The Republican journal., 1915-11-25
The Unitarian Pilgrimage

10 tne conference III San Francisco
At the meeting of the Woman's Alliance of
the First Parish (Unitarian) church. held last
Thursday afternoon at the home of Miss
Frances Chase, the members of the Junior
Alliance were present by invitation and Mrs.
Alva Ray Scott of Bangor gave a very inter-
esting talk on the Unitarian pilgrimage to the
National Conference in San Francisco. The
party of which Mrs. Scott and her husband
who is pastor of the Unitarian church in Ban
gor, were m embers included about 800 people,
personally conducted by Cook" The train
was labelled "Unitarian Special and members
of the party and their baggage were all tagged
with large red tags. Mrs. Scott is a very
pleasing speaker, and evidently enjoyed re-
lating her experiences on the trip, as did her
interested hearers, She said they constantly
heard the question, what does Unitarian Spec
ia mean? and supposed they were taken for
advance agents for some new food. some
thing of that kind. We left Boston, said Mrs.
Scott, on schedule time but arrived at Mon
treal, our first stopping place, ahead of time
the next morning and while waiting for our
breakfast in that beautiful station we adopted
orf motto, which we chung to throughout the
trip and which we often had occasion to quote
to turn frowns into smiles. This is the way I
remember it:
The pig is in the garden,
The baby is in the lake,
The COW is in the hammock
What difference does it make?
After a general inspection of MontreaPs
beautiful buildings, etc. we went to Fort Will
liam, where were formally welcomed by
the Mayor. In fact it seemed to be the GUS
tom of Canadian Mayors to welcome the Uni
tartan specials. We travelled through this in
teresting country to Winnipeg. where we visit
ed its mission church, were given charming
auto rides and lunched at the wonderful Royal
Alexandra Hotel. 1t is depressing to see the
effect the has had on Canada-its people
and industries. Women everywhere are work
ing for the war relief. From Winnipeg we
went to Moose Jaw, and while l failed to
find the significance of this name the place
was interesting. Our next stopping place
was Medicine Hat, the ugliest place. with the
exception of San Francisco, it has been
my misfortune to whit. 1t is said this city
has the largest number of autos per CAPT.
ia of any place in the country. In fact. every
place we visited in Canada excelled in some-
thing or other, the largest or smallest.
At Calgary we stopped at hotel, saw the
city, and went to the Heights, where the mill
lionaires have many beautiful residences.
Then we went to church again. and held an
o Their Alliance meeting. At Banff we found
the real Canadian Rockies which are beauti-
full. Mrs. Scott gave vivid descriptions of the
scenery of Lake Louise. Emerald Lake, Lake
Agnes, Mt. Burgess, Mt. Stephen. and the
wonderful and beautiful scenery of this re-
gion. The Great Divide between Alberta and
British Columbia was described, the sire ms
flowing to the Pacific on one side and to the
Atlantic on the other, and the glacier with
flowers at its base. Then she told of the Kick
ing Horse valley and Fraser gorge and of Van
couver, most wonderful city. At Seattle
forest fire was raging which marred the pleas
ure of the visit. Here the party dedicated a
lot recently presented to the local Unitarians
by the American Unitarian Association, and
met Rev. and Mrs Perkins, formerly of Port
tertained. After short visit in Portland
they went to San Francisco, where the Con-
ference was held Among the many interest,"
ing peakers Mrs. Scott mentioned Ex- Pres-
dent Taft, DR.. Elliott and DR.. Reed in the
general conference, Mrs Davis of the Nation
al Alliance, and others. She also touched
briefly on the side trips on the coast, to the
Grand Canon, ETC., and told of a weeks visit
in Chicag. with relatives on the return jour
ney Mrs. Scott told many interesting person
al experiences, interspersed with witty stories
and anecdotes, and it was delight to listen to
her. At the close of her talk an informal re-
ception was held and all present had the pleas
ure of meeting Mrs. Scott While here she
was the guest of Mr.. and Mrs. Jas. H. Howes.
She went to Castine Friday and addressed the
Castine Alliance. The Lincolnville Alliance
was invited here Thursday but was unable to
attend. Bangor ladies had planned coming
here by auto but the bad travelling prevented
Mrs Scott has hundreds of post cards of the
trip. with other souvenirs which were passed
among her listeners Thursday afternoon,