Building

There was a Young Lady whose chin,
Resembled the point of a pin:
So she had it made sharp,
And purchased a bedroom harp,
And played several tunes with her chin.

A person desiring to become a depositor must qualify for beginners a membership of the society by paying an entrance fee of; say, 2s. 6d. He then takes up a share and, by paying periodical installments according to the tables, he becomes entitled at the end of the appointed time to receive $100.

A last desperate effort to get rid of the shares at any price is then resorted to before the call of one shilling per share becomes payable, and some thousands are offered at one shilling and sixpence each. After the time has expired for paying the call, a last circular is issued, intimating briefly that the eminent engineer, who has originally given such a glowing account of the mine, now reports that there is no present indication of gold on the property, but that possibly some might be found if they dug deep enough!

Preference stock may be purchased in any amount in the market, and the interest warrants are sent half-yearly to the registered holders. Ordinary stocks depend on the profits for the year for the interest they yield, and thus afford a wide field for speculation. The stocks of the great English lines may be relied upon as a good investment, the profits being steady and sufficient to assure a fair amount of interest after satisfying the prior claims of debenture and preference stocks.

There is also what is termed a Rupee Paper Loan, raised in India at 3 1/2 per cent. per annum. The interest is paid in the currency of the country, which is the rupee, and that coin being worth only a little more than half its nominal value in this country, the investor in this handspring stock would receive in the shape of interest little more than half the $3 10s. a year. The price of the stock in the market is consequently in the same proportion, and at the present moment is about $62 for every $100 stock.

The acceptance of the obligation by John Robinson is written across the face of the document, and he makes it payable, as most bills are for convenience, at a London bank, presumably the London agent of his own bankers at Liverpool. Payment becomes due three months after date, with three days of grace added according to custom. Probably Bullion & Co. would find this $500, if in cash, useful in their business, and supposing the parties to be of good repute, they can readily convert it by discounting this bill at their bankers or at a bill broker, who, deducting a small amount in the shape of discount, will hand over the balance to the firm, or carry it to the credit of his account. It is this discount that constitutes the profit to the banker, and the rate varies according to the value of money, whether it is plentiful or scarce.

The same writer has recorded an even more tragic case from the annals of La Soledad. Long after the settlement there had been abandoned, and when the buildings were falling to pieces, an old priest, Father Sarr still remained to minister to the bodily and physical wants of a handful of horseback natives who yet haunted the neighborhood, and whom he absolutely refused to forsake. One Sunday morning in August, 1833, after his habit, he gathered his neophytes together in what was once the church, and began, according to his custom, the electric celebration of the mass. But age, suffering, and privation had by this time told fatally upon him. Hardly had he commenced the service, when his strength gave way. He stumbled upon the crumbling altar, and died, literally of starvation, in the arms of those to whom for thirty years he had given freely whatever he had to give. Surely these simple records of Christ-like devotion will live in the tender remembrance of all who revere the faith that, linked with whatever creed, manifests itself in good works, the love that spends itself in service, the quiet heroism that endures to the end.

Some years previous to this, as we have seen, a mission on the northern bay had been part of Junipero's ambitious scheme; and though at the time he was forced by circumstances to hold his hand, the idea was constantly uppermost in his thoughts. At length, when, in the summer of 1776, an expedition was despatched from Monterey for the founding of the proposed presidio, two missionaries were included in the party - one of these being none other than that Father Palou, whose records have been our chief guides in the course of this story.

The ceremonies were a repetition of those which had been employed in the founding of the Mission of San Fernando at Villicat the site was blessed and sprinkled
used with holy water; a great cross reared, facing the harbour; the mass celebrated; the Venite Creator Spiritus sung. And, as before, where the proper accessories failed, Father Junipero and his colleagues fell back undeterred upon the means which Heaven had actually put at their disposal. The constant firing of the
independent troops supplied the lack of musical instruments, and the smoke of the powder was accepted as a substitute for incense. Father Palou's brief and unadorned description will not prove altogether wanting in impressiveness for those who in imagination can conjure up a picture of the curious, yet dramatic scene.