always
to address the _ci-devant_ tailor, now "king of Aurora," as "Doctor," of
which title he was extremely vain, and to treat him with all the
reverence which as sovereign republicans we could muster; otherwise he
would probably turn his back on us without ceremony.

On a pleasant September morning the steam ferry-boat conveyed us from
Portland across the Willamette River to the depot of the Oregon and
California Railroad, and soon afterward we were rushing southward in the
train along the right shore of that stream--here as broad as the
Rhine--the rival of the mighty Columbia. After a pleasant and
interesting journey through giant forests and over fertile prairies,
some large, some small, embellished here and there with farms, villages
and orchards, we reached Oregon City, which lies in a romantic region
close to the Willamette: then leaving the river, we thundered on some
miles farther through the majestic primitive forest, and soon entered
upon a broad, wood-skirted prairie, over which here and there pretty
farm-houses and groves are scattered; and presently beheld, peeping out
from swelling hills and standing in the middle of a prosperous
settlement embowered in verdure, the slender white church-tower of
Aurora, and were at the end of our journey.

Our first course after we left the cars was to the tavern, standing
close to the railroad on a little hill, whither the passengers hurried
for lunch. This so-called "hotel," the best known and most famous, as
has already been said, in all Oregon, I might compare to an
old-fashioned inn. The long table with its spotless table-cloth was
lavishly spread with genuine German dishes, excellently cooked, and we
were waited on by comely and neatly-dressed German girls; and though the
dinner would not perhaps compare with the same meal at the club-house of
the "San Francisco" I must confess that it was incomparably the best I
ever tasted in Oregon, in which region neither the cooks nor the bills
of fare are usually of the highest order.

Dinner being over, we made inquiry for Doctor Keil, to whom we were now
ready to pay our respects. Our host pointed out to us the doctor's
dwelling-house, which looked, in the distance, like the premises of a
well-to-do Low-Dutch farmer; and after passing over a long stretch of
plank-road, we turned in the direction of the royal residence. On the
way we met several laborers just coming from the field, who looked as if
life went well with them