National Republican., 1880-10-06
TIE PRESTp ENrS rRIP.


The president and his party have every
reason to be gratiGed with the attention they
have received since their arrival on this coast,
not alone from our first people," but from the
enthusiastic crowds who gathered everywhere
like an army with banners to welcome aud
TO cheer. The president has made q very
pleasant impression; but Mrs. Hayes Is most
the "telle" ofthe party. Hand
somo in person, cordial iu manner, spirited in
sho has won alike the hearts
of the rough miners. tho man Of society, and
women, suggesting LowolPs lines
a perfect woman--nobly planned
To warn. TO comfort, and command
The party returned yesterday from series
of visits to the "bonanza kings" of our coast,
whose almost princely places are few miles
south of San Francisco-EN.Go Governor STAN
ford, ID. o. Mills aud Senator Sharon.
One of the number remarked to me on his
return, meanwhile holding an aching head in
his hands.
"Think Of i'll At sharon's eighty guests
sat down 10 dinner, and there we stayed for
four interminablc hours. Then we break
tasted with u. o. Mills, or IN other words sat
down at 10 and rose at /. Aud SO we have
been living ever since We had our first view
Of the Golden Gate!"
But" inquired, "why doesn't the presi-
dent also have hoHdacheP
lie smiled n wan smile at my innocence as
he replied, "Ho doesn't drink"
To-day tue majority of the party start on
thoir Journey to Oregon overland, part Of the
way by rail, 275 miles by stage. Tho ladies
will suffer some from fatigue while staging it,
but will be amply compensated. The scenery
on the whole route is varied and grand beyond
description. Their road lies through the
valley of the Sacramento to its hcad.waters
ut the base of Mount Shasta, continuing on
over the different ranges composing the coast
range then through the valley Of the Villa
mottc to Portland.
Ten years ago we made the same Journey
enjoying so kcenly its sublime scenery that
time and old age may be deficd to otIacc 1t
from our memories. From the hour when we
entered the broad valley of the Sacramento,
teeming with luxuriaut vegetation, to our ar
rival In Portland, Oregon, there was constantly
passing before us u wonderful panorama Of fer
tile valleys, vcrdant, modest foothills, snow.
capped mountains, rapid, fOaming rivers, pri-
meyal forests Of gigantic pines, peaceful hooks
radiant with Cailornia's wild flowers, ravinGs,
precipitous canons-and, over all, the clear
blue dome above, and the bracing air TO breathe.
AS we followed the course of the up.
per Sacramento sometimes, We would be
ON u level with it-often on its very brink
when we could sec 1t dashing aud foamng
over Its bOulder-strown bed, with tho noise OF
u small Niagara; sometimes we would be high
in the mountains, tho stage, with six we'll
trained horses driven at full speed, around the
sharp curves of the road; steep prccpiCes be.
low us on one side, on tho other the mountain S
adamantine walls, rearing themselves perpen.
dicularly aloft; while the river, hundreds OF
feet below, looked like u silver thread winding
through the narrow valley. At numerous
points on the road we had grand views OF
Shasta--ovcr 400 feet high, ctcrnally snow
capped, not flanlied by other peaks, but rising
maiestic aud alone 1l,000 ieot above the whole
surrounding country.
Remember that one Of our halts was made
mt place which reminded me of Church S
Heart of the Andes" quiet green spot
shut in among the mountains, containing
about ten acres of level ground, tho Sacra-
mcnto whirling through 1t. Here, twenty
years before, our landlord and his wife had
made their homo; their present snug house,
orchard aud garden having in time succeeded
to the log cabin aud pino forest Of the past.
Our laudlady impressed us Ut once us woman
| of some refinement, both In her personal ap-
pearance and in her surroundings The bed
| linen and house were scrupulously clean
while the engravings In cone frames, the
| hanging baskets almost hidden by trailing
vines and moses, the trained roses, stuffed
birds and boolS.shelves well filed, all told OF
u woman Of Intelligence and womanly tastes
| We were deeply interested in her and
| through tho day could not forbcar "a little
spouded readily, aud that evening, when
we sat together on the porch, the darknes!
deepening around US, the wind sweeping
| through the pines on the mountains, she
briefly slletchod for us her life-the lif,
of brave lady. She told us that after {
few years Of happy though not prosperous
married life her husband left her to seek
| his fortune in the mines OF this fal
west. He was soon somewhat successful aud
sent for her. But in an unlucky speculation
he lost everything then determined to take
up this claim in the mountains rs home fol
his wife while he should again start for the
mines. Here his wife lived alone in her
rude log cabin for years, passing the days IL
clearing up little patches for II garden aud
orchard-pNnting and sowing-the intcrmin
able monotony OF her life only varied by
few visits from her husband or the nrrva
of an occasional traveller over the trail,
for road there was none, and the near
est cabin was fifty miles away. Sht
never dared to deny to the most suspicious
looking character tho accommodations he re
quired. In those days travellers did not ask
for meals or lodging, but came in aud tool
them. paying for them or not, Us they wished
The days, she said, though lonely and desc
late beyond expression, were endurable, Bu
every night was dread, often u horror, from
fears real and imaginary-fears Of her dodgers
of Indians, of wild beasts, of the yillanOu
foreigners who then infested the country
She had no knowledge of tho use Of firearms
but friendly miners circulated the ropor
through the mines aud Indian country tha
she was a crack shot, which considerato false
hood may have proved some slight protection
toher.
We sat beside her In fascinated silence a
one experience after another fell from he
lips, some thrilling, some pUthetic-oC illness
alone aud helpless, of scUrcs from Indians an'
their cruelties among settlers, OF news o
murders and frghtful scenes in miniui
camps; stories of strange men with strange
histories who had lodged with her, or whom
she nursed through feyors, or whose wound
she healed.
While listening to her stirring, often clio
qucnt, recital the moon had set behind tn
mountains, the weird midnight had stolen ol
us, making everything take wild shapes ant
motions rs if beneath spell" and the wild
grand scene around us seemed ilod with Tia
associutions of this slight pale woman
cyentlul past When We went to bed thn
might though wearcd" with our hundred
miles ride over a mountainous road, IL va
some time before the Sweet restOrcr' came
owing rs Buuyan hath it, to our "bein,
mmbled up and down in our mindsi' for In
daus, bears, murders aud miners made
medley in our brains aud filed the night will
phuntums. The remainder of the journey wa
continued through scenes which III
most graphic pen could not adc