LAURA: Did you notice the wave or bend in the column of water, said to be due to the current of wind striking it in its long descent?

GRACE: I did not notice that, but I understand that it is quite apparent when the body of water is not too heavy. Here is a view of the Yosemite Falls, formed by the leap of the Yosemite Creek of the river Merced, over a cliff 2,600 feet high. JOHN: About half a mile.

GRACE: There are three leaps, of which the highest is 1,600 feet. It is estimated that when the river is full, in the spring, about a million and a half of cubic feet of water pass over this fall every hour. This is perhaps the highest fall in the world. Here is a view of the Vernal Fall, very beautiful, though not so high as some of the others, being only from 350 to 400 feet. It falls over a perpendicular rock; but steps are cut from the valley, and a brave and cool person can climb to the top if he thinks proper. At the top there is a breastwork of rock, so that one can enjoy the view without danger when once one is there. Papa and Cyril were both venturesome enough to undertake this trip. In this picture we see the breastwork to the right.

I am not keeping exactly to the order in which the visitor approaches these several sights, but I find it easier to speak of them separately. I think that one of the loveliest features of the Yosemite Valley is the Mirror Lake, embosomed among the mountains, pinnacles, and domes, and reflecting all these objects, down to the minutest lichen on the rocks, on its perfectly smooth surface. Another beautiful effect is produced by the reflection of the "Three Brothers" in the Merced River. As I sat by the lake in the stillness of the afternoon, on that summer's day, while our party roamed about among the rocks, Whittier's poem, "The Lake Side," came into my mind, and I found myself repeating:

The President: Very aptly quoted, Grace. It is not often that we find bodies of water that are sufficiently smooth and clear to give this intensely powerful reflection of surrounding objects. Some of the smaller lakes in Canada have this quality in an extraordinary degree. The water is so clear, that you can look down many feet into the depths until, as you sail along, you seem to be floating in air, and the islands and shores, lined as they are with trees, are reproduced in inexpressible vividness and beauty. But we are not yet nearly through our evening, and you have done almost all the talking so far, and I fear must be tired.

GRACE: I have finished my special talk, and am thankful to be able to call upon my brother, who kindly undertook to help me. He will, if you please, take my place for the rest of this excursion to the Yosemite, and papa will say something about California.

* Indian phrase: "Smile of the Great Spirit."

CHAPTER III.

THE YOSEMITE.

YRIL: When my sister spoke of the perpendicular cliff of the Vernal Falls, I had in my mind also a piece of poetry, and, to vary the entertainment a little, I will quote it, and then invite the club to guess the author's name. I should not be able to quote it correctly to-night, had I not a few minutes ago slipped into papa's library and copied the piece. Here it is:

DR. HARVEY: If you had not said that you had copied the lines I should have credited you with the impromptu authorship; but now that I think of it, there is a certain rhythm and ring even in that short quotation which makes me think of Sir Walter Scott.*

CYRIL: You are right, sir; but if I quote the concluding lines of the stanza, their applicability to the scenes now before us, notwithstanding the disparity of circumstances, and surroundings, will, I think, be admitted by every one; names, of course, being different.

"And mountains, that like giants stand

To sentinel enchanted land.

High on the south, huge Ben-venue

Down on the lake in masses threw

* It is from his description of Loch Katrine-of course a much larger piece of water than the Mirror Lake of the Yosemite, which is only a mile in circumference.

THE PRESIDENT: Miss Grace alluded to Bret Harte in her introduction. Does any member of the club recollect his poem upon the big trees?

LAURA I have it, sir. It is entitled "On a Cone of a Big Tree, or Sequoia gigantea.” He says:

"Thy sire saw the light that shone
On Mohammed's uplifted crescent,
On many a royal gilded throne

And deed forgotten in the present.

"He saw the age of sacred trees,

And Druid groves and mystic larches;

And saw from forest domes like these
The builder bring his Gothic arches."

His concluding thought, as expressed in the next quotation, has reference to the fact that this particular cone, instead of being the parent of other big trees, is doomed to live as a specimen upon his study table "under ink-drops idly scattered:"

"Not thine alone the germs that fail

The purpose of their high creation,

If their poor tenements avail

For worldly show and ostentation."

AUNT HARRIET: I suppose the poet would suggest to us that real practical use or progress is inconsistent with mere "worldly show and ostentation."