iory 



The Days of a Man 1:1891 



"Blossom Day Festival" on the Saturday which 

 falls nearest the prime of display, and on Sunday 

 special services are held in the local churches. 

 The Lick Shortly after our arrival we visited Lick Observa- 

 Observa- ^q^ ^g ^j^g gucsts of its Versatile head, Edward S. 

 Holden. Through the great telescope, which reveals 

 any object on the moon larger than a barn, we 

 viewed the glittering craters, and had a superb 

 glimpse of Saturn and its rings. Dr. Holden enter- 

 tained us royally, but seemed a bit cynical about 

 the apparent cordiality of my reception in Cali- 

 fornia. Referring to the many requests for lectures 

 I was then receiving, he warned me that early 

 popularity meant nothing. With the second year 

 came reaction, and any man whose vogue endured 

 was distinctly fortunate. Later, with characteristic 

 humor, he spoke of my efforts in "diffusing over 

 California the rich culture of the Middle West." 

 But again, and more graciously, he remarked to 

 Mrs. Comstock: "Oh, the youth of Jordan's faculty 

 must make the gods pale with envy!" 



As a memorial, Lick had first contemplated a 

 monstrous statue of himself in Golden Gate Park. 

 But George Davidson, then director of the United 

 States Coast Survey, urged that a monument to 

 science would ensure undying fame, while the statue 

 would be promptly knocked to pieces in the event 

 of war. The outcome of that good advice was the 

 admirably equipped Lick Observatory, completed in 

 1884 and turned over to the University of Cali- 

 fornia In 1888, and the endowment of the struggling 

 California Academy of Sciences. 



Another memorable trip was our first visit to the 

 "Felton Big Trees" — a grove of Sequoia semper- 



C 392 3 



