ageous and determined; for this afternoon, when, exhausted and despairing, I sat down, and weeping, proposed to give up and lie down and die where we were, he would not consent to it, but said, "No, we will keep going as long as we can walk"; and represented to me that, as we had left no friends

ing was exceedingly laborious, and exposure, want of sleep, and want of food were beginning to tell upon our strength. We might have made this day at the most ten or twelve miles. In the evening we finished our meat, which amounted to not more than two or three mouthfuls apiece, made our beds as the night before, and lay down.

December 4th.-About noon we came to the river. I learned afterwards it was the middle fork of the American. This day we suffered a good deal from hunger. We were still pretty strong, however. The snow was not so deep. We probably traveled as far this day as on the third. We kept down the river till night, and then made our beds as before. December 5th.-We kept down the river until about the middle of the day, when we came to where it ran through a deep cañon with very steep, rocky sides. We could not follow the river through this cañon, so turned up the bank to the right, to the top of the ridge between this stream and the We followed down the ridge some little distance, then kept again to the right, and descended to a large stream to the north. We waded through this stream, and prepared our bed a little up its northern bank. We had hoped that it would be muddy, showing that there were miners in the neighborhood, but it was quite clear.

next.

none in California who would take much pains to try to find us, should we die where we then were our friends in the East would never know what had become of us; and so, after a little, he persuaded me to make another effort. When we reached the stream in the evening where we were to camp, I said to Allan:

"Let us make up our bed for the last time, for we shall never leave this place." But Allan said he thought we should get in somewhere yet. We did not talk much. We were too weak. We made our bed and lay down. For my part, I felt so exhausted that evening that I hardly expected to live until morning, and I thought even if we did live till then we should probably not be able to walk.

December 6th.-We slept a little, but only to be tortured by horrible and extravagant dreams. In the morning, rather to my surprise, we were able to stand. The snow here was only a few inches deep. We were getting down the mountains, and the last few days had been warm. If there had been much snow we certainly should not have been able to walk; as it was, we were barely able to crawl along, and went almost as much on our hands and knees as on our feet. We went northwest, in a direction slanting up the bank of the river we had lain by. About ten o'clock we reached a flat piece of ground. About eleven o'clock Allan said he heard a dog bark. But I did not hear it, and did not believe it. I thought he only fancied he heard it. He was so positive, however, that we went in that direction, and had not gone far when we came to a ditch with water running in it. This showed that we were close to mines that were being worked. We followed the ditch, and in a little while saw houses. I

can recollect distinctly to this day that even then I did not feel sure that we should find men in these houses; but a few minutes later Allan said, "There is smoke"; and I saw a thin blue column slowly rising from one of the chimneys. Then I felt certain that our troubles were over. This was the worst delusion of all. Our troubles had just fairly begun.

When we reached the houses it was nearly noon; and upon talking to the men we found in them, we learned that we had walked or crawled just three quarters of a mile that day. We were no longer hungry, and when food was offered us we found we could not eat. A very small quantity which we took made us feel sick. The next day after we got in we could not walk. Our feet were badly frozen. We could not sleep. The miners were kind; everything that could be done for us as far as it lay in their power they did. We got worse and worse. After a few days we became delirious. The miners sent down the mountains for medical and surgical assistance.

On the twelfth day after we reached the mining camp, Allan died. Thus, by the most extraordinary concurrence of circumstances, the details of their discovery were entirely lost. The three men (all young and healthy) who shared the knowledge of these details perished almost simultaneously, though by deaths that had no connection with one another; and the papers containing the records of their discoveries were lost in the heart of the Sierra Nevadas. No knowledge survived of the work of the Grosh brothers in Gold Cañon and its neighborhood, except the bare fact that they had found silver.

Two years afterwards, in 1859, this knowledge, by making the miners watch for indications of silver, led to the finding of the Comstock lode, and that discovery to others, until the faint and soon almost extinguished spark of knowledge, struck from the rocks of Utah by the intelligence and perseverance of these two young men, resulted in the enormous silver-mining industry of western Nevada. R. M. Bucke.

AMONG the many changes which have taken place at Cambridge during the last thirty years, one of the most striking and one of the most important is the relation of the college to athletic exercises and games. It is striking even to a superficial observer, for it affects the habits and the dress of the students so as to attract the attention of a mere passer-by; and it is important in the effect that it now has and is destined to have hereafter upon the health and strength of the students, not only while here but during their lives after leaving here. Within the period mentioned, the little delta was given up to the little old gymnasium which still stands upon it, and the first attempt was there made to furnish to the students an opportunity for systematic exercise. Out of this movement has come the inspiration

which led to the endowment of the Hemmenway Gymnasium, a beautiful building which stands near the Lawrence Scientific School, and is fitted up with various appliances and ingenious devices for the harmonious development of the body, nearly all of which were unknown when the first building was erected. The proper use of the opportunities thus offered the students for physical development is of such importance that it has compelled its own recognition; and in place of the mere athlete who superintended the exercise in the old building, we find in charge to-day a college graduate, holding a medical diploma, who is recognized as being at the head of a department co-ordinate in importance with the several departments of mental development, and who is admitted as a member of the faculty

Compulsory attendance might well be required of many of the students upon prescribed exercises in this building during certain hours each day, but no such attempt has as yet been made. Indeed, it would be foreign to the general spirit of the college as shown in the greater latitude allowed in the rules as to attendance upon lectures and recitations, and in the tendency to enlarge the field of elective studies. Notwithstanding this, however, such a system finds advocates, and there can be no doubt that it would prove of essential benefit to many who are not wise enough to avail themselves of the opportunities thus offered for the improvement of their general health and physical condition.

The director of the gymnasium stands ready at all times to make a physical examination of each student. This examination consists of a series of careful measurements of the various portions of the body. These are recorded and are compared with each other, and with the theoretically perfect man of the same size. The portions of the body which are disproportionately developed are thus disclosed, and exercises are prescribed which shall tend to bring the whole into more perfect harmony. All of these are graduated to the physical condition of the student, the extent as well as the character of the exercise being indicated, with a view to preventing injury from excessive work-a danger which is recognized equally with that resulting from total neglect.

Each student who submits to this examination is furnished with a book in which the result is recorded. He is also furnished with the prescribed list of exercises intended to overcome his deficiencies and to harmonize his physical development. A careful study of these will show him the object of the various movements which he is required to take, and a comparison of the measurements of his body from time to time will disclose to him their effect. So intelligent a system necessarily commands the approval of that class of students who have come to college for work and not for mere fun; and it is found, as a matter of fact, that the

most conscientious among the patrons of the gymnasium in the performance of the prescribed exercises are also those who are most faithful in their studies. Runners, wrestlers, tumblers, rowers, work in their various departments, training for specialties, developing portions of their bodies for specific purposes, and amusing themselves in competitive efforts; but it is the student who accepts the decision of the director, and confines himself within the limits of the exercises prescribed for him as beneficial.

At first sight it would seem improbable. that the hard-working student would be the one who would derive the most benefit from such an institution; but a moment's reflection will serve to show that those who patronize it for amusement will vent their energies in the lines of exercise which amuse; that those who train for a special purpose have their exercises prescribed with a view to meet that purpose, and not to harmonize their bodily development; and hence that the workers upon the theoretical line prescribed by the director are limited to those who come there because they recognize the value of the opportunity.

The gymnasium would not prosper, however, if it depended exclusively for its patronage upon those who would make use of it in what we might admit to be really the wisest way. Even those whose use of it is strictly conscientious, and who would not frequent it for the mere sake of amusement, are stimulated in their attendance by the popularity given to it by the patronage of the athletes. Strip from its patrons the enthusiasm derived from witnessing the competition of the various performers; remove from them the interest taken in the drill of the different crews; deprive the daily gatherings of the amusement furnished by witnessing the feats of dexterity and skill upon the bars and rings and the humdrum work of swinging the various weights would become irksome and intolerable. It is, after all, they who themselves derive amusement and pleasure from the exercises which they take there who make it popular, and thus help the others along in their work.

It is here that the function of the annual athletic contests, the rowing-matches, and the intercollegiate games, is felt. Through them the attention of the college is directed to athletics, and by their means large numbers who might otherwise neglect habitual exercise are led to take an interest in such matters, and to join the numbers which daily throng the gymnasium. The greater the number that join in these daily exercises, the greater the tendency to draw in those who would otherwise neglect them; and as the influence of the various competitions is far-reaching, the ultimate effect is, that but few escape the call to join the crowd which wends its way each afternoon to practice, and to witness others as they practice, the routine work which their physical needs or their tastes dictate for them. Thus it happens that after recitation hours each day the hall of the gymnasium is filled with a merry set of young men, who are leaping, wrestling, running, vaulting, tumbling, swinging on the rings and bars, or engaged in the thousand and one movements devised for developing the deficiencies of different parts of the body.

The boat crews, if the weather prevents actual rowing, may be at work in the rowing machines, or raising in unison, with different movements, the chest weights. Generally a few spectators are gathered at the end of the hall watching the active movements of the lively crowd, for the scene is one of unflagging interest, and well repays the visitor.

When the weather permits, runne.s in tights, with loose woolen shirts on, will be met taking their mile at a double-quick on North Avenue or Brattle Street, or in some other direction; and when these runners number eight or upwards, swinging along in step, one recognizes a crew winding up its exercise with the daily run.

In the spring or fall the numbers that throng the gymnasium diminish. The crews can get the practice of actual rowing. The teams of the various games can play practice games in the open air, and then Holmes's and Jarvis Fields present a spectacle which daily draws its crowd of spectators,

and which is so different from anything that could have been seen in Cambridge before the days of this interest in games and athletics, that graduates of the olden times look upon it with deep interest.

In place of the old rough and tumble game of foot-ball, where all that came could join in the contest-the more perhaps the merrier-the number of players of the new game is limited to eleven on a side. The ball in use here is known as the Rugby, and in shape is an oval. The game is a contest of skill and strength-of running and of passing the ball from hand to hand rather than of kicking. To make a goal, the ball must be kicked from the ground between the goal posts, and over the cross bar; but the game may be decided without a goal being kicked, and there may be little or no kicking during its progress. The ball can never be thrown forward. It may be thrown, however, from hand to hand so long as it is not thrown forward, and it is always considered good policy to run with it when opportunity offers. The rules of the game are intricate and complicated, but strength, avoirdupois, fleetness of limb, and good judgment inevitably win the day. Practice soon discloses the policy essential for victory, and the game calls for tactics and strategy, as plainly as does the field of battle in actual war.

Lacrosse has not as yet made serious inroads upon the popularity of base-ball, the latter being the favorite game among the students; but it is an interesting game, and it is destined to grow in popularity. The players have rackets about four feet in length. The ball is started in the center of the field. The sides, twelve in number, are stationed about the field so as to protect and to threaten the respective goals. The endeavor of each side is to pass the ball from player to player, or to run with it on the racket, so that it may be passed between the goal posts of the opposite side. The ball must never be touched with the hand. The player who secures it upon his racket runs for the goal; failing to secure what he is after, he seeks to pass it to one of his own side. The efforts of his opponents are of course directed to

wards preventing him from accomplishing what he is after; and in case they secure the ball they reverse the process, and strive to secure a goal for themselves.

Simultaneously, perhaps, there may be going on practice games in foot-ball, lacrosse, and base-ball, and occasionally a game of cricket. Around the edges of the fields innumerable tennis-courts are laid out, and towards them at the same time the players wend their way with rackets and nets under their arms. When the nets are spread, the fields are white with them, and as the different players all adopt some sort of playing costume or uniform, the scene is always brilliant, the green field being flecked with splashes of moving color, caused by the bright shirts and caps of the various uniforms.

No person can witness the lively scene exhibited upon these grounds of a pleasant afternoon in the fall or spring without feeling that a great stride has been made toward improving the general physique of the students.

It is a certain thing that during the hours devoted to these games the great numbers that we see engaged in them are withdrawn from the temptations of billiard-saloons, beergardens, and kindred haunts. Nor does this influence hostile to dissipation cease here; for not only are the crews destined to row in the races trained, dieted, and compelled to keep early hours, but the teams in some of the more important match-games also submit to a similar course of treatment. Competitors in the athletic contests are also obliged to work up their physical condition to the best point if they would stand a chance of winning; and thus it is that all along the line the influence of the athletic depart ment, not only where expressed through the advice of the member of the faculty who has charge of it, but also through the example and the methods of those organizations exclusively under control of the students themselves, is exerted in opposition to dyspepsia, dissipation, and late hours.

Much of the popularity of the gymnasium comes from the patronage which it obtains

through trainers for the contests and games, and much of the interest that is taken in these is due to their intercollegiate matches. The gymnasium would not be abandoned if there were no boat-races, no base-ball contests, no foot-ball matches, but it would not be the source of attraction that it is to-day: nor would Holmes's and Jarvis Fields draw out the same number of spectators and players into the fresh air each afternoon, were it not for the interest taken in the impending matches. This much can be truly said for the intercollegiate contests: they stimulate athletics, and to that extent their influence is good. The evils that follow in their wake are also plain: they furnish occasion for betting, which appeals to the pride of the weak; and the gathering together so many students in a state of excitement furnishes an opportunity, for those who seek such chances, for carousal. Furthermore, if permitted in excess during termtime, their games necessarily interfere with studies.

Some of the colleges have gone so far in their opposition to intercollegiate contests as to prohibit them. Others, in a wiser spirit, recognizing their beneficial influence, have sought simply to restrain them within proper limits. Harvard has sought to eliminate all "professional" character from them, and to restore them to the region of strict amateur contests by prohibiting professional trainers. No opposition is interposed here to matches or games which do not interfere with studies. The faculty recognize their power to restrain the games within moderate limits; they recognize the fact that the influence of athletics upon the health and habits of the students is good, and they see that these games tend to popularize athletics. Therefore they do not prohibit them.

And such, I think, must be the ultimate decision of all colleges. A well-equipped gymnasium and a recognized department of athletics is to be an essential part of every college in the future. When that happy day shall come, a severe blow will have been struck at dyspepsia and dissipation.

Andrew McF. Davis.