The literary exercises were followed by a lunch and that by an
entertainment of mixed character. Billy Emerson, Ben Cotton, Billy Rice,
Ernest Linden, F. Oberist, W. F. Baker, J. G. Russell and Billy
Arlington of Maguire's Minstrel Troupe, and W. S. Lawton, Capt. Martin
and L. P. Ward, and the Buisley family being among the entertainers.

A balloon ascension followed the entertainment and during the day the
"Great Republic" made an excursion around the bay.



On an S. P. Pay-Car.

In the summer of 1874 the paymaster of the Southern Pacific Railroad
Company, Major J. M. Hanford, sent me an invitation to accompany him on
the pay car through the San Joaquin Valley, to pay off the employees of
the company. I was delighted to have an opportunity of going through the
valley. At the appointed time I was on hand with two boxes of cigars,
for I knew the Major was likely to have some lively, good natured
fellows with him, and I wanted to have something with me to help me
along. Now I must say something about this pay car, for it was a
wonderful thing for me. It had the appearance on the inside of a hotel
on wheels. At the rear end was a window through which the employees were
paid; the depth of the room in which were the pay master and his two
check clerks, was about the same as the width of the car. In it were the
safe, rifles, shotguns, pistols, ammunition galore, with an opening into
what was used as the dining room and berths, which would accommodate
about 12 people. Then came the cook's room on one side, with a narrow
passageway on the other, into a small room in the front end of the car.