Editorials. 



271 



EDITORIALS. 



The Whymper Members of the Sierra Club will be interested 

 Bequest. and gratified to learn that the noted British 



alpinist, Edward Whymper, has by his will, left 

 the Sierra Club a bequest of £50, equivalent to about $250. 

 Whymper, as all the world knows, made the first ascent of the 

 Swiss Matterhorn, and was the only survivor of the fatal acci- 

 dent which resulted in the death of a guide and four of his 

 fellow climbers. He had always shown a friendly interest in the 

 Sierra Club, of which he was elected an honorary member some 

 years ago. But no one had reason to expect that Whymper 

 would remember the Sierra Club in his will. The gracious gift 

 of this charming writer and famous mountaineer, one time presi- 

 dent of the British Alpine Club, is a fine tribute to the spirit of 

 free masonry which unites all alpinists in the bond of fraternity, 

 and the memory of it will be passed on among the honored tradi- 

 tions of our Club. 



The gift also calls fitting attention to something which our 

 members have been slow to realize so far. We refer to the fact 

 that the Sierra Club in the pursuit of its chosen purposes confers 

 great public benefits and is therefore worthy of the financial sup- 

 port of those of its members and friends who are able to make 

 gifts or bequeath legacies. The Appalachian Club has been the 

 recipient of a number of bequests made by its members and only 

 this past year had $1,000 left to it for a special purpose. There 

 doubtless are many of our members who sympathize with the 

 aims of the Club sufficiently to remember it some day in their 

 wills. Many causes to which money or property is devised in 

 these days are not half as worthy, or as permanent in the benefits 

 they confer, as the objects for which the Sierra Club stands. 

 We are in need of a large permanent fund with the income of 

 which to carry on special work. Who will follow the example of 

 Edward Whymper? W. F. B. 



The Hetch Hetchy Another postponement of the final hear- 

 SiTUATiON. ing on the Hetch Hetchy grant has be- 



come necessary according to notices sent 

 out by the Secretary of the Interior. The City Engineer's health 

 has broken down and it has in consequence become necessary to 

 employ other engineers to prepare the data required from the city 



