The Story of the Innumerable Company, and Other Sketches

This volume is made up of separate sketches, historical or allegorical, having in some degree a bond of union in the idea of the higher sacrifice.
I am under obligations to Professor William R. Dudley for the use of a photograph of a record of Father Serra. This was secured through the kindness of the late Father Casanova, of Monterey.
PALO ALTO, CAL., June 1, 1896.
_Men told me, Lord, it was a vale of tears Where Thou hast placed me, wickedness and woe My twain companions whereso I might go; That I through ten and threescore weary years Should stumble on beset by pains and fears, Fierce conflict round me, passions hot within, Enjoyment brief and fatal but in sin. When all was ended then should I demand Full compensation from thine austere hand: For, 'tis thy pleasure, all temptation past, To be not just but generous at last._
_Lord, here am I, my threescore years and ten All counted to the full; I've fought thy fight, Crossed thy dark valleys, scaled thy rocks' harsh height, Borne all the burdens Thou dost lay on men With hand unsparing threescore years and ten. Before Thee now I make my claim, O Lord,-- What shall I pray Thee as a meet reward?_
_I ask for nothing. Let the balance fall! All that I am or know or may confess But swells the weight of mine indebtedness; Burdens and sorrows stand transfigured all; Thy hand's rude buffet turns to a caress, For Love, with all the rest. Thou gavest me here, And Love is Heaven's very atmosphere, Lo, I have dwelt with Thee, Lord. Let me die. I could no more through all eternity._

There was once a great mountain which rose from the shore of the sea, and on its flanks it bore a mighty forest. Beyond the crest of the mountain were ridges and valleys, peaks and chasms, springs and torrents. Farther on lay a sandy desert, which stretched its monotonous breadth to the shore of a wide, swift river. What lay beyond the river no one knew, because its shores were always hid in azure mist.
Year by year there came up from the shore of the sea an Innumerable Company. Each one must cross the mountain and the forest, faring onward toward the desert and the river. And this was one condition of the journey—that whosoever came to the river must breast its waters alone. Why this was so, no one could tell; nor did any one know aught of the land beyond. For of the multitude who had crossed the river not one had ever returned.