befitting a young girl; keen blue
eyes, not telling too much of what goes on behind
96 
HIS SERENITY AND EARNESTNESS.
them; a full mouth; a singularly magnetic manner; a
voice hard and cold in its formal speech, but low and
impressive when usedcl confidentially; altogether a man
of mark anywhere, and one whose wonderful influence
over the minds and purses of men, and the hearts and
principles of women, can be much more fully credited
after an hour's conversation than before.,.
Perceiving that the interview was but a "function"
for President Young, and one whose brevity would
doubtless be the soul of its wit, we resolved to constitute ourselves the Curtius of our party, and, approaching the sacred sofa, remarked to the Chief, who was
seated thereon, that we would change places with him
as we had some information to ask of the President.
The Chief rose with suspicious alacrity, and for the
first time a gleam of interest shone in Brigham's pale
blue eyes as he turned them upon the bold intruder,
whose first question was:
" Do you suppose, Mr. President, that I came all the
way to Salt Lake City to hear that it was a fine day?"
"I am sure you need not, my dear,' was the ready
response of this cavalier of seventy-six years, "for it
must be fine weather wherever you are!"
The oonversation established after this method went
upon velvet, and, as the rest of the party began to talk
among themselves, presently assumed a confidential
and interesting turn, and we felt that what Mr. Young
said upon matters of Mormon faith and Mormon practice he said with a sincerity and earnestness not always
felt in a man's more public and general utterances.\
Glancing at Joseph Smith's picture, we ventured the
97
(1 
JOSEPH SMITH INSPIRED.
criticism that it did not show any great amount of
strength, intelligence, or culture.  Mr. Young admitted
the criticism, and said that Smith was not a man of
great character naturally, but that he was inspired by
God as a prophet, and spoke at times not from himself
but by inspiration; he was not a man of education, but
received such enlightenment from the Holy Spirit that
he needed nothing more to fit him for his work as a
leader. "And this is my own case also," pursued Mr.
Young, quite simply. "My father was a frontierman,
unlearned, and obliged to struggle for his children's
food day by day, with no time to think of their education. All that I have acquired is by my own exertions
and by the grace of God, who sometimes chooses the
weak things of earth to manifest His glory." This
want of education, he went on to say, was one of the
greatest drawbacks and trials to the older generation
of Mormons; they had been, almost without exception,
poor and unlettered people, gathered from all parts of
the world, and obliged, especially after their arrival in
Utah, to use every energy and all their time to make
productive and life-sustaining homes from the desert
lands and savage wilderness into which they had penetrated; since, only thus shut off from other men could
they hope to enjoy their religion and practices unmolested.
'.But all this is over now thank God!' ejaculated
the President, with a gesture of relief. "Our homes are
made, our country is prosperous, and our educational
privileges are equal or superior to any State in the
Union. Every child six years of age in the territory can
98 
ANN ELIZA, THE RECREANT SPOUSE.
read and write, and there is no limit to what they may
learn as they grow older." I said that I had spoken of
these matters with Miss Snow, "formerly one of your
wives," as I somewhat diffidently phrased it, but the
patriarch, with a calm smile, amended the sentence,
"My wife still, if you please, my dear; once having
entered into that relationship, we always remain in
it, unless "- and his comely face clouded -" unless
under very peculiar circumstances.'".,  e presumed
him to be alluding to Ann Eliza, and longed to hear his
views upon that recreant spouse; but not being gifted
in the manner so liberally ascribed to the titled English
lady by the photographer, we refrained, and only made
a eulogy upon Miss Snow's attractions and merits, to
which her husband listened graciously, and heartily
indorsed, saying that she was doing a noble work
among the women of Utah, and that he had placed two
of his daughters under her training, and had the
utmost confidence in her judgment. -
We spoke of the magnificence of the Amelia Palace,
and he characterized it as "absurdly fine "; but when
we suggested that nothing could be too much for so
good a wife and so lovely a woman as she was said to
be, he assented, and added, emphatically, "She is all
that, and more. Yes, Amelia is a good wife, an excellent
wife and a lovely woman," with other phrases expressive of tenderness and esteem. "Besides," added the
writer, "the Beehive, which is, I believe, your present
residence, looks to me rather shabby for a man of your
position;" but at this he shook his head, saying:
"There it is, there it is; extravagance and ambition
99
:: 
.DOMESTIC HAIRMONY.
come creeping in, and destroy the simplicity of the first
ideas. The Beehive was good enough for me, and has
been so for many a year, but the world is changing
changing!"
"But nothing will change the Mormon ideas of
polygamy, I suppose," suggested I, for having, by
means of the parallel trenches of Miss Snow and
Amelia, approached the subject, I could no longer
refrain from a direct attack. Mr. Young glanced at me
keenly, but replied, devoutly: "No, nothing can, since
it is given to them by the grace of God. It is not obligatory, of course, but it is a blessing and a privilege
vouchsafed by Him to his chosen Saints."
I broached yet once more the question of domestic
harmony, and asked if the children of different mothers
could live amicably in the same house.
"I'll tell you something about that," replied Brigham, emphatically. "My sister came to make me a
visit some years ago, and staid here until her death.
She was not a Mormon, and did not believe in polygamy, but she said she had never seen a family of four
children as peaceable and orderly and happy as nay
family of twenty-four, as I had then. She talked of it
all the time, and never ceased praising this domestic
harmony of which you speak. You see, they are trained
to it by their mothers from earliest infancy; it is made
a part of their religious teaching."
"Yes, but who trains the mothers?" inquired I,
audaciously; "what religion can make a woman happy
in seeing the husband whom she loves devoted to
another wife, and one with equal claims with herselL.
100
t..:': 
MORMON IMPARTIALITY.
Any woman, I should think, would spend all her
strength, use every effort of mind, body and soul, to
attract and retain his love, admiration and attention.
Isn't it so, Mr. President?"
Mr. President shot a keen, inquisitorial glance at
the face beside him and answered, meditatively:
"You look like just the woman to do that sort of
thing, but fortunately, perhaps, there are not many of
that mind among us; as a rule, our women are content
in trying to make their husbands happy and their
homes pleasant       "
"Just what I was suggesting," interrupted I. "That
she should make it so pleasant that he would not seek
another."
He laughed a little, but replied:
"That would be agreeable to the husband, no doubt,
but it would be contrary to the teachings of the wife's
religion. She would not be a good Mormon wife if she
allowed herself to follow such a course, nor could it, in
the end, make the husband happy to alienate him from
those whom he was bound to love and care for equally.
For my own part, I always endeavor to show perfect
impartiality, and allow no one division of my family to
claim time or thought too exclusively."
"Then do Mormon husbands feel no preferences?"
asked I, ingenuously, and laughing outright he replied:
"Well, perhaps; human nature is frail, but our
religion teaches us to control and conceal those preferences as much as possible, and we do-we do."
The conversation was here interrupted, but the
101 
MORMON CHILDREN A FINE RACE.
President himself resumed it by saying, in a confidential voice, that Utah was going, in two or three
generations, to present the finest specimens of men
and women to be found in this country, for they would
spring from marriages of pure affinity, and a state of
society impossible except under polygamy. "Why,"
said he, "I have walked the streets of your great city at
night and my heart has bled to see the hollow eyes and
painted cheeks of the women who walked them too, and
who lead away the young men who are to be the husbands of this and the fathers of the next generation.
Not one such woman is to be found in Utah, and our
young men are pure, our women are virtuous, and
our children born free from inherited disease." In
fact, he said that the children of to - day were a
finer race than were to be found elsewhere, and he
was going to have all of his photographed as specimens of childish beauty.
"But are all the women of Utah sure to marry?"
asked I.  "Suppose nobody offers for them?"
"A woman feeling herself drawn in affinity to a[
man, and feeling inclined to seal herself to him, should
make her ideas known to him without scruple. It is
her duty, and there can be no indelicacy in obeying the
voice of duty," was the reply; and with this cheerful
and hopeful vision of Mormonism before our eyes, we at
last obeyed the urgent gestures of those who had not
been so well entertained as ourself, and rose to depart,
Mr. Young taking leave much more impressively than
he had greeted us, and retaining, it is hoped, as pleasant
a reminiscence of the interview as the writer.
102 
C~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~k 
f 
DEATH OF BRIGHAM YOUNGG.,
A few hours later we had said good-by to Salt Lake
City, with its many strange and peculiar objects of
interest, and were steaming back to Ogden, there to
reunite ourselves with the Great Pacific Road.
[Since writing the above, news comes to us of President Young's sudden
death, and all that struck us as doubtful, or wrong, or ludicrous in the
strange system of life he upheld, and of which he was the centre, disappears in the solemn respect and silence with which one remembers the
dead whose lives have, even for an hour, intersected our own. He was an
honest and sincere believer in his own theories, and lived up to his own
convictions of duty; and how many of those who sneer at him dare say the
same? A little selfish regret also mingles with the tribute we would fair!
pay to the memory of the kindly and courteous patriarch, who made us
welcome, and exerted himself to entertain us even when ill and weary himself; for his parting words to us were: "And if you put me in a book,
promise at least that you will print me as you have found me, and not as
others have described me." We had tried to do so, and now he will never
know it; never know how kindly and respectfully we remember him, or
how honestly we regret his death. May the world deal as tenderly with
his memory as we would do, and above his tomb let us inscribe: "Judgment is MiLue, saith the Lord."]
NEW MORMON TEMPLE AS IT WILL APPEAR WHEN COMPLETED.
103 
CHAPTER X.
PHILOSOPHY, SHOSHONES AND PIUTES.
OON after leaving Ogden we caught another fine
view of Salt Lake, with its bold promontories, and
blue waves dashing upon them quite in oceanic style,
and listened to some valuable remarks from the savant
and others as to what will happen when the waters of
this inland sea, always gradually rising, shall overflow
their bed, and demand the outlet they do not at present
possess. I believe it was finally decided that they were
either to adopt the Humboldt River as their channel,
or to set up a certain valley, supposed to have been an
arm of the Lake, and after cutting through a certain
range of hills some fifty feet high, were to flow into
Raft River, and so down to the Pacific.
"Apres nlous le deluge," remarked I to Follette, and
we sympathetically fell asleep. Waking some hours
later, we found ourselves in what is aptly called the
Great American Desert, and surely Sahara deserves the
name no better; and yet, as if to mark the different
seal Nature has set upon the drowsy Orient and the
laborious Occident, the Eastern desert is strewn with
only yellow sand, of no possible earthly use except to
inspire the venerable conundrum about the sand-whlichis-there; while our American Desert is composed of
alkali, suggesting at once manufactories, mills, factories,
companies, washing soda and hot biscuit, with an infin
?g~@l~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
- 0
HiUMBOLDT RIVER AND CANON. Page 105. 
"UP, BOYS, A ND AT THEM!"
ity of uses not yet discovered, and not more incredible
than the manufacture of Lubin's Extracts from coal tar.
Hundreds of miles of alkali going to waste, my countrymen, ye men of enterprise, of capital, of ingenuity 
Up, my friends, in the words of the immortal hero of
Waterloo, "Up, boys, and at them!" Before we have
quite done up the prospectus of the Great Anti-acid
and Baking Powder Company, we arrive at Humboldt
Canion, and, albeit grown a little critical and fastidious
in such matters, wake up to a good deal of enthusiasm
and interest. Another valuable dissertation upon the
real destination of the waters of the Humboldt and
Truckee rivers now arose; the simple fact being, that
they pour their bright waters, year by year, into a lake
unsentimentally named the "Sink of the Humboldt,"
wherein they disappear, and are seen no more, except
in the shape of great white cumuli of clouds, which
drift away overhead to carry the evaporated moisture
back to the springs whence it came, for the" Sink of the
Humboldt" has no more outlet than has Salt Lake, or
many another Sink scattered through this Desert; and
after all, no theory seems more feasible than that this
entire region is the bed of an ocean whereon the unremembered people navigated their navies, lived upon the
islands which now are mountain peaks, and idly wondered what might be the secrets of the submarine
territory through which to-day we travel. When in
some great convulsion of Nature this ocean disappeared,
perhaps overflowing in the Noahcian Deluge a smiling
and prosperous land, now called the Pacific Ocean,
the Salt Lake, or crevice deeper than the general
105 
106     CONTEM.PLATI.NG THE NOBLE SAVAGE.
ocean bed was left, and the Sinks were left, and the
vast barren plains covered with salt and other
alkalies were left, and the great process of evaporation
dried up such moisture as did not resolve itself into
rivers which seek these lower levels, and still evaporate
as much as they receive.
Quite  fatigued  by such  a "breather" over the
hedges and ditches, swamps and brambles of science
and supposition, the feeble female mind turns with
interest to the contemplation of the noble savage, who
now begins to be frequent and importunate at every
station. There are women clothed upon with filth of
every shade and texture, woven or skinny; shawls and
handkerchiefs tied over their heads, and about half of
them carrying upon their backs a formless and silent
burden, which, for filthy lucre, they would unstrap and
bring forward, showing it to consist of a fiat board, with
a headpiece projecting from the top of it, and two skin
flaps attached to either side of its length. Beneath
these flaps is strapped a pappoose, its patient face and
black bead eyes concealed by a piece of dirty cloth
thrown over the projecting board at the top. Of
course, the little wretch is very uncomfortable, and has
every reason to complain incessantly; but such is the
force of inherited nature, or of very early training, that
never a sound is heard from their grave little mouths,
and they probably have learned, thus early in life, that
very little sympathy, and perhaps considerable hard
usage, would result from any outcry. One young gentleman, aged about six, the son of a chief, was dressed in a
soldier's blue cap and a rabbit-skin cloak; not made of 
HTABILIMENTS OF " THE BRAVES."
~hae skins sewed together, but cut in narrow strips,
twisted into cords and then used as the warps of a
fabric whose woof is sinews or stout twine.
The "braves," if they will excuse the sarcasm of so
calling them, were somewhat more repulsive than the
women and children, being equally dirty and more
dangerous; as, for instance, a sewer rat is more disagreeable than a young pig. They were dressed in blue
trowsers, the gift of their indulgent Uncle Samuel,
striped blankets and low-crowned stiff hats, with
feathers stuck in the bands, and a mane of coarse, dirty
hair blowing about their shoulders. Many of the
women had their faces painted in Turner-esque style
of coloring, ald begged vociferously for money, which
they clutched with no pretense of gratitude or pleasure.
The men stood magnificently aside while this was going
on, and our young lady who had been vainly trying to
recognize the Fennimore Cooper Indian among these
squalid savages, was just exclaiming, "The men, at
least, scorn to beg!" when one of the biggest, and
probably the bravest of the braves, stepped up to the
pappoose - laden squaw, and, with a persuasive twist
of her wrist and wrenching open of her hand, relieved
her of the burden of superfluous wealth just imposed
upon her by our Chief.
"Lo, the poor Indian squaw!" quietly remarked
the cynic of our party, as the train rolled onward, (and
the young lady shut up " The Prairie," which she had
been reading, and applied herself to Ouida.)
At Elko we dropped the Shoshones and began wit'
the Piutes, but did not perceive any great difference,
107 
THE PASSAGE OF THE SIERRAS.
except that the pappoose cradles were, in the latter
tribe, made of basketwork, with a little perch woven
out from the top to cover the baby's face, instead of
the boards of the Shoshones. The fathers and mothers
were as dirty and disagreeable in one tribe as the other,
and the pappooses in both were so numerous, so flourishing, so fat and strong, as to quite calm the fears of
those humanitarians who tremble lest these dear
savages should become extinct in the next generation.
Now, too, we began to see the "Heathen Chinee"
in numbers, and ill as their odor may be in Caucasian
nostrils, we must say that their cleanly, smooth, and
cared-for appearance was very agreeable in contrast
with the wild, unkempt and filthy red man.
Toward night we began the passage of the Sierras
with the help of an additional engine, for the grades
are as steep as can be traversed, and occasionally the
train seems to be plunging head first into some Avernus, from which return will be impossible, and anon
scaling heights fitter for a chamois than a locomotive.
If one only knew how to say them there are marvelous
things to say about this Pacific R. R., and as the author
of a nice book of California travel naively says, "If
Americans were not thne most modest people in the
world," they would have, before this, convinced the
public that no other piece of engineering, from Hann'bal's eating down the Alps with vinegar, or the Great
Emperor's road across the Simplon, to the present day,
is to be compared with this passage of the Sierras from
Ogden to Sacramento by Messrs. Stanford, Huntington,
and the rest. We never scientifically examined either
108 
IMPRESSIVE GRAN:DEUR OF THE SCENERY.  109
Hiannibal's or Napoleon's achievements, but we are very
willing to accept the theory both that Americans err ii.
lack of self-appreciation, and that the Pacific road is
the road of the world; and we advise those statistical
souls which thirst for exact information about anything,
to go and read all about this national triumph in any
one of half a dozen most excellent books of travel, or
even in the discursive and chattvy Guide books which
solaced many a weary hour for us in crossing the prairies
and deserts which artistically throw out by contrast
the wonders and beauties of the route. For ourselves,
let us simply note the thrill of awe and wonder with
which we gazed up the walls of the Blue Cation, one
thousand feet of sheer precipice, while far below winds
a narrow ribbon of blue water curving to the curve of
the foothills, and sweeping around their craggy feet,
avoiding the jagged points, and lending grace and
beauty to the stern and rugged scene in a manner
altogether feminine. By the way, how true is that
instinct which makes every one call a river she, and a
mountain he!
But of all the scenery of the entire route, nothing
can compare with the Great American Canion, heralded
by the rounding of Cape Horn, where the railway clings
to the face of a precipice, with a thousand feet of crag
above and two thousand feet below; a river winding
dimly through the ravine, and giant pine trees dwarfed
to shrubs as we look down upon their crests. No
bloocl so sluggish, no eyes so dull, no heart so numbed
and encrusted by worldliness but that they must be
stirred anid thrilled, as few things in this world can stir 
ITI'VOCATION TO  TO URISTS.
its favorite children, by the sensation of thus flying
like a bird across the face of this precipice, over the
depths of this frightful abyss, suspended, as it were,
between heaven and the inferno; where the daring
men who first stood here among the eagle's nests were
lowered from the top of the cliffs by ropes, and where,
to-day, one feels that at any moment the Titan slumbering within the mountain may by a single sleeping sigh
fling off unconsciously the puny insect that dares thus
to traverse his stupendous breast. The worst thing
about language is, that it becomes so inadequate when
anything of importance has to be portrayed. Talleyrand
might well remark that words were given to conceal
thought or feeling, if either is a little out of the common experience; so, without attempting the impossible,
we simply say to those of our friends to whom the Alps
are a bore, Appenines and Pyrenees a weariness, and
the Andes a tiresome impossibility, dlo go and see the
American Canion, Cape Horn, the Sierras, Donner Lake,
Emigrant Gap, Yuba River with its dam, and all the
rest of it. The journey is luxurious, the expense no
greater than three months abroad. and the result something which will convince you that you did not know
your world as well as you thought you did. Perhaps
after all, however, the most original sensation is experienced as one from the level of the mountain tops looks
across the sea of peaks to the horizon line on a level
with himself, and feels that each of these crests represents a mountain which he would spend weary hours in
climbing, if placed at its foot. It is a world above the
level of the world we know and habitually live in,
110 
THE WONDERFUL POWER OF IWATER.
another strata of earth's surface, and gives far more
idea of mountain scenery than anything we have ever
beheld; infinitely more than the passage of the Rocky
Mountains.                                            -
At Dutch Flat, so called from being an unusually
hilly and broken country, we came upon the first gold
mining, the placer fashion being nearly out of style,
except in some parts of California, where the root of
all evil is still to be found on the surface, and small
boys, when a circus comes into their town, borrow their
mothers' tin pans and go into the field to wash out gold
enough to pay for a ticket.  Hydraulic mining is the
same principle carried out, for instead of a dipper full
of water poured into a pan of earth, whole tons of water
are brought in iron pipes and hurled against the faces
of hills and cliffs a hundred or more feet high, until the
earth is all washed down into the flumes below, and
agitated until the particles of gold settle at the bottom
of the muddy mass. It is really wonderful to see what
a force water thus applied can become; some of these
streams, starting from a head of five hundred feet in
height, and directed through a nozzle six inches in
diameter, assume a power nothing less than awful; for
great rocks, weighing hundreds of tons, are tossed
out of their beds like the merest of pebbles, and the
toughest clay and cement washed away like dust before
their first approach. Such a stream is, as we were told,
solid to the touch and cold as ice, and either man or
beast, upon whom it was turned, would find as sudden
death as in the track of a cannon-ball.
A verdant and picturesque hill subjected to a course
Ili
I I
..1:.I 
MAN'S GREED OF GAIN.
of this sort of hydropathy assumes, in a few days, the
look of those landscapes Dore loves to depict in his
Inferno: every particle of soil, trees, grasses, even the
lighter rocks, are washed away, and lie in disordered
masses at the foot, while the grim skeleton of the crag,
if it was one, remains ghastly, naked, desolate, a monument of man's unmistakable greed of gain and reckless
sacrifice of everything that stands between it and himself. It is to be devoutly hoped that the gold thus
won is used somewhere and somehow to beautify the
earth and the lives of its inhabitants, for surely the
getting of it is a most defacing process to both the one
and the other.
At Colfax the train stopped for breakfast, and the
platform swarmed with boys selling strawberries, the
first fruits of the new climate we were entering upon.
At the right of the station stood a row of Chinese
shops, each with its mysterious sign in red and gilded
paper stuck up beside the door. At a stall stood:
Chinese butcher, cutting up a sheep, and threading
little morsels of the meat upon a long splint of bamboo, exactly as the Turks in Constantinople string
"Kibaubs" for the watering mouths of the Faithful.
From this point the face of the country changed:
vanished the mighty Sierras, the terrible abysses, the
frowning black-green forests, the majesty and awe of
the mountains; vanished, too, the desolation and 4esecration of the placer mining district, and we were in a
garden hundreds of miles in extent, and teeming with
vegetation in every variety; a lovely Summer land,
fertile and blossoming spontaneously with a luxuriance
112
... I, 
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~I
40 
~
C
I
I 
SACRAMENTO A GIGANTIC BOUQUET.
+the Mormons scarcely approach in Utah, even with the
life-long and exhaustive labor they have bestowed upon
their arid soil. Sacramento, the centre of this lovely
region, is like a gigantic bouquet, every little villa
rising from the midst of its entourage of clipped cedars,
palm trees, cactus, prickly-pear, and belts of flowers,
while the air, soft and caressing as that of the Spice
Islands, was, like that, laden with perfume far fresher
and less enervating than those.
"Sacramento!" murmured the young lady, as she
buried her face in a mass of roses presented by our
artist, who had secured them from one of the urchins
clamoring upon the platform. "It is the oath of fealty
by which man regains the Paradise he has lost."
"That sort of Paradise is regained by every woman
somewhere between fifteen and fifty," murmured the
Sultana, suffering her cashmere to6 drop altogether from
her shoulders as the balmy air crept in at the opened
window.
The only things that we never tire of are those that
are snatched from us before we have fairly enjoyed
them, and perhaps we should not remember this Paradise Regained so vividly but that we lost it directly in
a region of the most commonplace and uninteresting
prosperity, continuing until we reached Oakland, the
end of the road, and standing in the same relation to
San Francisco that Brooklyn does to New York.
Wearied, apathetic with over - exertion, and yet
excited in feeling that at last we had reached the
Eldorado, the City of the Golden Gate, the Mecca of
our journey, we crossed the ferry, affronted the army of
I5
113 
REST ANTD COMFORT.
hackmen raging upon the other side, and choosing the
least vociferous of the crowd, were driven through
dingy and unlovely business streets to the Palace Hotel,
which we entered with something of the eagerness of
"Noah's Weary Dove," whn  a,ftr her long and fatiguing flight, she found the Ark of rest and comfort.
TIiE " NOBLE SAVAGE." Page 107.
114
[ —
i! 
~Th:i
CHAPTER XI.
THE PALACE HOTEL,  PHOTOGRAPHY, AND THE
STREETS.
NE of the most interesting sights in San Francisco
is the one that was first presented to our consideration, namely: the Palace Hotel. A certain Englishman described it as a huge building "broken out into
bird-cages," thus figuring the impression produced
upon his mind by the tier upon tier of bow-windows
which, whether they be considered as disfiguring or
ornamental to the general effect, are certainly very
comfortable to the inmates of the rooms thus beautified; besides-and here we claim the congratulations of
those friends who have denied us a practical turn of
mind-besides securing to Senator Sharon a considerable area of territory not included in the ground-plan,
which, nevertheless, covers a whole square, measuring
about two acres and a half; and it will be a convenience
to conscientious pedestrians taking their matutinal
promenade to know that to go around the house upon
the street is to walk a quarter of a mile; or if their
taste is feline, to go around the roof is to traverse
the third of a mile. Let us furthermore state, that the
corridors collectively measure two and one-half miles;
that twenty miles of gas-pipe are necessary to its illumination; that there are four hundred and thirty-seven
bath tubs, and accommodations for twelve hundred
l, 1,E
~.I
i
I\ 
116   MAGNIFICENCE OF THE PALACE HOTEL.
guests. Having thus sacrificed oD the altar of statistics, let us chronicle our own first impressions, which
are never by any chance statistical.
Driving in through iron gates and a stone archway,
we entered an almost regal inner court, reminding us of
the Grand Hotel at Paris on an enlarged scale; seven
tiers of balconies surround the four sides, ornamented
with frequent tubs of flowering plants, cages of singing
birds, and sofas and chairs, where groups of guests sit
to chat, or promenade up and down. A glass dome
covers the whole, giving a soft and tempered light
during the day, while at night the place is brilliantly
illuminated by gas. On the ground floor the court is
faced with white marble, and a circular carriage-drive
sweeps around the centre, where stand groups of palm
and banana trees, and vases of beautiful flowers. Chairs
and settees are dotted around the pavement, where sit
the fjaneurs who like to watch the constant arrivals of
guests, and the visitors' carriages standing in waiting
complete the lively and picturesque scene.
Mr. Warren Leland, that prince of landlords, welcomed us courteously and cordially, escorted us from
the largest and most elegant reception - room, upon
the easiest elevator in the world, to the suite of apartments on the second floor lately occupied by Dom
Pedro; gave us the freedom of his kingdom, and at a
later hour caused the courtyard to be illuminated from
ground to dome, and a serenade to be given in honor
of our arrival.  That evening we did little but make the
tour of the drawing-rooms and other principal apartments, which are as magnificent as befit a Palace HIotel, 
THE ARPCHITECTURE OF SAN FRANCISCO.
listen to the statistics elaborately set down above,
satisfy ourselves of the comfort of the bathing tubs,
and go to bed tired, happy, and full of anticipating
delight for the morrow.
Next morning, after breakfast, we received the visits
of several photographers, who have probably learned
by inspiration the Chief's amiable weakness for this
school of art and artists, and who propose to immortalize us in a group. Not fancying that style of immortality, however, we compromise for large numbers of
individual portraits. Our attentive friends claimed,
and we believe the fact is confessed, that San Francisco
is the place of all places for the perfection of their art,
the peculiar atmosphere lauding itself most happily to
the combination of their chemicals.
Like Rome, San Francisco is built on seven hills
-the foothills of the Sierras; and nearly every street
sweeps up a steep incline to a bold, rocky bluff, crested
with villas and other buildings, giving a wonderfully
picturesque look to the whole. There are some stone
buildings, but more of wood, and few exceed two
stories in height, the frequent earthquakes, or "shakes,"
as they are familiarly called, making higher pretensions
dangerous. The style of architecture has been justly
denominated as "San Franciscan," and the bow window
is its exponent: not a house, from the Palace Hiotel
and the sumptuous mansion of the millionaire to the
cozy nest of "two young  lovers lately wed," but is,
tudded with bow-windows, very many of them filled
with flowers and bird- cages. A lady to whom we
noticed this peculiarity explained that the climate of
117 
HIGH PRICES PREVAIL.
San Francisco is such as to seldom allow one to sit or
lounge out of doors, the high, cold winds almost invariably coming in from seaward by noon, or earlier, and
that after that time a sunny bow-window with a stand
of plants was far more comfortable than a garden chair;
and it is true that the sunshine is a luxury more highly
appreciated in San Francisco than in most cities, for a
room deprived of it is scarcely comfortable night and
morning without fire during most of the year.
The most fashionable, shops are on Kearney and
Montgomery streets, the Broadway and favorite promenades of the city. The windows of these shops are
large, and showily furnished, but the interiors are of
limited extent, owing to the high price of land in these
localities. Every imaginable object is to be bought in
San Francisco, generally at very high prices; for, like
most places of sudden growth, it is an extravagant
place in dress, equipage, and general tone of living, the
fortunes of the East becoming a modest competence
here, and what would be comfort in Philadelphia or
Baltimore dwindling to penury in San Francisco.
Many of the smaller shops are open to the street
like booths, especially the cigar and liquor establishments, in one of which we saw a man throwing dice for
a drink. Most of the sidewalks are of wood, and the
street-car tracks are paved with that material, although
we were told that none but the Nicholson pavement
has proved a success here, as the long, dry heat of
certain portions of the year, and the persistent dampness of others, shrink and swell, out of proportion, the
blocks of all other kinds of wooden pavement.
118 
AN EXHILARATING CLIMA TE.
The climate of San Francisco seems a point as
difficult to settle as the standard of feminine beauty,
or the intrinsic value of Wagner's music. Every one
agrees that it is an exhilarating climate, that the air is
more highly charged with ozone than in most localities,
that the brain-worker can accomplish more here in a
given time than anywhere else, and wear himself out
faster;'for dear Starr King died of exhaustion, of old
age, in fact, after doing the work of a generation for his
adopted State; and such a career as that of W. A.
Ralston would scarcely have been possible in any city
other than high-pressure San Franciscoj But this
ozone, this fourth - proof oxygen, is borne upon the
wings of high, cold winds, piercing the very marrow of a
sensitive form, and alternating with fogs and dampness,
fatal to any rheumatic or neuralgic tendencies, and
unfavorable to pulmonary complaints. A few hours of
nearly every morning are charming out of doors, and
the rest of the day a fire or a bow-window full of sunshine is still more charming. One person says, "The
climate of San Francisco is all that keeps me alive ";
and the next one shudders, "Thle climate is killing me;
I must get out of town to warm my blood, or it will
congeal altogether." All confess, however, that this is
the chilliest and breeziest point upon the whole coast,
for it stands in a gap of the hills, guarding the shore
for miles above and below, and once in the sheltered
valleys lying between this coast line and the Sierras,
one comes into a tropical and paradisaical climate as
enervating to the brain as the breezy air of San Francisco is exciting. Let us conclude that the climate,
119 
120    COSVOPOLITANISM OF THE POPULATION.
like the society, like the morals, and like the social
habits of San Francisco, is a little mixed, and that
a wise eclecticism is desirable in choosing a residence
therein.
One feature of the street scenery in this city is
the large proportion of foreign physiognomy and the
accents of almost every language under the sun, which
meet one's ear in all the crowded thoroughfares.  The
easy access of the Pacific coast front the other side of
the globe has led thither a class of Oriental strangers
who are seldom seen even in New York, and not only
the Chinaman, but his neighbors of Asia and Africa"Mede, Parthian and Scythian"- here find a home,
a field of labor, and a share, however small, of
the almighty dollar, which has proved more lovely
in their eyes than the lands of the bul-bul and the
rose.
To accommodate these various tastes, various amusements, shops, theatres, and especially restaurants, are
established at every corner, and the Frenchman, scanning the menu of the Maison Dor6e, may fancy himself
at the Trois Freres, in Paris; while the German finds
his sauerkraut, the Italian his maccaroni, the Spaniard
his picadillo, and the Welshman his leek, each at his
own house of refreshment; and the Chinese eatinghouses are a feature of their especial quarter, to be
mentioned hereafter. To live in lodgings and to eat in
a restaurant is San Franciscan as much as it is Paris
ian, and even families possessing houses and domestic
conveniences are often to be found at one or the
other of these establishments, dining or lunching, "just 
SOC[AL LAW IN SAN  FRANCISCO.
for variety"; and also, perhaps, to see and to be seen
a little.
A fashionable restaurant for gentlemen is "The
Poodle Dog"; "Campi's" is as Italian as Naples, and
the "Maison Dorge" is Delmonican in every respect.
The code of social law in San Francisco permits young
ladies to freely visit these establishments, even at the
risk of occasionally encountering a male acquaintance,
and a cynical observer may find more refreshment in
quiet observation of the scenes around him than in
meat or drink. Perhaps, on the whole, we would not
advise the widowed mother of a family of lads and
lassies to carry them to San Francisco for social training; the Prunes, Prisms, and Propriety system is not
universal, and although there is a large class of charming, unexceptional, and rigidly moral society, there are
several other classes shading into it by almost imperceptible degrees; and the bygone days, when every man
was a law unto himself in this city, have left their
impress in a certain recklessness and willfulness of
feeling pervading every circle.
The style of street dress is more gay and showy
than is consistent with the severest taste, and an afternoon promenade upon Kearney or Montgomery streets
reminds one of a fashionable "Opening," when the
lay figures have suddenly received life and the power
of locomotion. It has been said that in other cities
the demi - monde imitates the fashions of the beaumonde, but that in San Francisco the case is reversed,
and the caprices of the former class are meekly copied
by the latter. It may be a libel; but we certainly saw
121 
122     ASCENDANCY OF THE ROMISH FAITI.
very elegant toilets, and very fine jewels, both in
carriages and upon pedestrians to whom we had no
letters of introduction.
Noticing a goodly proportion of churches among
the handsome buildings of San Francisco, we inquired
if anybody ever visited them, and were indignantly
informed that religion was one of the most flourishing
imports of the City of the Golden Gate. Everybody
knows, of course, that it was originally founded as a
mission by the Franciscan Fathers, the first of whom,
the Padre Junipero Serra, scandalized that no station
had as yet been dedicated to his patron saint, prayed
to him for a fortunate harbor in his next voyage of
exploration; and being led or driven through the
Golden Gate, considered that the Saint thus indicated
the spot where he would have his altar erected, and
so named the waters upon which the mission vessel
floated, "The Bay of San Francisco." The Mission
House and Church were more elaborately styled "Los
Dolores de nuestro Padre, San Francisco de Assissi,"
and is still called the Mission Dolores; while the
presidio and fort erected to protect the good monks in
their holy work was called San Francisco, and the town
that languidly grew around them took the name of
Yerba Buena, from a medicinal plant growing abundantly in the vicinity. It was not until 1817 that the
name of San Francisco was formally given to the little
town, then just upon the eve of its marvelous upward
bound to the rank of a great city. The Romish faith
thus planted has kept its ascendancy in the city of San
Francisco d'Assissi, and claims to-day about one-half 
THE SABBATH IN SAN FRANCISCO.
of the population. St. Mary's Cathedral, St. Francis's
St. Patrick's and St. Ignatius's, are all with large and
wealthy congregations, and there are ten more Roman
churches in the city. The Presbyterians are most
numerous among the Protestant denominations, and
Calvary Church is one of the handsomest in the city.
Grace and Trinity are the most prominent of the Episcopal Churches, and both claim large and fashionable
congregations; and the Congregationalists, Methodists,
Baptists, and other denominations are in a hopeful
condition. Attendance at all of these churches for
morning service is quite general, but the afternoon
and evening of Sunday are devoted to amusement by
the San Franciscan, and each in his degree seeks some
,.ace of public or private entertainment, or the day is
sipent in ruralihing, or in driving and visiting.
Returning irom our first tour of the city we dined
in t-e grand Lall of the Palace IHIotel, where stand four
rows of tables, with space for three persons to walk
abreast between them, the whole lighted by twelve
great crystal chandeliers.
A note from Mr. Barton Hill, whose artistic ability,
so well known at the East, is here united to a managerial position, invited us all to his theatre, where
three boxes were set apart for our accommodation.
The star was Alice Dunning, and our eyes were so
abundantly feasted that the treat to the ears was a
work of supererogation, the one sense absorbing all
one's capacity for enjoyment. And so back to repose
in Dom Pedro's sumptuous apartments and to dream
of the morrow.
123 
CHAPTER XII.
A PRINCE AND A PALACE.
FEW days after our arrival in San Francisco we
gladly accepted  an invitation  from  Senator
Sharon to pass some days at his country house of Belmont, a name so intimately associated with that of its
late master, William A. Ralston, whose life and death
form one of the most startling and extraordinarv
episodes of San Franciscan history, that we must pause
here to speak one word of a man through whose means
hundreds of persons fell from affluence to penury; and
yet of whose death those very persons spoke with tears
in their eyes, as a public loss and misfortune. Mr.
Ralston was the Napoleon of speculators, and, like the
great Emperor, his career of unparalleled success was
closed by a Waterloo of utter defeat.
A self-made man, he rose from the smallest beginnings to the position of banker and broker before he
was thirty years old, and in the time of the war managed the business of his firm so successfully that his
correspondents in New York urged him to come hither
and consolidate his business with theirs, promising
that the firm thus formed should become the leading
banking-house in the country. It was then that Mr.
Ralston laid the corner stone of the monument to his
own memory in San Francisco, which even the earthquake of his failure and death could not overthrow.
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THIE PRIINCELY W. A. RALSTON.
and which long will stand an object of love and reverence to the generous hearts of the people, who forgave
their own loss in pity for his so much greater one.
" No," said he, in answer to Mr. Kelly's letter, "we
have made our money in California, and if it is the
nucleus of a business that shall bring credit and advantage to the city where it is established, that city shall
be San Francisco, and the men who profit by it shall
be San Franciscans."
That sentence was the key-note of his subsequent
career. Princely in his outlays, Oriental in his magnificence, audacious in his enterprises, the millions he
lavished upon business undertakings, or palatial residences, or hospitality such as seems only possible in an
Arabian Night's Entertainment, were all expended at
home; the money passing into his hands from hundreds of wealthy and confiding fellow citizens, passed
through them to the hands of thousands of other fellow
citizens, who lived by him and who adored him.
As President and Manager of the Bank of California, Mr. Ralston found ample opportunities for fostering
the prosperity and the interests of his adopted State,
and used them grandly and fearlessly. The mining
interests, manufacturing and commercial enterprises,
private schemes, if undertaken for the general good, all
derived sustenance from this rich fountain-head, and
the country grew and throve as thousands of little rills
trickled from it through arid and thirsting deserts.
It was in these days that Ralston built Belmont, a
palace costing a million and a half of dollars, standing
in the midst of two hundred acres of pleasure grounds.
125 
126      THE DAYS OF BELMONT'S GLORY.
Stables finer than many a good man's house are filled
with the best horses to be bought for money; greenhouses, graperies, ferneries, teem with all that is rare
and lovely in the world's flora; banana, orange, and lemon
trees grow in the open air; everything that the mind of
man can imagine in the way of luxurious living is here
collected; and in wandering through this palace and its
grounds, where everything seems to wear an invisible
badge of mourning for its ruined and dead lord, one
can only remember Fouquet, that other architect of a
colossal fortune and his own ruin; and Vaux, the
stately home built for his pleasure, whose magnificence
so filled the narrow heart of Louis le Grand with envy
and chagrin, that the favorite's death was decreed even
while the monarch accepted his hospitality.
It was no uncommon thing in the days of Belmont's
glory for its master to engage a special train of cars,
fill it with guests, a band of music, flowers, and all
that could add to the sumptuousness of a banquet,
and make a sort of royal progress to his palace, there
to spend a night and day of feasting and merriment.
Abstemious and frugal in his own habits, of the table,
of dress, or equipage, he never wearied of heaping
attentions and gifts upon his guests; and the story of
his sending a check of ten thousand dollars to the man
who in his early days had lent him five hundred
dollars, is but one of a score of similar anecdotes
lovingly told to-day by men not yet recovered from the
shock his failure gave to their own financial concerns.
It was in the very midst, at the very height, of his
splendor that the crash came. The Bank of California
0 
DEATH OF MR. RALSTON.
suspended payment; the City, the State, the whole
financial country stood aghast; the management summoned Ralston, in whom, up to that moment, they had
reposed the blindest confidence, for an explanation.
He had none to offer, but he offered instead every
penny of his princely fortune to throw into the gulf.
The sacrifice was accepted, and Mr. Ralston was
removed from his managerial position in the bank.
He acquiesced in this decision, spoke bravely and
collectedly of the future and its possible successes,
and then-went away from it all, drove to the North
Beach, went into the water to bathe, and was brought
to the shore a little later a corpse!
Some men gave a harsh and ugly name to this
death; others, more charitable, named it accident. Who
shall decide? who shall read the secrets of that proud,
wounded, nay, broken heart? who shall venture to
condemn this man, who dared and lost so much, and
who, having reached the summit of earthly prosperity,
found it easier, perchance, to fall from that into God's
mercy than into man's contempt?
Senator Sharon was his friend and partner.
Together they built the Palace Hotel, costing six
millions of dollars. In addition to the four millions constituting his share of the property, Ralston was, at the
time of his death, building a million-dollar private residence on Pine street, carrying a million or more in the
Grand Hotel, supporting several manufacturing companies, and keeping the credit of the Bank of California
to a ten million dollar standard, when it was really
nothing but an insolvent shell.  He died owing sixteen
127 
SORROW FOR MR. RALSTON.
millions, and it is impossible to say what the real
height of his fluctuating fortune ever was.
The public excitement at his death was intense:
bankrupt men stood openly crying in the street-not
that they were ruined, but that Ralston was dead; the
garb or badge of mourning was everywhere displayed;
the flags in the harbor drooped at half mast; bells
tolled; business was suspended; great meetings of his
friends collected to pass resolutions, to concert his
obsequies, to pay him every honor that the dead can
receive. The poorer people, who could do none of
these great things, told of the benefits hlie had ever
heaped upon their class, and on them; they gave him
those words of praise and blessing which, from the lips
of "God's own poor," are perhaps a more costly tribute
than the flowers or the catafalque, or the music, or the
stately monument that wealth can give. The funeral
procession was four miles long, and when its head
reached the grave  the rear had not stirred from
Calvary Church, where the obsequies took place.
SALMON FIH1NG, SACRAMENTO RIVER.
128 
CIHAPTER XIIL
A MEMORABLE VISIT.
ELMONT  lies twenty-five miles south of San
Francisco, and is reached by the S. P. R. R. after
an hour's ride over a fiat and uninteresting country,
cut up into fields and market - gardens, irrigated by
ditches, and cultivated by bare-legged Chinamen.
Every house has its water tank, with a whirling mill to
fill it; and the scene is quite Dutch, in spite of John
in the foreground and the Sierras in the distance.
There is a pretty little station at Belmont, built by
MIr. Ralston for his own accommodation, but we left the
train at San Matteo, a few miles north, where Senator
Sharon's four-in-hand and other carriages were waiting
for our party, now pleasantly enlarged by the addition
of Senator Conover of Florida, his beautiful young wife,
her brother, and a distinguished Cuban friend.
The drive was through a region of delight for more
senses than one, since not only were the eyes charmed
with Nature's finest shows, but the scent and feeling of
the soft air lazily drifting across our faces was delicious
beyond account; surely the goddess of this land is
sweeter breathed, as well as fairer, than our northern
divinities-, and the fruit she holds out with both hands
to her guests more luscious.
We drove through the grounds of several private
houses, as is the friendly custom here, and noticed that
I 
130      THE SCENER Y ARO UND BELMONT.
they are not as precisely laid out as is the fashion in
the East; but Nature is allowed to display her own
luxurious taste more freely, and with a wonderfully
fine effect. The live oak is the principal tree, and many
of the trunks are massed with ivy climbing riotously
up the stem, and waving green tendrils from the upper
branches.  The wonderful Eucalyptus  also abounds,
and cypress, and palm, and olive; while the roses blossom upon trees fifteen or twenty feet in height, each
one a huge bouquet of bloom and fragrance. Every
now and again we caught, through gaps in the foliage,
glimpses of the distant hills and the crest line far
away, and then drooping trees again closed around us.
At sunset we drove into the precincts of Belmont,
passing a large pleasure-ground known as Belmont
Park, the favorite picnic spot of the Italians in San
Francisco. The carriages passed slowly on between
rows of every beautiful, graceful, and rare tree that
can be named; locusts laden with white blossoms,
tulip trees, catalpas, magnolias; and as we neared the
house a lower growth of feathery pepper-trees, laden
with dull red berries, hedges of geranium and roses,
trellises of passion-flowers and stephanosies, until at
last these artistically graduated into belts and plots of
low-growing brilliant flowers, blooming up to the doors
of the great house. This, made of wood and painted
white, is not, perhaps, so imposing in its exterior as one
is led to expect from so magnificent an approach, but
like Oriental mansions it reserves its wonders and its
luxury for those so happy as to enter.
The situation, upon a sloping hill, is quite artistic, 
BELMONT AN ARCHITECT'S VISION.
giving a very effective outlook from the house itself.
Driving under a porte cochere covered with climbing
yellow roses, we crossed the threshold, and entered into
what seemed more like the disordered vision of an architect than a sober American country house, for beyond
saying that there is everywhere a pervading effect of
lightness, and brightness, and airiness, and cool repose,
and luxury, and comfort, it is all but impossible to give
any idea of this delightful house. The first feature
distinctly appreciated is the absence of any doors
throughout the first story. A wide corridor, once a
piazza, runs around three sides, its floor of native
woods, polished like a mirror, in the style of old French
chateaux; cane and bamboo chairs, Chinese settees,
inlaid tables, and tall vases of flowers furnish this gallery, and from it open, through great French windows,
the parlor, dining, billiard and drawing rooms, while at
the left hand lies a superb music and dancing room,
lighted through a glass dome by day, and at night by
graceful and elaborate chandeliers of silver and crystal.
The walls are paneled with mirrors and frescoed in
gold and neutral tints, and in a niche lined with mirrors
stands a grand piano, remarkable for its case of light,
satiny, native wood. Chinese furniture, light, elegant,
and curious, some statues, vases, and plenty of flowers,
furnished this room, one of the most charming possible
to imagine. The great dining and billiard rooms have
waxed floors, but the parlor, in which a bright, cheery
fire was  burning, is a cozy little  carpeted  room,
eminently home - like in its aspect, with some fine
bronzes, a wonderful Chinese centre-table, and some
131 
132      INTERIOR ELEGANCE OF BELMONT.
Indian arm-chairs of carved wood, big enough for three
people. In the centre of the house, and upon which all
these rooms open, is a square hall, from which winds
up a great staircase. Here stands a tall, old-fashioned
clock, such as was familiar to some of us in our childish
visits to our grand-parents, with the sun and moon
beaming jollily from its dial, and its primo basso tick of
"For ever-never! Never-for ever!" Here, too, upon
a pedestal, stands a brazen bowl of Chinese manufacture, which is used as a gong to summon the faithful to
dinner. Some pretty tables, chairs, and a large mirror
make up the furniture, unless one includes a gas
bracket in the shape of a silver branch laden with
leaves and silver flowers, the latter each blossoming
into a tongue of flame. Up-stairs a balcony runs
around the upper part of the wall, and is prettily
furnished with couches, chairs, embroidered screens
and footstools, and from it branch three corridors, contiguous to which are numerous bed-rooms, like those of
an English country-house. Ours was spacious and luxurious, withll dressing and bath rooms, every marble bowl
in the latter fitted with a plated pipe, supplying a
small shower-bath for washing the head-a great comfort, especially to gentlemen, in this dry and dusty
country. A large picture gallery lies above the musicroom, but is not yet finished.
Before dinner we took a little stroll in the grounds,
looking at the stables niched into the side of a hill,
with imposing stone front, and spending some time in
the fernery, which is really exquisite, with a lovely
stone fountain trickling into a mossy stone basin; 
A SKETCH OF MR. SHA.ROIV.
grottoes, rock work, and dewy coverts, where wave
every graceful species of fern of which the world can
boast. The barbaric tones of the gong summoned us
away to a less ethereal feast before we had half done
with this, and entering the dining-room we sat down
fourteen at the table which, in Ralston's time, often
accommodated a hundred guests. A great pyramid of
flowers and a bouquet at each plate made the table as
lovely and as fragrant as a garden, and the genial
and interesting conversation was a dangerous rival to
the sumptuous dinner set before us.
Mr. Sharon, as we have said, was the friend and
partner of the unfortunate Ralston, assumed many of
his debts, and accepted much unremunerative property
in satisfaction of his own claims.  He is a man of
wonderful instinctive appreciation of character, a gift
affecting his general manner; for, while remarkably
frank and outspoken among those whom he finds
congenial, he is chilling and reserved to those who
impress him unfavorably. He is a man of great and
comprehensive ability, and has need of it in attending,
as closely as he does, not only to his duties as United
States Senator from Nevada, but to the care of his
own colossal fortune and domestic duties. But with
all of these he has Byron, and Moore, and some of our
more modern poets at his fingers' ends, and is a
vivacious and most entertaining conversationalist.
His immediate family is made up of two daughters:
the younger a pleasant school-girl; the elder a fragile,
graceful young woman, married to one of the most
promising young lawyers of San Francisco, whose
133 
AN EVENING'S ENTERTAINMENT.
sister's marvelous musical talents added greatly to the
charm of our stay at Belmont.
The most distinctive feature of the dining-room was
a great sideboard of carved black wood, in which is set
a broad mirror. Upon the face of this mirror, as on the
dial of a clock, are engraved the numerals of the hours,
and two slender gilded hands steal silently round,
warning the reveler who chances to glance at them
that no man's life is more than a question of Time,
and not  the wealthiest, not the  most  powerful  of
mortals, can hold one single moment in his grasp, be
it never so delightful.
The works of this wonderful clock are entirely
concealed, and the stately, noiseless motion of the
hands across the mirror had a most weird and fascinating effect.
The  dining- room  opens into the billiard- room
through a wide panel sliding up into the ceiling, and
after passing through it we went to the music-room to
spend the evening in conversation, in music-in which
our host's son - in - law and his sister are proficient -
and in dancing. We were also introduced to a novel
and curious musical instrument, which, being set and
wound up, goes on to perform the duty of a full band
of instruments.
After breakfast on Sunday morning we again went
for a drive. Taking the old San Jose' post- road
through the little town of Redwood, we wound among
the picturesque foothills, saw lovely glimpses of sea
and mountain scenery, and drove through beautiful
private grounds, among others, those of the agent of
134 
THE CHILL AND DAMP SEA WIND.
the Rothschilds, a bachelor with an income of seventy
thousand a year, who keeps up a perfect paradise of a
place for himself, his dogs, and horses. Again we were
struck with the superiority of Nature to man as a landscape gardener, and her general acceptance in that
capacity in this region. Near the houses, to be sure,
one sees carefully tended flower beds, and trim hedges
but a stone's throw beyond; the Spanish moss droops
from the live oak in all its unkempt luxuriance, and
giant cacti, not unlike great green serpents, among the
undergrowth. During the first part of this drive the
air was mild, fragrant and warm as our New York July,
but as we returned through Redwood the sea wind came
in so chill and damp that we were glad to put on the sealskin sacques that it had seemed so absurd to place in
the carriage, but whose warmth was now most welcome.
Indeed, it is never safe in the neighborhood of San
Francisco to leave home for an hour without some
substantial wrap, and nothing is more common than for
a lady to dress in white muslin or lace, find herself
perfectly comfortable during two or three hours, and
then be glad to wrap herself in furs or shawls above
the gossamer draperies so pleasant a little while before.
We met with no reminder of the day during our
drive; shops were open and business active in the little
town, and people had neither the sedate and mortified
air of a Northern Sunday, nor the festive and gorgeous
aspect of that day among a purely Latin population.
At dinner we spoke much of Ralston, and Mr.
Sharon, in eulogizing his singular unselfishness of life,
pointed out that even this house, as well as others that
135
I.I
I
I 
OUR LEAVE-TAKING.
he owned, was planned and adapted far more for the
pleasure of his guests than for himself; the little
parlor being the only purely domestic retreat in the
whole house.
The next day we took leave of our courteous host
and amiable family, and the palatial home, with its
memorable history, satisfied that there is at least one
palace near to the Golden Gate; and yet, as Aladdin's
Princess-spouse missed the roc's egg in the palace the
genii had built, we found one great and remarkable
deficiency at Belmont: we did not, in all that mansion,
see a book, or a bookcase, or any spot where one might
fitly have been placed, or expected to be placed I
SWEETMEAT VENDER, CHINESE THEATRE, SAN FRANCISCO. Page 159.
136
i} 
-                                                                                            I                                                                                                                                               I
CHAPTER XIV.
THE BROKERS' BOARD  AND THE CITY PRISON.
N Monday evenings the Palace Hotel is illuminated
from top to toe, the band plays in the inner
court, and the lady guests hold a reception, and dance.
The upper floor, with its glass roof, and wide balcony
overlooking the court and ornamented with vases and
tubs of tropical plants in full bloom, is the pleasantest
in the house, and is let in suits to families taking rooms
for the season. As we have said, this mode of life is
very popular in San Francisco, and all the hotels are
built with reference to permanent lodgers as well as
transient guests, and surely a lifetime might contentedly enough be spent in some of the apartments of
which we had experience in the Palace Hotel. Among
other guests with whom we made acquaintance were
the Admiral and officers of the Russian fleet, then in
harbor, and we especially noticed one handsome young
Baron, for whom our sympathies were strongly enlisted
a few days later, by the proclamation of the RussoTurkish war, and the necessity for his sailing with
his ship, leaving his heart in the custody of a fair
American, to whom he could not even give an address,
since the squadron sailed under sealed orders.
We also made the acquaintance of Mrs. and Mr. C.,
purchasers of Follette's portrait in Beard's admirable 
138   THE SAN FRANCISCO BOARD OF BROKERS.
painting of "The Streets of New York," now on exhibition in the Academy of Fine Arts.  Mr.  C. was
presented as the Vice - President of the Union Pacific
Railroad, but, as I honestly told him, his appreciation
of my pet's beauty and grace, and his willingness to
pay three thousand dollars for the privilege of owning
her picture, was a higher title to my consideration
than even that which means for its fortunate possessor
a most honorable position and an income of millions.
Mr. C. is building one of the finest residences on the
hill, and the statuesque beauty of his wife would grace
a palace; her walk is the poetry of motion, and the
head so imperially set upon her shoulders loses none
of its beauty by being silver crowned.
The next day we visited the Board of Brokers, by
invitation of the President, and assisted at the throwing away, as he plaintively styled it, of some mining
stocks at a rate lower than they had ever been sold
at before. We had seats in a little private gallery
reserved for ladies, and from that coigne of vantage
looked safely down upon the ring of brokers in the
centre, with the circle of spectators outside. The
scene was one of the wildest excitement, reminding the
young lady of a gladiatorial arena, the Sultana of a
flock of hungry chickens, to whom some corn had been
thrown, and myself of the fact that I was only a woman,
and could never hope to join in such a soul-stirring
combat-for surely combat is but a mild term to apply
to the jostling, yelling, frenzied, purple-faced struggle,
roused into new vigor at each call of a new stock; the
bidders crowding to the centre, gesticulating, pushing, 
THIE "BARBARY COAST" EXPLORED.
ready to tear each other to pieces, or themselves fall
down in a fit of apoplexy.
Not one word of all that was shrieked and shouted
could we understand; but the excitement was contagious, and the writer would have given worlds to be
six feet high, deepen her voice to a baritone, and be
in the midst of it all!
The profound truth deduced from this visit is that
a successful broker must be a tall, big man, with very
long arms, and the theory was proven by a visit paid
to our gallery by Mr., the leader of the Bears,
who is formed upon this principle, and who, although
as meek mannered as possible with us ladies, and
bland and courteous to a degree with everybody, had
impressed me as quite the typical broker, be he Bear
or Bull.
From the Brokers' Board we proceeded to the
County Jail.  Passing through China Town we entered
a far more objectionable region, called the "Barbary
Coast," inhabited by the vilest class of poor whites, as
much worse than the "Heathen Chinee" as a vile
woman is worse than a bad man, or any good thing
gone to decay than one naturally vile. This region is
said to represent, as clearly as the iron rule of the
law will permit, the social status of San Francisco in
the early days, when the report of gold attracted every
desperado on the Continent to its search, and scarcely
one respectable woman was to be found within the
city's limits. Murder and debauchery of every sort
ran riot, and it is surprising that out of such vile soil
the fair flower and fruitage of the present city could
139
iII 
140  THE COUNTY JAIL 1X SAN FRANCISCO.
ever have grown. In broad daylight, and protected
as we were, we saw nothing objectionable except a
large quantity of dirt, dust an inch thick upon the
sidewalks, and numbers of hollow-eyed, sallow-cheeked,
vicious - looking men and women lounging in the
doorways and windows, or exchanging oaths and
scurrility from house to house above our heads.  By
dint of much inquiry we presently found ourselves at
the northerly border of this unhallowed region, in a
street called Broadway, and opposite the County Jail,
an unpretentious brick building, rather shabby and
dirty. Mounting three narrow stone steps we were
confronted by a placard upon the huge iron door
stating that positively no visitors could be admitted.
Ringing the bell we philosophically awaited the event,
and presently perceived four human eyes inspecting us
through a small grated aperture in the door. Making
known our names and wishes, our escort so won upon
the Cerberus within that the iron door swung suddenly
open, admitting us, and swiftly clanging to, the moment
we had entered.
The Jailor's rooms and kitchen lie ili front, and
leading back from these runs a stone corridor lighted
from above, whitewashed severely, and with a row of
black iron doors opening at intervals through its extent; in every door appeared a little window, scarcely
large enough to frame a human face, but in every
window appeared two human eyes, coldly and incuriously inspecting the visitors. No model prisoners
these, cleanly, well fed, pious, industrious and sociable,
such as were exhibited to us in England, but men of
I
I
I 
CHARACTERISTICS OF THE PRISONERS.
whose depravity no other warrant than those horrible
eyes and so much of the face as could be seen was
needed. So far from appearing ashamed or angry
at our inspection, it was we who were compelled to
lower our eyes and hasten our footsteps to escape
from the bold and loathsome license of those looks.
All were frowsy and unkempt, some were smoking,
and the scent of the prison was so vile as to suggest
that if the odor of sanctity pervades some holy places
this must be the odor of depravity. Few of these
men were imprisoned for less than four years, aind
one was to die on the morrow. IHe was a Chinaman,
the second ever executed in San Francisco. Hle had
committed a hideous murder, thoroughly proven, and
well deserved his doom, but upon the yellow face and
leering eyes showing at his window, one could read no
remorse for the crime- no dread of the impending
punishment.
Going up stairs into another corridor also lined with
cells we looked down into the whitewashed stone yard
of the prison. Among the men lounging about were a
good many Chinamen, squalidly dressed in shirt and
trowsers, barefooted and shorn of their pigtails - the
greatest punishment, short of death, that the law can
inflict upon one of their nationality; one was brought
in while we were there, and hurried across the yard to
be clipped. They are said to cry and shriek like little
children while undergoing this penalty; and never re,over the self-respect or confidence they previously had.
A straw mattrass, a tin-pan, plate and spoon constitute all the furniture of the cells, and no effort beyond
141 
142    NEED FOR ANOTHER ELIZABETH FRY.
occasional whitewashing is ever made for the physical,
mental or spiritual improvement of the condition of
these unfortunate beings.  Is there n6L[Elizabeth Fry
ready to take up this good work? no,Bergh to do for
men and women what he has so nobly done for brutes?
Let the nineteenth century answer.
I,...,
PROPITIATING FORTUNE BEFORE SPECULATING. Page 148.
<ittl,'/
i  
CHAPTER XV.
TIE WAYS TELIT ARE DARK.
DESCRIPTION of San Francisco which does not
include Chinamen, China Town, and the Chinese
question in some degree, at least, would indeed be
Hamlet without the Prince of Denmark's character, and
Heaven defend us from committing such a solecism!
That could be seen in this direction we resolved to see,
and one fine day made an experimental trip in company
with a gentleman resident in San Francisco to some of
the fashionable Chinese shops in the American quarter. We called first at Chin-Lee's, then at King-Lee's
and Chi-Lung's, finding their establishments filled with
much the same wares that flood New York since the
Exposition; but the air of the shops is more foreign
than is possible in an Eastern City, the atmosphere
redolent of a pungent, delicious odor of sandalwood
and Oriental perfumes, and the smooth, brown, quiet
salesmen, in their loose, dark-blue sacks and trowsers,
with shining pigtails depending from beneath their
silken skull-caps, heads and faces smooth as a baby's,
and their delicate slender hands, were altogether different from the Chinese laundry-men from whom we, of
the Atlantic Coast, take our ideas of the citizen of the
Flowery Kingdom. Among these merchants are the
highest caste Chinese to be found in America, and their
manners by no means lack the repose "that stamps the
Ig 
THE MONGOLIAN MERCHANTS.
caste of Vere de Vere"; in fact, so reposeful are they
that it is rather difficult to go shopping among them,
for they only exhibit such wares as are called for, and
that in a mechanical and abstracted manner, as if their
minds were occupied rather with Confucius than glove  boxes, or some new astronomical discovery to the ex  clusion of bric-ct-brac. The prices of their charming
goods are fabulous, and one hesitates to cheapen any  thing under the melancholy and languid gaze of the
almond eyes. We were willing to pay something,
however, for the pleasure of fancying ourselves in
Nankin or Pekin, and  delighted to  ask questions
eliciting low replies in that peculiar lisping English,
not broken, but only jarred just enough to let all the
harsh consonants drop out, especially the rasping R,
which becomes a liquid L in a Chinaman's mouth;
and when I asked the price of the oddest possible little
tea-pot at Chi - Lung's and was informed that the
preposterous sum  demanded was  "Velly little for
lich Mellican lady to pay," I bought it at once, not
for the flattery but the l's of the statement! Well,
the tea-pot was lovely, and it pleased the friend for
whom it was bought, and so she and I and Chi-Lung
were all pleased, and was not the money well ex pended?
(    From fashionable Kearney Street we turned into
steep and dingy Munro Street, and were in China Town
itself.  No more bric-a-brac, no more silken caps or
fine cloth clothes or languid grandeur of manner.  Here
all the houses are dingy, no two alike; all the people
are poor, and although universally clean in person,
144
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A PERIPAT-ETIC C-OBB-,R.
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STREET IN THE CHINESE QUARTER, SAN FRANCISCO. Page 144. 
TTIE  SIIOPKEEPERS IN  CHINA TO WN.
cultivate a squalid and odorous mode of existence,
both in shops and dwellings, that makes extensive
visiting among them rather distasteful to fastidious
people.
Each little shop hangs out its sign of red and gilded
paper inscribed with Chinese characters; and very little
English is spoken or required, as these places are
intended for native custom exclusively. We entered
several, and found the stock in each to consist mainly
of shoes, tea-pots and beryl bracelets- all cheap and
all ugly; and there were three or four salesmen in each
dark little shop to whom the same description might
be applied. We passed along a row of butchers' stalls,
and were glad to remember the impossibility of our
own dinner ever coming from one of them, for the
odors were horrible and the sights still more so-whole
beeves and swine being hung up at the entrance and
hacked to pieces almost any way, as customers applied.
Smoked birds split and flattened out like a sheet of
paper were also exhibited as imported from China, and
fish so long divorced from its native element as to be
fit for nothing but to return thither We saw several
Joss-houses, or temples of Chinese worship, decorated
with lanterns, plenty of red and  gildedl paper, and
scarfs and ribbons festooned across with  peacock's
feathers.  The upper story of the house being thus
sanctified, the groundc-floor is devoted to trade, and
under one of the Joss-houses Hoss, Wo & Co. conduct
their Bureau of Emigration, and at the moment of
our visit were welcoming a troop of newly arrived
emigrants, who  cam3 pouring in, each bearing  an
145 
CHINA TOWN IN THE EVENIN(;.
immense parcel bound with straw ropes, and their
wild and startled faces shaded by great umbrella
hats of native manufacture.
But the mild and superficial view of China Town
to be obtained at noonday by no means satisfied our
determination to make its intimate acquaintance, and
subsequently a formal expedition was organized under
conduct of detective MacKenzie, the veteran of the San
Francisco Police force, having served as detective and
police -officer for twenty - two years in that and other
cities. A little after eight p. m. our party started
for the Bohemian Club Rooms, where we were joined
by Mr. MlacKenzie and five or six other persons, and
at once sallied out. The detective gave me his arm,
and as we walked down Kearney Street I tried to elicit
some of the anecdotes and reminiscences with which
such a man's mind must teem, but unfortunately he
had so thoroughly learned that habit of discretion
which must be part of a detective's training that he
could not speak if he would, for I do not like to think
that he would not if he could; and the only memorable
thing he said in all that walk was to point out a window on the corner of Portsmouth Square and remark:
Out of that window the Yigilance Committee of'51
hung their first man."
From Portsmouth Square we turned into Dupont
Street and felt that we had passed from the familiar to
the unknown.  In Kearney Street, which we had just
left, crowds of cheerful and busy persons with bright
and expressive faces thronged the brightly lighted
sidewalks and the elegant shops, or were merrily pass
146 
EXPRESSIONLESS FEATURES OF THE CHINESE.  147
ing into theatres or concert rooms for an evening's entertainment; in Dupont Street the narrow walks were
scarcely lighted except by the smoky glare from the
shop windows, and the silent-footed, sad-eyed passengers crept along the wall, or stepped from off the walk
at our approach, more like the shades encountered by
Dante at the entrance of the Inferno than living and
busy mortals.  Nothing is more noticeable about the
Chinese than this quietude of face, gait, voice and manner; their features never stir, their eyes never vary,
their hands never gesticulate; they seem framed with
fewer surface muscles than Caucasians, the whole system of training for body and mind seems one of repression, and it is nearly as impossible to judge by a Chinaman's face what he really feels, thinks, or wishes, as
to guess the Sphinx's riddle by contemplation of her
image.  No  happier hit was ever made  than Bret
Harte's poem of the "Heathen Chinee," but nobody
can appreciate the phrase "child - like and bland"
until he has looked into one of these smooth olivecolored, serene and utterly expressionless faces, and
wondered, in vain bewilderment, what emotions, what
passions, what opinions of one's self lay beneath it.
We stopped at the entrance to a black and narrow
alley, its depths hidden in tenebrous shadow, and here
our guide produced and lighted two candles, whose
gleam faintly illumined the first few steps of a black
and rickety staircase.  Up this the guide led and we
followed, walking purely by faith; since nothing was to
be seen but the little patch of light, the dim roofs of
houses beneath us, and, far above, the cold, pure gleam 
JOSS- HO USES AND  JOSS- STICKS.
of the stars. As the candlelight fell upon the wall at
the left we perceived that it was closely covered with
scraps of red and gold paper inscribed with Chinese
characters. These we were informed were prayers, and
this was one of the principal Joss-houses, or temples,
and the faithful visiting hither are in the habit of thus
leaving a sort of a permanent petition behind them to
supplement or perhaps to excuse the necessity for personal prayer.
Several Chinese men coming down from the temple
passed us upon the narrow stairs, and very possibly
felt disposed to fling us over the light hand-rail into
the narrow court below. At the top of the stairs we
passed through a door and found ourselves in a dark
room, quite bare except for a shrine at the farther end
and a smaller one close to the door, containing the idol
guardian of the temple, a very human (Chinesely speaking) wooden gentleman, who sits all day and all night
in his grotesquely carved porter's chair of a shrine, contemplating a bronze bowl of ashes and some burnt out
Joss-sticks standing as tribute before him. The larger
and richer shrine at the other end of the room contains
the image of Troi-Pat-Shing-Kwun, the God of Fortune,
who holds a nugget of gold in his hand, and is surrounded with all sorts of tawdry trappings of artificial
flowers and tinsel. His bronze bowl of ashes is larger
and the tribute of Joss-sticks more plentiful; for, like
some of his white brothers, John Chinaman's most
fervent prayers are offered in the hope of temporal
rewards and privileges. Several devotees were lounging
in the dark corners of the room regarding us with the
148  
I OF  
THE  SItRINES OF THE DEVOTEES.
usual non-committal blandness, and the walls all papered over with the gay little prayers in scarlet and
gold, placed as perpetual reminders of the wishes of
his worshipers before the eyes of Fortune. In front
of this shrine stood a screen carved from a solid piece
of wood in all the minute elaboration we are familiar
with in Chinese work of this sort. It represented an
ancient battle, and was really a very wonderful production. Its cost in China was about one hundred and
fifty dollars of our money. From this room we passed
through a maze of dark and dirty little rooms, each
presided over by a God or Goddess; all wonderfully
alike; all very ugly and grotesque; all surrounded by
a tawdrily decorated, carved shrine, gilded, arabesqued
and draped with more or less costliness and elegance,
according to the importance or power of the divinity.
Before each shrine hangs a glass lantern in which a
light is constantly kept, and' in front of each is the
bronze bowl of ashes stuck full of Joss-sticks, most
of them extinct, but some slowly consuming and sending up clouds of stifling incense smoke. In some of
the rooms stood tables supporting handsome Chinese
vases filled with artificial flowers, and some pieces of
curious carved ivory, slips of paper, and split bamboo
sticks used in divination or interpretation of the will
of the deities were laid around. Also miniature copies
of the idols themselves, probably for sale, and various
toys representing beasts, birds, and fishes, objects of
worship or tradition in Chinese mythology. Before
each God of importance stands a table to receive the
offerings of food made by kind-hearted devotees, and
149 
CEREMONY OF CHINCHILVNING JOSS.
bowls of tea stand perpetually ready to allay the thirst
of the immortals.
In several of the rooms we found worshipers before various shrines, but only in the case of a woman
prostrate before a female deity, a sort of Chinese
Lucerna, did we perceive any heartiness or absorption
of manner. The men simply approached the shrines,
without troubling themselves to cease their conversation, cease smoking, or uncover their heads, thrust a
Joss-stick into the bed of ashes, bow three times,
slightly and quickly-which ceremony is called Chinchinning Joss, and then retire, perhaps posting up
a scarlet prayer as they go. In every room stands a
tall wooden structure, like a very high four-legged
stool, with a bell hanging inside of it, while above it
is suspended a gong or drum, and both these are used
by the priests upon occasions to arouse the attention
of the meditative gods, or to awaken them from their
slumber. On hearing this explanation we could but
recall the magnificent irony of Elijah as the priests
of Baal raged and howled around his altar, hacking
themselves with knives, and shrieking to him in vain
for a manifestation of his power, and the grim prophet
taunted them with: "Cry, aloud, for he is a God;
either he is talking, or he is pursuing, or he is on a
journey, or he is asleep!"
In the corner of one dismal little room, enshrined
in a rickety wooden box, stood Shon- Ton, or the
Devil, represented with a very European cast of countenance and dressed in dirty white; he is especially
entreated in time of sickness, the friends of the suf
150 
D)IVINITIES OF THE CHINESE.
f3rer bringing all sorts of delicate food, the essence
or substance of which he is supposed to imbibe as they
stand before him for two or three days, when the
remains are removed to be distributed among the poor
at the sick man's door. The other divinities are KovanTai, a most bellicose and violently whiskered personage; Wah-Taw, the God of Medicine or Chinese Esculapius, who performed his cures in the remote antiquity
by laying-on of hands; Yun-Ten-Tin, the God of the
Sombre Heavens, who presides over the elements,
and is represented as sitting in a tree, and preventing
or dispersing fire and drought - two of the principal
errors of the Chinese; the Goddess of the Lake, rising
out of a lotus flower, is said to have emigrated from
Egypt to China and established a code of laws there.
Side by side in one shrine sat the Goddess of the Sea,
and the Goddess of Love, the Chinese Venus-to whom
our guide applied a more emphatic name. These, with
the God of East Mountain, one of the three sacred
mountains of China, were the most prominent of those
we saw; but there were quite as many others, petty
divinities, each devoting his attention to some venial
sire, for whose forgiveness and correction he is implored, and not one of them, from the great Joss to the
Devil, or any ornaments of the temple, but may be
bought, even by the "white-faced devil" in whose land
John- has made his home!
In one room was an adobe oven, where, at certain
times, Satan is burned symbolically by means of red
paper.   Across one  of the little rooms extends a
counter, and behind it stood two or three priests, who
151 
152  CURIOSITY OF THE STREET GCPO WD.
sell Joss-sticks, Joss-paper, incense candles, and little
images, for the support of themselves and the temple.
They beamed upon us a little more blandly or a little
more innocently then their subtle lay-brothers, and
one of them offered a little idol with the soft inquiry
l'%lellican lady want?"
Making our way down the dark stairs we strolled
along Dupont Street for a short distance; wherever
we paused, a crowd of blue-bloused, olive-skinned
pig-tailed figures gathered silently and closely about
us, contemplating us with melancholy, moony faces,
and rayless eyes. At a broker's or money-lender's we
stopped to look ili through the window at a bright
little Chinaman counting silver money in a most
marvelously rapid manner. He looked up and smiled,
and we all walked in without further invitation, followed
by as many of the street crowd as could enter, all beam ing with delight at having us so much more under
observation than in the street. The young man in formed us that he was seventeen years old, high-caste,
as denoted by his long finger-nails. A sketch was
made of him by the young lady while the rest were
talking, and about a dozen Chinamen gathered about
her to watch its progress, and seemed highly delight ed. She gave them her sketch-book to look at, and
they laughed over it, talking glibly among themselves,
and expressing admiration in broken English. Bid ding the pretty lad, whose name was Lee-Yip, goodby, we made our way into the street, not without
difficulty, owing to the crowd, which evidently discussed
us freely, and, as we could not but suspect, in a jeer 
THE CHINAMAN'S TONSORIAL LUXUR Y.
ing and uncomplimentary manner, although on every
face beamed the child-like and bland smile, and whatever was spoken in English was of the most flattering
nature.
The barbers' shops are numerous and well patronized, since it is impossible for any man to himself
perform the complicated and tedious process, of which
we caught glimpses now and again in the bare little
basement rooms, whose only furniture consists of a
bench, a chair for the patient and a washstand and
bowl. Once in that chair the applicant for "a shave"
had need assume his whole stock of patience, for out
of it he does not rise until every inch of skin above his
shoulders, except the small portion of scalp whence
the queue depends, is shaved, scraped, washed, polished, and minutely inspected. The pigtail is unbraided, cleansed, re-oiled and re-braided; the eyes, ears
and nose are manipulated; and certainly whatever may
be said of his style of beauty, a Chinaman just out of
his barber's hands is about as exquisitely clean, from
his shoulders upward, as it is possible to imagine.
The small dimensions of the shops and their
crowded condition both as to animate and inanimate
stock impressed us strongly, and Mr. MacKenzie inormed us that this is due solely to the home - training of the Chinese, who, having been educated to
economize every square inch of space, every handful
of earth, and, as it were, the oxygen of an atmosphere
inadequate to support all who are born to breathe it,
find themselves more at ease in these narrow quarters
than in wider ones; and the first operation of a
153 
[54  DOMESTIC PECULIARITIES OF THE CHINESE.
business firm in renting a shop or warehouse, or of a
family in hiring a house, is to cut it all up into little
tiny boxes of rooms, put in any number of shelves
and cupboards, stretch lines over head to hang things
upon, and reduce themselves generally to a condition
of crowd, discomfort and clutter most repugnant to the
American's habit of mind, but apparently the height of
convenience to that of the Oriental.
CHINESE BARBER, SAN FRANCISCO.  Page 153. 
CHAPTER XVI.
ACT'm., SENE 102.  AN OPIUM DEN.
UR next visit was to the Royal Chinese Theatre oni
Jackson Street. The drama is one of the greatest luxuries of the Chinaman, who frequents it constantly
when in funds; nor does this imply great wealth, since
the admission fee is two bits-twenty-five cents-at
the beginning, fifteen cents toward the middle, and
only ten cents near the end, of the performance.
This frequently lasts six or seven hours, closing at two
or three o'clock in the morning, and a single play
requires three months or longer for one exhibitionan act or two being rendered each evening.  These
plays are nearly all based upon ancient historical
events, the conservatism of the Chinese objecting to
any modern innovations, and disdaining all sensational
effects. There are no great playwrights in Chinese
literature, and the profession of actor is not considered
creditable, so that no great exertions toward superiority are made by those filling it. Actresses are
unknown, the female parts being filled by men coarsely
painted and tawdrily dressed. Nearly all the performance is in pantomime, and when speech is considered advisable it is uttered in a high, harsh falsetto,
entirely unlike the human voice.
Entering from the street we passed through a long
passage where a Chinaman behind a counter was 
THEATRICAL PERFORMANCES.
selling native delicacies, such as figs, dark- looking
sweetmeats, sugar-cane, betel-nuts wrapped up in green
leaves and decorated with red paint and slices of
citron. Inside we found a perfectly bare and undecorated auditorium, the parquette filled with rude
wooden benches, a gallery above and another smaller
one for women, who are not allowed in the body of
the house. The stage was a mere raised platform like
that in a lecture - room with a flight of steps at each
end descending to the parquette. There was no scenery of any kind, but at either wing a red- curtained
doorway, through which exits and entrances are made
quite without disguise or ceremony; even when a
death is represented, the actor, after going through
the contortions and struggles of the last agony, gets
up and quietly walks off through one of these doorways, nodding and smiling to his fellow actors or the
musicians. The latter sit in a row at the back of the
stage, between the two doors, pounding away industriously at the gong or cymbals, or scraping the little
Chinese fiddles. They seem to have no method in
their madness, but just bang away independently-each
man making as much noise as possible.
When we entered, three actors were upon the stage,
going through a stormy pantomime to the accompaniment of the orchestra. The man seemed to be having
a stirring scene with his wife, who was  aided and
abetted by her maid in a most un-Celestial domestic
rebellion; finally he gave her a push, closed an imaginary door between them and stood triumphant,
while she-or the man representing a she- ran up
156 
GROTESQUENESS OF THE ACTORS.
and down, pushed against nothing, beat the air supposed to be the door, until finally both walked calmly
off and tho scene ended. The curtain at the other
end of the stage was then withdrawn, and a warrior
stalked forth who might as well have represented a
Pawnee Brave as a Celestial hero, for his form was
swathed in a mass of indescribable and very gaudy
raiment, and his face painted in stripes of brilliant
color. He wore clusters of flaps at each shoulder like
wings, his head was decorated with pheasant's feathers,
and his beard and moustache were fearful to behold.
This champion strode across the stage, whirled round
and round, stood on one leg, shook his fists, and generally expressed defiance and combativeness until
some more warriors rushed in through the other
doorway, apparently accepting the challenge, and these
were followed by an army of women under the leadership of an Amazon, who was rather the most manly
man present. Then these grotesque and phantom-like
figures began a series of the strangest evolutions,
marching in and out, around each other, backward and
forward, all making the same ferocious and monotonous
gestures, to the accompaniment of that frightful discord
of barbaric sound, until it all seemed more like a
feverish dream, the fancy of a lunatic, or the vision
of an opium eater than an actual stage peopled with
human beings. Each warrior as he entered threw one
leg in the air and spun round upon the other; this
represented the act of dismounting from his horse;
and regardless of the fate of the imaginary charger
he plunged at once into the battle, which finally
157 
ACROBATIC AGILITY.
culminated in the most grotesque scene possible to
imagine, when ten or a dozen men, stripped to the
waist and ranged in a line, turned somersaults across
the stage, a row of whirling figures hurled through
the air like so many balls, each one flinging himself
fully six feet in air and spinning round like a wheel
so fast that the eye could scarcely follow him.
Presently the battle seemed to be forgotten, or to have
resolved itself into a friendly acrobatic struggle, for
the warriors began to vie with each other not only
in the length and rapidity of their somersaults, but
they jumped over large tables, alighting on the flat
of their backs with such a jar that one would expect
every bone in their bodies to be broken; but every
man leaped up so nimbly as to prove that no harm
was done, and directly did the same thing or something
as remarkable, with unabated force. Finally the scene
culminated in the performances of a half-naked man,
with his nose painted of a glaring white, who did every
thing but turn himself inside out: he tied his legs
around his neck, jumped on his elbows, stood on the
crown of his head with his arms folded, and propelled
himself around the stage on acute angles of his frame
without the aid of either legs or arms, until there was
absolutely no contortion of the muscles left for him
to achieve, and then he left off! Our party, the only
Americans in the house, gave him a round of applause,
at which the silent Celestials turned and grinned
at us in wonder and derision, and we got up and went
out. They never applaud or disapprove anything, but
sit stolidly and smoke throughout the performance,
158 
AN OPIU'TM DEN'.
the women in the gallery also indulging in this luxury,
and patronizing the vender of sugar-cane and sweetmeats, who walks about with a basket of these dainties
on his head, but does not break the sombre silence
by crying his wares.
From the theatre we were taken to visit an Opium
Den, as we of the East are prone to call the tabazies,
where the Celestial seeks respite from toil and privation and home-sickness in the indulgence of a habit
not so horrible after all as drunkenness of another
nature; since the opium smoker injures only himself,
and the man crazed by liquor is dangerous to his
family and the community at large!
Passing through an alley-way, we entered a perfectly dark court where nothing was to be seen but so
much to be smelled that the imagination became more
painful than the reality could have been. A light
twinkled from some windows on a level with the sidewalk, and our guide unceremoniously pushing open
the door led us into a small, close, but apparently
clean room, filled with the fumes of burning opiumnresembling those of roasting ground -nuts, and not
disagreeable. A table stood in the centre, and around
three sides ran a double tier of shelves and bunks,
covered with matting and with round logs of wood
with a space hollowed out, cushioned or bare, for
pillows. Nearly all of these were filled with Chinamen, many of them containing two, with a little tray
between them, holding a lamp and a horn box filled
with the black, semi-liquid opium paste. But although
every one was smoking, it was so early in the evening
159 
IT0  W  0 PIUM IS SM-OKED.
that the drug had not as yet wrought its full effect,
and all were wide awake, talking, laughing, and
apparently enjoying themselves hugely. The largest
of the Chinamen was lying upon the shelf nearest the
door, preparing his first pipe. He looked up and
nodded as we crowded around him, and then calmly
continued his occupation, we watching  the  modus
operandi with considerable interest. The pipe was
a little stone bowl, no larger than a baby's thimble,
with an orifice in the bottom the size of a pin's head.
This bowl is screwed on to the side of a long bamboo
stem, and the smoker, taking up a mass of the opium
paste upon the end of a wire, holds it to the flame
of the lamp until it is slightly hardened, and then
works it into the pipe, inhaling strongly as he does
so, and drawing the smoke deep into his lungs, where
it remains for a moment and then is ejected through
the nostrils, leaving its fatal residuum behind; for
opium is an accumulative poison, and when once
the system becomes saturated with it, there is no
release from the misery it entails but death. The tiny
"charge" constituting one pipe-full is soon exhausted,
and holding the last whiff as long as possible, the
smoker prepares another, and another and yet another,
as long as he can control his muscles, until, at last,
the nerveless hand falls beside him, the pipe drops from
his fingers, and his head falls back in heavy stupor,
the face ghastly white, the eyes glazed and lifeless,
the breathing stertorous, the mind wandering away
in visions like those De Quincey has given to the world
in the "Confessions of an Opium Eater." Looking
160 
EFFECTS OF OPIUM SMOKING.
at the stalwart Chinaman, with his intelligent face and
fresh, clean costume, we tried to fancy this loathsome/
change passing upon him and felt quite guilty, as lhe
looked up with a twinkling smile and offering us the
lighted pipe said: "lHavee Smokee?" and when we
declined, held out the wire with the little ball on the
end for us to smell. As we talked to this man, we
were startled by perceiving two persons curled up in
the bunk below his shelf, both smoking and watching
us with their narrow slits of eyes like crouching wild
beasts.   They did not speak, but our friend above
answered all our questions in a cool, matter-of-course
sort of a way, and with an amiable superciliousness
of manner. We bade him good-by and went out, his
eyes following us with a look and a laugh strangely
resembling a sneer. Perhaps, carrying out the proverb
in vino veritas, there is something about the first stages
of opium intoxication dispelling to customary caution
and disguise, for in that sneering look and laugh
we seemed at last to get the true expression of feeling
which forever haunts the writer as the real meaning
underlying the bland, smiling or inane exterior, prerented to us by these Celestials.'
We looked into another room in the same court
much smaller but better furnished, the bunks neatly
fitted up with mattrasses and each containing its little
tray with the lamp, pipe, and opium all ready for the
smokers not yet arrived. Our guide informed us
in a mysterious tone that there are yet other opium
dens to which access is impossible except to the
initiated, where may be found at a later hour of the
161 
162      USE OP OPIUM BY WHITE PEOPLE.
night young men and women  as "white as you are"
as he said, and with no drop of Mongolian blood
to excuse their participation in this imported vice.
"Not respectable Americans?"  asked some  one
incredulously, and the detective, with a glance inscrutable as the Sphinx, replied:
"That's according to what you call respectable.
The women I don't suppose are generally received
in your society, but as for the men-well, a lady would
be surprised, sometimes, if she knew just how the
gentleman she has danced with all the evening spends
the rest of the night!"
"If Asmodeus could visit San Francisco and take
us on one of his flying trips over the tops of these
houses with the power of unroofing them as we
passed, we should see some strange scenes," thoughtfully murmured the poet of the party, and officer
MacKenzie, with one of his keen glances, replied:
"I don't know much about flying through the air,
but I reckon I can show you as strange and tough
a sight as you want to see, if you like to risk it,
for the ladies."
OuR "HIGH CASTE" CHINESE ACCOUNTANT. Page 152. —
OUR " HIGII CASTE " CHINESE ACCOUNTANT. Page 152.. 
Fl   1
CHAPTER XVII.
WORSE THAN DEATH.
c  THIS  is pretty rough," said the guide, stopping
at the entrance of a dark and dismal court,
whose odors seemed even more sickening and deadly
than those we had breathed before; "but say the word
and I will take you in."
The word was said, and stumbling up some crazy
stairs we found ourselves at last in a narrow balcony
overhanging the reeking court. Some Chinese women
clustered at the end of this balcony staring at us,
behind them was a shrine containing the Goddess
of Love, with gilt paper and Joss-sticks burning in the
tray before her. From this gallery we passed into
the house and became involved in a perfect honeycomb of little rooms, dimly lighted, or not lighted
at all; no doors were visible, the doorways being
shaded by long, pink calico curtains, and as they blew
or were drawn aside we saw every room crowded with
men and a few women, smoking, drinking tea, or playing at dominoes or cards. Every room we entered
was exceedingly clean, and the inmates looked remarkably neat and tidy. Some effort at decoration was
visible in the way of gilt and red paper, bright-colored
scarves and peacocks' feathers upon the walls, and
pretty little Chinese tea-pots and other pottery upon
the tables and shelves. Everyone was smiling and
I 
164     " NO, NO, ME NO  MALLY, NO WIFE! "
bland as possible, and seemed overjoyed to receive
a call; in one room especially, where a man and
woman and some boys were all squeezed up together
in a space of six feet square or so, they all chatted
and laughed and stared as if we were long lost brothers at least, asking "What you wantee? Where you
comee from?" and saying "Glad to see you, come
again velly soon!" at parting, in the most sociable
manner possible.
In another room was a fat, good-looking woman
of thirty or so, with her hair elaborately coiled, puffed
and ornamented with bright gold pins, making tea
at a little table set out with queer cups and saucers
which excited our ceramic covetousness; the room
was very small and very neat, with a bed in one corner
enclosed with white curtains tied with scarves at
the corners, and upon the bed a little tray holding two
vases of lilacs and other common flowers, besides a
lamp, pipe, and opium box; curled up beside this festive preparation lay a man who arose and welcomed us
with great enthusiasm and seemed so much at home
that we concluded he must be the host, and after
complimenting him upon the flowers decking his
opium tray, the neatness of the room and the pretty
tea-service, we inquired if the woman were his wife;
but at this he seemed very much amused, laughed
a great deal and said: "No, no, me no mally, no wife;
no mally at all!" and the woman seemed as much
delighted as himself at the absurd mistake.
In another room we found a dozen men or more
and one woman crowded around a table playing cards; 
WOMEN SACRIFICED TO LIVES OF INFAMY.   165
the woman was by no means unattractive and wore
beautiful earrings and had a large diamond ring, and
on her fat and pretty arms bracelets which our guide
said were twenty-carat-fine gold. She showed us these
ornaments with much pride, and on our admiring them
paid us the Spanish compliment of saying they would
better become us than herself When asked if they
were gifts from some of these gentlemen she answered
with a sudden assumption of dignity: "'Me got velly
good husband, me mallied woman!" We assured her
that we were delighted to hear such favorable accounts
of her condition, and so passed on, peeping into a
dozen or more little rooms, all crowded with men and
a few women, but no babies, no little children, nothing
to relieve the brazen face of the whole establishment.
The women were mostly without beauty or grace,
and usually dressed in dingy blue sacks with huge
sleeves, their hair drawn back and curiously puffed,
coiled or plaited behind. They all wore the mechanical smile which seems part of the national character;
but their faces were thin and haggard, and the paint
did not disgulse the wan weariness which was eating
away their lives.  These poor  creatures are most
of them bred to evil from infancy by parents who
make merchandise of them in early glrlhood. Sometimes the wretched creature sacrifices herself, signing
a contract and receiving a certain sum in advance for
services during a term of years or for life; the larger
part of which sum goes to the broker or intermediary.
These slaves-for they are so considered, and, as a
general thing, are very harshly and penuriously 
166      REVOLTING FEMIYINE TRAFFIC
treated-receive only a maintenance and coarse clothing
during their brief period of health, and when overtaken
by sickness are turned out to die in any hole they can
creep into.
Great discontent exists among the better class
of San Franciscans at the constant importation of
these slaves from China, the open and revolting traffic
forming a terrible satire upon the hecatomb of the
best lives of our own country sacrificed in the late
war to abolish Negro Slavery!
Coming out of this house, we passed a row of tiny
windows, breast-high to a man, looking out upon the
narrow sidewalk of the court, at each of which appeared
the face of a woman, the little room behind her as
bright and attractive as she knew how to make it;
one in especial was quite illuminated and decked with
flowers and draperies, and the inmate, a rather pretty
young girl, was singing in a sort of cooing little voice.
These unfortunates are seldom reclaimed; they
feel no sense of sin or shame in their lives, and if well
treated are quite content. Occasionally the Christian
Misslonaries who wage an unequal and all but
hopeless warfare against heathendom in San Francisco
succeed in persuading one of them to escape and
accept such refuge as charity provides for them; but
as a general thing their masters succeed in tracing
them and show willingness to expend more money and
time in repossessing themselves of them than the
victim can possibly be worth, and the last state of these
reclaimed slaves is worse than the first.
There are said to be about fifteen hundred Chinese 
A HUT'ILIATING CONFESSIONiV.
women of this class in San Francisco; seven-tenths
of all1 who come to this country belonging to its dismal
ranks, and it is surmised that not more than a hundred
reputable Chinese married women are to be found
in the city, the inducements to the better class
of men to bring their families to these shores being
small indeed, for the free and noble principles of our
government suffer insult and wrong, not only at the
hands of slave-dealers but at those of our own people,
who permit the ruffians infesting San Francisco to rob,
insult and maltreat the Chinaman at every turn, revenging upon him, as is the habit of degraded natures, the
galling sense of their own baseness and inferiority.
Let us close this painful subject, with a confession
of its most repulsive phase.  We were informed that
the most beautiful and accomplished imported Traviatas in China Town were intended for and maintained
by white gentlemen exclusively. Let us subscribe
liberally to the mission to Borrioboola Gha, and send
flannel waistcoats to Afghanistan, and then let us
devote what is left of our money and energy and
Christian zeal to the conversion of these "gentlemen,"
and the Hoodlum who maims and insults and robs
the honest Chinese laborer!
I
POISON OA, CAL
167 
CHAPTER XVIII.
SUPPER AT A CEIESTIAL RESTAURANT.
H -IACERE were about one hundred and fifty gam  1_  bling- houses in China Town  a year ago, and
I suppose there are fully half as many now, and I wish
I knew the precise address of one of them," remarked
officer MIacKenzie pensively, as we stood once more in
the open street. "When the outcry against Chinese
cheap labor started up, the authorities made a raid
upon all sorts of little games down here, and managed,
not to cure John of gambling, for that can't be done,
but to teach him to hide himself so cunningly that
no one but the Father of Lies himself can find him
out. If we hear of a house and make a descent upon
it, we never find anything but the sleepiest, honestest,
smilingest old Chinaman, just getting out of bed and
maybe offering us a cup of tea because it is such
a cold night.  Every gambling-house has three street
doors to pass through, and at each one sits a man with
the string of a bell close at hand, and the minute there
is trouble, the bells ring, the porters disappear, and
the company inside scamper away like rats into their
holes.  It don't  pay to look'em up, and in  a few
months things will get back about as bad as ever!"
What  is  their favorite game?" asked " our
artist with interest.
"They tell me i+, is a game called Tan, very much
like the game of'Faro,' if you ever happened to hear
i
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~~Ar                   ~
A  HINESE GOLDSMITH.  age l16.
.to 
I 
MIDN1GIIT WANDERINGS.
o! that, young man," replied the detective, coolly; "but
they can take a hand at euchre."
"Yes, Ah-Sin played at that, played it on William
and me in the game he did not understand," put in
somebody else; but our  guide, more realistic than
poetical in his temperament, suddenly paused, and,
pointing to two alleys branching off at right angles
from the court where we stood, informed us that one
was Bull Run, and the other Murderers' Alley, so named
by the Spaniards, who had given this locality a bad
reputation before the Celestials dawned upon it. Our
friend had been a policeman here in those days, and said
it was unsafe for any man to walk through these alleys
after dark. "And just about this spot," said he, "we
used to find a man almost every morning before breakfast, served up all stark." It made one's blood run
cold to hear such things so spoken of, and then to
look up between the dark rows of frowsy houses to
the stars whose cold, clear, eyes had looked down upon
all these scenes.
We wandered on through little alleys lighted only
from the provision shops which abound, and crowded
by Chinamen talking, laughing, singing, shrieking the
wares they carried for sale, hung in baskets from
the end of long bamboo poles, or else gathering in
knots to gaze at and discuss the strangers. Nobody
seemed to think of going to bed or to sleep, although
it was now very near midnight.
We went into one more shop, a gold and silversmith's, where five or six men were as busy as if at
mid-day, drawing the gold out in wire, beating it into
1.69 
TItE GENUINE NATIONAL CUISINE.
thin plates or engraving and chasing. The lamps
illuminating this midnight toil, and indeed almost
all the lamps we saw in China Town, were common glass
tumblers, filled with oil, inll which floated a substance
like vermicelli, and said to be a weed, imported from
China for this purpose.
~    Weary in body and mind, we accepted the sugges  tion of our guide, and were conducted to the best
purely Chinese Restaurant in this quarter of the city,
although finer ones are to be found a little out of
China Town, to which the wealthy merchants are in
the habit of inviting their customers and friends. Our
desire, however, was more to see the true national
cuisine than to indulge in a feast, and we presently
stopped before a house with a provision shop occupy  ing the ground-floor and the two stories above used
as saloons and refreshment rooms. The furniture
was all of carved ebony or some other black, polished
wood, very rich and tasteful, and the rooms were divid  ed by archways.  On one floor was the great saloon
used for banquets, with an alcove for musicianswho
were not there, although the musical instruments hung
ready upon the walls; queer little round guitars
covered with serpent-skin and a little drum mountedl
on a tripod to beat time. Outside the window hung
a little balcony filled with flowers in pots and tubs,
and from it we enjoyed a wide and wonderful view
of China Town, with the brighter gas-lighted streets
of the city beyond.
We seated ourselves at several small tables, and
were first served with tea prepared in little Chinese
170 
~~~~~~~"\~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~j\\\~    ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~'~;~  *4f~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Y~~~~~~~~~~~~~l~~ ~ ~ ~
C,~ ~~~__  </
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THE BANQUET AND THE VIA NDS.
cups with covers to them, and drank without sugar
or cream, and not acceptable to a palate educated
to their use; although we meekly bow to the decision
of those tea-epicures of our acquaintance who insist
that tea is not tea unless taken au naturel, and that
Chinese tea prepared by Chinese hands, and drank
from a cup with a cover to it is the only true realization of this esthetic beverage. The tea removed,
an army of little blue Canton china plates was presented, containing squares of white cake, with a white
glazing covered with red characters, olives, salted
almonds, candied water-melon, little white cheeses,
several sorts of dark and dubious-looking sweetmeats,
and a good many unnamed and uninviting compounds
of a gelatinous and saccharine nature. We tasted the
cake, the sweetmeats and some of the anonymous
dishes, and found everything strange and disagreeable,
having a prevailing taste of lard, and that not of the
freshest. The banquet finished by a dessert of fruit,
and an orange was as refreshing as if it had not been
called channg, and the grapes bore up well under
the ignominy of being styled po-tie-chee, and the ba nanas were none the worse for the name heong gav
chew.
We finished with a course of Chinese' liquor corresponding with our whisky, and which we tasted in tiny
glasses and found fiery to the taste, and now as it was
well on toward morning and about half the party declared themselves thoroughly worn out, the dauntless
spirits who still clamored for more sight-seeing were
compelled to give in, and we presently stepped from
171 
CHIN'ESE SER VANTS.
Jackson Street into Kearney, from the Celestial and
flowery kingdom back to our American Republic, from
an Oriental dream into a very wide-awake reality.
We did not organize another as formal visit as this
to China Town, but made various little raids and
exploring trips to the less objectionable portions,
and heard a great deal of most conflicting testimony
about the Chinese question from our acquaintances
in San Francisco. Nearly all housewives agree that
Chinese servants are the best in the country-neat,
quiet, apt at learning and reliable in emergencies;
per contra, they are, above all flesh, deceitful, devoid
of personal attachment, and suspected of cultivating
the most odious vices beneath a demure and discreet
exterior. Of course, there are good and bad among
Chinese servants as among all other classes of men,
and the virtues of the good are patent upon the surface; unfortunately no man has penetrated sufficiently
beneath his smiling and subtle exterior to tell with
certainty what underlies it, and I think that, after all,
my own greatest personal objection to the Chinaman
is the arriere pense of which we were always uneasily
conscious when in his society; so that on the whole
one would not wish to set up a house in a lonely
neighborhood with a numerous retinue of Johns. One
might take to reading the old letters from India which
told at first of the skill and faithfulness of Ali, and
Nana, and then of the horrors of the Sepoy rebellion,
and then came no more! In all branches of industry
the Chinese workman ranks above the average. Having once been thoroughly shown the details of any
172 
CHINESE LABOR EXCELLENT AN)D RELIABLE.  173
handicraft, he carries them out with a patient fidelity
and exactness seldom possible to the more nervous
and speculative temperament of the European or American; and although he copies the errors as faithfully as
the perfections, he may be trusted to "do as he is bid,"
unwatched and unwearying as long as he holds to that
form of employment. The cry of "cheap labor,"
so furiously raised against the Chinese, principally by
the classes to whom any labor is abhorrent, is as
unfounded as it is malicious. A good man - cook in
a family gets $35.00 per month, and a waiter $25.00;
nor are the wages of' inferior servants, mechanics,
laundry-men, or laborers below the average of white
labor in the Eastern part of the country. What makes
Chinese labor cheap is its excellence and reliability,
the absence of a disposition "to strike," and a quiet
and gentle acceptance of the disagreeabilities of labor
and poverty which many of our native workmen seem
disposed to treat as unmerited hardship and injustice
on the part o0 their employers. Meek, gentle and
unobtrusive, John is, withal, persistent; whatever business he edges and glides into, he generally ends by
mastering and excelling in, and so simple are his
wants, and so close his economy, that a little capital is soon amassed from the wages an Irishman
would eat and drink in the jolliest possible manner,
and at the end of his career we find John modestly
drawing his little account from the savings' bank and
setting up for himself or buying a small store in some
establisned business.
Whether we like him or not, the Chinaman in Cali 
I74    JOITN IS A AIXED PAC? IN CAlIFORNIA.
fornia has become a fixed fact, and one not to be done
away with except by giving the lie to our own Institutions, especially to that clause of the Constitution
which declares all men to have a right to life and
liberty "and the pursuit of happiness," and to those
laws which welcome the emigrants of the world to our
shores and offer them  a share of that freedom and
manly self-government we are so justly proud of. Accepting the fixed fact, therefore, and giving up any great
hope of modifying it, since very few Chinamen have
ever been Christianized, and only the weaker brethren
have consented to exchange the social customs of their
forefathers for ours, all that remains is, for us to make
the best of it as it is, and treating John liberally
as a man and a brother, cultivate such of his qualities
as we esteem, deal with what we do not like, justly,
impartially, and honorably, and wait  for Time, the
great assimilator, to soften the differences, subdue the
Heathen's vices, andcl elevate the Christian's charity
until it becomes the law of the individual and of the
State.
THE INEVITABLE WINDMILL. Page 129. 
CHAPTER XIX.
WOODWARD'S GARDENS AND SEAL lOCS.
E passed a delightful morning at Woodward's
G V    ardens, a spot so well known to every one who
has visited San Francisco, talked with any one who
has been, or read the book anyone having been is sure
to write, that we will not minutely describe it here;
merely saying that Mr. Woodward is one of those
happy individuals who have had the opportunity given
them of leaving the world undeniably more beautiful
than they found it. The place was originally his own
private grounds; the building now serving as the
museum, his own private house; and having transformed the grounds into a terrestrial Paradise, and the
house into a rare collection of every sort of curiosity,
he throws the whole open to the public, who, for twentyfive cents each soul, may spend the day in rambling
among shady groves, verdant lawns, flowery bosquets,
lakes, streams and waterfalls, conservatories, ferneries,
using the swings, the trapezes, the merry - go - rounds
at will, or listening to the fine music and witnessing
the theatrical displays often given in the great arena
surrounded with seats, which is also used for dancing,
parlor-skating and acrobatic performances. Connected
with this is an excellent refreshment-room, whose
,-                    S - 1    tILS. t"                    -, muh    r. 1'.','_-.    -t._'Sk~/VEL.:.'                                                        i          2'          t
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~4:  Ad-<  t
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A FINE ZOOLOGICAL COLLECTION
dainties are more to be recommended than those
described in the last chapter.
Such a garden as this is only possible where frost
is unknown, and the Summer's growth is never nipped
by Winter's snows. Why does not human nature carry
out the rule of inanimate nature, and why are the
persons who have never known a sorrow, or a want,
or a cloud upon their day, by no means the sweetest,
the fairest or most perfect?
An underground passage leads from the gardens
proper to the Zoological Gardens, so called, and here
is a fine collection of wild animals; the ferocious ones
as languid and disgusted of mien as wild beasts in iron
cages always are; the beautiful ones more beautiful
than we often see them, because they are at liberty,
within their fenced paddocks; and one gets a better
idea of an ostrich in seeing him upon a sunny hillside,
even with a fence in the perspective, than in a cage
six feet square with his beautiful plumes as broken
and worn as an old feather duster; and the deer in their
park are as free and graceful as in their native wilds.
The most amusing feature of all was the bear-pit; tall
poles were erected in the middle with little platforms
on top that Bruin might pretend to himself that he
was climbing a tree and resting in the branches. We
were presented to an infant black bear aged three
months, a perfect darling, with innocent blue eyes, and
the sweetest little fat palms to his feet, and as full
of fun and harmless antics as a kitten. In a cool
grotto was an admirable salt-water aquarium supplied
constantly from the Pacific Ocean, and fitted up with
176 
SOCIAL CO URTESIES.
stalactites depending from  the roof, and barnacled
rocks, masses of coral, and sand at the bottom, imitating the bed of the sea. A similar fresh-water aquarium
adjoins this, and also a machine for hatching fishspawn of every variety. The tanks for seals and kindreil monsters were large and well kept, and seem
a very popular feature of the collection, especially
at feeding time, when the barking and roaring are
reallv terrific.
Quite tired out with walking, standing, looking,
laughing and admiring, we returned to the hotel and
found a vase of roses awaiting us with the card of
a lady resident in the house; the roses were the largest
I had ever seen, even in Lima, Peru-too large, indeed,
for beauty, and only curious as mammoths. In the
evening we returned the call, and found Mrs. S
a most charming and individual person. She rarely
leaves her apartments, being extremely stout, yet with
the smallest feet and hands imaginable, but she has
brought the world to herself; her wonderful conversational ability, sunshiny nature, and rare literary attainments making her drawing-room the centre of
one of the brightest circles, intellectually, in San Francisco, and reminding one of the traditions of Madame
Recamier and the galaxy of wits and savants thab
gathered around her.
Beside these living ornaments, Mrs. S       has been
able to make a collection of pictures, books, carvings
objets d'art and bric-a(-brac fit to drive a rival collectomad. Among other items in the latter direction, one
may mention three hundred tea-pots, each named after
177 
HE CLIFF HO USE A POPULAR RESORT.
a friend, and the tiny ones after baby friends. A Japanese puppy, precisely like the little monsters one
is familiar with in pottery, should, as he was alive,
occupy a third place between the coterie of friends and
the coterie of tea-pots and bric-a-brac, although he was
so excessively ugly as to be perhaps more charming
than either.  Mrs. S, besides being au fait with
every book of the day, is an admirable artist; and her
young and pretty daughter is a musician of no mean
merit, and studies the art diligently in her private
school and music rooms attached to the suite. Mrs.
S      has resided in California for twenty years or
more, her childhood having been passed in China; so
that she is one of the best possible exponents of both
the Chinese and San Francisco questions, which, in
these latter days, have become so curiously mixed.
The next morning we drove out to the Cliff House,
the most popular resort of the pleasure-seeker in this
city. We started in the fog nearly inevitable, at this
season, every morning, but warranted to clear by nine
o'clock. This especial morning the warrant failed, but
unlike gloves and boots, the day could not be returned
to its manufacturer, or exchanged for a better one,
so we made the best of it and took it out in grumbling
and seal-skin sacks. The drive through the suburbs is
not especially attractive until one enters Golden Gate
Park, the principal driving-ground of San Francisco, and
destined, like many other things in this wonderful city,
to become by-and-by one of the finest, not only of America but the world.  Just at present, however, things
are in a rather rudimentary state, th- four years of its
178  
-p
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__________  -— ~~~~~~-' -—.~~-. —----- 
G OLi)LN  GA T.E PARK. I.
existence having done a large work upon the thousand
acres of shifting sand-hills and wild ravines, thinly
clothed with cacti and evergreen-its original statusbut leaving much still to be accomplished. The first
object to achieve was to form a soil, or rather to hold
the restless sands in one spot until a soil could be laid
upon them, and this has been done by the extensive
planting of lupins, whose spreading roots interlacing
between the surface make it permanent, while the
coarse leaves and flaunting flowers, not very lovely
in themselves, form a shelter and foundation for finer
growth.   Trees  are profusely planted  already, and
the hard red roads are perfect of their kind; the commissioners are active, the citizens liberal, the climate
propitious; so that the baby of to-day, on her bridal
tour to San Francisco, may find the melancholy waste
of sand-dunes, which Padre Junipero reported as cutting off the site of the Mission Dolores from the ocean,
transformed into a park which shall be the delight
of the Continent. Presently, after a three miles' drive,
we emerge from the great gray drifts which end the
grounds upon the western side, and see the long level
line of the Pacific stretching to the horizon, its breakers rolling heavily in upon the flat beach and their
low roar filling the air.
The Cliff House perches on a steep, rocky eminence,
sweeping up abruptly from the beach, so that its piazza
literally overhangs the surf. A few hundred yards
from the shore rise the picturesque mass of broken
crag known as the Seal Rocks, and the long swell of the
Pacific meeting this obstacle, breaks from its majestic
179 
THE DISCORDANT SEA-LIONS.
placidity into an angry rush and roar of surf, sweeping
over and among the rocks and churning itself into
a foamy fury that fills all the space between  them
and the shore.
The ocean was of a dull green that day, the sk2gray, the wind blowing a gale and wildly scattering the
feathers of the sea fowl who fled before it; far to the
left stretched the sandy beach with the soft fog driftin,g
down upon it, while to the right the steep and jagged
cliffs cut sharply against the sky; from their summit
we could have looked aczoes the Golden Gate and
the lovely bay to Part Point, with its lighthouse, but
we did not do it, sitting instead upon the piazza to
watch the sea-lions or seals which swarm upon the
rocks bearing their name, playing, eating, fighting,
barking, and filling the air with shrill cries and
deep roars which mingle in discordant music with
the dash and tumult of the surf. Every age, size and
description of seal is here represented, from the soft
baby of a few weeks old, to the barnacled and clumsy
patriarch, turning the scale at three thousand pounds,
and rolling hither and thither in majestic disregard
of the small fry, who scuttle out of his path to avoid
annihilation.
The biggest, ugliest and most belligerent of the seals
is called General Butler, and he evidently is not considered an agreeable or safe neighbor, for every one
else gave place to him with a haste more of fear than
of reverence.
After breakfast-a most elaborate, prolonged, and
admirably cooked and served meal-several of us
180 
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I 
THE CEMETERIES AT LONE A0O UNTAIN.
descended the cliffs by a winding wooden staircase of
one hundred and forty steps to a little sieltered bay
and lovely sandy beach, with a huge rock towering up
just on the edge of the surf and dividing it into two
shining channels. We stood upon the sands and gazed
far out upon the lovely opai-green expanse of water
whicl in its great heaving swells seemed lifted above
our heads and gathering all its forces to roll over and
submerge us while the foam ancl din of the surf close
at hand was the onset of the battle. On each side
of the little bay the gray rocks towered up, all waterwasted and honeycombed, their surfaces fretted like
lace-work and crusted over with a kind of coral deposit
and clusters of muscle and snail shells. One of the
Seal Rocks has an arch cut completely through it,
presenting a charming effect.
On the drive home we passed Lone Mountain, a
solitary peak upon whose summit stands a gigantic
cross-mute memorial of the Spanish Fathers who
worshiped and buried their dead in its shadow.  The
hills around its base are covered with gleaming stones,
and the Romanists, the Protestants and the Chinese
have their cemeteries here.
The sun came out during the return drive, and
by the time we reached home, about two o'clock, it was
overpoweringly hot and we were glad to shelter in the
house.
181 
CHAPTER XX.
THE TIES OF CAORNIAN BUSINESS PARTNERSHIPS.
E received a pleasant call from Mr. Bryant, the
Mayor of San Francisco, a most genial gentleman, with the frankest and most honest of blue eyes,
and a mouth and teeth just formed for gracious and
contagious mirth.  His manner especially pleased us,
as lacking that reserve and arritre pen.se one learns
to expect in all men connected with political life.  HIe
is hospitable as a prince, and deservedly popular with
all classes of his constituents, while his amiable wife
is an able and active coadjutor in the social duties of
his position.
Mr. Bryant is a New Hampshire man by birth, and
came here twenty-seven years ago with a schoolmate,
his partner. There is something very touching in this
peculiar relationship which formed so marked a feature of early Californian life, and lasts down to to-day.
A  man's "partner "here is not simply his business
ally and perhaps personal enemy, but, following out
the picturesque and chivalrous scheme of life that was
the first outgrowth of Californian society, these partnerships were a reproduction of the sworn brotherhoods among the Knights of the heroic age, or of the
similar tie so common with German students of to-day;
the partner is more than friend, more than a brother,
he is an alter ego, whose interests, wvishes, pleasures
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AROCITECTURE OF SAN FRANCISCO.
and profit are as valuable to his other half as his own;
his loves, his quarrels, his ill or good luck are shared
with eager partisanship, and whatever comes between,
the tie of loyal good faith is very seldom broken.
Read Bret Harte's "Tennessee's Pardner" and you will
see what it all means better than I can tell. Mr.
Bryant and his friend live side by side to-day; they
toiled and fought side by side in the wild old days,
and the tie remains strong and bright as ever.
The mayor had brought his horses, and presently
took us out to see something more of the city than we
had yet beheld. We went first to the new City Hall,
which will not be finished for about three years more.
It is of brick, and cement, plastered outside-San Francisco architecture eschews stone, finding brick and
cement with iron beams and cross-ties and iron pillars
running from floor to roof more nearly fire and earthquake proof. They claim that this City Hall will
outlast any public building in the country, and will
be the strongest and most perfect of any structure of
the kind ever erected.  The Hall of Records is quite
separate from the main building, circular in shape
and finished with a beautiful dome; two galleries
run around the interior, and the floor is of Georgia
pine and black walnut, with a very handsome marble
centre-piece.
We went on the workmen's elevator to the roof of
the main building and saw tantalizing glimpses of a
magnificent view partially hidden by the Summer fog,
which, as usual, rested soft and gray and fleecy upon
the Bay and crept up over the foothills-Goat Island
183 
184    ORNATE RESIDENCES ON THE CLIFFS.
heaved its Pound back up through it in one spot, and
in another we caught a lovely vista of bright blue
water, and the city with its rush and roar lay spread
out at our feet.   The wind blew a gale, but it was
so soft and fresh and warm a wind that one forgave
its rude toying for the sake of the relief it brought
from the sultry heat of the day.
From the City Hall we drove up the steep hillstreets to look at some of the handsome residences on
the cliffs. Many of them are perfect palaces, generally
built of wood, and ornate to excess. Ralston's city
house is a huge caravanseri absolutely without beauty
or ornament, the grounds a mere waste of weeds and
rubbish.  Most of these places, indeed, fall short in
the matter of grounds, everything looking crude and
unfinished to Eastern eyes.
Two fine houses are in process of building by Mr.
Hopkins and Mr. Crocker. On the estate of the latter
gentleman stood a small cottage which he wished
to purchase and take down, but the owner refused to
sell under some fabulous price, and Mr. Crocker, declining to be imposedcl upon to this extent, has instead
built a high frame wall around three sides of the
cottage, completely shutting it out from his view and
also from viewing. The proprietor threatens to erect a
Chinese laundry on the roof of his house, by way of
revenge!
We called upon Mrs. Bryant, and after lunch took
a Market Street car for the Mission Dolores-the nestegg, so to speak, of San Francisco. It was built in 1776
by the Jesuits, but the original adobe building has 
THE MISSION DOLORES.
been restored almost to annihilation; however, the
church front and most of the interior remain as they
were. Over the low-arched doorway with its four columns are three little arches and two large bells; on
the right are the priests' apartments and rooms for the
Mission schools; on the left, one passes through a little
wooden gateway into the graveyard, a wild and tangled
place overgrown with ivy and myrtle, the blue flowers of
the latter as large as morning glories; the graves, like
those at Lone Mountain, each sheltered in its own little
picket fence with a high board at the end like the headboard of a bedstead. We left the sunshine outside and
entered the church, where a century's gloom and damp
seemed centralized. Oii3 aisle divided the rows of
uncushioned benches, and the floor was bare and worn
by the feet of those who now filled the neglected graveyard outside. A single arch spanned the church, and
upon it was inscribed: "How dreadful is this place;
it is none other than the,,House of the Lord and the
Gate of Heaven."  The main altar was rather bare and
rather tawdry, and at each side of the chancel was a
shrine containing statues of saints not badly executed.
The altars are old and decaying, the gilding tarnished
and the paint dingy; there were many little bouquets upon them all, and the smell of the roses was
heavy and sweet as incense.                            -
In the evening, by way of severe contrast, we went
to Baldwin's Theatre, attached to the hotel of the same
name and just finished. It is really the prettiest to be
seen in any part of the world-a perfect little gem,
fitted up like a bonbonniere in crimson satin and gold. 
CLAY HILL ELEVATED BAILWAY.
The six proscenium boxes on either side, and the row
of French boxes at the back are marvelously pretty.
Nothing could be more rich and exquisite in refinement
of taste.   The symmetry of the house  is unmarred
by rows of pillars, the galleries being suspended from
the roof.
Next morning we went up Clay Hill, on the Elevated Railway, the cars being dragged up the steep ascent
by wire cables beneath the wooden track. There is a littie engine in the middle and seats around the four sides
where you sit and dangle your feet into space; the
grade is 376 feet, and one wonders how the inhabitants
ever went up and down before the railway was laid.
We came home through China Town, never missing
an opportunity of visiting it, and saw a woman sitting
in a doorway dressed in white trowsers and a pea-green
sacque, and a man leading along a little mite of a girl
gotten up in a pink silk sacque and trowsers, silver
bracelets on her wrists and ankles, and her hair dressed in two flat round whirls at the back, stuck full of
artificial flowers. We ventured into a tenement-house,
its corridors and stairs filthy and odorous, but its many
rooms and more inmates neat and well kept, and
the former almost invariably decorated with flowers
and globes of gold - fish. These people enjoy inconvenience and prefer to exist five or six together in one
little room, men, women and children, cooking, eating,
sleeping, and living generally in a space rather scanty
for one Englishman or American. Yet all seem happy
and content, and all smile upon us persistently and
blandly.
186 
CHAPTER XXT.
SAN RAFm  AND SI. COLEA'S GROUWDS.
NE lovely Sunday morning, following the fashion
of the Romans among whom we found ourselves,
we started at eight o'clock to pass the day at San
Rafael with Mr. Coleman. Going on one of the comfortable boats of the Oaklands and Alameda Ferry
Company we found ourselves in the midst of a festive
throng of pleasure-seekers who, accompanied by a brass
band, were bound for the picnic grounds of San Rafael, one of the most popular resorts for that class of
San Franciscans who look upon Sunday as a day of
wholesome recreation and rest.
The sail, northerly up the Bay, is one of the most
charming imaginable, crossing the channel of the Golden Gate and passing close by Alcatraz with its green
breast-works and red roofed forts, then winding between
the coast range on the east, and on the West the
Mission Hills, Saucelito and Raccoon Straits, while
northward lies the great dark peak of Tamalpais,
seamed from top to base by a white sand slide where
a "cloud-burst struck" some years ago.  The soft,
bright haze only made the landscape lovelier in a
rosv-Durple light, and the water was green as emerald
and dappled with flashing white caps; presently the
run came out, the sky grew blue and deep, and ever —
, -- I -- I,.
Ad w.sgir ~'' v -~ Ho-<-22...........rover....... w o 
188       SAN RAFAEL AND ITS ENVIRONS.
thing was delicious except the long, slow, swell of the
sea, which rocked the little boat like a cradle.
We disembarked at Point San Quentin and found
the narrow gauge train of cars for San Rafael awaiting
us. Besides the usual carriages we noticed a series of
picnic cars consisting merely of platforms quite close
to the ground and furnished with bare benches. A
passage of twenty minutes or so along the shores of the
Bay brought us to to the pretty village of San Rafael,
nestling at the foot of a great conical hill, half covered
with wood. Mr. Coleman's carriage awaited us, and
the four admirable horses whirled us away, Elijah-like,
in a cloud of dust to the hills above the town. Nothing can be lovelier than the position of San Rafael, the
beautiful Bay at its feet and great Tamalpais sheltering it from the cold winds that sweep in through the
Golden Gate. The valley runs back from the coast
between swelling ranks of hills covered with verdure,
for in the warm, still air and sweet sunshine, every form
of vegetation revels and luxuriates. We drove along
the old post - road running twenty miles inland to
Petaluma, passed the old Mission House now converted into the Court House of Marion County, and the
Mission gardens and orchards still luxuriant with
flowers and fruits planted by the dead and gone old
monks, and so, through hilly by-roads and glimpses of
lovely scenery to Mr. Coleman's great nursery gardens,
where we left the carriage and walked about to pick
flowers, taste of fruits and enjoy ourselves a, la Adam
and Eve in Paradise sans the serpent. In the garden,
roses were running wild in all directions, the blossoms 
FLORICULTU'RAL GEM,S.
as large as great peonies-deep yellow, pale buff, the
darkest crimson, pure white and lovely pink; honeysuckles, geraniums, verbenas, pansies, California ever[astings, every blossom fit for a flower-show, and crowding each other in a mad luxuriance of bloom which
made it a charity to pluck as many as possible; besides these, were wildernesses of trees all in flower
or fruit, acacias, varieties of eucalyptus, guavas, blue
and red gum trees, rhododendrons, and tulip trees,
locusts and magnolias. A little wearied at last, we,
accompanied by Mr. Coleman, returned to the carriage,
and continued our drive through roads scarcely more
than projected as yet, some of them no more than mere
trails among the grass and wild flowers. Mr. Coleman
owns the whole of the San Rafael valley, about fortyfive thousand acres of wild land, and he is diligently
employed in planting it with trees from his nurseries
and laying out roads commanding the loveliest views.
He expects by-and-by to sell portions of the grounds
as building lots, and the whole region will become one
continuous garden. Always, as we wound in and out
among the hills and paused for a fresh aspect of the
charming view we found Ta,malpais in the middle distance, as distinctive a feature as Vesuvius of all Neapolitan scenery, and Mr. Coleman averred that, owing to
its protecting influence, the climate of San Rafael is
quite different from that of the coast towns-softer,
more equable, and having a larger rain and dew-fall.
Nature is so spontaneous and lavish here that she
leaves but little for man to do; on all his vast estate
Mr. Coleman employs but eleven men as nurserymen
189 
CHINESE SHRIMP FISHERMEN.
or gardeners, and the trees once planted are self-sustaining, never dreaming of withering or dying. After
several hours' drive we stopped at a lovely spot and
partook of a picnic lunch under a great laurel tree, and
then, laden with flowers and memories, said good-by and
took the homeward route, pausing to visit the little
village of San Rafael, a sleepy, peaceful spot, with numerous pretty white cottages buried in flowers and
shaded by palm trees, and in one garden a century
plant, its blossom spike twenty feet high and just
ready to burst into bloom, after which the plant dies.
Near San Quentin we passed a settlement of shrimp
fishermen, a knot of little low huts, the red papers
above their doors betraying the presence of the heathen Chinee. The black nets were drying upon the grass,
and the fishermen, blue bloused, pig-tailed and barelegged lounged about staring at us and commenting
in the usually outwardly bland and covertly sneering manner. The shrimps, when caught, are passed
through a machine which takes off their shells, which
are ground up for compost, while the meat is salted
and packed for transportation to China.
The sail down the Bay was as lovely as that of the
morning until, in the purple light of early evening, we
passed the Golden Gate and saw San Francisco, sleeping
upon her seven hills; Lone Mountain, with its great
cross towering to the sky; Telegraph Htill, overhanging
the bay, and the sunset glow making one great opal
of the quiet sea. A little later we reached the Palace
HIotel, made our rooms beautiful with the wealth of
flowers Mr. Coleman had lavished upon us, dressed for
iuu 
EX-GOVERNOR STANFORD'S PALATIAL HOME.  191
dinner and in the evening received all the world just
as one might do in Paris or New York, or anywhere
else; for the world of people does not present half
the charming varieties in different latitudes that the
world of roses and eucalypti does.
The next day we dined at Ex-Governor Stanford's,
who has the most magnificent house on this Continent; it covers an entire block and its appointments
are simply palatial.  One drawing-room is furnished
in Pompeian style from designs which were the joint
work of its tasteful mistress and her friend Miss
HIosmer, the sculptress of whom America is so proud.
The dining-room is as superb as it is spacious, and
nothing that taste could suggest or wealth provide is
here wanting, while the sleeping and dressing rooms
are as luxurious as they are dainty and magnificent,
and the picture gallery is a worthy home for its choice
paintings and statuary, where all of our native as
well as foreign artists of distinction are worthily and
characteristically represented.
The dinner was superb, the thirty guests well-selected
and harmonized, the hostess a tall, stately woman, with
regal manners fitly borne out by her costume of crimson
velvet softened with rare old lace and embellished by
a magnificent parure of diamonds and glowing opals.
Her unmarried sister, who aided her in doing the honors,
is a charming lady, both genial and courtly of manner;
but the pet of the house is a splendid boy some ten
years of age, the only child of the parents, who waited
nineteen years for his arrival. The little fellow was
presented after dinner and charmed us by his pretty 
MR. BALD TWIN'S MODEL HOTEL.
and very graceful manners.  He has great artistic as
well as other talents, and all are carefully fostered
under the charge of his adoring mother, who, on a subsequent occasion, took us to see his apartments. They
consist of study, music and play rooms, bath-room,
dressing-room, and bed-room, all fit for a prince, or
better, for the splendid American boy, whose manhood
should be the perfection of our race, so nurtured and
protected.
Next morning, after breakfast, we were invited by
Mr. Baldwin, whose unique theatre we had visited,
to go over the hotel connected with it and likewise
bearing his name. It is not quite complete as yet as
to furniture, but has been opened for visitors for a
couple of months and is a most admirable house. We
viewed the offices and were shown the improvements,
such as the revolving post office with boxes arranged
in a cylinder; the chronometer which regulates the
sixty clocks of the hotel, timing them all to a second;
an apparatus for gauging the heat of each apartment or
suite; another for reporting the movements of the bellboys; passenger elevators, and one for sending up parcels to each floor; each department provided with an
office and set of boys independent of the rest. Each
department has also its individual fire apparatus, and
a well runs the height of the building, having a small
window at each floor, and behind it a coil of hose connecting with the tank, so that at the most sudden alarm
of fire any one can rush and turn on a stream of water.
On the lower floor is a waiting, t,,om, a reading-room, a
barber's shop and a fine billiard-room for gentlemen,
192 
ITS INTERIOR APPOINTMENTS.
and at the opposite extreme of the house, in the roof,
a reading and billiard room for ladies. The parlors
were unfurnished, but we could admire their graceful
proportions and elaborate frescoing. The suites of
private apartments were charming, finished in black
walnut and furnished, many of them, in crimson velvet
and gray satin, with fine large, light bath-rooms, rich in
hooks and shelves, unlimited closet room and all tlhe
accessories of each suite daintily matched and harmonized. The rooms of the suites connect but have double
doors to insure perfect privacy. The upper floor,
or sixth story, furnished in light California wood, is
devoted to bachelor apartments, where smoking is
not forbidden!
The theatre connects with the hotel, and two minutes before each act the prompter touches a bell ringing in the bar, so that thirsty souls may appease the
pangs of drought with no danger of losing any part
of the play. Altogether, we must confess that Mr.
Baldwin's hotel, like his theatre, is quite the model
building of its class in this our model country.
K                                    -_~~~~~~~~=
ERS IN ECHO CANoN.  Page 71.
193 
iI  -.                                            4
:4                                                                             1         0                                                            1
~ -
CHAPTER XXII.
THE ROSES OF SANTA ROSA.
ISING at six one fine morning we ate such breakfast
as was possible at that crude hour, and embarked
for the first stage of our journey to the Geysers. The sail
up the bay was a repetition of Sunday's experience, and
at Donohue Landing we took the train for Cloverdale, and
were soon flying through the loveliest country imaginable
-a perfect Arcadia. The land was level and an almost
unbroken mass of verdure and bloom, field after field of
wild grain, which in California holds the place of grass
with us, with great wide-armed trees brooding over it,
live and white oaks, garlanded with gray moss, laurels
and chestnut trees; here and there were tracts of wild
poppies, great solid sheets of golden bloom without a blade
of green, flaming in the sunshine until the eye was dazzled with their glory, broad patches of blue and purple
and orange flowers of names unknown, and, darting over
and among them, whole flocks of birds with colors as vivid
as the flowers —blue-jays, blackbirds with scarlet epaulets,
burnished blue-black magpies, and quails with oddlyplunmed
heads, sitting fearlessly uponi the fences. Hlere and there
were great herds of cattle and flocks of sheep, but happily
very few signs beside of the occupancy or dominion of
mnal.
vi ii      a      l     lIl. s s =~ l                     1 1PU 
A1N AMERICAN SAINT.
At Santa Rosa we left the train for a little exploration, and found the Mayor and some of the dignitaries of
the place awaiting us with hospitable and courteous intent,
and three vehicles in readiness to carry us around the
town, which ceitaii-ly is well worth the seeing.  Santa Rosa
is named in honor of the first and we believe only American saint in the Romisli calendar.  She was an inhabitant of Lima, in Peru, a charming girl, endowed with
numberless graces of body and soul, and enthusiastically
given to practices of religion, sighing in her fervent devotion for the palm  of martyrdom, even of the most
terrible nature.  After her death, the Pope then occupying St. Peter's chair was requested to canonize her, but
refused to do so, expressing the greatest incredulity at the
notion of a holy virgin having lived and died in Lima, of
all places.  Urged yet farther, he exclaimed, "Yes, when
roses fall from out the skies upon my head, I will believe
that this Rosa was all that you claim, and will surely
canonize her!"
No sooner had the words passed the lips of the holy
father-you will not doubt the legend surely-than a
heavenly perfume filled the apartment and a shower of
the fairest and sweetest roses fell upon his head and hands,
and slid meekly to his feet. Astonished and humiliated,
the Pope hastened to fulfil his pledge, canonized the fair
Limena without delay, and named her Patron Saint of her
native America.  Churches and convents have been called
in her holnor, and in one of the finest of these latter at
Lima her remains are religiously preserved. No doubt
it is in consequence of her fostering care, but surely roses
195 
A MODERN EDEN.
never bloomed more beautifully or perfectly than in this
little Californian town whose name is hers.
In one garden was a giant rose-bush twenty-five feet
high, with a sturdy trunk like a tree, and the top one
snowy globe of blossoms. In another garden we saw an
evergreen, up which a climbing white rose had made its
way and thrust forth sprays of creamy roses from among
the dark foliage with a wonderfully pretty effect.
The Mayor was a jolly sort of personage, with an uproarions laugh and a thoroughly hearty manner, who addressed the Chief simply as "Colonel," and invited us all
into the bar-roomn for a treat of beer. The editor of the
kSonoma -Demnocrat, 3Mr. Thompson, accompanied the
Mayor and made a very agreeablle addition to the party.
Hie has lived in Santa Rosa for twenty years, and is enthusiastic both as to its present and future. Still one
could but wonder that a man of Mr. Thompsoil's rare
erudition, intellect, and refinemnent could be happy so far
away from a great literary centre.  The Mayor also was
enthusiastic about his pretty little town, averring that it
possessed the best climate, less high wind and more rainfall, and the healthiest influences of any in California.
Fruit and flowers, he said, could be had for the picking
eleven months in the year, and grew with scarcely any
cultivation. There is a church in this town eighty feet
deep, forty wide, and thirty in height, every plank and
shingle of which were cut from a single red-wood tree.
This wood is beautiful for building purposes, requiring
only a coat of varnish upon the surface to bring out the
richest warm color imaginable.
196 
THE TREAT RED-WOOD TREES.
The Sonoma red-wood grove is near Santa Rosa, and
the Alayor and his party proposed escorting us thither.
Upon the way back to the station we craved and obtained
from ]ir. Thompson a few statistical items, such as that
the population of Santa Rosa has within five years advanced from one thousand to six thousand, and that she
possesses five churches, and two colleges, one under the
1ethodist, the other under Campbell-Baptist patronage.
From Santa Rosa we passed through the rich and
lovely scenery of the Sonoma Valley into a region where
the track began to wind and curve between steep hillsides black with huge pines and cedars, crossing and recrossing the little deep-green stream of the Russian River.
We were in the red-wood country, and the trees began to
shoot higher towards heaven tall, dark trunks, straight as
masts, and beginning to throw out branches at about the
height common trees leave off altogether; here and there
were patches of blackened giant stumps, and here and
there lumber yards, until of a sudden the trees seemed to
crowd down and close across our path, the train stopped,
and we dismounted in the heart of the Sonoma red-wood
forest. Those who knew told us to restrain our superlatives of wonder and admiration until we saw the really
"big trees" of Calaveras and Mariposa, the world-famous
Sequois; but after all, size is not the only measure of
beauty, or astonishment the highest proof of delight, and
many of us enjoyed more in wandering through the cool
dark depths of this grove, looking up to the rustling roof
of foliage so far above our heads that we could scarce
distinguish the leaves, and listening to the roar of the wind
197 
198      THE COU-~TRY INN'S OF CALIFORNIA.
in their unseen crests like the roll of surf upon a distant
shore, than we did subsequently at Mariposa.
The rest of the journey was pleasant, but uneventful,
and we reached Cloverdale in time for dinner in the big,
bare dining-room of the pleasant inn. These countrv inns
of California were quite charming-more like those one
finds in the heart of rural England than those to be seen
elsewhere in America-long, low, two-storied houses, with
plenty of cosy little rooms, clean and homely, but, unlike
England, with no arrangemnelnts for fire, and with a long,
wide piazza across the front.   We saw nothing of quiet
little Cloverdale except the iinn, and after dinner found
the stage awaiting us-a great open vehicle with five seats,
capable of accommodating three persons on each-and a
big black-bearded driver.   We  started at once;  and
much as we had previously enjoyed California scenery,
this afternoon's experience was  the climax.   The air
was warmn and peculiarly sweet, the slanting lights exquisite, the shadows artistic, and the rapid RPussiaii River,
which we waded twice, with the water up to otlr horses'
girths, full of life and verve.
Presently we struck into Sulphur Creek Canon, a wild
and wonderful mountain gorge, where the road is hewn
out of the face of a precipice, with a sliheer descent of
three or four hundred feet between it and the river-bed
below, and a wall of rock above, crowned with a fringe of
dark-green trees. The road is safe, no doubt, but there is
not a foot of ground to spare between the wheel-tracks
and the unguarded edge, and as it winds and doubles
around a series of capes and promontories, succeeding 
A TERRIFIC DRIVE.
each other like the links of a chain, the leaders of our
spirited "four-in -hand" were often invisible to the occupants of the back seat of the coach.   Our driver at least
knew no fear, and dashed along in grand style, grinding
the edge of the precipice with his outer wheels as he
swung round the sharpest curves at a dead run, often
lashing his horses into a gallop, and laconically answering
the timid and respectful inquiry whether such a course
was quite safe, with the phrase " You bet!"
This gentleman was not a conversational person, and,
it is to be feared, was something of a misogynist. At any
rate, he expressed great contempt for the terror of the
ladies, and sneered cruelly at our desire to see a grizzly
bear, which amiable creature is still occasionally to be met
with in this vicinity.
"I'd like to see you hold them horses if a grizzly
showed his snout. I couldn't do it," remarked he, and
then in a burst of confidence went on to say that this
road had been opened only a few years, and that he
drove "the first wheel" that ever passed over it.   We
longed to inquire if this wheel was attached to a wheelbarrow, but refrained, and found ourselves rewarded by
the farther information that our friend had been "staging
it" for twenty-five years without a single accident; that
he was both owner and driver of this entire line, consisting of five coaches and twenty horses, and that his net
profits at the end of the year were just about enough to
keep him in clothes.
"I go stagin' for glory, I do," remarked he, and then
evidently feeling that he had sufficiently sacrificed to the
199 
0  UR DRIVER.
curiosity of the female sex and the duties of hospitality,
he closed his mouth like a steel trap, and opened it no
more, except for the surliest monosyllables, only unbending
so far as to point out the MIadrona trees (big mothers), so
called by the Spaniards, from their size. They are wonderfully beautiful, their great, glossy trunks and branches
glowing with a color like burnished copper, shading into
cinnamon flecked with gold, and having a curious grapelike bloom upon them. The glossy, green leaves, too, are
touched with g)ld, so that even in shadow the trees look
as if the sun were shining upon them, and ill sunshine
they blaze with splendor against the deep-blue background
of the mountain sky.
The white oaks, too, were very attractive with their
broad, low crests, the gray Spanish moss flaunting like
banners from their sturdy arms, mixed with great knots
of mistletoe, enough to furnish forth a whole college
of Druids, or all England's Christmas festivities.  The
birds flitted in and out of this dark foliage, bright as
winged flowers, and about sunset gave us a grand vesper
chorus, at sound of which the gay little lizards, gray, and
brown, and bright blue, slid out of sight beneath the
stones; the shadows stole from the depths of the piine
trees, and crowded down to fill the depths of the canon,
and Nature was so obviously preparing for her night's rest
that we were quite relieved when, at a sudden turn of the
road, we came in sight of the Geysers, whose steamy vapor
gleamed purple in the sunset light.
We passed an abandoned quicksilver mine, gaping and
desolate, with its ruined roofless buildings, and just as the
200 
A BRIDAL PARTY.
sunset chill began to creep up from the canon, arrived at
the little mountain inn where we were to pass the night.
It was a little straggling low-roofed building, from whose
windows gleamed the welcome of a blazing wood-fire.
Cold, weary, and hungry, we stiffly descended from our
perches, and were shown into the cosy little parlor, where,
beside the fire, we found welcome from some travellers
already enjoying it, and were glad to recognize the bride
whose nuptials made so great an excitement in the
fashionable world of New York lass winter.
Herself and husband had been at the Geysers earlier
in the season, and were pleased with the quaint little
mountain inn, and they had returned to pass another
week there. The bride seemed happy and cheerful, and
had lost nothing, in her newly-acquired matronly dignity,
of the genial grace of manner which had made her, as
:Miss R- -, so many friends in her widely-extended circle.
The handsome young husband, with his thioroughbred,
rather English air, seemed born to the millions which had
come to him by kind fortune and with his amiable and
accomplished wife, and we passed a pleasant hour chatting
of mutual friends and acquaintances, of our own city,
and of others that both parties had recently visited, of the
bridal party's abandoned trip to China and approaching
European tour, until we parted for the night with a cordial grasp of the hand, mutual good wishes, and, on our
side at least, with a fervent and heartfelt prayer for
future happiness and prosperity among the chances and
changes of this most uncertain life.
A little later we all enjoyed an entertainment certainly
9*
201
1. 
202    ACOUSTIC PROPERTIES OF THE.HOTEL.
not set down in the programme. The Geyser Hotel is
constructed upon a novel and decidedly breezy plaii, the
corridors being all open to the outer air, and the bedrooms each having a door upon the piazza runining around
the house; besides these conveniences for communication,
the partitions are nothing but thin boarding, considerably
shrunken, and conversation can be carried on with perfect
ease from one end of the establishment to the other, even
after every door is shut that CAN be shut. The consequence of this arrangement, on this particular evening,
was that we all heard ourselves discussed with a frankness and candor not usually granted to one's own ears.
The little inn was full of guests, and probably no two
of them failed of some remark upon the new arriivals.
The rival claims to beauty of the various ladies of the
party-for our ranks had  been recruited by a lovely
widowed friend from California —their toilets, manners,
and identity were all freely discussed, and the two married gentlemen of our comnpany had the satisfaction of
hearing their wives freely bestowed upon each other or
upon the bachelors, while the charming widow was made
a wife once more, and one of the wives set down as a
widow, the maiden married, and a general new distribution of the party effected with the most charming celerity
and certainty.
We mnust confess, however, that nothing malicious or
slanderous was heard, and when the subjec(t in the adjoining rooms turned from ourselves to the personal affairs of
the gossipers, the rap of a brush-iandle upon the door
secured silence and the possibility of slumber.
"I 
CHAPTER XXIII.
THE GEYSERS AND FOSSE OF FOSSEVILLE.
T is proper to begin a day at the Geysers by visiting
the baths, of which there is quite a variety. Passing
down the canon opposite the house, and keeping along
the bed of a stream, one arrives at a little rustic bridge,
and crossing it to the bath-houses, takes one's choice
between hot sulphurous water, dense steam —also sulphurous-and a cold plunge in the river.
The odors of the sulphur baths were odious, but the
waters felt pleasant, and left a delightful sensation upon
the skin.
Coming out of the houses we wandered a little farther
up the canon and seated ourselves upon the dry, crumbling soil, through which jets of vapor were spouting here
and there, some close beside the river, as if its clear,
cold waters had been subterraneously boiled and were
throwing off steam.
The Geysers are seen to greater advantage at early morning than later in the day, as the vapor condenses more
in the chill hour before sunrise than afterward, and we
sat for awhile content to watch the Afrit-like shapes of the
columns of steam rising and forming, and then dissolving
in endless succession, while the level rays of the rising
sun touched first the crest of the rocky walls of the canon,
I
I 
A SCENE OF DESOLATION.
then crept slowvly down, lighting the cold, gray rock and
black-green evergreens to warmth and life, and making
prisms and irises of the cloudy stream-wreaths.
But even the sunlight and the morning could not alter
the general mournful, uncanny, blasted look of nature in
all this region, the soil, apparently of crumbled pumice
stone, is ghastly in its pale-gray color, unenlivened by verdtire or the tender brown of arable earth; the river
moaned and miurmured as if those subterranean fires were
scorching its life-springs, and clouds of vapor assumed
more and more fantastic shapes.
After breakfast we set forth for the regular tour of
the Geysers, crossing the stream at the foot of the cartion,
and winding a little trail into another gorge, wild and
steep, and gradually bringing us into the region of purely
mineral and chemical life, with little trace of vegetable
or animal existence.
The soil, after passing a landmark called the Devil's
Arm-Chair, and the Magnesia Spring, is a mere crust of
crystallizations of sulphur and lime, beds of cinnabar, like
wet red paint, green incrustations of copper, and brilliant
yellow patches of brimstone, everything wet with the oosing mineral waters, and scalding hot to the touch, the air
dense with horrible fumes and clouds of hot steam puffing up into one's face, jets of boiling water spirting under
one's feet, and black, bubbling pools lying ready to entrap
the unwary; the loose and friable soil crumbles beneath
the tread, and seems to breathe hleat, so that one feels as
if walking over an endless series of registers, with a seventimes heated furnace underneath.
04  
THE WITCHES' CAULDRON, CAL. Page 205.
4,OF   1 
THE WITCHES' CA ULDRON..
Few mortal experiences can give so vivid an idea of
the infernal regions, and were I a great reformner of the
Calvinistic school, I would simply engage Mr.  Cook to
take all my converts to this valley, upon a gigantic excursion, sure that it would do more to frighten thein fiomi
evil courses than any amount of preaching.
The Witches Cauldron, black as ink, leaping, bubbling, and hissing, is all but hidden in the dense clouds
of vapor, so that one only sees it through the rifts, and
may fancy it limitless in extent, and peopled with the
spirits of the damned; there is a continual rumbling and
roaring in the bowels of the earth, which suggests the
pleasing idea of an earthquake possible at any moment.
The utter absence of vegetation and of animal life adds a
certain horror to the scene, suggesting a world in process
of extinction, where manl, the latest and highest form of
creation, is also to be the last to perish.
This gorge is appropriately called the Devil's Canon,
and the heat, and the steamn, and the sounds, and the
smells, and the vague horror of the whole intensified, until we reached the Devil's Pulpit, a huge crag, closing the
valley and commanding its whole sweep, the pools in the
bottom round which our path had skirted, and the steep
bare sides, patched all yellow and scarlet, and ashy white,
with hundreds of jets of steam-n and smoke bursting out in
every direction. Such a picture must have been in John
Bunyan's mind when he described Christian's journey
through the Valley of the Shadow of Death, and we were
fain to fancy the dark evergreen forests of Sulphur
Canon, which closed the distant view, as representing the
205 
0 VER A VOLCANO.
Delectable Mountains, and the little white hotel nestling
in its fertile clearing, as the House Beautiful with its fair
inmates.
Perhaps the gray-headed and learned looking man, in
a linen duster, whomn we found wandering in the Valley,
was the Interpreter. At any rate, he joined himself to
our party in a friendly manner, and informed us with the
voice of authority, that the phenomena of this spot was
occasioned by the action of various chemical agencies
meeting and conflicting just beneath the surface of the
ground. Our guide, however, not a bit like Great-Heart,
by the way, pooh-poohed this theory with great scorn, insisting that the region was volcanic, and the commotion
we witnessed was but a feeble exponent of much more
terrible disturbances deep down below our feet. In fact,
the savant would have the trouble a mere cutaneous disorder, of little real importance, while the guide considered it symptomatic of deep organic disease. I myself
inclined to the latter theory as being more terrific and exciting, and walked gingerly about on the crisp lava-like
surface of the subterraneous volcano, expecting each moment when it should explode and blow our theories and
ourselves sky-high, whence we might take a wider view
of the matter!
In support of his side of the question, the guide presently led us past the Devil's Pulpit, through a pretty little path suddenly blossoming out of the waste, to the
crater of what he declared to be an extiincet volcano. It
was a great circular depression in the earth, its surface
dry and baked with patches of mineral deposit, variegat
206 
2HE INDIAN VAPOR BATH.
ing its dull ashen color, and sounding hollow beneath our
feet as we stamped upon it.
Especially, we noticed some lovely needle-like crystals
of sulphur, so delicate that they crumbled at a touch, and
altogether could well believe that in some unremembered
age, this mournful basin was filled with boiling lava, and
sent forth its desolating streams to fill the valley beyond.
The little track wound on in a gentle curve, passing a
great white oak bent nearly to the ground, with a hole in
the side where visitors are in the habit of thrusting their
cards for the benefit of acquaintances who may chance to
comne after.  Some grass and bushes timidly appear here
and there, but the path presently curves away from them,
and sweeps into the region of Geysers again.
The Indians' vapor bath is a deep cave in the side of a
hill, filled with scalding hot steam, which rises and hangs
around the entrance in a dense cloud; the Indians used
to resort here yearly for this bath until within a brief
period, but now come no more. Near by is a safety valve
through which the hot air puffs in regular blasts with a
hoarse roaring sound, and such force as to eject pebbles
thrown into the opening somne three or four feet into the
air.
As we passed we saw a picturesque group of hunters
on horseback and on foot, slowly climbing the steep footlill beyond, with dogs and a pack-mule following, and
were told that game is various and abundant in this region,
ranging from grizzly bears to woodcock.
The trail wound around the steep sweep of the hills a
little farther, and then down to the little stream at the
207 
A S UBLlfE FVIE W.
bottom of the cainon, and so by the bath-houses to the hotel
where we rested an hour, lunched, and were ready at one
o'clock to mount the open stage-wagon with its four fine
horses driven by a son of Fosse, the celebrated horse breaker and stage driver of this region, although, indeed,
his reputation extends all over California.
The stage was to convey us to Fosseville and Calistoga,
where we were to take the ears again for the home trip,
travellers generally preferring to go by the Cloverdale
and return by the Calistoga road, instead of retracing their
steps. We had been assured that this part (of the route
would prove far more terrific than that we had passed on
the previous day, and had braced ourselves to a pitch of
unshrinking and unshlrieking courage quite beautiful to
contemplate, but altogether wasted as the event proved,
for the road was, if anything, a little less dangerous, and
the scenery even more beautiful than that previously
passed.
Both road and scenery presented the same general
features, a deep canon with the road cut in the side of one
of the ranges enclosing it; the same curving and doubling
and serpentine festooning around head-lands, and capes of
rock rising hundreds of feet above our heads, and falling
hundreds of feet below to the sombre depths of the gorge,
and the all-but inaudible river far beneath. To-day, however, the canon was wider and the scene more extended;
at almost the highest point we passed a little cabin perched
like an eyrie above the world, and commanding a view of
the whole Sonoma Valley, a great green trench, with no
track through it except this one clinging to the side of
208 
POETIC PINE FLAT.
the canon, and the bright watercourses sparkling through
it.
Beginning to descend, we passed over the Dog's Back,
which some one has described as a most awful and perilous
pass, but to us it seemed no worse and no different from
several similar points of the route; the precipices above
and below were steep and the road not the one we should
select to train a frisky four-in-hand team upon, but it was
wide enough for our safe passage, and the curve not
nearly so sharp as sonic around which we had jauntily
swung.
The view from this point was sublime, but although a
succession of slightly varying views bring with themselves
a sufficient difference of charm to sustain the interest for
days and days, the English language contains but twentysix letters, and no very varied vocabulary of adjectives, so
that we spare all farther description of the frinlgy mountain lilacs beside the road, and the great splendid Madrona trees ablaze in the sunshine, and simply say that
descending precipitously from the heights whereon we
had dwelt for two days, we camne into a green and level
region, and by and by stopped at a little wayside station
consisting of half a dozen houses hidden in a grove of pine
trees.
This was Pine Flat, of poetic celebrity, but now falling
to decay, the population having within two years dwindled
from six thousand to fifteen souls, its present census. The
abandonment of the quicksilver mines in the vicinity is
the cause of this exodus, and the only present industry of
Pine }'lat is the collection of minerals and crystals which
209 
AN. A GGRESSIVE AUTOCRAT.
are offered for sale to travellers, just as similar products
are at Vesuvius and Pestum.
From Pine Flat we drove through a pleasant nninteresting country of several miles, and finally arrived at Fosseville and drew up before the castle of Fosse himself; it
was a charming white house with a huge white-oak before
the door, and quantities of flowers both inside and outside
of a huge garden. The great Fosse came forward to meet
us, or rather to upbraid and reprove us, for it seems we
had been expected to dine and perhaps pass the night, and
a banquet had been prepared and spoiled by waiting;
furthermore, Fosse himself had driven out six-in-hand to
meet us, and coming home disappointed had solaced himself with whiskey to an extent not increasing his natural
amiability. He is a great, burly fellow, a native of New
Hampshire, and so long accustomed to autocracy in this
region, as to bitterly resent such disregard of his plans
and efforts, as we unwittingly had shown. Ile accordingly
received us very gruffly, and evidently had resolved to
make us feel the penalty of his displeasure.
We were shown to the charmingly neat rooms prepared
for us by his amiable, pretty, young wife, and spent half
an hour in removing so much as was possible of the coatingi, of red dust, in which we were encased like imummnies
i l asphaltum. Descending, we found Fosse himself seated
upon the driver's seat of the wagon prepared to take us to
Calistoga, but no sooner had we started, than it became
apparent that his ill-humor had only increased by expressioni, and had reached a pitch beyond the power of the
softest words to turn away-even the Sultana's eloquence
210 
BEHIND A SIX-IN-HAND.
being tried upon him without the slightest effect.  What
was worse, this mood found expression in his mode of
managing the six horses who tore along at a rate threatening to project us all into the road at the slightest notice,
and the result of the whole was, that it was considered
wisest to bend to the offended power and return to pass
the night and eat the funeral baked meats as best we
might.
The word was said, the six horses wheeled as if on a
pivot, and we tore back again, having been absent from
the house about ten minutes, and traversed about three
miles.  A supper was served which did ample justice to
the la'ndlord's grumbling complaints as to the trouble and
expense of the wasted dinner, and while it was preparing
we walked in the pretty garden, and down a planked path
to a little cottage buried in roses and white blossomed
vines; it is let to lodgers and is quite the ideal nest in
which a pair of newly-wedded doves might pass their
honey-moon.
Our lovely young widow decked herself in roses and
made her travelling dress fit for a ball-room, but she
herself was still the freshest and sweetest rose of all, as
both eyes and whispers told her. After supper a roaring
wood-fire, and a new upright piano and the widow's svmpathetic voice made the little parlor charming, and we
passed a happy although short evening, for every one was
weary, and at an early hour sought the sweet, fresh bedrooms where rest and sleep awaited them.
Breakfast was as good as the supper had been, and at
last with lightened consciences and somewhat lightened
211 
THE NAPA VALLEY.
purses, we again mnounted the big stage, and were driven
by the comforted but not quite genial Fosse, to Calistoga,
miaking the six miles in twenty-one minutes!
The four-hours journey by rail fromn this  place  is
through the Napa Valley, a lovely cultivated countryT, with
miles of vineyards, where the vines look like a bouquet of
leaves tied to a sturdy stalk, hardly a foot higl.  We
passed Mr. Woodward's charming cotluntry seat, saw the
State Lunatic Asylium, and, as we took the steamboat, had
a glimpse of the Navy Yard.
Thlen another delightful sail with old Tamalpais welcoming us back to the region where he presides, until at
length tired, dusty, disordered, but rich in new experiences
and pictured memories, we arrived at the Palace  lotel
and revelled once,nore in all the appliances of the highest
civilization.
A DRIVE WITH FOSSE OF FOSSEVILL.
212 
I'..... — ~.
CHAPTER XXIV.
LAST DAYS IN SAN FRANCISCO.
T had been decided that after the visit to the Yose  mite Valley, which is, of course, inevitable in every
Californian tour, we should explore the Southern part of
the State to some extent, and return to the direct homeward route without revisiting the Golden Gate, and as
the day of our departure drew near, every member of the
party began, each in his or her own fashion, to make
those frantic and futile snatches at the special delight
they were about to lose, which are a feature of almnost
every departure whether from a scene of enjoyment or
life itself.
For our own part we haunted the Chinese quarter,
greedily gathering up every item  of novelty, every intimation of the hidden life of this strange people, and so
many tangible memorials of our visit as the limits of our
purse and trunks would allow.
We visited Lee Yip and his silver "eelings" as usual,
and found the shop crowded with customers; in especial
w-e noticed the prettiest little China woman  imaginable,
dressed in dark blue silk trousers and a purple silk sack,
her long hair braided with scarlet ribbons, and wearing
rich bracelets, and ear-rings of green stones heavily set in
gold. IHer expression was marvellously sweet, and her
I
I 
A C'tIIfESE BEA UTY.
complexion a wonderfully clear golden white with a faint
pretty color in the cheeks.  Slhe spoke no English, but
our little high caste Lee Yip informed us that she was
"mallied," and indicated a fat aquilinie-nosed disagreeable old fellow as the husband, although both his own
expression and the gig,gling of the spectators gave us amost uncomfortable sensation of being hoaxed.  We invited her to sit for a picture, and for reply she tried to
run out of the shop, but being caught and brought back,
she finally submitted with a good grace, and sat still while
a pretty little picture was made of her, the " husband "
and a crowd of friends looking on, laughing and criticising, in Chinese.
Lee Yip gave us his autograph, and he and the rest
amused themselves by examining our jewels and the young
lady's purse, which they opened, discussed and handed it
round, finally returning it with the contents intact.  Fromn
this favorite haunt we wandered away through several
little dark alleys, seeing the dirt we had only smelt during
our evening expedition. The sidewalks are only wide
enough for one person to pass at a time, and the doors of
the houses open directly upon them, and as each door is
provided with a sliding panel at the height of a man's
head, one cannot fail to get a pretty clear idea of the
internal economy of the houses; in many, however, the
view was obstructed by a female face highlfy decorated,
p)erfumed, and painted, looking out as earnestly as we were
looking in; over many of these panel-windows a bunch
of joss-sticks, or some red and gold paper were slowly
burning away, probably on the horse-shoe principle,
214 
THE FRE.NCH QUARTFR.
although I fear quite as much evil dwelt within as could
approach from without.
Ill one of these alleyrs we passed a doctor's office, with
two great paper signs on rollers outside the door, covered
with illustrations of the most hideous forms of disease
depicted il the reddest possible paint, and a great deal of
it. Also we saw a poulterer's shop, with hundreds of
bamboo cages of live hens and pigeons. Near the Bureau
ofj Emigration we again met a throng of nlewly-landed
emigrants with umbrella-shaped hlats and great bundles
and bales done up with straw-ropes.  They were all chattering like magpies, and stared and laughed at us even
more boldly than we did at them.
Just back of China Town is the Frenchi quoter, and
we coyly promeniaded through two or three streets of
little one and two-storied houses, consisting, as the open
window assured us, of little more than a front-pailor, and
a bed-room  behind, some of them elegantly furnished.
The half-doors are finished with a little cushioned ledge
at the top, where the occupant may stand and lean with
folded arms to enjoy the outer scellery when so disposed,
while a little silver plate below is engraved with her
Christian name only; a glass door within is decorated
with lace-curtains and the air of the whole is prettier and
more graceful than the Chinese houscs,  There are, however, no joss-sticks or gilt paper above the doors, no anmulets or charms, alas! to avert the evil that stalks boldly
through all these quarters of the town.
In one of these last days, Mayor Bryant invited us for
a parting drive behind his elegant four-in-hand team.
215 
A LUNCH WITH THE M. YO1.
We went to Oaklands, which rather disappointed us, being
more city-like and less rurally beautiful than we had
anticipated, but passing through the city we wound up
into the hills, between high wooden slopes and constantly
catching glimpses of the bay and the Golden Gate.  We
passed several ranches, and some green meadows coInpletely perforated with the burrows of the gray and brown
ground-squirrels, who scampered about quite tame and
undismayed.
Live-oak and chaparral were abundant, but everything looked brown and dusty until we reached the
Mayor's own grounds, where care and irrigation will soon
make a paradise around the pretty cottage which he has
recently purchased as a summer home. Everything looked
green and smlniling, plenty of roses and other flowers,
a rustic bridge, and a little summer-house, all home-like
and rural.
We lunched in a pleasant company, and then walked
up the hill behind the house to see the trout artificially
hatched in a pool and brook, manufactured for them, as
nearly as possible, on the model of their native New
IIampshire streams; after this we visited the stables and
horses, of which the Mayor is justly proud, sat in the
cosy little house with MVIrs. Bryant and her other guests,
and then enjoyed one of the fastest of fast drives home
in the purple twilight, and devoted the evening to the
painful task of packing.
The next day we made a sorrowful promenade through
some of our favorite haunts; we liked the steep hills
which slope up and down from Kearney Street, with its
216 
P.ERIPA IE TIC FCL O WER-STANDS.
macadamized side-walks and cobble-stone pavements, the
background of the brown foothills circling the town, and
the heights crowned with the ambitious homes of rival
capitalists, which a vivid imaginaation can readily convert
into castles; one of the chlaracteristic sights, and a very
pretty one, are the flowerstands ellnclosed in glass and
mounted on wheels filled with bouquets for sale.
Then the fascination of clilbing Sacramento or Washington Streets and finding one's self in that swarm of
Chinese is one that never wears out for us, and were it not
for wearying the reader, we could go through uninumbered pages describing the quaint, queer, outlandish
sights and people, whom nobody comprehends, and who,
while we arrogantly try to civilize and Christianize them
by our own standard, complacently seat themselves upon
the heights of their own civilization, their own religion,
and consider us as outside barbarians whom it is not worth
their while to convince of error and ignorance.
I-. 
ON THE ROAD TO THIE "BIG TIHEES." Page 243.
217 
CIIAPTER XXV.
A LODGE IN A VAST WILDERNESS.
T  three in the afternoon we said good-by to the
Palace IIotel, and laden with flowers and pleasant
adieux, and friendly wishes from a host of new-inade, but
not sooii-to-be-forgotten friends, we embarked  upon the
Oaklands ferry-boat, and when well off discovered that a
large portion of our l,ggage was left behind, and still ruminatinlg on this disaster, took train for Mierced, at which
place we arrived at ten at night and were welcomed by
Senator Conover and his party, whom we had airranlged to
meet at this point.
In spite of a driving shower we sallied forth to visit
the lions of the place, the principal of which seemed to be
the Cosmopolitan Saloon, large billiard and refreshment
rooms handsomely furnished in native woods, gorgeously
fitted up and said to be the finest establishment of the kind
in California; its attractions for us, however, were soon
exhausted, and we were all glad to return to our hotel for
rest and sleep.
Seen by the gray light of early dawn next morning
lIerced showed itself a flat, straggling, dismal town
enough, planted in the midst of a bare and level plain,
destitute of trees, or verdure, or anything to be called
scenery, unless the white sails of numberless windmills 
IN THE WAKE OF LOCUSTS.
may be so called.  The hotel is large and commodious
and quite an important point of junctioni for various lines
of roads and coaches.
The great entrance hall was piled with luggage and
crowded with travellers each intent upon his own especial
box, his own especial route, and his own especial comfort.
One of our party was quite amused by a conversation re
hearsed in this hall where an angry gentleman, disappointed
in obtaining places in a coach secured entirely for ourselves, exclaimed: "Now that is what I call too bad, too
mnean, if we have got to travel to the Yosemite in the
wake of that Leslie party!  We were behind them all the
way to the Geysers and back, and it was like travelling in
the wake of a swarm of seven-year locusts. Not a carriage, not a house, not a bed, not a guide, not a decent
dinner to be had anywhere,' they had all been engaged
or golie with or devoured by Mr. Leslie's party,' was the
universal cry, until I was sick of the name and now we
are going to have it all over again, it seems."
In spite of the lamentations of this modern Jeremiah,
however, the best coach was soon laden with as many of
us as it would hold, and the second best nearly filled with
the remainder of the party, and we all drove chelerfully
out of Mierced, perfectly content with the dispensations of
Providence, and wishing that everybody else was so also.
Iiil thile suburbs of ]Merced we saw in some of the barn?v:uds a kind of plough peculiar to this region, having ten
or a dozen blades or plough-shares, and intended to be
drawn by as many horses. Except for this contrivance it
would be impossible to cultivate these immense  fields,
219 
TOO LITTLE RAIN AND TOO MUCH.
hundreds of acres in extent. The road was fine, hard as a
floor, and perfectly level, but scarcely distinguishable ill
color from the barren plains stretching away from it on
either hand, brown, bare, and dry.  Far more desolate, to
our mind, than the Great Plains. There had been so
little rain here during the past winter that vegetation had
nearly died out, and the only green things to be seen were
some stunted willows growing beside a dried up river-bed.
On these plains we saw the first jack-rablbits, as large
as a great cat or small dog, who sat upon their haunches
to contemplate the coach as it went by, and hardly seemed
at all alarmed; we also saw gophirs and ground-squirrels
playing around their burrows, and an occasional reedheron whirring up from among the willows. We drove
for mriles over this weary and desolate plain with no sign
of human life except a packtrain, two wagons hitched
together and a string of mules. As our course beogail to
tend toward the hills we passed ranges of buttes looking
like breastworks, with arches hollowed in them as if made
by man; sharp, splintery slabs of stonle cropped out here
and there, looking like tombstones, crested over with
bright orange and crimson lichens, and the whole surface
of the country became more broken and rugged.
As we entered the more hilly region the thunder
clouds gathered, a flash of vivid lightning nearly blinded
us, and, contrary to all California precedent, the rain descended in a sudden flood just as we drew up at the first
station where we were to change horses. It was a very
Bret ilarte-ish little place, consisting of a narrow street
of wooden shanties, a bar-room, a few shade trees, and a
220 
BOOT-JACK HOLLOW.
corral with some frisky horses plunging about inside;
these, with a few wild-looking men and a swarm of
children, seemed to make up the population of Indian
Gulch, where we stayed but a few moments, and dashed
on with the fresh team, into a more wooded and mountainous country than we had yet seen to Bootjack Hollow,
eighteen miles distant, and finally reached Mariposa
about noon.
It is a pretty place in itself, with a wild rolling
country and wooded hills as a back ground, but like so
many places in the West, its days of life and prosperity
are over, the mining interest being in the hands of a few
Chinamen, who "pan out" about a dollar a day.
We dined excellently well at Callisonl's, a tidy house,
kept by a Pennsylvania woman who has lived in Mfariposa for eighteen years; she amused us very much by
her candid style of conversation, and in especial by her
persistent inquiries as to which lady was the wife of the
chief of our party, hazarding various ludicrous guesses,
and coming to the right one last of all. Having established the identity, she warmly grasped both hands and
shook themn heartily, exclaiming:
"Well, now, is this really Mlrs. L.! I've read lots of
your writings, and there's nobody I wanted to see so
much as you and Theodore  Tilton!"   But why  this
remarkable collocation she did note explain nor we inquire.
Thle rain was over, but the sky was dark and lowering
as we set forth for the long stretch of our last stage,
including the ascent of the Sierras, and descent to Big
221 
222    TWO HOUSES AND A WATERING-TROU'GH.
Tree Station, where we were to pass the night. The
road lay along the bed of the old Fremont lead, filled
with broken rocks, washed bare by placer mining, and
the soil seamned with little trenches for leading the water
in every direction.
A ruined bridge once spanning the gulley, and an
abandoned flume running along one of the steep banks,
gave the place a wild and picturesque interest, culminating at Mormon Bar, where we turned off from the old
"lead," and passing the row of tottering cabins, crowding
and elbowilng each other along the gulley, took tlhe winding up-hill track, which brought us presently into a pine
forest, through which we wound, catching occasional
glimpses of the Merced Valley behind us, vast, desolate,
and wild, while before us lay the level crest-line of the
Sierras, dark, gloomy, and snow-clad.
About three o'clock the rain came down again in a
cold drizzle, then in a steady pour, beneath which the
picturesque was forgotten, the front seat abandoned, umbrellas went up and w aps went on, and every one devoted him or herself to the futile effort of keeping either
dry or warm.
The road grew slippery and painful for the animals,
and finally, when at five o'clock we stopped to change
horses at Cold-Spring Station, a settlement of two houses
and a watering-trough, Hiram, our driver, suggested the
expediency of spending the night there, representing
that we were just at the foot of the ridge between us and
Big Tree Station, and confessing himself very reluctant 
A VO OVEL EXPERIENCE.
to undertake it after dark in this condition of the roads
and the weather.
It was already dusk, the forward route looked dismal
and forbidding, and a ruddy gleam of fire-light shot
through the window of the little cabin, half posting-liouse,
half grocery-shop, before whose open door we sat. The
prospect of light, warmth, and rest, was too inviting to be
resisted, and with one accord we dismounted from our
dripping chariot, and entered the cabin en vzasse.
It consisted of only three rooms, the first and largest
fitted up with a counter, and the flickering light from the
fire glimmered upon raftered ceiling, unplastered walls,
bare floor, two or three rickety chairs, and a table upon
which stood a single dip candle. An open door revealed
a little kitchen in which another fire was blazing.   Over
this door a shelf crammed with old newspapers testified
to the literary tastes of the family, consisting of two
women, two tiny boys, and a baby, now in arms, but
whose permanent resting-place was a queer high-posted
crib covered with mosquito-netting, and occupying a
prominent place in the shop.  On one side of the room
some trunks were arranged for a settee, and on shelves
behind the counter were piled the heterogeneous contents
of a country grocer's shop. On the floor at one end lacy a
heap of bags of flour and salt, and on these poor little
Follette took refuge from the damp and dirt of the floor
her depressed tail, an unerring thermometer of her spirits,
and general meekness of appearance, eloquently testify ing to her appreciation of thie situation.
We clustered around the fire, drying ourselves and our
223 
ONE BED FOR SIXTEE.
garments as best we might, the ladies alternately occupy  iui, the three chairs, while the gentlemen assisted at the
driver's survey of the weather, the road, and the possibili  ties of the future.   The report was unfavorable, liiram
averring that the storm was increasing, the darkness
deepening, and the narrow road-bed would be washed
into impassable gullies before midnight. Under these cir cumstances there seemed to be no choice, and the mistress
of the house being called to council, concluded, with the
aid of:Minerva, her "help," that she could both lodge
and feed us, "after a fashion."   The fashion proved a
new one, if not likely to become a favorite one.
The house boasted three beds. One of these the
hostess, with Minerva and her baby, reserved for herself.
The second, a trundle bed, was devoted to her own chil dren and Senator Conover's little son, and the third she
placed at the disposal of her sixteen guests!
The women were hospitable and well-meaning, but
one found enough to do in supplyiing the fires with fuel,
and the baby was like the cherubimns aid seraphins who
"continually do cry," and required all the attention of
the mother, so that no preparations of any consequence
seemed likely or possible for the appeasing of the clamnorous hunger which asserted itself in every breast.
The forlornness of everything was beyond words, and
reminded me of a lifelike picture which in sympathetic
childhood excited my most poignant grief by its representation of poor Marie Antoinette, her children, and her lump
of a husband in the grocer's shop at Yarennes, surrounded
by articles of commerce much like those we contemplated,
224 
AN IMPBOHPTU UVPPER.
and by the rude and exultant family of the grocer
and the municipal soldiery.   True, that this being a republic, there were half-a-dozen queens instead of one, and
true, that nobody was exultant or insolent; but still-at
this point of comparison my reverie was broken by the
hostess, who, probably fancying from my dejected attitude
and utter silence that I was the meekest of the party,
thrust the baby into my arms, exclaiming: "iHere, you
hold bub, and I'll get a meal of victuals!"
The shock roused me, and I mentally rose to the occasion. What a pity that there was nobody to thrust a baby
into Napoleon's arms at Waterloo! I-le would have
invented a victory.
Retreating a pace from the offered burden, I hastily
replied: "1 Np; you hold the baby, and I will get the supper!"  A derisive shout from those best acquainted with
my abilities bespoke their appreciation, and even Follette
whined feebly, as if resigning her hopes of sustenance;
but, nothing daunted, I sternly ordered her to remain
quiet upon her briny couch, then dragging forth a table,
spread some sort of cloth upon it, confiscated a quantity
of dclf displayed upon the shelves for sale, struck a hasty
bargain for some canned oysters, sardines, and peaches,
set the gentlemen to work in opening them, found a
saucepan, and filling it with oysters, put it in charge of
the Chief, of whom yachting experiences had made a
tolerable cook, and made requisitions upon Minerva for
butter, milk, and bread.
The staff of life proved but a broken reed in this
instance, being small in quantity and largely compounded
10*
225 
A TREAS URE TR 0 VE.
of pearl-ash, but the hostess produced a "kag, " of crack ers from under the counter, and some enterprising ex plorer wildly announced a "treasure trove "-not of our
favorite Pomery See, it is true-but bottled ale and a jug of
whiskey. With these materials and plenty of zealous, if not
very experienced help, the commissary, as she was dubbed,
soon produced a composite and harmless mea], which was
presently eaten, amid much noise and mirth, after the
fashion of the Israelitish Passover, all standing and ready
for a journey, u mode selected not for traditional, but very
practical reasons, it being impossible for sixteen persons,
however affectionate, to sit, all at once, upon three chairs I
Empty bottles did service for candle-sticks, and the
winter's supply of dips were merrily consumed by ighting every nook and corner of the dingy little place.
Supper over, some daring souls raised the question of
sleeping accommodations, but, catching the blank and bewildered expression upon the faces of their less practical
and'more imaginative friends, dropped it for awhile, and
while one little knot fell into vehemeint discussion of Tannhauser and-Wagner generally, some of the rest strayed
out into tha kitchen to watch Minerva wash the dishes,
an operation in which she was helped or hindered by a
MZexican Indian called George.   He knew  very little
English, and quite brightened up when our Cuban friend
and myself spoke to him in Spanish, which was his vernacular; he had just come from Kansas, and was "staying
along" with our hostess, an Englishwoman, who came
here five years before, and engaged in mining interests
and trade.
226 
I 
;\~\ ~       <j~
Thmmm           ~
~ ~ ~ *
____                                                            Fr!                         ___
r~
AKING1   A NiYiHT OF iT.  Page 227. 
SLEEP UNDER DIFFICULTIES.
But at ten o'clock the question of repose could no
longer be deferred, and the whole female intellect of the
place being brought to bear, it was decided that three
ladies should take the one bed recommended by the hostess, with the naive remark that: "As only nme and baby
had slept there, it wouldn't be worth while to change the
sheets!"
Hearing this, the three looked at each other, and then
assuming a mien mingled of Joan of Arc, Iphigenia,
and Charlotte Corday, they wrapped themselves in shawls
and lay across the couch without disturbing its coverings.
The pretty widow posed iil a rocker tilted back, with her
feet in another chair, and a blue and scarlet silken kerchief wound, gypsy fashion, around her waving golden
locks, making a picture which I contemplated with great
satisfaction by the flickering fire-light during a large portion of the night, for I had become so in love with the
table I had laid for supper as to select it for my resting
place, pillowing my head upon a bag of salt, which towards morning fell upon the bare floor with such a thud
that I was sure it must be myself.
Two of the gentlemen stretched themselves upon the
counter, one perched upon the trunks, several lay in a
layer in a lair of straw upon the floor, and some youthful
and enthusiastic spirits thought it fine to sit all night by
the kitchen fire telling stories and asking melanilcholy
conundrums.
The hostess and Minerva retired to their own little
denii, and as it was only divided from the shop by a
shrunken board partition, we were edified by a loud al
227 
A WIDO WER A ND A WAIST.
tercation as to the propriety of the latter's drinking any
more beer.
The rain fell in torrents, cold gusts of air blew shrilly
through the ill-jointed walls, the lock of the outer door
was broken, and we had heard horrible tales of a gang of
thieves and murderers pervading this vicinity.  These
items, combined with the peculiarity of breathing, not to
use a stronger term, of several members of the party,
thoroughly banished sleep from most of our eyes, that is,
of the weaker sex, for I believe it is conceded that a
tired man can sleep anywhere and anyhow.
The beau of the party occupied himself during a large
part of the night in keeping the fire alive, or we should
certainly all have frozen, and when in the early morning
the comfortless couches were abandoned, and the pallid,
sleepy, unkempt occupants looked the situation, themselves, and each other in the face, a more dejected party
of pleasure-seekers cannot be imagined; to divert our
misery we saw that the rain still fell in torrents, we felt
that the cold was biting, and we presumed that breakfast
was to consist of only the remains of last night's supper.
A small diversion to the gloom was caused by the
young lady of the party, who had hung some of her garments to dry beside the kitchen fire, and now found a
difficulty in collecting them, all finally were recovered,
however, except a basque, of which no account could be
obtained until a susceptible and romantic widower of the
party emerged from the straw with it gracefully draped
about his head to protect it from the draught inhabiting
his corner. Ile acknowledged that the sleeves, with their
228 
TO THE M'ANER BOI?N.
pendant cuffs, buttons, and pins, had rather disturbed his
slumbers, and plaintively remarked that he didn't know
how a crown would feel as a night-cap, but he could now
testify from experience that "weary rests the head that
wears "-a woman's basque waist.
I found myself far too dejected to offer any help in
getting breakfast, and was in fact so crushed that I think
if the hostess had insisted upon my holding the baby she
would now have found a submissive and passive victim.
With matters in this condition we were startled by the
abrupt entrance of several men of rough exterior, but
whom we presumed to be "to the manner born," by the
directness with which they made for the whiskey jug hidden beneath the counter. They were in fact members of
the family detained from home by the storm and now returning with materials for a savory breakfast, upon which
we at once pounced, they sitting by while we consumed it,
and entertaining us with a little history of their estate or
rancho.
It was formerly owned, it seems, by a party called A.,
who gave a piece of his land to his friend C., who built a
cabin upon it, but subsequently went farther up the hills,
seized upon another piece of A.'s land and built another
cabin. A. considering this an abuse of good-nature, tried
to turn him out, but unsuccessfully, iand the quarrel became so bitter that A. swore to have C.'s life. One night
both men were drinking in the bar-room of A.'s rancho —
the very room where we then sat at breakfast-and the
quarrel running very high, when A. got up and went behind the counter for something; C., supposing that it was
229 
A MURDER AND ARRESIT.
a pistol, and following in blind fury, stabbl)ed him to the
heart. C. was arrested and sent to the Penitentiary for
two years, and when liberated did not return to this neigh borhood; his widow still lives iii the other house of the
settlement.
This cheerful tale did not lessen our willingness to leave
the locality, and about eight o'clock, as the rain had ceased
for awhile, the stage-wagons were got out, and after paying for our accommodations a price sufficient to hire.an
Italian palace for a year, we embarked  and begani our
five-mile ascent of the Sierras.  It was slow and dismal
work, and the poor horses evidently did not see the sense
of it, but we got on, and by and by met two return stages,
whose drivers reported three feet of snow higher up. We
soon came upon wreaths and little drifts of it beside the
road, and a fine drizzling rain again beset us.
In spite of all, however, we could not but enjoy the
scenery, the great sougar-pines with their monstrous cones,
occasional red-woods, and gaunt shapes of great trees, with
their hearts burned out by the Indians, or herdsmen, or bushburners.  Over everything, dead and decayed, the yellow
Yosemite moss began to appear, creeping in parallel lines
up the trunks of the trees, and clothing the dry branches
with a sunset glow. We passed the cabins of the Chinese
road-menders, and some ruined huts forlornly picturesque,
and once we saw an Indian, wrapped in his blanket, gliding between the ranks of black-green pines and never
deigning to turn his head towards us.
The snow grew deeper, the cold was intense, the rain
heavier, and the romance of travel less anld less perceptible
230 
THE, MER CED RIVER.
in spite of occasional glimpses of valley scenery behinild,
and the summits of frowning Sierras piercing the cloutds
in front. About noon we crossed the sunmmit, and began
to make better timte upon the downward course, strikil(g
the Pierced River, a clear, foaming stream rushing throu.gli
a challnnel reminding one of the granite beds of the New
Ilampshire streams.  A mnile from Big Tree Station we
crossed a covered bridge, whose rattling echoes, as a team
crosses, can be plainly heard in the settlement, and finally
about two o'clock drove up to the Big Tree Hotel and
joyfully dismounted.
EN ROUTE FOR THE YOSEMITE. Page 219.
231 
CHAPTER XXVL
THE YOSEMITE YALLEY.
T  THE hotel at Big Tree Station is a building of the com.
posite, or rather, detached style of architecture, the
parlors and dining-room occupying one building and the
bed-rooms others at some little distance-a matter of importance in such a rain as welcomed us to our restingplace. There were some straggling barns, corrals, etc.,
with a background of tall slender pines merging into the
dense mountain forest behind.
It rained incessantly all the afternoon, so that we deferred our visit to the Big Trees until our return, and contented ourselves with sitting on the piazza and watching
the Mexican herdsmen, in their big blue army cloaks and
picturesque sombreros, and the Indians in ragged shirts
and pantaloons, with their shaggy hair falling over their
faces and shoulders.
A flock of four thousand sheep were driven into a
corral near the stables that afternoon to be separated according to their brands, and sent out in several directions.
Among the lookers-on was a fine, handsome old Mexican,
who officiates as bootblack at the hotel, reminding one of
ling Alfred and the oat-cakes, although Esteban does not
forget his work in dreams of former grandeur, but blacks
shoes as if Montezuma had never been his ancestor.  We
'l~/l'   Al l'!-/''          l.l'l.ll.~'W.V            1  II [.'.'t.~~,-t'l.l'l.l'l.~'l.l'[.i'.ll'/LE'~'.l'~                                        _..............'.i'.'..'-..'
L
t
~-i
-i~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 
EL CAPITAiV, KING OF THE VALLEY.
talked Spanish to him while he was being sketched, and
were amused at his persisting in addressing me as Senorita,
even while removing Mr. L.'s boots from my chllamber
door.
At half-past six next morning we started for the valley,
driving along the south fork of the Merced up a steep aind
narrow road, winding almost as much as that at the Geysers, with a magnificent sweep of mountain-side opposite,
at least two thousand feet in hleight, and clothed thick
with pines crowding down to the brink of the little green
brawling river belonw.  At Lookout Point the road makes
a sharp narrow curve, and there is a magnificent view
down the cation and the valley beyolid to where the crowding peaks of the Sierras fade away into the pale blue
horizon.
Flocks of sheep dot the landscape here and there, and
the woods are full of deer, wild-cats, California liols, and
grizzly bears, one of which appeared in the road a few
days before our visit, and frightened the horses half to
death. It grew cloudy and cold just before we reached
the valley, and we were afraid the views would be obscured. We were still discussing our fears and hopes,
and had no idea that their end was at hand, when  a flash
of snowy white struck through the trees, and then a sudden curve of the road showed us a great white gleaming
wall reaching to the elouds-a mountain of ivory, as it
looked, with a streak of bright water flashing down at the
side.
It was E1 Capitan, the King of the Valley, the monarch for whose sake it would be worth while to make the
233 
I LVNSPIRA TION POINT.
long journey, if there were nothing else to see.  E1 Capi tall is not a peak or a summit, hardly to be called a
niountain, but rather, as we have called it, a wall, two
miles in length, 3,300 feet in height, white as ivory and
of a grandeur, majesty, and power of expression inIco]l ceivable to one who has not seen and felt its influence.
As we first saw it with the clouds resting uponi its
summit, and a great patch of sunlight lying across its
seamless front, it impressed us even more than Mont
Blanc or many another more elevated and famous mountain.  Winding round Inspiration Point we came in view
of the whole valley, the pale silvery gray mountains
ranging away at either hand from the great white king.
We looked, drew breath, and gave vent with such powers
as God had given us to the wonder, delight, admiration,
and awe which all persons, I believe, experience in first
beholding this marvel of nature.  But who ever could
put tsuch emotions into words that conveyed them to any
other mind?
To know the Yosemite, to see E1 Capitan, to get a pietiirc into vouir mind which will be a lifelong delight to
your iself, but utterly "not transferal)e," you must do just
wlhat we did, go yourself and bring it away.  Leaving Insl)iration Point, both literally and metaphorically there,
we wound round the sharpest of curves, down the canoii
into the valley. In reaching the bottom it seemed as if
we had left the surface of the earth, and entered a mire
crevice of its granitic foundations, a fissure in the great
chaos of everlasting rocks; and the towering peaks and
overhanging crags seenm  marching down upon one, and
234 
THE SOUTH DOZE.
pressing and crowding one in, until it seems almost a
struggle to breathe.
Literally the valley is so deep that in winter the sun
rises after ten in the morning and sets about three, and
yet several families live here the year round.  The forms
of the various summits are varied and majestic, their
height varying from one to six thousand feet, but after all
it seemed to us that the variety and wondrous beauty of
coloring is even more marvellous than the form, height, or
grandeur of the scene. From E1 Capitan's creamy, ivory
whiteness the rocks deepen throughl every shade of pearl,
smoke, and gray tints to great blalck patches here and
there frescoed upon the silvery gray granite, and the
masses of dusky oaks and dense green pines that cling to
the face of the range.
Next to E1 Capitan, we were most impressed, as we
drove on through the valley, with the South Dome, or, as
the Indians called it, Tis-oa-ack, the Goddess of the Valley, a great shining silvery dome, as perfect as if one cut
a globe through with a knife.  A  little patch of snow
rested upon its summit and glittered in the sunshine, and
at its edge one tiny shrub, as it looked, which our guide
told us was a pine tree of goodly size, as seen through a
telescope, for no one has as yet been able to reach the
summit of this mountain, the dome itself being tiled as it
were with great, smooth, overlapping slabs of granite,
curving at an angle of about sixty degrees, and impossible
of passage to any natural appliances except wings. No
doubt the craving curiosity and love of dominion inherent
in man will impel somebody before long to drag all sorts
235 
THffE YOSEMITE FALLS.
of tools and laborers up the miles of precipice to the foot
of this dome and construct some means of ascent, but for
the present it lies beyond his grasp, and, if we had our
way, should never be invaded.
We drove five miles down the valley beside the clear
waters of the Merced, rippling over their bed of silvery
pebbles, past Black's Hotel and the Cosmopolitan bathhouses, to the Yosemite House, constructed like the Big
Tree Station Hotel, in detached buildings-dining-room
and kitchen offices in one, bed-rooms in several others, and
the parlor over the way from all.  Opening from the
parlor is a room built round the trunk of a huge oak tree,
and embellished with a great open fire-place built of
stones rudely fitted together and whitewashed. A big
fire was blazing here, but the room was a most distracting
place to me, as it was impossible either to feel one's self
either in the house or out of doors in it, and one could
never tell whether to sit down in slippers with a book beside the fire, or don one's hat and take a walk beneath the
tree.
After dinner, and about sunset, we started to walk to
the foot of the Yosemite Falls, just behind the hotel. It
is a pleasant stroll over a green field or two, and crossing
upon a little bridge over the Merced River, whose bright
waters enter the valley by a plunge over its rocky wall in
the Vernal and Nevada Falls. The foot of the fall is encumbered with great boulders and masses of rock and
fallen trees; but scrambling among them  as best we
might, we approached the great wonder through clouds of
driving miist and spray that would soon wet one to the skin.
236 
GLACIER POLIT.
The highest of the falls is 2,600 feet, and Niagara is
163, and yet the two are kill in the sensations of slowly
gathering delight and awe that they evoke. It was but a
glimpse that we could take, for dusk was already upon us,
and after a few moments of silent admiration we turned
our backs, resolving to perfect our acquaintance on the
morrow.
Descending from our seventh heaven of romance and
delight, we sought our sleeping-rooms, and found the accoinmodations of the most primitive  description-the
chambers small, sparsely furnished, and with but a single
window, and door opening upon the piazza, the fonrmer provided with no shade but a wooden one, quite effectual in
shielding one from the world's rude gaze, but also effectual
in excluding all light. The struggle to dress under these
adverse circumstanices was rather a severe one, but at a
very respectable hour in the morning the party assembled
in the parlor-house, adjourned to the dinirng-room house,
and after breakfast separated, some to pay a second visit
to the Yosemite Falls, some to sit placidly upon the piazza
and contemplate them from that point, from whence, indeed, one gains an admirable view.
Some of the party, however, found energy to set off
on horseback, under the charge of two guides, to ascend
Glacier Point and obtain one of the wildest and most iumpressive views of the whole valley. One of the guides
was the owner of the trail, and the other, in consequence of
being snowed up over night in the Sierras, had totally and
permanently lost his voice, and conversed altogether in a
hoarse whisper. The Merced was crossed over a tall bridge,
237 
238  THE MECCA OF THE MORNING'S PILGRIMAGE.
and after this the steepl), zigzag trail was sool1 struck out
along the face of the precipice, and just wide enough for
a horse to pass.  At some points the curves are really
frightful, and the horse iii rounding them seems to hang
on by his feet, his body overhanging the precipice.   The
beasts utterly ignore any attempt at guidance, and pursue
their course with a calm confidence and phlegm which is,
after all, their riders' best guarantee of safety.
The Yosemite Falls is always in sight, and E1 Capitan
dominated the valley as usual.   The trail grew steeper
and more terrific, and after a time, by suggestion, most of
the party dismounted, making the rest of the way on foot,
the guides leading  the horses.  The path'wound and
doubled, always ascending for about a quarter of a mile,
then led through pine-woods for a space, and finally ended
upon Glacier Point itself, a rocky summit, 6,000 feet
above the sea level.
A little foot-trail through the chaparral led to a
smooth over-hanging rock, and here, for those who have
the nerve to stand, or the moral courage to creep on hands
and knees, lies the Mecca of their mnorning's pilgrimage.
Again words fail to give any idea of the view to be
gained from this eyrie, the more especially as all painters,
photographers, and draughtsmen fail in giving the idea
of profound depths uncontrasted with heights, and here
all is depth, except, to be sure, the crests of the Sierras
iupon the horizon, and the splendid South Dome, North
Dome, Cloud's Rest, Cap of Liberty, Mount Star King,
and the other suminits, whose level, or near it, has been
attained; but below are to be seen great trees two hun 
A CLEFT IN THE PLATEAU OF THE SIERRAS.
dred feet in height, dwarfed to shrubs, houses like peas, a
bi,ght speckl like a diamond, which is Mirror Lake, a
thread, which is the Alerced River, and small checkerboard squares of verdure, which are the orchards and
gardens of Lamar's and tiutehing's claims.
Opposite lay the Mounitain of the Royal Arches, or as
the Indians more significantly called it, To-coy-ae, the
Baby-Basket-Shade, for the silvery-gray face of the rock
is cut in regular sweeping curves, just like the top of a
Piute baby-basket. A little house has just been coinmpleted here, where one may dine, or, if one chooses, spend
the night. An additional climb, on horseback, of a thousand feet brigs one to Sentinel Dome; this is the hardest part of the ride, as there is hardly any trail, but the
horses pick their way, in some places very steep, among
the stones strewing the dome-like summit, until a circle is
reached of deep snow, and a gnarled and twisted old tree
which marks the crest.
The view here takes in the entire valley from El Capitan to Vernal Falls, with South Dome, and Star King,
and Cloud's Rest, and all the great still peaks, upon whose
eternal silence and seclusion it seems so impertinent for
chattering, staring, lunch-eating  humanity to intrude.
From here also is to be had the real idea of the formation
of the valley, and it may be seen that it is not a level shut
in by mountains rising on either hand, but a cleft in
thle immense plateau of the Sierras, and one may look
down and down into its blue depths as one would look
into the centre of the earth were it to open at one's feet.
The guide rolled an immense rock down the steep
239 
AVALANCHES AiVD SLIDES OF ROC.
incline, and it was fourteen seconds before a low tinkling
sound told that it had struck below.
Mirror Lake is about three miles from the hotel, and
the pictures impressed on its placid surface are best to be
seen in the early morning. On its one side rises South
Dome, and on the other Washington Columii and North
Dome, and the little lake is all shut in by the great chiselled walls of stone, carved as richly as any cathedral,
Gothic or Norman, or as the old rock temples of the
Egyptian kings.
Some great white scars upon North Dome, we were
told, were caused by avalanches, or slides of rock, which
take place almost every winter, under the influence of
frost and sun and melting snows. But perhaps as fine a
sight as Mirror Lake is to be found by following the
Merced River down the valley until one reaches the pool
it forms at the feet of E1 Capitan, and as one gazes
upon the picture of the great monarch, it seems the
grandest shadow of this world of shades.
But to catalogue the sights and wonders of the Yosemite Valley would be at once a thankless and unsatisfactory task; each pair of eyes must see, each heart must
open to receive, each memory must reproduce for itself
the marvel of the great mountains, the bright, brilliant
beauty of the falls, the loveliness of coloring, the unique
charm and fascination of the whole. What use, for
instance, to say that the Bridal Veil Cataract is six hundred and thirty feet in height   Does that fact give an
idea of its undulating, gauzy, and ever-varying folds of
most impalpable vapor and mist, now condensing into
240 
A LIFE-LONG DE)LIGHT.
water, now etherealized into clouds? Or how can one, in
words, convey an idea of the marvel and the delight to be
gathered in a whole day devoted to the Nevada and Vernal Falls, whose foaming and rushing majesty of waters
deign at last to be gathered into the rock-bound channel of
the Merced River, scarcely ten feet in width in most places.
This excursion first, on horseback if you choose, or on
foot if you are wise and physically strong, to the top
of Vernal falls, and after dining and resting, still higher
to the top of the Nevada Falls, is perhaps the finest of
all that can be made in the Yosemite, although it seemns
basest ingratitude to rank anything lower than best, when
all are so charming, and so far beyond the best of anywhere else, perhaps in the world.  So, waiving all further
attempts at description, we simply say, provide yourselves
with good, plain, weather-proof clothes and boots; put
money in your purse, and a cheerful and unexacting
spirit in your temper, for the Yosemite is no paradise of
creature comnforts; arrange if you can a party large
enough to fill a coach chartered for your private use, and
then go your way, prepared to spend a week, if possible,
in this wonderful place, whose remembrance will be a
delight to you as long as you live.
An  excursion we  did not make, but what  is said
amply to repay the added fatigue, expense, and tinie, is
the tour of the rim of the Valley. This can be made in
four or five days, camping out at night with guides, tents,
and animals to carry about those cumbersome appliances
of civilization without which most of us find it so uncomfortable to exist for even a day.
11
241 
CHAPTER XXVII.
THE MARIPOSA "BIG TIREES."
E left the valley about eleven o'clock one morning,
looking our last, as we hurried past, at one object after another already grown familiar anrid beloved,
and at Inspiration Point paused for one long, last, coinprehensive gaze at everything fromn E1 Capitan to Vernal
Falls, to gaze, to wipe the parting tear —and to lunch!
Poor human nature, to whom crackers, sardines, and Pomery Sec. are still a necessity, let the South Dome glitter never so grandly, E1 Capitan look down serene and
inscrutable as all Egypt, and the Bridal Veil float and
glisten, and waver, as if it hid capricious Unidine herself
within its folds.
The day was hot and dusty, the reaction from intense.
delight and fatigue was upon us, everybody was silent
and drowsy, and nothing appeared very cheerful until
about sunset we camne upon a herdsman's camnp on Otter
Creek, and saw the wild and picturesque-looking fellows
lying or standing around their great fire, some merely
posing, like Salvator Rosa's people, some preparing a
supper of lamb, spitted for roasting, bread, ready kneaded
for baking, and tin pots of coffee. Great flocks of sheep
were grazing about, and all along the sides of the canon
-    -  -     -   .==--    - -'- 7'=- -- ---
xIS
I I                    -'
1 ~~~~~~~~~~~..!i-~~ 
B1G-TREE STATION.
fires had been kindled to keep away the panthers and
bears which infest these woods.
The scene recalled an old German fairy story of the
Charcoal Biurners, in the I-airtz MIountainis, and one idly
wondered if Riibezahl were not behind this or that great
pine tree, ready to offer to some of us that wonderful
bargain of all that this world holds, in exchange for what
we hope in another, which some mortals would be so
glad to make, if they had the chance, and some have
already made, and some are sure they would never make,
simply because they have never had the chance of making it.
About seven we reached Big Tree Station, dined, and
wandered about in search of our detached bed-roomns,
and then passed a pleasant evening beside the huge,
blazing wood-fire in the cheerful parlor, listening to the
diverse accounts and impressions of those who had made
the journey to the trees which we were to visit on the
morrow.
Directly after breakfast next morning the horses were
selected and the party started for the excursion to the
Big Tree Grove. The trail was an easy and safe one,
winding along the hill-sides without sharp turns, but
always rising through pine-woods for about five miles.
The sugar-pines in this region grow to an enormous size,
and happily but few of them have been burned, an operation which has nearly ruined the beauty of many fine
tracts of woodland here. The dog-wood also grows into
quite tall trees, and bears a larger flower than we ever see
at the East. The party was followed part of the way by
,243 
lTHIE FALLE2N fONrARCI.
two Indians going out to fish, and we must say, with all
deference to Mr. Cooper, that the "noble savage" is
generally a very disgusting animal.
The first view of the Sequoias is rather disappointing;
they are huge trees, no doubt, but so much has been said
and written of them, and one's ideas become so romantically and vaguely raised, that probably no reality could
have satisfied them; besides, we had already seen the
Sonoma red-wood grove, and a first love, if not so worthy
as the subsequent ones, is always the  rst; nor is the
average (female) mind mathematical enough to admire
the works of nature in exact ratio with their size, a very
big tree usually exciting as much satisfaction as one a
little bigger.
A stop was made beside the Fallen Monarch, lying
two hundred feet or more along the ground, its white and
polished sides completely stripped of bark to where the
branches began, and above that thatched with slippery,
shaggy, red scales. The bark of these trees is one of their
most noticeable features, reaching sometimes the thickness of two feet, and averaging one foot; it is of a beautiful, light bronzed-brown color, and gnarled and twisted
into the most fantastic curves and shapes.
Climbing a ladder leaned against this poor fallen
monarch's side, one promenades up and down the trunk
as in a dancing-hall, reminding one of the Liliputiais,
swarming over prostrate Gulliver, until finally all wended
their way to the Grizzly Giant, the next memorable tree.
It is certainly a monstrous vegetable, measuring ninetytwo feet in circumference, or thirty feet in diameter at
244 
___        ~~~  Th~~~~~~~~~~~~~~;~~~j~;~  0~~~~~~~~ -
//  <"'
AsclNI)I.NU TIllU "ALL.EN  MUNARCiA."' Page'-44
I
i
I.......
,, I  
A MODERN BLIND SAMSON.
the ground, and throwing out great knotted claws of
roots by which to grasp the soil. It has been sadly injured by fire, one side being quite burned away, and the
height, altogether immense, seems disproportionate to
the girth, the top, as with most of the Sequoias, being
fiat and unsymmetrical, as if they had been "headed in,"
and never recovered from it.
The Grizzly Giant is evidently immensely old, but
the savants have not yet agreed if each ring signifies a
year or only a few months' growth, and thus leaving one
uncertain whether respectfully and with some degree of
practicalness to imagine the Grizzly gaily flaunting its
first suit of glossy leaves about the time when Alfred
toasted the oak-cakes, or wildly to plunge back about ten
thousand years into the dimmest sort of past, being some
two or three thousand years before creation, if one is to
follow the Biblical theory. At any rate, however, the
poor old fellow will never see another thousand years,
and as he stands there among the pines and dog-woods,
which respectfully fall back to give him room, one feels
the sort of awe and pity with which the Philistines may
have regarded blind Samson, brought forth to make
mirth for them.
Another mile very steep and rather tiring, and the
main or upper grove was reached, where lunch awaited
the party, and this being disposed of, it was found by
wandering about that the trees are scattered around among
siugar-pines, whose great cones strew the ground.
At the upper end of the grove lies Pluto's Chimney,
a great tree burnt out black and smooth inside, with a
245 
RA VAES OF FIRE.
flake of snow lodged in the gloomy tunnel. The horses
were ridden through, the human heads bending a trifle
on passing out at the upper end. A great burnt stnump
at the north side of the grove is said to indicate a tree
larger than any now standing, but cannot be called, in its
present state, a "thing of beauty," or "a joy forever."
The trees here are more in number and average larger
in size than at the Calaveras Grove, but are not so tall.
About five hundred years are required to bring a Sequoia
to maturity, a fact militating against one's natural desire
to carry home slips and seeds, and raise them, in mignonette boxes on one's window-sill!
A great deal of the pleasure of visiting these groves
is destroyed by the ravages of fire, which has devastated
them at different times, destroying many trees entirely,
ruining the shape of others, and giving a general look of
forlornness and smirch to the whole scene. Still, no one
who can do so should omit to visit them, as they are
certainly among the unique and marvellous works of
1Nature, of which California is justly proud.
246 
CHAPTER XXVIHI.
THE QUEEN OF THE ANGELS.
HE  tedium of our return drive to Merced was en   livened, apart from the internal resources of the
party, by the sight of several immense droves of sheep, and
one herd of the prettiest little white kids, capering about
among the chaparral so gracefully, that one profanely
wondered, if it might not be better, after all, to rank
as goat rather than sheep; after this came  dinner at
Mlariposa, and beyond Mariposa were some Chinese placerminers hard at work with shovel and pan; then we were
diverted by the struggles of some sheep in one of the
high bush fences, used to enclose them in this quarter,
and finally on the Merced Plains the series of entertainments concluded with a driving rain-storm accompanied
by a high warm wind.
Although disagreeable to us, the rain seemed to bring
delight to those residing in this locality, for the drought
had been so continued and severe that the sheep were
unable to find nourishment, and their owners were selling them at a couple of dollars each. All of a sudden
the storm cleared, the jack-rabbits and squirrels came out
in crowds to give us good-day, while at the mouth of
almost every burrow sat a solemnn little gray owl, his
yellow eyes blinking in the sunshine which now broke
I
i
_
II4
-.A. 
TTHE ROBBERIt'S ROOST.
out. The great black thunder-clouds rolled off toward
the north, the sky between them turned of a lovely turquloise blue, and we arrived at Merced in the full glory
of a sunset brilliant enough to drive Turner mad.
We found the town excited over a fire which two
nights before had burned down several blocks of warehouses, and everybody was on the alert to find the incendiary, who, being discovered, would, as Hiram, our driver,
confidently averred, "tumble off a onie-legged horse and
break his neck, without troubling judge or jury."
Our hotel-car was to meet us at Merced, and did so, so
that very night we settled down to the old life of sections and berths and the lullaby of iron wheels circling
on iron rails, and felt that the homeward journey had
begun, although our course was for the present southward.
The next day we passed over the famous Tehatchapi
Loop, where the railway, after running through the Tehatchapi Mlountain, loops around and crosses on itself by
tunnel as the only possibility of getting over the tremendous grade between the two levels. The country now
changed to a dry, desolate plain, dotted over with graygreen herbage-like sage-brush, and needle-palms with
twisted branches studded with branches of sharp green
spears. Nothing much drearier than this monotonous
brown plain, shut in at the horizon by cone-like hills as
bare and brown as itself, can be imagined, and it was a
relief to arrive and get out for a few moments at Robber's
Roost, a little beyond Mojave.  It is named in honor of
the famous robber, Vasquez, who had his principal strong
248 
A SPANISHf-LOOKING  TOWN.    i       4
hold here, and it was between this point and Santa Barbara
that he was captured two or three years ago.
The principal feature of the place at present is a manufactory where paper is made from the fibrous wood of
the needle-palm, which is cut into sections four inches
thick, macerated in water, and afterwards treated precisely
like other material. The result is a fine white and also a
coarse light brown paper, both of them very satisfactory.
The rest of the way to Los Angeles was through the
same arid plain and among broken hills dotted with cactus
and needle-palms, hot, smoking, and tropical looking.
We had appointed to meet Mr. Baldwin, of San Francisco?
at Los Angeles, and to visit his ranch; but as he was not
at the station on our arrival, we left our belongings in the
car, and sallied forth to view the town.
It was quite different from any we had yet seen, having
a distinctly Spanish and semi-tropical air, and making us
feel more decidedly than we yet had done, that we were
away from home and almost in a foreign land. The shops
were most of them open to the street, and in the fruiterers'
stalls hung great bunches and branches of oranges with
the leaves on, as if just plucked. Besides the oranges,
lemons, bananas and grapes, peaches and apricots were
offered in great abundance, and all of most tempting size
and beauty. In fact, one felt more as if promenading the
hall of an Agricultural Fair than a public street, and
found it hard to believe that just such fruits, or others as
fine, besides an abundance of flowers, may be plucked at
Los Angeles every day in the year.
In fact, this place seems the long-sought paradise for
11*
249 
250    THIE FOUNTAIN OF PERPETUAL YO UTiE
invalids and sybarites, and no doubt if poor Ponce de
Leon had only come hither instead of going to sultry,
boggy Florida, he would have found the Fountain of Per petual Youth flowing into the San Gabriel River!
The stories told of the salubrity, the charm, and the
equability of the climate are marvellous, and one thing
not yet mentioned completes the list of attractions. One
need not pass four anxious weeks in every year in consid ering one's spring, summer, autumn, and winter clothes,
since where the thermometer never varies more than forty
degrees through the year, and when Major Truman says
he never changed his bed-coverings from January to
December, surely there need not be a total revolution of
costume four times during that period.  We  conlmeud
this consideration to the sex with whose cares and anxi eties we are best acquainted, while to their lords we
will simply say, "There are millions in it;" for let
nations rise and fall, Turk or Russian beat, hard or soft
money win the day, oranges will still be eaten, lemons
will still be drunken, and grapes will be pressed into wine
as they have been since the days of Noe, and of raising all
these things there is no end here in the heart of semitropical California, and the wily heathen stands ready to
labor for you well and cheaply.
The city itself, El Pueblo de la Reina de los Angeles,
to give its full name, is "of a certain age," that is to say,
an age difficult to determine, having originated in 1781,
when Felipe de Nieve, then Spanish Governor of California, issued from his quarters at the Mission of St.
Gabriel, nine miles distant, an order of a settlement bear 
T1'E FOUNDING OF THE TO Wi..
ing the name popularly contracted in California to
"Angeles."
The town thus founded consisted of twelve invalided
soldiers with their families, and the horses, oxen, sheep,
goats, asses, and hoes, provided for them by a paternal
government quite alive to the fact that men cannot pay
taxes without the means of earning money. The village
thus constituted vegetated mildly for fifty years or so, and
in 1836, after the dear old Padres had been so unkindly
disturbed from their sleepy picturesque prosperity, and
their orange groves and olive gardens sold for the benefit
of the Mexican Government, Los Angeles was made into a
city, so called, and became the capital of Alta California.
Still it consisted of only one crooked street of adobe
houses, with a mission church at one end, an alcalde's
office, and no disagreeable agitation or novelty to show
that the nineteenth century had gotten hold of it, although
passing with the rest of California into possession of the
United States at the close of the Mexican war, until the
discovery of gold, and the consequent invasion of California by men who, with their lives in their hands, freely
offered to barter them for riches, brought this garden of
the State into notice. Capitalists, laborers, speculators
came, saw, and settled.   The  sleepy street of adobe
houses was relegated to the condition of a suburb, and
an American city was added to it somewhat in the style
that San Francisco was added to the Mission Dolores.
Churches, school-houses, banks, manufactories, hotels,
and newspaper offices have sprung up, some of them to a surprising size, English is spoken generally, railways connect
251 
A "LIVE" AMRICAN CITY.
the city with every point north, south, east, and west that
any one would wish to visit, and some, like Fort Yuma,
that no one wishes to visit; in fact, Los Angeles has,
within ten years, become a "live" American city, and
might in one sense dateits existence from about that time,
although in another claiming a century's growth.  At any
rate, like some other creatures of an uncertain age, Los
Angeles is more charming on acquaintance than at first
sight, and one well believes that residents become sincere ly attached to the qufaint, mild-tempered, uneventful little
city, with its legends and lingering flavor of Spanish and
monastic dominion, its fruit and flowers, and sweet and
fragrant atmosphere.
Even on that first day we found ourselves well pleased,
as we strolled up the wide street beneath the awnlings
spread from every shop, and looked in at the open stalls.
In one stood rows of great red jars for water-coolers, reminding one of Ali Baba and the forty thieves, and gay
stuffs for dresses and mantles and scarfs, such as these
half-tropical women love to wear.
Now and then we met a Mexican woman, the head
muffled in her mantilla, and the sun glaring on her yellow
skin, and plenty of Chinese, cool, sleek, and comfortable.
Near the Pico House we passed a Spanish hostelry of
some sort, with a shadowy green court-yard in front, a
piano playing within doors, and a brown senora with some
pretty children strolling under the trees. We stopped to
dine at a French cafe called the Commercial Restaurant,
built around two square courts, upon the larger of which
the dining-room opened, so that sitting at table we looked
252 
WffERE TO "SIT" FOR A PICTURE.
out upon the wide, sunshiny extent with a gallery running
around it, and some orange trees in odorous bloom.  Opposite our windows were those of the kitchen, with the
white-capped chef giving his orders within, and a group
of Chinese and French servants obeying them.
The dinner was delicious, and the shade and rest refreshing, but in a little while all were ready for further
explorations, and began with a photographer's rooms, in
one corner of whose salon was a dentist's office curtained
off, and we were curious to discover whether the period
just before or just after the dental operations is considered
by the Angelites most favorable to sitting for a picture.
Here also was a large reading-room, well supplied
with books and periodicals. After glancing at these we
continued our explorations, and presently found ourselves
in a square of little one-story buildings, whose red and
gilt door-plates would have betrayed the presence of our
Mongolian guests, even without the blue-clad, cork-soled,
umbrella-hatted, and cunning-eyed figures, standing or
squatting around, and the oddly coiffed woman stooping
to relight one of the joss-sticks at her door. There were
a few Chinese shops, but too small and dirty to be attractive, and in fact one's taste becomes in Los Angeles too
distinctively Spanish to care for other flavors, so we soon
drove back to the older part of the town, to gaze admiringly at the long low white walls and flat tiled roofs of the
adobe houses, and the picturesque figures of their inmates,
and the glowing sunlight which only shines in Spanish
countries,and all of which recalled the pleasant days of
Peruvian memory. 
253 
CHAPTER XXIX.
B3ALDWIN'S RANCH OF SANTA ANITA.
ETLTRNING to the station, we met Mr. Baldwin, our
kind San Franciscan friend, who had volunteered to
meet us here at Los Angeles, and show us his ranch and
orange groves, and we now found him awaiting us with a
six-in-hand carriage and a buggy.
We started just as the great white moon rose above
the hills, and soon were out upon the open plain, flying
over the hard, dry sod, which rang like iron beneath the
horses' hoofs; the air was warmn and balmy, the Inioonlight brilliant, the rapid motion exhilarating, and the
whole drive delightful, except perhaps the moment when
the leaders of the six-horse team suddenly gave a plunge
which snlapped the harness connecting themi with the rest,
fortunately entirely, and galloped away into the distance,
leaving their comrades very mnuch astonished, their driver
very much discomforted, and ourselves not a little startled.
The horses were found next day, one with a broken leg
which could only be cured with a rifle ball, and the other
safe in the barn of a neighboring ranch, where hlie had
taken refuge.
The twelve miles' drive was speedily accomplished, and
suddenly rounding the corner of a great unfenced field of
barley, we drove through Mr. Baldwin's orange orchard, 
THE WIN'E-HO USES.
whose merits were then only to be judged by olfactory
evidence, and presently arrived at the house, an old Spalnish ranch recently purchased by its present owner acd
retaining the name of Santa Anita.
Like most of this class of house, it is a long, low building, surrounded by a wide piazza, and completely buried
in evergreens, tree-ferns and climbing vines. A great
Chinese lantern hung in the piazza, and a pretty, demure
little housekeeper, with Spanish eyes and an English
tongue, stood ready to welcome us and take us to our
rooms, all opening into each other and out upon the
piazza-charming rooms, large, cool, and with deep window-seats in the two-feet thickness of the walls.
Directly after breakfast the next morning, we sallied
forth to see the wine-houses and other features of the
plantation. Passing through the garden just behind the
house, and by the pretty little lake, we crossed a wide
open space among prickly pears and mnock-oran)ge vines,
with tarantula holes under foot, and  the wonderfully
beautiful San Gabriel Mountains rising in purple cones
just beyond the arid brown plain, mountain and moor all
shimmering in the tropical sunshine, which seemed to rain
down upon our unaccustomed heads, so that we were glad
to get inside the great, cool, shady wine-houses.
In the first were the huge vats where the grape pressing takes place; in the second, great tuns of wine, sherry,
claret, and angelica, all of which were tapped and offered
for our inspection; and in the third were stills for converting wines into brandies.
Coming out of the wine-houses we found the carriage
255 
CALIFORNIA RA CERS.
awaiting us, and drove to the stables to see Mr. Daldwi]1's
racers. The road lay through hilly fields hedged with
willow and pepper trees, the latter a very ornamental
shrub, and past some Mexican huts, delightfully picturesque of aspect, being constructed wholly of thatch, with
sail-cloth tents adjoining just high enough to stand upright in; half-naked children frisked in and out of these
burrows, and hordes of dogs rushed yelping after us. The
men work upon the estate, and the women do nothing, unless taking care of hordes of babes may be considered employment; a little cluster of huts farther on was devoted to
the Chinese laborers, whom Mr. Baldwin highly approves.
At the stables were rows of windows, through nearly
every one of which a horse's head protruded in the most
sociable manner, and every head handsome enough for a
picture.  In the centre of the stables is the head groom's
sitting-room, cosy and bright, and hung round with pictures of famous horses, principally racers, diversified with
a few actresses, a rack of whips and some bright spurs,
while gray rugs and horse-clothing lay neatly folded on
shelves or in boxes, and altogether the place looked quite a
little paradise for a person of equine propensities. We were
introduced to Grimstead, who was at the Saratoga races
last year, and to several unnamed beauties with their graceful heads, delicate limbs, and coats shining like satin.
Leaving the stables, we drove to Sunny Slope, Mr.
Rose's famous ranch, 1,200 acres in extent.  We recrossed
much of the dry brown plains we had traversed on the previous night, startling the little ground-squirrels, who scurried to their burrows and disappeared at our approach.
256 
ORANGE GRO aS.
The green mock-orange vines with their globes scattered far apart were the only green things to be seen,
until we turned ante Mr. Rose's grounds and found ourselves in a grove of orange trees, extending in every direction to an indefinite distance. The trees were tall,
thick, and sturdy, laden with heavy golden fruit hiding
beneath the glossy leaves, and enough blossoms to load the
air with the perfume of a thousand weddings; the trees
are planted in regular lines, each one in a shallow basin
formed in the earth around its roots, and trenches running
between every five trees, which at certain intervals are
filled with water, which is carried to every tree.
Farther on was a grove of lemons, the trees not so
pretty in shape or foliage as the oranges, but laden with
perfectly enormous fruit; then there were rows of figtrees, and clumps of olive with their masses of dusky foliage, and here and there banana trees, although this fruit
seems not so much at home here as the fig, orange, olive,
and lemon. The irrigating trenches pervade all these
plantations, and everything looks green and flourishing.
From here we visited the Mile Ranch, owned by Col.
Kewen, who coming to this part of the country more than
fifteen years ago, found on the spot selected for his future
abode the roofless walls of an old stone building, built a
hundred and one years before, by the San Francisco monks
of the Mission San Gabriel, as a grist-mill and granary.
Only the walls remained, but they were five feet thick and
flanked at each corner by heavy buttresses, adding both to
the strength and picturesqueness of the building.
Colonel Kewen restored and improved and added to
257 
A I'A UNTED HOUSE.
this ruin with artistic taste and a generous hand, so that
it stands to-day one of the loveliest homes in California,
the gray and brown stones of the old ruin enclosing every
comfort of a modern American home, and surrounded by
a perfect wilderness of flowers and greenery.
No walls or fences limit the view, and the satisfied
eye roams over masses of heliotrope six feet high, roses of
every shade, banks of honeysuckle, lilies heavy with per fume, azaleas, passion-flowers and pomegranates all on
fire, cactii and aloes, and some grand old willows sweeping the ground with their slender finger-tips.
But with all the beauty of its surroundings E1 Rancho
del Molino is uninhabitable-being haunted, so the Spaniards will tell you, by the spirit of the mnill, a legacy bequeathed by the old monks, who may have walled up
some recreant nun or heretical priest in one of the great
corner buttresses.
At any rate no Spaniard will live at the Rancho del
Molino, although Colonel Kewen and his family manage
to exist very pleasantly, the ghost not troubling them half
so lnuch as the still smouldering enmity in the breasts of
the native Spanish population, who regard the Saxons as
interlopers and fraudulent possessors of land that should
be theirs, as it was their fathers'.
Mrs. K. told us that when she first came here the
country was overrun by herds of wild cattle-a beast for
every blade of grass, she said, and it was impossible for
her to ride any distance without a guard of fifteen or
twenty vagueros with their lassoes to protect her.
258 
CHAPTER XXX.
A VERY OLD WOMAN AND A VERY OLD CHURCH.
W HILE in San Francisco we had been shown the
photograph of Eulalia Perrez, of Los Angeles-the
oldest woman in the world-and now finding ourselves in
the close vicinity we resolved on paying her a visit. Mr.
Baldwin accordingly drove us to her house, a quaint old
brown adobe structure, with a projecting roof sloping
steeply from the centre, and two or three old wine-vats
built against the walls.
We mounted to a piazza, where we were met by a very
pretty and very typical Spanish girl, wearing a high comb
and speaking English with a very charming accent.
She showed us into a sitting-room, and having sent to
call the old lady, entertained us to the best of her ability,
informing us that she was Sefora Eulalia's great-granddaughter, her grandmother, the youngest grandchild, being
sixty-five years old; her own father is an American,
named Michel White; her great-grandmother's age, she
said was about 140, "but old as she is, she cannot speak
a word of English," added she, with conscious pride in
her own proficiency. She said the old lady waa always
cheerful and sweet-tempered, although growing a trifle
childish.
Presently she went out and returned with her great 
260     THE OLDEST WOMAN IN THE WORLD.
grandmother upon her arm, a short, shrunken fligure, dress ed in a dark calico shirt and sacque, with a gray shawl and
gay carpet-slippers, her head queerly covered by a close fitting black merino hood with a white kerchief inside,
and no hair visible even upon the forehead; her skin was
almost dark as a mulatto's, and seamned with a million fine
wrinkles.  Hier eyes were shrunken to such a degree as to
give the impression of having disappeared altogether, leav ing only two narrow loopholes, red as fire, and uncanny to
look uponl, but she presently gave a proof that the power
of discriminating sight remained, for after having talked
with me for some time she inquired if I were married,
and being answered in the affirmative, demanded to which
of the gentlemen present.
The Chief stood at the further end of the room, speaking with a friend in the party, and indicating him, 1 said,
"The gentleman with gray hair." "Yes," replied Eulalia
quickly, "but there are two gentlemen with gray hair,
which is yours?"
Then surveying first the one, and then the other, she
exclaimed rather impatiently, "Well, I should not think
you need have married a man with white hair," and
added  some  comments  upon  my  appearance, which
showed that at least her sight was perfect, whatever may
be thought of her taste and judgment.
She seemed quite delighted at my speaking to her in
Spanish, aud kept up the conversation in an eager and
animated manner, and with a strength of voice and quickness of hearing quite extraordinary, accompanying her
words with marked gesticulations. 
THE OLDEST WOMAN IN THE WORLD  Page 259. 
.1 
HER PROPOSED VISIT TO THE CENTENNIAL.   261
She wore a brown rosary about her neck, and on my
referring to her being a good Catholic said, that by the
crucifix she had learned the lesson of how to live, and she
hoped how to die.
She had been married twice, and said that in her
youth she had many lovers, but could not decide which of
them to marry until the padre interfered and insisted that
she must make a choice, which she accordingly did, but
was left a widow, and again she made a selection, and one
based on maturer judgment, and she had been even happier in her second nuptials than in her first.
When asked her age, she counted on her fingers ten,
twenty, thirty, and so on, up to 140, and it is certain, and
on record, that when the present church of the Mission of
San Gabriel was built, in 1771, she was a married woman
with three children.
She has three daughters and two sons alive, and grandchildren eighty years old, all settled around the mission,
and she lives with all of them alternately, going to church
regularly every Sunday.
Two years ago she executed a piece of fine embroidery
for sale at a fair, and still uses her needle constantly. It
was proposed to take her to the Centennial Exposition in
Philadelphia, and she actually went as far as the cars,
when some of her relatives, to whom she is a revenue,
interfered, and brought her home again.
Perhaps it was as well, for she has never been in all
her long life farther than eight miles from Loretto, her
birthplace, and the fatigue and excitement would, no
doubt, have been a risk. 
THE SPANISH MISSION.
By the time she had told all this, we feared that the
dear old lady, who, by the way, was most exquisitely
neat, might be tired, although she gave no signs of fatigue, and so rose to take our leave.
She appeared really sorry to have us go, and followed
us quite out to the carriage, bidding the spokeswoman an
especial good-by with a prettily-turned Spanish compliment, not only upon my appearance, but what she called
my amiability in visiting and talking to, and cheering a poor
old woman. Pressing my hand in a firm, almost virile
manner, she gently uttered in sweet, pure Spanish the
blessing which comes with such authority and sanctity
from aged lips, and we parted with mutual regret.
As a suitable pendant to this visit, we drove to the old
mission, in whose shelter Eulalia Perez was born, hlas
lived, and will doubtless be buried.   The church stands
in a little purely Spanish settlement of adobe houses, some
roofed with thatch, some with fluted red tiles, bound together with thongs of raw hide. Some little shops hung
out Spanish signs, but everything was old and falling to
decay, except the chocolate-colored children, the dirtiest,
and prettiest creatures imaginable, who swarmed in and
out of the uneven doorways.
The church itself is old and crumbling to decay, with
a sort of sunburned and weary look to it, as if the century
of exposure to this fierce heat and the downfall of the
padres had disheartened and demoralized it.
Not far distant lay the mission gardens, surrounded
by an adobe wall, and from it stretched a long cactus
hedge, planted by the old monks to define their posses
262 
CURIOUS BELLS A.VD DOORS.
sions. On the outside wall of the church, high out of reach,
are the empty niches of forgotten saints, and in a queer
gable-like belfry hung, each in its own niche, the old bells,
cast in Spain more than a century ago, for a church in
the city of Mexico, and containing no small quantity of
silver and gold, cast into the cauldron of seething metal
by men, women, and children, whose fervent piety had
been wrought to this pitch by the preaching of the
Jesuits about to sail upon the mission, whence they had
only returned to ask for aid. The bells were subsequently
brought to San Gabriel, with great trouble and expense,
on the backs of mules and oxen, the cost of transportation
being a hide for each pound of metal.
The day of their arrival was made a greatfesta in the
colony, the Indians coming from far and near with their
offerings, and showing as much pride and delight in their
church's new power and dignity as the padres themselves.
The old doors also, oaken and curiously clamped and
embossed with iron, were brought from Spain, as were
some of the pictures, and other altar ornaments, communion plate, etc.
The keys were brought and we went in, the interior
was dusky and venerable, but poor; the windows were
high up, small and dusty, the roof unornamented, the
floor uneven and decaying; a few bare pews-a modern
innovation-and some prie-dieux afforded accommodation
for such worshippers as objected to the floor.
Upon the pillars near the door hung tin placards,
whose rudely lettered English inscription called a blush
263 
THE HISSION ORCHARDS.
of shame to my cheek, by its suggestion of what conduct
on the part of my countryineil must have necessitated
them; these were:
"Take off your hats," and " Behave yourself."
The walls were crumbling and cracked, with great
red weather-stains, and the aspect of everything mourf til
and neglected.
Near the chancel were two confessionals, and one
smiled to fancy the chrogique scandaleuse their huindred
years' experience would furnish, could the brown old
gratings repeat the secrets whispered through them.
The altar had been in its day rich and handsome,
with a great altar-piece in six compartments behind it,
and six great wax candles upon it, besides plenty of
flowers, vases, and silk and lace hangings. An adoring
cherub in plaster knelt upon a pedestal at either end, and
the chancel was decked in the usual style.
We next went to visit the old orchards, still well
stocked with the fruits and vines the Sybaritish fathers
brought to such perfection, but, like the church and the
mission, going slowly and inevitably to decay.
An adobe hut with a red-tiled roof stood just inside,
and as we entered, a Mexican woman, with bright blue
eyes and a pleasant face, came out to meet us, followed
by a padre, with a broad bland face, smoking a cigarette. Besides these, the hut seemed to contain an iiidefinite number of children, dogs, and fowls who swarmed
in and out during our brief stay.
The padre was from old Spain, and his sixteen years'
exile in California had reduced him to an apathetic coil
264 
A SPANIS.H PADRPE.
dition, from which he found it hard to rouse himself.
Hie seemed to take it for granted that I was a compatriot
and daughter in the faith, addressing me as hija and
making fatherly inquiries into my temporal rather than
spiritual concerns.
"Was I married?  Yes.  To a Spaniard?  No, to an
Anglo-Saxon.  Well, perhaps I had done wisely; he had
heard they were generally rich, and kind to their wives,
and although they were not of the true faith-yes, perhaps it was as well on the whole."
Having thus satisfied his conscience and curiosity, the
padre turned his attention to hospitality and led us round
the orchard, followed by the Mexican woman with the
lovely blue eyes, who made up for his apathetic reserve
by the most amiable and chirrupy voluibility imaginable,
loading us with oranges and sweet lemons in abundance.
The padre at parting plucking us each a branch of
the latter, and an especially fine one for his new-found
daughter.
After we were seated in the carriage the Mlexican
lady's husband came out bringing a sack of oranges for
us, and waved off the silver offered to him with true
Castilian scorn.
From the Mission we had a short drive back to Santa
Anita, and arrived just in time for a hasty toilet before
dinner, which was as sumlptuolus as it was cheerful and
home-like. Indeed nothing could exceed the hospitality
and kindness extended to our large party by the courteous master of Santa Anita; from the moment of our
arrival, when he surrendered his own elegant apartment
12
265 
TASTEFUL BALD WIFY
to our use, to that of our parting in Los Angeles, there
was no possible attention or courtesy that was not offered,
and the two days passed beneath his roof are one of our
pleasant reminiscences of California.
One seldom hears Mr. Baldwin's name spoken in the
land of his adoption-for hlie is an Ohioan by birth-without the prefix of "Lucky," and certainly his story would
show him to be one of those rare individuals whose touch
converts everything into gold. Perhaps, however, in all
such histories one may discern the foundations of "luck"
in shrewdness, clear-sightedness, courage, a wise prudence
alternating with a wise audacity, and a resolute will. All
these qualities I fancied myself able to read in our host's
penetrating eyes and reticent lips, and I think, knowing
nothing of him or his career, I should have said, "There
is a man who will have the oyster out of this world's shell,
let it be closed never so resolutely against him!"
But I would rather after all call him Tasteful than
Lucky Baldwin; for an inspection of his hotel, his theatre,
and his ranch, must prove him to deserve this title even
more distinctly than the other.
After dinner we strolled out for a walk, and straying
up the hill, camie upon the Chinese huts, outside of which
the men were sitting eating bacon and rice with chopsticks. They were not so clean as those we had been accustomed to see, and the peculiar odor of the Oriental
was more pronounced, but they all looked very jolly and
comfortable.
Passing on we arrived at the Mexican cabins, and
paused for a little conversation, the men speaking broken
266 
INLSIDE A SPANISH$ HUT.
English, but the women only Spanish. The huts are the
queerest little burrows imaginable, compounded of mud
thatch and sail-cloth, and hardly larger than a rabbit hutch.
A stately woman, with a black mantilla wound round
her head, invited us, with quite an air of condescension, to
come in and sit down, and we accepted so far as to step
inside the door and look around. In one corner of the
mud floor some hens were peacefully burrowing, a small
fire burned in a hole about the centre, the stars peeped
through the ragged thatch, and in a dark corner was a dim
horror which may have been a bed. The whole house
was as large as a small chamber, and not high enough for
a tall man to stand upright; but it was the home of a large
family-father, mother, and children.
Outside another house stood its mistress, the prettiest
possible Spanish girl with two little children, Juanito and
Tomasita-the former a boy four years old, clothed upon
with a filthy little shirt reaching to his waist, and opened
from the throat, whence it was confined by a providential
button. Tominasita was a thin, brown baby, wearing earrings and a white petticoat, and clinging to her mother's
neck.
A great many dark-bearded, grinning men clustered
around us as we stood here; but all polite and amiable as
the Chinese themselves.
Returning we stopped at the little lake, literally in
front of Mr. Baldwin's door, and we were rowed out in
his pretty little boat upon its moonlit waters. The shores
were lined with little coves in which the herons and cranes
267 
A FIERY MUSTANG.
were rustling about, and a chorus of frogs came in like a
hailstorm of castanets.
The next morning, as we sat upon the varanda, a fiery
little mustang dashed up the avenue and his rider dismoutnted at the steps-a handsome man, pictturesquely
dressed in buckskin, wearing a sombrero, high boots, and
great cruel spurs. This was Fragnani, the artist, who has
been living for two years near the Mission, painting local
pictures and making studies for future works.
Hie came to call upon the Chief, and invited us to stop
upon our way to Los Angeles at his studio. The carriages
came around and we set forth, Fragnani's fierce little
horse cantering along beside us, sometimes dashing far
ahead, and returning, and occasionally bucking and curveting as if to give scope for his rider's perfect horsemanship.
Our last sight of the Mission remains an indelible picture in the memory. The dry, arid plain with the coneshaped purple Mission Hills closing the horizon, the lonely,
antique church, still, silent and crumbling to decay, the
mossy old orchard with its adobe wall, the single hedge of
cactus, the cluster of little thatched and tiled huts, with two
tall palms standing gaunt and dry in the fierce sunshine, a
dark grove of orange trees beyond the village, and for all
sign of life the artist spurring his diabolical little horse
across the plain, or pausing to let us examine the saddle
and big stirrups —flaps of stamped leather, and the headstall, bridle, and whip all in one piece of braided and
tasselled raw-hide.
On parting with us at Los Angeles, Mr. Fragnani pre
268
4 
PECULIAR PETS.
sented me with a fine specimen of the horned-toad, peculiar
to Southern California. They are said to become so tame
as to answer to a name, and are certainly very economical
pets, as they live entirely upon flies. Our toad, for whom
a rat-trap was purchased as a domicile, bore the journey
Northward admirably, the only young, unmarried lady of
tLe party constituting herself the toad-godmother, and the
gentlemen developing wonderful zeal and industry in
catering for him; but soon after his arrival at his new
home he sickened, declined the daintiest of flies, emaciated
painfully, seemed to collapse, and finally became extinct.
A still more tragic fate awaited a pair of prairie dogs,
which with much care and solicitude we brought home froin
their native heath. They are not pleasant pets, having
sharp teeth which they use on the hand that feeds them
whenever they get the chance, and exhaling a rank and
acrid odor. They behaved like saints and martyrs upon
the journey, however, eating grass, and never once breaking bounds; but no sooner were they placed upon the
ground iii Saratoga than they gnawed their way out of
their wooden cage and were immediately pursued and
killed by the gardener, who took them for another kind
of pretty and odorous little beast.
From Mr. Fragnaniii's and the Mission San Gabriel we
drove directly into town, and at the station bade good-by
to Mr. Baldwin and the artist, and from thence took train
for Santa Monica, the Long Branch of California.
I
269 
CHAPTER XXXL
SANTA MONICA.
HE railway between Los Angeles and Santa Monica
is a new one, without connection, but has already,
in its two years' existence, paid the cost of its construction.
It is a pretty route, running along by the San Gabriel and
Santa Monica mountains, straight down to the sea, where
it ends in a pier nearly a mile long running out into the
Pacific Ocean.
We passed through estates belonging to a Mexican
widow, who is said to own more land than any woman in
Amnerica. Buying land is very difficult here on account
of the numerous claims ill the old Spanish families, who
make an infinitude of trouble among American settlers.
We reached Santa Monica about four o'clock.  On the
right stands the hotel-two large two-storied buildings,
connected by covered piazzas, and containing spaious,
neat, and well-furnished rooms, similar to, and quite equal
to the same class of accommodations in our best hotels at
Long Branch.  At a short distance is a pavilion containing fine bowling alleys, ball-room, rink for skating, etc.
No sooner had we reached the hotel then we left it
again, and descending several flights of wooden stepsagain reminding us of the famous New Jersey wateringplace-luade our way to the beach. These cliffs have the
-
i" II
,;I
I I
4 
ANA UDA CIO US SEAL.
appearance of crumbling, brown earth, but in reality are
composed of a very rocky sort oi rock, as one member of
our party discovered in attempting to run down a steep
incline, striking his heel into what he supposed earth, and
finding himself so repelled by the strong substance, that
he was compelled to roll and pitch down any way, and
arrived at the foot sorely bumped and bruised.
The beach is soft white sand, without pebbles or shells,
but strewn with sea-weed of various colors and kinds.
The sea was calm and blue as a sapphire, and the brown
cliffs curved gracefully down to meet it, forming the little
Bay of Santa Monica, certainly one of the very prettiest
watering-places on any coast. We wandered up and down
the beach until tea-time, and the younger and more romantic portion of the party returned to enjoy it by the
light of the just risen full moon.
At the end of the long pier was a little house occupied
by a very polite young man, who offered his spy-glass with
which to see the buoys far out to sea, upon which the
seals do love to congregate. After a little effort we were
able to make out the restless buoys, and the writhing black
creatures might have been seals or kelpies for anything
we could determine.
Last year a very big seal climbed up the cliffs to the
hotel, and tried to enter the parlor; he was driven back
to the sea with some difficulty, and renewed the attempt
on another night, leaving no doubt in any reasonable mind
that he was the victim of enchantment, some Tannhauser
of the sea, perhaps!
Next morning we drove out over some newly construct
I
I
I
271 
VISIT TO A BEE-RANCL.
ed roads, and some not constructed at all, but only staked
out-for Santa Monica is essentially a new place-and
after winding through thickets of chaparral and sumach,
emerged in a little canon between two mountains, and
here, in a clearing, stood a new little wooden house, sur rounded by rows of beehives, children, dogs, and a pet
lamb. This was a famous bee-ranch, recently built by a
celebrated bee-raiser, who had lately been obliged to leave
his old ranch on account of its desertion by the bees, who
are very capricious little creatures.
A dark, fresh-looking Mexican woman came out to show
us the hives, among which we walked quite unharmed by
the bees, although some of the more timid of the party
accepted a queer transparent covering for the head and
face by way of protection from their possible stings.
The hives are boxes, two-stories high, each box fitted up
with frames in which the comb is made, and when filled
with honey, the frames are taken out and placed in a
machine, where they are whirled violently round and the
honey thrown out by centrifugal force. We saw one hive
of a small variety and of a bright yellow which are considered very choice. Among the hives stood barrels of
water covered with thin coarse cloth, upon which the bees
settle and draw the water through the meshes of the
cloth. We saw no flowers growing near, and could not
imagine upon what the bees subsisted, but was told that
they will travel miles to find their favorite food.
Time pressing we did not visit any more of the beeranches, of which there is an infinite number in this vicinity, but drove back to the hotel and were soon on our
A
272
4 
A DRIVE AROUND STOCKTON.                273
return trip to Los Angeles, traveling in the private palace
car belonging to Senator Jones, and which is a perfect
little bijou.
Arrived at Los Angeles we re-embarked on our own
car, and began our northward journey. We reached the
Tehachape Pass about dusk, and had an admirable moonlight view of the wild mountain scenery through which
the road curves and twists and doubles in a perfectly
marvellous manner.
We reached Stockton, the old capital of California in
her mining days, in time for breakfast, and as we were to
remain about three hours, we took a carriage and drove
about the place. It stands on a flat and sandy plain, and
is itself flat and sandy and straggling, with wide streets
paved in wood, and fewer handsome houses than in most
California towns of its size; almost every house, however,
possesses a croquet ground, with an awning over it, and a
boarding about six inches high around it to keep the
bales within bounds.
We also noticed a great profusion of clipped cedar,
and arbor-vitae trees, and in the suburbs we came across
one of the prettiest public gardens we have seen anywhere, laid out with nicely gravelled walks, tall hedges
of pinks and lavender, and great colored masses of brilliantly colored flowers. Trellises covered with passion
flower, and other vines, were artfully placed to conceal
the boundary walls, and there were tubs for watering fed
by whirring windmills close by the little green-house
where the plants are started.
Stockton is the location of the State Lunatic Asylum,
12* 
SACRAMENTO AND THE " SHAKES." 
which is one of the finest of this melancholy nature in
the country.
Returning to our car, laden with fruits and flowers, we
resumed our journey, and about four o'clock reached
Sacramento, stopping at the Arcade House, a pleasant
hotel with a homelike parlor hung with pictures, and not
so stereotyped as most public sitting-rooms. We went out
for a little walk, and explored all the principal streets,
which are quite fine, and the one long Chinese shop as
good as any we had previously seen. The houses are all
low, on account of the often recurring "shakes," whose
effect may be seen in many quarters. One corner of our
hotel had settled considerably, and the window ledges
were cracked and sunken in consequence of one of these
shakes.
The custom of building iron braces into the walls is a
very good safeguard against serious damage, however,
and the Arcade is well protected in this manner.
At nine o'clock we were again in our car, and we
passed Cape Horn and American Canon, with  all its
magnificent scenery, in the dead hours of the night, waking to find California already become a memory, and our
delightful sojourn there a thing of the past.
One last glimpse of its beauties was taken as we
dashed past Donner Lake, a beautiful, still, oval sheet of
water, bedded deep in the dark, steep hills; then we
plunged into a snow-shed, and slid down the steeps of
memory into a profound sleep, which made recollection
once more reality.
Our next view of the outer world was at Carson, where
274 -
-A
I
I
0 
TEE " TAILING" PROCESS.
the train stopped for breakfast, and we took a cursory
view of the new, bare, comfortless place, whose only attraction lay in the streams of bright water running
through stone channels along the streets, and a fountain
set in a little square of greenery close to the station.
Some Indians, dirty and squalid, were lounging about,
and the squaws begged vociferously, as usual, while the
men stood ready to share or monopolize the plunder.
There is a rise of 1,700 feet from Carson to Virginia
City, whither we were bound, and the train winds heavily
up between mountain walls of dust-brown rock, whereon
grows neither tree, shrub, herb, nor blade of grass, nothing
with life or motion in it, except the brawling Carson
River, which plunges down between these mountains on
even a steeper grade than the road winds up.
All along the hills were little burrowed holes, with
heaps of powdery, gray earth beside them, where was, or
had been a man prospecting for gold, and nearly all the
country was marked out with stakes, showing the claims
of the different miners or companies.
In a hollow by the river we passed a quartz mill, and
saw what is called the "tailing" process going on, in
which the refuse washings of the ore are passed over a
stretched blanket, to which the particles of gold adhere
and are saved.
The twistings, and curvings, and tunnellings, and climbings of the road grew more and more pronounced, until
one looked at last for some such arrangement as that at
Mount Washington, where the car wheels are fitted with
cogs to grasp each inch of the rail, and the traveller feels
I
275 
276       FROJf CARSON To VIRGINIA CITY.
more like a fly walking up a wall than a rational traveller
upon a pleasure excursion.
The distance in a straight line from Carson to Virginia City is about fifteen miles, but by the windings of
the road this is more than triplicated.
CUTTING BARK AND CONES AS MEMENTOES OF THE MARIPOSA GROVE.
Page 245.
h
I 
I 
CHAPTER XXXII.
VIRGINIA CITY AND THE BIG BONANZA.
0O call a place dreary, desolate, homeless, uncomifort    able, and wicked is a good deal, but to call it
God-forsaken is a good deal more, and in a tolerably large
experience of this world's wonders, we never found a
place better deserving the title than Virginia City.
To commence with, the conditions of its being are
highly disagreeable, for it is a town hooked on, as it were,
to the precipitous side of a barren aud rocky mountain,
and one is always apprehensive that the adhesive power
may become exhausted, and the whole place go sliding
down to the depths of the valley below.
The streets are mere narrow terraces built along the
face of this precipice, like the vineyards along the Rhine,
or the steps of the Pyramnids, whose arid and dusty desolation they also imitate, without the grandeur and mysterv which make one forget the rest.
Leaving the station we climbed a steep and long flight
of wooden steps to the street above, where stood the hotel,
a very good one, by the way, and flanked by some sub)stantial stone and brick buildings, but this block is the
exception in the way of architecture, the rule being frame
houses, as loosely and carelessly put together as a child's
card house. The style may be inferred perhaps from the
I iIIII I i11 1,1;1,,'i l' i oI I i.i;..................... t.. AdI i,,,!  " 4  -                 "        I.,-'. I,I,It! 1111111.                                           1              1            I11!,Illllllll I  
I 
278  ONE CHURCITvs. FORTY-NILVE GAMBLING SALOONS.
fact that about two years ago the whole town burned
down one night, and was rebuilt as good as ever in six
days.
Nowhere does one find a level, the streets are all paral lel, with the exception of one, leading up the mountain
from the depot, and standing in any of them, one'looks off
as if from a belfry, across the tops of the houses below,
and over the chimneys of quartz mills and mining works
still lower down, until vision loses itself among the crowding brown peaks and waving mountain ranges, never
coming to any resting point of level or of greenery, before
the horizon line closes the dreary scene.
The Prince of the. Power of Air reigns supreme in this
region, and the fierce cold wind sweeps through the narrow streets with force enough to take one off one's feet.
Very little rain falls here, but plenty of snow, coming
early and remaining late, indeed possible in any month of
the year, and sometimes lying there three feet deep in
May, in which jocund month we were there.
Virginia City boasts of forty-nine gambling saloons
and one church, open the day we were there for a funeral,
an event of frequent occurrence in the lawless little city.
The population is largely masculine, very few women, except of the worst class, and as few children.
Chinese are rare, not being ill favor with the miners,
who have a horror of their cheap labor, and show their
dislike in very vigorous fashion when the opportunity occurs.
The hotel has been running only a few months, but is
very comfortable, with a pretty parlor and handsome
A 
THE CALIFORNIA OR BONANZA M'VE...
dining-room, where we enjoyed one of the best breakfasts
since leaving San Francisco   A carriage was in waiting
as we came out of the dining hall and took us to the Bonanza Mines, zigzagging from one steep and narrow street
to another, like a magnified Yosemite trail with all the
attractiveness left out, until at length we dismounted at
the great building over the shaft of the California or Bonanza Mine.
Here we were received by Mr. Taylor, the Superintendent, and one of the most courteous and attentive of men,
who invited us first to his own charming bachelor apartments in the mill building, and then took us all over the
works and showed us the entire process of this sort of gold
and silver mining; first, the cages running night and day
hauling up the masses of quartz rock, which the miners,
far below, have picked and shovelled out of its natural
bed; then the crushing of the quartz, and its agglomeration with water in the great vats, into a dingy lead-colored
pudding; then the amalgam mixed with quicksilver
pouring out into iron vessels, in which it is taken to the
crucibles, the quicksilver eliminated, and recondensed for
farther service, the residuum of metal-gold and silver
ore-run into bars and stamped.
We saw machinery enough to drive one crazy, and
were almost suffocated with its hot, oily smell and steani,
besides being deafened by the stamping and banging and
crashing of the quartz-crushing machines which keep that
whole section of the building in a state of jar and quiver,
like an impending earthquake.
In another portion of the edifice we saw the pumps
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279 
EXTRA CTllNG THE ORE.
which are always at work taking the water out of the
mine, and looked down the shaft used by the miners, two
square black holes, close together, with a cloud of hot,
white steam always floating up from them, product of the
heat and damp below, and each provided with an eleva tor worked by broad bands of wrought and woven wire,
immensely strong.
Postponing any farther investigations until the mor row, we left the mills and drove about the city, seeing little
more, however, than has already been described, returned
to the hotel for dinner, and afteri a while strolled out to
see what changes might have been wrought by night and
moonlight.
The changes were noticeable but not beautifying, and
the two policemen, who followed close at our heels, were
by no means a guard of ceremony but a most necessary
protection.  Every other house was a drinking or gambling
saloon, and we passed a great many brilliantly lighted
windows, where sat audacious looking women who freely
chatted with passers-by or entertained guests within.
Cheyenne did not seem to us to deserve its mnournful
sobriquet; and Virginia City equally did seem to deserve,
although it has not received it.
The next morning we walked to the assaying office, to
see the gold and silver taken from the crucibles in which
they are finally purified, and we subsequently returned to
the Bonanza or California Mine, the chief and some others
of the party having resolved to explore its depths.
This mine is principally owned by Messrs. Flood &
O'Brien, and Mr. Fair. The two former kept a small
280
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A HAPPY "tHIT."
drinking saloon in San Francisco, and were on intimate
terms with some of their miner customers, one of whom,
waxing confidential and good-humored in his cups, informed them of a wonderful "lode" just discovered and
not yet known. With wise audacity they sold all that
they possessed and invested every cent in the quarter indicated, managed to get control of the whole mine, worked
it wisely and fortunately, and to-day are said to be worth
fifteen millions each.
Mr. Fair, although equally rich, resides on the spot,
and passes three hours daily down in the mine, personally
superintending its operations. The receipts for this mine
during fifteen months, were $24,850,524.85-and for over
a year it has divided a million monthly, with no signs of
exhaustion.
Mr.- Fair took us first to the large long room where the
miners change their clothes, and which was hung closely
all around from the roof with miners' shirts and trousers,
while on a long frame down the middle of the place stood
their big, heavy shoes or brogans.
The menii are divided into gangs, each working eight
hours, and each gang having its division of this room, and
every man his own especial hook, where he keeps his
mining suit not in wear, it being necessary to change
thoroughly every time they come out of the mine.
The men are mostly Cornish-no Irish and no Chinese
allowed. The owners would like to employ the latter,
but the Miners' Union is too strong for them, dictating
eight hours a day as the period for labor, wages of four
dollars per diem, and no competition.
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281 
DO WN THE SHAFT.
The miners embrace every class of men, socially
speaking, from the lowest grade of laborer to the exUnited States Senator, or man of title, obliged to resort
to manual labor, and too proud to perform it in open daylight, preferring to pass his existence in digging living
graves 1,700 feet below the surface of the earth.
Returning to the shaft, we encountered a party of
miners just dressed to go down, having changed their
clothes in the little office near the mouth of the pit. They
looked very wild and strange in their great solid hats, like
roofs, stiff enough to protect the head from falling bits of
rock, their uncouth clothes and great brogans, each man
carrying a lantern in his hand.
Nine men crowd upon the elevator at once, and at a
given signal go dashing down into the hot, white steam,
disappearing in a moment, absolutely swallowed up in the
earth. The place swarmed with miners waiting their
turn to go down, the elevator making its trip in about fifteen minutes.
A set came up while we stood looking after those who
had gone down the other shaft, and such a set of: ghosts
one never saw: pale, exhausted, dripping with water and
perspiration, some with their shirts torn off and naked to
the waist, all of them haggard and dazed with the long
darkness and toil.   The heat in the shaft is fearful, and
although the galleries are cooler, it is still so warm that
the men are obliged to work half naked, sometimes wholly
so, and word is always sent down when ladies are about
to visit the mine.
Presently the chief, with the "forlorn hope," who had
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,A DARK MYSTERIOUS PIT.
volunteered to accompany him underground, retired to
the dressing-roomn, and soon returned so queerly metamorphosed that it was hard to recognize them, and various
complimentary remarks and quizzical comparisons accompanied them as they' somewhat gingerly stepped upon the
elevator and began their descent.
A sudden thrill of vague horror, however, superseded
all disposition to laughter as the car swiftly and suddenly
took our friends from our very midst, leaving only the
black shaft with its ghostly clouds of hot, white steam to
show where they had been. It was too much like that
other dark and mysterious pit into which most of us
have watched our friends go down to return no more, and
I for one turned away shuddering and afeard.
The party remained below two hours, and returned
tired, excited, delighted, and loquacious, to find us comfortably settled in Air. Taylor's room, dispelling our
anxiety as best we might by selections from our host's
numberless volumes of our favorite poets.
So soon as our friends had bathed-for the directors
have a private bath and dressing-room, which had been
placed at the disposal of our party-and resumed their
usual attire, and we had bidden good-by to our courteous
hosts of the Big Bonanza Mine, we returned to the hotel,
dined, anid then drove to our car in the midst of a drenchiiig rain, almost an unknown phenomenon in Virginia City,
and looked our last upon the bare, brown hills and the
city in the air through vertical sheets of drifting waters.
283 
CHAPTER XXXIII.
HOMEWARD BOUND.
T Ogden we resumed our Pullman car and settled
ourselves in most luxurious manner just in time
for breakfast. The rain still fell, but less furiously, and
finally departed just in time to allow us to enjoy the
glories of Weber's Canon.
At Green River we stopped for twenty minutes, and
got out to see some newly-caught California lions, romping and snarling in their cages on the platform.
An editorial party from Nebraska were on board with
a small press, on which they printed the daily journal of
their travels. We went forward to return their visits, and
ill order to do so had to pass through two or three sleepilig-cars closely packed, and an emigrant-car where, by
the dull light, we could see the poor creatures curled and
huddled up in heaps for the night, with no possibility of
lyiiig down comfortably; but men, women, bundles, baskets, and babies, in one promiscuous heap.
During the darkness of the night we recrossed the
Rockies, missing all the magnificent scenery we had so
enjoyed on the outward trip. We made a little reconnaissance of Cheyenne, but found it this time quite deserted;
not a scout nor an emigrant to be seen.
There was a beautiful red sunset as we passed the buttes
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THE CALIFORNIA OR MOUNTAIN LIONS AT GREEN RIVER ST
I E
IY;4~i~ ~ ~      ~.... Y A
6;.-. 
SYDNEY AND DETROIT.
near Sydney, and dusk was just coming on as we stopped
at the town.  The condu(ctor strongly advised against any
exploration of this place, at least by the ladies, and so of
course we all assumed our bonnets and started forth, visitiing first the tent of a photographer who said that the
town was unusually quiet just now, but that fights and
murders were of common occurrence, and that the inhabitants thought nothing of shooting a manil who happened
to hold different opinions from themselves, emphasizing
his remarks by pointing to the graveyard and declaring
that "pretty near every man there died with his boots
on! "
The next day and the next we travelled without stop   ping, passing through Omaha and Chicago, and on the fol   lowing we reached Detroit, pausing for a day to look about
the fine city and see our old friend Senator Chandler, who
took us to drive behind his superb span of horses, alld to
visit his elegant yacht-a fine sea-going craft. We passed
a portio n  of th         e evening at his magnificent and  tasteful
home, and the day following found ourselves back in
Gotham-a couple of months older than when we left it
for the Golden Gate, and years older and incalculably
richer in novel and charming experiences and grateful
memories of the hospitality and courtesy extended to us,
and the new friends who had treated us as old friends, and
had gained in our recollection a place which time wiii
liever obliterate.
k
285 
GO WEST I
As lPenvoi, I can say no more and no less than this to
all the dear public who year by year wander up and down
the earth seeking and not always finding delight, and expendilng money, whillch by no means always brings its
pro quid of enjoyment.  To them, I say, Go West, nmy
friends, Go West! Within the Golden Gate lies all that
you desire.  Go West!
TIEE END.
FATHFUL- FO LLETTL
FA/THFUL4 FOLLETTE.
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1878.              1878.
m 1
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Miriam............................ I 5  The Empty Heart................  50o
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