ty of his. He did not add that all he did in that line was
to administer occasionally a mild _savon_ which he kept only for family
use when we washed our linen at home.

The abashed ambassador left us, shaking his head, and evidently
wondering why a minister, whether from Denmark or Lapland, couldn't
preach, any more than a doctor who was a doctor couldn't practise.

You may be sure that this episode gave us plenty to laugh about to last
all that beautiful day in the valley of Yosemite.

We stopped there altogether three days, and were lost in admiration and
wonder at the beauty of everything. The greatest wonder the gentlemen
met was the item on the bill for blacking boots, which was fifteen
dollars. They paid without a murmur, because they wanted to tell their
friends about it when they got home.

We took our leave of beautiful Yosemite Valley, throwing a disdainful
look at the _boots_, and we saw the last of the Yosemites peeping at us
from behind the shrubbery. We mounted the stage-coach which was to take
us to Mariposa Grove. We drove up the mountain all right, but when the
summit was reached the coachman began to whip up his six horses and
started galloping them down and turning those corners in such a
reckless manner that our hair stood on end; and in answer to our gentle
words reminding him that there were human beings in the coach he said,
coolly:

"Oh, I guess it'll be all right, but this is my first experience." On a
sharp turn of the road we suddenly saw a great white pine about six
feet in diameter lying right across our path. It had evidently fallen
in the night. Fortunately, the driver saw it and managed to pull up his
six horses in time to avoid a catastrophe.

How in the world should we ever get over this obstacle? All our
projects would be disarranged if there came a single unexpected delay.
A _conseil de guerre_ was held, every one talking at once, and it was
decided that the driver should unhitch the horses, and that each lady
should hold two of them, while the men were to look about to find
timber enough to improvise an inclined plane on both sides of this
enormous tree-trunk, so that the coach could be hauled up on one side
and dragged down on the other. The gentlemen managed to get the
carriage over, then they led the horses over, and lastly we ladies were
piloted across.

After a delay of an hour we were able to drive to Mariposa Hotel, where
we found eight saddle-horses waiting for us. I