342 Beyond the Sierras. 



of space, perfectly accessible in all parts, ejxsy of exit, secure against acci- 

 dent, solid Jis a rock, and susceptible of decoration. It must be a positive 

 luxury to a speaker to occupy tlie platform of this marvelous hall. 



Over yonder, against the mountain-side, to the south, is Fort Douglas, 

 but I find no time for a visit. About eighty per cent, of the voters in Salt 

 Lake are Mormons. I dare say that in all local affairs they have their own 

 way, even to particulars. I incline to the opinion that the religious system 

 professed by these people is no longer espoused and gloried in as it was 

 aforetime, but is accepted as the proper thing, pretty much as formal munic- 

 ipal christians sometimes accept th'^ir church. Meanwhile, a spirit of en- 

 terprise hiis appeared in Salt Lake, which is leading to the rapid develop- 

 ment of the valley. Here is an open secret : the biggest of the booms is 

 going to be, erelong, in this city of the latter day saints. If the reader has 

 any money to invest in speculation here is the place. Doubtless he does not 

 like the Mormons, but it may be that he is willing to turn an honest penny 

 by dealing in their real estate. 



The time has now arrived for our departure from the valley. I say 

 " our," for by this time I have had the good fortune to make some new 

 friends, as agreeable and generous as those whom I left behind in Califor- 

 nia. The elegant little narrow-gauge sleeping-coach which takes us up for 

 the passage of the Rocky Mountains has among its passengers several per- 

 sons whom I shall always be glad to have known. Here I unexpectedly 

 became acquainted with Dr. Pitt Cobbett, one of the law lecturers at the 

 University of Oxford. The Doctor has been out on an extended trip to 

 Australia, and is now making his way back across our continent. I tind 

 bim a thorough-going English radical, something I should not have ex- 

 pected in an Oxford man and a lecturer on law. Many are the good things 

 which we tell each other relative to the political and social systems of our 

 respective countries. I was able to post him up with respect to the work- 

 ings of American colleges and universities; and he told me much more than 

 I ever knew before about the inside of Oxford and the molecular oscillations 

 of the English mind in its higher realms of activity. If these words should 

 ever meet him at No, 4 Kings Bench Walk, Temple, E. C, I hope they 

 will revive for him as many pleasant memories as the recollection of him- 

 self and his conversation does now for me. 



I should be wicked not to add the names of Mr. and Mrs. F. G. Hellling 

 and little Claudia, their daughter, of Chicago, and, also, Mr. and Mrs. Frank 

 A. Anderson, of Kansas City. Than these I met no people more agreeable 

 and happy-minded. We journeyed together in a little clump of extempo- 

 rized friendship all the way from Sacramento to Colorado Springs and Den- 

 ver, and my own enjoyment of the sul)lime mountain scenery, into which 

 we were now about to plunge, was greatly enhanced by their presence and 

 company. As we entered the shadows of Gunnison Pass and began to whirl 

 between the tall clifTs which overhung our way, the song of little Claudia 



