ubt it was "all for the best." "Skin him," said he, "and sell his
hide." Another one died, and he said the same thing. When the last and
the best died, his wife said to him, "Now the Lord is punishing you
for your meanness!" His reply was, "If the Lord will take it out in
calves it is not so bad." I could not but moralise that the Divine
judgments on us, for our sins, are not as severe as they might be,
and that few of us get what we deserve in the way of punishment or
chastening. I also met a horse dealer, who said that he shipped some
sixty horses every week to a commission merchant in Buffalo. The
latter made three dollars per head for selling them. They brought
about $60 a piece. When shipped at New York, by English buyers, for
France, South Africa, and elsewhere, they cost about $190 a head. The
farmers of Ohio, Indiana, Iowa, and Wisconsin, are getting rich from
horse culture and the raising of cattle. He said that fifteen years
ago, the farmers, in many instances, had heavy notes discounted in the
banks. Now they have no such indebtedness. When formerly he entered a
town he would go to a bank and find out from the cashier who had notes
there; and then he would go and buy the horses of such men at reduced
rates. All is different now. The European demand has helped the
American farmer.

At Akron, Ohio, the energetic and successful Rector of St. Paul's
Church, the Rev. James H.W. Blake, accompanied by his wife and Miss
Graham, his parishioner, boarded the train; and I found them most
agreeable travelling companions to San Francisco. In Chicago, in the
Rock Island Station, I was met by tourist agent Donaldson, in the
employ of the Rock Island Railway Company, and during all the journey
he was most courteous and helpful. Here also I found my old classmate
in the General Theological Seminary, Rev. Dr. Alfred Brittin Baker,
Rector of Trinity Church, Princeton, N.J., Rev. Dr. Henry L. Jones,
of Wilkesbarre, Pa., Rev. Dr. A.S. Woodle, of Altoona, Pa., the Rev.
Henry S. Foster, of Green Bay, Wis., and the Rev. Wm. B. Thorne, of
Marinette, Wis., all journeying to San Francisco. It was a pleasure to
see these friends, and to have their delightful companionship.

Many interesting chapters might be written about this journey; and to
give all the incidents by the way and descriptions of places visited
and pen pictures of persons met would detain you, dear reader, too
long, as you are hastening on to the City by the Golden Gate