he mother
who rears a family of noble men and women, John. I would rather be in some mothers' shoes than in the President's."
"And so would I. But it is hard, when a man has raised a daughter of great mental promise, to see her talents buried under the selfish domination of some prig of a husband who has all the power though he hasn't half her sense."
"Wait long enough," said John, as they passed Tillamook Head and pursued their undulating way southward; " wait long enough, and the genius of American liberty and enterprise will settle yonder shores with a million or more inhabitants. Railroads by the dozen will cross the continent in time, sending out lateral branches in all directions, till the whole country is gridironed with paths for the iron horse."
"But the mountains are in the way, John."
"They will be tunnelled or looped, Joe. New feats of engineering are being developed constantly; and I should not be surprised to hear of the discovery of some new force, or rather of the discovery of the utility of some always existing force, which will revolutionize transportation on the land and the sea. There are islands to the west of us, lots of them. And who knows but they will become a part of the possessions of the United States before the close of the century? I'd like to have Burns and Jean and the Little Doctor here to^ help me talk it out."
"I can't let my mind get away from me, as you do," laughed Joseph, and they changed the subject.
Days passed, and the timber lines of southern Oregon and northern California gave way to the extensive treeless regions that border the central and southern edges of the Golden State. Immense stretches of barren, sandy wastes rose high in the arid heavens, revealing a region
