AND now, as the journey of life progresses, I come to the year
1883. My daughter Annie, the wife of Dr. Stoddart, at this time
paid us a visit from San Francisco. She warmly invited us to go
back with her, over the frowning Rockies and away into the land
of gold, the great Eldorado of '49. To her we have given our
consent, but wait for a special invitation from the Doctor, nor
had we long to wait. A letter from Archie settled the matter,
the purport of which was not to come home without the old folks,
thereby giving us a hearty welcome, which the experience of two
years has failed to dim.And now comes the ordeal of painful
parting of real friends. (For God's sake! tell me not the world
is cold and selfish.) The declining years of my four-score have
been much sweetened by very kind friends. For all their
generosity I am grateful. The good-by at the depot on the 15th
of July, 1883, was too touching to dwell upon. Nor did it end
there. Our train passing through Elgin, there we found a host of
friends under the auspices of Mr. and Mrs. Martin and family,
laden down with delicate provisions for our long journey.
Having yielded to the importunities of our two daughters to
spend our golden wedding with them in the far west, we face the
setting sun in all his glory. The journey proved
very pleasurable to me. My admiration arose to ecstasy by the
varied grandeur of the scenery, the easy accommodation of the
transit, and the marvelous advance of civil engineering which
enabled it to overcome the gigantic natural obstacles that stood
in its way. Which to admire the most is a problem not easy to
solve. Suffice it that when we arrived at Oakland I wished the
journey lengthened a few more hundred miles. We were greeted by
many kind friends, who, in one of those splendid boats owned by
the Central Pacific railway, carried us across that magnificent
bay to San Francisco. Thence, after a refreshing meal at the
house of our son-in-law, Dr. Stoddart, a lady drove me to the
beach, giving me a taste of the trade-wind, which in its passage
over the intervening sand dunes fills the air with an
imponderable dust, to the detriment of the inhabitants, which,
together with frequent fogs and the absence of rain during the
summer months, renders the climate of San Francisco anything but
agreeable. Still, I believe its hygienic condition will compare
favorably with cities of its size.
It may be asked, " What could be found in traveling over that
barren region to evoke pleasurable sensations?" My answer in all
humility would be the following quotation from the poet:
"Of all the passions that possess mankind,
The love of novelty rules most the mind.
In search of this, from realm to realm we roam,
Our fleets come fraught with ev'ry folly home."
The volumes of a thousand graphic writers would fail to
convey the faintest idea of this marvelous wilderness, and
therefore to appreciate this apparent waste of God's handiwork
it must be seen. 'Tis said God makes nothing in vain, and who
knows but in the process of scientific discovery the people of a
thousand years hence may marvel at the ignorance of the present
age touching this seeming anomaly, which to the impatient
traveler produces a sense of monotony, while to the inquiring
mind a feeling of wonder is inspired. Indeed, I already perceive
through the columns of the Chronicle that a number of
acres of this waste land in the adjoining state of Nevada have
been reclaimed, on which there waves a promising crop of wheat,
enough to inspire one with a lively hope for the future of
millions of our race who cling to the fascinations of the city
in order to escape the drudgery involved in the reduction of the
soil.
Traveling across the plains and mountains in a second-class
conveyance is considered by many to be somewhat irksome. My
experience deprives me the privilege of sharing their gloom.
There must be something lacking in the individual who can be
otherwise than pleasurably transported from sea to sea by such
marvelous means, in so short a space of time, across a continent
abounding at least in great variety if not in beauty to his
lack-luster eye. I do admit that the pioneers crawling through
that everlasting region of sage brush and alkali, drawn by lame
horses and worn-out oxen, must have had their patience pretty
severely taxed for tedious weeks. The same space is now
traversed in as many days as required weeks previous to the
Credit Mobilier. The end of such wonderful accomplishments goes
a long way to justify the means. To carry a railway over this
continent by honest, plodding every-day maxims would have
required more working days than a century could number.
Therefore, scrupulosity had to divest itself of its starch and
stoop to measures extraordinary. Personally I am grateful for an
easy, pleasurable transit over a country which I had for many
years desired to traverse, and when my allotted time of two
years is up I hope to be able to take the southern route for
Chicago, or, should the June month be too hot, I shall have no
objections to retrace our steps through Nevada and Ogden, which
I enjoyed so much hithervvard. |
