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opened to him on golden hinges of acclamation, and where he administered the pledge to upwards of four thousand persons the first day. His method of administering the pledge was somewhat novel, though at the same time quite affecting. The converts knelt in a semi-circle around him, and repeated the following words:

'I promise, with divine assistance, to abstain from all intoxicating liquors, cordials, cider and fruit liquors, and to prevent, as much as possible, intemperance in others, by advice and example.'

To this, Father Mathew's response was, 'May God bless you, my children. May he give you grace and strength to keep the pledge.' He then went to each individual and marked them with the sign of the cross; but this latter ceremony, and the kneeling, were dispensed with in the case of Protestants. In this way, the venerable and devoted man traveled over almost the entire country, zealously advocating his great principles, and upwards of six hundred thousand persons enrolled themselves under his banner of total abstinence. Upon descending the Mississippi, he administered in one of the towns situated on its banks, the pledge to seven hundred persons. He ascended it, after an interval of some months, and stopping at the same town, he had the gratification to find that among the converts there were but three instances of relapse. Though not possessed of the oratorical graces of eloquence, like those of Gough, he knew how to present truth with such force and sincerity, as to win almost irresistibly irresistibly upon all hearers. The following anecdote will illustrate his peculiar forte :

'Did you see Father Mathew lately?' said one friend to another, whom he happened to meet. 'I did,' was the reply. 'And I'll engage he made you take the pledge!' 'He did, indeed. But did you see him lately?' 'To be sure I did.' 'And did he make you take it too?' 'That he did!' 'There's no escaping him; but I am not sorry for it.' 'No, nor I neither.'

Personally, Father Mathew was a little

above the ordinary stature, with a full and well-proportioned figure, dark hair, soft blue eyes, ruddy and healthy complexion.

Though characterized by periods of prosperity and declension, the temperance cause has proved itself ineradicable, even under circumstances seemingly the most untoward. Perhaps the greatest struggle through which it has passed, in later years, has been that which involved the enactment of state prohibitory laws, which visited stringent penalties upon those who sold spirituous liquors. The name of Neal Dow, the author and advocate of this kind of legislation, the discussion attending which has been one of the most important and exciting during the century, will forever be identified with the history of the American temperance reformation, as will also the names of Greeley and Miner, distinguished champions of the same principle.

It would be an easy task to fill a whole volume with distinguished testimonies to the value of temperance. As this, however, would here be impossible, a few pleasant illustrative incidents will suffice the purpose.

Towards the close of the revolutionary war, an officer in the American army had occasion to transact some business with General Washington, and repaired to Philadelphia for that purpose. Before leaving, he received an invitation to dine with the general, which was accepted and, upon entering the room he found himself in the company of a large number of ladies and gentlemen. As they were mostly strangers to him, and he was of a naturally modest and unassuming disposition, he took a seat near the foot of the table, and refrained from taking an active part in the conversation. Just before the dinner was concluded, Washington politely requested him, by name, to drink a glass of wine with him.

'You will have the goodness to excuse me, general,' was the reply, as I have made it a rule not to take wine.'

All eyes were instantly turned upon the

young officer, and a murmur of contempt and surprise ran around the room. That a person should be so unsocial, not to say mean, as never to drink wine, was really too bad; but that he should abstain from it on an occasion like that, and even when offered to him by Washington himself, was really intolerable! Washington noticed at once the feelings of his guests, and promptly addressed them in his gracious and winning way, saying:

'Gentlemen, Mr. is right. I do not wish any of my guests to partake of anything against their inclination, and I certainly do not wish them to violate any established principle in their intercourse with me. I honor Mr.

for

his frankness, for his consistency in thus adhering to an established rule which can never do him harm, and for the adoption of which, I have no doubt, he has good reasons.'

General Taylor, the hero of the Mexican war, always gave the weight of his example in favor of temperance. A traveler in the west one day encountered an emigrant journeying with his family to the fertile regions beyond the Mississippi, all his worldly goods being packed on wagons, and on one load there hung a huge jug with the bottom broken out. The emigrant was asked his reason for carrying that with him. Why,' he said,

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'that is my Taylor jug.' 'And what is a Taylor jug?' inquired the friend. 'Why,' said the emigrant, 'I had a son with General Taylor's army in Mexico, and the old general always told him to carry his whiskey-jug with a hole in the bottom; and since that, I have carried my jug as you see it, and I find it is the best invention I ever met with.'

Everybody admired Admiral Farragut's heroism in clinging to the topmast to direct a battle; but there was another particular of that contest, illustrating no less forcibly his heroic character. Admiral,' said one of his officers, the night before the battle, 'won't you consent to give Jack a glass of grog in the morning, not enough to make him drunk, but enough to make him fight cheerfully?' 'Well,' replied the admiral, 'I have been to sea considerably, and have seen a battle or two, but I never found that I wanted rum to enable me to do my duty. I will order two cups of coffee to each man, at two o'clock; and, at eight o'clock, I will pipe all hands to breakfast, in Mobile bay.' And he did give Jack the coffee; and then he went up to the mast-head, and the result is well known.

These illustrations of devotedness to the principle of temperance in high places might be greatly multiplied. Their value to the cause can hardly be overestimated.

XXXV.

FREMONT'S HEROIC EXPEDITION OF DISCOVERY TO THE UNTRACKED REGION OF THE NORTH-WEST,

OREGON, CALIFORNIA, ETC.-1842.

His Exploration of the Sierra Nevada, and of that Wonderful Gateway in the Rocky Mountains, the South Pass.-Plants the American Flag on the Highest Peak of that Lofty Range.-He Enriches Every Branch of Natural Science, and Illustrates a Remote and Boundless Country Before Entirely

Unknown.-Fremont, a Pioneer of Empire.-National Objects of this Tour-Enchanting Record of Adventure.-Surveys and Researches.-Humboldt's Tribute of Admiration.-Wild Grandeur of the Route.-Scenes in this Vast Domain.-The Rocky Mountains: First Glimpses.-Formation of the South Pass.-" Kit Carson," the Intrepid Guide.-At the Topmost Peak, 14,000 Feet.-Startling Boldness of the View.-Overpowering Quiet and Solitude.-Evidences of Awful Convulsions.-Unfurling the Flag of the Union.-Appearance of Great Salt Lake.-Eternal Snows of the Sierra Nevada.-In the San Joaquin Valley.-An Immense Circuit of Travel.Fremont, the Modern Pathfinder.-Honors from His Countrymen.-A King's Gift and Regards.

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"Prominently deserving of distinguished recognition is the service rendered to geographical science by the American explorer, Fremont."-KING FREDERIC WILLIAM IV., OF PRUSSIA, TO BARON HUMBOLDT.

VERY American reader is enchanted with the narrative of

EXPLORING THE NORTH-WEST. those intrepid and heroic explorations of Fremont, "the Pathfinder," which, in the language of Humboldt,- himself the greatest scientific explorer and geographer the world has ever seen,-" enriched every branch of natural science, and illustrated a vast country before entirely unknown," and in appreciation of which he received from his admiring countrymen the highest tokens of honor, and, from kingly hands, acknowledgments inscribed on tablets of gold.

Several exploring tours of the western portion of our continent, within the geographical boundaries of the country subsequently known by the title of Oregon, took place before that which was led by the brave Fremont, but none with such rich and varied results as the latter.

It being desirable for our government to become fully acquainted with the character of the vast territory between the southern geographical boundary of the United States and the Rocky Mountains, around the head-waters of the Missouri, Fremont was appointed to superintend that exploring tour, under the direction of Colonel Abert, the chief of the topographical bureau at Washington, and by him projected and

planned, with the approval of Secretary Poinsett. The great object of this expedition was to examine and report upon the rivers and country between the frontiers of Missouri and the base of the Rocky Mountains; and especially to examine the character, and ascertain the latitude and longitude of that wonderful gateway, the South Pass, the great crossing place to these mountains on the way to Oregon.

In executing his official instructions, Fremont proceeded up the Kansas river far enough to ascertain its peculiar features, and then crossed over to the Great Platte, and pursued that river to its source in the mountains, where the Sweet Water a head branch of the Platte-issues from the neighborhood of the South Pass. He reached the Pass on the eighth of August, and found it to be a wide and low depression of the mountains, of very easy ascent, and where a plainly beaten wagon. load leads to the Oregon through the valley of Lewis's river, a fork of the Columbia. He went through the Pass, and saw the head-waters of the Colorado, of the Gulf of California; and, leaving the valleys to indulge a laudable curiosity, and to make some useful observations, Fremont, attended by four of his men, climbed the loftiest peak of the Rocky Mountains, until then untrodden by any known human being; and, on the fifteenth of August, looked down upon ice and snow some thousand feet below, and traced in the distance the valleys of the rivers which, taking their rise in the same elevated ridge, flow in opposite directions to the Pacific ocean and to the Mississippi. From that ultimate point he returned by the valley of the Great Platte, following the stream in its whole course, and solving all questions in relation to its navigability, and the features of the country through which it flows.

On the prairies which border the forks of the river Platte, the travelers bivouacked in the evening, eating their meat with a good relish; for they were all in fine health, and had ridden nearly all of a long summer's day, with a burning sun reflected from the sands.

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When about sixty miles distant, the party caught the first faint glimpse of the Rocky Mountains. Though a tolerably bright day, there was a slight mist, and the snowy summit of Long's Peak,' showing like a small cloud near the horizon, was just barely discernible. There was, however, no mistake in distinguishing it, there being a perceptible difference in its appearance from the white clouds that were floating about the sky.

Proceeding onward through hostile tribes of Indians, Fremont reached the first military frontier post-Fort Laramie; departing thence, in a short time, for the bases of the "great mountains." With the change in the geological formation on leaving Fort Laramie, the whole face of the country appears entirely changed. Eastward of the meridian, the principal objects which strike the eye of the traveler are the absence of timber, and the immense expanse of prairie, covered with the verdure of rich grasses, and highly adapted for pasturage. Wherever they are not disturbed by the vicinity of man, large herds of buffalo give animation to this country.

Many sufferings were endured in reaching the Rocky Mountains, but the following details show that the labors of the party were amply rewarded. About six miles from their encampment brought the party to the summit of the South Pass. The ascent had been so gradual, that, with all the intimate knowledge possessed by Carson, the guide, and who had made that country his home for seventeen years, the party were obliged to watch very closely to find the place at which they had reached the culminating point. This was between two low hills, rising on either hand fifty or sixty feet. From the broken ground where this pass commences, at the foot of the Wind River Chain, the view to the south-east is over a champaign country, broken, at the distance of nineteen miles, by the Table Rock, which, with the other isolated hills in its vicinity, seemingly stands on a comparative plain. The 'Pass' in no manner resembles the places

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