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under his hand. The Professor is an active, wiry little man of low stature and untiring industry. He is au enthusiast on the subject of geology. As a personal friend he is invaluable and cannot do too much for those lie likes. As a man and neighbor none excel him, and he is universally es- teemed by all who are acquainted with him. Genial, suave, polite and courteous, he wins his way at once to the hearts of those with whom, hp comes in contact, and stands to-day a man honored, esteemed and revered among men. Although a teacher, he is still a student and ever will remain one. Nature is constantly revealing her secrets to him, and his ambition is to be the fii-st to reveal and simplify her mysteries to the world at large. His cabinet of minerals, etc., is indeed a valuable one and should be pur- chased of him by the State and Prof. Condon himself employed at a liberal salary to continue his interesting researches and in published reports in- form the world at large how rich we a^e in mineral resources. The cabinet is the result of years of labor, and were it destroyed in any way could never be replaced. The Professor would hesitate l®ug before parting with it, but he would sooner dispose of it in this way, no doubt, than to sell it to parties outside of the State, he having received many oflFers for it already. As a traveling companion, although a man of sober thought and dignified at times, he is none the less fond of a joke, and is a wit in his quiet, serious way. He is a good talker and is prepared with anecdote for one, theology for another, politics for the third, fish for another, mirth for another, senti- mentality for those who desire it, and at all times and under all circum- stances is brim full and running over with natural history and geology. Ih a word. Prof. Condon is one of God's noblemen, and no pen sketch written by us has so utterly failed to convey our estimation of the man's true worth than has the one completed at this point.

C. B. WATSON

Was born at Time, Pike county, Illinois, on the 25th of November, 1849, and is therefore 33 years of age. In 1860 his parents removed to Logan county, where in 1862 his father enlisted in the 106th Ilhnois Volunteers, ana re- mained in active service until the close of the war. This left the boy at the age of 13 to support a family of nine, all younger than himself except one sister. His father was a farmer and in the cornfield the boy passed his time until 20 years of age. This portion of his life constituted one of the severest trials that an ambitious youth could well bear. He could not attend school, and the small, still hours of night found him wrestling with a meagre sup- ply of books and no teacher, while from daylight till dark the winter's storms and summer's heat found him toiling for the support of the family. At the end of the war his father returned -to the family, reduced by the hardships of such a life to a wreck of his former self, from which, though he lived until 1878, he never recovered. Young Watson's task as head of the family continued without intermission until 1870, when he borrowed $100 and came to California. He reached Sacramento City October 1st with one dollar and fifty cents. He secured a job of wood chopping on Cache creek, near Woodland, for seven months, losing but seven d