Massachusetts and just as proud of California as he was of his old
home in the east, turned with considerable elation to Berkeley,
the University town. "There," said he, "to the north of Oakland is
Berkeley, with a population of thirteen thousand. It is, as you see,
situated at the foot of the San Pablo hills, and is about eleven miles
from the Market street ferry in San Francisco. To reach it you go
by ferry to the Oakland pier and then take the cars on the Southern
Pacific road." As I gazed northward, there, as a right arm of Oakland,
was the classic town with its aristocratic name, nestling at the foot
of the hills in the midst of trees and flowers. It was like a dainty
picture with the Bay in the foreground. A nearer view or a visit to it
brings the traveller into line with the Golden Gate, through which his
eye wanders straight out into the Pacific ocean with all its mystery
and grandeur. The University of California was organised by an act
of the Legislature in 1868. A law passed then set apart for its work
$200,000, proceeds from the sale of tide lands. To this endowment was
added the sum of $100,000, from a "Seminary and Public Building Fund."
There was also applied to the new university another fund of $120,000,
realised from the old college of California, which had been organised
in 1855. Then by an act of Congress appropriating 150,000 acres of
land for an Agricultural College, which is a part of the equipment of
the University, it became still richer. It embraces 250 acres
within the area of its beautiful grounds, and so has ample room for
expansion. It has departments of Letters, Science, Agriculture,
Mechanics, Engineering, Chemistry, Mining, Medicine, Dentistry,
Pharmacy, Astronomy and Law. The famous Lick Observatory, stationed
on Mount Hamilton near San Jose, is a part of the institution. It has
prospered greatly under its present efficient President, Benjamin Ide
Wheeler, LL.D.; and it now has three hundred instructors, with over
three thousand students. Tuition is free to all students except in the