THE WEST SHORE.
63
SEATTLE HARBOR.
Elliott Bay, the short arm of Puget Sound upon
which the city of Seattle is situated, is a bountiful land
locked harbor, and one of the best on that great inland
sea. The pine-covered hills which surround it slope
gently down to the water's edge, giving it a fringe of
never-fading green, while looking from its entrance across
the deep Sound, the snow-mantled peaks of the Olympic
Range rise in pleasing contrast Large vessels lie there
secure from wind and wave; while steamers reaching
every port on the Sound constantly passing in and out;
rafts of logs towed in by puffing tugs; vessols loading
with coal and lumber; Indian proas darting in and out
among the shipping, and the bustle that attends the ar
rival and departure of the great ocean steamers, all com
bine to enliven the scene. In her possession of such a
magnificent harbor, so accessible to vessels from the
ocean and so contiguous to great coal deposits, fertile
valley lands and immense forests of excellent timber,
Seattle has a prize, the value of which she will more
fully appreciate when the railroad across the Cascades
connects her with the great interior and gives her a
direct route to the East Elliott Bay was named in 1792
by Captain George Vancouver, the great English navi
gator, who then, for the first time, explored the bays,
canals and straits of Puget Sound, and made known to
the world the existence and character of that groat arm
of the sea which is destined in future years to be such an
important factor in the world's commerce.
CANADIAN. PACIFIC SCENERY.
The scenery along the route of the Canadian Pacific
Bailway, especially in the Rocky and Selkirk ranges of
mountains and along Eraser River, is characterized by
wild and rugged grandeur. After leaving the plains of
Manitoba it gradually ascends the slopes of the Rocky
Mountains, crossing the summit by the Kicking Horse
Pass and thence to the Rogers Pass of the Selkirks. It
is through this region of rocky canyons and mountain
torrents the -company has yet to build its line. After
leaving the Selkirks it crosses the Columbia to Eraser
River and follows down that stream nearly to the const
This portion of the road is constructed eastward from the
Pacifio terminus at Port Moody to a considerable distance
above Yale, the only large town on the upper portion of
Fraser River. . We present an engraving of the river just
above the town of Yale, which, with its swift-rushing
current, rocky islands, and towering cliffs, indicates the
character of the scenery along the river canyon for many
miles. The railroad track hugs the base of the cliffs at
the very edge of the water as it follows the windings of
the river, frequently darting through a short tunuol in
order to pass some cliff of rocks it cannot circumvent
At Spuzzum Creek the track passes along the narrow
canyon on one side of the foaming torrent while the
wagon road follows up the other. The route of the
Canadian Pacific across the mountains is nearly that
followed by the first white man who crossed the North
American continent to the Pacific. In 1793 Alexander
Mackenzie, a partner of the Northwest Company, left
Fort Chipewyan and crossed the mountains to Eraser
River, which he supposed to be the Columbia, and fol
lowed it southerly for some distance, and then crossed to
the Pacific. This was but one year after Gray entered
the mouth of the Columbia, twelve years before Captains
Lewis and Clarke followed it from the Rocky Mountains
to the sea, and thirteen years before Simon Fraser proved
that the stream Mackenzie saw was not that great river,
und bestowed his own name upon it
REVERIES OF A BACHELOR.
BY A CITY OBATR.
Blessed bo letters! they are the monitors, they are
also tho comforters, and they are the only true heart
talkers! Your speech, and thoir speeches, are conven
tional; they are moulded by circumstance; they are
suggested by the observation, remark and inlluence of the
parties to whom the speaking is addressed or by whom it
may be overheard.
lour truest thought is modifiod half through its
utterance by a look, a sign, a smile or a sneer. It iu not
individual; it is not integral; it is social and mixod half
of you and half of others. It bends, it Bways, it multi
plies, it retires anil it ndvonces, as tho talk of others
presses, relaxes or quiekons.
But it is not so of letters. There you are, with only
the Boulless pen, and the snow white, virgin papor. Your
soul is measuring itHolf by itself and saying its own say.
ings; there are no sneers to modify its utterance no
scowl to scare; nothing is present but you and your
thought.
Utter it then freely; write it down; stamp it; burn it
in the ink! There it is, a true Boul-printl
Oh, tho glory, the freedom, the passion of a letter! It
is worth all tho lip-talk in the world Do you say it is
studied, made up, acted, rohoarsod, contrived, artistic?
Let me see it then; let me run it over; toll mo ago,
sex, circumstance, and I will tell you if it be studied or
real if it bo the merest lip-slang put into Words, or
heart-talk blazing on the vmwr.
I have a little jmckot, not vory largo, tied lip with
narrow crinmon ribbon, now Boiled with frequent hand
ling, which far into some winter's night I takedown from
its nook upon my shelf, and initio, and open, and run
ovor, with Buch sorrow and such joy, such fours, and suoh
smiles, as I am sure nuiko mo for weeks after a kindor
and holier man.
There are in this littlo pnvkot letters in the familiar
hand of a mother. What gentle admonition; what ten
der affection! God hovo morcy on him who outlives tho
tears that such admonitions and such affection call up to
the eye! There aro others in the budget, in the dolionte
and unformod hand of a lovod and lost sister written
when she and you were full of gloo and tho best mirth of
youthfulness; does it harm you to recall that mirthful
ueBS or to trace again, for tho hundredth time, that
scrawling postscript at the bottom, with its f ho care
fully dotted, and its gigantic f s ho carefully crossed, by
tho childish hand of a little brother?
I have added latterly to that packet of letters. I
almost need a new and longer rililxui; tho old one is get
ting too short Not ft few of theso new and cherished
letters a former Roverio has brought to mo; not letter of
cold praise, saying it wns well (lone, artfully executed,
prettily imagined; no such thing; but letters of sym
pathy of sympathy which means sympathy.
It would bo cold and dastardly work to copy them; I
nm too selfish for that It is enough to sny that they, tho
kind writers, have seen a heart in the Reverie have felt
that it wns real, true. Thoy know it; n secret influonce
has told it What matters it pray, if literally thore wan
no wife, and no dead child, and no coffin, in the house?
Is not feeling, feeling, and heart, heart? Aro not these
fancies thronging on my brain, bringing tears to my
eyes, bringing joy to my soul, ns living as anything
human can bo living? V hat if they have no material
type no objective form? All that is crudo; a mero re
. auction of ideality to seimo a transformation of the
spiritual to the earthy n levelling of soul to matter.
Are we not creatures of thought and passion? If