When Columbus was besieging the Courts of Europe something over 400 years ago, seeking aid to prove his great inspirational theory a reality, the conditions prevalent throughout the thenknown world were of the most fascinating and remarkable character. Men were awakening from a sleep of ages. dormant Thought which had lain

was aroused and whetted, and nations were on the tip-toe of expectancy. Nature had, as it were, brushed the cobwebs from the minds of men, and they began to see, to think, to investigate. What a marvelous range their thoughts had! The whole world of discovery and invention lay at their feet, and each month or week or day was full of wonderful possibilities. The Atlantic an untried and unknown sea, America undreamed of--a world to be discovered! The coming of the Americas into the theatre of the world's activities was like the undamming of a great river. The tide of immigration, the great movement of mankind which had been pushing steadily westward from the dawn of history, leaped forward with a mighty rush. Men's minds were sharpened. Inventions were. stimulated to a far greater degree than ever before. A new world was to be peopled; towns to be built; governments to be established; riches to be had. Men

were to meet these conditions. A new world! What an amazing, what a wonderful prospect! Since that day men have turned their faces westward and pressed onward, though subjected to the severest privations and hardships. The history of the world has turned upon this movement, a culmination of which we see to-day. The West has touched the East, and a movement of humanity older than time, which has embraced no less than the circling of the earth, has reached its climax. In respect of this movement and its relations to the history and development of the world the Pacific Coast occupies a unique and very important place. Those who hold that this Coast has been reserved by a Divine Power for the development and perfection of the race have much, indeed, to urge in favor of such a theory, if we are to judge by what has been and what is. For, we may argue, as the Children of Israel were led through trials and tribulations to a promised land, flowing with milk and honey, so, through ages, has the race of mankind been led to the promised land for humanity where the favorable conditions on earth obtain, where great men and great states are to come into being and the most perfect race is to be produced-where the land. the climate, the environment, the men, are in perfect accord. This promised land can be no other than the Pacific Coast. We may believe this and we may not, but whether or no we must feel that here are found a harmony of climate, soil, scenery, an environment such as no other part of the world can boast, and which must produce a great people and great results for the social and political elevation of humanity.

* * *

In addition to the natural advantages of climate and soil that contribute to the development of a great race, the Pacific Coast is favored with various and almost

unlimited resources which must inevitably build up here great world enterprises. One of the most important of these in developing the Coast has been the gold that has been found since '49 in such wonderful quantities in the rivers and mountains of the Pacific Coast states, and later in the frozen regions of Alaska. The recent discoveries in Eastern Oregon are bringing the Coast still further to the front as a great mining center, and in view of this fact, beginning with the May issue, the Pacific Monthly will commence a department devoted to mining. The new department will be conducted along the most conservative lines, and every effort will be made to verify every report published. At this time, when so many wild rumors are floating around a department conducted along such lines cannot fail to be of interest and value to the mining fraternity, as well as to the general public.

The Passing of Ministers, Lawyers and Doctors.

*

Some unconscious wit has recently said that, at our present rate of progress, in thirty or forty years the world will be so far advanced that lawyers, ministers and doctors will be entirely unnecessary, and can be dispensed with. It follows, of course, that if by some unforeseen circumstance the world should become so circumspect that ministers were unnecessary, the lawyers would have to go, too. But if the legal fraternity is thrown into a panic over the contemplation of such a calamity to mankind, and the ministers are rejoicing at the near approach of the millennium the doctor will never cry "Othello's occupation is gone!"

The profound knowledge of human nature displayed in the inclusion of lawyers and ministers in such a category fails here. It is conceivable, of course, in thirty or forty long, long years, judging by the past thousand, that our courts might be evoluted away, and that our lawyers might all become like George Washington. This is conceivable, we say. It is also conceivable if we

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can stretch our reasoning power a trifle more than we ever have before or ever expect to again, that the world might in the long period of time embraced in forty years become so good and pure that a reprimand or an exhortation or a warning would be superfluous-that ministers, in short, would be unnecessary. But that people will continue to upset their digestions by irregular habits. and that the ills that flesh is heir to will continue to afflict humanity is as certain as death itself. "Accidents will happen" and the surgeon will be in evidence as long as there is a race upon this green old earth. The weather will continue to change and the seasons will come and go. There is wherein the doctor has the lawyer at a great disadvantage, and the minister, too. It is only a small matter of human nature with them. Nature herself is on the doctor's side, and this prediction, therefore, has no terrors for him.

Miss Anthony.

Miss Susan B. Anthony, whose eightieth birthday was hailed as an event of importance and made the occasion of great rejoicing by suffragists everywhere, as well as in the national convention in Washington, is clearly entitled to all the honorable recognition that her sex can accord her. For whether or not we hold with her in her belief that the political enfranchisement of women would result in untold benefit to the world in general and the sex in particular, we must admit that her work has gone far toward bettering conditions and opening the way to higher education for women. And yet with it all there is an element of tragedy in the fact that she who for over half a century has devoted her time and energies to the advancement of women has, willingly or otherwise, missed the two things that make a woman's life worth the living-wife and motherhood. And all the honor an admiring world can. bestow cannot suffice to make up the loss.

No friendship can flourish, no love can flower and bear perfect fruit, that is not firmly rooted in mutual faith and confidence. The affection that is fed upon doubt and distrust is doomed, inevitably and surely, to a slow and painful death, often involving the loss of all that makes life worth the cost of living. Ruined hopes and wrecked ambition, the high dreams of youth, the noble aspirations of manhood, broken and blighted by the hand that should have helped-alas, it is a tragedy that is enacted again and again, and we are too blinded by selfishness to see and profit by the pain. Bound by the petty restrictions of a self-imposed standard to which we arrogantly demand those about us to conform, we deny the divine right of the individual to work out his own salvation in his own way. We forget that God is leading him, and cry out impatiently:

"You must walk in the path I have marked out for you, or you are eternally lost! If you love me you will follow where I lead."

We forget-perhaps, indeed, we have never known, or fully realized, that love that lives must be broad enough, and deep enough, and trusting enough to accept things as they are, and by mere force of loving faith, mold them to highest good. For love and friendship, which is but another phase of love, if it is real, if it is to last, must be able to look beyond the present, must possess the keenest of vision that can pierce the veil of the future and behold the soul, made perfect by the perils and pains through which it has passed, unfolding its wings for the long flight into eternity, must be able to say, "Thy will, not mine," and must, above all, have grace to recognize the good that dwells in the heart of man, and to believe unswervingly in the ultimate triumph of that good.

The Divine Will works through human agencies. Every man is a part of

God, though not all are cognizant of the relationship. Every created thing bears the impress of the Creator and is the visible expression of His thought and love, the love that gave a Christ to save a world, a love that proved itself upon the cross, that is today and forever the only way of life that leads to heaven. And human affection is enduring and productive of happiness only when it partakes of the nature of the Divine. Beware of all friendships, beware of all passions that draw you not nearer to Christ.

Does the star of hope burn with a steadier, whiter radiance? Is life's purpose nobler, more clearly and definitely outlined? Do you see, afar off, maybe, but not inaccessible, upon the sunlit mountain-top of fame and fortune, and high endeavor the gleaming of the gates of Paradise? Is the soul awed into silence when it contemplates the glory of God, and keyed to sweetest music when it glimpses the possibilities and promises that are waiting realization? Is your heart so tender that the humblest of created things appeals to you not in vain?

If you can answer yes to these questions, or to any one of them, then is the love that calls itself yours real and lasting as time, a heaven-ordained possession of which nothing shall rob you. There is no doubt or dread or questioning of the future, no more asking, "Shall I win happiness, will I succeed?" The happiness is already won, and it deepens and intensifies as the days go by and the months are woven into the shining fabric of the golden years. Success is yours, because, armed with faith and fortified by love, the possibility of failure has shrunk to a faint film of mist which vanishes before the kiss of the sun. You are already climbing toward the heights from whose radiant levels there is but a step into heaven itself, and so beautiful is the path by which you mount, so bordered and lined with flowers, so blest by

"No," remarked Narcisse, with decision; "no young man of today can afford to marry on a salary of $25 a week, or even $50; he can't, in fact, afford to marry on a salary at all."

"Why not?" I asked. I was surprised, for I had heard of people living quite comfortably and happily on less than the smaller sum mentioned by Narcisse. In the interval that elapsed between my question and his reply, I ran over in my mind the list of my acquaintances, hoping to find some recently wedded couple among them whom I might cite as a living contradiction to this sweeping statement, but could think of none.

There were the C's., it is true, but they were domiciled in a cheap boarding house and could not really be said to be living. Besides I remembered that I had met Mrs. C., a few days before, on the street-such a pretty girl, by the way, with a most be witching dimple and a weakness for Gainsborough hats-and I could not help noticing that the braid was ripped off her fashionably-cut skirt in two or three places, and that one of her gloves had a hole in the finger tip. Trifles, but they show the drift of fortune. Clearly the C's. could not, under the circumstances, be cited as an example of "love in a cottage." Still, I was morally certain that this ideal condition existed comewhere, and I was about to make another mental search for it, when Narcisse answered my question.

"Because," he said with emphasis, and a degree of feeling that rather startled me, "because the girls of today are both selfish and extravagant. They want everything, and they want the best. Why," he cried, waxing warmer, "it costs more to keep a girl in hats and handkerchiefs now than it cost a man fifty, or even twenty years ago, to keep up a handsome establishment, with carriage and coachman thrown in. No; it is alas, too true, no young man can afford the luxury of a wife in this progressive age, unless he has a settled income of practically unlimited dimensions."

"Don't you think," I ventured timidly, "that a young man's pride stands just as much in the way of wedded happiness, as a woman's extravagance? Do you know of any instance among your own acquaintances, where a girl has refused a worthy young man, solely because his salary was inadequate to the support of a family in luxury?" Narcisse considered a moment, regarding me thoughtfully over the rim of his glasses

"No," he said at length, "I do not, for the simple reason, probably, that none of my acquaintances are foolish enough to ask a girl under such circumstances."

Then you admit that the men of today are either too selfishly proud, or too cowardly to venture."

"No, they are too cautious, and too wise." "I don't think that sounds any better, and you haven't convinced me at all. On the other hand, you have made it quite clear to me that it is not woman's extravagance, but man's selfishness and pride that stands in the way of marriage in our day and age. Any girl who loves a man well enough to marry him at all, is perfectly willing to face poverty and endure hardships for his dear sake. The fashions may have changed since our fathers wooed and won our mothers, but the heart of woman is the same today, as it was in those far, forgotten ages of which the poets sing."

"Nonsense," cried Narcisse, "the twentieth century woman will be born with that organ missing from her anatomy."

But I know better than this and I am gɔing to prove to Narcisse that two young people can made and maintain a home on an income of $25 a week or less, if they have any inclination to do so. And I shall give you my facts and figures in the May number of The Pacific Monthly. Oraarv.

THE LUNCH-BASKET.

The subject of luncheons for the little ones attending school is not generally given the thought and care it deserves.

Small toilers up the hill of knowledge find the way a rocky one at best, and need all the loving assistance that can be given them. One help always appreciated is a nicely prepared and neatly arranged lunch. A growing body and active mind require proper nutriment. So many mothers consider their duty in this regard fully accomplished when they have filled the little basket with bread and butter and a slice or two of cake. They cannot understand why the children are always so hungry when school is dismissed; yet these same mothers would not consider that they had lunch