in the ocean surf beyond, in the full
light, were two or three, already in, having the full frolic of their
free pleasure in the blue waters of the Pacific.

But we had yet to see other places, and soon San Francisco was left
behind.

XIV

Departure for San Jose.--Palo Alto.--Advertiser.--Leland Stanford, Jr.,
University.

Our next point after leaving San Francisco was San Jose. On our flight
thither, we stopped off for some four hours at Palo Alto, and took a
lovely ride through the gorgeous Leland Stanford estate, and also some
others; taking in besides, the wonderful Leland Stanford, Jr.,
University. It was all, it is true, but a glimpse, but a glorious one.
Are not our best impressions often but the result of supreme moments!
We see and feel in such moments, with an intenseness, which gives us
our best conceptions and our most cherished memories. If we approach a
scene with the imagination all wrought up, we are often apt to be
disappointed; for, there is that in the ideal of all minds which never
can be realized. But, as if to make up for this condition of our being,
nature and art, each alike, sometimes come upon us unawares, with such
unexpected beauty, that our ideal is accomplished for us, and even more
than realized, before we know it. Then we submit ourselves to our
surprise, and are satisfied.

Somewhat in this mood Palo Alto broke upon us. There were the rich
lands in high cultivation, the spreading trees of various kinds, the
vineyards, the olive yards, the orchards, the spacious houses, the
glowing gardens all abloom. The whole was a rich combination gratifying
every sense.

We saw in one of the gardens a beautiful piece of Greek art brought
from Pompeii, a portion of a graceful curved peristyle of marble, once
white and glistening, but now a rich fawn color, the result of time
stretching back to the beginning of the Christian era or beyond. Every
line of the fluting on the columns, and the carving on architrave and
capital, was fresh as if of yesterday. It stood there like a dream of
the far past, made visible to us here to-day, in a garden of roses in
this enchanting West.

Another object also interested us. It was a superb living thing which
might have served as a model for the sculptor of the Parthenon frieze.
It was the great blooded horse "Advertiser," for which some fabulous
sum had been offered and refused. I forget who owned the creature, or
what the sum was which was thus offe