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diff --git a/old/12911.txt b/old/12911.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..436ec05 --- /dev/null +++ b/old/12911.txt @@ -0,0 +1,7050 @@ +The Project Gutenberg eBook, A Backward Glance at Eighty, by Charles A. +Murdock + + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + + + + +Title: A Backward Glance at Eighty + +Author: Charles A. Murdock + +Release Date: July 14, 2004 [eBook #12911] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-646-US (US-ASCII) + + +***START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK A BACKWARD GLANCE AT EIGHTY*** + + +E-text prepared by Bob Beard and Project Gutenberg Distributed Proofreaders + + + +Note: Project Gutenberg also has an HTML version of this + file which includes the original illustrations. + See 12911-h.htm or 12911-h.zip: + (https://www.gutenberg.org/1/2/9/1/12911/12911-h/12911-h.htm) + or + (https://www.gutenberg.org/1/2/9/1/12911/12911-h.zip) + + + + + +A BACKWARD GLANCE AT EIGHTY + +Recollections & Comment + +by + +CHARLES A. MURDOCK + +Massachusetts 1841 +Humboldt Bay 1855 +San Francisco 1864 + +1921 + + + + + + + +[Illustration: A CAMERA GLANCE AT EIGHTY] + + + + +THIS BOOK IS GRATEFULLY DEDICATED +TO THE FRIENDS WHO INSPIRED IT + + + + +CONTENTS + +CHAPTER + + I. NEW ENGLAND + II. A HIDDEN HARBOR + III. NINE YEARS NORTH + IV. THE REAL BRET HARTE + V. SAN FRANCISCO--THE SIXTIES + VI. LATER SAN FRANCISCO + VII. INCIDENTS IN PUBLIC SERVICE +VIII. AN INVESTMENT + IX. BY-PRODUCT + X. CONCERNING PERSONS + XI. OUTINGS + XII. OCCASIONAL VERSE + EPILOGUE + + +ILLUSTRATIONS + +A CAMERA GLANCE AT EIGHTY +HUMBOLDT BAY, WINSHIP MAP +FRANCIS BRET HARTE (Saroney, 1874) +THE CLAY-STREET OFFICE THE DAY AFTER +THOMAS STARR KING (Original given Bret Harte) +HORATIO STEBBINS, SAN FRANCISCO, 1864-1900 +HORACE DAVIS, HARVARD IN 1836 +OUTINGS: THE SIERRAS, HAWAII + + +FOREWORD + +In the autumn of 1920 the Board of Directors of the Pacific Coast +Conference of Unitarian Churches took note of the approaching eightieth +birthday of Mr. Charles A. Murdock, of San Francisco. Recalling Mr. +Murdock's active service of all good causes, and more particularly his +devotion to the cause of liberal religion through a period of more than +half a century, the board decided to recognize the anniversary, which +fell on January 26, 1921, by securing the publication of a volume of Mr. +Murdock's essays. A committee was appointed to carry out the project, +composed of Rev. H.E.B. Speight (chairman), Rev. C.S.S. Dutton, and Rev. +Earl M. Wilbur. + +The committee found a very ready response to its announcement of a +subscription edition, and Mr. Murdock gave much time and thought to the +preparation of material for the volume. "A Backward Glance at Eighty" is +now issued with the knowledge that its appearance is eagerly awaited by +all Mr. Murdock's friends and by a large number of others who welcome +new light upon the life of an earlier generation of pioneers. + +The publication of the book is an affectionate tribute to a good +citizen, a staunch friend, a humble Christian gentleman, and a fearless +servant of Truth--Charles A. Murdock. + +MEMORIAL COMMITTEE. + +GENESIS + +In the beginning, the publication of this book is not the deliberate act +of the octogenarian. Separate causes seem to have co-operated +independently to produce the result. Several years ago, in a modest +literary club, the late Henry Morse Stephens, in his passion for +historical material, urged me from time to time to devote my essays to +early experiences in the north of the state and in San Francisco. These +papers were familiar to my friends, and as my eightieth birthday +approached they asked that I add to them introductory and connecting +chapters and publish a memorial volume. To satisfy me that it would find +acceptance they secured advance orders to cover the expense. + +Under these conditions I could not but accede to their request. I would +subordinate an unimportant personal life. My purpose is to recall +conditions and experiences that may prove of historical interest and to +express some of the conclusions and convictions formed in an active and +happy life. + +I wish to express my gratitude to the members of the committee and to my +friend, George Prescott Vance, for suggestions and assistance in +preparation and publication. + +C.A.M. + + + + +CHAPTER I + +NEW ENGLAND + + +My very early memories alternate between my grandfather's farm in +Leominster, Massachusetts, and the Pemberton House in Boston. My father +and mother, both born in Leominster, were schoolmates, and in due time +they married. Father was at first a clerk in the country store, but at +an early age became the tavern-keeper. I was born on January 26, 1841. +Soon thereafter father took charge of the Pemberton House on Howard +Street, which developed into Whig headquarters. Being the oldest +grandson, I was welcome at the old homestead, and I was so well off +under the united care of my aunts that I spent a fair part of my life in +the country. + +My father was a descendant of Robert Murdock (of Roxbury), who left +Scotland in 1688, and whose descendants settled in Newton. My father's +branch removed to Winchendon, home of tubs and pails. My grandfather +(Abel) moved to Leominster and later settled in Worcester, where he +died when I was a small boy. My father's mother was a Moore, also of +Scotch ancestry. She died young, and on my father's side there was no +family home to visit. + +My mother's father was Deacon Charles Hills, descended from Joseph +Hills, who came from England in 1634. + +Nearly every New England town was devoted to some special industry, and +Leominster was given to the manufacture of horn combs. The industry was +established by a Hills ancestor, and when I was born four Hills brothers +were co-operative comb-makers, carrying on the business in connection +with small farming. The proprietors were the employees. If others were +required, they could be readily secured at the going wages of one dollar +a day. + +My grandfather was the oldest of the brothers. When he married Betsy +Buss his father set aside for him twenty acres of the home farm, and +here he built the house in which he lived for forty years, raising a +family of ten children. + +I remember quite clearly my great-grandfather Silas Hills. He was old +and querulous, and could certainly scold; but now that I know that he +was born in 1760, and had nineteen brothers and sisters, I think of him +with compassion and wonder. It connects me with the distant past to +think I remember a man who was sixteen years old when the Declaration +of Independence was signed. He died at ninety-five, which induces +apprehension. + +My grandfather's house faced the country road that ran north over the +rolling hills among the stone-walled farms, and was about a mile from +the common that marked the center of the town. It was white, of course, +with green blinds. The garden in front was fragrant from Castilian +roses, Sweet Williams, and pinks. There were lilacs and a barberry-bush. +A spacious hall bisected the house. The south front room was sacred to +funerals and weddings; we seldom entered it. Back of that was grandma's +room. Stairs in the hall led to two sleeping-rooms above. The north +front room was "the parlor," but seldom used. There on the center-table +reposed Baxter's "Saints' Rest" and Young's "Night Thoughts." The +fireplace flue so seldom held a fire that the swallows utilized the +chimney for their nests. Back of this was the dining-room, in which we +lived. It had a large brick oven and a serviceable fireplace. The +kitchen was an ell, from which stretched woodshed, carriage-house, +pigpen, smoking-house, etc. Currant and quince bushes, rhubarb, +mulberry, maple, and butternut trees were scattered about. An apple +orchard helped to increase the frugal income. + +We raised corn and pumpkins, and hay for the horse and cows. The corn +was gathered into the barn across the road, and a husking-bee gave +occasion for mild merrymaking. As necessity arose the dried ears were +shelled and the kernels taken to the mill, where an honest portion was +taken for grist. The corn-meal bin was the source of supply for all +demands for breakfast cereal. Hasty-pudding never palled. Small incomes +sufficed. Our own bacon, pork, spare-rib, and souse, our own butter, +eggs, and vegetables, with occasional poultry, made us little dependent +on others. One of the great-uncles was a sportsman, and snared rabbits +and pickerel, thus extending our bill of fare. Bread and pies came from +the weekly baking, to say nothing of beans and codfish. Berries from the +pasture and nuts from the woods were plentiful. For lights we were +dependent on tallow candles or whale-oil, and soap was mostly home-made. + +Life was simple but happy. The small boy had small duties. He must pick +up chips, feed the hens, hunt eggs, sprout potatoes, and weed the +garden. But he had fun the year round, varying with the seasons, but +culminating with the winter, when severity was unheeded in the joy of +coasting, skating, and sleighing in the daytime, and apples, chestnuts, +and pop-corn in the long evenings. + +I never tired of watching my grandfather and his brothers as they worked +in their shops. The combs were not the simple instruments we now use to +separate and arrange the hair, but ornamental structures that women wore +at the back of the head to control their supposedly surplus locks. They +were associated with Spanish beauties, and at their best estate were +made of shell, but our combs were of horn and of great variety. In the +better quality, shell was closely imitated, but some were frankly horn +and ornamented by the application of aquafortis in patterns artistic or +grotesque according to the taste and ability of the operator. The horns +were sawed, split, boiled in oil, pressed flat, and then died out ready +to be fashioned into the shape required for the special product. This +was done in a separate little shop by Uncle Silas and Uncle Alvah. Uncle +Emerson then rubbed and polished them in the literally one-horsepower +factory, and grandfather bent and packed them for the market. The power +was supplied by a patient horse, "Log Cabin" by name, denoting the date +of his acquisition in the Harrison campaign. All day the faithful nag +trod a horizontal wheel in the cellar, which gave way to his efforts and +generated the power that was transmitted by belt to the simple machinery +above. + +Uncle Emerson generally sung psalm-tunes as he worked. Deacon Hills, as +he was always called, was finisher, packer, and business manager. I was +interested to notice that in doing up the dozen combs in a package he +always happened to select the best one to tie on the outside as a +sample. That was his nearest approach to dishonesty. He was a +thoroughly good man, but burdened and grave. I do not know that I ever +heard him laugh, and he seldom, if ever, smiled. He worked hard, was +faithful to every duty, and no doubt loved his family; but soberness was +inbred. He read the _Cultivator_, the _Christian Register_, and the +almanac. After the manner of his time, he was kind and helpful; but life +was hard and joyless. He was greatly respected and was honored by a +period of service as representative in the General Court. + +My grandmother was a gentle, patient soul, living for her family, wholly +unselfish and incapable of complaint. She was placid and cheerful, +courageous and trusting. I had four fine aunts, two of whom were then +unmarried and devoted to the small boy. One was a veritable ray of +sunshine; the other, gifted of mind and nearest my age, was most +companionable. Only one son lived to manhood. He had gone from the home, +but faithfully each year returned from the city to observe Thanksgiving, +the great day of New England. + +Holidays were somewhat infrequent. Fourth of July and muster, of course, +were not forgotten, and while Christmas was almost unnoticed +Thanksgiving we never failed to mark with all its social and religious +significance. Almost everybody went to meeting, and the sermon, commonly +reviewing the year, was regarded as an event. The home-coming of the +absent family members and the reunion at a bountiful dinner became the +universal custom. There were no distractions in the way of professional +football or other games. The service, the family, and plenty of good +things to eat engrossed the day. It was a time of rejoicing--and +unlimited pie. + +Sunday was strictly observed. Grandfather always blacked his boots +before sundown of Saturday night, and on Sunday anything but going to +meeting was regarded with suspicion, especially if it was associated +with any form of enjoyment. In summer "Log Cabin" was hitched into the +shafts of the chaise, and with gait slightly accelerated beyond the +daily habit jogged to town and was deposited in the church shed during +the service. At noon we rejoined him and ate our ginger-bread and cheese +while he disposed of his luncheon of oats. Then we went back to +Sunday-school, and he rested or fought flies. In winter he was decked +with bells and hitched in the sleigh. Plenty of robes and a foot-stove, +or at least a slab of heated soap-stone, provided for grandmother's +comfort. + +The church when it was formed was named "The First Congregational." When +it became Unitarian, the word, in parentheses, was added. The Second +Congregational was always called "The Orthodox." The church building was +a fine example of early architecture. The steeple was high, the walls +were white, the pews were square. On a tablet at the right of the pulpit +the Ten Commandments were inscribed, and at the left the Beatitudes +were found. + +The first minister I remember was saintly Hiram Withington, who won my +loyalty by his interest manifested by standing me up by the door-jamb +and marking my growth from call to call. I remember Rufus P. Stebbins, +the former minister, who married my father and mother and refused a fee +because my father had always cut his hair in the barberless days of old. +Amos A. Smith was later in succession. I loved him for his goodness. +Sunday-school was always a matter of course, and was never dreaded. + +I early enjoyed the Rollo books and later reveled in Mayne Reid. The +haymow in the barn and a blessed knothole are associated with many happy +hours. + +Reading has dangers. I think one of the first books I ever read was a +bound volume of _Merry's Museum_. There was a continued story recounting +the adventures of one Dick Boldhero. It was illustrated with horrible +woodcuts. One of them showed Dick bearing on a spirited charger the +clasped form of the heroine, whom he had abducted. It impressed me +deeply. I recognized no distinction of sex or attractiveness and lived +in terror of suffering abduction. When I saw a stranger coming I would +run into the shop and clasp my arms around some post until I felt the +danger past. This must have been very early in my career. Indeed one of +my aunts must have done the reading, leaving me to draw distress from +the thrilling illustrations. + +A very early trial was connected with a visit to a school. I was getting +proud of my ability to spell small words. A primer-maker had attempted +to help the association of letters with objects by placing them in +juxtaposition, but through a mistake he led me to my undoing. I knew my +letters and I knew some things. I plainly distinguished the letters +P-A-N. Against them I was puzzled by a picture of a spoon, and with +credulity, perhaps characteristic, I blurted out "P-a-n--spoon," whereat +to my great discomfiture everybody laughed. I have never liked being +laughed at from that day to this. + +I am glad that I left New England early, but I am thankful that it was +not before I realized the loveliness of the arbutus as it braved the +snow and smiled at the returning sun, nor that I made forts or played +morris in the snow at school. + +I have passed on from my first impressions in the country perhaps +unwarrantedly. It is hard to differentiate consistently. I may have +mixed early memories with more mature realization. I did not live with +my grandmother continuously. I went back and forth as convenience and +others' desires prompted. I do not know what impressions of life in the +Pemberton House came first. Very early I remember helping my busy +little mother, who in the spring of the year uncorded all the bedsteads +and made life miserable for the festive bedbugs by an application of +whale oil from a capable feather applied to the inside of all holes +through which the ropes ran. The re-cording of the beds was a tedious +process requiring two persons, and I soon grew big enough to count as +one. I remember also the little triangular tin candlesticks that we +inserted at the base of each of the very small panes of the window when +we illuminated the hotel on special nights. I distinctly recall the +quivering of the full glasses of jelly on tapering disks that formed +attractive table ornaments. + +Daniel Webster was often the central figure at banquets in the +Pemberton. General Sam Houston, Senator from Texas, was also +entertained, for I remember that my father told me of an incident that +occurred many years after, when he passed through San Antonio. As he +strolled through the city he saw the Senator across the street, but, +supposing that he would not be remembered, had no thought of speaking, +whereupon Houston called out, "Young man, are you not going to speak to +me!" My father replied that he had not supposed that he would be +remembered. "Of course I remember meeting you at the Pemberton House in +Boston." + +I remember some of the boarders, regular and transient, distinguished +and otherwise. There was a young grocery clerk who used to hold me in +his lap and talk to me. He became one of the best of California's +governors, Frederick F. Low, and was a close friend of Thomas Starr +King. A wit on a San Francisco paper once published at Thanksgiving time +"A Thanksgiving proclamation by our stuttering reporter--'Praise God +from whom all blessings f-f-low.'" In my memory he is associated with +Haymaker Square. + +I well remember the famous circus clown of the period, Joe Pentland, +very serious and proper when not professionally funny. A minstrel who +made a great hit with "Jim Crow" once gave me a valuable lesson on table +manners. One Barrett, state treasurer, was a boarder. He had a standing +order: "Roast beef, rare and fat; gravy from the dish." Madame +Biscaccianti, of the Italian opera, graced our table. So did the +original Drew family. + +The hotel adjoined the Howard Athenaeum, and I profited from peeping +privileges to the extent of many pins. I recall some wonderful trained +animals--Van Amberg's, I think. A lion descended from back-stage and +crawled with stealth upon a sleeping traveler in the foreground. It was +thrilling but harmless. There were also some Viennese dancers, who +introduced, I believe, the Cracovienne. I remember a "Sissy Madigan," +who seemed a wonder of beauty and charm. + +There was great excitement when the Athenaeum caught on fire. I can see +the trunks being dragged down the stairs to the damage of the banisters, +and great confusion and dismay among our boarders. A small boy was +hurried in his nightie across the street and kept till all danger had +passed. A very early memory is the marching through the streets of +soldiers bound for the Mexican War. + +Off and on, I lived in Boston till 1849, when my father left for +California and the family returned to Leominster. + +My first school in Boston was in the basement of Park Street Church. +Hermann Clarke, son of our minister, Rev. James Freeman Clarke, was a +fellow pupil. Afterward I went to the Mayhew Grammar School, connected +in my mind with a mild chastisement for imitating a trombone when a +procession passed by. The only other punishment I recall was a spanking +by my father for playing "hookey" and roaming in the public garden. I +remember Sunday-school parades through certain public streets. But the +great event was the joining of all the day schools in the great parade +when Cochituate water was introduced into the city. It was a proud +moment when the fountain in the frogpond on the Common threw on high the +water prodigiously brought from far Cochituate. + +Another Boston memory is the Boston Theater, where William Warren +reigned. Cinderella and her pumpkin carriage are fresh in my mind. I +also recall a waxwork representation of the Birth in the Manger. I still +can see the heads of the cattle, the spreading horns, and the blessed +Babe. + +As I recall my early boyhood, many changes in customs seem suggested. +There may be trundle-beds in these days, but I never see them. No +fathers wear boots in this era, and bootjacks are as extinct as the +dodo. I have kept a few letters written by my mother when I was away +from her. They were written on a flat sheet, afterward folded and +fastened by a wafer. Envelopes had not arrived; neither had +postage-stamps. Sealing-wax was then in vogue and red tape for important +documents. In all well-regulated dwellings there were whatnots in the +corner with shells and waxworks and other objects of beauty or mild +interest. The pictures did not move--they were fixed in the family +album. The musical instruments most in evidence were jew's-harps and +harmonicas. The Rollo books were well calculated to make a boy sleepy. +The Franconia books were more attractive, and "The Green Mountain Boy" +was thrilling. A small boy's wildest dissipation was rolling a hoop. + +And now California casts her shadow. My father was an early victim. I +remember his parting admonition, as he was a man of few words and seldom +offered advice. "Be careful," he said, "of wronging others. Do not +repeat anything you hear that reflects on another. It is a pretty good +rule, when you cannot speak well of another, to say nothing at all." He +must have said more, but that is all that I recall. + +Father felt that in two years he would return with enough money to +provide for our needs. In the meantime we could live at less expense and +in greater safety in the country. We returned to the town we all loved, +and the two years stretched to six. We three children went to school, my +mother keeping house. In 1851 my grandfather died, and in 1853 my +grandmother joined him. + +During these Leominster days we greatly enjoyed a visit from my father's +sister, Charlotte, with her husband, John Downes, an astronomer +connected with Harvard University. They were charming people, bringing a +new atmosphere from their Cambridge home. Uncle John tried to convince +me that by dividing the heavens I might count the visible stars, but he +did not succeed. He wrote me a fine, friendly letter on his returning +home, in 1852, using a sheet of blue paper giving on the third page a +view of the college buildings and a procession of the alumni as they +left the church Sept. 6, 1836. In the letter he pronounced it a very +good view. It is presented elsewhere, in connection with the picture of +a friend who entered the university a few years later. + +School life was pleasant and I suppose fairly profitable. Until I +entered high school I attended the ungraded district school. It was on +the edge of a wood, and a source of recess pleasure was making +umbrageous homes of pine boughs. On the last day of school the school +committee, the leading minister, the ablest lawyer, and the best-loved +doctor were present to review and address us. We took much pride in the +decoration. Wreaths of plaited leaves were twisted around the stovepipe; +the top of the stove was banked with pond-lilies gathered from a pond in +our woods. Medals were primitive. For a week I wore a pierced ninepence +in evidence of my proficiency in mental arithmetic; then it passed to +stronger hands. + +According to present standards we indulged in precious little amusement. +Entertainments were few. Once in a while a circus came to town, and +there were organizations of musical attractions like The Hutchinson +Family and The Swiss Bell Ringers. Ossian E. Dodge was a name with which +to conjure, and a panorama was sometimes unrolled alternating with +dissolving views. Seen in retrospect, they all seem tame and unalluring. +The Lyceum was, the feature of strongest interest to the grownups. +Lectures gave them a chance to see men of note like Wendell Phillips, +Emerson, or William Lloyd Garrison. Even boys could enjoy poets of the +size of John G. Saxe. + +Well do I remember the distrust felt for abolitionists. I had an uncle +who entertained Fred Douglass and was ready at any time to help a +fugitive slave to Canada. He was considered dangerous. He was a +shoemaker, and I remember how he would drop his work when no one was by +and get up to pace the floor and rehearse a speech he probably never +would make. + +Occasionally our singing-school would give a concert, and once in a +farmers' chorus I was costumed in a smock cut down from one of +grandfather's. I carried a sickle and joined in "Through lanes with +hedgerows, pearly." I kept up in the singing but let my attention wander +as the farmers made their exit and did not notice that I was left till +the other boys were almost off the stage. I then skipped after them, +swinging my scythe in chagrin. + +In the high school we gave an exhibition in which we enacted some Scotch +scene. I think it had to do with Roderick Dhu. We were to be costumed, +and I was bothered about kilts and things. Mr. Phillips, the principal, +suggested that the stage be set with small evergreen trees. The picture +of them in my mind's eye brought relief, and I impulsively exclaimed, +"That will be good, because we will not have to wear pants," meaning, of +course, the kilts. He had a sense of humor and was a tease. He pretended +to take me literally, and raised a laugh as he said, "Why, Murdock!" + +One bitterly cold night we went to Fitchburg, five miles away, to +describe the various pictures given at a magic-lantern exhibition. My +share was a few lines on a poor view of Scarborough Castle. At this +distance it seems like a poor investment of energy. + +I wonder if modern education has not made some progress in a generation. +Here was a boy of fourteen who had never studied history or physics or +physiology and was assigned nothing but Latin, algebra and grammar. I +left at fourteen and a half to come to California, knowing little but +what I had picked up accidentally. + +A diary of my voyage, dating from June 4, 1855, vividly illustrates the +character of the English inculcated by the school of the period. It +refers to the "crowd assembled to witness our departure." It recounts +all we saw, beginning with Washacum Pond, which we passed on our way to +Worcester: "of considerable magnitude, ... and the small islands which +dot its surface render it very beautiful." The buildings of New York +impressed the little prig greatly. Trinity Church he pronounces "one of +the most splendid edifices which I ever saw," and he waxes into +"Opalian" eloquence over Barnum's American Museum, which was +"illuminated from basement to attic." + +We sailed on the "George Law," arriving at Aspinwall, the eastern +terminal of the Panama Railroad, in ten days. Crossing the isthmus, +with its wonders of tropical foliage and varied monkeys, gave a glimpse +of a new world. We left Panama June 16th and arrived at San Francisco on +the morning of the 30th. + +Let the diary tell the tale of the beginning of life in California: "I +arose about 4-1/2 this morning and went on deck. We were then in the +Golden Gate, which is the entrance into San Francisco Bay. On each side +of us was high land. On the left-hand side was a lighthouse, and the +light was still burning. On my right hand was the outer telegraph +building. When they see us they telegraph to another place, from which +they telegraph all over San Francisco. When we were going in there was a +strong ebb tide. We arrived at the wharf a little after five o'clock. +The first thing which I did was to look for my father. Him I did not +see." + +Father had been detained in Humboldt by the burning of the connecting +steamer, so we went to Wilson's Exchange in Sansome near Sacramento +Street, and in the afternoon took the "Senator" for Sacramento, where my +uncle and aunt lived. + +The part of a day in San Francisco was used to the full in prospecting +the strange city. We walked its streets and climbed its hills, much +interested in all we saw. The line of people waiting for their mail up +at Portsmouth Square was perhaps the most novel sight. A race up the +bay, waiting for the tide at Benicia, sticking on the "Hog's Back" in +the night, and the surprise of a flat, checkerboard city were the most +impressive experiences of the trip to Sacramento. + +A month or so on this compulsory visit passed very pleasantly. We found +fresh delight in watching the Chinese and their habits. We had never +seen a specimen before. A very pleasant picnic and celebration on the +Fourth of July was another attractive novelty. Cheap John auctions and +frequent fires afforded amusement and excitement, and we learned to +drink muddy water without protest. + +On the 15th the diary records: "Last night about 12 o'clock I woke, and +who should I behold, standing by me, but my father! Is it possible that +after a separation of nearly six years I have at last met my father? It +is even so. This form above me is, indeed, my father's." The day's entry +concludes: "I have really enjoyed myself today. I like the idea of a +father very well." + +We were compelled to await an upcoast steamer till August, when that +adventurous craft, the steamer "McKim," now newly named the "Humboldt," +resumed sea-voyages. The Pacific does not uniformly justify the name, +but this time it completely succeeded. The ocean was as smooth as the +deadest mill-pond--not a breath of wind or a ripple of the placid +surface. Treacherous Humboldt Bar, sometimes a mountain of danger, did +not even disclose its location. The tar from the ancient seams of the +Humboldt's decks responded to the glowing sun until pacing the deck was +impossible, but sea-sickness was no less so. We lazily steamed into the +beautiful harbor, up past Eureka, her streets still occupied by stumps, +and on to the ambitious pier stretching nearly two miles from Uniontown +to deep water. + +And now that the surroundings may be better understood, let me digress +from the story of my boyhood and touch on the early romance of Humboldt +Bay--its discovery and settlement. + + + + +CHAPTER II + +A HIDDEN HARBOR + + +The northwesterly corner of California is a region apart. In its +physical characteristics and in its history it has little in common with +the rest of the state. With no glamour of Spanish occupancy, its romance +is of quite another type. At the time of the discovery of gold in +California the northwestern portion of the state was almost unknown +territory. For seven hundred miles, from Fort Ross to the mouth of the +Columbia, there stretched a practically uncharted coast. A few headlands +were designated on the imperfect map and a few streams were poorly +sketched in, but the great domain had simply been approached from the +sea and its characteristics were mostly a matter of conjecture. So far +as is known, not a white man lived in all California west of the Coast +Range and north of Fort Ross. + +Here is, generally speaking, a mountainous region heavily timbered along +the coast, diversified with river valleys and rolling hills. A marked +peculiarity is its sharp slope toward the northwest for its entire +length. East of the Coast Range the Sacramento River flows due south, +while to the west of the broken mountains all the streams flow +northwesterly--more northerly than westerly. Eel River flows about 130 +miles northerly and, say, forty miles westerly. The same course is taken +by the Mattole, the Mad, and the Trinity rivers. The watershed of this +corner to the northwest is extensive, including a good part of what are +now Mendocino, Trinity, Siskiyou, Humboldt, and Del Norte counties. The +drainage of the westerly slope of the mountain ranges north and west of +Shasta reaches the Pacific with difficulty. The Klamath River flows +southwest for 120 miles until it flanks the Siskiyous. It there meets +the Trinity, which flows northwest. The combined rivers take the +direction of the Trinity, but the name of the Klamath prevails. It +enters the ocean about thirty miles south of the Oregon line. The whole +region is extremely mountainous. The course of the river is tortuous, +winding among the mountains. + +The water-flow shows the general trend of the ranges; but most of the +rivers have numerous forks, indicating transverse ridges. From an +aeroplane the mountains of northern California would suggest an immense +drove of sleeping razor-backed hogs nestling against one another to keep +warm, most of their snouts pointed northwest. + +Less than one-fourth of the land is tillable, and not more than a +quarter of that is level. Yet it is a beautiful, interesting and +valuable country, largely diversified, with valuable forests, fine +mountain ranges, gently rolling hills, rich river bottoms, and, on the +upper Trinity, gold-bearing bars. + +Mendocino (in Humboldt County) was given its significant name about +1543. When Heceta and Bodega in 1775 were searching the coast for +harbors, they anchored under the lee of the next northerly headland. +After the pious manner of the time, having left San Blas on Trinity +Sunday, they named their haven Trinidad. Their arrival was six days +before the battle of Bunker Hill. + +It is about forty-five miles from Cape Mendocino to Trinidad. The bold, +mountainous hills, though they often reach the ocean, are somewhat +depressed between these points. Halfway between them lies Humboldt Bay, +a capacious harbor with a tidal area of twenty-eight miles. It is the +best and almost the only harbor from San Francisco to Puget Sound. It is +fourteen miles long, in shape like an elongated human ear. It eluded +discovery with even greater success than San Francisco Bay, and the +story of its final settlement is striking and romantic. + +Neither Cabrillo nor Heceta nor Drake makes mention of it. In 1792 +Vancouver followed the coast searchingly, but when he anchored in what +he called the "nook" of Trinidad he was entirely ignorant of a near-by +harbor. We must bear in mind that Spain had but the slightest +acquaintance with the empire she claimed. The occasional visits of +navigators did not extend her knowledge of the great domain. It is +nevertheless surprising that in the long course of the passage of the +galleons to and from the Philippines the bays of San Francisco and +Humboldt should not have been found even by accident. + +The nearest settlement was the Russian colony near Bodega, one hundred +and seventy-five miles to the south. In 1811 Kuskoff found a river +entering the ocean near the point. He called it Slavianski, but General +Vallejo rescued us from that when he referred to it as Russian River. +The land was bought from the Indians for a trifle. Madrid was applied to +for a title, but the Spaniards declined to give it. The Russians held +possession, however, and proceeded with cultivation. To better protect +their claims, nineteen miles up the coast, they erected a stockade +mounting twenty guns. They called the fort Kosstromitinoff, but the +Spaniards referred to it as _el fuerte de los Rusos_, which was +anglicized as Fort Russ, and, finally, as Fort Ross. The colony +prospered for a while, but sealing "pinched out" and the territory +occupied was too small to satisfy agricultural needs. In 1841 the +Russians sold the whole possession to General Sutter for thirty thousand +dollars and withdrew from California, returning to Alaska. + +In 1827 a party of adventurers started north from Fort Ross for Oregon, +following the coast. One Jedidiah Smith, a trapper, was the leader. It +is said that Smith River, near the Oregon line, was named for him. +Somewhere on the way all but four were reported killed by the Indians. +They are supposed to have been the first white men to enter the Humboldt +country. + +Among the very early settlers in California was Pearson B. Redding, who +lived on a ranch near Mount Shasta. In 1845, on a trapping expedition, +he struck west through a divide in the Coast Range and discovered a +good-sized, rapid river flowing to the west. From its direction and the +habit of rivers to seek the sea, he concluded that it was likely to +reach the Pacific at about the latitude of Trinidad, named seventy years +before. He thereupon gave it the name of Trinity, and in due time left +it running and returned to his home. + +Three years passed, and gold was discovered by Marshall. Redding was +interested and curious and visited the scene of Marshall's find. The +American River and its bars reminded him of the Trinity, and when he +returned to his home he organized a party to prospect it. Gold was found +in moderate quantities, especially on the upper portions. The Trinity +mines extended confidence and added to the excitement. Camps sprang up +on every bar. The town of Weaverville took the lead, and still holds it. +Quite a population followed and the matter of provisioning it became +serious. The base of supplies was Sacramento, two hundred miles distant +and over a range of mountains. To the coast it could not be more than +seventy miles. If the Trinity entered a bay or was navigable, it would +be a great saving and of tremendous advantage. The probability or +possibility was alluring and was increasingly discussed. + +In October, 1849, there were at Rich Bar forty miners short of +provisions and ready for any adventure. The Indians reported that eight +suns to the west was a large bay with fertile land and tall trees. A +vision of a second San Francisco, a port for all northern California, +urged them to try for it. Twenty-four men agreed to join the party, and +the fifth of November was set for the start. Dr. Josiah Gregg was chosen +leader and two Indians were engaged as guides. When the day arrived the +rain was pouring and sixteen of the men and the two guides backed out, +but the remaining eight were courageous (or foolhardy) and not to be +thwarted. With a number of pack animals and eight days' supplies they +started up the slippery mountainside. At the summit they encountered a +snowstorm and camped for the night. In the morning they faced a western +view that would have discouraged most men--a mass of mountains, +rough-carved and snow-capped, with main ridges parallel on a +northwesterly line. In every direction to the most distant horizon +stretched these forbidding mountains. The distance to the ocean was +uncertain, and their course to it meant surmounting ridge after ridge of +the intervening mountains. They plunged down and on, crossed a swollen +stream, and crawled up the eastern side of the next ridge. For six days +this performance was repeated. Then they reached a large stream with an +almost unsurmountable mountain to the west. They followed down the +stream until they found it joined another of about equal size. They had +discovered the far-flowing south fork of the Trinity. They managed to +swim the united river and found a large Indian village, apparently +giving the inhabitants their first view of white men. The natives all +fled in fright, leaving their camps to the strange beings. The invaders +helped themselves to the smoked salmon that was plentiful, leaving flour +in exchange. At dusk about eighty of the fighting sex returned with +renewed courage, and threateningly. It took diplomacy to postpone an +attack till morning, when powder would be dry. They relied upon a +display of magic power from their firearms that would impress superior +numbers with the senselessness of hostilities. They did not sleep in +great security, and early in the morning proceeded with the +demonstration, upon which much depended. + +When they set up a target and at sixty yards pierced a scrap of paper +and the tree to which it was pinned the effect was satisfactory. The +Indians were astonished at the feat, but equally impressed by the +unaccountable noise from the explosion. They became very friendly, +warned the wonder-workers of the danger to be encountered if they headed +north, where Indians were many and fierce, and told them to keep due +west. + +The perilous journey was continued by the ascent of another +mountainside. Provisions soon became very scarce, nothing but flour +remaining, and little of that. On the 18th they went dinnerless to their +cold blankets. Their animals had been without food for two days, but the +next morning they found grass. A redwood forest was soon encountered, +and new difficulties developed. The underbrush was dense and no trails +were found. Fallen trees made progress very slow. Two miles a day was +all they could accomplish. They painfully worked through the section of +the marvelous redwood belt destined to astonish the world, reaching a +small prairie, where they camped. The following day they devoted to +hunting, luckily killing a number of deer. Here they remained several +days, drying the venison in the meantime; but when, their strength +recuperated, they resumed their journey, the meat was soon exhausted. +Three days of fasting for man and beast followed. Two of the horses +were left to their fate. Then another prairie yielded more venison and +the meat of three bears. For three weeks they struggled on; life was +sustained at times by bitter acorns alone. + +At length the welcome sound of surf was heard, but three days passed +before they reached the ocean. Three of the animals had died of +starvation in the last stretch of the forest. The men had not eaten for +two days, and devoted the first day on the beach to securing food. One +shot a bald eagle; another found a raven devouring a cast-up fish, both +of which he secured. All were stewed together, and a good night's sleep +followed the questionable meal. + +The party struck the coast near the headland that in 1775 had been named +Trinidad, but not being aware of this fact they named it, for their +leader, Gregg's Point. + +After two days' feasting on mussels and dried salmon obtained from the +Indians, they kept on south. Soon after crossing a small stream, now +named Little River, they came to one by no means so little. Dr. Gregg +insisted on getting out his instruments and ascertaining the latitude, +but the others had no scientific interest and were in a hurry to go on. +They hired Indians to row them across in canoes, and all except the +doctor bundled in. Finding himself about to be left, he grabbed up his +instruments and waded out into the stream to reach the canoe, which had +no intention of leaving him. He got in, wet and very angry, nursing his +wrath till shore was reached; then he treated his companions to some +vigorous language. They responded in kind, and the altercation became so +violent that the row gave the stream its name, Mad River. + +They continued down the beach, camping when night overtook them. Wood, +the chronicler of the expedition, [Footnote: "The Narrative of L.K. +Wood," published many years after, and largely incorporated in Bledsoe's +"History of the Indian Wars of Northern California," is the source of +most of the incidents relating to Gregg's party embraced in this +chapter.] and Buck went in different directions to find water. Wood +returned first with a bucketful, brackish and poor. Buck soon after +arrived with a supply that looked much better, but when Gregg sampled it +he made a wry face and asked Buck where he found it. He replied that he +dipped it out of a smooth lake about a half mile distant. It was good +plain salt water; they had discovered the mythical bay--or supposed they +had. They credulously named it Trinity, expecting to come to the river +later. The next day they proceeded down the narrow sand strip that now +bounds the west side of Humboldt Bay, but when they reached the harbor +entrance from the ocean they were compelled to retrace their steps and +try the east shore. The following day they headed the bay, camping at a +beautiful plateau on the edge of the redwood belt, giving a fine view +of a noble landlocked harbor and a rich stretch of bottom land reaching +to Mad River. Here they found an abundant spring, and narrowly missed a +good supper; for they shot a large elk, which, to their great +disappointment, took to the brush. It was found dead the next morning, +and its head, roasted in ashes, constituted a happy Christmas +dinner--for December 25th had arrived, completing an even fifty days +since the start from Rich Bar. + +They proceeded leisurely down the east side of the bay, stopping the +second day nearly opposite the entrance. It seemed a likely place for a +townsite, and they honored the water-dipping discoverer by calling it +Bucksport. Then they went on, crossing the little stream now named Elk +River, and camping near what was subsequently called Humboldt Point. +They were disappointed that no river of importance emptied into so fine +a bay, but they realized the importance of such a harbor and the value +of the soil and timber. They were, however, in no condition to settle, +or even to tarry. Their health and strength were impaired, ammunition +was practically exhausted, and there were no supplies. They would come +back, but now they must reach civilization. It was midwinter and raining +almost constantly. They had little idea of distance, but knew there were +settlers to the south, and that they must reach them or starve. So they +turned from the bay they had found to save their lives. + +The third day they reached a large river flowing from the south, +entering the ocean a few miles south of the bay. As they reached it they +met two very old Indians loaded down with eels just taken from the +river, which the Indians freely shared with the travelers. They were so +impressed with them and more that followed that they bestowed on the +magnificent river which with many branches drains one of the most +majestic domains on earth the insignificant, almost sacrilegious name of +_Eel_! + +For two days they camped, consuming eels and discussing the future. A +most unfortunate difference developed, dividing the little group of men +who had suffered together so long. Gregg and three others favored +following the ocean beach. The other four, headed by Wood, were of the +opinion that the better course would be to follow up Eel River to its +head, crossing the probably narrow divide and following down some stream +headed either south or east. Neither party would yield and they parted +company, each almost hopeless. + +Wood and his companions soon found their plan beset with great +difficulties. Spurs of the mountains came to the river's edge and cut +off ascent. After five days they left the river and sought a mountain +ridge. A heavy snowfall added to their discomfiture. They killed a small +deer, and camped for five days, devouring it thankfully. Compelled by +the snow, they returned to the river-bed, the skin of the deer their +only food. One morning they met and shot at five grizzly bears, but none +were killed. The next morning in a mountain gully eight ugly grizzlies +faced them. In desperation they determined to attack. Wood and Wilson +were to advance and fire. The others held themselves in reserve--one of +them up a tree. At fifty feet each selected a bear and fired. Wilson +killed his bear; Wood thought he had finished his. The beast fell, +biting the earth and writhing in agony. Wilson sensibly climbed a tree +and called upon Wood to do likewise. He started to first reload his +rifle and the ball stuck. When the two shots were fired five of the +bears started up the mountain, but one sat quietly on its haunches +watching proceedings. As Wood struggled with his refractory bullet it +started for him. He gained a small tree and climbed beyond reach. Unable +to load, he used his rifle to beat back the beast as it tried to claw +him. To his horror the bear he thought was killed rose to its feet and +furiously charged the tree, breaking it down at once. Wood landed on his +feet and ran down the mountain to a small buckeye, the bear after him. +He managed to hook his arm around the tree, swinging his body clear. The +wounded bear was carried by its momentum well down the mountain. Wood +ran for another tree, the other bear close after him, snapping at his +heels. Before he could climb out of reach he was grabbed by the ankle +and pulled down. The wounded bear came jumping up the mountain and +caught him by the shoulder. They pulled against each other as if to +dismember him. His hip was dislocated and he suffered some painful flesh +wounds. + +His clothing was stripped from his body and he felt the end had come, +but the bears seemed disinclined to seize his flesh. They were evidently +suspicious of white meat. Finally one disappeared up the ravine, while +the other sat down a hundred yards away, and keenly watched him. As long +as he kept perfectly still the bear was quiet, but if he moved at all it +rushed upon him. + +Wilson came to his aid and both finally managed to climb trees beyond +reach. The bear then sat down between the trees, watching both and +growling threateningly if either moved. It finally tired of the game and +to their great relief disappeared up the mountain. Wood, suffering +acutely, was carried down to the camp, where they remained twelve days, +subsisting on the bear Wilson had killed. + +Wood grew worse instead of better, and the situation was grave. Little +ammunition was left, they were practically without shoes or clothing, +and certain death seemed to face them. Wood urged them to seek their own +safety, saying they could leave him with the Indians, or put an end to +his sufferings at any time. Failing to induce the Indians to take him, +it was decided to try to bind him on his horse and take him along on +the hard journey. He suffered torture, but it was a day at a time and he +had great fortitude. After ten days of incredible suffering they reached +the ranch of Mrs. Mark West, thirty miles from Sonoma. The date was +February 17th, one hundred and four days from Rich Bar. + +The four who started to follow the beach had experiences no less trying. +They found it impossible to accomplish their purpose. Bold mountains +came quite to the shore and blocked the way. They finally struck east +for the Sacramento Valley. They were short of food and suffered +unutterably. Dr. Gregg grew weaker day by day until he fell from his +horse and died from starvation, speaking no word. The other three pushed +on and managed to reach Sacramento a few days after the Wood party +arrived at Sonoma. + +While these adventurous miners were prosecuting the search for the +mythical harbor, enterprising citizens of San Francisco renewed efforts +to reach it from the ocean. In December, 1849, soon after Wood and his +companions started from the Trinity River, the brig "Cameo" was +dispatched north to search carefully for a port. She returned without +success, but was again dispatched. On this trip she rediscovered +Trinidad. Interest grew, and by March of 1850 not less than forty +vessels were enlisted in the search. + +My father, who left Boston early in 1849, going by Panama and the +Chagres River, had been through three fires in San Francisco and was +ready for any change. He joined with a number of acquaintances on one of +these ventures, acting as secretary of the company. They purchased the +"Paragon," a Gloucester fishing-boat of 125 tons burden, and early in +March, under the command of Captain March, with forty-two men in the +party, sailed north. They hugged the coast and kept a careful lookout +for a harbor, but passed the present Humboldt Bay in rather calm weather +and in the daytime without seeing it. The cause of what was then +inexplicable is now quite plain. The entrance has the prevailing +northwest slant. The view into the bay from the ocean is cut off by the +overlapping south spit. A direct view reveals no entrance; you can not +see in by looking back after having passed it. At sea the line of +breakers seems continuous, the protruding point from the south +connecting in surf line with that from the north. Moreover, the bay at +the entrance is very narrow. The wooded hills are so near the entrance +that there seems no room for a bay. + +The "Paragon" soon found heavy weather and was driven far out to sea. +Then for three days she was in front of a gale driving her in shore. She +reached the coast nearly at the Oregon line and dropped anchor in the +lee of a small island near Point St. George. In the night a gale sprang +up, blowing fiercely in shore toward an apparently solid cliff. One +after another the cables to her three anchors parted, and my father said +it was with a feeling of relief that they heard the last one snap, the +suspense giving way to what they believed to be the end of all. But +there proved to be an unsuspected sandspit at the base of the cliff, and +the "Paragon" at high tide plowed her way to a berth she never left. Her +bones long marked the spot, and for many years the roadstead was known +as Paragon Bay. No lives were lost and no property was saved. About +twenty-five of the survivors returned to San Francisco on the "Cameo," +but my father stayed by, and managed to reach Humboldt Bay soon after +its discovery, settling in Uniontown in May, 1850. + +The glory of the ocean discovery remained for the "Laura Virginia," a +Baltimore craft, commanded by Lieutenant Douglass Ottinger, a revenue +officer on leave of absence. She left soon after the "Paragon," and kept +close in shore. Soon after leaving Cape Mendocino she reached the mouth +of Eel River and came to anchor. The next day three other vessels +anchored and the "General Morgan" sent a boat over the river bar. The +"Laura Virginia" proceeded north and the captain soon saw the waters of +a bay, but could see no entrance. He proceeded, anchoring first at +Trinidad and then at where Crescent City was later located. There he +found the "Cameo" at anchor and the "Paragon" on the beach. Remaining in +the roadstead two days, he started back, and tracing a stream of +fresh-looking water discovered the mouth of the Klamath. Arriving at +Trinidad, he sent five men down by land to find out if there was an +entrance to the bay he had seen. On their favorable report, Second +Officer Buhne was instructed to take a ship's boat and sound the +entrance before the vessel should attempt it. On April 9, 1850, he +crossed the bar, finding four and a half fathoms. Buhne remained in the +bay till the ship dropped down. On April 14th he went out and brought +her in. After much discussion the bay and the city they proposed to +locate were named Humboldt, after the distinguished naturalist and +traveler, for whom a member of the company had great admiration. + + +Let us now return to L.K. Wood, whom we left at the Mark West home in +the Sonoma Valley, recovering from the serious injuries incident to the +bear encounter on Eel River. After about six weeks of recuperation, Wood +pushed on to San Francisco and organized a party of thirty men to return +to Humboldt and establish a settlement. They were twenty days on the +journey, arriving at the shore of the bay on April 19th, five days after +the entrance of the "Laura Virginia." They were amazed to see the vessel +at anchor off Humboldt Point. They quietly drew back into the woods, +and skirting the east side of the bay came out at the Bucksport site. +Four men remained to hold it. The others pushed on to the head of the +bay, where they had enjoyed their Christmas dinner. This they considered +the best place for a town. For three days they were very busily engaged +in posting notices, laying foundations for homes, and otherwise +fortifying their claims. They named the new settlement Uniontown. About +six years afterward it was changed to Arcata, the original Indian name +for the spot. The change was made in consideration of the confusion +occasioned by there being a Uniontown in El Dorado County. + +And so the hidden harbor that had long inspired legend and tradition, +and had been the source of great suffering and loss, was revealed. It +was _not_ fed by the Trinity or any other river. The mouth of the +Trinity was _not_ navigable; it did not boast a mouth--the Klamath just +swallowed it. The Klamath's far-northern mouth was a poor affair, +useless for commercial purposes. But a great empire had been opened and +an enormously serviceable harbor had been added to California's assets. +It aided mining and created immense lumber interests. + + +Strange as it may seem, Humboldt Bay was not discovered at this time. +Some years ago a searcher of the archives of far-off St. Petersburg +found unquestionable proof that the discovery was made in 1806, and not +in 1849-50. Early in the nineteenth century the Russian-American Company +was all-powerful and especially active in the fur trade. It engaged an +American captain, Jonathan Winship, who commanded an American crew on +the ship "Ocean." The outfit, accompanied by a hundred Aleut Indians, +with fifty-two small boats, was sent from Alaska down the California +coast in pursuit of seals. They anchored at Trinidad and spread out for +the capture of sea-otter. Eighteen miles south they sighted a bay and +finally found the obscure entrance. They entered with a boat and then +followed with the ship, which anchored nearly opposite the location of +Eureka. They found fifteen feet of water on the bar. From the large +number of Indians living on its shores, they called it the Bay of the +Indians. The entrance they named Resanof. Winship made a detailed sketch +of the bay and its surroundings, locating the Indian villages and the +small streams that enter the bay. It was sent to St. Petersburg and +entered on a Russian map. The Spaniards seem never to have known +anything of it, and the Americans evidently considered the incident of +no importance. + +Humboldt as a community developed slowly. For five years its real +resources were neglected. + +[Illustration: HUMBOLDT BAY--FROM RUSSIAN ATLAS THE HIDDEN +HARBOR--THRICE DISCOVERED Winship, 1806. Gregg, 1849. Ottinger, 1850.] + +It was merely the shipping point from which the mines of the Trinity +and Klamath rivers were supplied by mule trains. Gradually agriculture +was developed, and from 1855 lumber was king. It is now a great domain. +The county is a little less than three times the size of the state of +Rhode Island, and its wealth of resources and its rugged and alluring +beauty are still gaining in recognition. + +Its unique glory is the world-famous redwood belt. For its entire +length, one hundred and six miles of coast line, and of an average depth +of eight miles, extends the marvelous grove. Originally it comprised +540,000 acres. For more than sixty years it has been mercilessly +depleted, yet it is claimed that the supply will not be exhausted for +two hundred years. There is nothing on the face of the earth to compare +with this stand of superb timber. Trees reach two hundred and fifty feet +in height, thirty feet in diameter, and a weight of 1,250,000 pounds. +Through countless centuries these noble specimens have stood, majestic, +serene, reserved for man's use and delight. In these later years fate +has numbered their days, but let us firmly withstand their utter +demolition. It is beyond conception that all these monuments to nature's +power and beauty should be sacrificed. We must preserve accessible +groves for the inspiration and joy of those who will take our places. + +The coast highway following down one of the forks of the Eel River +passes through the magnificent redwood belt and affords a wonderful +view of these superb trees. Efforts are now being made to preserve the +trees bordering the highway, that one of the most attractive features of +California's scenic beauty may be preserved for all time. California has +nothing more impressive to offer than these majestic trees, and they are +an asset she cannot afford to lose. + + + + +CHAPTER III + +NINE YEARS NORTH + + +Uniontown (now Arcata) had enjoyed the early lead among the Humboldt Bay +towns. The first consideration had been the facility in supplying the +mines on the Trinity and the Klamath. All goods were transported by +pack-trains, and the trails over the mountains were nearer the head of +the bay. But soon lumber became the leading industry, and the mills were +at Eureka on deep water at the center of the bay, making that the +natural shipping point. It grew rapidly, outstripping its rival, and +also capturing the county-seat. + +Arcata struggled valiantly, but it was useless. Her geographical +position was against her. In an election she shamelessly stuffed the +ballot box, but Eureka went to the legislature and won her point. + +Arcata had the most beautiful location and its people were very +ambitious. In fruitless effort to sustain its lead, the town had built a +pier almost two miles in length to a slough navigable to ocean steamers. +A single horse drew a flat car carrying passengers and freight. It was +the nearest approach to a railroad in the state of California at the +time of our arrival on that lovely morning in 1855. + +We disembarked from the ancient craft and were soon leisurely pursuing +our way toward the enterprising town at the other end of the track. It +seemed that we were met by the entire population; for the arrival of the +steamer with mail and passengers was the exciting event of the month. +The station was near the southwest corner of the plaza, which we crossed +diagonally to the post-office, housed in the building that had been my +father's store until he sold out the year before, when he was elected to +the Assembly. Murdock's Hall was in the second story, and a little way +north stood a zinc house that was to be our home. It had been shipped +first to San Francisco and then to Humboldt. Its plan and architecture +were the acme of simplicity. There were three rooms tandem, each with a +door in the exact middle, so that if all the doors were open a bullet +would be unimpeded in passing through. To add to the social atmosphere, +a front porch, open at both ends, extended across the whole front. A +horseman could, and in fact often did, ride across it. My brother and I +occupied a chamber over the post-office, and he became adept in going to +sleep on the parlor sofa every night and later going to bed in the store +without waking, dodging all obstructing objects and undressing while +sound asleep. + +We were quite comfortable in this joke of a house. But we had no pump; +all the water we used I brought from a spring in the edge of the woods, +the one found by the Gregg party on the night of Christmas, 1849. The +first time I visited it and dipped my bucket in the sunken barrel that +protected it I had a shock. Before leaving San Francisco, being a +sentimental youth and knowing little of what Humboldt offered, I bought +two pots of fragrant flowers--heliotrope and a musk-plant--bringing them +on the steamer with no little difficulty. As I dipped into the barrel I +noticed that it was surrounded by a solid mass of musk-plants growing +wild. The misapprehension was at least no greater than that which +prompted some full-grown man to ship a zinc house to the one spot in the +world where the most readily splitting lumber was plentiful. + +One of the sights shown to the newcomer was a two-story house built +before the era of the sawmill. It was built of split lumber from a +single redwood tree--and enough remained to fence the lot! Within a +stone's throw from the musk-plant spring was a standing redwood, with +its heart burned out, in which thirteen men had slept one night, just to +boast of it. Later, in my time, a shingle-maker had occupied the tree +all one winter, both as a residence and as a shop where he made shingles +for the trade. + +We had a very pleasant home and were comfortable and happy. We had a +horse, cows, rabbits, and pigeons. Our garden furnished berries and +vegetables in plenty. The Indians sold fish, and I provided at first +rabbits and then ducks and geese. One delicious addition to our table +was novel to us. As a part of the redwood's undergrowth was a tall bush +that in its season yielded a luscious and enormous berry called the +salmon-berry. It was much like a raspberry, generally salmon in color, +very juicy and delicate, approximating an inch and a half in diameter. +Armed with a long pole, a short section of a butt limb forming a sort of +shepherd's crook, I would pull down the heavily laden branches and after +a few moments in the edge of the woods would be provided with a dessert +fit for any queen, and so appropriate for my mother. + +California in those early days seemed wholly dependent on the foreign +markets. Flour came from Chile, "Haxall" being the common brand; cheese +from Holland and Switzerland; cordials, sardines, and prunes from +France; ale and porter from England; olives from Spain; whiskey from +Scotland. Boston supplied us with crackers, Philadelphia sent us boots, +and New Orleans furnished us with sugar and molasses. + +The stores that supplied the mines carried almost +everything--provisions, clothing, dry goods, and certainly wet goods. At +every store there was found an open barrel of whiskey, with a convenient +glass sampler that would yield through the bunghole a fair-sized drink +to test the quality. One day I went into a store where a clever Chinaman +was employed. He had printed numerous placards announcing the stock. I +noticed a fresh one that seemed incongruous. It read, "Codfish and +Cologne Water." I said, "What's the idea?" He smilingly replied, "You +see its place? I hang it over the whiskey-barrel. Some time man come to +steal a drink. I no see him; he read sign, he laugh, I hear him, I see +him." + +There was no school in the town when we came. It troubled my mother that +my brother and sister must be without lessons. Several other small +children were deprived of opportunity. In the emergency we cleaned out a +room in the store, formerly occupied by a county officer, and I +organized a very primary school. I was almost fifteen, but the children +were good and manageable. I did not have very many, and fortunately I +was not called upon to teach very long. There came to town a clever man, +Robert Desty. He wanted to teach. There was no school building, but he +built one all by his own hands. He suggested that I give up my school +and become a pupil of his. I was very glad to do it. He was a good and +ingenious teacher. I enjoyed his lessons about six months, and then felt +I must help my father. My stopping was the only graduation in my +experience. + +My father was an inveterate trader, and the year after our coming he +joined with another venturer in buying the standing crop of wheat in +Hoopa Valley, on the Trinity River. I went up to help in the harvesting, +being charged with the weighing of the sacked grain. It was a fine +experience for an innocent Yankee boy. We lived out of doors, following +the threshers from farm to farm, eating under an oak tree and sleeping +on the fragrant straw-piles. I was also the butt of about the wildest +lot of jokers ever assembled. They were good-natured, but it was their +concerted effort to see how much I could stand in the way of highly +flavored stories at mealtime. It was fun for them, besides they felt it +would be a service to knock out some of the Boston "sissiness." I do not +doubt it was. They never quite drove me away from the table. + +In the meantime I had a great good time. It was a very beautiful spot +and all was new and strange. There were many Indians, and they were +interesting. They lived in rancherias of puncheons along the river. Each +group of dwellings had a musical name. One village was called Matiltin, +another Savanalta. The children swam like so many ducks, and each +village had its sweathouse from which every adult, to keep in health and +condition, would plunge into the swiftly flowing river. They lived on +salmon, fresh or dried, and on grass-seed cakes cooked on heated stones. +They were handsome specimens physically and were good workers. The river +was not bridged, but it was not deep and canoes were plenty. If none +were seen on the side which you chanced to find yourself, you had only +to call, "Wanus, matil!" (Come, boat!) and one would come. If in a +hurry, "Holish!" would expedite the service. + +The Indian language was fascinating and musical. "Iaquay" was the word +of friendly greeting. "Aliquor" was Indian, "Waugee" was white man, +"Chick" was the general word for money. When "Waugee-chick" was +mentioned, it meant gold or silver; if "Aliquor-chick," reference was +made to the spiral quill-like shells which served as their currency, +their value increasing rapidly by the length. [Footnote: In the Hawaiian +Islands short shells of this variety are strung for beads, but have +little value.] There are frequent combined words. "Hutla" is night, +"Wha" is the sun; "Hutla-wha" is the moon--the night-sun. If an Indian +wishes to ask where you are going, he will say, "Ta hunt tow ingya?" +"Teena scoia" is very good. "Skeena" is too small. "Semastolon" is a +young woman; if she is considered beautiful, "Clane nuquum" describes +her. + +The Indians were very friendly and hospitable. If I wanted an +account-book that was on the other side of the river, they would not +bother for a canoe, but swim over with it, using-one hand and holding +the book high in the air. I found they had settled habits and usages +that seemed peculiar to them. If one of their number died, they did not +like it referred to; they wished for no condolence. "Indian die, Indian +no talk," was their expression. + +It was a wonder to me that in a valley connected with civilization by +only a trail there should be found McCormick's reapers and Pitt's +threshers. Parts too large for a mule's pack had been cut in two and +afterwards reunited. By some dint of ingenuity even a millstone had been +hauled over the roadless mountains. The wheat we harvested was ground at +the Hoopa mill and the flour was shipped to the Trinity and Klamath +mines. + +All the week we harvested vigorously, and on Sunday we devoted most of +the day to visiting the watermelon patches and sampling the product. Of +course, we spent a portion of the day in washing our few clothes, +usually swimming and splashing in the river until they were dry. + +The valley was long and narrow, with mountains on both sides so high +that the day was materially shortened in the morning and at night. The +tardy sun was ardent when he came, but disturbed us little. The nights +were blissful--beds so soft and sweet and a canopy so beautiful! In the +morning we awoke to the tender call of cooing doves, and very soon lined +up for breakfast in the perfectly ventilated out-of-doors. Happy days +they were! Wise and genial Captain Snyder, Sonnichsen, the patient cook, +Jim Brock, happy tormentor--how clearly they revisit the glimpses of the +moon! + +Returning to Uniontown, I resumed my placid, busy life, helping in the +garden, around the house, and in the post-office. My father was wise in +his treatment. Boylike I would say, "Father, what shall I do?" He would +answer, "Look around and find out. I'll not always be here to tell +you." Thrown on my own resources, I had no trouble in finding enough to +do, and I was sufficiently normal and indolent to be in no danger of +finding too much. + +The post-office is a harborer of secrets and romance. The postmaster and +his assistants alone know "Who's Who." A character of a packer, tall, +straight, and bearded, always called Joe the Marine, would steal in and +call for comely letters addressed to James Ashhurst, Esq. Robert Desty +was found to be Mons. Robert d'Esti Mauville. A blacksmith whose letters +were commonly addressed to C.E. Bigelow was found entitled to one +inscribed C.E.D.L.B. Bigelow. Asked what his full name was, he +replied, "Charles Edward Decatur La Fitte Butterfield Bigelow." And, +mind you, he was a _blacksmith_! His christening entitled him to it all, +but he felt that all he could afford was what he commonly used. + +Phonetics have a distinct value. Uncertain of spelling, one can fall +back on remembered sound. I found a letter addressed to "Sanerzay." I +had no difficulty in determining that San Jose was intended. Hard labor +was suggested when someone wrote "Youchiyer." The letter found its +resting-place in Ukiah. + +Among my miscellaneous occupations was the pasturage of mules about to +start on the return trip to the mines. We had a farm and logging-claim +on the outskirts of town which afforded a good farewell bite of grass, +and at night I would turn loose twenty to forty mules and their beloved +bell-mare to feed and fight mosquitoes. Early the next morning I would +saddle my charger and go and bring them to the packing corral. Never +shall I forget a surprise given me one morning. I had a tall, awkward +mare, and was loping over the field looking for my charges. An innocent +little rabbit scuttled across Kate's path and she stopped in her tracks +as her feet landed. I was gazing for the mule train and I did not stop. +I sailed over her head, still grasping the bridle reins, which, attached +to the bit, I also had to overleap, so that the next moment I found +myself standing erect with the reins between my legs, holding on to a +horse behind me still standing in her arrested tracks. Remounting, I +soon found the frisky mules and started them toward misery. Driven into +the corral where their freight had been divided into packs of from one +hundred to one hundred and fifty pounds, they were one by one saddled, +cinched, and packed. A small mule would seem to be unequal to carrying +two side-packs, each consisting of three fifty-pound sacks of flour, and +perhaps a case of boots for a top-pack. But protests of groans and +grunts would be unavailing. Two swarthy Mexicans, by dint of cleverly +thrown ropes and the "diamond hitch," would soon have in place all that +the traffic would bear, and the small Indian boy on the mother of the +train, bearing a tinkling bell, would lead them on their way to Salmon +River or to Orleans Bar. + +Another frequent duty was the preparation of the hall for some public +function. It might be a dance, a political meeting, or some theatrical +performance. Different treatment would be required, but all would +include cleaning and lighting. At a dance it was floor-scrubbing, +filling the camphene lamps, and making up beds for the babies to be +later deposited by their dancing mothers. Very likely I would tend door +and later join in the dance, which commonly continued until morning. + +Politics interested me. In the Fremont campaign of 1856 my father was +one of four Republicans in the county, and was by no means popular. He +lived to see Humboldt County record a six hundred majority for the +Republican ticket. Some of our local legislative candidates surprised +and inspired me by their eloquence and unexpected knowledge and ability. +It was good to find that men read and thought, even when they lived in +the woods and had little encouragement. + +Occasionally we had quite good theatrical performances. Very early I +recall a thespian named Thoman, who was supported by a Julia Pelby. They +vastly pleased an uncritical audience. I was doorkeeper, notwithstanding +that Thoman doubted if I was "hefty" enough. "Little Lotta" Crabtree was +charming. Her mother traveled with her. Between performances she played +with her dolls. She danced gracefully and sang fascinatingly such songs +as "I'm the covey what sings." Another prime favorite was Joe Murphy, +Irish comedian and violinist, pleasing in both roles. I remember a +singing comedian who bewailed his sad estate: + + "For now I have nothing but rags to my back, + My boots scarce cover my toes, + While my pants are patched with an old flour-sack, + To jibe with the rest of my clo'es." + +The singing-school was pleasure-yielding, its greatest joy being +incidental. When I could cut ahead of a chum taking a girl home and +shamelessly trip him up with a stretched rope and get back to the +drugstore and be curled up in the woodbox when he reached his final +destination, I am afraid I took unholy joy. + +Not long after coming we started a public library. Mother and I covered +all the books, this being considered an economical necessity. Somewhat +later Arcata formed a debating society that was really a helpful +influence. It engaged quite a wide range of membership, and we discussed +almost everything. Some of our members were fluent of speech from long +participation in Methodist experience meetings. Others were self-trained +even to pronunciation. One man of good mind, always said "here_dit_ary." +He had read French history and often referred to the _Gridironists_ of +France. I have an idea he was the original of the man whom Bret Harte +made refer to the Greek hero as "old Ashheels." Our meetings were open, +and among the visitors I recall a clerk of a commander in the Indian +war. He afterwards became lieutenant-governor of the state, and later a +senator from Nevada--John P. Jones. + +An especial pleasure were the thoroughness and zest with which we +celebrated the Fourth of July. The grown-ups did well in the daylight +hours, when the procession, the oration, and the reading of the +Declaration were in order; but with the shades of night the fireworks +would have been inadequate but for the activity of the boys. The town +was built around a handsome plaza, probably copied from Sonoma as an +incident of the Wood sojourn. On the highest point in the center a fine +flagstaff one hundred and twenty feet high was proudly crowned by a +liberty-cap. This elevated plateau was the field of our display. On a +spot not too near the flagstaff we planned for a spectacular center of +flame. During the day we gathered material for an enormous bonfire. Huge +casks formed the base and inflammable material of all kinds reached high +in the air. At dark we fired the pile. But the chief interest was +centered in hundreds of balls of twine, soaked in camphene, which we +lighted and threw rapidly from hand to hand all over the plaza. We could +not hold on to them long, but we didn't need to. They came flying from +every direction and were caught from the ground and sent back before +they had a chance to burn. The noise and excitement can be easily +imagined. Blackened and weary boys kept it up till the bonfire was out +and the balls had grown too small to pick up. Nothing interfered with +our celebrations. When the Indians were "bad" we forsook the redwoods +and built our speaker's stand and lunch tables and benches out in the +open beyond firing distance. + +Our garden was quite creditable. Vegetables were plentiful and my +flower-beds, though formal, were pleasing. Stock-raising was very +interesting. One year I had the satisfaction of breaking three heifers +and raising their calves. My brother showed more enterprise, for he +induced a plump young mother of the herd to allow him to ride her when +he drove the rest to pasture. + +Upon our arrival in Uniontown we found the only church was the +Methodist. We at once attended, and I joined the Sunday-school. My +teacher was a periodically reformed boatman. When he fell from grace he +was taken in hand by the Sons of Temperance, which I had also joined. +"Morning Star Division, No. 106," was never short of material to work +on. My first editorial experience was on its spicy little written +journal. I went through the chairs and became "Worthy Patriarch" while +still a boy. The church was mostly served by first-termers, not +especially inspiring. I recall one good man who seemed to have no other +qualification for the office. He frankly admitted that he had worked in +a mill and in a lumber-yard, and said he liked preaching "better than +anything he'd ever been at." He was very sincere and honest. He had a +uniform lead in prayer: "O Lord, we thank thee that it is as well with +us as what it is." The sentiment was admirable, but somehow the manner +grated. When the presiding elder came around we had a relief. He was +wide-awake and witty. One night he read the passage of Scripture where +they all began with one accord to make excuses. One said: "I have +married a wife and cannot come." The elder, looking up, said, "Why +didn't the pesky fool bring her with him?" + +In the process of time the Presbyterians started a church, and I went +there; swept out, trimmed the lamps, and sang in the choir. The preacher +was an educated man, and out of the pulpit was kind and reasonable; but +he persisted that "Good deeds were but as filthy rags." I didn't believe +it and I didn't like it. The staid pastor had but little recreation, and +I am afraid I was always glad that Ulrica Schumacher, the frisky sister +of the gunsmith, almost always beat him at chess. + +He was succeeded by a man I loved, and I wonder I did not join his +church. We were good friends and used to go out trout-fishing together. +He was a delightful man, but when he was in the pulpit he shrank and +shriveled. The danger of Presbyterianism passed when he expressed his +doubt whether it would be best for my mother to partake of communion, as +she had all her life in the Unitarian church. She was willing, but +waited his approval. My mother was the most saintly of women, absolutely +unselfish and self-sacrificing, and it shocked me that any belief or +lack of belief should exclude her from a Christian communion. + +When my father, in one of his numerous trades, bought out the only +tinshop and put me in charge he changed my life and endangered my +disposition. The tinsmith left the county and I was left with the tools +and the material, the only tinsmith in Humboldt County. How I struggled +and bungled! I could make stovepipe by the mile, but it was a long time +before I could double-seam a copper bottom onto a tin wash-boiler. I +lived to construct quite a decent traveling oilcan for a Eureka sawmill, +but such triumphs come through mental anguish and burned fingers. No +doubt the experience extended my desultory education. + +The taking over of the tinshop was doubly disappointing, since I really +wanted to go into the office of the _Northern Californian_ and become a +printer and journalist. That job I turned over to Bret Harte, who was +clever and cultivated, but had not yet "caught on." Leon Chevret, the +French hotelkeeper, said of him to a lawyer of his acquaintance, "Bret +Harte, he have the Napoleonic nose, the nose of genius; also, like many +of you professional men, his debts trouble him very little." + +There were many interesting characters among the residents of the town +and county. At times there came to play the violin at our dances one +Seth Kinman, a buckskin-clad hunter. He became nationally famous when he +fashioned and presented elkhorn chairs to Buchanan and several +succeeding Presidents. They were ingenious and beautiful, and he himself +was most picturesque. + +One of our originals was a shiftless and merry Iowan to whose name was +added by courtesy the prefix "Dr." He had a small farm in the outskirts. +Gates hung from a single hinge and nothing was kept in repair. He +preferred to use his time in persuading nature to joke. A single +cucumber grown into a glass bottle till it could not get out was worth +more than a salable crop, and a single cock whose comb had grown around +an inserted pullet breastbone, until he seemed the precursor of a new +breed of horned roosters, was better than much poultry. He reached his +highest fame in the cure of his afflicted wife. She languished in bed +and he diagnosed her illness as resulting from the fact that she was +"hidebound." His house he had never had time to complete. The rafters +were unobstructed by ceiling, so she was favorably situated for +treatment. He fixed a lasso under her arms, threw the end around a +rafter, and proceeded to loosen her refractory hide. + +One of our leading merchants was a deacon in the Methodist church and so +enjoyed the patronage of his brother parishioners. One of them came in +one day and asked the paying price of eggs. The deacon told him "sixty +cents a dozen." + +"What are sail-needles?" + +"Five cents apiece." + +The brother produced an egg and proposed a swap. It was smilingly +accepted and the egg added to the pile of stock. + +The brother lingered and finally drawled, "Deacon, it's customary, isn't +it, to _treat_ a buyer?" + +"It is; what will you take?" laughingly replied the deacon. + +"Sherry is nice." + +The deacon poured out the sherry and handed it to his customer, who +hesitated and timidly remarked that sherry was improved by a raw egg. +The amused deacon turned around and took from the egg-pile the identical +one he had received. As the brother broke it into his glass he noticed +it had an extra yolk. After enjoying his drink, he handed back the empty +glass and said: "Deacon, that egg had a double yolk; don't you think you +ought to give me another sail-needle?" + +When Thomas Starr King was electrifying the state in support of the +Sanitary Commission (the Red Cross of the Civil War), Arcata caught the +fever and in November, 1862, held a great meeting at the Presbyterian +church. Our leading ministers and lawyers appealed with power and +surprising subscriptions followed. Mr. Coddington, our wealthiest +citizen, started the list with three hundred dollars and ten dollars a +month during the war. Others followed, giving according to their +ability. One man gave for himself, as well as for his wife and all his +children. On taking his seat and speaking to his wife, he jumped up and +added one dollar for the new baby that he had forgotten. When money gave +out other belongings were sacrificed. One man gave twenty-five bushels +of wheat, another ten cords of wood, another his saddle, another a gun. +A notary gave twenty dollars in fees. A cattleman brought down the house +when he said, "I have no money, but I will give a cow, and a calf a +month as long as the war lasts." The following day it was my joy as +secretary to auction off the merchandise. When all was forwarded to San +Francisco we were told we had won first honors, averaging over +twenty-five dollars for each voter in the town. + +One interesting circumstance was the consignment to me of the first +shipments of two novelties that afterward became very common. The +discovery of coal-oil and the utilization of kerosene for lighting date +back to about 1859. The first coal-oil lamps that came to Humboldt were +sent to me for display and introduction. Likewise, about 1860, a Grover +& Baker sewing-machine was sent up for me to exhibit. By way of showing +its capabilities, I sewed the necessary number of yard-widths of the +length of Murdock's Hall to make a new ceiling, of which it chanced to +stand in need. + +Humboldt County was an isolated community. Sea steamers were both +infrequent and uncertain, with ten days or two weeks and more between +arrivals. There were no roads to the interior, but there were trails, +and they were often threatened by treacherous Indians. The Indians +living near us on Mad River were peaceful, but the mountain Indians were +dangerous, and we never knew when we were really safe. In Arcata we had +one stone building, a store, and sometimes the frightened would resort +to it at night. In times of peace, settlers lived on Mad River, on +Redwood Creek, and on the Bald Hills, where they herded their cattle. +One by one they were killed or driven in until there was not a white +person living between the bay and Trinity River. Mail carriers were shot +down, and the young men of Arcata were often called upon at night to +nurse the wounded. We also organized a military company, and a night +duty was drilling our men on the plaza or up past the gruesome +graveyard. My command was never called out for service, but I had some +fortunate escapes from being waylaid. I walked around the bay one +morning; a few hours later a man was ambushed on the road. + +On one occasion I narrowly escaped participation in warfare. In August, +1862, there had been outrages by daring Indian bands, killing +unprotected men close to town. Once a few of us followed the tracks of a +party and traced the marauders across Mad River and toward a small +prairie known to our leader, Ousley the saddler. As we passed along a +small road he caught the sign. A whiff of a shred of cotton cloth caught +on a bush denoted a smoky native. A crushed fern, still moist, told him +they had lately passed. At his direction we took to the woods and +crawled quietly toward the near-by prairie. Our orders were to wait the +signal. If the band we expected to find was not too large, we should be +given the word to attack. If there were too many for us, we should back +out and go to town for help. We soon heard them plainly as they made +camp. We found about three times our number, and we retired very quietly +and made for the nearest farmhouse that had a team. + +In town many were anxious to volunteer. My mother did not want me to go, +and I must confess I was in full accord with her point of view. I +therefore served as commissary, collecting and preparing quantities of +bread, bacon, and cheese for a breakfast and distributing a packed bag +to each soldier. The attack at daylight resulted in one death to our +command and a number to the Indians. It was followed up, and a few days +later the band was almost annihilated. The plunder recovered proved them +guilty of many late attacks. This was toward the end of the Indian war +that had for so many years been disastrous to the community, and which +in many of its aspects was deeply pathetic. Originally the Indian +population was large. The coast Indians were spoken of as Diggers, and +inferior in character. They were generally peaceful and friendly while +the mountain dwellers were inclined to hostility. As a whole they did +not represent a very high type of humanity, and all seemed to take to +the vices rather than to the virtues of the white race, which was by no +means represented at its best. A few unprincipled whites were always +ready to stir up trouble and the Indians were treacherous and when +antagonized they killed the innocent rather than the guilty, for they +were cowards and took the fewest possible chances. I have known an +Indian hater who seemed to think the only good Indian was a dead one go +unmolested through an entire campaign, while a friendly old man was shot +from behind while milking his cow. The town was near the edge of the +woods and no one was secure. The fine character whom we greatly +respected,--the debater of original pronunciation,--who had never +wronged a human being of any race, was shot down from the woods quite +near the plaza. + +The regular army was useless in protection or punishment. Their +regulations and methods did not fit. They made fine plans, but they +failed to work. They would locate the enemy and detail detachments to +move from various points to surround and capture the foe, but when they +got there the bushes were bare. Finally battalions of mountaineers were +organized among men who knew Indian ways and were their equals in +cunning. They soon satisfied the hostiles that they would be better off +on the reservations that were provided and the war was at an end. + +It was to the credit of Humboldt County that in the final settlement of +the contest the rights of the Indians were quite fairly considered and +the reservations set aside for their residence were of valuable land +well situated and fitted for the purpose. Hoopa Valley, on the Trinity, +was purchased from its settlers and constituted a reservation protected +by Fort Gaston and a garrison. It was my pleasure to revisit the scene +of my boyhood experience and assist in the transfer largely conducted +through the leadership of Austin Wiley, the editor and owner of the +_Humboldt Times_. He was subsequently made Superintendent of Indian +Affairs for the state of California, and as his clerk I helped in the +administration. When I visited the Smith River reservation, to which the +Bay Indians had been sent, I was hailed with joy as "Major's pappoose," +whom they remembered of old. (My father was always called Major.) + +Among the warm friendships formed at this time two stand out. Two boys +of about my age were to achieve brilliant careers. Very early I became +intimate with Alexander Brizard, a clerk in the store of F. Roskill, a +Russian. He was my companion in the adventure of following the Indian +marauders, and my associate in the church choir and the debating club. +In 1863 he joined a fellow clerk in establishing a modest business +concern, the firm being known as A. Brizard & Co.; the unnamed partner +was James Alexander Campbell Van Rossum, a Hollander. They prospered +amazingly. Van Rossum died early, Brizard became the leading merchant of +northern California, and his sons still continue the chain of stores +that grew from the small beginning. He was a strong, fine character. + +The other boy, very near to me, was John J. DeHaven, who was first a +printer, then a lawyer, then a State Senator, then a Congressman, and +finally a U.S. District Judge. He was very able and distinguished +himself in every place in life to which he advanced. + +In 1861, when my father had become superintendent of a Nevada County +gold mine, he left me to run the post-office, cut the timothy hay, and +manage a logging-camp. It was wartime and I had a longing to enlist. One +day I received a letter from him, and as I tore it open a startling +sentence caught my eye, "Your commission will come by the next steamer." +I caught my breath and south particulars. It informed me that Senator +Sargent, his close friend, had secured for me the appointment of +Register of the Land Office at Humboldt. + +[Illustration: Presidential Commission as Registrar of the Land Office +at Humboldt, California] + +There had been a vacancy for some time, resulting from reduction in the +pay from $3000 in gold to $500 in greenbacks, together with commissions, +which were few. My father thought it would be good experience for me and +advised my acceptance. And so at twenty-two I became a Federal +officeholder. The commission from President Lincoln is the most +treasured feature of the incident. I learned some valuable lessons. The +honor was great and the position was responsible, but I soon felt +constrained to resign, to accept a place as quartermaster's clerk, where +I had more pay with more work. I was stationed at Fort Humboldt, where +Grant spent a few uncomfortable months in 1854. It was an experience +very different from any I had ever had. Army accounting is wholly unlike +civilian, books being dispensed with and accounts of all kinds being +made in quadruplicate. I shed quantities of red ink and made my monthly +papers appear well. I had no responsibility and obeyed orders, but I +could not be wholly comfortable when I covered in all the grain that +every mule was entitled to when I had judicial knowledge that he had +been turned out to grass. Nor could I believe that the full amount of +cordwood allowed officers was consumed when fires were infrequent. I was +only sure that it was paid for. Aside from these ethical informalities +the life was socially agreeable, and there is glamour in the military. +My period of service was not very long. My father had settled in San +Francisco and the family had joined him. I was lonely, and when my +friend, the new Superintendent of Indian Affairs, offered me employment +I forsook Fort Humboldt and took up my residence in the city by the +Golden Gate. + + + + +CHAPTER IV + +THE REAL BRET HARTE + + +Before taking up the events related to my residence in San Francisco I +wish to give my testimony concerning Bret Harte, perhaps the most +interesting character associated with my sojourn in Humboldt. It was +before he was known to fame that I knew him; but I am able to correct +some errors that have been made and I believe can contribute to a more +just estimate of him as a literary artist and a man. + +He has been misjudged as to character. He was a remarkable personality, +who interpreted an era of unusual interest, vital and picturesque, with +a result unparalleled in literary annals. When he died in England in +1902 the English papers paid him very high tribute. The _London +Spectator_ said of him: "No writer of the present day has struck so +powerful and original a note as he has sounded." This is a very unusual +acknowledgment from a source not given to the superlative, and fills us +with wonder as to what manner of man and what sort of training had led +to it. + +Causes are not easily determined, but they exist and function. Accidents +rarely if ever happen. Heredity and experience very largely account for +results. What is their testimony in this particular case? + +Francis Bret Harte was born in Albany, New York, February 25, 1836. His +father was a highly educated instructor in Greek, of English-Jewish +descent. His mother was an Ostrander, a cultivated and fine character of +Dutch descent. His grandmother on his father's side was Catherine Brett. +He had an elder brother and two younger sisters. The boys were voracious +readers and began Shakespeare when six, adding Dickens at seven. Frank +developed an early sense of humor, burlesquing the baldness of his +primer and mimicking the recitations of some of his fellow pupils when +he entered school. He was studious and very soon began to write. At +eleven he sent a poem to a weekly paper and was a little proud when he +showed it to the family in print. When they heartlessly pointed out its +flaws he was less hilarious. + +His father died when he was very young and he owed his training to his +mother. He left school at thirteen and was first a lawyer's clerk and +later found work in a counting-room. He was self-supporting at sixteen. +In 1853 his mother married Colonel Andrew Williams, an early mayor of +Oakland, and removed to California. The following year Bret and his +younger sister, Margaret, followed her, arriving in Oakland in March, +1854. + +He found the new home pleasant. The relations with his cultivated +stepfather were congenial and cordial, but he suffered the fate of most +untrained boys. He was fairly well educated, but he had no trade or +profession. He was bright and quick, but remunerative employment was not +readily found, and he did not relish a clerkship. For a time he was +given a place in a drugstore. Some of his early experiences are embalmed +in "How Reuben Allen Saw Life" and in "Bohemian Days." In the latter he +says: "I had been there a week,--an idle week, spent in listless outlook +for employment, a full week, in my eager absorption of the strange life +around me and a photographic sensitiveness to certain scenes and +incidents of those days, which stand out in my memory today as freshly +as on the day they impressed me." + +It was a satisfaction that he found some congenial work. He wrote for +_Putnam's_ and the _Knickerbocker_. + +In 1856, when he was twenty, he went to Alamo, in the San Ramon Valley, +as tutor in an interesting family. He found the experience agreeable and +valuable. + +A letter to his sister Margaret, written soon after his arrival, shows a +delightful relation between them and warm affection on his part. It +tells in a felicitous manner of the place, the people, and his +experiences. He had been to a camp-meeting and was struck with the +quaint, old-fashioned garb of the girls, seeming to make the ugly ones +uglier and the pretty ones prettier. It was raining when he wrote and he +felt depressed, but he sent his love in the form of a charming bit of +verse wherein a tear was borne with the flowing water to testify to his +tender regard for his "peerless sister." This letter, too personal for +publication, his sister lately read to me, and it was a revelation of +the matchless style so early acquired. In form it seemed perfect--not a +superfluous or an ill-chosen word. Every sentence showed rhythm and +balance, flowing easily and pleasantly from beginning to end, leaving an +impression of beauty and harmony, and testifying to a kindly, gentle +nature, with an admiring regard for his seventeen-year-old sister. + +From Alamo he seems to have gone directly to Tuolumne County, and it +must have been late in 1856. His delightful sketch "How I Went to the +Mines" is surely autobiographical. He says: "I had been two years in +California before I ever thought of going to the mines, and my +initiation into the vocation of gold-digging was partly compulsory." He +refers to "the little pioneer settlement school, of which I was the +somewhat youthful, and, I fear, not over-competent master." What he did +after the school-teaching episode he does not record. He was a stage +messenger at one time. How long he remained in and around the mines is +not definitely known, but it seems clear that in less than a year of +experience and observation he absorbed the life and local color so +thoroughly that he was able to use it with almost undiminished freshness +for forty years. + +It was early in 1857 that Bret Harte came to Humboldt County to visit +his sister Margaret, and for a brief time and to a limited extent our +lives touched. He was twenty-one and I was sixteen, so there was little +intimacy, but he interested and attracted me as a new type of manhood. +He bore the marks of good breeding, education, and refinement. He was +quiet of manner, kindly but not demonstrative, with a certain reserve +and aloofness. He was of medium height, rather slight of figure, with +strongly marked features and an aquiline nose. He seemed clever rather +than forcible, and presented a pathetic figure as of one who had gained +no foothold on success. He had a very pleasant voice and a modest +manner, and never talked of himself. He was always the gentleman, +exemplary as to habits, courteous and good-natured, but a trifle +aristocratic in bearing. He was dressed in good taste, but was evidently +in need of income. He was willing to do anything, but with little +ability to help himself. He was simply untrained for doing anything that +needed doing in that community. + +He found occasional work in the drugstore, and for a time he had a small +private school. His surviving pupils speak warmly of his sympathy and +kindness. He had little mechanical ability. I recall seeing him try to +build a fence one morning. He bravely dug postholes, but they were +pretty poor, and the completed fence was not so very straight. He was +genial and uncomplaining, and he made a few good friends. He was an +agreeable guest, and at our house was fond of a game of whist. He was +often facetious, with a neatness that was characteristic. One day, on a +stroll, we passed a very primitive new house that was wholly destitute +of all ornaments or trimming, even without eaves. It seemed modeled +after a packing-box. "That," he remarked, "must be of the _Iowan_ order +of architecture." + +He was given to teasing, and could be a little malicious. A proud and +ambitious schoolteacher had married a well-off but decidedly Cockney +Englishman, whose aspirates could be relied upon to do the expected. +Soon after the wedding, Harte called and cleverly steered the +conversation on to music and songs, finally expressing great fondness +for "Kathleen Mavourneen," but professing to have forgotten the words. +The bridegroom swallowed the bait with avidity. "Why," said he, "they +begin with 'The 'orn of the 'unter is 'eard on the 'ill.'" F.B. +stroked his Dundrearies while his dark eyes twinkled. The bride's eyes +flashed ominously, but there seemed to be nothing she felt like saying. + +In October, 1857, he removed to the Liscom ranch in the suburbs at the +head of the bay and became the tutor of two boys, fourteen and thirteen +years of age. He had a forenoon session of school and in the afternoon +enjoyed hunting on the adjacent marshes. For his convenience in keeping +run of the lessons given, he kept a brief diary, and it has lately been +found. It is of interest both in the little he records and from the +significant omissions. It reveals a very simple life of a clever, +kindly, clean young man who did his work, enjoyed his outdoor +recreation, read a few good books, and generally "retired at 9 1/2 P.M." +He records sending letters to various publications. On a certain day he +wrote the first lines of "Dolores." A few days later he finished it, and +mailed it to the _Knickerbocker_. + +He wrote and rewrote a story, "What Happened at Mendocino." What +happened to the story does not appear. He went to church generally, and +some of the sermons were good and others "vapid and trite." Once in a +while he goes to a dance, but not to his great satisfaction. He didn't +dance particularly well. He tells of a Christmas dinner that he helped +his sister to prepare. Something made him dissatisfied with himself and +he bewails his melancholy and gloomy forebodings that unfit him for +rational enjoyment and cause him to be a spectacle for "gods and men." +He adds: "Thermometer of my spirit on Christmas day, 1857, 9 A.M., 40 deg.; +temperature, 12 A.M., 60 deg.; 3 P.M., 80 deg.; 6 P.M., 20 deg. and falling +rapidly; 9 P.M., at zero; 1 A.M., 20 deg. below." + +His entries were brief and practical. He did not write to express his +feelings. + +At the close of 1857 he indulged in a brief retrospect, and an emphatic +statement of his determination for the future. + +After referring to the fact that he was a tutor at a salary of +twenty-five dollars a month and board, and that a year before he was +unemployed, at the close he writes: "In these three hundred and +sixty-five days I have again put forth a feeble essay toward fame and +perhaps fortune. I have tried literature, albeit in a humble way. I have +written some passable prose and it has been successfully published. The +conviction is forced on me by observation, and not by vain enthusiasm, +that I am fit for nothing else. Perhaps I may succeed; if not, I can at +least make the trial. Therefore I consecrate this year, or as much as +God may grant for my services, to honest, heartfelt, sincere labor and +devotion to this occupation. God help me! May I succeed!" + +Harte profited by his experience in tutoring my two boy friends, gaining +local color quite unlike that of the Sierra foothills. Humboldt is also +on the grand scale and its physical characteristics and its type of +manhood were fresh and inspiring. + +His familiarity with the marsh and the sloughs is shown in "The Man on +the Beach" and the "Dedlow Marsh Stories," and this affords fine +opportunity for judging of the part played by knowledge and by +imagination in his literary work. His descriptions are photographic in +their accuracy. The flight of a flock of sandpipers, the flowing tides, +the white line of the bar at the mouth of the bay--all are exact. But +the locations and relations irrelevant to the story are wholly ignored. +The characters and happenings are purely imaginary. He is the artist +using his experiences and his fancy as his colors, and the minimum of +experience and small observation suffice. His perception of character is +marvelous. He pictures the colonel, his daughters, the spruce +lieutenant, and the Irish deserter with such familiarity that the reader +would think that he had spent most of his life in a garrison, and his +ability to portray vividly life in the mines, where his actual +experience was so very slight, is far better understood. + +Many of the occurrences of those far-away days have faded from my mind, +but one of them, of considerable significance to two lives, is quite +clear. Uniontown had been the county-seat, and there the _Humboldt +Times_ was published; but Eureka, across the bay, had outgrown her older +sister and captured both the county-seat and the only paper in the +county. In frantic effort to sustain her failing prestige Uniontown +projected a rival paper and the _Northern Californian_ was spoken into +being. My father was a half owner, and I coveted the humble position of +printer's devil. One journeyman could set the type, and on Wednesday and +Saturday, respectively, run off on a hand-press the outside and the +inside of the paper, but a boy or a low-priced man was needed to roll +the forms and likewise to distribute the type. I looked upon it as the +first rung on the ladder of journalism, and I was about to put my foot +thereon when the pathetic figure of Bret Harte presented itself applying +for the job, causing me to put my foot on my hopes instead. He seemed to +want it and need it so much more than I did that I turned my hand to +other pursuits, while he mounted the ladder with cheerful alacrity and +skipped up several rungs, very promptly learning to set type and +becoming a very acceptable assistant editor. + +In a community where popular heroes are apt to be loud and aggressive, +the quiet man who thinks more than he talks is adjudged effeminate. +Harte was always modest, and boasting was foreign to his nature; so he +was thought devoid of spirit and strength. But occasion brought out the +unsuspected. There had been a long and trying Indian war in and around +Humboldt. The feeling against the red men was very bitter. It culminated +in a wanton and cowardly attack on a tribe of peaceful Indians encamped +on an island opposite Eureka, and men, women, and children were +ruthlessly killed. Harte was temporarily in charge of the paper and he +denounced the outrage in unmeasured terms. The better part of the +community sustained him, but a violent minority resented his strictures +and he was seriously threatened and in no little danger. Happily he +escaped, but the incident resulted in his return to San Francisco. The +massacre occurred on February 5, 1860, which fixes the approximate time +of Harte's becoming identified with San Francisco. + +His experience was of great advantage to him in that he had learned to +do something for which there was a demand. He could not earn much as a +compositor, but his wants were simple and he could earn something. He +soon secured a place on the _Golden Era_, and it became the doorway to +his career. He was soon transferred to the editorial department and +contributed freely. + +For four years he continued on the _Golden Era_. These were years of +growth and increasing accomplishment. He did good work and made good +friends. Among those whose interest he awakened were Mrs. Jessie Benton +Fremont and Thomas Starr King. Both befriended and encouraged him. In +the critical days when California hung in the balance between the North +and the South, and Starr King, by his eloquence, fervor, and magnetism, +seemed to turn the scale, Bret Harte did his part in support of the +friend he loved. Lincoln had called for a hundred thousand volunteers, +and at a mass meeting Harte contributed a noble poem, "The Reveille," +which thrillingly read by Starr King brought the mighty audience to its +feet with cheers for the Union. He wrote many virile patriotic poems at +this period. + +In March, 1864, Starr King, of the glowing heart and golden tongue, +preacher, patriot, and hero, fell at his post, and San Francisco mourned +him and honored him as seldom falls to the lot of man. At his funeral +the Federal authorities ordered the firing of a salute from the forts in +the harbor, an honor, so far as I know, never before accorded a private +citizen. + +Bret Harte wrote a poem of rare beauty in expression of his profound +grief and his heartfelt appreciation: + + RELIEVING GUARD. + + Came the relief. "What, sentry, ho! + How passed the night through thy long waking?" + "Cold, cheerless, dark--as may befit + The hour before the dawn is breaking." + + "No sight? no sound?" "No; nothing save + The plover from the marshes calling, + And in yon western sky, about + An hour ago, a star was falling." + + "A star? There's nothing strange in that." + "No, nothing; but, above the thicket, + Somehow it seemed to me that God + Somewhere had just relieved a picket." + +This is not only good poetry; it reveals deep and fine feeling. + +[Illustration: FRANCIS BRET HARTE] + +Through Starr King's interest, his parishioner Robert B. Swain, +Superintendent of the Mint, had early in 1864 appointed Harte as his +private secretary, at a salary of two hundred dollars a month, with +duties that allowed considerable leisure. This was especially +convenient, as a year or so before he had married, and additional income +was indispensable. + +In May, 1864, Harte left the _Golden Era_, joining Charles Henry Webb +and others in a new literary venture, the _Californian_. It was a +brilliant weekly. Among the contributors were Mark Twain, Charles Warren +Stoddard, and Prentice Mulford. Harte continued his delightful +"Condensed Novels" and contributed poems, stories, sketches, and book +reviews. "The Society on the Stanislaus," "John Brown of Gettysburg," +and "The Pliocene Skull" belong to this period. + +In the "Condensed Novels" Harte surpassed all parodists. With clever +burlesque, there was both appreciation and subtle criticism. As +Chesterton says, "Bret Harte's humor was sympathetic and analytical. The +wild, sky-breaking humor of America has its fine qualities, but it must +in the nature of things be deficient in two qualities--reverence and +sympathy--and these two qualities were knit into the closest texture of +Bret Harte's humor." + +At this time Harte lived a quiet domestic life. He wrote steadily. He +loved to write, but he was also obliged to. Literature is not an +overgenerous paymaster, and with a growing family expenses tend to +increase in a larger ratio than income. + +Harte's sketches based on early experiences are interesting and +amusing. His life in Oakland was in many ways pleasant, but he evidently +retained some memories that made him enjoy indulging in a sly dig many +years after. He gives the pretended result of scientific investigation +made in the far-off future as to the great earthquake that totally +engulfed San Francisco. The escape of Oakland seemed inexplicable, but a +celebrated German geologist ventured to explain the phenomenon by +suggesting that "there are some things that the earth cannot swallow." + +My last recollection of Harte, of a purely personal nature, was of an +occurrence in 1866, when he was dramatic critic of the _Morning Call_ at +the time I was doing a little reporting on the same paper. It happened +that a benefit was arranged for some charity. "Nan, the +Good-for-Nothing," was to be given by a number of amateurs. The _Nan_ +asked me to play _Tom_, and I had insufficient firmness to decline. +After the play, when my face was reasonably clean, I dropped into the +_Call_ office, yearning for a word of commendation from Harte. I thought +he knew that I had taken the part, but he would not give me the +satisfaction of referring to it. Finally I mentioned, casually like, +that I was _Tom_, whereat he feigned surprise, and remarked in his +pleasant voice, "Was that you? I thought they had sent to some theater +and hired a supe." + +In July, 1868, A. Roman & Co. launched the _Overland Monthly_, with +Harte as editor. He took up the work with eager interest. He named the +child, planned its every feature, and chose his contributors. It was a +handsome publication, modeled, in a way, on the _Atlantic Monthly,_ but +with a flavor and a character all its own. The first number was +attractive and readable, with articles of varied interest by Mark Twain, +Noah Brooks, Charles Warren Stoddard, William C. Bartlett, T.H. Rearden, +Ina Coolbrith, and others--a brilliant galaxy for any period. Harte +contributed "San Francisco from the Sea." + +Mark Twain, long after, alluding to this period in his life, pays this +characteristic acknowledgment: "Bret Harte trimmed and trained and +schooled me patiently until he changed me from an awkward utterer of +coarse grotesqueness to a writer of paragraphs and chapters that have +found favor in the eyes of even some of the decentest people in the +land." + +The first issue of the _Overland_ was well received, but the second +sounded a note heard round the world. The editor contributed a +story--"The Luck of Roaring Camp"--that was hailed as a new venture in +literature. It was so revolutionary that it shocked an estimable +proofreader, and she sounded the alarm. The publishers were timid, but +the gentle editor was firm. When it was found that it must go in or he +would go out, it went--and he stayed. When the conservative and +dignified _Atlantic_ wrote to the author soliciting something like it, +the publishers were reassured. + +Harte had struck ore. Up to this time he had been prospecting. He had +early found color and followed promising stringers. He had opened some +fair pockets, but with the explosion of this blast he had laid bare the +true vein, and the ore assayed well. It was high grade, and the fissure +was broad. + +"The Luck of Roaring Camp" was the first of a series of stories +depicting the picturesque life of the early days which made California +known the world over and gave it a romantic interest enjoyed by no other +community. They were fresh and virile, original in treatment, with real +men and women using a new vocabulary, with humor and pathos delightfully +blended. They moved on a stage beautifully set, with a background of +heroic grandeur. No wonder that California and Bret Harte became +familiar household words. When one reflects on the fact that the +exposure to the life depicted had occurred more than ten years before, +from very brief experience, the wonder is incomprehensibly great. +Nothing less than genius can account for such a result. "Tennessee's +Partner," "M'liss," "The Outcasts of Poker Flat," and dozens more of +these stories that became classics followed. The supply seemed +exhaustless, and fresh welcome awaited every one. + +It was in September, 1870, that Harte in the make-up of the _Overland_ +found an awkward space too much for an ordinary poem. An associate +suggested that he write something to fit the gap; but Harte was not +given to dashing off to order, nor to writing a given number of inches +of poetry. He was not a literary mechanic, nor could he command his +moods. However, he handed his friend a bundle of manuscript to see if +there was anything that he thought would do, and very soon a neat draft +was found bearing the title "On the Sinfulness of Ah Sin as Reported by +Truthful James." It was read with avidity and pronounced "the very +thing." Harte demurred. He didn't think very well of it. He was +generally modest about his work and never quite satisfied. But he +finally accepted the judgment of his friend and consented to run it. He +changed the title to "Later Words from Truthful James," but when the +proof came substituted "Plain Language from Truthful James." + +He made a number of other changes, as was his wont, for he was always +painstaking and given to critical polishing. In some instances he +changed an entire line or a phrase of two lines. The copy read: + + "Till at last he led off the right bower, + That Nye had just hid on his knee." + +As changed on the proof it read: + + "Till at last he put down a right bower, + Which the same Nye had dealt unto me." + +It was a happy second thought that suggested the most quoted line in +this famous poem. The fifth line of the seventh verse originally read: + + "Or is civilization a failure?" + +On the margin of the proof-sheet he substituted the ringing line: + + "We are ruined by Chinese cheap labor," + +--an immense improvement--the verse reading: + + "Then I looked up at Nye, + And he gazed unto me, + And he rose with a sigh, + And said, 'Can this be? + We are ruined by Chinese cheap labor!' + And he went for that heathen Chinee." + +The corrected proof, one of the treasures of the University of +California, with which Harte was for a time nominally connected, bears +convincing testimony to the painstaking methods by which he sought the +highest degree of literary perfection. This poem was not intended as a +serious addition to contemporary verse. Harte disclaimed any purpose +whatever; but there seems just a touch of political satire. "The Chinese +must go" was becoming the popular political slogan, and he always +enjoyed rowing against the tide. The poem greatly extended his name and +fame. It was reprinted in _Punch_, it was liberally quoted on the floors +of Congress, and it "caught on" everywhere. Perhaps it is today the one +thing by which Harte is best known. + +One of the most amusing typographical errors on record occurred in the +printing of this poem. In explanation of the manner of the duplicity of +_Ah Sin, Truthful James_ was made to say: + + "In his sleeves, which were long, + He had twenty-one packs:" + +and that was the accepted reading for many years, in spite of the +physical impossibility of concealing six hundred and ninety-three cards +and one arm in even a Chinaman's sleeve. The game they played was +euchre, where bowers are supreme, and what Harte wrote was "jacks," not +"packs." Probably the same pious proofreader who was shocked at the +"Luck" did not know the game, and, as the rhyme was perfect, let it +slip. Later editions corrected the error, though it is still often seen. + +Harte gave nearly three years to the _Overland_. His success had +naturally brought him flattering offers, and the temptation to realize +on his reputation seems to have been more than he could withstand. The +_Overland_ had become a valuable property, eventually passing into +control of another publisher. The new owners were unable or unwilling to +pay what he thought he must earn, and somewhat reluctantly he resigned +the editorship and left the state of his adoption. + +Harte, with his family, left San Francisco in February, 1871. They went +first to Chicago, where he confidently expected to be editor of a +magazine to be called the _Lakeside Monthly_. He was invited to a +dinner given by the projectors of the enterprise, at which a large-sized +check was said to have been concealed beneath his plate; but for some +unexplained reason he failed to attend the dinner and the magazine was +given up. Those who know the facts acquit him of all blame in the +matter; but, in any event, his hopes were dashed, and he proceeded to +the East disappointed and unsettled. + +Soon after arriving at New York he visited Boston, dining with the +Saturday Club and visiting Howells, then editor of the _Atlantic_, at +Cambridge. He spent a pleasant week, meeting Lowell, Longfellow, and +Emerson. Mrs. Aldrich, in "Crowding Memories," gives a vivid picture of +his charm and high spirits at this meeting of friends and celebrities. +The Boston atmosphere as a whole was not altogether delightful. He +seemed constrained, but he did a fine stroke of business. James R. +Osgood & Co. offered him ten thousand dollars for whatever he might +write in a year, and he accepted the handsome retainer. It did not +stimulate him to remarkable output. He wrote four stories, including +"How Santa Claus Came to Simpson's Bar," and five poems, including +"Concepcion de Arguello." The offer was not renewed the following year. + +For seven years New York City was generally his winter home. Some of his +summers were spent in Newport, and some in New Jersey. In the former he +wrote "A Newport Romance" and in the latter "Thankful Blossom." One +summer he spent at Cohasset, where he met Lawrence Barrett and Stuart +Robson, writing "Two Men of Sandy Bar," produced in 1876. "Sue," his +most successful play, was produced in New York and in London in 1896. + +To earn money sorely needed he took the distasteful lecture field. His +two subjects were "The Argonauts" and "American Humor." His letters to +his wife at this time tell the pathetic tale of a sensitive, troubled +soul struggling to earn money to pay debts. He writes with brave humor, +but the work was uncongenial and the returns disappointing. + +From Ottawa he writes: "Do not let this worry you, but kiss the children +for me, and hope for the best. I should send you some money, but there +_isn't any to send_, and maybe I shall only bring back myself." The next +day he added a postscript: "Dear Nan--I did not send this yesterday, +waiting to find the results of last night's lecture. It was a fair +house, and this morning--paid me $150, of which I send you the greater +part." + +A few days later he wrote from Lawrence, the morning after an +unexpectedly good audience: "I made a hundred dollars by the lecture, +and it is yours for yourself, Nan, to buy minxes with, if you want to." + +From Washington he writes: "Thank you, dear Nan, for your kind, hopeful +letter. I have been very sick, very much disappointed; but I am better +now and am only waiting for money to return. Can you wonder that I have +kept this from you? You have so hard a time of it there, that I cannot +bear to have you worried if there is the least hope of a change in my +affairs. God bless you and keep you and the children safe, for the sake +of Frank." + +No one can read these letters without feeling that they mirror the real +man, refined of feeling, kindly and humorous, but not strong of courage, +oppressed by obligations, and burdened by doubts of how he was to care +for those he loved. With all his talent he could not command +independence, and the lot of the man who earns less than it costs to +live is hard to bear. + +Harte had the faculty of making friends, even if by neglect he sometimes +lost them, and they came to his rescue in this trying time. Charles A. +Dana and others secured for him an appointment by President Hayes as +Commercial Agent at Crefeld, Prussia. In June, 1878, he sailed for +England, leaving his family at Sea Cliff, Long Island, little supposing +that he would never see them or America again. + +On the day he reached Crefeld he wrote his wife in a homesick and almost +despondent strain: "I am to all appearance utterly friendless; I have +not received the first act of kindness or courtesy from anyone. I think +things must be better soon. I shall, please God, make some good friends +in good time, and will try and be patient. But I shall not think of +sending for you until I see clearly that I can stay myself. If worst +comes to worst I shall try to stand it for a year, and save enough to +come home and begin anew there. But I could not stand it to see you +break your heart here through disappointment as I mayhap may do." + +Here is the artistic, impressionable temperament, easily disheartened, +with little self-reliant courage or grit. But he seems to have felt a +little ashamed of his plaint, for at midnight of the same day he wrote a +second letter, half apologetic and much more hopeful, just because one +or two people had been a little kind and he had been taken out to a +_fest_. + +Soon after, he wrote a letter to his younger son, then a small boy. It +told of a pleasant drive to the Rhine, a few miles away. He concludes: +"It was all very wonderful, but Papa thought after all he was glad his +boys live in a country that is as yet _pure_ and _sweet_ and _good_--not +in one where every field seems to cry out with the remembrance of +bloodshed and wrong, and where so many people have lived and suffered +that tonight, under this clear moon, their very ghosts seemed to throng +the road and dispute our right of way. Be thankful, my dear boy, that +you are an American. Papa was never so fond of his country before as in +this land that has been so great, powerful, and so very hard and +wicked." + +In May, 1880, he was made Consul at Glasgow, a position that he filled +for five years. During this period he spent a considerable part of his +time in London and in visiting at country homes. He lectured and wrote +and made many friends, among the most valued of whom were William Black +and Walter Besant. + +A new administration came in with 1885 and Harte was superseded. He went +to London and settled down to a simple and regular life. For ten years +he lived with the Van de Veldes, friends of long standing. He wrote with +regularity and published several volumes of stories and sketches. In +1885 Harte visited Switzerland. Of the Alps he wrote: "In spite of their +pictorial composition I wouldn't give a mile of the dear old Sierras, +with their honesty, sincerity, and magnificent uncouthness, for a +hundred thousand kilometers of the picturesque Vaud." + +Of Geneva he wrote: "I thought I should not like it, fancying it a kind +of continental Boston, and that the shadow of John Calvin and the old +reformers, or still worse the sentimental idiocy of Rousseau and the De +Staels, still lingered." But he did like it, and wrote brilliantly of +Lake Leman and Mont Blanc. + +Returning to his home in Aldershot he resumed work, giving some time to +a libretto for a musical comedy, but his health was failing and he +accomplished little. A surgical operation for cancer of the throat in +March, 1902, afforded a little relief, but he worked with difficulty. +On April 17th he began a new story, "A Friend of Colonel Starbottle." He +wrote one sentence and began another; but the second sentence was his +last work, though a few letters to friends bear a later date. On May +5th, sitting at his desk, there came a hemorrhage of the throat, +followed later in the day by a second, which left him unconscious. +Before the end of the day he peacefully breathed his last. + +Pathetic and inexplicable were the closing days of this gifted man. An +exile from his native land, unattended by family or kin, sustaining his +lonely life by wringing the dregs of memory, and clasping in farewell +the hands of a fancied friend of his dear old reprobate Colonel, he, +like Kentuck, "drifted away into the shadowy river that flows forever to +the unknown sea." + +In his more than forty years of authorship he was both industrious and +prolific. In the nineteen volumes of his published work there must be +more than two hundred titles of stories and sketches, and many of them +are little known. Some of them are disappointing in comparison with his +earlier and perhaps best work, but many of them are charming and all are +in his delightful style, with its undertone of humor that becomes +dominant at unexpected intervals. His literary form was distinctive, +with a manner not derived from the schools or copied from any of his +predecessors, but developed from his own personality. He seems to have +founded a modern school, with a lightness of touch and a felicity of +expression unparalleled. He was vividly imaginative, and also had the +faculty of giving dramatic form and consistency to an incident or story +told by another. He was a story-teller, equally dexterous in prose or +verse. His taste was unerring and he sought for perfect form. His +atmosphere was breezy and healthful--out of doors with the fragrance of +the pine-clad Sierras. He was never morbid and introspective. His +characters are virile and natural men and women who act from simple +motives, who live and love, or hate and fight, without regard to +problems and with small concern for conventionalities. Harte had +sentiment, but was realistic and fearless. He felt under no obligation +to make all gamblers villains or all preachers heroes. He dealt with +human nature in the large and he made it real. + +His greatest achievement was in faithfully mirroring the life of a new +and striking epoch. He seems to have discovered that it was picturesque +and to have been almost alone in impressing this fact on the world. He +sketched pictures of pioneer life as he saw or imagined it with +matchless beauty and compelled the interest and enjoyment of all +mankind. + +His chief medium was the short story, to which he gave a new vogue. +Translated into many tongues, his tales became the source of knowledge +to a large part of the people of Europe as to California and the +Pacific. He associated the Far West with romance, and we have never +fully outlived it. + +That he was gifted as a poet no one can deny. Perhaps his most striking +use of his power as a versifier was in connection with the romantic +Spanish background of California history. Such work as "Concepcion de +Arguello" is well worth while. In his "Spanish Idylls and Legends" he +catches the fine spirit of the period and connects California with a +past of charm and beauty. His patriotic verse has both strength and +loveliness and reflects a depth of feeling that his lighter work does +not lead us to expect. In his dialect verse he revels in fun and shows +himself a genuine and cleanly humorist. + +If we search for the source of his great power we may not expect to find +it; yet we may decide that among his endowments his extraordinary power +of absorption contributes very largely. His early reference to "eager +absorption" and "photographic sensitiveness" are singularly significant +expressions. Experience teaches the plodder, but the man of genius, +supremely typified by Shakespeare, needs not to acquire knowledge slowly +and painfully. Sympathy, imagination, and insight reveal truth, and as a +plate, sensitized, holds indefinitely the records of the exposure, so +Harte, forty years after in London, holds in consciousness the +impressions of the days he spent in Tuolumne County. It is a great gift, +a manifestation of genius. He had a fine background of inheritance and a +lifetime of good training. + +Bret Harte was also gifted with an agreeable personality. He was +even-tempered and good-natured. He was an ideal guest and enjoyed his +friends. Whatever his shortcomings and whatever his personal +responsibility for them, he deserves to be treated with the +consideration and generosity he extended to others. He was never +censorious, and instances of his magnanimity are many. Severity of +judgment is a custom that few of us can afford, and to be generous is +never a mistake. Harte was extremely sensitive, and he deplored +controversy. He was quite capable of suffering in silence if defense of +self might reflect on others. His deficiencies were trivial but +damaging, and their heavy retribution he bore with dignity, retaining +the respect of those who knew him. + +As to what he was, as man and author, he is entitled to be judged by a +jury of his peers. I could quote at length from a long list of +associates of high repute, but they all concur fully with the +comprehensive judgment of Ina Coolbrith, who knew him intimately. She +says, "I can only speak of him in terms of unqualified praise as author, +friend, and man." + +In the general introduction that Harte wrote for the first volume of his +collected stories he refers to the charge that he "confused recognized +standards of morality by extenuating lives of recklessness and often +criminality with a single solitary virtue" as "the cant of too much +mercy." He then adds: "Without claiming to be a religious man or a +moralist, but simply as an artist, he shall reverently and humbly +conform to the rules laid down by a great poet who created the parables +of the Prodigal Son and the Good Samaritan, whose works have lasted +eighteen hundred years, and will remain when the present writer and his +generations are forgotten. And he is conscious of uttering no original +doctrine in this, but only of voicing the beliefs of a few of his +literary brethren happily living, and one gloriously dead, [Footnote: +Evidently Dickens.] who never made proclamation of this from the +housetops." + +Bret Harte had a very unusual combination of sympathetic insight, +emotional feeling, and keen sense of the dramatic. In the expression of +the result of these powers he commanded a literary style individually +developed, expressive of a rare personality. He was vividly imaginative, +and he had exacting ideals of precision in expression. His taste was +unerring. The depth and power of the great soul were not his. He was the +artist, not the prophet. He was a delightful painter of the life he saw, +an interpreter of the romance of his day, a keen but merciful satirist, +a humorist without reproach, a patriot, a critic, and a kindly, modest +gentleman. He was versatile, doing many things exceedingly well, and +some things supremely well. He discerned the significance of the +remarkable social conditions of early days in California and developed a +marvelous power of presenting them in vivid and attractive form. His +humor is unsurpassed. It is pervasive, like the perfume of the rose, +never offending by violence. His style is a constant surprise and a +never-ending delight. His spirit is kindly and generous. He finds good +in unsuspected places, and he leaves hope for all mankind. He was +sensitive, peace-loving, and indignant at wrong, a scorner of pretense, +independent in thought, just in judgment. He surmounted many +difficulties, bore suffering without complaint, and left with those who +really knew him a pleasant memory. It would seem that he was a greater +artist and a better man than is commonly conceded. + +In failing to honor him California suffers. He should be cherished as +her early interpreter, if not as her spirit's discoverer, and ranked +high among those who have contributed to her fame. He is the +representative literary figure of the state. In her imaginary Temple of +Fame or Hall of Heroes he deserves a prominent, if not the foremost, +niche. As the generations move forward he must not be forgotten. Bret +Harte at our hands needs not to be idealized, but he does deserve to be +justly, gratefully, and fittingly realized. + + + + +CHAPTER V + +SAN FRANCISCO--THE SIXTIES + + +We are familiar with the romantic birth of San Francisco and its +precocious childhood; we are well acquainted with its picturesque +background of Spanish history and the glorious days of '49; but I doubt +if we are as well informed as to the significant and perhaps equally +important second decade. + +It was my fortune to catch a hurried glance of San Francisco in 1855, +when the population was about forty-five thousand. I was then on the way +from New England to my father's home in Humboldt County. I next saw it +in 1861 while on my way to and from attendance at the State Fair. In +1864 I took up my residence in the city and it has since been +continuous. + +That the almost neglected sixties may have some setting, let me briefly +trace the beginnings. Things moved slowly when America was discovered. +Columbus found the mainland in 1503. Ten years later Balboa reached the +Pacific, and, wading into the ocean, modestly claimed for his sovereign +all that bordered its shores. Thirty years thereafter the point +farthest west was named Mendocino, for Mendoza, the viceroy ordering the +expedition of Cabrillo and Ferrelos. Thirty-seven years later came +Drake, and almost found San Francisco Bay. But all these discoveries led +to no occupation. It seems incredible that two hundred and twenty-six +years elapsed from Cabrillo's visit to the day the first settlers landed +in San Diego, founding the first of the famous missions. Historically, +1769 is surely marked. In this year Napoleon and Wellington were born +and civilized California was founded. + +San Francisco Bay was discovered by a land party. It was August 6, 1775, +seven weeks after the battle of Bunker Hill, that Ayala cautiously found +his way into the bay and anchored the "San Carlos" off Sausalito. Five +days before the Declaration of Independence was signed Moraga and his +men, the first colonists, arrived in San Francisco and began getting out +the timber to build the fort at the Presidio and the church at Mission +Dolores. + +Vancouver, in 1792, poking into an unknown harbor, found a good +landing-place at a cove around the first point he rounded at his right. +The Spaniards called it Yerba Buena, after the fragrant running vine +that abounded in the lee of the sandhills which filled the present site +of Market Street, especially at a point now occupied by the building of +the Mechanics-Mercantile Library. There was no human habitation in +sight, nor was there to be for forty years, but friendly welcome came +on the trails that led to the Presidio and the Mission. + +An occasional whaler or a trader in hides and tallow came and went, but +foreigners were not encouraged to settle. It was in 1814 that the first +"Gringo" came. In 1820 there were thirteen in all California, three of +whom were Americans. In 1835 William A. Richardson was the first foreign +resident of Yerba Buena. He was allowed to lay out a street and build a +structure of boards and ship's sails in the Calle de Fundacion, which +generally followed the lines of the present Grant Avenue. The spot +approximates number 811 of the avenue today. When Dana came in 1835 it +was the only house visible. The following year Jacob P. Leese built a +complete house, and it was dedicated by a celebration and ball on the +Fourth of July in which the whole community participated. + +The settlement grew slowly. In 1840 there were sixteen foreigners. In +1844 there were a dozen houses and fifty people. In 1845 there were but +five thousand people in all the state. The missions had been disbanded +and the Presidio was manned by one gray-haired soldier. The Mexican War +brought renewed life. On July 9, 1846, Commodore Sloat sent Captain +Montgomery with the frigate "Portsmouth," and the American flag was +raised on the staff in the plaza of 1835, since called Portsmouth +Square. Thus began the era of American occupation. Lieutenant Bartlett +was made alcalde, with large powers, in pursuance of which, on February +27, 1847, he issued a simple order that the town thereafter be known as +San Francisco,--and its history as such began. + +The next year gold was discovered. A sleepy, romantic, shiftless but +picturesque community became wide-awake, energetic, and aggressive. San +Francisco leaped into prominence. Every nation on earth sent its most +ambitious and enterprising as well as its most restless and +irresponsible citizens. In the last nine months of 1849, seven hundred +shiploads were landed in a houseless town. They largely left for the +mines, but more remained than could be housed. They lived on and around +hulks run ashore and thousands found shelter in Happy Valley tents. A +population of two thousand at the beginning of the year was twenty +thousand at the end. It was a gold-crazed community. Everything consumed +was imported. Gold dust was the only export. + +From 1849 to 1860, gold amounting to over six hundred million dollars +was produced. The maximum--eighty-one millions--was reached in 1852. The +following year showed a decline of fourteen millions, and 1855 saw a +further decline of twelve millions. Alarm was felt. At the same ratio of +decline, in less than four years production would cease. It was plainly +evident, if the state were to exist and grow, that other resources must +be developed. + +In the first decade there were periods of great depression. Bank and +commercial failures were very frequent occurrences in 1854. The state +was virtually only six years old--but what wonderful years they had +been! In the splendor of achievement and the glamour of the golden +fleece we lose sight of the fact that the community was so small. In the +whole state there were not more than 350,000 people, of whom a seventh +lived in San Francisco. There were indications that the tide of +immigration had reached its height. In 1854 arrivals had exceeded +departures by twenty-four thousand. In 1855 the excess dropped to six +thousand. + +My first view of San Francisco left a vivid impression of a city in +every way different from any I had ever seen. The streets were planked, +the buildings were heterogeneous--some of brick or stone, others +little more than shacks. Portsmouth Square was the general center of +interest, facing the City Hall and the Post Office. Clay Street Hill was +higher then than now. I know it because I climbed to its top to call on +a boy who came on the steamer and lived there. There was but little +settlement to the west of the summit. + +The leading hotel was the International, lately opened, on Jackson +Street below Montgomery. It was considered central in location, being +convenient to the steamer landings, the Custom House, and the wholesale +trade. Probably but one building of that period has survived. At the +corner of Montgomery and California streets stood Parrott's granite +block, the stone for which was cut in China and assembled in 1852 by +Chinese workmen imported for the purpose. It harbored the bank of Page, +Bacon & Co., and has been continuously occupied, surviving an explosion +of nitroglycerine in 1866 (when Wells, Fargo & Co. were its tenants) as +well as the fire of 1906. Wilson's Exchange was in Sansome Street near +Sacramento. The American Theater was opposite. Where the Bank of +California stands there was a seed store. On the northeast corner of +California and Sansome streets was Bradshaw's zinc grocery store. + +The growth of the city southward had already begun. The effort to +develop North Beach commercially had failed. Meiggs' Wharf was little +used; the Cobweb Saloon, near its shore end, was symbolic. Telegraph +Hill and its semaphore and time-ball were features of business life. It +was well worth climbing for the view, which Bayard Taylor pronounced the +finest in the world. + +At this time San Francisco monopolized the commerce of the coast. +Everything that entered California came through the Golden Gate, and it +nearly all went up the Sacramento River. It was distinctly the age of +gold. Other resources were not considered. This all seemed a very +insecure basis for a permanent state. That social and political +conditions were threatening may be inferred when we recall that 1856 +brought the Vigilance Committee. In 1857 came the Fraser River stampede. +Twenty-three thousand people are said to have left the city, and +real-estate values suffered severely. + +In 1860 the Pony Express was established, bringing "the States," as the +East was generally designated, considerably nearer. It took but ten and +a half days to St. Louis, and thirteen to New York, with postage five +dollars an ounce. Steamers left on the first and fifteenth of the month, +and the twenty-eighth and fourteenth were religiously observed as days +for collection. No solvent man of honor failed to settle his account on +"steamer day." + +The election of Lincoln, followed by the threat of war, was disquieting, +and the large southern element was out of sympathy with anything like +coercion. But patriotism triumphed. Early in 1861 a mass meeting was +held at the corner of Montgomery and Market streets, and San Francisco +pledged her loyalty. + +In November, 1861, I attended the State Fair at Sacramento as +correspondent for the _Humboldt Times_. About the only impression of San +Francisco on my arrival was the disgust I felt for the proprietor of the +hotel at which I stopped, when, in reply to my eager inquiry for war +news, he was only able to say that he believed there had been some +fighting somewhere in Virginia. This to one starving for information +after a week's abstinence was tantalizing. + +After a week of absorbing interest, in a fair that seemed enormously +important and impressive, I timed my return so as to spend Sunday in San +Francisco, and it was made memorable by attending, morning and evening, +the Unitarian church, then in Stockton near Sacramento, and hearing +Starr King. He had come from Boston the year before, proposing to fill +the pulpit for a year, and from the first aroused great enthusiasm. I +found the church crowded and was naturally consigned to a back seat, +which I shared with a sewing-machine, for it was war-time and the women +were very active in relief work. + +The gifted preacher was thirty-seven years old, but seemed younger. He +was of medium height, had a kindly face with a generous mouth, a full +forehead, and dark, glowing eyes. + +In June, 1864, I became a resident of San Francisco, rejoining the +family and becoming a clerk in the office of the Superintendent of +Indian Affairs. The city was about one-fifth its present size, claiming +a population of 110,000. + +I want to give an idea of San Francisco's character and life at that +time, and of general conditions in the second decade. It is not easy to +do, and demands the reader's help and sympathy. Let him imagine, if he +will, that he is visiting San Francisco for the first time, and that he +is a personal friend of the writer, who takes a day off to show him the +city. In 1864 one could arrive here only by steamer; there were no +railways. I meet my friend at the gangplank of the steamer on the wharf +at the foot of Broadway. To reach the car on East Street (now the +Embarcadero), we very likely skirt gaping holes in the planked wharf, +exposing the dark water lapping the supporting piles, and are assailed +by bilge-like odors that escape. Two dejected horses await us. Entering +the car we find two lengthwise seats upholstered in red plush. If it be +winter, the floor is liberally covered by straw, to mitigate the mud. If +it be summer, the trade winds are liberally charged with fine sand and +infinitesimal splinters from the planks which are utilized for both +streets and sidewalks. We rattle along East and intersecting streets +until we reach Sansome, upon which we proceed to Bush, which practically +bounds the business district on the south, thence we meander by a +circuitous route to Laurel Hill Cemetery near Lone Mountain. A guide is +almost necessary. An incoming stranger once asked the conductor to let +him off at the American Exchange, which the car passed. He was surprised +at the distance to his destination. At the cemetery end of the line he +discovered that the conductor had forgotten him, but was assured that he +would stop at the hotel on the way back. The next thing he knew he +reached the wharf; the conductor had again forgotten him. His +confidence exhausted, he insisted on walking, following the track until +he reached the hotel. + +In the present instance we alight from the car when it reaches +Montgomery Street, at the Occidental Hotel, new and attractive, well +managed by a New Yorker named Leland and especially patronized by army +people. We rest briefly and start out for a preliminary survey. Three +blocks to the south we reach Market Street and gaze upon the outer edge +of the bustling city. Across the magnificently wide but rude and +unfinished street, at the immediate right, where the Palace Hotel is to +stand, we see St. Patrick's Church and an Orphan Asylum. A little +beyond, at the corner of Third Street, is a huge hill of sand covering +the present site of the Glaus Spreckels Building, upon which a +steam-paddy is at work loading flat steam cars that run Mission-ward. +The lot now occupied by the Emporium is the site of a large Catholic +school. At our left, stretching to the bay are coal-yards, foundries, +planing-mills, box-factories, and the like. It will be years before +business crosses Market Street. Happy Valley and Pleasant Valley, +beyond, are well covered by inexpensive residences. The North Beach and +South Park car line connects the fine residence district on and around +Rincon Hill with the fine stretches of northern Stockton Street and the +environs of Telegraph Hill. At the time I picture, no street-cars ran +below Montgomery, on Market Street; traffic did not warrant it. It was a +boundary rather than a thoroughfare. It was destined to be one of the +world's noted streets, but at this time the city's life pulsed through +Montgomery Street, to which we will now return. + +Turning from the apparent jumping-off place we cross to the "dollar +side" and join the promenaders who pass in review or pause to gaze at +the shop windows. Montgomery Street has been pre-eminent since the early +days and is now at its height. For a long time Clay Street harbored the +leading dry-goods stores, like the City of Paris, but all are struggling +for place in Montgomery. Here every business is represented--Beach, +Roman, and Bancroft, the leading booksellers; Barrett & Sherwood, +Tucker, and Andrews, jewelers; Donohoe, Kelly & Co., John Sime, and +Hickox & Spear, bankers; and numerous dealers in carpets, furniture, +hats, French shoes, optical goods, etc. Of course Barry & Patten's was +not the only saloon. Passing along we are almost sure to see some of the +characters of the day--certainly Emperor Norton and Freddie Coombs (a +reincarnated Franklin), probably Colonel Stevenson, with his Punch-like +countenance, towering Isaac Friedlander, the poor rich Michael Reese, +handsome Hall McAllister, and aristocratic Ogden Hoffman. Should the +fire-bell ring we will see Knickerbocker No. Five in action, with Chief +Scannell and "Bummer" and "Lazarus," and perhaps Lillie Hitchcock. When +we reach Washington Street we cross to make a call at the Bank Exchange +in the Montgomery Block, the largest structure on the street. The +"Exchange" is merely a popular saloon, but it boasts ten billiard tables +and back of the bar hangs the famous picture of "Samson and Delilah." + +Luncheon being in order we are embarrassed with riches. Perhaps the Mint +restaurant is as good as the best and probably gives a sight of more +prominent politicians than any other resort; but something quite +characteristic is the daily gathering at Jury's, a humble +hole-in-the-wall in Merchant Street back of the _Bulletin_ office. + +Four lawyers who like one another, and like good living as well, have a +special table. Alexander Campbell, Milton Andros, George Sharp, and +Judge Dwinelle will stop first in the Clay Street Market, conveniently +opposite, and select the duck, fish, or English mutton-chops for the +day's menu. One of the number bears the choice to the kitchen and +superintends its preparation while the others engage in shrimps and +table-talk until it is served. If Jury's is overflowing with custom, +there are two other French restaurants alongside. + +After luncheon we have a glimpse of the business district, following +back on the "two-bit" side of the street. At Clay we pass a saloon with +a cigar-stand in front and find a group listening to a man with bushy +hair and a reddish mustache, who in an easy attitude and in a quaintly +drawling voice is telling a story. We await the laugh and pass on, and I +say that he is a reporter, lately from Nevada, called Mark Twain. Very +likely we encounter at Commercial Street, on his way to the _Call_ +office, a well-dressed young man with Dundreary whiskers and an aquiline +nose. He nods to me and I introduce Bret Harte, secretary to the +Superintendent of the Mint, and author of the clever "Condensed Novels" +being printed in the _Californian_. At California Street we turn east, +passing the shipping offices and hardware houses, and coming to Battery +Street, where Israelites wax fat in wholesale dry goods and the clothing +business. For solid big business in groceries, liquors, and provisions +we must keep on to Front Street--Front by name only, for four streets on +filled-in land have crept in front of Front. Following this very +important street past the shipping offices we reach Washington Street, +passing up which we come to Battery Street, where we pause to glance at +the Custom House and Post Office at the right and the recently +established Bank of California on the southwest corner of the two +streets. + +Having fairly surveyed the legitimate business we wish to see something +of the engrossing avocation of most of the people of the city, of any +business or no business, and we pass on to Montgomery, crossing over to +the center of the stock exchange activities. Groups of men and women +are watching the tapes in the brokers' offices, messengers are running +in and out the board entrances, intense excitement is everywhere +apparent. Having gained admission to the gallery of the board room we +look down on the frantic mob, buying and selling Comstock shares. How +much is really sold and how much is washing no one knows, but enormous +transactions, big with fate, are of everyday occurrence. As we pass out +we notice a man with strong face whose shoes show dire need of patching. +Asked his name, I answer, "Jim Keane; just now he is down, but some day +he is bound to be way up." + +We saunter up Clay, passing Burr's Savings Bank and a few remaining +stores, to Kearny, and Portsmouth Square, whose glory is departing. The +City Hall faces it, and so does Exempt Engine House, but dentists' +offices and cheap theaters and Chinese stores are crowding in. Clay +Street holds good boarding-houses, but decay is manifest. We pass on to +Stockton, still a favorite residence street; turning south we pass, near +Sacramento, the church in which Starr King first preached, now proudly +owned by the negro Methodists. At Post we reach Union Square, nearly +covered by the wooden pavilion in which the Mechanics' Institute holds +its fairs. Diagonally opposite the southeast corner of the desecrated +park are the buildings of the ambitious City College, and east of them +a beautiful church edifice always spoken of as "Starr King's Church." + +Very likely, seeing the church, I might be reminded of one of Mr. King's +most valued friends, and suggest that we call upon him at the Golden +Gate Flour-mill in Pine Street, where the California Market was to +stand. If we met Horace Davis, I should feel that I had presented one of +our best citizens. + +Dinner presents many opportunities; but I am inclined to think we shall +settle on Frank Garcia's restaurant in Montgomery near Jackson, where +good service awaits us, and we may hear the upraised voices of some of +the big lawyers who frequent the place. For the evening we have the +choice between several bands of minstrels, but if Forrest and John +McCullough are billed for "Jack Cade" we shall probably call on Tom +Maguire. After the strenuous play we pass up Washington Street to Peter +Job's and indulge in his incomparable ice-cream. + +On Sunday I shall continue my guidance. Churches are plentiful and +preachers are good. In the afternoon I think I may venture to invite my +friend to The Willows, a public garden between Mission and Valencia and +Seventeenth and Nineteenth streets. We shall hear excellent music in the +open air and can sit at a small table and sip good beer. I find such +indulgence far less wicked than I had been led to believe. + +When there is something distinctive in a community a visitor is +supposed to take it in, and in the evening we attend the meeting of the +Dashaway Association in its own hall in Post Street near Dupont. It +numbers five thousand members and meets Sunday mornings and evenings. +Strict temperance is a live issue at this time. The Sons of Temperance +maintain four divisions. There are besides two lodges of Good Templars +and a San Francisco Temperance Union. And in spite of all this the city +feels called upon to support a Home for Inebriates at Stockton and +Chestnut streets, to which the supervisors contribute two hundred and +fifty dollars a month. + +I shall feel that I am derelict if I do not manage a jaunt to the Cliff +House. The most desirable method demands a span of horses for a spin out +Point Lobos Avenue. We may, however, be obliged to take a McGinn bus +that leaves the Plaza hourly. It will be all the same when we reach the +Cliff and gaze on Ben Butler and his companion sea-lions as they disport +themselves in the ocean or climb the rocks. Wind or fog may greet us, +but the indifferent monsters roar, fight, and play, while the restless +waves roll in. We must, also, make a special trip to Rincon Hill and +South Park to see how and where our magnates dwell. The 600 block in +Folsom Street must not be neglected. The residences of such men as John +Parrott and Milton S. Latham are almost palatial. It is related that a +visitor impressed with the elegance of one of these places asked a +modest man in the neighborhood if he knew whose it was. "Yes," he +replied, "it belongs to an old fool by the name of John Parrott, and I +am he." + +We shall leave out something distinctive if we do not call at the What +Cheer House in Sacramento Street below Montgomery, a hostelry for men, +with moderate prices, notwithstanding many unusual privileges. It has a +large reading-room and a library of five thousand volumes, besides a +very respectable museum. Guests are supplied with all facilities for +blacking their own boots, and are made at home in every way. +Incidentally the proprietor made a good fortune, a large part of which +he invested in turning his home at Fourteenth and Mission streets into a +pleasure resort known as Woodward's Gardens, which for many years was +our principal park, art gallery and museum. + +These are a few of the things I could have shown. But to know and +appreciate the spirit and character of a city one must live in it and be +of it; so I beg to be dismissed as a guide and to offer experiences and +events that may throw some light on life in the stirring sixties. + +When I migrated from Humboldt County and enlisted for life as a San +Franciscan I lived with my father's family in a small brick house in +Powell Street near Ellis. The Golden West Hotel now covers the lot. The +little houses opposite were on a higher level and were surrounded by +small gardens. Both street and sidewalks were planked, but I remember +that my brother and I, that we might escape the drifting sand, often +walked on the flat board that capped the flimsy fence in front of a +vacant lot. On the west of Powell, at Market, was St. Ann's Garden and +Nursery. On the east, where the Flood Building stands, was a stable and +riding-school. + +Much had been accomplished in city building, but the process was +continuing. Few of us realize the obstacles overcome. Fifteen years +before, the site was the rugged end of a narrow peninsula, with high +rock hills, wastes of drifting sand, a curving cove of beach, bordered +with swamps and estuaries, and here and there a few oases in the form of +small valleys. In 1864 the general lines of the city were practically +those of today. It was the present San Francisco, laid out but not +filled out. There was little west of Larkin Street and quite a gap +between the city proper and the Mission. + +Size in a city greatly modifies character. In 1864 I found a compact +community; whatever was going on seemed to interest all. We now have a +multitude of unrelated circles; then there was one great circle +including the sympathetic whole. The one theater that offered the +legitimate drew and could accommodate all who cared for it. Herold's +orchestral concerts, a great singer like Parepa Rosa, or a violinist +like Ole Bull drew all the music-lovers of the city. And likewise, in +the early springtime when the Unitarian picnic was announced at Belmont +or Fairfax, it would be attended by at least a thousand, and heartily +enjoyed by all, regardless of church connection. Such things are no +more, though the population to draw from be five times as large. + +In the sixties, church congregations and lecture audiences were much +larger than they are now. There seemed always to be some one preacher or +lecturer who was the vogue, practically monopolizing public interest. +His name might be Scudder or Kittredge or Moody, but while he lasted +everybody rushed to hear him. And there was commonly some special fad +that prevailed. Spiritualism held the boards for quite a time. + +Changes in real-estate values were a marked feature of the city's life. +The laying out of Broadway was significant of expectations. Banks in the +early days were north of Pacific in Montgomery, but very soon the drift +to the south began. + +In 1862, when the Unitarian church in Stockton street near Sacramento +was found too small, it was determined to push well to the front of the +city's growth. Two lots were under final consideration, the northwest +corner of Geary and Powell, where the St. Francis now stands, and the +lot in Geary east of Stockton, now covered by the Whitney Building. The +first lot was a corner and well situated, but it was rejected on the +ground that it was "too far out." The trustees paid $16,000 for the +other lot and built the fine church that was occupied until 1887, when +it was felt to be too far down town, and the present building at +Franklin and Geary streets was erected. Incidentally, the lot sold for +$120,000. + +The evolution of pavements has been an interesting incident of the +city's life. Planks were cheap and they held down some of the sand, but +they grew in disfavor. In 1864 the Superintendent of Streets reported +that in the previous year 1,365,000 square feet of planks had been laid, +and 290,000 square feet had been paved with cobbles, a lineal mile of +which cost $80,000. How much suffering they cost the militia who marched +on them is not reported. Nicholson pavement was tried and found wanting. +Basalt blocks found brief favor. Finally we reached the modern era and +approximate perfection. + +Checker-board street planning was a serious misfortune to the city, and +it was aggravated by the narrowness of most of the streets. Kearny +Street, forty-five and one-half feet wide, and Dupont, forty-four and +one-half feet, were absurd. In 1865 steps were taken to add thirty feet +to the west side of Kearny. In 1866 the work was done, and it proved a +great success. The cost was five hundred and seventy-nine thousand +dollars, and the addition to the value of the property was not less than +four million dollars. When the work began the front-foot value at the +northern end was double that at Market Street. Today the value at Market +Street is more than five times that at Broadway. + +The first Sunday after my arrival in San Francisco I went to the +Unitarian church and heard the wonderfully attractive and satisfying Dr. +Bellows, temporary supply. It was the beginning of a church connection +that still continues and to which I owe more than I can express. + +Dr. Bellows had endeared himself to the community by his warm +appreciation of their liberal support of the Sanitary Commission during +the Civil War. The interchange of messages between him in New York and +Starr King in San Francisco had been stimulating and effective. When the +work was concluded it was found that California had furnished one-fourth +of the $4,800,000 expended. Governor Low headed the San Francisco +committee. The Pacific Coast, with a population of half a million, +supplied one-third of all the money spent by this forerunner of the Red +Cross. The other states of the Union, with a population of about +thirty-two million, supplied two-thirds. But California was far away and +it was not thought wise to drain the West of its loyal forces, and we +ought to have given freely of our money. In all, quite a number found +their way to the fighting front. A friend of mine went to the wharf to +see Lieutenant Sheridan, late of Oregon, embark for the East and active +service. Sheridan was grimly in earnest, and remarked: "I'll come back a +captain or I'll not come back at all." When he did come back it was with +the rank of lieutenant-general. + +While San Francisco was unquestionably loyal, there were not a few +Southern sympathizers, and loyalists were prepared for trouble. I soon +discovered that a secret Union League was active and vigilant. Weekly +meetings for drill were held in the pavilion in Union Square, admission +being by password only. I promptly joined. The regimental commander was +Martin J. Burke, chief of police. My company commander was George T. +Knox, a prominent notary public. I also joined the militia, choosing the +State Guard, Captain Dawes, which drilled weekly in the armory in Market +Street opposite Dupont. Fellow members were Horace Davis and his brother +George, Charles W. Wendte (now an eastern D.D.), Samuel L. Cutter, Fred +Glimmer of the Unitarian church, Henry Michaels, and W.W. Henry, father +of the present president of Mills College. Our active service was mainly +confined to marching over the cruel cobble-stones on the Fourth of July +and other show-off occasions, while commonly we indulged in an annual +excursion and target practice in the wilds of Alameda. + +Once we saw real service. When the news of the assassination of Lincoln +reached San Francisco the excitement was intense. Newspapers that had +slandered him or been lukewarm in his support suffered. The militia was +called out in fear of a riot and passed a night in the basement of +Platt's Hall. But preparedness was all that was needed. A few days later +we took part in a most imposing procession. All the military and most +other organizations followed a massive catafalque and a riderless horse +through streets heavily draped with black. The line of march was long, +arms were reversed, the sorrowing people crowded the way, and solemnity +and grief on every hand told how deeply Lincoln was loved. + +I had cast my first presidential vote for him, at Turn Verein Hall, Bush +Street, November 6, 1864. When the news of his re-election by the voters +of every loyal state came to us, we went nearly wild with enthusiasm, +but our heartiest rejoicing came with the fall of Richmond. We had a +great procession, following the usual route--from Washington Square to +Montgomery, to Market, to Third, to South Park, where fair women from +crowded balconies waved handkerchiefs and flags to shouting +marchers--and back to the place of beginning. Processioning was a great +function of those days, observed by the cohorts of St. Patrick and by +all political parties. It was a painful process, for the street pavement +was simply awful. + +Sometimes there were trouble and mild assaults. The only recollection I +have of striking a man is connected with a torchlight procession +celebrating some Union victory. When returning from south of Market, a +group of jeering toughs closed in on us and I was lightly hit. I turned +and using my oil-filled lamp at the end of a staff as a weapon, hit out +at my assailant. The only evidence that the blow was an effective one +was the loss of the lamp; borne along by solid ranks of patriots I clung +to an unilluminated stick. Party feeling was strong in the sixties and +bands and bonfires plentiful. + +At one election the Democrats organized a corps of rangers, who marched +with brooms, indicative of the impending clean sweep by which they were +to "turn the rascals out." For each presidential election drill crops +were organized, but the Blaine Invincibles didn't exactly prove so. + +The Republican party held a long lease of power, however. Governor Low +was a very popular executive, while municipally the People's Party, +formed in 1856 by adherents of the Vigilance Committee, was still in the +saddle, giving good, though not far-sighted and progressive, government. +Only those who experienced the abuses under the old methods of +conducting elections can realize the value of the provision for the +uniform ballot and a quiet ballot box, adopted in 1869. There had been +no secrecy or privacy, and peddlers of rival tickets fought for +patronage to the box's mouth. One served as an election officer at the +risk of sanity if not of life. In the "fighting Seventh" ward I once +counted ballots for thirty-six consecutive hours, and as I remember +conditions I was the only officer who finished sober. + +During my first year in government employ the depreciation in +legal-tender notes in which we were paid was very embarrassing. One +hundred dollars in notes would bring but thirty-five or forty dollars in +gold, and we could get nothing we wanted except with gold. + +My second year in San Francisco I lived in Howard Street near First and +was bookkeeper for a stock-broker. I became familiar with the +fascinating financial game that followed the development of the Comstock +lode, discovered in 1859. It was 1861 before production was large. Then +began the silver age, a new era that completely transformed California +and made San Francisco a great center of financial power. Within twenty +years $340,000,000 poured into her banks. The world's silver output +increased from forty millions a year to sixty millions. In September of +1862 the stock board was organized. At first a share in a company +represented a running foot on the lode's length. In 1871, Mr. Cornelius +O'Connor bought ten shares of Consolidated Virginia at eight dollars a +share. When it had been divided into one thousand shares and he was +offered $680 a share, he had the sagacity to sell, realizing a profit +of $679,920 on his investment of $80. At the time he sold, a share +represented one-fourteenth of an inch. In six years the bonanza yielded +$104,000,000, of which $73,000,000 was paid in dividends. + +The effect of such unparalleled riches was wide-spread. It made Nevada a +state and gave great impetus to the growth of San Francisco. It had a +marked influence on society and modified the character of the city +itself. Fifteen years of abnormal excitement, with gains and losses +incredible in amount, unsettled the stability of trade and orderly +business and proved a demoralizing influence. Speculation became a +habit. It was gambling adjusted to all conditions, with equal +opportunity for millionaire or chambermaid, and few resisted altogether. +Few felt shame, but some were secretive. + +A few words are due Adolph Sutro, who dealt in cigars in his early +manhood, but went to Nevada in 1859 and by 1861 owned a quartz-mill. In +1866 he became impressed with the idea that the volume of water +continually flowing into the deeper mines of the Comstock lode would +eventually demand an outlet on the floor of Carson Valley, four miles +away. He secured the legislation and surprised both friends and enemies +by raising the money to begin construction of the famous Sutro Tunnel. +He began the work in 1859, and in some way carried it through, spending +five million dollars. The mine-owners did not want to use his tunnel, +but they had to. He finally sold out at a good price and put the most +of a large fortune in San Francisco real estate. At one time he owned +one-tenth of the area of the city. He forested the bald hills of the San +Miguel Rancho, an immense improvement, changing the whole sky-line back +of Golden Gate Park. He built the fine Sutro Baths, planted the +beautiful gardens on the heights above the Cliff House, established a +car line that meant to the ocean for a nickel, amassed a library of +twenty thousand volumes, and incidentally made a good mayor. He was a +public benefactor and should be held in grateful memory. + +The memories that cluster around a certain building are often +impressive, both intrinsically and by reason of their variety. Platt's +Hall is connected with experiences of first interest. For many years it +was the place for most occasional events of every character. It was a +large square auditorium on the spot now covered by the Mills Building. +Balls, lectures, concerts, political meetings, receptions, everything +that was popular and wanted to be considered first-class went to Platt's +Hall. + +Starr King's popularity had given the Unitarian church and Sunday-school +a great hold on the community. At Christmas its festivals were held in +Platt's Hall. We paid a hundred dollars for rent and twenty-five dollars +for a Christmas-tree. Persons who served as doorkeepers or in any other +capacity received ten dollars each. At one dollar for admission we +crowded the big hall and always had money left over. Our entertainments +were elaborate, closing with a dance. My first service for the +Sunday-school was the unobserved holding up an angel's wing in a +tableau. One of the most charming of effects was an artificial +snowstorm, arranged for the concluding dance at a Christmas festival. +The ceiling of the hall was composed of horizontal windows giving +perfect ventilation and incidentally making it feasible for a large +force of boys to scatter quantities of cut-up white paper evenly and +plentifully over the dancers, the evergreen garlands decorating the +hall, and the polished floor. It was a long-continued downpour, a +complete surprise, and for many a year a happy tradition. + +In Platt's Hall wonderfully fine orchestral concerts were held, under +the very capable direction of Rudolph Herold. Early in the sixties +Caroline Richings had a successful season of English opera. Later the +Howsons charmed us for a time. All the noteworthy lecturers of the world +who visited California received us at Platt's Hall. Beecher made a great +impression. Carl Schurz, also, stirred us deeply. I recall one clever +sentence. He said, "When the time came that this country needed a +poultice it elected President Hayes and got it." Of our local talent +real eloquence found its best expression in Henry Edgerton. The height +of enthusiasm was registered in war-time by the mighty throng that +gathered at Lincoln's call for a hundred thousand men. Starr King was +the principal speaker. He had called upon his protege, Bret Harte, for a +poem for the occasion. Harte doubted his ability, but he handed Mr. King +the result of his effort. He called it the "Reveille." King was greatly +delighted. Harte hid himself in the concourse. King's wonderful voice, +thrilling with emotion, carried the call to every heart and the audience +with one accord stood and cheered again and again. + +One of the most striking coincidences I ever knew occurred in connection +with the comparatively mild earthquake of 1866. It visited us on a +Sunday at the last moments of the morning sermon. Those in attendance at +the Unitarian church were engaged in singing the last hymn, standing +with books in hand. The movement was not violent but threatening. It +flashed through my mind that the strain on a building with a large +unsupported roof must be great. Faces blanched, but all stood quietly +waiting the end, and all would have gone well had not the large central +pipe of the organ, apparently unattached, only its weight holding it in +place, tottered on its base and leaped over the heads of the choir, +falling into the aisle in front of the first pews. The effect was +electric. The large congregation waited for no benediction or other form +of dismissal. The church was emptied in an incredibly short time, and +the congregation was very soon in the middle of the street, hymnbooks +in hand. The coincidence was that the verse being sung was, + + "The seas shall melt, + And skies to smoke decay, + Rocks turn to dust, + And mountains fall away." + +We had evening services at the time, and Dr. Stebbins again gave out the +same hymn, and this time we sang it through. + +The story of Golden Gate Park and how the city got it is very +interesting, but must be much abridged. In 1866 I pieced out a modest +income by reporting the proceedings of the Board of Supervisors and the +School Board for the _Call_. It was in the palmy days of the People's +Party. The supervisors, elected from the wards in which they lived, were +honest and fairly able. The man of most brains and initiative was Frank +McCoppin. The most important question before them was the disposition of +the outside lands. In 1853 the city had sued for the four square leagues +(seventeen thousand acres) allowed under the Mexican law. It was granted +ten thousand acres, which left all land west of Divisadero Street +unsettled as to title. Appeal was taken, and finally the city's claim +was confirmed. In 1866 Congress passed an act confirming the decree, and +the legislature authorized the conveyance of the lands to occupants. + +They were mostly squatters, and the prize was a rich one. Congress had +decreed "that all of this land not needed for public purposes, or not +previously disposed of, should be conveyed to the persons in +possession," so that all the latitude allowed was as to what "needs for +public purposes" covered. There had been agitation for a park; indeed, +Frederick Law Olmstead had made an elaborate but discouraging report, +ignoring the availability of the drifting sand-hills that formed so +large a part of the outside lands, recommending a park including our +little Duboce Park and one at Black Point, the two to be connected by a +widened and parked Van Ness Avenue, sunken and crossed by ornamental +bridges. + +The undistributed outside lands to be disposed of comprised eighty-four +hundred acres. The supervisors determined to reserve one thousand acres +for a park. Some wanted to improve the opportunity to secure without +cost considerably more. The _Bulletin_ advocated an extension that would +bring a bell-shaped panhandle down to the Yerba Buena Cemetery, property +owned by the city and now embraced in the Civic Center. After long +consideration a compromise was made by which the claimants paid to those +whose lands were kept for public use ten per cent of the value of the +lands distributed. By this means 1,347.46 acres were rescued, of which +Golden Gate Park included 1,049.31, the rest being used for a cemetery, +Buena Vista Park, public squares, school lots, etc. The ordinances +accomplishing the qualified boon to the city were fathered by McCoppin +and Clement. Other members of the committee, immortalized by the streets +named after them, were Clayton, Ashbury, Cole, Shrader, and Stanyan. + +The story of the development of Golden Gate Park is well known. The +beauty and charm are more eloquent than words, and John McLaren, ranks +high among the city's benefactors. + +The years from 1860 to 1870 marked many changes in the character and +appearance of San Francisco. Indeed, its real growth and development +date from the end of the first decade. Before that we were clearing off +the lot and assembling the material. The foundation of the structure +that we are still building was laid in the second decade. Statistics +establish the fact. In population we increased from less than 57,000 to +150,000--163 per cent. In the first decade our assessed property +increased $9,000,000; in the second, $85,000,000. Our imports and +exports increased from $3,000,000 to $13,000,000. Great gain came +through the silver production, but greater far from the development of +the permanent industries of the land--grain, fruit, lumber--and the +shipping that followed it. + +The city made strides in growth and beauty. Our greatest trial was too +much prosperity and the growth of luxury and extravagance. + + + + +CHAPTER VI + +LATER SAN FRANCISCO + + +In a brief chapter little can be offered that will tell the story of +half a century of life of a great city. No attempt will be made to trace +its progress or to recount its achievement. It is my purpose merely to +record events and occurrences that I remember, for whatever interest +they may have or whatever light they may throw on the life of the city +or on my experience in it. + +For many years we greatly enjoyed the exhibits and promenade concerts of +the Mechanics' Institute Fairs. The large pavilion also served a useful +purpose in connection with various entertainments demanding capacity. In +1870 there was held a very successful musical festival; twelve hundred +singers participated and Camilla Urso was the violinist. The attendance +exceeded six thousand. + +The Mercantile Library was in 1864 very strong and seemed destined to +eternal life, but it became burdened with debt and sought to extricate +itself by an outrageous expedient. The legislature passed an act +especially permitting a huge lottery, and for three days in 1870 the +town was given over to gambling, unabashed and unashamed. The result +seemed a triumph. Half a million dollars was realized, but it was a +violation of decency that sounded the knell of the institution, and it +was later absorbed by the plodding Mechanics' Institute, which had +always been most judiciously managed. Its investments in real estate +that it used have made it wealthy. + +A gala day of 1870 was the spectacular removal of Blossom Rock. The +early-day navigation was imperiled by a small rock northwest of Angel +Island, covered at low tide by but five feet of water. It was called +Blossom, from having caused the loss of an English ship of that name. +The Government closed a bargain with Engineer Von Schmidt, who three +years before had excavated from the solid rock at Hunter's Point a dry +dock that had gained wide renown. Von Schmidt guaranteed twenty-four +feet of water at a cost of seventy-five thousand dollars, no payment to +be made unless he succeeded. He built a cofferdam, sunk a shaft, planted +twenty-three tons of powder in the tunnels he ran, and on May 25th, +after notice duly served, which sent the bulk of the population to +view-commanding hills, he pushed an electric button that fired the mine, +throwing water and debris one hundred and fifty feet in the air. Blossom +Rock was no more, deep water was secured, and Von Schmidt cashed his +check. + +On my trip from Humboldt County to San Francisco in 1861 I made the +acquaintance of Andrew S. Hallidie, an English engineer who had +constructed a wire bridge over the Klamath River. In 1872 he came to my +printing office to order a prospectus announcing the formation of a +small company to construct a new type of street-car, to be propelled by +wire cable running in a conduit in the street and reached by a grip +through a slot. It was suggested by the suffering of horses striving to +haul cars up our steep hills and it utilized methods successfully used +in transporting ores from the mines. On August 2, 1873, the first +cable-car made a successful trial trip of seven blocks over Clay Street +hill, from Kearny to Leavenworth. Later it was extended four blocks to +the west. From this beginning the cable-roads spread over most of the +city and around the world. With the development of the electric trolley +they were largely displaced except on steep grades, where they still +perform an important function. Mr. Hallidie was a public-spirited +citizen and an influential regent of the University of California. + +In 1874 there was forced upon the citizens of San Francisco the +necessity of taking steps to give better care and opportunity to the +neglected children of the community. A poorly conducted reform school +was encouraging crime instead of effecting reform. On every hand was +heard the question, "What shall we do with our boys?" Encouraged by the +reports of what had been accomplished in New York City by Charles L. +Brace, correspondence was entered into, and finally The Boys and Girls +Aid Society was organized. Difficulty was encountered in finding any one +willing to act as president of the organization, but George C. Hickox, a +well-known banker, was at last persuaded and became much interested in +the work. For some time it was a difficult problem to secure funds to +meet the modest expenses. A lecture by Charles Kingsley was a flat +failure. Much more successful was an entertainment at Platt's Hall at +which well-known citizens took part in an old-time spelling-match. In a +small building in Clementina Street we began with neighborhood boys, who +were at first wild and unruly. Senator George C. Perkins became +interested, and for more than forty years served as president. Through +him Senator Fair gave five thousand dollars and later the two valuable +fifty-vara lots at Grove and Baker streets, still occupied by the Home. +We issued a little paper, _Child and State_, in which we appealed for a +building, and a copy fell into the hands of Miss Helen McDowell, +daughter of the General. She sent it to Miss Hattie Crocker, who passed +it to her father, Charles Crocker, of railroad fame. He became +interested and wrote for particulars, and when the plans were submitted +he told us to go ahead and build, sending the bills to him. These two +substantial gifts made possible the working out of our plans, and the +results have been very encouraging. When the building was erected, on +the advice of the experts of the period, two lockups were installed, one +without light. Experience soon convinced us that they could be dispensed +with, and both were torn out. An honor system was substituted, to +manifest advantage, and failures to return when boys are permitted to +visit parents are negligible in number. The three months of summer +vacation are devoted to berry-picking, with satisfaction to growers and +to the boys, who last year earned eleven thousand dollars, of which +seven thousand dollars was paid to the boys who participated, in +proportion to the amount earned. + +William C. Ralston was able, daring, and brilliant. In 1864 he organized +the Bank of California, which, through its Virginia City connection and +the keenness and audacity of William Sharon, practically monopolized the +big business of the Comstock, controlling mines, milling, and +transportation. In San Francisco it was _the_ bank, and its earnings +were huge. Ralston was public-spirited and enterprising. He backed all +kinds of schemes as well as many legitimate undertakings. He seemed the +great power of the Pacific Coast. But in 1875, when the silver output +dropped and the tide that had flowed in for a dozen years turned to ebb, +distrust was speedy. On the afternoon of August 26th, as I chanced to be +passing the bank, I saw with dismay the closing of its doors. The death +of Ralston, the discovery of wild investments, and the long train of +loss were intensely tragic. The final rehabilitation of the bank brought +assurance and rich reward to those who met their loss like men, but the +lesson was a hard one. In retrospect Ralston seems to typify that +extraordinary era of wild speculation and recklessness. + +No glance at old San Francisco can be considered complete which does not +at least recognize Emperor Norton, a picturesque figure of its life. A +heavy, elderly man, probably Jewish, who paraded the streets in a dingy +uniform with conspicuous epaulets, a plumed hat, and a knobby cane. +Whether he was a pretender or imagined that he was an emperor no one +knew or seemed to care. He was good-natured, and he was humored. +Everybody bought his scrip in fifty cents denomination. I was his +favored printer, and he assured me that when he came into his estate he +would make me chancellor of the exchequer. He often attended the +services of the Unitarian church, and expressed his feeling that there +were too many churches and that when the empire was established he +should request all to accept the Unitarian church. He once asked me if I +could select from among the ladies of our church a suitable empress. I +told him I thought I might, but that he must be ready to provide for her +handsomely; that no man thought of keeping a bird until he had a cage, +and that a queen must have a palace. He was satisfied, and I never was +called upon. + +The most memorable of the Fourth of July celebrations was in 1876, when +the hundredth anniversary called for something special. The best to be +had was prepared for the occasion. The procession was elaborate and +impressive. Dr. Stebbins delivered a fine oration; there was a poem, of +course; but the especial feature was a military and naval spectacle, +elaborate in character. + +The fortifications around the harbor and the ships available were +scheduled to unite in an attack on a supposed enemy ship attempting to +enter the harbor. The part of the invading cruiser was taken by a large +scow anchored between Sausalito and Fort Point. At an advertised hour +the bombardment was to begin, and practically the whole population of +the city sought the high hills commanding the view. The hills above the +Presidio were then bare of habitations, but on that day they were black +with eager spectators. When the hour arrived the bombardment began. The +air was full of smoke and the noise was terrific, but alas for +marksmanship, the willing and waiting cruiser rode serenely unharmed and +unhittable. The afternoon wore away and still no chance shot went home. +Finally a Whitehall boat sneaked out and set the enemy ship on fire, +that her continued security might no longer oppress us. It was a most +impressive exhibit of unpreparedness, and gave us much to think of. + +On the evening of the same day, Father Neri, at St. Ignatius College, +displayed electric lighting for the first time in San Francisco, using +three French arc lights. + +The most significant event of the second decade was the rise and decline +of the Workingmen's Party, following the remarkable episode of the Sand +Lot and Denis Kearney. The winter of 1876-77 had been one of slight +rainfall, there had been a general failure of crops, the yield of gold +and silver had been small, and there was much unemployment. There had +been riots in the East and discontent and much resentment were rife. The +line of least resistance seemed to be the clothes-line. The Chinese, +though in no wise responsible, were attacked. Laundries were destroyed, +but rioting brought speedy organization. A committee of safety, six +thousand strong, took the situation in hand. The state and the national +governments moved resolutely, and order was very soon restored. Kearney +was clever and knew when to stop. He used his qualities of leadership +for his individual advantage and eventually became sleek and prosperous. +In the meantime he was influential in forming a political movement that +played a prominent part in giving us a new constitution. The ultra +conservatives were frightened, but the new instrument did not prove so +harmful as was feared. It had many good features and lent itself +readily to judicial construction. + +While we now treat the episode lightly, it was at the time a serious +matter. It was Jack Cade in real life, and threatened existing society +much as the Bolshevists do in Russia. The significant feature of the +experience was that there was a measure of justification for the +protest. Vast fortunes had been suddenly amassed and luxury and +extravagance presented a damaging contrast to the poverty and suffering +of the many. Heartlessness and indifference are the primary danger. The +result of the revolt was on the whole good. The warning was needed, and, +on the other hand, the protestants learned that real reforms are not +brought about by violence or even the summary change of organic law. + +In 1877 I had the good fortune to join the Chit-Chat Club, which had +been formed three years before on very simple lines. A few high-minded +young lawyers interested in serious matters, but alive to +good-fellowship, dined together once a month and discussed an essay that +one of them had written. The essayist of one meeting presided at the +next. A secretary-treasurer was the only officer. Originally the papers +alternated between literature and political economy, but as time went on +all restrictions were removed, although by usage politics and religion +are shunned. The membership has always been of high character and +remarkable interest has been maintained. I have esteemed it a great +privilege to be associated with so fine a body of kindly, cultivated +men, and educationally it has been of great advantage. I have missed few +meetings in the forty-four years, and the friendships formed have been +many and close. We formerly celebrated our annual meetings and invited +men of note. Our guests included Generals Howard, Gibbons, and Miles, +the LeContes, Edward Rowland Sill, and Luther Burbank. We enjoyed +meeting celebrities, but our regular meetings, with no formality, proved +on the whole more to our taste and celebrations were given up. When I +think of the delight and benefit that I have derived from this +association of clubbable men I feel moved to urge that similar groups be +developed wherever even a very few will make the attempt. + +In 1879 I joined many of my friends and acquaintances in a remarkable +entertainment on a large scale. It was held in the Mechanics' Pavilion +and continued for many successive nights. It was called the "Carnival of +Authors." The immense floor was divided into a series of booths, +occupied by representative characters of all the noted authors, +Shakespeare, Chaucer, Dickens, Irving, Scott, and many others. A grand +march every evening introduced the performances or receptions given at +the various booths, and was very colorful and amusing. My character was +the fortune-teller in the Alhambra, and my experiences were interesting +and impressive. My disguise was complete, and in my zodiacal quarters I +had much fun in telling fortunes for many people I knew quite well, and +I could make revelations that seemed to them very wonderful. In the +grand march I could indulge in the most unmannered swagger. My own +sister asked in indignation: "Who is that old man making eyes at me?" I +held many charming hands as I pretended to study the lines. One evening +Charles Crocker, as he strolled past, inquired if I would like any help. +I assured him that beauty were safer in the hands of age. A young woman +whom I saw weekly at church came with her cousin, a well-known banker. I +told her fortune quite to her satisfaction, and then informed her that +the gentleman with her was a relative, but not a brother. "How +wonderful!" she exclaimed. A very well-known Irish stock operator came +with his daughter, whose fortune I made rosy. She persuaded her father +to sit. Nearly every morning I had met him as he rode a neat pony along +a street running to North Beach, where he took a swim. I told him that +the lines of his hand indicated water, that he had been born across the +water. "Yes," he murmured, "in France." I told him he had been +successful. "Moderately so," he admitted. I said, "Some people think it +has been merely good luck, but you have contributed to good fortune. You +are a man of very regular habits. Among your habits is that of bathing +every morning in the waters of the bay." "Oh, God!" he ejaculated, "he +knows me!" + +Some experiences were not so humorous. A very hard-handed, poorly +dressed but patently upright man took it very seriously. I told him he +had had a pretty hard life, but that no man could look him in the face +and say that he had been wronged by him. He said that was so, but he +wanted to ask my advice as to what to do when persecuted because he +could not do more than was possible to pay an old debt for which he was +not to blame. I comforted him all I could, and told him he should not +allow himself to be imposed upon. When he left he asked for my address +down town. He wanted to see me again. The depth of suffering and the +credulity revealed were often embarrassing and made me feel a fraud when +I was aiming merely to amuse. I was glad again to become my undisguised +self. + +It was in the late eighties that Julia Ward Howe visited her sister near +the city, and I very gladly was of service in helping her fill some of +her engagements. She gave much pleasure by lectures and talks and +enjoyed visiting some of our attractions. She was charmed with the +Broadway Grammar School, where Jean Parker had achieved such wonderful +results with the foreign girls of the North Beach locality. I remember +meeting a distinguished educator at a dinner, and I asked him if he had +seen the school. He said he had. "What do you think of it?" I asked him. +"I think it is the finest school in the world," he said. I took Mrs. +Howe to a class. She was asked to say a few words, and in her beautiful +voice she gained instant and warm attention. She asked all the little +girls who spoke French in their homes to stand. Many rose. Then she +called for Spanish. Many more stood. She followed with Scandinavian and +Italian. But when she came to those who used English she found few. She +spoke to several in their own tongue and was most enthusiastically +greeted. I also escorted her across the bay to Mills College, with which +she was greatly pleased. She proved herself a good sport. With true +Bohemianism, she joined in luncheon on the ferryboat, eating ripe +strawberries from the original package, using her fingers and enjoying +the informality. She fitted every occasion with dignity or humor. In the +pulpit at our church she preached a remarkably fine sermon. + +Mozoomdar, the saintly representative of the Brahmo Somaj, was a highly +attractive man. His voice was most musical, and his bearing and manner +were beautiful. He seemed pure spirit and a type of the deeply religious +nature. Nor was he without humor. In speaking of his visit to England he +said that his hosts generally seemed to think that for food he required +only "an unlimited quantity of milk." + +Politics has had a wide range in San Francisco,--rotten at times, petty +at others, with the saving grace of occasional idealism. The +consolidation act and the People's Party touched high-water mark in +reform. With the lopping off of the San Mateo end of the peninsula in +1856, one board of supervisors was substituted for the three that had +spent $2,646,000 the year before. With E.W. Burr at its head, under the +new board expenditures were reduced to $353,000. The People's Party had +a long lease of power, but in 1876 McCoppin was elected mayor. Later +came the reigns of little bosses, the specter of the big corporation +boss behind them all, and then the triumph of decency under McNab, when +good men served as supervisors. Then came the sinister triumph of Ruef +and the days of graft, cut short by the amazing exposure, detection, and +overthrow of entrenched wickedness, and the administration of Dr. +Taylor, a high idealist, too good to last. + +Early in 1904 twenty-five gentlemen (five of whom were members of the +Chit-Chat Club) formed an association for the improvement and adornment +of San Francisco. D.H. Burnham was invited to prepare a plan, and a +bungalow was erected on a spur of Twin Peaks from which to study the +problem. A year or more was given to the task, and in September, 1905, a +comprehensive report was made and officially sanctioned, by vote and +publication. To what extent it might have been followed but for the +event of April, 1906, cannot be conjectured, but it is matter of deep +regret that so little resulted from this very valuable study of a +problem upon which the future of the city so vitally depends. It is not +too late to follow its principal features, subject to such modifications +as are necessary in the light of a good deal that we have accomplished +since the report. San Francisco's possibilities for beauty are very +great. + +The earthquake and fire of April, 1906, many San Franciscans would +gladly forget; but as they faced the fact, so they need not shrink from +the memory. It was a never to be effaced experience of man's littleness +and helplessness, leaving a changed consciousness and a new attitude. +Being aroused from deep sleep to find the solid earth wrenched and +shaken beneath you, structures displaced, chimneys shorn from their +bases, water shut off, railway tracks distorted, and new shocks +recurring, induces terror that no imagination can compass. After +breakfasting on an egg cooked by the heat from an alcohol lamp, I went +to rescue the little I could from my office, and saw the resistless +approaching fire shortly consume it. Lack of provisions and scarcity of +water drove me the next morning across the bay. Two days afterward, +leaving my motherless children, I returned to bear a hand in relief and +restoration. Every person going up Market Street stopped to throw a few +bricks from the street to make possible a way for vehicles. For miles +desolation reigned. In the unburned districts bread-lines marked the +absolute leveling. Bankers and beggars were one. Very soon the mighty +tide of relief set in, beginning with the near-by counties and extending +to the ends of the earth. + +Among our interesting experiences at Red Cross headquarters was the +initiation of Dr. Devine into the habits of the earthquake. He had come +from New York to our assistance. We were in session and J.S. Merrill was +speaking. There came a decidedly sharp shake. An incipient "Oh!" from +one of the ladies was smothered. Mr. Merrill kept steadily on. When he +had concluded and the shock was over he turned to Dr. Devine and +remarked: "Doctor, you look a little pale. I thought a moment ago you +were thinking of going out." Dr. Devine wanly smiled as he replied: "You +must excuse me. Remember that this is my first experience." + +I think I never saw a little thing give so much pleasure as when a man +who had been given an old coat that was sent from Mendocino County found +in a pocket a quarter of a dollar that some sympathetic philanthropist +had slipped in as a surprise. It seemed a fortune to one who had +nothing. Perhaps a penniless mother who came in with her little girl was +equally pleased when she found that some kind woman had sent in a doll +that her girl could have. One of our best citizens, Frederick Dohrmann, +was in Germany, his native land, at the time. He had taken his wife in +pursuit of rest and health. They had received kindly entertainment from +many friends, and decided to make some return by a California reception, +at the town hostelry. They ordered a generous dinner. They thought of +the usual wealth of flowers at a California party, and visiting a +florist's display they bought his entire stock. The invited guests came +in large numbers, and the host and hostess made every effort to +emphasize their hospitality. But after they had gone Mr. Dohrmann +remarked to his wife: "I somehow feel that the party has not been a +success. The people did not seem to enjoy themselves as I thought they +would." The next morning as they sought the breakfast-room they were +asked if they had seen the morning papers. Ordering them they found +staring head-lines: "San Francisco destroyed by an earthquake!" Their +guests had seen the billboards on their way to the party, but could not +utterly spoil the evening by mentioning it, yet were incapable of +merriment. Mr. Dohrmann and his wife returned at once, and though far +from well, he threw himself into the work of restoration, in which no +one was more helpful. The dreadful event, however, revealed much good in +human nature. Helpfulness in the presence of such devastation and +suffering might be expected, but honor and integrity after the sharp +call of sympathy was over have a deeper meaning. One of my best +customers, the Bancroft-Whitney Company, law publishers, having accounts +with lawyers and law-booksellers all over the country, lost not only all +their stock and plates but all their books of accounts, and were left +without any evidence of what was owing them. They knew that exclusive of +accounts considered doubtful there was due them by customers other than +those in San Francisco $175,000. Their only means of ascertaining the +particulars was through those who owed it. They decided to make it +wholly a matter of honor, and sent to the thirty-five thousand lawyers +in the United States the following printed circular, which I printed at +a hastily assembled temporary printing office across the bay: + + _To Our Friends and Patrons_: + + _a_--We have lost all our records of accounts. + + _b_--Our net loss will exceed $400,000. + + SIMPLY A QUESTION OF HONOR. + + _First_--Will each lawyer in the country send us a statement of + what he owes us, whether due or not due, and names of books covered + by said statement on enclosed blank (blue blank). + + _Second_--Information for our records (yellow blank). + + _Third_--Send us a postal money order for all the money you can now + spare. + + PLEASE FILL OUT AND SEND US AS SOON AS POSSIBLE THE FORMS ENCLOSED. + + May 15, 1906. + +Returns of money and of acknowledgment were prompt and encouraging. Some +of those considered doubtful were the first to acknowledge their +indebtedness. Before long they were able to reproduce their books and +the acknowledged balances nearly equaled their estimated total of good +accounts. Remittances were made until over $170,000 was paid. Of this +amount about $25,000 covered accounts not included in their estimate of +collectible indebtedness. This brought their estimated total to +$200,000, and established the fact that over eighty-five per cent of all +that was owed them was acknowledged promptly under this call on honor. + +Four years later they were surprised by the receipt of a check for $250 +from a lawyer in Florida for a bill incurred long before, of which they +had no memory. Let those who scoff at ideals and bemoan the dishonesty +of this materialistic age take note that money is not all, and let those +who grudgingly admit that there are a few honest men but no honest +lawyers take notice that even lawyers have some sense of honor. + +Some few instances of escape are interesting. I have a friend who was +living on the Taylor Street side of Russian Hill. When the quake came, +his daughter, who had lived in Japan and learned wise measures, +immediately filled the bathtub with water. A doomed grocery-store near +by asked customers to help themselves to goods. My friend chose a dozen +large siphon bottles of soda water. The house was detached and for a +time escaped, but finally the roof caught from flying embers and the +fire was slowly extending. When the time came to leave the house a +large American flag was raised to a conspicuous staff. A company of +soldiers sent from the Presidio for general duty saw the flag several +blocks away, and made for the house to save the colors. Finding the +bathroom water supply, they mixed it with sand and plastered the burning +spots. They arrested the spreading flames, but could not reach the fire +under the cornice. Then they utilized the siphon bottles; one soldier, +held by his legs, hung over the roof and squirted the small stream on +the crucial spot. The danger was soon over and the house was saved with +quite a group of others that would have burned with it. + +While many individuals never recovered their property conditions or +their nerve, it is certain that a new spirit was generated. Great +obstacles were overcome and determination was invincible. We were forced +to act broadly, and we reversed the negative policy of doing nothing and +owing nothing. We went into debt with our eyes open, and spent millions +in money for the public good. The city was made safe and also beautiful. +The City Hall, the Public Library, and the Auditorium make our Civic +Center a source of pride. The really great exposition of 1915 was +carried out in a way to increase our courage and our capacity. We have +developed a fine public spirit and efficient co-operation. We need fear +nothing in the future. We have character and we are gaining in +capacity. + +Vocation and avocation have about equally divided my time and energy +during my residence in San Francisco. I have done some things because I +was obliged to and many others because I wished to. When one is fitted +and trained for some one thing he is apt to devote himself steadily and +profitably to it, but when he is an amateur and not a master he is sure +to be handicapped. After about a year in the Indian department a change +in administration left me without a job. For about a year I was a +bookkeeper for a stock-broker. Then for another year I was a +money-broker, selling currency, silver, and revenue stamps. When that +petered out I was ready for anything. A friend had loaned money to a +printer and seemed about to lose it. In 1867 I became bookkeeper and +assistant in this printing office to rescue the loan, and finally +succeeded. I liked the business and had the hardihood to buy a small +interest, borrowing the necessary money from a bank at one per cent a +month. I knew absolutely nothing of the art and little of business. It +meant years of wrestling for the weekly pay-roll, often in apprehension +of the sheriff, but for better or for worse I stuck to it and gradually +established a good business. I found satisfaction in production and had +many pleasant experiences. In illustration I reproduce an order I +received in 1884 from Fred Beecher Perkins, librarian of the recently +established free public library. (He was father of Charlotte Perkins +Stetson.) + +SAN FRANCISCO FREE PUBLIC LIBRARY + +[Handwritten: Dec 19 1884 + +C.A. Murdock & Co Gent. + +We need two hundred (200) more of those blue chex. Please make and +deliver same PDQ and oblige + +Yours truly + +F.B. Perkins + +Librarian. + +P.S. The _substance_ of this order is official. The _form_ is slightly +speckled with the spice of unofficiality. + +F.B.P.] + +[Illustration: THE CLAY STREET OFFICE THE DAY AFTER] + +In 1892, as president of the San Francisco Typothetae, I had the great +pleasure of cooperating with the president of the Typographical Union in +giving a reception and dinner to George W. Childs, of Philadelphia. Our +relations were not always so friendly. We once resisted arbitrary +methods and a strike followed. My men went out regretfully, shaking +hands as they left. We won the strike, and then by gradual voluntary +action gave them the pay and hours they asked for. When the earthquake +fire of 1906 came I was unfortunately situated. I had lately bought out +my partner and owed much money. To meet all my obligations I felt +obliged to sell a controlling interest in the business, and that was the +beginning of the end. I was in active connection with the printing +business for forty-seven years. + +I am forced to admit that it would have been much to my advantage had I +learned in my early life to say "No" at the proper time. The loss in +scattering one's powers is too great to contemplate with comfort. I had +a witty partner who once remarked, "I have great respect for James +Bunnell, for he has but one hobby at a time." I knew the inference. A +man who has too many hobbies is not respectable. He is not even fair to +the hobbies. I have always been overloaded and so not efficient. It is +also my habit to hold on. It seems almost impossible to drop what I have +taken up, and while there is gain in some ways through standing by +there is gross danger in not resolutely stopping when you have enough. +In addition to the activities I have incidentally mentioned I have +served twenty-five years on the board of the Associated Charities, and +still am treasurer. I have been a trustee of the California School of +Mechanical Arts for at least as long. I have served for years on the +board of the Babies Aid, and also represent the Protestant Charities on +the Home-Finding Agency of the Native Sons and Daughters. It is an +almost shameful admission of dissipation. No man of good discretion +spreads himself too thin. + +When I was relieved from further public service, and had disposed of the +printing business, it was a great satisfaction to accept the field +secretaryship of the American Unitarian Association for the Pacific +Coast. I enjoyed the travel and made many delightful acquaintances. It +was an especial pleasure to accompany such a missionary as Dr. William +L. Sullivan. In 1916 we visited most of the churches on the coast, and +it was a constant pleasure to hear him and to see the gladness with +which he was always received, and the fine spirit he inspired. I have +also found congenial occupation in keeping alive _The Pacific +Unitarian_. Thirty years is almost venerable in the life of a religious +journal. I have been favored with excellent health and with unnumbered +blessings of many kinds. I rejoice at the goodness and kindness of my +fellow men. My experience justifies my trustful and hopeful +temperament. I believe "the best is yet to be." + +I am thankful that my lot has been cast in this fair city. I love it and +I have faith in its future. There have been times of trial and of fear, +but time has told in favor of courage not to be lost and deep confidence +in final good. It cannot be doubted that the splendid achievement of the +Panama-Pacific Exposition gave strong faith in power to withstand +adverse influences and temporary weakness. When we can look back upon +great things we have accomplished we gain confidence in ability to reach +any end that we are determined upon. It is manifest that a new spirit, +an access of faith, has come to San Francisco since she astonished the +world and surprised herself by creating the magnificent dream on the +shores of the bay. + +At its conclusion a few of us determined it should not be utterly lost. +We formed an Exposition Preservation League through which we salvaged +the Palace of Fine Arts, the most beautiful building of the last five +centuries, the incomparable Marina, a connected driveway from Black +Point to the Presidio, the Lagoon, and other features that will +ultimately revert to the city, greatly adding to its attractiveness. + +Fifty years of municipal life have seen great advance and promise a rich +future. Materially they have been as prosperous as well-being demands or +as is humanly safe--years of healthy growth, free of fever and delirium, +in which natural resources have been steadily developed and we have +somewhat leisurely prepared for world business on a large scale. In +population we have increased from about 150,000 to about 550,000, which +is an average advance from decade to decade of thirty-three per cent. + +Bank clearances are considered the best test of business. Our clearing +house was established in 1876, and the first year the total clearances +were $520,000. We passed the million mark in 1900, and in 1920 they +reached $8,122,000,000. In 1870 our combined exports and imports were +about $13,000,000. In 1920 they were $486,000,000, giving California +fourth rank in the national record. + +The remarkable feature in all our records is the great acceleration in +the increase in the years since the disaster of 1906. Savings bank +receipts in 1920 are twice as large as in 1906, postal receipts three +times as large, national bank resources four times as large, national +bank deposits nine times as large. + +There can be no reasonable doubt that San Francisco is to be a very +important industrial and commercial city. Every indication leads to this +conclusion. The more important consideration of character and spirit +cannot be forecast by statistics, but much that has been accomplished +and the changed attitude on social welfare and the humanities leave no +doubt on the part of the discerning that we have made great strides and +that the future is full of promise. + + + + +CHAPTER VII + +INCIDENTS IN PUBLIC SERVICE + + +At twenty-two I found myself Register of the Humboldt Land Office, with +offices on the first floor of a building at Eureka, the second story of +which was occupied by a school. An open veranda extended across the +front. When I first let myself into the office, I carelessly left the +key in the lock. A mischievous girl simply gave it a turn and I was a +prisoner, with a plain but painful way of escape--not physically +painful, but humiliating to my official pride. There was nothing for it +but ignominiously to crawl out of the window onto the veranda and +recover the key--and that I forthwith did. + +The archives of the office proved interesting. The original Register was +a Missouri Congressman, who had been instructed to proceed to Humboldt +City and open the office. Humboldt City was on the map and seemed the +logical location. But it had "died aborning" and as a city did not +exist. So the Register took the responsibility of locating the office at +Eureka, and in explanation addressed to the President, whom he +denominated "Buckhannan," a letter in which he went at length into the +"hole" subject. The original draft was on file. + +I was authorized to receive homestead applications, to locate land +warrants, to hear contests, and to sell "offered land." The latter was +government land that had been offered for sale at $1.25 an acre and had +not been taken. Strangely enough, it embraced a portion of the redwood +belt along Mad River, near Arcata. + +But one man seemed aware of the opportunity. John Preston, a tanner of +Arcata, would accumulate thirty dollars in gold and with it buy fifty +dollars in legal-tender notes. Then he would call and ask for the plat, +and, after considerable pawing, he would say, "Well, Charlie, I guess +I'll take that forty." Whereupon the transaction would be completed by +my taking his greenbacks and giving him a certificate of purchase for +the forty acres of timber-land that had cost him seventy-five cents an +acre, and later probably netted him not less than three hundred dollars +an acre for stumpage alone. Today it would be worth twice that. The +opportunity was open to all who had a few cents and a little sense. + +Sales of land were few and locations infrequent, consequently +commissions were inconsiderable. Now and then I would hold a trial +between conflicting claimants, some of them quite important. It was +natural that the respective attorneys should take advantage of my youth +and inexperience, for they had known me in my verdant boyhood and +seemed to rejoice in my discomfiture. I had hard work to keep them in +order. They threatened one another with ink-bottles and treated me with +contempt. They would lure me on when I rejected evidence as +inadmissible, offering slightly changed forms, until I was forced to +reverse myself. When I was uncertain I would adjourn court and think it +over. These were trying experiences, but I felt sure that the claimants' +rights would be protected on appeal to the Commissioner of the General +Land Office and finally to the Secretary of the Interior. I was glad +that in the biggest case I guessed right. + +One occurrence made a strong impression on me. It was war-time, and +loyalty was an issue. A rancher from Mendocino County came to Eureka to +prove up on his land and get a patent. He seemed to me a fine man, but +when he was asked to take the oath of allegiance he balked. I tried my +best to persuade him that it was harmless and reasonable, but he simply +wouldn't take it, and went back home without his patent. + +My experiences while chief clerk in the office of the Superintendent of +Indian Affairs are too valuable to be overlooked. I traveled quite +freely and saw unfamiliar life. I had a very interesting trip in 1865, +to inspect the Round Valley Indian Reservation and to distribute +clothing to the Indians. It was before the days of railroads in that +part of California. Two of us drove a light wagon from Petaluma to +Ukiah, and then put saddles on our horses and started over the mountains +to the valley. We took a cold lunch, planning to stay overnight at a +stockman's ranch. When we reached the place we found a notice that he +had gone to a rodeo. We broke into his barn to feed our horses, but we +spared his house. Failing to catch fish in the stream near by, we made +our dinner of its good water, and after a troubled night had the same +fare for breakfast. For once in my life I knew hunger. To the nearest +ranch was half a day's journey, and we lost no time in heading for it. +On the way I had an encounter with a vicious rattlesnake. The outcome +was more satisfactory than it might have been. At noon, when we found a +cattleman whose Indian mate served venison and hot bread of good quality +and abundant quantity, we were appreciative and happy. The remainder of +the trip was uneventful. + +The equal division of clothing or supplies among a lot of Indians throws +helpful light on the causes of inequality. A very few days suffice to +upset all efforts at impartiality. A few, the best gamblers, soon have +more than they need, while the many have little or nothing. + +The valleys of Mendocino County are fascinatingly beautiful, and a trip +direct to the coast, with a spin along ten miles of perfect beach as we +returned, was a fine contrast to hungry climbing over rugged heights. + +Another memorable trip was with two Indians from the mouth of the +Klamath River to its junction with the Trinity at Weitchpec. The whole +course of the stream is between lofty peaks and is a continuous series +of sharp turns. After threading its winding way, it is easy to +understand what an almost solid resistance would be presented to a +rapidly rising river. With such a watershed as is drained by the two +rivers, the run-off in a storm would be so impeded as to be very slow. +The actual result was demonstrated in 1861. In August of that year, A.S. +Hallidie built a wire bridge at Weitchpec. He made the closest possible +examination as to the highest point the river had reached. In an Indian +rancheria he found a stone door-sill that had been hollowed by constant +use for ages. This was then ninety-eight feet above the level of the +flowing river. He accepted it as absolutely safe. In December, 1861, the +river rose thirty feet above the bridge and carried away the structure. + +The Indians living on lower Mad River had been removed for safety to the +Smith River Indian Reservation. They were not happy and felt they might +safely return, now that the Indian war was over. The white men who were +friendly believed that if one of the trusted Indians could be brought +down to talk with his friends he could satisfy the others that it would +be better to remain on the reservation. It was my job to go up and bring +him down. We came down the beach past the mouth of the Klamath, Gold +Bluff, and Trinidad, to Fort Humboldt, and interviewed many white +settlers friendly to the Indians until the representative was satisfied +as to the proper course to follow. + +In 1851 "Gold Bluff" was the first great mining excitement. The Klamath +River enters the ocean just above the bluff that had been made by the +deposit of sand, gravel, and boulders to the height of a hundred feet or +more. The waves, beating against the bluff for ages, have doubtless +washed gold into the ocean's bed. In 1851 it was discovered that at +certain tides or seasons there were deposited on the beach quantities of +black sand, mingled with which were particles of gold. Nineteen men +formed a company to take up a claim and work the supposedly exhaustless +deposit. An expert report declared that the sand measured would yield +each of the men the modest sum of $43,000,000. Great excitement stirred +San Francisco and eight vessels left with adventurers. But it soon was +found that black sand was scarce and gold much more so. For some time it +paid something, but as a lure it soon failed. + +When I was first there I was tremendously impressed when shown at the +level of the beach, beneath the bluff and its growing trees, an embedded +redwood log. It started the imagination on conjectures of when and where +it had been clad in beauty as part of a living landscape. + +An interesting conclusion to this experience was traveling over the +state with Charles Maltby, appointed to succeed my friend, to turn over +the property of the department. He was a personal friend of President +Lincoln, and he bore a striking resemblance to him and seemed like him +in character. + +In 1883 a nominee for the Assembly from San Francisco declined the +honor, and it devolved on a group of delegates to select a candidate in +his place. They asked me to run, and on the condition that I should +solicit no votes and spend no money I consented. I was one of four +Republicans elected from San Francisco. In the entire state we were +outnumbered about four to one. But politics ordinarily cuts little +figure. The only measure I introduced provided for the probationary +treatment of juvenile delinquents through commitment to an unsectarian +organization that would seek to provide homes. I found no opposition in +committee or on the floor. When it was reached I would not endanger its +passage by saying anything for it. It passed unanimously and was +concurred in by the Senate. My general conclusion is that the average +legislator is ready to support a measure that he feels is meritorious +and has no other motive than the general good. + +We were summoned in extra session to act on matters affecting the +railroads. It was at a time when they were decidedly in politics. The +Central Pacific was generally credited with controlling the legislative +body of the state. A powerful lobby was maintained, and the company was +usually able to thwart the passage of any legislation the political +manager considered detrimental to its interests. The farmers and country +representatives did all in their power to correct abuses and protect the +interests of the people of the state, but the city representatives, in +many instances not men of character, were usually controlled by some +boss ready to do the bidding of the railroad's chief lobbyist. The hope +for decency is always in free men, and they generally are from the +country. + +It was pathetic at times to watch proceedings. I recall one instance, +where a young associate from San Francisco had cast a vote that was +discreditable and pretty plainly indicated corrupt influence. The +measure he supported won a passage, but a motion for reconsideration +carried, and when it came up the following day the father of the young +man was seated by his side as the vote was taken. He was a +much-respected plasterer, and he came from his home on a hurried call to +save his son from disgrace. It was a great relief when on recall the son +reversed his vote and the measure was lost. + +Of course, there were punitive measures, unreasonable and unjust, and +some men were afraid to be just if the railroad would in any way be +benefited. I tried to be discriminating and impartial, judging each +measure on its merits. I found it was a thankless task and bred +suspicion. An independent man is usually distrusted. At the end of the +session a fine old farmer, consistently against the railroad, said to +me: "I couldn't make you out for a long time. Some days I gave you a +white mark, and some days a black one. I finally give you a white +mark--but it was a close shave." + +I was impressed with the power of the Speaker to favor or thwart +legislation. At the regular session some Senator had introduced a bill +favoring the needs of the University of California. He wanted it +concurred in by the Assembly, and as the leading Democrats were pretty +busy with their own affairs he entrusted it to me. The Speaker favored +it, and he did not favor a bill in the hands of a leader of the house +involving an appropriation. He called me to his seat and suggested that +at the reassembling of the Assembly after luncheon I should take the +floor to move that the bill be placed on the first-reading file. He knew +that the leader would be ready with his pet bill, but he would recognize +me. When the gavel fell after luncheon three men leaped for the floor. I +arose well at the side of the chamber, while the leader stood directly +in front, but the Speaker happened (?) to see me first, and the +entrusted bill started for speedy success. + +It is always pleasant to discover unsuspected humor. There was a very +serious-appearing country member who, with the others of a committee, +visited the State Prison at San Quentin. We were there at the midday +meal and saw the prisoners file in to a substantially laden table. He +watched them enjoy the spread, and quietly remarked, "A man who wouldn't +be satisfied with such food as that deserves to be turned out of the +State Prison." + +Some reformer had introduced a bill providing for a complete new code of +criminal procedure. It had been referred to the appropriate committee +and in due time it made its report. I still can see the committee +chairman, a country doctor, as he stood and shook a long finger at the +members before him, saying: "Mr. Speaker, we ask that this measure be +read in full to the Assembly. I want you to know that I have been +obliged to hear it, and I am bound that every member of the house shall +hear it." + +My conclusion at the end of the session was that the people of the state +were fortunate in faring no worse. The many had little fitness; a few +had large responsibility. Doubtful and useless measures predominate, but +they are mostly quietly smothered. The country members are watchful and +discriminating and a few leaders exercise great power. To me it was a +fine experience, and I made good friends. I was interested in proposed +measures, and would have willingly gone back the next term. Some of my +friends sounded the political boss of the period and asked if I could be +given a place on the ticket. He smiled and said, "We have no use for +him." When the nominating convention was held he sent in by a messenger +a folded piece of paper upon which was inscribed the name of the man for +whom they had use--and my legislative career was at an end. + +I went back to my printing business, which never should have been +neglected, and stayed mildly by it for eleven years. Then, there being a +vacancy on the Board of Education, I responded to the wish of friends +and accepted the appointment to help them in their endeavor to better +our schools. + +John Swett, an experienced educator, was superintendent. The majority of +the board was composed of high-minded and able men. They had turned over +the selection of teachers to the best-fitted professors of the +university and were giving an economical and creditable administration. +If a principalship was vacant, applications were apt to be disregarded, +and the person in the department considered most capable and deserving +was notified of election. There were, however, some loose methods. All +graduates of the high schools were privileged to attend a normal class +for a year and then were eligible without any examination to be +appointed teachers. The board was not popular with the teachers, many of +whom seemed to consider that the department was mainly for their +benefit. At the end of the unexpired term I was elected a member of the +succeeding board, and this was continued for five years. + +When the first elected board held a preliminary canvass I naturally felt +much interest as to my associates, some of whom were entire strangers. +Among them was Henry T. Scott, of the firm of shipbuilders who had built +the "Oregon." Some one remarked that a prominent politician (naming him) +would like to know what patronage would be accorded him. Mr. Scott very +forcibly and promptly replied: "So far as I am concerned, not a damned +bit. I want none for myself, and I will oppose giving any to him or +anyone else." I learned later that he had been elected without being +consulted, while absent in the East. Upon his return a somewhat +notorious woman principal called on him and informed him that she was +responsible for his election--at least, his name had been submitted to +her and received her approval. He replied that he felt she deserved no +thanks for that, as he had no desire to serve. She said she had but one +request to make; her janitress must not be removed. He gave her no +assurances. Soon afterward the matter of appointments came up. Mr. Scott +was asked what he wanted, and he replied: "I want but one thing. It +involves the janitress of Mrs. ----'s school. I want her to be removed +immediately." + +"All right," replied the questioner. "Whom shall we name?" + +"Whomever you please," rejoined Scott. "I have no candidate; but no one +can tell me what I must or must not do." + +Substitution followed at once. + +Later Mr. Scott played the star part in the most interesting political +struggle I ever knew. A Democratic victory placed in the +superintendent's office a man whose Christian name was appropriately +Andrew Jackson. He had the naming of his secretary, who was ex-officio +clerk of the board, which confirmed the appointment. One George Beanston +had grown to manhood in the office and filled it most satisfactorily. +The superintendent nominated a man with no experience, whom I shall call +Wells, for the reason that it was not his name. Mr. Scott, a Democratic +member, and I were asked to report on the nomination. The superintendent +and the committee discussed the matter at a pleasant dinner at the +Pacific-Union Club, given by Chairman Scott. At its conclusion the +majority conceded that usage and courtesy entitled the superintendent to +the appointment. Feeling that civil service and the interest of the +school department were opposed to removal from position for mere +political differences, I demurred and brought in a minority report. +There were twelve members, and when the vote to concur in the +appointment came up there was a tie, and the matter went over for a +week. During the week one of the Beanston supporters was given the +privilege of naming a janitor, and the suspicion that a trade had been +made was justified when on roll-call he hung his head and murmured +"Wells." The cause seemed lost; but when later in the alphabetical roll +Scott's name was reached, he threw up his head and almost shouted +"Beanston," offsetting the loss of the turncoat and leaving the vote +still a tie. It was never called up again, and Beanston retained the +place for another two years. + +Early in 1901 I was called up on the telephone and asked to come to +Mayor Phelan's office at once. I found there some of the most ardent +civil service supporters in the city. Richard J. Freud, a member of the +Civil Service Commission, had suddenly died the night before. The +vacancy was filled by the mayor's appointment. Eugene Schmitz had been +elected mayor and would take his seat the following day, and the friends +of civil service distrusted his integrity. They did not dare to allow +him to act. Haste seemed discourteous to the memory of Freud, but he +would want the best for the service. Persuaded of the gravity of the +matter, I accepted the appointment for a year and filed my commission +before returning to my place of business. I enjoyed the work and its +obvious advantage to the departments under its operation. The Police +Department especially was given an intelligent and well-equipped force. +An amusing incident of an examination for promotion to the position of +corporal concerned the hopes we entertained for the success of a popular +patrolman. But he did not apply. One day one of the board met him and +asked him if he was not to try for it. "I think not," he replied. "My +early education was very unlimited. What I know, I know; but I'll be +damned if I'm going to give you fellows a chance to find out what I +don't know!" + +I chanced to visit Washington during my term as commissioner, and +through the courtesy of Senator Perkins had a pleasant call on President +Roosevelt. A Senator seems to have ready access to the ordinary +President, and almost before I realized it we were in the strenuous +presence. A cordial hand-clasp and a genial smile followed my +introduction, and as the Senator remarked that I was a Civil Service +Commissioner, the President called: "Shake again. I used to be one of +those fellows myself." + +Senator Perkins went on: "Mr. Murdock and I have served for many years +as fellow trustees of the Boys and Girls Aid Society." + +"Ah," said the President, "modeled, I presume, on Brace's society, in +which my father was greatly interested. Do you know I believe work with +boys is about the only hope? It's pretty hard to change a man, but when +you can start a boy in the right way he has a chance." Turning to me he +remarked, "Did you know that Governor Brady of Alaska was one of +Brace's placed-out boys!" Then of Perkins he asked, "By the way, +Senator, how is Brady doing?" + +"Very well, I understand," replied the Senator. "I believe he is a +thoroughly honest man." + +"Yes; but is he also able? It is as necessary for a man in public life +to be able as to be honest." + +He bade us a hearty good-by as we left him. He impressed me as +untroubled and courageous, ready every day for what came, and meeting +life with cheer. + +The story of the moral and political revolution of 1907 has never been +adequately told, nor have the significance and importance of the event +been fully recognized. The facts are of greater import than the record; +but an eyewitness has responsibility, and I feel moved to give my +testimony. + +Perhaps so complete a reversal of spirit and administration was never +before reached without an election by the people. The faithfulness and +nerve of one official backed by the ability of a detective employed by a +public-spirited citizen rescued the city government from the control of +corrupt and irresponsible men and substituted a mayor and board of +supervisors of high character and unselfish purpose. This was +accomplished speedily and quietly. + +With positive proof of bribery that left conviction and a term in +prison as the alternative to resignation, District Attorney William H. +Langdon had complete control of the situation. In consultation with +those who had proved their interest in the welfare of the city, he asked +Edward Robeson Taylor to serve as mayor, privileged to select sixteen +citizens to act as supervisors in place of the implicated incumbents, +who would be induced to resign. Dr. Taylor was an attorney of the +highest standing, an idealist of fearless and determined character. No +pledges hampered him. He was free to act in redeeming the city. In turn, +he asked no pledge or promise of those whom he selected to serve as +supervisors. He named men whom he felt he could trust, and he +subsequently left them alone, asking nothing of them and giving them no +advice. + +It was the year after the fire. I was conducting a substitute +printing-office in the old car-barn at Geary and Buchanan streets. One +morning Dr. Taylor came in and asked if he might speak to me in private. +I was not supplied with facilities for much privacy, but I asked him in +and we found seats in the corner of the office farthest from the +bookkeeper. Without preliminary, he said, "I want you to act as one of +the supervisors." Wholly surprised, I hesitated a moment and then +assured him that my respect for him and what he had undertaken was so +great that if he was sure he wanted me I would serve. He went out with +no further comment, and I heard nothing more of it until I received a +notice to meet at his office in the temporary City Hall on July 16th. + +In response to the call I found fifteen other men, most of whom I knew +slightly. We seemed to be waiting for something. Mr. Langdon was there +and Mr. Burns, the detective, was in and out. Mr. Gallagher, late acting +mayor and an old-time friend of the District Attorney, was helping in +the transfer, in which he was included. Langdon would suggest some +procedure: "How will this do, Jim?" "It seems to me, Billy, that this +will be better," Gallagher would reply. Burns finally reported that the +last of the "bunch" had signed his resignation and that we could go +ahead. We filed into the boardroom. Mayor Taylor occupied the chair, to +which the week before he had been obediently but not enthusiastically +elected by "those about to die." The supervisor alphabetically ranking +offered his written resignation, which the mayor promptly accepted. He +then appointed as successor the first, alphabetically, on his list. The +deputy county clerk was conveniently near and promptly administered the +oath and certified the commission. The old member slunk or swaggered out +and the new member took his place. So the dramatic scene continued until +the transformation was accomplished and a new era dawned. The atmosphere +was changed, but was very serious and determined. Everyone felt the +gravity of the situation and that we had no easy task ahead. Solemnity +marked the undertaking and full realization that hard work alone could +overcome obstacles and restore endurable conditions. + +Many of the men selected by Dr. Taylor had enjoyed experience and all +were anxious to do their best. With firm grasp and resolute procedure, +quick results followed. There was to be an election in November. Some of +the strongest members had accepted service as an emergency call and +could not serve longer; but an incredible amount of planning was +accomplished and a great deal disposed of, so that though ten of the +appointed board served but six months they had rendered a great service +and fortunately were succeeded by other men of character, and the good +work went steadily on. In looking back to the problems that confronted +the appointed board and the first elected board, also headed by Dr. +Taylor, they seem insurmountable. + +It is hard now to appreciate the physical conditions of the city. It was +estimated that not less than five million dollars would be required to +put the streets into any decent condition. It was at first proposed to +include this, sum in the bond issue that could not be escaped, but +reflection assured us that so temporary a purpose was not a proper use +of bond money, and we met the expenditure from the annual tax levy. We +found the smallest amount required for urgent expenditure in excess of +the tax levy was $18,200,000, and at a special election held early in +1908 the voters endorsed the proposed issue by a vote of over 21,000 to +1800. The three largest expenditures were for an auxiliary water system +for fire protection ($5,200,000), for school buildings ($5,000,000), and +for sewers ($4,000,000). + +I cannot follow the various steps by which order was brought out of +chaos, nor can I give special acknowledgment where it is manifestly due; +but I can bear testimony to the unselfishness and faithfulness of a +remarkable body of public officials and to a few of the things +accomplished. To correct gross evils and restore good conditions is no +slight task; but to substitute the best for the worst is a great +achievement. This San Francisco has done in several marked instances. + +There was a time when about the only thing we could boast was that we +spent a _less_ sum per capita than any city in the Union for the care of +hospital patients. I remember hearing that fine citizen, Frederick +Dohrmann, once say, "Every supervisor who has gone out of public service +leaving our old County Hospital standing is guilty of a municipal +crime." It was a disgrace of which we were ashamed. The fire had spared +the building, but the new supervisors did not. We now have one of the +best hospitals in the country, admirably conducted. + +Our City Prison is equally reversed. It was our shame; it is our pride. +The old Almshouse was a discreditable asylum for the politician who +chanced to superintend it. Today our "Relief Home" is a model for the +country. In 1906 the city was destroyed because unprotected against +fire. Today we are as safe as a city can be. In the meantime the reduced +cost of insurance pays insured citizens a high rate of interest on the +cost of our high-pressure auxiliary fire system. Our streets were once +noted for their poor construction and their filthy condition. Recently +an informed visitor has pronounced them the best to be found. We had no +creditable boulevards or drives. Quietly and without bond expenditure we +have constructed magnificent examples. Our school buildings were shabby +and poor. Many now are imposing and beautiful. + +This list could be extended; but turn for a moment to matters of +manners. Where are the awful corner-groceries that helped the saloons to +ruin men and boys, and where are the busy nickel-in-the-slot machines +and shameless smokers in the street-cars? Where are the sellers of +lottery tickets, where the horse-races and the open gambling? + +It was my fortune to be re-elected for eight years. Sometimes I am +impressed by how little I seem to have individually accomplished in this +long period of time. One effect of experience is to modify one's +expectations. It is not nearly so easy to accomplish things as one who +has not tried is apt to imagine. Reforming is not an easy process. +Inertia is something really to be overcome, and one is often surprised +to find how obstinate majorities can be. Initiative is a rare faculty +and an average legislator must be content to follow. One can render good +service sometimes by what he prevents. Again, he may finally fail in +some good purpose through no fault of his own, and yet win something +even in losing. Early in my term I was convinced that one thing that +ought to be changed was our absurd liquor license. We had by far the +lowest tax of any city in the Union, and naturally had the largest +number of saloons. I tried to have the license raised from eighty-four +dollars to one thousand dollars, hoping to reduce our twenty-four +hundred saloons. I almost succeeded. When I failed the liquor interest +was so frightened at its narrow escape that it led the people to adopt a +five-hundred-dollar substitute. + +I was led to undertake the correction of grave abuses and confusion in +the naming of the city streets. The post-office authorities were greatly +hampered in the mail delivery by the duplicate use of names. The +dignified word "avenue" had been conferred on many alleys. A commission +worked diligently and efficiently. One set of numbered streets was +eliminated. The names of men who had figured in the history of the city +were given to streets bearing their initials. Anza, Balboa, and +Cabrillo gave meaning to A, B, and C. We gave Columbus an avenue, +Lincoln a "way," and substituted for East Street the original name of +the waterfront, "The Embarcadero." In all we made more than four hundred +changes and corrections. + +There were occasional humorous incidents connected with this task. There +were opposition and prejudice against names offered. Some one proposed a +"St. Francis Boulevard." An apparently intelligent man asked why we +wanted to perpetuate the name of "that old pirate." I asked, "Who do you +think we have in mind?" He replied, "I suppose you would honor Sir +Francis Drake." He seemed never to have heard of Saint Francis of +Assisi. + +It was predicted that the Taylor administration with its excellent +record would be continued, but at the end of two years it went down to +defeat and the Workingmen's party, with P.H. McCarthy as mayor, gained +strong control. For two years, as a minority member, I enjoyed a +different but interesting experience. It involved some fighting and +preventive effort; but I found that if one fought fairly he was accorded +consideration and opportunity. I introduced a charter amendment that +seemed very desirable, and it found favor. The charter prescribed a +two-year term for eighteen supervisors and their election each alternate +year. Under the provision it was possible to have every member without +experience. By making the term four years and electing nine members +every other year experience was assured, and the ballot would be half +the length, a great advantage. It had seemed wise to me to allow the +term of the mayor to remain two years, but the friends of Mayor McCarthy +were so confident of his re-election that they insisted on a four-year +term. As so amended the matter went to the people and was adopted. At +the following election Mayor James Rolph, Jr., was elected for four +years, two of which were an unintentional gift of his political +opponents. + +I served for four years under the energetic Rolph, and they were +fruitful ones. Most of the plans inaugurated by the Taylor board were +carried out, and materially the city made great strides. The Exposition +was a revelation of what was possible, and of the City Hall and the +Civic Center we may well be proud. + +Some of my supervisorial experiences were trying and some were amusing. +Discussion was often relieved by rare bits of eloquence and surprising +use of language. Pronunciation was frequently original and +unprecedented. Amazing ignorance was unconcealed and the gift of gab was +unrestrained. Nothing quite equaled in fatal facility a progress report +made by a former member soon after his debut: "We think we shall soon be +able to bring chaos out of the present disorder, now existing." On one +of our trips of investigation the City Engineer had remarked on the +watershed. One of the members later cornered him and asked "Where is the +watershed?" expecting to be shown a building that had escaped his +attention. + +A pleasant episode of official duty early in Rolph's term was an +assignment to represent the city at a national municipal congress at Los +Angeles. We were called upon, in connection with a study of municipal +art, to make an exhibit of objects of beauty or ornament presented to +the city by its citizens. We felt that San Francisco had been kindly +dealt with, but were surprised at the extent and variety of the gifts. +Enlarged sepia photographs of structures, monuments, bronzes, statuary, +and memorials of all kinds were gathered and framed uniformly. There +were very many, and they reflected great credit and taste. Properly +inscribed, they filled a large room in Los Angeles and attracted much +attention. Interest was enhanced by the cleverness of the young woman in +charge. The general title of the collection was "Objects of Art +Presented by its Citizens to the City of San Francisco." She left a +space and over a conspicuous panel printed the inscription "Objects of +Art Presented by its Citizens to the City of Los Angeles." The panel was +empty. The ordinarily proud city had nothing to show. + +Moses at Pisgah gazed upon the land he was not to enter. My Pisgah was +reached at the end of 1916. My halls of service were temporary. The new +City Hall was not occupied until just after I had found my political +Moab; the pleasure of sitting in a hall which is pronounced the most +beautiful in America was not for me. + +As I look back upon varied public service, I am not clear as to its +value; but I do not regret having tried to do my part. My practical +creed was never to seek and never to decline opportunity to serve. I +feel that the effort to do what I was able to do hardly justified +itself; but it always seemed worth trying, and I do not hold myself +responsible for results. I am told that in parts of California +infinitesimal diatoms form deposits five thousand feet in thickness. If +we have but little to give we cannot afford not to give it. + + + + +CHAPTER VIII + +AN INVESTMENT + + +On the morning of October 18, 1850, there appeared in San Francisco's +morning paper the following notice: + + RELIGIOUS INTELLIGENCE There will be Religious Services (Unitarian) + on Sunday Morning next, October 20th, at Simmons' Athenaeum Hall. + Entrance on Commercial and Sacramento Streets. A Discourse will be + preached by Rev. Charles A. Farley. + +San Francisco at this time was a community very unlike any known to +history. Two years before it is said to have numbered eight hundred +souls, and two years before that about two hundred. During the year +1849, perhaps thirty thousand men had come from all over the world, of +whom many went to the mines. The directory of that year contained +twenty-five hundred names. By October, 1850, the population may have +been twenty thousand. They were scattered thinly over a hilly and rough +peninsula, chaparral-covered but for drifting sand and with few +habitable valleys. From Pacific to California streets and from Dupont to +the bay was the beginning of the city's business. A few streets were +graded and planked. Clay Street stretched up to Stockton. To the south +mountains of sand filled the present Market Street, and protected by +them nestled Happy Valley, reaching from First to Third streets and +beyond Mission. In 1849 it was a city of tents. Wharves were pushing out +into the bay. Long Wharf (Commercial Street) reached deep water about +where Drumm Street now crosses it. + +Among the motley argonauts were a goodly number of New Englanders, +especially from Boston and Maine. Naturally some of them were +Unitarians. It seems striking that so many of them were interested in +holding services. They had all left "home" within a year or so, and most +of them expected to go back within two years with their respective +fortunes. When it was learned that a real Unitarian minister was among +them, they arranged for a service. The halls of the period were west of +Kearny Street in Sacramento and California. They secured the Athenaeum +and gave notice in the _Alta California_. + +It is significant that the day the notice appeared proved to be +historical. The steamer "Oregon" was due, and it was hoped she would +bring the news of favorable action by Congress on the application of +California to be admitted into the Union. When in the early forenoon the +steamer, profusely decorated with bunting, rounded Clark's Point +assurance was given, and by the time she landed at Commercial and Drumm +the town was wild with excitement. + +[Illustration: THOMAS STARR KING. SAN FRANCISCO, 1860-1864] + +Eastern papers sold readily at a dollar a copy. All day and night +impromptu celebrations continued. Unnumbered silk hats (commonly worn by +professional men and leading merchants) were demolished and champagne +flowed freely. It should be remembered that thirty-nine days had elapsed +since the actual admission, but none here had known it. + +The Pilgrim Yankees must have felt like going to church now that +California was a part of the Union and that another free state had been +born. At any rate, the service conducted by Rev. Charles A. Farley was +voted a great success. One man had brought a service-book and another a +hymnbook. Four of the audience volunteered to lead the singing, while +another played an accompaniment on the violin. After the services +twenty-five men remained to talk things over, and arranged to continue +services from week to week. On November 17, 1850, "The First Unitarian +Church of San Francisco" was organized, Captain Frederick W. Macondray +being made the first Moderator. + +Mr. Farley returned to New England in April, 1851, and services were +suspended. Then occurred two very serious fires, disorganizing +conditions and compelling postponement. It was more than a year before +an attempt was made to call another minister. + +In May, 1852, Rev. Joseph Harrington was invited to take charge of the +church. He came in August and began services under great promise in the +United States District Court building. A few weeks later he was taken +alarmingly ill, and died on November 2d. It was a sad blow, but the +society withstood it calmly and voted to complete the building it had +begun in Stockton Street, near Sacramento. Rev. Frederic T. Gray, of +Bulfinch Street Chapel, Boston, under a leave of absence for a year, +came to California and dedicated the church on July 1, 1853. This was +the beginning of continuous church services. On the following Sunday, +Pilgrim Sunday-school was organized. + +Mr. Gray, a kind and gentle soul, rendered good service in organizing +the activities of the church. He was succeeded by Rev. Rufus P. Cutler, +of Portland, Maine, a refined, scholarly man, who served for nearly five +years. He resigned and sailed for New York in June, 1859. During his +term the Sunday-school prospered under the charge of Samuel L. Lloyd. + +Rev. J.A. Buckingham filled the pulpit for ten months preceding April +28, 1860, when Thomas Starr King arrived. The next day Mr. King faced a +congregation that crowded the church to overflowing and won the warm and +enthusiastic regard of all, including many new adherents. With a winning +personality, eloquent and brilliant, he was extraordinarily attractive +as a preacher and as a man. He had great gifts and he was profoundly in +earnest--a kindly, friendly, loving soul. + +In 1861 I planned to pass through the city on Sunday with the +possibility of hearing him. The church was crowded. I missed no word of +his wonderful voice. He looked almost boyish, but his eyes and his +bearing proclaimed him a man, and his word was thrilling. I heard him +twice and went to my distant home with a blessed memory and an enlarged +ideal of the power of a preacher. Few who heard him still survive, but a +woman of ninety-three years who loves him well vividly recalls his +second service that led to a friendship that lasted all his life. + +In his first year he accomplished wonders for the church. He had felt on +coming that in a year he should return to his devoted people in the +Hollis Street Church of Boston. But when Fort Sumter was fired upon he +saw clearly his appointed place. He threw himself into the struggle to +hold California in the Union. He lectured and preached everywhere, +stimulating patriotism and loyalty. He became a great national leader +and the most influential person on the Pacific Coast. He turned +California from a doubtful state to one of solid loyalty. Secession +defeated, he accomplished wonders for the Sanitary Commission. + +A large part of 1863 he gave to the building of the beautiful church in +Geary street near Stockton. It was dedicated in January, 1864. He +preached in it but seven Sundays, when he was attacked with a malady +which in these days is not considered serious but from which he died on +March 4th, confirming a premonition that he would not live to the age of +forty. He was very deeply mourned. It was regarded a calamity to the +entire community. To the church and the denomination the loss seemed +irreparable. + +To Dr. Henry W. Bellows, of New York, the acknowledged Unitarian leader, +was entrusted the selection of the one to fill the vacant pulpit. He +knew the available men and did not hesitate. He notified Horatio +Stebbins, of Portland, Maine, that he was called by the great disaster +to give up the parish he loved and was satisfied to serve and take the +post of the fallen leader on the distant shore. + +Dr. Bellows at once came to San Francisco to comfort the bereaved church +and to prepare the way for Mr. Stebbins, who in the meantime went to New +York to minister to Dr. Bellows' people in his absence. + +It was during the brief and brilliant ministry of Dr. Bellows that good +fortune brought me to San Francisco. + +Dr. Bellows was a most attractive preacher, persuasive and eloquent. His +word and his manner were so far in advance of anything to which I was +accustomed that they came as a revelation of power and beauty. I was +entranced, and a new world of thought and feeling opened before me. Life +itself took on a new meaning, and I realized the privilege offered in +such a church home. I joined without delay, and my connection has been +uninterrupted from that day to this. For over fifty-seven years I have +missed few opportunities to profit by its services. I speak of it not in +any spirit of boasting, but in profound gratitude. Physical disability +and absence from the city have both been rare. In the absence of reasons +I have never felt like offering excuses. + +Early in September, Horatio Stebbins and family arrived from New York, +and Dr. Bellows returned to his own church. The installation of the +successor of Starr King was an impressive event. The church building +that had been erected by and for King was a beautiful and commodious +building, but it would not hold all the people that sought to attend the +installation of the daring man who came to take up the great work laid +down by the preacher-patriot. He was well received, and a feeling of +relief was manifest. The church was still in strong hands and the +traditions would be maintained. + +On September 9th Dr. Stebbins stood modestly but resolutely in the +pulpit so sanctified by the memory of King. Few men have faced sharper +trials and met them with more serenity and apparent lack of +consciousness. It was not because of self-confidence or of failure to +recognize what was before him. He knew very well what was implied in +following such a man as Starr King, but he was so little concerned with +anything so comparatively unimportant as self-interest or so unessential +as personal success that he was unruffled and calm. He indulged in no +illusion of filling Mr. King's place. He stood on his own feet to make +his own place, and to do his own work in his own way, with such results +as came, and he was undisturbed. + +Toward the end of his life he spoke of always having preached from the +level of his own mind. It was always true of him. He never strained for +effect, or seemed unduly concerned for results. In one of his prayers he +expresses his deep philosophy of life: "Help us, each one in his place, +in the place which is providentially allotted to us in life, to act well +our part, with consecrated will, with pure affection, with simplicity of +heart--to do our duty, and to leave the rest to God." It was wholly in +that spirit that Dr. Stebbins took up the succession of Thomas Starr +King. + +Personally, I was very glad to renew my early admiration for Mr. +Stebbins, who had chosen his first parish at Fitchburg, adjoining my +native town, and had always attracted me when he came to exchange with +our minister. He was a strong, original, manly character, with great +endowments of mind and heart. He was to enjoy a remarkable ministry of +over thirty-five years and endear himself to all who knew him. He was a +great preacher and a great man. He inspired confidence, and was broad +and generous. He served the community as well as his church, being +especially influential in promoting the interests of education. He was a +kindly and helpful man, and he was not burdened by his large duties and +responsibilities, he was never hurried or harassed. He steadily pursued +his placid way and built up a really great influence. He was, above all +else, an inspirer of steadfast faith. With a great capacity for +friendship, he was very generous in it, and was indulgent in judgment of +those he liked. I was a raw and ignorant young man, but he opened his +great heart to me and treated me like an equal. Twenty years difference +in years seemed no barrier. He was fond of companionship in his travels, +and I often accompanied him as he was called up and down the coast. In +1886 I went to the Boston May Meeting in his company and found delight +in both him and it. He was a good traveler, enjoying the change of scene +and the contact with all sorts of people. He was courteous and friendly +with strangers, meeting them on their own ground with sympathy and +understanding. + +In his own home he was especially happy, and it was a great privilege to +share his table-talk and hospitality, for he had a great fund of kindly +humor and his speech was bright with homely metaphor and apt allusions. +Not only was he a great preacher, he was a leader, an inspirer, and a +provoker of good. + +What it meant to fall under the influence of such a man cannot be told. +Supplementing the blessing was the association with a number of the best +of men among the church adherents. Hardly second to the great and +unearned friendship of Dr. Stebbins was that of Horace Davis, ten years +my senior, and very close to Dr. Stebbins in every way. He had been +connected with the church almost from the first and was a firm friend of +Starr King. Like Dr. Stebbins, he was a graduate of Harvard. Scholarly, +and also able in business, he typified sound judgment and common sense, +was conservative by nature, but fresh and vigorous of mind. He was +active in the Sunday-school. We also were associated in club life and as +fellow directors of the Lick School. Our friendship was uninterrupted +for more than fifty years. I had great regard for Mrs. Davis and many +happy hours were passed in their home. Her interpretation of Beethoven +was in my experience unequaled. + +It is impossible even to mention the many men of character and +conscience who were a helpful influence to me in my happy church life. +Captain Levi Stevens was very good to me; C. Adolphe Low was one of the +best men I ever knew; I had unbounded respect for Horatio Frost; Dr. +Henry Gibbons was very dear to me; and Charles R. Bishop I could not but +love. These few represent a host of noble associates. I would I could +mention more of them. + +[Illustration: HORATIO STEBBINS. SAN FRANCISCO, 1864-1900] + +We all greatly enjoyed the meetings of a Shakespeare Club that was +sustained for more than twelve consecutive years among congenial friends +in the church. We read half a play every other week, devoting the latter +part of the evening to impromptu charades, in which we were utterly +regardless of dignity and became quite expert. + +At our annual picnics we joined in the enjoyment of the children. I +recall my surprise and chagrin at having challenged Mr. Davis to a +footrace at Belmont one year, giving him distance as an age handicap, +and finding that I had overestimated the advantage of ten years +difference. + +In 1890 we established the Unitarian Club of California. Mr. Davis was +the first president. For seventeen years it was vigorous and prosperous. +We enjoyed a good waiting-list and twice raised the limit of membership +numbers. It was then the only forum in the city for the discussion of +subjects of public interest. Many distinguished visitors were +entertained. Booker T. Washington was greeted by a large audience and so +were Susan B. Anthony and Anna H. Shaw. As time passed, other +organizations afforded opportunity for discussion, and numerous less +formal church clubs accomplished its purpose in a simpler manner. + +A feature of strength in our church has been the William and Alice +Hinckley Fund, established in 1879 by the will of Captain William C. +Hinckley, under the counsel and advice of Dr. Stebbins. His wife had +died, he had no children, and he wanted his property to be helpful to +others. He appointed the then church trustees his executors and the +trustees of an endowment to promote human beneficence and charity, +especially commending the aged and lonely and the interests of education +and religion. Shortly after coming to San Francisco, in 1850, he had +bought a lot in Bush Street for sixty dollars. At the time of his death +it was under lease to the California Theater Company at a ground rent of +a thousand dollars a month. After long litigation, the will was +sustained as to $52,000, the full proportion of his estate allowed for +charity. I have served as secretary of the trust fund for forty years. I +am also surviving trustee for a library fund of $10,000 and another +charity fund of $5000. These three funds have earned in interest more +than $105,000. We have disbursed for the purposes indicated $92,000, and +have now on hand as capital more than $80,000, the interest on which we +disburse annually. It has been my fortune to outlive the eight trustees +appointed with me, and, also, eight since appointed to fill vacancies +caused by death or removal. + +We worshiped in the Geary and Stockton church for more than twenty-three +years, and then concluded it was time to move from a business district +to a residential section. We sold the building with the lot that had +cost $16,000 for $120,000, and at the corner of Franklin and Geary +streets built a fine church, costing, lot included, $91,000. During +construction we met in the Synagogue Emanu-El, and the Sunday-school was +hospitably entertained in the First Congregational Church, which +circumstances indicate the friendly relations maintained by our +minister, who never arraigned or engaged in controversy with any other +household of faith. In 1889 the new church was dedicated, Dr. Hedge +writing a fine hymn for the occasion. + +Dr. Stebbins generally enjoyed robust health, but in 1899 he was +admonished that he must lay down the work he loved so well. In September +of that year, at his own request, he was relieved from active service +and elected Minister Emeritus. Subsequently his health improved, and +frequently he was able to preach; but in 1900, with his family, he +returned to New England, where he lived with a good degree of comfort at +Cambridge, near his children, occasionally preaching, but gradually +failing in health. He suffered severely at the last, and found final +release on April 8, 1901. + +Of the later history of the church I need say little. Recollections root +in the remote. For thirteen years we were served by Rev. Bradford +Leavitt, and for the past eight Rev. Caleb S.S. Dutton has been our +leader. The noble traditions of the past have been followed and the +place in the community has been fully maintained. The church has been a +steady and powerful influence for good, and many a life has been +quickened, strengthened, and made more abundant through its ministry. To +me it has been a never-failing source of satisfaction and happiness. + +I would also bear brief testimony to the Sunday-school. All my life I +had attended Sunday-school,--the best available. I remember well the +school in Leominster and the stories told by Deacon Cotton and others. I +remember nay teacher in Boston. Coming to California I took what I could +get, first the little Methodist gathering and then the more respectable +Presbyterian. When in early manhood I came to San Francisco I entered +the Bible-class at once. The school was large and vigorous. The +attendance was around four hundred. Lloyd Baldwin, an able lawyer, was +my first teacher, and a good one, but very soon I was induced to take a +class of small boys. They were very bright and too quick for a youth +from the country. One Sunday we chanced to have as a lesson the healing +of the daughter of Jairus. In the gospel account the final word was the +injunction: "Jesus charged them that they tell no man." In all innocence +I asked the somewhat leading question: "What did Jesus charge them?" +Quick as a flash one of the boys answered, "He didn't charge them a +cent." It was so pat and so unexpected that I could not protest at the +levity. + +In the Sunday-school library I met Charles W. Wendte, then a clerk in +the Bank of California. He had been befriended and inspired by Starr +King and soon turned from business and studied for the ministry. He is +now a D.D. and has a long record of valuable service. + +In 1869 J.C.A. Hill became superintendent of the school and appointed me +his assistant. Four years later he returned to New Hampshire, much to +our regret, and I succeeded him. With the exception of the two years +that Rev. William G. Eliot, Jr., was assistant to Dr. Stebbins, and took +charge of the school, I served until 1914. + +Very many pleasant memories cluster around my connection with the +Sunday-school. The friendships made have been enduring. The beautiful +young lives lured me on in service that never grew monotonous, and I +have been paid over and over again for all I ever gave. It is a great +satisfaction to feel that five of our nine church trustees are graduates +of the Sunday-school. I attended my first Christmas festival of the +Sunday-school in Platt's Hall in 1864, and I have never missed one +since. Fifty-seven consecutive celebrations incidentally testify to +unbroken health. + +In looking back on what I have gained from the church, I am impressed +with the fact that the association with the fine men and women +attending it has been a very important part of my life. Good friends +are of untold value, and inspiration is not confined to the spoken words +of the minister. Especially am I impressed with the stream of community +helpfulness that has flowed steadily from our church all these years. I +wish I dared to refer to individual instances--but they are too many. +Finally, I must content myself with acknowledgment of great obligation +for all I have profited from and enjoyed in church affiliation. I cannot +conceive how any man can afford not to avail himself of the privilege of +standing by some church. As an investment I am assured that nothing pays +better and surer interest. Returns are liberal, dividends are never +passed, and capital never depreciates. + + + + +CHAPTER IX + +BY-PRODUCT + + +In the conduct of life we select, or have assigned, certain measures of +activity upon which we rely for our support and the self-respect that +follows the doing of our part. This we call our business, and if we are +wise we attend to it and prosecute it with due diligence and +application. But it is not all of life, and its claim is not the only +call that is made upon us. Exclusive interest and devotion to it may end +in the sort of success that robs us of the highest value, so that, +however much substance we accumulate, we are failures as men. On the +other hand, we take risks if we slight its just demands and scatter our +powers on miscellaneous interests. Whatever its value, every man, in +addition to what he primarily produces, turns out some by-product. If it +is worth anything, he may be thankful and add the amount to total +income. + +The extracts of which this chapter is composed are selections from the +editorial columns of _The Pacific Unitarian_, submitted not as exhibits +in the case of achievement, but as indicating the convictions I have +formed on the way of life. + + +THE BEGINNING + +Thirty years ago, a fairly active Sunday-school was instigated to +publish a monthly journal, nominally for all the organizations of the +First Unitarian Society. It was not expected to be of great benefit, +except to the school. After a year and a half it was adopted by the +Conference, its modest name, _The Guidon_, being expanded to _The +Pacific Unitarian_. Its number of pages was increased to thirty-two. + +Probably the most remarkable circumstance connected with it is that it +has lived. The fact that it has enjoyed the opportunity of choice +between life and death is quite surprising. Other journals have had to +die. It has never been easy to live, or absolutely necessary to die. + +Anyhow, we have the thirty years of life to look back upon and take +satisfaction in. We are grateful for friends far and near, and generous +commendation has been pleasant to receive, whether it has been justified +or not. + + +CHRISTIANITY + +We realize more and more truly that Christianity in its spirit is a very +different thing from Christianity as a theological structure formulated +by the makers of the creed. The amazing thing is that such a +misconception of the message of Jesus as has generally prevailed has +given us a civilization so creditable. The early councils were incapable +of being led by the spirit of Jesus. They were prejudiced by their +preconceptions of the character of God and the nature of religion, and +evolved a scheme of salvation to fit past conceptions instead of +accepting as real the love of God and of man that Jesus added to the +religion of his fathers. Even the Christianity they fashioned has not +been fairly tried. The Christianity that Jesus proclaimed, a call to +trust, to love, and spiritual life, has hardly been tried at all. We +seem just to be awakening to what it is, and to its application to the +art of living. + + +THE PRODIGAL'S FATHER + +What a difference in the thought of God and in the joy of life would +have followed had the hearers of Jesus given the parable of the Prodigal +Son its full significance! They would then have found in the happy, +loving father and his full forgiveness of the son who "came to himself" +a type of the Heavenly Father. The shadow of the olden fear still +persists, chilling human life. We do not trust the love of God and bear +life's burdens with cheerful courage. From lurking fear of the jealous +king of Hebrew tradition, we are even afraid to be happy when we might. +We fail of faith in the reality of God's love. We forget the robe, the +ring, the overflowing joy of the earthly father, not earned by the +prodigal, but given from complete love. The thing best worth while is +faith in the love of God. + +If it be lacking, perhaps the best way to gain it is to assume it--to +act on the basis of its existence, putting aside our doubts, and giving +whatever love we have in our own hearts a chance to strengthen. + + +WHITSUNTIDE + +Whitsuntide is a church season that too often fails to receive due +acknowledgment or recognition. It is, in observance, a poor third. +Christmas is largely diverted to a giving of superfluous gifts, and is +popular from the wide-felt interest in the happiness of children. Easter +we can not forget, for it celebrates the rising or the risen life, and +is marked by the fresh beauty of a beautiful world. To appreciate the +pentecostal season and to care for spiritual inspiration appeals to the +few, and to those few on a higher plane. But of all that religion has to +give, it represents the highest gift, and it has to do with the world's +greatest need. + +Spiritual life is the most precious of possessions, the highest +attainment of humanity. Happy are we if our better spirit be quickened, +if our hearts be lifted up, and our wills be strengthened, that worthy +life may bring peace and joy! + + +WHY THE CHURCH? + +We cannot deny the truth that the things of the spirit are of first +importance; but when it comes to living we seem to belie our +convictions. We live as though we thought the spirit a doubtful matter. +There are those who take pride in calling themselves materialists, but +they are hardly as hopeless as those who are so indifferent that they +have no opinion whatever. The man who thinks and cares is quite apt to +come out right, but the mindless animal who only enjoys develops no +recognizable soul. The seeking first is not in derogation of any true +manhood. It is the full life, the whole life, that we are to +compass--but life subordinated and controlled by the spirit, the spirit +that recognizes the distinction between right and wrong. Those who +choose the right and bend all else to it, are of the Kingdom. That is +all that righteousness means. + +The church has no monopoly of righteousness, but it is of immense +importance in cultivating the religious spirit, and cannot safely be +dispensed with. And so it must be strongly supported and made efficient. +To those who know true values this is an investment that cannot safely +be ignored. To it we should give generously of our money, but equally +generously we should give ourselves--our presence, our co-operation, our +loyal support of our leaders, our constant effort to hold it to high +ideals. If it is to give life, it must have life, and whatever life it +has is the aggregation of our collected and consecrated lives. + +The church called Christian cannot win by holding its old trenches. It +must advance to the line that stretches from our little fortress where +the flag of Reason and Religion defiantly floats. Shall we retreat? No; +it is for us to hold the fort at all costs, not for our sake alone, but +for the army of humanity. + +We believe in God and we believe in man. As President Eliot lately put +it, "We believe in the principles of a simple, practical, and democratic +religion. We are meeting ignorance, not with contempt, but with +knowledge. We are meeting dogmatism and superstition, not with +impatience, but with truth. We are meeting sin and injustice, not with +abuse, but with good-will and high idealism. We have the right message +for our time." To the church that seems to us to most nearly realize +these ideals, it is our bounden duty, and should be our glad privilege, +to present ourselves a reasonable sacrifice, that we may do our part in +bringing in God's Kingdom. + + +THE CHURCH AND PROGRESS + +Reforms depend upon reformed men. Perhaps the greater need is _formed_ +men. As we survey the majority of men around us, they seem largely +unconscious of what they really are and of the privileges and +responsibilities that appertain to manhood. It must be that men are +better, and more, than they seem. Visit a baseball game or a movie. The +crowds seem wholly irresponsible, and, except in the pleasure or +excitement sought, utterly uninterested--apparently without principle or +purpose. And yet, when called upon to serve their country, men will go +to the ends of the world, and place no limit on the sacrifice freely +made for the general good. They are better than they seem, and in ways +we know not of possess a sense of justice and a love of right which they +found we know not where. + +This is encouraging, but must not relieve us from doing our utmost to +inform more fully every son of man of his great opportunity and +responsibility, and also of inspiring him to use his life to his and our +best advantage. + +It is so evident that world-welfare rests upon individual well-being +that we cannot escape the conviction that the best thing any one of us +can do is to help to make our fellow-men better and happier. And the +part of wisdom is to organize for the power we gain. + +It would seem that the church should be the most effective agency for +promoting individual worth and consequent happiness. Is it?--and if not, +why not? We are apt to say we live in a new age, forgetting how little +change of form matters. Human nature, with its instincts and desires, +love of self, and the general enjoyment of, and through, possessions, is +so little changed that differences in condition and circumstance have +only a modifying influence. It is man, the man within, that counts--not +his clothing. + +But it is true that human institutions do undergo great changes, and +nothing intimate and important has suffered greater changes than the +church. Religion itself, vastly more important than the church, has +changed and is changing. Martineau's illuminating classification helps +us to realize this. The first expression, the pagan, was based on fear +and the idea of winning favor by purchase, giving something to God--it +might be burnt-offerings--for his good-will. Then came the Jewish, the +ethical, the thought of doing, rather than giving. Righteousness earns +God's favor. The higher conception blossomed into Christianity with its +trust in the love of God and of serving him and fellow-man, +self-sacrifice being the highest expression of harmony with him. +Following this general advance from giving and doing to being, we have +the altar, the temple, and the church. + + +THE GENUINE UNITARIAN + +Unitarians owe first allegiance to the Kingdom of God on earth. It is of +little consequence through which door it is entered. If any other is +nearer or broader or more attractive, use it. We offer ours for those +who prefer it or who find others not to be entered without a password +they cannot pronounce. + +A Unitarian who merely says he is one thereby gives no satisfactory +evidence that he is. There are individuals who seem to think they are +Unitarians because they are nothing else. They regard Unitarianism as +the next to nothing in its requirement of belief, losing all sight of +the fact that even one real belief exceeds, and may be more difficult +than, many half-beliefs and hundreds of make-beliefs, and that a +Unitarian church made up of those who have discarded all they thought +they believed and became Unitarian for its bald negations is to be +pitied and must be patiently nurtured. + +As regards our responsibility for the growth of Unitarianism, we surely +cannot fail to recognize it, but it should be clearly qualified by our +recognition of the object in view. To regard Unitarianism as an end to +be pursued for its own sake does not seem compatible with its own true +spirit. The church itself is an instrument, and we are in right relation +when we give the Unitarian church our preference, as, to us, the best +instrument, while we hold first allegiance to the idealism for which it +stands and to the goodness it seeks to unfold in the heart of man. + +Nor would we seek growth at any sacrifice of high quality or purpose. We +do not expect large numbers and great popular applause. Unitarians are +pioneers, and too independent and discriminating to stir the feverish +pulse of the multitude. We seek the heights, and it is our concern to +reach them and hold them for the few that struggle up. Loaves and fishes +we have not to offer, nor can we promise wealth and health as an +attractive by-product of righteousness. + +There is no better service that anyone can render than to implant +higher ideals in the breast of another. In the matter of religious +education as sought through the ordinary Sunday-school, no one who has +had any practical experience has ever found it easy, or kept free from +doubt as to its being sufficiently efficacious to make it worth while. +But the problem is to recognize the difficulty, face all doubts, and +stand by. Perfect teachers are impossible, satisfactory ones are not +always to be had. If they are not dissatisfied with themselves, they are +almost always unfit. But as between doing the best you can and doing +nothing at all, it would seem that self-respect and a sense of deep +responsibility would leave no recourse. There is no place for a shirker +or a quitter in a real Unitarian church. + + +HAVE WE DONE OUR WORK? + +Now and then some indifferent Unitarian expresses doubt as to the future +value of our particular church. There are those who say, "Why should we +keep it up? Have we not done our work?" We have seen our original +protests largely effective, and rejoice that more liberal and generous, +and, we believe, more just and true, religious convictions prevail; but +have we been constructive and strengthening? And until we have made our +own churches fully free and fruitful in spiritual life are we absolved +from the call to service? + +Have we earned our discharge from the army of life? Shall we be +deserters or slackers! We ask no man to fight with us if his loyalty to +any other corps is stronger, but to fight _somewhere_--to do his part +for God and his fellow-men wherever he can do the most effective +service. + +We are not Unitarians first. We are not even Christians first. We are +human first, seeking the best in humanity, in our appointed place in a +civilization that finds its greatest inspiration in the leadership of +Jesus of Nazareth, we are next Christians, and we are finally Unitarians +because for us their point of view embodies most truly the spirit that +animated his teachings and his life. + +And so we appeal to those who really, not nominally, are of our +household of faith to feel that it is best worth while to stand by the +nearest church and to support it generously, that it may do its part in +soul service and world welfare, and also to encourage it and give it +more abundant life through attendance and participation in its +activities. + + +OF FIRST IMPORTANCE + +It is well for each soul, in the multiplicity of questions besetting +him, to deliberately face them and determine what is of first +importance. Aspects are so diverse and bewildering that if we do not +reduce them to some order, giving them rank, we are in danger of +becoming purposeless drifters on the sea of life. + +What is the most important thing in life? What shall be our aim and +purpose, as we look about us, observing our fellows--what they have +accomplished and what they are--what commends itself to us as best worth +while? And what course can we pursue to get the most and the best out of +it? + +We find a world of infinite diversity in conditions, in aims, and in +results. One of the most striking differences is in regard to what we +call success. We are prone to conclude that he who is prosperous in the +matter of having is the successful man. Possessing is the proof of +efficiency, and he who possesses little has measurably failed in the +main object of life. This conclusion has a measure of truth, but is not +wholly true. We see not a few instances of utter poverty of life +concurrent with great possessions, and are forced to conclude that the +real value of possessions is dependent on what they bring us. Merely to +have is of no advantage. Indeed it may be a burden or a curse. Happiness +is at least desirable, but it has no necessary connection with property +accumulations. They may make it possible, but they never insure it. +Possession may be an incident, but seldom is a cause. + +If we follow this thought further we shall find that in the accepted +methods of accumulation arise many of the causes of current misery and +unhappiness. Generally he who is said to succeed pays a price, and a +large one, for the prosperity he achieves. To be conspicuously +successful commonly involves a degree of selfishness that is almost +surely damaging. Often injustice and unfairness are added to the train +of factors, and dishonesty and absence of decency give the finishing +touch. Every dollar tinged with doubt is a moral liability. If it has +been wrested from its rightful owner through fraud or force of +opportunity, it would better be at the bottom of the sea. + + +THE BEST IN LIFE + +The power and practical irresponsibility of money have ruined many a +man, and the misuse of wealth has left unused immense opportunity for +good. It has coined a word that has become abhorrent, and "Capitalism" +has, in the minds of the suspicious, become the all-sufficient cause of +everything deplorable in human conditions. No true-hearted observer can +conclude that the first consideration of life should be wealth. On the +other hand, no right-minded person will ignore the desirability and the +duty of judiciously providing the means for a reasonable degree of +comfort and self-respect, with a surplus for the furtherance of human +welfare in general, and the relief of misfortune and suffering. Thrift +is a virtue; greed is a vice. Reasonable possession is a commendable and +necessary object. The unrestrained avarice that today is making cowards +of us all is an unmeasured curse, a world-wide disgrace that threatens +civilization. + +In considering ends of life we cannot ignore those who consider +happiness as adequate. Perhaps there are few who formulate this, but +there are many who seem to give it practical assent. They apparently +conform their lives to this butterfly estimate, and, in the absence of +any other purpose, rest satisfied. Happiness is indeed a desirable +condition, and in the highest sense, where it borders on blessedness, +may be fairly termed "the end and aim of being." But on the lower +stretches of the senses, where it becomes mere enjoyment or pleasure, +largely concerned with amusement and self-indulgence of various sorts, +it becomes parasitic, robbing life of its strength and flavor and +preventing its development and full growth. It is insidious in its +deterioration and omnivorous in its appetite. It tends to habits that +undermine and to the appropriation of a preponderating share of the +valueless things of life. The danger is in the unrestrained appetite, in +intemperance that becomes habit. Pleasure is exhausting of both purse +and mind. We naturally crave pleasant experiences, and we need a certain +amount of relaxation. The danger is in overindulgence and indigestion +resulting in spiritual invalidism. Let us take life sanely, accepting +pleasures gratefully but moderately. + +But what _is_ best in life? Why, life itself. Life is opportunity. Here +it is, around us, offered to us. We are free to take what we can or what +we like. We have the great privilege of choice, and life's ministry to +us depends on what we take and what we leave. + +We are providentially assigned our place, whatever it is, but in no +fixed sense of its being final and unalterable. The only obligation +implied is that of acceptance until it can be bettered. + +Our moral responsibility is limited to our opportunity, and the vital +question is the use we make of it. The great fact of life is that we are +spiritual beings. Religion has to do with soul existence and is the +field of its development. It is concerned primarily with being and +secondly with doing. It is righteousness inspired by love. It is +recognition of our responsibilities to do God's will. + +Hence the best life is that which accepts life as opportunity, and +faithfully, happily seeks to make the most of it. It seeks to follow the +right, and to do the best it can, in any circumstances. It accepts all +that life offers, enjoying in moderation its varied gifts, but in +restraint of self-indulgence, and with kindly consideration of others. +It subordinates its impulses to the apprehended will of God, bears +trials with fortitude, and trusts eternal good. + + +OVERCOMING OBSTACLES + +One of the most impressive sights in the natural world is the +difficulties resisted and overcome by a tree in its struggle for life. +On the very summit of the Sentinel Dome, over eight thousand feet above +sea-level, there is rooted in the apparently solid granite a lone pine +two feet in diameter. It is not tall, for its struggle with the wind and +snow has checked its aspirations, but it is sturdy and vigorous, while +the wonder is that it ever established and maintained life at all. Where +it gains its nourishment is not apparent. Disintegrated granite seems a +hard diet, but it suffices, for the determined tree makes the best of +the opportunities offered. Like examples abound wherever a crevice holds +any soil whatever. In a niche of El Capitan, more than a thousand feet +from the valley's floor, grows a tree a hundred feet high. A strong +glass shows a single tree on the crest of Half Dome. Such persistence is +significant, and it enforces a lesson we very much need. + +Reason should not be behind instinct in making the most of life. While +man is less rigidly conditioned and may modify his environment, he, too, +may nourish his life by using to the full whatever nutriment is offered. +Lincoln has been characterized as a man who made the most of his life. +Perhaps his greatness consisted mostly in that. + +We are inclined to blame conditions and circumstances for failures that +result from our lack of effort. We lack in persistence, we resent +disparity in the distribution of talents, we blink at responsibility, +and are slothful and trifling. Our life is a failure from lack of will. + +Who are we that we should complain that life is hard, or conclude that +it is not better so? Why do we covet other opportunities instead of +doing the best with those we have? What is the glory of life but to +accept it with such satisfaction as we can command, to enjoy what we +have a right to, and to use all it offers for its upbuilding and +fulfillment? + + +BEING RIGHT + +How evident it is that much more than good intentions is needed in one +who would either maintain self-respect or be of any use in his daily +life! It is not easy to be good, but it is often less easy to be right. +It involves an understanding that presupposes both ability and effort. +Intelligence, thinking, often studious consideration, are necessary to +give a working hypothesis of what is best. It is seldom that anything is +so simple that without careful thought we can be sure that one course is +right and another wrong. Perhaps, after we have weighed all that is +ponderable, we can only determine which seems the better course of +action. Being good may help our judgment. Doing right is the will of +God. + + +PATRIOTISM + +"Let us have faith that right makes might, and in that faith let us to +the end dare to do our duty as we understand it." Abraham Lincoln had a +marvelous aptitude for condensed statement, and in this compact +sentence from his Cooper Union address expresses the very essence of the +appeal that is made to us today. We can find no more fundamental slogan +and no nobler one. + +Whatever the circumstances presented and whatever the immediate result +will be, we are to dare to do our duty as we understand it. And we are +so to dare and so to do in complete faith that right makes might and in +utter disregard of fear that might may triumph. The only basis of true +courage is faith, and our trust must be in right, in good, in God. + +We live in a republic that sustains itself through the acceptance by all +of the will of the majority, and to talk of despotism whenever the +authority necessary for efficiency is exercised, and that with +practically unanimous concurrence, is wholly unreasonable. A man who +cannot yield allegiance to the country in which he lives should either +be silent and inactive or go to some country where his sympathy +corresponds with his loyalty. + + + + +CHAPTER X + +CONCERNING PERSONS + + +As years increase we more and more value the personal and individual +element in human life. Character becomes the transcendent interest and +friends are our chief assets. As I approach the end of my story of +memories I feel that the most interesting feature of life has been the +personal. I wish I had given more space to the people I have known. +Fortune has favored me with friends worth mentioning and of +acquaintances, some of whom I must introduce. + +Of Horatio Stebbins, the best friend and strongest influence of my life, +I have tried to express my regard in a little book about to be published +by the Houghton Mifflin Company of Boston. It will be procurable from +our San Francisco Unitarian Headquarters. That those who may not see it +may know something of my feeling, I reprint a part of an editorial +written when he died. + + +HORATIO STEBBINS + +The thoughts that cluster around the memory of Horatio Stebbins so fill +the mind that nothing else can be considered until some expression is +made of them, and yet the impossibility of any adequate statement is so +evident that it seems hopeless to begin. The event of his death was not +unexpected. It has been imminent and threatening for years. His +feebleness and the intense suffering of his later days relieve the grief +that must be felt, and there springs by its side gratitude that rest and +peace have come to him. And yet to those who loved him the world seems +not quite the same since he has gone from it. There is an underlying +feeling of something missing, of loss not to be overcome, that must be +borne to the end. + +In my early boyhood Horatio Stebbins was "the preacher from +Fitchburg"--original in manner and matter, and impressive even to a boy. +Ten years passed, and our paths met in San Francisco. From the day he +first stood in the historic pulpit as successor of that gifted preacher +and patriot, Starr King, till his removal to Cambridge, few +opportunities for hearing him were neglected by me. His influence was a +great blessing, association with him a delight, his example an +inspiration, and his love the richest of undeserved treasures. + +Dr. Stebbins was ever the kindliest of men, and his friendliness and +consideration were not confined to his social equals. Without +condescension, he always had a kind word for the humblest people. He was +as gentlemanly and courteous to a hackdriver as he would be to a college +president. None ever heard him speak severely or impatiently to a +servant. He was considerate by nature, and patient from very largeness. +He never harbored an injury, and by his generosity and apparent +obliviousness or forgetfulness of the unpleasant past he often put to +shame those who had wronged him. He was at times stern, and was always +fearless in uttering what he felt to be the truth, whether it was to +meet with favor or with disapproval from his hearers. + +As a friend he was loyalty itself, and for the slightest service he was +deeply appreciative and grateful. He was the most charitable of men, and +was not ashamed to admit that he had often been imposed upon. + +Of his rank as a thinker and a preacher I am not a qualified judge, but +he surely was great of heart and strong of mind. He was a man of +profound faith, and deeply religious in a strong, manly way. He inspired +others by his trust and his unquestioned belief in the reality of +spiritual things. He never did anything for effect; his words fell from +his lips in tones of wonderful beauty to express the thought and feeling +that glowed within. + +Noble man, great preacher, loving friend! thou art not dead, but +translated to that higher life of which no doubt ever entered thy +trusting mind! + + +HORACE DAVIS + +Horace Davis was born in Worcester, Massachusetts, on March 16, 1831. +His father was John Davis, who served as Governor of Massachusetts and +as United States Senator. His mother was the daughter of Rev. Aaron +Bancroft, one of the pioneers of the Unitarian ministry. + +Horace Davis graduated at Harvard in the class of 1849. He began the +study of the law, but his eyes failed, and in 1852 he came to California +to seek his fortune. He first tried the mines, starting a store at +Shaw's Flat. When the venture failed he came to San Francisco and sought +any employment to be found. He began by piling lumber, but when his +cousin, Isaac Davis, found him at it he put him aboard one of his +coasting schooners as supercargo. Being faithful and capable, he was +sought by the Pacific Mail Steamship Company, and was for several years +a good purser. He and his brother George had loaned their savings to a +miller, and were forced to take over the property. Mr. Davis become the +accepted authority on wheat and the production of flour, and enjoyed +more than forty years of leadership in the business which he +accidentally entered. + +He was always a public-spirited citizen, and in 1877 was elected to +Congress, serving for two terms. He proved too independent and +unmanageable for the political leaders of the time and was allowed to +return to private life. + +In 1887 he was urged to accept the presidency of the University of +California, and for three years he discharged the duties of the office +with credit. + +His interest in education was always great, and he entered with ardor +and intelligence into the discharge of his duties as a trustee of the +School of Mechanical Arts established by the will of James Lick. As +president of the board, he guided its course, and was responsible for +the large plan for co-operation and co-ordination by which, with the +Wilmerding School and the Lux School (of which he was also a leading +trustee), a really great endowed industrial school under one +administrative management has been built up in San Francisco. A large +part of his energy was devoted to this end, and it became the strongest +desire of his life to see it firmly established. He also served for many +years as a trustee for Stanford University, and for a time was president +of the board. To the day of his death (in July, 1916) he was active in +the affairs of Stanford, and was also deeply interested in the +University of California. The degree of LL.D. was conferred by the +University of the Pacific, by Harvard, and by the University of +California. + +From his earliest residence in San Francisco he was a loyal and devoted +supporter of the First Unitarian Church and of its Sunday-school. For +over sixty years he had charge of the Bible-class, and his influence for +spiritual and practical Christianity has been very great. He gave +himself unsparingly for the cause of religious education, and never +failed to prepare himself for his weekly ministration. For eight years +he served on the board of trustees of the church and for seven years was +moderator of the board. + +Under the will of Captain Hinckley he was made a trustee of the William +and Alice Hinckley Fund, and for thirty-seven years took an active +interest in its administration. At the time of his death he was its +president. He was deeply interested in the Pacific Unitarian School for +the Ministry, and contributed munificently to its foundation and +maintenance. + +Mr. Davis preserved his youth by the breadth of his sympathies. He +seemed to have something in common with everyone he met; was young with +the young. In his talks to college classes he was always happy, with a +simplicity and directness that attracted close attention, and a sense of +humor that lighted up his address. + +His domestic life was very happy. His first wife, the daughter of +Captain Macondray, for many years an invalid, died in 1872. In 1875 he +married Edith King, the only daughter of Thomas Starr King, a woman of +rare personal gifts, who devoted her life to his welfare and happiness. +She died suddenly in 1909. Mr. Davis, left alone, went steadily on. His +books were his constant companions and his friends were always welcome. +He would not own that he was lonely. He kept occupied; he had his round +of duties, attending to his affairs, and the administration of various +benevolent trusts, and he had a large capacity for simple enjoyments. +He read good books; he was hospitably inclined; he kept in touch with +his old associates; he liked to meet them at luncheon at the University +Club or at the monthly dinner of the Chit-Chat Club, which he had seldom +missed in thirty-nine years of membership. He was punctilious in the +preparation of his biennial papers, always giving something of interest +and value. His intellectual interest was wide. He was a close student of +Shakespeare, and years ago printed a modest volume on the Sonnets. He +also published a fine study of the Ministry of Jesus, and a +discriminating review of the American Constitutions. + +Mr. Davis was a man of profound religious feeling. He said little of it, +but it was a large part of his life. On his desk was a volume of Dr. +Stebbins' prayers, the daily use of which had led to the reading again +and again of the book he very deeply cherished. + +He was the most loyal of friends--patient, appreciative beyond deserts, +kindly, and just. The influence for good of such a man is incalculable. +One who makes no pretense of virtue, but simply lives uprightly as a +matter of course, who is genuine and sound, who does nothing for effect, +who shows simple tastes, and is not greedy for possessions, but who +looks out for himself and his belongings in a prudent, self-respecting +way, who takes what comes without complaint, who believes in the good +and shows it by his daily course, who is never violent and desperate, +but calmly tries to do his part to make his fellows happier and the +world better, who trusts in God and cheerfully bears the trials that +come, who holds on to life and its opportunities, without repining if he +be left to walk alone, and who faces death with the confidence of a +child who trusts in a Father's love and care--such a man is blessed +himself and is a blessing to his fellow-men. + + +A MEMORY OF EMERSON + +In 1871 Ralph Waldo Emerson visited California. He was accompanied by +his daughter Ellen, and seemed thoroughly to enjoy the new scenes and +new experiences. He visited the Yosemite Valley and other points of +interest, and was persuaded to deliver a number of lectures. His first +appearance before a California audience was at the Unitarian church, +then in Geary Street near Stockton, on a Sunday evening, when he read +his remarkable essay on "Immortality," wherein he spoke of people who +talk of eternity and yet do not know what to do with a day. The church +was completely filled and the interest to hear him seemed so great that +it was determined to secure some week-day lectures if possible. In +company with Horace Davis, who enjoyed his acquaintance, I called on him +at the Occidental Hotel. He was the most approachable of men--as simple +and kindly in his manner as could be imagined, and putting one at ease +with that happy faculty which only a true gentleman possesses. + +[Illustration: HORACE DAVIS--FIFTY YEARS A FRIEND] + +[Illustration: HARVARD UNIVERSITY WHEN HE ENTERED] + +His features are familiar from the many published pictures, but no one +who had not met his smiling eyes can realize the charm of his +personality. + +His talk was delightfully genial. I asked him if his journey had been +wearisome. "Not at all," he replied; "I have enjoyed it all." The +scenery seemed to have impressed him deeply. "When one crosses your +mountains," he said, "and sees their wonderful arches, one discovers how +architecture came to be invented." When asked if he could favor us with +some lectures, he smiled and said: "Well, my daughter thought you might +want something of that kind, and put a few in my trunk, in case of an +emergency." When it came to dates, it was found that he was to leave the +next day for a short trip to the Geysers, and it was difficult to +arrange the course of three, which had been fixed upon, after his +return. It was about eleven o'clock when we called. I asked him if he +could give us one of the lectures that evening. He smiled and said, "Oh, +yes," adding, "I don't know what you can do here, but in Boston we could +not expect to get an audience on such short notice." We assured him that +we felt confident in taking the chances on that. Going at once to the +office of the _Evening Bulletin,_ we arranged for a good local notice, +and soon had a number of small boys distributing announcements in the +business streets. + +The audience was a good one in point of numbers, and a pleased and +interested one. His peculiar manner of reading a few pages, and then +shuffling his papers, as though they were inextricably mixed, was +embarrassing at first, but when it was found that he was not disturbed +by it, and that it was not the result of an accident, but a +characteristic manner of delivery, the audience withheld its sympathy +and rather enjoyed the novelty and the feeling of uncertainty as to what +would come next. One little incident of the lecture occasioned an +admiring smile. A small bunch of flowers had been placed on the +reading-desk, and by some means, in one of his shuffles, they were +tipped over and fell forward to the floor. Not at all disconcerted, he +skipped nimbly out of the pulpit, picked up the flowers, put them back +in the vase, replaced it on the desk, and went on with the lecture as +though nothing had happened. + +He was much interested in the twenty-dollar gold pieces in which he was +paid, never before having met with that form of money. His encouraging +friendliness of manner quite removed any feeling that a great man's time +was being wasted through one's intercourse. He gossiped pleasantly of +men and things as though talking with an equal. On one occasion he +seemed greatly to enjoy recounting how cleverly James Russell Lowell +imitated Alfred Tennyson's reading of his own poems. Over the +Sunday-school of our church Starr King had provided a small room where +he could retire and gain seclusion. It pleased Emerson. He said, "I +think I should enjoy a study beyond the orbit of the servant girl." He +was as self-effacing a man as I ever knew, and the most agreeable to +meet. + +After his return from his short trip he gave two or three more lectures, +with a somewhat diminishing attendance. Dr. Stebbins remarked in +explanation, "I thought the people would tire in the sockets of their +wings if they attempted to follow _him_." + +At this distance, I can remember little that he said, but no distance of +time or space can ever dim the delight I felt in meeting him, or the +impression formed of a most attractive, penetrating, and inspiring +personality. + +His kindliness and geniality were unbounded. During our arrangement of +dates Mr. Davis smiled as he said of one suggested by Mr. Emerson, "That +would not be convenient for Mr. Murdock, for it is the evening of his +wedding." He did not forget it. After the lecture, a few days later, he +turned to me and asked, "Is she here?" When I brought my flattered wife, +he chatted with her familiarly, asking where she had lived before coming +to California, and placing her wholly at ease. + +Every tone of his voice and every glance of his eye suggested the most +absolute serenity. He seemed the personification of calm wisdom. Nothing +disturbed him, nothing depressed him. He was as serene and unruffled as +a morning in June. He radiated kindliness from a heart at peace with all +mankind. His gentleness of manner was an illustration of the possibility +of beauty in conduct. He was wholly self-possessed--to imagine him in a +passion would be impossible. His word was searching, but its power was +that of the sunbeam and not of the blast. He was above all teapot +tempests, a strong, tender, fearless, trustful _man_. + + +JULIA WARD HOWE + +Julia Ward Howe is something more than a noble memory. She has left her +impress on her time, and given a new significance to womanhood. To hear +the perfect music of the voice of so cultivated a woman is something of +an education, and to have learned how gracious and kindly a great nature +really is, is an experience well worth cherishing. Mrs. Howe was +wonderfully alive to a wide range of interests--many-sided and +sympathetic. She could take the place of a minister and speak +effectively from deep conviction and a wide experience, or talk simply +and charmingly to a group of school-children. + +When some years later than her San Francisco visit she spoke at a King's +Chapel meeting in Boston, growing feebleness was apparent, but the same +gracious spirit was undimmed. Later pictures have been somewhat +pathetic. We do not enjoy being reminded of mortality in those of +pre-eminent spirit, but what a span of events and changes her life +records, and what a part in it all she had borne! When one ponders on +the inspiring effect of the Battle Hymn of the Republic, and of the arms +it nerved and the hearts it strengthened, and on the direct blows she +struck for the emancipation of woman, it seems that there has been +abundant answer to her prayer, + + "As He died to make men holy, + Let us die to make men free." + + +TIMOTHY H. REARDEN + +In glancing back, I can think of no more charming man than Timothy +Rearden. He had a most attractive personality, combining rare +intelligence and kindly affection with humor and a modesty that left him +almost shy. He was scholarly and brilliant, especially in literature +and languages. His essays and studies in Greek attracted +world-acknowledgment, but at home he was known chiefly as a genial, +self-effacing lawyer, not ambitious for a large practice and oblivious +of position, but happy in his friends and in delving deep into whatever +topic in the world of letters engaged his interest. + +He was born in Ohio in 1839 and graduated from the Cleveland High School +and from Kenyon College. He served in the Civil War and came to +California in 1866. He was a fellow-worker with Bret Harte in the Mint, +and also on the _Overland Monthly_, contributing "Favoring Female +Conventualism" to the first number. He was a sound lawyer, but hid with +his elders until 1872, when he opened his own office. He was not a +pusher, but his associates respected and loved him, so that when in 1883 +the governor was called upon to appoint a judge, and, embarrassed by the +number of candidates, he called upon the Bar Association to recommend +someone, they took a vote and two-thirds of them named Rearden. He +served on the bench for eight years. + +He was a favorite member of the Chit-Chat Club for many years and wrote +many brilliant essays, a volume of which was printed in 1893. The first +two he gave were "Francis Petrarch" and "Burning Sappho." Among the most +charming was "Ballads and Lyrics," which was illustrated by the equally +charming singing of representative selections by Mrs. Ida Norton, the +only time in its history when the club was invaded by a woman. Its +outside repetition was clamored for, and as the Judge found a good +excuse in his position and its requirements, he loaned the paper and I +had the pleasure of substituting for him. + +When I was a candidate for the legislature he issued a card that was a +departure from political methods. It was during the time when all the +names were submitted on the ballot and voters crossed off those they did +not want to win. He sent his friends a neat card, as follows: + + CHARLES A. MURDOCK + (_Of C.A. Murdock & Co., 532 Clay Street_) + IS ONE OF THE REPUBLICAN CANDIDATES + FOR THE ASSEMBLY FROM THE TENTH + SENATORIAL DISTRICT + + If you prefer any candidate on any other ticket, scratch Murdock. + + If you require any pledge other than that he will vote according to + his honest convictions, scratch Murdock. + +His friend, Ambrose Bierce, spoke of him as the most scholarly man on +the Pacific Coast. He was surely among the most modest and affectionate. +He had remarkable poetic gifts. In 1892 the Thomas Post of the Grand +Army of the Republic held a memorial service, and he contributed a poem +beginning: + + "Life's fevered day declines; its purple twilight falling + Draws length'ning shadows from the broken flanks; + And from the column's head a viewless chief is calling: + 'Guide right; close up your ranks!'" + +He was ill when it was read. A week from the day of the meeting the +happy, well-loved man breathed his last. + + +JOHN MUIR + +John Muir, naturalist, enthusiast, writer, glorifier of the Sierras, is +held in affectionate memory the world over, but especially in +California, where he was known as a delightful personality. Real +pleasure and a good understanding of his nature and quality await those +who read of the meeting of Emerson and Muir in the Yosemite in 1871. It +is recorded in their diaries. He was a very rare and versatile man. It +was my good fortune to sit by him at a dinner on his return from Alaska, +where he had studied its glaciers, and had incidentally been honored by +having its most characteristic one named after him. He was tremendously +impressed by the wonder and majesty of what he had seen, but it in no +wise dimmed his enthusiasm for the beauty and glory of the Sierra +Nevada. In speaking of the exquisite loveliness of a mountain meadow he +exclaimed: "I could conceive it no punishment to be staked out for a +thousand years on one of those meadows." His tales of experiences in the +High Sierra, where he spent days alone and unarmed, with nothing but tea +and a few breadcrusts to sustain him, were most thrilling. + +I was afterward charmed by his sketch of an adventure with a dog called +"Stickeen," on one of the great Alaskan glaciers, and, meeting him, +urged that he make a little book of it. He was pleased and told me he +had just done it. Late in life he was shocked at what he considered the +desecration of the Hetch-Hetchy Valley by the city of San Francisco, +which sought to dam it and form a great lake that should forever furnish +a supply of water and power. He came to my office to supervise the +publication of the _Sierra Club Bulletin_, and we had a spirited but +friendly discussion of the matter, I being much interested as a +supervisor of the city. As a climax he exclaimed, "Why, if San Francisco +ever gets the Hetch-Hetchy I shall _swear_, even if I am in heaven." + + +GEORGE HOLMES HOWISON + +Among the many beneficent acts of Horatio Stebbins in his distinguished +ministry in San Francisco was his influence in the establishment of the +chair of Moral Philosophy in the University of California. It was the +gift of D.O. Mills, who provided the endowment on the advice of Dr. +Stebbins. The first occupant appointed was Professor Howison, who from +1884 to 1912 happily held a fruitful term. He was admirably fitted for +his duties, and with the added influence of the Philosophical Union +contributed much to the value of the university. A genial and kindly +man, with a keen sense of humor, he was universally and deeply respected +by the students and by his associates. He made philosophy almost +popular, and could differ utterly from others without any of the common +results of antagonism, for he generated so much more light than heat. +His mind was so stored that when he began to speak there seemed to be no +reason aside from discretion why he should ever stop. + +I enjoyed to the full one little business incident with him. In my +publications I followed a somewhat severe style of typography, +especially priding myself on the possession of a complete series of +genuine old-style faces cast in Philadelphia from moulds cut a hundred +and seventy years ago. In these latter days a few bold men have tried to +improve on this classic. One Ronaldson especially departed from the +simplicity and dignity of the cut approved by Caxton, Aldus, and +Elzevir, and substituted for the beautiful terminal of, say the capital +T, two ridiculous curled points. I resented it passionately, and +frequently remarked that a printer who would use Ronaldson old-style +would not hesitate to eat his pie with a knife. One day Professor +Howison (I think his dog "Socrates" was with him) came into my office +and inquired if I had a cut of old-style type that had curved terminals +on the capital Ts. I had no idea why he asked the question; I might have +supposed that he wanted the face, but I replied somewhat warmly that I +had not, that I had never allowed it in the shop, to which he replied +with a chuckle, "Good! I was afraid I might get them." + +Professor Howison furnished one of the best stories of the great +earthquake of 1906. In common with most people, he was in bed at +fourteen minutes past five on the 18th of April. While victims generally +arose and dressed more or less, the Professor calmly remained between +the sheets, concluding that if he was to die the bed would be the most +fitting and convenient place to be in. It took more than a full-grown +earthquake to disturb his philosophy. + + +JOSIAH ROYCE + +It is doubtful if any son of California has won greater recognition than +Josiah Royce, born in Grass Valley in November, 1855. In 1875 he +graduated at the University of California. After gaining his Ph.D. at +Johns Hopkins, he returned to his _alma mater_ and for four years was +instructor in English literature and logic. + +He joined the Chit-Chat Club in 1879 and continued a member until his +removal to Harvard in 1882. He was a brilliant and devoted member, with +a whimsical wit and entire indifference to fit of clothes and general +personal appearance. He was eminently good-natured and a very clever +debater. With all the honors heaped upon him, he never forgot his +youthful associates. At a reunion held in 1916 he sent this friendly +message to the club: "Have warmest memories of olden time. Send +heartiest greetings to all my fellow members. I used to be a long-winded +speaker in Chit-Chat, but my love far outlasts my speeches. You inspired +my youth. You make my older years glow." + +In my youthful complacency I had the audacity to print an essay on "The +Policy of Protection," taking issue with most of my brother members, +college men and free-traders. Later, while on a visit to California, he +told me, with a twinkle in his eye, "I am using your book at Harvard as +an example of logic." + +He died honored everywhere as America's greatest philosopher, one of the +world's foremost thinkers, and withal a very lovable man. + + +CHARLES GORDON AMES + +In the early days Rev. Charles Gordon Ames preached for a time in Santa +Cruz. Later he removed to San Jose, and occasionally addressed San +Francisco audiences. He was original and witty and was in demand for +special occasions. In an address at a commencement day at Berkeley, I +heard him express his wonder at being called upon, since he had +matriculated at a wood-pile and graduated in a printing-office. Several +years after he had returned East I was walking with him in Boston. We +met one of his friends, who said, "How are you, Ames?" "Why, I'm still +at large, and have lucid intervals," replied the witty preacher. He once +told me of an early experience in candidating. He was asked to preach in +Worcester, where there was a vacancy. Next day he met a friend who told +him the results, saying: "You seem to have been fortunate in satisfying +both the radicals and the conservatives. But your language was something +of a surprise; it does not follow the usual Harvard type, and does not +seem ministerial. You used unaccustomed illustrations. You spoke of +something being as slow as molasses. Now, so far as I know, molasses is +not a scriptural word. Honey is mentioned in the Bible, but not +molasses." + + +JOAQUIN MILLER + +The passing of Joaquin Miller removed from California her most +picturesque figure. In his three-score and twelve years he found wide +experience, and while his garb and habits were somewhat theatrical he +was a strong character and a poet of power. In some respects he was more +like Walt Whitman than any other American poet, and in vigor and grasp +was perhaps his equal. Of California authors he is the last of the +acknowledged leading three, Harte and Clemens completing the group. For +many years he lived with his wife and daughter at "The Heights," in the +foothills back of Oakland, writing infrequently, but with power and +insight. His "Columbus" will probably be conceded to be his finest poem, +and one of the most perfect in the language. He held his faculties till +the last, writing a few days before his death a tender message of faith +in the eternal. + +With strong unconventionality and a somewhat abrupt manner, he was +genial and kindly in his feelings, with warm affections and great +companionability. + +An amusing incident of many years ago comes back to freshen his memory. +An entertainment of a social character was given at the Oakland +Unitarian church, and when my turn came for a brief paper on wit and +humor I found that Joaquin Miller sat near me on the platform. As an +illustration of parody, bordering on burlesque, I introduced a Miller +imitation--the story of a frontiersman on an Arizona desert accompanied +by a native woman of "bare, brown beauty," and overtaken by heat so +intense that but one could live, whereupon, to preserve the superior +race, he seized a huge rock and + + "Crushed with fearful blow + Her well-poised head." + +It was highly audacious, and but for a youthful pride of authorship and +some curiosity as to how he would take it I should have omitted it. + +Friends in the audience told me that the way in which I watched him from +the corner of my eye was the most humorous thing in the paper. At the +beginning his head was bowed, and for some time he showed no emotion of +any sort, but as I went on and it grew worse and worse, he gave way to a +burst of merriment and I saw that I was saved. + +I was gratified then, and his kindliness brings a little glow of +good-will--that softens my farewell. + + +MARK TWAIN + +Of Mark Twain my memory is confined to two brief views, both before he +had achieved his fame. One was hearing him tell a story with his +inimitable drawl, as he stood smoking in front of a Montgomery Street +cigar-store, and the other when on his return from a voyage to the +Hawaiian Islands he delivered his famous lecture at the Academy of +Music. It was a marvelous address, in which with apparently no effort he +led his audience to heights of appreciative enthusiasm in the most +felicitous description of the beautiful and wonderful things he had +seen, and then dropped them from the sublime to the ridiculous by some +absurd reference or surprisingly humorous reflection. + +The sharp contrast between his incomparably beautiful word paintings and +his ludicrous humor was characteristic of two sides of the waggish +newspaper reporter who developed into a good deal of a philosopher and +the first humorist of his time. + + +SHELDON GAYLORD KELLOGG + +Among my nearest friends I am proud to count Sheldon G. Kellogg, +associated through both the Unitarian church, the Sunday-school, and the +Chit-Chat Club. He was a lawyer with a large and serviceable conscience +as well as a well-trained mind. He grew to manhood in the Middle West, +graduated in a small Methodist college, and studied deeply in Germany. +He came to San Francisco, establishing himself in practice without +acquaintance, and by sheer ability and character compelled success. His +integrity and thoroughness were beyond any question. He went to the root +of any matter that arose. He was remarkably well read and a passionate +lover of books. He was exact and accurate in his large store of +information. Dr. Stebbins, in his delightful extravagance, once said to +Mrs. Kellogg, "Your husband is the only man I'm afraid of--he knows so +much." At the Chit-Chat no one dared to hazard a doubtful statement of +fact. If it was not so, Kellogg would know it. He was the most modest of +men and would almost hesitate to quote the last census report to set us +right, but such was our respect for him that his statements were never +questioned; he inspired complete confidence. I remember an occasion when +the Supreme Court of the state, or a department of it, had rendered an +opinion setting aside a certain sum as the share of certain trustees. +Kellogg was our attorney. He studied the facts and the decision until he +was perfectly sure the court had erred and that he could convince them +of it. We applied for a hearing in bank and he was completely sustained. + +Kellogg was an eminently fair man. He took part in a political +convention on one occasion and was elected chairman. There was a bitter +fight between contending factions, but Kellogg was so just in his +rulings that both sides were satisfied and counted him friendly. + +He was a lovable personality and the embodiment of honor. He was +studious and scholarly and always justified our expectation of an able, +valuable paper on whatever topic he treated. I do not recall that in all +my experience I have ever known any other man so unreservedly and +universally respected. + + +JOSEPH WORCESTER + +It is a salutary experience to see the power of goodness, to know a man +whose loveliness of life and character exerts an influence beyond the +reach of great intellectual gift or conscious effort. Joseph Worcester +was a modest, shrinking Swedenborgian minister. His congregation was a +handful of refined mystics who took no prominent part in public affairs +and were quiet and unobtrusive citizens. He was not attractive as a +preacher, his voice trembled with emotion and bashfulness, and he read +with difficulty. He was painfully shy, and he was oppressed and suffered +in a crowd. He was unmarried and lived by himself in great simplicity. +He seemed to sustain generally good health on tea, toast, and marmalade, +which at noonday he often shared with his friend William Keith, the +artist. + +He was essentially the gentle man. In public speaking his voice never +rang out with indignation. He preserved the conversational tone and +seemed devoid of passion and severity. He was patient, kind, and loving. +He had humor, and a pleasant smile generally lighted up his benignant +countenance. He was often playfully indignant. I remember that at one +time an aesthetic character named Russell addressed gatherings of +society people advising them what they should throw out of their +over-furnished rooms. In conversation with Mr. Worcester I asked him how +he felt about it. He replied, "I know what I should throw out--Mr. +Russell." It was so incongruous to think of the violence implied in Mr. +Worcester's throwing out anything that it provoked a hearty laugh. Yet +there was no weakness in his kindliness. He was simply "slow to wrath," +not acquiescent with wrong. His strength was not that of the storm, but +of the genial shower and the smiling sun. His heart was full of love and +everybody loved him. His hold was through the affections and his +blissful unselfishness. He seemed never to think of himself at all. + +He thought very effectually of others. He was helpfulness incarnate, and +since he was influential, surprising results followed. He was fond of +children and gave much time to the inmates of the Protestant Orphan +Asylum, conducting services and reading to them. They grew very fond of +him, and his influence on them was naturally great. He was much +interested in the education of the boys and in their finding normal +life. He took up especially the providing for them of a home where they +could live happily and profitably while pursuing a course of study in +the California School of Mechanical Arts. An incident of his efforts in +their behalf illustrates what an influence he had gained in the +community. A young man of wealth, not a member of his congregation and +not considered a philanthropist, but conversant with what Mr. Worcester +was doing and hoped to do, called upon him one day and said: "Mr. +Worcester, here is a key that I wish to leave with you. I have taken a +safe-deposit box; it has two keys. One I will keep to open the box and +put in bonds from time to time, and the other I give you that you may +open it and use coupons or bonds in carrying out your plans for helping +the boys." This illustrates how he was loved and what good he provoked +in others. Without knowing it or seeking it he was a great community +influence. He was gifted of the Spirit. He had beauty of character, +simplicity, unselfishness, love of God and his fellow-men. His special +beliefs interested few, his life gave life, his goodness was radiant. He +drew all men to him by his love, and he showed them the way. + + +FREDERICK LUCIAN HOSMER + +I cannot forego the pleasure of referring with sincere affection to my +brother octogenarian, Frederick L. Hosmer. He achieved the fullness of +honor two months in advance of me, which is wholly fitting, since we are +much farther separated in every other regard. He has been a leader for +a great many years, and I am proud to be in sight of him. + +His kindly friendship has long been one of the delights of my life, and +I have long entertained the greatest respect and admiration for his +ability and quality. As a writer of hymns he has won the first place in +the world's esteem, and probably his noble verse is (after the Psalms) +the most universally used expression of the religious feeling of +mankind. More worshipers unite in singing his hymns, Unitarian though he +be, than those of any other man, living or dead. It is a great +distinction, and in meriting it he holds enviable rank as one of the +world's greatest benefactors. + +Yet he remains the most modest of men, with no apparent consciousness +that he is great. His humility is an added charm and his geniality is +beautiful. + +He has made the most of a fancied resemblance to me, and in many +delightful ways has indulged in pleasantries based on it. In my room +hangs a framed photograph signed "Faithfully yours, Chas. A. Murdock." +It is far better-looking than I ever was--but that makes no difference. + +We were once at a conference at Seattle. He said with all seriousness, +"Murdock, I want you to understand that I intend to exercise great +circumspection in my conduct, and I rely upon you to do the same." + +I greatly enjoyed Dr. Hosmer's party, with its eighty candles, and I +was made happy that he could be at mine and nibble my cake. Not all good +and great men are so thoroughly lovable. + + +THOMAS LAMB ELIOT + +When Horatio Stebbins in 1864 assumed charge of the San Francisco church +he was the sole representative of the denomination on the Pacific Coast. +For years he stood alone,--a beacon-like tower of liberalism. The first +glimmer of companionship came from Portland, Oregon. At the solicitation +of a few earnest Unitarians Dr. Stebbins went to Portland to consult +with and encourage them. A society was formed to prepare the way for a +church. A few consecrated women worked devotedly; they bought a lot in +the edge of the woods and finally built a small chapel. Then they moved +for a minister. In St. Louis, Mo., Rev. William Greenleaf Eliot had been +for many years a force in religion and education. A strong Unitarian +church and Washington University resulted. He had also founded a family +and had inspired sons to follow in his footsteps. Thomas Lamb Eliot had +been ordained and was ready for the ministry. He was asked to take the +Portland church and he accepted. He came first to San Francisco on his +way. Dr. Stebbins was trying the experiment of holding services in the +Metropolitan Theater, and I remember seeing in the stage box one Sunday +a very prepossessing couple that interested me much--they were the +Eliots on their way to Portland. William G., Jr., was an infant-in-arms. +I was much impressed with the spirit that moved the attractive couple to +venture into an unknown field. The acquaintance formed grew into a +friendship that has deepened with the years. + +The ministry of the son in Portland has been much like that of the +father in St. Louis. The church has been reverent and constructive, a +steady force for righteousness, an influence for good in personal life +and community welfare. Dr. Eliot has fostered many interests, but the +church has been foremost. He has always been greatly respected and +influential. Dr. Stebbins entertained for him the highest regard. He was +wont to say: "Thomas Eliot is the wisest man for his years I ever knew." +He has always been that and more to me. He has served one parish all his +life, winning and holding the reverent regard of the whole community. +The active service of the church has passed to his son and for years he +has given most of his time and strength to Reed College, established by +his parishioners. In a few months he will complete his eighty years of +beautiful life and noble service. He has kept the faith and passed on +the fine spirit of his inheritance. + + + + +CHAPTER XI + +OUTINGS + + +I have not been much of a traveler abroad, or even beyond the Pacific +states. I have been to the Atlantic shore four times since my emigration +thence, and going or coming I visited Chicago, St. Louis, Denver, and +other points, but have no striking memories of any of them. In 1914 I +had a very delightful visit to the Hawaiian Islands, including the +volcano. It was full of interest and charm, with a beauty and an +atmosphere all its own; but any description, or the story of experiences +or impressions, would but re-echo what has been told adequately by +others. British Columbia and western Washington I found full of interest +and greatly enjoyed; but they also must be left unsung. My outings from +my beaten track have been brief, but have contributed a large stock of +happy memories. Camping in California is a joy that never palls, and +among the pleasantest pictures on memory's walls are the companionship +of congenial friends in the beautiful surroundings afforded by the Santa +Cruz Mountains. Twice in all the years since leaving Humboldt have I +revisited its hospitable shores and its most impressive redwoods. My +love for it will never grow less. Twice, too, have I reveled in the +Yosemite Valley and beyond to the valley that will form a majestic +lake--glorious Hetch-Hetchy. + +I am thankful for the opportunity I have enjoyed of seeing so fully the +great Pacific empire. My church supervision included California, Oregon, +and Washington, with the southern fringe of Canada for good measure. +Even without this attractive neighbor my territory was larger than +France (or Germany) and Belgium, England, Wales, and Ireland combined. +San Diego, Bellingham, and Spokane were the triangle of bright stars +that bounded the constellation. To have found friends and to be sure of +a welcome at all of these and everywhere between was a great extension +to my enjoyment, and visiting them was not only a pleasant duty but a +delightful outing. + + +IN THE SIERRAS + +Belated vacations perhaps gain more than they lose, and in the sum total +at least hold their own. It is one advantage of being well distributed +that opportunities increase. In that an individual is an unsalaried +editor, extensive or expensive trips are unthinkable; that his calling +affords necessities but a scant allowance of luxuries, leaves recreation +in the Sierras out of the question; but that by the accidents of +politics he happens to be a supervisor, certain privileges, disguised +attractively as duties, prove too alluring to resist. + +The city had an option on certain remote lands supposed to be of great +value for water and power, and no one wants to buy a pig of that size in +a poke, so it was ordained that the city fathers, with their engineer +and various clerks and functionaries entitled to a vacation and desiring +information (or _vice versa_), should visit the lands proposed to be +acquired. + +In 1908 the supervisors inspected the dam-sites at Lake Eleanor and the +Hetch-Hetchy, but gained little idea of the intervening country and the +route of the water on its way to the city. Subsequently the trip was +more thoroughly planned and the result was satisfactory, both in the end +attained and in the incidental process. + +On the morning of August 17, 1910, the party of seventeen disembarked +from the Stockton boat, followed by four fine municipal automobiles. +When the men and the machines were satisfactorily supplied with fuel and +the outfit was appropriately photographed, the procession started +mountainward. For some time the good roads, fairly well watered, passed +over level, fruitful country, with comfortable homes. Then came gently +rolling land and soon the foothills, with gravelly soil and scattered +pines. A few orchards and ranches were passed, but not much that was +really attractive. Then we reached the scenes of early-day mining and +half-deserted towns known to Bret Harte and the days of gold. Knight's +Ferry became a memory instead of a name. Chinese Camp, once harboring +thousands, is now a handful of houses and a few lonely stores and +saloons. It had cast sixty-five votes a few days before our visit. + +Then came a stratum of mills and mines, mostly deserted, a few operating +sufficiently to discolor with the crushed mineral the streams flowing +by. Soon we reached the Tuolumne, with clear, pellucid water in limited +quantities, for the snow was not very plentiful the previous winter and +it melted early. + +Following its banks for a time, the road turned to climb a hill, and +well along in the afternoon we reached "Priests," a favorite roadhouse +of the early stage line to the Yosemite. Here a good dinner was enjoyed, +the machines were overhauled, and on we went. Then Big Oak Flat, a +mining town of some importance, was passed, and a few miles farther +Groveland, where a quite active community turned out en masse to welcome +the distinguished travelers. The day's work was done and the citizens +showed a pathetic interest which testified to how little ordinarily +happened. The shades of night were well down when Hamilton's was +reached--a stopping-place once well known, but now off the line of +travel. Here we were hospitably entertained and slept soundly after a +full day's exercise. In the memory of all, perhaps the abundance of +fried chicken for breakfast stands out as the distinguishing feature. A +few will always remember it as the spot where for the first time they +found themselves aboard a horse, and no kind chronicler would refer to +which side of the animal they selected for the ascent. The municipally +chartered pack-train, with cooks and supplies for man and beast, +numbered over sixty animals, and chaparejos and cowboys, real and near, +were numerous. + +The ride to the rim of the South Fork of the Tuolumne was short. The new +trail was not sufficiently settled to be safe for the sharp descents, +and for three-quarters of a mile the horses and mules were turned loose +and the company dropped down the mountainside on foot. The lovely stream +of water running between mountainous, wooded banks was followed up for +many miles. + +About midday a charming spot for luncheon was found, where Corral Creek +tumbles in a fine cascade on its way to the river. The day was warm, and +when the mouth of Eleanor Creek was reached many enjoyed a good swim in +an attractive deep basin. + +Turning to the north, the bank of Eleanor was followed to the first +camping-place, Plum Flat, an attractive clearing, where wild plums have +been augmented by fruit and vegetables. Here, after a good dinner served +in the open by the municipal cooks, the municipal sleeping-bags were +distributed, and soft and level spots were sought for their spreading. +The seasoned campers were happy and enjoyed the luxury. Some who for the +first time reposed upon the breast of Mother Earth failed to find her +charm. One father awoke in the morning, sat up promptly, pointed his +hand dramatically to the zenith, and said, "Never again!" But he lived +to revel in the open-air caravansary, and came home a tougher and a +wiser man. + +A ride of fifteen miles through a finely wooded country brought us to +the Lake Eleanor dam-site and the municipal camp, where general +preparations are being made and runoff records are being taken. In a +comfortable log house two assistants to the engineer spent the winter, +keeping records of rainfall and other meteorological data. + +While we were in camp here, Lake Eleanor, a mile distant, was visited +and enjoyed in various ways, and those who felt an interest in the main +purpose of the trip rode over into the Cherry Creek watershed and +inspected the sites and rights whose purchase is contemplated. Saturday +morning we left Lake Eleanor and climbed the steep ridge separating its +watershed from that of the Tuolumne. From Eleanor to Hetch-Hetchy as the +crow would fly, if there were a crow and he wanted to fly, is five +miles. As mules crawl and men climb, it takes five hours. But it is well +worth it for association with granite helps any politician. + +Hetch-Hetchy Valley is about half as large as Yosemite and almost as +beautiful. Early in the season the mosquitoes make life miserable, but +as late as August the swampy land is pretty well dried up and they are +few. The Tuolumne tumbles in less effectively than the Merced enters +Yosemite. Instead of two falls of nine hundred feet, there is one of +twenty or so. The Wampana, corresponding to the Yosemite Falls, is not +so high nor so picturesque, but is more industrious, and apparently +takes no vacation. Kolana is a noble knob, but not quite so imposing as +Sentinel Rock. + +We camped in the valley two days and found it very delightful. The +dam-site is not surpassed. Nowhere in the world, it is said, can so +large a body of water be impounded so securely at so small an expense. + +There is an admirable camping-ground within easy distance of the valley, +and engineers say that at small expense a good trail, and even a +wagon-road, can be built along the face of the north wall, making +possible a fine view of the magnificent lake. + +With the argument for granting the right the city seeks I am not here +concerned. The only purpose in view is the casual recital of a good +time. It has to do with a delightful sojourn in good company, with songs +around the camp-fire, trips up and down the valley, the taking of +photographs, the appreciation of brook-trout, the towering mountains, +the moon and stars that looked down on eyes facing direct from welcome +beds. Mention might be made of the discovery of characters--types of +mountain guides who prove to be scholars and philosophers; of mules, +like "Flapjack," of literary fame; of close intercourse with men at +their best; of excellent appetites satisfactorily met; of genial sun and +of water so alluring as to compel intemperance in its use. + +The climbing of the south wall in the early morning, the noonday stop at +Hog Ranch, and the touching farewell to mounts and pack-train, the +exhilarating ride to Crocker's, and the varied attractions of that +fascinating resort, must be unsung. A night of mingled pleasure and rest +with every want luxuriously supplied, a half-day of good coaching, and +once more Yosemite--the wonder of the West. + +Its charms need no rehearsing. They not only never fade, but they grow +with familiarity. The delight of standing on the summit of Sentinel +Dome, conscious that your own good muscles have lifted you over four +thousand feet from the valley's floor, with such a world spread before +you; the indescribable beauty of a sunrise at Glacier Point, the beauty +and majesty of Vernal and Nevada falls, the knightly crest of the Half +Dome, and the imposing grandeur of the great Capitan--what words can +even hint their varied glory! + +All this packed into a week, and one comes back strengthened in body and +spirit, with a renewed conviction of the beauty of the world, and a +freshened readiness to lend a hand in holding human nature up to a +standard that shall not shame the older sister. + + +A DAY IN CONCORD + +There are many lovely spots in New England when June is doing her best. +Rolling hills dotted with graceful elms, meadows fresh with the greenest +of grass, streams of water winding through the peaceful stretches, +robins hopping in friendly confidence, distant hills blue against the +horizon, soft clouds floating in the sky, air laden with the odor of +lilacs and vibrant with songs of birds. There are many other spots of +great historic interest, beautiful or not--it doesn't matter much--where +memorable meetings have been held which set in motion events that +changed the course of history, or where battles have been fought that no +American can forget. There are still other places rich with human +interest where some man of renown has lived and died--some man who has +made his undying mark in letters, or has been a source of inspiration +through his calm philosophy. But if one would stand upon the particular +spot which can claim supremacy in each of these three respects, where +can he go but to Concord, Massachusetts! + +It would be hard to find a lovelier view anywhere in the gentle East +than is to be gained from the Reservoir Height--a beautifully broken +landscape, hill and dale, woodland, distant trees, two converging +streams embracing and flowing in a quiet, decorous union beneath the +historic bridge, comfortable homes, many of them too simple and +dignified to be suspected of being modern, a cluster of steeples rising +above the elms in the center of the town, pastures and plowed fields, +well-fed Jerseys resting under the oaks, an occasional canoe floating on +the gentle stream, genuine old New England homes, painted white, with +green blinds, generous wood-piles near at hand, comfortable barns, and +blossoming orchards, now and then a luxurious house, showing the +architect's effort to preserve the harmonious--all of these and more, to +form a scene of pastoral beauty and with nothing to mar the picture--no +uncompromising factories, no blocks of flats, no elevated roads, no +glaring signs of Cuban cheroots or Peruna bitters. It is simply an ideal +exhibit of all that is most beautiful and attractive in New England +scenery and life, and its charm is very great. + +Turning to its historic interest, one is reminded of it at every side. +Upon a faithful reproduction of the original meeting-house, a tablet +informs the visitor that here the first meeting was held that led to +national independence. A placard on a quaint old hostelry informs us +that it was a tavern in pre-Revolutionary times. Leaving the "common," +around which most New England towns cluster, one soon reaches Monument +Street. Following it until houses grow infrequent, one comes to an +interesting specimen which seems familiar. A conspicuous sign proclaims +it private property and that sightseers are not welcome. It is the "Old +Manse" made immortal by the genius of Hawthorne. Near by, an interesting +road intersects leading to a river. Soon we descry a granite monument at +the famous bridge, and across the bridge "The Minute Man." The +inscription on the monument informs us that here the first British +soldier fell. An iron chain incloses a little plot by the side of a +stone wall where rest those who met the first armed resistance. Crossing +the bridge which spans a dark and sluggish stream one reaches French's +fine statue with Emerson's noble inscription,-- + + "By the rude bridge that arched the flood, + Their flag to April's breeze unfurled, + Here once the embattled farmers stood + And fired the shot heard round the world." + +No historic spot has a finer setting or an atmosphere so well fitted to +calm reflection on a momentous event. + +On the way to Concord, if one is so fortunate as to go by trolley, one +passes through Lexington and catches a glimpse of its bronze "Minute +Man," more spirited and lifelike in its tense suspended motion than +French's calm and determined farmer-soldier. In the side of a farmhouse +near the Concord battle-field--if such an encounter can be called a +battle--a shot from a British bullet pierced the wood, and that historic +orifice is carefully preserved; a diamond-shaped pane surrounds it. Our +friend, Rev. A.W. Jackson, remarked, "I suppose if that house should +burn down, the first thing they would try to save would be that +bullet-hole." + +But Concord is richest in the memory of the men who have lived and died +there, and whose character and influence have made it a center of +world-wide inspiration. One has but to visit Sleepy Hollow Cemetery to +be impressed with the number and weight of remarkable names associated +with this quiet town, little more than a village. Sleepy Hollow is one +of a number of rather unusual depressions separated by sharp ridges that +border the town. The hills are wooded, and in some instances their steep +sides make them seem like the half of a California canyon. The cemetery +is not in the cuplike valley, but on the side and summit of a gentle +hill. It is well kept and very impressive. One of the first names to +attract attention is "Hawthorne," cut on a simple slab with rounded top. +It is the sole inscription on the little stone about a foot high. +Simplicity could go no farther. Within a small radius are found the +graves of Emerson, Thoreau, Alcott, John Weiss, and Samuel Hoar. +Emerson's monument is a beautiful boulder, on the smoothed side of which +is placed a bronze tablet. The inscriptions on the stones placed to the +memory of the different members of the family are most fitting and +touching. This is also true of the singularly fine inscriptions in the +lot where rest several generations of the Hoar family. A good article +might be written on monumental inscriptions in the Concord +burial-ground. It is a lovely spot where these illustrious sons of +Concord have found their final resting-place, and a pilgrimage to it +cannot but freshen one's sense of indebtedness to these gifted men of +pure lives and elevated thoughts. + +The most enjoyable incident of the delightful Decoration Day on which +our trip was made was a visit to Emerson's home. His daughter was in New +York, but we were given the privilege of freely taking possession of the +library and parlor. Everything is as the sage left it. His books are +undisturbed, his portfolio of notes lies upon the table, and his +favorite chair invites the friend who feels he can occupy it. The +atmosphere is quietly simple. The few pictures are good, but not +conspicuous or insistent. The books bear evidence of loving use. +Bindings were evidently of no interest. Nearly all the books are in the +original cloth, now faded and worn. One expects to see the books of his +contemporaries and friends, and the expectation is met. They are mostly +in first editions, and many of them are almost shabby. Taking down the +first volume of _The Dial_, I found it well filled with narrow strips +of paper, marking articles of especial interest. The authors' names not +being given, they were frequently supplied by Mr. Emerson on the margin. +I noticed opposite one article the words "T. Parker" in Mr. Emerson's +writing. The books covered one side of a good-sized room and ran through +the connecting hall into the quaint parlor, or sitting-room, behind it. +A matting covered the floor, candlesticks rested on the chimney-piece, +and there was no meaningless bric-a-brac, nor other objects of suspected +beauty to distract attention. As you enter the house, the library +occupies the large right-hand corner room. It was simple to the verge of +austerity, and the farthest possible removed from a "collection." There +was no effort at arrangement--they were just books, for use and for +their own sake. The portfolio of fugitive notes and possible material +for future use was interesting, suggesting the source of much that went +to make up those fascinating essays where the "thoughts" often made no +pretense at sequence, but rested in peaceful unregulated proximity, like +eggs in a nest. Here is a sentence that evidently didn't quite satisfy +him, an uncertain mark of erasure leaving the approved portion in doubt: +"Read proudly. Put the duty of being read invariably on the author. If +he is not read, whose fault is it? I am quite ready to be charmed--but I +shall not make believe I am charmed." Dear man! he never would "make +believe." Transparent, sincere soul, how he puts to shame all +affectation and pretense! Mr. Jackson says his townsmen found it hard to +realize that he was great. They always thought of him as the kindly +neighbor. One old farmer told of his experience in driving home a load +of hay. He was approaching a gate and was just preparing to climb down +to open it, when an old gentleman nimbly ran ahead and opened it for +him. It was Emerson, who apparently never gave it a second thought. It +was simply the natural thing for him to do. + +Walden Pond is some little distance from the Emerson home, and the time +at our disposal did not permit a visit. But we had seen enough and felt +enough to leave a memory of rare enjoyment to the credit of that +precious day in Concord. + + +FIVE DAYS + +There are several degrees of rest, and there are many ways of resting. +What is rest to one person might be an intolerable bore to another, but +when one finds the ultimate he is never after in doubt. He knows what +is, to him, _the real thing_. The effect of a sufficient season, say +five days, to one who had managed to find very little for a +disgracefully long time, is not easy to describe, but very agreeable to +feel. + +My friend [Footnote: Horace Davis] has a novel retreat. He is fond of +nature as manifested in the growth of trees and plants, and some +seventeen years ago he bought a few acres, mostly of woods, in the Santa +Cruz Mountains. There was a small orchard, a few acres of hillside +hayfield, and a little good land where garden things would grow. + +There was, too, a somewhat eccentric house where a man who was trying to +be theosophical had lived and communed with his mystified soul. To +foster the process he had more or less blue glass and a window of Gothic +form in the peak of his rambling house. In his living-room a round +window, with Sanskrit characters, let in a doubtful gleam from another +room. In the side-hill a supposedly fireproof vault had been built to +hold the manuscript that held his precious thoughts. In the gulch he had +a sacred spot, where, under the majestic redwoods, he retired to write, +and in a small building he had a small printing-press, from which the +world was to have been led to the light. But there was some failure of +connection, and stern necessity compelled the surrender of these high +hopes. My friend took over the plant, and the reformer reformed and went +off to earn his daily bread. + +His memory is kept alive by the name Mahatma, given to the gulch, and +the blue glass has what effect it may on a neighbor's vegetables. The +little house was made habitable. The home of the press was comfortably +ceiled and made into a guest-chamber, and apples and potatoes are +stored in the fireproof vault. The acres were fairly covered with a +second growth of redwood and a wealth of madronos and other native +trees; but there were many spaces where Nature invited assistance, and +my friend every year has planted trees of many kinds from many climes, +until he has an arboretum hardly equaled anywhere. There are pines in +endless variety--from the Sierra and from the seashore, from New +England, France, Norway, and Japan. There flourish the cedar, spruce, +hemlock, oak, beech, birch, and maple. There in peace and plenty are the +sequoia, the bamboo, and the deodar. Eucalypts pierce the sky and +Japanese dwarfs hug the ground. + +These children of the woodland vary in age from six months to sixteen +years, and each has its interest and tells its story of struggle, with +results of success or failure, as conditions determine. At the entrance +to the grounds an incense-cedar on one side and an arbor-vitae on the +other stand dignified guard. The acres have been added to until about +sixty are covered with growing trees. Around the house, which wisteria +has almost covered, is a garden in which roses predominate, but +hollyhocks, coreopsis, and other flowers not demanding constant care +grow in luxuriance. There is abundance of water, and filtered sunshine +gives a delightful temperature. The thermometer on the vine-clad porch +runs up to 80 in the daytime and in the night drops down to 40. + +A sympathetic Italian lives not far away, keeping a good cow, raising +amazingly good vegetables, gathering the apples and other fruit, and +caring for the place. The house is unoccupied except during the five +days each month when my friend restores himself, mentally and +physically, by rest and quiet contemplation and observation. He takes +with him a faithful servitor, whose old age is made happy by these +periodical sojourns, and the simple life is enjoyed to the full. + +Into this Resthaven it was my happy privilege to spend five-sevenths of +a week of August, and the rare privilege of being obliged to do nothing +was a great delight. Early rising was permissible, but not encouraged. +At eight o'clock a rich Hibernian voice was heard to say, "Hot water, +Mr. Murdock," and it was so. A simple breakfast, meatless, but including +the best of coffee and apricots, tree-ripened and fresh, was enjoyed at +leisure undisturbed by thought of awaiting labor. Following the pleasant +breakfast chat was a forenoon of converse with my friend or a friendly +book or magazine, broken by a stroll through some part of the wood and +introduction to the hospitably entertained trees from distant parts. My +friend is something of a botanist, and was able to pronounce the court +names of all his visitors. Wild flowers still persist, and among others +was pointed out one which was unknown to the world till he chanced to +find it. + +[Illustration: OUTINGS IN THE SIERRAS, 1910 IN HAWAII, 1914] + +Very interesting is the fact that the flora of the region, which is a +thousand feet above sea-level, has many of the characteristics of beach +vicinity, and the reason is disclosed by the outcropping at various +points of a deposit of white sand, very fine, and showing under the +microscope the smoothly rounded form that tells of the rolling waves. +This deposit is said to be traceable for two hundred miles easterly, and +where it has been eroded by the streams of today enormous trees have +grown on the deposited soil. The mind is lost in conjecture of the time +that must have elapsed since an ancient sea wore to infinitesimal bits +the quartz that some rushing stream had brought from its native +mountains. + +Another interesting feature of the landscape was the clearly marked +course of the old "Indian trail," known to the earliest settlers, which +followed through this region from the coast at Santa Cruz to the Santa +Clara Valley. It followed the most accessible ridges and showed +elemental surveying of a high order. Along its line are still found bits +of rusted iron, with specks of silver, relics of the spurs and bridles +of the caballeros of the early days. + +The maples that sheltered the house are thinned out, that the sun may +not be excluded, and until its glare becomes too radiant the +steamer-chair or the rocker seeks the open that the genial page of +"Susan's Escort, and Others," one of the inimitable books of Edward +Everett Hale, may be enjoyed in comfort. When midday comes the denser +shade of tree or porch is sought, and coats come off. At noon dinner is +welcome, and proves that the high cost of living is largely a +conventional requirement. It may be beans or a bit of roast ham brought +from home, with potatoes or tomatoes, good bread and butter, and a +dessert of toasted crackers with loganberries and cream. To experience +the comfort of not eating too much and to find how little can be +satisfying is a great lesson in the art of living. To supplement, and +dispose of, this homily on food, our supper was always baked potatoes +and cream toast,--but such potatoes and real cream toast! Of course, +fruit was always "on tap," and the good coffee reappeared. + +In the cool of the afternoon a longer walk. Good trails lead over the +whole place, and sometimes we would go afield and call on some neighbor. +Almost invariably they were Italians, who were thriving where +improvident Americans had given up in despair. Always my friend found +friendly welcome. This one he had helped out of a trouble with a +refractory pump, that one he had befriended in some other way. All were +glad to see him, and wished him well. What a poor investment it is to +quarrel with a neighbor! + +Sometimes my friend would busy himself by leading water to some +neglected and thirsty plant, while I was re-reading "Tom Grogan" or +Brander Matthews' plays, but for much of the time we talked and +exchanged views on current topics or old friends. When the evening came +we prudently went inside and continued our reading or our talk till we +felt inclined to seek our comfortable beds and the oblivion that blots +out troubles or pleasures. + +And so on for five momentous days. Quite unlike the "Seven Days" in the +delightful farce-comedy of that name, in which everything happened, here +nothing seemed to happen. We were miles from a post-office, and +newspapers disturbed us not. The world of human activity was as though +it were not. Politics as we left it was a disturbing memory, but no +fresh outbreaks aggravated our discomfort. We were at rest and we +rested. A good recipe for long life, I think, would be: withdraw from +life's turmoil regularly--five days in a month. + + +AN ANNIVERSARY + +The Humboldt County business established and conducted on honor by Alex. +Brizard was continued on like lines by his three sons with conspicuous +success. As the fiftieth anniversary approached they arranged to fitly +celebrate the event. They invited many of their father's and business +associates to take part in the anniversary observance in July, 1913. +With regret, I was about to decline when my good friend Henry Michaels, +a State Guard associate, who had become the head of the leading house in +drugs and medicines with which Brizard and his sons had extensively +dealt, came in and urged me to join him in motoring to Humboldt. He +wanted to go, but would not go alone and the double delight of his +company and joining in the anniversary led to prompt acceptance of his +generous proposal. There followed one of the most enjoyable outings of +my life. I had never compassed the overland trip to Humboldt, and while +I naturally expected much the realization far exceeded my anticipations. + +From the fine highway following the main ridge the various branches of +the Eel River were clearly outlined, and when we penetrated the +world-famous redwood belt and approached the coast our enjoyment seemed +almost impious, as though we were motoring through a cathedral. + +We found Arcata bedecked for the coming anniversary. The whole community +felt its significance. When the hour came every store in town closed. +Seemingly the whole population assembled in and around the Brizard +store, anxious to express kindly memory and approval of those who so +well sustained the traditions of the elders. The oldest son made a +brief, manly address and introduced a few of the many who could have +borne tribute. It was a happy occasion in which good-will was made very +evident. A ball in the evening concluded the festivities, and it was +with positive regret that we turned from the delightful atmosphere and +retraced our steps to home and duty. + + + + +CHAPTER XII + +OCCASIONAL VERSE + + + BOSTON + (After Bret Harte) + + On the south fork of Yuba, in May, fifty-two, + An old cabin stood on the hill, + Where the road to Grass Valley lay clear to the view, + And a ditch that ran down to Buck's Mill. + + It was owned by a party that lately had come + To discover what fate held in store; + He was working for Brigham, and prospecting some, + While the clothes were well cut that he wore. + + He had spruced up the cabin, and by it would stay, + For he never could bear a hotel. + He refused to drink whiskey or poker to play, + But was jolly and used the boys well. + + In the long winter evenings he started a club, + To discuss the affairs of the day. + He was up in the classics--a scholarly cub-- + And the best of the talkers could lay. + + He could sing like a robin, and play on the flute, + And he opened a school, which was free, + Where he taught all the musical fellows to toot, + Or to join in an anthem or glee. + + So he soon "held the age" over any young man + Who had ever been known on the bar; + And the boys put him through, when for sheriff he ran, + And his stock now was much above par. + + In the spring he was lucky, and struck a rich lead, + And he let all his friends have a share; + It was called the New Boston, for that was his breed, + And the rock that he showed them was rare. + + When he called on his partners to put up a mill, + They were anxious to furnish the means; + And the needful, of course, turned into his till + Just as freely as though it was beans. + + Then he went to the Bay with his snug little pile-- + There was seventeen thousand and more-- + To arrange for a mill of the most approved style, + And to purchase a Sturtevant blower. + + But they waited for Boston a year and a day, + And he never was heard of again. + For the lead he had opened was salted with pay, + And he'd played 'em with culture and brain. + + + THE GREATER FREEDOM + + O God of battles, who sustained + Our fathers in the glorious days + When they our priceless freedom gained, + Help us, as loyal sons, to raise + Anew the standard they upbore, + And bear it on to farther heights, + Where freedom seeks for self no more, + But love a life of service lights. + + + OUR FATHER + + Is God our Father? So sublime the thought + We cannot hope its meaning full to grasp, + E'en as the Child the gifts the wise men brought + Could not within his infant fingers clasp. + + We speak the words from early childhood taught. + We sometimes fancy that their truth we feel; + But only on life's upper heights is caught + The vital message that they may reveal. + + So on the heights may we be led to dwell, + That nearer God we may more truly know + How great the heritage His love will tell + If we be lifted up from things below. + + + RESURGAM + + The stricken city lifts her head, + With eyes yet dim from flowing tears; + Her heart still throbs with pain unspent, + But hope, triumphant, conquers fears. + + With vision calm, she sees her course, + Nor shrinks, though thorny be the way. + Shall human will succumb to fate, + Crushed by the happenings of a day? + + The city that we love shall live, + And grow in beauty and in power; + Her loyal sons shall stand erect, + Their chastened courage Heaven's dower. + + And when the story shall be told + Of direful ruin, loss, and dearth, + There shall be said with pride and joy: + "But man survived, and proved his worth." + + + SAN FRANCISCO + + O "city loved around the world," + Triumphant over direful fate, + Thy flag of honor never furled, + Proud guardian of the Golden Gate; + + Hold thou that standard from the dust + Of lower ends or doubtful gain; + On thy good sword no taint of rust; + On stars and stripes no blot or stain. + + Thy loyal sons by thee shall stand, + Thy highest purpose to uphold; + Proclaim the word, o'er all the land, + That truth more precious is than gold. + + Let justice never be denied, + Resist the wrong, defend the right; + Where West meets East stand thou in pride + Of noble life,--a beacon-light. + + + THE NEW YEAR + + The past is gone beyond recall, + The future kindly veils its face; + Today we live, today is all + We have or need, our day of grace. + + The world is God's, and hence 'tis plain + That only wrong we need to fear; + 'Tis ours to live, come joy or pain, + To make more blessed each New Year. + + + PRODIGALS + + We tarry in a foreign land, + With pleasure's husks elate, + When robe and ring and Father's hand + At home our coming wait. + + + DEEP-ROOTED + + Fierce Boreas in his wildest glee + Assails in vain the yielding tree + That, rooted deep, gains strength to bear, + And proudly lifts its head in air. + + When loss or grief, with sharp distress, + To man brings brunt of storm and stress, + He stands serene who calmly bends + In strength that trust, deep-rooted, lends. + + + TO HORATIO STEBBINS + + The sun still shines, and happy, blithesome birds + Are singing on the swaying boughs in bloom. + My eyes look forth and see no sign of gloom, + No loss casts shadow on the grazing herds; + And yet I bear within a grief that words + Can ne'er express, for in the silent tomb + Is laid the body of my friend, the doom + Of silence on that matchless voice. Now girds + My spirit for the struggle he would praise. + A leader viewless to the mortal eye + Still guides my steps, still calls with clarion cry + To deeds of honor, and my thoughts would raise + To seek the truth and share the love on high. + With loyal heart I'll follow all my days. + + + NEW YEAR, 1919 + + The sifting sand that marks the passing year + In many-colored tints its course has run + Through days with shadows dark, or bright with sun, + But hope has triumphed over doubt and fear, + New radiance flows from stars that grace our flag. + Our fate we ventured, though full dark the night, + And faced the fatuous host who trusted might. + God called, the country's lovers could not lag, + Serenely trustful, danger grave despite, + Untrained, in love with peace, they dared to fight, + And freed a threatened world from peril dire, + Establishing the majesty of right. + Our loyal hearts still burn with sacred fire, + Our spirits' wings are plumed for upward flight. + + + NEW YEAR, 1920 + + The curtain rises on the all-world stage, + The play is unannounced; no prologue's word + Gives hint of scene, or voices to be heard; + We may be called with tragedy to rage, + In comedy or farce we may disport, + With feverish melodrama we may thrill, + Or in a pantomimic role be still. + We may find fame in field, or grace a court, + Whate'er the play, forthwith its lines will start, + And every soul, in cloister or in mart, + Must act, and do his best from day to day-- + So says the prompter to the human heart. + "The play's the thing," might Shakespear's Hamlet say. + "The thing," to us, is playing well our part. + + + EPILOGUE + + *Walking in the Way* + + To hold to faith when all seems dark + to keep of good courage when failure follows failure + to cherish hope when its promise is faintly whispered + to bear without complaint the heavy burdens that must be borne + to be cheerful whatever comes + to preserve high ideals + to trust unfalteringly that well-being follows well-doing + this is the Way of Life + To be modest in desires + to enjoy simple pleasures + to be earnest + to be true + to be kindly + to be reasonably patient and ever-lastingly persistent + to be considerate + to be at least just + to be helpful + to be loving + this is to walk therein. + +Charles A. Murdock + + + +***END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK A BACKWARD GLANCE AT EIGHTY*** + + +******* This file should be named 12911.txt or 12911.zip ******* + + +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: +https://www.gutenberg.org/1/2/9/1/12911 + + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. Special rules, +set forth in the General Terms of Use part of this license, apply to +copying and distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works to +protect the PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm concept and trademark. Project +Gutenberg is a registered trademark, and may not be used if you +charge for the eBooks, unless you receive specific permission. 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