quiver.

"You are a Scotchman, sir?" he said gravely. "So am I; I come from
Aberdeen. This is my card," presenting me with a piece of pasteboard
which he had raked out of some gutter in the period of the rains. "I was
just examining this palm," he continued, indicating the misbegotten
plant before our door, "which is the largest specimen I have yet
observed in Califoarnia."

There were four or five larger within sight. But where was the use of
argument? He produced a tape-line, made me help him to measure the tree
at the level of the ground, and entered the figures in a large and
filthy pocket-book, all with the gravity of Solomon. He then thanked me
profusely, remarking that such little services were due between
countrymen; shook hands with me, "for auld lang syne," as he said; and
took himself solemnly away, radiating dirt and humbug as he went.

A month or two after this encounter of mine, there came a Scot to
Sacramento--perhaps from Aberdeen. Anyway, there never was anyone more
Scottish in this wide world. He could sing and dance and drink, I
presume; and he played the pipes with vigour and success. All the Scotch
in Sacramento became infatuated with him, and spent their spare time and
money driving him about in an open cab, between drinks, while he blew
himself scarlet at the pipes. This is a very sad story. After he had
borrowed money from every one, he and his pipes suddenly disappeared
from Sacramento, and when I last heard, the police were looking for him.

I cannot say how this story amused me, when I felt myself so thoroughly
ripe on both sides to be duped in the same way.

It is at least a curious thing, to conclude, that the races which wander
widest, Jews and Scots, should be the most clannish in the world. But
perhaps these two are cause and effect: "For ye were strangers in the
land of Egypt."

WITH THE CHILDREN OF ISRAEL

I

TO INTRODUCE MR. KELMAR

One thing in this new country very particularly strikes a stranger, and
that is the number of antiquities. Already there have been many cycles
of population succeeding each other, and passing away and leaving behind
them relics. These, standing on into changed times, strike the
imagination as forcibly as any pyramid or feudal tower. The towns, like
the vineyards, are experimentally founded: they grow great and prosper
by passing occasions; and when the