first brought through the class rooms, ordinary for the most part except in the commercial department. Here the work is conducted in a practical manner and all the contrivances necessary for practical work are in evidence. For this purpose the hall has been fitted up with well appointed offices representing the more important lines of business, such as Importing, Jobbing, Forwarding, General Agency, Merchandise Emporium, Banking, etc. These offices are ranged along the wall, while the central part of the hall is occupied by standing desks for general commercial business. Adjoining this department is the art studio, where the students who apply themselves to architectural, mechanical or artistic drawing, have appropriate fixtures and a complete stock of apparatus. It seems to have been customary for many years to select a masterpiece of the term and as a reward of merit hang it on the walls of the studio, where at present there are some rare specimens of painting and drawing.

The next point of interest is the Scientific building, elegant though old and time-worn. Here the visitor finds besides a chemical and a physical laboratory a well appointed physical cabinet, complemented by a paleontological and mineralogical museum. The cabinet contains a valuable collection of instruments, the museums have several thousand conchological specimens, fossils, petrefactions, volcanic matter and so on, and the chemical laboratory is furnished with all the necessary instruments for assaying, chemical analysis, and general research. (Note: I was informed before my visit to Santa Clara that the present professor of science, Rev. Richard Bell, S. J., was rivaling Marconi in wireless telegraphic work. I of course doubted very much that any great success in this matter would result from individual and unaided research. It was indeed incredible and yet at the time of my visit I found the reverend scientist busy at his newly constructed instrument. These instruments were for the most part of his own construction. I examined them and asked if any results were obtainable. I was answered in a very practical way; Professor Montgomery, Father Bell's assistant, conducted me to a distant lecture hall which was separated from the cabinet by some three brick walls. Here I received through the telephone ear-piece distinct dots and dashes, as distinct, in fact, as those produced by the ordinary telegraphic recorder. The successful working of the contrivance made me determine to bring the professor before the public as a greater Marconi, but

when I heard that the same effects were had between Santa Clara and St. Ignatius College, San Francisco, a distance of fifty miles overland, which is equivalent to over four hundred on sea, I thought it more advisable to leave his well merited fame to the near future when it is sure to place California before the scientific world as it already is before the literary world as a progressive and original state.)

Leaving the scientific building and crossing the College campus to the senior Library, the visitor finds a spacious hall equipped with all the facilities imaginable for indoor recreation; billiard tables three in number, and a variety of parlor games which engage the students during rainy or otherwise inclement weather. Separated from this room there is a reference library and a wealth of current magazines. Like the Gymnasium and Social Hall this reading room is under the supervision of the students, who impose fines for any thoughtless breach of rule and when necessary even suspend members who fail to comply with the rules. The College auditorium which adjoins this building has a seating capacity of two thousand. The stage setting is elegant, though the visitor's attention is chiefly drawn to the Passion Play Scenery, rich in oriental colors and designs and of an artistic touch rarely met with even in the larger threatres. The light system, too, arranged by the College electrician, Dr. George Montgomery, is for variable effects peculiarly unique and effective. Beneath this auditorium is a spacious dormitory, which like the three other sleeping departments is under the supervision of members of the faculty.. But this dormitory, together with the gymnasium and social hall, are of the ordinary. The next attractive feature is found in the "Congressional Building Congressional Building" attractive inasmuch as it is the old "California Hotel" built some eighty years ago, and also because for the last thirty or more years it has been used as the assembly hall for the Literary Congress of Santa Clara College. The inauguration of this debating society and its methods have already been mentioned. remains here is to examine its present standing. Each of the two branches has its own hall decorated with the pictures of former "Senators" and "Rep-. resentatives." The president's desk is on an elevated platform, and on either side are the desks of the principal officials. All in all it is a pretty good miniature imitation of the Congress at Washington; but the resemblance is greater in the conduct of business.

What

At the weekly meetings there is always

some important question discussed, and the method of procedure is that of approved parliamentary law.

The Memorial Chapel, so called to perpetuate the generosity of the alumni, who in response to an appeal from the Rev. Robert E. Kenna sent donations lavishly and willingly, is the last but not the least feature which the visitor admires. It is a building of moderate proportions, crude and incomplete exteriorly, but with the exception of a few columns beautifully finished within. The altar-piece, a work of artistic beauty, the stained-glass windows and the statues, reprsenting some particulars of Catholic dogma or Catholic history, all unite to impress the students with a sense of devotion and religious fervor as well as with the importance of moral education in this age of material tendencies.

Such would be and such were, in the case of the present writer, the impressions left by a hasty visit to the college as it is to-day. The peculiar contrast of outward poverty and inner worth is very striking, but it was thus from the beginning and from the beginning success crowned the efforts of the devoted professors. There is some talk of a new Santa Clara College of larger and more modern buildings. When they are erected, as they will be in the near future, the name of Santa Clara will attract students, who are now deterred by the absence of exterior accommodations; and in numbers, as even now it is in successful training, the College will stand among the first of our educational institutions, not as a rival, but as a worthy co-worker in the cause of intellectual and moral culture.

CHAPTER XXI.

LIBRARIES OF CALIFORNIA.

One of the marked features of social life in California is seen in the many public libraries of the state. Not in the cities alone, but throughout the rural areas, libraries abound. In striking contrast to many prevailing conceptions of it is a fact that California is not a country of Indians and untutored pioneers, for every school has a library, almost every village contains an organization of book-lovers.

Close in the wake of the Argonauts came the founders of the public school system, and this was the original stimulus that started men to building libraries. John G. Marvin, the pioneer superintendent of public schools, took an early stand for libraries, and in 1863 Professor John Swett reëchoed the high recommendations of Superintendent Marvin. From these persons the high school and district school libraries were the nucleus of the sentiment that led to the starting of village libraries.

The generous interest, thus outlined, which California has ever shown in the widest education of her young people by culture through books, has extended to her cities and towns. In 1878 a general library law was passed, supplemented by the more complete statute of 1880, providing by local taxation for the establishment and support of free libraries and reading rooms in all incorporated cities and towns, the maximum rate allowed being one mill on the dollar.

Under this statute nearly all of the existing free libraries of California have been founded. The exceptions are a few libraries operated under municipal charters.

Mr. W. P. Kimball, of San Francisco, has given the situation in northern and central California considerable attention. He thus sets forth the condition as it exists in many towns adjacent to the Bay of San Francisco:

ALAMEDA. Upon the eastern shore of the bay is located one of California's most interesting cities, Alameda, a favored place of residence for

business men. Its library was organized in 1877, and was soon placed under the general law. Later years have been marked with constantly growing prosperity, especially since 1893, when direct access to the shelves was begun. During 1894 the circulation increased from 58,000 to 101,000 with a loss of but 39 v., and with no additional library force. With 24.000 v., a population of 16,000, its circulation the last year has been 138,000, and is rapidly increasing. The library occupies excellent quarters in the city hall building, and has an income of $7,400. A valuable lot belonging to the city, and centrally located, is designed for the future home of the library.

OAKLAND. The geographical position of Oakland to San Francisco is similar to that of Brooklyn to New York. Oakland is a city of churches, an important manufacturing center, the terminus of the transcontinental railway (with the expected entrance of another in a few months), and has thousands of beautiful homes. Its population is estimated at 75,000. The library was founded by membership plan in 1868, adopted by the city 1878, has now 28,000 v., sustains five branches, reports an income of $16,000, and a circulation of 160,000. sadly needs a new building in place of Oakland's taxable wealth is assessed at

the frail structure now occupied. $50,000,000.

It

BERKELEY. There is but one Berkeley, and from the windows of its public library one may look out upon that "road of passage and union between two hemispheres"-the Golden Gate. Here is located the State University, whose future never seemed more promising than at present. With these inspiring surroundings there is no room for surprise to find in this place of 8,000 people a library of 6,500 v., with a circulation of 43,000, income of $5,000, and steadily increasing public appreciation.

SAN RAFAEL, At a point a few miles distance from the bay, lying at the base of Mt. Tamalpais, is the little city of San Rafael, having 3.500 inhabitants, splendid drives, and an outlook on interesting scenery. Its library was adopted by the city in 1890, has an appropriation of $1,500, about 3.500 v., with a circulation of 17,000 v., and will soon occupy a room in the high school building now being erected.

SANTA ROSA. In the prosperous inland city of Santa Rosa, 50 miles north of San Francisco, possessing 9.000 inhabitants, is a library of 8.500