then President Allen would settle down for a little quiet research or recreation for himself among the books or late periodicals.

"Not to the senior class alone, but to all students of the University, this care-encumbered man gave his time, and that rarer gift, inspiring power. They went out from his presence feeling that such a manhood was a royal gift; and, thrilled with the impulse to a nobler life thus exemplified, many were vitalized with a power that determined the development and fruitage of their after lives. Such a whole-hearted admiration of a noble Christian man is the richest influence that can come into a young life."

THE NEW YORK

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CHAPTER XIX.

THE WESTERN TRIP IN 1891.

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THE START.

R. ALLEN had quite given up the idea of visiting our own wonderlands in the great West, as he had

never seen his way clear for such a journey. However, this desire was gratified in 1891, when Judge and Mrs. N. M. Hubbard, of Cedar Rapids, Iowa, made us their guests for the summer vacation of that year. Taking us via the Central Pacific Railroad over the Rockies, thence on to the sea, we returned by the Northern Pacific down the lakes from Duluth, through Canada, and back to old Allegany.

Our college campus never looked more inviting than on that early morning when we rode out under the elms, all jeweled with dew, on our way to the train that was to take us westward. Just before reaching Chicago the Judge met us, and, smiling from under his new summer hat, took our checks and ourselves in charge. "From that hour," Mr. Allen remarked, "we had no more responsibility than women or children." Breakfasting the next morning at Cedar Rapids with the family, we rested for a week preparatory to taking the further journey, meanwhile making a short visit to friends in Austin, Minnesota. Judge and Mrs. Hubbard and our two selves were to form the quiet traveling party, which they had spared no pains in arranging for before our arrival. Looking back it seems as though no other number of weeks could count as many days of sunshine as those that greeted us on that journey. Our beautiful car, with all its modern improvements for comfort and rest,

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would let us go to sleep in one State and awake the next morning in another, as we sped onward over the great plains. Day by day the bright sunshine lent its charm in bringing out the lights and shadows over boundless plain, distant mountain, fathomless cañon, or overhanging rocks.

It was planned to reach the Columbia River just at daylight, so as to have the journey by boat during the daytime. As we sailed down that queen of rivers, we felt that writers, poets, and artists have all failed to paint its grandeur and beauty. Everywhere basaltic columns rose up hundreds of feet from the midst of the water, as though Vulcan in his anger had thrown out some great thunderbolt in defying man's attempts to utilize nature. Here and there the great basaltic walls lining the banks would melt away to rich alluvial land, that must be tempting to the pioneer.

All too soon we reached Portland, Oregon. It was surprising to find here, as well as in other cities of the Pacific Coast, all the modern improvements in street cars, buildings, etc., often carried to much greater perfection than even in our old Eastern cities. Electric or cable cars seemed largely to have taken the place of the ordinary horse cars. These would mount up the high bluffs with as much ease as though going on level ground. Often a ride on these cars to the end of their routes and return would give a better idea of the cities than by going in any other

way.

Tacoma and Seattle are built in terraces into the sides of the bluffs, so that sometimes from the second story you could go out into one street, and from the lower story, into the one below. Here we found sister Emeline Allen Wood-one of the "little sisters"-who was now a grandmother with silver hair. We had not seen her for many a year, but felt that the heart welcome was as tender and fresh as though we had parted but yesterday. From her front steps could be seen old Tacoma, whose giant face looked into ours, till it seemed that with arms but a little longer we could shake hands with the giant himself. And yet the mountain was more than sixty miles away.