HE JUNIOR UNITED TOURIST CLUB is an organization consisting of ten or twelve young people between the ages of fifteen and twenty, who are the regular members of the club, and a few older persons, chiefly parents of the members, who are termed "honorary members." It is not necessary for the purposes of this book to state precisely the "whereabouts" of this club. It may be assumed to be in some one of at least a hundred cities to be found on any good map of the United States. Every member of this club either has taken, or is presumed to have taken, one of the picturesque tours described in these pages. Ten very delightful evenings are supposed to have been spent in going over these tours, at the rate of one tour to an evening, under the leadership of one particular member who either by personal travel or by special reading is best qualified to take this responsible post. It is the duty of the member who leads the party to furnish sketches or engravings of the scene he proposes to describe, and every member contributes to the best of his ability to the common fund of fact, incident, and adventure thus gathered

together. As some of the tours embrace journeys of thousands of miles, and the time is strictly limited to an hour and a half each evening, the reader will at once see that some very rapid traveling has been accomplished. He will also be prepared to learn (as the result of experience) that the members never seem to suffer from undue fatigue in consequence of their long journeys.

The reader is invited to consider himself, without further introduction, a corresponding member of this club, and to imagine that he hears the conversations repeated in the following pages.

The Junior United Tourist Club held its first meeting for the season, 1881-2, at the house of Mr. Merriman. The meeting was called to order by the host, and elected Gilbert Warlike chairman, pro tem., and Grace Merriman, secretary.

The roll was called, and the following members answered to their names,— Albert Victor, Bertram Harvey, Clara Harvey, Cyril Merriman, Grace Merriman, John Smith, Gilbert Warlike, Kate Goldust, Laura Smith, Lilian Wiseman; also the following honorary members,-Professor Workman, Doctor Paulus, Mr. S. Harvey, Mr. Goldust, Mrs. Goldust, Mr. and Mrs. P. Merriman, Aunt Harriet Victor, Colonel and Mrs. Warlike.

Resolved: That Professor Workman be President of the J. U. T. C. Appointment accepted, and President formally inducted into the Chair.

Resolved: That the meetings of the J. U. T. C. be held weekly in rotation at the houses of the honorary members; that each meeting shall consist of (1) a short business session, (2) a conversational tour, (3) refreshments, etc.

Resolved: That the Conversational Tour be strictly limited to one hour and a half in duration.

Resolved: That the Tour for this evening be California and the Yosemite Valley, under the leadership of Miss Grace Merriman.

Resolved: That the Tour for the next meeting be the Great American Basin and Utah.

The President read the order of the evening for a Conversational Tour in California and the Yosemite Valley, and called upon Grace Merriman.

CHAPTER II.

THE YOSEMITE VALLEY.

RACE (reading from a MS.):-When papa told us at home that he was about to take mamma, Cyril, and me, for a holiday to the Pacific coast, I had only the poorest kind of an idea, in a general way, of the places we were likely to visit. Of course I was delighted, and expected to have no end of fun and excitement; but I was shamefully ignorant about the Pacific coast, except from what I had learned in the school geographies, and from reading some of Bret Harte's sketches. I must not, I suppose, go into any particulars of our journey to San Francisco, but proceed according to the programme, by giving you some particulars of our trip from that city to the Yosemite Valley, an ever-to-be-remembered event or episode in my experience, and one which sometimes seems as though it must have been a dream, so new and strange was everything. I only wish I could even faintly convey to the club the impressions I received. But I will do my best, according to the rules of the club, and I am thankful I have papa and mamma, to say nothing of Cyril, to help me through. CYRIL: I was very observant, I assure you.

GRACE: We went by rail to a little town called Madera, and took what they call the stage to the Yosemite. There were eight of us inside, and four outside, drawn by four horses; and I shall say nothing more about this part of the journey than that it was, for more than half the distance at least, a succession of jolts and thumps up the mountains. Mamma got very nervous sometimes, and said that if this were sight seeing she had rather stay at home. Papa and Cyril were outside, and I expected every minute or two to see one or both of them plump off. We had about twelve hours of this, and were right glad at last to be summoned to dismount at Mr. Clark's ranch, part farm and part hotel, where we found rest and refreshment, and spent the night.