Chapter II

In Southern California; Plowing machine; In the oil country; San
Francisco; The Union Ferry Depot; Fort Alkatras; Sausalito; Seal
rocks; The Golden Gate; Sutro baths and museum; China Town; The
United States Mint; James Lick; The Stanford University; The
climate.

AFTER days of travel over the dreary desert waste, it was refreshing to look out in the early morning on the orchards of oranges, lemons, limes, and I know not how many other kinds of fruit. We are now

IN SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA.

There are yet miles on miles of desert country, but it is frequently broken by the orchards of tropical fruits. Some one said as we traversed New Mexico and Arizona deserts: "This country was made only to tie the lands which are fit for something together." I fell in with the balance in that opinion; but I am far from believing that now. Wherever water can be had for irrigation, these sandy plains and knobs can be made to blossom as the rose. It is demonstrated beyond all question here and in some of the parks about San Francisco. We passed in the night old Fort Yuma and the Colorado river, which separates Arizona from California and empties into the Gulf of California. From Riverside, Pomona and Los Angeles to San Francisco, over the Coast Line, the country is as the garden of the Lord, except when the great cattle ranches and wheat farms occupy the territory. Farming is made profitable only by irrigation. This is usually the rainy season when the irrigating ditches are not much in use, but no rain has fallen and the farmers are busy preparing the ground and planting wheat. In many places they were flooding the ground in order to bring up the wheat, already sown. I saw only a few places where the crop was showing. What would Alabama farmers think of running a plow with six and eight horses attached? It was not one plow, but a

PLOWING MACHINE

having several large breakers. I saw from six to ten horses pulling harrows. Horse flesh seems to be abundant. In size, the horses are simply immense. The Eucalyptus tree is a disappointment: where it stands alone it grows to a great height, having a few scattering branches; but in groves and clusters along avenues and on the mountain sides, it is charming. Its growth is rapid, and as an absorbent of malaria it is noted above all plants. I am surprised that it is not grown around Mobile and New Orleans. The Coast Line from Los Angeles has been open only a few weeks, and now trains run into San Francisco for the first time. Many roads centre here, but the Southern Pacific is the first to take its train into the city. All others have their terminals over the Bay at different points, or trains are brought over by steamers. From San Buena Ventura for many miles, our train runs by the side of the Ocean. It is a glorious sight to one unused to the Sea. There are numerous large towns and the lands in many places seem to be fertile almost to the beach. California is becoming

NOTED FOR ITS OIL.

At one point on the coast there must have been three hundred derricks, many of them on wharves extending far out into the ocean, the wells being only a few feet apart. Back in the mountains and foot-hills there must be many more, as I can see hundreds of great tanks along the beach. Owing to the high price for coal, it will not be a great while before oil will run most of the machinery on the Pacific Coast. The most of the coal used comes from Australia and is very high. The wildest, grandest scenery of the whole trip is where the road pierces the Coast Range at San Louis Obispo. I would not dare undertake its description. And now I am in

SAN FRANCISCO

after an absence of forty years. Of course I recognize nothing--all is changed; hills have been leveled and their sands emptied into the Bay. Front Street is now separated from the Bay front by blocks of magnificent buildings. My brother and his wife met me. How they have changed! I never would have known them. They were impolite enough to accuse me of growing old, too.

THE UNION FERRY DEPOT,

from which our boat started on its six mile trip across the Bay, is a wonderful structure, and is built on a mud foundation where the Bay has been filled in. It is 659 feet long with a clock tower rising 245 feet. The second story contains a hall the whole length of the building, 48 feet wide and 42 feet high. The building belongs to the State and is used for waiting rooms for some of the great railroads and for the many large ferry boats which cross the Bay to Oakland, Alameda, Berkeley, Sausalito and many other points. The Bay is filled with shipping of every description and from all parts of the world.

FORT ALKATRAS

is on an island. If the prison there could talk, it could tell many a tale of suffering during the civil war, the only offense being, the occupant sympathized with the Confederacy. Yonder is Goat Island, in whose shadow a number of boys and I, years ago, in our own beautiful sail boat, on a Saturday morning, made a fine beginning for a day's fishing, but the wretched fellows soon took a notion to return to Oakland--meantime the wind had sprung up and the Bay was lashed into great billows. I was hopelessly in the minority, and reluctantly took my place and steered the little craft over the mad waves. In a few minutes every fellow except myself was deathly sick, and I was left to manage sails and helm alone. It was my first lesson in navigation. Time and again I was sure we were lost, but the Lord must have interposed, though none of us were much given to a religious life. When we got safely ashore my interest in the boat was quickly disposed of to my fool-hardy companions. Through all these years I have fondly hoped I might some day finish that fish, so unceremoniously broken into.

SAUSALITO

is the end of my journey. My brother lives here in a lovely home built in a niche of the mountain and fronting the Bay, which is not twenty steps from his gate. San Francisco is plainly in view directly in front, and Oakland and other cities by the Bay, are to the left. This is the terminus of a railroad which runs back in Marin county through a beautiful country. People who live here and on back for miles to San Rafael, mostly have business in the city.

They are conveyed to and from their homes by cars and boats which run every half hour. It is said there are two thousand people in this burg; but I can't see where they are. In nooks and corners of the mountains they are stuck away so that it looks more like a thickly settled country community than a town. The streets run around the mountains on easy grades so that before one is aware of it he is on a high elevation. Exercise! You can get all you want here. The back entrance to my brother's home is some four hundred feet above his house and is reached by a flight of steps almost as steep as a ladder. I have always counted myself a good walker, but I am not in it with these Californians. Both men and women are great walkers. Remarking on the great number of ruddy-faced girls and women I saw, the quick explanation was: "We have so much open weather and the air is so bracing, our people are so much out of doors; hence the ruddy cheeks." I am a

POOR HAND AT SIGHT-SEEING.

Probably it comes from a sort of tired feeling which I have had since my birth; anyway, I don't like to start out in the business of seeing things, but I just had to. These people believe they have something worth seeing and they leave their affairs behind and give themselves to showing the tourists the sights. And they are worth seeing, too. You can write almost anything extravagant about California and it will not be far from the truth. I was glad I was not left to myself, but how helpless I am when it comes to writing about the sights. I can command only a few adjectives and they soon become commonplace. "Immense" is one of my favorites. "Wonderful" is another. Then comes "great" and a lot of little ones until I grow tired and only grunt as my guide raves over what we are looking at. If I could only rave over things! I will never have a better opportunity than now, but the thing is impossible for me.

"The City of Atlanta" is the name of the Observation Car which makes several trips daily to the Cliff House and return. The conductor is a good talker and knows his business thoroughly. While the car moves along at a good speed, he announces to the travelers the places of interest.

We pass the great power house where is generated the electricity which runs the many miles of electric car line; the Mission Dolores, an old adobe building erected in 1776; Golden Gate Park, covering more than one thousand acres; the Affiliate Colleges, three great buildings situated on a mountain side overlooking the city and bay, and finally the Cliff House on the point on the Pacific. Out there two hundred yards away are the

SEAL ROCKS.

A great herd of seals live there, protected by the authorities for the pleasure of the travelers who flock here by the thousands. In the afternoon they look like a flock of sheep resting in the shadows of the rock; but in the morning they are playing in the waters. At one time they sound like a pack of hounds far in the distance; at another, like a herd of hungry cattle. This, with the roar of the ocean against the rocks, makes a sound one never can forget.

It is said that here, on the broad piazzas of the Cliff House, is the only spot in all the world where such a sight can be enjoyed. I was told that some years ago after a storm, a large sea-lion, killed by the storm, was washed ashore, and its weight was twenty-seven hundred pounds. I do not doubt it, judging by the appearance of one immense old fellow, which they have named "Ben Butler," after "Beast Butler," I suppose, of New Orleans fame.

The quickest way out of my troubles at this point is to allow other writers to tell of the things that I saw there.

"The entrance through

THE GOLDEN GATE

cannot be surpassed. On the right can be seen the Cliff House and Sutro Heights; on the left, Point Bonita Lighthouse. Passing these, you enter what might be called the vestibule of the Golden Gate, which narrows to the distance of one and one-eighth miles between Fort Point and Lime Point, with a depth of water of three hundred and ninety feet.

The bay is so land-locked that the early voyagers kept sailing right by its narrow opening, and it was not until November 7, 1769, that it was discovered; but it was not entered and made known to the world until 1775. The Bay covers 450 square miles. It can accommodate the navies of the entire world without crowding them.

SUTRO BATHS AND MUSEUM

is where an immense rock basin catches the water from the ocean twice a day at high tide. The baths, with a capacity of nearly two millions of gallons, can be filled within an hour. The length of the building is 500 feet. It has seating capacity for 3,700 and swimming accommodations for 2,000 bathers. Tons of iron and thousands of feet of glass, 3,000,000 feet of lumber and over 300,000 feet of concrete were used in its construction. The bathers are here all times of the year.

I can't tell of Golden Gate Park, with its beautiful drives, its statuary, museum, its herds of buffaloes and deer; of the Presidio, the Government reservation of over 1,500 acres, which has been beautified until it may be included among the parks of San Francisco.

CHINATOWN,

covering twelve squares of the city, where nobody lives but Chinese, is a place of great interest. Many visitors employ guides and take in the town at night, which, I am told, is the best time to see it at its worst. Horrid tales are told of underground opium dens, where victims of the drug, of all colors, congregate; of the gambling hells, and the Chinese lotteries. Two Chinese landed in 1848; in 1850 there were 450; in 1852 10,000 landed in one month. They were welcomed at first. They are the best of laborers, but they soon began to supplant white labor. It was discovered also that they did not come with their families, to make this country their home. They keep what they make and return with it to China--they even send the bones of their dead back to the Celestial Empire. By law, they have been prohibited from coming to this country for some years. The years of the first Exclusion Act are now about out, and one of the biggest questions, in the minds of Californians is, the new Exclusion Law. The Labor party is very strong in the State, and the politicians dare not antagonize it. It is a serious problem. If the Chinese would come like the people of other nations and bring their families and settle in the country, their enemies would be robbed of their strongest argument. No exclusion laws are thought of against the people of other nations, even though they supplant, in many lines, the American laboring man.

THE UNITED STATES MINT.

"The biggest mint in the world," the fellow said, is a place where one can feel mighty rich for a little while. Visitors are received at regular hours, bunched and put in charge of a guide who shows them through. One can see the money in every process of manufacture. I was impressed with the fact that two dies stamp $40,000 in $20 gold pieces in ten minutes and that the coinage is about $30,000,000 a year. I saw only one greenback and one copper while I was in San Francisco. Only gold and silver are used.

JAMES LICK

was an old pioneer--a machinist and a bachelor. He used his immense wealth in beautifying the city and benefiting his fellow men. The Pioneers' Building he gave, leaving it richly endowed. Here are gathered all the curios of the early times and from the fund is supported old and disabled pioneers. He gave to the city a great bath house, where any one can bathe without cost; $400,000 of his money went into the California Academy of Science.

The Lick Observatory, near San Jose, crowning the summit of Mount Hamilton, 4,250 feet above sea level, his greatest benefaction, I could only read about. The bequest amounted to $7,000,000, and the telescope alone cost $55,000. This is indeed the biggest telescope in the world.

THE STANFORD UNIVERSITY

at Palo Alto, only a few miles away from San Francisco on the Coast Line, I could easily have seen in passing, but it escaped me. It is named for Leland Stanford, Jr., for whom it will be a perpetual monument. He was the only child, and the parents devoted the whole of their princely fortune to the erection and endowment of this great school. I saw the palatial home of the widow in San Francisco. This school and the State University at Berkeley, certainly offer great advantages to the young men and women of California--they are both co-educational.

The great wealth of this country is simply marvelous. The taxable property of San Francisco amounts to nearly $400,000,000, with $120,000,000 hoarded in savings banks, or $343 per capita, but notwithstanding all this there is a great army of very poor people.

THE CLIMATE

about San Francisco is peculiar. The average maximum temperature for twenty-two years has been 62 and the minimum 51 degrees, a variation of only eleven degrees. The January temperature, for those years, has been 50 and for June 59 degrees. The last and the first three months of each year are the rainiest--only about 67 rainy days in the year. The people wear the same outer garments the year round. Ice and snow are seldom seen. The fogs make it an undesirable place for people with pulmonary troubles.

I have missed many things of great interest. Back of my brother's house, upon Mount Tamalpais, is the "crookedest railroad in the world." It doubles back on itself five times, forming a double bow knot. But for the fogs, I should have enjoyed the trip where the finest view in all the country may be had.

Chapter Three

Los Angeles; "Seeing Los Angeles"; The return; The pit;
The Mirage; Old Fort Yuma; Religious matters; Baptists; An
interesting occurrence; The pastors' conference; California
College; One serious question.

ONE who travels and observes could write letters indefinitely about what he sees and hears, but the question is: "How long will the readers stand it?" Just what to write about and when to stop, are perplexing questions, but I must close with this letter. Besides a day in Oakland and Berkeley, where the State University is located, and a short run on a railroad to San Quinten, all my sight-seeing was done in San Francisco. There are over half a million people in and around that city. Probably 350,000 in San Francisco; Oakland Alameda, Berkeley and several other towns across the bay, practically one city, have over one hundred thousand more. Just two weeks was the length of my stay thereabouts. Everybody was very kind to give advice to the traveler, some of which he took--if he had taken it all, he would have been gone a year or more. Before I left, on the way, and about San Francisco, I was told I must not return without seeing

LOS ANGELES.

I gave two days returning, one of them Sunday, to this surpassingly beautiful city. "You must see Pasadena, Long Beach, Riverside and Mount Lowe," a friend said and another suggested a trip to San Diego and I know not how many other places, but the line had to be drawn somewhere and this is the last place for me on this trip. "There is nothing in a name," but here is one I found, there is something in: "Pueblo de la Reina de los Angelise." That was the original Spanish name: the meaning was: "Town of the Queen of the Angels." It must have been a beautiful place in those far off days, 1781. It was rather damp, raw weather while I was there and I saw but little. The display of fruits and farm products and natural resources of Southern California, at the Chamber of Commerce is simply marvelous. The immense hotels of the city are full all through the winters. I was told there were 60,000 tourists in the city the day I was there. These great hotels are not run for fun either, as I happen to know from what I paid for one night's lodging. At all the suburban cities, I learned, the hotels flourish as they do here. In Florida it is said: "the people live on gophers in the summer and on Yankees in the winter." These people certainly have a fine chance at the Yankees in winter. Southern people, too, find their way here and many have made it their home. Mrs. Scarboro, a Judson girl, into whose home I was received with an old fashioned southern welcome, told me there were four Judson girls and several Howard College boys there. The Daughters of the Confederacy have two chapters, and I think the old Confederates have an organization, too. Her old friends in Alabama will be glad to know that Miss Sue Daniel makes this her home and that she is well and happy. How many people she knows in Alabama and how they do love her! She loves the Lord and His work here as she did in Marion.

"SEEING LOS ANGELES."

is the name of the observation car which will give you a two or three hours ride through the city for a small sum. I can't begin to tell of all we saw. There are hundreds of palatial homes here in the midst of grounds surrounded by the rarest of plants. I can't understand why they do not have the orange as an ornamental tree, for it grows beautifully all around. It is a lovely tree and when loaded with fruit, it surpasses anything I have seen. I was never tired of eating oranges until now. I shall never forget the acres on acres I saw, covered with trees laden with the luscious fruit. The growth of the population in this Southern California city is something marvelous.

In 1860 there were 4,500; in 1870, 11,000; in 1880, 50,000; in 1897, more than 100,000, and at this time, probably 150,000. What is the attraction? the reader asks. The climate is the first thing, of course. It is only 293 feet above the level of the sea, the air is dry and entirely free from malarial influences. There is not much need of fire in the homes, so spring-like is the weather most of the time. The ocean is only a short distance away on one side, and the mountains, on the other side, are only a few minutes ride. Besides all this, the rich lands abound. Oil wells are abundant in the southern part of the city. Many persons mortgaged delightful homes to develop wells in their front and back yards and afterwards lost all. Some of the wisest feel that the discovery of oil was a calamity to the city. The conductor on our observation car, in his excellent description of things, as we went along, would occasionally venture to perpetrate a piece of wit at which there was the faintest sort of a smile on the faces of some of his passengers, on others, it was entirely lost, but he made one happy hit, which brought down the house. "On the left you see many hundreds of derricks, showing that Los Angeles has among her many other resources, oil to burn. You will observe that the oil wells come to an abrupt termination at the fence of the old cemetery. Many people insisted that so much valuable territory should not be given up to the dead since the occupants had either gone to where they did not need oil, or to where fuel was furnished them free."

THE RETURN

Was by the same route I went. If I had to make the trip again, I should go one way and return another. I am not at all displeased with the Southern Pacific. It was as good as I wanted and I guess the equal of any others. I counted myself fortunate to get a place on the Limited returning! Beyond the saving of a day, I discovered but little advantage over a place on the sleeper on the regular train. Everything was nice and convenient of course, and, if I had plenty of money and loved to smoke and drink, I think I would put great store on the Limited; but a lower berth on a sleeper on the regular train, is good enough for me. I saw many points of interest, returning, which I passed in the night, going.

"THE PIT"

Is a depression in Southern California through which the road runs which reaches at Salton, _two hundred and sixty-three feet below the level of the sea_. Only a few miles away, across the mountain range, is the Pacific ocean and here at Salton they have great salt works, where the waters of the Salt Springs, found in the neighborhood, are evaporated. All this region was once covered by the ocean, no doubt, and the probabilities are that it will be again some day. Here, they say, in this atmosphere, is the place for consumptives and there are very many to be seen. At Indio, twenty feet below sea level, there is a good hotel and neat little cottages, fitted up especially for the accommodation of invalids.

THE MIRAGE.

I thought I saw it going out, but was mistaken. I am not prepared yet to say it was not a lake of water or mud, for they say the Salt Springs and the Volcanic Springs of mud are hereabouts. One dares not approach too near the latter. It spreads itself out over many acres and maybe many miles. If it is dangerous to explore, who knows but the so-called mirage is a real lake of mud and water! But there it is out a few miles from the railroad, and for miles you can see it. You see distinctly the shadows from the other bank and little knolls and islands, all through it, cast their shadows distinctly on the face of the water. Yet they say it is all a delusion, there is no water there! Maybe so, but I am a skeptic.

In a former letter I spoke of the four wire fences on either side of the road and suggested that it was more than 3,000 miles long; but I discovered in the Colorado desert, which I passed at night while going, there is no fence for hundreds of miles, nothing but bare sand, and of course, there are no cattle to get on the track.

OLD FORT YUMA

Is a historic spot on the Colorado river. This was the crossing place in the early days of all the thousands of gold hunters from the East. If its history could be written what stories of adventure and suffering would it contain! It was here my brother, in 1849, caught the first glimpse of California after a long and perilous trip across the plains from Ft. Smith in Arkansas. If he would write the story of his ups and downs before and after getting to California it would make mighty interesting reading.

The town of Yuma is not far from the Gulf of California--I saw two little steamboats tied up there. If anyone has been trying to do anything in the way of teaching and evangelizing the Yuma Indians, a company of whom we saw, they certainly have reason to be discouraged. I have seen nowhere more wretched specimens of humanity. The government policy of continuing the Indians as "Wards of the Nation," supplying them with a living without any effort on their part, and the efforts of the Catholics to Christianize them, have been, alike failures.

Now my trip is ended. I have traveled 205 miles in Alabama, 63 in Mississippi, 300 in Louisiana, 947 in Texas, 249 in New Mexico, 414 in Arizona, 728 in California, making in all 2,906 miles. It has been a great pleasure for me to write these letters. I doubt not they seemed very commonplace to many who are used to travel. I haven't had that class in mind at all. I have thought of the many hundreds who were "Shut-Ins" by reason of circumstances, and will in all probability never make this trip or anything like it. I will be glad if the letters have proven helpful to any.

It is proper that these letters of travel should close with something about

RELIGIOUS MATTERS.

The earliest religion to be planted in all this western country was Roman Catholic. In Texas, New Mexico, Arizona and California, you will hear of "The Missions," by which they mean some ancient cathedral or monastery, built more than a century ago, but now in ruins. The tumble-down walls are of great interest to the traveler, and are regarded with superstitious reverence by many persons. Enthusiastic orators and writers often rave over the noble self-sacrifice of the Spanish priests who founded these Missions. Doubtless there were some pure, good men among them, inflamed with a zeal for soul saving. But if we study the history of the Missions, there is little to admire. There was a deliberate trade between the Spanish Government and these Spanish Fathers. They received every encouragement from the government and carried on their building and trading under government protection. The Indians, whom they came to Christianize, became practically their slaves. The labor required to quarry and dress the stones, burn the brick and prepare and transport the timbers for the buildings, was immense, and it was all done by the Indians under the direction of the Fathers. The income from the Missions, established by one of the Societies, became $2,000,000 annually. They were in possession of their properties for more than half a century. After the Missions were secularized by the Mexican government, to replete its exhausted treasures, the Fathers gave up their places, the Missions crumbled into ruins and their converts went back into their savage state.

There is now no trace of anything permanent about their work, except where the Indians intermarried with the Spanish soldiers; their decendants are still Catholics. But the Catholics are strong on the Pacific Coast, as they are everywhere in Coast cities. Probably the Episcopalians come next, though of this I am not certain. From all that I could see, most of the people are working at most anything else than religion. I was constantly reminded of the couplet in the old hymn:

"Where every prospect pleases
And only man is vile."

If a lovely country, delightful climate, bountiful harvests and general prosperity, make people religious, the Californians certainly ought to be devout; but I fear they take these things as matters of course, and forget the Giver of all good.

I was told at Sausalito that men did not go to preaching in California. From what I saw in the Episcopal church in that little city, at a night service, it looked as if it were true; but I worshipped with the First Baptist Church in San Francisco on two Sunday mornings and was much pleased to find fully one-half the worshippers males.

BAPTISTS

in San Francisco are few in numbers. I had the privilege of preaching for the First Church people one morning. Dr. Wood, the pastor, is a strong preacher, and seems to have an aggressive church. My membership was here when I was a boy. But I was not a very loyal member, as the reader later will find how I attended the services of Dr. Scott on account of my Southern proclivities. A Southern preacher in California is a rarity, I judge, but he meets with a hearty welcome. Old Southerners, of course, greet him with a style he is used to, and the Yankees crowd about him as if he were a curiosity. "I knew you were from the South," said one: "Why?" I asked. "Are you a Southern man?" "No, but I was down in that country on the other side from you in the war." From the handshake he gave me, one would not have guessed that we had at one time been enemies. "Reckon" is a good word peculiar to the South and so is "Tote." These are the two words, the use of which anywhere in the North, will betray the speaker as a Southern man. The words they use to express the same ideas are "Guess" and "Pack." I submit these are no improvement on ours. In my sermon I had occasion to say, "You reckon"--instantly the face of every Northerner was lit up with a smile. I was greatly pleased with the heartiness with which most everyone in the congregation entered into the singing. An instrument was used, but a leader stood on the platform and led the congregation. The pastor explained to me, rather apologetically, that since their building was destroyed a few years ago, with their fine organ, a choir had not been organized. I thought: "The Lord be praised for a fire if it gives us such singing as that in place of the music of the average city choir."

AN INTERESTING OCCURRENCE.

Before the service began, the pastor begged the indulgence of the congregation while he stated the case of a gentleman who was present. He came from El Dorado county, where there was no Baptist church nearer than forty miles of him. He had been converted for some time, and being in the city on business, he concluded to remain over Sunday and state his case to the church here and ask for baptism. It was the custom of the church to hear such cases on Wednesday night, at the prayer meeting, but the brother was to return to his home next day, so the matter came up at the morning service on Sunday. The brother made his statement, some questions were asked, and he was received for baptism, which was to take place that night. There was present a gentleman who had been so circumstanced he had not witnessed, for many years, the reception of a member in a Baptist church. On leaving the church he said: "I haven't seen that way of the whole congregation voting on the reception of a member for a long time. It seems to me that is the thing to do." As an object lesson it is worth everything to the Baptists, and ought to be witnessed by as large a number as possible. But the tendency, in our cities, is to thrust it aside lest it weary the Sunday congregation.

The congregational form of church government is destined to sweep America and every democracy-loving people on the globe. Everybody ought to know we stand for it.

I met with the

PASTOR'S CONFERENCE,

composed of all the Baptist preachers in and around the city. It alternates its meetings between San Francisco and Oakland.

All told, I suppose they have about twenty-five members. One morning the hour was given me to tell about mission work in the South. They were especially curious to know something about the negroes. They fired many questions at me, which I answered satisfactorily, I suppose, as they gave me a vote of thanks, with a round of applause and sent greetings to the Baptists of Alabama.

I guess Oakland is the center of Baptist strength for Northern California, as Los Angeles is for Southern California--there being four or five churches in the city. It is the seat of

CALIFORNIA COLLEGE,

the Baptist college of the State. I did not visit it, but from the statement I heard before the Conference from its President, I judge, it is in a precarious condition. It does seem to me, if Mr. Rockefeller wants to help the Baptists where they are most needy, he has a great opportunity in California. From all I can learn, the cause is suffering most, for the want of pastors who will stick to the State. Those they have are from many different States and from England. I judge they are good men and true; but unless the minds of a considerable number of them are made up to remain in the State, the cause of the Baptist must continue to be a great struggle. A floating ministry, in any State, cannot give permanency to the work. Every State needs and must have a good, large element of natives in the ministry. This, California, is almost wholly deficient in, I suppose.

It was my privilege to hear at Los Angeles, Dr. Frost, long a resident of California, and said to be the strongest man on the Coast. He is strong and rugged, a King Saul among his brethren in stature, and his sermon was full of the strong meat of the Gospel.

Rev. Joseph Smale, pastor of the First Church, I heard at night. It was a plain, gospel sermon, delivered in an earnest, impressive manner. His church is probably the largest and richest on the Coast. The pastor and his assistant are both Englishmen. I met with the Pastors' Conference. The Baptists hereabouts seem to be numerous and influential. They have a vigorous, aggressive ministry, who speak hopefully of the prospects. I was assured that the religious element was quite strong and pronounced in all Southern California.

ONE SERIOUS QUESTION

agitating the brethren on the Pacific Coast I found to be: The multiplicity of agents to represent the various denominational interests. This gave especial interest to my talk before the Pastors' Conference at Oakland. It seemed to be a new thing with them that one man should represent all the mission interests in one State, as we do in Alabama. The Missionary Union (their Foreign Mission Board), the Home Mission Society, The American Baptist Publication Society, each have a man to represent their interests, and besides these I think the two Woman's Societies have special agents also. The Northern Anniversaries, with which the churches on the Pacific Coast affiliate, have appointed committees on co-operation, but the jealousies existing between the societies stand in the way of their accomplishing anything toward consolidation. There is no question in the minds of any, North or South, but that our Convention plan is better to bring about concert of action. I should have been delighted to have studied closer the Baptist situation and cultivated the brethren in California, but my time was too short. They are struggling with unsolved problems on that side as we are on this side.

May Heaven help them and us with that wisdom that comes from above.

* * * * *

Transcriber's note:

Minor typographical and punctuation errors have been corrected without note. Irregularities and inconsistencies in the text have been retained as printed.

Mismatched quotation marks were not corrected if it was not sufficiently clear where the missing quotation mark should be placed.