It might be interesting to note that of the present staff Mr.
Thomas Chadwick, in charge of the money order office, is senior in
years of service, having joined the staff in 1880. Next comes Mr.
Charles Finlaison, 1882, and Mr. James Smith, 1887. The deputy
postmaster, Mr. T. A. Cairns, joined the staff in Winnipeg in 1880,
and the Victoria staff in 1882. Mr. Shakespeare, postmaster, has been
head of the department here since 1888.

CHAPTER XXI.

FIFTY YEARS AGO.

It is said, and I think truthfully, that youthful impressions are
more lasting than any others. This is my own experience, for my mind
is stored with early reminiscences. It is verified by no less a
person than my dear old friend, Bishop Cridge, who told me quite
recently that he well remembered an incident that occurred to him
when he was between three and four years old--that of a regiment of
soldiers passing through his native village, and of his following
them quite a distance from his home, and of the distress of his
family on discovering his absence. In a long life of ninety-one years
this is, I think, remarkable. Well, this is not the subject of my
present writing. It is to give my impressions of this fair city fifty
years ago, as I remember it as a child.

To-day fifty years ago I landed with my parents and brothers on the
Hudson's Bay Company's wharf, having arrived from San Francisco on
the steamer _Northerner_, which docked at Esquimalt, as all
large ocean steamers then did. We came from Esquimalt on a small
steamer, the _Emma_, or _Emily Harris_. The latter steamer
was built, I think, by Thomas Harris, and named after his daughter,
Mrs. William Wilson, whom I am pleased to know is still a resident
with her family. The scene will ever be impressed on my mind as I saw
my future home on that 12th day of February, 1859. Outside Johnson
Street on the north, Blanchard Street on the east, and the north end
of James Bay bridge on the south, everything else was country--oak
and pine trees, with paths only, otherwise trails made by Indians and
cattle. Within this wood under the oaks were wildflowers of all kinds
in profusion. Through these woods and by these paths I went day by
day to the old Colonial School on the site of the present Central.
With the exception of private schools kept by the late Edward
Mallandaine, and another kept by the late John Jessop, our school
supplied the wants of the time. It was built of squared logs,
whitewashed, a