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 S u M M E R Suns 
 
 IN THE FAR WEST 
 
 A Ho/ id ay Trip to the Pacijic Slope 
 
 M. a JBlaihic, 2).D., XX.2). 
 
 
 THOMAS NELSON AND SONS 
 
 London, Edinburgh, and Neiv Vofk 
 1890
 
 rcfficc. 
 
 SOME portions of what follows have already appeared 
 in the form of letters, partly in one journal, partly in 
 another. Many friends, interested in what they read there, 
 have expressed a desire to have a more full and connected 
 record of my tour. I have therefore recast the whole, and 
 added nearly as much as was contained in the original 
 papers, keeping up the style of easy letters, so that the 
 whole might be regarded as written (as much of it was) in 
 the railway carriage. The book is neither more nor less 
 than notes of a holiday trip; and I cannot hope by means of 
 it to do more than enable others to share the information 
 and the pleasui'e which the tri}) imparted to the travellers 
 themselves, and perhaps add a little filament to the cord 
 of interest and regard that binds together the two great 
 sections of the Anglo-Saxon family.
 
 Contents. 
 
 I. 
 
 II. 
 III. 
 
 VI. 
 
 VII. 
 
 VIII. 
 
 IX. 
 
 X. 
 
 XI. 
 
 XII. 
 
 XIII. 
 
 XIV. 
 
 XV. 
 
 EniNBURGH TO PHILADELPHIA, 
 
 BALTIMORE TO CHICAGO, 
 
 PRAIRIE, AND COLORADO ROCKIES, ... 
 
 SALT LAKE CITY AND THE MORMONS, 
 
 THE TOSEMITE VALLEY, 
 
 LOS ANGELES, 
 
 SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA AS A FIELD FOR EMIGRATION 
 
 "OUT AND ABOUT," 
 
 SEASIDE ON THE PACIFIC, ... 
 
 SAN FRANCISCO, 
 
 NORTHWARDS TO BRITISH COLUMBIA, 
 
 THE GREAT CANADIAN HIGHLANDS, 
 
 THE NORTH-WEST, MANITOBA, AND TORONTO, 
 
 NIAGARA, 
 
 NORTHFIELD AND HOME, 
 
 APPENDIX— PROHIBITION IN THE UNITED STATES, 
 
 9 
 22 
 33 
 42 
 51 
 64 
 80 
 89 
 97 
 105 
 115 
 126 
 130 
 
 las 
 
 144 
 149
 
 SUMMER SUNS 
 IN THE FAR WEST. 
 
 CHAPTER 1. 
 
 EDINBURGH TO PHILADELPHIA. 
 
 IT was on a cliequered day of April 1889 that, leaving 
 home for a long furlough, my wife and I got on board 
 the Furnessia at Greenock, amid the usual excitement over 
 luggage, and the terror lest some package intended for pres- 
 ent use should lose its way and wander into the hold. An 
 Edinburgh winter is a somewhat serious thing both for men 
 and women who are not altogether backward in the service 
 of the public, and a long holiday seemed very desirable for 
 both, if we were to return to harness, and spend the evening 
 of life in active service. Having a married son near Los 
 Angeles, in Southern California, we determined to direct our 
 footsteps thither and spend a few weeks i]i that semi-fabulous 
 region. Some of our worthy friends thought that, being well 
 on in the sixties, we were fit for the lunatic asylum in under- 
 taking such a journey at our time of life. We pointed out 
 that modern travel had been reduced to the simplest of arts : 
 that we had just to go on board the steamer at Greenock and
 
 10 EDINBURGH TO PHILADELPHIA. 
 
 come out of it at New York ; that if we pleased we might 
 then go on board a Pullman car at New York, loll in an easy- 
 chair by day and repose in a sleeping-berth by night, and 
 come out six days after at Los Angeles ; and that the risks 
 incurred were really not much greater than in the Morning- 
 side street car, or the ferry-boat to Burntisland. Still, wise 
 people shook their heads. And very emphatically the direc- 
 tors of an insurance company shook their corporate head, 
 when I wished to purchase from them a couple of accident 
 policies. After extra premiums had been clapped on for 
 travelling in America, and other adjustments made, the ar- 
 rangement suddenly collapsed at the eleventh houi". It turned 
 out that at our age accident policies would not be granted on 
 any terms ! No wise company would vouch for such decrepit 
 lives. I confess I was more amused than disappointed at the 
 extraordinary caution of the worthy directors, though there 
 was no time to apply elsewliere. We were led to think more 
 of the unseen Protector. Anyhow, we did not mind the 
 refusal ; possibly because grapes have a way of turning sour 
 when you cannot reach them. 
 
 Happily our luggage came together all right, and our 
 berths Avere fairly comfortable ; but it was midnight before we 
 weighed anchor, and the working of the engine and rattling 
 of the chains, as the crew kept lowering the cargo, gave us a 
 concert of the most hideous music under which weary pil- 
 grims ever tried to woo sleep. Morning, as usual, found us 
 at Moville, on the north coast of Ireland, where we took on 
 board our Celtic contingent in wonderfully good condition. 
 Twice before I had witnessed the same process at Queens- 
 town ; but whether it was that Moville is in Ulster, or that 
 the condition of the Irish peasantry has improved, our pres- 
 ent emigrant cargo was by far the best-conditioned I had 
 ever seen. I remember noticing once at Queenstown that 
 though numberless girls were almost in rags, there was
 
 EDIXBURGH TO PHILADELPHIA. 11 
 
 none that wanted a gum-flower ; and the toilet of one poor 
 girl attracted my special notice, she having a boot on one 
 foot and a shoe on the other. There was nothing of this 
 sort on board the Furnessia. All told, we were more than 
 twelve hundred souls on board, and on the whole we were a 
 happy family. The weather was cold but not rough, and 
 there was a minimum amount of sea-sickness. We got 
 very friendly with one another : it is wonderful how friendly 
 you become during a voyage ; and, alas ! it is wonderful how 
 soon your friendships pass out of mind. 
 
 There is not much variety of scenery on the Atlantic. 
 Our one excitement was a shoal of big whales, some of which 
 came so near the ship that we were almost able to make 
 their individual acquaintance. Sunday brings a change — a 
 pleasant change, I cannot help thinking, to most. I con- 
 ducted service on both Sundays, both in the saloon and on 
 the foredeck. Good Friday seemed likely to pass without 
 any recognition, till a deputation from the intermediate cabin 
 came to me and asked me to hold service there. It was an 
 awkward place, but the service was the heartiest of any we 
 held. There can be little privacy for intermediate and steer- 
 age passengers ; and each evening the intermediates had a con- 
 cert, or recitations, or something of that sort, in their dining- 
 room to keep them lively. On Good Friday they thought 
 they ought to be more serious — pauIo majora canamus. It 
 is easy to touch the feelings of emigrants, with their native 
 shores behind them and an unknown future before them. 
 To them it is no mere figure of speech when life is called a 
 pilgrimage. Never is "O God of Bethel" more appropriate, 
 never is a brighter welcome given to those truths which look 
 forward to the end of the pilgrimage, and the gathering to- 
 gether in the Father's house. 
 
 It was on a Sunday night that we sighted the lights about 
 Sandy Hook, and soon after greeted the electric blaze from
 
 12 EDINBURGH TO PHILADELPIItA. 
 
 the great Statue of Liberty. Monday morning we were astir 
 by five o'clock, and an hour or two later were safely moored 
 at the Anchor Wharf. As this was my third visit, I had no 
 new sensations, but could enjoy the interest of fresher pas- 
 sengers looking out for the first time on the American shore. 
 But I well remembered the sensation of my own first visit, at 
 the marvellous metamorphosis which the shore presented as 
 compared with former times : instead of the Red Indian 
 with his plume waving over his head and his tomahawk by 
 his side, one looked out on magnificent cities, whose wharves 
 and docks, railways and steamboats, churches and colleges, 
 and smiling suburban villas, proclaimed the triumph of in- 
 dustry and art. There used to be a story of a Pope asking 
 an American pilgrim to the Vatican whether the aborigines 
 or the English were the more numerous in New York ! But 
 we must pass in haste from the sentimental to the battle of 
 life, and submit the contents of our travelling-boxes to the 
 keen eye of the custom-house officer. Whether he was over- 
 awed by our respectability, or otherwise impressed in our 
 favour, we know not, but he gave us a very easy inspection. 
 We bade a hasty adieu to our fellow-passengers — such of them 
 as were within reach — and in half-an-hour were comfortably 
 quartered in the Grand Union Hotel. 
 
 My long and well-known connection with the General 
 Presbyterian Alliance (called by the public the "Pan-Pres- 
 byterian," and by the profane the " Pan "), which brings 
 Americans and Scotsmen into right friendly relations, pro- 
 cured for me an unexpected welcome. Before I had left the 
 steamer, a minute of the American branch was placed in my 
 hands, couched in very complimentary terms, welcoming me 
 to America, and appointing my dear friend Dr. SchafF and 
 three other friends to look after me in New York, and hold 
 some kind of public meeting. The public meeting was out 
 of the question, for I was unable to remain long enough in
 
 EDINBURGH TO PIlILADELniTA. 13 
 
 New York ; but Dr. Schaff was kind enough to invite some 
 friends to his house, and we liad a most pleasant evening. 
 In a New York paper, The Scottish American, the company 
 was given, all well-known in New York — Dr. and Mrs. Tal- 
 bot Chambers, Dr. and Mrs. John Hall, Dr. and Mrs. Cuyler, 
 Dr. and Mrs. Waters, Dr. and IMrs. J. S. Hamilton, Dr. and 
 Mrs. Ellinwood, Professors Shedd, Briggs, Hastings, Brown, 
 and Vincent; S. B. Brownell, Esq., Dr. Field, and many 
 others. I could only utter my hearty thanks for so kind a 
 welcome, all the more that I was travelling in an entirely 
 private capacity, and the last thing I was looking for was 
 such a recognition. It was a good opportunity for express- 
 ing what has long been one of my very earnest feelings — the 
 desire that nothing may ever happen to disturb the friendly 
 relations of the two great Itranches of the English people, as 
 Professor Freeman has called them, but that Britain and 
 the United States may ever move on hand in hand, united 
 and cordial, in every measure fitted to advance the civiliza- 
 tion and the Christianization of the world. 
 
 New York was all astir with preparations for the celebra- 
 tion of the Washington Centennial, which came off about 
 this time. But it would detain me too long to describe that 
 or any other New York scene. I was greatly interested in 
 the sermon of Bishop Potter, in which he made a bold and 
 earnest effort to restore the political life of the country to 
 the state of purity it enjoyed when it bore the impress of 
 Washington's noble character. It was amusing to watch the 
 newspaper war which followed. It was too strong a dose 
 for tliose patriots who can stomach nothing but eulogy and 
 admiration ; but it struck a deep chord in all the nobler souls 
 of the country. The universal and simultaneous honour paid 
 to the memory of Washington by so many millions of people 
 could hardly fail of good result. It could not but be useful 
 to remember that the one thing that made him great was his
 
 14 EDINBURGH TO rillLADELPHIA. 
 
 honest and profound regard for the welfare of his people, and 
 that what endeared his memory to millions, and made them 
 proud of him, was his patient devotion to duty, his sacrifice 
 of self, his indifference to wealth, honour, and pleasure — 
 his one object in life to serve his country. " Go, and do thou 
 likewise," seemed the appropriate application to every public 
 man in America of every oration, sermon, or speech delivered 
 on the occasion. 
 
 Among the objects which I was anxious to accomplish dur- 
 ing this visit, one was to get at the truth respecting the pro- 
 hibition movement in the country. One hears such opposite 
 opinions. "A great success and blessing," say some; "an 
 utter failure," say others. " As much drink consumed under 
 nominal prohibition as before, with the addition that the law 
 is brought into contempt, and with the further addition that 
 the drink is dearer in price and worse in quality." "A won- 
 derful increase of both material and moral prosperity." The 
 truth, I knew, must lie between these extremes, but where- 
 about between ? 
 
 Within the last few daj-s the state of Massachusetts had 
 voted decidedly against prohibition, as the state of Pennsyl- 
 vania did afterwards, when the question was tried there in 
 June. I called on Mr. Maynard of the New York Observer, 
 who had been quite recently appointed a commissioner by 
 that paper to travel about and make full inquiry on the 
 subject. Mr. Maynard had just retux'ned from a three weeks' 
 tour in the state of Kansas, in which he had made inquiry 
 of all sorts of people — friends and foes, judges and magis- 
 trates, jailers and policemen, ministers and merchants — on 
 the results of prohibition. His report was eminently favour- 
 able. Not only was prohibition the law, but it was strictly 
 enforced there, and even rich men who had violated it were 
 sent remorselessly to prison. Crime aiid disorder of every 
 kind had marvellously decreased. Mr. Maynard had begun
 
 EDINBURGH TO rilTLADELPHIA. 15 
 
 a series of articles in the New York Observer giving the re- 
 sults of his inquiry. I asked him what he thought of the 
 Massachusetts vote. He said he was not in the least sur- 
 prised. Prohibition was a very strong measure, and like the 
 abolition of slavery, it would cost many a battle to achieve 
 it. He had the firmest confidence that in the course of time 
 it would prevail universally in America, and would be as 
 decidedly held to be the right thing as the abolition of 
 slavery was now. I asked him about the high-license system 
 which now exists in some states. Licenses in some instances 
 cannot be got under £200. Mr. Maynard did not think they 
 had done any such good as to render the agitation for prohi- 
 bition superfluous. Other friends whom I have consulted are 
 more friendly to the high-license system. It has shut up an 
 immense number of low drinking-saloons, but of course it has 
 brought increased custom to the richer drink-sellers. One 
 thing I see very clearly : one must make careful discrimina- 
 tion between one place and another in deciding what measures 
 are best for temperance reform. 
 
 Short though our time was in New York, we resolved to 
 have a glance at two things — the Central Park and the 
 Brooklyn Bridge. Nineteen years ago I had visited the 
 Park, which was then only beginning to awake to a con- 
 sciousness of what it might become. I well remember the 
 quarry holes, the heaps of rubbish, and profusion of ungainly 
 things scattered abroad. But this wilderness has blossomed 
 as the rose. In a friend's carriage we drove luxuriously 
 over the gravel paths, through groves of greenery tastefully 
 brightened by the blaze of flowers and the gleam of marble 
 statuary. The carriage drives were dotted with mounted 
 police, trained to catch runaway horses whether attached to 
 carriages or loose. The gallery of art and the museum of 
 natural history have been placed in the Park, as well as the 
 zoological collection, as inducements to the citizens to make
 
 16 EDINBURGH TO PHILABET.PHTA. 
 
 it a place of frequent resort. Perhaps some of our corpora- 
 tions at home might take a hint from this. As for Brooklyn 
 Bridge, it is a marvellous structure to be hung on a couple of 
 chains. Nine years ago, if I remember rightly, a slim line 
 like a spider's thread was all that was visible — a small be- 
 ginning for so wonderful a result. I found it difficult to 
 convince Americans that our Forth Bridge was a vaster 
 undertaking, and that they would need to apply themselves 
 to something still greater if they aspired to own the most 
 notable bridge in the world. 
 
 Though California was our destination, we had so many 
 kind friends in some of the eastern states that we arranged 
 to spend a few days at Philadelphia, Baltimore, Cincinnati, 
 and Chicago on ovir westward way. And everywhere we 
 were received with such hospitality that our great difficulty 
 was to break away. We had to complain that, though going 
 ahead was the great feature of the country, they Avould not 
 let us go ahead. 
 
 Philadelphia had a special interest ; for it was there the 
 reunited General Assembly, to which I was sent as a dele- 
 gate from the Free Church, was held in 1870; and it was 
 there, too, that the second General Presbyterian Council 
 (the "Pan") met in 1880. Alas ! not a few of our dearest 
 friends both in Philadelphia and New York had passed away 
 in the interval. It was pleasant to see that, as the old 
 standard-bearers fell, there were other men to take the 
 colours. The Women's Foreign Missionary Society, a great 
 institution, which has flourished wonderfully, and greatly 
 promoted the mission cause, was holding its annual meeting, 
 attended by more than five hundred women. My wife was 
 carried off to the meeting, and received a most gratifying 
 reception. She was much struck by the business capacity 
 and great energy of the American women. During the year 
 they have collected 145,000 dollars — say nearly £30,000. 
 
 (197)
 
 EDINBURGH TO PHILADELPHIA. 17 
 
 They have one hundred and forty-six missionaries in foreign 
 countries, of whom seventy have been sent out during the year. 
 It would be worth while to give a full statement of their 
 work, as contained in their annual report, and, what would 
 be even more interesting, a statement of their methods. But 
 space forbids further reference. One of the secretaries of 
 the society was the daughter of our host. 
 
 A son in the same family was secretary to the Christian 
 Endeavour Society. This is a society having objects some- 
 what similar to that of our guilds at home. But while 
 the society is so far denominational that each congregation 
 has its own branch, the whole is united in one great con- 
 federation, somewhat like the Presbyterian Alliance. The 
 society holds a great annual meeting, which took place this 
 year at Philadelphia. My friend was busy with prepara- 
 tions. It was expected that four thousand at least would 
 be present — not all as delegates. I think the actual number 
 was between six and seven thousand. There were members 
 present from California and other far-distant parts of the 
 country. Distance is no bugbear to American travellers. 
 
 Philadelphia is building a magnificent city hall, on a mag- 
 nificent site at the union of Broad and High Streets. The 
 only pity is that the building obstructs the continuous view 
 which there used to be from end to end of these fine streets. 
 The new erection is of marble ; and as it has to wait for 
 annual appropriations of money from the city, it advances 
 but slowly towards completion. A new feature of Phila- 
 delphia, as also of New York, is the immense blocks of ofiices 
 and other business chambers, for which eight stories is now 
 a moderate height. The enormous cost of building areas 
 necessitates this arrangement. The old Edinburgh houses 
 of ten or twelve stories are being left behind. I heard an 
 American repeat the somewhat apocryphal story of a man who, 
 in falling from the top of one of the tall Edinburgh houses, 
 
 (197) 2
 
 18 EDINBURGH TO PHILADELPHIA. 
 
 passed a servant girl cleaning a window about the fifth story, 
 and remarked to her, " Eh, lassie, sic a clype I'm gaein' to 
 get ; " but it might be fathered now on New York or Phila- 
 delphia. There is no trouble getting to the top of these 
 Titanic houses, for they are all furnished with one or more 
 " elevators," or, as we should call them, " lifts," which land 
 you in a few seconds in any story you wish to visit. Hy- 
 draulic pressure furnishes the power, and the only drawback 
 to your satisfaction is pity for the monotonous life of the 
 man or boy in charge, engaged all day long in working the 
 apparatus. 
 
 The Americans have a wonderful way of scenting out men 
 (and women too) who are supposed to be able to speak in 
 public. Professor Shaw of Lincoln University, son-in-law 
 of an old friend (his wife is a daughter of the late Rev. 
 William Arnot of Edinburgh), found us out at Pliiladelphia, 
 and invited us to pay a visit to his college. Mr. Shaw 
 being an old student of mine at Edinburgh, and his wife 
 an old friend of us both, brief though our time was, we 
 could not but accept the invitation. Lincoln University is 
 situated between Philadelphia and Baltimore, and is designed 
 for training men of colour for the ministry. It is of recent 
 origin ; and though it has made excellent progress during its 
 short career, the term " university " (as in many other in- 
 stances in America) denotes not what it already is, but what 
 it aspires to be. Though under Presbyterian auspices, it is 
 open to young men of all evangelical denominations; and it 
 has no fewer than one hundred and sixty students. Tlie 
 only department of the university thoroughly equipped is 
 the theological. Professor Shaw has the chair of Hebrew, 
 and he maintains stoutly that negro students are as capable 
 as any other of proficiency in Hebrew, and indeed in all 
 other branches of liberal study. He maintains that the 
 mixture of blood is not the explanation of this, inasmuch as
 
 EDIXBURGH TO PHILADELrHIA. 19 
 
 students of pure blood are just as capable as those of mixed. 
 This, I know, is not the universal opinion ; for instance, Mr. 
 IMoody, who has a great power of knowing men, does not 
 regard the negro as equal in capacity to other races. 
 
 Of course there was a reception, and I was introduced to 
 the professors and their wives, and to some of the ministers 
 and residents in the surrounding district. One gentleman 
 introduced himself to me as the first professor of the English 
 Bible in any college in the world. He drills the students in 
 the Bible, making them commit to memoiy many suitable 
 passages, and sustain examinations on important portions of 
 it. Men of colour are not the only students who would be 
 better for this exercise. 
 
 Before I got to Lincoln, Professor Shaw had wired me for 
 a "talk." I agreed to give a lecture on Livingstone and 
 Africa, though I had no written materials, and happily it 
 interested them quite remarkably. Some of them were pre- 
 paring for service in Africa, and the name of Livingstone 
 Avas dear to them all. In fact, the hall in which I lectured 
 was called Livingstone Hall, having been the gift of an 
 admirer of the great missionary. A black student opened 
 with an excellent prayer, and another closed. In a Presby- 
 terian divinity college there is little scope for negro eccen- 
 tricity, such as we often hear of. The men work for their 
 maintenance during the recess, and for the most part pay the 
 cost of board. They are not at all particular as to what they 
 work at. At Professor Shaw's we were served by a coloured 
 waiter in full black dress and copious linen breast. He was 
 one of the students, or "boys," as the professor called them, 
 and his business was that of a waiter. In towns like Balti- 
 more it is said that some negroes have made a little fortune 
 by "waiting." 
 
 There are two points connected with the negro race on 
 which I was desirous to set information — nesfro religion and
 
 20 EDINBURGH TO PHILADELPHIA. 
 
 negro social prospects. It is well known that the great 
 majority of the negroes, especially clown south, are either 
 Baptists or Methodists. Under the shadow of these systems 
 they have more scope to indulge their native tastes. The 
 element that predominates in their religion is the emotional. 
 They are fond of singing hymns, of appeals to the senses and 
 the imagination, but do not usually care for appeals to the 
 intellect and the conscience. I was told, for instance, of a 
 native preacher who had given out one of the commandments 
 for his text, when a hearer rose up and told him, " We don't 
 want to hear nothing of that sort here ; you stop, and give 
 us the gospel." It reminded me of what I had heard of a 
 negro woman who had stolen a goose but would not own it, 
 that one Sabbath morning she informed her mistress that 
 she was going to the conununion. Her mistress remon- 
 strated, as she had never " 'fessed the goose." "Well, 
 madam," she said, " I don't deny that I did take it ; but if 
 you suppose that for the matter of one goose I am going to 
 deny my Savioui", you are much mistaken." On a certain 
 plantation there was a most eloquent and powerful negro 
 preacher. There had been much depredation on the planta- 
 tion, and it occurred to the owner to enlist the services of 
 the preacher to deliver a sermon against stealing. He said 
 he understood he was a very impressive preacher. The negro 
 in reply " guessed he could do it pretty smart." He then 
 asked him to preach a sermon on honesty. The preacher's 
 face assumed a strange look. No, he said, he could not 
 do that ; for if he gave out such a subject, it would throw 
 quite a chill over the congregation. On the other hand, I 
 have heard of negroes and negro preachers as blameless and 
 pure of life as the whitest of the white. And some of 
 them are powerful preachers, despite their grotesque com- 
 position and pronunciation. At Lincoln University, and 
 I have no doubt at other seminaries, the tone of instruc-
 
 EDINBURGH TO PHILADELPHIA. 21 
 
 tion gives an emphatic check to any divorce of religion and 
 morality. 
 
 With regard to negro social prospects, the problem of the 
 future is just where it was. No appreciable progress has 
 been made in the way of amalgamating the two races with 
 each other. The churches are feeling themselves obliged to 
 agree to some compromise on the subject. The difficulty of 
 bringing black and white into one baffles all of them. 
 Coloured people don't commonly like white ministers, and 
 white people have still more determined objections to black 
 pastors. When a Synod or an Assembly meets at any place, 
 no white family will take in a coloured delegate. The con- 
 sequence is that virtually separate churches have to be 
 formed for white and black. The Methodist Church has a 
 coloured Conference, and the Southern Presbyterian Church 
 has a coloured Synod. In some sense these are parts of the 
 white organization, but otherwise they are separate. When 
 I was in Baltimore I found tliat two of my fiiends in 
 that city — Dr. Joseph Smith, and Dr. Leftwich, of the First 
 Presbyterian Church, for both of whom I officiated — had 
 just been south, conferring with delegates from the Southern 
 Church on co-operation in work among the negroes, and it 
 was in this direction that their proposals ran. It is dis- 
 appointing to find that we are so far from a satisfactory 
 solution of the problem ; but it is a characteristic of the 
 American people not to wait till they can secure the optimist 
 arrangement of any question, but to do the best they can 
 in the circumstances. If America liad not made good use of 
 tliis rule, it would never have been the country that it is.
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 
 BALTIMORE TO CHICAGO. 
 
 OUR next visit was to Baltimore. It is a fine city, witli 
 more of the air of Old England about it than most 
 cities in the States. It derives its name from an English 
 nobleman, and traditions of the olden time seem to hover 
 over it, as if loath to depart. We had a particularly warm 
 reception from the friends who entertained us in Baltimore. 
 They represented a family of some mark that had been long 
 settled in the city. We had made their acquaintance in 
 Switzerland some years before. We could not but recall the 
 family of Philip the evangelist, but instead of four daughters 
 who were virgins our host had seven, and instead of prophesy- 
 ing they were all busily engaged in Christian labours of love. 
 The city has a wonderfully fine park — Druid Hill. It was in 
 great beauty, greatly improved since our first visit. I believe 
 it was formerly the property of some scrubby old man that 
 would let nobody into it ; now it belongs to the citizens, and 
 they do enjoy it, from the least even to the greatest. A well- 
 frequented park has a great social effect, drawing a com- 
 munity together, and forming a bond between rich and poor. 
 And the gold of the evening sun, stealing through leafy 
 thickets, and transfiguring all with heavenly glory, has a 
 thrilling effect, one would hope a good effect, sluggish though 
 human beings are to respond to the silent influences of nature.
 
 BALTIMORE TO CHICAGO. 23 
 
 The sensation of Baltimore was over the approaching 
 opening of the Johns-Hopkins Hospital. It must be ex- 
 plained that Mr. Johns-Hopkins was a very rich merchant, 
 far from open-handed in his lifetime, who, when he could 
 keep his seven millions of dollars no longer, left them to 
 found two institutions- — a university and a hospital. Through 
 the kindness of President Gillman we were shown over the 
 university buildings ; and another officer showed us the 
 hospital, which was opened publicly the day after we left. 
 Both are on a very high scale, especially the hospital. Every 
 contrivance for the benefit of the sick and for the efficient 
 carrying on of the Avork of the hospital that modern skill has 
 discovered is brought into full play in the arrangements. I 
 believe the architect was sent over the world to inspect all 
 the chief hospitals in existence, and get from them every 
 arrangement that experience had devised for their efficient 
 management. The university has been chiefly distinguished 
 for physical research. Its many publications have already 
 procured for it a distinguished place, and it seems likely that 
 it will accomplish much more. I found considerable anxiety 
 prevailing in Christian families on account of the appoint- 
 ment of some professors whose views inclined to scepticism. 
 Christian parents did not like to place their sons under the 
 shadow of unbelievers, whatever might be the branch of 
 study, and some young men had gone to Princeton who would 
 naturally have studied at the Johns-Hopkins. It is believed, 
 however, that the trustees will be more careful in future 
 appointments. The college is undenominational, and, like 
 other American colleges, is governed by a body of trustees, 
 the first having been named by the testator. The hospital 
 is a fine and imposing building ; but the univei'sity is scat- 
 tered over a considerable number of separate erections, and 
 none of them is sufficiently imposing to correspond to the 
 importance of the institution.
 
 24 BALTIMORE TO CHICAGO. 
 
 Some of the marble houses of Baltimore are very beautiful. 
 But there is a green-stone in the neighbourhood with which 
 architects are but too prone to play fantastic tricks, A 
 church which presents sundry stripes of this green-stone has 
 gained from an irreverent public the name of " The Church of 
 the Holy Zebra." It brought to mind a church in another 
 city, with a tall and very narrow spire, which has suggested 
 the name of "The Church of the Sacred Toothpick." We 
 cannot linger over the institutions of Baltimore, but the 
 Peabody Institute, with its large library and art collection, 
 deserves special notice — a link of connection between the old 
 country and the new, and a token of that cordial feeling 
 which made Mr. Peabody the benefactor of both. 
 
 Our friends at Baltimore had arranged for us a day's 
 pleasant excursion to Washington. We were greatly struck 
 with the improvement of the capital during the last nineteen 
 years. Thackeray's designation " the city of magnificent 
 distances " is applicable no longer. Its vacant stances are 
 now occupied by handsome public buildings and private 
 residences. The trees lining the residential streets, that were 
 mere saplings in our recollection, are now of tolerable size. 
 The carriage-ways, that used to be so rugged, are paved with 
 asphalt. For once in an American city you see not a few 
 symbols of royalty, but it is over the doors of the foreign 
 embassies. Great Britain of course mounts the lion and the 
 unicorn over her embassy — a respectable residence with very 
 little style. The most remarkable change in Washington is 
 the completion of the National Monument. It is a plain 
 obelisk, towering to the height of above five hundred feet, 
 traversed in the interior by an elevator, which, if you can 
 secure a place in it, will cany you to the top in less than ten 
 minutes. There you will find a magnificent view of the 
 meandering Potomac at your feet, and of the other objects 
 of interest about Washington, round and I'ound. If you
 
 BALTIMORE TO CHICAGO. 25 
 
 descend by the stair, you will find an opportunity of reading 
 the names of the states, cities, companies, Sabbath schools, 
 societies, and individuals that contributed to the building of 
 the monument. I could not but think of the great Christian 
 temple of the apostle, that glorious edifice to the erection of 
 which all tribes and peoples and tongues are to contribute 
 their share. 
 
 We had hoped to have a private interview with the 
 President, but by some unexpected contretemps we did not 
 succeed. So we went with all the world to the White House 
 at one o'clock, merely to shake hands. As soon as the clock 
 struck, the worthy gentleman came into the room by a door 
 in the farther end, as quietly as possible, and stood rather 
 helplessly near it, as the citizens crowded past. He looked 
 substantial, but by no means brilliant. There was no little 
 business power evinced in his face, such as you might expect 
 in a successful Indianapolis lawyer, who had the reputation 
 of having seldom or never lost a case. He is an elder of 
 the Presbyterian Church, and at Indianapolis was actively 
 interested in church work. His father-in-law, the Rev. Dr. 
 Scott, a very aged man, resides with the family. Mr. Harri- 
 son has laid down a rule for himself that he will do no busi- 
 ness on Sunday. He claims it as the day of rest, and main- 
 tains that the President needs rest as much as the poorest 
 mechanic. Another step in the direction of Sabbath rest 
 has been taken by Mr. Wanamaker, the postmaster-general. 
 The doors of the Washington office are closed every Sunday. 
 I am happy to say that there seems to be a. general move- 
 ment in the country at present in favour of a better observ- 
 ance of the Lord's day. Many of the railway companies are 
 reducing the number of freight trains and excursion trains. 
 The want of a Sabbath in many parts of the country is 
 recognized by them as hurtful to the physical welfare of the 
 people, as it is by others to their moral and spiritual good.
 
 26 BALTIMORE TO CHICAGO. 
 
 The civil service of the United States has got into such 
 a bad groove that it must be extremely difficult for any 
 President to move it into a better. Innumerable situations 
 throughout the whole country are thrown vacant at every 
 presidential election, and it has been too much the practice 
 of the new President to reward his friends by the gift of 
 these. As far as I could learn, the new President is honestly 
 trying to continue efficient men of whatever party in office, 
 and remove those only whose qualifications are deficient, or 
 who were placed in office for mere political ends. But the 
 matter is often complicated, and probably he will not fully 
 please either party. 
 
 Dr. Hamlin, minister of a very handsome Presbyterian 
 church, called the Church of the Covenant, had asked me to 
 take part in his service next day, but previous engagements 
 prevented. The President holds a pew there, Mr. Secretary 
 Blaine another. Secretary of Treasury AVindom a third, and 
 Postmaster Wanamaker a fourth. It might almost be called 
 the Church of the Cabinet. It is a recent erection, and cost 
 upwards of 200,000 dollars. One day the spire subsided; it 
 did not even fall over on the road, but simply sat down, 
 having been badly built. A good many thousand dollars were 
 needed to build it up. It is one proof of the greater wealth 
 of America that sums are often expended on church building 
 that would simply overwhelm us in Scotland. It must be 
 remembered that a complete church establishment embraces 
 not only the church proper, but a chapel for lesser gather- 
 ings, Sabbath-school buildings to any amount, parlours for 
 committee and other meetings, a pastor's study and a pastor's 
 house, all fitted up with handsome carpets and other furni- 
 ture, the cost of the whole probably double that of a church 
 alone. Christian liberality is a marvel to the world, even 
 though it has far from reached the limit of its capacity. 
 
 From Baltimore our destination was Cincinnati, distant
 
 BALTIMORE TO CHICAGO. 27 
 
 six hundred miles. We had to find our way through the 
 Alleghany Mountains, and far from an easy way it was for 
 the railway. But the route from Harrisburg to Pittsburg, 
 which occupies the gi'eater part of the day, is extremely 
 beautiful. Along sweet river - sides and through wooded 
 mountains, by banks and braes that are well deserving of 
 a poet's song, you are whirled along in a constant succession 
 of beauty. At the famous " horse-shoe " the line has to 
 double upon itself — an operation of which we afterwards 
 came on some much more extensive specimens. Among the 
 towns we passed was ill-fated Johnstown, reposing softly in 
 the mellow sunshine, with its busy population of 30,000. 
 Had we only known what was to happen, we should not 
 have been satisfied with the cursory, careless look that 
 hardly impressed its features on our memory. It was but 
 a week or two after that a dam burst a few miles higher 
 up the valley, creating a tragedy of destruction hardly 
 paralleled in history, the loss of life being variously stated 
 between fifteen thousand and three thousand. At the time 
 of the accident we were near Los Angeles, and from one 
 of its ministers, the Rev. J. L. Russell, who had quite 
 recently been transferred from Altona, in the immediate 
 neighbourhood of Johnstown, and who was intimately ac- 
 quainted with many of the sufierers, we learned some sad 
 particulars that had not appeared in the newspapers. Among 
 these was the case of a young lady who had been borne away 
 on a piece of wreck, and remained in the water sixteen hours, 
 terribly buffeted. Her clothes were torn off her, and she 
 was utterly exhausted when she was found by her brother. 
 He had to clothe her with some of his own garments, and 
 carry her on his back six miles before he could get any- 
 thing done for her. Some people were reported dead, or at 
 least mad, who were really safe. Among these was a Mr. 
 Fulton, a gentleman in good business, and president of the
 
 28 BALTIMORE TO CHICAGO. 
 
 Amendment Committee — that is, the committee that was 
 then trying to get prohibition carried in Pennsylvania. A 
 friend meeting him congratulated him on being alive, and 
 alluded to the rumour that he v^^as dead. " Did you not 
 know," said he, "that I could not die before the 18th of 
 June ? " That was to be the great voting day. The news- 
 papers were full of tales, all tales of tragedy, but many of 
 heroism and noble effort. Conspicuous among these was the 
 case of an unknown horseman, who, when he saw the water 
 beginning to rush out at the bottom of the embankment, 
 galloped down the valley, exhorting all to escape to the 
 mountains, but was himself swept away and swallowed up in 
 the roaring flood. 
 
 We reached Cincinnati after a night in the sleeping cars. 
 Under the kind charge of Dr. Morris of Lane Theological 
 Seminary, we had a most agreeable visit here — " a good 
 time," though hurried — were introduced to many of the 
 citizens, and feasted by a brother Scot who rejoices in the 
 title of the "oil-king." Cincinnati is a prosperous and 
 remarkable city, was once the rival of Chicago, but has been 
 outstripped in the race by its old competitor. I cannot but 
 note a little fact that gave me no ordinary satisfaction. A 
 poor boy, who had been a scholar in the Sunday school at 
 Pilrig when I was minister there, had found his way to Cin- 
 cinnati, and having procured for himself a training as a 
 lawyer, was now one of the foremost lawyers, and one of the 
 most exemplary and liberal Christians, of the city. "Well do 
 I remember the dingy house in which his family lived, in 
 that same dingy street, then called Moray Street (Spey Street 
 now), where Thomas Carlyle spent some years of his Edin- 
 burgh life ; and well do I remember the feelings with which 
 I used to call on that boy's mother, and another worthy 
 mother in the same stair, both struggling hard to bring up
 
 BALTIMORE TO CHICAGO. 29 
 
 large families aright, amid great difficulty and much sorrow. 
 They did need comfort, for they were fighting a hard but 
 noble battle ; and both of them had great cause to thank God 
 for his blessing, which in the evening of their life came in 
 more forms than one. Bread cast on the water is found 
 after many days. Apart from the personal aspect of the 
 case, I looked on it as a remarkable illustration of the open- 
 ness of the path to success and distinction in the United 
 States. The poorest boy (James Garfield, for instance) may 
 find his way to the very top of the ladder. Cincinnati 
 brought me another joy. An esteemed minister told me 
 he knew of two, if not three, young men who had been led 
 to devote themselves to foreign missions through reading the 
 "Personal Life of Livingstone." 
 
 From Cincinnati a day's travelling brought us to Chicago. 
 Chicago is everywhere a household word, the symbol of mar- 
 vellous progress and extraordinary enterprise. But every 
 one knows about Chicago. Two pleasant visits were paid to 
 the Presbyterian and Congregational theological seminaries, 
 in the latter of which I found an old student of New Col- 
 lege, Edinburgh — Professor Scott — enjoying a high reputa- 
 tion both as a professor and a preacher. The Presbyterian 
 seminary owes not a little to the late Mr. M'Cormick, after 
 whom it is named, well known among our farmers in con- 
 nection with the M'Cormick reaping-machine; and it is a 
 pleasure to add that his son is following in his steps. Part 
 of our little time at Chicago was spent under the roof of 
 the widow of one of the earliest traders in the place — the 
 late Mr. Hubbard, who settled at Fort Dearborn when there 
 were but two houses in the neighboux'hood. He became a 
 very prosperous citizen, and owned a fine house and garden 
 in the city. When the great fire broke out on the other 
 side of the river, there was no idea that it would cross over
 
 30 BALTIMORE TO CHICAGO. 
 
 to his neighbourhood. After it had burned for many hours, 
 his wife at night was looking sadly out at the blazing city, 
 and seeing an unusual brightness, begged Mr. Hubbard (who 
 was in bed) to come and look at it. Seeing the direction the 
 fire was taking, he became alarmed, roused his household, 
 filled his carriages with books, pictures, and whatever else of 
 value was portable, and sent the whole to the houses of 
 friends at a distance. Ere long the house was burned to the 
 ground. Some of his furnitui'e was stolen, but was after- 
 wards discovered in a house in the suburbs, and recovered 
 by its rightful owner. Mr. Hubbard never rebuilt his house, 
 and the site on which it stood, with a cavity in the centre, 
 stands to this day, a touching memorial of one of the greatest 
 calamities that have happened in modern times. How many 
 stories of the like kind might Chicago tell ! 
 
 The chief interest of my visit to Chicago was in connection 
 with Mr. Moody. He was just at the end of a month's 
 labour in his own church, which is situated in the north end 
 of the town, in the immediate neighbourhood of Mrs. Hub- 
 bard's house, not far from the site of Dearborn Fort. The 
 spot where he commenced his home mission work when an 
 employe in a shoe-store is not far off. It was a gi-eat 
 pleasure to meet again the prince of evangelists, and find 
 him directing all his energies to make his work more aggres- 
 sive, and to train agents to go to the haunts of sinners and 
 urge the careless to come in. It seemed to me that uncon- 
 sciously, perhaps, he was taking a lesson from Dr. Chalmers. 
 He was very particular in urging that, when the careless did 
 come in, they should get a repast suited to their wants, and 
 not be chilled by that cold formality which seemed to him 
 the bane of all the churches. I was twice in his church, on 
 a week-day and on the Sabbath. Both times he consti-ained 
 me to give a word. I heard him give a lecture on the 
 thirteenth chapter of 1st Corinthians, and afterwards at
 
 BALTIMORE TO CHICAGO. 31 
 
 Northfield I heard him preach on subjects equally practical. 
 I asked him whether he was not preaching more than he 
 used to do on the application of Christianity to daily life. 
 " Yes, I am," he replied. The readiness of human nature to 
 abuse free grace had impressed itself on him, and the need of 
 " line upon line, precept upon precept," had become a burn- 
 ing conviction. But Moody knew well what many do not 
 know — how to connect the inculcation of a thorough obedience 
 in every-day life with living faith in Christ, and not doom 
 poor weak human nature to struggles and burdens for which 
 its strength is quite unequal. 
 
 I was moi'e than ever impressed with the fact that Moody 
 is a man sui generis. There will never be a school of 
 Moodys. His methods will not be carried out in full by 
 other men. But besides the success of his evangelistic work, 
 he will always be remarkable for the impulse which he 
 imparts to Christian workers towards plainness of speech, 
 earnestness, and consecration. There will likewise be a 
 constant increase of reverence for the Bible under his in- 
 structions and example. Moody is a man of one book, and 
 it is a singular testimony to the everlasting freshness and 
 fulness of the Bible that everything which he ever has 
 taught, or ever will teach, is derived from it alone. I rather 
 think that now that he is entering on the work of permanent 
 organization he will find that what to him has been a strong 
 point hitherto is really a weak point — I mean his being un- 
 connected officially with any branch of the Church, and his 
 acting solely on his own responsibility. 
 
 We had no time to see much more of Chicago on this 
 occasion than a saunter through the streets and a drive 
 through its fine Lincoln Park and other suburbs allowed. 
 One institution, however, did command our special attention 
 — the Women's Christian Temperance Union. It is always 
 known as the W.C.T.U., letters of which the saloon-keepers
 
 32 BALTIMORE TO CHICAGO. 
 
 have their own interpretation — "Women constantly torment 
 us." Its office is in one of the largest blocks in one of the 
 chief commercial streets. The building — it all belongs to the 
 W.C.T.U.— cost 800,000 dollars, but a great part of it is let 
 out for offices and wareroonis, the rent going to pay interest 
 on mortgages. But the temperance women have very large 
 accommodation for themselves. They have business offices, 
 and editorial sanctums, and an entire printing and publish- 
 ing establishment. The lady secretaries and the lady editor 
 seem quite at home in their places of business and in the 
 Avhole round of their work. The weekly temperance journal, 
 the Union Signal, with a circulation of above fifty thousand 
 copies, is edited and published by them. The president of 
 the Union is Miss Willard, usually regarded as the most 
 eloquent woman in America. Miss Willard is one of those 
 who have strongly urged the formation of " a third party," — 
 that is, a party whose one object shall be to secure pro- 
 hibition, and which will support any prohibitionist candidate, 
 be he republican or democratic. This action, however, does 
 not meet with the approval of all the temperance party (and 
 I agree with them), both because they dislike mixing up 
 their cause with party politics, and because they do not con- 
 sider the policy in itself to be the best for the temperance 
 cause. But the women's establishment looks like business, 
 and shrewd vigorous women they seemed who were at work 
 within its walls.
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 
 PRAIRIE AND COIORADO ROCKIES. 
 
 WE took our tickets by the Chicago and Union Pacific 
 line right from Chicago to our final destination, 
 Los Angeles, with "stop-over" rights by the way; and I 
 have to acknowledge the courtesy of the railway authorities, 
 both of this and other American lines, in allowing me to 
 travel at the rates which clergymen of the country are 
 usually charged. We left Chicago about mid-day, and no- 
 thing could have been more delightful than the motion of 
 the Pullman car in which we had our seats. Whether it 
 had more india-rubber in its construction than other cars, or 
 whether the level surface of the prairie made it run more 
 smoothly, certain it is that its motion was hardly more 
 perceptible than that of the earth itself. We moved all 
 afternoon and evening through the pleasant prairie country, 
 admiring the level fields, and the soil as rich and soft and 
 loose as if it were all mole-heaps, looking as if the plough 
 might glide through it as easily as a boat through water. It 
 was easy now to understand how these prairies were so ad- 
 mirably adapted for raising grain and cattle. About seven 
 in the evening we came on the Mississippi. It was our first 
 sight of the king of waters. I am afraid I am of very gross 
 temperament, for the sight impressed me but little. There 
 was of course a large body of water, but what one missed 
 (197) 3
 
 34 PRAIRIE AND COLORADO ROCKIES. 
 
 was some visible mark of imperial grandeur. There were 
 no high banks like those of the Rhine, no impetuous defiant 
 rush like the rapids of Niagara, no visible memorials of 
 majesty and power. You need to draw on your logical 
 faculty, your multiplication table, and your imagination to 
 realize the vastness of the Mississippi, and its claim as king 
 of waters. But it is truly a grand river, and a man feels 
 himself bigger after he has seen it. 
 
 Most of the state of Iowa we traversed during the night. 
 It is inevitable in American travelling that you lose a good 
 deal by travelling in the dark. There is some fine scenery, I 
 believe, near Des Moines, the capital of Iowa, but most of 
 the road is over prairie. In the morning we were approach- 
 ing another great river, the Missouri. The " bluffs " in the 
 Missouri valley are conspicuous and attractive. "Council 
 Bluffs " is the name of a thriving little city. On the other 
 side of the Missouri is the quite recent and very flourishing 
 city of Omaha, the capital of another state, Nebraska, which 
 is separated from Iowa by the river. 
 
 Not very many years ago, " west of the Missouri " meant 
 something like "the back o' beyont," in old country phrase. 
 It is here that "new America" begins. Professor Freeman 
 might have added another England to his list, and found 
 four Englands instead of three. I used often when in 
 America to repeat his remark that the English were all one 
 people ; that wherever they lived was England ; that the 
 first England was the little territory between Denmark and 
 Prussia whence the Angli sprang ; the second England the 
 island in the German Ocean where the first set of emigrants 
 settled ; and the third, commonly called New England, the 
 shores of the continent where another body of emigrants of 
 the same stock made their home. What I claim as the 
 fourth England is the region west of the Missouri, peopled 
 substantially by the same race. And without prejudice to
 
 PRAIRIE AND COLORADO ROCKIES. 35 
 
 the merits of all the earlier Englands, these " new En- 
 glanders," as they may emphatically be called, who have 
 made their home in this far west, have got a country that 
 for gifts of nature may hold its head as high, if not higher, 
 than any of them. 
 
 We knew that a groui^ of half-German half-Scotch cousins, 
 who were settled some forty miles from Omaha, would give 
 us a very cordial welcome, and we resolved to spend a day 
 with them. Before our train started, we had time to take 
 " a hack " and drive through Omaha and its suljurbs. I 
 need not say it was a place undreamt of when I learned my 
 geography. But in truth what could geogi-aphy say, in my 
 day, of that chain of remarkable cities — Chicago, Omaha, 
 Denver, and Salt Lake City — that are the great landmarks 
 between New York and San Francisco 1 What could it say 
 of San Francisco itself? Omaha has been made by the 
 Pacific Railway Company. The bluffs about it afford ample 
 variety of ground, and form fine sites for public buildings 
 and private villas. I do not know whether the massive 
 mercantile blocks in the centre of such towns or the beauti- 
 ful villas in the suburbs give one the more vivid idea of 
 prosperity. It struck me, not with reference to Omaha 
 merely, but the suburbs of other cities, that American archi- 
 tects must have been giving great attention of late to villa 
 architecture. Many a chaste and beautiful design we saw 
 from first to last; but as all the villas, at least with very few 
 exceptions, are of wood, the architect has a more pliable 
 material to deal with than in the old country, and yet I 
 should think that he is far from having exhausted the forms 
 of which villa architecture is susceptible in wood. 
 
 Our cousins were settled some five miles from a station 
 called Newaka, on a new line of railway. Meeting us was 
 the inevitable " buggy," and we drove pleasantly over primi- 
 tive roads, very agreeable when not too dusty, utterly inuo-
 
 36 PRAIRIE AND COLORADO ROCKIES. 
 
 cent of macadamizing or any such barbarous process ; first 
 because tliere were no stones to macadamize with, and 
 second, because the traffic was not great enough to require 
 it. The group of cousins embraced three families, two of 
 them farmers, the thiixl, who prided himself on bearing the 
 very name of the Irish Secretary, Arthur James Balfour, 
 was postmaster. All of them were living simple, primitive, 
 unconventional lives, the farmers their own landlords and 
 their own tenants and servants too; for unless a man have a 
 larger farm than the ordinary, he has to do his own work 
 outside, while the womankind in like manner have to do all 
 within. Whether the outcome of this mode of living shall 
 be comfortable or comfortless, is by no means certain, but, as 
 we say, depends. Diligence thrives, idleness wastes. One of 
 the houses was a model of good order and comfort. The 
 owner, still a youngish man, emigrated in childhood with 
 his family from Germany; and his father having died from 
 wounds received in the civil Avar, our friend began life on 
 his own account with but a handful of dollars. But he was 
 careful, steady, and laborious, and worked his way upwards 
 till now he has a very desirable farm and a most comfortable 
 establishment. This gentleman told us that to save house- 
 building when he had no money to spare for it, he had lived 
 at first in a sort of cave hollowed out from a steep hillside. 
 After occupying this mansion for a while, a spring of water 
 sprang up in the bottom of it, and however he might dodge 
 it, or coax it to run off, or place big stones on the floor on 
 which to step, the thing became too bad, and he had to 
 abandon it for another dwelling. Prosperous men like our 
 friend have a handy way of immortalizing themselves. Some 
 publisher or speculator will get up a county history in a large 
 quarto volume. Yes ; even there, there are already county 
 histories. A canvasser goes round the county, and to 
 every man who subscribes five dollars promises a notice
 
 PRAIRIE AND COLORADO ROCKIES. 37 
 
 of his farm, while twenty or twenty-five dollars insures a 
 place in the volume for the likeness of the subscriber. If 
 you are not acquainted with this private arrangement, you 
 will be at a loss to understand how these undistinguished 
 prairies should possess so many distinguished men. 
 
 Next afternoon we return from Newaka to Omaha, and 
 in the evening we are again in motion for Denver, the 
 capital of Colorado. Again the night hides from us the 
 prairies of Nebraska, as it had hid those of Iowa. The fine 
 agricultural land of the east gives place after a time to the 
 rich grazing country of the west, till next day we get among 
 the " sand-hills " of Colorado, and have our first experi- 
 ence of the desert. It was a dreary day. Sometimes no 
 more than a single shanty could be discerned all around. At 
 other times, through some mysterious cause, probably the 
 neighbourhood of a mine, we came on quite a little town. 
 It was strange in such a situation to find a large' wooden 
 building surmounted in bold letters with the words 
 " Theatre " or " Opera House," indicating the irrepressible 
 love of amusement, made more intense no doubt by the 
 monotony all around. More interesting to us was the bel- 
 fry of the village school, or the spire of the village church. 
 Very eloquent in such a place is the little home of the 
 Christian Church. It attests the presence of men and 
 women to whom getting rich is not the chief end of life, 
 or who, at least, are conscious that it ought not so to be. 
 We silently blessed the men who had planted it ; and there 
 arose a prayer from our hearts that these dwellers in the 
 wilderness, who seemed to have so little to vary their 
 earthly life, might enjoy much fellowship with Heaven, and 
 find their souls refreshed, Sabbath by Sabbath, from the 
 river that makes glad the city of our God. 
 
 But the longest lane has its turning. The Rocky Moun- 
 tains heave in sight, and thrill you with a new sensation.
 
 38 PRAIRIE AND COLORADO ROCKIES. 
 
 And at last you are in Denver, and find handsome and com- 
 fortable quarters in the Lincoln Hotel. 
 
 Denver is quite a remarkable city. Its prosperity is due 
 mainly to the mineral treasures of Colorado ; but its singularly 
 exhilarating atmosphere and the glorious scenery of the Rocky 
 Mountains all around have helped it on. It is finely situ- 
 ated on commanding plateaus ; has wide streets and handsome 
 blocks of warehouses and stores, and no end of pretty villas 
 in the suburbs. We spent an afternoon riding through its 
 streets and suburbs ; but we were unfortunate in weather, 
 for the evening was wet, and on the following morning there 
 was snow. The wet weather brought out in perfection one 
 of the outstanding features of Denver — its muddy streets. 
 It was certainly a peculiar experience to find a city of some 
 one hundred thousand inhabitants, with numberless tokens 
 of prosperity and progress, in which the carriage-way of the 
 streets was in a state of nature, and no lady could cross 
 without having her boots encased in mud. We were glad 
 to knoAv that the Denver authorities had wakened up to this 
 condition of things, and that steps were about to be taken 
 for having the streets " fixed." 
 
 Denver was inundated that evening by a swarm of rail- 
 way conductors, who were holding a convention and enjoy- 
 ing an excursion. " Conductors " are greater men than 
 railway guards are with us. Mysterious badges worn by 
 half the ladies and gentlemen in the Lincoln Hotel resolved 
 themselves into symbols of this fraternity. We realized the 
 significance of this convention the following night, for when 
 we went to the Pullman office to secure sleeping-berths, we 
 found to our disgust that all were taken. And when we got 
 into the train next morning, we could hardly get places 
 anywhere. 
 
 Denver is not only the capital of the gi'eat mining indus- 
 tries of Colorado, but also a centre of wonderfully fine
 
 pnAiniE Axn Colorado nocnm. sd 
 
 scenery. We had taken our tickets by the Rio Grande 
 route, because it passes over the sublimest scenery of the 
 Rocky Mountains ; and during the whole of the day our 
 course lay through a constant succession of grandeur and 
 glory. Happily, at a junction not very far from Denver, 
 many of our fellow-passengers left us, so that we had room 
 enough during the remainder of our journey. Now we 
 would dash through canyons or gorges, wild as the Devil's 
 Bridge in Switzerland, formed by a narrow slit in the 
 mountain, with high perpendicular precipices on either 
 side ; and now through j^asses beautiful as that of Kil- 
 liecrankie, but of a vastness and variety that dwarfed all 
 other scenery. The engine rushed wildly into the canyons, 
 dragging the train after it, even though it might seem that 
 our further progress was absolutely barred by the meeting 
 of the rocks ; but it found a v/ay of winding through, though 
 at times the road had to be supported on brackets fastened 
 to the rock, and at other times kept in position by stanchions 
 fixed overhead on the other wall of the chasm. So wonder- 
 ful are the passes through which the line is carried that the 
 train obligingly stops at various points to give you a more 
 deliberate view ; at one place you change into what is called 
 a " prospect " or open carriage, in order to have a better 
 view of the wonderful scenery. Further on in the day, the 
 train begins to climb the mountains until it reaches an 
 altitude of nearly ten thousand feet above the sea-level. 
 The gradients are so steep- that it has to be divided in two, 
 and an extra engine attached to the bigger part of it. It is 
 Glen Ogle multiplied a hundredfold. Never does the iron 
 horse appear so noble an animal as when he dashes at the 
 mountain side, and tears along its precipices, dragging his 
 load after him as if it were but a feather; then turns and 
 doubles on himself, zig-zagging his course, till he has carried 
 you to the top of the first height, and looking down you see
 
 40 PRAIRIE AND COLORADO ROCKIES. 
 
 the wonderful succession of terraces along which he has 
 borne you. "Without stopping to draw breath, he plunges, 
 like Fitz-James's stag, into a bosky thicket, whirls you round 
 a corner, and bravely sets himself to drag you up another 
 reach of the mighty mountain, and so on until he has reached 
 the top. Nightfall comes before the marvellous scenery is 
 exhausted ; but if you are favoured with moonlight you can 
 see that your course is still through precipitous gorges and 
 along banks of mountain streams, making you wish that, as 
 in Joshua's days, the sun had only stood still for an hour or 
 two to make their beauties more apparent. 
 
 At last you take to your night quarters. You look out in 
 the morning — and where are you ? In a very wilderness of 
 sand ! Nothing can exceed the desolation. And through 
 this wilderness you are carried most of the day, but with 
 new features of wonder breaking in upon you. For not 
 only do you see against the sky a waving line of snow-clad 
 summits, but nearer you the sandstone hills are rising in 
 every variety of picturesque form, great ranges of Salisbury 
 Crags, often with level battlements piled atop, and natural 
 bits of crag that look like Tantallan Castles, or the ruined 
 fortresses on "the castellated Rhine." Your engine needs 
 to make another series of great efforts to pull you over the 
 mountains ; but at last, as evening again draws on, you are in 
 the plain of Utah. That lake gleaming brightly on your 
 left is Utah Lake — not the Salt Lake, however, which is 
 considerably more to the north. You think of the poor 
 Mormon pilgrims who had to do this journey on foot through 
 weary weeks and months, amid heat and thirst and pain. 
 The traditions are yet fresh of that terriljle journey. A 
 friend who has lived long in Salt Lake City told us of one 
 poor woman who suffered fearfully from an internal ailment, 
 but was whipped off if she ventured even to lay her hand on 
 a waggon ; and of another who lost the power of her limbs,
 
 PRAIRIE AXB COLORADO ROCKIES. 41 
 
 and had to be carried by one of her companions on her back. 
 All accounts testify to the Napoleon-like ability of Brigham 
 Young, controlling and directing not only this march, but 
 the whole operations of the colony, by his marvellous sagacity 
 and inflexible will. 
 
 But Utah and Salt Lake City must be reserved for an- 
 other chapter.
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 SALT LAKE CLTY AND THE MORMONS. 
 
 THE valley of Utah has been justly called an oasis in 
 the desert. It is surrounded for the most part by 
 lofty mountains, which seem to shut it out from the rest of 
 the world ; and for this reason the Mormons claim for their 
 capital the divine protection which was signified by the 
 mountains round about Jerusalem. It was in the hope of 
 being left in peace to develop his peculiar institutions that 
 Brigham Young chose this valley for the settlement of his 
 people. But the construction of the Pacific Railway, which 
 passes through the territory of Utah, put an end to their 
 isolation, and brought them into the very highway of conti- 
 nental travel. When I was in this country nineteen years 
 ago I met Mr. Colfax, then vice-President of the United 
 States, and on my asking how the Government meant to 
 deal with Mormonism, his reply to me was, " I guess the 
 Pacific Railroad will pretty well settle that question." It is 
 often boasted that Utah was but a desert when taken posses- 
 sion of, and that it is Mormon skill and labour that have 
 turned it into a garden. But this is a great exaggeration. 
 Being obviously the bed of an ancient lake, the plain has 
 mostly a good soil, and it needed only cultivation and irriga- 
 tion to make it productive. Idleness is strongly denounced 
 by the Mormon authorities, and not wholly on disinterested
 
 SALT LAKE CITY AXD THE MORMONS. 43 
 
 grounds. One-tenth of the entire produce of every kind is 
 remorselessly claimed by the Church, and idleness would not 
 be a good contributor to the sustentation fund. The Mor- 
 mons have certainly done well as farmers, but no better than 
 the Gentiles in many other parts of the country. 
 
 The settlement was begun in 1847, and Salt Lake City 
 dates from that time. It is now a city of 30,000 inhabitants, 
 but nothing like Omaha or Denver. Brick and timber are 
 nearly the only building materials, and even in the best 
 streets wooden shanties are interspersed with tall brick 
 erections in the way that shows that the stage has not been 
 reached when taste asserts its claims as well as utility. The 
 only remarkable buildings are the Tabernacle, the Assembly 
 Hall, and the Temple — all adjacent. The Tabernacle is a 
 huge, featureless building, like the back of a turtle or an 
 oblong dish-cover : the profane call it " The Church of the 
 Holy Turtle." It is said to be seated for 12,000. The 
 Assembly Hall is a more architectural erection, and was 
 designed for use in winter, when the congregations are 
 smaller. The Temple is a huge structure, not yet com- 
 pleted, built, you might suppose, of Aberdeen granite, and 
 when finished will be by far the most imposing edifice in all 
 Utah. It is to be used for inaugurations, marriages, or 
 other occasions to which the lyrofanum vulgus are not ad- 
 mitted. It is an imposing structure, but wants harmony 
 and repose, the parts cohering rather than forming a har- 
 monious whole, and the general impression garish rather 
 than vener-able. 
 
 The population of Utah territory is about two hundred 
 thousand, of whom some fifty thousand are " Gentiles," the 
 rest Mormons. At first there were no Gentiles, and it is 
 certainly not with the goodwill of the Mormons that they 
 are now so numerous. A friend in New Yoi'k, Di*. Ellin- 
 wood of the Presbyterian INIission Board, told me iic had
 
 44 SALT LAKE CITY AND THE MORMONS. 
 
 been three times in Utah. The first time he dared hardly 
 to peep or mutter against Mormonism ; the second time he 
 had for a fellow-traveller Brigham Young's nineteenth wife 
 on her way to the city to expose and denounce Mormonism ; 
 on the third he found the Christian Churches, represented 
 by active organizations, doing a great amount of good. 
 
 Many causes have contributed to bring respectable Gen- 
 tiles to Utah. Ogden, which stands a few miles to the 
 north of Salt Lake City, is a great railway centre ; there 
 are many minerals in the territory which the saints cannot 
 develop ; some are always renouncing Mormonism ; and the 
 capabilities of the valley have attracted outside capitalists, 
 who say, in American phrase, " there are millions in it." If 
 the effort to be made at the elections next February shall 
 succeed. Salt Lake will become, as Ogden has become, " an 
 American city," the Mormons will be dispossessed of its 
 government, and then its development is expected to go on 
 very quickly. This consummation is not unlikely, for the 
 recent action of the Federal Government has deprived all 
 polygamists of the franchise, and a woman's suffrage that 
 helped the Mormons greatly has been abolished. Moreover, 
 there are many of the saints themselves who in their secret 
 hearts would not regret a measure that would hasten the 
 " boom " under which their property would perhaps double 
 its value. One of the most outstanding and wealthy families 
 of the city — the "Walkers — are perverts from Mormonism. 
 The Walker House is the best hotel in the place, and the 
 Walker Store is a vast establishment. Old Mr. Walker, T 
 am sorry to say, was a Scotsman, who turned Mormon ; but 
 being called on by Brigham Young to pay a tithe which he 
 thought too high, he abandoned the connection. His sons, 
 I believe, are all men of wealth and influence. 
 
 The Mormon creed is very skilfully constructed. It professes 
 to conserve the whole Bible, the whole doctrines of Christianity,
 
 SALT LAKE CITY AND THE MORMONS. 45 
 
 and the moral law. To this it adds, as if it were an innocent 
 supplement, faith in the Book of Mormon, in the divine mission 
 of Joe Smith, and in the doctrine that God continues to hold 
 direct intercourse with the head of the Church, thus making 
 him infallible, and making resistance to his orders an un- 
 pardonable sin against earth and heaven. The Mormon 
 Govei'ument is ostensibly dual — namely, civil and ecclesias- 
 tical. But, in point of fact, the rulers of the Church are 
 also the civil rulers and judges of the territory, and this 
 makes their power enormous. Besides the president of the 
 Church (at present Wilfrid AVoodruff, a coarse-looking old 
 man, with a most unspiritual face), there are twelve apostles, 
 and a body of elders distributed over the whole Church. 
 There are two hundred and seventy wards in the territory, 
 each of which has its presiding officer ; and the wards are 
 subdivided into small districts, superintended in like manner. 
 Thus it happens that the rulers of the Church have the most 
 minute acquaintance with the affairs of every member. 
 Every transaction of buying or selling, every cent of income, 
 every dollar of profit is known, and a tenth must be most 
 religiously paid to the Church, which thus becomes very 
 rich. Nay, the president may announce that he has divine 
 authority for demanding a man's house, or his land, or what- 
 soever he has. A woman may be told that she is to marry 
 some fellow who already has a dozen wives. If she refuse, 
 she cannot get to heaven. Into how many other matters of 
 private life this system of tyranny has penetrated we can- 
 not tell. 
 
 The Church has a supreme belief in her missionary func- 
 tion, and in her destiny as the centre of the Church of the 
 future, when all the world shall be converted to Mormon- 
 ism. Her characteristic hymns are full of this expectation, 
 .and no doubt many of her more ignorant people devoutly 
 believe in it. She can requisition foreign missionaries, so
 
 46 SALT LAKE CLTY AND THE MORMONS. 
 
 many from every ward ; and wherever these are sent, they 
 must go at their own cost, and occupy themselves wholly in 
 making converts. Usually they go about their work very 
 quietly. Again and again I have heard it remarked as 
 strange that so many Scotsmen are Mormons. But I do not 
 wonder. They are not typical Scotsmen. The missionaries 
 go about the slums of our cities, or our mining villages, 
 express much concern for the hard conditions of labour, 
 perhaps during a strike, then picture to them Utah as a land 
 flowing with milk and honey, tell them their expenses will 
 be paid out to the place (to be repaid afterwards), they will 
 get fifteen or twenty acres free, and will rapidly rise to 
 prosperity and wealth. They do not tell them that in other 
 parts of the United States they may have a hundred and 
 sixty acres free, without being subject to the appropriation 
 of a tenth of the produce to the Church. To the religiously 
 disposed they read from the English Bible, sing evangelical 
 hymns, and leave the impression that Mormonism is a 
 peculiarly devout form of Christianity. Often the converts 
 have been told nothing of polygamy ; and it is only after 
 their arrival that they have found that neither their bodies 
 nor their sotils are their own. On the other hand, the Mor- 
 mons have the character of being kind, neighbourly, and 
 considerate towards one another; and every effort is made 
 by the Church to stimulate the esjyrit de corps, and keep the 
 sect united and hearty. Although the territory of Utah is 
 their chief settlement, they are by no means confined to it. 
 They have colonies in most of the Mountain States ; and 
 they are very astute in political matters, not attaching them- 
 selves formally to either party, but holding the balance be- 
 tween the two. The ablest man among them is said to be 
 a Mr. Buchanan, who was their representative in the Senate, 
 and who is extremely skilful in those wire-pulling opera- 
 tions that may conduce to their advantage.
 
 ^ALT LAKE CITY AND THE MORMON!?. 47 
 
 But the political tide has been against them for some 
 years, and is likely to be against them still more in the 
 future. In 1862 Congress declared polygamy to be unlaw- 
 ful ; but as there were neither judges nor juries disposed to 
 enforce that law, it became only an example of the folly of 
 laws which are not supported by the general sentiment of a 
 people. It was not till 1882 that more decided steps were 
 taken. The " Edmunds " law of that year was a very 
 stringent one. A body of United States commissioners 
 was appointed to settle the affairs of the territory ; and there 
 was established a military fort, Fort Douglass, with a de- 
 tachment of United States troops, and artillery pointed 
 at the great Mormon buildings, ready, in case of necessity, 
 to reduce them to ruins. Since that time open polygamy 
 has ceased to be known. Both polygamy and cohabitation 
 with a plurality of women or quasi wives were declared 
 criminal (the former having the severer penalty), and al- 
 ready some three hundred men have been committed to 
 prison, mostly for the latter offence. Others have had to 
 take to the " underground railway," or to commit their 
 extra wives to its care — in other words, to hide. If you 
 ask where Mr. So-and-So is, it is common to hear that he is 
 " in the underground." The practice of avoioed polygamy 
 is now a tradition of the past. As you ride through Salt 
 Lake City, you are shown the house where Brigham Young 
 lived and died. Adjacent to it is his civil office, and next 
 to it his ecclesiastical. Opposite is the Amelia Palace, a 
 more handsome house, the abode of his favourite wife. 
 Here and there are other houses which used to be occupied 
 by other wives. One large house shows a long range of 
 gables — one, it is said, for every wife that lived in it. In 
 spite of the largeness of his family he died immensely rich. 
 It does not appear that his sons or his daughters have come 
 to honour.
 
 48 SALT LAKE CITY AND THE MORMONS. 
 
 The moral effect of the system is such as might be easily 
 foreseen. Avowedly it was devised for the purpose of plac- 
 ing under regulatioij. those tendencies which elsewhere lead 
 to all manner of licentious irregularity. The hymns sung in 
 worship contrast it triumphantly with such practices. But 
 the effect has been the very opposite. What, indeed, can be 
 the effect on young men when they see their father going off 
 to San Francisco to visit one of his wives, or away to Nevada 
 after another? Mutatis mutandis, they will follow his ex- 
 ample. He claims for it the sanction of religion, but they see 
 that there is precious little of religion about it ; and if there 
 be, it is a religion which they despise, so that very probably 
 they become unbelievers. The whole relations of the sexes 
 are thrown out of joint. Illegitimacy is said to be very com- 
 mon, but as the statistics are wholly in the hands of the 
 Church, the facts are not known precisely. Profanity, false- 
 hood, and similar vices abound. Many prosecutions for 
 polygamy have broken down, because even where it was 
 notorious, the witnesses swore the other way. 
 
 The scene within the Tabernacle on a Sunday afternoon is 
 very striking. All the congregations meet in their parish 
 churches in the morning ; but in the afternoon there is a 
 mass meeting in the Tabernacle, where they celebrate their 
 communion. The galleries were unoccupied, but the vast 
 area was filled. I should suppose there might be seven thou- 
 sand present. One could not but be struck with the plain- 
 ness of their appearance. They evidently belonged to the 
 hard-working classes, and the less cultivated of them, for 
 there was hardly an intellectual countenance among the 
 whole. The rulers of the Church occupied benches on a 
 platform, where the desk and books were placed. The ser- 
 vices, as in other churches, were singing, prayer, preaching, 
 and tiie communion. There were two preachers, both ener- 
 getic and effective. Their sermons were apologetic, for there
 
 SALT LAKE CITY AND THE MORMONS. 49 
 
 were seven liundred excursionists that day in the city, and 
 many of these were present. I should rather have heard a 
 sermon from the Book of Mormon, and exhortations such as 
 one is told are often addressed to the peculiar people to keep 
 them stanch and firm. The communion was a painful spec- 
 tacle. Bread and water were handed round the immense audi- 
 ence, and partaken of with the utmost nonchalance, no token 
 of reverence being apparent even on the benches occupied 
 by apostles and elders. The children partook along with 
 their parents, and were even obliged to do so. A poor child 
 in front of me, tortured with ophthalmia, struggled hard to 
 keep down her head, but her mother would not allow her, 
 and shook her into compliance. 
 
 When I went to call on the Presbyterian minister, I found 
 him occupying as his study an apartment which had formerly 
 been occupied by one of the three wives of a polygamist. He 
 took down four well-scored books from his shelves, and asked 
 me if I knew them. Two of these were Mr. Stalker's books 
 on the " Life of our Lord " and the " Life of St. Paul," for 
 the latter of which he had an extraordinary appreciation. 
 Another was the " Personal Life of David Livingstone," 
 whom he regarded as the greatest missionary since St. Paul. 
 The fourth was "The Public Ministry and Pastoral Methods 
 of our Lord." I could not but express a strange pleasure at 
 finding my books doing duty in the citadel of the Mormons, 
 I told him that I had been disappointed that the book on 
 our Lord's ministry, which -I had thought would be a useful 
 one, had fallen dead at home ; but that I had found compen- 
 sation for that disappointment in many testimonies I had re- 
 ceived from ministers in the United States and professors of 
 pastoral theology, including Dr. Hastings of Union Seminary, 
 New York, and President Fisk of Chicago, to the interest 
 with which they had read it. Dr. M'Niece (surely this must 
 be a corruption of M'Niesh) occupies a good position and 
 
 (197) 4
 
 50 SALT LAKE CITY AND THE MORMONS. 
 
 exercises an excellent influence. We attended his church on 
 Sunday morning, and I preached for him in the evening. 
 There was a second Presbyterian church in the city in the 
 course of formation. Most of the Gentile churches seem to 
 be in a vigorous state. These churches are doing good work 
 also through their schools. The public schools and school- 
 books are pervaded by Mormonism. Denominational schools 
 are inevitable, and they appear to be very efficient. One of 
 these which I saw was a collegiate institution, under charge 
 of the Presbyterian Church, admirably conducted, a sort of 
 secondary school, with from two to three hundred young 
 persons. Altogether from fifteen hundred to two thousand 
 children are being taught in them, and I was informed that 
 forty per cent, of these were of Mormon origin, but very 
 likely to abandon the system altogether. 
 
 If polygamy dies out, will Mormonism survive 1 Possibly 
 it will, and it may give no little trouble. The essence of 
 Mormonism is that it is a priestly government, subordinating 
 the political to the spiritual, and bringing to bear on its ob- 
 jects a power which is virtually that of spiritual infallibility. 
 It has intrenched itself very strongly, has acquired great 
 wealth, is very intolerant, and has inspired the mass of its 
 people with a wonderful faith in the reality of its claims. 
 Such a system will not easily pass away. Its mischievous 
 influence may be 2:)crpetuated for a long time to come. It is 
 like one of those noxious weeds that have their roots deep in 
 the ground, and that are ever cropping up on every side, let 
 the farmer do what he may. 
 
 A drive through Salt Lake City and its suburbs, including 
 Fort Douglass, is exceedingly enjoyable. The ranges of snow- 
 clad mountains that close in the view gleam brightly in the 
 sunshine, and the green plain all around is full of tranquil 
 beauty. Certainly " every prospect pleases — " Is it necessary 
 to complete the couplet ?
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 THE YOSEMITE VALLEY. 
 
 LEAVING Salt Lake City on a Monday afternoon, we 
 first had a glimpse of the Salt Lake itself. Fain 
 would we have made a run to the fashionable watering-place 
 on the Salt Lake, and had a dip in those waters which are 
 more impregnated with salt than the Dead Sea, and equally 
 destitute of fish, and which buoy one up so wonderfully that 
 sinking in them is a kind of impossibility. We passed through 
 Ogden, the second city of Utah, a railway junction, and likely 
 to grow in population and importance. Then we committed 
 ourselves to our sleeping-berths. Next morning we looked 
 out on what proved a weary wilderness — the desert of 
 Nevada. 
 
 Perhaps some readers may be interested to know a little 
 of life in the cars. The cars are always like long rooms, 
 with a passage running longitudinally, and seats holding two 
 on either side. If two persons are travelling together, they 
 usually get " a section " of the Pullman — that is, two seats 
 which by day may be placed so that the occupants sit opposite 
 to each other. As bedtime draws near, the porter, usually a 
 coloured man, comes along and prepares the beds. First the 
 two seats are drawn together, a mattress and other gear placed 
 over them, and the lower bed prejiared. Then, turning a 
 screw, he folds down something like a broad shelf, attached
 
 52 THE YO SEMITE VALLEY. 
 
 by a hinge to the sloping roof of the car, and this, with bed- 
 gear corresponding, forms the upper bed. Curtains are then 
 attached to a rod that runs along the top of the car, closing in 
 both beds, and the process is complete. You smuggle your- 
 self somehow into bed, and divest yourself of your clothing 
 as best you may. It is not an easy process, for the roof is 
 very low. In the morning you are probably awakened by 
 the porter calling out, " Breakfast in half-an-hour." You 
 know that that is an announcement not to be trifled with. 
 You wriggle hastily into your clothes, jump up, then move 
 along to the end of the car, where there is a lavatory with 
 a very small basin ; and waiting your turn, you get your face 
 and hands dipped and cleansed. Ladies are better off; they 
 have a little room. Returning to your berth, you move 
 through the narrow avenue, amid shoulders, elbows, and 
 knees bulging out against the curtains, representing the con- 
 tortions of your belated fellow-travellers who are yet strug- 
 gling to get inside their garments. The porter is already 
 busy " fixing " the vacated berths. It may be that your 
 breakfast is at a roadside station, and in that case you leave 
 the car. But it may also be that there is no hotel or restau- 
 rant for hundreds of miles; in these circumstances a "dining- 
 car " is hooked on to the train, and you pass along to it for 
 your meal. The fare is wonderfully good, and by no means 
 cheap ; but often the car sways about so vehemently that 
 eating is far from pleasant. The hours of the day pass 
 wearily to some, and the pack of cards — symbol so often of 
 poor resources elsewhere — is produced very early. For the 
 victims of tobacco, there is a small smoking room, generally 
 in good demand. Those who eschew both cards and tobacco, 
 when they tire of their book will find their fellow-passengers 
 very willing for conversation ; or, if they want fresh air, may 
 stand a little on the platform at the end of the car. Where 
 there is varied and beautiful scenery, and the smoke is not
 
 THE YOSEMITE VALLEY. 53 
 
 blown in your face, this is delightful ; but where there is 
 nothing but wilderness, the attraction is small. 
 
 And wilderness it was all that day, as we moved through 
 the state of Nevada. We were not sorry when night came 
 on and we betook ourselves again to our sleeping -berths. 
 When we got up next morning, we were close to Sacramento, 
 the state capital of California. The scene had undergone a 
 delightful change. We were among groves of greenery, and 
 saw for the first time the orange-tree in its native clime, luxu- 
 riating in the sunshine and loaded with its apples of gold. 
 We could not but recall lines written of another land, " far, 
 far away " : — 
 
 " Know ye the land of the cedar and vine, 
 Where the flowers ever blossom, the beams ever shine ; 
 Where the light wings of zephyr, oppressed with perfume, 
 Wax faint o'er the gardens of Giil [the rose] in her bloom ; 
 Where the citron and olive are fairest of fruit. 
 And the voice of the nightingale never is mute ; 
 Where the tints of the earth and the hues of the sky, 
 In colour though varied, in beauty may vie, 
 And the purple of ocean is deepest in dye ? " 
 
 We had an hour to spend in Sacramento, and by the aid of 
 the street car we were soon among its lions. Its Capitol is 
 very handsome, a kind of miniature of that of Washington, 
 and the Roman Catholic cathedral is massive and stately. In 
 other respects the city is ordinary enough. It finds it too hard 
 to compete with San Francisco, and, wisely, it does not try. 
 
 Our plan was to defer our visit to San Francisco until 
 our return journey, and spend that week in the Yosemite 
 Valley. We were still in flowery May, and if we had de- 
 ferred the Yosemite trip we should have found the flowers 
 all gone and the waterfalls all dry. Though we hardly knew 
 what we were to encounter, we were very thankful that we 
 made this arrangement, for we had an admirable opportunity 
 of seeing the valley.
 
 54 THE rOSEMITE VALLEY. 
 
 Lying in the heart of the Sierra Nevada, the Yosemite 
 Valley is one of the most remarkable and interesting bits 
 of American scenery. It is reached most easily, if the word 
 easily may be used in such a connection, from the station of 
 Berenda, on the Southern Pacific Railway, about a hundred 
 miles from San Francisco on the north, and between three 
 and four hundred from Los Angeles on the south. The ser- 
 vice of trains on that line is very limited ; for though we 
 arrived at Berenda at four in the afternoon, there was no 
 means of getting further till five next morning. Berenda 
 is one of those stations in the midst of the wilderness where 
 art seems to have vied with nature to make the place the 
 very climax of desolation ; for with all its gorgeous beauty 
 in many parts, California is but a waste, howling wilderness 
 in others. For accommodation in a wretched hotel you pay 
 at the same rate as in the best of the country ; and indeed 
 you may reckon as the usual charge all the time you are in 
 the valley a dollar a meal and a dollar a bed, save in one or 
 two instances where you get a rapid meal for three-quarters. 
 The charge for conveyance is also high: "the round" from 
 Berenda and back is forty-five dollars ; and if to the hotel 
 charges you add something for a carriage drive here, or a 
 saddle horse there, you will find that a week in the Yosemite 
 costs for each person not much under twenty pounds. 
 
 At five in the morning you go on board the cars on a 
 branch railway, and in an hour and a half you are carried to 
 Raymond, where the tug-of-war, in the form of stage-coach 
 fighting with the mountain passes, begins. After breakfast 
 you are allocated to a place in one of the stage-coaches (of which 
 there may be half-a-dozen) ; and as there was a party of the 
 name of Stewart from Los Angeles, and two of the seats in 
 their stage were not required by them, the clerk seems to 
 have thought that the couple from Scotland might find fittest 
 accommodation there. A most agreeable party it was, and
 
 THE YOSEMITE VALLEY. 65 
 
 the easy and kindly manners of California enabled the people 
 from the old country very soon to feel themselves at home. 
 
 Before starting on the stage we were already pretty high 
 up among the mountains, for the railway has the steepest 
 gradient in California, and does its very best to carry us up. 
 And we were in a very dijfferent scene from that which we 
 left at Berenda. The weary sage-brush which dots the wil- 
 derness with awful monotony had entirely disappeared, and 
 we were already in the region of most beautiful trees and 
 flowers. This, perhaps, is the first feature that strikes the 
 stranger. You see in the woods flowering trees covered with 
 blossoms, as if they were huge rose bushes in full bloom ; 
 while at your feet you have masses of flowers, pink, blue, 
 purple, scarlet, as if the blaze of Dirleton garden had been 
 scattered over acres and miles. You have only to get down 
 as the horses are changed, and in five minutes you have gath- 
 ered a bouquet fit for a bride. And yet I do not know that 
 the efiect is more pleasing than that of our own laburnums, 
 chestnuts, and hawthorn, and charming banks and meadows 
 of daisy, primrose, and buttercup. The distance you have 
 to travel the first day (to Wawona) is about forty miles, but 
 it occupies the whole day till nightfall. We had five changes 
 of horses during the day, so that in all twenty horses were 
 needed to haul eleven persons along. The lower ranges of 
 the Sierra Nevada are striking and beautiful. The outlines 
 of the hills, and the far-reaching glimpses one gets from time 
 to time, remind one of the Grampians near Blair Athole, 
 while the rich clothing of pine and oak and other trees seems 
 to recall the scenery of Dunkeld. The whole was set forth 
 to perfection by the brightest sun that ever shone and the 
 purest sky that ever gleamed. The effect of the climate was 
 wonderfully invigorating ; the party were all in the best of 
 spirits," entering with all their hearts into the beauty of the 
 scene. The only drawbacks were the excessive heat and the
 
 56 THE YOSEMITE VALLEY. 
 
 excessive dust, of both of which we may truly say that it 
 was impossible to contend with them ; the only alternative 
 was to submit as gracefully as possible to their absolute 
 control. 
 
 As we got more into the heart of the mountains, the trees 
 became more striking. We were not yet among the big 
 trees, but we were among bigger trees than we had ever 
 seen. Very striking was the aspect of the ordinary pine- 
 trees, especially as they rose from the valleys, some two hun- 
 dred feet in height, pointing to heaven as straight as arrows, 
 and displaying in branches and leafage the most perfect sym- 
 metry. It seemed hardly possible for any one to escape the 
 moral lesson — it would be well for us if we rose to heaven as 
 straight and direct as these noble trees. 
 
 American forest roads are not perfection. But the wonder 
 is that in such a region of hill and valley there are carriage- 
 roads at all. In few cases has more been done than to 
 clear a path ; and often the ruts remind you of the entrance 
 to a stone-quarry, or the track formed by cart-wheels in ex- 
 cavating the foundations of a house. While the coach as- 
 cends, the movement is very slow, but it is safe and com- 
 fortable ; but woe betide you when it plunges downhill, 
 determined to make up for time lost in the ascent ! Let no 
 lady or other mortal dream of attempting this journey who 
 cannot stand being knocked and tossed hither and thither, 
 especially when the coach strikes on a stone or a concealed 
 row of logs, and bumps you up and down half-a-dozen times 
 in succession, as if you were dancing a jig. For this same 
 movement must be undergone for several days, and for deli- 
 cate ladies it is certainly too much. 
 
 Evening brings you to the hotel at Wawona. You are 
 still half a day's journey from the Yosemite Valley, but you 
 are compai'atively near the celebrated " big trees," and it is 
 convenient to visit them from this place. Wawona in the
 
 THE YOSEMITE VALLEY. 57 
 
 native tongue means "big trees." The distance to and 
 from is but seventeen miles, but it occupies about four or 
 five hours. As you penetrate into the forest you observe, 
 in addition to the tall pines and arbor vit^s to which you 
 have been accustomed, a new variety, of unprecedented thick- 
 ness, and bright russet stems, having a look of very hoary 
 antiquity. It is the tree known among us but as a shrub, 
 the Wellingtonia gigantea, as we call it, but the Washingtonia 
 gigayitea of the Americans. Both of these names, however, 
 bid fair to be superseded by the term Siquoia gigantea, 
 applied by a recent Government botanist, who observed that 
 this was but a variety of the big redwood trees of the coast, 
 to which the name Siquoia sempervirens had already been 
 given. In these mountains this tree grows to a size unprece- 
 dented in any other part of the globe. It is a clannish tree, 
 and even here is found only in certain bits of the forest. 
 How it comes to grow here to such prodigious proportions 
 we cannot tell, except that the soil, the climate, and the 
 shelter of the Mariposa county must be highly favourable to 
 its growth. 
 
 The more striking trees have got peculiar names, appro- 
 priate to their appearance. There is the Grizzly Giant, the 
 Three Graces, the Graceful Couple, Uncle Tom's Cabin, and 
 the like. The thickest tree in the grove is the Grizzly Giant. 
 Some young persons brought a ball of twine and put it round 
 him. They included a projecting root which they should 
 have omitted ; this made the length of the piece of twine 
 between thirty and forty yards. Another tree has a passage 
 scooped out at the root, through which the stage-coach with 
 its four horses easily passes ; but this tunnel seems in no 
 degree to interfere with the welfare of the tree. Near where 
 we stopped to rest our horses occurs a remarkable prostrate 
 tree. It is some three hundred feet long. It is so high 
 that a ladder is needed for you to get on it, and the first
 
 58 THE YOSEMITE VALLEY. 
 
 hundred feet might be scooped out to form a considerable 
 ship. The rest of the tree contained timber more than 
 enougli to stock a large timber-yard. It is no myth that is 
 told of a farmer who had acquired a hundred and sixty 
 acres of land, that out of one tree he got timber enough to 
 build his house and barns, and to enclose the whole of his 
 farm, and had a large quantity over for such other purposes 
 as he required it. A tree on the border of a county so 
 fell that while its root was in one county its stem was in 
 another. The number of such stories told of the big trees 
 is very great. 
 
 Next morning we bid farewell for a time to Wawona, 
 which is charmingly situated in an amphitheatre of hills, with 
 a clear rapid stream flowing past. With our stage and four 
 horses we penetrated still further into the Sierra. Up the 
 steep ascents, in which we liad occasionally to double upon 
 ourselves, our rate of progress was sometimes not more than 
 three miles an hour, and often we had to pause to give the 
 poor horses their breath. Every here and there we would 
 reach a commanding point, from which we looked out on a 
 scene of wonderful sylvan beauty. One of these is named 
 " Oh My Point," because no American can look out from it 
 without indulging his characteristic exclamation, " Oh my ! " 
 At last, about mid-day, we reached the far-famed " Inspira- 
 tion Point," and paused to look down on the glories of 
 Yosemite, It is a very striking view. About ten or twelve 
 miles of narrow valley spread out before us, enclosed in 
 abrupt almost perpendicular mountains, rising to the height 
 of some four thousand feet, broken at the summits into every 
 variety of picturesque form, and gleaming with silver streaks 
 of waterfalls so steep that the water is dashed to spray long 
 before it reaches the bottom, and when the sun is behind 
 the spectator, shines in the tints of the rainbow. Inspira- 
 tion Point commands a splendid view of El Capitan, the
 
 THE YOSEMITE VALLEY. 59 
 
 boldest of the cliffs, and the Bridal Veil, perhaps the finest 
 of the waterfalls. 
 
 As we move downwards, and get into the valley, its other 
 fine features appear. Among the most striking of these are 
 Sentinel Cliff, Cathedral Spires, the Three Brothers, the 
 Three Graces, the Half Dome, and the North Dome. Cathe- 
 dral Spires is the name of two pointed spires that rise six 
 or seven hundred feet above the general summit, having a 
 striking resemblance to the object from which they derive 
 their name. The Half Dome is a huge mass of dome-shaped 
 rock, that in some convulsion of nature has been split in 
 two, leaving the question a puzzle for mankind— What be- 
 came of the other half 1 But of all the rocks El Capitan is 
 the most wonderful. He rises in almost sheer perpendicular 
 height three thousand three hundred feet, with correspond- 
 ing breadth, and so far as you can see there is not a seam or 
 division in the vast mass of granite. Of the waterfalls, the 
 Bridal "Veil (the name explains itself) is sweet and beautiful, 
 but the Nevada Falls have more variety of form and a larger 
 mass of water. Everywhere the pine is at home. It often 
 finds for itself a home in the very face of the rocks, or 
 crowns their very summits. 
 
 Seen from any commanding point, under the bluest of 
 skies and the brightest of sunshine, the valley is wonderfully 
 grand. The surface is level and very rich, evidently the 
 bottom of a lake in former times. But the glorious amphi- 
 theatre of nearly perpendicular rocks is what makes it so 
 unique and so sublime. It is really something for Americans 
 to be proud of, and in all likelihood it is unexampled in the 
 world. Yet I must confess I like some of the Swiss valleys 
 better. Amid all the grandeur of Yosemite, there is a want 
 of that softness of beauty which sets off so well the sub- 
 limities of the Alps. And we want the snowy summits 
 piercing the heavens and mingling with them, and speaking
 
 60 THE YOSEMITE VALLEY. 
 
 to us so expressively of the union of earth and heaven. 
 But mass and magnitude are very expressive to the Amer- 
 ican mind, and I have no doubt that those who have trav- 
 elled far are sincere in declaring, as they often do most 
 enthusiastically, that there is nothing like the Yosemite in 
 all the world. 
 
 There are two hotels in the valley — Barnard's and the 
 Stoneman House. We were recommended to take the 
 former, which is also the older, and we were glad that we 
 did so. It is charmingly situated, and our bedroom window, 
 and the veranda on which it opened, commanded a delightful 
 view of the Yosemite Fall, a cascade in three leaps, the tall- 
 est of which is some fifteen hundred feet, and the whole, I 
 think, about two thousand six hundred. Nothing could 
 be more charming than to sit in the evening and gaze on 
 the stream of virgin silver losing itself in foam, but quickly 
 pulling itself together for another leap. We had the plea- 
 sure to be much in contact with Mr. M'Cord, the guardian 
 or Government official of the valley, and to receive from him 
 much information and attention. We were happy to be 
 able to repay him in some degree by taking the Sunday 
 service in the chapel, of which he takes charge. We must 
 mention another inhabitant, Mr. Galen Clark, the discoverer 
 of the big trees, a man full of intelligence and scientific 
 knowledge, and whom, after all he has done for the valley, 
 it is a pain to see living alone in his old age, and earning a 
 humble living by hiring a carriage for the use of visitors. 
 [Hardly had I written these lines when the political whirligig 
 brought a rapid change. Mr. M'Cord was sent adrift, and 
 Mr. Clark appointed guardian. As in most cases in Amer- 
 ica, politics did it. We were glad that Mr. Clark was pro- 
 moted, but vexed for Mr. M'Cord.] 
 
 The Stoneman House, a mile and a quarter further up 
 the valley, is a large three-storied building, named after
 
 THE YOSEMITE VALLEY. 61 
 
 some Governor Stoneman, but is much less fortunate in its 
 situation than Barnard's. There are several weeks in winter 
 when the sun can be seen for little more than an hour. But 
 here, as elsewhere, people complain of the way in wliich 
 things are clone by the authorities. The valley is the pro- 
 perty of the United States, but is under the charge of the 
 state of California, who appoint a body of commissioners to 
 look after it. These commissioners will pay it a visit now 
 and then, and on one of these occasions they resolved to 
 build this Stoneman Hotel, without having consultation 
 with the few residents, and without being aware of the strong 
 objections to the situation. 
 
 The history of the valley is not uninteresting. During 
 the whole period of the Spanish occupation of California 
 it seems to have been unknown. It was in a somewhat 
 accidental way that it was discovered by the Americans in 
 the early days of the gold enterprise. The county of Mari- 
 posa, in which both the valley and the big trees ai'e situated, 
 lias some valuable gold mines. The miners were ever and 
 anon having depredations committed on them by Indians, 
 whose whereabouts could not be discovered. At length it 
 was found that their home was in a valley to which all 
 access was impossible save at one or two points, which they 
 carefully guarded. War ensued, and it ended in the Indians 
 being dispossessed. There is a dispute whether the true 
 name of the valley, which in the Indian language is said to 
 mean, " The home of the grizzly bear," ought to be Yosemite 
 or Yohamit^. Usage has settled the question in favour of 
 the former, but it is apt to suggest the idea of Shem dwelling 
 in the tents of Ham, For a few years after the discovery 
 of the valley it remained unfrequented. A gentleman who 
 was about to publish a work on " Picturesque California " 
 remembered that he had heard of a waterfall in the valley 
 eight hundred feet high. He determined to find it and
 
 62 THE YOSEMITE VALLEY. 
 
 insert it in his work. With two companions he set out on 
 the search. He gives an amusing account of his efforts to 
 find some of the men who had taken part in the military 
 operations, but one after another had forgot all about the 
 way to the place, only each was sure such another could tell 
 it. After going for a long time from post to pillar, Mr. 
 Hutchings at last found the way into the valley, and then 
 discovered scenes that threw all other parts of " Picturesque 
 California " into the shade. 
 
 The permanent residents in the valley are hardly a score 
 in number, but in summer it swarms with visitors, and it is 
 not the hotels only that shelter them. " Camping out " is a 
 common operation. A family, or a cluster of families, pitch 
 a tent in the valley, travel in their own buggy or waggon, 
 bring with them cooking utensils, and manage to have a 
 very "good time " for a week or longer. The camping-ground 
 being near the hotels, I happened to pass an encampment of 
 this sort on the Sunday afternoon, when I was immediately 
 accosted by a gentleman, who introduced himself as a pro- 
 fessor of mathematics in Massachusetts, sojourning in Cali- 
 fornia for his health. He had just been preparing notes 
 of my sermon for the local paper, and wished to read them 
 over to me. "The local paper," I said; "what do you 
 mean ? " " Oh, there's a printer in camp here, who brought 
 with him a printing machine and set of types, and every 
 week he prints the Yosemite Gazette." Most thoroughly 
 American ! Americans can make newspapers live where 
 there seems as little to live on as for the pines on the face of 
 the rock. And sometimes there are two rival papers where 
 there is hardly a decent house. And these can abuse each 
 other as roundly as the famous newspapers of Eatanswill. 
 The newspaper is a wonderful institution in America. 
 
 On the following day we had a pleasant drive in Mr. 
 Clark's conveyance, first to the Mirror Lake, and thereafter
 
 THE YOSEMITE VALLEY. 63 
 
 all down and up the valley. The effects of the tossing in the 
 stage-coaches prevented one of our party from attempting 
 more. But some of the waterfalls I reached on foot. It 
 was interesting to look over the official list of visitors in the 
 guardian's book. Among the earliest was Charles Kingsley, 
 whose name was entered without note or comment. Known 
 names occurred from time to time. The latest name of all 
 was that of a family from Edinburgh, of whose existence I 
 had never heard. 
 
 Of the glacial condition of the valley and of the Sierra 
 Nevada at one period there seems to be no doubt. But 
 how these mighty masses of rock came into their present 
 position no mortal can tell. The impression one is apt to 
 have is, that at one time the opposite sides met, and that 
 they were severed by some unexampled explosive force that 
 tossed them asunder as if they were the playthings of a 
 child. Anyhow, they form now the Titanic battlements of 
 a valley which well repays the visit of the tourist. Nowhere 
 does nature appear greater, or man more feeble and depen- 
 dent. And yet man continues to subdue even this valley to 
 his purposes. A railway has already been surveyed between 
 Raymond and Wawona, and we shall be much surprised if 
 American enterprise does not succeed ultimately in carrying 
 the rails into the valley itself, and thereafter in laying a 
 mountain line, hardly, indeed, to the summit of El Capitan, 
 but possibly to the Glacier Point, or some other eminence 
 that commands the whole.
 
 CHAPTER YI. 
 LOS ANGELES. 
 
 ON our return journey we again spent a night and pai't 
 of two days at Wawona. From Wawona to Ray- 
 mond we had a very lively ride. Not only had we lively 
 company, but we had a remarkable coachman. A theological 
 topic started in conversation set him off at the nail. He not 
 only understood theology, but he knew the Bible, and he 
 could give his objections to current theological dogmas with 
 great felicity and force. There was more than one clergy- 
 man beside him, and laymen who were quite au fait in the 
 discussion ; but he spoke as well as any of them, and, with- 
 out being offensive, with all that self-possession and self- 
 respect which Americans feel in talking to persons who (ac- 
 cording to our notion) are socially above them. Some one 
 tried to give a practical turn to the discussion by dropping a 
 remark about minding the life to come. "It's not easy to 
 mind the life to come," he said, " and drive a stage." He said 
 this in a regretful tone. He had no Sabbath and no church, 
 and those among whom he lived were in the same predica- 
 ment. The mystery of his controversial power was solved 
 when we learned that he had been a Baptist minister, but 
 had abandoned that calling. In the States ex-clergymen 
 have often to resort to strange occupations. But this is in- 
 finitely less thought of there than it would be with us.
 
 LOS ANGELES. 65 
 
 And really these coachmen have a difficult task ; but they 
 seemed all steady and capable men. There are hundreds of 
 places where want of care and vigilance might overturn the 
 coach and cost many lives. A combination of dash and 
 caution is needed, which does not often occur. I could not 
 help recalling an incident in my visit to the White Moun- 
 tains nine years before. My wife and daughter had gone 
 with me in the railway to the top of Mount Washington, 
 where we spent the night. Next morning my daughter and 
 I decided to descend on foot, while the elder lady took a 
 place on the stage. After the coach passed us pedestrians, 
 and we saw the break-neck precipices along which it had 
 frequently to go, we became somewhat alarmed about its 
 safety. I comforted myself with the thought that I had 
 seen no [)lace on Mount Washington where the driver could 
 have got drink, and that therefore he could not but be sober. 
 We " forgathered " with an American gentleman who knew 
 the road well. At a turn of it, in a wood, I observed a 
 strange gap and signs of smash-up among the trees. "Do 
 you know the cause of that ? " I asked. " Yes, sir. The 
 coach was upset thei-e a month ago, and the coachman and 
 one of the passengers were killed." "But how could the 
 coach be upset in such a place ? " "I believe, sir, the man 
 loas drunk !" 
 
 At Raymond we had our thiixl meal. You may call the 
 meals breakfast, dinner, and tea or supper if you like, but really 
 they are pretty much the same, and to us they were rather 
 much of a good thing. In one of our journeys afterwards 
 we sympathized with the remark of an eminent medical 
 gentleman, Avho, like ourselves, had omitted the middle meal, 
 "I cannot eat three dinners a day." 
 
 Frora Eaymond again to Berenda in the train. Another 
 long wait at Berenda, from dusk to four o'clock next morn- 
 ing ; but instead of revisiting the hotel, we took sleeping- 
 (197) 5
 
 66 LOS ANGELES. 
 
 berths in a car. When the south-going train from San 
 Francisco caught us up, we were carried at first over a fairly- 
 cultivated but not very interesting country ; but as the fore- 
 noon wore on, it became more and more desolate, and at 
 last culminated in the great Mojave desert. We travelled 
 through the great central valley of California, with the range 
 of the Sierra Nevada on our left and the Coast Range on our 
 right. Near what is called " The Loop," the one range has 
 a crossing to the other, and the railway has to make another 
 memoi'able climb. It turns upon itself, buries itself in 
 tunnels, reverses its direction, bewilders you as you try to 
 find your bearings, and does all the other funny things a 
 railway must do when it cannot get a level to run on. To 
 us the idea of danger hardly suggested itself ; but it is not 
 long since a train going down escaped from the control of 
 the breaks, and was dashed over a precipice at a fearful 
 speed, causing many deaths and mutilations, and that, too, 
 in the darkness of night. The mountains through which we 
 passed were often beautiful in form, but naked and dry, 
 and therefore less interesting. We were suddenly startled 
 from our languor by coming on some beautiful specimens in 
 full flower of the J\icca gloriosa, known among the people 
 as the Spanish bayonet. They towered up, the stem ten or 
 twelve feet in height, while the pure white bells clung to the 
 stem in hundreds, full-formed and perfect in symmetry. 
 Soon after, we came on a great hill-side swarming with 
 them from top to bottom. And now and again we had 
 patches of them for many miles till we got near Los Angeles. 
 Seventy miles from Los Angeles we passed Lancaster, a 
 place of which we had often heard from one Avho had made 
 trial of it, but had been forced to leave it because it had no 
 water. The little village with its two or three dozen houses 
 appeared to us raw enough, and the country bleak enough ; 
 nevertheless it maintained two weekly newspapers, of one
 
 LOS ANGELES. 67 
 
 of which we possessed ourselves, and found it rather at a 
 loss for topics, except when it had occasion to pound away 
 at its rival. Then we passed through a prettier valley, and 
 at seven o'clock we reached Los Angeles. The railway 
 station had been moved, just a little before, from the near 
 to the far end of the town ; but in America railways have 
 no scruple running along the streets, without fence or guard, 
 counting it enough to ring a bell — an arrangement which 
 may do well enough in the daytime, but is sometimes very 
 disastrous by night. As we moved along we had a good 
 view of the older part of Los Angeles, and also of its China- 
 town, the Chinese hieroglyphics and strange iiames, " Ling 
 Lung Lee's Laundry," " "Wun Lung," and what not, being 
 new to us, and therefore interesting. 
 
 Before speaking of the city, it will be well to go back a 
 little and glance at the history of the country. It needs to 
 be remembered that California is a very large state, and 
 that the whole of California is not in the state. The most 
 southerly part, known as Lower California, is still part of 
 Mexico. But even American California is equal in area 
 to eight other states combined, and some of them big ones 
 — New York, New Jersey, Massachusetts, Vermont, Maine, 
 New Hampshire, Connecticut, and Ohio. If it were asked 
 what its size is relative to Great Britain, I should be re- 
 minded of a remark of my friend, George H, Stuart of Phila- 
 delphia, when presiding some years ago at a meeting in Paris 
 held to commemorate the success of the Bible kiosk at one 
 of the Exhibitions. He began by remarking that he came 
 from America ; that America was a very large country, much 
 larger than England, much larger even than France — all 
 which remarks (except the last) were well received. It is so 
 big, he continued, that if you cut the area of France and 
 England out of it, it would never be missed. The translator 
 fancied his meanins to be that America was so ajreat a coun-
 
 68 LOS A NO ELKS. 
 
 try that if you blotted England and France out of existence 
 they would never be missed, and he sternly refused to trans- 
 late so atrocious a remark ! But it is literally true that the 
 area of England might be cut out of California, and if you 
 cut it out of the mountainous and desert tracts, it would 
 hardly be missed. 
 
 In the distant past California was jjeopled thinly enough 
 by a race respecting the origin of which our learned men 
 are much puzzled. Humboldt reckoned the population in 
 his day at fifteen thousand five hundred natives and thirteen 
 hundred of other races. It comes into the sphere of history 
 in the days of the Spanish occupation. The most notable 
 fact connected with that period is the mission of Jesuit 
 fathers, undertaken with a view to the conversion of the 
 natives to Christianity. But Spain fell out with the Jesuits, 
 who were expelled from all her borders, and the California 
 mission was transferred to the Franciscans. How little 
 permanent mark the original inhabitants left on the country 
 is apparent from the fact that almost everywhere, at least in 
 Southern California, the native names of places have given 
 way to those introduced by the mission fathers. There is 
 hardly a place but bears the name of some saint or saintess. 
 San Francisco is named after the great founder of the order, 
 and San Diego, San Pedro, San Gabriel, Santa Paula, Santa 
 Barbara, Santa Anna, Santa Monica, and a hundred moi'e, 
 are all taken from the calendar. Certainly if sacred names 
 could make a sacred land, California should be a holy country. 
 As for Los Angeles, it was judged too heavenly a place to 
 bear the name of any mere saint. Its full name is said to 
 be " La Ciudad de la Reina de los Angeles " — the city of 
 the queen of the angels. This, however, is shortened into 
 Los Angeles. According to the Spanish pronunciation, 
 which the older inhabitants retain, the " o " in Los is sounded 
 distinctly, but not too long ; " ang " is sounded as in angle.
 
 LOS ANGELES. G9 
 
 and with a nasal intonation as in Spanish. The old native 
 name was Yang Na, and the river on which it is situated, 
 now also called the Los Angeles, was Porcuincula. Under 
 the mission fathers the country was but little changed. 
 The natives came to profess Christianity of a sort, but re- 
 mained little civilized. The fathers introduced good breeds 
 of sheep, oxen, and horses on the hills, and near the villages 
 the grape and other fruit trees; and to this day a kind of 
 grape, excellent for wine but not for raisins, is called the 
 mission-grape. Of late years, however, a strange blight has 
 fallen upon the whole of this species, and it looks as if it 
 would be exterminated. 
 
 Then came the time, early in this century, when Mexico 
 revolted from Spain and set up for itself. California was in 
 turn a department of the Mexican empire and a province 
 in the Mexican republic. And during this period the Mexi- 
 can Government came down heavily on the missions. These 
 missions had got possession of large and valuable lands. The 
 Mexican Government secularized a great part of Ihem. The 
 missions were reduced to comparative poverty, and now they 
 are insignificant factors in the history of the country. Now, 
 also, although there are some families of pure Spanish blood, 
 the Spaniards and the aborigines have got mixed together. 
 They form a mixed race, usually called Mexicans, who forty 
 years ago were the chief inhabitants of the country, but are 
 now almost buried under the Anglo-Saxon invasion. 
 
 More than forty years ago the United States were at war 
 with Mexico. The dispute arose about Texas, which, before 
 joining the Union, had been Mexican territory. In 1848, 
 when the war was brought to a close, California was ceded 
 to the States on their paying fifteen million dollars, and 
 taking over debts of three or four millions more. Mexico 
 was not able to hold it, and once there was some word of its 
 passing into the hands of Great Britain. But the American
 
 70 LOS AXGELES. 
 
 Government was desirous to have a hold on the Pacific 
 coast, and on this account bought the country, little dream- 
 ing what a valuable possession they would be found to have 
 obtained when the resources of California should be laid bare. 
 Up to this time the visits of the Anglo-Saxon to California 
 had been few and far between. The adventurous fur-trader 
 or the daring sportsman might occasionally cross the Rocky 
 Mountains, or the hardy sailor from the isthmus of Panama 
 might anchor in the bay of San Diego or of San Francisco ; 
 and, more rarely, the agriculturist might acquire a ranch 
 and devote himself to the breeding of cattle. After the 
 country became American, many Mexicans were ready to 
 dispose of their ranches and move southwards to what still 
 remained Mexican soil. More American settlers thus came 
 to California. The discovery of gold at Sutter Mills, in the 
 north, the year after it was ceded to America, brought a vast 
 mass of people to the northern part of the state, mongrel 
 enough in many ways, but all with a raging gold-hunger. 
 To Southern California the steps of a quieter I'ace of settlers 
 were directed by the cheapness of land which Mexican 
 owners were willing to dispose of. There are traditions that 
 these American settlers behaved very cruelly and unjustly 
 to the Mexican owners. Tales of flagrant wrong and cruel 
 eviction were everywhere in Mexican mouths. I have been 
 told that this may partly l)e accounted for by the fact that 
 the Mexicans, who were an easy-going people and careless 
 financiers, would borrow money on mortgage over their 
 properties, and failing to pay interest, became legally liable 
 to the loss of their property, of which the lender took pos- 
 session. But we all know that under colour of law there 
 may be great injustice done in this way to the poor and 
 helpless, and it is quite likely that Mexicans suffered bitterly. 
 A novel called " Ramona," which has been very extensively 
 read, has for its object to expose the cruel wrongs which
 
 LOS AXGELES. 71 
 
 ■were inflicted on the original inhabitants. It is a power- 
 fully-written romance, and one feels that if the halt of it 
 be true the Mexicans must have had hard lines. 
 
 And now, as we have said, the Mexicans are hardly an 
 appreciable part of the population. There are yet settle- 
 ments of them, as at San Gabriel, near Los Angeles, the 
 oldest of the mission stations ; and if one desires to see 
 Mexicanism in full play, to study the Mexican face and 
 character, or to examine the old Mexican church, and sr.ndry 
 other memorials of the olden time, let him bend his footsteps 
 thither. But the Mexicans were not a vigorous race. They 
 just dodged along. Many of them had joined the vices of 
 Spain to their own. AVhen Los Angeles was a Mexican 
 town (which it was less than twenty years ago), its tastes 
 were low and its manners rowdy. Sunday was the great 
 day for jollity and revelry. If an American should show 
 himself on the streets, he was liable to be surrounded by 
 Mexicans threatening to shoot him if he did not take them 
 into a saloon and treat them. 
 
 Though California is all one state to-day, it seems very 
 likely that, like Dakota, it will one day be cut in two. It 
 is inconvenient to have the capital, Sacramento, five hundred 
 miles distant from San Diego, the most southern town. 
 And, really, the two parts of the state are sufficiently diverse 
 to call for separation- The great features of Southern Cali- 
 fornia are its fruit and its climate. In both of these respects 
 it surpasses the north. It draws to itself a class of people 
 of a somewhat different type. The seven counties reckoned 
 to Southern California have an area of above fifty-six thou- 
 sand square miles, and an estimated population of three 
 hundred and twelve thousand. The other day the county 
 of Los Angeles was divided, and a new county. Orange — 
 a suggestive name — was made out of it. Here is the area 
 and the population of the seven counties : —
 
 72 LOS ANGELES. 
 
 Counties. Square Miles. Population. 
 
 San Li-iis Obispo 3,578 20,000 
 
 Kern 8,100 10,000 
 
 Santa Barbara 2,205 25,000 
 
 Ventura l,f)82 12,000 
 
 Los Angeles 4,812 165,000 
 
 San Bernardino 21,171 30,000 
 
 San Diego 14,968 50,000 
 
 The population is sufficient for a state, and there is spirit 
 enough in Los Angeles to aspire to the distinction. But I 
 suppose that when that dignity is obtained not a little ex- 
 pense must be incurred in the erection of a State House and 
 all the rest of it; and as the present times are not very pros- 
 perous financially, it seems prudent in the southerners to 
 delay proceedings in that direction. 
 
 Los Angeles has a fine situation. It is built on heights 
 rising from the Los Angeles river, street rising above street ; 
 and while some of the suburbs spread over spacious meadows, 
 others, as is indicated in sucli names as Angelina Heights, 
 Boyle Heights, etc., straggle over gentle hills, while the hori- 
 zon is splendidly bounded by a high, picturesque mountain- 
 range. The city itself is more than a hundred years old ; 
 but as a thing of life, its origin is within the last twenty. 
 So late as 1880 its population was only twelve thousand; 
 now it is variously reckoned at from fifty thousand to eighty 
 thousand. Its rapid rise was due to an extraordinary 
 " boom " about three years ago, which came on the place 
 like a great epidemic, and for the time being afflicted the 
 whole people with a speculative madness. It was not the 
 first "boom," however. I was told by an old inhabitant (that 
 is, one who had been there about a dozen years) that soon 
 after he came there was a similar "boom," which seemed 
 likely to " boom " the place out of existence. The reaction 
 was very serious : the princijDal bank failed ; many of the 
 leading people failed ; and the state of Arizona coming into 
 notice, with its mineral treasures, seemed likely to drain the
 
 LOS ANGELES. 73 
 
 place of all its people. But Los Angeles picked itself up 
 again even after that disaster, and it lias not gone down in 
 any such way after the recent "boom." There have not 
 been many failures ; the price of real estate, though lower, 
 shows no plunge downwards ; and many buildings and other 
 operations are going on that indicate a steady progressive 
 movement. 
 
 There is still enough to show what the old Mexican city 
 was like, stretching along a single line of unpaved, unlighted 
 street, with its one-storied adohe cottages, and its long, low- 
 roofed, very plain Roman Catholic church. I made it a 
 business to find out the oldest American inhabitant who had 
 been born in the city. I think I discovered this interesting 
 object in the person of a young married lady of twenty-five. 
 She remembered quite well the little Mexican city with but 
 one two-storied house. One thing that contributed in a 
 considerable degree to the rapid improvement of the place 
 was the ambition of leading citizens to rear " blocks," called 
 after their name, that would rival, if not eclipse, all that 
 their neighbours had built. You have the Temple Block and 
 the Nadeau Block, and all manner of other blocks. And a 
 fine city they have made of it. It has quite a character of 
 its own — is not a mere little Chicago, or a lesser San Fran- 
 cisco, but just itself. Probably the finest feature is the 
 suburbs. Villas shaded by leafy groves, or adorned by 
 palms and bananas, with bright green lawns kept verdant 
 by the daily play of the hose, greet you in many directions. 
 You see a greater regard to taste than in many new cities of 
 America, and more respect to the tout ensemble, to a certain 
 harmony of the parts, though, of course, this last is not 
 easily realized. 
 
 Two or three of the subordinate features of Los Angeles 
 are well worth attention. One is the street cars. Except 
 in the case of San Francisco, I have seen no town with such
 
 74 LOS ANGELES. 
 
 a service of cable-cars. And cable-cars, when they are safe, 
 are far the nicest. No smoke or smell of engine, no sight of 
 panting and smoking horses, no slow, wearied pull uphill, or 
 sound of hissing brake as you go down, ever distresses you. 
 You travel as fast up the steepest hill as on level ground, 
 and it makes no difference whether the car be empty, or the 
 very platform be so crowded as to double the natural number 
 of passengers. Los Angeles is beautifully and plentifully 
 served with cars of various sorts — horse-cars, donkey-cars, 
 mule-cars — in every direction. When I was there, a com- 
 pany, said to consist of Chicago gentlemen, had just expended 
 two million dollars in cable-lines — a proof that they had 
 confidence in the growing prosperity of the city. Then there 
 is the telephone system. The multitude of wires overhead 
 reminds one of Chicago or New York, except that in New 
 York they are now laying the wires underground. In fact, 
 as we passed through New York we witnessed a somewhat 
 difiicult operation — the hewing down of telephone -posts, 
 calling to one's mind the early days when clearing away the 
 forests was the first step of civilization. And lastly, the 
 electric-lighting of the city. This is splendidly done, and at 
 no little cost. The lights surmount huge poles, that look 
 like the masts of a man-of-war, and must have been fur- 
 nished from the matchless forests of Mariposa or Oregon. 
 At night you see them at the distance of many miles with a 
 lustre that eclipses stars of the first magnitude, and makes 
 you think what a blessing it would be if the light of truth 
 and holiness streamed forth from Los Angeles with corre- 
 sponding brightness. 
 
 And this brings me to the Churches. There are no very 
 imposing church buildings, but in the newer erections (all 
 are of wood) there is manifest improvement. I had the 
 pleasure of becoming acquainted with most of the leading 
 clergy, and found them to be earnest men, for the most part
 
 LOS ANGELES. 76 
 
 lively preachers, and with catholic hearts. There is no little 
 vigour, too, in the undertakings which flow out of the 
 Churches. The Young Men's Christian Association has 
 just entered a large and very handsome building. There is 
 a feeling prevalent among American gentlemen of influence 
 that this is a proper and necessary adjunct of a large city, 
 and out of a kind of national pride, as well as from higher 
 motives, they are ready to contribute much larger sums for 
 this purpose than our people give. Then there is a very 
 handsome temperance temple. There are missions to the 
 Chinese carried on by the Churches with a fair measure of 
 success, and some of the Chinese are members of the ordin- 
 ary congregations of the city. There is no little activity on 
 the part of the Christian women in various directions. The 
 prayer-meetings are much better attended than with us. 
 The first meeting I attended was the week-night prayer- 
 meeting of the First Presbyterian Church, when there were 
 nearly two hundred present. I observed that most of the 
 office-bearers were present, and a full choir. The meeting 
 was warm and cordial. 
 
 The provision for education in California is excellent. The 
 school buildings are large and handsome, and fitted up, as is 
 usual in America, in a much more comfortable style than is 
 usual in our country. The education, as every one knows, 
 is free, and even the advanced classes are attended by both 
 sexes alike. The salaries of teachers and assistants range 
 from some three thousand dollars to one thousand. The 
 schools were in vacation most of the time I was in the 
 country, but I had some opportunities of seeing the work. 
 I was much struck with the quiet orderliness of the classes, 
 and especially with the great skill of some of the female 
 teachers teaching Greek or mathematics, and the profound 
 respect with which they were listened to even by moustached 
 young men.
 
 76 LOS ANGELES. 
 
 In Southern California not mucli lias been done as yet for 
 university education. The foremost body in this department 
 are the Methodists. They have been working for some years 
 at "The University of Southern California." They have 
 reared colleges in five or six different places, united into a 
 university. For example, they have an agricultural college 
 at Ontario. They have a theological college, if I remember 
 rightly, at San Diego. Their department of arts and litera- 
 ture is in the suburbs of Los Angeles. I had the pleasure 
 of being invited to the trustees' meeting, and of being asked 
 to address a large assemblage in the hall of the university. 
 Of students, the female part seemed considerably to out- 
 number the male. Among others whom I had the pleasure 
 of meeting on that occasion was a very distinguished man, 
 now well-stricken in years, General John C. Fremont, who 
 many years before was employed by the Government to make 
 the first survey of the region of the Rocky Mountains and 
 all the country to the west. The results of this undertaking 
 are given in two large quarto volumes, in the form of the 
 General's Life ; a work full of interest, but rather long for 
 the general reader. Fremont had an active part, too, in 
 the Mexican war, and I think he fell under censure, not for 
 lack of service, but for the very opposite reason. He was 
 of a daring and independent spirit, and somewhat like Lord 
 Nelson when he put the telescope to his blind eye and de- 
 clared he could not see the signal ! His wife shared his love 
 of enterprise, though his expedition separated her from him 
 almost immediately after their marriage. There is a story 
 that, after he was appointed, and when all his arrangements 
 had been made, there came a letter from Government recalling 
 the expedition. His wife opened the letter, and, seeing what 
 it was, took care not to let him have it till several days after he 
 had set out, so that he could tell the Government with a good 
 conscience that he had not got their letter till it was too late !
 
 LOS ANGELES. 11 
 
 I cannot say a great deal for the newspapers of Los 
 Angeles. There are four daily and some weekly papers. 
 They are very loyal to their city, and do their best to pro- 
 mote its material welfare ; but there is too much of the 
 sensational in them. Robberies, murders, and scandals are 
 too conspicuous. A tone of exaggeration marks the narra- 
 tives, making it difficult to rely on the statements. Three 
 of the four, I deeply regret to say, are published on Sundays 
 as well as week-days. They sometimes try to get clergymen 
 to write serious articles for the Sundays; a wretched device, 
 when the obvious tendency of the Sunday publication is to 
 obliterate all traces of the sanctity of the day. To me per- 
 sonally the editors were very kind, and some of them would 
 fain that I should contribute to their papers, but with this 
 request I did not comply. 
 
 So far as I had an opportunity of mixing with the society 
 of Los Angeles, I found it very kind and hearty. Several 
 of our fellow-travellers in the Yosemit6 Valley were exceed- 
 ingly hospitable. I could almost wish to record the names 
 of three whose kind attentions exceeded all we could have 
 looked for. Some of them boarded in the Lincoln Hotel, 
 and our head-quarters being in the country they made us as 
 welcome to its accommodation from time to time as if it had 
 been their private house and we their oldest friends. I can- 
 not help expressing special acknowledgments to the Cale- 
 doniaii Club and its excellent president, Mr. J. 0. Maclean. 
 We were always welcome there. Hardly had I arrived 
 when Mr. Maclean arranged that I should meet the club, 
 and, by way of " talk," give my lecture on the Life of 
 Livingstone, which I did to a large and very interested 
 audience. And when my worthy friend, the Rev. Dr. 
 Ormiston of New York (a native of Lanarkshire) came to 
 the city, a few weeks later, a grand reception was given to 
 us both. Clergymen of all denominations and representative
 
 78 LOS ANGELES. 
 
 laymen sounded the praises of Scotland. And, of course, 
 Dr. Ormiston and I were made out to be Scotsmen of the 
 very highest order, I took it all cum notd, discounting 
 everything by about ninety-five per cent. But it was amus- 
 ing (perhaps in a quiet way gratifying) to see what a wonder- 
 ful people the Scots were held by the Americans to be. The 
 amusing thing was that every one claimed to have some con- 
 nection with the country. An Episcopal clergyman said he 
 was proud to pay honour to Scotsmen, because the first bishop 
 of the American Episcopal Church had been consecrated in 
 Scotland, when they would not consecrate one in England. 
 And at the end the hand-shaking was wonderful. " Let me 
 shake hands with you, for my wife's grandmother was Scotch." 
 " I'm from Nova Scotia, and my people came originally from 
 Scotland," "I'mail/ac." " My name is Burns, and my boy 
 is Robbie." It was very funny ; but we were very happy, 
 I wished that we were worthy of the half of it, for we did 
 seem rather much of a mutual-admiration society. 
 
 At least, I could not help feeling next morning that more 
 might have been said to stimulate the Scotch and all the Chris- 
 tian people of Los Angeles to new exertions on behalf of their 
 Sabbath, which in that city, and in the community at large, 
 needs greatly to be contended for. I have referred to the 
 Sunday newspapers. There are Sunday theatres, Sunday 
 saloons, Sunday excursion-trains, and Sunday picnics without 
 number. While we were there a flaring advertisement ap- 
 peared on the streets that for a succession of Sundays a 
 certain aeronaut would ascend in his balloon at Santa Monica, 
 a seaside place some sixteen or twenty miles off, and come 
 down in his parachute. The railways ran trains to the place 
 as quickly as they could provide them to carry the thousands 
 that hurried to see the sight. What the effect must have 
 been in dissipating serious impressions, if any of the spec- 
 tators should have been at church in the morning, and
 
 LOS ANGELES. 79 
 
 stimulating vanity and frivolity, I need not say. Both in 
 preaching and writing I took occasion to press the serious 
 obligation on all the Christian people of the state to be on 
 their guard against the lowering influences of what was the 
 common custom, and to charge themselves with a sacred 
 mission — that of testifying for God's truth and man's duty, 
 and striving in every way to elevate the religious standard. 
 One must remember that many of the Christian people have 
 arrived but recently, that they are imperfectly acquainted 
 with one another, and that they have been much occupied 
 in building churches, and in other work needing and almost 
 absorbing their immediate attention. The old Mexican spirit 
 has not died out, and the usual disorder of new communities 
 has not passed away, great though the improvement be on 
 former days. There is still need of something like a solemn 
 league and covenant to storm the intrenchments of the 
 enemy and gain California to Christ.* 
 
 * I am tempted to introduce here part of a letter from H. M. Stanley to myself 
 which I referred to at Los Angeles in my lecture on Livingstone, all the more 
 effectively that Stanley is the connecting-link between America and Livingstone. 
 When Stanley was in Edinburgh, after being at Berlin at the concocting of the 
 Congo treaty, he told Dr. Livingstone's daughter (Mrs. A. L. Bruce) that he had 
 read the "Personal Life" at Berlin, and that it had brought Livingstone so clearly 
 before him that he felt new vigour in pleading for his plans. I had occasion to 
 write to Mr. Stanley soon afterwards, and I asked him if he would be good enougli 
 to tell me whether he thought I had done justice to Livingstone. The following is 
 from his reply: — "I read the 'Personal Life of Livingstone' on the Congo with 
 very great pleasure, and as I closed the book I was convinced that it would be 
 almost impossible to produce a more vivid or truthful picture of the good man than 
 can be gathered by reading your book from beginning to end. There is no strain- 
 ing of the effect in it, but the Life reads smoothly as though writ by a master's 
 hand. We see the poor factory boy at his ill-paid work grow into manly fulness; 
 thence we follow him through a strange life's probation in wild lands and the 
 troubled period of it, and the long, patient striiggles of the heroic spirit to do its 
 part well and bravely, until it is finally worn out, and the silver cord of life has 
 snapped, and the well-merited eternal rest has been won. It is a poem, sir, of 
 which you, the narrator of it, may well be proud of the privilege of having told it. 
 Good-bye, and many thanks for your kind words to me. — Yours faithfully, 
 
 " Henry M. Stanley."
 
 CHAPTER VIL 
 
 SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA AS A FIELD 
 FOR EMIGRATION. 
 
 I THINK it may be useful and not uninteresting here to 
 put clown some facts on the suitableness of Southern 
 California as a field for emigration. It is still true, as in 
 the days of Martin Chuzzlewit, that very misleading state- 
 ments are put forth by interested parties to induce the un- 
 wary to emigrate to colonial and other settlements, and many 
 an honest man has been involved thereby in great loss and 
 disappointment. I shall try to state things as they are. 
 
 People in Great Britain have very inadequate notions, for 
 the most part, of the extent of the state of California. It 
 is seldom apprehended that it is from seven to eight hundred 
 miles in length, and from two to three hundred in breadth. 
 When the discovery of gold was made some forty years ago 
 in the northern part of the state, it was to that part of it 
 chiefly that the rush of emigrants took place. It was San 
 Francisco, in the north, that suddenly became a great and 
 wealthy city. It was there, too, that the usual lawlessness 
 of a mining population, dissevered from family life and from, 
 the influences of Christianity and civilization, showed itself, 
 and gave a bad repute to Californian society. The notion 
 got abroad that every second man in California carried a 
 revolver in one hand and a bowie-knife in the other, and that
 
 A FIELD FOR EMIGRATION. 81 
 
 no man who was not actually on fire with the gold-fever 
 ought to commit himself to such dangerous fellowship. Even 
 in the mining districts of Northern California, however, things 
 are now much changed for the better. There is still a rowdy 
 element, as there is in most of the new states of America ; 
 hut it is confined to a limited class — the frequenters of 
 saloons, the prize-ring, and the vile dens of sin — and re- 
 spectable men who mind their own business, and lead a 
 quiet and peaceable life, may enjoy throughout the state the 
 same sense of security and tranquillity that is to be found in 
 most other civilized parts of the globe. 
 
 About twenty years ago two things began to attract the 
 attention of Americans to Southern California — its wonder- 
 ful climate and its magnificent fruits. These two things are 
 now doing for Southern California what its gold-mines did 
 forty years ago for Northern. They are drawing to it a 
 rapidly-increasing population, but in a much quieter way, 
 and of a much more varied character than that which the 
 gold-mines drew to the northern part of the state. 
 
 First, as to the climate, it is hardly possible to exaggerate 
 its qualities. During the summer half of the year little or 
 no rain falls, and you have an almost unbroken succession of 
 bright, sunny days. The heat is considerable, especially in 
 inland places — from 80° to 90° is not uncommon ; but near 
 the coast it is delightfully tempered by a refreshing breeze 
 from the sea, and, unlike most tropical countries, the nights 
 are comparatively cool. I found myself able to walk consider- 
 able distances in the middle of the day, not only without 
 exhaustion, but with somewhat of the exhilaration that one 
 feels in Switzerland. "Work, too, can be done in the fields 
 with a very high thermometer. Sunstroke is unknown, so is 
 dog-madness. The soothing, balmy influence of this splendid 
 spell of genial summer weather is felt by every one, and it 
 makes life sensibly brighter and cheerier. One sometimes 
 (197) 6
 
 82 A FIELD FOR EMIGRATION. 
 
 thinks with a chill shudder of the eastern winds and cold 
 fogs that are not unknown even in summer in one's native 
 land. Not that you. require no precautions against cold ; 
 the changes of temperature, as the daily fogs fall and rise, 
 are considerable, and have given rise to a saying that you 
 catch cold in Los Angeles twice a day. 
 
 But it is winter which gives its best feature to the climate 
 of California. Except when it is raining, winter is like sum- 
 mer. The nights are colder, but thei'e is not much difference 
 in the days. And this is the great attraction to the people 
 of the eastern states and of Canada, many of whom are 
 pouring into Southern California. They get tired of the 
 severity of the eastern and northern winter. Once in Cali- 
 fornia, they are loath to leave it. For consumptive people 
 it is like the elixir of life. Every second person you meet 
 tells you he came to Southei'n California for the health of 
 some member of his family, and in almost every case the 
 benefit was remarkable. With some precautions against the 
 change of temperature between day and night, and with due 
 arrangements for exercise in the fresh air and abstinence 
 from exhausting toil, persons of weak chests and throats are 
 enabled to live comfortably, and if the disease has not gone 
 too far, they have every chance of recovery. 
 
 For fruit, Lower California seems destined to be the 
 orchard of the world. Grapes, oranges, melons, apricots, 
 peaches, plums, pomegranates, lemons, citrons, figs, walnuts, 
 olives, and I know not what all besides, flourish amaz- 
 ingly. Of course, not all equally in every place. There are 
 conditions of particular districts, to be learned only by ex- 
 perience, eminently favourable to some kinds, and perhaps 
 unfavourable to others. But on the whole it is an unrivalled 
 fruit region. If one kind of fruit be specified for which it is 
 pre-eminent, it is the orange; and experience is now showing 
 that a particular kind of orange, called the Washington
 
 A FIELD FOR FMIGRATION. 83 
 
 navel, is the very best that gi'ows. It is to be noticed, as 
 modifying the garden cliaracter of the state, that Soutliern 
 California presents a remarkable combination of mountain 
 and valley. It is in the valleys that fruit is so flourishing. 
 The soil, formed apparently in the bed of ancient lakes, is 
 marvellously fertile. The rich vegetable mould extends in 
 some places many feet — some say hundreds of feet — below 
 the surface. Year after year crops are raised — not of fruit 
 only, but of wheat, grass, and vegetables — without manure. 
 If irrigation be applied, two crops of grain may be got in 
 one season, and of alfalfa grass from three to eight. The 
 soil is well adapted for farm produce as well as fruit. In 
 the larger ranches (the old Spanish word is in constant use) 
 cattle, sheep, and horses are reared, and ordinary farm 
 produce is raised. It is more in the neighbourhood of 
 towns that the culture of fruit prevails. The quantity of 
 fruit produced is far greater than is required to supply the 
 wants of the population. The less perishable kinds are trans- 
 ported far and wide. Every effort is made to convert what 
 is perishable into durable forms by drying and by canning. 
 
 For some years back grapes have been so abundant that 
 the wholesale price has hardly paid the cost of labour. A 
 cent (halfpenny) a pound is considered a good wholesale 
 price. An acre of vineyard usually produces from three to 
 eight tons of grapes. But it is a troublesome crop to rear, 
 and involves a great deal of labour. It is much more profit- 
 able to turn the grapes into raisins, but this requires a dry 
 climate, at some distance from the sea, unaffected by the 
 fogs. The orange is probably the most lucrative crop, on 
 ground well adapted for it. But the orange does not bear 
 well till about its eighth year, whereas vines have a fair crop 
 in their third or fourth. 
 
 We have yet to mention the most outstanding peculiarity 
 of Southern California, viewed as a field for farming, and
 
 84 A FIELD FOB EMIGRATION. 
 
 especially for horticulture. We i^efer to the extraordinary 
 distribution of water. Of rivers, streams, or surface run- 
 ning water of any kind, the supply is most limited. Great 
 tracts exist where there is none. This is the more remark- 
 able that the country presents great mountain ranges, which 
 are among the most striking objects in the landscape. From 
 the peculiarity of the soil, the water gets below the surface : 
 sometimes it is within a few feet of it, and at other places 
 you have to descend hundreds of feet before you come to it. 
 If the water is near the surface, the trees and other plants 
 send down their roots, sometimes to a great depth, and find 
 the necessary supply of moisture. Many kinds of fruit trees 
 do not require more water than they obtain in this way. 
 The water percolates upward by capillary attraction, but 
 does not evaporate from the top. In the driest weather the 
 soil is moist a few inches under the surface. Vines do not 
 need to be watered. The opinion has hitherto prevailed that 
 oranges need an artificial supply ; but this opinion seems to 
 be undergoing a change. In many places crops of wheat and 
 grass are also obtained without artificial irrigation. In some 
 districts, and especially where more than one crop in the 
 year is sought, artificial methods of irrigation are resorted 
 to ; and one of these, I regret to say, is the emj)loyment of 
 town sewage water, which in hot weather is most danger- 
 ous, and in the neighbourhood of Los Angeles has given rise 
 to several cases of typhoid fever. Artesian wells are not 
 uncommon, and they yield a large supply. The American 
 Government is at present devoting earnest attention to the 
 best ways of dealing with " arid tracts," and trying to devise 
 methods of bringing such water as is available to bear on 
 the vast districts of desert that exist in some parts of the 
 country. If the water difticulty could be successfully dealt 
 with. Southern California would become more abundantly 
 productive than perhaps any other part of the globe.
 
 A FIELD FOR EMIGRATION. 85 
 
 Now, "just here," as the Americans say, is the point 
 where emigrants are most liable to be misled. I have before 
 nie a flaming advertisement respecting the land in a certain 
 valley, which is offered at from eight to fifty dollars an acre. 
 The land, it is said, has grown the premium wheat in the 
 world ; it has grown parsnips seven inches in diameter ; it 
 has grown eight crops of alfalfa in one year ; it has grown 
 two hundred and eighteen tons of sugar-beets to the acre ; 
 it has grown deciduous fruits of all kinds and vegetables of 
 every variety in the greatest abundance and the finest bloom ; 
 and it is capable of growing cotton, tobacco, pea-nuts, and 
 champagne and raisin grapes. The situation of the valley is 
 high ; it is free from fogs, and eminently favourable for 
 health. Now, every word of this is probably true ; but 
 where the results specified were obtained, there must have 
 been an exceptional supply of water — probably from an 
 Artesian well. But Artesian wells are costly ; the effort to 
 get water by them may prove, after all, a failure ; and irri- 
 gation by means of them is a laborious and clumsy process. 
 The valley in question is well known to the present writer, 
 and it is really a waterless plain. Men buying land there 
 may fancy they are to grow rich; but after having spent 
 their little all, they may be fain to leave it, go where they 
 may. In general, we may say that those settlers in Southern 
 California who have been fortunate in water arrangements 
 have done well, and some who have had to wait may yet be 
 aided by Government measures and enjoy final success. But 
 in many cases the want of water has proved a fatal want, 
 and it is well for settlers to find this out in time, and act 
 upon it before they are penniless. 
 
 Before answering the question. What sort of emigrants 
 should go to Southern California 1 it is necessary to bear in 
 mind the effects of the " boom " of two or three years ago, 
 and the influence it had on the price of land. During the
 
 88 A FIELD FOR EMIGRATION. 
 
 boom, all manner of artificial means were taken to raise the 
 value of land. Syndicates would buy up a large ranch, lay 
 it out like a town in blocks and streets, build a large hotel, 
 run a tram-line or a branch of a railway to it, and invite the 
 world to buy it up in detail. Sometimes the scheme took, 
 at other times it was a dead failure. But the effect of this 
 was to run up the price of the best land everywhere to a 
 very high figure ; and, though it has fallen since that time, 
 bargains in land are not easily to be had now. The expecta- 
 tion prevails that there will be another boom soon ; but the 
 wisest heads will do their best to prevent it acquiring the 
 wild proportions of three years ago. The country is bound to 
 prosper, for if there were nothing else to make it attractive, 
 its wonderful properties as a health-resort will always bring 
 to it a great influx of people. But in time the mining 
 resources of the state will be developed ; manufactories will 
 be established to supply the people with many articles now 
 brought from Chicago or St. Louis ; the fruit industry will 
 be placed on a more systematic and productive footing ; 
 possibly a considei'able shipping trade will be established, 
 especially if a project now talked of be carried out, to make 
 San Diego the Pacific port for the large steamers that trade 
 at present between China and San Francisco. No part of 
 the world seems more sure of future increase and prosperity 
 than Southern California. 
 
 Who, then, should emigrate to it 1 Certainly not all and 
 sundry. I know of an impetuous, well-meaning Scotch lady 
 who brought out a lot of women to the country so utterly 
 unsuited for it that some ladies in California had to raise 
 money to send them back. People with diseased chests 
 need not come here, unless they bring with them the means 
 of living for a winter or two ; otherwise they will be unable 
 to do justice to their ailments. Skilled mechanics will get 
 splendid wages during a boom, but when the boom has
 
 A FIELD FOR EMIGRATION. 87 
 
 " burated," they may get no wages at all. Farmers who 
 mean to grow grain and raise stock must purchase a ranch, 
 which can now be got at a reasonable rate only in a some- 
 what out-of-the-way place, and if it has never been cultivated, 
 can yield but little for a time. Probably the kind of thing 
 that would suit the majority of emigrants best would be a 
 small fruit-ranch of some ten or more acres in the vicinity of 
 a town. Half of this might be an orchard ; the other half 
 would be a small poultry and dairy farm. It would be 
 amply sufficient to maintain a horse, two cows, and a flock 
 of poultry. A comfortable wooden house may be built for 
 from £100 to £200. A well and windmill to raise water 
 for domestic and ordinary farm })urposes, with barn, etc., 
 might cost other .£80. The land (near town) might run 
 from £20 to £100 an acre or more. There is always ready 
 sale for eggs and butter. The conditions of life are easy : 
 little fuel is needed, and little clothing ; and the climate is 
 so dry and warm that cattle hardly need any shelter, and 
 buildings do not readily decay. A frugal proprietor might 
 almost live on the produce of his dairy and poultry, and have 
 the value of his fruit crop over and above. Service costs a 
 great deal, and is difficult, almost impossible, to be had. 
 Four or five jDounds a month, with board, is the wages of a 
 female servant ; farm labourers have more. Settlers must 
 be abundantly able to help themselves. In the great majority 
 of farmhouses no servant is kept. There is but a very 
 limited demand for clerks or professional men. Southern 
 California is not the country for loafers or for shiftless 
 fellows. Sharp men, who see what is needed, and can adapt 
 themselves readily to the circumstances of a new country, 
 are the men to get on. As in most other new countries, an 
 emigrant ought not to be in haste to settle ; if he can spend 
 a little time in looking about him and studying the situation, 
 so much the better.
 
 88 A FIELD FOR EMIGRATION. 
 
 The authorities make a most liberal allowance for educa- 
 tion, and it is free to all. There is usually a full provision 
 of churches in towns, and in country -places the church-going 
 people generally attend the church of the denomination which 
 happened to be first in the field. The settlers are commonly 
 most neighbourly and obliging ; and as to honesty, the risk 
 of losing anything by stealing in rural districts is virtually 
 nil. It hardly matters whether the house-door is locked at 
 night. A settler may shut up his house, leave his live stock 
 in charge of a neighbour, be absent for days, and have no 
 anxiety all the time as to his finding everything on his return 
 just as he left it, both inside and out. 
 
 It is said there are about ten thousand of her Majesty's 
 former subjects settled in Southern California. Many of 
 these are from Scotland, and more, perhaps, are Scottish 
 Canadians. Most of them are fairly comfortable, many are 
 rich, and all are high in praise of a climate which probably, 
 if both summer and winter be taken into account, has no 
 superior on the face of the earth.
 
 CHAPTER VIII. 
 
 ''OUT AND about:' 
 
 MY son's fruit ranch is situated about five miles from 
 Los Angeles, in the neighbourhood of the village of 
 Florence. Florence is but a straggling hamlet, and what 
 there is save the glorious sky above it to entitle it to the 
 name of the Tuscan capital it would be hard to say. There 
 is no w-ant of roads in these pai'ts, for the whole country is 
 laid out in rectangles, and usually at every half mile there 
 are roads, broad and tree-lined, crossing each other at right 
 angles. The quantity is ample, the quality — une autre chose. 
 Near town the roads are properly built, but a few miles out 
 they know nothing of road-metal, but consist simply of the 
 native soil ; and where there is much traffic, they are beaten 
 and pounded in the drought of summer into sheer beds of 
 dust. In winter, when the dust has become mud, the resi- 
 dents turn out and mend their ways by shovelling the mud 
 from the sides on to the middle. At other times an effort 
 will occasionally be made to contend with the dust by 
 spreading straw over it, or eucalyptus leaves, or any other 
 available rubbish. But really, when you consider all that 
 the settlers have had to do, the wonder is that they have 
 roads at all. I remember travelling some years ago on a 
 stage-coach between Iiiversnaid and Loch Katrine in com- 
 pany with some Americans, who were in a boastful vein, and
 
 90 ''OUT A.XJ) ABOUT." 
 
 disposed to run down everything in Scotland. Compared 
 with America, the lakes were small, the mountains low, the 
 horses poor, the stage-coach paltry. " Well, gentlemen," 1 
 said, "you will admit we have better roads." — "Little 
 thanks to you," Avas the reply; "you have had two thousand 
 years to make them." 
 
 The country about Florence, as in many other places, is 
 mostly laid out in vineyards and orchards. Some are large, 
 covering hundreds of acres, but most of them are from five 
 or ten acres upwards. The Nadeau vineyai'd, for example, 
 is a large one. The first owner made money in the freight 
 transportation or carrying business — conveying goods over 
 the desert before the days of the railway — a rough and risky 
 business in those days. Buying land cheap, he acquired a 
 large quantity, of which his family now reap the benefit. 
 The country is too fiat and fertile to have much picturesque 
 beauty, but the range of mountains in the horizon is always 
 grand. The charm is in the climate. It is quite luxurious 
 to find day after day the most glorious weathei* — a blue sky 
 without a cloud, and in the evening that tender " after-glow " 
 that seems to breathe the spirit of heaven. The vegetation 
 is wonderfully rich. A very little labour and care will 
 secure a most beautiful garden. Roses flowering all the 
 year round, white lilies of incomparable purity, bushes of 
 carnations with hundreds of flowers on each, marguerites with 
 thousands, geraniums like trees, a hedge of blazing sunflowers 
 twelve feet high, annuals in richest bloom, made our little 
 cottage appear a corner of paradise. It was such a contrast 
 to Edinburgh gardens, where all the labour you can expend 
 is so little productive. The flowers seemed to say. Just 
 stick us in the ground and give us a drop of water — it's all 
 we ask. 
 
 I was favourably impressed with the people who own and 
 cultivate the farms and orchards in the neighbourhood. Of
 
 ''OUT AND ABOUT." 91 
 
 course there were exceptions, but take them all in all they 
 were respectable, serious, and neighbourly — people that 
 would not see a neighbour in trouble without lending a 
 helping hand. At Florence there is a little jNIethodist 
 church, with a very worthy and earnest minister. When I 
 preached, the whole neighbourhood seemed to turn out, and 
 there was a happy family feeling pervading the assembly. 
 At Vernon, in another direction, there is a Congregational 
 church, the minister of it a devout, cultivated, and very agree- 
 able man. Here I was even more at home. In these places 
 people for the most part seem to be church-going, though 
 there is a proportion of the careless and unbelieving. There 
 are superior schools at both places. At Vernon, a new 
 school was in the course of erection — a large and handsome 
 building, that in our country would have cost from £1,500 
 to .£2,000. It mufei; always be said in honour of Americans 
 that they do not starve their schools. 
 
 Shall we now make a little excursion of ten or twelve 
 miles in the direction of the mountains, and become ac- 
 quainted with Pasadena? It is a flourishing town, only 
 seven years of age, with a population estimated at 14,000. 
 There is not much of the appearance of town about it — only 
 a street or two, the rest being suburbs, dotted all over with 
 villas and cottages. It is more a winter than a summer 
 residence ; in fact, that huge hotel, the Raymond, dominat- 
 ing the town from a commanding height, shuts up its five 
 hundred apartments in summer, and takes in guests in 
 winter only. The winter climate is splendid for invalids. 
 The hotel is named after a brotherhood that, like Cook and 
 Son in England, organize excursions, and labour to make 
 travelling easy. Pasadena is a choice spot, having many 
 families in easy circumstances, whom the charm of its winter 
 climate has induced to settle there. Like most other places, 
 it has its ^iroportion of Scotsmen. I met them in dozens in
 
 92 "orr Ayn about." 
 
 the very large and handsome Presbyterian church where I 
 officiated. Sauntering along the principal street, I observed 
 a store called "The Bon- Accord Emporium," or some such 
 name. My heart gave a little leap at the word " Bon- 
 Accord," the motto of my native city. I went up to the 
 owner and said, " Mr. Brebner, are you not, like myself, 
 from Aberdeen 1 " — " Yes," he said. " Did you know my 
 father, an elder of the Free Church in Turrift'?" I knew 
 him more than forty years ago, having been then minister in 
 a neighbouring parish ; and in those days, just after the Dis- 
 ruption of the Church, every man who was so useful as Mr. 
 Brebner was honoured by us all. 
 
 From one of our friends in Pasadena we got a little chapter 
 of family history which shows vividly how some men get on. 
 A relation of my friend's, with an ailment of the throat, had 
 come with his wife from one of the middle states in search of 
 health. Their means were small, and before they could make 
 up their minds what to do, or where to settle, everything was 
 spent. Thereupon, in order to get daily bread, the wife had 
 to resort to teaching in Los Angeles, and by this means she 
 kept the family alive. A friend sent him eighteen hundred 
 dollars to invest ; he became the borrower, and undertook 
 to pay something like eighteen per cent, interest upon the 
 loan. He bought seven acres at Pasadena, improving them 
 with his own hand, and by-and-by selling at a considerable 
 profit, which enabled him to repay the loan and buy other 
 fifteen acres. These in like manner he improved, and was 
 able to sell at a profit, and from this he went on till he 
 has now very extensive property and ample means. But let 
 no man reckon on repeating such an experiment. It suc- 
 ceeded simply because the gentleman came in the very nick 
 of time. We hear much of successful cases of this sort; but 
 many a man, just as laborious and persevering, has struggled 
 and struggled and failed, because he lost the tide which bore
 
 ''OUT AND about:' 93 
 
 the other to fortune. Success is blazoned abroad ; failure, 
 though far more frequent, lurks concealed. 
 
 With another friend we made an interesting excursion 
 among the mountains, having our picnic in a beautiful 
 canyon in the Sierra. Our more immediate object was to 
 call on a gentleman named Brown, son of the famous John 
 Brown of Harper's Ferry, w-ho lost his life in the cause of 
 the slave, and has, most deservedly, been a hero with the 
 negroes ever since. It was a difficult matter to get up the 
 steep pass, for the roads were very rough and the day was 
 very hot. And Mr. Brown's shanty was high up among the 
 mountains — why so high it was hard to tell. Such as the 
 road was it had been constructed with much hard manual 
 labour by him and a brother recently dead, in whose memory 
 a tombstone had just been erected on the crest of a neigh- 
 liouring height. Unfortunately we did not find Mr. Brown 
 at home, and we had to content ourselves with carrying off 
 two magnificent stems of Yucca gloriosa from the mountain 
 side. We regretted much that we had not seen him, for he 
 is said personally to be a most interesting man, and he could 
 have told us many things about his father. Kear to his 
 house, and built on land that once belonged to him, is a 
 sanitarium, presided over by a lady-doctor. This lady we 
 afterwards met in a railway-car a long way off. She told us 
 much of the singularly unselfi.sh and benevolent character of 
 the two brothers, who seemed to lead such a recluse life. I 
 cannot repeat what was not meant for the public, and might 
 be distasteful to the man in whose praise it was uttered. 
 But it surpassed the old story of the dying Sir Philip Sydney 
 handing his cup of water to the common soldier beside him, 
 with the remark, "Thy necessity is greater than mine." 
 Poor though these Browns were, when they had any money 
 it was wretched negroes and Mexicans that got the benefit 
 of it. One seemed to understand better the character of the
 
 94 ''OUT AND ABOUT:' 
 
 father — how he came to be such a friend to the slave, and 
 how the slave had such an affection and veneration for him. 
 And I remembered an anecdote of the Jubilee Singers which 
 I had heard told by the late excellent and amiable Lord 
 Ai'dmillan. In a drawing-room -where the Jubilee Singers 
 were giving a performance, he was struck with the hearti- 
 ness with which they sang "John Brown." He went up to 
 one of them and said, " You seem to have a great regard for 
 John Brown." — " Yes," said the young man with emphasis ; 
 "and well we may. He died for us." And then, as if 
 fearing that he had used too sacred an expression, fitted in 
 its full reach only for another application, he added quietly, 
 " But there was Another that died for us all." 
 
 One thing more before we leave Pasadena — it is a tem- 
 perance town. I believe there is a part of it to which this 
 remark does not apply, being under another regulation, but 
 prohibition reigns in the original Pasadena. Not, I believe, 
 by decree of the people, but as one of the conditions under 
 which the city was originally established. It is not a place 
 for testing prohibition, because, though the sale of drink is 
 illegal within its borders, drink can be got so easily from 
 neighbouring places. Still, there are no saloons in Pasadena. 
 And as there are no saloons, there is no disorder or crime or 
 open wretchedness. Nor does the reign of prohibition seem 
 to have the least effect in driving away immigrants or re- 
 tarding the prosperity of the place. Few communities have 
 advanced so quickly or prospered so much. And it is far 
 more likely that families will be drawn to settle there by 
 the peace and prosperity which prevail in the absence of 
 saloons, than that they will shake their heads and turn from 
 it in horror because it affords no facility for the unwhole- 
 some excitements of alcohol. 
 
 Another trip in a different direction brings us to Ontario, 
 in the San Bernardino valley, about forty miles in a soutli-
 
 ''OUT AND ABOUT." 95 
 
 eastern direction. We pass through Pomona, a rising and 
 prosperous town, and find Ontario a much smaller conniiu- 
 nity, but with some interesting features. It was " made " by 
 two bi'others from Canada — hence its name — who determined 
 to spare nothing to turn it into a most attractive and enjoy- 
 able place of abode. Among other things which they did was 
 to lay out a fine avenue, originally seven miles long, now nine. 
 Four rows of trees line the avenue ; in the centre of the 
 trees there is a tram-car road, and on either side a carriage 
 drive. It was intended that all along this avenue land 
 should be sold in allotments, and thus a great community 
 created. To a certain extent this has been done. I believe 
 the brothers found their means unequal to the undertaking, 
 and that the property has now passed into other hands. 
 That it will ultimately succeed admits, we think, of little 
 doubt ; for the neighbourhood is very beautiful, and the dry- 
 ness of the climate, free from the sea-fogs nearer the coast, 
 is admirably adapted for fruit. The drying of grapes and 
 other fruits can be carried on splendidly here. Another 
 place in the neighbourhood, Riverside, has even finer capa- 
 bilities for fruit. 
 
 But our chief reason for coming here was to visit a young 
 friend, the son of an esteemed minister, who had recently 
 bought land and settled in the neighbourhood of the railway 
 station next after Ontario, Oucamonga. Readers may get 
 some idea of how settlers from the old country get on from 
 a description of this place. We had sent a card intimating 
 our visit the day before ; but letters have to wait there for 
 their chance of delivery, and we wei'e not expected. We 
 walked from the station, and were happy to find our friend, 
 along with a comrade who lived with him, at home. A 
 wooden house, almost unfurnished, but with excellent capa- 
 bilities, would have been quite comfortable but for the 
 myriads of flies that covered the windows and buzzed aliout
 
 96 ''OUT AXD ABOUT:' 
 
 everywhere, and could by no means be got rid of. Our 
 welcome was cordiality itself, the only regret being that it 
 was dinner-time and there was no dinner. But being " right 
 smart," and put to his wits, our host managed in a few 
 minutes to provide for us abundantly and most creditably. 
 Then a walk through the ranch to see the recently-planted 
 vineyard. Our host's enthusiasm was delightful as he pointed 
 out how well the plants had struck, and even of those that 
 had not yet struck there was no cause to despair. " Hope 
 springs eternal in the human breast," and every young 
 ranchman looks out on a wonderful future. May it be 
 realized and more ! I have great confidence in the future 
 of Ontario, and I think my friend's prospects are good ; all 
 the more that his principles are of the kind to guide him 
 well. 
 
 In the afternoon we had a drive over the whole country- 
 side. It is not a very difficult task to reclaim land in those 
 parts, for in its natural condition it is not occupied by any- 
 thing very difficult to remove. In fact, the chief enemy of 
 the farmer there is the sunflower. It is beautiful to see the 
 yellow blaze covering a great stretch of land— beautiful to 
 all but the farmer, who finds that do what he may he cannot 
 get quit of it. The ground is generally level, and if the 
 rabbits could be shut out, and moi"e water provided, the 
 produce would be wonderful. All over this Ontario region 
 we see fruit trees abounding and flourishing. Not only the 
 vine and the orange, but the lemon, the olive, and many 
 other species. Our drive embraced miles of the great 
 avenue, till at last we reached the hotel. We left our 
 friends after a very exhilarating day, glad to have got the 
 opportunity of seeing settlers in the earliest stage of their 
 undertaking, and thankful to find them in such good spirits 
 notwithstandins; the drawbacks of their wilderness life.
 
 CHAPTER IX. 
 
 SEASIDE ON THE PACIFIC. 
 
 OUR first view of the Pacific was at the watering-place of 
 Santa Monica, a few miles north-west of Los Angeles. 
 It was, as usual, a charming day, and the deep blue of the 
 ocean, stretching so far in every direction, was superb. That 
 was the first sensation. When the eye and the mind had 
 sufiiciently drunk in the broad expanse of azure, the next 
 feature to claim attention was the surf beating against the 
 shore ; and that, it seems, is a constant feature. The sea is 
 never perfectly smooth at the edge. The Pacific does not 
 deal in extremes ; it is neither frightfully wild nor absolutely 
 calm. Its genius is different from that of the Atlantic. The 
 Atlantic can rave like a maniac or be as still as a sleejiing 
 babe. In the Pacific you have always the swell and surf 
 to restrain undue familiarity : and bathers know this well, 
 and have to accommodate themselves to it. And what they 
 do is hardly worthy of a valiant people. Bathing consists 
 mainly in playing with the surf, and there are few swimmers, 
 as far as I saw, bold enough to get beyond it and enjoy 
 themselves in the smooth, deep water. Perhaps this may be 
 due to the practice of bathing in a sort of full dress, which 
 admits of the ladies and gentlemen being together, and makes 
 it hard for the gentlemen to break away to where few ladies 
 could follow them. 
 
 (197) 7
 
 98 SEASIDE ON THE PACIFIC. 
 
 Santa Monica is very prettily laid out, and is one of the 
 places that have made wonderful progress in a few years. A 
 Scotch gentleman told me that a few years ago he had been 
 offered a piece of landed property for twenty-five thousand 
 dollars. It did not suit him to become the purchaser, and 
 a year or two ago it was sold for four hundred thousand. 
 Among those who have lately come to settle at Santa Monica 
 is a colony of ostriches. Not that they have come of their 
 own free will ; but an ostrich farm, that used to have its 
 establishment at Los Angeles, is now removed to Santa 
 Monica. The proprietor is an English gentleman, a member 
 of a titled and ancient family. The time was when the 
 farm was open to visitors on Sundays as well as other days ; 
 but a change came over the proprietor when Mr. Moody was 
 at Los Angeles, and now it is shut on Sundays. To a man 
 struggling for a living this is no ordinary piece of self-denial, 
 and it contrasts strongly with the conduct of the aeronaut 
 already referred to, who makes Sunday at Santa Monica his 
 great harvest-day. Whether the rearing of ostriches can be 
 made profitable is a question yet to be decided. The spot 
 selected affords a natural protection from the sea-breeze, and 
 the ostriches will not have to complain of want of attention. 
 Yet every one deems it an odd experiment, and I do not 
 think that the public entertain very sanguine expectations 
 of its success. 
 
 Our stay at Santa Monica was but for a few hours ; but 
 to Long Beach, another seaside place farther south, we paid 
 a visit of ten days. Long Beach is a very recent place, 
 begun four years before our visit. For two years it advanced 
 splendidly, but since the bursting of the " boom " it has been 
 much quieter ; and last year it had a great calamity. Its 
 hotel, a fine, large building, built on the bluff that runs along 
 the seaside, took fire, and was utterly destroyed. No attempt 
 had been made to restore it; and having been the one hotel
 
 SEASIDE ON THE PACIFIC. 99 
 
 of the place, it is greatly missed. But there are numerous 
 boarding-houses for the accommodation of the public. One 
 of our party being rather feeble, my son brought his horses 
 and buggy, that we might drive about. It may show the free- 
 and-easy treatment to which horses are accustomed in Cali- 
 fornia, that though there was a stable attached to the board- 
 ing-house, he thought it better to tie the horses to posts 
 outside and lay down their hay beside them. Hay there is 
 not like hay here ; it is wheat cut green and allowed to dry, 
 and seems to serve the purpose of hay and oats combined. 
 There was a beautiful drive on the beach, eight miles long, 
 with a surface as smooth as a table, and firm enough to bear 
 the wheels without sinking. The fresh sea-breeze was always 
 delightful and exhilarating ; it was hardly possible for in- 
 valids to breathe it without becoming stronger. 
 
 The whole of Long Beach is on the property of one gentle- 
 man who owns an immense tract in the neighbourhood. Many 
 years ago two brothers purchased two great Mexican ranches 
 of many thousand acres, for which the price was only seventy- 
 five cents an acre. I have no doubt that in the neighbour- 
 hood of Long Beach the land would now fetch hundreds of 
 dollars per acre. The owners of these ranches, which still 
 bear the Spanish names of Alamitos and Seritos, were kind 
 enough to invite us to see their places. We went with the 
 more pleasure that they were good specimens of the old 
 Mexican ranch, and that the old adobe houses were still 
 standing. The houses are more quaint than comfortable. 
 The walls are of immense thickness, and the rooms of con- 
 siderable size ; but the Mexicans seem to have had peculiar 
 ideas on the subject of windows. In their time the windows 
 seem to have been mere holes near the top of the wall ; these 
 had to be lengthened towards the ground by the present owners. 
 One of the ranches has a famous dairy, with a prodigious 
 stock of cheese; and, oddly enough, the men in charge of it
 
 100 SEASIDE ON THE PACIFIC. 
 
 are Italians, The other is celebrated for its sheep. In 
 " Ramona " there is a graphic description of what the sheep- 
 shearing used to be in the old Mexican times, and of the mar- 
 vellous expedition with which some of the Indians could per- 
 form the operation. They told me that the sheep-shearing was 
 carried on in much the same manner still. I was reminded 
 of what a beloved son, now no more, who had been at Buenos 
 Ayres for health, used to tell us of the incredible celerity 
 with which oxen were killed, flayed, and otherwise dis- 
 posed of by the natives in the Liebig yards of that city. 
 Nothing astonishes you more than to see great flocks of 
 sheep grazing in apparent content on plains where all vege- 
 tation seems as much dried up as if it had been baked in an 
 oven. But the sheep discover a little berry like a burr, the 
 fruit of a very abundant plant, on which they can not only 
 live, but thrive and fatten. 
 
 At Seritos there is a fine garden — at least, it used to be 
 fine — and I could hardly forgive the proprietor for suffering 
 it to fall into decay. The house, however, was old, and he 
 wished to rear a better one in a different situation. In a 
 country which has no real antiquities, these old ranch houses 
 and gardens are the only places that go back beyond the 
 existing generation. I should have thought the proprietors, 
 who have profited so greatly by the rise of prices, would have 
 been eager to keep them up precisely as they were in the 
 olden time, with their spacious verandas, their vine-covered 
 ai'cades and trellises, their magnificent trees, and all else that 
 told of the earlier history. But antiquarianism does not 
 pay. 
 
 While we were at Long Beach, the "Alliance Assembly" 
 was holding its annual gathering there. The meetings last 
 in all about a month. The prototype of this congress is the 
 famous Chatauqua Assembly in the state of New Yox'k. 
 The idea is to utilize the holiday season, in accordance with
 
 SEASIDE OX THE PACIFIC. 101 
 
 American liabits, for promoting the spiritual, intellectual, 
 and social welfare and enjoyment of the people gathered at 
 the seaside. The Long Beach Alliance Assembly is under 
 the auspices of the Methodist Episcopal Church ; but a 
 catholic character is sought to be imparted to it by the in- 
 vitation of ministers and members of other Churches to take 
 pari in it. There is a large tabernacle for the meetings ; 
 they begin at eight in the morning, and they go on till about 
 ten at night. It may seem to our sober Scottish view rather 
 a strange thing to combine prayer-meetings and class-meetings 
 and revival-meetings with lectures on popular or scientific 
 subjects, and with concerts, where Jubilee Singers do not 
 exclude even their comic songs. Yet in the Life of the late 
 Dr. Begg it will be seen that he highly approved of Saturday 
 evening concerts, and we know that he Avas not the man to 
 think badly of the play of humoui'. The idea is that man 
 has a complex nature, and that if you honestly try to exer- 
 cise and develop every part of it, even if you do so simulta- 
 neously, the effect is good. And my judgment is, that for 
 people in holiday humour, sauntering by the seaside in the 
 usual somewhat careless spirit of holiday-makers, the social 
 effect is good ; but that not much, if anything, is done for the 
 positive advancement of religion. At the request of the 
 superintendent, I gave my lecture one evening on the Life 
 of Livingstone ; and one forenoon I conducted a service for 
 young men and women, speaking to them of the character of 
 Christ. It is remarkable how large and steady the various 
 attendances were. There was a meeting for children every 
 morning at nine o'clock in the Presbyterian church, and the 
 little building was always full. The Methodists always strive 
 to kindle emotion, and herein are a great contrast to us. 
 Methodist religion is pre-eminently a religion of feeling, with 
 very little of doctrinal teaching. And I noticed — what pains 
 one so often in America — a want of reverence. I heard
 
 102 SEASIDE ON THE PACIFTC. 
 
 painful instances at the Assembly of the evil habit of using 
 Scripture language to point a jest. 
 
 One of the funny features of the gathering was the 
 "camping out." You see a space allotted for "camping," 
 and you find all manner of people dwelling happily in tents, 
 with their horse and buggy at hand, the horse " hitched " 
 to a tree, and never dreaining of the luxury of a stable. And 
 then when it suits them the friends can have a nice drive 
 along the beach, or wherever else they choose. If you 
 like, we shall make a call at that tent in the corner, where 
 an excellent Methodist minister, a friend of ours, resides. 
 The minister's wife receives us, and conducts us over her 
 "house." The floor is covered with a carpet, brought from 
 the manse. In one corner is a sofa ; that is the drawing- 
 room. In another, a cooking-stove ; that is the kitchen. 
 In another, a table ; that is the dining-room. In another, 
 a shake-down ; that is the bedroom. But the ground is so 
 dry, and the air so fresh, and the warmth so genial, that it 
 is nice and pleasant. The cooking-stove is seldom needed ; 
 and the fuel being wood, the fire is easily kindled and easily 
 extinguished, without turning the tent into an oven. 
 
 And I must add this about Long Beach, that no liquor is 
 sold in it. By appointment of its promoters, it is a teetotal 
 town. I need not say that it is the most tranquil and 
 orderly place you can conceive. Even with all the excur- 
 sionists that the trains bring to it, such a thing as drunken- 
 ness is unknown. I never saw a policeman in it, nor found 
 a police-office. People smile when you ask if there be such. 
 What use would there be for them ? 
 
 At Long Beach I was presented by an accomplished lady 
 with a copy of a book which every one was reading — " Look- 
 ing Backward." It was in its 130th thousand. A book 
 with a very absurd plot, and, I am afraid I must add, an 
 absurd drift. Its author is an able gentleman of Boston, a
 
 SEASIDE ON THE PACIFIC. 103 
 
 socialist ; and its purpose is to picture a state of society in 
 which socialism has triumphed, and is diffusing unnumbered 
 blessings on every side. I read the book with great interest, 
 because I am very desirous to obtain light from any quarter 
 on social problems, but I must add with great disappointment. 
 The plot turns on a supposed case of mesmeric sleep, passed 
 through by a young gentleman of Boston, who fell asleep in 
 1887 and awoke all right in 2000 ! He looks round him on 
 his native city, and hnds it entirely transformed. An entirely 
 new state of society has come to pass. There are no rich 
 and poor, no drones that toil not neither do they spin, no 
 private property, no grinding competition in business, no 
 strikes or lock-outs, no greed, no selfishness, no money ! 
 Everything is the property of the State, and all labour, all 
 business, all everything is managed by the State. And 
 every one is easy, contented, blessed. Labour ends at the 
 age of forty-five ; after that you simply enjoy yourself. In 
 place of money, you get a ticket which enables you to get all 
 you want at the public stores, the store-keeper making a 
 punch-mark in your ticket for what you get. And society 
 has not reached this condition by a violent revolution ; it 
 has just peaceably slid into it, in accordance with the policy 
 which is every day absorbing private and smaller enterprises 
 and converting them into a few great concerns. It is almost 
 incredible that a man in his senses should imagine that some 
 of the strongest impulses of human nature would be quietly 
 annihilated before a pleasing picture ; that men would all of 
 a sudden cease to struggle every one for himself, and devote 
 himself heart and soul to the public good. Environments 
 will do much, but will they ever eradicate the greed, the 
 selfishness, the ambition of our nature 1 I grant that in 
 " Looking Backward " there is much true benevolence and a 
 fine sympathy with the children of labour ; and the author 
 does not plead for confiscation, nor write as one who would
 
 104 SEASIDE ON THE PACIFIC. 
 
 resort to violence. But the marvel is, to fancy that without 
 violence this age of gold will coine of itself ! to ignore the 
 great problem of human corruption, and take no account of 
 the only means ever devised for solving that ! 
 
 " To think — I have a pattern on my nail, 
 ^ And I will carve the world new after it, 
 
 And solve so these hard social questions — nay, 
 Impossible social questions, since their roots 
 Strike deep in Evil's own existence here, 
 Which God permits." — Aurora Leiyh, 
 
 As to socialism, I do not think many Americans proper 
 have much tendency towards it ; it is the foreigners that 
 uphold it. And I agree with those who think that for a 
 hundred years there will not be much serious trouble with 
 socialism in the country, because there are so many outlets 
 for the growing population. But when America is as 
 densely peopled as Europe, with many more, overcrowded 
 cities and complaining, half-starved citizens, then will come 
 the tug-of-Avar.
 
 CHAPTER X. 
 
 SAA^ FRANCISCO. 
 
 HAVING completed ovir visit to the family of our son, 
 we next proceeded by sea to San Francisco. We 
 did not fancy the Mojave desert again, especially as on the 
 1st August it would be mucli warmer than we found it on 
 the 31st May, when it was quite warm enough. We em- 
 barked on board the Santa Rosa steamer at San Pedro, the 
 port of Los Angeles. The steamer was most comfortable, but 
 not the ocean. In the evening we stopped for a few hours 
 at Santa Barbara, a delightful and thriving seaside town, and 
 had a most pleasant little visit at the house of Mr. Alex- 
 ander, whom we had known in former days at Toronto. 
 Feeble health had brought him to the Pacific coast, and he 
 was both benefited and charmed by Santa Barbara. He- 
 embarking at night, our next stoppage, on the following day, 
 was at Port Harford, the seaport for San Luis Obispo, about 
 a dozen miles, inland. Here, too, we had friends, to whom 
 also we paid a pleasant visit. San Luis is a thriving city, 
 in the midst of a fine agricultural district. When we got 
 back into the wide Pacific, we got far from a pacific recep- 
 tion. A nasty side swell was perpetually hitting our vessel 
 and causing a most disagreeable motion. It gave us a miser- 
 able night, although we had no sickness ; and we were in no 
 ordinary degree relieved and gladdened when getting up in
 
 106 SAN- FRANCtSCO. 
 
 the morning we found ourselves entering the Golden Cate, 
 and in a little set foot on terra firma on the wharf at San 
 Francisco. 
 
 "We drove to the Palace Hotel. It is one of the phenomena 
 of San Francisco, and a comfortable house. It is one of the 
 hotels where you may pay for your bedroom only, and take 
 your meals at a restaurant connected with it, or wherever 
 else you may please. The higher you go the cheaper your 
 bedroom ; and as you are always carried up in the elevator, 
 height is a matter of little consequence. No doubt there is 
 one article in high rooms which startles you a little — a coil 
 of thick rope close to the window, to give you the chance of 
 escape if the house should take fire ! It is a gruesome thing 
 to look at. I was assured, however, that the risk of fire 
 was infinitesimally small, as the hotel is watched by night, 
 and fire could not break out without being discovered in a 
 very brief time. 
 
 A word on American elevators. The elevator is one of 
 the characteristic features of American civilization. It is 
 said that there are quite different types of elevator, as of 
 character, in New York, Philadelphia, and Chicago. It is 
 in the newest cities that the elevator prevails most, because 
 all the liotels, banks, warehouses, and other buildings using 
 it were erected after the elevator had come into general use. 
 Chicago is said to have the fastest, its elevators running usu- 
 ally at the rate of four hundred feet a minute, and the quick- 
 est at five hundred ! This is too fast even for some Americans 
 themselves. In New York the number of elevators amounts 
 to three thousand five hundred, in Chicago to four thousand. 
 The highest of all elevators is that of the Washington Monu- 
 ment (which is five hundred feet high) ; but it goes very 
 slowly, at the sober rate of one hundred feet a minute. In 
 private houses the elevator is becoming common. It is not 
 only an American article, as being used chiefly in that
 
 SAiV FRANCISCO. 107 
 
 country, but the contriving and improving of all its parts 
 and methods of work have been almost exclusively the work 
 of Americans. The department of the patent office in Wash- 
 ington devoted to it is said to be quite a study. As a com- 
 paratively new city, San Francisco is great in elevators, 
 and in many a big building the stair might almost be dis- 
 pensed with. 
 
 The common sights of San Francisco have been so often 
 described that I do not intend to repeat the operation. The 
 bay is very fine; the Golden Gate a stately entrance; the 
 rock covered with seals basking in the sun a rare curiosity; 
 the public park a wonderful transformation of what a few 
 years ago were sandy hills. Oakland, too, across the ferry, 
 is an interesting place, an ofFslioot from San Francisco, but 
 it seems to have hardly interfered with the rapidity of its 
 growth. The city is conspicuous for its commercial architec- 
 ture, many warehouses and hotels being themselves a study ; 
 otherwise its edifices are not very striking. San Francisco 
 must always be interesting to us as the first great American 
 city on the Pacific coast, the first great settlement of the 
 Anglo-Saxon race in what is virtually a new country — 
 Western America ; the first spot, in w^hat is destined to be 
 a great empire, where the virtues and the vices of our civili- 
 zation began to spread abroad. 
 
 We had the pleasure to make the acquaintance of Dr. 
 Mackenzie, minister of the First Presbyterian Church, an 
 active and most estimable pastor, enjoying the esteem of the 
 whole community ; and no one could have done more to 
 make our stay agreeable and profitable. During our four 
 days' stay in San Francisco, I preached in his church, and 
 in that of Dr. Cornelius, formerly of Pasadena ; I delivered 
 a lecture on the Pan-Presbyterian Alliance in Calvary 
 Church, and also in the church of my friend. Rev. Dr. Hor- 
 ton of Oakland ; T addressed a ladies' missionary meeting ;
 
 108 SAN FRANCISCO. 
 
 and I performed the ceremony of marriage, the bride being 
 an old servant of our own, and the bridegroom an excellent 
 specimen of a Scotsman. But at the same time I contrived 
 to see a good deal. 
 
 We naturally felt a great interest in the Chinese in San 
 Francisco. The Chinese have already contrived to dispossess 
 the barbarians. Just as the woody particles of a tree are 
 supplanted by the stony material which fossilizes it, so the 
 first town of San Francisco has been gradually transformed, 
 and is now fully occupied by the Chinese. Ten blocks, 
 forming the first San Francisco, where stood the first count- 
 ing-houses, the first banks, the first town house, the first 
 churches, have been transformed into Chinatown ; they are 
 occupied by some say forty thousand, others thirty thou- 
 sand Chinese ; no one else will dwell in them, and if the 
 Chinese should finally be expelled, they would have to be 
 rebuilt before any other race would settle in them. The 
 Chinese question is one of the American difficulties. At 
 first they were welcomed to America as much as any other 
 foreign people ; but the case is very diflferent now. I re- 
 member some years ago hearing Dr. Talmage preach on the 
 Chinese question in his Brooklyn tabernacle. He was indig- 
 nant at the feeling that was getting up against them, and 
 ridiculed the change that had come over the American 
 people from the time when they invited them so cordially to 
 come and help them to settle the west — " You dear Chinee, 
 do come over and see us, and bring yoiir v)ork toith ■t/ou. 
 We shall be so delighted to have you with us ! " But now 
 the Calif ornian Government has passed a law forbidding 
 them to come into their state, and the Supreme Court of the 
 United States has declared the law competent. What is 
 urged in favour of this course is that the Chinese will not 
 amalgamate with the American nation as all other foreigners 
 have done, and notably the Japanese. They come over
 
 SAN FRANCISCO. 109 
 
 without their wives, not to settle but to make money ; they 
 go back as soon as they have made their pile ; they wear 
 their own dress, even the pigtail, live and eat in their own 
 fashion, speak their own tongue, worship their own idols, 
 import all they use, food and dress, from China, and take no 
 interest Avhatever in anything American. I think there is 
 much force in all this ; although it is true that had they 
 been treated at first with more kindness and consideration, 
 the case might have been different now. 
 
 Dr, Mackenzie kindly took me to see Chinatown. Ac- 
 companied by a guide, about eleven o'clock at night we vis- 
 ited some of the haunts of the Chinese : sauntered through 
 characteristic streets, had a cup of tea (served with an egg) 
 in a restaurant, peejDed into some of their opium-smoking 
 dens, saw them worshipping in their joss-house, and ended 
 by a visit to their theatre. Late though the hour was, 
 everything was in full play. The Chinese constitution 
 seems to require little sleep ; hence their ability for extra- 
 ordinarily long hours of labour, — they are said to be able to 
 work eleven days in the week. Chinatown, on the whole, is 
 a miserable place, for the Chinese in America will spend 
 hardly a cent they can help. They are a remarkably handy, 
 industrious, and sober people, and make excellent servants, 
 both in the house and in the field. But the absence of 
 married women and of family life makes Chinatown very 
 squalid and repulsive. What women there are are mostly 
 slave-girls, owned by wretches who turn them to the vilest 
 purposes, inhabiting certain alleys which at night are openly 
 given over to vice. There is a good deal of mission work 
 done among the Chinese, and with a fair amount of success ; 
 and the missionaries, male and female, speak of the Chinese 
 as an interesting people. Those of them who are Christian 
 are hated by their brethren, and are allowed as little inter- 
 course as possible with them. We visited a Chinese school,
 
 no SAIV FRANCISCO. 
 
 but not a large one, and had specimens of their proficiency 
 both in English and Chi.iese. The recent law, if it be strictly 
 enforced, will soon reduce and finally extinguish the Chinese 
 element ; but it is probable that it will not be rigidly en- 
 forced, because no other labourers will be found to do the 
 work of the Chinese. The wages of servants, as we have 
 said before, all over California are very high ; families that 
 in our country would have two or three servants are com- 
 pelled to content themselves with but one, and that one very 
 often a Chinaman. 
 
 It is interesting to observe, in a new community, the pro- 
 vision for the interests of the higher education. In America 
 universities originate in three ways — from Churches, from 
 the State, and from wealthy individuals. A new university 
 has just been projected by a wealthy Calif ornian, likely, for 
 extent of resources, to eclipse everything of the kind, not 
 only in America, but throughout the world. The Honour- 
 able Leland Stanford, Governor and Senator for California, 
 who through mines and railways has accumulated vast 
 wealth, had an only son of the same name, who died lately 
 at the age of eighteen or nineteen. " The Leland Stanford, 
 Junior, University " is to be the monument of his parents 
 to this youth. For its endowment lands have been set apart 
 valued at fifteen million dollars. In addition, Mr. Stanford 
 is now erecting buildings at Palo Alta, thirty miles from 
 San Francisco, which are to cover sixty acres. I visited the 
 place in company with Dr. Mackenzie, a friend of Governor 
 Stanford, who himself usually resides at "Washington. On 
 the grounds of his country house, and in sight of the uni- 
 versity to be, is a costly mausoleum, lined inwardly with 
 Italian marble, the outer walls of the finest Maine granite, the 
 r&sting-place of the ashes of the youth whose death occasioned 
 the undertaking. Mr. Stanford's idea is to found an institu- 
 tion which will begin with a kindergarten, and end with the
 
 SAJV FRANCISCO. Ill 
 
 most advanced instruction that human teachers can supply. 
 From first to last, the instruction is to be absolutely free. 
 Boarding-houses will be erected for all the students, male 
 and female, and a room will be given to each at the cost of 
 a trifling sum to the caretaker. Board, too, will be supplied 
 at prime cost. From careful inquiries made at one of the 
 most fashionable hotels of New York, Mr. Stanford learned 
 that the prime cost of the provisions there supplied was only 
 two dollars and thirty cents per week for each guest ; and it 
 is expected that at the university the price of board will not 
 exceed two dollars a week. Houses for the professors, library, 
 laboratories, and every other appliance needed for the 
 efiiciency of a university will be most liberally supplied. 
 The style of the university buildings is Moorish. Already 
 several class-rooms have been built, one story in height ; and 
 it is expected that in about a year sufficient progress will 
 have been made for beginning the work of teaching. 
 
 Mr. Stanford has not lost sight of the religious question 
 in his undertaking. He does not believe in a system of 
 education that overlooks the highest aspects and objects of 
 life. He provides that in all its operations the university 
 is to recognize two great principles of theism — that there is 
 a God, and a future life. All that falls short of this must 
 remain outside the Stanford University. I fear such a 
 creed is too colourless to be of much avail. It is an odd 
 thing to recognize God without recognizing his chief revela- 
 tion of himself, and to bring in the life to come and shut 
 out Him by whom life and immortality have been brought 
 clearly to light. 
 
 Mr. Stanford is taking an active interest in all the details 
 of his institution, and will leave no stone unturned to make 
 it a success. His path is not free from difficulties, and no 
 doubt he is finding that the question of the renowned Mr. 
 Baird, "Will siller dae it?" has sometimes to be answered
 
 112 SAJV FRANCISCO. 
 
 in the negative. It is said that he has great difficulty in 
 finding a president. 
 
 The site is a very choice one — elevated, spacious, airy, 
 with a sufficient amount of grown timber to take off the look 
 of bareness that used to strike an Edinburgh eye in Donald- 
 son's Hospital or Fettes College. A railway station will 
 make the communication easy with San Francisco and other 
 parts ; and though no ground will be permanently alienated, 
 facilities will be given for building dwelling-houses to accom- 
 modate parents or friends of the pupils. It is not easy to 
 say what will be the result of this undertaking ; probably 
 some of us may think that the plan of combining every stage 
 of education in the same institution, and confining young 
 persons to the same spot from first to last, is somewhat arti- 
 ficial and of doubtful expediency. 
 
 While I was in California, and especially in San Francisco, 
 I found considerable excitement prevailing in comiection with 
 excursion trips that had been organized to Alaska, the latest 
 territory that has been acquired by the United States, pur- 
 chased by them about twenty years ago from the Russian 
 Government at a cost of seven million dollars. Every one 
 who had gone this trip was enthusiastic over it, and when- 
 ever a stranger like myself fell into their hands, the most 
 urgent representations were made that, at all cost, it should 
 be undertaken. Alaska is the north-west corner of North 
 America, and lies to the north-west of our Canadian do- 
 minions. It was acquired by the United States on the advice 
 of ISIr. W. H. Seward. Mr. Seward was ridiculed for his 
 action in regard to what was said to be a mere collection of 
 glaciers and icebergs ; but its mines, its seals, its fishings, and 
 its furs have already made it a most valuable acquisition. 
 One is almost provoked at its passing into American hands. 
 It ought beyond doubt to have belonged to Canada. Many
 
 SAJV FRANCTSCO. 113 
 
 a representation, I have been told, was made to this effect to 
 our Government by our friends in British Columbia, who 
 knew the value of Alaska, but in vain. The Government 
 had no fancy for icebergs and glaciers. But now Alaska, 
 apart from its strategic value, is becoming a centre of an 
 important traffic; and as a most picturesque and interesting 
 country is becoming to tourists in America much as Norway 
 is to tourists in Europe. 
 
 One thing that I was told about Alaska I found hard to 
 believe. I thought an experiment was being tried upon my 
 credulity when I was assured that the territory of the United 
 States extended farther west from San Francisco than the 
 distance between it and New York on the east. But when 
 I examined the map, and observed the longitude of the most 
 westerly of a long string of islands included in Alaska, I 
 found that what had been told me was literally true. After 
 some hesitation, I decided, on considerations of time, not to 
 go to Alaska. But I have heard much about it. At Long 
 Beach, I met with a Presbyterian minister who had been for 
 ten years a missionary to the natives — a race supposed to be 
 of Japanese origin. The superstitions of the natives were 
 very gross and very cruel, especially in connection with their 
 belief in witches. But in that respect there is a manifest 
 improvement. The United States Government neglected 
 the place utterly for some years after acquiring it, and have 
 only recently begun to attend to it. Its great attraction to 
 tourists, besides the beauty of its shores and islands, is its 
 glaciers and icebergs. The late Principal Forbes of St. 
 Andrews would have enjoyed a rare treat had he known of 
 them and seen them, for they seem to throw no little addi- 
 tional light on the formation and history of glaciers. The 
 trip to and fro is usually performed in about three weeks. 
 Steam-boats go on purpose, and the tourist is carried without 
 trouble from place to place; but no doubt some would like 
 (i9r) 8
 
 114 SAN FRANCISCO. 
 
 more freedom. Visitors to the Pacific coast would do well 
 to include this excursion in their plans. A more direct 
 starting-point than San Francisco is Victoria, in British 
 Columbia, and this is easily reached by the Canadian Pacific 
 Railway. 
 
 I do not think I can bid farewell to San Francisco without 
 saying a word about its cable-cars. For the most part, in 
 other cities cable-cars have been limited to short and easy 
 distances; but now in San Francisco they take the longest 
 and the wildest flights. Yet, a priori, one would have said 
 that San Francisco, with its steep and far-extended hills, was 
 utterly unsuited for that form of movement. In the city 
 itself another view has prevailed. The streets are now all 
 alive with them, some running in one direction and some in 
 another, often following each other at intervals of a minute 
 or two minutes, and seldom more than five. Usually two 
 cars are joined together, one open and the other closed — the 
 open one like an Irish car, with Ioav seats running length- 
 ways, making it remarkably easy to get off or on. Till one 
 gets used to the sight, it is like magic to see them bowling 
 along in meek silence, with no visible motive force, this way 
 and that way, backwards and forwards, stopping at the beck 
 of any passenger, white, black, or yellow, and performing 
 every motion with the ease and regularity of the solar system. 
 The marvel is how one rope can stretch so far; how it can 
 turn abrupt corners, climb high hills, scud along ci'owded 
 streets — all apparently without hitch or accident. Yet so it 
 is. And the result is going to be a great extension of San 
 Francisco in the direction of its high hills. The enterprise 
 of these Californians is a contrast to the slow caution of our 
 people at home ; as is also the emotion with which we have 
 to witness the struggles of panting horses to the nonchalance 
 (ind sense of ease that dominate the cable-car system.
 
 CHAPTER XL 
 
 NORTHWARDS TO BRITISH COIUMBIA. 
 
 FRO]M San Francisco you may reach the Atlantic coast 
 either by the Northern Pacific Paih-oad, which is the 
 more direct route, or by the Canadian Pacific, to reach the 
 terminus of which, at Vancouver, you have a preliminary 
 journey of eight hundred and ninety miles, through the 
 northern part of California, the state of Oregon, and Wash- 
 ington Territory. For various reasons I preferred the latter 
 route. The first part of the railway run has some glorious 
 scenery. The Sierra Nevada on the east and the Coast 
 Range on the west are running towards each other; the 
 railway runs between them, skirting for a long stretch the 
 banks of the river, passing through wooded ravines and rocky 
 gorges and green meadows in endless succession ; while in 
 the background a chain of mountains as high as the Alps 
 towers heavenward — INIount Shasta, the queen of the range, 
 being about the same height as Mont Blanc, although to my 
 eye far from as interesting or impressive. At one point the 
 train obligingly stops to give you the opportunity of drinking 
 a glass of soda-water from the soda-springs which you see 
 bursting quite near out of the side of the hill, and rolling to 
 the river in clear, cool streams. 
 
 The state of Oregon and Washington Territory are inter- 
 esting, chiefly from their endless forests. Here cei'tainly you
 
 116 NORTHWARDS TO BRITISH COLUMBIA. 
 
 must be about the head-quarters of the lumber world. The 
 railroad has made these timber treasures of priceless value, 
 and has placed the remark of the English commissionaire, 
 that these territories were not worth a plack, on a level with 
 that of the French general who ceded Canada to Britain, 
 that he had given up only some acres of snow. But even 
 to the rapid railway traveller these forests are apt to be- 
 come a little monotonous, though single trees are often a 
 study, from their vast magnitude and perfection of form ; 
 and the mountains are wildly picturesque. But veiy often 
 the havoc of forest fires makes black and ugly gaps along the 
 line, and the eye longs for a change. There is little cause 
 for the most patriotic Briton regretting that these territories 
 are not in the British Empire ; for British Columbia is not 
 less abundant in timber treasure, and for beauty of scenery 
 it beats them all. 
 
 Forest fires are picturesque enough to see by night ; the 
 clear, bright blaze contrasts splendidly with the surrounding 
 darkness, and it is pretty to see the nimble flame running up 
 the tree so deftly, and leaping from branch to branch, as if 
 it were possessed by the spirit of the squirrel. But they 
 have their drawbacks too. The day may come when the 
 vast amount of wasted timber will be grievously deplored, 
 although as yet it is not missed. But the day has come when 
 the smoke of these fires so clouds the atmosphere in the heat 
 of summer that the beauty of the distant scenery is lost to 
 the traveller. This was our unhappy experience. While 
 quite able to appreciate the nearer beauty, all that lay be- 
 yond a mile or two was lost in the haze. We never had a 
 glimpse of the far-famed Mount Baker or Mount Tacoma ; 
 for about a week we had to deplore the smoke. From 
 Tacoma to Victoria we expected a sail of surpassing beauty 
 through the wooded banks of Puget Sound : we seldom even 
 saw the shore-line. Passing Seattle, the town recently re-
 
 lyOIiTffWAIiDS TO BRITISH COLUMBIA. 117 
 
 duced to ashes (as our insurance companies know too well), 
 we expected a sensation in the sight of the new city rising 
 from the ashes of the old : for anything we saw we might 
 have passed it at midnight. As we drew near toward 
 Victoria, on the third day of our journey, the atmosphere 
 cleared considerably, and we could see the Union Jack wav- 
 ing a good way off. And pleasant though our three months' 
 stay in the United States had been, and little though we had 
 found to remind us of a foreign country, it was with a 
 peculiar feeling of satisfaction that we stepped on British 
 soil, and, though still six thousand miles from our father- 
 land, seemed to smell the fi'eshness of our native air. 
 
 Victoria, the capital of British Columbia, is a beautiful 
 and thriving little city, not on the mainland, but on the 
 island of Vancouver. Till the Canadian Pacific Eailway was 
 opened in 1885, it was so remote and inaccessible as to have 
 little or no vital connection either with the rest of Canada or 
 the rest of the British Empire. This was indeed true of all 
 British Columbia. Being on an island, Victoria is a few 
 hours from the terminus of the railway, which is at the town 
 of Vancouver, on the mainland. It enjoys a splendid har- 
 bour, the Esquimalt, and will soon, doubtless, command an 
 immense traffic with Japan, China, and the whole east coast 
 of Asia. This traffic has already begun. The route to 
 Japan and China is shorter than from San Francisco, while 
 the land journey from the east is also considerably less. 
 The inexhaustible lumber stores of British Columbia, the mass 
 of valuable minerals, the agricultural produce of the numer- 
 ous districts which are adapted to farming, indicate plainly 
 enough what its destiny must be. 
 
 Of all the places I had seen on the American continent, 
 Victoria seemed the city where it would be most pleasant to 
 live. The climate is charming, with hardly any winter ; the 
 sea comes rolling in among the wooded bays and headlands
 
 118 NORTHWARDS TO BRITISH COLUMBIA. 
 
 with a refreshing breeze which carries no bitterness in its 
 blast, and answers to that sea-loving taste which seems 
 natural to us islanders. The whole look-out is bright and 
 lively. 
 
 Scotsmen have had a good share of the prosperity of 
 Victoria. I am afraid that they have not kept themselves 
 in all cases unspotted by the vices to which a new place is 
 subject, far oiT from civilizing and Christianizing influences. 
 Being so much cut off from the Old "World, Victoria, in its 
 early days, followed in the wake of the cities of the American 
 Pacific in certain habits which have not been for its good. 
 Of recent years there has been a moral advance which is very 
 gratifying, and encourages the hope that it will have a bright 
 future in all that makes for the prosperity of a community. 
 
 There are two other towns in this part of British Columbia, 
 close to the western terminus of the Canadian Pacific, that 
 deserve a passing notice. New Westminster, on the Fraser 
 River, besides its great sawmills, enjoys a pre-eminence as 
 the centre of the salmon canning business. Apropos of 
 sawmills, I ought to say something of the marvellous timber 
 produce of these regions. It is not merely the abundance 
 but the excellent quality of the timber that is so marvellous. 
 A gentleman told me that near Seattle he had seen a plank, 
 to be made use of in the palace at Honolulu, upwards of a 
 hundred feet long, that was in its entire length absolutely 
 without flaw. A single sawmill in that region cuts up three 
 hundred thousand cubic feet a day. If ever nature formed 
 ground for trees, it is in these regions of the west. As for 
 the salmon, I hardly expect that the statements I am to 
 make will be believed. I did not do what a fellow-traveller 
 did — put down certain facts in a note-book, and get two 
 fellow-travellers to sign an aflidavit that they were correct. 
 On the wharf of a cannery at New Westminster I saw 
 salmon piled much as herring are piled at home after a good
 
 NORTHWARDS TO BRITISH COLUMBIA. 119 
 
 night's fishing, and I was told that twelve thousand had 
 been caught that day. In the cannery itself fifty thousand 
 cans are filled daily by a large staflT of workers, some Cana- 
 dian, some Indian, but chiefly Chinese. I did not feel that 
 my love for canned salmon was greatly stimulated by the 
 sight of the process. I was told that the owner of the can- 
 nery would probably net £20,000 as this year's profit. But 
 the most remarkable fact I have to mention is that, as we 
 passed along the banks of the Fraser River by the Canadian 
 Pacific Railway, we saw the water literally black with 
 salmon for about a hundred miles. It is their habit, in 
 going up the river, to keep near its edge ; and whenever a 
 piece of rock projects from the bank and makes broken 
 water, the salmon, instead of going round it, go inght through 
 the foam with a leap and a splash, while a shoal are gathered 
 in the rear waiting their turn. At other places you see 
 shoals moving slowly upward. The quality of the fish at 
 this season is not very good. What we got at the hotels 
 was generally of very inferior flavour to the salmon at home. 
 I am told, however, that earlier in the season the flavour is 
 excellent. It is said, too, that such as they are in summer, 
 they are better adapted for canning than the other fish. 
 
 Vancouver is the youngest city of the three. Its site was 
 unmitigated forest in 1885, and in June 1886 every building 
 that had been erected was burned to the ground. The city 
 is literally only three years old. And much though I have 
 been used to the sight of cities of rapid growth, I must say 
 that Vancouver beats them all. It is already a city of long 
 sti'eets, big blocks, handsome churches, and elegant villas. 
 The Vancouver Hotel, built by the Canadian Pacific Rail- 
 way, is as commodious and handsome a house as you could 
 desire. Many persons connected with that railway have 
 bought lots and built blocks in Vancouver, of course with 
 the object of "booming" the place. And now the price of
 
 120 NORTHWARDS TO BRITISH COLUMBIA. 
 
 land is simply I'idiculous. I was told of a couple of building 
 stances that had been sold lately for thirty-two thousand 
 dollars. Whether this boom will last is doubtful ; but the 
 town seems to grow apace meanwhile. More than one 
 church is in its second edition, the first having proved too 
 small. It is difficult to tell the present population of Van- 
 couver — probably twelve thousand. It is not any special 
 industry, but the fact of its being the terminus of the rail- 
 way, that has given birth to it. It seems to me that this 
 interesting young city will be moulded more according to 
 the wholesome pattern of the Canadian cities than the more 
 excited and feverish example of San Francisco. Its zeal for 
 churches is very remarkable. Besides the Presbyterian, 
 there are Methodist, Independent, Episcopal, Baptist, and 
 Roman Catholic churches in it ; and it will not be behind 
 other places in the quality of its schools. 
 
 In all these three cities I was able to do a little service. 
 The minister of the Reformed Central Presbyterian Church 
 in Victoria, Rev. P. M. Macleod, was an old student and 
 personal friend. I preached in his church, and likewise in 
 that of the Rev. Mr. Fraser ; and in Victoria, New West- 
 minster, and Vancouver respectively I gave a lecture on the 
 Pan-Presbyterian Alliance, I am happy to say that this lec- 
 ture was well attended and well received in all these places, 
 the more especially that I sought to divest it of all sectarian 
 tendency, and to direct it not merely to making the audience 
 better Presbyterians but better men. The people had much 
 to learn both of the history of Presbyterianism since the 
 Reformation and of the extent and diffusion of the Presby- 
 terian Church. I always tried to impress on them that we 
 lay under great responsibilities in being members of the 
 Presbyterian confederation — members of a Church of such 
 extent, and that had no cause to be ashamed of its history, 
 no cause to be ashamed of its martyrs, no cause to be
 
 NORTHWARDS TO BRITISH COLUMBIA. 121 
 
 ashamed of its leading ministers and missionaries and lay- 
 men ; and that we ought all to feel impelled by this con- 
 sideration to walk worthy of our brotherhood and our 
 ancestry, and strive to emulate them in self-denying efforts 
 to advance the glory of God and the welfare of men. In 
 most cases, ministers of other denominations were present, 
 and thanked me cordially at the end. In one case, the 
 Prime Minister of the Province, a zealous Presbyterian, 
 moved a vote of thanks. All the Presbyterian ministers I 
 met seemed to be active and earnest men : three out of five 
 had got, or were getting, new churches built; and their flocks 
 appeared to be in sympathy with their spirit. 
 
 Before bidding a flnal adieu to the Pacific coast, I must 
 emphasize what I have hinted at before as to the great im- 
 portance which this region seems certain to attain in the not 
 very distant future. It is hardly to be questioned that in a 
 few generations hereafter the shores of the Pacific — both 
 American and Canadian — will be as densely peopled as the 
 shores of the Atlantic have been, and will be the homes 
 of peoples not less prosperous, not less intelligent, not less 
 important as factors in the history of the world. This be- 
 lief rests on obvious considerations. Nature has been far 
 more bountiful on the western seaboard. These mountains 
 are full of treasures of which but a fraction has yet come 
 to light. In British Columbia, Washington Territory, and 
 Oregon, you have forests of the finest timber, so inexhaust- 
 ible that though enormous tracts have been destroyed by 
 forest fires, the loss hitherto has not been so much as felt. 
 Throughout these regions you have many tracts remarkably 
 adapted for agricultui-e. The Pacific coast — especially the 
 Canadian part of it — has admirable harbours. The fishing- 
 grounds, as we have seen, are unrivalled. Southern Cali- 
 fornia is unsurpassed for its climate and its fruits. On many 
 of these parts the chill fingers of frost are seldom or never
 
 122 NORTHWARDS TO BRITISH COLUMBIA. 
 
 laid — the rigours of winter are unknown. A lady in Vic- 
 toria informed me that her maid-servant (who had been 
 brought up near the moors of Carnwath) asked hei", some- 
 where about the month of February or March, at what 
 season of the year it was winter there, as it had been noth- 
 ing but summer since she came ! Regions like these must 
 have a remarkable future. The only unfavourable consider- 
 ation is, that the very luxuriance of nature and the very 
 sweetness of the climate may enervate the inhabitants, and 
 keep down the spirit of enterprise and perseverance that 
 bleaker climates and more barren soils have had not a little 
 to do in stimulating. 
 
 Then the question presses itself on one. What will be the 
 moral and religious future of this region? Now, if the be- 
 ginning were to be held necessarily to represent the future, 
 there would not be much to encourage one in dealing with 
 this question. The beginning of Northern California was 
 the gold discovery, with all its habits of rowdyism, ungodli- 
 ness, and immorality. We have seen how unworthily the 
 Sabbath is kept in Southern California. And British 
 Columbia likewise had a poor beginning. It was long before 
 any provision was made for religious ordinances. I regret 
 to say that some Scotsmen in these parts became notorious 
 above others for habits the very opposite of those in which 
 they were trained at home. Sabbath-breaking, drinking, and 
 licentiousness were often found linked together, like a three- 
 fold cord not easily broken. 
 
 But on the other hand one is encouraged at the testimony 
 one hears on every side that a great improvement has taken 
 place in recent years. Whatever may be the state of San 
 Francisco to-day, it is not as it was in earlier years, when a 
 murder a day indicated the temperature of crime. If there 
 was little salt in the early community, a good deal has been 
 imported in recent years. This is the hope of the Pacilic
 
 NORTHWARDS TO BRITISH COLUMBIA. 123 
 
 coast. The emigration, of recent years has poured into New 
 America hosts of the best Christian families from the eastern 
 states, from the east of Canada, and from other countries. 
 A new leaven has come in to leaven the lump. Already in 
 many instances the change has become quite apparent. 
 Except in saloons and other dens of sensuality, life and 
 property are as secure in these parts as in the most orderly 
 regions at home. Churches abound ; and though there are 
 too many instances of ministers coming there who have been 
 failures or worse at home, there are many of them full of 
 earnestness and activity. When Mr. Moody was in these 
 parts his meetings were thronged by eager multitudes, and 
 a great impression was made. Such of the week-day prayer- 
 meetings as I attended had, in proportion to the congregations, 
 a much larger percentage present than at home. All this 
 gives encouragement ; and yet one has the feeling that unless 
 a more aggressive and powerful combination of forces is 
 brought to bear on the citadels of evil, their power will not 
 be broken. 
 
 What, then, is the prospect of such a combination ? The 
 zeal for ordinary church arrangements has been great, but I 
 confess I did not find the clergy and other earnest Christian 
 people I met with in a very aggressive mood. But one must 
 remember two things. In the first place, there has been an 
 immense amount of effort employed recently in church- 
 building, in paying up debt, and other necessary arrange- 
 ments for Church work in a new community. And in the 
 second place, every second minister and every second inhabi- 
 tant has but come, the other day. This is especially true of 
 cities like Los Angeles that have sprung up like Jonah's 
 gourd. ]\Iost of the people are new-comers, and total strangers 
 to the rest. Few ministers have been there more than five 
 or six years. It is rare to find a settler of twelve years' 
 standing. In Los Angeles, after preaching to some seven or
 
 124 NORTHWARDS TO BRITISH COLUMBIA. 
 
 eight hundred people, I asked the minister whether one in 
 twenty would be a native of the state. Not one in fifty, 
 was the reply. This makes all slow to accept responsibility, 
 or to look all round and devise measures for the good of the 
 whole community. I cherish the hope that in a few years 
 there will be more mutual acquaintance, more mutual con- 
 fidence, and more sense of responsibility. On one point 
 there is special need of concentrated attention — the state of 
 the Sabbath. Unfortunately, unlike the other states, Cali- 
 fornia has no Sabbath law. Nor will it be easy to secure 
 such a law. In Oakland, which is to San Francisco what 
 Birkenhead is to Liverpool, a meeting was lately held on the 
 subject of a Sabbath law. When the meeting divided, one 
 hundred and five were against any such thing, and only 
 ninety-six in favour. The hundred and five included several 
 members of a sect called "Seventh -day Adventists," who 
 believe in the second advent and in the seventh day of the 
 week as the true Sabbath. There are many Jews in San 
 Francisco who are against the Christian Sabbath. There 
 are many Germans who are practically the same. There 
 are many Irish Catholics who despatch religion in the morn- 
 ing, and care not what they do after that. There are many 
 nominal and indifferent Protestants. The true lovers of the 
 Sabbath are but a fraction of the population. I have been 
 urging on the ministers that even where success is for the 
 present hopeless, they ought to try to keep alive the con- 
 sciences of their people on the sanctity of the Sabbath. 
 And I had a striking proof of the benefit of this from a 
 brother who, soon after being settled, found a Sunday trip 
 advertised by a company of which some of his own people 
 were leading members. He forthwith preached on the 
 claims of the Sabbath, and though he did not defeat the trip, 
 he killed it, very few having gone, and he made it impossible 
 that such a thing should be proposed again.
 
 NORTHWARDS TO BRITISH COLUMBIA. 125 
 
 Two things, I think, must be apparent from this sketch — 
 the vast importance of the whole Pacific coast, and the diffi- 
 culties that exist in thoroughly Christianizing it. I hope 
 our people at home will think of these things, and as they 
 sing and iiray, "Jesus shall reign where'er the sun," will 
 bear in mind the sunny shores of the Pacific.
 
 CHAPTEK Xll. 
 
 THE GREAT CANADIAN HIGHLANDS. 
 
 FROM Vancouver we took places in the Canadian Pacific, 
 leaving at noon on a Friday, with the purpose of 
 reaching Banff about midnight on Saturday, and of spending 
 the Sunday there, the most attractive spot in the Canadian 
 Rockies. We had not gone far when we were struck with 
 wonder at the marvels of the railway. It is not possible to 
 conceive a tract of country less adapted for such a road. 
 Along the banks of the Eraser River, and far beyond, it is 
 carried over the wildest and roughest country you can con- 
 ceive. It is one continuous series of excavations along the 
 sides of mountains, of high trestle bridges over ravines and 
 chasms, tunnels through projecting shoulders of rock, with 
 hardly a chance of any of nature's levels. And this really 
 goes on for more than six hundred miles, until the prairie is 
 reached, east of the Rockies, The succession of beauty and 
 interest is endless, and the wooded mountains are magnificent. 
 One does not know the grandeur of the British Empire until 
 one has been whirled in the railway across British Columbia. 
 Without disparagement of our Scottish mountainous regions, 
 they must yield the palm to these magnificent stretches of 
 highland scenery. You do not ascend any point as high as 
 Sheppard's Pass in the Colorado Rockies, of which I have 
 spoken, although you have to "loop" the line at one point
 
 THE GREAT CANADIAN HIGHLANDS. 127 
 
 and get to the waterslied by the " circumbendibus " px-ocess. 
 The greater part of the six hundred miles is almost without 
 inhabitants, with the exception of those Avhom the railway 
 itself has ])rought. And the railway villages are generally 
 very I'ude and primitive. I believe that to tourists and 
 sportsmen the country is exceedingly attractive, and doubt- 
 less it will fill up in many ways as time rolls on. 
 
 Glacier Point is a most interesting spot, about five hun- 
 dred miles east of Vancouver. I wished much to spend a 
 day here, but could not have done so without trespassing 
 on the Sabbath rest. Extraordinary exaggerations have been 
 circulated about the glacier, which some would make out to 
 be larger than all the Swiss glaciers put together. This is 
 out of the question, but all accounts testify that it is one of 
 extraordinary magnitude and interest. I heard a great deal 
 of it from fellow-travellers, but need not produce their 
 accounts at second-hand. A few stages beyond Glacier Point 
 is Banff, often called Banff Springs and Banff National 
 Park. This is worthy of an ampler description. 
 
 Banff is situated very near the eastern edge of the Rocky 
 Mountains, and was named after the little county town at 
 the mouth of the Deveron through the influence of Sir 
 George Steven, one of the railway magnates, who was a 
 native of the place, or at least of the county. We cannot 
 grudge this distinction to Banff; but if the character of the 
 scenery had determined the name, Braemar would have been 
 more appropriate. Its situation is superb. The Bow Eiver, 
 passing through the Rockies, affords to the railway a means 
 of penetrating the mountains at about 4,500 feet above the 
 sea-level. The domain which has been constituted a National 
 Park for Canada is upwards of twenty miles in one direction 
 and ten in another ; but the Canadian Pacific Hotel may be 
 taken as the centre of the Park, and the view from it is 
 supei'b. The Bow enlivens and beautifies the wooded strath,
 
 128 THE GREAT CANADIAN HIGHLANDS. 
 
 from which ranges of mountains rise to great heights on either 
 side. But, indeed, on all sides there is quite an amphitheatre 
 of mountains, some clothed with pine almost to their tops, 
 but most of them conspicuous for their masses of bare rock, 
 suggesting the origin of the name " Rockies." When we 
 reached Banff we were afraid that the haze which had shut 
 out so many fine mountains from our view was to play us 
 the like trick again. But a heavy rain had fallen between 
 Saturday and Sunday, and when we came out of the little 
 church on Sunday — where, by the way, we heard a most ex- 
 cellent sermon — the whole sky had cleared wonderfully, and 
 the sun, shining in all his strength, poured his glory on the 
 wonderful panorama that stretched on all sides around us. 
 And this weather continued till we left the Rockies, and in 
 a great degree reconciled us to the loss of the " Selkirks " and 
 of other ranges that ought to have been seen, some of them 
 in the glitter of their perpetual snow. 
 
 Undoubtedly, Banff is a place of unrivalled capabilities, 
 and in days to come will be looked on with delight by many 
 a Canadian and other eye. The Sulphur Springs which gush 
 from the rock near it are said to be a powerful remedy for 
 rheumatism; but it is the lovers of wild, lovely, picturesque 
 nature that will form its great constituency. The Dominion 
 Government is liberally disposed towards it, but even the 
 handsome grant of 25,000 dollars at a time cannot do much 
 in the way of constructing mountain roads and otherwise 
 opening up the glories of the scenery. We look forward to a 
 time when the whole Park will be intersected with beautiful 
 drives, and the place visited by hundreds of thousands. Al- 
 ready one pretty drive of ten or twelve miles has been 
 opened to Miniwonga, " the lake of the evil spirit," roughly 
 rendered in common parlance "the devil's lake." It is said 
 to be a fine lake for fishing. This year the medical men of 
 Canada chose Banff for tlieir annual congress. Between one
 
 THE GREAT CAXADIAX HIGIILAyDS. 129 
 
 and two hundred attended, just about the time of our visit. 
 We met many of them, all very kind and pleasant, and we 
 heard no difference of opinion as to the unrivalled beauty 
 and interest of the place. 
 
 As we arrived only at midnight on Saturday, there was no 
 time for the minister to discover me, and for once I had the 
 privilege of hearing a sermon. The entire service was very 
 admirable — devotional exercises, sermon, and delivery being 
 nearly all that one could desire. Mr. Macleod is a young 
 man, but seems admirably fitted for the place. The stated 
 membership of the congregation is but fifteen ; the rest 
 come from the hotels. I should have thought his situation 
 rather trying, especially as there was no manse, and he and 
 the schoolmaster lived together in very plain lodgings. But 
 I was delighted to find the minister in excellent spirits. As 
 a Canadian student he had been accustomed to a pioneer 
 ministry, and now he felt quite at home. His presbytery 
 extends from east to west five hundred miles, and in the 
 other direction its limit is the North Pole ! 
 
 The secret of his happiness is his public spirit, his interest 
 in his work, and readiness for every feasible undertaking. 
 Besides Banff", he had other stations to supply. The nearest 
 of these was fifteen miles off". He usually had evening 
 service there, and the only way of reaching it was by walking 
 along the railway track. Another station was seventy miles 
 away. At one time he had to supply a vacant charge more 
 than a hundred miles distant ; but Canadian energy thinks 
 nothing of a hundred miles. 
 
 This young congregation showed a catholicity of spirit not 
 always to be found. Tliere are some Episcopalians at Banff" 
 who as yet have no church. The Methodist congregation 
 accommodates them in the morning and the Presbyterian in 
 the evening. Where can the mother country produce such 
 an instance of the brotherly spirit ? 
 (197) 9
 
 CHAPTER XIII 
 
 THE NORTH-WEST, MANITOBA, AND 
 TORONTO. 
 
 AFTER we left Banff (at midnight), and emerged from 
 the Rocky Mountains, we found ourselves at daybreak 
 on the vast prairie that stretches across the North- West 
 Territories and the province of Manitoba on to Winnipeg. 
 The first part of the prairie is rather desolate. The soil is 
 thin, and at some places so impregnated with alkali that in 
 the distance you would suppose you saw a lake of milk or a 
 meadow of snow. It is here that one might have expected to 
 see the buffalo, of which there were myriads a few years ago. 
 But the buffalo is rapidly approaching to the condition of an 
 extinct animal. There were plenty of bleached buffalo bones 
 gathered in heaps by the Indians to be used by the sugar- 
 refiners, and at some stations there were sets of buffalo horns 
 for sale by Indians, who seemed to be doing a very good 
 business in the article ; but of live animals we saw none. 
 The farms at first are few and far between, although I 
 believe that much of these North- West Territories (Alberta, 
 Athanaska, Assiniboia, and Saskatchewan) is admirably 
 adapted for agriculture. After a day and night of hard 
 travelling, we were in Manitoba. This is the vast agri- 
 cultural region which is believed to be capable of supporting 
 millions. The outlook was different now. Neat farm-houses,
 
 THE NORTH-WEST, ETC. 131 
 
 well-tilled farms, churches, and towns indicated a region 
 much further advanced. The great drawback is the severity 
 of the winter ; but many people say that they get used to the 
 cold, and that many places are colder. 
 
 Our destination was Winnipeg, the capital of Manitoba. It 
 is a city of between twenty and thirty thousand inhabitants, 
 very recently begun, but a most thriving and attractive place. 
 The unusual width of its streets — one hundred and twenty feet, 
 if I remember right — gives them a spacious and distinguished 
 appearance. A few years ago Winnipeg was the scene of 
 one of those gambling " booms " which are sure to be followed 
 by a great reaction. Capitalists at a distance ran up the 
 price of land to a ridiculous figure, and when the illusion was 
 scattered many were ruined. Crowds came to Winnipeg 
 only to be disappointed, and were obliged to leave it, go 
 where they might. The city now seems to have recovered 
 from the effects of that movement, and is advancing at a sure 
 and steady pace. I was delighted to see the orderliness of 
 Winnipeg, and especially its high standard of church-going 
 and Sabbath observance. 
 
 I preached (as usual) in two of the churches — St. Andrew's 
 and Knox's. In both I had congregations of from one 
 thousand to twelve hundred ; and I understand that this was 
 not much in excess of the usual. 
 
 Manitoba College, founded by the Presbyterians almost 
 as soon as Winnipeg itself, is the most considerable institu- 
 tion for advanced instruction in the province. Along with 
 an Episcopal, a Roman Catholic, and now (I believe) a Me- 
 thodist college, it forms the University of Manitoba, and 
 has contributed more graduates than all the others put to- 
 gether. 
 
 In Manitoba a great struggle has just begun for another 
 object. When " confederation " took place, it became legal 
 for the Roman Catholics to have separate schools supported
 
 132 THE NORTH-WEST, ETC. 
 
 by rates, and it also became legal to make use of the French 
 language in these schools. Against this arrangement a strong 
 resistance has arisen, as being likely to perpetuate a condition 
 of things which in Quebec has been very disastrous. I have 
 a strong conviction that that resistance will prevail, and that 
 the unfair advantages to Roman Catholics and the un- 
 patriotic use of the French language, which in a province 
 like Manitoba are entirely out of the question, will soon 
 cease and determine. 
 
 Hospitality in Winnipeg took the form of carriage drives. 
 Our landlord of the Clarendon Hotel, Mr. Bennett, an en- 
 thusiastic Scotsman, took us to the gate of Fort Garry, the 
 only remains of the station of the Hudson Bay Company 
 before Winnipeg was built, and to the suburb of St. Boniface, 
 where the Roman Catholic colony of French Canadians have 
 their schools and other establishments. Professor Bryce took 
 us to Kildonan, the old Sutherlandshire settlement, peopled 
 by Highlanders about the beginning of the century, under 
 the auspices of the Earl of Selkirk ; and the Rev. Mr. Hogg 
 took us to Sir Donald Smith's, where there is a small herd 
 of living buffaloes that, in the absence of the wild animal, 
 every traveller likes to see. There was an entertainment 
 going on in the city of a peculiar kind. A hall, beautifully 
 decorated with flowers and evergreens, was given over for 
 each evening of the week to one or other of the congregations 
 of the city, who undertook to provide songs, recitations, 
 piano and other performances, for the enjoyment of the 
 audience. On the night when we were there the great 
 sensation was a Japanese marriage. Some thirty young men 
 and young ladies of the church were dressed in Japanese 
 dresses, and went through the ceremony with great cor- 
 rectness. The presents to the bride were not very costly, 
 generally toys, but every person brought something. The 
 object was to provide funds for a children's home, and if all
 
 THE NORTH-WEST, ETC. 133 
 
 the meetings were as crowded as the one we attended, the 
 success must have been great. 
 
 In the North- West Territories and in Manitoba the law 
 of prohibition prevails. I understand that this arrangement 
 was adopted first with a view to the Indians, who would 
 have ruined themselves, body and soul, if they had had free 
 access to liquor. The law, I believe, has had an excellent 
 effect on the whole, especially in new mining communities, 
 where the temptation to drunkenness is usually so great. 
 There seem to be some exceptions, however, to its enforce- 
 ment. The Canadian Pacific Hotel at Banff, for example, 
 has a license, obtained through the influence of the railway 
 company, to which it belongs. What precisely is the law 
 in Winnipeg I am not quite sure. I have heard that the 
 Lieutenant-Governor of Manitoba has power to confer 
 licenses in exceptional cases. Certainly there are very few 
 saloons in the city. I was told that if a license were asked 
 for a particular place, and five out of the twenty nearest 
 inhabitants objected, the license was refused. This gives 
 rise to some murmuring against the power conferred on 
 minorities ; but it keeps down the number of licenses, and it 
 contributes to the peace, the good order, and the prosperity 
 of the city. 
 
 It is a long cry from Winnipeg to Toronto. First a land 
 journey of more than twenty-four hours through a rich and 
 interesting region to Port Arthur, then a day's sail through 
 Lake Superior, another through Lake Huron, and four hours 
 of land journey to Toronto. The lake scenery was sometimes 
 beautiful, especially that of Lake Huron; and the passage 
 through the canal that connects the two lakes, with the 
 setting sun illuminating the two villages — the American Sault 
 Ste. Marie on the one side, and the Canadian Sault Ste. Marie 
 on the other — was exquisite. Pi'oviucially "Sault" is pre-
 
 134 THE NORTH-WEST, ETC. 
 
 nounced Soo, and the passage is always spoken of as going 
 through the Soo. 
 
 One experience of an unusual kind may be noted. In the 
 middle of the night, in the first part of the journey, we came 
 to a trestle bridge which had in some degree subsided. The 
 authorities knew of it, but not the passengers. To those of 
 us who were struggling hard to woo sleep, it was hard to be 
 constantly conscious of something impeding our progress- 
 going forward a little bit and back a little bit, as if our 
 engine were disabled and could not drag its load. The ex- 
 planation we got in the morning was that the carriages had 
 been detached from the engine, which had been placed behind 
 and had pushed them on to the edge of the bridge. Then a 
 wire rope had been attached to the carriages and fastened to 
 an engine on the other side of the bridge, which slowly drew 
 them over. Two or three hours were consumed in this 
 operation, but we had cause to think ourselves fortunate in 
 comparison of some previous passengers who had had to walk 
 over, and others who had been detained for many hours. 
 The Canadian Pacific Railway crosses hundreds of trestle 
 bridges ; and I have counted as many as ten stories of 
 trestles, one above the other. Every bridge is watched and 
 examined daily, which makes travelling over them com- 
 paratively safe. If an unobserved subsidence should take 
 place the consequences might be awful. • 
 
 As you draw near to the capital of Ontario you get a 
 better idea of the productiveness and comfortableness of the 
 province. The farms and farm-houses are very attractive, as 
 if they were all the abodes of peace and plenty, as many of 
 them no doubt are. I will not linger over the city of Toronto, 
 nor speak of its marvellous progress since I last visited it 
 nine years ago. But this I will say, after visiting many 
 American cities, and especially those of the Pacific coast, 
 that Toronto is viuy different from most of these. No street-
 
 THE NORTH- WEST, ETC. 135 
 
 car runs on the Lord's day through its streets. No saloon is 
 open for drinking. No newspaper is published on the first 
 day of the week. No theatre or place of amusement is open. 
 Toronto is a very Scotch city, and Ontario is a very Scotch 
 province ; and among the points in which this feature is 
 most apparent is the tone of Sabbath observance. 
 
 I had expected to pass through Toronto unobserved, but I 
 found that where the carcass is thither the eagles are gathered 
 together. The eagles were ministers desiring pulpit help ; 
 so I preached in two churches, in both cases to large and 
 imposing audiences. The newspapers were more than usually 
 eager to make out that far-oflf fowls have fair feathers, and 
 at my hotel I had no fewer than three visits from editors 
 wishing for my manuscripts and anything else they could 
 fish out of me. 
 
 I was extremely gratified at the many proofs of the pro- 
 gress of the Presbyterian Church in Canada, and its great 
 activity. It has paid especial attention to the North-West, 
 and is undoubtedly the leading Church in those parts. 
 Wherever I was I made inquiry as to how the union of the 
 three Churches was working. Generally I got a very grati- 
 fying answer. All were practically one, and it was almost 
 forgotten with which section ministers had been previously 
 connected. Some were not so sure about this ; but it is 
 beyond doubt that the Church has made extraordinary pro- 
 gress since the union. 
 
 It happened that the American Association for the Ad- 
 vancement of Science were holding their annual congress at 
 Toronto, and we were in time to hear a little of their wisdom. 
 We were naturally attracted to a lecture on Niagara by a 
 Washington professor. I am afraid I must say that he con- 
 trived to make a grand subject dry and uninteresting. He 
 brought out one important fact, however — that since reliable 
 observations began to be taken, the cataract had receded at
 
 136 THE NORTH-WEST, ETC. 
 
 the rate of from four to six feet per annum. This is about 
 a mile in a thousand years. The cataract seems to have 
 receded in all about seven miles, but there is no certainty 
 that it has done so at a uniform rate. We were delighted 
 in calling on an old Edinburgh friend, the Principal of the 
 University, to greet him as Sir Andrew Wilson, and to shake 
 hands in his house with his brother Principal of Montreal, 
 Sir William Dawson ; and to find them occupying places of 
 honour in the association, and enjoying in a high degree the 
 esteem of their brother savants of America. 
 
 A question that is absorbing an extraordinary amount of 
 interest in Canada at the present day is connected with what 
 is called the Jesuits' Bill. There is an excellent statement 
 of the whole case in the October number of Macmillan^s 
 Magazine by Professor Goldwin Smith. Two years ago the 
 Society of the Jesuits got itself incorporated, with the right 
 of a corporation to hold property, and then they instituted a 
 claim to property in Quebec amounting to two million dollars, 
 which, it was said, had once belonged to them. The Quebec 
 authorities, after a correspondence with the Pope, in which 
 the Pope was allowed to determine to what parties the 
 money should be given, passed a measure — avowedly a com- 
 promise — giving them four hundred thousand dollars. Then 
 it came before the Dominion Government to determine 
 whether this was competent, and with the exception of 
 thirteen members they voted that it was. The Governor- 
 General, and also the Crown authorities in England, have 
 both successively upheld this decision. But it is very gen- 
 erally felt that if technically competent, the act of the 
 Quebec legislature was morally wrong, and that it was most 
 humiliating to let the Pope have his finger in the pie. A 
 powerful association has been formed, called the Equal Eights 
 Association, to protest against unfair advantages being given 
 to Roman Catholics, or any other religious denomination,
 
 7 HE NORTH-WEST, ETC. 137 
 
 over the rest. Principal Cavan of Toronto has taken a lead- 
 ing part in this movement. Many in Canada are disgusted 
 Avith the way in which the Church of Rome has not only 
 made the Quebec Government a tool in her hands, but 
 obtained a kind of controlling influence in the Dominion 
 Government also. This last is one of the effects of federa- 
 tion. Now that federation is un fait accompli, it would be 
 difficult to undo it. But it is surely very unwise to weaken 
 the bond. I have no idea that Canada as a whole has any 
 desire for union with the United States, although I am told 
 that the younger generation is less opposed to this than their 
 fathers. But it seems a possible thing, if Quebec is to rule 
 the Dominion, that the confederacy will be broken up. And 
 it would be a very serious matter if Ontario were to dissever 
 itself from it. It may seem disloyal even to hint at such a 
 possibility. But the people of Ontario are men of spirit, and 
 cannot abide truckling to the Pope. I cannot help thinking 
 that it is a dangerous experiment that is being tried with 
 them, and one that it would be well not to carry too far.
 
 CHAPTER XIV. 
 AUAGARA. 
 
 FROM Toronto we made a brief detour in order to feast 
 our eyes once more on that grandest, brightest, purest 
 of all earthly spectacles — the Falls of Niagara. I never can 
 express one-tenth part of the emotion to which it gives 
 rise. There is a glory about it which is hardly of the 
 earth earthy. Perhaps it is wisest just to abandon one- 
 self to the luxury of indefinite pleasure. But this is not the 
 way to enable others to share your enjoyment. I will avail 
 myself here of something which I wrote on occasion of a 
 former visit, when I spent three days at Niagara, and at the 
 end seemed to be only learning to spell out the alphabet of 
 its glory. 
 
 There is no fine scenery in the neighbourhood. The 
 country round is flat and featureless, and this probably is 
 the cause of the disappointment many visitors feel on their 
 first glimpse of the Falls. Instead of a setting of majestic 
 rocks, with all the glory of Alpine magnificence, the cascade 
 of Niagara is surrounded by level fields and gentle heights, 
 and the only great feature that breaks the monotony is the 
 cliff over which the river is precipitated. The Falls are alone 
 in their magnificence, the one glory of the neighbourhood. 
 
 Most people know that a mile or two above the Falls the 
 river Niagara, carrying along the whole body of water col-
 
 ^^'IAOAnA. 139 
 
 lected in Lakes Superior, Huron, Michigan, and Erie, spreads 
 out over an expanse of two or three miles ; tlien it begins to 
 contract, and descends with great velocity, till it rolls over 
 the clilT. Goat Island divides the stream into two just before 
 the plunge. The eastern or American section goes round the 
 island, and descends with great regularity and majesty in a 
 line almost at right angles to the western or Canadian Fall. 
 This other cataract, double the breadth of the former, is 
 borne more rapidly to the edge of the cliff, and comes over 
 it with greater impetuosity. It is in the form of a horse- 
 shoe, the curve bending up the stream. In the bosom of 
 the curve thei'e is a chasm in the rock, also passing up- 
 wards, causing a tremendous collision between the two masses 
 of water that dash over it on either side. As the Canadian 
 Fall, though not quite so high, is more impetuous than the 
 American, the form of the falling water is more broken, the 
 spray dashes with more vehemence, and the eddies at the 
 bottom are more wild and tumultuous. In the sunshine, 
 when the air is full of vapour, a splendid rainbow spans the 
 fall. 
 
 But what is it that gives Niagara such a charm ? It is 
 not, as we have remarked, the surrounding scenery. The 
 height is not remarkable — only a hundred and fifty-eight feet 
 on the Canadian side, and a hundred and sixty-four on the 
 American. The Staubbach is five times its height ; the Yo- 
 semite Fall many times moi'e. What, then, gives Niagara 
 such imperial pre-eminence 1 
 
 1. In the first place, there is the wonderful /ilai/ of life, 
 extending over the whole length and breadth of the cascade 
 (the breadth of the one fall is one thousand one hundred, 
 and of the other two thousand two hundred feet) ; the quick, 
 darting movement of the waters, leaping in a marvellous ■ 
 state of exhilaration down the height. This rapidity of 
 motion gratifies and charms one of the most powerful in-
 
 140 NIAGARA. 
 
 stincts of our nature. For there is nothing that has more 
 attraction for human eyes or more interest for the human 
 mind than the vigorous play of life. Be it the horse racing 
 on the turf, or the rocket flying in the air, or the forked 
 tongue of the lightning, or a ship sliding from a slip into the 
 water, or the express train Avhirling past us, or the collision 
 of armies, or the collision of intellect in Parliament or Church 
 court — all are attractive because of the display of living 
 energy. Now, about Niagara, everything is instinct with 
 life. Such an immense body of water, estimated at a million 
 and a half tons per minute, flinging itself over more than 
 half a mile of precipices, is a marvellous display of " ani- 
 mated nature." First, there is the preparation for the leap — 
 the gathering of the waters at the " Rapids," a little above 
 the Falls, as if making ready for a tremendous effort. And 
 really, if there were nothing else, the Rapids are a wonderful 
 sight ; the water rushes past the " Three Sisters " with such 
 arrowy swiftness that you can hardly follow the wild, per- 
 petual motion. Then, when the edge is reached, there is 
 the unhesitating, fearless plunge, as if the water enjoyed the 
 somersault and did not care one straw for the consequences. 
 If you fix your eye more powerfully on a portion of the 
 waters in their descent, you observe that the desperate ear- 
 nestness of the great movement is combined with innumer- 
 able little touches of frolic and merriment. Every filament 
 of the stream seems to have a life of its own. Everywhere 
 the water is leaping, laughing, dancing, dashing, flying, evi- 
 dently in the highest spirits. It is as if all the nymphs and 
 naiads of classic story were collected together for some wild 
 frolic, and were entering into it with the keenest enthusiasm. 
 And as fast as one set of naiads plunges into the caldron, 
 there comes another and another in everlasting succession. 
 
 2. But while this is your impression as you watch the 
 separate streamlets (as it were), you get a marvellous idea
 
 NIAGARA. 141 
 
 of majesty when you survey the whole. You are awed by 
 the spectacle of such a vast body of water rolling over, as 
 if in the consciousness of imperial will and resistless might. 
 It is the very emblem of Sovereignty, moving for ever with 
 a force to which any resistance that could be offered would 
 not have the weight of a feather. An unwearied life too, 
 like that of Him who fainteth not, neither is weary. 
 
 This idea of pre-eminence and majesty is one of the great- 
 est elements of impression, and grows on you as you give a 
 little scope to your imagination. For all this has been going 
 on hour after hour, year after year, century after century, 
 in daylight and in darkness, in summer and in winter, in 
 war and in peace, if not since the beginning of the world, at 
 least throughout the whole period of history. Where else 
 shall the mind find such a display of the unwearied activity 
 and irresistible will of the Sovereign Creator 1 
 
 3. Then there is the beautiful display of colour. One of 
 the first things to catch the eye on a sunny day is the bright 
 blue of the water as it curls over the precipice. You see 
 the same shade of blue at the seaside on a sunny day, when 
 the neck of a wave catches the sunbeam, just as it turns 
 over to break. You see also the lily whiteness of the foam ; 
 but you do not see at the seaside the pearly lustre of the 
 water as it rushes past you in its fall. Lower down, the 
 water assumes a sea-green colour. Blue, white, green, the 
 waters gleam before you in vast masses of colour ; and if it 
 is summer or autumn, you have, in addition, the colours of 
 the surrounding woods and fields, and the azure of the sky 
 above. And if the rainbow sheds its gleam, you have all 
 the colours, and most conspicuous of all the red, which they 
 tell us is never wanting in a perfect picture. 
 
 4. Nor must we omit mention of the sound. It is true, 
 many are disappointed with this. They expected a noise of 
 thunder : they find little more than a solemn murmur. But
 
 142 mAGARA. 
 
 watch the murmur, and it will gain upon you ; it will by-and- 
 by sound like a psalm, like the song of creation to Him who 
 made the heaven and the earth, the sea and the fountains of 
 waters. Then you remember that that psalm has been going 
 up unceasingly from the beginning^before human foot trod 
 the earth, before Eed Indian flourished his tomahawk. You 
 try to catch the burden of the psalm : it gives praise to God 
 from everlasting to everlasting. How it contrasts with the 
 broken tribute of our lives, and with our songs of praise 
 so few and so feeble, so little worthy of the gi'eat Being, our 
 Creator, Redeemer, Lord, and Father, our Portion, our God 
 for ever ! 
 
 5. And this leads to yet another view of Niagara — its 
 symbolism. It is a sermon as well as a psalm. Ever since 
 the globe assumed its present form it has been the same. 
 The stream has been flowing on, as we have said, without 
 cessation and without interruption. Could there be a fitter 
 emblem of the grace of God and the love of the Lord Jesus 
 Christ 1 Could any material thing more fitly portray the 
 endless stream of the divine mercy in Christ, bearing down 
 all opposition and defying all efforts to exhaust it 1 Does 
 it not seem to echo that beautiful psalm : " Thy mercy, O 
 Lord, is in the heavens ; and thy faithfulness reacheth unto 
 the clouds. Thy righteousness is like the great mountains ; 
 thy judgments are a great deep : O Lord, thou preservest 
 man and beast. How excellent is thy lovingkindness, O 
 God ! therefore the children of men put their trust under the 
 shadow of thy wings. They shall be abundantly satisfied 
 with the fatness of thy house ; and thou shalt make them 
 drink of the river of thy pleasures. For with thee is the 
 fountain of life : in thy light we shall see light." 
 
 We cannot put up with the impertinences practised on 
 Niagara. The men that trifle with its majesty are not only 
 fools, but impudent knaves. But in this respect things are
 
 NIAGARA. 143 
 
 not so bad as is sometimes represented. On the morning of 
 the day when we reached Niagara, we had read in a Toronto 
 newspaper an elaborate account of a wonderful feat said to 
 have taken place the day before : how a certain American 
 cooper had got into a barrel which he had contrived for the 
 purpose, and being duly strapped inside of it, and the barrel 
 well secured with two padlocks, had been thrown into the river, 
 and after an hour carried over the precipice ; how the barrel 
 came to land, and being opened by a friend, the cooper was 
 found to be stunned, but after a copious draught of whisky 
 came all right, and proceeded quietly to his home ! Strolling 
 along the Queen Victoria Park, we came on a park-keeper, 
 and on being asked how much truth there was in the para- 
 graph, he simply stared and said, "Not one word." And 
 the landlord of the Clifton corroborated ! Of course the 
 absurd story went the round of the world, though it was 
 afterwards contradicted. That any one could have believed 
 it is hardly credible ; but how it could have got into the 
 columns of a sober Toronto journal passes belief.
 
 CHAPTER XV. 
 NORTHFIELD AND HOME. 
 
 F^ROM Niagara we struck eastwards for a few days' 
 visit to Mr. D. L. Moody, who was taking a kind of 
 holiday at Northfield. Northfield, in the west of Massa- 
 chusetts, is Mr. Moody's birthplace ; a quiet New England 
 village, very beautifully situated, commanding a fine view 
 of the Connecticut River and Valley and the mountains be- 
 yond. I call it a village, speaking in the English fashion, 
 but in America it is a town, or rather a township. It is 
 seven miles in length ; that is to say, there are houses dotted 
 over seven miles, mostly embosomed in trees, and with the 
 appearance of a sparse city suburb. About a mile from 
 what may be called the centre of the town is a plain but 
 bright-looking wooden house, with its screen of fine maple 
 trees in front — the summer home of the great evangelist. A 
 little higher is a smaller and plainer house — Moody's birth- 
 place and the residence of his old mother. "When I was last 
 here, nine years before, there had been built by Mr. Moody, 
 a few hundred yards from his house, a large college, with 
 accommodation for some sixty girls. It was designed for 
 the teaching and training of young women, so as to fit 
 them for situations of usefulness — as teachers, missionaries, 
 or otherwise. That was the day of small things ; the change 
 from then to now is enormous. Instead of one, there are
 
 NORTHFIELD AXD HOME, 145 
 
 now five large buildings and six or seven smaller ; a fine 
 park of some two hundred acres has been acquired, and its 
 well-kept lawns and undulating surface dotted with trees 
 make it a charming campus for the academical buildings 
 scattered over it. Instead of sixty, there are now three 
 hundred young ladies. And four miles away, on the other 
 side of the Connecticut River, is a similar college for young 
 men. A similar group of buildings, large and small, pro- 
 vides accommodation for three hundred. It happened that 
 while we were there the pupils had just assembled for the 
 work of the session. These buildings represented an outlay 
 of about a million dollars, a large part of which arose from 
 royalties on the sale of hymn-books. Mr. Moody was engaged 
 in a great effort to raise a capital sum, the income of which 
 would provide for the expenditure of the two colleges. And 
 being one of those men who do not begin what they do not 
 see their way to finish, he will doubtless, at no distant 
 period, succeed in obtaining his desire. 
 
 Mr. Moody, we cannot help thinking, has followed a sound 
 policy in having his colleges separate, each for a single sex. 
 There are many questions at the present day about the higher 
 education in America, both of men and women, and one of 
 these is, whether it is right to allow both sexes to study 
 together at the same college, and to be members of the same 
 classes. For our part, we have a decided conviction that it 
 is not. Anything that tends to obliterate the distinctive 
 qualities of the sexes must be injurious. We cannot but 
 think that this evil result must take place when they study 
 in the same rooms and hear the same lectures — medical lec- 
 tures, it may be, on subjects of delicacy. We conceive, there- 
 fore, that in separating the two schools, Mr. Moody has not 
 only done right, but set a good example to his countrymen. 
 
 The colleges are conducted on the principle of self-help. 
 Each student pays a sum of money, but not the Avhole sura 
 
 (197) 10
 
 146 NORTHFIELD AND HOME. 
 
 expended on him. In the male college every youth has to 
 give two hours' labour on the farm. In the college for girls 
 there are no servants ; the work of the house is done by the 
 young women themselves. 
 
 Mr. Moody differs from nearly all the evangelists we have 
 known in his intense concern for the permanent outcome 
 of his labours, and his most careful endeavour to prevent 
 the spirit kindled at his meetings from evaporating in tem- 
 porary excitement. These colleges are one proof of his de- 
 sire to build up, to establish Christian habits of life, to set 
 young men and young women to work that will exercise and 
 develop and strengthen feelings that might otherwise be 
 fitful and evanescent. And the great aggressive enterprise 
 with which he is now grappling in Chicago is another evi- 
 dence of his love of complete and solid work. He is training 
 an agency for going out to the highways and the hedges, for 
 pervading all of Chicago that is neglecting the things that 
 pertain to its peace, and constraining such to come in that 
 the house may be filled. With all his evangelistic ardour, 
 Mr. Moody has no sympathy with fanaticism. His singular 
 Christian shrewdness gives a wide berth to fads. 
 
 At Northfield Mr. Moody takes his holiday. The fashion 
 of it is rather peculiar. I asked the man that takes charge 
 of his horses how often they were out. Sometimes, he 
 said, he will require a conveyance at five in the morning, 
 and two or three times during the day, and perhaps till late 
 at night. He would be out before breakfast to confer with 
 workmen about something needed for the schools. The fore- 
 noon would be occupied in answering a great correspondence 
 and despatching letters with reference to his engagements 
 and his institutions. In the afternoon, perhaps, he would be 
 acting the peacemaker at some parish meeting, trying to 
 settle an angry quarrel about a public road that threatened 
 a bitter law plea. In the evening he would be away to
 
 NORTHFIELD AND HOM 12. 147 
 
 Mount Hermon to preach to " the boys. " On the Sunday, 
 he would preach in the church wliich he has built partly 
 for his schools and partly for the neighbourhood, gathering 
 a great congregation round him. In the intervals of em- 
 ployment he would be bright, cheerful, full of fun. He is 
 now the great man of the place, yet is as neighbourly and 
 unaffected and brotherly as in the days when he was a 
 school-boy or a worker on his mother's farm. Nor does he 
 seem a whit more elated by the marvellous influence he has 
 acquired the world over, and the blessed Avork he has done. 
 Only an instrument in other hands. No man would sing 
 more heartily the 115th Psalm, or more cordially take for 
 his motto, Laus Deo. 
 
 We are yet more than three thousand miles from home ; 
 but I am tired writing, and " it is fit the spell should break 
 of this protracted dream." From Northfield to New York 
 we had a peep of New England, particularly Northampton, 
 Hartford, and Newhaven, much regretting that we were 
 obliged this time to pass over the great cradle of the Ameri- 
 can republic. At New York we tarried but a day. There 
 had been rain for a week, and there was rain still, and the 
 newspapers were having leaders, "Will it ever stop?" 
 Worse than that, there had been a terrific storm at sea, 
 and the coast-line of New York State had been fearfully 
 injured. It was a gruesome prospect to take to the sea in 
 such weather ; but, much to our satisfaction, we learned 
 that the storm had been confined to the shore, and did not 
 extend to the ocean. On a Saturday morning we got on 
 board our old ship the Furnessia, and were met by a warm 
 and excellent friend, General Swayne, whose acquaintance 
 we had made in the train between Victoria and Winnipeg, 
 who presented us with a charming basket of fruit, and a 
 bundle of illustrated journals aiad magazines, to refresh mind 
 and body by the way. Half an hour after leaving New York
 
 148 NORTH FIE LB AND HOME. 
 
 we were involved in mist ; we had to cast anchor in the 
 bay, and did not get it lifted for forty-eight hours ; but 
 when we did get off we pegged steadily away. At last the 
 welcome shores of old Ireland greeted us, and by-and-by the 
 Mull of Cantire and the green fields and white cottages of 
 Arran. On a gloomy forenoon we sailed up the Clyde all 
 the way to Glasgow. The first thing that caught my eye 
 was a placard — "The late Dr. Somerville." So he, too, had 
 gone where we should see his beaming face no more. 
 
 At last we found ourselves at home, and with nothing but 
 good news awaiting us. We had gone out under the shadow 
 of the psalm, " I will lift up mine eyes unto the hills." We 
 now, after traversing fifteen thousand miles, retui'ned with 
 a new sense of its reality, and with a new interest in the 
 question, " What shall I render to the Lord for all his 
 benefits towards me? "
 
 APPENDIX. 
 
 PROHIBITION IN THE UNITED STATES. 
 
 I HAVE said that one of the objects I had in view in my 
 \isit to America was to get authentic information on 
 the working of prohibition, and the regulation of the drink 
 traffic generally. I will put down in this Appendix the chief 
 results of my inquiries, although they are yet somewhat 
 imperfect. 
 
 But, first, I must refer to a document which I consider to 
 be of no little value, in virtue of the source from which it 
 comes. It is entitled " Report on Liquor Traffic Legislation 
 in the United States, issued during the recess, and presented 
 to both Houses of Parliament, by command of Her Majesty. 
 London, 1888." This report, requested no doubt by the 
 Marquis of Salisbury, is forwarded to him by Sir L. S. Sack- 
 ville West, our Minister at Washington, and bears to have 
 been drafted by Mr. Edwardes, the Secretary of Legation. 
 Mr. Edwardes obtained very full information from her 
 Majesty's consuls in the United States, and, as Sir L. West 
 remarks, the report is very interesting, and has been com- 
 piled with great care. In several instances an opinion is 
 expressed as to the working of the liquor laws of the several 
 states, and Mr. Edwardes says that these opinions " are 
 those of persons occupying high positions, the duties of which 
 give them due opportunities of being earnest and impartial 
 judges on this all-important subject." In these circumstances 
 the judgment so expressed may well be accepted by the 
 people of this countxy as trustworthy and conclusive. I will
 
 150 APPENDIX. 
 
 extract so much as will show the state of the case in the 
 statefi where prohibition has Vieen the law in whole or in 
 part. 
 
 Maine (population, 648,936). — ''The manufacture, sale, 
 and keeping for sale, of intoxicating liquors are forbidden in 
 Maine by a law ])assed in 1851, and by the Constitution of 
 1884, the Organic Law being amended by the adoption of 
 prohibition in that year by a lai-ge majority of the i)opular 
 vote. 
 
 " The results of prohibition in this state are looked upon 
 by prohibitionists as most satisfactory, and there is no move- 
 ment in favour of a repeal of the law. All breweries and 
 distilleries have been suppressed ; the liquor traffic has been 
 reduced to one-twentieth of its former proportions. Grog 
 shops are unknown in smaller towns and villages. It is said 
 that 12,000,000 dollars are saved annually which would have 
 been spent in drink. 
 
 " The extension of the industi'ies in this state is attributed 
 by some to prohibition. It is, however, still impossible to 
 suppress entirely the liquor traffic in the larger towns, the 
 penalties for keeping liquor for sale and other offences against 
 the law being insufficient to prevent the traffic from being 
 carried on with profit." 
 
 [We commend this report on Maine to the careful study of 
 the Earl of Wemyss. If we mistake not, it was just about 
 the date of the report that his lordship publicly declared that 
 prohibition was a dead letter in Maine, that there was no 
 diminution of drinking, and no benefit but much harm from 
 the Act. Compare this with the statements — " The liquor 
 traffic has been reduced to one-twentieth of its former pro- 
 portions." "It is said that 12,000,000 dollars ai-e saved 
 annually which would have been spent in drink."] 
 
 Vermont (population, 332,286). — "A prohibitory provi- 
 sion became law in this state in 1852. By it no one can
 
 APPENDIX. 151 
 
 manufacture or sell spirituous liquors, with a very few ex- 
 ceptions. It is generally held that intemperance has decreased 
 in this state since the passing of this Act." 
 
 Georgia (population, 1,542,180). — "The liquor traific in 
 this state is regulated by an Act by which each county votes 
 whether liquors shall be sold or not. Elections for this 
 purpose can be held once every three years. Out of 136 
 counties in the state, 101 have voted in favour of prohibition. 
 
 "It is reported that in the counties where prohibition 
 exists, generally known as ' dry ' counties, the result has 
 been excellent. High license has been tried in some coun- 
 ties, but the results not having given satisfaction, that system 
 has been abandoned for prohibition. 
 
 " It is held that though the revenue has suffered from pro- 
 hibition in the counties, the opening up of new enterprise, 
 and the general prosperity of the people at large, tend to the 
 belief that a few years under the present system of prohibi- 
 tion will rather add to than diminish the revenue." 
 
 Alabama (population, 1,262,585). — "In the fourth Con- 
 gressional District of this state, where prohibition was en- 
 acted, the benefits to the population- (the negroes being 
 four-fifths of the whole number) have been so great that the 
 former opponents to the law have changed their opinion, and 
 now assist in its enforcement. It is alleged that crime is 
 diminished one-third since the existence of prohibition." 
 
 Kansas (population, 996,096). — " This state passed a 
 prohibition law in 1881, whereby no intoxicating liquors of 
 any kind can be manufactured or sold, exceptions being made 
 as to liquor required for medicinal, scientific, and mechanical 
 purposes. It is held that this law is universally carried out 
 in the state, and is working to great advantage." 
 
 Iowa (population, 1,624,615). — "This state passed a pro- 
 hibition law which took eftect on 4th July 1884. . . . The strict 
 enforcement of this prohibition law has been found to be a
 
 152 APPENDIX. 
 
 matter of great difficulty, nor has it been long enough in 
 force to [enable us to] form any decided opinion of its effect." 
 
 Rhode Island (population, 276,531). — After a very full 
 recitation of Acts and forms of procedure, the report con- 
 cludes : — " This system has naturally caused a great loss to 
 the state from license fees. Statistics, however, show in 
 some towns a decrease of drunkenness and offences charge- 
 able to the intemperate use of intoxicating liquors. The 
 enforcement of this system is most arduous, and there is no 
 doubt but violation and defiance of this prohibition law is 
 carried on to a great extent with impunity." 
 
 [The law was repealed in 1889.] 
 
 The general result of these reports, if not strongly in 
 favour of prohibition, is at the least so far in favour of it as 
 to shoAv that the contemptuous way in which it has been 
 treated recently both by newspapers and iixUviduals as if it 
 were a failure is altogether unwarranted. 
 
 Of all the states in which it has been sought to work 
 prohibition, that which has attracted by far the greatest 
 attention of late is Kansas. It is comparatively a new state, 
 and the prohibitory law was enacted in 1880. The contest 
 was very keen, and the result not very decisive — 92,302 for, 
 and 84,304 against. There was no little bitterness and con- 
 tempt shown after this decision. In February 1881 a pro- 
 hibitory law was enacted to carry out this decision, which 
 was amended in 1885, and again in 1887. The last amend- 
 ment was directed against drug shops, some of which had 
 become almost as bad as saloons. 
 
 The law is now enforced in Kansas in a very rigorous 
 way. Mr. Maynard in the account of his inquiries which he 
 has published (" The Facts about Kansas," by L. A. May- 
 nard), says that few of the guilty escape, be they rich or 
 poor. One of the first men sent to jail in Topeka ?or viola-
 
 APPENDIX. 153 
 
 tion of the law was an old citizen wlio was reputed to be 
 worth 200,000 dollars. The proprietors of two of the leading 
 hotels in Topeka are now in prison for a similar offence. " 
 Few "joint-keepers" (as illegal sellers are now called) ven- 
 ture to dispute the law : on one occasion twenty-one out of 
 forty-seven that had been indicted, pleaded guilty, and threw 
 themselves on the mercy of the court. And conviction means 
 not only imprisonment, but often worJc ujioii the rockpile. 
 The rockpile is a heap of large stones in the yard which 
 prisoners have to break with hammers into road metal. 
 
 The testimonies of the highest authorities to the beneficial 
 effects of the prohibition law in this state seem to be beyond 
 challenge. Conspicuous among them are the ex-Governor 
 and the present Governor. The ex-Governor, Mr. John 
 Martin, was at first a determined opponent of the measure. 
 He did not believe in making men sober by Act of Parlia- 
 ment. He had little faith in the morality of a man that did 
 not. steal only because the law said he must not (yet he 
 upheld laws against theft). He thought prohibition a piece 
 of grandmotherly legislation. But after seeing its results 
 he became its strenuous defender. In a pamphlet entitled 
 " Prohibition in Kansas : Facts, not Opinions " (a statement 
 prepared by friends of temperance, and " indorsed by Gover- 
 nor Lyman M. Humphrey, the officers of state, and the 
 judges of the Supreme Court of Kansas"), we find the fol- 
 lowing remarkable extract from Governor Martin's biennial 
 message to the Legislature in January 1887 : — 
 
 " Three general elections have been held in Kansas since 
 the adoption of the prohibition amendment to the constitu- 
 tion. At each of these elections the people have reaffirmed 
 their decision against the manufacture or sale of intoxicating 
 liquors as a beverage, by electing Legislatures pledged to the 
 support of the amendment. At the election in ISTovember 
 last this question was a paramount issue, and again, by an
 
 154 APPENDIX. 
 
 emphatic majority, the sovereign verdict of the people was 
 pronounced against the saloon. 
 
 "A great reform has just been accomplished in Kansas. 
 Intemperance is steadily and surely decreasing. In thousands 
 of homes where want and wretchedness and suffering were 
 once familiar guests, plenty, happiness, and contentment now 
 abide. Thousands of wives and children are better clothed 
 and fed than when the saloons absorbed all the earnings of 
 husbands and fathers. The marvellous material growth of 
 the state during the past six years has been accompanied by 
 an equally marvellous moral progress, and it can be fairly 
 and truthfully asserted than in no portion of the civilized 
 world can a million and a half of people be found who are 
 more temperate than are the people of Kansas." 
 
 The present Governor (Humphrey) said in his message to 
 the Legislature, January 1889: — "The growth of public sen- 
 timent in support of constitutional prohibition in Kansas is 
 steady, healthy, and unmistakable. In the last campaign no 
 political party had the temerity to demand a resubmission 
 of the question to the people, in the face of a popular verdict 
 that has been repeated and emphasized every time the popu- 
 lar sense has been taken. As an issue in Kansas politics, 
 resubmission is as dead as slavery. The saloon as a factor 
 in politics, as a moral iniquity, has been outlawed and made 
 a fugitive and a vagabond on the face of the earth, or that 
 part of it within the territorial limits of Kansas." 
 
 As another illustration of the striking change which ex- 
 perience has caused in the views of former keen opponents, 
 the following extract from a speech of Senator P. G. Lowe, 
 delivered at Leavenworth, Kansas, March 30, 1889, is very 
 interesting : — " I opposed prohibition because I believed it not 
 the best way to deal with the evils of intemperance. I voted 
 against the prohibitory amendment. In the state Senate I 
 advocated resubmission, firmly believing that the people
 
 APPEXDIX. 155 
 
 ought to have an opportunity to again vote upon that ques- 
 tion. But my ideas were overruled by the Legislature, and 
 laws enacted to enforce prohibition. And now prohibition 
 is the fixed and unalterable law of tlie state. Thei'e is more 
 than 100,000 majority in favour of it. Since the prohibitory 
 amendment went in with a majority in favour of it, the 
 state has gained 700,000 people, and it is a fact that an 
 overwhelming majority came to Kansas because of the pro- 
 hibitory law. The sentiment is growing stronger every day. 
 
 People who oppose it are becoming more and more 
 
 reconciled every day. Hundreds of men who Ijelieved this 
 law would prove impracticable, and work more evil than 
 good, would not now vote for an open saloon for anything, 
 and I am one of them. I have come to the conclusion that 
 saloons are not a necessary evil, and no vote of mine will ever 
 encourage the opening of one. I believe it to be the moral 
 and religious duty of all good citizens of this city to lend 
 their moral and substantial support to the police commis- 
 sioners in enforcing this and every other law. It is the law 
 of the land, made by a majority of our people, and the sooner 
 we, as a whole and united people, support the authorities in 
 its enforcement, the sooner the demagogues and disturbers 
 will be out of the business. I make no apologies for this 
 speech. I speak from experience and conviction, and from 
 my heart." 
 
 "We turn to Mr. Maynard again for testimonies as to the 
 effect of the new law on material and moral interests. De- 
 scribing Fort Scott as having been notorious for lawlessness 
 and immorality, he says : — " In 1875, when the city had about 
 one-third its present population, there were two hundred and 
 twenty-three arrests for drunkenness, and three hundred and 
 thirty-seven other chai'ges. In 1887, the population having 
 risen from five thousand to fifteen thousand, there were one 
 hundred and sixteen arrests for drunkenness, and two hun-
 
 156 APPENDIX. 
 
 dred and eiglity-two for other charges. The fees of the police 
 judge have fallen fi'om two thousand four hundred dollars a 
 year to eight hundred. The police force has been reduced 
 from nine to five. The county jail has but five prisoners. The 
 reputation of Fort Scott for law, order, and public morality 
 is now as good as that of any other city of its size in the 
 land, and much better than most of those in saloon states. 
 Its streets are safe at any time of night, and the midnight 
 carousal and drunken brawl are things of the past." 
 
 Here is a galaxy of testimonies. Judge Dewey of Abilene 
 says: " No prisoners at present in the county jail." Judge 
 Strang of Larned : " Our jails are empty." The attorney of 
 Clay County : " Crime in this county has decreased three- 
 fourths." Judge Pipher of Manhattan: " There has been a 
 wonderful decrease of crime in this city." Mr. Sheaf or of 
 Concordia, County Cloud : " Crime in this county is almost 
 unknown, and our jail is empty most of the time." Mr. 
 Sarviss of Clifton : " Crime has decreased at least forty per 
 cent." Warden Smith of the State Penitentiary: "The num- 
 ber of inmates has fallen ofi" over one hundred in the past 
 eighteen months, and I attribute this to the prohibitory law." 
 
 Statistics in abundance might be quoted as to the effects 
 on the churches and schools of the state. We prefer to note 
 a statement as to prostitution, and one or two notices of an 
 improved domestic condition : — 
 
 " In such cities as Fort Scott and Topeka (the capital) I 
 was told that since the saloons and dance-houses had been 
 closed, immoral women had almost entirely disappeared from 
 the streets. A prominent clergyman and old resident of 
 Leavenworth told me that in the former days there were many 
 portions of that city where no respectable person would be 
 seen after nightfall. They were full of dance-houses, gam- 
 bling-dens, and houses of ill repute, and vice was bold and 
 x'ampant " (" Facts about Kansas," page 30).
 
 APPENDIX. 157 
 
 As to improved homes : A common labourer visited one 
 of the general stores of Atchison, just before last Christmas 
 time, to buy some toys for his children. He had been a 
 drinking man, and his purse was usually very light when it 
 came to buying anything for his family. But on this occa- 
 sion he insisted on buying liberally, for he said, " I want you 
 to understand that I am taking better care of my boys and 
 girls than I did when the saloons had a hold of me." 
 
 A habitue of the saloons of Topeka found that after the 
 saloons were shut up he was able to save six dollars a month 
 more than formerly. This amount he handed to his wife at 
 the end of the first month, saying, " There, take that, and get 
 yourself something with it; that's extra money." His ex- 
 planation was, "I made it out of prohibition." 
 
 A drinking man, after prohibition passed, had to send for 
 his drink to some place at a considerable distance, and buy 
 it in large quantities, or do Avithout. One day, when he came 
 to town, he found he had just three dollars — the price of 
 a case of liquor. He had promised his little daughter a 
 pair of new shoes, which he could not get if he went in for 
 the liquor. " If it has come to this," he said, " I will let the 
 liquor go. My little gii-1 shall have her shoes." This was 
 the last of the liquor trade with this man. The shoes did the 
 business for him, he said. 
 
 We conclude our testimonies from Kansas with that of the 
 Rev. H. Grattan Guinness of London : — " Kansas is a mar- 
 vel — roomy, bright, sunny. Christian, with no drink traffic, 
 no drunkards, no drunkards' wives, no drunkards' children, 
 empty jails, and no pauperism." 
 
 There is yet another aspect of the prohibition question on 
 which we must try to throw some light — the recent vote 
 against it in Rhode Island, Massachusetts, Pennsylvania, 
 West Virginia, and New Hampshire. I believe that that
 
 1 53 APPENDIX. 
 
 vote has been very much misunderstood in this country, and 
 that if the whole circumstances were known, the conclusion 
 to be come to would be very unlike that which has been ex- 
 pressed by some in all the confidence of ignorance. 
 
 Let us take the case of Massachusetts. We in this country 
 are prone to suppose that the vote there lay between ])ro- 
 hibition and such an iron-bound system of licensing as we 
 have in this unfortunate countrj^ Very much the reverse. 
 For long Massachusetts has had a law which confers local 
 option on the towns and counties. Many other states have 
 a similar law. And in Massachusetts, under the influence 
 of local option, the sale of drink has been prohibited in many 
 parts of the state. And the recent contest was in effect a 
 contest between local option and universal prohibition. Many 
 of the friends of temperance believed that more good could be 
 done at present under local option than under universal pro- 
 hibition. They saw the difficulty of enforcing prohibition in 
 such a city as Boston. They deemed it unwise to try what 
 could not be carried into effect. The whole matter is explained 
 in the subjoined extract from an address by Rev. Dr. Cuyler 
 of Brooklyn : — 
 
 "A certain number of people, and good people, were not 
 prepared to touch the constitution of the old commonwealth, 
 and they said, ' If there be temperance legislation, put it on 
 the statute book and not in the constitution.' That carried 
 a certain number of temperance men undoubtedly. Then 
 again there were large numbers of temperance towns now 
 living and working under local option that have shut up 
 every dram-shop, who felt that they were to gain nothing, 
 perhaps, by the constitutional amendment, and felt there 
 might be some risk of losing what they had gained ; at any 
 rate, in good faith, according to their judgment, they voted 
 against the amendment. Why, Cambridge, that refused to 
 license a single rum -den, gave two thousand against our
 
 APPENDIX. 159 
 
 amendment. The liighly-cultured religious town of Newton, 
 that generally votes a thousand against license, and has not 
 an open rum-shop in it, gave five hundred majority against 
 the amendment. Brother Moody's own town of Northfield 
 gave nearly a hundred majority against the amendment. 
 Why ? Because those people were in favour of rum 1 No ; 
 but according to their way of looking at it, they thought it 
 was better to leave things as they were. I am not saying 
 they are right or wrong, but I do stand up for this, that the 
 verdict of the people of Massachusetts is not to be construed 
 in favour of the unrestricted license and sale of intoxicants. 
 Nor is it the victory of the dram-shop that a great many 
 people over the land mistakenly imagine ; for be it observed 
 that the forces of temperance were divided and the saloon 
 powers were united." 
 
 I can fully corroborate what Dr. Cuyler says of Northfield. 
 While there, I never saw a vestige of a drink-shop in it, and 
 a more orderly or industrious community it would not be 
 easy to find. 
 
 Then with regard to Pennsylvania. That great state has 
 quite recently begun to try the system of high license. Many 
 of the friends of temperance judged it unwise to press for 
 prohibition until they should have time to make a proper 
 trial of the other system. It was known that under high 
 license hundreds of the lower class of saloons had succumbed 
 and passed away. It seemed of very doubtful expediency to 
 set this method aside so soon, and adopt one which in such a 
 city as Philadelphia all experience showed it would be very 
 difficult to work. In these circumstances the adverse vote 
 on the question of prohibition need surprise no one ; the won- 
 der rather is that its friends should have mustered so strong. 
 
 Many excellent friends of temperance prefer the high- 
 license plan, as being more practicable than prohibition. 
 The great Catholic Congress at Baltimore supported it very
 
 160 APPENDIX. 
 
 coi'dially, and obtained for this the thanks of the highly 
 Protestant and evangelical New York Observer. 
 
 In the body of this little book references will be found to 
 Long Beach and Pasadena in Southern California, and to the 
 North-West Territories and Manitoba in Canada. 
 
 The sum of the whole matter seems to be — 
 ' 1. That if every one would agree to prohibition, it would be 
 a vast benefit, would sweep away unnumbered evils, and bring 
 to a community no ordinary measure of peace and prosperity. 
 
 2. That where all do not agree, prohibition to be successful 
 needs two things — (1) the hearty support of the majority, and 
 (2) energetic measures to enforce it on the part of the magis- 
 trates, police authorities, and other persons of influence. 
 
 3. That the chief difiiculty in the way of prohibition is in 
 large cities and old states, where the drink interest is strong, 
 and where drinking - habits have been almost inextricably 
 mixed up with the social life of the community. It is here 
 that high license finds its chief advocates. 
 
 4. That its best prospect is in comparatively new localities, 
 or sparsely-peopled districts. 
 
 It will be of singular benefit to have the problem worked 
 out more fully in such states as Kansas, Iowa, and Maine. 
 If such happy results as those already found in Kansas 
 should be fully confirmed, and the state should be seen to 
 enjoy quite an exceptional prosperity, others might be per- 
 suaded to follow her example, and even the old citadels, now 
 so inveterate in their resistance, might be constrained to yield.
 
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