quacy to meet this call, but with as profound trust in the very present help of God, the Holy Ghost, through whom the Son at the right hand of the father, fulfils His promised Presence with His ministry, I will accept the office should there be the consent provided for in the Canon law of the Church. The cordial message of the revered Diocesan, the unanimity of the Convention, the many assurances of prayer for a right judgment from those in the Diocese-both those who did not participate in the Convention and those who did have, with the shaping of my conviction of duty, brought me into a glad mind and will to become a fellow laborer with my brethren in their vast field, believing that the times in which we live are ‘times for Christ.'

999

It was a most grateful privilege to be able to join with the graduation class of the Berkeley Divinity School in a refreshing and strengthening Retreat, under my old friend, Prof. John Binney, in a quiet Connecticut town before the consecration service was held in St. James' Church, Philadelphia, on St. John Baptist's Day, June 24, 1890. The Vestry under the leadership of Mr. William H. Ingham left nothing undone to prepare every detail for its successful arrangements and avoided all confusion in adapting the seating capacity of the Church to the congregation and providing for the visiting clergy. They gave the rector a rare amethyst seal fob with symbolic links in a massive chain, the episcopal ring being given by her who wore to me the most precious ring on earth. The ladies of the Parish provided the robes and many other souvenirs of their constant thought. The Assistants gave a cross of gold from a virgin California nugget, part of which had been taken for the Seal of the ring, the Seal itself having an Iona cross above the mountains on the Seal of the State of California, radiated with the dove of the Holy Spirit above it. Other gifts and thoughtful words and acts were multiplied to make the earthly associations, clerical and lay, with the service fragrant with loving kindness.

Then associated with the de profundis of the Service itself were my dear Bishop Williams, Presiding Bishop and Consecrator, and Bishops Quintard of Tennessee, who was Mrs. Nichols' uncle; Bishop Neely of Maine; Bishop Littlejohn of Long Island; Bishop Whitaker of Pennsylvania, my Diocesan; Bishop Niles of New Hampshire; Bishop Adams of Easton; Bishop Scarborough of New Jersey; Bishop Whitehead of Pittsburgh and Bishop Henry C. Potter of New York. Bishop Scarborough, the fond Rector of my boyhood, was the Preacher and with almost every one of the bishops I had personal ties. With the death of Bishop Whitehead in 1922, all have now "gone before." There was a large body of Clergy present representing my former Diocese of Connecticut and the Rev. Messrs. Reed, W. A. Brewer and McCrae from the Diocese of California and from other Dioceses and there were representatives clerical and lay from all my former fields of work. My friend and Vestryman, Mr. George W. Childs, gave especial care to the full report of the service and sermon provided in the colums of the Public Ledger.

My first confirmation was held in the afternoon of the same day in St. James' Church, a special confirmation of two, one being my dear cousin Mrs. Carrie W. Rutter, and in the afternoon of the second day after, Thursday, June 26th, with my family I started for California.

And here the preparations made in California for our journey and removal can be noted as somewhat rare and characteristic. As I had almost no personal acquaintance then I can with propriety mention the big generosity and "know how" of it all as a tribute to the office rather than the man. In the California Convention of May, 1890, a committee of fifty-one, twenty-five clergymen and twenty-five laymen together with Bishop Kip was appointed "to receive, care for and provide temporary entertainment for Rev. Dr. Nichols and his family upon their arrival in the State." My early realization that there was such a committee was through the call of two agents from Philadelphia railroad offices to