Mr. Young was forward to
mention the fact that in Berkeley there is the large and influential
parish of Saint Mark with a list of nearly four hundred communicants;
and this is a great factor for good in the life of such a unique
University town. As my eyes turned away from Berkeley, I naturally
recalled the great Bishop of Cloyne, after whom the place is named;
and as I took into view the wider range of the coast lands, and the
blue waters of the magnificent Bay, some fifty miles in length, and,
on an average, eight miles wide, and reflected on the significance
which attaches to this favoured region, and the influences which
go out from this seat of power, and fountain head of riches, I
instinctively recalled the noble lines which the eighteenth century
prophet wrote when he mused, "On the Prospect of Planting Arts and
Learning in America:"
"Westward the course of empire takes its way;
The four first acts already past,
A fifth shall close the drama with the day:
Time's noblest offspring is the last."
East of us, in picturesqueness, as in a panorama spread out, were the
counties of Alameda and Contra Costa, with their receding hills, and
Mount Diablo, 3,855 feet in height, lifting up its head proudly.
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